The 'Curl Up By The Fire' Autumn Playlist.

There's nothing I love more in Autumn than sticking on the kettle, wrapping up in a massive duvet and pressing play to my favourite acoustic album, accompanied by the sound of the pelting rain outside. This is a playlist compiling all my favourite songs to listen to before things start to get real christmassy. It usually ranges from acoustic to folk, and there's some incredibly powerful female singers thrown in for good measure. 


THE BANDS: 

Fleet Foxes could honestly just take up this whole playlist, but I refrained from doing that. The hauntingly beautiful harmonies from Robert Pecknold are enough to have you hooked. 


Bon Iver are pretty much synonymous for music on them rainy days. Or days when you want a bit of background music reading a good book. Or pretty much every day. Justin Vernon's lyrics and the sombre tone of the debut 'For Emma, Forever Ago' are basically the soundtrack of the colder months for me. 


THE ALBUM:

Lucy Rose- Like I Used To is a 'soft and sad debut' as described by NME, this is definitely an album for lazy Sunday Mornings. Check the songs 'Shiver' and 'First'. 









THE PLAYLIST: 



Daughter- Youth

Bon Iver- For Emma

Fleet Foxes- Ragged Wood

Lucy Rose- Shiver

Dan Croll- Home

Lykke Li- I Follow Rivers

BANKS- Waiting Game

Ben Howard- Black Flies

Laura Marling- Ghosts

Jose Gonzalez- Heartbeats


Do you have any other song suggestions? Katie x 

Fashion on Feminism?

*photos do not belong to me*

fashion tackling feminism? 

Interesting that as a fashion/beauty blogger who just made a post about feminism a couple of days back (link here), this feminist inspired chanel S/S 15 show happened. Whilst scrolling through twitter, I came across some photos of the latest Chanel show in Paris. Headed by Karl Lagerfeld, the models took to the catwalk with plaque cards 'protesting' for women's rights with an assortment of (ironic) phrases from 'feminism is the new black' and 'be your own stylist'At first view of these photos, I thought this was quite a smart idea, because any publicity of something you believe in is good publicity, right? I'm not so sure. 

*Don't get me wrong, I still love fashion, although I recognise many aspects of the industry are incredibly problematic. I love the aspects of personal style and self expression that can be reflected. As much as I love the clothes and weirdness of high fashion shows, I don't enjoy the overall representation of people who wear them.* 

As I observed these photos more, I noticed the lack of diversity in ethnicity, sizes, heights etc. realistically, the high fashion industry does not promote equality. We are still trying to tackle the problem of 'Size Zero Only' modelling. We are still tackling the problem of photoshopping and distorting women and male celebrities which unrealistic body images. We are still tackling the problem of having predominantly white women being the faces of fashion. We know it's a problem when Vogue asked Oprah to lose weight if she ever wants to be featured on the front cover of their magazine. Why promote one form of equality when you're going to ignore the others? 

The ironic plaques, as mentioned above, are also another cause of confusion. 'Be your own stylist' is a bit questionable to be stating during a fashion show which basically dictates what's on trend and what's out for every season. How can we be our own stylists when we're constantly surrounded by the unrealistically photoshopped models that chanel often endorse?

In my honest, cynical opinion, I honestly think it's nothing more than a simple marketing ploy. Realistically, it's becoming a trend to identify as a feminist. From beyonce's song 'flawless', 'all about that bass' hitting the number one charts and Emma Watson's speech (which in my opinion, is a MUCH better and effectivd way of promoting feminism via use of celebrities and media), it's undeniable that it's a popular topic, and an important one. 

I just don't think Chanel are the right people to do it. If Karl Lagerfeld really cared about women's rights, would he have criticised Heidi Klum's modelling for GQ magazine by saying 'she is simply too heavy and has too big a bust'? Or called Adele 'a little too fat'? 

And this is not the first social issue to take to the catwalk. During LFW and the height of the Scottish independence referendum, Vivienne Westwood's models walked the runway with 'yes' badges attached to their clothing. Fashion is good for many things, from creation to expressionism. Trying to tackle political issues suggests lack of understanding and can be quite patronising. 

Stick to the clothes Lagerfeld, and dump the stereotyped placards, please. 

the summer I went book crazy...

My love for reading has definitely increased a lot during summer and I'm not that sure why. I've always loved reading, but I think since watching the 'BookTube' communities videos on youtube and hearing hundreds of recommendations after a 'booktube binge' had an influence. Here are some books I have acquired this summer.

SOMETHING OLD: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. 
This edition of Wuthering Heights I have shown above isn't exactly pristine or one you'd find in a book shop today. This book was my mum's which she won in school for 'best effort'... and she has still kept it! As she went to throw it out in the middle of a clear out of the house I jumped up, grabbed it and took it as my own. I am yet to read this, but I have heard a lot of love for this classic piece of Gothic Fiction. Stay tuned.

SOMETHING NEW: The Dynamite Room By Jason Hewitt
I hadn't heard of this book but when I did my research I found out this book was only published this year and is Jason Hewitt's debut novel. I picked it up on a whim when my local bookshop had a '3 for £5' offer and I was unsure of what book to purchase. Again, I am yet to read this, but hopefully I will update soon.

SOMETHING BORROWED: It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
Okay, finally a book which I can actually tell you about as I HAVE ACTUALLY READ. This book is about a teenaged boy who due to the pressures of high school, friends and life falls into depression and this book embarks on his story to overcome it. Unlike many other tales of mental illness and depression, Vizzini uses a humour to portray a realistic view of what mental illness is like and crafts his words so carefully that anyone can relate to it. Thanks Sarah for recommending it to me!

SOMETHING BLUE: Although it's not pictured, I bought a beautiful edition of 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' by  Maya Angelou.

OTHER BOOKS I HAVE BOUGHT/READ THIS SUMMER: Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman, My Madder Fatter Diary by Rae Earl, Mary Poppins by PL Travers, The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, If You Find Me By Emily Murdoch, The Catcher In The Rye by JD Stalinger, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, You're The One That I Want by Giovanna Fletcher, We Were Liars by E Lockhart, An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

AUGUST PLAYLIST

So, summer is finally over and I'm going to be honest, this month has been a pretty good one for music. Some examples include the return of Jamie T at Reading and Leeds Festival  (and Gerard Way's debut solo performance), Beyonce's astounding VMA performance and the dropping of the highly anticipated debut album by Royal Blood. By default, some pretty amazing songs have been released this year. These are some of my favourites below: 

ARTIST FOCUS: Royal Blood. 

The amount of people talking about how this band were the highlight of Reading Festival made me check out this band only a week ago and I am in shock at how good they are. Heavy riffs come created from this heavy duo from Brighton with only a drum kit, bass and a few pedals inbetween. Even if commercial rock has became quite popular due to the success of Arctic Monkey's AM last year, this is definitely one of the heaviest albums to head straight to number one in the charts in a good 3 years. Good on them! Check out 'Little Monster' and 'Out of the Black' to find out what they're all about. 

SONGS:

Royal Blood- Little Monster

The Neighbourhood- Sweater Weather

Grimes- Go Feat Blood Diamonds

Ariana Grande- Break Free Feat Zedd

Troye Sivan- Happy Little Pill

Lorde x Disclosure- Royals Remix Reworked from The Brits

Taylor Swift- Shake it Off

Alt J- Every Other Freckle

what really defines beauty?

Every single person on earth has a different definition of beauty. The Oxford Dictionary defines beauty as 'a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.' This vague definition in itself proves how much a person's definition of beauty can vary depending on environmental backgrounds and what appeals to them. As a beauty blogger, fashion advocate and all round moody teenager I've seen and heard the lengths people go to for beauty. We pluck, tweeze, shave and squeeze all parts of our body and scrutinize every glossy magazine we see and wondering, 'why can't I be them?' But let's face it, even that girl in the magazine doesn't look like that. Society tricks us into believing a bit of touching up on photoshop, fancy clothes and 'miracle working teatox' can make us better people, but is that really the case? I don't think so. 

Beauty is a bit of an odd thing to me. I'm someone who loves trying and testing a range of products and doing my make up more than the average human, but this is for my own self enjoyment. I wear make up because it's a form of self expression and I find it amazing how I can transform myself in so many different ways depending how I do it that day. It's my personal preference, and it gives me a slight boost of confidence and the ability to walk slightly taller if I'm feeling crap (in the metaphorical sense of course, as I am 5'2.) The beauty community is also a wonderful thing to be a part of as everyone is so supportive, lovely and willing to make suggestions of products to recommend and how to improve our writing abilities. But, Even in the beauty/fashion community I feel there's a slight pressure. Pressure to try out that new £30 Tom Ford lipstick everyone bangs on about even though you can't afford it. Pressure to gain more followers. Pressure to wear that outfit better than the other person. It's very underlying, but it's definitely there especially when it's just something you do as a hobby. But, do these material things really define you as a person? 

We all wear make up and 'beautify' ourselves to oblivion for different reasons, but I know it can be partly due to society's expectations. We've all done it, picked up that magazine and became little green eyed monsters at the sight of Cara Delevingne and the likes looking flawless as always. This jealousy can spark people to create crazy aspirations and work ourselves as much just to look like them, even though we don't really know this person, as a person other than that model on all the front covers. Realistically, these expectations can't be lived up to and we as a society need to begin teaching that displaying beauty through kindness, confidence, love and intellect is much more important how we aesthetically look. I know a lot of people in the beauty/fashion community feel this way as well, and I've seen a lot of 'confident boosting' tips and ways to 'be proud of who you are' and really does make a difference to people's lives. I'll link some good posts and videos by a range of amazing people below. 

Crop Tops For Curves

Let's Talk Body Confidence

Happy and Healthy 

Walk Taller: Body Confidence (Legs)

Zoella: Body Confidence Tips

The Body Image Project

In my opinion, every single person in this planet is beautiful as we are all unique and are born individually with different qualities. Every person has something different to offer to the world and I find that completely fascinating that not everybody is the same. As long as you're happy with the decisions you make that's all that matters. We are humans, we are free to make our own choices and we don't need to be confined to the expectations by other people. You don't want to shave? That's fine. You do want to shave? Also fine. You enjoy mainstream music and following trends? Wonderful. As long as you're happy, healthy and making decisions that please you, you are beautiful. As cliche as it sounds, humans really are like flowers. Some of us are smaller, some of us are a bit taller, some have shorter petals. But every single one of us are different and beautiful for it. You wouldn't look at a flower and think 'wow, that's an ugly flower' so why do that to yourself? You shouldn't. You're worth so much more than that. Love yourself. Be happy. Embrace life, because you are beautiful. No matter what anyone else says. 

I will leave this discussion with my favourite quote by JK Rowling about using the word 'fat', which can be applied to all insults involving physical apperanance. It's insightful and made me think a hell of a lot. Tell me you're take on this whole discussion in the comments, I'd love to hear opinions. Katie x 

“Is 'fat' really the worst thing a human being can be? Is 'fat' worse than 'vindictive', 'jealous', 'shallow', 'vain', 'boring' or 'cruel'? Not to me.”- JK Rowling. 

REVIEW/ urban decay naked flushed palette in 'strip'

My ever growing saga of my love for Urban Decay continues with this little palette I bought the other day. Seeing a lot of other bloggers discuss it made me really interested in the concept and I must admit- it's a pretty good purchase to make for a variety of reasons (partly due to the amazing packaging, the urban decay naked range is so sophisticated and looks amazing on show)

Unfortunatly, the Urban Decay store I was in didn't have the different shades of colours on show (such a streak, the newest colour in the 'flushed' range which is suited for paler skin' so the bronzer included is quite dark. The bronzer is a deep red/brown shimmery bronzer with a great colour pay off so not too much product is used at once. Although, it does take quite a lot of blending. Since the bronzer is so shimmery I wouldn't use it for the likes of contouring etc, but more if you want to obtain a sunkissed glow.

The highighter isnt exactly the type of colour I like usually, this one is incredibly shimmery and the dark gold colour makes it seem more like a strange shimmery bronzer than something that gives you a natural glow. I find it quite an unusual consistency and it has a habit of fallout due to the amount of shimmer.

The blusher however is a beautiful colour. It's a deep matte mauve which works incredibly well with a coral lip and beachy waves in your hair. Definitely the blush to give you a wee summer glow. It's my favourite part of the whole palette and it applies very evenly.

Personally, I would go for the paler colour if you have pale skin like me as the amount of shimmer in the 'strip' palette causes some extreme fall out. Although, for £22 this is quite a bargain for a blush, bronzer and highlight. It's all you could really ask for, considering some high end blushes on their own cost like £20, this is definitely a product I'd recommend who wants to buy some high end make up without splurging too much. It's also perfect for travelling due to how compact it is! 

Have you tried the Naked Flushed Palettes? Katie x

THE SOUNDS OF JULY

The sounds I've been lovin' this month. A lot of my music recently has been quite ambient, chillstep based dance music that I've been listening to when walking or doing yoga. It's quite relaxing but also not enough to put me to sleep, so its enjoyable. Also, it includes a new Bon Iver song which I have to say I cried during. My love for Justin Vernon just can't compete with anything else really. I do realise there's TWO different disclosure remixes, but both were just too good not to share.

ARTIST FOCUS: SBTRKT

SBTRKT (pronounced like the word subtract- pft, hipsters) is an indie electronic musical project created by Aaron Jerome. Since the release of his soul infused electronic self titled album in 2011, he is finally back recording new songs and a new album titled 'Wonder Where We Land' due to be released in late September. I really enjoy this guy's music because as cliche as it is, it isn't like anything I've heard before. Atmospheric beats and drops mixed with soulful vocals from the likes of Sampha, Jessie Ware and now Ezra off Vampire Weekend is enough to make any festival crowd go wild, whilst keeping anonymous behind a mask to add to the atmosphere. He seems to be making his way round festivals this year so if you have the chance go and see him and make me a bit jealous.

SONG LIST: 

Vance Joy- Riptide (FlicFlac Edit)
Sky Ferreira- You're not the one (CID RIM REMIX)
Bon Iver- Heavenly Father
SBTRKT- NEW DORP. NEW YORK (Feat Ezra)
Pharrell Williams ft Jay-Z- Frontin' (disclosure remix)
TLC- Waterfalls
Disclosure- Help Me Lose My Mind (SOHN remix)
Dan Croll- From Nowhere (mahogany sessions)
Disclosure- Help Me Lose My Mind (Mazde Remix)

the ultimate YSL lip duo.

Whenever I received these goodies in the post from a Dave Lackie giveaway, I honestly felt like the luckiest girl in the world. I had been eyeing up the YSL lipsticks for so long (let's admit, the packaging is swoon worthy) and I felt so grateful for what had landed on my doorstep. Thanks, Dave! These two products are also part of the YSL 2014 Spring Collection which also really intrigued me into looking further into them. 

This lipstick is in shade 34 in 'Rose Asarine' which is a silky pink-red combination with cool undertones and fine micro-glitter for extra shine. The pigmentation is incredibly intense and the formula is incredibly glossy. It might be difficult to apply it straight from tube so I'd advise using a lip brush or just dabbing it lightly with your fingers. As usual with my lipsticks, I did the 'tea test' (aka drank a cup of tea whilst wearing this lipstick, haha) and it stayed on very well. It also feels very light and hydrating on the lips. 

I also received a Rouge Put Couture Vernis a Levres Glossy Stain, which is a slight mouthful to say! This stain is in the shade rouge avant gardiste. This really adds the finishing touches to any bold lip and can be applied lightly to create a subtle wash of colour or built to create an amazing red lip. The stain is also non sticking and has a very different texture to a normal lip gloss. I'm not too sure how to describe it, but basically it feels like there isn't any product on your lips. The only thing that puts me off this product is the smell, which reminds me of wine for some reason? I thought I was crazy but I ran to my mum to ask and even she agreed. Their isn't much of a taste though once applied so don't worry. Personally I wouldn't buy this due to the hefty price point, but if you're willing to splurge on lip gloss/stains then I would go for it. 

You can purchase both of these items  on the YSL UK website here: Vernis A Levres Glossy Stain / YSL Rouge Volupte Lipstick

Do you tried any of the YSL Spring Collection products? Katie x

Wreck This Journal #1

                                       

Hello! I recently bought a wreck this journal which if you don't know, is basically a book created to wreck. you can be as creative as you want with it as long as you follow the basic rules on the page. Instructions are open to your own interpretation so you can be as creative as you want with your journal! I'm not that creative, and I can't draw for my life, but I adore seeing other people's wreck this journal ideas, so I thought I would occasionally blog what I have 'wrecked' for you all to see!

                       

I literally added numbers to the page!

                       

above shows the basic rules of the wreck this journal. Nothing too tedious!

                          

This was quite a fun one to do. Quite an odd experience to say the least though...

                             

                           

A great way to take out anger

Wreck this journals an be purchased in many bookstores such as waterstones, easons and WHSmiths.

fashion lust list.

Last week you all saw my Beauty Wishlist for this spring, so after finally giving in and downloading polyvore, I compiled a little list of clothing items I'd love this spring. This might be slightly boring as they're all the same colour scheme, but I'm the biggest fan of pastel colours ever at the minute! One of my favourites is the 

Pull and Bear floral skater skirt. It has a lovely floral pattern which I think would look beautiful in spring time with bare legs (let's pray for sun!) with frilly socks. I also think this skirt would look amazing with some of the amazing romwe tights. I found this amazing pair with a Daisy Duck pattern but unfortunately they're discontinued. But I adore all of the patterns of tights on romwe besides that.

Rose gold jewellery is another big trend this season and I think a great way to subtely show it off is with these  gold and pink bangles from new look. Another thing which I love is the  ASOS fazed gladiator sandels which I think would look great during summertime with maxi dresses or basically any type of summer clothing. A small bag is always a must to have in case you're going out somewhere in the night time or just don't want to carry around a lot of stuff.  I think this accessorize daisy cutout across body bag shown on my Wishlist would be a great staple item and I could use with any spring/summer outfit since it is white with a floral pattern. 

What trends have you been eyeing up this season? Katie x 

 Items mentioned: Pull and Bear floral skater skirt // ASOS fazed gladiator sandels //gold and pink bangles from new look // accessorize daisy cutout across body bag // romwe tights