Tall Dresses - Tiered Body Con Dress At Long Tall Sally

I'm supposed to be studying but I just wanted to share my love for this!


Tall Dresses - Tiered Body Con Dress At Long Tall Sally

MAC Electra

I was catching up on a bit of Pixiwoo last night and started watching a video where they were talking about their best and worst beauty products. They started off talking about their worst MAC eyeshadow, which is apparently Electra, a colour I happen to love.

So today my make up involved Electra. Maybe it is because I'm so pale that it works, or maybe its because although I love dark dramatic eye colours, I'm also drawn to shimmery neutrals and pales, but I love this colour.

Eyes: Vanilla, Scene, Electra, Blacktrack fluidline, Chanel Inimitable mascara

I started by prepping my lid with Paint in Bare Canvas, then applied Vanilla eyeshadow over the whole lid up to the brow. I then smudged Scene into the crease, then blended Electra over the top of the lid and onto the lower lid. A touch more blending with a 217 brush, a generous slick of Fluidline in Blacktrack, then finished off with a coat of Chanel Base Beaute and Chanel Inimitable mascara in Waterproof Black (all products MAC unless otherwise stated). 

Please excuse my crappy skin - I've been ill, then forgot to take all my supplements away with me so my skin has suffered slightly!

I find it quite similar to the limited edition MAC shadow Artic Grey, although that is slightly warmer. I haven't used Electra recently, I am glad I was prompted to give it a go again!

Stormtrooper in Stilettos

Is the name of the Queen exhibition currently on at the Truman Brewery off Brick Lane in London. I first heard about this when I recieved an email from queenonline.com. As a massive Queen fan I immediately started plotting how to get there, where to stay etc. Fortunately my boyfriend's sister lives in London and we were long overdue a visit, so it enabled us to do everything.

The exhibition focuses on the first 5 albums that the band released, charting the stories behind the music and some of their greatest achievements, as well as displaying some treasures from the time. There are lots of TV screens with clips of interviews, and you can listen to the songs at appropriate points around the displays. These are my favourite Queen albums, so it was just that little bit more wonderful!

Some of the footage on the screens was of live gigs from various places and times and just watching it took my breath away. My favourite bit was catching a clip of 39 being performed - it is one of my favourite Queen songs for its sheer simplicity, and Freddie aside, Roger Taylor is one of my musical idols.

The slight maniacal grin shows you how pleased I was to be there!!

If you can make it to the Truman Brewery between Commercial Street (Spitalfields Market) and Brick Lane before the exhibition closes on March 12th then I heartily recommend that you go!

Oscar dresses

I'm coming a little bit late to this in the blogging world, as it is now 48 hours since the Red Carpet, but hey, I've been mulling it over, looking at different photos to get a good idea from different angles what the dresses look like.
So here are my favourites (pictures borrowed from the Independent).

Michelle Williams in Chanel

Gwyneth Paltrow in Calvin Klein



Cate Blanchett in Ricardo Tisci for Givenchy



Helena Bonham Carter in Colleen Atwood

Michelle Williams. Classic, elegant, beautiful, different.

Gwyneth Paltrow - a slightly different choice for her I think, she usually plays it quite safe but this is a bold and striking design. It works well, although she could maybe have left the brooch at home.

I wasn't sure about Cate Blanchett's initially, but the photo above sealed it for me, the movement and shape in the skirt is something else and the structured yet soft bodice is quirky and sophisticated. The colour suits her colouring beautifully and avoids being too 'pastel blah' with the flashes of neon yellow at the shoulders.
 
Opinion seems to be a bit divided over HBC's dress, but she is well known for her crazy outfits, which personally, I love. I love that she seems completely bat shit crazy at times! This dress is actually quite tame compared to some of the things she wears, but gorgeous nonetheless and hooray for black velvet bodices!

Ugly? Or just different?

This is a post about the film "Beastly", starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer. Due for release this summer, it is a loose re-imagining of the tale of Beauty and Beast. I stumbled across this film through the blog Haute Macabre, who were understandably a little bit miffed about it.

Watch the trailer. It got me thinking about what the mainstream (and to an extent the alternative) media perceives and beautiful and ugly, and onto one of my pet subjects - what message is being sent out to children and the impressionable about self image?



As I said, the film appears from the trailer to be a loose re-imagining of the Beauty and the Beast story. In this version, the 'beast' is an arrogant frat boy who is turned into the beast by a witch. The form that that 'beast' takes? One more commonly seen in the alt. world - tattooed, shaven headed and scarred. Oh, and he rides a motorbike and wears leathers.

I am well aware that there are many many people in the world who think that the merest hint of ink on a body (particularly that of a woman) is cause to deride that person with any number of insults about their personal choices and being ugly (insults that wouldn't wash with many other areas of society by the way), but it is another thing entirely to portray the very definition of ugliness in this way.

Beauty and the Beast is a difficult story to portray, even more so in these supposed times of tolerance and acceptance - however you portray the Beast, you are bound to upset someone. How do you make a sensitive film with an arty feel whilst making the Beast something so outlandish that it couldn't possibly upset someone would be hard. Maybe it is a film best left to the likes of Disney. Jim Steinman managed to get the jist across quite nicely and without upsetting people in the video for Meatloaf's "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)". I think in that case we have the awe inspiring might of the Meat to thank.

But "Beastly" seems to take it somewhere else. The trailer feels a little bit like the message is "being pretty isn't everything, but you really don't want to look like this". This being different, alternative, non conformist. It feels a little bit like the last vestige of Hollywood prejudice - tattoos are still somewhat taboo outside of certain circles, and cannot ever be allowed to be mainstream. 

This is not to say that I think the alt. media is much better at not portraying stereotypes, but that is the subject of a whole other post for me I think!

I will watch this film when it is released, because I would like to be proven wrong. I would like to think that in the end he learns to love his new look and mourns if he has to change back, and I have therefore completely misjudged it.

The best and the worst of things

It is almost the end of February and another month has flown by so quickly.
Here are my current best and worst of things!

The Best:

• Skirts - skirts absolutely rock and nothing rocks more than a skirt you have made yourself. 
• My boyfriend, who is warm and fuzzy (in more ways than one!) and keeps me going when I feel like everything is too much. 
• Stone Sour - oh god I love this band. Corey Taylor's voice makes me melt into a puddle and I have been listening to their latest album, Audio Secrecy pretty much non stop all weekend. The residents of St James may have spotted me dancing along the street on Saturday morning - this is what I was listening to!
• The Wagamama Cookbook - some friends bought us this for Christmas and I made my first dish from it last week - rousing success and one of the scrummiest stir frys I have cooked in ages. 
• Sunny spring days like Saturday morning was - it was so lovely to be out in just a tshirt! 
• The Healthy Skin Diet book (I mentioned this in my last post) - although I haven't properly started the 8 week programme yet, I've taken a few tips from the book and am implementing them now. My skin is clearing up fantastically, and I have high hopes for the actual programme. 
• Weleda Almond Skin Care - for sensitive skin that needs rebalancing, this is one of the first sensitive skin ranges I have ever used that doesn't assume that you need heaps of moisturising oils - it sinks into the skin wonderfully and is a great base for make up. Since using it my skin has become so much clearer and heals so much faster. 
• China Glaze Fairy Dust nail polish - I bought this the other week and have only just had a chance to try it. I used it on top of China Glaze Little Drummer Boy as recommended by a few other people and oh boy it is stunning! 

The Worst:

• The rain! Today it is bucketing down! 
• Cleaning - worth it once it is done but so dull and tedious! 
• Money. It sucks. There never seems to be enough of it! 
• Uni assignments. Don't get me wrong, I am loving my courses but I hate writing assignments! I have 2 due in 4 and 5 weeks. 

Confessions of a Shopaholic?

I have never thought of myself as a shopaholic. I don't fit the profile - I mean, I HATE shopping. I don't have an addictive personality, and I do know when to stop. But as I walked out of the cobblers at lunchtime having just handed over £42 of my hard earned pennies to pay for the repairs to the well worn boots and shoes I wear to work everyday (still cheaper than new pairs) I felt this urge to go and buy something.

I dismissed it soon enough, thinking that this close to pay day that might be a little reckless, and actually what do I need? It made me wonder what drives my need to shop, my need to have things, new things, pretty things...

Let's have a look at the things I have bought this month:

Weleda Almond Skincare - cleanser, moisturiser and facial oil - the last is a bit of a luxury item.
Deodorant, toothpaste and soap - again, fairly essential items
Nail polish - China Glaze Ahoy!, OPI Katy Perry The One That Got Away, China Glaze Fairy Dust, Seche Vite (replacement bottle)
2 sets of work out gear and a new sports bra
Skirt from Next (part paid for by vouchers)
Vest top from New Look
T shirt from Sainsburys
Black jersey mini skirt from Sainsburys (paid for with Nectar vouchers)

It doesn't feel like a lot, but it all adds up. Even though the idea of spending an afternoon traipsing round shops feeling depressed that I don't fit into that cookie cutter mould of the 'typical' British woman, I still end up buying things here and there.

But what makes me want to buy things? Is there, as one of those TV psychologists might try to insinuate, a deeper need or longing? I know my obsession with skincare and make up goes hand in hand with the skin problems I've been tackling for a good decade or so now, but the rest of it? Maybe it is really ok, and I'm just a normal person and the only reason it feels like it is too much is because I'm trying to save for the future. I have a good job, I earn good money, why shouldn't I spend it?

Then again, why should I spend so much? Do I really need these things? I tend to get a little bit obsessive about things, particularly my wardrobe, and I'll find something that I percieve that I 'need', and then go on an endless quest to find such things. The endless quests that are usually futile, but on the rare occasion they are successful they are so so rewarding. My latest one is some new jewellery. I own a lot of jewellery, all of it very beautiful and some of it very striking and different. But none of it feels right at the moment! I'm not fortunate in that I can't just buy any old jewellery, because I'm so allergic to anything other than silver. I'd love some cheap jewellery but alas... And again, I know what I want, and I can't find it.

I think it is time to do something different.

In March I am embarking on an 8 week diet to try and sort my skin out (the Healthy Skin Diet) so I think I will make it a Healthy Wallet diet as well. No purchases besides what is budgeted (I keep a certain figure in the monthly budget to pay for essential skin care, haircuts, hair dye etc).

I shall report back here with progress (and I promise I will start it all off with a proper post about the diet) and at the same time I'll update you with the no spending rule. That is, no spending on stuff just for me beyond what I budget for.