Tuesday 31 December 2013

2013 favourites: bloggers and youtubers

as 2013 is well as truly at an end now, i thought i'd share with you all the blogs and youtube accounts that i've most enjoyed reading and watching over the last year when i've had an extra few minutes to play around with.

B L O G G E R S



1: floraldanielle
danielle posts a mixture of things from beauty to lifestyle, and i've thoroughly enjoyed checking out all her hauls that have featured clothes, homeware and beauty items. all in all, she generally just knows what looks good and i've definitely found myself inspired by some of the lovely items she's spoken about throughout the course of the year.

2: whatnaomiwrote
i used to follow naomi on tumblr quite a while ago, and after she'd deleted i'd no idea where abouts she'd disappeared to on the internet. luckily enough, i recently found her blog again and i'm really glad i did. her blog's different to the ones i usually follow, but i really love her tone of voice and positive outlook - also, she posts really yummy looking food and recipes fairly often! definitely one to check out if you're into reading blogs rather than scrolling through pictures.

3: therobyndiaries
robyn is probably my favourite blogger in terms of personal style as she always looks so effortlessly brilliant and manages to mix looking girly yet grungy perfectly. if you're into textures, patterns, chunky boots and hats, definitely give robyn's blog a look.

4: llymlrs
ah, of course lily had to have a mention. she's probably a lot of people's favourite blogger, and it's really no surprise to me. lily has an extremely consistent blogging timetable, so you can always guarantee you'll have plenty to read and look at from her every week. she's a gorgeous girl with a fabulous sense of style, so you'll not be disappointed if you decide to give her a follow.

5: laurensibs
lauren blogs about a range of things including lifestyle, fashion and beauty, but it's lauren's outfit posts that really stand out to me. she has such a simplistic style but never fails to look gorgeous, and  this year has really made me consider how to change up outfits using layers. being a student, she also buys most of her clothes at student friendly prices, so give her a check out if you want to look good on a budget.

6: tattyboots
katie is definitely my favourite 'creative' blogger. she's insanely talented and often provides her readers with simple little diy projects to take part in, her most recent being personalised wrapping paper, which looked adorable. mixing lifestyle and personal style with her creative endeavours, katie's blog is just generally a pleasure to sit and look through because everything's always so beautiful.


Y O U T U B E R S

 

it's hard to not smile while watching becca's videos because she's just always so upbeat and cheerful - i always find myself giggling along to whatever it is she has to say! she's also a massive fan of primark and has plenty of hauls to share frequently with you which is a definite bonus for me because i'm quite a bargain hunter myself.

carrie's such a nice, down to earth girl and generally posts videos discussing a lot of topics such as having a healthy body image, growing up and just generally how to live your life in this big, bad world we live in. while speaking so much sense and having a well rounded view on things, she's also really, really funny. always a good watch if you want to come away from the video feeling a little less daunted about the world.

rocky's a favourite of mine because i love her sense of style. she has quite a vintage, 1950s theme coming through in her clothing, makeup and hairstyle choices and i find myself inspired by her sense of style and trying to recreate her fabulous hairstyles (with not very much success) frequently. she's also really entertaining to watch and i can hand on heart say i've never not made it to the end of one of her videos. 

lucy's channel mixes fashion, beauty and lifestyle really well and her personality always shines through in all of her videos. i think it's her personality that keeps me watching her videos because i just can't help but laugh at how she approaches things such as beauty in a different way to how other beauty vloggers would. i think i perhaps see a little bit of myself in her, because often she puts herself across as being completely useless, haha - also guilty!

5: lily melrose
yep, she's done it again, lily's made it into my favourite youtubers as well as bloggers. lily's just an all round person to follow because she's so down to earth and genuine in everything that she writes or says on camera. i often find myself sat at my computer screen wishing i was lily's friend because she just seems like a really great person. to avoid gushing too much, i'll leave it at that.

lydia has only recently joined the youtube community and already i'm enjoying watching how she presents her personal style in video format. another reason i love watching lydia's videos is because she's from sheffield and so her accent is extremely similar to mine and i find it comforting to listen to after having listened to london youtubers and their 'proper' accents. so thanks, lydia, for making me feel less self conscious about my accent, haha!


so, there we have it, my top picks of bloggers and youtubers from 2013! here's to 2014 and hoping that these people continue to be as fantastic as they have been throughout the previous year, and thank you all very much for providing me with such interesting, entertaining and inspiring blog posts and videos to read and watch. 

i'm always on the lookout for more blogs and channels to follow, so if you have any personal favourites of your own, please do feel free to comment below with any suggestions. thanks for reading, guys!

Sunday 29 December 2013

sunday synopsis


the sundays just keep rolling around faster than i can anticipate, and i'm now at a point where i get into a flap because i've still got lots of uni work to catch up with, but i also have plans to go out and see people i don't get much of a chance to see nowadays what with being at uni, and it's got me thinking about how i work and how i can approach it in a much more effective way.

i suppose this is also half inspired by all the blog posts i've read over the last couple of days about resolutions, plans, goals etc. that people have for 2014. i'm at the end of 2013 and my overall feelings towards the year are a bit 'meh', which i've realised is silly because i feel that if anything, i've progressed so much this year personally; i have a clear direction of what i want to do, i've worked towards getting there, and i know what to do to try and make sure i get there. i've isolated the thing that's causing the 'meh', and have decided it's perhaps best to try and leave it behind and focus on other things that make me happy, and will hopefully continue to make me happy throughout the rest of my life.

so, ramblings aside, what do i want from 2014? i've compiled a short list to try and keep it looking a little less daunting, because, let's face it, life's already made up of enough to-do lists.
  • get a placement over the summer - probably the most important thing to me. at the moment, i have ideas about wanting to go freelance, but i'd like to at least witness a working environment and see if it's at all for me. i have ideas about where i'd like to have a placement, and hopefully with a little bit of help i'll get there, but time will tell.
  • bring my ideas into existence - this is something i'm really bad at doing. i have ideas, but never do anything about them. so, i'll make a conscious effort to write up the books i've had ideas for, create the homewares i want to decorate my room with, and generally just do more. i want to stop bogging myself down with to-do lists and just create things because that's what i want to do. maybe it'll happen more towards summer where i don't have the pressure of university deadlines weighing me down, but i'll make sure it does happen.
  • draw more - it seems silly, but i often shy away from just drawing because i feel that i don't have the time to because i have other work to attend to. to try and remove the guilt i feel when mindlessly doodling, i'm going to try and use my working time more efficiently; instead of sitting around for 12 hours working for an average of 8, i'll try to sit and work solidly for 4 hours instead, leaving me with more 'free time' in which to enjoy myself without feeling guilty about it. 

so, there we have it. doesn't look too scary, right? i read something about how it's more sensible to set goals where you start something instead of stopping something, and it's probably the most sensible thing i've read for a while, because no one actually likes giving things up, do they? i think a lot of success is to do with a positive mindset, so i'm going to enter 2014 being as positive as possible and believing that i can achieve what i want instead of continuing to live in the bubble of self doubt that i have been doing for a while.

Saturday 28 December 2013

layering up


hat: h&m
jumper: primark
blouse: charity shop
dress (worn as skirt): asos
necklace: primark
shoes: primark

when i bought this dress back in september, i bought it solely as a going out dress, but soon realised that it's far too dressy for what i like to wear on your average night out. because of this i started thinking about other ways to wear it to make sure i'd get my money's worth out of it. i generally don't wear bright colours like this, with muted colours making up the majority of my wardrobe, so it was definitely something different for me to consider for everyday wear. once again, hundreds (maybe a slight exaggeration) of layers make for perfect winter wear, so this look will be something i'll be sporting until the weather warms up and i have an appropriate occasion to wear the dress to. who knows, maybe i'll go on holiday in 2014 and get plenty of wear out of it. it seems more realistic that it'll make an appearance on a warmer evening in britain, though. shame.

Wednesday 25 December 2013

merry christmas, everyone!


if you've woken up this morning to a pile of lovely presents under your tree, take a moment to thank santa and his trusty sloth helper for delivering them to you on time!

have a wonderful day!

Tuesday 24 December 2013

e.l.f. makeup review


a couple of months back i placed a huge order with e.l.f., so i thought i'd do a follow up post talking about the products that most impressed me. as well as the products pictured above, i also purchased a blusher, nail polishes, a zit zapper and a lip exfoliator (that i'd previously used and been impressed with,) however those products haven't impressed me as much as the three pictured.

tone correcting powder in cool: £3.75
i opted for this powder simply because it intrigued me; i'd never seen anything quite like it before and was eager to give it a go. i'm glad i chose this option over a regular powder with a shade such as 'ivory' or 'porcelain' because i find that this powder gives a nice, light finish that adapts to the natural colour of your skin rather than caking and masking your face in the colour of the powder, like other shaded powders that i've tried before have. overall, i'm extremely impressed with the quality of this product and have recently purchased two more to ensure i'm well stocked up for a while.

therapeutic conditioning lip balm in vanilla creme: £1.50
i used one of these up within a couple of months which i found incredible as i've never actually finished a lip balm before, which said two things to me: a) that this product is good, and b) that there's not much of it - i believe both statements to be true. you don't get a lot of product in the tube, but at £1.50, can you really complain? as for the quality, i'm currently using a burt's bees lip balm that i purchased after running out of my e.l.f. lip balm, and i much prefer the e.l.f. lip balm to it. where i find the burt's bees balm to just sit on top of your lips rather than sinking into them, the e.l.f. balm, for me, does the complete opposite and totally moisturises your lips leaving them feeling supple and smooth. i've ordered another 3 of these and feel that this product has definitely become a staple in my makeup bag.

makeup mist & set: £3.75
this is one of those products that you never seem to realise does anything until you stop using it. i stopped using this product for a couple of days to see how it benefited my face and noticed that my makeup was much more prone to caking and fading throughout the day; the foundation around my nose would start to wear away so my pores became more noticeable, and my blusher would fade dramatically. basically, the product does what it states it does and keeps everything nicely in place while providing your face with a little bit of moisture. i'd previously used hairspray to set my face (bad, i know,) so anything would've proved to be a better alternative. i also decided to repurchase this product and probably will continue to do so unless i find something better.

other products
i ordered a blusher in the shade 'twinkle pink', and while i really like the pretty, rose gold sheen it gives to my face, unfortunately the product arrived a little beaten and has since completely fallen apart which makes it a pain to use. the nail polishes i ordered seem standard in that they chip fairly easily, but then again i find it hard to find a nail polish that lasts any longer than an hour on my nails before chipping - maybe i just use my hands too much?! - so i suppose it's hard to give an honest judgement when most nail polishes disappoint me. the zit zapper was also an average product, doing the same job as a previous zit zapper i'd purchased, it just means i now have a cruelty free option.

as well as the repurchases i've mentioned above, in my order i also purchased a lipstick, concealer and makeup brush to try out, so please do let me know if you'd like me to drop by and review them in the near future! to wrap up, all in all, i'm extremely impressed by e.l.f. as the products are generally of a good standard, they're dirt cheap and cruelty free. i'll definitely be heading back to them in the future when i run out of products that i want a cruelty free alternative to.

Sunday 22 December 2013

sunday synopsis

i've been at home for christmas now for just over a week, and already i'm bored to death of being home - not even the prospect of christmas being literally just around the corner is making it any more exciting for me. each year i grow to realise how sad it is that eventually christmas becomes just another day for you once you reach a certain age, with the magic starting to wear away for me from the age of about sixteen. one thing i am looking forward to, however, is watching little ziggy open her presents this year; after all, it's our first christmas with her so it'll be something new and exciting to be a part of!

all this home boredom is making me realise how much i enjoy being at university, even if i do spent a good 80% of my time buried under the sheer amount of work i always have to do, and it's got me thinking about how strange life will be come the end of third year when i'm not living with and around the corner from the people that i now consider my best friends. i can hand on heart say it's something i'm not particularly looking forward to, haha! i know a couple of you guys are university graduates, so i'd love to hear about your experience of leaving university and adapting to life back at home if you have a spare couple of minutes to leave a comment :)

all future worries aside, i'd like to take a moment to wish you all a very merry christmas! i hope you eat lots of yummy food, open lots of wonderful presents and have a jolly good time just seeing family, watching christmas films or whatever else it is that we all do during the big day!

Saturday 21 December 2013

winter florals





hat: h&m
dress: h&m
blouse: charity shop
necklaces: ebay
coat: ebay
boots: ebay

i find the easiest way to keep warm while making good use of the majority of your wardrobe is to layer everything up with a good collared shirt, and today's post is no exception to that. florals look good all year round, however some colours and styles are more suited to the colder months than others, and when i spotted this gem in h&m for £8 i knew i'd found the perfect floral winter dress. i say dress, it's intended to be an oversized shirt, but by being cautious while sitting and standing it's easy to make work as a dress! thrown on with some red lippy and my trusty bowler hat, this outfit works a treat for adding a little bit of life to what can otherwise be dull winter outfits.

Friday 20 December 2013

pixi | large lash mascara


before:

after:

my benefit they're real mascara has been on its last legs for a while now, and although i really like it, unfortunately benefit sell in china which means they test their products on animals, which means i'll no longer be throwing my money in their direction anymore.

while browsing the asos website yesterday, i stumbled across a makeup brand called 'pixi'. i remembered seeing a product by the same brand reviewed on a blog before, so i figured i'd do a little bit of research and was delighted to find out that pixi are a cruelty free brand, and so took advantage of my 10% student discount and asos next day delivery.

this 'review' is perhaps a little hasty - i highlight review because it's more of a first impressions post - seeing as i've only used the product once so far, but i was incredibly impressed with the results and just had to throw my two cents out there into the blogosphere. i'm not a total beauty blog trawler so i could be missing out obvious blogs that i just don't follow, but i've never seen this product reviewed before, and can only ever recall seeing one review on the brand pixi in general.

on first impressions i was a bit dubious due to the brush shape - it's very similar to the rimmel scandaleyes brush and that is, hands down, the most useless mascara i've ever used - but i pressed on anyway and was delighted to find that the mascara did everything that benefit's they're real did, minus the gloopy mess that i find you get with they're real which means it's easy to end up with blobs of mascara on your eyelid if you're not careful. the only difference between the two mascaras is that pixi's large lash doesn't leave your lashes feeling as full and gives a more subtle look - still extremely striking, though! i think this mascara's perfect for the daytime for achieving lash definition and length, and with an extra coat applied it'd provide just the right amount of volume for more of an evening look. i'd babble on, but i'm pretty sure the pictures can do the rest of the talking!

overall, i'm very impressed with this mascara and would more than happily pay the money again to repurchase it. have you ever tried any pixi products?

Wednesday 18 December 2013

£41 raised for the costa rica sloth sanctuary!

hello everybody!

it's a little earlier than i originally anticipated, but what with the royal mail postage dates for christmas i've decided to cut off the sale time of my christmas sloth cards a little earlier and have finally finished selling them today.

i raised £41 in total selling 41 packs and i'm extremely pleased with that number. i originally set myself a goal of making £10, so to quadruple that really is quite an achievement in my eyes! below i've included a couple of screen shots of the donation process just as proof that i actually donated the money and kept my promise, as, unfortunately, people have been known to not keep theirs!


i'd like to take a minute to thank anybody who did buy a pack and to everybody who took an interest in my cards and spared their kind words or promoted them through retweets, reblogs etc, it really does mean a lot to me to know that people are interested in my work.

thanks again for all the support, guys!

Monday 16 December 2013

the sunshine award

a couple of weeks ago i was nominated by lauren to take part in something called the sunshine award where bloggers come together to share a little bit about themselves, so here's the deal!

rules of sunshine award
  1. write 11 facts about yourself
  2. answer the 11 questions
  3. write your 11 questions
  4. nominate 11 other bloggers
  5. mention the person who nominated you
11 facts
  1. before moving to england, i lived in germany and ireland.
  2. growing up, i wanted to be a vet or marine biologist.
  3. nowadays i aspire to be a children's book illustrator.
  4. i drive a green vw lupo and talk to her like she's human...
  5. i'm a perfectionist and can't decide whether it's beneficial or harmful.
  6. i buy lipstick and shoes in abundance.
  7. not much makes me happier than puppies. i love puppies.
  8. i'm not fluent in any language other than english, but i really want to learn german.
  9. my bucket list consists of one thing: to visit the costa rica sloth sanctuary.
  10. about a boy is my favourite film, which tends to baffle many people, which then baffles me!
  11. i'm visiting new york next year with university and i can't wait.

my answers
  1. why did you start blogging?
    i initially started blogging as a way of talking about my illustration and design work, however i soon found out that i love babbling on about clothes/beauty and so naturally started to talk about those things more on my blog.
  2. if you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?
    a wetherspoons chicken burger meal - less than a fiver and delicious, can't go wrong!

  3. what is your favourite item to wear in your room? (includes: clothes, jewellery and make up)
    a good pair of chunky heels, my bowler hat and red lippy are among my favourites.
  4. the most recent film you watched and what did you think of it?
    the last film i watched that i'd previously seen was love actually (which is a fantastic film,) and the last film i watched that i hadn't previously seen was insidious 2 which definitely held my attention for the full film. slightly confusing in parts, though. 
  5. if you had one wish what would you wish for?
    to graduate university with a good grade and walk out into the big wide world knowing that my work was going to take me places.
  6. it's almost 2014, what's been your highlight of 2013?
    when i visited my dad in germany and got to see a real sloth for the first time in my life - it took all i had to not break down into tears of happiness in the middle of the zoo!
  7. you are only allowed to watch tv or listen to music for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
    probably music - i listen to music all day long when i'm sat working, and my workload means i generally don't have much spare time to actually watch tele, haha.
  8. what was the first gig/concert you went to?
    my first ever concert was to see robbie williams with my mum, however my first concert that i chose to attend was busted back in 2004 - it's still hard to believe that it was almost 10 years ago!
  9. what is your dream job?
    to draw bunnies, dragons, mermaids and other various fantastic creatures day in, day out and actually be able to pay my bills through doing so. if that's not at all possible, i'd happily dedicate my life to volunteering at the costa rica sloth sanctuary...
  10. any weird or hidden talents?
    not that i'm aware of, drawing's all i do!
  11. the most awarding thing you've experienced through blogging?
    i've had a few bloggers ask to feature my work on their own blogs which always feels great - it's nice to know that my work's making people smile!

my questions
  1. if you could be any animal, what would you be? 
  2. you've just won the lottery, what's the first thing you do? 
  3. what's your biggest goal in life? 
  4. the age old question: are you a cat or dog person?
  5. who's your favourite blogger?
  6. if you could swap lives with somebody for the day, who would it be?
  7. do you have any phobias?
  8. what are your views on cosmetic animal testing?
  9. what do you do in your spare time? 
  10. who or what inspires you?
  11. how do people you know in real life react when you tell them about your blog? 
my nominees
  1. josh
  2. alice
  3. hayley
  4. naomi
  5. ashley
  6. katie
  7. lauren
  8. katie
  9. dulcie
  10. emma
  11. alice

my nominator

i was nominated by lauren who blogs over at ohhayblogs about her design work and inspiration, so go check her out of that sounds like it's up your street! thank you for nominating me, lauren, and i hope you've all enjoyed finding out a little bit about me that you may not have previously known!

Sunday 15 December 2013

sunday synposis

this week i'm actually on top of my sunday post for a change, which i suppose makes up for the fact that i missed it altogether last week - oops! the last two weeks of my life have been tough work wise and i couldn't be more glad that they're now over. i actually managed to produce work that i was happy with in such a short space of time and it's helped to build my confidence knowing that i'm taking steps towards creating work that's relevant to what it is that i'd love to do once i graduate. if you want to read about my recent university project, you can do so here.

now i've got three weeks off uni for christmas, and although i still have a rather lengthy to-do list to plough through before i head back to middlesbrough in january, i'm currently relaxing a little and doing my best to get into the christmas so i can enjoy myself for a little while. perhaps the christmas shopping that i've yet to start will help me get into the spirit, ey? hope you've all had a lovely week!

Saturday 14 December 2013

university project: advanced digital communication

since starting back at university at the end of september, we've been working on a brief called advanced digital communication. it was split into two parts: the first 4 weeks(ish) focusing on motion and interaction work and experimenting, and the second 4 weeks looking at a 'proper' brief - i say proper because i found it extremely difficult to feel like anything from the first half was going anywhere.

during my many battles with motion and after effects, i decided to give up on the program and opt for a more traditional way of creating motion - stopmotion. i felt much more comfortable working in this way and felt that the outcome represented my personality and style more accurately, and while my final piece was perhaps a little unfinished, overall, i'm not too ashamed to show it.


next on the agenda was to look at creating an interactive piece of work. i was a bit fixated of the idea of touch and how we make decisions every day based on things we do and don't touch and for a while i liked the idea of proposing an interactive keyboard with all the keys made of different materials - some nice, some not - and then monitoring how we adapted our language when communicating based on what we did and didn't want to touch. as it sounds, this idea was a little too elaborate to go about producing or simulating, so i left it there.

still focusing on the idea of touch, i noticed how we're often reluctant to interact with fragile things through fear of damaging them, and i wanted to create something that left someone with conflicting desires as they'd want to look at my artefact, however they also wouldn't want to through fear of damaging it. my solution was this interactive book that was made up of illustrations printed onto tracing paper, and it invites you to unpick the many layers of illustrations with pieces of card that are supplied, however to do so means you're at the risk of damaging the book.







onto the main (and more exciting) part of the module now! we were given a choice of two briefs: one based on mima's contemporary jewellery collection and one based on a british film festival. knowing i'm not much of a film fanatic, i opted to tackle the jewellery brief which within it specific making the jewellery accessible to children which was instantly right up my street. i explored the #wearmima facebook page and, much to my surprise, was really taken by some of the jewellery. i also watched videos from the vimeo page and noticed how the jewellery seemed to bring out everybody's inner child as they spoke of fantasy lands and the characters the jewellery could've belonged to, which instantly got me thinking of potential back stories for the pieces.

after creating back stories for four of my favourite pieces, my solution was to put these stories into a promotional booklet that would then be sent out to primary schools to be read by the children in an attempt to spark an interest and curiosity about the jewellery which would then get them into mima visit the jewellery in the flesh. the booklet also invited them to create and draw a back story for a piece of jewellery from the collection that wasn't covered within the booklet, with some optional starter stickers for the younger end of my audience to use if they needed a bit of help getting started. this feature also linked to an app that i designed where children could read about the pieces in the collection, upload their story and view stories others had created in an attempt to create some sort of community and make the kids and their contributions feel valued.


i wanted to include the final artwork for the entire book, however this post was already extremely picture heavy so i decided against it - hope you've enjoyed reading!

Saturday 7 December 2013

sounds so twee / ootd + video









jacket: river island
top: primark
trousers: charity shop
belt: primark
shoes: internacionale

hello everybody! i've neglected my blog a little over the last week due to the deadline madness that's taken over my life recently regarding university projects, however i'm back again this saturday with an outfit of the day and a little video i threw together for it! i edited the video back in november but never actually got around to publishing it, so please do excuse the fact that the video states it's a november ootd! i think i'm going to go back to publishing ootd posts once a week because i just no longer have the time to be taking enough outfit photos to warrant posting twice a week, so i send my apologies for that - who knows, maybe it'll make way for more illustration work? we'll see! hopefully i'll have lots to show you over the next couple of weeks anyway!

to quickly summarise, i picked these trousers up from a charity shop for a measly £1.50! i've always been a little bit in love with tweed, namely blazers, so i absolutely couldn't leave these in the charity shop despite the fact that they were a size 16 and required a little (lot) of d.i.y before they were at all wearable. i think i did a pretty good job of it in the end and i think the end result is pretty flattering - not bad for £1.50! have you recently picked up any charity shop bargains?