Birthday Haul

Firstly, I apologise, I haven't done many posts and that is because I have been to Paris (more about that later) and then immediately after returning I had to pack up all my stuff from university and drag it all home. Since I have been home, I have been looking for a job and Skyping friends that I am already missing and meeting old friends I haven't caught up with in a while. So all in all, I have been pretty busy. On top of this, I had so many ideas for ensuing blog posts. I wanted to do a Paris diary but my phone is being difficult about letting me import pictures/videos on to my computer, but I promise to sort this all out shortly. No more excuses. In the meantime, here is my birthday haul. It was my first birthday away from home and although the majority of my extended family gave me money and chocolates (always welcomed by the way), I thought I would do a little post celebrating what I did get.

I already posted about this, but my sister bought it for me in London, it was £25 from Topshop and I adore it, I think it is one of the best crop tops I have seen. Seriously, check the out they have so many different styles and although I tend to favour the more casual varsity ones, I really do love this one, if you pair it with the Mom jeans it literally shows just a strip of stomach so it is incredibly flattering as well. A great confidence boost.

Obviously the next big thing is that I went to Paris, my beautiful Mama paid for my hostel essentially and all the money I got went to my little spending packet for the romantic city. I will do a day by day diary play on this blog very soon, as soon as my mobile starts co-operating. It will contain all sorts of interesting historical facts about the places I visited so I am sorry if it will be a bit boring, but in all honesty it's more for me than it is for you. I don't want to forget a single moment of it.

My Aunt got me this Soap and Glory box, which contains all sorts of amazing little goodies. Including hand cream, moisturiser, body butter, shower gel, bubble bath and of course the crucial body scrub. I haven't had time to test out each product and fully appreciate this gift but it is right up my street and in the coming days I will right a review/first impressions of it. I have never owned any products from Soap and Glory, in fact I have only just recently heard about them so I 'm excited to try them out.

My mother very sweetly got me a cosmetics holder and this isn't an actual picture of it because mine is still in the box, there is literally no room to move anything in my bedroom it's just full of bags and suitcases and handbags stuffed full of bits and bobs, I feel like I am living in a hostel, but I will rectify this.

 I also got a Benefit make up brush set which consists of 7 different brushes which are all super soft and lovely to use. I am a Benefit enthusiast, I love all of their products and swear by their Hello Flawless foundation. In the brush set there is a powder brush; an angled contour brush; foundation brush; eyeshadow brush; angled flat top eyeshadow brush; and an angled liner brush. In addition to that I got Maybelline Gel Liner, which I have heard is the easiest to use, because all my life I have struggled with eye liner I always seem to get it wrong and then proceed to have to cover it up with excessive amounts of glitter. I got lots of other little things as well which I love including perfume, which I never buy for myself so it is always nice to receive as a gift. I got the Sigma Paris palette which I will do a review and some tutorials of, I got two new dresses, an overnight spa day, and a pair of cute black ballet flats from River Island with a gold bow which were £25.

The two things I am extremely excited about are this makeover for Unique Studios, which was £50 and includes going to a posh salon in London that is frequented by lots of stars such as Mylene Klass and Victoria Beckham etc (not Rihanna, I know, but I can deal) you get a makover, a professional haircut and a day of pampering with champagne on ice, you get to dress up all fancy and have professional photographs taken which you are allowed to keep at no additional price. My friend Paige and I are going to do this, most likely in September, it sounds like a lot of fun.

The next thing is a make-up master class which is in Birmingham, you get skincare tips and tricks, you learn how to apply false eyelashes and you get taught by a professional how to do evening looks and what suits each face etc so this will come in handy when I finally get the stones to start
a YouTube channel. This was £24 and one of my friends found the deal on Wowcher, what can I say they know me well.

So all this is coming up: Sigma Paris palette review/tutorials; Paris Packing because I only took my prettiest things to the city of love; Paris Diary including outfit and make-up of the day; Paris haul because let's face it I bought way too much and I am a sucker for all things tourist; and I am going to Risa in Birmingham on Friday so I'll do an "In My Shoes" for that. Please comment, and thank you for reading it's very sweet of you. Happy Fourth of July, guys. I'm not American but I am feeling the freedom anyway. Have an awesome day, the sun is shining and I have a tonne of stuff to do. Toodles.

The Great Gatsby and London

Last week, two days before my birthday my sister drove down to see me and whisked me away to London, one of my favourite places in the world. I love the city, it's always alive with activity and you can never run out of things to do. But most of all I love the fashion, everyone is so much bolder there with their garments and I feel like each individual has their own unique take on style and I love it. So obviously we went shopping, I bought a tonne of makeup and a pretty crop top from TopShop, we each bought a few maxi dresses from Apricot, we had a fancy brunch just outside of Westfield shopping centre. We had such a fabulous time, living like we were on the cast of Made in Chelsea for a day. It was brilliant.
Another incredible part of my day was seeing 'The Great Gatsby' in one of those gorgeous cinemas, with a ginormous screen, comfy leather armchairs and blankets to keep you warm. It was a stunning place and by far the prettiest production of any novel I have ever seen. I adore Fitzgerald, he is one of all time favourite authors, 'The Beautiful and The Damned' is his best book by far I believe and I really hope they make an adaptation of that. Although, I hear good things about 'Tender Is The Night' so I look forward to reading that after re-reading all the others. Apart from his books though. his lifestyle fascinates me, we talked about him in our captivating Lit classes last year (I miss those days) and it came to light that he did live an incredibly extravagant lifestyle and that he would turn out a new novel as quickly as possible so he and his glamorous wife could afford a new fur she wanted. I love that, I like knowing that his books are a reflection of his own life and his relationships.
I have read 'The Great Gatsby' and I liked it, but I didn't fall into it and never want to escape. It was just nice, it painted a nice picture and story and then there was the romantic figure of Gatsby, so I was incredibly impressed by the film. It is very visual, and therefore less about the story because the novel is very slim. I disliked how it is told from Nick's viewpoint, because you don't get a full impression about Daisy and Gatsby's relationship, so in  way it lacks a bit of depth in that sense.
But, I just fell in lust with this movie, it was like sitting and watching someone else's dream for a few hours. Every scene was gorgeous and Leonardo DiCaprio was, of course, flawless. He has not let me down with any movie I don't think (I didn't care for Romeo and Julie much, though). He makes this film, he is fantastic, compelling and he definitely looks the part. So if you haven't already, please watch it, you will not forget it and I promise you it will exceed your expectations.

Being me, of course I paid attention to the make-up worn by the actresses and Daisy's was surprisingly soft and natural even on a night out it was a very soft brown and gray smoky eye, poreless skin
and perfectly coiffed hair. Myrtle's was much more noticeable with a red lip and full eyelashes. Every single aspect of this film was perfect, makeup, styling, acting, cinematography. Baz Luhrman did a tremendous job I look forward to seeing what he does next. Ad if you haven't listened to the soundtrack then you are crazy, I don't think any other film has a soundtrack that could compare. Lana Del Rey's song gets me every single time. Is there anything she sucks at?