2013 Ear Worms

Hello,
So 2013 has drawn to a close. How did that even happen? I don't know if I'm just getting older but the years seem to actually fly by these days. Anyway, for me 2013 was a year of change and one thing that definitely changed was the music blasting on my headphones. So I thought I'd share my fave albums of 2013. I'm not a music know-all but I does knows what I likes.

I don't really read loads or watch many films but music is something I tend to keep on trend with a bit more and I thought there were some really standout albums this year so here were my top 5 and little taste of each.

5. Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die - Panic! At The Disco
Panic are my leftover guilty pleasure from my greasy haired scene kid days. As much as I try to let go of them (I don't try very hard to be honest) I can't seem to get over how catchy their songs are. This album definitely wasn't their best and I don't think they'll ever get back to their emo glory days but it's got songs that'll make you want to dance and that's most important really...

4. Save Rock And Roll - Fall Out Boy
Ok maybe Panic aren't the only leftover from my scene kid days but really how many people can honestly say they weren't excited when Fall Out Boy announced they were releasing new stuff? I ran through my flat screaming about it...only to find none of my flatmates cared. Humph. Whatever! This album was good. Different enough for new fans, samey enough for die hards and it had Elton John on it. Literally nothing not to love!

3. Magna Carta Holy Grail - Jay-Z
Since this album was released in July I have listened to at least one song from it everyday. My friend recently moaned that "it's not as good as The Black Album". Well duh but you can't always compare someone as long-lasting as Jay-Z to their finest album. To get all pretensh up in here I feel like this album has so many different aspects to it, it's got pop-rap like Holy Grail to catchy club tracks like Tom Ford stopping off at a bit of social commentary (Somewhere In America) along the way. My fave Jay-Z release for a long while.

2. Matangi - M.I.A
This album is da bomb. Literally. I can't even explain how much I love it! I heard Bad Girls ages ago and then when I found out the whole album was being released I was so excited. M.I.A is just amazing, her rhymes are sharp and she just sounds so sassy all the way through the album. Some of the songs (especially Exodus) are just ridiculously sexy whereas others like Bring The Noize make you wanna party and start a fight all at the same time! I love this and I can't recommend it highly enough. Even if you've never been into M.I.A or rap or anything before you should give this one a go.

1. Beyoncé - Beyoncé
Up until the beginning of December, Matangi was without a question my favourite album. M.I.A had it sewn up. Then Beyoncé got all Beyoncé up in here and released a secret visual album. Only a queen can get away with that. Mrs Carter's secretive offering is my favourite from her for years - especially after the slight disappointment of 4. This album is too sexy for it's own good, it makes me want to dance and cry and get married and eugh. To me, Beyoncé is just incredible, she makes me proud to be a woman and this album reflects that. After years of making unquestionable hits this album feels way more honest and powerful. LOVE IT!

So those were my favourites of 2013...how about yours? Got any recommendations for me? Swear to God if anyone else says 'Yeezus' is the album of the year I will kick off! 

This Blogpost Will Save Your Year

Ok so that's a bold statement...and it probably won't. But maybe it will save mine.

2013 was rubbish wasn't it? It started off really great and full of clichéd promises that this year would "be different" and this year would "be your year". None of them came true, the year is over and everything is just as pitifully rubbish as it was before. Just me?

For me January started off really awesome. University was great, there were super exciting new people in my life, everything was perfect. But I don't really think life ever works out like that and cracks always begin to show no matter how pretty you paint over them. I struggled a lot during the summer. I had been told to make friends and get along with my classmates and fall in love and then it was suddenly whisked away from me for a very long 5 month summer. I know that seems like such a tiny problem but I noticed that life away from home probably wasn't as pretty as my rose tinted glasses had told me they were.

When I moved back to Uni in September I was miserable. Miserable like I'd never felt before. People who I had valued the most in the previous months were now the one's who were nowhere to be found. Look through my drafted (but thankfully never published) blogposts and there are many a whiney ramble. I sat there and I thought 2013 has taught me things. It has taught me:

1. There is no such thing as being in love

2. You can't trust anyone

3. Everyone will leave at some point

4. Even your best is never good enough

For at least a month, I was ridiculous. I cried. A lot. I thank my flatmates a million times for not slapping me when I was so downright rude and ungrateful and full of my own wallowing sadness. 

I don't really know what snapped me out of my miserableness. I think one day I was trudging somewhere in the rain and I just thought "God, this is boring. All this being miserable, all this being angry at people and refusing to move on in my life is so incredibly boring". I carried on trudging through the rain (my walk home from uni is particularly grim) and thought about the things I thought 2013 had taught me and I thought about all the brilliant things that had happened whilst the rubbish stuff was distracting me. All the times I laughed until I thought I was going to die, all the interesting conversations I'd had, all the essay marks that had made me proud, all the nice food I'd eaten, all the songs I'd sung along to, all the books I'd read, all the friends who had picked me up when I'd drunkenly fallen over in the street. I started to rewrite my 2013 lessons:

1. There's no such thing as being in love (I kinda stand by this) but that doesn't mean you can't show someone kindness and friendship and caring when they need to see it. That's way more important than being in love with them. 

2. You can't trust...everyone. Yeah some people are arses who will break all their promises but trusting someone isn't a conscious decision and before you know it you'll be sharing your secrets with someone you least expected. Roll with it. The quiet bit of my brain always knows best.

3. Everyone will leave at some point...but that just makes room for super fun new people. And hopefully they'll stick around a bit longer. 

4. Even your best is never good enough for some people. But from now I'm going to measure my best by what's good enough for me not what's good enough for everyone else. It's MY best...not theirs. 

So Facebook keeps nudging me to look at my "Review of 2013". Well I don't want to. I don't care about it anymore I just want to look forward. I've got new places to go and new people to make laugh and the places I felt I didn't belong last year or the people who made me cry last year...they're just blips on my map of brilliance. I was always too good for them anyway!  

Maybe none of these words will make any sense to anyone else, really this is just a note to future me. Please future me, remember to be happy in yourself because you're alright sometimes - you've never needed anyone else to tell you that.

2014's gonna be fucking awesome mate. 

My 2012 Make-Up Favourites

In the year just gone I made a conscious effort to invest in better, more effective make-up rather than drowning in heaps of cheap lipsticks which I never use. So it's much easier for me to decide on my favourite products of 2012 because in truth I didn't buy that many...

I recently bought myself Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair. I bought it mainly because of the huge amount of hype I've heard about it on YouTube and it definitely lives up to it! Before this I used a concealer which was really hard to blend. This one on the other hand blends beautifully and is a great match for my skin, plus it's a total steal at £3ish... Another skin product I've been loving is Rimmel Clear Complexion Clarifying Powder in Transparent. I really wanted a matt powder but I was a bit nervous about ending up with that orange dust so this was a right find! It's transparent so matches your foundation beautifully. I've been applying this with a E.L.F Total Face Brush which is a great blending brush! I use it to apply powder but also just to even out my foundation etc. and it works brilliantly!  I love E.L.F brushes - they feel professional and soft and are really reasonably priced!

Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder, Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer, E.L.F Total Face Brush, Primark Crackle Nail Polish, Chit Chat Juicy Lipstick, Bourjois Liner Stylo

There's been a big trend for nail art this season but considering I am a fiendish nail biter I didn't want to invest in super expensive stuff. I opted for Primark just so I could test the waters, for £3 I got a base coat, crackle coat and top coat! They work brilliantly and the top coat is so useful for brightening up other colours! Another product I cannot stop singing the praises of is Bourjois Liner Stylo in Noir. I love a good kohl eyeliner and this is the best one I've tried. It lasts all day which is often a problem with pencil liners and gives a really good dark colour - the only slight problem I have is with the packaging which is really easy to break if you're as heavy handed as me...

When I said I was investing in good-quality, slightly more expensive make-up I may have told a slight white lie! One of my favourite lip products this year was Chit Chat Juicy Lipstick in Damson. It offers a really vibrant pink colour which is extremely long lasting - enough to rival the Clinque Chubby Stick or Revlon Just Bitten! And the best part is it's from Poundland's make up range and cost £1! Ah-mah-zing!

So what have your favourite products of 2012 been? Anything to recommend? What should I try in 2013?