Top 5 • Favourite Films

A slightly different post from me today - and that's about films. Something you should know about me, is that I am absolutely obsessed with films - we have such a large collection in our house and I love nothing more than to curl up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a biscuit and watch a good film. I have many many films that I love, but I thought I would share five of my favourites with you and if you haven't seen any of them - I highly recommend giving them a watch.

Moulin Rouge - Now this is one of my all time favourite films ever to exist ever. It was what started my love of Ewan McGregor which has lasted many many years. It's a musical but all the songs are amazing, weirdly mashed up versions of songs by people like Elton John, The Police and Whitney Houston. There's one song in it that was written especially for the movie and that is my favourite one - Come What May. The story is set in Paris, in the Moulin Rouge during 1900. It follows the love story of Christian the writer and Satine the star cabaret actress at the Moulin Rouge. It's full of humour, love and a little bit of tragedy. Baz Luhrmann is the director and I absolutely adore his films they are gorgeous to watch and so wonderfully bizarre that you're never able to look away. 

Her - This is quite a recent release, I only bought it on DVD this year but already it holds a special place in my heart. It's set in the future when technology has massive improved and the main character Theodore falls in love with his OS on his computer system - Samantha. It sounds odd - but it's really beautifully written and shot and it did make me have a bit of a cry as well (which isn't difficult I'll admit). I really recommend this to anyone who likes a quirky love story. 

Romeo + Juliet - Another Baz Lurhmann film (surprise surprise). I love everything about this film; the look of it, the music, the actors and the way that it's all spoken in shakespearian english despite being set in modern day (not everyone's cup of tea - but as an english student who loves shakespeare, it's perfect). Leonardo DiCaprio is in his prime in this film as it came out in 1996. It's just a really great adaptation of the play with Baz Lurhmann's signature madness added into it. I don't need to tell you all what it's about as I don't think anyone doesn't know the story of Romeo and Juliet. 

The Boat That Rocked - This is again one of my all time favourite films ever, I watch it all the time and I never ever get bored of it. It's directed by Richard Curtis who is on par with Baz Luhrmann as my favourite director - and Hans Zimmer is involved with the music (who also did the music for The Holiday, which I love) and the cast is amazing: Nick Frost, Tom Sturridge (yum), Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans and so many more classic actors. It's based in the 60s about a pirate radio ship called Radio Rock and it's a feel-good film that is so easy to watch. Honestly I recommend this so so much. 

Now my fifth film is kind of a cheat. Basically because I love Richard Curtis's romantic comedies so darn much I literally couldn't pick a favourite one. So I'm just recommending all of them. Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, About Time and Notting Hill (I don't have Notting Hill on DVD, only on video which is why it's not in this photo). All of these films are beautiful. Beautifully written, hilarious, heart-warming and occasionally quite sad. The romance is so classic and never ever cheesy. I can't express how much I love these films - Richard Curtis is a genius, and every film is full of extremely talented actors and actresses. Please I urge you to go and watch them and love them as much as I do. 

And there you have it. Some films that I have watched many many times and can probably quote most of the lines whilst watching them. You may notice there's no horror or scary films in there - basically because I hate scary films and can't watch them for long enough to decide if I even like them or not because I've got my hands over my eyes the whole time. I also haven't included Harry Potter - which is my life obsession, because those books and films are in a league of their own and deserve a blog post to themselves as I love them so darn much. 
I hope that some of you may go out and watch some of these if you haven't already - but I expect many of you are already familiar with these films. What are your favourite films? Any the same as me? 

Thanks so much for reading - have a fab day guys! 
Harriet x 

Love Affair With My Polaroid

This post is going to be a little dedication to my new favourite possession. I received this Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 as a gift for my 18th birthday in August and I am totally head over heels in love with it. I get excited about where I am going now, just in case there's an opportunity for my to take a couple of snapshots. Polaroid cameras have always been a love of mine, because I love having real photographs to hold and treasure properly rather than scrolling through an album on Facebook which will inevitably get deleted at some point, when those photos are lost forever. 

I know a lot of people have this camera, so many of you are probably aware of how amazing this little device is. To use it you just pop out the lens and look through the viewfinder and click - before a cute little picture whirrs out the top of the camera. Then there is the wait for the picture to develop to see if you've managed to point it in the right direction and the subjects have actually been looking at you at the right moment. And there you have it. Below are two photos from my 18th birthday party where I whipped out my camera to get a few hard memories of the occasion which have now been stuck in my photo album.

I know this was only a little post - but I just wanted to share with you my love for polaroid cameras and hopefully inspired some of you to want to get your very own one - honestly they are worth it! (Even though the film you have to buy for them is extremely pricey for the amount of photos you can actually take with it). 
Have a wonderful day everyone and thank you so much for reading. 

Harriet x 

Daily Make-Up Essentials • 2014

Last year I did another blog post very similar to this one where I showed you some of the make-up products that I used regularly. Well after having a quick re-read that post, I decided that it was massively out-dated and deserved an update! This is the make-up that in general I will use every day without fail, I reach for these products the most and as you will see, a lot of them are looking - shall we say - very well loved and I probably should take a trip to Boots and re-purchase some of them. 

BASE

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation - Mont Blanc 

Nars Blush - Orgasm 

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - Cool Medium 

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder - 001 Transparent 

Topshop Highlighter - Crescent Moon 

Firstly in the morning (after I have moisturised my face), I'll apply my Nars Sheer Glow Foundation with my real techniques Expert Face Brush. Now who hasn't heard of this wonderful product? It may be on the expensive side, and be a bit of an investment - but I'm a firm believer in making sure you have the right foundation for you and sometimes that means having to fork out some extra pennies as a bit of a treat - but with something as important as foundation I think it's worth it. Nars Sheer Glow gives a lovely coverage that can be built up as much or as little as you want, depending on perhaps what occasion you're going to. In the day I will just buff it over my face to even out my complexion with a low coverage of it - however when I'm going on a night out or to a party, I can build it up so that it's definitely not going anywhere all night! 

Next is my Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer which is one of the biggest cult products I've seen out there. Everyone loves this, and everyone raves about it - the fact that it's so affordable is just the icing on the cake. I don't tend to get dark circles under my eyes so will apply little or no concealer there, however my skin does have it's fair share of breakouts so blemishes and spots are my main concern. And this concealer really does cover it all - I honestly wouldn't be without it and as you can see from the rather gross look of mine, I need to go and buy another one asap!

Another very well loved product that I use every day is my Rimmel Stay Matte Powder. This is another extremely popular product with anyone I have met who has used it. I have the transparent shade which is perfect as I'm not a huge fan of powder with a pigment because they tend to be the wrong shade for me and make me look a bit cakey. So this colour-less powder is my holy grail. It takes the shine right off my face (with little topping up needed throughout the day) and doesn't break up or look caked on, on my face. Hooray!

Blush time. The Nars Orgasm blush is one loved by many as it's such a gorgeous colour and will suit so many different skin tones. It even looks lovely on my pale, freckled cheeks which is a miracle. It's really nicely pigmented and blends wonderfully into the skin. However it's so good, that I haven't bought myself a new blush in so long because I am stuck in love with this one! 

Finally, highlighter. I don't use this every single day without fail, but every time I do I reach for my Topshop Highlighter. Can we all just take a minute to appreciate how beautiful the colour of this highlighter is?! I can't get enough of it. It does have a bit of shimmer in - so those of you that aren't keen on shimmery highlighters might not love it, but I think it looks lovely on anyone when applied well. It's very pigmented so you don't need very much on your brush - but it adds such a lovely glow to your cheek bones and I love it very much. 

EYES

Nars Eye Kit - And God Created The Woman 

Nars Smudge Proof Eye Base 

Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner - Black 

L'oreal Volume Million Lashes 'Excess' - Noir/Black

Rimmel Scandaleyes Kohl Kajal Waterproof Eyeliner - 001 Black

Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eyeliner Pencil - 011 Sable Brown 

Next, onto eyes. This is my favourite part of applying my make-up - I am obsessed with all things eyes and am an ambassador for liquid liner. I always have people asking what I use on my eyes as I usually rock the cat eye, smokey eye look on a daily basis - not too dramatic obviously as I don't want to look like I'm going clubbing when I'm just popping over to see my Grandma. 

Firstly I'll pop on my Nars Eye Base which I have a small sample of at the moment and I'm loving it. It really does make sure my eyeshadow doesn't budge and I've been really impressed with it. However I am saving up the pennies to get myself the Urban Decay Primer Potion - however this one is proving a real competitor at the moment and may end up earning a permanent place in my daily make up routine. 

Eyeshadow is a no-brainer for me, I am a lover of the neutrals. Shimmery or matte - I love 'em all. This Nars Eye Kit was actually a gift from one of my lovely friends for my 18th birthday so has been getting a lot of love from me recently as the shades are just gorgeous. They're so pigmented and easy to blend I am totally in love with this palette. I'm also a lover of the Naked Palettes (and their MUA dupes), but for the time being Nars is my weapon of choice. 

Nearly there now with eyeliner. I do so many different things with my eye make-up depending on the situation, but as a general rule I'll pop the brown Rimmel Kohl Kajal on my bottom waterline to add some definition but not too harshly like a black eyeliner would. Then the Rimmel Scandaleyes Kohl Kajal black liner on my upper waterline before going in there with my Collection Felt Tip liner to do my winged eyeliner. I own a ton of liquid liner from many different brands, however this one is winning for me. I've bought about three of these over the past few months because I use them to death. It's so easy to use and doesn't smudge or run at all. I. Love. It. And it's a totally reasonable price which is a total bonus. 

Mascara time. I am not a committed mascara user - I flit from one to another all the time as I have yet to find one that I am amazed by. So at the moment I'm using the L'oreal Volume Million Lashes one, which is really great for separating and lengthening my lashes - however I'm not a massive fan of the plastic wand (which isn't a criticism of this mascara, I just prefer a wand with bristles in general over a plastic one I find them easier to use) 

LIPS 

Sleek Sheen Lipstick - Barely There 

Vaseline - Rosy Lips 

Finally we have arrived at the lips station. The final stop. And probably the least interesting one for me. I am not a very adventurous person when it comes to my lips - I a, a bit scared of all those colours out there of lipsticks and glosses and balms, that I worry what will and won't suit me. Recently I have been buying more bright colours, however they are reserved for more special events and usually I will reach for a pot of Vaseline to give my lips a bit of moisture and shine (soooo boring I know). 

Sometimes though I'll go for a nude lipstick, and the Sleek lipstick in Barely There is my all time favourite. It's a perfect shade for me, and it looks really lovely on the lips. 

And there you have it! A total product-by-product of my daily make-up routine. This will more than likely change depending on new products I buy over the coming months - but for now, these are my holy grail products and I would highly recommend them to anyone who wants good, reliable products in their collection! 

What things do you reach for every day? Anyone loving any of the sae products as me? 

Thanks so much for reading everyone and have a lovely day. 

Harriet x 

2014 • The Best Summer Of My Life

Hello everyone! Prizes go out to those of you who can actually remember who I am - I've been on a blogging hiatus for the past few months and I have honestly missed my little blog so much, and despite the fact that I desperately need to improve my regularity and quality of posts I am back with a vengeance. To ease myself back into the world of blogging I thought I'd start with a little round-up of what I've been getting up to this summer, which will have been a grand length of four months by the time I leave home for university (scary!). 

At the end of July I went away on holiday to Venice with my boyfriend and his family for a week and it was one of the best holidays I've ever been on. We stayed in a place called Lido Di Jesolo which is about an hours drive away from Venice itself, which meant that we were away from the hustle and bustle of the centre of the city but still got to experience a good chunk of Venetian culture ourselves. Here are some of my favourite photos from the trip: 

Just like last year, I also took a trip to London for a few days with Gabriel to visit my uncle and his girlfriend who kindly let us stay with them. We did a lot of shopping in the centre of London and also in our favourite place ever - Camden. 

 These two trips were probably my two favourite aspects of my summer holidays, I love getting to go to different places whether I've been there before or not. I also went to Portugal with my parents, spent the weekend camping at Leeds Festival and turned 18. Altogether, these special events that took place over the past four months have made this the best time of my life and I can't believe it's coming to an end! As I'm moving to university in the next few weeks, I can only hope that the next chapter of my life is as good as the one I'm leaving behind. 

Thank you for reading - I hope you're all having a lovely week. 

Harriet x 

Review • Sephora's 'Divergent' Makeup Collection

Today has been an extremely exciting day for me and my makeup collection. I am an absolutely huge fan of Veronica Roth's book trilogy: Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant. If you haven't read them then you really should, they're in a similar style of genre to The Hunger Games and other young adult fiction, however in my opinion these books are the best of the lot. After reading the trilogy I was super excited to find out that a film was being made of the first book Divergent - which comes out in a few weeks! And therefore was even more excited to hear that Sephora was teaming up with the creators of the film to release a limited edition make up collection inspired by Divergent! Now I went a tiny bit crazy and bought the most expensive item 'collectors kit', but there are two other products; a mini palette for the face, I think with a lipgloss in too, and also a set of nail polishes. But the beauty that I ordered is the main piece of the collection. 

 The huge box that the makeup came in is beautiful on its own, before you even open it to reveal what's inside. If you have read the books you'll understand and relevance of the Ferris wheel on the front of the box and decorating the individual palettes inside the box. The box is really very sturdy and I intend to keep the makeup in there when not in use, because I like the fact that it is all together and easy to see and access when I want to use it.

The first three palettes contain four beautiful eyeshadows, which are named and selected to reflect the societies a.k.a 'factions' which feature in the book. Out of the five factions there are - these palettes represent 'Dauntless', 'Abnegation' and 'Erudite'. Each of the three eyeshadow palettes contains four highly pigmented eyeshadows, (and this is what excited me) one High Gloss Transforming Eyeshadow. The transformer shades supposedly create a diamond illusion, shimmery, mirror-like reflection that is transparent when applied dry and translucent when used wet creating a fluid, with twinkling particles -- now I am really keen to have a play with those! Upon first examination the colours all are really nicely pigmented, creamy and easy to blend - which I am extremely happy about! 

Colours: Choose, Burnt Mahogany, Radiant Initiation, Peaceful Shimmer, Humble Sheen 

Firstly we have the 'Erudite' palette which contains warmer toned colours and is personally my favourite of the three palettes because the colours are so gorgeous and easily usable on a daytime that I can see I am going to get a lot of wear out of them. I can't wait to get my brushes into this palette!

Colours: Transform, Bold Espresso, Intrepid Moss, Golden Honesty, Altruistic Almond

The 'Abnegation' palette pictured above has more earthy based tones to it, and is extremely simple and neutral - which reflects the faction of Abnegation perfectly. Perfect for every day wear, with a super glittery shadow to liven things up a bit. One thing I will say about the 'Transform' colour is that it is so so glittery that it can be quite difficult to negotiate, and requires a lot of gentle patting to work onto the eyelid, but it is gorgeous nonetheless.

 Colours: Diverge, Dauntless Ink, Abnegation Stone, Erudite Sapphire, Serene Vanilla. 

The 'Dauntless' palette pictured above features the more darker colours out of the palettes - which reflects the bravery of the Dauntless faction in the books. These colours just seem perfect for a smokey eye look, with the possibility of added sparkle for a night time. 

Colours: Obscure Coral, Misty Rose, Gleaming Pearl, Intelligent Bronze

Next up is this absolutely beautiful palette with two blushes, a highlighter and a bronzer. With regards to the blushes, the Obscure Coral shade is very pigmented and really lovely and creamy to blend on the skin. Whilst Misty Rose is a little harder to work with as a matte shade and harder to blend, the colour is gorgeous. The highlighter is also very pigmented and I will be ensuring that I use a light hand when using this! And finally the bronzer, whilst easy to apply and nicely pigmented, is a little bit of an oranger shade and I'm not 100% sure if it will suit my skin tone or not - but who knows! 

Colours: Temptation's Choice, Fear Not, Natural Virtue, Supreme Ritual 

The final product you get in this box of treasures are these lipglosses. The first thing I noticed when I opened one is that (persoanlly) I think they smell amazing, they have sort of a minty scent which I wasn't expecting but I must admit I kinda love it. The lipglosses do not have that awful tacky texture to them which is great as I am not a fan of that at all, however they do have quite low pigment so are good to wear over a lipstick, or if you're going for a really natural sort of makeup day and don't want too much on the lip area. 


Overall, I am really excited to get stuck into this palette. I think the names are really sweet and obviously well-considered to suit the books/film. There are these three cards included in the box which are 'get the look' cards with inspiration of how to use the make up to get different looks, based on different factions - clever eh? 

The price for this set retails at $59, which is around £37 (plus exhaustive P&P - which I reluctantly forked out for). It may not be the holy grail with regards to totally original colours, however I can tell that as a girl who is keen on her neutral colours and smokey eyes with a bit of shimmer thrown in there - I am going to get my moneys worth! 
Let me know if any of you are also massive Divergent fans like myself - or if any of you have/want to get any of the makeup range from Sephora. 

Thanks so much for reading as always! Have a lovely weekend everyone. 

Harriet x

2013 • Round-Up

I can't believe we have officially arrived in 2014 - I swear I haven't even got used to writing the date as 2013 yet, I think I'm stuck somewhere in the 2000s! 
I was sat watching TV this evening and thinking about the past year and everything that has happened, and suddenly I just had the urge to sum it all up in a post, and share it with you lovely people. 

I brought the New Year in with some of my best friends which was really lovely as it's our last year altogether before we all go our separate ways for university and work amongst other grown up, scary things. 

My New Years Resolutions
I have my usual resolutions which I attempt to set myself every year, such as: worry less - this is a common one which I think I have had as my New Years Resolution for as long as I can remember, as I am terrible for over thinking and analysing things and just worrying generally about anything and everything. 
But this year I have got a couple of more practical ones which I hope to keep for this year and not fail at the first hurdle. 

Learn To Drive 
I turned 17 a fair while ago, and it is out of pure laziness that I haven't got my act together and actually learnt how to drive. I want to get that sorted out before I turn 18 in Summer because I want to be able to actually drive myself and my friends to the beach in Summer when all we have to do is worry about what awaits us in September. 

Take More Proper Photographs 
I have a digital camera, and don't get me wrong it is wonderful and I have some amazing memories caught on it. However, call me old fashioned but I don't think there is much better than looking through hard copies of pictures from disposable cameras. I bought myself one to use over Christmas and I was so happy with how the pictures turned out that I want to get myself one or two before any big events over the next year, so that I have recent photographs that I can plaster my uni walls with in September. 


Highlights 
Although in some aspects, 2013 has been one of the hardest years I have had to face yet, with some extremely sad and difficult things happening, there have also been an overwhelming number of happy and amazing moments as well. 

People around me

I know everyone will say something similar to this, but I have the most amazing set of friends and a wonderful family who I cherish more than I can mention. This year would have been impossible without them. And without sounding cliche, I can't say fully how much my boyfriend has made this year special. We've been together since 2012, and since then he has made me laugh more times than I remember, been to countless gigs with me and just made me feel brilliant as much as possible. Thank you Gabriel for just being generally wonderful. 

Music
2013 has definitely been a great year for music for me. I have been to some truly memorable concerts this year from arena tours to little gigs in Leeds. Some of my favourites include: Thirty Seconds to Mars, Daughter, Slam Dunk Festival, Leeds Festival, Don Broco and Anavae. Live music is one of my most treasured experiences, and although I'm not one for getting pushed around in a crowd, I am at my happiest watching a band play on stage. 

Big Stuff
Although most of my year has been taken up by Sixth Form work and general preparation for what lies outside the walls of school, I have managed to fit in some pretty fab things during 2013 which I will always remember. 

London - I spent a long weekend in London last Summer with Gabriel visiting my uncle and his girlfriend, which I did a blog post on at the time if you wanted to read more into that. But it was just amazing to escape for a few days. I got to visit the Harry Potter studio tour which I have wanted to do for a long time, and it was generally just a perfect weekend which I hope to repeat in 2014. 

My Birthday - Being a young one in my year, I turned 17 at the end of August last year, and it was one of the most special birthdays I have ever had. My friends all surprised me at my favourite restaurant and we all had a meal together which was really, really touching of them and something that meant such a lot to me. 


So there you have it, if you're still reading this now, then I commend you because I have really rambled on, more so than usual! 2014 is going to be a massive year for me, presenting challenges left, right and centre. 
I'm leaving for university in September, which is a terrifying thought. I have to leave everyone I love and go live on my own. However, at the same time I absolutely cannot wait and know that I will have the time of my life. I'm turning 18 - which is scary as I don't really know where the last few years have gone, and suddenly here I am on the doorstep of becoming an adult -gulp-. Plus boring things like my A Level exams and all the joyous preparation that comes with it. 
To sum up, bring on 2014 I am 100% ready.. For most of it at least! 

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you all have a lovely 2014 x