Film reviews

Hellooooo!

Firstly, I'll start by apologising for not posting as often as I would like. I'm sure many of you are feeling my exam pain/stress/anger at the moment so you'll understand that I've had no time between revision and other school work to blog (*sobs*) Anyway, I thought I'd share with you two reviews for films I've watched recently at the cinema and on DVD. I'm quite a film lover (and popcorn lover) so I really enjoy reading these kinds of posts on other blogs, so I thought I'd have a go...

Iron Man 3

I saw this at the cinema last week and I was really surprised at how good it was. I'm not really into action movies (neither have I seen the first or second films in the franchise - ooops!) but I went anyway and I haven't stopped raving about it since. Robert Downey Jnr. returns brilliantly (and gorgeously) as Tony Stark/Iron Man who is perusing deadly terrorist, The Mandarin (played by Ben Kingsley). The story line is really interesting and has many unexpected twists and turns, as well as a splash of comedy and romance. I saw it in 3D and the special effects are AMAZING. In this film we see a softer side of Stark which is a far cry from the usual brash persona he creates in The Avengers (and I'm sure Iron Man 1 and 2) which is both heart-warming and refreshing. A solid 8/10.

Favourite quote: "I'm here on a mission: fighting back." - Tony Stark

Pitch Perfect

This recently came out on DVD and all my friends has previously been telling me about how good it was and how I should watch it because of my relation to one of the characters, Fat Amy. Despite the unfortunate name connection, I've watched this film so many times since I bought it and it doesn't get old. I'm a huge fan of musicals so this tale about an all girl acapella group was right up my street. The film is based on Beca (Anna Kendrick), an alternative tomboy who dreams of producing music who is forced into college by her lecturer father. Whilst there, she is encouraged to join The Barden Bellas, a feisty group of women competing against their sworn enemies The Trebles to win the highest prize of the acapella world. The Bella's at first seem a bunch of oddballs, but with the help of a few dances moves, some kick-ass songs and serious eye candy, the adorable Jesse (Skylar Austin), who unfortunately is part of the The Trebles (*dun dun dunnnnnnn*). This is a laugh out loud comedy with the ultimate feel good factor. Hardly a thought-provoking production but one of my favourite chick flicks. 9/10.

Favourite quote: "I'm gonna finish him like a cheesecake"- Fat Amy



This is Fat Amy, played by Rebel Wilson, who my friends say I remind them of. Charming, I know. They even bought me a Fat Amy t-shirt for my birthday. I'm wearing it now. 

A

A few of my favourite things..

Helloooooo!

It feels like I haven't blogged properly in ages *sad face* and I'm really sorry that I haven't! I've been super busy with revising for exams in May *gulp* and working so I haven't really had any free time at all. So I thought I'd dedicate this post to a few of my favourite things and I'd love you to share with me some of yours...

Favourite Movie:

This is a really hard one because I absolutely adore films; there's just something about them that completely captivates me. I love chick flicks so Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and Mean Girls (obviously), Dirty Dancing, Love Actually, High School Musical, A Cinderella Story to name a few! But I'm also a huge James Bond fan so I love Live and Let Die (a classic!), Casino Royale and Skyfall.

Favourite Food:

As you've probably guessed from my previous posts, I love food. All food. But I'd have to say that Fajitas are my favourite (mmmmmm I'm hungry just thinking about it). As far as sweets are concerned, I'm a tiny bit obsessed with Soreen. You might not have heard of it but it's basically banana flavoured malt loaf and it is the greatest thing in the world, besides nutella and marshmallow fluff of course!


Favourite Song:

This is even more difficult than the movie one because music is pretty much, besides fashion, my life. I listen to music all the time and am rarely without my headphones. My taste varies quite drastically from One Direction to You Me At Six to Frank Ocean. Recently I've become really obsessed with The Fratellis' album Costello Music and Inside In/Inside Out by The Kooks but I haven't got one favourite song, so below is a list of what I'm listening to at the moment and some of my favourite ever songs:

The Way - Ariana Grande feat. Mac Miller
Something Good Can Work - Two Door Cinema Club
Bad Religon - Frank Ocean
Things We Lost in The Fire - Bastille
For The Girl - The Fratellis
Ordinary People - John Legend
Gold Digger - Kanye West
Ooh La- The Kooks
Mr Brightside - The Killers
Girl With One Eye - Florence and The Machine
Nobody Does It Better - You Me At Six
All About You - McFly
Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
Foundations - Kate Nash
I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked - Ida Maria
Got Me Good - Cody Simpson
One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks) - One Direction
Please Don't Say You Love Me - Gabrielle Aplin
Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer

And thats only a selection....

Favourite TV Shows:

I don't watch alot of TV but my favourite shows are Greys Anatomy, Elementary, Sherlock, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, America's Next Top Model and Gavin and Stacey when it was on.

Favourite Perfume:

I only have a couple that I wear regularly: Maybe Baby by Benefit and Reb'l Fleur by Rihanna for day time and Lady Million by Paco Rabanne and Daisy Eau So Fresh by Marc Jacobs for special occasions. On my wish list are Miss Dior by Dior and Flash by Jimmy Choo.

So I guess that's just a small insight into my life and what I love. I hope you enjoyed this post and I'd love to hear your feedback about what you like and don't like on my blog!

Have a lovely week!

A

Viva Forever!

Hey lovelies!

Well I don't know about you, but I had a very exciting Friday night (I usually work so it was nice to have the evening off!) I went up to London to see Viva Forever, the Spice Girls musical. As you might know, I am a HUGE Spice Girls fan (I know, I know..) so when I got these tickets for my birthday I was obviously thrilled! I traveled up with my parents and because we arrived early we had some time to kill, and what better way to amuse ourselves than a spot of retail therapy? My mum showed me this amazing place called VinMag (check it out here: www.vinmag.com) I had never seen anything like it before, I could literally spend hours in there looking at all the vintage memorabilia and magazines. I was especially excited to see all of the vintage Vogue magazines (as the future editor of Vogue I have a special interest in it). I also have a huge love for glamorous movie stars such as Grace Kelly (a rather large obsession actually), Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn  Monroe and Ava Gardner . It ended with me and mum buying a few cool T-Shirts, which I'm sure I'll blog about in the very near future. After that we set off to find somewhere to eat. Mum mentioned that for my 2nd birthday she had taken me to The Rainforest Cafe, so we decided to revisit, over 13 years later. I'm still a little kid at heart so I was fascinated, and sometimes rather disturbed, by the extremely life-like jungle creatures that surrounded us whilst we ate. It was also sooooo cute to see the looks of awe and wonder on the faces of little ones as they entered the room, although some did end up leaving because they got scared (and I really don't blame them, the monkey was pretty intimidating, even for a 15 year old!) So we'd had all this fun before the show even started, and we were hoping that it was going to live up to our very high expectations.

Me and my mum are very fond of musicals. We can often be heard trying to replicate our favourite moments (and dance routines) from our favourite shows (hers: Hairspray, mine: Chicago) We really do believe that we are Tracy Turnblad/ Roxie Hart. Other musicals in our repertoire include: Cabaret (my GCSE German comes in handy there), Dreamgirls (my mum is secretly Beyonce, or at least she thinks she is), Burlesque (I mean, everyone loves a bit of Xtina), Moulin Rouge and Connie and Carla to name a few - we are very talented indeed. So anyway we were both looking forward to enjoying another fabulous production that London's West End had to offer... and we were not disappointed. 

Written by Jennifer Saunders and from the directors of Mamma Mia!, Viva Forever is the perfect mix of comedy, romance and song. The story follows a young girl named Viva and how her desire for fame and fortune sometimes leads her astray. There are moments that will make you laugh, cry and get up out of your seat and dance (which we all did, I have to say!) The acting was really really great and the links between the songs and the story line was really quite clever. I would recommend this to anyone, young or old. If you like the Spice Girls or if you just want a bit of light-hearted fun, GO AND SEE IT! Trust me, it's worth it!

Have a great weekend!

A

Hey Bloglovin

Hello!

Just a short post to say I am now on Bloglovin! Follow me and I'll follow you back, my username is myfashionfairytalexo.

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/2121374/?claim=yw828mmktpx">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Ciao for now,

A

Contents: my face

Hola!

For today's post I've chosen to discuss a subject that pretty much goes hand in hand with fashion: beauty. I am going to share with you my everyday (e.g. school) make up bag- the products I use and how I use them, as well as a few helpful tips and tricks that I use to make myself, ahem, presentable shall we say. 


"I don't believe make up and the right hairstyle alone can make a woman beautiful. The most radiant woman in the room is the one full of life and experience." - Sharon Stone

Here it is, where the magic happens. (This isn't an understatement, miracles are often performed with concealer when I've had a late night - I mean you could get a Tesco's weekly shop in the bags under my eyes!) The cute bag was part of a Simple set I got a few years ago for Christmas by the way. 

 

 Let's start with the tools! Decent brushes are essential for an artist to complete her masterpiece - and the same goes for make up! Most beauty guru's will tell you to invest in "professional" brushes but I use ecotools, which are relatively inexpensive and work great! I bought the foundation brush separately for around £7 and got the rest together in a set for about £15 - which I think is really good value! I bought mine in Boots but they're also available online. 

 I start my make up routine by moisturising with Nivea face cream to make my skin soft and smooth. The first product I apply is 17 Hide Away concealer cream (in medium) mainly under my eyes and on my nose and T-Zone. This product isn't the best (it wears off quite easily) but the benefits are it's under £4 so its cheap and I find the medium shade really matches my skin tone. 

On top of concealer I wear (if my skin is looking tired or if I can be bothered) Rimmel Match Perfection foundation (in Soft Beige). I've only recently started wearing foundation and this is the first one I've tried - but I love it! It's quite light so my pores don't feel clogged up and it gives you a healthy, radiant shine.

If my skin is particular bad I add a bit of Max Factor Pan Stick (in Noveau Beige) over the top, which gives a nice matte finish and really great coverage for blemishes. 

For blush is use MeMeMe Shimmy Shimmers which is technically a bronzer but because I have quite tanned skin anyway I find it suits quite well. I didn't buy this one I got it free in a goody bag from Clothes Show Live but I've had it for quite a while now and it does the job! The palette has a range of shades so I create a balanced effect by sweeping the brush across all sections a few times before I apply,and that general gives a nice colour. I apply  it in this area (see diagram below) because I find that there is the most flattering for me. I don't pay attenion to the face shape rule but I suggest just trial and error until you find which place works best for you.  

Picture source: Google

 Next I tackle the brows. They  have become quite a promiment area recently, all thanks to my queen and HUGE girl crush Cara Delevingne, but it seems people are paying more attention to their brows now than before. This is not to say that all trends are for the better (hello, scouse brow!) but it's nice to see a bit more definition in the eyebrows of the nation. I keep mine in shape by visiting a beauty therapist every 6 weeks or so to get them shaped but pluck inbetween appointments. TIP: NEVER EVER SHAVE YOUR EYEBROWS WITH A RAZOR!!!!! I made this mistake when I was younger (despite my mother telling me not too, sorry mum - you were right!) and it makes the hairs grow back thicker which in turn makes them more difficult to control in the future. I know it's tempting and a quick fix but trust me, you'll pay for it later in life. Anyway, my eyebrows are naturally quite dark but to make them a bit more noticeable I fill them in with Bourjois Smoky Eyes Eye Shadow in Modore Chic (around £8) using the ecotools angled eye shadow brush. 

Mascara wise I love Benefit BAD gal lash in Black, but then again I'm a sucker for anything Benefit (expensive taste, I know)! I apply multiple coats to my top lashes but generally leave the bottoms clean because I like the fresh look it gives my eyes (also there's nothing worse than a case of panda eyes!) Some people find this hard to understand but just try it, it does make a difference and as I prefer a more natural look, I sway towards the "less is more" mantra. This beauty is a mini version from a set but the full sized version costs £17.50, so if you are feeling like you want to treat yourself, this is a brilliant investment. It lasts for ages, doesn't clump (always a bonus) and emphasises your lashes in the right ways, without making you look like a drag queen. 

I thought I'd quickly add this is as it is a new purchase that I have yet to try out, so I can't review it. But this liquid eye liner is called Liner Feutre by Bourjois and I'm pretty excited about trying it out on my lids. I chose this in the shop because it looks easy to apply as the brush is almost like a felt tip (and because I'm hopeless at eyeliner - I need all the help I can get!) I tend to favour a classic flick with my top liner but the coloured liner trend is something that I'm thinking of trying out soon, if I'm brave enough!

 


 


I don't usually wear lipstick so for school I love Pucker Up lip balm by Lovehearts (yes, it does taste like the sweets) but I'll occasionally use Barry M lip stain. It's funny because my mum gave me this last year because she opened it and saw it was green (she wasn't interested in that kind of look) but I later discovered that the lipstick isn't green once you apply it, it reacts with a certain chemical in your skin and turns into a lovely red colour, with the more of the chemical present, the darker it goes - meaning that it looks different on every person - cool! It's really good as it stays on for ages (hence stain) and it's also quite fun to see the look on peoples faces when I go to apply...

That's pretty much it as far as every day routine goes, I obviously push the boat out a bit more for evenings and special occasions. Which brings us to the second part of my post (it's a bit longer than usual this week, which I hope you see as a good thing!), the handy tips and tricks!

Tip 1: Try not to follow beauty trends. Magazines are always showing us how to recreate catwalk looks but I do think some are so wacky that the catwalk is where they should stay! These looks are undoubtably beautiful but that environment is where I think the looks work, not a trip to the supermarket. Work out for yourself what you like and don't like, don't be dictated by the trends (the same applies to fashion in general)

Tip 2: Don't try too hard. By this I mean don't cake yourself in foundation and pluck your brows within an inch of their little lives. I think beauty works best when it looks natural and effortless  -  so maybe take a break once in a while from the foundation or liner, you'd be surprised how much you realise you don't need. 

Tip 3: This isn't really a tip, more of a plea. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not foundation over your lips. This was a trend a couple of years ago in my school and it seriously doesn't do anyone any favours. Blending lips with face is NOT a good look.

Tip 4: I'm going to contradict myself here but oh well. Don't follow rules. Beauty, like life, has no rules. You can do whatever you want with it! Make your own trends, try out new things! Hey, even foundation over your lips if you want to (although I strongly suggest you don't), as long as you are happy and you feel confident it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks! 

So basically the second half of my post was pointless but hey ho, I enjoyed it so it doesn't really matter! I hope you found this post useful/interesting/inspiring and why don't you let me know what your favourite products are in the comments section? I'd really love to hear from you!

Goodbye for now,

A

"Whether you are sixteen or sixty, remember, understatement is the rule of a fine make up artist."- Helena Rubinstein

My time in Austria

Guten Tag! (excuse my German, I'm still desperately trying to cling on to the fading memories of my amazing time in Austria)

The pictures do not do it justice, the beauty is unimaginable.

Firstly, I'm sorry I haven't blogged sooner - I've been so busy unpacking and completing the never-ending piles of coursework that I've been putting off for weeks. So I'll get on with it then, prepare yourselves for the fabulous tale of Wood Green School Ski Tour 2013.

The Nutty Geezer Gang!
Left-Right: Tom, Scott, Grace, Me

It's funny because whilst I was out there, I was running this scenario through my head but now it actually comes to it, I have no idea where to start. The main reason for this is that it was quite possibly the best week of my life - and I'm not even exaggerating. If you take out the ridiculously long and boring coach journey to get there and the very.... unusual choice of food, it was pretty much the most perfect 10 days you could experience. There's just something about waking up every morning, looking out the window to the glorious snowy- white mountains that takes your breathe away. But I guess I should do this properly, chronological and all that.

The view from a ski lift, very scary to be so high up!

The coach journey there. What to say about this? Not my favourite part of the trip, purely because I get VERY touchy when I'm tired and I didn't sleep at all, so maybe I'll fast forward to the fun bits. (Although I moan about the journey, it was pretty cool to drive through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to get there, oh and stop off at a McDonalds for a 6am chicken nugget feast- yum!) When we finally did arrive, we sleepily trudged to the ski store to get our ski's, boots and helmets fitted. After that we were let out to explore Altenmarkt, the beautiful village where we were staying. It wasn't particularly interesting, just a quite humourous restaurant named Schitter (immature I know, but you know what they say about simple things pleasing simple minds....) That night we enjoyed (not quite, more like forced down ourselves because we were ravenous) a Austrian delicacy of pancake soup. (Yes, you did read that right, cooked pieces of pancake. In a soup. Yummy.)

The next day we hit the slopes for the first time at a small local resort in the town, where we stayed for two days before moving on to something bigger and better. I myself am not what you'd call an experienced skiier (I went once when I was younger but I don't recall much from it apart from the horror of discovering the "beef" I had been served was in fact reindeer - something earth shattering for a eight year old), however I surprised myself at how quickly I took to it, so I was put in the advanced beginners group with the at first pleasant Jasmin but later after a certain group member couldn't quite grasp the snow-plough, we discovered she had quite a impatient side to her which we didn't take such a fancy too. That first day was quite tedious  but as we all grew in confidence, we felt ready to take on our first proper slope on day two. How wrong we were.

On the way to bowling, it is a lollipop stick by the way!!

Day two was, to say the least, eventful. We changed instructors for one, and were taken under the wing of Tomas, who was incredibly easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean. I think everyone in our group, even the boys, took a shine to him, with his striking good looks and adorable( and at times extremely humorous) lack of basic English understanding (he was from Holland). Anyway enough about him for now (I'm starting to drool at the thought, but I'll hold on till a bit later), that day we attempted our first blue slope. Let's just say we didn't do as well as we expected, with one poor lad in our group (who was later moved down), taking a tumble what seemed like (and probably was) every five seconds. But being the supportive people we are, we bit our tongues and resisted the urge to tell him what we really thought, and after almost two and a half hours on a slope that should take about twenty five minutes, we made it down to the bottom. We didn't attempt that run again.

Me (left) and Gracie looking beautiful!

Day three was significantly better, and arguably the best day we had. This was the day we all mastered the art of parallel skiing and completed various red runs without a single fall (hurrah!). Tomas was very proud of us, at least I think that's what he said... That evening we visited an ice cream parlour and I put my GCSE German to the test. The outcome was pretty good as I got the flavours I wanted, but I'm sure I saw the waitress snigger as I tried to pronounce Strawberry with a convincing accent. The other evenings we went for Pizza, went bowling and to a sports hall for football and volleyball (at that point I couldn't actually walk - let me tell you now, Ski boots are THE most uncomfortable things in the world, and are probably the only thing I won't miss from that holiday!)

Me (right) and Hannah, one of the Sixth Form lovelies1

 The next couple of days whizzed past as we got better and better, developed Russian accents and sang Disney classics at the top of our voices to make our skiing experience even more fun. Our skiing group grew bigger and bigger as people realised the fun we were having, but the originals still stayed as close as ever. I guess it's fair to say the food got better as the week went on, apart from a relapse on day four (don't ask). The teachers seemed to loosen up towards the end of the week which of course made it more entertaining for us and allowed us to have a little bit of fun.

The best evening activity was definitely the trip to the indoor water park, although it was quite outdated and we all had to get changed TOGETHER. There were two jacuzzi spa's, a wave pool, flumes, a diving board and an outdoor salt water pool. I'm not a fan of water rides so I avoided them (I'm still scarred from a previous bikini incident on a slide) but I made full use of everything else. Oh we did have fun that night, and not only because there were a lot of topless hotties hanging around. It was a lovely penultimate evening to our trip and something that I know we'll be talking about for literally months.

Looking glamorous on the slopes!

I haven't written anything about our room yet, but don't worry I haven't forgotten, I'm just getting round to it! Before the trip I had organised to share with the two other girls in my year that were going, Grace and Steph, but when we got there we were thrown into a mix which,  to be perfectly honest, scared the life out of us. We were to be sharing with five Sixth Form girls. This is quite a scary thought for an (only just) fifteen year old, but I could never have imagined how lovely those girls would be. Despite our previous nerves, the first night we all stayed up till the early hours sharing our deepest secrets and that's when I realised that there was nothing to be scared of. Throughout the course of that week we grew to become really great friends, and its so nice to know that when we go back to school, there will be so many  friendly faces to say hi to in the corridor.

I could honestly go on forever because truthfully I still don't want it to end, even though I've been home for four days. I have to admit I missed my family back home but Austria was like a bubble, and it feels weird to be out of it. It feels weird not to have to wake up seven other grizzly girls at ridiculous times in the morning, not to laugh so much at inside jokes and stupid accents, not to experience the unbelievable thrill of overtaking someone on the slopes and going so fast that you barely have time to think. Just writing this now is making me want to cry because I truly loved every minute of it.

The special kids!

A

What I got for my birthday..

As some of you may know, Sunday was my 15th birthday. I had an amazing day and was spoilt by my friends and family. So I thought I'd do a short post before I go away, just to keep you guys on your toes and interested.

First of all, I tell you about my day. I started the day by opening presents in bed with my family before going to a birthday brunch with my best friend James and his family (who are my second family anyway!) We went to Frankie and Benny's and I had a really yummy syrup pancake and bacon stack (so much for the healthy eating, but hey, it was my birthday!) That was lovely until the lights in the restaurant dimmed and the all too familiar tune of Happy Birthday blared from the speakers... (In hindsight, I should've known it was coming, but it did take me by surprise) In case you hadn't already guessed the whole place sang to me (super embarrassing ) and I was presented with some balloons and ice cream (more calories). 

A bit later on family friends came round and we had a hilarious evening playing games and chatting. It made me realise how lucky I am to have so many people that care about me and I really enjoyed spending my birthday with all the people I love the most (minus Harry Styles and Zac Efron - they unfortunately couldn't make it- shame)

So that's how I spent my day and here is a quick snap shot (talking of snap shots, my whole life has been taken over by the new app SnapChat, but that's another story for another time) of the lovely things I was bought by the lovely people I know and love. 

SPICE GIRLS... AHHHHH

I've blogged before about my undying love for the Spice Girls, so I was obviously thrilled when I unwrapped 3 tickets to go and see the Spice Girls musical, Viva Forever, in London. I got this lovely gift from my mums (NB: the extra 's' isn't a typo, I really do have two mothers, called Amanda and Sam. I'm sure I'll blog about them too sooner or later). 

Ooh La La, Benefit..

Another great gift I received was this lovely Benefit make up set, called Sugarlicious, from some very special friends of mine. Firstly, I LOVE Benefit so much, even the packaging makes me excited (Spice Girls obsession, excited over boxes - I know, I'm sad) and the quality of their make up is just so good! I'm definitely gonna do a review of this little box of wonders when I get back from my trip! 

To add to my collection..

I have also previously mentioned my love of the Union Jack, so I squealed with delight when I opened this, also from my mum's. They bought it from Camden Market (one of my fav places for really individual pieces) and I adore it, in fact, it's already packed away in my suitcase for Austria! Nothing like flying the flag for our country whilst abroad (along with my Union Jack backpack, onesie... YES I KNOW IT'S OBSESSIVE)

But that's not all, below is a list of even more lovely things I received, all of which I am extremely grateful for:

1. Vouchers for H&M and ASOS (two of my fav shopping destinations)
2. DVD's including Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 (I'm a bit of a Twihard) and Snow White and The Huntsman 
3. Stuff to take skiing with me such as thermals, hand warmers, sweets and lip balms
4. Gorgeous red Jack Wills skinny jeans
5. Union Jack Vidal Sassoon hair straighteners - from my three best friends (they know me so well)
6. A Union Jack print Jack Wills bag (also from above best friends)
7. Money to take to Austria with me (after exchanged into Euro's of course)
8. Gilly Hicks underwear (my absolute FAVOURITES) I'm such a GH girl!
9. A HILARIOUS book that teaches you how to swear in so many different languages (Let's just say my GCSE German teacher might not be too fond of a few phrases I've picked up from it)

And that's not even all! I still haven't opened family and friend's presents yet and I've already got all I could've asked for and more. 

I think as a society we take things for granted  sometimes we just need to stop and appreciate the things and the people we have got around us. 

So that's it from me for a week or so! Don't miss me too much!

Auf Wiederbye (being the A* student I am) 

A