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visit to london

January 24, 2013


I didn't take that many pictures because my hands were freezing off! But London was lovely. It was pretty shit having to wake up at silly o clock to get to London in the cold snowy weather and feeling ill, but as soon as we went through Chelsea I was full on in my element. I swear I have never been so excited! Camden was definitely my favourite part of London, I've always loved it and hadn't been back in two years, so I was more than excited to get back down there! Despite craving Camden noodles for days before going down, we opted to have Wagamamas, nothing beats firecracker rice and peach ice tea. Just as we sat down, I was joking like ha, theres a guy that looks like he belongs in One Direction, turns out it was Niall from One Direction, spending his dollaaaar in wagas. Definately want to go back down to London some time soon, hopefully it will be warmer so I dont feel like an idiot for eating frozen yogurt in the snow next time!

general update and chit chat

January 05, 2013







I’ve probably grown to love Cardiff more than anything in the past few days, and it kind of sucks that I’m currently on my way back to Birmingham, because I will actually miss Cardiff! It’s like a weird little cycle, I always get excited about the prospect of getting to go home, but as soon as I get back into Birmingham I miss everything Welsh! I thought I’d share a few things about the last few days in Cardiff, partially because I hope you’ll find it a good read, and partially because I’m on a four hour journey home, trying my hardest not to get bored. I guess I could be revising for exams on this coach, but procrastination is getting the best of me.

First I’ll update you on a cheeky few steals. With Christmas money, sales, and staff discount at Urban Outfitters, I just couldn’t resist these new bargains. I managed to find two dresses from Topshop, and a cute little playsuit from Miss Selfridges. The two dresses both have lace detail, something I seriously cannot get enough of. The white lace dress has a Lana Del Rey-esque feel to it; it’s very elegant and girly, which is something that I never usually go for. I tend to avoid the colour white, it’s always seemed risky to me, I wonder how long it will take me to stain the poor thing.  It’s a dress that can be worn casually during the day, with a denim shirt over it or cardigan, yet it also seems appropriate for a few drinks/meal out. Following my ‘black dress’ post, I figured there was an urgency to get a black dress in my life!  After browsing around, Topshop offered me this lovely dress for an amazing price of £30. Bargain. The playsuit is something I would never go for usually either, I’m such a clumsy person, and it is extremely girly with floral patterns. I wore this playsuit on NYE, and struggled so much when I ‘broke the seal’. I guess that’s my own fault though, playsuits may look good, but I have always figured they are not practical for a night out! Yet, I can imagine it to look lovely in Summer, so it’s a decent investment.

With my staff discount at Urban Outfitters, and these lovely Sparkle and Fade velvet shorts screaming out at me to buy them, I decided it was finally time to invest in them. I opted to go for XS in the shorts, because of the awkward sizing at UO it just seemed appropriate to do so. However, although these shorts are lush to look at, I’m finding it hard to even think of when to wear them, because they are way too short! This is probably why they are categorised under Women’s Accessories at work, so if you’re into the whole ‘under wear is outer wear’ look, these are seriously amazing, but I will definitely pair these shorts with dark opaque tights, to avoid judgmental looks on a night out! Another new thing in my life is my pug pillow, which my mom kindly surprised me with. Just look at how cute it is!  You will soon begin to learn that I am obsessed with pugs, that’s if you didn’t know already!


So what have I been up to for the past few days? Well Thursday night consisted of going down to the Woody for a barbecue chicken and bacon melt, highly recommend it, fuck it is lush! It then accidently turned into drinking silly amounts of apple vodka and a night out in Cardiff. It was fairly quiet in Cardiff, so we ended up going Live Lounge, and sitting on a sofa laughing at gross couples that were eating each other’s faces off. Luckily though, I ended up with a double bed this night and falling asleep with Russell Brand. (This sounds so inappropriate, so I’ll let you know that by falling asleep with Brand, I mean falling asleep with him on TV).  Hangover day was different this time, instead I was shown where the Chinese supermarkets were, and got little treats and found out that pandan cake is available on Sundays, so exciting! I’m eating my white rabbit sweets right now, they’re so addictive and taste like mini milks, mm! Pizza also came in the equation of hangover day, as did acting like fourteen year olds and using inappropriate names to order!  I also bought some fabric to start making my own bunting for my room, I’ve already started and there will be a post on it pretty soon, I just need to finish it at home when I can get back to my sewing machine!

I’ve been trying my hardest to revise, with exams coming up in the next two weeks; I am still finding it hard to concentrate. I have two exams, on the 16th and 17th, Human Communication and History of Mass Media; I seriously cannot wait to get them over and done with. I will behave when I’m back at home, and become a bookworm and revise loads, I promise!  I’m excited to get back and get exams done because me and my friend Liam have decided we are going to make the most out of Cardiff and stop being lazy!


This post has been fairly brief, and I promise to make photos far more interesting after my exams! 

illamasqua gleam cream and mac eyeshadow palette

January 03, 2013


Illamasqua- Gleam Cream.

I remember hearing about the brand Illamasqua and being dead intrigued. It was two summers ago, I'd finished my GCSE's and I was bored as fuck so decided to tag along to work with my mama. I remember it being really hot and moaning about having to travel down to London, but after shit loads of moaning this is still one day I'm glad my mom dragged me out of bed for! We got into London to find ourselves in the Illamasqua offices, as they were doing the make-up for one of the fashion shows my mom was organising. And guess who's son owns the brand? Vivienne Westwood's , Joseph Corre is his name, he's class check him out. But guess who I was in an office with? It was me, my mother, Corre, and Westwood. I had to try my hardest not to fan girl at this point, and act completely interested in the make-up. I didn't even have to pretend I was intrigued, within a few minutes the brand had won me over. I was extremely touched by the charity work Illamasqua were involved with, Corre explained that there was a woman who was brutally murdered due to looking 'different', for being 'counter-cultural'. He then began to explain how the brand support 'difference', and accept this 'difference'. It wasn't just this heartwarming story that had won me over, within a few days I had received a parcel, full of Illamasqua goodies from Corre. I was addicted, nail varnishes, face creams, eyeshadows, eyeliners and mascaras, my makeup box was full of it! All of the products were amazing, but I'd just finished school, left my job at Nicky Clarke, I was extremely poor.

But there was one product I knew I had to continue to purchase, even if it meant scraping the last pennies out of my purse. Illamasqua- Gleam Cream. Its a product that you apply as a base, I tend to use it on my cheekbones to highlight them and give them some definition, because i have the chubbiest cheeks ever, this product is like magic to me. It leaves a subtle shine, which if you apply foundation over, it looks like a natural definition. I only use it when I go on nights out, and considering I'm a fresher thats quite a few nights out a week, one bottle has lasted me four months. The application is extremely easy, I literally just put a small dot on my finger and rub it onto my cheeks. The definition lasts a long long time which is always a positive because I never need to top up, which saves any waste. My overdraft isn't looking too healthy at the moment, but its just something I cannot live without! 




     
                                                        Mac- Eyeshadow Palette.

When receiving this as a Christmas Present, I had mixed thoughts and feelings. My first thought was, Mac! I have always loved Mac, ever since I'd started wearing makeup, I would always sneak in my mothers trusty little makeup bag and steal the odd Mac product. I'd always deny taking these products and never give them back, because I would literally fall in love. My second thought was, fuck they're bright colours. I'm super boring when it comes to doing my makeup, I literally apply foundation, black eyeliner and mascara, occasionally the bright lipstick and head off out. I guess I've always felt comfortable sticking to dark eye makeup, because it has always seemed safe to do so. Its so easy to over do it with bright colours, especially eyeshadow and end up looking tacky. However, these colours are growing on me. Luckily, Mac have chosen colours that work well together, and they grouped suitable shades together, making it easy to blend without looking OTT. The application is fairly easy, its a dusty eyeshadow so I literally just use an eyeshadow brush to apply. However, a sassy little trick I've learn't whilst tagging along and helping out at fashion shows/photo-shoots is to apply water to the brush, so that the powder becomes a form of liquid. This then enables the bright colours to be used as eyeliners, something I feel a lot safer using than eyeshadow! 

not so little black dresses

January 02, 2013
Both dresses are a steal for the prices, especially when Topshop offer the handy 10% student 
discount. Trust me, when you're so far into an overdraft as I am, even Topshops' cheeky little discount offer seems like the best thing in the whole wide world. Without a doubt, every girl needs a black dress in their wardrobe, they're versatile and handy when it comes to last minute plans for a night out. Unfortunately though, my wardrobe suffers from having 0 black dresses, which is quite shocking considering black is the most consistent colour within my wardrobe! I guess I've always bought black tops/skirts/shorts, and put them together; the trusty black topshop skater skirt and  black bandeau work a dream team in creating an illusion of a black dress, but I guess its time to invest in a real one now, being 19 without a black dress just seems way too wrong!

The high neck mini bodycon is definitely worthy of the small £22 price tag. It's quite classy for a black dress, making it suitable for both a night out in town, or even just drinks at the local. I'm dead keen on the high neck feature on this dress, since working in Urban Outfitters, high neck features are all that I have been lusting! The minimalistic features of this dress make it extremely appealing, I can imagine teaming it with sparkly socks and wedges could work a treat.

I've always been a fan of longer dresses and skirts, but never quite had the confidence to even attempt to pull them off. Being only 5'3, its one of those things I would usually feel self conscious about, and fear looking stumpy. Luckily, this midi length seems a suitable, as it wouldn't drown my figure completely. Its also quite simplistic which I'm a fan of, theres nothing better than finding a simple dress and dressing it up with jewellery. I'm pretty confident that this dress would look amazing with bulky necklaces, and chunky wedges for a night out, or merely teaming it with a leather jacket, a scarf and heeled boots for a far more casual look.


Fuck, I might just get both.

uni and cardiff in general

The more I think about it, it is quite weird how I've ended up in Cardiff, considering it wasn't even one of my choices for University. I remember waking up on results day and feeling sick with nerves because I had convinced myself I had failed my a-levels, and convinced myself that i was going to stay in Birmingham for another year, whilst all of my friends had ventured off onto doing better things. Luckily, and thankfully, my hard work paid off, and I got into both my insurance, Sheffield Hallam, and first choice, Brighton. Literally, I cannot explain how over the moon I was, I had spent the previous year getting excited about the prospect of living in Brighton, and picturing myself there was finally becoming real. However, as the weekend went by, I did a bit of research and took a gamble, and rang up Cardiff Uni, a Uni who are known to specialise in my course, and had a casual chat with one of the lecturers. Next thing you know, my life plans had changed, everything I'd pictured for a whole year had changed in the matter of a few minutes, I was going to become a Welsh student! It was quite daunting changing everything last minute, sorting out accommodation, altering things on UCAS, and to add to the stress I had to sort it all out whilst at Reading Festival, whilst being absolutely fucked out of my face. Thankfully though, it paid off, and after 3749032409327 calls to UCAS, explaining the importance and nagging them to hurry with application changes, I am now living in Cardiff and at a fairly decent uni. The more I think about it, the more I realise it was such a huge risk to change life plans so quickly, especially when I had never been to Cardiff in my whole life. Best risk I have ever made, I have ended up meeting and living with some class people, and got a job at Urban Outfitters.


thanks UCAS adjustment! 

Keaton Henson



That beard, that voice, that awkwardness, Henson is perfection! I was so glad when I came across his music, slowly i became obsessed, googling articles about him, over analysing interviews about him (wow I sound like a freak). So basically, he's a singer/songwriter from London who has stage fright, hates the idea of fame, hardly does any gigs, and records music from his bedroom. How cute. His personality makes him stand out, and his awkwardness works so well in relation to his music.

Not only is he a singer/songwriter, just when I thought things couldn't get any more perfect, I found out he's an illustrator too! Yet again, there is an awkward presence in his illustration//






The other night I listened to his music for hours in bed, and decided to get my own sketchpad out. This was my result//
(I apologise for the quality, it was a photo taken on my phone)


p.s If anyone wants to treat me to something amazing, Keaton Henson' illustration book Gloaming would be very much so appreciated.

self.

So I thought it was about time to get into a new blog, because my mind just rambles on and on, and I get over excited about silly little things. I guess it would be nice to share these silly little things I get excited about with other people. I haven't blogged properly in a while, I'll admit that my previous blog had no aim what so ever, but this blog will - I promise! Well about myself, I'm Reen/Reenie/Coco/Cokes.  I'm from Birmingham, but currently in Cardiff studying Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. That's all I'm really going to say about myself, I guess my blog will pretty much expand on my personality and the notion of 'self'.


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