Sweat-proof holiday makeup

For the better part of two years I’ve been living in Cambodia, which is located somewhere between the surface of the sun and the fiery gates of hell. During the ‘cool’ season temperatures can drop to a chilly 27 degrees Celsius. During the ‘hot’ season it is like living inside an oven, with the thermometer peaking in the mid-40s. And then there is the ever present humidity. All of this means that life here is a constant sweat-fest.

On most days during the hot season it’s all I can do to slowly drag myself between my desk and my shower. Even just a layer of sunscreen is an unwanted but necessary evil. But for the rest of the year I like to look like I’ve made a bit of an effort, to look a feel a bit more like me when I’m out and about for work or fun. So I’ve discovered a few products that can survive the heat and humidity of a day or a night out in Cambodia.

Such rigorous conditions mean that every single product I’ve listed will survive holidays and nights out in a sweaty nightclub. Please let me know your hot and humid must haves in the comments below.

• Garnier Skin Renew oil-free BB cream  – I’ve tried a bunch of BB creams, but this one is by far the best. It’s light, but it leaves my skin with a lovely glow, evens out skin tone, and lasts all day. I only rate the oil-free version though, so if you have dry skin then this might not be for you.

• Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation (Beige) – Bobbi makes great foundations in a great range of colours. This is a long-wear formula that feels weightless on the skin, perfect in hot weather. It gives excellent coverage without looking caked and it keeps my skin wonderfully hydrated.

• NARS Light Reflecting Setting Powder – known in certain circles as ‘magic powder’ this translucent loose powder erases imperfections making my pores and fine lines miraculously disappear. It keeps shine at bay and holds my makeup on my face all day. It’s genius. I’m never buying another powder again.

• Urban Decay’s Eye Primer – Eye makeup is often far too much of a faff in hot weather and the most I will ever do is a bit of flicky black eyeliner or a bit of shadow on my lids. But when I do, I always, always use this stuff first. It keeps everything where it should be for as long as I want it there. And it stops the dreaded eyeliner-on-upper-eyelids.

• Barry M Magic Lip Paint – Lipstick in extreme heat can be a disaster, resulting in colour smeared all over the face in mere seconds, but I love wearing bright, strong colours. The answer is this green stick, which looks like it should be resigned to the ‘novelty’ section of anyone’s makeup bag, but for sheer staying power it cannot be beaten. It develops into a slightly different colour on everyone (heaps of fun trying this in the pub, trust me) but I have yet to find anyone who it didn’t suit. Colour can be built up from a sheer tint to full on pigmented power and because it goes on so thinly it feels like you have nothing on your lips. But best of all it just doesn’t budge or fade. It has survived a full 8 hours of eating, drinking and dancing in Cambodia’s VERY HOT season.

• Finally, I usually set my whole face with a spray of Urban Decay’s All-Nighter Setting Spray which is designed for hot and humid conditions and keeps colour looking even. And it really does work.

Novel Idea to Get Books to Children

I think if there is one thing that unites everyone at EBTKS it is a love of words; whether they are written or spoken, we value articulation and communication. I attribute my love of language to the abundance of books in my childhood.These books opened my eyes to the world is all its diversity and brilliance and allowed me to go on lengthy adventures in an afternoon. Some of my favourite memories involve being read to as a child and now I treasure the times when I listen to my friend’s children read stories to me.

Not all children are so lucky and there is a real lack of decent, educational books available in many languages of the world. This means children grow up without much inspiring reading material in their native tongues. I think back to the library in my own small town and there was a veritable universe of information stacked on its shelves. (Don’t get me started on cuts to our own libraries in the UK….). It saddens me to think that around 260 million children in the world have limited access to books in their mother tongue.

I learnt this statistic from Michael Jones, who is the executive director of Open Free Equal, an organisation that provides resources for educators in the developing world. Michael explained to me that their new campaign, Literacy for Anywhere, is addressing this dearth of reading material in developing countries by creating fifty translatable, high-quality books that can be downloaded free of charge, allowing educators to print books in their native languages at a fraction of the cost of producing them from scratch. The program will also make it possible for organizations to make books for students whose native languages are obscure or lack national support.

The idea came to Michael when he was working in Cambodia three years ago, “I worked with a small NGO that supported an even smaller library. I started talking to a scholar of Cambodian language who told me he had visited the library and was impressed. In fact, he said, it was possibly the world’s largest collection of Cambodian children’s literature. I was shocked. That library, which was about the size of a small kitchen back home, probably held the largest collection of native language books a Cambodian child could ever hope to see. I had also been on book buying trips only to realize that there were hardly any options for expanding the library, and no good ones.”

Jones says, “We hope to print a run of the first book in Khmer next month and the full series should be finished and distributed in time for the next Cambodian school year. The books will be about topics that are difficult to teach or explain without pictures and supplemental materials. The kinds of learning experiences we take for granted back home, learning about far away plants, animals, and peoples, will now be available in classrooms all over Cambodia.”

The nature of Literacy for Anywhere means that even small NGOs can have access to the books. Jones explains “we aren’t restricting the first set of books to Siem Reap. There are organizations working with schools in very remote parts of the country that would take us thousands of dollars to locate and identify. Our goal is to make it so that these organizations can take matters into their own hands, printing or sourcing these books for a few hundred dollars per library rather than waiting for some international NGO to finally notice them or the village they work with.”

Open Free Equal are currently in the process of raising further funds for their Literacy for Anywhere program and have plans to add specially designed low-ink editions and smart phone editions of the books. More information about the project can be found at www.indiegogo.com/projects/literacy-for-anywhere.

Children’s Books for All!

I think if there is one thing that unites everyone at EBTKS it is a love of words; whether they are written or spoken, we value articulation and communication. I attribute my love of language to the abundance of books in my childhood.These books opened my eyes to the world is all its diversity and brilliance and allowed me to go on lengthy adventures in an afternoon. Some of my favourite memories involve being read to as a child and now I treasure the times when I listen to my friend’s children read stories to me.

Not all children are so lucky and there is a real lack of decent, educational books available in many languages of the world. This means children grow up without much inspiring reading material in their native tongues. I think back to the library in my own small town and there was a veritable universe of information stacked on its shelves. (Don’t get me started on cuts to our own libraries in the UK….). It saddens me to think that around 260 million children in the world have limited access to books in their mother tongue.

I learnt this statistic from Michael Jones, who is the executive director of Open Free Equal, an organisation that provides resources for educators in the developing world. Michael explained to me that their new campaign, Literacy for Anywhere, is addressing this dearth of reading material in developing countries by creating fifty translatable, high-quality books that can be downloaded free of charge, allowing educators to print books in their native languages at a fraction of the cost of producing them from scratch. All the organisation has to do is translate the books and print them. They are even looking into low-ink and eBook versions of the books. The program will make it possible for organizations to make books for students whose native languages are obscure or lack national support.

The idea came to Michael when he was working in Cambodia three years ago, “I worked with a small NGO that supported an even smaller library. I started talking to a scholar of Cambodian language who told me he had visited the library and was impressed. In fact, he said, it was possibly the world’s largest collection of Cambodian children’s literature. I was shocked. That library, which was about the size of a small kitchen back home, probably held the largest collection of native language books a Cambodian child could ever hope to see. I had also been on book buying trips only to realize that there were hardly any options for expanding the library, and no good ones.”

Literacy for Anywhere means even small organisations can have access to the books, even those in remote areas. Utilising new technologies not only saves money but also gives power back to educators who best know their students. They can print books for a few hundred dollars per library rather than waiting for larger organisations to come to them.

Michael and I live in Cambodia and it is the Cambodian language versions of the books that will launch first. Michael says, “We hope to print a run of the first book in Khmer next month and the full series should be finished and distributed in time for the next Cambodian school year. The books will be about topics that are difficult to teach or explain without pictures and supplemental materials. The kinds of learning experiences we take for granted back home, learning about far away plants, animals, and peoples, will now be available in classrooms all over Cambodia.

Thinking about this initiative has made me realise how much I take access to books for granted and just how much I appreciate the investment of my family and my community in literary culture, not to mention my fortuity to have been born with English as my mother tongue.

Open Free Equal are currently raising funds to expand their Literacy for Anywhere program and are offering some cool incentives as thank yous for donations.  More information about the project can be found at www.indiegogo.com/projects/literacy-for-anywhere.

Step into Christmas

I have no idea if I’m being premature or late in the game with this post because as I write, I’m wearing shorts and sunscreen and gazing at a blue sky. All familiar seasonal markers that Christmas is fast approaching are notably absent, with the exception of a truck which plays Santa Claus is Coming to Town as it reverses

Five beauty essentials to pack if you’re backpacking

Although I once backpacked around India with little more than a bar of solid shampoo, a bit of sun lotion, and a spare pair of pants, I now like to look slightly more polished when I travel, not least because I’m often working when I arrive at my destination, rather than curling up with a lassi and a good book. This means I now usually travel with a toiletry bag bursting at the seams.

However, I’m also a card-carrying beauty junkie, which means I can’t resist sampling new products wherever I go. At the moment

Why It’s Okay to Care About Beauty

By day I am a PhD candidate, researching, reading and writing on Cambodian culture. I love it. I consider myself extremely fortunate to do a job which I am infectiously passionate about, which fuels my curiosity and which never leaves me bored.

But this is not the sum total of who I am. Whilst I am conversant in Barthes, Hegel, Buddhist philosophy and Cambodian history, I also have a deep love of fashion and makeup. I see no incompatibility with being intellectually involved in art theory and being concerned with aesthetics at a personal level. Knowing which red lipstick suits me best and knowing the ontology of the three-body theory of the Buddha are not mutually exclusive. Nor are knowledge about the best places to shop in Siem Reap and knowledge of the political, social and artistic history of Cambodia.