Just to let you all know I'm still here..

Yes! Sorry guys, I know my blog has been hideously un-active for while now. There have been a lot of things going which means my blogging has taken a back seat. This won't continue for long and I will make more of an effort to post!

Otherwise, here's a little update on what's been going on/will be going on:

• Third year at uni... *cries* 

• Work, work and more work.

• I'm getting ready for two MA journalism interviews later this month which, quite frankly, I'm VERY VERY (very) nervous about. So I've been prepping for those by reading the news everyday and trying to memorize some of the important events that have taken place in media land. I might even prepare a little speech.. who knows. My first one is next week, eek! Wish me luck!!!! 

• I went to see the Lichtenstein exhibition at the Tate Modern on Friday with the boyfriend. The exhibition as a whole was great. Lichtenstein's use of primary colours, heavy outlines and his mimicry of comic cartoons was what really defines his work and being able to get up close and personal with them was pretty cool. In particular I really enjoyed his Art about Art series of works which featured his own interpretations, or parodies, of great masterful pieces which incorporated elements of pop imagery, deconstructing their classical stature to make it his own. I loved his interpretations of Picasso's works. I definitely recommend a visit for any pop-art enthusiast. 

• I'll be going to Amsterdam at the end of the month, courtesy of Top Deck travel to do some travel-writing. That should be fun! I can't wait to explore and discover the city, I'll be looking out for some cool places to eat for sure. Apparently it's the thing to try a raw herring? There are also a few places in particular that I want to see, including the Anne Frank House and the Amsterdam Museum. I also hear that there are some good art museums about. A trip to the red light district might also be on the cards...  Does anyone have any recommendations of somewhere to visit while I'm there??

• Right now I should be getting ready for work so I'm going to end this here. 

Shall update again soon! 

Benefit- "Dazzle Me Dahling!" Beauty Box

Golly gosh! It's been a busy couple of weeks, hasn't it?  (well, 'tis the season, after all...). There's just been SO much going on that I've neglected my blog!

So, to make up for my slack behavior I thought post I'd dedicate this post to my Benefit "Dazzle Me Dahling" beauty box that I received for Christmas. I've always loved Benefit products and it's got to be one of my most favoured brands out there, so one can only imagine my face when I unwrapped this little thing on Crimbo!  

As you can see the box is pretty lavish number containing all sorts of treats, including a few of my Benefit favs alongside some other products I'm eager to try: Benefit BadGal Lash Mascara, The Porefessional Primer, Hoola Bronzer, Some Kinda Gorgeous Foundation, and Laugh with me LeeLee fragrance. 

I just LOVE that the box has an actual latch on it! It adds an extra touch of quality to the whole thing. 

Check out the confetti! 

BadGal Lash and The Porefessional are two really great products that I use regularly so I was pretty excited to see them in the box, especially as I'm almost out of both! I've yet to try the Hoola Bronzer and the foundation- I might review these two products at a later date.
Even though I love Benefit their perfumes have never really appealed to me, however I can say that the LeeLee spritz actually has a pretty nice scent AND it doesn't fade out into nothingness after a few hours. The description reads that it's a "woody floral" fragrance with top notes of cassis, melon and citrus as well as a few other middle and lower ones- It certainly did have a floral smell and one that wasn't so sickly so this one's definitely a keeper.

Yaaaay, so excited to use all these productssssssss :))

Shoreditch, curry, and nails.

Hey! :) This is just a random post about some of the stuff I've been up to this week that I thought I'd share with the rest of bloggersphere.
At the beginning of the week my friend Ellie came up from Bristol to stay at mine for a couple of days. We had a whale of time baking Hershey's and Nutella brownies, watching movies ('We Need to Talk About Kevin' is actually frightening) and trailing around Shoreditch to find the Victoria Miro art gallery so we could see Grayson Perry's latest exhibition on class and taste. While the first activity was a success (in so many ways), our mission to find the actual gallery was a bit of a failure. After an hour of walking around in circles and not really getting anywhere we soon gave up and headed straight to Brick lane for some lunch. (Evidently me and Ellie have poor navigation skills..) Naturally we went straight to a curry house and the food was lush. I have to say, there is something rather moreish about a flavour-fillled oily curry, but then again, you can't beat a good, tomatoey Rogan josh! As it wasn't the weekend there was sadly no market to browse but we still had a little look around some of the vintage outlets. I really do love this part of Shoreditch because there's this little mix of culture, art, and fashion that is really quite fascinating. We also went into Rough Trade to take pictures in their retro photo booth.

We obvs look so attractive here.. 

As for the exhibition, I've never really had an interest in folk art before but I really want to see Perry's interpretation of taste among the social classes and how he has visualized them into these massive tapestries. 
The exhibition ends in August so hopefully I find the time to go again before I have to leave for my trip to France at the end of this month.. Eek!

Other than that, I did my nails (YAY NAILS). I wanted to try something bright as it's so lacking in our lovely British seasonal weather, so I went for yellow with a crackle effect:

Isn't it pretty? In case you're wondering, I used lemon zest from the Rimmel 'I love lasting fruities' collection alongside the classic Barry M crackle effect polish. 

Well, that's all for now folks, thanks for reading! 

x

Just some (slightly) overexposed photos

She thought about the idea of what it was for one to be secure in their own feelings.
In the self, in substance, in the external.
She soon rejected this idea and thought to herself it's all good knowing exactly how you feel, to be objective about things. It would be like having this impenetrable security blanket of the mind that would block out all the horrible things, those niggling little questions. The what-ifs.
She looked out in front of her, musing on what had just crossed her mind and decided that such security also had the unfortunate capacity to block out the bigger picture. She didn't want that. At least, she thought she didn't. I'd rather be a little uncertain things, she thought. 
Though the desire to be able to have a firm belief in something did appeal to her at times. In fact it was something that she thought she had acquired as a child, naturally, from what she had seen from her parents but now it was lost somewhere. She hadn't a clue where and she didn't care much for it either. 
No, she decided against what she thought was only false hope.