Tuesday 29 January 2013

Everyone's a critic... (reviews!)~

I need to stop, seriously. I have spent WAY too much money recently, and on stuff I really don't need more of. Like today, for example, I bought even MORE eyeliner and mascara, despite having already bought like £15 worth about 3 months ago. Anyways, I'd figure I'd put the unnecessary purchasing to good use and make a review of what I got, so here it is.


#1 - MUA Extreme Felt Eyeliner - £2
#2 - Collection 2000 Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner - £2.99
#3 - Beauty UK Lash-fx Extreme Volume Length + Lift Mascara - £2.49
#4 - Miss Sporty Lash Curving Mascara - £1.99

I'll start with the mascaras. I've tried both of them, granted, only for about 2 hours, but they both seem to be doing fine. In terms of application, I found the Miss Sporty mascara to be easier to use, but honestly, there wasn't much more of an issue with the Beauty UK one, so I'm just being nit-picky. There isn't a huge amount of difference in terms of visual lash length with either of them, but it's at least noticeable that mascara's on, so not bad for the price I say. On a side note though, I would recommend the Miss Sporty Lash Building Mascara, as it does have more of an effect on lash length and is still really affordable!

Now to the eyeliners. Because of my ridiculously folded lids, it's essential I get good quality eyeliner, otherwise the smudging is just hideous. BUT, at the same time, I'm on a tight budget, so yeah, not always easy to find quality at cheap prices... anyway, I'm not a huge fan of liquid eyeliner, so felt pen eyeliners for me are a huge relief where that's concerned. I've only tried one before from Rimmel (I think), and it was amazing, but so tiny and so expensive, so I figured I'd give the cheaper brands a shot, and here's what they look like on:


The first one is the one from MUA and I've got to say, it really reflected the cheap price in terms of its quality. I applied 5 strokes in this photo, by the way. It looks really watered down and doesn't really show up, so honestly, I would not recommend this eyeliner. Or their mascara either - the brush has bristles falling off! The Collection 2000 one is really good; it is bold after a single stroke, unlike the MUA one, and dries really quickly, so my lids don't have the smudging issue. Woo. Also it doesn't fade or come off too easily, so I think it could potentially last quite a while, though the claimed 24 hours is debatable.

Right, enough make-up, on to music. Uh oh. Okay, so, I've been debating with myself a bit as to whether or not I should even bother with this review, but I figure, eh, might as well. As many who know me even vaguely will know, one of my favourite bands of ever is a UK band called Elliot Minor. Sadly, however, they are on hiatus, or so we can assume / hope from their lack of activity for the last 2 years. Since then, drummer Dan Hetherton has already gone on to form a new band called 'The Dead Famous', but that's not who I'm going to be reviewing today. Instead, I will be talking about singer Alex Davies' newly unveiled project, 'Spirits'.


As you can see from the vandalized image above Spirits is made up of 3 members: (L-R) Bob, Alex, and Dan. On their Facebook page (click the image for the link) they cite their influences as being Queens of the Stone Age, Biffy Clyro, and Foo Fighters, to name a few. So, really quite different from Alex's previous band. Now, I really shouldn't do this, but I'm afraid it's going to get a little subjective here. I listened to a song of theirs called 'Sweet Dynamite' which they offer as a free download on their Facebook page via PledgeMusic, and I've got to say, I don't really like it. Okay, so I know I'm talking from an Elliot Minor fan point of view, but knowing the potential this band could have with Alex as their songwriter, it's really not that great. I played the track earlier to my brother, someone also familiar with Alex's earlier work, and he too was not impressed. "There's not even a guitar solo!", he stated, and that really does sum up the whole song. The verse doesn't really suit Alex's vocal aesthetic, the chorus is bland, the bridge is feeble and the overall content of the song is way too simple.

I realise that they're not going for an Elliot Minor-esque sound, but I'm quite familiar with the bands they list as their influences and even then they're lacking. They're lacking the Foo Fighter power, the Biffy Clyro drama and the uniqueness of Muse. Then again, I'm basing all of this on one 3+ minute song, so I may be proven wrong in time, but sadly, for now, I'm just not feeling it. I do, however, have hope, even if only because I know what Alex can do; that song ('All My Life') he wrote for 'Clement Marfo & The Frontline', though not really my thing, was extremely well written and well executed, so I guess I was kind of hoping he'd be able to pull out that same magic for his own band. Well, as I said before, I guess we'll just have to see as they release more stuff in the future.

Phew! That was long. Anyway, before I go, just wanted to quickly show off my new Motel Rocks banner and maybe even hint a little something to you... *hint hint*



-Philippa. x
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http://ohmymeowy.tumblr.com
http://www.twitter.com/ohmymeowy


PS.: Spirits' debut album will be available to pre-order via PledgeMusic on 1st February '13
PPS.: Not being mean and slating the band btw, just sharing my opinion! I totally urge you to go and check them out - the song is actually quite catchy (just not my thing...)!

Monday 28 January 2013

Preston / London haul~

Not quite sure how this happened, but somehow I ended up spending most of my weekend shopping. Huh. Thankfully I didn't spend too much - I'd say somewhere just under the £40 mark (*cries*). But yeah, it all started out of boredom whilst wandering around Preston town center, and then a couple of days later moved onto London, where sadly, my pocket suffered the most, but oh well, all in the name of fashion I suppose... xD

So here's (for the most part) what I got:

Hello Kitty necklace - £2.50 (3 for £5 sale!) - Claire's Accessories
Hedgehog make-up pouch - £3 (3 for £5 sale!) - Claire's Accessories
Lollipop socks - free, early birthday pressie from Annie! - Topshop

Green tights - £1 - Topshop
Starry fishnet tights - £4 (3 for £5 sale!) - Claire's Accessories

Knitted ears hat - £3 - Topshop
'Cheeky Budha' teddy scarf/hat - £6 - Fusion Boutique

'Oh My Love' purple hi-low skirt - £10 - Topshop

I actually bought more stuff than this throughout the weekend, but as I haven't been home for 3 days and most of the other stuff was just gifts for Annie - who I already saw and gave them to earlier - I wasn't able to take pictures to show them off, so yeah... overall I'd say I got quite a bargain on my stuff, and everything was bought on sale, so woo, go me and my super awesome bargain hunting awesomeness! ^^



Sunday 20 January 2013

Photographer's Block?! + Super Awesome Pressies~

Had a photoshoot for the first time in ages yesterday, and I've got to say, I really did not know what I was doing! I was sooo out of practice and just all over the place! So yeah, this'll be the first time posting my photography on here, but seriously, it's not my best work, so please don't judge me from this alone!


See what I mean? In terms of composition, I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but meh, it's not exactly spectacular or amazing in any way, is it? AND, I can't even take credit for composition! Ama (right) suggested this exact spot for some photos, so really all I did was frame and shoot. Laaame! What kind of useless photographer am I? I really do have to commend her and Felix (left) for working super well without direction for this shoot; I was really nervous as this was my first time shooting a guy AND the first shoot I'd done in ages, so yeah, wasn't totally prepared or confident... xP

Anyway, grim photography aside, just thought I'd share snaps of my 2 favourite Christmas pressies I received this year, so here they are!


This first one is the 'I Love Crafty' Cat Nap ring from the Motel Rocks website which featured in my 'All I Want For Christmas Is You~' post a while back, and I am sooo happy with it! I wasn't actually expecting to get anything from that list, so was super chuffed when my friend Isabel not only got me this from the list, but also the Motel Rocks body top I had been lusting after! Woooo!


This gift was a total surprise to me; I seriously was not expecting something as awesome as this! According to my friend Ama, I showed her a brooch version of this to her a couple of years ago and she somehow managed to remember it and find a necklace version for me, which is super convenient as I don't even wear brooches, so yayyy! Thank you so much for the awesome necklace, Ama!!

I got too lazy before I could be bothered to get out the few other things I got from Christmas, so they will have to wait before being featured in a post, but yeah, got some nice things and apparently have more to come from some people, so coolies, looking forward to that. 

And if you're still reading this then please do me the favour of sparing a few more seconds to visit my photography page (link featured under my 'about me' section) so you can see what my photography normally looks when I'm not in total fail mode! ><" (oh, and if you think what you see there is better then please don't hesitate to click the 'like' button too!)


Tuesday 15 January 2013

Snowwwwwwwwww!~

Wolf hat - The Original Factory Shop 
Jumper - New Look 
Denim shorts - River Island via eBay 
Tights & Knee high socks - Tesco 
Boots - F&F @ Tesco via eBay

I realise that my outfit can barely be seen, but regardless, I figured I'd put up the details anyway, you know, just for the sake of it. So, I haven't posted in AGES because even though I have loads of stuffs I'd like to show, my SD card readers (yes, plural) have all suddenly gone bust, so am currently looking for some decent replacements. This photo was taken with my mum's camera which can upload via USB, so if you were wondering how I could then upload this hideous picture, well, that's why.

Ah, I love the snow. I mean, it's cold, wet, get's disgusting really quickly and turns walking into a major hazard, but is absolutely gorgeous when it comes to photography. The lighting of everywhere just becomes so perfect and the snow works wonderfully for light reflection. As well as that, as far as I'm concerned, just about everyone looks good when surrounded by loads of snow, so really, snow + photography = win!




PS.: apologies for the funny colouring, by the way. the camera used isn't mine and my brother took the picture, so that, plus some excessive photo manipulation, has resulted in inaccurate portrayal of colours. i mean, bet you can't tell that jumper is purple, huh?!