WEEK IN MY LIFE - HOT CHOCOLATES AND CHARITY SHOPS

 (didn't notice how choppy my fringe is until now whoops)

Through out this blog post you will notice I drank a lot of hot chocolate this week, I'm not sure why or how this happened but it did. I don't normally drink this much hot chocolate but when I'm with my mum, we always end up going to nearly every cafe we walk past to get a hot chocolate - we just like hot chocolate. 

This week was a tad different to my normal weeks so I thought it was a good week to do a 'week in my life' just so it's more interesting than me doing nothing but work and stressing about university assignments.

Monday

I started my week by going out for a wonderful breakfast date at The Social in Digbeth, where I had a simple sausage and hash brown sandwich (the hash browns were just perfect - the photo doesn't do it justice) and my boyfriend had a full english - I also had a delicious hot chocolate that started off my week long hot chocolate cravings. As well as the food being delicious, the interior of The Social was just gorgeous. I loved the industrial vibe and eclectic decor, the huge windows let the sun shine in and created the perfect environment in which to start my day. For my breakfast and drink I only paid £6.50 which is such a bargain, I will now struggle to walk past The Social everyday on my way to and from University without going in.

After my breakfast, I waddled into town with my full belly with the intention to scout of some sustainable fashion/food businesses that I wanted to write about for a couple of articles I need to do for my work placement (that I start on Wednesday!!). I wanted to wow the company with some cool ideas but this backfired on me and literally EVERYWHERE I wanted to go was closed on Mondays, and Mondays only - of course I couldn't have checked this online before I walked there but oh well. To cheer my sorry ass up, I had a mooch around the charity shops and bought a brand new Urban Outfitters top (that still had the tags on it!!) for £6 and a super cute Dior make up bag for only £4! This cheered me up a bit but I still felt bad as I slowly moped home, so I cuddled up in my blanket and watched Grease Live on Netflix whilst eating a bunch of chocolate. The day wasn't salvaged after my boyfriend cheered me up with a load of those gummy pizza sweets that I love. 

Tuesday

Tuesday is my full day at university which isn't the most interesting thing to talk about unless you want to hear about music history and research methods. I also had a pretty disappointing hot chocolate from the drinks machine so that was a waste of 25p and I had to walk home in the rain with no umbrella - so I wasn't in the best of moods when I got home. 

To remedy my bad mood I had a steamy shower, lit a candle and used The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution face mask whilst I listened to the Boy Genius album. I use this face mask twice a week and it always makes my skin super soft and glow-y. I also tried out some new hair products after my shower, I used the 'Got2b volumanic mouse' and the 'VO5 volume blow dry spray', my hair is quite fine so I'm always on the look out for anything that's going to give me some more volume. I really liked both of these products and they definitely gave me a tonne of volume, the spray made my hair look SO shiny and healthy and the mouse smells delicious and made my hair feel thick and luscious - this little pamper definitely elevated my mood.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a really exciting day for me because I was starting my work placement at BABMAG. Wednesday's are my early start anyway, I have a lecture 9 -10.30 but this morning I woke up a little earlier than usual so I could look a little more presentable as I normally turn up to university looking a little worse for wear this time in the morning. 

I had a great first meeting with BABMAG and we planned some really interesting articles for the magazine that I'm super excited to write so you should definitely keep an eye out for them over on their website! I got to work on some writing as soon as I got home and had planned to carry on working throughout my evening whilst I drank a load of tea and ate a load of biscuits. Almost perfectly timed, as I finished writing I got an invite to some evening plans and a bunch of us ended up going down to MaMa Roux's to have some drinks and watch some bands, so it was a lovely way to end a good work day. 

Thursday

On Thursday I stayed inside all day to do a bunch of writing as I normally do each week. This didn't quite go to plan as I decided to put Netflix on for some background noise and ended up watching 6 consecutive hours of 'Mind Hunter' after a friend recommended the show to me. If you're into true crime or anything like that, this show is amazing! So that's literally all I did all day, which isn't great for work but the show was definitely worth the binge.

Friday

On Friday I had two uni lectures before I headed to the train station so I could spend the weekend with my parents. On the train I wrote some blog material for the up-coming week and moaned about how busy the train was. Trains always make me feel so tired and cranky so I bought my 3rd hot chocolate of the week and the guy at Starbucks very nearly cheered me up a little with his barista-costumer small talk.

On the way home I popped into my parents antique shop, The Old Bakehouse Antique Centre, and couldn't resist buying a couple of things. Birmingham city centre has a noticeable lack of antique shops which is fine but it means when I go back home I'm allowed to splurge a little.

(trinkets from The Old Bakehouse Antique Centre, Northampton)

I also went for a lovely meal with my parents, my dad accidentally ate a whole slice of butter thinking it was cheese which will now be a life-long family joke and I had a fancy steak because I wasn't paying for the food so decided to indulge. I was excited by the 'cookie and ice cream' desert but when it arrived the cookie was not warm and the cookie to ice cream ratio was all out of whack but still it was okay.

Saturday

Saturday was wonderful. I hadn't seen my mum since new years and our last planned visit had to be cancelled because of the badly named Storm Dennis. We started off our day out as we do all of them, at Costa for hot chocolate and some breakfast, and then we drove to Market Harborough. Market Harborough is a small town near my hometown that is known for being a little more upmarket, the houses up there are pricey and the people who live there have a bit more money than me and my parents at least. The sole reason me and my mum go up there is for the charity shops. There are a bunch of charity shops in Market Harborough's town centre and there is always great stuff in all of them, the theory is that they're richer so therefore donate better stuff for us to buy. The charity shops didn't fail me today and me and my mum found a bunch of amazing clothes and trinkets to take home with us - I even bought a £3 suitcase so I could get it all back to Birmingham on the train. 

The best place we found is called 'The Attic Dress Agency', we'd never seen this shop before and mainly went in to shelter from the rain but I ended up finding two absolutely gorgeous coats and a NastyGal dress with the tags still on it! The Attic is a second hand clothing store and everything in there is beautiful, they stock high street and designer brands and the prices were so reasonable I could have bought everything in there. I ended up purchasing this Mango blazer style jacket (£27) and an amazing black, shaggy fur coat (16) which is lined with what can only be described as dressing gown material -and who isn't always looking for ways to wear a dressing gown outside?

To finish off my evening, I sat down with a Chinese and watched crappy TV before falling asleep. I also tried to pack my suitcase but ended up having to use an extra bag so I could actually get my shopping haul home.

Sunday

My week ended with me holding a baby for the first time ever in my whole life. In my 20 years I have never had the confidence to hold a baby because they are fragile and I am prone to dropping things but I didn't drop this baby and I had a lovely time looking at her tiny face. I also had a pleasant train journey home and stopped an old lady falling over when the train broke suddenly - all around a great day.

Even though I didn't get as much work done this week as I would've liked, I had a really great time. I missed my parents a bunch so seeing them was lovely and I've had enough hot chocolate to satisfy me for a while. I might do a charity shop haul but I don't know if that's something anyone would be interested in? If you would, let me know! 

MY BOOT COLLECTION AND HOW I STYLE DR MARTENS

I love a good, solid boot. My family have always been big 'shoe' people, my dad used to work in the industry so this has fuelled my love of footwear. Shoes are so important, I think people often forget how important it is to wear shoes that support your feet as well as looking good, with my dodgy knee I always need to wear something solid so I don't further irritate my old lady joints or fall over, which is something I do more than I'd like to admit. 

Anyway, Dr Martens are my favourite shoes in the entire world, I absolutely love the chunkiness and they just look awesome as well as being super comfy (once broken in). I pretty much am always wearing a black boot of some design, these four boots are my footwear staples at the moment so I'd thought I'd share them with you as we come into rainy season here in the UK. 

(Dr Marten 1460 original boots)

These were the first pair of Dr Martens I ever had. I'm pretty sure I got these when I was in year eight, so I was maybe 13? Yes, my feet have't grown since then, neither have I as a person - not mad about it at all. Any way, uou can definitely tell they are worn but at 7 years old they're still going strong. They're just a solid pair of boots, like how can you go wrong?

How I style - I can't wear these with most of my trousers, only because all my trousers are too long for me so I have to wear a show with some height but there's no reason a person with normal length legs couldn't wear these with trousers. I normally wear these when I have something 'loud' on to leave most of the attention on my outfit, so if I'm wearing a lot of glitter or something with a busy pattern on it. I like to wear these also with prettier looking clothing if I want to dress an outfit down, these are my most worn shoes so I feel like adding them to a fancier outfit makes it a lot more my style - whatever my style actually is, who knows? Not me.

(Dr Martens Molly glitter boots)

I call these my dressing up shoes because I wear them to 'fancier' events instead of trying to walk in heels. I'm pretty sure these are still to this day the most expensive things I've ever bought but wow, just look at them. I never intended to actually buy these shoes but when I tried them on in the store I felt so happy wearing them that I didn't want to ever take them off, so home with me they came.

Because I'm me, glittery platform shoes are an everyday staple, not just an occasion show and I actually get a lot of wear out of these. Oddly, with all the glitter, my favourite thing about these shoes is the eyelets, it's such a small detail and it's just so cute. When I bought these I thought that I was going to change out the ribbon laces but I actually think they look so much better than your average laces do, especially with the glitter. The only downside of the glitter is that you're 'advised' to not wear them in the rain because the material can get damaged and the glitter can fall off, they'll try to sell you some sealant stuff but in reality it's just shoe hairspray so save your coins and buy normal hairspray instead.

How I style - Like I said before, these are my dressing up shoes so I do wear these a lot with dresses and skirts. I mostly wear all black when wearing this pair of shoes because it allows the glitter to really stand out where as when wearing these with a lot of pattern or colour I think the shoes get lost in the outfit.

(ASOS chunky platform boot)

I bought these in an ASOS black Friday event while I was trying to not to buy more platform docs. These boots are a really flattering height, they go higher up my calf than any of my other boots so this winter I've been enjoying wearing them with midi skirts and fluffy socks to keep as much of my leg warm as possible. Again, I wear these all the time even though these platforms are big, like maximum platform-ness. These are way less chunky than my platform Dr Martens so they give a completely different vibe and if you don't like the Dr Martens platform style then I'd definitely recommend these. Because these boots are ASOS's own brand, when I bought them I didn't think they'd last very long or be that great of a quality but so far they're holding up but I've definitely jinxed it now.

As I said before, I bought these strategically to stop myself buying another pair of Dr Martens. I thought that if I already had a pair of plain black platform boots then all my platform dreams would be fulfilled but no. I had had my eyes on the Dr Martens Sinclair boots and I just couldn't not buy them.

How I style - These boots look really cool with skinny jeans, I'm not a big jean wearer but, because these are less chunky on the ankle than the rest of my boots, they make my legs look way longer than they actually are with there being less attention to where the skinny jean ends and the boot starts.

(Dr Martens Sinclair platform boots)

I am literally in LOVE with these boots, like actually in love with them. They make me so happy and I don't care if that makes me sad. Now, these are definitely an expense but they're so incredibly worth it. Because these boots come in this beautiful soft leather, they didn't hurt my feet at all when breaking them in, which is the only downside to Dr Martens in general. These are so cool and chunky and they just look so good no matter what you wear with them.

How I style - I like to wear these with the girliest of dresses and skirts to create a really heavy juxtaposition with the chunky boot. It's a look that just can't ever be beaten. I wear these shoes to my boyfriend's gigs a lot because they all crowd kill and wearing these shoes means that if someone gets in my way or hits me I have a thick ol' sole to kick them back - you've been warned.

I wrote this post because I saw 'It's Sophie' did a post on her Dr Marten collection and I really enjoyed reading it so I wanted to have a stab at it and do it myself. I know Dr Martens are expensive but they literally last a lifetime and you can wear them all year round plus they just look so good with everything, I love them.

TRYING NEW MAKE UP - EX1 INVISIWEAR FOUNDATION

Today was a rare occasion where I had left myself a bunch of time to get ready, because of this I decided to try out some new products I had been hoarding and see what they were like. As always I was skeptical they wouldn't work because the beauty industry likes to exaggerate some (most) of the time, so today was a good day to try things out as I had time to take everything off if I ended up looking dreadful. 

If you want to hear my uneducated opinions on some new products then please keep reading! And if you don't want to read about it then you can simply head over to my IGTV and watch me struggle over there instead.  

I've had the Revolution colour book palette's for a while now but haven't gotten around to trying them out, there's so many different colours and it seemed a bit overwhelming to be honest, plus I never really have enough time to sit and play with make up recently. I fell in love with the idea of these 'Colour book' palettes when they first came out and I bought all the different colours because I'm indecisive and my student loan had just dropped so I was feeling boujie.

For this look,  I started with my eyes because I wanted to use loose glitter and inevitably I would get it everywhere and ruin my foundation. I used the 'Colour book' palette in shade CB02, which is full of both matte and shimmer bronze and brown shades, to create a really blown out, bronze smokey eye. 

(www.revolutionbeauty.com)

I really liked the palette, the pigment was great and the shadows blend out so easily. I used a bronze-y, orange shade all over my eyelid and blended it into a winged out shape before adding a golden shimmer shadow and a gold loose glitter on the middle of my lid. I was expecting the shadow formula to be quite powder-y and dry but they were all really creamy and lovely to use. I was super impressed that the shimmer shade showed up so well over the darker matte shadow on my lid as I didn't think you'd be able to see any shimmering going on there. I really hope that the other colour book palettes hold up to the standard this one has set because the other colours are gorgeous and I now have high standards. After mascara, to finish my eyes off I glued some tiny gems, that I think came with some nail kit I bought a while ago, to the inner corner of my eyes to add a little something extra. They were a lot smaller than I had hoped but it still looked cute so I guess it's ok. 

Now for the star of the show, the 'EX1 cosmetics Invisiwear foundation'. I have been seeing this foundation everywhere online, everywhere. I see adverts for it all the time and the algorithm clearly worked because I caved in and bought it. After seeing other people use this foundation, and seeing how much the adverts hype it up, I had extremely high hopes that this would cover everything  I need it too and make me look flawless. It sounded too good to be true and unfortunately for me, it was. 

(www.ex1cosmetics.com)

My first impression was great, while dotting it around my face I loved the undertones of the colour I picked and it matched me perfectly, the EX1 foundation is meant for neutral/olive skin tones which now I think I am, maybe. The website said that this foundation applied better with a brush, I never use brushes to apply my foundation but I tried to use one this time and unsurprisingly, I hated it. It took so long to buff out the product, I do not have that kind of time on my hands and after buffing for a while it still looked like a streaky mess, so I switched over to my sponge. After using my sponge it looked okay but the coverage was so sheer and I'd already used nearly double of the amount of my normal foundation. I had to apply even more to get enough coverage and even out my complexion but the foundation just wasn't looking very nice, you could still see some of my redness and it felt very dry on my skin. I will say that the foundation didn't look cake-y at all which is impressive as I had to use so much of it, and after I'd applied my concealer it looked pretty fine. 

After wearing it out for about 6 hours nothing had wiped away or separated at all and it almost looked better than when I had first applied it? Nothing had settled into my skin or gotten oily at all so it was okay but there's just something about it that I'm not liking. I have since used this foundation one more time and it looked SO bad that I had to take all my makeup off and start again with a different foundation. The EX1 foundation was so drying and it seemed to almost create texture under the skin that wasn't there on my bare face, literally baffled mate. I will try this out some more and see how I feel about it but so far I'm not having a good experience. 

To bronze up my face I wanted to try a technique I saw LinaBugz share on her YouTube to keep coverage whilst cream contouring. I've been enjoying using cream products lately as my skin is quite dry but I find that cream bronzer sticks tend to take away some foundation and at the moment all my skin troubles are in the areas I normally bronze so I need that coverage. I bought a cool toned concealer a few shades darker than my skin tone and used a small amount in the areas I normally bronze. I ended up having no choice but to buy the Collection lasting perfection concealer as it was the only cool toned shade I could find in the shops - the shade ranges of most brands is absolutely appalling, not anything we all didn't already know but like come on guys. Anyway, the formula of this concealer is horrible, it wasn't creamy at all and I found it so hard to blend out, even with a super damp sponge, so everything ended up looking a little muddy and patchy as hell. 

The idea behind this hack is great but I just didn't execute it well, most of my acne scarring and breakout is on my cheeks so the idea of bronzer giving extra coverage is great. I tried to use some powder bronzer over top of the cream to see if it would fix anything but nothing really happened. In the end it didn't look bad enough to warrant starting all over again so I just sucked it up and carried on. To be fair, I did forget that I wanted to do cream bronzer and added a little bit of powder before cream contouring which could've been why it didn't blend out too well, thinking about it that's definitely why it didn't look good - I should try this again and do it properly next time.

Once all the was all on my face, I didn't mind how I looked. Make up is a process and it always looks slightly odd until it's all done. This look wasn't my best but I was going to a gig where it'd be dark so no one would see if my foundation was a little dry or that my bronzer was patchy, even if it was, I don't think anyone would care anyway. 

I'm always wanting to try new makeup products so it doesn't get boring to do but I hate the idea of buying something and then not liking it - wasting money makes me incredibly nervous. If anyone has any products they love that you think I might like, let me know! There's so much make up out there it's impossible to choose one thing.

Also, I changed my blog branding - I guess that's what you call it - this week! I'd love to know if this header is any better than my last or if I've just made it worse, let me know!

NUSTOCK 2 - NUSTOCK STRIKES BACK

On the 30th of January Nustock struck back and bought us their second event which should've be called 'Nustock 2 electric boogaloo' in my opinion, but aside from that, the line up looked promising and if this show was half as good as the last one, I knew it was definitely going to be a good night.

As with all of my event reviews I didn't catch many song titles, so each song will be called, 'next song'.

Rhianna Keane

'Rhianna Keane brings an RnB, neo-soul and pop approach to her catchy melodies combined with her meaningful lyrics to create a chilled and vibe atmosphere'

(photo credit - @brandpphotography)

Rhianna Keane kicked off the night creating a chilled atmosphere with her smooth RnB style. Before she even started singing she gave off pop star vibes with her gorgeous sparkly outfit and a confident flair that made the stage her own. The first song she performed, 'Coffee', bought a jazzy, soul like sound with her powerful vocals that blew me away from the outset. 

The band behind Keane were all super clean and the tones of the guitars were so perfect for the genre of music. Everything works so well together, I wasn't expecting the vocal harmonies but they added this beautiful deep but subtle layer underneath her vocals that complimented the songs so beautifully. 
Throughout the set there were a couple of really pretty guitar solo's that were so smooth, melt worthy. The bass was so strong across the songs, I don't know how everything sounded so powerful but so relaxing at the same time, it's all so impressive.

The stand out song of the set was her first single 'Fool' and I love this song. I already knew I loved this song since she released it last year but it sounded that much better live on stage, I've been singing it non-stop for the past 2 days. This song is super sexy, the guitar tone was so smooth and I have no shame in admitting I audibly moaned during the bridge, it sounded so good! I literally saw the whole crowd just melt at how perfect the mix of powerful vocals and soul-y pop instrumental sounded. The sexiness is further amplified by how gorgeous everyone standing on the stage is, how is it fair that attractive people can be so talented.

Keane knows her genre and my god does it work well, everything sounded perfect and I was literally blown away, I need to see her perform again ASAP. Her music is the perfect 'date night' soundtrack, if you want a good night then I'd definitely recommend listening to her upcoming EP 'Blooming' which will be out soon. Everyone needs to get on this because Rhianna is a superstar in the making. 

Bermuda 

'BermudaOfficial have had an eventful first year as a band. From supporting names such as Big Country, to releasing two singles that were met with appraisal. Taking inspiration from bands such as Highly Suspect and Nothing But Thieves, they’ve managed to combine the two sounds to create their own. 2020 holds big things for Bermuda, including several more releases and bigger gigs than ever before.'

(photo credit - @brandpphotography)

Bermuda started their set with Conor screaming "Nustock, are you ready?" which fired up the crowd and started this incredible exchange of energy between the band and the audience. The moaning vocals created an angsty kinda vibe that was added to by the powerful drums that the crowd was bobbing along to. The light show that accompanied Bermuda fucked me up a little, the lights and sound were a big contrast to the smooth, relaxing sounds of Rhianna Keane.  The sound would benefit from a second guitar, the bass is so deep (which I love) and the guitar is a whole lot higher playing the melody. If you added in something between the two, everything would sound rounder and more full. The bass and guitar solo's didn't seem out of place which I think is hard to accomplish as many bands like to just throw them in to show off but Bermuda made it work well.
Towards the end of their set, the band were sweating so much that the lights were reflecting off the shine of their faces, they were giving their all and it showed. 

Atticomatic

'Four party crashers arrive with nothing but a Naive soul and a misjudged talent for dancing. High off of gallons of lactose free milk and prawn toast we venture off into the sunset.'

(photo credit - @brandpphotography)

Right off the bat the synth sounded so good giving a very different feel from both the previous bands.  The vocalist sounds so much Declan Mckenna which threw me back to college when I was obsessed with him, this similarity was only emphasised by the similarity in both their genres. I don't know what genre you could call these guys but it's almost indie/psychedelic/synth like. The evening was made up of a really weird genre mix, it was kind of nice to have some variation but it was maybe a bit too much.

In the third song, where the guitarist isn't playing, the instrumental still sounds full because of the beautiful layering of vocals. All of their voices work so well alongside each other and they're all clearly incredibly talented musicians.

The next song 'Coconut' was my favourite from AtticOmatic, the drummer vocals were stunning throughout this song especially. They change so cleanly between the heavy to relaxing parts creating a contrasting sound that was pulled off so well by the sudden clean changes, it was crazy how much the guitar tone changed the feel of the chorus.

At the end of their set, AtticOmatic used a really interesting sample throughout the chorus which added a different aspect that created a super unique layer into their music. The instruments all have great tonality and I think this is what really pulls this band over the line, they're amazing at writing and performing and they sound incredibly professional. Their set actually made me excited while listening to it which isn't easy to do because I'm super judgemental. 

The Pines 

'We are the pines, a Birmingham based 4 piece atmospheric indie band with sing-along worthy songs and the presents of 4 people that love what they are doing and wants to strive for the best, which is showcased through our gigs and music.'

(photo credit - @brandpphotography)

For some reason I didn't quite get, The Pines were introduced by some guy dressed as Ali g. I didn't hate it I just wasn't drunk enough to laugh but the rest of the crowd loved these guys. The whole set, no-one stopped dancing for a second. The Pines make great up-beat indie music that's perfect to dance to with your mates and just have a good time. The band gave off so much infectious energy making it impossible to stand still. 

I felt like I was watching 'Catfish and The Bottlemen', not just because the music sounds so much like them but because it features the same witty lyricism that is maybe the only part of 'indie' music that I enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed The Pines set but indie music isn't my cup of tea as they say, I can appreciate the solid song writing and the great dance inducing sound but it's just not my thing. If Oasis made music in 2020 this is what it would sound like. The crowd loved it but I don't like Oasis.

Halfway through The Pines set I was pulled away from note taking to dance and then I seemed to completely forget I was reviewing the evening and just danced away. If you want to have a good night of dancing and hearing music so loud you can't possibly worry about any looming Uni deadlines, then these guys are perfect. 

I had a really great night but I knew that I would before I even got to the venue, Nustock 2 showed that the first event wasn't a one off and that future Nustock events are going to be the perfect night out for everyone.