Christmas Wishlist

As I've got older, my Christmas lists seem to get shorter and shorter... In all honesty, I actually dread getting lots of presents because it means having to find somewhere to store my new stuff which is a nightmare as I have a tiny room that I share with my boyfriend now. That said, my Perfume Collection takes up a huge part of the room and I'm still lusting after more, oops. I'm realising that my wishlist for Christmas this year is mostly practical; I've spent a lot of this winter feeling less than my best so I want some comfy hoodies and strong shoes, as well as some fluffy slippers to keep me warm inside the house. It's almost a tradition in my family to give me either some Pandora charms, Cath Kidston items or some make up, such as a mascara. My mama always says if she doesn't know what to buy me, she will always buy something from one of those categories. I'm desperate to find a new bag or purse that I like and will last for a while; I have a habit of using literally the same bag all the time so I need something strong. I love Radly purses, so I'm hoping to snap one up in the Boxing Day sales, and hopefully a bag too but they're so pricey I'm not sure if my budget will allow me.

 

If I'm completely honest, I'm not a massive brat for presents and never really have been as I was brought up not to expect too much and be grateful for what I did get; but the whole point of this post was to dream a little so I've picked quite a large array of different things that in another life I've love to receive but will mostly save up for and buy for my myself, haha. The ballet shoes are probably the most surprising choice, but I actually took ballet lessons for 15 years and it's something I would've definitely persued if it wasn't for an injury when I was 7 years old. Ballet was my first love and I was completely obsessed with it. I'm intending to get back into ballet or at least some form of dance as I absolutely loved it and I do miss it a lot. I stopped because of A-Levels and as an adult I want to find that happiness again, for me ballet was a great way to relax. It didn't feel like exercise and it helped clear my mind, so it seems like a good idea to relearn ballet positions and get into pointe shoes again.

 

There's quite a few different kinds of make up that I've been lusting after for a while; I'd like some more lipsticks from MAC as I have Ruby Woo and I love it, I want some pink and nude shades too, as well as a highlighter as I have a basic one that has been used to death, so an upgrade is definitely required... I'm not sure what one I'd like but I guarantee I'll fall in love with a ridiculously expensive one and have to save up for ages. I've been resisting buying a Naked palette for so long, but I think I'll give in soon... I'm quite a nude and pinks person so the Naked 3 is more or less heaven to me, but the price isn't, sadly. I have some make up brushes already, but the zoeva brushes, however expensive they are look so nice and reviews state that they're really soft... I don't need them, but the whole point of a wishlist is to hope, right? I also am desperate to have all 3 of the Marc Jacobs Lush limited edition perfumes as they look and smell divine, hopefully I'll manage to buy all three before the end of January; as well as a new DSLR camera. In an ideal world, I'd love the canon 80D, but in reality the 700D is more in line with my budget.

Christmas Present Ideas For Him

- Herschel - Canon - Superdry - Beats - Converse - Hollister - Ted Baker - Jean Paul Gaultier - iPad - 

 

Personally, I find guys quite a challenge to buy for. But, that said I do like the pieces that I find, even if it takes a while. I tend to steer toward classic pieces, like bags or shoes as you can't go wrong with those, especially if you know the person well. You can tell a lot about a person from their shoes or their clothes as it's like a reflection of their personality. Herschel backpacks are so durable and able to hold a lot of stuff so seem to be a favourite with men. A bonus is that the backpacks come in neutral colours too so they go with any outfits, they're visually stylish and they hold anything so all in all makes for a good present and everyday bag. Another safe gift option is a wallet, as any man needs a decent wallet to store change, ID, bank cards and more. Like the backpack, neutral colours are a good bet so this Superdry tan leather wallet is perfect as it's visually pleasing with a lot of compartments, smooth leather which feels nice on the hand and is well made so will last being shoved in a bag or pocket.

Perfume is a little more tricky to buy as a surprise gift as it's not always easy to know which scent a guy will like, although most masculine scents tend to me quite musky and citrus smelling. Ted Baker do some really lovely smelling scents for men that not only look pleasant visually; the bottles are so nicely designed and elegant. They also are easy to use as the shape means that it's unlikely to smash being carried around as the bottle is hard wearing. Jean Paul Gaultier is more of a sexy, quite daring scent to buy for a man as even the bottle itself is very masculine with the muscly torso being it's feature. It's eye-catching and very seductive scent, which is good to buy if you're feeling brave or know the person really well. Either way, perfumes and aftershaves are a good bet as all men use them.

Electrical items are always popular too, as everyone is on social media or likes to keep memories now. A camera is a nice option if you money to spend, especially if the guy is into travelling or wants to start a new hobby. Canon make good quality cameras and the prices are getting more reasonable, especially with the Christmas cash back offers. An iPad is another good choice as it's something that can be used more or less all the time and has some customisable options, such as storage space, colour or adding an engraving. Although if that is out of your budget, a case is just as thoughtful and still very useful, especially if you're a naturally clumsy person. Headphones are another decent alternative as everyone likes to listen to music or watch films and the in ear headphones are usually the most comfortable for everyone as they fit any head or ear shape.

Lastly, another good option is some form of clothes or accessories like shoes, a scarf, a coat... There are so many different options, as long as you know the right size and taste. Trainers are a good bet as they're comfortable and fashionable, and coat or scarf keeps you warm which is an obvious bonus during the colder temperatures. If clothes aren't a good idea, then there are always easy options like chocolates, alcohol, a gift set or the traditional man gifts like socks (but again you need to know the correct sizing) and if they have a hobby you can always invest in something similar, for example if they want to start a new hobby, buy them something encouraging. If they want to learn a language, buy a phrase book. In all honesty, I'm not awful at buying presents for people of any age or gender but I do struggle more with my male relatives than female. If you have any other suggestions please let me know in the comments. See you soon! :)

Favourite Instagrammers - November

Hello again :) As I do every month, I have been using Instagram a ridiculous amount... I'm not posting so many photos as I used to, but I've been spending a lot of time searching through and find new accounts to follow. At the moment I'm loving seasonal and architectural posts. Definitely need to keep this addiction in check a bit; I spend literally so many hours using the app, it's almost a joke haha.

 

sallysaysbeauty 

I followed Sally because her feed is so aesthetically pleasing; her photos are always shot from a nice angle and using good lighting which makes me want to look at either her linked blog posts or scroll through her older posts as well. I would say she's a seasonal poster, as the 'theme' seems to change slightly dependant on the weather. She's one to follow if you like lifestyle and beauty posts as many of the photos focus on make up, food, accessories and outfits, alongside the occasssional selfie.

 

helena.moore

An American based artist, I absolutely adore her photographic style. Very autumnal favoured colours sweep across her feed, with some fantastic use of light and dark tones to highlight key focal points in the photographs. The photos focus on lifestyle and fashion, many of them featuring cats, coffee and windows. I'm so in love with her Instagram feed, it's literally the stuff of dreams for someone like me who loves arty photography (thank you art degree...) although simplistic, each photo is so interesting that you could scroll though her feed for hours.

 

katy_who

Katy has a really lovely feed, full of beautiful landscape shots. She's also clearly a book lover by how many photos feature books and bookshelves literally full to the brim, with books of all different colours, ages and sizes. Many of the photographs focus on lifestyle and outfits, for example her graduation from university, what she's readings, what she's loving and some truly beautiful photographs of the English countryside. Her whole outlook is very faerie-like and she looks almost ethereal in her self portraits.

 

quietblessings 

Ana only uses an iPhone for her Instagram photos, which shows how fantastic the quality really is of cameras on phones these days. Her posts are often of home interiors, nature and landscapes. She has the most beautiful cat; a big, fluffy handsome boy who features in many of her photos taken around the house. Recently she has definitely embraced the changing seasons of autumn and winter with many photos of landscaped parks, leaves and pumpkins scattered across her feed. 

 

seethestarsblog

Sarah definitely fits into the more atypical blogger and beauty guru aspect of instragram, posting many many photographs of different kind of make up, from brushes, to lipsticks or eye shadows. She often posts motivational quotes that help people like me feel a little more positive about life in general and it's a nice break inbetween many photos of beauty products. She's been getting into seasons recently, with Halloween make up ideas and now currently with seasonal Christmas coffee cups. Plus the little snippets of her life, like her piercings and what cameras she uses to film with are interesting to see.

August Playlist!

 

1. I Don't Care - Fall Out Boy

2. Payphone - Maroon 5 (feat. Wiz Khalifa)

3. Locked Away - R. City (feat. Adam Levine)

4. Build God, Then We'll Talk - Panic! At The Disco

5. So What! - P!nk

6. Helena - My Chemical Romance

7. Almost Easy - Avenged Sevenfold

8. Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) - Beyoncé 

9. L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. - Noah And The Whale

10. Still Into You - Paramore

My music taste is as bizarre as it ever was, as you can no doubt see from the eclectic mix of 14 year old emo child nostalgia (thank you, MCR!) to sixth form queen bey loving indie kid... This month was all about reminiscing and listening to songs that hadn't listened to in a really long time, alongside revisiting bands that I thought wouldn't be to my taste anymore, but I've realised that I still love, such as Avenged Sevenfold. What music are you into this month? Let me know :)

Payday wishes!

 

Literally every month I find myself looking on Cath Kidston's website and I always find a whole new set of items to fall in love with... This month they've started to introduce their Autumn/Winter 2016 collection and there are already so many things that I want. Only trouble is, nothing in life is free and I want so many things!

One of the more affordable items that I'm listing after is a ticket holder, priced at £6 and covered with cute forest themed animals. I actually need a new oyster holder as I'm forever either losing my Oyster card or hunting around for it in my bag and having a brightly coloured one should solve that. I've also decided that I need some more organisation in my life so I'm thinking to buy a diary with the aim of being more organised, plus because the pattern on the cover is so pretty it'll look nice in my bag which is always a bonus. Another item I feel like I'm going to have to buy is a phone case for my iPhone 6s as I'm forever dropping it. I've had Cath Kidston cases on my phones since I had an iPhone 4 so I can always know that the case will be good quality and last a while, especially considering all the knocks and drops that it'll invitably have to endure from my clumsiness! On a related note, I'm also thinking to invest in a new power bar that I can use to charge my phone on the go; especially since my iPod broke the battery on my iPhone has got really bad (in fairness I do use it practically 24 hours a day) and this bar is very pretty so... Why not? 

I know both of these items are from the Autumn/Winter collection, but as it's still August and technically summer I'm sure I can justify both - a cosmetic bag and a water bottle, both are essentials for summer weather, as you can keep your make-up safe and reapply it when you need to, and water is always important, whatever the season. I've also fallen in love with two other items and they're completely unnessesary but love is love... The most beautifully patterned dress, which at £75 is super pricey but worth it as I have some other Cath Kidston dresses and the quality is always fantastic using thick cotton material and the print never fades. The final item is also completely unjustifiable but so so so amazing... Actually I've been lusting after this style of handbag from Cath Kidston for a couple of years over several seasons. The price tag is so high, but for a leather, detailed bag that will last for s long time I think it's worth it. This is the first one in tan leather, as opposed to reds and greens and that's what has really swayed me into the belief that it has to be mine, I absolutely love neutral coloured bags as I feel like I can wear them with any outfit and it's also practical as well as its the type of bag that will hold literally everything inside which I definitely need as I carry around so much crap everywhere.

So, as you can probably tell, I love the quirky, vintage style patterns and the usefulness of the majority of these items but I'm trying desperately not think about how much it would all cost to buy in one pay check haha; but there's nothing wrong with dreaming, right? If you click on the name of the item, for example 'dress', it'll link you directly to the Cath Kidston website featuring it. :)

Favourite instagrammers - July

Hello again, as a self-confessed Instagram addict, I thought it'd be nice to suggest some people to follow each month as I know when I read a blog I enjoy seeing who else they follow and I've often found that I then start reading their blogs too, so I guess you could apply the same principle here :) please note that all of the images below were taken from the usernames mentioned using a Google search.

 

theresalightthatnevergoesout

I have been following Megan for what feels like ages, and I love how she keeps it so personal with pictures of family and friends as well as the things she loves such as her favourite bands (The Smiths, for example) or her growing tattoo collection. As I previously studied art and photography at university I also enjoy seeing her architecturally based photographs of Northern England, makes me think I should visit one day even if I am a proud Londoner! Haha.

 

heldtogetherbypins

I have no idea how I started following Paige, but I don't regret it. Not only does she have a blog (the url is the same as her username), she also posts a variety of different make up looks and DIYs alongside personal style posts. However I would say she's not an atypical fashion instagrammer, because her account has a lot of personal posts as well, such as photos with friends and recently some of her birthday.

 

oliviabynature

Olivia is very much a style blogger/instagrammer (her blog url is the same username). Very much a hipster, vintage styled fashionista; her love of denim and stripes definitely shines through about 80% of her outfits, aha! She's definitely the epitome of London cool complete with sunglasses, Polaroid camera and a bicycle. Another reason that I really like her posts is she's based in a similar area of London to me and so I recognise some of the streets she photographs.

 

emmmasometimes

I really enjoy Emma's happy go lucky posts and appreciative views of nature mixed in with fashion and lifestyle; laden with food posts about cake or chocolate, baking is definitely one of her passions. She has a massive love for cats and her overall style is very classically feminine and cute with lots of skater dresses and this is in line with her photographic style; a little quirky and a little adventurous.

 

elliecp_

An obvious lover of vintage clothing, Ellie has the quirkiest personal style that I've ever seen, mixed in alongside travel post, art and disposable photography. Her posts are littered with collages and sketches of fashions that she's seen and liked, as well as some more random enjoyable moments with friends. She's probably best described as a chameleon as her make-up, hair and accessories are matched to every outfit. 

July Playlist!

 

1. Try - P!nk

2. Dark Side - Kelly Clarkson

3. Cheap Thrills - Sia (feat. Sean Paul)

4. Walk Of Shame - P!nk

5. Fall For You - Bethan Leadley

6. Franklin - Paramore

7. Hallelujah - Panic! At The Disco

8. The Vegas Lights - Panic! At The Disco

9. Take Care - Drake (feat. Rihanna)

10. Hallelujah - Paramore

As you can probably see, my music taste is a little strange as I listen to literally so many different genres and styles. This month I've revisited some bands that I adored as a young emo child mixed in with some more recent music and I've actually enjoyed listening to what I feel like as every song I listen to is like looking into a memory or a glimpse of what I'm doing at the time. I've also been using an old iPod video which actually has the most amazing sound quality even though its 10 years old now, I love it ❤️

Let's talk seriously for once..

 

Hello, again.

This time I want to talk about something that's quite important to me, but it's a little more serious than usual. Mental Health is something that I've struggled with for as long as I can remember, which is a bit scary to sit down and acknowledge. As an example, some days I'm so happy it completely engulfs me and makes me impossible to be around, I'm too hyper. But on the flip side, I'll be a crying, shrieking mess that can barely move or bear to get out of bed. My life is like a tightrope of emotions that fight each other to be in control and if I'm honest the thought of facing it gives me a headache most of the time.

However, as I get older I'm becoming more aware of what I need to do to look after myself, like taking time out for myself, seeing friends or even something as simple as taking my dog for a walk. I guess what I'm getting at is that I've realised that I can be severely self destructive and I'm learning to recognise the symptoms of a come down, or a major high. I suppose that this highlights how important it is to look after yourself and put yourself first, without being selfish, it's almost a survival technique. I also suffer with ridiculously high anxiety, which can be difficult to deal with as well, as overthinking is actually more stressful then it sounds.

So, to summarise this slightly random post; always make sure that your main focus is yourself, because ultimately if you don't look after yourself there's not many people who could or would be willing to. For example, you have family but they work and do other things, likewise with friends. You have to learn to balance your own life, whether that's finding a new hobby, taking some time off or just somehow ploughing on through life in the hopes that it will all be ok in the end. (I prefer the last option, but that's just me). Perhaps none of this makes any sense and it's all a bit strange, so sorry for that. Let me know if this made any sense, I'll be posting again soon. I'm trying to keep up this hobby :)

Something a little different ● Using a film camera!

Hi Everyone!

So, this is a little bit of a random post, but nevertheless it is a post at least! I recently found an old film reel from when I was doing an Art Foundation - it pretty much sums up that year for me, (2011-2012) getting the district line regularly to and from university, Pippa on the tube, my house and trinkets inside it, the street I grew up on, redecorating the living room, my eldest cat, South London streets, more underground, working at the London 2012 olympics… It's also obvious I have a love for photographing trees, haha.

Overall, it was a pretty good year and an eventful one, and finding the film was so good as I thought I'd lost it. What I love the most about film cameras is that you never know what you might find until you develop the film, it's like playing a game of chance. My camera is a canon 5000 SLR that I bought on eBay for roughly £20 including the lens, so it was an incredible bargain really as they stopped making them in the early 2000s. I remember my Uncle having a similar camera when I was growing up and desperate to have a similar one, and during Foundation my childhood dream came true.

I've always had an interest in Photography, which really began during my A-Level; my sixth form had a darkroom and I'm fairly practised at developing the films myself, which I did with this set around two months ago at university. In truth, I'd forgotten about most of the memories on it, but what I enjoy about developing the images myself is that they're a little rough around the edges which kind of matches the images too, bizarrely. I always find that the colour on film is more saturated and richer, and the shadows more prominent. What I love most of all about film is how long and concentrated I am on capturing the perfect moment, whereas using digital SLRs I literally take thousands of photographs without thinking. It makes me more creative using film as there is no delete button, no second chances.

Every so often I delve back into film photography and relish the creativity of it which I feel I lack when using digital, and so when I'm at university I generally use film photography more for that reason, as I'm studying Fine Art. However, for this blog on the whole it will be digital, but I simply fancied experimenting with something completely different for this weeks blogpost, and also showing my more creative side. If you liked (or disliked!) this post, let me know with a few comments.!

See you soon, Rach x x x