Not Another Happy Ending: A Review

Not Another Happy Ending: A Review

Friday, 21 February 2014

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Today I thought I would review the film Not Another Happy Ending starring the beautiful Karen Gillan and the equally beautiful Stanley Weber.

 

Not Another Happy Ending tells the story of writer Jane Lockhart; who following the immense success of her first novel is suffering from writer's block whilst writing her second. Jane's obnoxious yet exquisitely gorgeous publisher Tom believes this is due to her happiness so makes it his mission to make her life a misery. In doing so Tom (who's French by the way, ooh la la) starts to realise that he is love with her. The problem is Jane finishing the novel means that there won't be a reason for Tom to see her anymore (that and Jane's dick boyfriend, the aptly named Willy).

Not only was this film both funny and clever with some incredibly romantic moments, it also featured some amazing vintage fashion rocked by the fabulous Miss Gillan and an excellent soundtrack (particularly the song Crash Land by Twin Atlantic)

I won't give away the ending because I think everyone should watch it but it is amazing. I've watched it repeatedly and it is now one of my favourite films. If ever a film was underrated this one is. Karen Gillan is amazing as the tortured and incredibly talented Jane and Stanley Weber is wonderful and gorgeous as the slightly mean-spirited but unbelievably sexy Tom. I love RomComs but they're something of a guilty pleasure because they can be so cheesy but Not Another Happy Ending isn't at all, it was brilliant. If you haven't seen it you can watch the trailer below but trust me y0u're gonna wanna watch it. 

Until next time lovely people check me out on twitter, facebook, BlogLovin, instagram & Pinterest :) 

Love love love xxx

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns): A Review

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns): A Review

Monday, 17 February 2014

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I've been looking to expand my blog into other areas as I'm on a no new make up ban until April. So far it's going well but unfortunately that means my main source of inspiration is currently in short supply.

I absolutely adore reading, always have done. According to my mum I taught myself to read when I was 3 (I don't know how true this is) even now I love nothing more than curling up and losing myself in a really good book, particularly when it's raining or cold outside.  I recently read and loved Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling and I thought I would review it for you lovely lot.

 As a third year English student I spend most of my time reading however I usually don't have the time to read something I actually want to read rather than something I have to for my degree. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) -hereafter referred to as IEHOWM - is the first book in a long time that I've read purely because I wanted to.

IEHOWM is a memoir interspersed with observational essays, detailing Mindy's life from a geeky yet adorable child, to working as a babysitter in New York and then finally to landing her dream job as a writer on the brilliant and hilariously funny US adaptation of The Office. Usually I am not a fan of autobiographies, much preferring to lose myself in a fictional word where children are forced to fight to the death (I realise that sentence makes me look like a psycho) or a boy wizard who has the fate of the magical world on his shoulders. Having said that I utterly adored it, Mindy's book was both hilarious and utterly absorbing. I could not and did not put it down.

I love Mindy, I'm a huge fan of both The Mindy Project and The Office (US) so I'm not even a little bit surprised that I thoroughly enjoyed her book. The thing I love most about Mindy is that she knows who she is and is completely unashamed of that fact. This comes through in her writing and I adored it. A self confessed "vain flake" Mindy comes across as both funny and honest, making the book like a conversation with your best friend where neither of you can stop laughing.

Obviously I loved finding more about Mindy, (she's my spirit animal, her and Jennifer Lawrence), but what I really loved about this book was the random lists, I am the kind of person who makes lists for everything in life. My To Do List has it's own To Do List (would that be a To Do To Do List?). I particularly loved Best Friend Rights and Responsibilities and Types of Women in Romantic Comedies Who Aren't Real. Both were hilarious and accurate. In fact I found myself saying "it's funny cause it's true" whilst giggling more times than I can count throughout the course of this book.

My absolute favourite part though was entitled When You're Not Skinny This Is What People Want You To Wear. As a fellow not skinny girl I know how awful it is when people pick out clothes that they think you should wear, I'll give you an example for Christmas my size 8 sister bought me, among other things, crop tops. I'll say that again crop tops and that's plural, as in more than one . I would not be seen dead in a crop top for a lot of reasons and can't even begin to fathom why she bought them for me. Oh we'll it's the thought that counts. Anyway...

  

I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who wants to have a giggle with one of the funniest ladies in comedy. I loved it.

Until next time lovelies check out my twitter, facebook, Bloglovin, instagram & pinterest. 

Love love love xx

Maybelline Color Show in Coral Craze

Maybelline Color Show in Coral Craze

Saturday, 15 February 2014

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I have been using my much talked of make up ban as a reason to make the most of the make up I already have. Particularly where nail varnish is concerned. My nail varnish collection has reached the dizzingly high number of 170 and I am pretty sure that I have used less than half.

                                   

   Maybelline Color Show in Coral Craze

I bought this at the height of my nail varnish obsession last year (it was bad guys) and I've never used it. I have 7 Maybelline Color Stay polishes and haven't used any of them, so I thought I would test out Coral Craze first to get me in the mood for spring.  The colour is absolutely gorgeous and had a really smooth formula that made it super easy to apply. On the downside it did take 3 coats before it became opaque and has already begun to chip even though I only painted them a few hours ago, however I think the colour is beautiful and more than makes up for what is lacking.

Until next time feel free to take a sneaky peek at my twitter, facebook, Bloglovin, instagram & pinterest

Love love love xx

Why I will continue to wear heels and people can just damn well deal with it....

Why I will continue to wear heels and people can just damn well deal with it....

Thursday, 13 February 2014

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Recently I went out on a rare night out clubbing with my friends, all was going well until a dear, dear friend (and sadly one of the biggest sexist pig I have the misfortune of knowing) said to me quite out of the clear blue sky that I am frighteningly tall (I am 5ft7 barefoot, in heels I can be anywhere between 5ft11 and 6ft) and that is the reason I rarely pull on nights out. This angered me for three reasons... 1. It clearly never occurred to him that maybe I don't want to be pull some randomer I met in a club. 2.  If I did then I am perfectly capable of approaching someone myself . And 3. He blamed me for my height, which is not something I can control.

Heels make me feel confident and sexy, two things I am sorely lacking in my everday heel-less life. Whilst I am not the most graceful of people nor am I nearly hardcore enough to last the whole night without changing into flats at least once, I don't see how something giving me confidence is a bad thing. Nor do I understand why my  height is so "threatening". I am a inch taller than the average woman. One measly inch which elevates me from average to "frighteningly tall".

 I have never felt insecure about my height, despite being the tallest woman in my family by a good 5 inches, but this comment made me feel like an monstrous giantess, crushing all the prettier more delicate  females beneath my ungainly heels. And then I thought... f**k him if he wants to be intimidated by my height then let him. I refuse to kowtow to someone else's insecurities. I love wearing heels, I love the way they make me feel about myself. So I will continue to wear them and anyone who has a problem with that can suck it :)

  

Until next time love love love xxx

P.S. Check me out on twitter, facebook, Bloglovin, instagram & pinterest x

The Cheer Up List (from damn unpretty to pretty damn happy)

The Cheer Up List (from damn unpretty to pretty damn happy)

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

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So this post is a follow up to my last post Damn Unpretty (read it here). I thought I would share with you the list of things I do to cheer myself up when my self esteem or my mood goes on the down swing. Try any of these when you are having a particularly bad day and I guarantee you will feel better :)

 

Nails in Hip Hop by Rimmel London Salon Pro Plus
      

Paint my nails - Usually red, red is the colour of confidence and it seems to be my signature colour (I love that). I love painting my nails it's really therapeutic and I like looking at them when I've finished, it gives me a small sense of pride (particularly when I don't smudge them) and seeing the pop of colour on my nails makes me happy.

 

Put on lipstick - I think my lips are my best feature. Elizabeth Taylor famously said 'Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick and  pull yourself together.' I love that. Whilst I'm not a big drinker, I feel like I can face anything if I've got the right lipstick on. My favourite winter lipsticks are: #1 Seduction by Collection 2000, #500 Diva Red by Rimmel London & Pom Pom by Soap & Glory. I am also obsessed with Apocalips by Rimmel London in Apocaliptic (pictured).

Happy Place :)

Go for a walk - I live a five minute walk away from Bedford Park, which during the summer is absolutely beautiful. Whenever I feel myself stressed to the point of breaking I put on my iPod, listen to happy music and walk round Bedford Park until I feel better. It's so peaceful and secluded that even though I am in the middle of the park it feels like I'm the only person in the world. It's my happy place.

Listen to music and dance my face off - I defy anyone not to feel better after dancing around and getting out of breath and silly. My personal favourites to do this to are: ACDC's You Shook Me All Night Long, Journey's Don't Stop Believing,  Amii Stewart's Knock On Wood and Grace Potter's Something That I Want.

Read - There is nothing I love more than forgetting my troubles and immersing myself in a good book. I don't have a definitive favourite book because I love so many but some of my favourites are: The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, How to Love by Katie Cotugno, The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins, Harry Potter (obviously) and The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood. I love anything by Jodi Picoult, she's a fabulous writer. I also just finished reading Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by the gloriously funny, beautiful and amazing Mindy Kaling, I strongly recommend it.

  

                 

Knit - Knitting is my therapy, and I'm not alone Amanda Seyfried, Ryan Gosling, Zooey Deschannel, Julia Roberts and Tom Hardy all enjoy knitting. It's so therapeutic and calming because you have to concentrate and can't think about anything other than what you are doing. It really quiets a frantic mind and I always get something cool out of it. Win-win.

Baking - Is amazing and when done right results in untold deliciousness. It is simply not possible for anyone to feel sad whilst baking and then getting to eat chocolate fudge brownies. I'm not the world's best baker (I'm trying to get better) but I love it so much.

Have a bubble bath - Normally I prefer showers to baths, I have to really be in the mood for a bubble bath but when I am there is nothing quite so relaxing as a hot bath full of gorgeous smelling Soap & Glory Calm One Calm All bubbles (my favourite bubblebath). My flat only has a shower, so whenever I go back home to see my mum for the holidays I make sure I have as many bubble baths as I can to make up for it.

Wear super fluffy slippers - I was originally going to say wear high heels around the house just because. But I wore heels out last night and my feet have not forgiven me yet for subjecting them to shoes that torture them no matter how beautiful. So instead I'm saying slippers. Slippers are one of man's greatest inventions, closely followed by Smartie cookies, the iPhone and MAC make up. These beauties are currently adorning my feet.

Honestly it is not physically possible to be down about life when I have the plush, yellow face of Homer Simpson's face looking back at me. Plus if I wiggle my ankles it looks like he's eating my feet, there are literally hours of fun to be had in these slippers.  

 

Go swimming/for a run/to the gym - I will be the first to say that exercise SUCKS. However the feeling of accomplishment when you have finished coupled with the endorphin high does not. I personally prefer swimming because it's like a form of meditation. I just zone out and before I know it I've been swimming for over an hour and am exhausted. Before I came to uni I used to go to the gym at home twice a day. There were 2 reasons for this 1. There was an instructor there who was so beautiful and amazing I was hoping he would become the next Mr. Lauren (he didn't) and 2. I got a little bit addicted to the rush I got after, which is not the healthiest thing in the world.

SING - Singing has been scientifically proven to improve mood. On days where I am feeling ugly or sad (and I have the house to myself) I love nothing more than expressing my sorrows through the medium of song. My favourite songs to belt out are Barbra Streisand's Funny Girl, On My Own from Les Mis, Don't Rain On My Parade again by Barbra, Idina Menzel's version of Let It Go from Frozen, The Rose by Bette Midler, My Man (Barbra again), Defying Gravity from Wicked, Don't Stop Believing by Journey and anything by Queen or Meatloaf (as you can see I do this a lot). No matter how bad I sound I always feel so much better after. It's really therapeutic. I find it's best to choose a song where you have to belt out the notes, because you can let all your emotions out with the song and afterwards you feel so much better.

I have loads more - including a Pinterest session involving animals wearing hats/pyjamas, watch a film or a entire TV boxset (I strongly recommend Scrubs) in one sitting, facemasks and surfing youtube but I think I might be starting to bore you now. Hopefully this list helps you go from this...

to this...



Until next time lovelies check me out on twitter, facebook, Bloglovin, instagram & pinterest :)

Love love love xxx

Damn Unpretty

Damn Unpretty

Saturday, 1 February 2014

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I was watching the feat of televisual gloriousness that is The Mindy Project a couple of weeks ago and there was a line in it that I have been turning over in my mind ever since... this was "You're a woman and that's good, you should look like a woman." spoken by the delectable Danny Castellano, this as you can imagine made me go all gooey inside but it also made me think.

I, like every woman in the world, have massively struggled with my self esteem and my body image. My struggles go back to when I was 8 which is a shockingly young age now that I think about it. I have spent more than half my life feeling inadequate, fat and ugly. And frankly I am SICK of it.

I hate my stubby man hands and my stomach, I hate my bum, my thighs, my boobs, my feet, my love handles, my ears, my arms and I am not overly fond of my hair, my cheeks or my nose. Some days I don't want to leave the house because I feel that my overall appearance is not suitable for human eyes.

                                    

In one sentence I have summed up all my insecurities and completely torn myself to shreds. As women we are our harshest critics that is a fact. No one likes criticising themselves more than a woman does. I don't want to criticise everything about myself anymore. I don't want to feel like this anymore. I want to love myself and all the flaws that I come with. But I don't.

At 22, nearly 23 I have kind have got to a place where I don't let my low self esteem and body image control me as much. Don't get me wrong the nasty voice in my head is still unbearably loud. But rewind my life 7 years and you would find a very different person. A very, very sad, lonely, self-conscious 15 year old girl filled with self-loathing who covered up the mirror in my bedroom so I didn't have to look.

Recently on the cover of US Elle (the beautiful) Mindy Kaling was pictured. In black and white, showing only a close up of her face and shoulders, the same thing happened with Lena Dunham's Vogue cover

 

    

Whilst the pictures are beautiful I find it disgusting, not Mindy and Lena's faces obvs, but the fact that normal sized, beautiful women are pictured in close up to deliberately not show off their bodies. Mindy made light of the situation on twitter however I don't think it's something that should be taken lightly. We live in an image obsessed world, and sadly a world where even the stunningly beautiful (and tiny) Jennifer Lawrence is considered fat. No wonder self esteem in women is at an all time low.

The media presents an unattainable ideal of woman and none of us can compete. We are constantly bombarded of what we SHOULD look like, how we SHOULD dress and no one is safe from it. We are expected to meet these impossibly high standards. And when we inevitably fail to conform to these images that's when we start to blame ourselves for our shortcomings and that sucks! Luckily we do have ladies like Mindy Kaling, Lena Dunham, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Lady Gaga (to name but a few) fighting for us but I'm worried that it might not be enough.

My issues started when I was 8 and what makes me really sad is that I know that I am not alone. I have a 3 year old niece who is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen (that includes Tom Hiddleston) and I am terrified that she will grow up feeling the way I did.  What is scarier is the thought that I may not be able to stop it.

What do you guys think? Do you agree? Or am I being overly sensitive?

Until next time peeps,

Love love love xxxx

(P.S. I sincerely apologise for my use of the word 'peeps' it won’t happen again plus feel free to follow me on twitter, facebook, BlogLovin, instagram & pinterest)