film review; white house down

I am in constant need of a film to watch or a series to binge and have been meaning to watch this for a while so I decided that tonight would be the night. What a wild Friday eh?!

Let me start off by saying that I enjoyed this an unbelievable amount more than I expected to. It was packed, and I mean PACKED with action, fighting and guns. If that's really not your thing then you probably won't enjoy this, but I love action films and I love Jamie Foxx and I LOVE Channing Tatum so this was just perfect.

At times it was pretty unrealistic, well not pretty, extremely unrealistic but I was gripped nonetheless. I actually noticed I was biting my nails with stress at one point, it is a real 'edge of your seat' film. 

Channing Tatum is the disappointing father who lets his daughter down but gets the opportunity to earn her respect after being the only one able to guide the President to safety. Jamie Foxx plays said President, who is cool, kind and collected and is a pawn needed for the terrorist plans. 

In a film of this sort it would seem rather strange that there would be room for humour, but there was and I found myself laughing quite a lot, this was probably more so because of how ridiculous some of the scenes were, but either way a laughs a laugh.

I'm sure as a politics student I have probably picked up more on this but I really liked the fact it was based around a massive issue that caveats the world today and is extremely important to security and in all honesty, I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

On terms of enjoyment I would definitely give this film a 9/10, I'm not giving it a 10 because frankly, I didn't want it to end.

xox

freedom at last!

I haven't updated this for a while as I have been absolutely bogged down in revision and essays, but now I am free for an entire year whilst I do my work placement and will be able to continue to do this frequently. I was incredibly nervous for my exam but I got through it and now we just have to wait for results!

I hope everyone else who had exams did well!

xox

very early birthday presents!

It's not actually my birthday until the 1st of August but as I'm not at University then, my housemates got me some beautiful goodies to have early. 

I haven't got a full body picture of the shirt because sadly it doesn't fit properly over my chest, which is a common problem that I have with shirts but I'm attempting to shed a couple of pounds and hopefully, in time it will fit. I don't want to take it back because I actually love it so much, it's a beautiful colour and is really simple and elegant.

The necklace is from my favourite lady, Vivienne Westwood! I have a number of different pieces of VW items including a lot of jewellery and this is a wonderful addition to the collection. I will admit it's not something I would usually choose but I actually love it. I usually just choose the simple orb shaped items and although this is shaped like the orb it has a twist. I think it looks great against a block of colour because it really comes into it's own and I will probably be wearing this a lot!

xox

The shirt is from Zara and the necklace from Vivienne Westwood.

film review; the amazing spider-man 2

So tonight at long last I went to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2! I am a lover of the Marvel Franchise and any action film for that matter and so I have been incredibly excited to see it. The first one left me with great expectation for the next and I sure as hell was not let down. 

Andrew Garfield is a perfect Spider-Man, an amazing actor and easy on the eye. He's not too cool and so plays the slightly nerdy role of Peter Parker so well too. 

It goes without saying that Emma Stone is a really really talented actress, starring in films such as Zombieland, Easy A and The Help, I was not surprised at all to find she again portrayed Gwen Stacey fabulously and is probably my favourite character in the films. She is absolutely flawless and definitely deserves all the praise she receives. 

I will admit that it is a bit of an emotional roller coaster, I found myself tearing up a number of times but also gripping on to the arm rests of my chair in some of the more stressful and action packed scenes. I would say that if you're really not a fan of action films this is probably not the right film for you but it really does have everything. Spider-Man is a cheeky and comical character which brings an element of humour and the electricity filled villain Electro played by Jamie Foxx brings the action, whilst Gwen Stacey and Peter Parker's relationship adds the lovely romance!
I also think that one of the good things about it was that it ended where inevitably the next film will pick up from which I like because I hate it when a sequel of a film comes out and it has skipped a few years.

All in all, I enjoyed it so so much, I actually left the cinema kinda wishing I was Spider-Man, haha. 

I would really recommend that you go and see it if you haven't already.

xox

sotw; keaton henson/you are always on my mind (brenda leecover)

I have been listening to a lot of Keaton Henson this week, more than normal. I think that he is an insanely talented song writer and he knows how to clock into the emotions when singing. His voice is just perfect for these types of song.

To be brutally honest, I'm not really a fan of the original, or any of the other classic versions (Elvis, Willie Nelson), I mean it's a beautiful song but I just don't enjoy listening to them. So I was pleasantly surprised when my friend showed me this version for The Crypt Sessions, it gives the song a new lease of life and I could listen to it all day long. I think this is the best version to date, but I am fairly bias as a massive Keaton Henson fan. 

I think that listening to Keaton Henson could be the best thing you do this year, so I recommend you all give him a try. He can be pretty depressing at times but who doesn't love a relatable song about love and heartbreak?

xox

The original song can be found here.

L'OREAL Nude Magique CC Cream

I was insanely excited to be using this as I'd seen it reviewed as one of the best CC creams on the market by IndyBest along with MAC Prep & Prime and Cover FX CC Cream Time Release Tinted Treatment. I had tried the MAC one previously and loved it but didn't want to spend £23 and so after seeing the IndyBest list I decided I would go for L'Oreal as it was only £9.99, boy what a waste of £10 that was.

At first I thought it was going to be great, it comes out pale green and the 'smart pigment capsules' are visible, so far so good. As I began to apply it to my face it began changing colour and I thought this was amazing, I mean to go from green to light pinky-brown in a few seconds I thought it was the best thing ever. However it didn't stop at my skin colour and kept going, until it was a streaky dark orange colour, I applied my foundation anyway just to see if it would work under it. It didn't. My face was just really quite orange, almost a reddish hue. For an 'anti-redness' CC cream I was fairly surprised. Smart pigments may be not so smart?

I'm disappointed by this because I've always quite liked L'Oreal's beauty products but this was honestly awful, at least on my skin anyway. 

It would maybe be better for someone with more of a tan colour to their skin, but definitely not for those of us who have fairly pale skin. 

To their credit, it is very lightweight, has good coverage and is SPF 20. But in terms of colour this just did not match mine.

xox

If you do think this would be a suitable product for you, you can buy it here.

sotw; arctic monkeys/it feels like we only go backwards (tame impala cover)

This week, Arctic Monkey's Alex Turner and Matt Helders were in the studio with Australian radio station Triple J and performed this amazing cover of Tame Impala's 'It Feels Like We Only Go Backwards'. 

Turner's voice has always been magical but I think it's even better in this cover. He gives it a completely different angle, it hasn't got the psychedelic feel anymore but none the less it is still a wonderful cover and I am in love. For this reason, it's my song of the week.

 If you didn't like the original, check this out and you may just fall in love too.

xox

The original song can be found here.

music review; the horrors/luminous

I won't lie, I was incredibly excited about Luminous, so much so I pre-ordered it in February. Skying has been my favourite album to date by these boys so I was bracing myself for what they could possibly follow it up with. I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed and I have listened to it on repeat since the day it arrived, it puts me in a good mood and that's not an easy thing to do. 

I have sometimes found The Horrors not to be everybody's cup of tea however I think it would be difficult for someone to really dislike Luminous, it's not too in your face and the songs follow each other perfectly. There's lots of drums and guitars as you'd expect and Faris' vocals of course are on point. As I was listening a few of the songs reminded me of Skying which, from a group that have changed so dramatically since they began was a bit of an anti-climax, but is it really surprising as it's only been 3 years. Plus Skying was great so I'm not really complaining. 

If there is one difference it's that it's definitely slower than we're used to, especially from a band that wrote 'Sheena Is A Parasite' but I think they've taken a step in the right direction. 

All in all, if you're a Horrors fan I would definitely recommend buying this CD. Even if you're not, give it a go and you might be surprised.

xox

You can buy luminous here.

an awkward introduction

Welcome to my blog!

My name's Ellie and I am majorly bad at this sort of thing.

I'm 19 and studying Politics at Leeds University, but when I'm not at University I'm at home in a town near Bath.

I'm hoping this blog will provide you, as well as myself with some decent music, books, fashion and beauty reviews. No promises though!

Enjoy.

xox