The beginnings of Christmas and activism

one.
We ordered an ironic Margaret Thatcher cardboard cutout for our Uni house Christmas tree and decorated her with tinsel and a hat that says 'Bah Humbug' on it - it's quite terrifying when you walk in the room and you just see Margaret grinning but it does add something to the room.

two.
I went out with a couple of my housemates to buy some Christmassy things for the house and we stopped by Brighton Pavilion for a little meal, and it was really cute - definitely started feeling a lot more like Christmas.

three.
I ended up watching Home Alone twice on two consecutive days because we watched it together and all fell asleep, so then we tried again the next day (and still fell asleep) - funnily enough, we didn't try a third time...

four.
I had my first tofu experience at a Japanese restaurant and it was really nice - veganism level up!

five.
I went ice skating with a couple of my housemates at Brighton Pavilion and then we got mulled wine/cider - I am not any good at ice skating, I never have been, but I had improved slightly since the last time I went (although that's not saying much)

six.
I went to a local protest against tuition fees and it was really nice to see so much solidarity between students and lecturers, nothing like a good protest!

seven.
Me and my housemates decided to binge watch Friends on the projector which was really cute, we did The One with Ross' Sandwich and The One with All the Thanksgivings which are two of my personal faves.

eight.
A couple of days later I went to Reclaim Brighton which was a march against sexual harassment and violence which was good, I'd never been on a march for anything that wasn't a direct screw you to the government so it was good to broaden my protesting horizons.

nine.
I've been able to finally open my Makeup Revolution Advent Calendar which my friends bought me for my birthday (which was last month) so that's been really exciting. I keep forgetting that it's there so when I remember I can have a new makeup bit everyday, it's always really nice.

ten.
I've come down with a cold and am hating life just a little bit (I rarely get sick, but when I do I literally hate everything and become the worst person to be with - even worse than usual believe it or not)

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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MMFD, OITNB and my holiday to Lytham . . .

one.
I just discovered this YouTuber called itslinamar and I'm a little bit obsessed like I've binge watched most of her videos, she's really funny and I love to support the women of colour of YouTube to try and smash the white supremacy going on on YouTube especially in the beauty guru section . . .

two.
My Mad Fat Diary has come back for its final series and I am loving it, although there's a bit of confusion over what's going on - don't want to give too much away, but what the heck is the deal with Kester?!

three.
I finally got back onto watching Orange is the New Black and I'm really liking it! I watched the first couple of episodes a few months ago but I just left it and never really got back on it, but I decided to give episode 3 again and I am really really enjoying it - I can see what the hype's about now!

four.
I went out shopping with my friends (hauls should already be up, have a click around my blog/YouTube channel) and had a really nice time out, the highlight was probably seeing a Kanye West themed sign outside a coffee shop.. see the picture above!!

five.
I went on holiday to Lytham with 11 other friends and it started with us being sleep deprived, we met up at 4am in the morning carrying a lot of luggage (partially my fault, I couldn't survive 5 days without my laptop)

six.
On the second day of the holiday, we went to Blackpool and the weather was amazing so we just walked around the town for most of the day as well as going to Ripley's Believe It or Not. Well, half of the group dropped off and went back home but a few of us stayed around and went on the pier and generally enjoyed the sea air.

seven.
We stayed inside mostly on the Wednesday because the weather was a bit icky and I was feeling a bit anxious anyway so I didn't fancy talking to anyone for the first few hours of the day (I also got no sleep the night before so I was a bit out of it, so much to the point that on that evening I got a bit delusional and attacked a sofa and asked what country we were in)

eight.
We ordered Chinese on the Wednesday and got fortune cookies, and mine said 'you are going to have a comfortable old age . .' so any aspirations of living fast, dying young and leaving an average looking corpse may not come true.

nine.
Thursday was a humid, somewhat showery day so we went to the beach for a while but then stayed in and watched American Beauty (one of my favourite ever films), but then the weather was beautiful in the evening so we went out to the beach to watch the sunset and some of us attempted a seance. The candles kept blowing out so we used incense sticks and played a playlist in the background, below is the full playlist but we couldn't access the whole song due to internet issues, but I had a shortened version on my phone. We did a pretty interesting rendition of Beelzeboss which resulted in a man taking a picture of us and a little girl crying . . nice one.



ten.
It was really nice to get back home, I always feel a bit overwhelmed being around a lot of people so it was nice to be able to wake up without socialising, and I definitely felt like everyone was getting a bit irritated with each other by the end so I think it was good the holiday wasn't any longer, but I definitely had a great time - 11/10 would recommend.

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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Ten things and ten blogs #6

one.

I was looking back at some of my old videos on my YouTube channel, and I found the cringeworthy vlogs I did with one of my best friends a while ago, and it got me thinking that I want to start vlogging again once I get a new phone (I would like to buy a vlogging camera but y'know baby steps), I'm thinking of making a side channel for it though rather than having everything on my main channel - not sure though, please tell me whether you'd like that!!

two.
I got the results of my grade 8 piano exam that (I feel) I've been harping on about for ages, I passed!

three.
I reached 300 followers on this lil old blog of mine, I know that's not a lot to some people, but I'm still surprised that 1 person wants to listen to what I have to say let alone 300 - so y'know thanks for following us here on fashion, beauty and an existential crisis!

four.
For April Fool's Day, my friend decided to prank us (on a Whatsapp group chat) saying she had decided to vote Conservative rather than Labour in the upcoming 2015 election. I predicted this was a prank but she denied it initially, so we spent about an hour telling her why voting Conservative was generally one of the worst things a person could do.. for her to then say, I can't believe you fell for it. I THOUGHT IT WAS A PRANK, I SAID THAT FIRST OF ALL, seriously where is pranking etiquette these days?

five.
Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon's first wife, died and I'm really upset as she's my favourite Beatles girl. She had developed cancer and she was 75 but I really liked her, I read her book 'John' quite a few years ago and it moved me so much reading about her turbulent relationship with John and I grew to love her as individual outside of the mania of The Beatles.
R.I.P Cynthia.

six.
I had a lovely meetup with a few of my friends, as we usually do, we did a little bit of baking (see the picture below) and watched a Disney film, this time it was Aladdin which was really lovely although it's the first Robin Williams film I've watched since he died, so that ruined it a little bit for me. Plus it hit me how much Jasmine and Aladdin look like sister and brother, like I'm sorry if I've now ruined it for you too, but whilst I loved it these things were at the back of my mind the whole time.

seven.
Maddie uploaded a video on her YouTube channel about body confidence and I just thought everything was well said and it's definitely worth a watch!

eight.

I haven't really been doing much over the Easter holiday except for revising and watching films (which you can now see what they are in my new series - what I've been watching), but I've strangely been really enjoying revising Psychology. It's the course I've opted to do in University and I'm planning to retake one of my As Psychology exams, and I've really been enjoying going over the As stuff because we did a whole topic on gender and basically whether we're born gender neutral or cisgender (although that's not the word they use in the book) and it's just generally really interesting which is good!

nine.
I finally got round to watching the last episode of Glee (yes I got back into Glee about a month ago, deal with it haterz) and I cried just a lil bit. Everything I could've ever wanted to happen in the finale happened and whilst I'm sad that it ended in the series where it got good again, I'm glad they've ended on a good note and I don't think they could've done any more series. I'm just a bit sad because I started watching Glee when I was 12 and I'm 18 now, it's literally been there my entire teenage life.

ten.
I've been obsessed with Russell Brand's Trews recently, I don't know whether it's just because it's coming up to the General Election and what he's saying is just more relevant now, or whatever the reason is, but I've just been looking forward to his Trews. I had watched a few in the past and I remember liking them but they have been the highlight of my morning (as I've been off school the past couple of weeks, I've been able to get up a little bit later and have a cup of tea whilst watching the Trews, it's been rather enjoyable)

blogs.
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NikkieTutorials
The rawrdrobe
Behind these closed eyes
Hannah Louise fashion
Citron and Guavaberry
PYT
Splashes with fabulosity
Bluebirds & Bunting
Mouldy fruit

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

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Ten things and ten blogs #5

one.
My friend gave me a present out of the blue and it's friggin' awesome, it's a shirt that says 'talk disney to me', I was so so happy with it (I have pretty cool friends)

two.
How have I only just discovered They Might Be Giants? Possibly one of the greatest bands of all time, very similar to Ben Folds Five (which you'll know it a massive pro for me if you read this post)

three.
I discovered a YouTuber called Elayna Mae (What the Fandom) and she isn't 'YouTube famous' but I love her videos so far, she's into a lot of the same fandoms as me (including Harry Potter which is obviously the most important one) and she's just lovely to watch so y'all gotta watch her.

four.
I went on a school trip to the Tower of London and the National Portrait Gallery for History, we also got to go on a boat on the river Thames. I know I live in London but sometimes you forget these things are here so it was pretty fun to do that (it was all relating to the Tudors). We had a lecture which I actually fell asleep in though, it wasn't that I was finding it boring but we did a fair bit of walking that day and I have a tendency to fall asleep at inappropriate moments. After that, I went out for a coffee for my friend's birthday (with a few other people from the trip) and we had a surprise guest meet us there which was really cute! I don't know how it became an angry feminist ranty coffee date but if you can't have angry feminist rants with your friends, are they really your friends???

London weather a.k.a 50 shades of grey (a.k.a a really stupid, overplayed joke, sorry)

five.
Clearly I'm just discovering a lot of YouTubers at the moment, so yes I've got another one who is pretty different from Elayna Mae but is equally brilliant. The channel marinashutup is run by a girl called Marina Watanabe and she basically talks about social injustice but in a really clear, concise way and it's just so easy to free fall and binge watch all of her videos. I would definitely recommend watching her if you're interested in social injustice.

One video she did that I found really relatable (which you'll see below) was essentially the 'everyday racist/sexist' things mixed race people, like myself, have to put up with. I don't feel that I face a lot of a racism or sexism a a general rule as I live in one of the most multi-cultural places in the UK and I go to an all girls sixth form (predominantly feminists which is awesome, heck yes.) so the most sexism I face is generally cat calling (which is a gross and stupid too) but I have received racist comments such as the ones mentioned in the video, so I just feel it's great to have someone representing the problems mixed race people face in the YouTube industry.



six.
I don't know if I've mentioned the YouTube channel Button Poetry before (if I haven't it's awesome!) but one of the poems that was uploaded recently is called 'Dark Girls' and it's basically about everyday racism and it really touched me so I'd definitely recommend giving it a listen.



seven.
I had a really lovely day like I had a Philosophy lecture then me and a bunch of friends went out to get a cheeky Nandos*, it was all super nice. Then I get home and hear that Lil Chris is dead and my Makeup Revolution mono eyeshadow smashed, genuinely upset! I literally couldn't live without that eyeshadow, I had to go out and repurchase it two days later.

eight.
I was meant to go to the Bloggers Love Hub Fashion Week event but me and my friends found ourselves walking around East London for hours, we literally couldn't find it and Google maps was no help whatsoever. The experience, for some reason, put me off blogging for a while hence the short hiatus (not really much of a hiatus, but I didn't upload any of the posts I planned so it felt like a hiatus for me). I'm glad I'm able to laugh about it, and in all honestly I was ridiculously nervous about going even though I was going with a couple of friends as my guests so hopefully if I go to an event in the future I'll have better luck!!

nine.
Over the past week, I have fell into a deep, dark hole of binge watching. I've been watching the Naked Brothers Band series. I decided to rewatch the film for the #bantz and now I'm finishing series 2, and it's just reminding me of how much I loved this show at the time and how it was genuinely one of the best shows ever to grace Nickelodeon. I'm so thankful that when it was shown at 3am everyday a few years ago, my Dad recorded it onto a few DVDs for me so I have most of the episodes (are they available anywhere in the UK?!)

ten.
I've gotten a little bit ill and so I've been using vaporub to keep myself y'know breathing in the night, but I read online that you can put it on your temples to relieve yourself of headache AND OH MY, like not only does it do that but it makes your head feel so chilled. I'm not one for drug usage but this is what I imagine trippin' to be like, seriously forget LSD - do vaporub.

blogs.

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Dresses & Travels
Holly Anne Blogs
Coleoftheball
Ellie Dopson
Frock Me I'm Famous
Feel Bella
Helen Rambles On
The Beauty Department

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

*I'm being ironic

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Primark haul

I did a wee bit o' spending at the end of November in Primark so I thought I'd present you with a blog post and video showing you what I got. I must warn you, there is quite the Harry Potter theme.

Collared jumper - £10
Cable knit jumper - £12

Shirts - £6 each

Pyjama bottoms - £8

Sweatshirt - £10

Chequered shirt - £8

Cosy socks - £2

Are there are pieces you want to pick up from Primark at the moment?

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December wishlist

I feel like the obligatory 'I can't believe how fast the year has gone' comment has to be made, so there it is. I am getting increasingly excited for Christmas, but I also have my eyes on a few wintery items that I thought I'd share with you.

If you couldn't tell, I'm really wanting to buy into the tartan look over winter. The two skirts are pieces from Primark (which unfortunately I didn't see when I went in recently, however keep an eye on my blog for an upcoming Primark haul) and I think they just look lovely especially  for this time of year, yes you can wear tartan all year round but I personally think it looks great with thick black tights which isn't so easy to get away with in the summer due to the fact that I'll be writhing around on the floor in my own sweat complaining about the heat.

The nail polish can be bought from Wilkinsons and I know it's boring and black, but hey *I wear black on the outside because black is how I feel on the inside. Plus I think I raved on enough about one of the other Essence nail polishes for it to be obvious that I think they're pretty good value. Unfortunately this wasn't in Wilkinsons when I went so I may just look for another black gel nail polish (not from Barry M, I had a traumatic experience with their Gelly nail polishes).

It is cold and who says being warm can't be fashionable? Whilst it's unlikely I'll fork out for this Dorothy Perkins boyfriend coat I know for a fact there is one exactly like it in Primark which I'll hopefully pick up next time I'm in there.

Again with the tartan look, I really like this dress from New Look. It's a swing dress so it'll probably cover up the food baby conceived around the Christmas period, it's a bit more than I'd like to spend on a basic dress but this sort of style would be great.

What are you hoping to get over the next month?

How excited are you for Christmas?!

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*If you don't get the reference, try listening to The Smiths it'll change your life.

18th birthday haul

If you've read my last blog post, you may have gathered that I have now entered the world of adulthood, yes yes I can vote, I can drink, I can plunge deeper into my permanent state of existential crisis.. Life is good, but I took some time away from thinking of the inevitability of death and insignificance of humankind to film a haul and take some photos of what I received for my birthday.

Have you read any of these books or films?

What did you think if you did?

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Ed's Diner

The 50s style Diner has been used as a centrepiece in many classic films and television for a long time, such as in Grease...

and Seinfeld...

I was lucky enough to once visit the Seinfeld diner...

So to summarise, diners are the epitome of a cool dining experience, so obviously I couldn't resist showing you a few pictures of Ed's diner. I'm not sure whether it will be such a big deal to Americans seeming as you have a lot of diners (whether they're 50s themed or not I don't know) but in the UK they are about as rare as a memorable X factor contestant. 

Peanut butter milkshake a.k.a heaven in a cup

Whoever coined the idea of having the combination of Chicken and BLT - I thank you, my thighs don't, but I do.

Spot the Bess in this photo (just look for the big bird's nest I call a hairdo.. found me yet?)

The food here was pretty darn tasty, and as an enthusiast of 50s/60s music I absolutely loved the Jukebox thing they had going on. It cost 20p to queue a song in the playlist and there's a machine for it at each table and I thought that was such a cool idea, I can't imagine anything cooler than working at a restaurant where Elvis, the Beach Boys and Buddy Holly are played round the clock - can you?

Thanks for reading my post!

Have you been to a 50s themed diner before?

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