Music of the month - February 2015

It was really hard for me to narrow down February's edition of Music of the month, I think during half-term I discovered a lot of new music on Spotify (which you can follow me on here if you want) so I have a few honorary mentions at the end of the post.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

1. Sugar - Maroon 5

I used to really really like Maroon 5, Songs About Jane is such a good album and to be honest over recent years I've just went off them. I still think they're better than a lot of mainstream artists out there* but goddamn they do some catchy songs, and Sugar is one of them. It's pretty cheesy, the video's pretty cheesy, but it's a lot of fun and I like it.

2. Modern Jesus - Portugal. The Man

I had never heard of Portugal. The Man but Spotify is a beautiful device, half the things I listen to now are Spotify discoveries. I would describe it as alternative, it's a little bit rock-y but not extremely. The actual music isn't particularly inventive but I do quite like the lyrics.

3. Sweatpants - Childish Gambino

Where has Childish Gambino been all my life? He's a bit like Drake 2.0, sorry not sorry, I never really got into Drake, but Childish Gambino is really sweet and chilled and I just like this song because it makes me feel badass saying 'don't be mad 'cause I'm doing me better than you doing you' - seriously just say that a few times whilst picturing someone you don't like and I guarantee you'll feel hella badass.

4. Here Comes Your Man - Pixies

Pixies are a group I had listened to in the past but I hadn't heard much, however after reading and re-watching High Fidelity I decided to listen to the music mentioned in the book and the film, one of which being this song. It sounds a little bit Beatle-esque with the guitar and it's pretty catchy too, have to say Pixies have become a bit of a new obsession!

5. For Tomorrow - Blur

Blur are most definitely not new to me but I hadn't listened to this song. Modern Life is Rubbish is a bit of an ignored album for me, it's not that it's bad, I just haven't really properly sat down and listened to it, I still haven't but I think I saw someone reblog this song on Tumblr so I listened to it and just really liked it. Blur are one of my favourite bands (although I'm part of the small population that likes Blur and Oasis.. weird right?) - this song is super catchy, plus whilst I'm on the subject of Blur, I really love their new single Go Out which is going to be on their new album The Magic Whip, although it sounds a bit like Oasis in my opinion which is an odd musical direction for Blur to go in.

Honary mentions go to Hozier, My Chemical Romance, The Clash, and a last minute addition is Fyfe - Fyfe may make it into next month but I literally only just discovered him a couple of days before putting up this post so sorry Fyfe, you didn't make the cut.

What have been your favourite songs this month?

*Hipster alert

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Blooming heck, that's a big brush!

Those were my initial thoughts when receiving the *Dusting and Powder brush from The Vintage Cosmetic Company. Seriously, it's bigger than my head, and I have a mammoth noggin. 

The outer packaging is really adorable - it's pink and floral, total winner (you can see it by clicking here to go to the website). The actual packaging on the brush is very simple, it's cream with white bristles that go black at the end which I think looks really nice although simplistic. It says 'Dusting & Powder' on the brush which I think is pretty good if you're new to makeup brushes and not sure what brushes to use for what purpose. As I said, this brush is massive and it measures in at 220mm, but I think that makes it fit for purpose because it means you can put a light dusting of powder on which is great if you're like me and have a tendency to mattify yourself until you look two-dimensional..

Besides from the packaging and size, this brush is so so soft and I know that's what every Blogger/YouTuber/Internet-friend says about makeup brushes but this really really is. Let's cut the mendacity and I'll be honest with you, when I received this I spent a good ten minutes just circling the brush around my face - it's that soft.

I haven't suffered any molting with this brush either, and it has shortened my morning makeup routine a fair bit because it takes virtually seconds now to powder - #winning**

This brush costs £17.50 so it's by no means cheap, but given the quality of it I think it's probably worth the investment if you're the type of person who prefers to invest in really nice brushes opposed to lots of cheaper ones, so overall I really like this mammoth powder brush and I'd definitely recommend giving it a go.

What's your go-to brushes brand?

P.S - I made a new Instagram account, the link's down below!

*PR sample
**Old memes are the way to a reader's heart, I know it, you know it, let's not lie to each other

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Casablanca and a nice MAC lipstick

Amongst my many hobbies, such as listening to music that most 18 year olds would immediately turn their nose up at because it's either not in the UK top 40 or the artists are much older than the age of 40, I am a keen film enthusiast. In order to be able to give yourself this title of film enthusiast, there are some trials you'll have to endure - one of which being, you've got to watch Casablanca.

Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, famously says at the end of the film 'I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship', and after having a gander around Selfridges I can firmly say the same thing about MAC's lipstick in Taupe.

In the history of blogging, I'm not sure I've ever really come across a negative MAC lipstick review. I think it's partially the fact that you've spent an extortionate £15.50 on a lipstick, so you have some sort of obligation to say that it's good, but I think it's also that MAC just know how to do their lipsticks.

The packaging is sleek and classy, it's not in any need of an Instagram filter that's for sure. Plus it feels quite weighted, which isn't necessarily a pro or a con, it just feels well made and, dare I say it, #prestige.

In terms of the actual lipstick quality, it's long lasting and pigmented. It's matte but not in any way, shape, or form drying. Lip liners aren't required in this realm of lipstick pigmentation, but if you want to go full on Kylie Jenner, lip liner looks awesome with this stuff and just helps increase the longevity that much more. The shade is a cross between brown and rose, leaning more on the side of brown though making it the ultimate 90s lip.

I find it hard to fault this lipstick, and as I said earlier 'I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship'. Not just with this particular lipstick, but with MAC on the whole. 

Here's looking at you kid - are you a fan of MAC?

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Rubber soul

Shirt - HMV

Skirt - Forever 21

Cardigan - Primark

Tights - Primark

Shoes (Dr Marten shoes, not pictured) - Office

As you may or may not have realised by now, The Beatles are my favourite band and have been since I was 11 (can you tell I was the coolest kid on the playground?) Rubber Soul was once my favourite album by The Beatles, it has been overtaken by A Hard Day's Night but I still think Rubber Soul is a top notch album and there's not a single song I don't like on there. Although, with the exception of Revolver and the White album, there isn't an album by The Beatles with songs I dislike*.

Are you a fan of The Beatles?

*Whilst The Beatles are arguably the greatest band to step foot on this world, songs like Yellow Submarine, Piggies and Rocky Raccoon are just not good songs. Given that The Beatles wrote so many iconic songs, we can just let this slide.

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Beauty haul - Boots (and a cheeky purchase from MAC, oops)

As you may or may not have known, I put myself on a spending ban in January because I felt I had been buying too much makeup, but I broke it a few days ago (lasted a couple of weeks extra than I had planned) and did some naughty hauling*. I can assure you I won't be shopping like this again for quite a few months, but I won't be on a full-on spending ban again, I'll just make sure I'm only buying essentials y'know. Anyway, without further ado, I will show you what I bought.

Revlon Colourburst Laquer Balm in Coy - £7.99
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Smokey Rose - £7.49
Revlon Colourstay Concealer in Deep - £6.99**
Rimmel Lasting Finish 1000 Kisses Lip Liner in Cappuccino - £2.99
Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Black - £3.99
Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner - £7.99
Maybelline Colour Tattoo 24hr Leather Effect in Creamy Beige - £4.99
Essie Nail Polish in Licorice - £7.99
Barry M Matte Nail Paint Top Coat - £2.99
MAC Matte Lipstick in Taupe - £15.50 (currently sold out at Selfridges, sorry)

As you can see, I spent rather a lot but due to A levels I don't really go shopping too often anyway so I probably won't go properly shopping again for a few months (so you can stop judging me now).

Have you tried any of these products?
If so, would you recommend them?

*Makes it sound as if I've been buying toys of the sexual persuasion, I can ensure you that I have not and if I were I wouldn't show you, we cater for prudes everywhere on 'fashion, beauty and an existential crisis'.
**I was under the impression that I had bought Medium Deep, this is a tad too dark for me - darn.

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"Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, except polio"

A phrase that has bothered me for essentially my whole life is 'whatever kills you makes you stronger', my thoughts are illustrated in this Tumblr post I reblogged. I am somewhat of a pessimist in most situations so perhaps that why I find the phrase particularly bothersome, but it's a genuinely flawed form of motivation.

What many people don't know is that The Inbetweeners is actually full of motivational quotes.

I think in a lot of cases, it's important to tell people that things get better. Whether it be regarding school, as there will one day be a point where you won't be in education, or whether it be regarding mental health issues, as sometimes it can seem like things will never improve, it is in a lot of cases important to emphasize that things do get better.

However, telling people that because something doesn't kill you, you'll end up stronger, is silly - in fact, to use a phrase coined by Jeremy Bentham, it's 'nonsense upon stilts'*. For example, on average 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence over their lifetimes and between 6-10% of women suffer domestic violence in a given year - sure, they may not have died, but that doesn't mean they ended up stronger on the other side and it's quite likely that the experience stayed with them and has had a massively  negative impact on their day-to-day lives. Saying 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' belittles a person's problem and invalidates their feelings as a result, and there are many more situations where this same thing would happen and a person would end up having their problem reduced and their right to feel and react to a situation in a certain way revoked.

I understand that there are some situations where a bad experience will teach you how to respond in a future, similar situation because you'll have newfound knowledge, but does that make you stronger? If a close relative dies and you grieve and learn to go about your day-to-day life again, that doesn't really make you stronger for when another close relative dies. Life isn't a mathematical equation, no situation is ever exactly the same so even if you know how to respond to a similar situation, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be stronger in that situation. Saying 'whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger' makes it seem like a bad period in someone's life is just a learning curve which is absolute crap, bad things happen to people, and there probably isn't some sort of purpose behind it, it's just 'screws fall out all the time, the world's an imperfect place'** so what we should do is let people respond to bad situations in their own way (as long as it's not hurting other people y'know sensibly), don't attempt to reduce their problem by telling them it's just a learning curve.

So, I propose that we change the phrase:
 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' 
and replace it with:
 'what doesn't kill won't make you stronger but more knowledgeable in a certain situation so you may have a better idea of how to respond but that won't at all diminish the pain caused because your feelings are valid and shouldn't be dismissed'
But I somehow don't think that's got as much of a ring to it, but as long as you remember that your feelings are valid, and it's okay to not be okay sometimes, that's all that matters here.

Do you like motivational quotes?

*The benefits of doing Philosophy A level truly is learning quotes like 'nonsense upon stilts' to use in day to day conversation
**Check here for the quote reference

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Ten things and ten blogs #2

one.

The 1st of February can only mean one thing - it's time to change the month on my calendar - y'know it's going to be a good year when you have a Beatles calendar.

Try and spot baby Bess.

two.
It was my Dad's birthday on the 2nd February, we had a nice quiet day in and watched 'the Buddy Holly story', it's not strictly historically accurate but I enjoyed it nonetheless (I do enjoy me a bit of Buddy Holly). It was also my Mum's birthday on the 5th February, unfortunately I had parent's evening on the same day but we managed to make it home with enough time to eat a meal and have some cake, and watch this show called 'the Tomorrow people' which is a show from from the 70s - full of bad acting and terrible special effects, but it was pretty funny because of that.

three.
My piano teacher passed an analogy onto me during my lesson, to put it into context I was finding it difficult to play triplet semiquaver chords in the tempo I had to play it in (bloody Oscar Peterson, he's brilliant, but he sure didn't think about incompetent grade 8 students when writing 'Hallelujah Time') so she said 'it's like running a race where both of your shoes are tied together, so you have to cut the laces [so cut out some of the notes in the chords], you've ruined a perfectly nice set of laces but at least then you can finish the race' which I thought was a good analogy for toxic relationships and is quite a relevant theme in my life at the moment, you may feel worse in the short term for cutting people off but at least then you can continue on with your life and move on, etcetera etcetera* (a bit cringe, but I enjoyed it nonetheless).
Whilst on the topic of my piano lessons, my grade 8 piano exam date has been confirmed - 18th March, so I have just about a month, which is crazy because ever since I started playing the piano at age 4 I always wanted to complete grade 8 and here I am potentially doing that, absolutely bizarre.

four.
I finished reading Howl's Moving Castle (which you can see a review of here) and it was so so good, now I really want to rewatch the film as it's one of my all-time faves.

five.
I think I've made it clear to you all that Harry Potter has a special place in my heart, but in case I hadn't made it clear enough, I did a Harry Potter tag on my YouTube channel (yes, you may not care about my favourite Harry Potter books and films, but there's an entire montage of creepy tweets I sent to Tom Felton in 2013 and a badly photoshopped picture of me with Tom Felton, so y'know y'all gotta check that out)

six.

Call me crazy if you wish (most people do) but I never played Pokemon as a child. I used to like the show but I was a Digimon girl at heart, but my parents gifted me Pokemon White for DS because I wanted it for Christmas and didn't get it for me so they gave it to me on their birthdays (me and my brother usually get one present on other people's birthday to avoid negative feelings) and I have been obsessed. I know I'm sort of a noob but I'm honestly loving it, my Oshawott evolved into a Dewott and I found it very emotional - I'm sure you'll understand.

seven.

Hank Green uploaded a video talking about the common fear of being forgotten which I think, especially if you're stuck in a permanent state of existential crisis and constantly wondering why we exist and what the point is if we're all going to be forgotten anyway like me, is a pretty good video to watch. It may be things you know already but it's nice to have a reminder, plus from Hank Green - it's sort of a double whammy y'know.

eight.
Y'know how I said in my last 'ten things and ten blogs' post that binge watching generation 1 of Skins in the space of a week was bad.. try binge watching generation 2, series 4, in the space of a couple of days - generation 2 is my favourite generation as well. I then went on to binge watch the whole of generation 3 in the space of a few days, my heart is so broken right now it may as well be non-existent.

nine.
Kanye West's video for Only One is one of the cutest things I have watched in a long time, I already liked the song (not just because it's Paul McCartney and Kanye West a.k.a modern deities) but the song's actually really sweet, I think North is one of the most adorable babies I've ever seen in my life, and that's probably one of the most generic things I've ever said in my life but I'm 'totes hipster' the rest of the time so it's okay.

ten.

I literally started cry laughing at this short clip of Wallace and Gromit. I haven't the faintest idea why I found it so funny, but I was in hysterics (so I recommend you watch it too, y'know if you want something to brighten up your day)

blogs.
Little Fickle (in particular this post)
 Magpie Jasmine
Keep dreaming
Sailboat
Porcelainbeautyx
Stephanie's look
Aspiring London
Robowecop
Ellalogy
The beauty ideal

What's been the best thing you've done in the past couple of weeks?

*For reference, check out Sweet and Tender Hooligan by The Smiths

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Book review - High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

I'm going to be frank. I love reading the book before the film generally, but it's very rarely that I do it because it's usually a film that brings the book to my attention - I am so sorry. That's how I came across this book, I really like the film, and I chose to read the book because I needed to read a funny book as part of my 2015 reading challenge so I googled 'funny books' to get some ideas and saw this there, so I thought I'd give it a go because I remembered finding the movie pretty funny. Furthermore, I felt as Valentine's Day was coming up (and this review is going up on Valentine's Day), a book about a bad breakup and the story of other breakups was just relevant.

Synopsis:

Do you know your desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups? Rob does. He keeps a list, in fact. But Laura isn't on it - even though she's just become his latest ex. He's got his life back, you see. He can do what he wants when he wants: like listen to whatever music he likes, look up the girls that are on his list, and generally behave as if Laura never mattered. But Rob finds he can't move on. He's stuck in a really deep groove - and it's called Laura. Soon, he's asking himself some big questions: about love, about life - and about why we choose to share ours with the people we do.

My thoughts:

I just want to say that this book is quite possibly my favourite book of all time, which is a sweeping statement, but that's how much I enjoyed it. I found myself constantly laughing, and I loved all of the references to music - I'm pretty certain I'm Rob, purely because he loves The Beatles (seriously like he's on my level of Beatlemaniac) and he quite likes The Smiths amongst other cool artists and groups, but he's a massive twonk - you can quite understand why Laura splits up with him, but you also sort of like him too, or at least I did but that's probably because I relate to him. Rob cares more about music than he does maintaining relationships whether they be with friends, family, or people of the romantic persuasion. I think my favourite character was Barry (who's played by Jack Black in the film and he does a brilliant job), Barry is sassy as heck and he's even less likeable than Rob but I think that's why I like him, I found myself laughing whenever Barry was mentioned. 

The storyline wasn't an epic story, it's not life changing in that sense, but it's so funny and if you're into music (y'know music history, pop music on the whole) this book will definitely be an enjoyable read. I really love Nick Hornby's writing style, it's conversational and straightforward but not in any means simplistic, just not overly complicated making it suitable for practically anyone.

I feel that because one of the recurring jokes in the book is the lists of 5, I should do a list of 5 best things about the book:
1. Barry (just Barry, no explanation needed)
2. The music references - especially the ones made to The Beatles
3. Rob's annoying behaviour (he's a loner who can't bear to be alone, it's pretty funny)
4. Hornby's comfortable writing style (I'm sorry if that's a strange way to put it, but it just is comfortable and conversational)
5. The recurring lists of 5 in the book

Overall rating:

I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads, I really really enjoyed it and I'm rewatching the film as I'm writing this very review, and finding it even funnier than I did the first time now that I've read the book. As I said, I've discovered I love Hornby's writing style so I think I'm actually going to read another Hornby book very soon!

Have you read or seen High Fidelity?

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Bitter about Valentine's? Get the heck over it!

I'm 18 years old and I've never really had a proper boyfriend, sure I had some primary school ones, but preferably I'd like to pretend that cringey era in my life never happened. Nevertheless, I've still never been bitter about not having a Valentines. For the majority of my life, I never really cared, I treated it as another day. Then when I got older in high school I started watching rom-coms and consuming copious amounts of food with a high sugar content to make some sort of ironic statement (it's always about the irony with me), but for all of my teenage years, without fail, I find so many people being bitter about Valentine's Day, and I ask you why.

Exhibit A of the rom-coms watched on Valentine's Day, although I've seen both Bridget Jones films too many times to recall (well.. how much is too much when you have Hugh Grant and Colin Firth?)

When I started noticing the bitterness around February 14th, it was generally focused upon the fact that the person writing it was single. So, fine, you're jealous and you want to be in a relationship, that's your prerogative sure, but I don't understand why this influx of sourness is focused upon Valentine's Day. When you go to a wedding, you generally don't go feeling sorry for yourself because you're not married (although marriage shouldn't be a goal in life, y'know oppression of women in its most traditional form but you can do it if you want yada yada yada different topic for a different blog post). When it's someone's anniversary, you don't go feeling sorry for yourself because you haven't been in a relationship that long or you're not in a relationship, so it doesn't really explain why people are so bitter around Valentine's Day.

The second source of bitterness is the commercial aspect of Valentine's Day. You'd be a bit stupid to ignore the fact that Valentine's Day is or at least has become a commercial holiday, but what holiday or occasion hasn't? We live in a world dominated by Capitalism, you can't just opt out of it (the revolution is comin' dudes), this means that most things are based upon a system of commercialism, but why is it mostly Valentine's Day that takes the hits? I know Christmas takes some punches, but let's be honest it's mostly Valentine's Day that suffers. Let's think of your birthday for example, it's possible that you're part of the small population that doesn't celebrate your birthday, but generally it's a day of gift receiving and essentially spending money, but you don't seem to complain and no one else seems to complain either  - can you imagine?

"Gee wiz, I hate your birthday, it's such a commercial occasion, we should instead focus our attention to overthrowing the bourgeoisie and destroying the rigid class system"

Alright comrade, we get your point, Valentine's Day is commercial, but you can't opt out of Capitalism, so unless you're going to join the revolution and start to attempt to crush the elite, your criticisms are pointless and, in my opinion, seem a little pretentious. 

It's pretty easy to say that you should celebrate your love with another person (or more than that if you're into polygamy) every day, but is it really such a satanic practice to have one day dedicated to really showing a person you love them? Daily routine can become mundane and we can become blasé about sentiments that we receive on a daily basis. Furthermore, we don't celebrate the fact that we're aging and rapidly reaching an inevitable death everyday so why should we 'celebrate' the fact that we've found a person  who we love everyday? I'm not advising you ignore your partner every other day of the year, but there's a difference between acknowledging affection towards someone else daily and celebrating so criticising Valentine's day on the grounds that you should celebrate your love for someone else every day is a little preposterous.

Essentially, all I'm trying to say, is stop being so damn bitter y'all. If you don't want to celebrate Valentine's Day, don't, but don't rain on someone else's parade because they may be perfectly happy celebrating it and that's their choice, you can easily ignore one day of the year, so get the heck over it. If someone, who's forever alone like me, can, so can you.

What are your opinions on Valentine's Day?

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Sod off Demi, I wear makeup for me

When I was 12 years old, my idol was Demi Lovato. This was before she came out with her mental illnesses and it became cool to like her, I loved Sonny with a Chance and I thought Don't Forget was one of the best albums of all time, and for a long she remained my idol. More so, after she announced she was mentally ill, she became a beacon of hope for me in some sense, but over time my adoration decreased and after her tweets about makeup, whatever adoration I had for her is virtually gone. Her tweets actually came to my attention through Gabby from Velvetgh0st and I really agree with her opinions on the matter, you probably all know who she is already but I had to just note that it was through her that I picked up on this.

The thing I find most problematic with her attitude towards makeup is the fact that she has been an icon for empowerment for a long time, even more so after she announced to the world that she had been suffering with an eating disorder, and it honestly just upsets me more than anything that someone who I once looked up to would turn around and try to tell people, namely women in her tweets, not to express themselves or to make themselves feel more confident through the means of makeup. 

Her underlying point being 'you don't need makeup to be beautiful' is a sound point, but the way she illustrated her point was poor. Many people, myself included, generally don't feel remotely attractive without make up and that sucks, it sucks a lot, but for her to make those people feel guilty for wearing makeup, whether in excess amounts of not, is quite heavy handed given that she claims to be all for people doing what they have to do to feel confident in their own skin. Plus, she is a celebrity who performs, does photo shoots, interviews.. the whole celeb shabam y'know, so the odds are that in fact she wears a hell of a lot of makeup. Yes, she probably has a make up artist to make sure everything's perfectly blended and she has the crème de la crème of cosmetics, but that means that she, in fact, wears probably the same amount of makeup as the people she's criticising. 

Furthermore, makeup, at the end of the day, is an art form. As said by Dan Howell (here), it's 'art for your face' and I think in that 27 second video, Dan made a good point about how it is up to the person putting on the make up and whilst he has his preferences, it's primarily up to the person putting on the makeup. As long as what you're putting onto your face isn't hurting other people or yourself, and if it's making you happy, no one really should get a say in what you're doing. Plus, a lot of people use make up for the fun of the application and not to impress other people. The idea that women* only apply make up to please other people, mostly men, is one of the most aggravating opinions a person can hold. Men generally don't care about whether an eyeshadow is well blended or if your eyeliner is on fleek, so can we just disregard the idea that women only use makeup to impress men? Please?

I do really think that people don't need makeup to be beautiful, we are all inherently beautiful (y'know unless you're David Cameron, Nigel Farage or a Thatcherite, but I diverge..) but wearing makeup is a right you have and if you want to utilise that right, that is your prerogative and no one has the right to criticise you for that. If we start criticising a person's right to wear makeup how they want to wear it, whether it's for a confidence boost or for the sheer thrill of the application, where do we stop criticising the choices that people make**? If it's not hurting yourself or anyone else, the hell with it - do it.  There's already enough judgement regarding what women wear clothes-wise, I couldn't even tell you the amount of times I've been criticised for wearing a short skirt or shorts because it makes me look like a hartlot or that I'm trying to impress men, so it would be nice if people, in this case Demi Lovato, could let people do what they want if it's making themselves happy and not hurting other people in the process. If celebrities start criticising people for living their life in a manner that makes them happy, they're simply making it harder for people to sympathise with them when the paparazzi criticise them for living their life in a manner that makes them happy. 

Overall, let's stop judging each other for doing what we want to do. As long as what you're saying and doing isn't hurting other people and it's making you happy, just do it. You're welcome to your opinions of course, but just because you don't like bright blue eyeshadow doesn't mean you can criticise others for wearing it. Other people do not have the right to dictate how you live your life, you do you honey.

What are your reasons for wearing makeup?

*I've generalised this to women purely because I hear about this solely from female friends, I've tried very hard not to generalise this post to women so please forgive me on this one!

**But we all have the right to criticise Nick Clegg on increasing university fees, we'll never forget that one Lib Dems.

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Book review - Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

One of my all-time favourite films (you can verify this by looking at my profile on Letterboxd) is Howl's Moving Castle, I like the storyline, the characters, and oh my gosh do not get me started on the music. However, I only found out it was adapted from a book about a year ago - judge me, seriously. I remember seeing a review of it pop up on my Blogger dashboard and immediately thinking 'I need to get my hands on this book'. It took a while but my parents gifted me the set for my birthday and I decided to start reading them in 2015 as I have to read 50 books this year for my reading challenge and I needed to save up books (no one said my logic was sound) so it took me a while to get started on this, but I can already tell you - this is gonna be a positive review.

Synopsis:

In the land of Ingary, where seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, Sophie Hatter attracts the unwelcome attention of the Witch of the Waste, who puts a curse on her. Determined to make the best of things, Sophie travels to the one place where she might get help - the moving castle which hovers on the nearby hills.

But the castle belongs to the dreaded Wizard Howl whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the hearts of young girls...

My thoughts:

I have to say that when going into this, I really assumed it was going to be a disappointment in comparison to the film because it's so bizarre that I had no idea how it could be put into words, but Diana Wynne Jones some how did it. It was pretty close to the film and in fact I think it has made the film experience better for me because there were some parts in the film that weren't explained too well, this is why you should always read the book first. I absolutely loved Calcifer just as much as I did in the film, and I adore Sophie as a character as well (I did a quiz to see what Ghibli character I am, and apparently I'm her so maybe that's why). I thought the storyline wasn't an epic thing that had me hanging on the edge for more (although I found it hard to put this book down), although it was really enjoyable and easy to get sucked into the world of magic (seriously I think I should just leave school and go to Hogwarts or just become a wizard or something, it's clearly destiny). I also loved the chapter names because they were written like Friends episode titles, for example Chapter One - In which Sophie talks to hats. If you changed 'in which' to 'the one where' you'd automatically have a story about magic set in a coffee shop with a bunch of 20-somethings. I also really liked the illustrations, although I still prefer the Ghibli interpretations of the characters' appearances.

Overall rating:

I gave this book a 4/5 on Goodreads, I did really enjoy it. It was well written, intriguing, and had some really great characters - I always found myself chuckling and smirking when I was reading this which probably made me look even more peculiar than I already am (I'm pretty certain people on the bus thought I was rather strange). I am really looking forward to reading the sequels!!

Have you read or seen Howl's Moving Castle?

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February wishlist

It's February.. which means the end of my spending ban, huzzah! I've found it almost unbearable not being able to go shopping, which is strange because I only usually go proper shopping once a month but occasionally I'll pick up a bit or two which I couldn't do this month, but the commencing of February means the recommencing of spending, and over the past month I've been doing a lot of window shopping, but I managed to narrow it down into just a few things that I want.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

I've really gotten into dry shampoo over the past month, mostly because the intensity of A levels at the moment is high so I have less time to wash my hair, plus it's such a bother because I have longish afro-but-not-really hair, but the dry shampoo I've been using isn't an amazing one and I hear Batiste is the best, hence I want to try that - I've tried the rest, I want to try the best.

I know a lot of people wanted the beauty bloggers to leave the Kylie Jenner phase in 2014, but call me 2000-and-late because I'm still into it, and I'd really like to try out the Bourjois Rouge edition lipstick in Beige Trench because it looks like an inexpensive Jenner colour (I think one day I'll bite the bullet and get Velvet Teddy, but maybe when I have more money, y'know what I'm saying?)

The Maybelline Eraser Eye concealer is probably the most hyped about product in the bloggersphere at the moment, and as someone who carries around a lot of under eye luggage, I'm willing to try out anything. I know the shade range is limited, but I'd still like to give it a go given how good it looks.

For a long time, I never wanted to wear any sort of shirt or jumper that made me feel constricted, and I'm still a bit like that, but I would really like to start buy a roll neck because it's a step closer to turtle necks and polo necks, they just look pretty darn fabulous and obviously I'd have to get in black because *clears throat* I wear black on the outside 'cause black is how I feel on the inside*. This one is from eBay but I may have a look for something similar in Primark or Topshop (because I can actually go shopping now, and life is good)

I haven't worn jeans/trousers in about a year and a half, I wear skirts nearly every day which means that the few I have get a bit tatty and worn so I'd like to buy another one for my collection, and whilst the one in the picture is from eBay, I'm not opposed to buying it elsewhere, ya feel me?

What's on your wishlist this month?

*If you don't understand the reference, check out Unlovable by The Smiths

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Ten things and ten blogs #1

After seeing a few of these types of posts floating around the bloggersphere, I thought I'd try my hand at it to add a bit more lifestyle and general rambling into fashion, beauty and an existential crisis. I'm thinking of doing these bi-monthly, because I don't do enough in a week to talk about but over the space of a month I've usually done a fair bit so bi-monthly is the way forward dudes.

one.
I learned that some people will never change and will never see the need to change, and with toxic people like that, it's most beneficial just to cut them off.

two.
Plato may be one of the world's most famous philosophers, but The Republic is one of the most hellish books a person could ever study for A level.

three.
I'll never be able to let go of my adoration for My Chemical Romance, and after having a long listen to them on Spotify, I realised that I'll never be over the fact that they've broken up (The Black Parade still hits a nerve in me, right from the intro, the emo inside never dies)

four.
My mock exams went a lot better than I initially thought they would, especially Philosophy - what can I say? Artificial intelligence and the state as an oppressor is just my thing.

five.
I went to see Alt-J at the O2 in Greenwich and it was ahmayzing. The opening acts were Gengahr and Wolf Alice, and they were both top notch too - I've been looking forward to this for so long now, and now I have nothing to look forward too, boo.

Ah a crappy iPhone photo, now that's a real throwback right?

six.
Binge watching the first generation of skins in under a week was not a good idea, you think you're over these characters and storylines after watching it several times but rewatching is like pouring salt on open wounds.

seven.
I found out I have roughly six more weeks until my grade 8 piano exam, which is emotional because that means I'll never see my piano teacher again who I've had for nearly ten years (crazy!) She's a quirky lady and I will miss her, she's like family.

eight.
My birthday was in November as you may have seen if you saw my Birthday haul post but one of my presents from my friend only just came because she ordered it from Japan, and it's one of the best presents I've ever received - I absolutely love Studio Ghibli and My Neighbour Totoro so receiving this book was really lovely!

Try to spot the Doctor Who badges (forever fangirlin', even in blog photos)

nine.
Life can get dark, really dark, and other people may misunderstand and belittle your feelings, but your feelings are valid - try not to forget that.

ten.
Whilst I've realised recently that some people who claim to be your friends are actually massive arse wipes, I do have some pretty cool friends. On Friday, I went to see a friend with one of my other friends and we had a massive catch up and it was just generally really lovely, and on 31st January, it was my friend's birthday and we were doing a treasure hunt around London, this company sent the clues via text message but unfortunately we didn't finish it - it was cold, and we wanted pizza from pizza hut so y'know, but overall it was a top notch day.

blogs.
Throw me something beautiful
Qworterlifecrisis
Kayla Hadlington
Sweet electric
All that shimmers
Milk bubble tea
Merry musing
Yingcbeauty
Deaddsouls
Francesca beauty

What's been the best thing you've done over the past couple of weeks?

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