Music of the month - December 2014

Here it is, the last 'music of the month' post...

until next year.

I tried not to make this month's edition completely Christmas songs although that is 98% of what I've been listening to.

1. Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars

I have a feeling that this has been everyone's favourite song this month. I have a friend who has been a fan of Bruno Mars since he first hit the charts and she suggested this song to me, and I was hooked from the first time I listened to it. It's so upbeat and fun, I like Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars but I honestly didn't expect this song to be that good and I was genuinely impressed.

2. Black Ballerina - Ariel Pink

I can't remember how I came across Ariel Pink, and I don't think you'll like his music if you're not into more alternative, quirky music. This is a very random song but I really like it and I've listened to it a lot.

3. Blank Space - Taylor Swift

When I heard that Taylor Swift had removed her music from Spotify, I was a bit annoyed and I refused to listen to her new songs to make some sort of protest, but I gave in and listened to Blank Space when the video came out and it's such a good pop song. I've heard a few other songs from the album (I haven't bought it yet though, yeah I know a bit late..) and I'm quite blown away. I loved Taylor Swift when she came out with Love Story when I was about 12 (I distinctly remember making a dance for it with some of my friends.. yeah that happened) but I slowly went off her as her music became a bit too samey for me, but this album is genuinely a good'un from what I've heard.

4. Runs in the Family - Amanda Palmer

What initially introduced my to Amanda Palmer was the fact that she had worked with Ben Folds before, Ben Folds has a permanent space in my favourite all-time artists (and bands if you include Ben Folds Five), and she does sound very Ben Folds-esque with the heavy piano.

5. The Passenger - Siouxsie and the Banshees

I think I had heard of Siouxsie and the Banshees through Tumblr but I hadn't ever really listened to them, but I decided to give them a go so I went to Spotify and listened to their top track which was this, and I think the instrumentation is great, and it sounds a little bit like The Smiths. Coincidentally, Siouxsie featured on a Morrissey song so I listened to that too and I think that made me love Siouxsie Sioux that much more.

I also have to give credit to Fairytale of New York by The Pogues because that has been my top Christmas song this year.

What music have you been listening to this month?

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Autumn favourites

Another season has passed since my Summer favourites, we are all a little older, and most likely a little fatter since Christmas is next week (I'll try and contain my excitement for this post). If you click on the video dooblydoo down below, you can watch me talk about non-beauty and beauty favourites but in the blog post it's more beauty favourites (see you're really missing out if you don't watch the video see)

1. Essence colour and go nail polish - 113 do you speak love? Review here

I essentially declared my adoration for this product in the review but I have literally been wearing this for the past month and a half, which is strange for me as I usually like to shake things up a bit with my nail polish (after all variety is the spice of life). It's cheap, it's a pretty autumn/winter shade, it dries quickly and it gives a nice gel effect without the tackiness for hours after (Barry M, I'm looking at you)

2. Makeup Revolution Rebel with Cause Review here

I made it clear how much I love this in the review I did but again it's just been such a great colour to wear throughout Autumn, it's allegedly a dupe of Mac's Rebel but, classic Bess, I haven't splurged on the high end product to verify this. It can be a bit drying as it's matte but if you exfoliate and let a lip balm (see below) sink in beforehand, there shouldn't be much of a problem with this. 

3. Carmex Classic

This is a bog standard lip balm but surprisingly I don't think I had tried it until very recently, always considered myself a vaseline girl but this is the Beyonce of lip balms, guys it is Queen B. It is so moisturising and it actually sinks in rather than sitting on the lips much like vaseline does. If I know I'm wearing lipstick the next day, I'll exfoliate my lips the night before and slap loads of this on so in the morning my lips are ready for lipstick, it's also just a lifesaver during the colder months when you're more prone to chapped lips.

4. Maybelline Colour Tattoo in On and On bronze Review here

Okay, I'mma let you finish but this product is THE BEST product of 2014. I raved on about it in the review but I just can't get enough, it's pigmented, easy to apply, long lasting and best of all it does not crease at all. I really want to try out some more shades in this range.

5. L'oreal Paris Miss Manga Mascara

I bought this mascara a few months ago and I have been wearing it everyday, it volumizes and lengthens, and it doesn't really go clumpy unless you apply too much but I find this with all mascara. It's also fairly easy to use on lower lashes with is surprising with a volumising mascara as they tend to have bigger brushes and are harder to use down there, but this my friends is a good'un.

6. Sleek True Colour Lipstick in Cherry Review here

Whilst this lipstick doesn't fully set like a matte one making it more prone to moving around my face (that is only if my hair gets involved, it doesn't understand boundaries), I do really love this shade and I do like the finish. As long as you use a lipliner, it doesn't bleed and if your hair is less of a bird's nest than mine I'm sure you won't have a problem.

7. Revlon Colourburst Matte Balm in Sultry Review here

This has been a nice everyday shade for me (although I do wear bold lips for sixth form a lot), it's a matte Kylie Jenner-esque balm stick, long lasting and for the most part isn't particularly drying. After wearing it for a day at sixth form it starts to feel a little bit dry but other than that I have no problems, and it's nice if you want a more interesting lip than just a nude.

8. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Really Red Review here

How do I put my feelings about this into words..? BEST. MATTE. LIP. EVER. Seriously, not at all drying, doesn't cling to dry patches, long lasting, pigmented, it is just the nicest matte lipstick I own, plus it's a blue-toned red so it makes your teeth look a little whiter. Apparently this is a dupe of Mac's Russian Red, and I think this is something that would suit all skin tones.

9. Leaf Necklace

I was given this by my Aunt when she went to New York a couple of months ago, and it's made by this person on Etsy but this particular necklace isn't on there. She told me that they take the leaves in central park and use it as a template for the necklace, so each one is unique. It came with a card that tells you what the leaf means, apparently this one is a Birch leaf which means good fortune, not sure whether I believe in that but I think it's such a pretty necklace and it really personifies Autumn. Plus it's silver and I prefer silver to gold generally.

10. Advent Calendars

A strange favourite for some perhaps, but I really wanted to share my advent calendars. I was given a Dan and Phil one from one of my friends, and a Disney one from my parents and I absolutely love both. The Dan and Phil one has selfies of them behind each window which is nice, although I have a tendency to forget to eat the chocolate so I end up eating about five in one go to catch up.

What have been your favourites this season?

What advent calendars do you have?

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Music of the month - November 2014

As we enter the last month of 2014 (cray cray right?) I present to you another Music of the month post, so on we go!

1. Passionate friend - The Teardrop Explodes

I'm not sure if it's weird that I have such a similar taste in music to my parents, but at least it means I always have people to go to for music suggestions. My Dad has been playing The Teardrop Explodes' Wilder album a lot this month and this is the song that stood out for me on that album, but generally The Teardrop Explodes have become a new favourite. This song sounds a bit like R.E.M combined with Ben Folds Five and I love both, the instrumentation and harmonies in this song are pretty darn cool.

2. The boy who blocked his own shot - Brand New

Brand New are a group I gave a listen to a while ago but besides from Jesus Christ, none of their songs really stood out for me. I quite like the lyrics in this song even though instrumentally it's not particularly interesting, but I have been listening to this song a lot this month.

3. Undercover lover - Emma Blackery

Emma Blackery is one of my favourite YouTubers, so when her new EP came out I knew I had to give it a listen. I expected it to be generic pop to be honest but I gave it a go regardless and I wasn't disappointed - she really pulled it out of the bag, she reminds me a lot of classic Paramore/Hayley Williams combined with Harriet Wheeler's voice from The Sundays, and this song is really catchy.

4. Fluffy - Wolf Alice

If you don't follow me on Twitter, you may not have seen me freaking out about getting Alt-J tickets for January (SO EXCITED!). The relevance of this is that Wolf Alice are one of the supporting acts! I listened to Wolf Alice a while ago after seeing them appear on my Tumblr dashboard a few times and I quite liked them, so to find out they're supporting Alt-J is amazing so I've gone and listened to their songs again and I've listened to this one a lot. This particular song reminds me a bit of Hole, they sound a bit grungy so maybe that's why I like them.

5. Seaside - The Kooks

How did it take me so long to discover The Kooks?! I had heard Naive when it came out and I really liked it but I had never really given the rest of their stuff a proper listen, and now that I have I am obsessed.

I'd also like to give a special mention to all of the McBusted songs that have been released as I love love love them but they didn't quite make the cut, also I've started listening to Amanda Palmer but she's not quite made it because I've only just discovered her, I've also been loving Taylor Swift's Blank Space but I refuse to give her a proper spot in my Music of the month on the basis that she's taken all of her music off Spotify - sorry T Swizzle.

What music have you been loving this month?

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Summer favourites

Hello there readers! Today I'm going to do a monthly favourites, I haven't done one of these on my youtube channel or this blog but I used to quite like doing them on my old blog and I've collated quite a few items that I am loving, but I feel like firstly I need to majorly apologise for not uploading any blog posts throughout September. You can probably guess, but I've just been back at sixth form and it's my last year so I've had a lot of work to do and it's hard to edit videos and blog posts on top of that but I'm still going to try my best to upload as often as I can.

1. Max Factor Glossfinity in Snow White

I received this nail polish from my Mum who got it as a free gift with purchase, and I love white nail polish. I cannot recommend this nail polish highly enough! It's opaque, super glossy, dries in seconds and is long lasting! It could probably get away with one coat, I am awful with nail polish (brittle nails and poor application) but this really worked for me - go out and buy some!!

2. 'Episodes' the TV show

This show came out a while ago so yes I'm late to watching it however there wasn't a massive hype over it so it's not like I'm late to the bandwagon, right? When this show was originally on, I was interested by the cast (Friends is my livelihood so Matt LeBlanc was enough to get me onto it, I also quite enjoy Black Books  and Friday Night Dinner so Tasmin Greig also drew me in , and I've seen Stephen Mangan on Would I Lie to You? and I've thought he was quite funny). The idea of the show is that these two characters called Sean and Beverly have had this successful TV show in England, so they're asked to bring it over to the USA and it makes fun of the whole idea (come on, besides from The Office what show has successfully been brought over to the USA?) so I quite enjoyed that.

3. My Mad Fat Diary - Rae Earl

Anyone who has followed me on twitter for a long time you may remember my fangirling when series 2 of My Mad Fat Diary was shown, if you don't remember then don't worry I'm not judging you too much. When I found out that it was based on real life diaries that were turned into books, I knew I had to read them, and my good friend Meera lent the first book to me to read and I really liked it (you can read my review here) The characters aren't the same as the TV show exactly because they have nicknames like Haddock and Battered sausage, the characters in the TV show are a combination of characters. I'd definitely give this a read if you love Morrissey and the Smiths because there are references on every page practically.

4. Beauty Formulas mud mask

If you've seen my Collective July Haul, then you will know that I bought this inexpensive mud mask from Savers for a £1. It isn't the most amazing face mask I've ever tried, but it is the most amazing face mask I've ever tried that costs £1 for this much product. I use it twice a week, and my skin always feels so smooth afterwards, it also doesn't irritate my skin which is what I worry about with cheaper products.

5. 'Finding Carter' - the TV show

I'll be honest, I only started watching this show because of Kat Prescott (I'm a massive Skins fan and Emily was one of my favourite characters) but 7 minutes into the first episode and I was hooked. Carter is this girl who was abducted and then she gets reunited with her real family but she wants to be back with who she thought was her Mum, I think it's just a gripping show - once I had started there was no hopes of saving me.

6. DIY Lemon and Sugar Scrub

This is essentially a scrub made with sugar and lemon juice so it's pretty simple, but so effective. I have never had such good exfoliation, plus it tastes really nice (I know you're not meant to eat it but in the rare case than some slips into your mouth whilst exfoliating your face, you can eat it and it will taste good - it reminds me of Pancake Day because I will always take lemon and sugar on my pancakes over syrup)

7. Make-up Revolution Lipstick in Dare (Matte)

I have been waiting forever for Make-up Revolution to hit the shops, I thought they were meant to come into stores back in June or something like that but they never did - until August. I freaked out and now I just want to buy the whole range because it's all such good value for money! This lipstick is matte so it isn't exactly hydrating but it's not completely drying, it's extremely pigmented and fairly long lasting for £1 - I am thoroughly impressed. I'm also quite proud of my self for getting into red lipstick because I've always been a bit scared to wear it out of the house, but all I ever get is compliments on it and I feel this is the perfect shade to wear in the autumn/winter but it can be worn all year round!

8. Make-up Revolution Iconic 2 Palette

As I just said, Make-up Revolution seems to be amazing value for money! Similarly to MUA (their sister brand I believe), they have 3 palettes that are identical to the Naked Palettes by Urban Decay but they are literally 10 times cheaper. I was debating about whether to get the Iconic 2 or Iconic 1 palette but I decided on Iconic 2 (I will eventually get Iconic 1), and I have not looked back - extremely pigmented and long lasting for only £4, and they're all neutral brownish shades with a black/dark grey and a lighter grey shade which means I've been able to get use out of all of them!

9. eBay Makeup Brushes

First things first I'm the realest you can buy similar brushes here (the ones I bought are no longer available.) These brushes are amazing value. I might as well say that I'm not a complete makeup brush nerd, hence why I wanted to buy eBay ones because I didn't want to spend a large amount on expensive brushes if I wasn't going to use them often, but these brushes have become a staple for me. I bought them in the pink colour because I thought they'd be pretty, although they're not the pink that was advertised by the seller I'm not too bothered because I like the colour they are. They are super soft and apply makeup very well - what else could you want from makeup brushes/

10. Nivea Soft Cream

I may as well get this out there, this is quite possibly the nicest cream I have ever used on my skin ever. It is extremely hydrating (you can use it on your body and hands as well as just your face, but I only use it on my face), you get a massive tub (I only paid £1.99 for this massive tub) and you can use it sparingly so it will probably last me a very long time, and it has made my skin feel immensely soft, it also has a nice slightly floral scent which I think is lovely.

Thanks for reading/watching - I'll see you soon!!