The Bookworm: These Violent Delights, by Chloe Gong.

In glittering Shanghai, a monster awakens...  

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city in chaos.

Juliette Cai is the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang - a network of criminals far above the law.

Roma Montagov is the prodigal son of her greatest rivals, the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. He is also Juliette's first love . . . and first betrayal.

When a deadly madness strikes gangsters on both sides, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, and a monster in the shadows. And as the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns - and grudges - aside and work together.

For if they can't stop this mayhem, there will be no city left to rule.

Too intense? [reviewing La Vie est Belle Intensément edp, by Lancome]

 Happiness is a vibration that lives within all of us. It’s fleeting, but intense. Quick, but strong. It’s here and now. Beating inside the new eau de parfum La Vie Est Belle Intensément. Live to the fullest here and now. Feel the happiness urgency in every moment.

The La Vie est Belle Intensément olfactive story is composed of a powerful and sensual heart brightened by a smile of delicious delicacies. The first Intense Red-Iris-Vanilla Accord exclusively created for Lancôme by one of France's leading perfumers, in an iconic perfume bottle.

I've mentioned a couple of times that La Vie est Belle is one of my favourite fragrances and that I've gone through multiple bottles over the years. After finishing my third or fourth bottle, I decided to switch things up a bit and try the flanker that was on offer at the time in Boots [it was a Christmas star gift & had an amazing almost‐£50 saving]. 

I wanted to hurry and get my review up whilst the huge money-off offer is still going to help people who are still looking for that special gift, so here we go...

Merry Christmas everyone xx

Was it born to rule over the other gourmand fragrances? [reviewing Princess edt, by Vera wang]

Dare to claim the princess in you...

Radiant and whimsical, Vera Wang Princess is a sheer, fruity floral – rich with vanilla and brimming with exotic flowers and succulent fruits. Princess is all about a new attitude. It’s about claiming something magical and mystical in your life. She is feminine and modern, always sophisticated and stylish and she has many unexpected, free-spirited characteristics. She has the magical, whimsical, youthful spirit that resides in all of us – regardless of age.

Princess is one of those fragrances that I have false memories about: I remember having my first bottle of Princess in the family house we lived in during my secondary school years & of me trying to get away with wearing the cap as a ring to school [they were very strict on no makeup or jewellery rules in those days]... even though I've found out that Princess wasn't released until 2006 - six years after I'd left school and we'd all long-sinced moved. It's weird how memories become jumbled like that, isn't it? I can also remember coming across a print ad for J.Lo Miami Glow whilst flipping through a magazine in the same childhood house and being excited about it - despite the fact that the original Glow wasn't released until 2002, and Miami Glow came along in 2005 - again, years after we'd moved.

I remember enjoying Princess enough to have had 2 smaller bottles over the years and like to think that I remember the fragrance pretty well, although finding out the release dates & therefore false memories of past favourites, has shaken my former confidence. Having seen that you can constantly find Princess on special offer & in outlet stores, as well as it being widely available online for under £25 [£18 for 100ml when I bought my latest bottle], I've become curious enough to buy a bottle to reintroduce myself to it and go back through time...

The Bookworm - Paris: The Memoir, by Paris Hilton [review/thoughts]

 PARIS: A MILLION MEANINGS IN A SINGLE NAME

Heiress. Party girl. Problem child. Selfie taker. Model. Reality star. Self-created.

The labels attached to Paris Hilton.

Founder. Entrepreneur. Pop Culture Maker. Innovator. Survivor. Activist. Daughter. Sister. Wife. Mother.

The roles Paris embraces as a fully realized woman.

Paris rose to prominence as an heiress to the Hilton hotel empire but cultivated her fame and fortune as the IT Girl of the aughts, a time marked by the burgeoning 24-hour entertainment news cycle and the advent of the celebrity blog. Using her celebrity brand, Paris set in motion her innovative business ventures, while being the constant target of tabloid culture that dismissively wrote her off as “famous for being famous.” With tenacity, sharp business acumen and grit, she built a global empire and, in the process, became a truly modern icon beloved around the world.

Now, with courage, honesty, and humour, Paris Hilton is ready to take stock, place it all in context and share her story with the world. Separating the creation from the creator, the brand from the ambassador, Paris: The Memoir strips away all we thought we knew about a celebrity icon, taking us back to a privileged childhood lived through the lens of undiagnosed ADHD, a teenage rebellion that triggered a panicked – and perilous – decision by her parents. Led to believe they were saving their child’s life, Paris’s mother and father had her kidnapped and saw her sent to a series of ‘emotional growth boarding schools’, where she survived almost two years of verbal, physical and sexual abuse. In the midst of a hell we now call the ‘troubled teen industry’, Paris created a beautiful inner world where the ugliness couldn’t touch her. She came out, resolving to trust no-one but herself as she transformed that fantasy world into a multibillion-dollar reality.

Recounting her perilous journey through pre-#MeToo sexual politics with grace, dignity and just the right amount of sass. Paris: The Memoir tracks the evolution of celebrity culture through the story of the figure at its leading edge, full of defining moments and marquee names. Most important, Paris shows us her path to peace while she challenges us to question our role in her story and in our own.

Welcome to Paris...

Reminder to self: leave out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve... [reviewing eilish edp, by Billie Eilish]

 This is a scent that I’ve been chasing for years and years. this is my favorite smell in the WORLD. Fragrance has always been such an enormous part of my life and existence since I can remember, and it was a dream to create this scent and bring my ideas to life. This has been one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done - Billie Eilish

eilish is a captivating Amber Gourmand featuring notes of sugared petals creamy vanilla and warm musks leaving a lasting impression that is warm sensual and powerfully you.

I'm late to this party; I'm not someone who can name a Billie Eilish song outside of the James bond theme she sung [No Time To Die] and I find the bottle for eilish very unappealing, so I never paid any attention to this perfume.

However Superdrug are spending the whole of November having 30% off offers on various popular fragrances for their loyalty points programme members - then on top of that is my 10% discount for employee friends & family and £6 worth of points on my card waiting to be spent. Oh right, sorry for the excuses for my purchase tangent - one of the fragrances on offer is eilish. Today's adventure started when I was nosing around on the site checking out the offer and was tempted when I read the scent notes for this edp, so I made a mental note to check it out in a store....