'The nicest place on the internet' (it really is)

This is possibly one of the nicest things I've come across in a long time. If you're having a bad day or just like genuinely nice things visit the link below. It'll make things that little bit better :)

http://thenicestplaceontheinter.net/

Smile and enjoy
x

Paramore - Now

Paramore - Now

I think this is the most excited I've been about a blog post - or anything in general - for a long time. For any of you who know me, you'll already know that I am the biggest Paramore fan. They can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. I could endlessly list my reasons for why they are my favourite band but I'll resist.

Hayleys' vocals never fail to disappoint, there is something about her voice that captivates me and draws me in to every single song. This, combined with the emotion fueled, meaningful lyrics provides (in my opinion) an endless stream of incredible music.
Their new video for 'Now' has been criticised by some fans on Youtube as not fitting to the song/lyrics. I disagree with this entirely, but I guess that everyone will draw their own meaning from their interpretation of the song. To me the lyrics are powerful and are about sensitive issues that everyone can relate to in one way or another. The beat and melody of the song fits my interpretation of the mood and subject matter perfectly, building in exactly the right places.
I could go on about the song forever but what this post was actually intended for was the visual side of the video.
The makeup in this video is very different to what we usually see on Hayley. Known for her bold eyebrows, bright eye shadows and more recently a touch of lip colour, this very neutral pallet is a harsh contrast. The blocked out eyebrows and white eyes/lashes initially stand out at the beginning of the video and if I'm honest, aren't the most flattering. However, as the video progresses we're introduced to explosions of colour (literally) and this is when the makeup starts to work its magic. The use of colour in the video is powerful and symbolic, this then contrasts greatly with neutral makeup causing Hayley to look vulnerable and very pure. This is most notable when Hayley is covered blue towards the end.
This visual contrast between power and vulnerability is fitting to both the lyrics and the meaning and to me, provides a much more conceptual element to both the song and the video.

Enjoy!
x

Weekend break to Cornwall (Lostwithiel)

Long weekends away are not something I indulge in often but I allowed myself the luxury this past weekend. I'm not usually very lucky with when I have my holiday from work booked, it never coincides with anything interesting and it always seems like a bit of a wasted holiday. However, this was not the case last weekend when I realised my holiday was perfectly timed with my friends birthday weekend - it was therefore only natural to take a trip to Cornwall - Lostwithiel in particular - to see her.

This excited me for many reasons;
1. I haven't seen Lauren since Graduation week last November (when you spend 3 years with someone, a few months apart is a long time.)
2. If my childhood (especially summers) could be a place, it would be Cornwall. I have so many memories from holidays there as a child, there aren't many places I haven't been to. Being there puts me at ease instantly and is one of the only places that just by sight and smell alone can make me truly happy, so I was more than looking forward to being back there.
3. It provides me with the perfect opportunity to take some photos - weather permitting of course!

We took a trip in to Fowey on my last day there, Fowey is one of my favourite places in Cornwall. There isn't much to do there (and you need to be relatively fit to get up the hills), but it's so typical of a small Cornish town. It's picturesque, quaint and peaceful. The weather wasn't too bad on Monday so I took the opportunity to take some photos whilst I was there.

Fowey, landscape, ocean, photography, beach

Fowey, landscape, photography, cornwall

Fowey, quaint, photography, houses

The lighting isn't as good as I would have liked but hopefully you'll be able to get a feel of the kind of place Fowey is.
On the drive home from Fowey, we stopped very briefly at Polkerris. It consists of cottages (which are beautiful), a beach and a pub/restaurant or two. It's very small but very beautiful. The rain had set in a little by this point but I couldn't not take some last quick photos before leaving to get the train home.

Polkerris, beach, ocean, landscape, photography

Polkerris, beach, ocean, landscape, photography

x

Deaf Havana - Fools and Worthless Liars (Nostalgia and album artwork)

 Before I get started; to any of you reading this who aren't familiar with the band Deaf Havana - go listen to them, now. It will be worth your time.

Deaf Havana - Fools and Worthless Liars

Okay, so there is a lot I want to cover in this post, from music and lyrics to themes and photography. I'll try my best not to ramble...

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to post about this album, but better late than never! 

There aren't many albums that I can honestly say have me gripped from start to finish. Usually there's that song that we'd happily skip or one that doesn't quite fit in with the rest, but Fools and Worthless Liars had me hooked from the beginning.

The album have a very nostalgic theme which comes across very strongly in both the song titles and lyrics, I often find with songs with strong lyrical themes, the music isn't quite as fitting as it potentially could be. However to me, everything about this album works, the melodies and moods of the songs, the pace changes and the emotion in the lyrics all draw you in, allowing you to feel the reminiscent lyrics.
Deaf Havana - Hunstanton Pier

Deaf Havana - Youth in Retrospect

Aside from the music, one thing that can really make an album special to me is the album artwork in the lyric book. Imagery is so powerful and can help create or reinforce the mood of the whole album. I am often met with disappointment however, when the artwork is somewhat disconnected from the music.

The nostalgic theme that is explored within this album tells personal and emotional stories within every lyric, the visual potential of such a strong theme left me eagerly anticipating the artwork and I wasn't disappointed.

Nostalgic photography, when done well is very powerful - it is however often overdone and becomes very generic. The idea of a nostalgic photograph has a very predetermined boundary, as it's usually fueled by memory and feeling it becomes easy to know what  kind of images to expect. However this said, due to the memory aspect our views on this will differ considerably from person to person.

To me, the artwork for Fools and Worthless Liars finishes the album off beautifully and really brings together the themes, lyrics and moods explored throughout. The images are simple in way of setting, props and colour scheme, but are much more complex when it come to concept and mood. They're powerful and allow us as individuals to draw our own personal meaning from each image, to reflect on our own experiences behind the story being told.

:)

x

"It's all about colour" - (Freedom Writers)

Perhaps self explanatory due to the title of my blog, I don't usually tend to post about films. As much as I am a massive film enthusiast, and have a weakness for being sucked in to the more emotional films, my love for them is simply that - emotional. I prefer to post about things that get me excited creatively, that way I can analyse more as opposed to descriptively listing information to you.
Of course, there are some films that are visually creative enough for me to have a creative opinion on - but it doesn't happen too often. I have however found a loophole in my theory with this film (albeit a small one), in which the most powerful moment of the film in my opinion, has a very small connection to Makeup. Although irrelevant to any form of makeup artistry, the pure fact it's related at all was enough to allow me to justify a non-creative post.

Freedom Writers. 
Freedom Writers is one of my all time favourite films and I have lost count of the amount of times I have seen it. It's one of those films where you have to see it to truly understand it. Any attempts of me trying to sell the film to my friends results in a boring description of a generic high school gang film. It is so much more than that and my words wouldn't do it justice.





Based on a true story, Freedom Writers explores every possible emotion you could experience - it's powerful, hard hitting and painful. Laced between the harsh truths however, are heart wrenching glimpses of unity and compassion that you would never imagine feeling for the characters from the beginning.
"It's all about colour" is quoted near the very beginning of the film and sets up the entire scene in no more than 4 words. It also provides a perfect circular narrative as it is readdressed from a new perspective at a later point in the film.
This is the moment I was on about earlier and to me, is one of the most powerful moments of a film I have watched. I won't go in to any more detail as I don't want to ruin it for any of you who may happen to watch it. Just keep an eye out for the small makeup scene between Eva and Sindy.

Take the time to watch it, it's worth it!

x

Project ideas and paper samples

I never thought I would be uttering these words, but I am really missing having Uni work to do. I don't miss the stress and the deadlines, but I do really miss having projects. Something to research and develop, something that allows me to be as creative as I want to be. I miss getting excited when I come up with a new concept. Basically, I miss being creative.

It is surprisingly difficult to find something in everyday life that would provide enough interest and dedication to create a project of sorts. I have however decided on what I am going to do in my spare time over the coming weeks.

I've always been one to keep scrapbooks, photo albums, gig scrapbooks etc, but they're more of a documentation of events. I want to take my usual scrapbooking and turn it in to an inspiration based and inspiration forming project for both Photography and Makeup artistry. I want to display all that inspires me, build colour charts, form outline ideas and hopefully end up with a book of ideas and concepts that I would be ideally able to use as reference points in the future.

I have a vast collection of creative materials but one thing I always seem to be lacking is a selection of good quality paper, different colours, textures, thicknesses can really bring a visual project to life.

I ordered some paper samples from a company I used for my Final Major Project at Uni called GFSmith (http://www.gfsmith.com/), they can provide samples by specific request or a sample package which is what I ordered.

Paper, samples, colour, books

Paper, samples, colour chart, colour, texture

Paper, samples, colour, chart, book, texture

To any of you who don't love stationery as much as I do (probably quite a lot of you), this rather long post about paper will probably have gotten boring a few paragraphs ago.. But for those of you who are still with me I shall go on. The sample pack includes 2 booklets (both of which provide a fold out 3D colour chart) and 4 smaller books of paper samples. Every colour, thickness and texture of paper you could imagine.

The textures of the papers scream makeup designs at me, whilst the colours flood me with ideas for lighting and settings for photo shoots. To anyone looking at starting a creative project I would highly recommend having a look on their website :)

I'll be starting my self briefed project as soon as I have all the materials I need, I'll try and be a good blogger and follow the progress!

x

And it all turns to ice.

With temperatures not quite reaching above freezing, the soft light snow from yesterday is rapidly turning to ice. The silent footfall is now a very distinctive crunch; but the ice brings with it a different kind of beauty that you don't always get with snow.
Wrapped in blankets and armed with my DSLR and a stepladder (Some of the icicles were high!) I submerged myself in the frozen beauty for an hour or so.

Snow, White, Winter, Sparkle.

Icicle, Ice, Winter, Frozen

Frozen. Spider Web, Ice, Winter

Icicle, Ice, Winter, Frozen

Even though my fingers have yet to fully regain feeling, braving the cold was definitely worth the hour it allowed me to enjoy taking these!

Hope you like them (:
x

It's finally here.. (Snow)

After weeks of threats of snow from the weather forecast, the eagerly anticipated, perfectly formed, chaos causing white flakes have arrived. I am usually the first to complain when everyone jumps on the bandwagon posting endless streams of snow photos online, but I couldn't resist a session with my camera out in the snow!
As breathtakingly beautiful as it is, it is equally breathtakingly freezing - my fingers have just about thawed out enough now for me to be able to type this post.
I love landscape photos when it comes to snow, but without a wide angle lens and with poor lighting conditions any attempts at landscape were met with disappointment.
I changed to Macro and these are some of the resulting images.

Snow, Ice, White, Snowflake, Winter.

Snow, White, Ice, Snowflake, Winter.

Snow, Ice, White, Snowflake, Winter.

Snow, Ice, Winter, Clock.

:)
x

Heaven Sends Photo Box - Debenhams

One of my greatest simple pleasures in life is buying gifts for the people that I love. It is something I have always enjoyed and is one of the main reasons I look forward to being paid each month. Now that Christmas is done and dusted I turn my attention to birthdays. It's my nans birthday tomorrow and I wanted to get her something different, something that she can cherish but something that is also practical. Personally I don't think there is much use in presents that take a seat on a back shelf to be forgotten after the birthday excitement.
Like myself, my nan has always been one to make sure she has a camera at a family gathering or special occasion - she refuses to invest in a digital camera however, but that's another story.
As she has a film camera still and regularly has her photos developed I thought it would be nice to get her something in which she can store the more special photos, the ones she wants to see more often than when the dusty photo boxes get dragged out.

I was aimlessly wandering around Debenhams in Bath trying to think of the best place to go to find what I was looking for when I stumbled across this and instantly had to buy it.

Photos, photography, photo box, photo album, vintage, homeware, home decoration.

http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10001_10001_304029627899_-1?breadcrumb=Home~Home+%26amp%3B+furniture~Home+accessories~Decorative+accessories

The photo on the website doesn't do the product the full justice it deserves! It really is beautiful. In real life it looks a lot more vintage and aged and the finish is perfect.
For such a simple product it has a lot of character.
I struggled to stop myself from buying everything in the section in which I found this! The vintage section in the homeware department at the moment is desirable to say the least and I recommend to anyone who has upcoming birthdays to buy for to take a look!

:)
x

Benjamin Francis Leftwich - Atlas Hands

I am posting this video for two reasons.
1. I LOVE Benjamin Francis Leftwich <3 His voice is so hauntingly beautiful. This song makes me feel so positive about things, it's almost warming.
2. I am a little bit in love with the video. It's so simple and everything about it makes me want to do a photoshoot! The lighting, the beach setting, the reflections on the water, the silhouettes of the boat. It makes me yearn for summer and itch to take my camera to the beach.
There is a lot about the video that I love that I'm not sure how to transcribe in a way that would get you all equally excited..

Give it a watch and maybe you'll see what I'm badly trying to explain.
Enjoy.

x

Bastille - Flaws (Recorded at Abbey Road)

It's no secret that January isn't typically high time for new exciting music. To fill my January music gap I've been delving through my iTunes library and getting excited about certain songs all over again.
I use the word 'delving' loosely in this post as I haven't had to go back too far to find what I want to share with you.. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of Bastille, their song Flaws was played often on Radio 1 in the months approaching Christmas.
As good as the song is, I much prefer this acoustic version.

Excuse the pun here, but in contrast to the title his voice is flawless. It's easy to listen to and every note brings stronger meaning to the lyrics.

Enjoy!

x

Trend Package SS13

During the mundane task of removing items from my external hard drive to create more space, I came across some of my old uni projects. In September 2011 we had to devise a sketchbook resulting in a Trend package that depicted our visions of fashion trends in Spring/Summer of 2013.

This is something I had never done before but I loved building the visual representation of a trend, pulling apart aspects of current environments and fashions and evolving them.

I hold out no hope for my trend predictions being even remotely right but from a purely visual viewpoint they come together relatively well. There are 10 sketchbook research pages that support the final outcome but I won't bore you all with them. My main inspiration came from the poor economic climate, the London Riots and the Olympics. A strange combination but things that feed off of one another. 

I named my trend package 'Colour Injection' and it represents the move away from the negativity of the aforementioned economic climate and riots and towards something hugely positive like the 2012 Olympics. In terms of colour pallets this translates to a move from neutral colours - colours that mask personality, to vibrant colors that come part and parcel with the Olympics and the inevitable excitement. Like the injection of pride, hope and positivity, I predicted that the Olympics would bring with it an injection of colour in to how we present ourselves as individuals in 2013.

Sketchbook. Trend Package. Fashion. Colour.

Title Page. Trend Package. Fashion. Colour.

Trend Package. Fashion. Colour.

Trend Package. Fashion. Colour.

I'm not sure if you will be able to read the text on some of the pages as the font is relatively small. I apologise if that is the case!

x

New year 2012, London.

It's safe to say that I'm not usually one for big celebrations when it comes to New Year. It's never been something I've been fussed about. However, this year my best friend moved to London so naturally a road trip to London and a very long weekend spanning New Year was inevitable. 

I outdid myself with the sheer amount of photos that were taken in the space of 4 days, camera happy would be an understatement.

I won't bore you with endless streams of photos that frankly would only be entertaining for me and my equally abnormal friends, but I will share one or two which dare I say, teeter on the more creative side.

London. New Years Eve. 2012. Leicester Square. Lights.

London. New Years Eve. 2012. Leicester Square. Lights. Reflection.

London. New Years Eve. 2012. Leicester Square. Lights. Reflection.

I love reflection photography. It's rare for me to like my own photos but I am fairly pleased with the outcome of these!

Whilst everyone else around me was snapping away at the towering lights and billboards, I was getting overly excited at puddles on the ground.

I like the contrast and the sharpness of detail in something that is completely fluid. In comparison to the 'normal' photo at the top, the two reflections offer a much more dynamic - and in my opinion - exciting composition.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year!

x

Radio 1's Live Lounge Special - Ben Howard covers Ellie Goulding's Figure 8.

This is literally my idea of music heaven.

Ellie's album Halcyon is one of my favourite albums of 2012 (in close competition with Mumford and Son's Babel). Although every track on this album is incredible, Figure 8 is by far my favourite. It's powerful, meaningful and most importantly sounds great both vocally and musically.

Ben Howard is my favourite male solo artist, I've posted about my love for him before so I won't bore you all with that again. Naturally I was extremely excited to find out Ben Howard was doing the live lounge special and the anticipation for the cover couldn't have been met with more enthusiasm from me.

Ellie's version of this song is incredible, but Ben Howard brings a new dimension to the sounds and lyrics in a way that transforms it completely. I wouldn't say it was better than the original because it's too different to compare, all I know is that I want to listen to it over and over.

This is Ellie's original version of Figure 8. The passion and the power of the song is something that draws me in to it and is most probably why it is my favourite on the album. The video for this has been done extremely well and is a good balance of creative beauty and powerful emotion. The timing of the drops along with visual representations is perfect and results in a very successful video.

Enjoy (:
x

Ke$ha - Die Young

Ke$ha has always been an artist that I've liked, not ever quite enough for her music to make my iPod, but enough to enjoy on a night out. However, her new album has converted me to a solid fan. The whole sound is different to her previous album and the majority of tracks are extremely catchy.
I love Ke$ha's style and the way she presents herself as a person. I know a lot of people don't like her, but there is something about her that is really appealing to me and I like her values.

Music videos tend to bore me a bit these days, they're all very samey, over edited, boy meets girl story line  Ke$ha's video for Die Young is a bit more gritty and I like it. There is a variety of styling and hair and makeup looks throughout the video, Ke$ha looks amazing in all of them. (I think it's safe to say I have a slight crush..)




Enjoy!
x

Today I saved a Hedgehogs life.

It's true! Today I spent my day off (well, part of it) saving the life of a cute little Hedgehog. I'm not entirely sure that it should have been out foraging in the frosty grass for food at this time of year.. Aren't they meant to be hibernating by now?
Either way, he was adorable. I grabbed my camera and tiptoed in to the garden to take some photos.
(I've named him Ernie)

Hedgehog. Cute. Animal. Frost.

After spending a good 10 minutes sneaking around the Hedgehog trying not to startle him and taking photos, I headed back in to the warm. I just happened to glance up out of the kitchen window to see the neighbors evil cat stalking Ernie! I wasn't about to watch an evil cat attack a confused cold hedgehog so I proceeded to run barefoot(bad idea) in to the garden to save him.
Safe in the knowledge that Ernie was hidden from the evil cat, I headed back inside to defrost my feet.
Who says days home alone aren't exciting?

x

Christmas Poem. (E.E.Cummings - Little Tree)

Poetry is one of my passions, I love to hear it, read it and write it. There is something about a poem that can capture you in a way that prose can't. It has the ability to create mood, feeling and emotion that lasts longer than the lines in which it is contained.
Keeping with the theme of Christmas from my previous post, I thought I would share one of my favourite Christmas poems with you, it's called Little Tree and is written by E.E.Cummings. It's beautifully written and effortlessly tells a story.
It's the kind of poem that makes me think about the meanings behind it but on a more superficial level just makes me feel good. It paints a picture of Christmas perfection that is the thing of childhood memories and dreams.

little tree

little silent Christmas tree

you are so little

you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest

and were you very sorry to come away?

see          i will comfort you

because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark

and hug you safe and tight

just as your mother would,

only don't be afraid

look          the spangles

that sleep all the year in a dark box

dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,

the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms

and i'll give them all to you to hold

every finger shall have its ring

and there won't be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you're quite dressed

you'll stand in the window for everyone to see

and how they'll stare!

oh but you'll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands

and looking up at our beautiful tree

we'll dance and sing

"Noel Noel"

Enjoy (:
x

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Anyone who knows me will know that I'm not always the most festive person when it comes to Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy it, I love buying presents for people, seeing all of my family, I love Christmas traditions. However, when the Christmas hype starts in October I'm kind of bored by it all by the time it gets to December. It would be much more exciting if it was all contained within December.
This is the first Christmas in a long time that I have time free to actually enjoy it. The last 3 years I've had looming University deadlines resulting in me burying myself in paperwork until Christmas day itself. Having a job now and a relatively disposable income has bought more enjoyment to the present buying side of thing allowing me to treat my family and friends.
Despite me rambling about my feelings on Christmas, this post was initially intended for me to share a couple of photos with you all. Everyone has one thing, kind of like a tradition I guess, that lets them know Christmas is on it's way. Mine is the spectacular display of lights on a house around the corner from mine. Every single year for months and months, this guy spends hours creating a lighting masterpiece on every inch of his house. People come from miles around to see it and it usually makes news headlines. He collects donations for charity, it's an all round feel good event.
The moment his lights go on, it's Christmas.

Christmas. Lights. Festive. Lighting display.

Christmas. Lights. Festive. Lighting display.

I apologise for the picture quality, I didn't have my DSLR on me so had to make do with my digital compact.

(This was on the news yesterday so I thought I'd update my post and add the link for you all to see)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-20663776 

x

It's Britney B*tch!

Britney's back!
I'm not much of a Britney fan these days, I'm all about the 90's Britney, but that's another story. However, when I heard she was collaborating with Will.I.Am, naturally I was curious to see the outcome and expected big things after the hype of the video.
I'm sure the song will be a massive hit, but my main focus of this post is Britney's styling - namely the hair.
Of course this is all purely personal opinion, but I'm struggling to understand the design concept.. To me it all just seems a bit disjointed. It is so very easy to make Britney look beautiful, but I don't think this look is flattering at all. I think it's the hair and the gold hair band. It provides too much of a harsh division, the end result looking like someone has superimposed  Britney's face on to someone else's hair...

Britney Spears. Scream and Shout. Will.I.Am

Maybe it's just me being over-observant but I think it's safe to say I'm not a fan of this look.

x

Amelia Lily - Shut up (And give me whatever you've got)

As I was browsing the music channels this afternoon I came across Amelia Lily's new music video on the 'Must see' chart.
I'm undecided on the song, I think perhaps it will become something I love to hate after a few more listens, but the first thing I noticed was the styling.
The majority of the video has Amelia styled as you would usually expect to see her, however sections of it has very Christina Aguilera-esque styling from her Dirrty video..

For anyone who hasn't yet seen or heard it and would like to, here's the video to Amelia's new song.




Enjoy!

x