Buddy Books | The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman.

London, April 1812. On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap?


I mentioned in a post a few days ago that me and my friend have started a book club and we finally named it! As we will be buddy reading all these books it shall hence forth be known as Buddy Books!
This months Buddy Book was The Dark Days Club, here's what I thought -

I really enjoyed this book, it seemed to have been researched amazingly well, both the expectations of society in the 1800's and the geography and understanding of London itself seemed very accurate and honest.

There was lot's of intrigue and unanswered questions as Lady Helen tries to unravel her family's past which left me wanting to find out more. She is relatable in that she is flawed, she doesn't necessarily follow the same beliefs as those around her, she makes mistakes and is unsure as to who she is supposed to be. Having said that she does always want to do what she believes is the right thing not just for herself but for those she cares for.

There were a number of characters I enjoyed reading about and following through their developments as there were surprises for them all. My personal favourites have to be Darcy and Lord Carlston.

The only negative I could say about this book was that it very much felt like the first book in a series. The whole book was build up which isn't necessarily a bad thing but occasionally I found myself wanting a little more action, learning more about Lady Helen's parents and experience the Dark Days Clubs adventures further. I will definitely read the rest of this series though as I can't wait to see what Lady Helen and Lord Carlston get up to next.

Lady Helen is strong, brave and kind. Lord Calrston is dark, mysterious and at times very intense.

There's humour, mystery, 19th century balls and a little bit of swoony romance. What's not to like about that?

I gave it 3 out of 5 stars on goodreads but have a feeling any future books will be higher. Let me know if you've read this and what you thought.

The Buddy Book for March will be Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - please read along with us if you're interested!

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Pit Stop | Dr Organic argan oil conditioner.

I could have waited and made this an awesome of the week but I want to save that for things other than reviews of products, plus I got overly enthusiastic and just had to talk about this so I'm making a quick pit stop on the blog.

For the longest time I have been trying to find a conditioner with argan oil without the insanely expensive price tag - I have some seriously out of control frizz and argan oil is the current craze to aid dry hair.

I was originally recommended Lee Stafford by my lovely cousin who has similar hair to me and so shares the same struggles. It worked okay for me although I didn't notice a huge difference from the conditioner I had been using previously plus I used it all in just over a week and at £10.99 a pop it wasn't a sustainable choice. (I do use the curl creme still though because it's amazing and lasts a super long time)

I for the life of me could not find any vegan conditioners with argan oil in them and believe me when I say I have tried a lot of products over the past couple of months and they all fell short of my expectations.

But my wishes were granted when I, on a whim, walked into a Holland and Barrett to pick up some snacks on a shopping trip and as we queued I looked to my left and saw it! This wonderful, shimmering, orange jewel - a completely cruelty free, vegan hair conditioner with argan oil.

Can I get a hallelujah?

My first experience with it was nothing short of magnificent! I only needed to use a small amount which is amazing compared to the 34 bottles I got through each time I used the other products I've tried (okay maybe that's an exaggeration). It went through my hair so easily, detangled it and it felt delicate and soft afterwards, not dry at all.

The best bit about this find? It costs £5.99 a bottle...... I am one very happy camper.

What are your beauty must haves?

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Cruelty Free Cosmetics.

I decided to go on a hunt for cruelty free vegan make up here's what happened -

After a short amount of time searching I realised the best plan of attack was to find entire ranges that are vegan as it's much easier to find a brand and stick with it and not have to read through aaaaaall the ingredients on the common cosmetic lines ..... plus let's be honest I have no idea what 83% of the ingredients actually are - seriously what is ferric ferrocyanide?

Eventually I stumbled across a range from Superdrug which is cruelty free and so thought I would give it a go - they deliver free on orders over £10 and the price of the products seemed pretty fair compared to a lot of the specialist brands.

The range is called "B. is for beautiful" and each piece has a name that plays on this which I love the idea of! To explain what I mean here are the 5 products that I bought -


- B. Nourished:

This is technically an anti-wrinkle cream and at the age of 22 I wasn't specifically looking to control my wrinkles however it was the only product that seemed to suit my need of a moisturiser.

It feels so delicate on the skin, not claggy or greasy at all and if it does help to hold back those wrinkles I won't complain!

You barely need any of it which means it will last AGES.




- B. Quick:

Now this was something I was desperate to find - Make up wipes that are vegan and still get all the grime off.
I was really pleased with these as they remove make up with as little as a single wipe. I'm hoping it's not just me that loved (and got a little excited about) the plastic lid on the packaging.....

No longer will I be plagued by the distress of what I like to call "top wipe dryness syndrome". When you have had a pack of wipes for a while the lid will lose it's stick and refuse to stay shut causing the top wipe to dry out just enough so that it becomes pretty damn useless. Excellent idea Superdrug, well done!


- B. Loud high volume mascara jet black 195:


This was one of the few bits I bought that I wasn't quite as impressed with. There's nothing fundamentally wrong here I just personally didn't get on with it.
Now when it comes to cosmetics and more specifically mascara I am a bit rubbish and at the best of times end up with at least 32% of my face covered in it. The issue with this one is that the brush is MASSIVE meaning more surface area to get over my skin instead of eye lashes. Add to this it's staying power.... normally a good thing, however once it's on my skin it's really freaking hard to get off again! I end up looking like I haven't slept in a month because of the black smears under my eyes. I am wanting to try another one from this range though and have also ordered a mascara brush which is hopefully smaller. If you are actually good at mascara then this would be a good choice as once it's on you're set for the day.


- B. Dramatic bold liquid eyeliner black 100:

There isn't too much to comment on with this one, it does the job and stays on for hours so no worrying about smudging or reapplication. The only issue with that is similar to the mascara in that if you cock it up it takes a bit of time to rectify.

The only downfall I found with the eyeliner was that the brush is very small so it takes a little colouring in if you want a thick line, also it can be a little pale and grey on occasion but if you persevere it looks no different to the non-vegan options (or at least it doesn't to me who hasn't tried many varieties) it just takes a little more time.

EDIT - After having this for a few days it became unusable, it was faded to an almost grey colour and it didn't actually leave any eyeliner on the lid. It was as though it had run out even though it had barely been used, I am disappointed and unfortunately will need to find an alternative.


- B. Radiant BB under eye concealer medium 93:

It might come as a shock but I have never actually owned concealer before!
My daily make up routine consists of eyeliner and mascara ... that's it. I do occasionally stretch to mousse foundation if I know I'm going to be drinking alcohol  to cover up the red cheeks that will without doubt make an appearance.

I bought this sort of on a whim just to try it and see if it makes me look less tired. I'm not sure if it actually does but it makes me feel better that I made a little effort so I think I will keep it.



Over all I have been pretty impressed with my experience using B. is for beautiful and would buy their stuff again considering it works just fine and you can use it guilt free knowing that no animals were used for testing or as ingredients in any of it!

As vegan newbie you can probably expect many more posts like this about things I have found that work - let me know if there's anything in particular I should try out.
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