Music of the month - August 2014

Hello readers, it's that time of month where I post another 'Music of the month'. I've listened to a lot more new music than I usually do recently, probably because I'm off school and I've finally discovered the world of Spotify - yes, I have moved over from Grooveshark to Spotify (you can follow my Spotify here), therefore this post is a bit longer than my usual 'Music of the month' posts but I should be back to normal once I'm back at school as I'll be too busy letting my soul die to discover lots of new music.

1. Rude - Magic!

I first heard this song on the Dan and Phil segment of BBC Radio 1 (which was on every Sunday and along with #SuggSunday on Youtube, was one of the highlights of my Sunday but now the show has been changed up and whatnot) and I remember liking it. Then I saw on Spotify that it's the number 1 track everywhere so I listened to it again and I just cannot grow tired of this song, it's strange for me to be into a 'mainstream' song (oh God, I bet I sounded like an utter hipster, I'm not, I just generally don't like many songs in the charts)

2. On the Radio - Regina Spektor

This past month has definitely been the month of Regina Spektor for me. I had only ever listened to the odd song by her (I love 'You Don't Know Me' by Ben Folds and she sings on that, so that was my first impression of her). She reminds me a lot of Sara Bareilles' old stuff which I used to love. I think Regina has such a great voice and I love musicians who mostly use piano as their main instrument in their music (this is probably because I'm a pianist so I'm a bit biased but hey)

3. I Want to Break Free - Queen

I have loved Queen for a long long time, but I go through phases with their songs and at the moment I'm going through a phase with this song. In addition to this being an amazing song, I really like the video. It's such a fun song to sing along to, and I love the guitar solo break in the song!

4. Better - Regina Spektor

I don't really have too much to say about this song but it's fairly upbeat, and I just needed another Regina Spektor song in this post because I listened to her non-stop for the most part of the summer - she really is just phenomenal.

5. Gorilla - Bruno Mars

I listened to this song when it was released and I remembered liking it but I had forgotten about it, seeming as I've made a Spotify account though I've gone and re-listened to a bunch of songs I used to like and honestly I've been listening to Bruno Mars' most recent album a hell of a lot which is weird because I never really rated him much. I have a friend who is really into him so she raved on about him and I guess I never saw what was rave-worthy about him, but he is such a good musician and performer and I think this song is really catchy.

6. Left Hand Free - Alt-J

I've loved Alt-J for a while now but I hadn't heard this song until someone I follow on tumblr reblogged it and I always try to make a habit of listening to all of or most of the songs reblogged onto my dashboard as I follow some really cool people who listen to awesome music, so I listened to this and my first thought was that this doesn't sound anything like Alt-J but I still really like it. I'm not sure what I'd compare it to, it's a bit like Arctic Monkeys and I love them so that could be why I like this.

7. Easy Money - Johnny Marr

I don't know whether this has come across on my blog before but if you follow my tumblr, twitter or instagram (cheeky self promo), you'll probably know I adore The Smiths and I think both Morrissey and Johnny Marr are incredibly talented human beings. I listened to Johnny Marr's last album and didn't think much of it (I reckon they're growers), so when I heard he had released a new single I wasn't particularly fussed but when I listened to it it just stuck to me, it's really catchy, the guitar part is amazing, and I'd probably be lying if I said I hadn't listened to it about fifty times since it came out - I'm very much looking forward to his new album now.

8. Stop the World I Wanna Get Off With You - Arctic Monkeys

I heard this song a while ago when it came out but with Arctic Monkeys I go through phases of their songs so I suppose I'm going through a phase with this one at the moment, I think it can be seen as quite a romantic song (Alex Turner - you can hide behind that leather jacket and your sunglasses but we all know you're a big softie), I'm also not sure but I think there may be a double meaning because 'get off' could be seen from two points of view I think - thoughts?

9. Arabella - Arctic Monkeys

Again, this isn't really a new song but it's one that I've rediscovered and just been listening to a hell of a lot. I think the whole AM album is amazing, although I think most Arctic Monkeys albums are evenly matched and it's hard to pick out one and say it's the best (but I think 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' possibly sticks out a tiny bit more for me)

10. Apres Moi - Regina Spektor

As I said before, I've been listening to a hell of a lot of Regina Spektor this month, I just think she's incredible, so it was very hard for me not to just put thirty Regina Spektor songs for this month's edition of 'Music of the month', I quite like this song because she sounds very passionate whilst she's singing it and she generally performs quite well, I won't try and figure out what the song means because from looking up the song meaning it has caused a fair bit of controversy.

Thanks for reading about my favourite music this month!

What music have you been loving this month?

September Wishlist

Hello readers, hope you're all well. It's the end of August which means it's time for a wishlist for the month of September, if you look below you'll see an image of the things I want with links of where to get them and whatnot. It's a somewhat longer wishlist than usual because Autumn and Winter fashion is what I live for (I just can't get by in the summer, I need the darkness that only colder seasons can provide)

The makeup brushes are from eBay for only £8.95 in a variety of colour, the picture actually doesn't show all the brushes that come in the set because it's actually a ten piece set which is amazing value for under a tenner. I've read a review on them and apparently they're very good for the cost, and you can get them in a variety of colours like black, white, blue and pink - I'm actually thinking I might go for the pink ones because they look really cute!!

The Revlon lipstick in Really Red is £7.49 in Boots and Superdrug at the moment but in Boots you can get 2 for £10 on Revlon products which is amazing so I'll probably buy it there, plus I prefer the points system in Boots. This is a well known dupe for Mac's Ruby Woo and it's half the price of a Mac lipstick which is great value, I think red lipstick looks really nice and I'm becoming more confident with wearing bright lipsticks now so I think this would look really nice in the Autumn/Winter.

The oversized jumper from H&M is £12.99 which isn't bad for a nice quality jumper, I have barely any jumpers and I think I need to get some in for when the weather gets colder. I'd like either a burgundy one or a black one for winter colours I think.

The boyfriend jeans from H&M in the picture were £13 but they are now sold out, so the ones I have put a link for are similar but just darker and they're £29.99 which is a little pricey for me as I hardly ever wear jeans due to body confidence, but I would like to buy boyfriend jeans and gather the confidence from somewhere to wear them because I think they can look really nice.

The scuba skirt from H&M (can you tell I love what H&M currently has in stock??) is only £10 at the moment, I reckon it will be sold out soon but I essentially just want a black pleated skirt. I have a white one that I ordered from boohoo a while ago but I think a black one would be more versatile, and I'm always looking for new skirts as I wear skirts whenever I leave the house (why bother to wear a skirt at home when you can wear pyjama bottoms?)

The pleated skirt from H&M (I think I'm going to be shopping at H&M a lot over the next month!!) is only £12.99 which is a really good price, I love the polka dot pattern on it and I also love navy as I think it suits me? I think this would be a versatile item that could be worn in the winter and in the summer.

The black platform sneakers from H&M cost £14.99 but I know for a fact that Primark is doing some like these so I'll probably just buy them from there. I'm 5'7 so I'm aware I don't need the height, but I think platform shoes look really nice and make your feet look a bit smaller so I'm all about that because I have pretty big feet (you know what they say about big feet right?)

Thanks for reading my wishlist!

What's on your wishlist for September?

Drugstore/high street Beauty haul - Superdrug, Savers and more

Hello there readers, you may be shocked to learn that this month I don't have a Primark haul for you all - very sorry, I did buy one thing there this month which I'll show in this post but I have bought quite a few beauty items from Savers, Superdrug and from my local market that I'll show you. If you look below, you'll also see a video so you can grab a cup of tea and watch that, then look at the blog post or do whatever you want - live life on the edge, carpe diem, #YOLO (that's about as gangster as this post gets, sorry)

1. Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water - £2.99 from Savers

I've heard so many good reviews of this product and I felt I had avoided buying it for long enough, hence I bought it. £2.99 seems such good value for this big a bottle, it claims to give you 200 uses but I'm not sure how much I believe that - maybe I should make a chart of how many uses I actually get out of it?!

2. Nivea Soft Moisturising Cream - £1.99 from Savers

I hadn't really read any reviews on this product until after I bought it, but it was reduced and my friend who I was with at the time highly recommended it. I reckon it's going to be very moisturising as you can use it on your body as well as your face, which should be good for the upcoming winter months as I think my skin can get quite dry even though 

3. MUA Bronzed Perfection - £3.00 from Superdrug

I have been in need of a new bronzer for ages because the bronzer I have been using at the moment isn't even a branded bronzer (yes let me be shunned by the beauty community), I have been using a cheap bronzer that I got in a kit from when I was about 13 and as I use it everyday I figured it was time to buy a branded one even if it's MUA which is on the more inexpensive side. It's quite matte so I think that'll make contouring much better, it's also a massive size which is great value for money!

4. Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - £4.19 from Superdrug

This is a repeat purchase, I don't think this concealer lives up to the hype it's given in the beauty world, but in that moment I knew I needed a new one and I didn't know another high coverage one to turn to. I got it in the colour warm medium which is a bit light for me but as winter is coming I'm sure it'll be fine as I get paler. It's so hard finding a good concealer when you're mixed race, most companies seem to think dark = dark orange which doesn't counteract my dark circles at all because I'm quite a pale mixed race person so.. it's a struggle to say the least.

5. Rimmel Lasting Finish Nail Polish - £1.00 each from Market

I'd like to firstly say, I'm sorry if you don't have a market near you that sells these nail polishes at such a low price, but I figured you'd still want to see them and you can get these nail polishes anywhere anyway. I got them in the colour Black Cab which is your staple black, and Double Decker Red which is your basic red. I think these are especially good Autumn-Winter colours so I'll be able to use them over the next few months as Summer is fleeting, but I reckon you can pull these off in Summer as well. I don't actually have a black or a red nail polish so when I saw them I knew I needed them, and for £1.00 each I couldn't complain.

Thanks for reading/watching!!

What beauty products have you bought recently?

Spitalfields market and the Breakfast club

Hello there readers. I thought I'd share a snippet of my life with you today, about this time last week I went to Spitalfields market with two of my closest friends and we had a really lovely time, and then went back to my friend's house for an 80s films themed sleepover so it was a lot of fun!

To kick start the day, we went to The Breakfast Club in Spitalfields.

No word of a lie, these were the best pancakes I've ever had. Ever since my holiday to the USA last year, I have been missing IHOP a lot especially when eating English pancakes and realising how ours don't even compare, but these may be even better than IHOP.

The Breakfast Club was full of notes from previous customers and random bits and bobs like concert tickets from people who had seen concerts in that area.

After stuffing ourselves, we went off to the market and the cute shops around it.

There was this shop selling vintage homeware and I couldn't not take a couple of snaps!

After buying a thing or two in Spitalfields, we made our way over to Brick Lane where we didn't buy anything but we did stop for a Starbucks - my first ever Starbucks, I feel like I've been truly accepted into the hipster lifestyle (don't worry I am being ironic)

After having a Starbucks and a nice sit down, we hopped on a bus and went to Oxford street mostly just for the Disney store and Selfridges - we found ourselves very overcome with emotion in the Disney store, I have no shame whatsoever. When we were finished on Oxford Street, we made our way back to my friend's house for some baking and 80s movies!!!

Can't talk about baking without a bit of food porn eh? This is the cookie dough we made for the slutty brownies!

This is the slutty brownies before they went into the oven (if you want a recipe post for this please comment down below and I'll make them again!)

The finished results.. believe me, the pictures do not do the brownies justice. I think I've only just started living since trying slutty brownies, and I think my friends are still a bit freaked out by the things I said I would do to this brownie..

Of course just slutty brownies wasn't enough, so we made two other types of cookies. This dough turned into delicious nutella cookies.

The recipe for these nutella cookies can be found here.

Top tip: eat these while they're hot, they're much tastier hot and soft!

My mouth is watering just remembering these chocolatey delights, of course that wasn't enough so we made BISCUITCEPTION (see below)

This is biscuitception a.k.a cookies with chocolate fingers inside, these were the softest cookies I've ever tried - it's like a cookie mixed with a cake!

We spent the rest of the night and the rest of the next day watching 80s films such as Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, E.T, Big, and The Goonies. I might as well say that 80s films are my absolute favourite films, we did plan for more but we didn't have time so we will definitely be doing another one at some point in the future.

We also managed to do a face mask in between and order pizza which was great.

Thanks for reading this lifestyle post!

Book review - My Mad Fat Diary by Rae Earl

Hello there readers, hope you're all well. It's been a while since I've done a book review, honestly because my reading patterns have been a bit all over the place since I finished school. Usually I read my book on the bus to and from school, and before I go to bed but I'm not going to school and I've been going to bed at late hours. Anyway, I finally finished My Mad Fat Diary which I borrowed from my friend. I wanted to read this book because I was obsessed with the series, I think it's a series that grips you in so quickly and series 2 had me constantly on edge, I would talk about it nearly everyday to my friends just because it made me so nervous. Then my friend bought the books and said I'd like them so I gave them a go, and I can quickly say this is a positive review!

Synopsis:

It's 1989, and Rae is a fat, boy-mad 17-year old girl, living in Stamford, Lincolnshire with her Mum and their deaf white cat in a council house with a mint off-green bath suite and a larder Rae can't keep away from. 

My thoughts:

I think this book was written in a way that draws you in but it also feels like you're talking to a friend, so you have a personal connection to Rae. Many of the characters in Rae's life are given nicknames such as 'Battered Sausage' and 'Haddock' so in that respect it's very similar to the 'Angus, thongs and perfect snogging' series but it's not quite to the same length as that because I found I got confused with some of the words in 'Angus, thongs and perfect snogging' but in this the nicknames were kept to a minimum. 

The storyline doesn't really have much of an ending because it is like a diary, plus there's a sequel so it is like life in that it doesn't have a cheesy ending but it just stops with a conclusion and summary. I found that okay to deal with as it was very similar to reading a regular girl's diary which wouldn't have a happy ending where everything ends perfectly.

I absolutely adored all of the music references in this book, there was a reference to Morrissey or the Smiths every few pages which was awesome considering how much I love Morrissey so I smiled like a loon every time he was mentioned. 

I felt like I had a connection to Rae on a personal level having had experience with mental illness and food issues, so what I would say is that if you're easily triggered don't read this. I didn't find it majorly triggering but there were some parts where I had to put the book down and take a breather because I needed to just stop, but it also provides an insight of what it's like to be mentally ill if you haven't had that experience which I feel is important to raise awareness about mental illness.

Overall rating:

I think I'd give this a high 4/5. I had read some really bad reviews of it and my friend said she enjoyed it but it wasn't amazing so I went into it with pretty low expectations, I was quite impressed though because I found myself smiling quite a lot whilst I was reading it.

If you liked the show, definitely give it a read because it's so similar but in some ways it's different because the characters in the show are based on a combination of characters in the book, and some bits are changed or dramatized, but the basic atmosphere is there. Alternatively, if you didn't watch the show but quite like reading books that are set in the 80s give this a read because the show was changed to the 90s but I quite liked the book being set in the 80s (possibly more than the show being set in the 90s), Rae's life is strongly influenced by music so if you're like me and music history interests you then give it a go.

Did you watch 'My Mad Fat Diary'?

Have you read the book or are you planning to?