Our One Year Anniversary

Hello my lovelies, I've been so absent over the last year when it's come to my blog and it only feels like two minutes ago since I was sitting here writing a blog post about the first ever date I went on. Now a year has passed and here I am writing about my one year anniversary with Chris. It's mad!

I don't really know where to start with this but I think I'm going to start with the bracelet I bought for him and do a mini review of it...

Around two months ago now I attempted to get Chris into Game of Thrones because it's my favourite TV series ever to exist in the history of all TV series. This however proved to be somewhat of a difficult task as he was pretty much put off from the start, what with all the beheadings... I somehow managed to persuade him to give it a second chance though and he is now just as obsessed with it as I am :) The TV show is what inspired my idea for Chris' anniversary present and I knew that for the most unique and well made present, my best bet was to check out Etsy and as always, I wasn't disappointed.

Above is a photo set of the present I chose to buy Chris - It's an aluminium cuff or as I like to call it, a bangle, with the words, 'You're mine as I'm yours. And if we die, we die. But first we'll live,' engraved into it. For all you Game of Thrones fanatics out there you'll know that those were the words spoken by Ygritte to Jon Snow in episode seven of series three, The Bear and the Maiden Fair. It was important to me that the bracelet arrived as near to the day of our anniversary as possible and with the shop CraftLinds being in Scotland I thought that it would be a fairly reasonable shop to look at to ensure that the bracelet would be here on time. As always I ordered the bracelet around five days before our anniversary and with the time needed for the product to be made and shipped, I figured I'd completely messed up by leaving it too long. However, I was so so happy when I received a parcel at my house containing the bracelet just three days after I'd ordered it. It was beautifully gift wrapped in a white box with a purple ribbon, complete with a cloth to polish it with and instructions on how to take the perfect care of it. Costing only £9.00 from CraftLinds this bracelet was a complete bargain and could easily have cost £30 with how gorgeous it looks.

Fitting in with the Game of Thrones inspired theme I also purchased a card for Chris which again was from Etsy. This arrived within two days of me ordering it from English Rose Cards and cost me only £2.25. They have so many beautiful cards in their shop which made it so difficult to pick a design. I would definitely recommend buying from them as I know I will be doing in the future.

As many of you who are subscribed to my YouTube channel will already know, Chris attempted to surprise me by taking me out for dinner. I knew that we were going out but I had no idea where, until I turned up at his house and saw a piece of paper with two restaurants names written down on it ;) The restaurant that he had picked was The Blue Tiffin, an Indian restaurant that I hadn't been to in years. When we first walked into the bar we were given menus and taken to a sofa area where we could sit and pick what drinks we wanted before ordering them. I ordered a Strongbow (classy I know -.-) and Chris ordered a Cobra Beer before we were escorted to our table for two. As it was a Sunday we were told that we could order a starter each for free! I'm not really fan of a lot of Indian food to be honest so Chris ordered both for himself. I can't remember what they were called but one was lamb based and the other chicken. For the main course I got a Chicken Rogan Josh and Chris opted for the Chicken Samba. We both got some popadoms each with various dips and some garlic naan bread. 

For those of you that are interested in what we both wore, you can check out the video above as we go through what we're wearing and where everything's from :)

I honestly cannot believe how fast time has gone and we've been together a whole year already. If someone had said to me a year and a half ago that by the time I'd finish sixth form I'd be in a long term, loving and happy relationship and actually have made it to the end of sixth form without dropping out I'd have laughed in their face and probably have told them (in the politest possible way) to 'fuck off'. It definitely goes to show that no matter how shit a past relationship may have been or however many times you tell yourself that you'll never find anyone that loves you for both the good and the bad, there's someone out there somewhere, waiting to meet someone like you. On the first few occasions that Chris and I met it was entirely down to chance and I'm so glad that the world gave me that chance at that exact time. The timing couldn't have been better. I'd never been one for fate but I certainly believe in it now, there's no way this happened exactly like it did just by coincidence... 

Enough of the cringe and cheese, here are some photo's from the meal :')

The Pokélace

The Pokéball necklaces!

With so many people asking me about the Pokéball necklace I bought my boyfriend for Valentine's Day, I thought I'd better write a blog post about it and give you guys the details of how this necklace came about.

I'd left present buying until I had under a week to go until Valentine's Day. I had absolutely nothing in place to surprise my boyfriend with at this point but i'd already picked out this Pokéball necklace from Trinkety Slot on Etsy, weeks before. However, I did that thing I always do, where I hold out until the last minute, just in case I come across anything else that I like better. This didn't happen and as Valentine's Day ended up being less than a week away I figured I'd better get the damn thing ordered.

Although it didn't arrive for Valentine's Day, (it arrived three days late to be precise) that was entirely my fault for not ordering it earlier. The typical time you have to wait for any of the products from Trinkety Slot to be made and shipped is three to five days and with mine being an international order, as the shop is based in the US, I had to wait another week on top of that for the gift to arrive. I guess what we can conclude from this is that I'm absolutely terrible at getting shit done and managing my time...

When the product finally arrived at my house, I was pleasantly surprised - the quality was so much better than I imagined it would be. Considering both necklaces are handmade, they are both extremely well put together, the quality of the engraving and cutting of the plastic, Pokéball itself is smooth and neat with no sharp edges that could dig into the skin or get caught on clothes. Moreover, the chains both charms are on, are sturdy and long enough to put over your head so there's no fiddling about with tiny clasps when you're in a rush. On the back of each charm I had the words, 'I choose you!' engraved onto the back. There are so many little phrases I could have used but this one wasn't only ridiculously adorable, it was also Pokémon related. For £28 I couldn't have asked for a cuter, more appropriate gift. Chris absolutely loves it as well and refuses to take it off unless he's showering or sleeping because he's scared of strangling himself. ;)

Overall, I'd definitely recommend Trinkety Slot to anyone who is looking for unique, gamer necklaces to either buy as friendship or relationship jewellery. If anyone has any questions about things I haven't covered above please feel free to ask me in the comments below and please don't forget to check out the Trinkety Slotstore on Etsy!

Amy x

Chris wearing his half of the necklace.

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush Review

Hello my lovelies, today I'm going to attempt to write my first ever product review. I'm going to be sharing with you my thoughts and opinions on the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. 

I wanted a foundation brush for some time as up until recently I'd been applying my foundation with a brush that was far too big to apply product to smaller areas of the face, for example, the sides of the nose and around the eye area. Having been an avid viewer of the sister duo PixiWoo, who film makeup related videos and tutorials on YouTube, I decided that purchasing their Expert Face Brush would definitely be an investment as they use the very same brush in their tutorials and the looks they create are always flawless.

I first spotted the brush in Boots for £9.99 but I came across the same brush in Asda for £8.98 and I decided then that I just had to buy it. As I state in my video below, I would honestly be prepared to pay double the amount of money I paid for this brush. It's definitely worth the money!

For me, the brushes I've tried in the past to apply my foundation with have absolutely nothing on this brush. The Expert Face Brush does exactly what it says on the tin packaging; it gives me expert buffing and blending power, if there were such a thing.

If you would like more information about this brush and a more in depth review of why I love it so much then please check out my video below. 

Amy x

The Almost Total Flop In Our Stars

Admittedly I'm totally failing at keeping my blog up to date. Here I am, weeks after I actually went to see The Fault In Our Stars at the cinema, writing a book and film review 'mashed' together with a blog post to make what I hope will be a delicious Hazel and Augustus mash potato. That was the probably the worst metaphor I've ever used - more cringe worthy than the one used by Augustus when he's telling Hazel that cigarettes are only harmful if you light them. Oh so deep.

I first read The Fault In Our Stars last year and my reason for choosing to spend my time reading the novel was because tumblr was full of people taking photos of the book, posting quotes and talking about how the book had had a profound impact on the way they live their lives. Overall, I'll have to agree, the book did move me but no where near to the degree that the teenagers on tumblr were saying it would. I found myself smiling after one chapter, crying after another, then smiling and crying all over again but it wasn't one of those books that becomes one of your favourites. The tragic storyline may have pulled on my heartstrings but it by no means had the ability to rip them from my chest. You may find that slightly dramatic but it's what I look for in a book if it's going to make my favourites list.

Although the book did make me cry and smile in the parts that I was supposed to I don't think the book had the effect on me that John Green fully desired. The main reason for this is his poor character development. I fail to see how both Hazel and Augustus develop and change as people throughout the novel. Apart from the fact that they've fallen in love with each other they're the same when they first meet until (SPOILER ALERT) Augustus dies and I feel that Hazel just carries on after his death as the same person she was before. The reason the character development is so poor, is due to both Hazel and Augustus being portrayed as having such a large amount of wisdom from the very start of both the novel and the film. Thus it's made it impossible for John Green to explore their personalities fully as the audience can grasp from the first few minutes of the film and from the first few chapters of the book, what Hazel and Augustus are like as people.

Maybe I'm being overly critical of Green's work because I don't fit into the age range of his target audience. He writes for young adults but I'd say the book and most definitely the film is aimed at teenagers who are aged sixteen and under. This could be the reason for the poor character development as the audience may not be able to cope with the adult subject matter of cancer along with then keeping up with the development of two main characters. Despite his writing being aimed at younger people, both Hazel and Augustus have several speeches in the book in which they talk about oblivion and their love for each other amongst other philosophical topics. The speeches were at first difficult to understand and so I found myself re-reading some sections of the book in order to fully appreciate the meaning in the character's words. The speeches are very well thought out but at the same time is that really how typical teenagers would speak about life, love and loss? I don't think they would. Green heavily relies on these long speeches to carry the novel and these are also present within the film. I don't believe that either the book or the film would have received such high ratings had these unrealistic speeches not been included.

Below are a few photos from when Chris and I went to watch The Fault In Our Stars at the cinema for our two month date.

Before we went to the cinema. Chris has uber fluffy hair :3

Sitting down after the film to roll a cigarette because he was too upset to stand up :')

I lost my dating virginity!

Hello Lovelies, I can't believe I haven't actually written a blog post since the beginning of March - I have neglected my blog so much! I feel as though my life has completely changed since the last time I even bothered to write a proper blog post and not just post a few photos with dreadfully uncreative captions. It's not only my relationship status that's changed; I honestly think that over the last couple of weeks my entire outlook on life has changed again. It's entirely the wrong time for this change to come about considering I've now finished my exams and my new found motivation to actually want to achieve something with my life has decided to just appear. Typical.

But less about exams and more about the date...

Getting ready for our first date.

On the 31st May (yes I know I'm late with this blog post), my boyfriend and I visited the Bellasvista, a small Italian restaurant, to celebrate one month of being together. The waiter who greeted us at the door led us to the table furthest away from the other diners. From this I immediately gathered that we must have looked like trouble. However, this didn't stop another waiter, who can only be described as being overly camp, overly annoying and over staying his welcome, from spending a little too much time talking to Chris and I. Normally I'd be quite happy to talk to a waiter about which food or wine he recommends (more so the latter) but in this case the conversation was bloody tedious. He started talking to us like any other normal waiter would, 'What would you like for your starter?', 'What would you like for your main course?', 'Can I take your menus?' etc etc, but this particular waiter obviously wasn't satisfied with simply doing his job. He felt the need to stay and pursue what should have been a very awkward, in depth chat about my relationship with my boyfriend had I not been almost entirely focused on removing the eyelash that was stuck to my eyeball whilst trying not to smear the wing of my eyeliner across my face. At one point he wanted Chris to lean across the table and kiss me. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with publicly displaying my affection but I don't think neither Chris or I wanted to pretty much privately display it in our secluded corner for this creepy waiter. Long stay story short, this guy was ridiculously irritating and both my boyfriend and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he finally decided to leave and actually place our order.

For the rest of the evening we were left alone to enjoy our food instead of feeling like we had acquired a third wheel. The food was absolutely insane, there isn't any other word I can use to describe it. The pizzas there are always to die for. Chris and I have joked since that next time we go we'll just order numerous plates of cheesy garlic bread because it was so delicious!

We ordered a portion of cheesy garlic bread as a starter.

For my main course I had a pretty huge pizza and Chris had Calzone which from what I can gather is Folded Pizza in Italian.

We weren't massive fans of the plastic flower that they'd placed in the middle of our table but here's a selfie of us with it in the background anyway.

After we'd eaten :)

January and February's Disposables

Hello Lovelies, I haven't really been in the mood to write blog posts recently so I thought I'd share with you some of my most recently taken photos. If you read my last blog post then you will know that I take disposable photos so I decided to share with you some of the photos I have taken so far this year using a disposable camera.

Ben had a Buddha in his bathroom.

Ben with his kitty.

Caitlin, Me and Ellie

Knives, no shit Sherlock (I'll write a blog post about him soon).

My velvet dress along with part of my finger and a few strands of my hair.

Katie spilt vodka on her jeans. Amy is pointing out the spillage. 

Lewis and Connor.

Katie and Luke.

Daniel and I.

My current read along with the scarf that my Grandma gave me to.

Will and I.

Finn, Georgia and Luke.

My dad bought my mum some flowers.

A very badly taken photograph of some love heart sweets.

Luke with his tea for one.

A romantic walk back from the café ;)

Elliot snorting sugar.

We made bacon on Valentines Day.

Elmo under a chair.

Elmo eating a grape.

Elmo running/hopping for a grape.

I went for a walk and I tried to take a photo of what I was listening to but the flash ruined it.

Metallica were on the front cover of Kerrang!

All the pretty pens.

I love Chanel perfumes.

I still have my toy horses.

My prize possession; my Sherlock box set.

I live in my leather jacket.

I promise that next time I upload some disposables that they'll be more interesting than the majority of these photos. I hope you enjoyed this short blog post and I hope I'm feeling upto writing better posts during March.

Amy x