Tangerine Dream - Mini MAC Haul!

Sunday 30 June 2013

I picked up some fabulous new treats for the 'hopefully' warmer months to come.
I can't get enough of nudes at the moment, so everyhting is heavily 'nude' based.


What do we have here?
Lipstick in shade Pretty Please
Lipglass in shade Myth ( I love the lipstick so now I have the Myth gloss to match
Mineralize skin finish powder in shade Soft and Gentle
Powder Blush in shade Style


The swatches are as follows:
Far left is Myth Gloss which is a warm, nude based colour. The colour is thick and payoff is great on the lips too
Next along going left is Pretty Please lipstick which is a nude sheer lipstick with a frosty look, it's in the lustre category
Then the golden swatch is the Mineralized skinfinish, it's great for adding an all over glow to the face or just to highlight the high points on the face.
Finally, on the far right is the bright coral blush Style with a frost finish

Summer makeup essentials:
Sorted!

New Video: How to stop biting your nails - How I broke my nail biting habit

Saturday 29 June 2013

If you look back to my older videos, it wouldn't take you long to notice my horrible nibbled down nails. My nails have been this way since I was very little, and the habit has been severely in my brain for about fifteen years now.
I got to the point where I just presumed that I would be 40 years old and still have chewed up finger nails and never be able to wear nice nail polish and still cringe when anyone suggested getting a manicure together as part of a fun girly day out.
One April day I was lying in my bed at home with what I can only describe as a horrible sickness bug, this was the only time that my nails would ever get a small break as I couldn't stand the thought of putting anything near my mouth. It was at this point that I picked up my phone and very randomly just snapped a picture of my nails.

 
Well I was shocked, despite seeing them every day of my life, having a picture just of them really brought home what an ugly state they were in and I couldn't believe that I didn't feel even more ashamed to walk around with hands like that.
I can only akin this experience to an overweight person seeing a picture of themselves and for the first time really realising the extent of their problem and choosing then and there to do something about it.

So this is what I did, and this is my little story:



Gypsy weddings, Tokyo and The Help - Brief Book Reviews

Friday 28 June 2013

So far I've surprised myself with the amount of reading that I have done since June- I thought I'd share with you my summer reads so far because some have been great and some others... not so great!


 Firstly I read Tales of the Gypsy Dressmaker which is essentially the autobiography of the big star of one of my favorite shows ever 'Gypsy Weddings' It was a brilliantly easy and entertaining read from start to finish. Sometimes my jaw was literally on the floor at the hilarity and outrageousness that Thelma comes across in her line of work, but equally it was very insightful and quite a fair representation, I thought, of traveler culture too. This is going to sound really immature, but it had photo pages too- and I just love books with pictures in! It really added to the whole story and I have a new appreciation for how much work goes into one of those insane dresses.

The next book that I read was Tokyo which I must say, was the worst of the bunch. I thoroughly enjoyed that for the most part it was set in Tokyo which is somewhere that I'm desperate to go! But the actual story was hugely anticlimactic, and a little unrealistic, about a girl who goes missing on her travels. I'm still glad I read it for the fact that it felt like I was taking a guided tour around Tokyo but besides that the actual story was on the dull side.

The final book I read was The Help and it was absolutely brilliant! I read it in about 4 days even though it was the thickest book of the bunch. It's a non-fiction book but it's one of those stories that 'could' be real, it's set in the 1960s South America, Post-Rosa Parks but Pre-Martin Luther Kings death. It's written from the perspective of two black maids and one white female writer. At times it really had me laughing out loud as well as making me feel outright ashamed of the segregation that existed not so long ago. While definately having it's sad moments, by the end I felt uplifted. I bought two copies for friends as soon as I'd finished because I want everyone to read this!

A little addition to this list is that last night around 6pm I picked up 'Mummy Knew' by Lisa James, I stopped to eat dinner but then couldn't put it down until 2am when I'd turned the last page, it has over 200 pages. Without wanting to end this post on a downer it's without a doubt the most horrific account of child abuse I've read about in the UK, afterwards I had to watch funny videos on YouTube before I could fall asleep, my head was just swimming!

Hakuna Matata!

Thursday 27 June 2013

Today was such a fun day, I went to go see The Lion King in theater which I had just been dying to see for years and years now, finally we went and although I was sad that no photographs were allowed during the performance you'll just have to take my word for it that it is visually something else!

They had my favourites Simone and Pumba who were so funny, and looked like the film even though the design wasn't the same or really trying to be- but they were just my favourites.

The stage was amazing and was never in the same place for more than five minutes, there are tons of sets and all sorts. I loved the specisl effects, the slow motion and the singing was incredible.

I think the baboon was the best singer which in the production I saw was played by a woman who had the most incredible voice, but in my head i'd always visualised the baboon as a man.

I loved it loved it loved it, it was such a treat for the eyes!

The best I've got for you is a picture of the curtain and my ticket.


Before the show we had pre show mocktails, the one on the left is mango based and mine on the right is a strawberry, banana and pineapple one!


To finish, you get a beautiful shot of my lunch, mushroom linguine!


We saw the show in Convent Garden London, which is a real fun place to visi,t it's kind of like an open top circus as it is filled with street performers and good shops, there was a super fun Chanel stand with giant makeup that I just wanted to take home and put in my bedroom, imagine walking into my room and seeing a giant plastic compact in the corner! If only!

Holiday snaps!

Wednesday 26 June 2013

I thought I'd take the opportunity to share with you all a quick peek of my holiday snaps in between me cooking you up a new video!

I just looked over them all yesterday and it makes me want to just jump right back into them and live it all again!

They had ice cream stands on every corner and I couldn't resist having a pic by a giant one!

 This was in Capri, probably the most beautiful place we went to and I think is the setting for some fancy perfume advert, I think Dior or a brand similar


I fell asleep every night mid reading a book, here I am wearing my 'beautiful' headband to stop my face touching my hair and hopefully preventing some blemishes

 Every night we'd come back from dinner to see this beautiful sight, I just can't get enough of it!

 Here I am in Pompei perhaps at the first ever 'zebra' crossing, significantly earlier than the Beatles haha


 I saw the best firework show that I had ever seen my life all around the islands of Italy!

There's a grand total of 6000 photos between us, so it was quite hard to show all of that in one blog post, but 6 is much better than 1000x that, haha!

I'm back I'm back!

Tuesday 25 June 2013

I'm back from the most perfect, wonderful, magnificent holiday/break/paradise.
I could have just cried when I landed back in England, it was just too soon to come back, then I had to take a train home and I burst into tears on the train and the man opposite me was in a leather Harley Davidson jacket and he just looked at me confused, and slightly sympathetically. To be honest I felt confused myself.
I'm now back at my family home as I moved out of my student home one day, then the next day flew out for my holiday. So I have come home to mountains of unpacked chaos, it gives me a headache to look at and I'm not sleeping so peacefully and I think the extensive clutter is the reason. But I'll just have to work through it bit by bit, hanging lots of clothes, and putting a lot in the 'charity shop' pile.
My amount of cosmetics and products has essentially doubled since I put my 'home cosmetics' and 'uni cosmetics' together - they no longer fit in the big pink bucket I keep them in so I filtered through and all the products that are unused or almost unused I've put in a big pink carrier bag to pass on to my sister and mum to filter through. it's filled with tons of hair removal cream, body lotions, shower gels and hair products - that kind of thing.

My friends feel scattered all over the country now, which I suppose they are. But I still have my sister kind of close by and I get to see my mum every day aswell as my auntie and grandparents as often as I want, so that's the good points.

Meanwhile, I'm dreaming that I'm back in Sorrento- wearing shorts even in the evenings, eating smurf flavored ice cream and meter long pizzas!


I honestly felt like when I came back that everything would be different, but nothing is and everything is as it always was.

Katy Perry Makeup Tutorial

Saturday 22 June 2013

This weeks look is a gorgeous midnight blue, smokey, deep dark, gorgeously rich look!

Katy Perry is normally a 'pop of colour' kind of girl, but I love it when she does the occassional, dark and sultry look too.
Enjoy!


I'll be back to daily blogging after the 23rd of June! xx

Selena Gomez Makeup Tutorial

Saturday 15 June 2013

Todays tutorial is Selena Gomez, it's a gorgeous Bronzey look I hope you love it like I do!



I'll be back to daily blogging after the 23rd of June! xx

Moving out, Flying away

Sunday 9 June 2013

Today I've packed up my little room into boxes, and I leave this room forever, I come back to this city in 4 months and in the meantime I'll be living back at home.
I couldn't figure out how to pack my makeup so I've ended up putting it in a shoe box and sticking a fragile label on the lid!



Tomorrow I make my way to Italy for a holiday and I return on the 23rd of June!
In the mean time I won't be blogging because I won't even have the space to bring my laptop, and I don't think the place where we are going has internet, and if it does I don't want to be tempted to use it because a technology detox every once in a while can't be a bad thing, right!?

My videos will still be up every Saturday and I've got some really fun bright, and more natural looks coming up, I can't wait for you to see them!

New Video: Kate Middleton Makeup Tutorial

Saturday 8 June 2013

It's another celebrity transformation look, for this one I created my makeup to emulate Kate Middleton. It's really beautiful and natural that is great for the office or teen school makeup.
I created the loose waves using a straightener.


Handmade burger time!

Friday 7 June 2013

I decided before I leave my student town for 4 months that it would be essential to eat at my favourite place that I can't get at home, so we decided to go to the Handmade burger company, it was so good!
Here's a little look at what we ordered:


Mine is on the left, it has beef, rocket, pesto, mozzarella and then I added a flat mushroom for extra deliciousness!
On the right it was beef, cheese, bacon, rocket, tomato and I think that's it.
We had chips to share and they're really chunky, I like my chips chunky!
I don't normally like burgers that much, but these are just the best that I have ever ever tasted
Then, we had banoffee pie ice cream dessert although unusually I couldn't finish mine.

And with that, I say bye to my favorite places to dine for a little while!

Hanging out at a tattoo parlour

Thursday 6 June 2013

I seem to be doing a lot of this lately, hanging out at piercing tattoo places but just as an observer to my friends or as moral support if needed.

Today two of my friends were getting piercing, one a stud in her nose and the other her second lobe piercing in her ears.
They are both camera shy and I didn't want to freak them out, plus piercings when they're first done go kind of red and don't look super nice so instead I'll show you my nice view from the waiting room before the piercing began.

 I was browsing through all the inspiration books, this one is a print copy of an artists sketch book, it had a lot of roses and geisha in which are my favorites so I liked this book a lot... even if this geisha is kind of disturbing with what can only be described as knitting needles through her eyes!


Maybe next time I'll get a little something!

Video back up!

Wednesday 5 June 2013

I go on holiday next week for two weeks and I'm making an active point to not bring the internet with me, that means laptop and ipad stay at home, and internet on phone stays off but I will take my camera to do a bit of filming for my return but it also means no blog posts for the duration but lots of blog posts when I get back to show you what I got up to!

In the mean time, I don't want to deprive my YouTube of content for two weeks so I've been filming back up videos like a crazy mad woman, as well as trying to move out of my flat to move back home for the Summer and organise everything for holiday- whew!

This is all I have so far:



I still have a new video up tomorrow and it is another 'celebrity' makeup look and I'm thinking of squeezing in another celebrity look today, I want to do something with a bold lip!

Storenvy Summer Purchases

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Storenvy is just great, it's a collection of just really really good, fun products. It's better than eBay in the sense that you don't have 'tat' to filter through but cheaper than lots of products on Etsy. The problem is that there are hardly any UK sellers that I have come across so packages always take their sweet time arriving. Usually that's okay but this time next week I will be on the coast of Italy for two weeks! I was hoping to bring these with me but they are all a 'no show' as of yet, but I thought I'd share them with you anyway.

Firstly I ordered the Orange Anime Backpack. I like the chunky black outline because it looks like I should be in a cartoon!

Sideway Anime Backpack ORANGE 

Unfortunately, it's sold out but here's the ink incase they get it back in stock and I believe that they have a pink version too!
http://monkeybunnyshop.storenvy.com/products/1377233-sideway-anime-backpack-orange


Then, I got myself some saweeeeeet heart print denim shorts, Denim shorts are always essential but I wanted something a little more cutesy and though that this was the perfect alternative

Heart Jean Shorts 
The great bit is that they are still in stock, you can grab your own here: http://syndromestore.com/products/1350363-heart-jean-shorts

Finally, I just couldn't resist the adorable little tail and fluffiness, I know that they are a bit odd, and maybe not something we'd see on the streets in England but my goodness I just love them!

Pantalones Conejito / Bunny Rabbit Shorts 2WH146 
You can grab your own here: http://kawaiiclothing.storenvy.com/products/652233-pantalones-conejito-bunny-rabbit-shorts-2wh146

That's your little peek into my summer wardrobe!

Alton Towers - The Smiler!

Monday 3 June 2013

I am super excited because today I went to Alton Towers Resort Park (A theme park for those of you who don't know) it was my first time going and I was apprehensive about how busy it would be despite being a Monday and during school time because of the huge press 'The Smiler' Roller Coaster had been given as the first of its kind and a world record holder for having 14 loops or 'upside-down bits'

We first ran to Nemesis, Nemesis Sub-Terra, Air and Ripsaw. Of that bunch my favorite was Air. I literally felt like I was flying, your body goes parallel to the floor so that you can strike your best Superman pose, it was really oddly relaxing and smooth.

Then we took the cable car to the Dark Forest where we went on Rita, Th13teen and Oblivion. My favourite of that bunch was thirteen because it was so unexpected, I had no idea what was going to happen and it was the most surprising and unusual, plus the queue was decorated with creepy things to set the mood.

Then, since we'd got all the main ones done and it was only 2pm we decided to go to The Smiler to see how long the queue was and whether we were prepared to wait. We nipped into Hex on the way just because it looked interesting (it wasn't) and then grabbed lunch and joined The Smiler queue. The first part that was slightly off putting is that we had to queue just to get into the main queue. Nonetheless we were told we'd be waiting three hours but we ended up waiting about an hour and 45 minutes, The Smiler's presence is very overpowering since there is such a lot of track, it's really the longest roller coaster I've been on, I think it comes out to around 2 and a half minutes. There's also a huge circular screen in the center of the track playing weird images of cartoon lambs hopping, and all other random and confusing things. Since we had a lot of time to kill we were able to see all the different aspects of the track and even count the fourteen loops.
There was an area that constantly chugged out steam, an area that blasted bright lights in your eyes, an area that had giant yellow dusters rotating in front of you, an area with swirling circular optical illusions. There's probably other aspects to it, but I can't remember too clearly. While queuing there was the persistent 'Smiler' tune which was like a haunting child nursery rhyme being played over and over.


Just before you get seated you go into a dark room with lights and optical illusions projected on the walls, it was fun but I started to feel a bit suffocated after a while.

Each cart sits a fair few people which always makes me feel safer than going in rows of two or four. The start is great and unexpected but I can't recall any straight track, it is just one loop after another after another after another, there is hardly time to catch your breath between, which is probably the whole idea. As for all the different aspects (steam, lights etc) I can genuinely say I didn't notice them, so for me that aspect is gimmicky. I had my eyes open the whole time but it's so quick that they don't have the hypnotizing affect that they promise. There's a little break half way around the track that I thought was the end but then you see a wall inscription saying 'Half way' then it takes a whole new aggressive turn with harsher loops, I did a little damage to my neck even though I braced my head against the back of the seat so it is pretty rough and I came off feeling thoroughly sick and not sue which way is up and which is down.



I did enjoy it, I'm glad that I queued for it and I would go on it again it's just a shame that there is really no hypnotizing element to it whatsoever, despite the attention to detail.

The Perfect Day

Sunday 2 June 2013

Today Was a beautiful day before I even got up!
I knew that I could depend on today to be self indulgent and to do whatever it is that I'd like to do.
I decided to take a friend along with me to visit the new Library that we presumed had opened, from the concept art it looked kind of incredible and although I go back to my home town in just days for four months of Summer, I still wanted to spend the day just there even if it wasn't worth taking any books out.
It turned out that we'd misunderstood and the library still was not open, but will be open when I return for a new academic year in September, so as an alternative we decided to head to the beautifully huge Waterstones book store nearby.
It's absolutely gorgeous with spiraling staircases and chairs all over the place, I love when a place feels like it encourages browsing. We probably got lost in there for maybe two hours, while I took pictures of all the books I dream of owning so that I can add them to my wishlist!


It was super sunny outside, I even wore a vest top, which I never ever wear alone, I am always wearing about 3 layers!
Then we ate, which is always the best part of any day, I had a huge selection of sushi, it was only from Tesco but I really really loved it, I could have cried when it finished, it's been ages since I ate sushi so I thoroughly enjoyed it. The best was the rice on the end that tasted as though it had been mixed with sweet and sour sauce, and the smoked salmon on the rice at the other end, that was just divine. I always leave out the ginger and Wasabi! Too spicy for me, and I forgot to use the Soy sauce. It did come with chopsticks though which was very fun as I've never eaten sushi with chopsticks before

and I did surprisingly okay, plus it saved on washing up.

Then I read in my bed after adding all the books I longed for to an uncontrollably long wishlist.

This has been my perfect day!

How to look like Lana Del Rey - Makeup Tutorial

Saturday 1 June 2013

My newest video and addition to the celebrity looks I have been trying out as of late:


Just add long brown sleek parted hair, maybe a crown of roses, plumped up lips and some 'edgy' clothing