review Archives | The Squealing Piglet

Catalogue of Published Work

The following is my portfolio of articles published on other websites and in print. I’ve catalogued my work by year and month. Overarching themes include intersectional feminist analysis, social media and online identities, and theatre reviews.

2021

July
More than half of young women hit by pandemic jobs instability – The Big Issue

2020

January
My relationship with social media – YWCA Scotland

March
Tips for staying well while living online – YWCA Scotland

April
Homelessness is a feminist issue – YPeople

How our social media procrastination became just another type of work – Prospect Magazine

May
Body Image: No one size fits all approach – YWCA Scotland

August
Language’s influence on body image – Engender

2019

August
Review: Cotton Fingers – The Feminist Fringe

Review: White Girls – The Feminist Fringe

Review: The Addams Family – The Feminist Fringe

Review: Sea Sick – The Feminist Fringe

2018

January
Can marriage ever be feminist? – Femini Magazine, online (defunct)

May
Redundancy: What to expect, what questions to ask and how to handle it – Girls In Work

The darker side of social media influencers – The Nopebook

Review: The Terrible by Yrsa Daley-Ward – Femini Magazine, print

August
Review: Dangerous Giant Animals – The Feminist Fringe

Review: Joe Sutherland: Toxic – The Feminist Fringe

2017

January
You know you’re an Obanite if… – BuzzFeed Community

May
The Manchester Attack – Vocal Media

June
Radical softness as a weapon – Femini Magazine, online (defunct)

July
Bloody Brilliant: Scotland becomes the first country to provide underprivileged women with sanitary products – Femini Magazine, online (defunct)

2015

January
Review: The Real Inspector Hound – Edinburgh49

February
Review: The Vagina Monologues – Edinburgh49

Review: Sister Act – Edinburgh49

March
Review: Bittersweet – Edinburgh49

Review: The Gondoliers – Edinburgh49

Review: The Producers – Edinburgh49

2014

December
Review: The BFG – Edinburgh49

Lunch at Leftfield

To say I enjoy food is something of an understatement. I live for food. I’m always trawling recipe books and websites. Most of my favourite TV shows and YouTube channels focus on some aspect of food or cooking. I’d almost be inclined to call myself a foodie.

To say I enjoy seafood is even more of an understatement.

Coming from a fishing town on the west coast, it’s practically illegal to not enjoy seafood. It’s a staple. The produce is incredibly fresh and always great quality. Oban has as many chippies as it does supermarkets and there are only 8,500 locals to feed year-round.

When I first started going off meat, my parents made me a deal. I could only stop eating meat if I stopped being so picky with my vegetables (although I still hate broccoli and cauliflower) and kept eating fish. It was a little arduous at first, but with a great cook like my Mum, and the produce as great as it is, I was soon converted back to my pescatarian ways.

I’ve been a pescatarian for years now, and adore playing around with recipes, substituting meat for fish and shellfish, to see what sort of textures and flavour combinations work.

So, yeah, seafood is pretty darn high on my Food Loves list. And good seafood is my fave way to celebrate.

On Sunday, my family and I went to Leftfield for lunch to celebrate my Dad’s birthday.

It’s a lovely restaurant in Bruntsfield. Bright and open with large windows, it has a real Scandi feel to it. The decor is inviting and the music was a golden selection that included Nina Simone and he Isley Brothers. Basically, I loved it.

Their Sunday lunch menu is really lovely. It’s small, but there really is something for everyone and the flavours are adventurous. Dad and I both opted for starters – he had the chicken pate and I opted for the vegetable pakoras which was light, warmly spiced and completely scrummy.

Their specialty, though, is a seafood platter (although it needs to be ordered 24 hours in advance) which Mum and Dad ordered unbeknownst to Zoe and I at the time.

Now, being an Oban girl, I’ve been spoiled most of my life with great seafood and often lament to Mum and Dad about how it’s just not the same in the city. Leftfield, however, knocked it out the park.

Every element was prepared differently, and it’s clear chef X knows what he’s doing. Barbequeued crevettes, scallops with curried aubergine, tempura oysters, clams with a delightfully fresh salsa, and that’s just for starters. Mammoth langoustines, melt-in-the-mouth fried squid and half lobsters with claws to boot were waiting to be demolished.

The marie rose dipping sauce was a wonderful accompaniment for the langoustines and the salsa gave the barbequeued prawns a real tang. The lobster claws were my favourite though – scoffed down with gorgeously golden chips and a fresh, herby salad.

I can’t get over how delicious everything was. And how brilliant the service was, too. At £25 a head, this incredibly nostalgic taste of my no-longer-home was an absolute bargain.

We all joked that it was such a shame the next family birthday wasn’t until mine in November, but I’m sure we’ll find an excuse to return for the seafood platter – every day’s worthy of a celebration, right?

Product Review: Forest and Shore Hallelujah Hair Oil

I’m incredibly excited to tell you about a product I was asked to review: Forest and Shore‘s Hallelujah Hair Oil.

Available on Amazon, my hair oil took 3 days to arrive (and came on a hair wash day, which was highly convenient!).

The packaging

I really love the pale blue and the dainty floral design. The card is slightly textured and soft. It’s a pretty box and I’m not about to get rid of it any time soon!

The bottle

I adore a bottle with a pipette. Couldn’t really tell you why, I think it’s probably the novelty because it’s not a common feature. The glass bottle is frosted.

The hair oil

The oil itself is a warm yellow colour and runs a lot smoother and less gloopy than some hair oils I’ve tried before.

It ticks so many of my boxes – it’s organic, vegan and smells incredible. Made from a blend of essential oils, the most prominent smells are the coconut and lavender. It has a near minty freshness to it.

The directions on the box suggest 2-5 drops of the oil run through from mid to ends of towel dried hair. Despite being an oil, it doesn’t leave a heavy residue on my hands, which I really appreciate. It spreads evenly through my hair (I used 5 drops because my bleached locks really need all the help they can get). I couldn’t find my wide toothed comb, so I settled for my tangle teezer to brush the oil all the way through my hair and settled in for the night.

The verdict

Hallelujah is right – this oil is heaven sent!

In the morning my hair smelled fresh and was nearly tangle-free – which never happens. I brushed out the few pillow-made tangles with my fingers and that’s all it needed. It sat perfectly, with nearly no flyaways (although with my hair needing cut and having been bleached a tonne, flyaways are not something I can altogether avoid). It looked healthier, it had more life and stayed soft for days after using the oil.

I’m honestly blown away! I find a lot of hair oils in the shops are too heavy for me. I have a lot of hair and it’s hard to keep volume and life in it without slathering my scalp with a concoction of lotions and potions, which inevitably weigh it down after a few hours and leave it greasy and desperate for a wash. I didn’t find that to be the case with the Forest and Shore oil. It didn’t leave any residue on my pillow, and my ends were visibly tamed. I’ve used it after a few shampoos now, and I’m still loving the results.

Being an all-natural product, the hair oil has a shelf life of 9 months. Priced at £15, which is more than I would usually spend on haircare, but because all the ingredients are natural, and it’s a small UK company, I’m not as reserved about spending the money. I did receive a complimentary bottle from the company to review – but I would happily spend the money on a new bottle when this one runs out!

All I can really say is I hope Forest and Shore create some more products soon, because I will definitely be trying them as soon as they are available! Washing my hair has always been more of a chore than an enjoyment for me. There’s a lot of it and it tangles easily. This product makes the whole process a little less daunting and brushing my hair doesn’t leave my scalp tender any more. I haven’t tried it as a scalp treatment yet (going to bed with 2-3 full pipettes of oil on my scalp and through my hair, washing out the following morning), but I’m definitely going to in the run up to my holiday so my skin is in tip top condition for the sun!