CLEAN BANDIT

Hello! There has been a series  of unfortunate events... I was  only planning to stay away from blogging for a week but my laptop has decided that browsers apparently aren't a thing, meaning that I haven't been able to properly blog so I'm coming to you from my Kindle. Does anyone else really hate all of the blogger apps?... 

I saw Clean Bandit on Tuesday nightand thought I would share with you all my thoughts (clue: they didn't disappoint!)

First and foremost, the venue was great. It was held at the De la Warr Pavillion which is fairly small making it great for an intimate evening. We were about three rows back and to the right of the stage which still left us being able to see perfectly. 

The support act was Colour the Atlas which consisted of 3 boys on all of the instruments, one of which also sang and a girl who was playing the keyboard and the main vocals. You may have heard them on radio 1 recent just if you're a big fan of their introducing bands. They went really great with the act to follow although they were all very slow sings whereas I would  have liked to seen someone with a bit more  energy and movement. They have a lot of stuff on YouTube and iTunes so go check them out!

Clean Bandit started of with A and E, a personal favourite of mine. Florence Rawlings and Elisabeth Troy are the vocalists on their current tour who I have seen do live lounges with them in the past on radio 1 and I think that they know the group so well. The dynamics between Clean Bandit and their vocalists are really great and it adds to the enjoyment of watching them perform. 

I found it really amazing that they were on stage playing electric cellos and violins and there were teenagers (and adults) all dancing to it, enjoying it and singing along to every word. If you are not familiar with Clean Bandit's music the band does all of the music with violins, keyboards and add vocalists on the top like Jess Glyne in Rather Be and Real Love. They had a special guest join them in the stage which was Sharna Bass from a more recent song Extraordinary. Again, she gelled with the band seamlessly and was a pleasure to watch. 

My personal favourite part of the show was the last two songs. They sang a cover of You Got To Show Me live which was a lovely surprise and they still put their own Clean Bandit twist on it. They finished up with Rather Be which the whole audience was singing along with and you could hear that everyone was enjoying themselves. 

I had an amazing evening and they're just as good live, if not better which I love from an artist. Go see Clean Bandit live if you get the chance, especially if it's in a small, intimate venue! 

Hopefully I will get to sort out my laptop soon so I can start blogging properly again but I will try my best from my Kindle!

Lots of love, Hannah xxx

BE RIGHT BACK

Hello! I have to apologize for my inactivity on Saturday/Sunday and I probably won't be posting until I've sent off my UCAS application for university, which will hopefully be next week. I'm in the process of trying to shorten my personal statement down by over 500 characters (including spaces!!) which is proving so difficult. I'm sure a couple of you know how I feel. I also got myself a job last week at a cute pink coffee shop in my town which I will be working at on Saturdays from now on! When I come back next week I will have lots to share with you all but I just need to get everything sorted out with school first!! Unfortunately, it's a priority!

Stay tuned on Twitter! See you next week!

Casino Eyes

Hello! On Saturday I am attending the first of my friends in my year at schools 18ths. Does that even make sense? It's casino themed and I wanted to go quite heavy on the eyes and incorporate gold into a really dark smokey eye. Without further adieu, the components:

After applying my moisturizer I used NARS Sheer Glow in Deauville all over my face followed by a little bit of Soap & Glory's Kick Ass Concealer under my eyes and on any blemishes. I warmed up my complexion with some of Bourjois' choco-bronzer (you know the one) and added a slight flush to my cheeks with Dior's Rosy Glow blush, one that really just adds that I've-just-been-out-in-the-cold look to your cheeks. Doesn't sound too cute but I love it when I'm going heavy on the eyes. In the event of fancying a highlight, I'll use a very tiny bit of Half-Baked eye shadow from my Naked 2 Palette as it's warm and keeps you glowy! With my base done, I applied some of my Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm to prepare my lips for later. Onto the main event...

Base: Benefit's Cream Shadow in My Two Cents all over the lid; a beautiful true gold colour perfect for warm, shimmey tones. Mixed in with that I added in some of Maybelline's Colour Tattoo in On and On Bronze more towards the crease rather than all over the lid as it is slightly darker and perfect for amp-ing up browns.

Shadows - Crease: Now here it gets all mixed up and a little messy but still looks so beautiful. I started in my crease with Rimmel's single shadow in Smokey Quartz which is very similar to On and On Bronze. To deepen this colour I added Busted from my Naked 2 Palette into my crease and to add some shimmer applied a little bit of YDK, also from my N2P. A lot of colours in one crease, I know. I applied this all with a flat brush and then blended it out with a Real Techniques Duo Fiber Brush. I used Tease (N2P) and Smokey Quartz under my eyes as I find using shadow is softer than liner but you can still build it up.

Shadows - Lid: For my lid I wanted a super pigmented gold. In order to do this I put some water onto a cotton pad and swirled my flat brush in it before picking up some Half Baked (N2P) and applying it to my lid. This ensures that the shadow goes on really intense and strong. Finally, as if I didn't have enough shadow on already, I applied a tiny bit of Chopper (N2P) into the gold and finished it off with a little bit of a blend where the dark and gold met. If there's fall out (I don't have this trouble with my Naked Palette but just in case) swipe it away with the brush you applied your foundation with.

I didn't want to do a big flick with my eyeliner so I just did a thin line along my top lash line with my Rimmel Exaggerate Liquid Liner. I find this liner super easy to use and I always have to have one of these on the go because, for me, it's fool proof.

Here is where I normally do my brows because I end up getting mascara everywhere if I do it first. I fill in my brows with the 'Tint' end of Soap & Glory's Brow Archery which allows you to fill in sparse areas really naturally by drawing in individual hairs. Then I go in with the pencil end to add in a nice arch before slicking on a little brow gel to hold them in place (I use Maybelline Brow Drama!)

To finish off, a lick of my favourite mascara, Maybelline's The Rocket and a little bit of Rimmel's Nottinghill Nude which is almost the exact shade of my lips but I love it for a nude lip and Tanya Burr's lip gloss in Chic. So cute.

For things like this it makes me wish I did videos as there is so much to explain but it really is easy to recreate if you use a dark brown and gold shadow. A super glitzy smokey eye for a night out, or in my case, a poker night. Check back in on Sunday to see my outfit!

September Round Up

Hello! I thought I would tell you about my September via pictures from my Instagram and from my phone! I started September with a lovely night by the fire with a couple of my friends eating marshmallows and making smores complete with a full English in the morning. We were doing some serious back-to-school preparation! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the night but I returned home to this in the morning...

Seche Vite! I have been meaning for so long to pick this up and I ordered it from Amazon as it's slightly cheaper than usual... I'm in love with it. SHINE!!! and longer lasting manicures!

For my birthday a friend actually bought me some pasta. I am guessing pasta doesn't have an eat-by date but I didn't check so we tucked into this naughty pasta one Saturday evening as well as having some wine, nail painting time and a sing-song.

One of my friends got their disposable photos back from the festival that we went to this month and these are my absolute favourites. The first was just after a friend and I ran into a mish-mashed schedule and accidentally saw Razorlight (although we were planning to see them an hour or two later!) and the second is all of us on our last day on the beach!

Towards the middle of September for my cousins birthday I took a trip to London with two of my cousins, my cousins girlfriend, my aunt and my uncle to go to Proms in the Park. I had such a good evening and we got to see Earth, Wind and Fire (Do you remember the 21st night of September?!) who were absolutely amazing. We completed our outfits with patriotic hats and plates!

I blogged about this nail duo! The perfect top coat and the perfect base coat! It's love at first swipe!

I caught up with one of my old school friends with some other friends in Wagamama and it was so good to see him. We all ate a lot and chatted the whole meal, completing the trip with obligatory chop-stick walrus pose.

My boyfriend (he's new too) and I took a Sunday trip to the seaside-ish town of Rye which isn't too far from us with a trip to the Globe Marsh Inn, a quirky little pub as you head into the town and sneaky purchase from the sweet shop.

This Polaroid is from my friends 17th in August but I only posted it a couple of days ago. Apparently the correct way to gear up for a party is with a yogurt. Who knew? Happy belated Birthday Jojo!

I hope you enjoyed having a round up of my September! It's nice sometimes to update you guys on what I've been up to! I hope you had a great September even though it's definitely gone very fast (although with school it's not quite fast enough...)