We Are Like Young Volcanoes...

Happy Wednesday! 
The other week when I was going through the world of 8Tracks, as I spend most of my time doing, this song popped up in a playlist and I thought I vaguely recognised it. After doing a bit of research *AKA Google-ing it*  I found out that it has been used in one of the recent Windows adverts. 'This song' as I've referred to it for the past two sentences is Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy. 

It's such a happy and jolly song and so sort of reminds me of summer for some reason. 
I think the term 'young volcanoes' is a bit of a weird one to use though, but if you sit and think about it, as I often do, then it starts to make sense. Personally, I think it's referring to teenagers and how they don't know what they are capable of, both good and bad, much like a new (young) volcano.
This song caries the idea of leaving all of your worries behind and just having fun and being free; much like summer for many people. One of the first lines of the song is 'We are the lions free of the coliseums,' which suggests great independence as if you are just breaking out of your little shell, as it were, and experience the world for the first time.
I really do love this song at the moment, and it will definitely be appearing in my summer playlist! 
Thanks for reading, see you on Sunday!

London Fashion Week A/W 2014 Review

Happy Sunday!
Last week was London Fashion Week as well as many other iconic places in the world including Milan and New York. As London is rather close to home I thought I'd go through some of the key looks for the Autumn/Winter period along with showing you my favourites. 

Fashion East was established in 2000 and is essentially an ever changing group of emerging designers that are picked to showcase their work in London Fashion Week. This year, the chosen designers were Ashley Williams, Helen Lawrence and Louise Alsop. Above are my five favourite looks from their show. Much of the collection revolves around pastel colours, which are usually associated with the summer, but are slowly creeping their way into the winter months too. I have found this to be a running theme throughout all the collections in the Autumn/Winter show.  

The Burberry collection was probably my second favourite out of all the shows I saw (on-line that is, I was not lucky enough to be there in person). This collection revolved heavily around repeated patterns and large statement prints. In fact, I don't think there was a look without one incorporated in it somewhere. Although saying that, there wasn't any extremely garish and in-your-face kind of prints; they were all very complementary of each other and the other colours used in the design. The majority of the designs either included a scarf secured under a belt (which I absolutely love) or an asymmetric theme, like the coats which appear to have a blanket hanging off the side. Somehow, Burberry manage to make that work.

And last, but certainly not least, the collection by Holly Fulton, my favourite one of them all. I've just sat here for the past hour going through all of her previous collections and I think I'm love. They are, quite simply,  amazing. I don't know how I've survived without knowing this designer. Again, a lot of pastel's were used in her stunning collection, as well some graphic prints (the last picture) and also very detailed embroidery which, in my opinion, just takes the collection to a whole other level and really helps to bring all the designs together. 

After writing this I sort of wish that every week was Fashion Week just so I had more pictures and designers to be in awe of.

Thanks for reading, see you on Wednesday! 

*All pictures from www.londonfashionweek.co.uk*

In My Veins

Happy Wednesday!
I'm not really too sure where this little series of mine is going, or even what to call it, but I think I'm quite happy with it for the time being. This weeks song is In My Veins by Andrew Belle.

I was originally introduced to this song by the wonders of TV as it was used in one of my favourite shows Castle and since seems to be popping up everywhere including Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries. The song was used in the most recent episode of Castle which I watched on Monday and may of may not have cried at... 
My first impression of this song was that it was quite sad purely because of the tempo and key it is in, well I suppose it is rather sad really, but when you delve into the lyrics the meaning of them overshadows everything else. 
I think that this beautiful song is about trying to get over someone and move on but failing at doing so despite your best efforts. 
The first two lines of this song are 'Nothing goes as planned, everything will change' which, off the bat, gives you a pretty clear picture of the feel of the song and what it's going to be about. 
I feel that a lot of emotion is held in the bridge where, to be Frank, it gets rather deep. 

'Everything is dark,

It's more than you can take.

But you catch a glimpse of sun light, 

Shining down on your face'

I think that this song sort of tells a story as it starts off with heartbreak and sadness then gradually moves on to acceptance but then you take a couple of steps back in the progress that you've made and it all gets too much and giving up seems the best and most logical thing to do, when really it isn't. But then you find a reason to hold on for just a little while longer and it turns out to be the best thing you've ever done. 

I love this song and it's constantly on repeat at the moment so I hope everyone else in my house likes it too.

Thanks for reading, see you Sunday! 

The Red Tour

Happy Sunday! 
I am currently sitting on a train on the way home from London at 23:42 writing this post. Today, Monday 10th February, was the day I had been counting down to for so long. Over four months to (sort of) be exact. Today, I saw Taylor Swift. I'm now thinking that many of you will see that as quite an anticlimax but it's practically midnight and I'm slowing coming down from the cloud I've been floating around on all day.
Today was well and truly amazing. I knew it would be though, it's Taylor Swift, I expect nothing less! The concert, that's what I went to by the way - I don't think I've said that yet, extended all of my expectations. Every single one of them. It was probably one of the best nights of my life. 

After constantly telling everyone I spoke to how many hours it was until I say Tay *yes, that what I call her, we are practically best friends after all* throughout the day, I rushed home from school and practically ran to the train station with my mum to meet my friends. Much to my surprise, we weren't the only ones lucky enough to get to see Taylor that night from my town, as we saw people at the station all decked out in concert gear and then more on the train too. We made it to London and figured out those ever confusing tube maps grabbed some dinner and successfully made it to the O2. I had never been before so I didn't really know what to expect, but I didn't really think that it looked that big when I first saw it but once we were inside it was huge. We joined the queue *well it was more of a crowd really* at the merchandise stand and everyone was just talking to each other about how excited they were and complementing each other on their outfits and signs; the atmosphere was amazing. My mum brought me a top and a bracelet as the tickets and whole connect experience was my Christmas present and I also brought my self another top and the tour book. 

After we took our seats we had a little wait until The Vamps came on in which time my mum and I managed to eat nearly a whole bag of Haribo *oops*. The Vamps came on and played a small set which lasted about half an hour. I didn't really know what to expect from them, as they were only the supporting act, but they were quite good actually. I'd watched some of their covers on YouTube before and loved them, so I was glad I had the opportunity to see them live. Although part way through the set Connor, the guitarist, walked too far down the centre of the stage and fell off the end. I didn't even realise that anything had happened until the end of the song when he was back up on stage and was asked if he was okay by the lead singer. Luckily he was. There was a short break between The Vamps finishing and Taylor Swift starting, in which time the area became completely full. 

Then finally, the lights went down, the noise level went up and out came Taylor. I pretty much just spent the next two hours singing, screaming and dancing. It was unbelievable. I had a rough idea of what songs would be included but I hadn't caved in and watched videos of the performances beforehand. The second song was Holy Ground and during which Taylor and all of her dancers played these massive flashing drums and the dancers were sort of flung up in the air attached to them. I was not expecting that to happen. The majority of the songs were from Red, but there was also Fearless, Love Story and You Belong With Me from Fearless and also Mean and Sparks Fly from Speak Now. At one point, Tay came off the stage *on purpose, not like Connor* and went through the crowd during a song then continued it on a smaller stage in the middle of the floor seats know as the B-Stage. Here she performed some beautiful acoustic song with just her guitar and it acted as a little break in the show. Possibly one of the most memorable parts was when the surprise special guest came which was *drum roll please* Emeli Sande! They performed Next To Me and it was amazing! Everyone was singing along and seemed to be having such a good time like it was a party. I also vividly remember the performance of All To Well. It was stunning. Taylor went and sat at the top of the stage and played piano throughout the song. The crowd all sang along rather loudly here as though showing there support, which was amazing. Caitlin, one of the musicians, played a fiddle solo at one point and it was literally breath taking; but that's probably just the music geek in me talking. I kept thinking that the concert was going to end soon and wishing it wouldn't, but I guess all good things must come to an end *oh so cheesy*. The last song was We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together and it was such a big performance to end the night on. It was circus themed with people of stilts and lots of amazing dancers all over the place.
I ended up getting home at a half twelve in the morning and not falling asleep until about two, but somehow I wasn't even tired the next day. 

I'm sort off running out of wording to describe this unforgeable night now so I guess I will stop here. Congratulations if you've made it this far because this has probably been the longest post ever. I would just like to thank my parents for buying me the tickets for Christmas and my mum for going with me. I can't thank you enough. Best. Present. Ever.
Thanks for reading; see you on Wednesday for what I can guarantee will be a shorter post.  

You Belong With Me

Happy Wednesday! 
Originally, today's post was going to be about my favourite song from the Red tour that I went to see on Monday, which I will go into more detail of on Sunday. Now that all sounds well and good until it comes down to the mater of actually picking my favourite song. They're so many to choose from and I think it might be impossible. I don't really want to go into too much detail on the tour it's self because that's what Sundays post is for but it's sort of hard not to. 

I'm not really too sure if it's my favourite song/performance from the evening but it's definitely up there, and that's You Belong With Me. I've loved this song since it came out on Taylor's second album Fearless back in 2008, but the live version they played just took the song to a whole other level. 
They added trumpets to the introduction which gave the song a whole other feel entirely and, to me, made it feel quite jazzy and vintage for some reason and also including strong harmonies throughout which were all note perfect. Although these harmonies were rather bold and could be argued that they ruin the piece I personally love them as they add style and feeling and really added to the whole experience of it being a live performance. 
I really love the way this performance was put together with Taylor and her four (amazing) backing singers rising up of what is sort of reminds me of a metal crate and disappearing again after along with all the little synchronised dance moves that they all did together. 
Once again, this has ended up being quite a short post, sorry about that.
Thanks for reading, see you Sunday! 

Casual Weekend OOTD

Happy Sunday!
Today I thought I'd do an outfit of the day post as I haven't done one since Christmas *whaaaaaat* which turned out to be one of my most popular posts so thank you for that.

When deciding what to wear I thought it looked quite sunny out so I went against my original plan of wearing an oversized jumper over my shirt, but when I actually went outside it was in fact quite chilly, and then it started to rain. Ah, the good ol' English weather, as reliable as ever I see.
I am, of course, wearing jeans as I have been in every OOTD I've ever done, but its cold in England most of the time. I decided to pair these jeans with an unfitted shirt with a faded blue floral print on it. Calling it 'unfitted' is my best attempt of describing it as only the body of it is oversized whereas the arms and neck aren't. I'm also wearing a statement  necklace but the wrong way round as it is meant to be fluorescent orange but I... wasn't really feeling it. 

As I was nipping into town I put on my *well technically it's my sisters* black leather jacket, black boots and a cream scarf in an attempt to stay warm.

Items mentioned: 

Jeans - New Look

Shirt - Matalan

Necklace - Next

Boots - Brantano

Jacket - New Look 

Scarf - Peacocks 

Thanks for reading, see you on Wednesday! 

La Vie En Rose

Happy Wednesday!
Today we're going to be learning French! Don't worry, we most definitely won't be doing anything of the intellectual kind, that's what school is for.

Last week was How I Met Your Mother's 200th episode (in America) and good golly gosh it was beautiful. I don't want to include any spoilers because I don't want to ruin it for you - if you do watch the show that is, if you don't then what have you been playing about at for the past 9 years? Don't worry, you only have 200 episodes to catch up on. At the end of the show this beautiful song 'La Vie En Rose' was played by... one of the characters (no spoilers, no spoilers, no spoilers). I didn't really know much about the actress so I didn't know how beautiful a voice she had.
When I first heard the song I thought I recognised it slightly and after doing my research I found that it is originally by a French lady called Édith Piaf from 1952. As she was French, the lyrics were, unsurprisingly, in French. But after a while, I think about 50 years later but I could be wrong, Louis Armstrong recorded a cover of this but with English lyrics. These were the words then used in the cover from How I Met Your Mother. Although the original was extremely beautiful, I prefer the lyrics in English as I feel like they have more meaning, but that's probably because I don't speak French.
'La vie en rose' directly translated means 'life in pink' but when it's used as a saying is often meant to mean 'life through rose coloured glasses'. This basically means seeing the good in situations.
However hard this may be I think it's important to 'look on the bright side of life' as it were. I'm probably not the best one to talk but it's always good to try. This week I'm going to make an extra effort to be positive and not just think of everything that could possibly go wrong all the time. It will be hard, but I'll give it ago nonetheless. 
I absolutely love the lyrics to this song. It's pretty much a love song but the lyrics are so personal and contain such emotion that which is what makes me love it. 
Thanks for reading, see you on Sunday! 

January Favourites

Happy February!
I think a lot of you will agree when I say that January just flew past and I'm not really to sure why. But lets just hope that February is as good as last month because January was pretty amazing. 

Fashion
I practically spent the whole of January in the two onesie's I got for Christmas last year. They're both so comfortable and warm so as soon as I get home from school I get changed straight into one! One is from New Look and is quite thin compared to my other one but has this lovely pink fairisle print all over it. My other onesie is from Pecaocks and is super thick and fluffy with monkeys all over it. 

Skin Care 

My sister got me the Taylor by Taylor Swift gift set for Christmas which contained the perfume, shower gel and moisturiser. They all smell so good but I have really been loving the moisturiser. Not only does it smell amazing but is isn't too greasy and actually moisturises my skin unlike the other ones you tend to get in this sort of set. I really wish that you were able to buy this moisturiser separately because I just can't get enough of it.  

I brought this next product a few months ago now and I use it everyday, but I'd sort of forgotten that I do as it's has become part of my morning routine. This is the Simple Revitalising Eye Roll-on. It's great at reducing the puffiness of t he skin under your eyes and also helps you wake up in the morning as it a cool soothing gel. 
I've also been loving the Simple Eye Corrector Pen that I reviewed here last week. 
  
Hair

Last month I started using the Umberto Giannini Curl Friends shampoo and conditioner that I got for Christmas. I've never really bothered that much before about what shampoo I use but these have made my hair much less frizzier (if that makes sense) but hasn't taken away the natural curl to it at the same time. I've also found that after using this shampoo and conditioner combination that the curls in my hair, whether they be natural or not, seem to stay in much better and don't fall out as fast. 

TV
It seems like none of the TV shows I watch religiously have been on lately, but the start of the month was filled with drama. Especially on Castle, if you watch it then you'll know what I'm on about, Under Fire. I cried. It was... intense, to say the least. 

Food
For Christmas, my sister got my dad a big tin of M&S Shortbread and it is possibly the nicest thing ever. I think I've had some everyday for the last two weeks. I wish that it was like something out of Willy Wonka and kept refilling itself with more delicious shortbread but sadly I don't think that will happen any time soon. 

Other
Okay, so I wouldn't really call Flappy Bird one of my favourites, but it's definitely played a part in the month, even if it was only for the past week. Me and Flappy Bird seem to a have a love hate relationship. I currently love it as my high score just went up to 28, but give it five minutes and I won't be able to get past the first pipe. 

Items Mentioned:
Pink Fairisle Onesie - New Look
Simple Kind to Eyes Revitalising Eye Roll-on - Boots
Simple Kind to Eyes, Eye Make-up Corrector Pen -  Boots
Fleece Monkey Print Onesie - Peacocks 

Taylor by Taylor Swift Gift Set - Feel Unique

Umberto Giannini Curl Friends Shampoo - Boots

Umberto Giannini Curl Friends Conditioner - Boots

Thanks for reading, see you on Wednesday!