Mollie's Feel-Good Feed: Your watching and listening plans for the week

Our lockdown columnist is back to lift your spirits with another dose of what's bringing her joy

Welcome to Mollie’s Feel-Good Feed, a place where each week Mollie King shares her round-up of the things bringing her joy in these strange and uncertain times. Check back each week for uplifting music, self care tips and, hopefully, a smile being put on your face.

Here we are, another week in lockdown. Let's embrace it if we can!

Do you remember when we used to make plans? Yes, plans! I know it seems like a distant memory, but I've got all the watching and listening plans you need for this week below, if that’s any help – and boy, is there a lot to enjoy right now.

Singles

We all need a feel-good tune at the moment to keep us going. Maybe it’s something to put on before you commence setting up shop for yet another day of working from home, or maybe it’s just something to blast out at home and sing along to. Why not?

Well, look no further than typing 'Isaac Dunbar Makeup Drawer' into Spotify or Apple Music. You’ll find a super poppy, catchy, Taylor Swift-esque song, from an artist pushing boundaries and speaking his mind. This song makes me want to dance, and when I dream of taking those much loved road trips again after lockdown, this is what I’ll be blasting out the car!

At the other end of the scale, for those chilled nights when it’s been a long day, maybe you’ve just put the kids to bed; how about trying Arlo Parks Eugene? It’s incredibly laid back and perfect for a long bath or wind down. I love her tone and can’t wait to hear more from her.

Albums

I was lucky enough to go to the listening party for this album. Confused as to what a ‘listening party’ is? Well, it’s a rather strange concept, normally set in a small intimate room, but the artist releases the album, playing their songs to a limited audience for the very first time, and talks you through their favourite tracks. For a music nerd like me, it’s a chance to ask the artist questions, like who they’ve worked with and what sort of direction they were going for with the album. It’s an absolute dream to hear them talk so passionately about their music.

And that’s exactly what The Weeknd did for his album After Hours. It has since been a number one album – which you would expect after his single Blinding Lights spent a whopping eight weeks in the top spot. I love that the album has a nostalgic feel with a lot of nods to the 80s, accompanied by some emotional tracks for the lyric listeners, like myself.

TV shows

It seems BBC’s Normal People is the talk of the town at the minute, and I can totally see why! I’ve only had the pleasure of watching the first episode, but I love the slow pace to it and the stripped-back feel. It follows the story of two young people, Connell and Marianne, and I definitely think this could be one to get stuck into.

This week I have been well and truly down a Mad Men hole, and to be honest, I don’t want to come out. I’m pretty late to this show, but if I don’t get round to binge watching it in lockdown, when will I?

I’m just about to finish the first series and already I’m addicted to the characters and following each of their stories. I love the fashion, the New York setting, understanding life in the 1950s, and seeing how different things were back then. If you’ve never got round to watching this, it’s definitely one to put on your list!

Self care

I had the pleasure of talking to skin care goddess, Teresa Tarmey on my Instagram Live chat last week. She’s a real life Wonder Woman in the skin world, having looked after clients like Sienna Miller and Suki Waterhouse.

I had been looking forward to it so much, and like a lot of us I'm sure, had so many questions about skin care. I have since been using lots of her products, which I’m loving, as well as introducing my skin to a jade roller for the very first time.

Aside from skin, I’ve been using a home waxing kit! I know, believe it. This lockdown is having us all do weird and wonderful things. I promise you, I never thought I would be brave enough to properly give this a go, but needs must, and much to my surprise it was relatively successful.

Oh, I should mention this was a week after I tried waxing my eyebrows with another home kit, and completely panicked when, with hot wax on my face, I looked into the box to see there were no wax strips… After a few minutes worrying that green strokes of wax on my face would be my new lockdown look, I thought the only answer was to create my own strips by cutting up my boyfriend's tie (true story) and use that to peel off the wax.

I later realised it was a ‘hot wax’ kit, and could be peeled off with no strips at all… Oh dear! Luckily, my boyfriend saw the funny side to it. I can’t say his tie did, though!

Thanks so much for reading this week’s Mollie’s Feel-Good Feed – check back on Marie Claire every Friday for more of my feel-good recommendations. Take care and stay safe!