August Burns Red // Islington Academy, London // 13.12.2018

What a perfect way to end the year; August Burns Red with support from Wage War and Betraying The Martyrs. This was up there with 'best gigs of the year', for me. 

Below is a video I put together of a couple of clips I got from the show. Just a couple, as there is nothing more annoying than that person who stand there with their camera phone! hahaha! :) 

The Body Shop // Tea Tree Range

BEHOLD! THE HOLY GRAIL OF NIGHT TIME SKIN CARE! Well, let's be real here; just like any products, each individual is going to find products that work better for their skin than others. Something that works for me, might not work for someone else. Where as what works for someone else, may not work for me! 

But for someone who has tried and tested 92827094 different face washes, face scrubs, face masks (you get my point), I have only really got along with the Body Shop.

I have combination skin. I was blessed with the power of my skin to be greasy along with dry, and add on to that blemishes, spots, you name it - this sisters got it! Tea Tree for me, has always got along with my skin well. I always seem to find if it has Tea Tree in it - it's going to work for at least a little while.

The Body Shop, however, has not let me down (yet). So I have been using both the Tea Tree Face Wash and Tea Tree Night Cream for a good few years now - and I have never switched to anything else. I use the face wash twice a day as it is kind and gentle and makes your face feel all tingly - in a good way! Like it's all fresh and pampered. The night cream i use before bed, applying a thin layer all over my face. If I have a particularly lovely spot, I add a blob of the cream onto the spot, and I have found it makes the spot disappear quicker. I am not sure if this is how you are to use it, but it works wonders for me! 

Last month I decided to dive deeper into the range and picked up this '3 in 1' Tea Tree product. It claims to be a face scrub, a face mask, and a wash - all in one! 

I can now confirm after a month of using this; this product is just as amazing. The face wash claim, I will kinda ignore (I already have face wash *flicks hair*), but as far as scrubs go - it is gentle and does the job. Using it as a face mask is SO easy too. You apply a thicker layer, and it really drys down to a mask! Afterwards, you wash away and it also scrubs too!

One of the best things about all this, is these all last for AGES! Not to mention all the deals Body Shop do. I would say, if any of this rings familiar with you; try these products! This is me, your friend, helping you out, as a friend. You're welcome. 

:) x

Too Faced - The Sweet Smell of Christmas

I think we would be kidding ourselves if we didn't agree that it's a pretty exciting time of year! Christmas is just around the corner, and more importantly; all the limited edition Christmas makeup collections are being released!

As every year, the collection I anticipate most, is Too Faced. I have had a couple of lipsticks from the Melted Matte collection before, and I absolutely loved them. So there was no doubt about it; I had to have these!

In the set you get four lipsticks; Pumpkin Spice, Sugar Cookie, Cinnamon Bear, Hot Buttered Rum, ALL of which smell EXACTLY how they sound, and they smell so delicious! Each lipstick is a 'mini', and you get just under half the amount of product you would from a full size; each lipstick contains 3ml of product. Which for a retail price of £22 (plus discount if you get these from the right place), I would say that is well worth the price!

Top - Bottom; Hot Buttered Rum, Cinnamon Bear, Sugar Cookie & Pumpkin Spice

I have ranted about these before; but long story short, the product themselves for me, if were being honest, is not as good as the Jeffree Star Velour collection, but these definitely come close! They are comfortable to wear, long lasting, highly pigmented, have a beautiful smell, are easy to apply; but Jeffree just manages to outdo all of those factors. 

Scroll down for a closer look in my latest video! 

:) x

Hawthorne Heights // The Flapper, Birmingham // 22.10.2018

What a treat of a gig this was. Hawthorne Heights with support from Mark Rose of Spitalfield - like being in a time capsule. 

For a brief moment (hour or two) I forgot I was 27 and all my worries and fears were left at the door. I felt 14 again. That kid that used to sit in ICT lessons, trying to find proxy sites on the sly, so she could log in to MySpace and stream Hawthorne Heights and Silverstein tracks from their pages. You know, because I didn't have Sky TV back then, and the only way to find music was either from MySpace, Kerrang or the free DVD and CDs you would get from Victory Records. This is how I remember it. 

There was always something special about finding music back then. I don't think it's really quite the same now. I mean it's great that we get to discover music much more easily now, but there was always something fun about discovering music back then.

Anyways, back to the gig. I finally got to see Hawthorne Heights,  one of few bands from my childhood I have never tired of, or grown out of, and guess what; It's been a week and I am still pumped! Those are the best gigs, right? Where you feel on a high afterwards. 

x

Forever Came Calling & Handguns // Boston Music Rooms, London // 19.09.2018

What a night!!

It was so great to see Forever Came Calling again, and to see Handguns for the first. 

Fun story is the trains to London were once again terrible; apparently some party balloons were caught in some overhead wires, so instead of taking 40 minutes our train took twice as long, which meant we walked in as FCC were a song or two into their set. They were still great. PLEASE GO LISTEN TO THEM! They deserve so much more recognition. I've gone on about them a few times on my blog; there is reason for it.

After FCC, we were approached by their drummer. He was an eccentric fella, definitely had us laughing. Long story short it turned into a trip to find a cash machine with him. During this adventure he decided to tell us that the guitarist of Handguns was about to propose to his girlfriend, during the set we were about to see. I didn't think this at the time, but afterwards I couldn't help but find it hilarious that this guy had just told us something that was supposed to be a secret, and it may have got back to the other guys girlfriend if we had gone telling people and she may have overheard haha. He also asked us to come party with him afterwards, to which my awkward response was "WE DON'T DO PARTYS". 

As we were aware of what was about to happen, we managed to film the whole thing. First time I have witnessed someone propose, it was cute!

Afterwards we had to go collect Dans record from behind the merch table, as drummer guy said he would keep it there for us until the end of the show. I was given the task of asking Joe (the singer of FCC) for it back. I don't do talking to people, so this was a challenge. I got awkward and forgot to ask for a picture, though we did have a little chat, I told him about our train and he apologised (perhaps he had something to do with the party balloons). I did however tell him we saw him before with Four Year Strong, which was pretty cool, it's like we already knew him. Definitely now friends for life.

Heres a rubbish 30 second clip of Forever Came Calling and the full proposal video from Handguns.

:) x

How I Safely Lightened My Black Hair

I was asked by a lovely lady to do a blog post on how I managed to get my hair from pitch black, to the colour it is now (please don't ask me for the technical colour term, because truth be told - I have no idea). It is quite noticeably a lot lighter than what is was, and I had black hair for about 4 years prior. 

This is my hair currently. After allll the pain and suffering I have put it through.

A Brief Warning

Firstly, I want to state that I have no hairdressing experience, I am not a professional, so the BEST thing to do is to go to your hairdresser. But I understand that the hairdressers can be rather pricey, so I am going to tell you how I did my hair, whilst avoiding as much damage as possible.

My hair at the moment is not in the best state. You need to be aware of this before you even go near ANY hair dye. My hair is however in the best condition it COULD be right now, and that is mainly down to the products I have found that actually work (believe me, I have tried a lot of hair products), and putting time into this whole 'procedure'. 

Time

The number one thing you need to remember, before you do anything to your hair, is you are going to need to take time. Lightening your hair and getting it to the colour you want it to be from black is not going to happen overnight. Between every step, take time to let your hair recover. 

Prepping Your Hair

Coconut oil - your new best friend!

Before you even consider taking the first step; prep your hair! To do this I would recommend using coconut oil a few times leading up to the day you decide to put any chemicals on your hair. This will help make your hair stronger and 'arm itself' in a way. Your hair will feel so soft and smooth too. Honestly, this stuff is a godsend.

Coconut oil is used in cooking, you can find this in any supermarket. Its usually about £2-3. It comes in a solid form, but when it reaches above about 20 degrees it liquidises. You can melt this for a few seconds in the microwave. You can use this in two ways; Either generously smoother your hair in it an hour or so before you wash your hair, OR (and this is the best way to do so, and the way I personally use coconut oil), smoother your hair in coconut oil and put your hair up in a bun, sleep with it in, and wash out in the morning.

First Step - Strip Your Hair

This is my hair after stripping it once. As you can see, it has gone ginger on top and dark brown on the bottom - at least it wasn't black anymore!

If you can get away with it, I would avoid bleach all together. I know I am being a hypocrite here, because I did use bleach - we will get to that part soon. 

Using a hair stripper is a great way to start to process as it is not as harmful as hair colourant, let alone bleach. They say you can actually repeat this process a few times in a row and your hair will be fine - I did. 

The best brands to use for this are 'Colourless' or 'B4', which you can find almost anywhere. This basically penetrates your hair molecules removing all previous hair dye from your hair, it does not contain bleach. So what you are left with it your natural hair colour pigments. 

As I had dyed my hair many times before, I had colour build up on the ends of my hair. The top of my hair had obviously not been dyed as many times, so the colour was removed from my roots quicker than the ends. I had to repeat this three times. I then stopped doing so as I realised my ends were not going to go any lighter using colour stripper alone. This was because there was just so much build up from previous colours. 

Notes:

Although it says you do this multiple times in a day, leave a few days between each stripping session - just to be on the safe side! After each process, coconut oil your hair! In every session you may need to buy two packs if you have long hair, one pack may not be enough to cover your whole head. I have this problem!

Bleaching Your Hair

Hair after bleaching once. I didn't do the top bit on my first attempt, as I wanted it to match the colour on top.

Here is the more tricky bit. You need to read instructions carefully before you touch bleach. For this I would recommend buying Jerome Russell Bblonde High Lift Powder Bleach. This comes with 4 packets of powder. For every packet of powder you must mix with Jerome Russell Bblonde Cream Peroxide. Do not go any higher than 30 Vol with this. You can buy 40 Vol but that should only be used by professionals as it is so strong. 

On the left is the hair colour I last used,
to achieve my current hair colour. 

Use an old boil to mix in the sachet with the cream activator until its smooth. Use the directions on the back of the packet on how to cover your hair properly. Two packets and two bottles of cream activator should be used for long hair, like mine. 

If you would like me to do a separate post on bleaching your hair, let me know! 

If after you have bleached your hair once if is still not as light as you would like it, please make sure you check the quality of your hair first before doing the process again. You should wait at least 6 weeks before putting on any more bleach, to let your hair recover.

Notes:

If your hair is stretchy when wet, please please please do not do any more process to your hair. As soon as it started to feel  like elastic, move away from any more hair dyes. 

Orange Hair

So you may have noticed my hair was orange for a bit before I went to the colour I was now. Well, it was an orange, blondish colour which I actually really liked. 

If you are happy with how light your hair is when it reaches this point, but you want to take out the brassy/orange tone, you should buy an ash based hair dye which will get rid of those tones. Look  out for colours with the word 'ash' in it. Or you can do what I did...

My Current Colour

My hair currently. After applying a hair dye.

Here's where I went wrong. I originally planned on wanting grey hair. I was so set on it. I had the dye for so long, but I still wasn't light enough. I also couldn't / can't bleach it anymore yet as I know I have to wait to let my hair recover. So still having orange hair, I just went ahead and used the grey hair dye anyway. This has left me with the colour my hair is now. The dye I used was called Colour Freedom - Graphite Grey


Hair Care Products
I wanted to share with you a few products which; after years of searching, I have finally started to find products which actually work for me. Another thing you have to remember is not everyone is going to find the same products work wonders for them.

Though at first glance it may not look it, hair is very dry, flat, and annoying. I think it's important to splash out a bit on one or two products that are going to help your hair recover, or keep your hair healthy whilst you go through with lightening your hair.

Heat Protective Spray - I use the VO5 Heat Protect Spray, because it makes my hair feel soft, isn't sticky and if you didn't know otherwise you wouldn't know there is anything on your hair. It's cheap too! 

Argan Oil / Morroco Oil - I use OGX, Extra Penetrating oil, for dry and coarse hair. This one is little more expensive, but a little goes a long way. You need a pea sized amount. You can use on dry or wet hair, so it has multiple uses. I use it after I have towel dried my hair, and before I spray my hair with heat protector spray to blow dry my hair. It helps restore dry and damaged hair.

Shampoos and Conditioners - This is something I recently learnt. After trying so many different shampoos and conditioners. I found that most STILL left my hair feeling dry, even if it states it is for extra dry damaged hair on the package; it just didn't make sense to me? 

Keep on eye on the ingredients, avoid anything that says it contains silicones. It strips your hair of all the good stuff as well as dirt, and coats your hair in a sort of plastic, which when under heat (like hair dryers, or natural heat) this hardens and is what makes your hair feel more dry.

Loreal Elvive Extraordinary Low Shampoo is great to use in a replacement from your normal shampoo every now and then, I would seriously recommend this, but I wouldn't use it as an every day shampoo as your hair could start to feel greasy. Herbal Essences Bio:Renew is great for every day use, but make sure you get it whilst its on offer as this can be pricey. For an alternative I would use TRESemme Botanique Nourish and Replenish.

Coconut oil - We've discussed this one already. But this here is your reminder!

I think I have pretty much covered everything. If you feel like I have missed something, or you'd like to know more, or you have any questions, you can drop me a message either personally via email, or find me on IG! :) Thanks for reading! xx

Natural History Museum, Tring, Hertfordshire

When you think of The Natural History Museum, you probably think automatically associate the name with one of London's most known museums. You possibly forget that the one in London is just a part of The Natural History Museum, being one of three; yes it is the biggest, but you may or may not know that there is also a Natural History Museum in both Oxford and Tring.

I had been to the Natural History Museum in Tring once before as a child. I remember it as being one of my most memorable days out as a kid, with my parents. Walking around seeing all the preserved animals was something I found fascinating. From the largest mammals to the smallest birds, to all the different kinds of bugs and insects; there was something about seeing these species so close that felt absolutely mind blowing, and still does to this day on my second trip there. 

Being someone who watches a lot of nature and zoology documentaries ,It really puts into perspective the size of some of these creatures that you sit and watch behind a television screen. Just go and stand next to the tiger and stare it right in the face for a few seconds, and you really start to get a sudden fear. This is what I did. You really get a feel for just how powerful some of these animals are in the wild. I think it's easy to forget that, behind your television screens.

Tring itself was an absolutely beautiful town; I could really picture myself living somewhere like this, hopefully..one day, maybe? We did however underestimate just how long the walk from Tring station to the town centre it actually was. It took around 40 minutes, but I didn't mind. There is nothing quite like walking through nature and the countryside. Even if we was next to a country road, it beats the hustle and bustle of a city any day of the year.

I have said before but one of my favourite things is admiring buildings and architecture. One of the best places for this, is in a country town. So I probably got just as much enjoyment out of looking at the buildings, as I did the animals.

Birthday Haul & Lookbook 2018

The internet is probably sick of me by now! Two videos in one week; I don't even know who I am!

Anyways, here is a haul / lookbook I put together, which consists of the clothes and make up I was so lucky to receive for my birthday this year. I turn't 27 by the way, and I wasn't happy about it.

Links to all items can be found in the video description.

I hope you enjoy :3 x

Dickies Mini Backpack // What's In My Bag?

Hey Friends! Today I return with a cheeky little video for you.

This is my first time recording a voice over for a video on my channel! It was a little nerve wrecking at first. But now I have done it once, I can't wait to get recording more material! And boy have I missed using my camera and putting it to some use.

I just got this new cute Dickies bag and wanted to showcase it to you guys; I thought it would be more fun to show you what I usually have in my bag on the daily. That's more fun than a few pictures, right?

Links to things can be found in the video description!

:) x

Novelists, My 27th Birthday, And A 'Quick' Update!

Woah! It's been a while since I logged in to my part of the internet.. And the strangest part is I feel like I have really missed being here. Why I have left it as long as I have, no one knows.

I thought I would just log in and show my face; I haven't given up. I have yet again just took an unexpected break away from it all. I thought I would have a little ramble.

So since I last logged in, there has been a few adventures I have been up to. There was a few gigs; Novelists to be the main one (how I wish I did a post on that alone, as it definitely deserved one. Novelists are, if you didn't know by now, one of my favourite bands at the moment. So seeing them finally was awesome, I can't wait for the new album they have in the works at the moment, and I just as much can't wait for them to come over again; WHICH, they have said will be next year to tour their new album! yay!

NOVELISTS (THANK YOU TO DAN FOR BEING MY PHOTOGRAPHER FOR THE NIGHT AND LETTING ME ENJOY MYSELF)

The thing about the Novelists gig was they were joined by Landmvrks, which made it even more so of an epic night! Theres nothing quite like a night filled with bands you already enjoy (though discovering new bands on the night is also just as exciting).

LNDMVRKS

Then of course there was Slam Dunk, where for the first time we headed to Midlands. I've been going Slam Dunk since 2010 in Hatfield, and I actually kinda preferred it here this time!

A major event that happened just a few weeks ago now; I turned 27. I have to be completely honest; I wasn't looking forward to it. Not my Birthday and the celebration part (who doesn't love getting prezzies or doing something fun), but turning another year older, is making me more and more reflective each year. It's something I struggled with this year so much. "I'm 27, I don't have a house, I'm nearly 30, I don't know what the hell I want to do with my life, I'm not actually good anything, what's this hidden talent I am supposed to find and why haven't I found it yet. Am I supposed to have kids soon? Am I ever going to be ready to have kids? What If I can never have kids cause I'm going to get old and not have any eggs left" HELP. Seriously, this AND MORE, is all I have been thinking about.

BUBBA GUMPS - OUR 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

But to talk about the nice, happy, positive side of things; my birthday was lovely. We spent the day doing things we loved, which was all I wanted to do; going to Selfridges and looking and swatching all the makeup (they have Lime Crime in there now by way, yes I freaked out). We did one of my most favourite things which was going around the cute little streets of London. This is something EVERYONE needs to do, because you find so many hidden treasures. We found an astrology shop which I could have spent hours in, we found a little macaroon shop which is a birthday tradition, a cute coffee shop where they make everything from hand. We stumbled across a pizzeria too! We dived straight in, it look me back to being in Rome this time last year; I miss you Italy so much and your delicious pizza. I have so many London places to share, I should probably plan on doing some sort of guide. Yep, I think I will.

Anyways, for now I will just draw this to a close as I have actually rambled far more than I anticipated/planned on. I'll be back soon with some actual interesting content. I got some planning to do! :)

Lots of Love xx

Our First Date

Around February 4 years ago, Dan entered into my life. In fact it wasn't the first time he had done so. The first time around we started talking through a mutual friend on Facebook but after a while we stopped talking. I'm pretty sure I went through a 'clear out' phase, but I can't remember how it exactly went.

A few years after that he was recommended as a friend back on Facebook, and I added him again. After a few likes here and there, and brief chats on status's (I was trying to get his attention), I  finally received a private message. Though it's now very much a blur, I remembered vividly discussing Goat Simulator and the new Spiderman film at the time, and how "we should go see it". From then on we spoke every single day, we still had never met.

He was at University at the time studying his second year. One night we sat up either sides of our screens and watched Wrestlemania 'together'; it was like we were actually in the same room. I found out that in April he would be coming back for a few days, and the talk of going to see Spiderman came up again. We planned a day. It wasn't really spoke of being a date.

Funny thing about this was; I ignored him the whole day. I was so anxious, and just like every other meet up with anyone ever, I was busy planning my escape - or excuse. Somehow, I managed to pluck up the courage to go. I guess fate took hold of me that day, because looking back now and the state I was in, I have no clue how I did it.

He picked me up in a taxi, he got the door for me. I was surprised he did so, I never had a guy who did that for me before. I instantly noticed two things; 1) he was wearing a The Story So Far t-shirt, 2) He was listening to Funeral For A Friend, I kinda thought maybe he was trying to impress me as we spoke a lot about those two bands just before. Later on, he admitted it!! 

We clicked instantly, and instantly I wasn't anxious anymore. It felt like I already knew him. Going to the cinema kinda helped break the ice. Once it was over and we hung out for a bit, we grabbed a taxi. One of my most favourite moments to this day and I remember vividly was on the journey back, his glasses broke - whilst he was wearing them. Just on his face. I cried with laughter.

I had so much fun that I saw him again the next day. He invited me around his house (no not like that), he was a true gentleman. I stayed that night until 5am, we laid on his bed and spoke about music, his dog at the time, and laughed til my gut hurt. At one point I had my hand under the pillow near his, our fingers were touching, I wanted to hold his hand but I was so scared. He eventually held mine. 

He went back to University for a few weeks after this. We carried on speaking all day, every day, until he returned. Eventually he asked me to be his Girlfriend, 4 years ago in May. 

Even though I was never officially asked on a date on this occasion, I still identify this as our first one. I love our little story.

Instagram?

It's been just over three years since I first pulled the plug on all my social media accounts; this of course not including my YouTube and this very blog, which I have spoken about before. But after a long hard think, I decided to click the sign up button on creating an Instagram account.

So what made me 'change my mind'? Well, my reason for trying out Instagram again was for the simple fact that I wanted a way to get closer to other bloggers and like minded people. People who have similar tastes to myself. It's hard to reach out to people in this day in age when you don't have any platform to spread your material and just as importantly engage with other peoples. 

I'm not saying this is going to work. Who knows if I will even stick around on this forever. But it's something I knew in the back of mind I just had to trial out. 

I will be completely honest. It's already giving me anxiety. This was one of the main reasons I opted out of social media in the first place, them few years ago - it actually did nothing for my mental health, it was one aspect I struggled with a lot. Hence why I eliminated it. And I still stand by the fact it was one of the best things I ever did. But were keeping it quiet this time and were just sticking to this one platform. 

Lets give this a go.

x

Full Moon // Outfit Post

The occasion? A little hard to explain. Dans Grandad is a Mason and they hold these little events now and then. Grandad (as I call him) was ever so kind to invite us along with him again as his guests. I'm not very good at meals as such, but I went and I'm pretty proud of myself for that. It's something I find very difficult.

As it was more of a quick event, I just went for something I already had in my wardrobe. I wore this outfit once before to a wedding.

The dress is by Fashion Union, but I found it on Asos. I think it's so cute and a mix between goth and victorian, but at the same time elegant. A velvet dress with beautiful lace detailing on the neck, arms and across the chest. Not to mention the polka dot mesh insert that is shown across the chest and also on the back of the dress, which makes this piece extra unique and different - I love it!

I think these shoes speak for themselves. Leopard print. Chunky heel. Me all over.

x

_________________________________________________________________________________

DRESS // FASHION UNION

LEOPARD PRINT SHOES // ASOS

LIPSTICK // MAC CHILI