Hello my lovelies, recently I've had enough time again to read books, something which I found impossible to do whilst studying for my A Levels. On the odd occasion that I did have time to read, I constantly had my mind on other things which made concentrating on the words in front of me such a huge task that reading just wasn't enjoyable anymore. However, with me having so much free time this summer I thought I'd give reading another go and opted for a book which has been sat on my bookshelf for quite a while, that being Girl Online by Zoe Sugg.
I first attempted to read this book way back at the start of 2015 after I received it as a gift for my eighteenth birthday. After reading the first chapter I stopped because I felt as though I was wasting my time as the way in which the book had been written was clearly aimed at a much younger audience; one I knew I didn't fit into. As an eighteen year old who was studying both English Language and English Literature at A Level I was immediately put off from the start as there were grammatical errors and spelling mistakes as early on as the first page. It was this along with what I read to be an overly basic and poor portrayal of anxiety and panic attacks and predictable plot sequence that I placed the book back on my bookshelf and left it there for the months to come.
This summer I was determined to fall back in love with literature and reading once more as being told what I should and shouldn't be reading for English at A Level really got me down and made me not even want to pick up a book. My choice of novel was between the first Game of Thrones book and Girl Online and since I wanted something easy and light to read I opted for the latter.
I wasn't hugely impressed with the first few chapters of the novel, I'm going to be honest, but once Penny and Noah (the two main characters) finally met in New York I began to look past the slightly dumbed down writing style and enjoy the story line a lot more. It made me really nostalgic to read a book aimed at young, teenage girls, something that I too would have read at the ages of twelve and thirteen. It was interesting for me to read something that I know I would have absolutely loved when I was younger because I could think back to how I used to interpret those novels aimed at typical teenage girls and how my opinion and thoughts vary now. As many books written for this audience have a running theme of first love I could fully grasp exactly how the characters were feeling, something I know for a fact I didn't appreciate and grasp when I was a younger teenager.
Without giving too much away, I was unable to put this book down as I reached the last one hundred or so pages. The scandal surrounding Penny and Noah's relationship in New York coupled with the things she had written on her, what was supposed to be anonymous blog, sparked a media frenzy as it was said that Noah had cheated on his girlfriend with Penny. I'm going to say no more just in case any of you guys want to read it and I end up giving the whole thing away but for me this was the most exciting part of the book and I was really upset when I turned the last page.
Overall I really enjoyed Girl Online and I've already preordered a signed copy of Girl on Tour because I'm such a fangirl... -.- I'd definitely recommend it to younger teenagers and even older people if you want an easy going novel to read.
I also filmed a video discussing the points above and a few others over on my YouTube channel. You can view it below.
Hello my lovelies, whilst I'm feeling more ill than I've ever felt in my entire life, I thought I'd try and summon the energy to write a blog post about a rather exciting event that occurred on the 9th July, a few days ago. Admittedly I really didn't want to go to prom because my year eleven one wasn't exactly one of my happiest memories but after being talked into it by friends I decided I'd go because it would have been the last time I'd ever see some people who I'd known for seven years.
I'll start by running you through my outfit for the night. I purposely didn't show you all my dress and shoes in my most recent haul video because I wanted the whole thing to be a surprise, not that anyone probably cares that much but still...
Taken from my Instagram: @amy_96_
My dress was bought a few weeks before the event itself from Miss Selfridge and cost £45. I'm head over heels in love with it as the overall vintage look with the high neck and lace detailing makes it perfect for a formal occasion like prom. Skater style dresses are my absolute favourite to wear so with this dress fitting in with that but with a touch of added classiness and formality, it meant that this was the most perfect dress ever for me. Once I'd seen it on the website there was no way I was going to wait to see if I found anything else that I preferred because I knew it was going to be a fast seller.
I hadn't really given my shoes much thought until my dress arrived and I realised that the majority of the shoes I own are black and would look too much with such a pretty dress. I headed over to the Public Desire website and I was not disappointed. I found these gorgeous Nude Stilettos that I instantly knew would work perfectly with my dress. Public Desire is my favourite place to shop for shoes because they always know exactly what's in fashion and at the same time keep up with that whilst also making sure all their shoes affordable and good quality. These shoes were more comfortable and easier to walk in than the majority of my other heels because they don't have any kind of platform to unbalance you and make you feel as though you're balancing on stilts.
The bag I chose to take to prom was the one I used two years ago for my year eleven prom. It's a simple clutch bag with a diamante covering. This gave my outfit a slightly more prom looking finish as I always associate prom with an abundance of glitter and sparkly things. Unfortunately I can't remember how much this bag cost as it was bought two years ago now but I know that it was from Debenhams. Here is a link to their clutch bag page where you can find some that look similar if any of you are interested.
In terms of my makeup I wanted to keep it classy and overall neutral so that it matched up with my outfit and was fitting with the occasion. I'm not going to go through everything that I did because I didn't take photos of each step but I'll give you a basic overview.
I first moisturised my skin using my Clarins Ultra-Matte Rebalancing Lotion for oily skin before using my Clarins Ever Matte foundation in the shade 103 Ivory, all over my face. Then I took my Essentials Mineral and Plant Extracts Pallette again by Clarins (yes I love Clarins products and I'm not even sorry) and because these shades don't have names, I can't really list what I did properly. Basically, I used a warm brown colour in my crease and blended that out. I went back into my crease using a dark brown shade on a pencil brush to give my eyes some definition and then on the rest of my lid I used a champagne colour before adding a small amount of gold glitter. I then applied my usual eyeliner which is my Maybelline gel one which again doesn't have a name on the little tub it comes in. After spending a ridiculous amount of time perfecting my wings, I then added a coat of Rimmel's Lash Accelerator mascara to both my top and bottom lashes.
On my cheeks I used a Models Prefer bronzer to contour my cheekbones before blending that out to make my cheeks look all lovely and glowy. And finally, on my lips I used a Rimmel lip liner in the shade 063, Eastend Snob which is my favourite pink, lip colour of all time.
You can probably see my hair better in the first photo but my hairdresser pinned up half of my hair, leaving my fringe and some at the back down. Since my dress was quite vintage and pretty looking I wanted to keep that look with my hair as well so I went for a half up-do with some added curls. This also meant that my earrings were on display for once and not smothered by masses of crazy hair. The earrings I wore to prom were from Next, again around two years ago but they worked perfectly with my outfit.
The night itself was absolutely amazing and everyone looked so gorgeous! We had our prom at the Victoria and Albert Hotel in Manchester and my evening was made as soon as I had a glass of Prosecco in my hand, which was about five minutes after arriving. Before our meal, everyone took selfies together and the photographer was taking group photos of everyone stood in front of the huge fountain that the hotel has at the front entrance.
For dinner we had tomato and basil soup (I'm guessing that's what it was because we weren't explicitly told, but going off taste, I think it was that), chicken and a variety of vegetables and my favourite part was the dessert. I'm a sucker for all things sweet so when a plate of what can only be described as half chocolate brownie, half chocolate fudge cake, was placed in front of me, drizzled in chocolate sauce with a side serving of ice cream I could have cried.
After we'd eaten, my friends and I went into the photo booth to take some ridiculous photos with silly hats, masks and my personal favourite, a Spongebob inflateable.
Later on that night at around eleven o'clock, after speeches had been made and everyone had eaten, quite a few of us headed out into the centre of Manchester for a night out. I'd never been clubbing before and it's safe to say that I was quite skeptical about the whole experience. The club the majority of us ended up at was Fifth Avenue and after having to take my glasses off for the bouncer to determine that ten year old me in my ID photo, was in fact me, I was let in to join the rest of my friends. Admittedly the first half an hour or so left me wondering why the hell I wanted to go clubbing in the first place. I felt as though I was surrounded by generic people whilst all I could hear was music which sounded like the 'UK Top 40' playing so loudly it felt like my brain was melting. And for those of you that know me, you'll be aware that the majority of today's mainstream music isn't really my thing. Nevertheless, or should I say, four or five shots and a few pints of cider later, I actually began to enjoy myself. Our group alternated between the R&B room and the main room which I'm guessing was just mainstream music although I did hear an Arctic Monkeys song which made me very happy.
Taken by Shane Agnew
Taken by Shane Agnew
We came back home in a taxi which picked us up at three o'clock and it's safe to say that the journey back was quite entertaining thanks to my friend Lewis. I managed to capture quite a lot of it on my phone which contributed to part of my vlog. You can watch bits of my evening at prom and my night out in the vlog below.
Thank you so much for reading all of this if you got upto here. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my prom and first clubbing experience; I can't wait for my next night out.
Hello my lovelies, so whilst I'm slightly intoxicated, yes I've been drinking, surprise surprise, I thought I'd share my thoughts on three Barry M nail polishes that I've been alternating between over the last few months.
A couple of months ago I was rummaging through my case that I keep all my nail polishes in and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't disheartened at the fact that the majority of my nail polishes had either run out when I attempted to use them or had turned extremely lumpy and just overall pretty gross. Many of my favourites were completely unusable despite my best efforts at shaking, swirling and stirring them - nothing worked. My go to nail colour, that being black, had been used to death so I was due a trip to Boots to buy some more and check out some other colours whilst I was there.
Whilst we're on the topic of specifically, black nail polish, I picked up a regular Barry M one in the shade 47, Black. I'd never used a single Barry M product before and considering how much I love my black nail polish, I was really entrusting them here and I'm so glad that I did. First of all the quality of the nail polish is just amazing. I'm one of those people who applies nail polish for it to then chip a couple of hours later, meanwhile, your friend is there wearing the same bloody one weeks later without a single chip in sight, but this is the first nail polish I've tried that hasn't chipped for almost a week! With the price being only £2.99, I wasn't expecting much but this is by far the best black nail polish I've ever tried and is so worth the money. The colour and consistency is perfect leaving you with perfectly shiny, black nails.
I think at the time there was a special offer on at Boots which allowed me to buy a second nail polish for a little bit cheaper and I love a good bargain as much as the next person so naturally I went back to see what other colours I could find. The second colour I chose was a pastel green one in the shade 502, Pole Position. This is from the Barry M Speedy Quick Dry range and I have to be honest, I'm not really a huge fan. The nail varnish itself is extremely thick in comparison to any other nail varnish I've used. I first thought that this would work to my advantage as I'd only need to use one coat which after a few attempts, I've gathered is what you're meant to use. As this nail varnish is so thick, if you put too much on it peels off in one huge piece minutes later. Don't get me wrong, that would be an excellent invention if they began to make nail polishes that you could just effortlessly peel off when you wanted to change colours instead of having to spend time scrubbing away at your nails with pungent smelling nail varnish remover. However, if you apply one coat of this fairly thinly to your nails (make sure you wipe the excess off the end of the brush on the top of the bottle before you start) then you'll be good to go and it'll last as long as the black one I mentioned above. In all honesty, I'm not sure why I went for this colour, considering I'm not really a pastel kind of girl. I prefer my darker colours and reds and pinks in truth, but it's good to try something different from time to time. I personally haven't noticed a difference in drying time with this nail polish, it was the thickness of it that was more noticeable to me. Retailed at £3.99 I cannot argue with the affordable price of this product but I don't think I'll be purchasing from the Speedy Quick Dry range again.
The final nail varnish I bought is probably one of my favourite finds when it comes to makeup and beauty products. I bought this one around a month after purchasing the two above as I thought I might as well give the third range from Barry M a try. The one I chose was from the Gelly Hi-Shine range in the shade 446, Dragon and I am in love! This nail varnish leaves your nails looking like you just got your nails professionally done at the salon and for a fraction of the price. I spent £3.99 on this product and my nails have never looked so bright, summery and professionally done with just one coat of nail polish.
Overall, the Barry M nail varnishes are definitely products I would recommend to my friends. Despite the one from the Speedy Quick Dry range being slightly trickier to apply, I wouldn't hesitate from trying any of the other ranges by Barry M and I would most definitely purchase the black and pink nail polishes again. I hope that this blog post helped some of you out and if you have any questions then please feel free to leave them as a comment below.
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 :')
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!
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.
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 :')
