I wish I had a river I could skate away on
Books for the non-functioning, Elizabeth Taylor, candles galore and gift guide!
Sad
This is my don’t-kill-yourself double fister. I don’t have any kind of review really for either of these books, I just want more people to know about them. It’s Ok That You’re Not OK by Megan Devine is for someone who has just gone through something really bad and needs help dealing with the world around them and How To Keep House While Drowning by K.C Davis is for someone who has gone through something really bad and needs help dealing with the basics of every day life (showering, eating, laundry, etc). They are both written with the understanding that your attention span is gone and are easy to flip through and just read the parts relevant to you. Everything is presented in short sections. How to Keep House summarizes everything in the simplest language possible without metaphor at the end of each chapter. Neither book has a spiritual philosophy they are trying to sell you on or a “path”, no one says anything about how you’re going to become a stronger or better person bc of what you’re going through or learn any deep, meaningful lessons. They are written by people who know what they’re talking about, Devine watched her husband drown, Davis has been through a variety of hardcore shit. Both books are survival based, offering strategies and perspectives to help people get by without waving away their grief or pain. These books are very validating, acknowledging where you’re at and what you’ve been through without judgement or prescription or pity.
Famous
Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century by Nancy Schoenberger and Sam Kashner is my favorite biography of recent memory. "I am forever punished by the gods for being given fire and trying to put it out," Burton wrote in a letter to Taylor, "The fire, of course, is you." In Burton’s diaries, he said about meeting her, “she was so extraordinarily beautiful that I nearly laughed out loud.” He described her breasts as “apocalyptic” and that she was “beyond the dreams of pornography.” I ran across various intense quotes by Burton about Taylor somewhere, probably Pinterest, and was like, woah, omg and sought out this book. I knew Liz Taylor had one husband she married twice but did not know much about him, or them, beyond that. This bio delves into all the insanity of their relationship/lives and also does a lot to memoralize Richard Burton, who, though he was the most famous man in the world and the most acclaimed actor of his generation, has been largely forgotten about.
This book was engrossing for me in the way Gone Girl was for people, I couldn’t put it down. The jewels! The yacht! Puerto Vallarta! The condemnation by the pope! Eddie Fisher standing over Liz with a gun! The knife thrower! Taylor and Burton were famous in a way I don’t think people can be anymore, fame is too atomized now, not glamorous. At several points they were almost killed by crowds of fans, Taylor’s hair ripped out by grabbing hands. They were headline makers around the world back when newspaper headlines were the only thing that mattered. Both Taylor and Burton’s childhoods are explored, Taylor’s unreal one of picturesque English estate houses and child stardom and Burton’s as the middle child in a large family of poor Welsh miners who had a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming famous.
Ultimately, though the story is a tragedy. You understand why Taylor was married eight times and feel pretty bad for her, a lot of her adult life was defined by the studio system and personal catastrophe. She and Burton had a powerful connection that they could neither get to work nor let go of. I cried in a scene toward the end where Taylor is in the hospital (I learned that Taylor was chronically ill, she had something like thirty-two surgeries in her lifetime) and Burton, who she is divorced from, comes to see her. He walks in the room and says, “Hi, lumpy” and she says, “Hiya, pockface” and they both burst into tears and hold and kiss each other, declare their love, that they should never part again, but of course, it is too late for all that.
There is also the ever illuminating behind the scenes of fame stuff. Like how both Taylor and Burton loved animals and had a ton of dogs but did not housetrain them or assign one of their dozens of assistants to do this, so all their mansions and yacht had dog shit everywhere.
Christmas Candle Review
Skandinavisk has two winter collections atm their “Ritual, Myth and Magic” and “Fire and Light”. There’s lots of chat in the candle community about how at a certain point, you’re just paying for packaging. I agree with that for the most part but I think for a £20-40 candle you get A LOT of bang for your buck with Skandinavisk in terms of beautiful packaging, like a way more than a £60+ D.S Durga candle or something, and they have good scent blends. These candles are really affordably priced for what they offer. Each comes in a gorgeous lidded box and the candle is poured into different colored glass. I find the red glass candles especially lovely.
Jul, pictured above, I would go ahead and get in a two or three wick size because the scent from a single wick is not enough to fill a room— also their single wicks don’t burn great imo. It’s a spicy scent that has a strong note of red berry to my nose (could be the mulled wine) and isn’t too cloyingly Christmasy. Has a nice scent even if walking by unlit.
Skog I repurchased from last year because I liked it so much, just a good solid woodsy, pine scent, something a lot of candle companies weirdly struggle with is done well here
Takka, fireplace scent, was a disappointment. Vetiver isn’t listed as a scent note but all I could smell was vetiver, I didn’t get pine, ash or anything else. Bummer because I love smokey scents
Snö is a light kinda floral smell, it didn’t particularly give me wintertime or Christmas and the scent was fine but not memorable and very soft. I would have personally expected something more sharp when evoking snow
The only candle in their winter collections I haven’t reviewed is Nordlys because I generally dislike whatever scent notes are used to create a “water” smell. Jul and Skog are the standouts of these collections.
I wasn’t planning on writing so much about candles but oh well. My #1 Christmas candle for years has been Black Fig by P.F Candle Co., even though I try not to buy from them anymore (more on that another time), it’s spicy, woodsy and warm and just the best. I look forward to burning it at this time of year. It makes me love being at home.
I think the best, like the very very best cedar scent I’ve ever come across is Tagia by 42 Pressed. Which is weird because when you smell it cold, it smells kinda like bananas. But lit, it smells more like a fresh cut Christmas tree than my actual fresh cut Christmas tree. It’s amazing. HOWEVER. The bummer here is that tho their scents are great (I’ve enjoyed other candles from them) 42 Pressed doesn’t use high quality wicks, their wicks always get sooty, which is a huge bummer and gives me pause whenever I think about buying from them. So be warned.
Gifts
Hair & Beauty—
💄 A Lisa Eldridge eyeshadow pallet and/or lipstick
Lisa Eldridge is a makeup genius and passionate makeup historian. I’m holding out for a Sorcery pallet and I also quite like the Sorcery lip. Probably anyone would be happy to receive her Velvet Ribbon lipstick.
This is the best non-heat based smoothing tool I’ve ever found
A pre-shampoo dry hair treatment that will help anyone with whatever their hair issue is, I’ve been amazed. Smells like rosemary!
💅🏻 L’Occitane Nail and Cuticle Oil
No scent, applies with a brush attached to the tube so there is no mess and you can apply directly to nails without getting oily fingers
A French brand that makes really nice hair clips, I recommend them if you know someone with huge hair that can’t be wrangled by normal clips. Their D clip, large banana clip and curved hair claw all work great
Other—
Uusi make very beautiful, well designed and extremely mystical decks from somewhere in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I own Pegan Otherworlds and Supra. I used Supra almost exclusively for months on end and had many strange, deep experiences with it
Know someone who is insane about candles? Have they upped their candle hygiene yet? Try giving them, a candle snuffer and trimmer set, as in the link. Or a candle sharpener! Helps to trim any candle base to fit your taper candle holders, a genius device
💎 Alex Monroe Teeny Tiny Collection
I love Alex Monroe’s itty-bitty gold animal necklaces. They’re so light and delicate you can barely feel them and for those with nickel allergies, I have never had a problem with mine and have often worn it all day. They’re pricey if you’re buying the latest collection straight from Monroe. You can find much better deals at various jewellers, John Lewis and from a local shop I love in Scotland, which I have linked above. Not all of his animal necklaces are of the Teeny-Tiny collection so check sizes before you buy
I loved my 2022 planner from Magic of I, packed to the brim with every bit of astrological knowledge you could ever need as well as journaling prompts and facts about herbs and flowers and all sorts, very witchy. Beautiful design and illustration throughout, soft to the touch. This year has a mycology theme if you know someone into that!
🧂 HKLiving salt and pepper shakers
HKLiving has an amazing collection of 70s inspired kitchen ceramics, you really probably couldn’t go wrong with gifting anything from this collection—the teapot, the coffee spoons, the egg cups, the milk jug, whatever strikes your fancy
I get excited to talk about products