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.
Mermaidens
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.

Townhouse Palette
Imogen's Typewriter
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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Ten things and ten blogs #4

one.

I reached 200 followers on this blog which I find a bit crazy given that it feels like just yesterday when I was at 100, just want to say a super quick thank you to everyone following my blog (okay, cringey bit over now)
...
I wrote this at the beginning of the two week period this post covers, and now I've gone past 250, man that's cray.

two.
My brother informed me that according to this article Ed Miliband is the most lustworthy Prime Minister Candidate.. yes seriously. Don't get me wrong, I've decided on voting labour and I've known basically since I knew what voting was that I would vote labour, and, rather controversially, I think Ed Miliband is going to be a good Prime Minister, but I'm not sure lustworthy is the word I would use to describe him, and I can assure you that lust is not the reason I'm voting labour..

three.
So I found this video recipe for Nutella Cupcakes and I really really want to make them but I don't know when I'll have time to so I shall leave the recipe here for you to watch in case you want to make them - they look so cute!!!

four.
#BLACKOUT is one of the greatest internet movements I've seen in such a long time. I'm just immensely happy at how the black people of the web who may not have had the confidence to upload selfies in the past now have that and they're all so darn beautiful goddamn it, I know not everyone who's uploaded a selfie had low self-esteem of whatever but it just makes me so happy to go onto Tumblr and see beautiful black people everywhere. I'm also glad to say that no one I follow has participated in #WHITEOUT which is just a stupid cover-up for everyday racism, like literally people posting on that tag are white supremacists so if you see anyone posting on that hashtag even if they intend it to be a 'joke' - their 'joke' is enforcing racist ideals and attempting to eliminate the black community feeling good about themselves for once after years and years of internalised racism and white supremacy.

five.
I've sort of fallen in love with Hole. I've always been a Nirvana fan over Hole because I had listened to a few Hole songs and just didn't get into them, but for some reason I decided to give Hole another listen and I just think most of their discography is brilliant.

six.
I'm really annoyed because I filmed my Winter favourites video and it was about 30 minutes long, and I was out of focus the whole time. Looks like when you watch it, it'll be a re-filmed edition but dang it I'm just annoyed because it was such a good take!!

seven.
Jess did an interview with me for her blog, if you want to read it you can here!

eight.
I discovered that Morrissey covering Satellite of Love by Lou Reed is a thing, like as if that song needed something else to make it better!

nine.
I started reading Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell and I read well over half the book in the space of a day.. Using your deductive reasoning, guess how much I love it.

ten.
I made Mum a Victoria sponge cake for Mother's day which I haven't tasted yet but I enjoyed making it, I've been watching Great British Bake Off and I've been wanting to bake ever since it started up so it was nice to be able to do some baking.

blogs.
FashStyleLiv
Fashion and Beauty Tribes
Filthy Paws & Silky Drawers
The Elle Next Door
Lemon Freckles
Let's Talk Beauty
Style of Colours
Bean's Beauty Blog
Hummingbird and the Rose
Pretty Chit Chat

What's the best thing that happened to you over the past two weeks?

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Ten things and ten blogs #3

one.

Big day in the beauty world for Bess - I bought my first MAC lipstick! I got it in the shade 'Taupe' and I think I'm going to get a lot of wear out of it, the cheapskate in me (and my purse) was telling me no but my heart was telling me yes.

two.
The lovely Hazel Hayes of the YouTube channel ChewingSand uploaded a video about voting which I think every person, mostly young people around 18-25, should watch. I only turned 18 in November but I've always been very annoyed at the prospect of people not using their vote, so if you're sceptical about the parties or if you're just not sure about whether to vote or not. Watch the video, at least you'll be a little bit more informed on how much your vote matters.

three.
I did my first outfit post (here) and it was honestly one of the most nerve-racking things I've ever done, I have a really really bad body image (for reasons I won't go into here, but may talk about in a future post) but I really wanted to start doing outfit posts on here to incorporate more of the fashion part of 'fashion, beauty and an existential crisis', so I braved it - personal goal achieved!

four.
Having not done a great deal of work through half-term (I did some, but does the homework ever end with A levels?) I decided I needed to just sit down and work, work, work. I caught up on the Great British Bake Off Comic Relief Special to pump myself up for work, and after about two hours of scrolling aimlessly through Tumblr, I decided to do some Philosophy homework whilst watching Cinderella. It's never been my favourite Disney film and it's one that I've neglected through the years, but I was in the mood for Disney and for some reason, in the mood for Cinderella, so I watched it and it was good. In the same day, I went on to watch Mulan and Mulan 2 so you can tell I'm living the high life here. The next day, I watched Emperor's New Groove too - there is no stopping me.

five.
Blur released the video for their new song Go Out because their new album The Magic Whip* has been announced to come out in April (are you as excited as I am???) I quite like the new song, it sounds similar to some of the other stuff they've done but a bit Oasis-esque which is ironic given that Oasis was Blur's rival in the Battle of Britpop. Perhaps not as catchy as Parklife or There's No Other Way, but I quite like it and I'm looking forward to the new album.

six.
I went to my friend's 18th birthday party, which was comprised of two sections. The first part was playing The Hunger Games in a big field, we were put into districts with one other person, I was in district 4. It was very muddy but a lot of fun. Then we went back to my friend's house and had pizza and listened to music and stuff, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't alcohol. I'd also be lying if I said I hadn't drank a lot but y'know #YOLO

seven.
I'll be one of the first to say that Glee used to be great, y'know it made fun of itself and it was generally really good up until about series 4-5. I didn't even finish series 5 although I was obsessed from series 1-3, seriously obsessed (we're talkin' 200% gleek), but series 6 is really really good. I wanted to watch it because it's the last series but I'm actually really enjoying it, plus you've got trans representation in it! Like seriously finally a big show talking about trans people - this is important folks. Plus Klaine and Britanna getting married - can I get a hells friggin yeah?

eight.
I'm sure you've all heard of what happened between Zendaya Coleman and Giulana Rancic but I just have to say again that Zendaya's response to Giulana's racist comments was so articulate and gosh just damn girl protect the POCs.

nine.
My Philosophy teacher provided an interesting twist on the existential crisis that I've been suffering with since the age of 12 today, he said existential crisis' happen as a result of the realisation that you have too much freedom and you have to make a decision regarding your life and, like in Bill and Ted, 'all we are is dust in the wind, dude' but my teacher said this can be a good thing, I forgot why, I couldn't see how my permanent state of existential crisis could be a good thing but y'know it's a different twist on it I guess.

ten.
I've fallen in love with Ben Folds Five all over again, like I never went off them and they've been one of my favourite bands for as long as I can remember and I'm pretty certain I listen to them every day, but I've been listening to their live performance albums on Spotify and their Naked Baby Photos album a lot and I just think they're so so good - if you've never listened to Ben Folds Five, do yourself a favour and give into the wimp rock piano music, you won't regret it.

blogs.
Makeup Savvy
Hello November
Dainty Ditsy
LJLV
Bethany Worrall
That Northern Girl
Bed in the Kitchen
Feel Bella
Rosie Louise Love
Ellabooxo

What's the best thing that's happened to you in the past couple of weeks?

*Not some sort of bondage situation, I'm guessing

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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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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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