2014 Round Off/ End Of The Year Celebration!

End of 2014 Celebration... Countdown to 2015!

Hello everyone! If you're reading this, it must mean that it's the big countdown to 2015, there's only a few hours to go and this is my ultimate round up of 2014! In this post I am doing a range of different things from this year. Including, my ultimate favourites from 2014, the highlights of my 2014, and what to look forward to for 2015! 

So, I am going to start with my favourites of the year and this is going to range from beauty, to music, to film. But, I hope you enjoy seeing some of my favourites of the past year. 

Favourite Album of the Year 

This has to be one of my favourite albums of this year, not just because she is my queen of music. But, because all of the incredible songs on it. She really came back with a bang as every single song was brilliant and I love her because she is my fabulous queen. 

This is my second favourite album of the year and it probably wins a tad more than Katy Perry. Purely because every song is just brilliant, I love Maroon 5 anyway, but this album is absolutely fantastic. I feel like as Maroon 5 go on in this era their albums just get better and better. I get excited everytime I listen to them, which is also why they're my favourite band of the year because they are just fantastic. I really am desperate to go and see them on tour! Also, what helps, is Adam is my ultimate celebrity crush. 

Favourite Artist of the Year 

This next favourite was a no brainer for me, my favourite artist by far is, Miss Ella Henderson. I have fallen in love with her over the past year. I love how she has actually waited and released an amazing album instead of hurrying and releasing a rubbish one like most XFactor artists these days. I love every single song on her album, her voice is just amazing, I love her style - fashion and in the music industry - she is a super classy lady which I love! Also, I love how she stayed true to the kind of music artist she was on XFactor, she isn't trying to be someone she is not and she is a super down to earth person. Her album is worth buying everyone, so please listen to it and pick it up. Plus, she's had a great year and I think she is just going to be bigger and better next year. Congrats Ella! 

Favourite TV Show of the Year 

This award for me has to go to The Tomorrow People. The Vampire Diaries season 5 has also been one of my favourites as it's had me so intensely in the storyline, but my ultimate favourite has to be this show. I fell in love with this the minute it came on earlier this year in January, and it went on till about June. I am so gutted that they cancelled it because so many people like myself absolutely loved it. The reasons it was so incredible was because it was a supernatural drama in a different light, as there are way too many shows related around vampires, werewolves, and witches etc. So, for the CW to do a show like this was really uplifting. I fell in love with the storyline, the characters, the plot. It kept me on my toes for the whole series; making me so excited for the next episode. It had me hooked right from the start and it made my Monday's have something to look forward to. I really wish they would do another series, as there are so many more secrets to discover within these people. There's so many incredible ways they could go with these characters and the storyline. But series one was an absolute amazing series, and they went out with a bang! Congrats to The Tomorrow People. 

Favourite Film of the Year

This may be a bit cliché, but my favourite film from 2014 has been Frozen. It took me a little while to get on the band wagon as I didn't watch this for ages, I thought it was a bit overrated, and I wasn't that bothered about it. But when I watched it, I fell in love with it and couldn't put it down. I first watched it with Chloe and I just loved it. I loved the storyline, the music, the characters, and for the fact it was winter, because winter is my favourite time of year. It is a little overrated for what it is about, but either way, still a brilliant film. I can't for this to become a musical as I want to be in it! 

Favourite Book of the Year

This one is really easy for me, it has to be this book! I fell in love with this when I read the blurb and my girl, Jess, bought it and we all shared it between one another to read. I love this so much because there is no set storyline - it just about 3 girls going through high school together and watching different events happen how they would in every day life - unexpectedly. I just love all the characters; Lauren Myracle done a really great job on contrasting them. One of my favourite parts was how it was set out to be like a texting conversation throughout the story as that's really original and I don't know many fiction books to be like that. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in this series because I know they're going to be amazing. 

Favourite App of the Year 

Goes to the Kim Kardashian Hollywood game! I have been addicted to this game since I downloaded it in late August/ early September time. I absolutely love it, there's new adventures all the time and I still enjoy playing it today. 

Random Favourite of the Year 

It has to be Costa's Iced Latte. I've become obsessed with these over the year, it's my favourite drink to get from Costa. I don't have much else to say except I really love them. 

Favourite Perfume of the Year

This has been really hard to choose, I've been torn between two for ages, but I've finally decided that my winner is Lady Gaga Fame. I love this perfume because it has a gorgeous light floral smell. I really enjoy wearing it's original as it sprays out the colour black instead of a clear liquid which I really like. I love the bottle because it is different and original - you don't get many black bottled perfumes for women. 

Favourite Youtuber of the Year 

For me it's been a fight to the finish for two youtubers, which are grav3yardgirl and beautycrush. I've loved them the most over this year and had lots of smiles and laughs when watching them. But, what this award came down to is who's main videos I enjoyed more as well as vlogs, which goes to....

BUNNY! (aka grav3yardgirl) 

I have had so many laughs and tears watching this women throughout 2014 ever since my friend Charlie mentioned her to me. She really is such a nice youtuber to watch because, I watch a lot of constant beauty related youtubers; grav3yardgirl does do beauty videos but not all the time. It's nice to have a funny youtuber to break up all of the makeup etc! One of the key moments I remember me getting into her videos this year was her series of 'Wreck it Wednesday'. I found them so funny and I was always in stitches when she made those, I couldn't put them down. Congrats to grav3yardgirl! If you want to see why I love her so much, check her videos out here: https://www.youtube.com/user/grav3yardgirl

Favourite Fashion Item of the Year

This has got to go to patterned leggings/trousers/jeggings because over the past few months I've bought so many and I absolutely love wearing them with plain coloured jumpers. They're probably still going to be sticking around for a while in 2015. But I really love wearing them because you can style them really easy as you're technically colour blocking. E.g. I have a pair of grey and black ones and I pair those with a bright pink/purple oversized jumper and there you have a bold colour scheme and you don't need to add anything else to the outfit.

Favourite Makeup Brand of the Year 

Favourite brand of the year has been clear for quite a while for me, and that has to be Rimmel London! The reason for this is because all of my face base for over half of this year has been Rimmel London and for a drugstore brand they are really good. However, for next year I am going to try a different brand for my face products because I find that my skin gets tired of products really easily. I feel that after a while they don't look as amazing as they did when I first got them because I can't have the same foundation for a long period of time. Saying that, I did repurchase the foundation from Rimmel in their Lasting Finish collection, but their lightest shade in their nude range. I had the ivory one with the red lid, but that was too orange toned for my skin. Which is the main reason why it has won this award as I normally never repurchase a foundation when I run out, so congrats Rimmel! 

Well everyone, the time has come to unveil my ultimate beauty favourite of the year! I've had to think long and hard about this, and once again, it's been a close fight to the finish. But, I officially have a winner of my best beauty favourite of the year. 

Ultimate Beauty Favourite of the Year

It is beauty blenders! Yes, these devices have been my saviours during this year, it's not just this specific one as I've used so many different ones throughout the year. But they really are worth getting as they helped smooth out my foundation and made the coverage looked a lot more even compared to applying it with my fingers/ brushes. They're really easy to reuse, I can use mine for about 2 weeks before they need washing. I really need to get some new ones though. But this is my ultimate favourite of 2014!

Alright my lovelies! We are half way through our end of year celebration. We've rounded up the year of my ultimate favourites and now it is time to countdown my top 10 favourite makeup looks I've created over this year and of course they are everything I've done from January up until December. I've done more looks than just 10 looks over this year, so whatever ones make it into the top 10 it's because I love them and they're my favourites of the year. So, lets start the countdown... 

10. P.S. Love - Natural 

At 10 we go back to two months ago when I created this natural soft brown and ivory look using Primark's P.S. Love Day pallet. 

9. Eyeliner and Purple Lips 

Even though this was never an official tutorial, this is my main photo on my blog of myself because I just love the whole look. This was a key look for me back in September, I loved my plum lips and the eyeliner eyes. Which is why it's in my top 10. 

8. Vampire 

At 8 we've got a throwback to Halloween when I created this incredible dark and scary vampire makeup it. It's still one of the looks I am most proud of today and I would love to wear this actually out for a Halloween party one day. 

7. Matte Purple with Purple Shimmer 

Here's a throwback all the way back to June when I had my second cousins Christening. This is one of my all time favourite summer looks I did this year. I can tell you now I am going to definitely be wearing this again next year. 

6. Gemstone 

At 6 we've got one of my favourite autumn looks which I actually did in August. You guys should remember this because it was the only post I did in August. I fell in love with this look and I still love it now because it is the most interesting and creative look I came up with, yet it still had a sense of being wearable. 

5. Black and Blue Party

Moving into the top 5 now and starting us off is this party look I did all the way back in October. I really loved this, it's just perfect for any kind of party and I loved the blue tone to it. 

4. Starry Night Sky 

At 4, just missing out on a medal, it's my Starry Night Sky look I did not too long ago. I absolutely love this look, I feel like I really represented the black night sky with a navy outline and then the silver glitter for stars. This is one of my all time favourites of the year because I've never seen anyone else do it. 

3. Autumn Leaves 

In 3rd place and taking the bronze medal, it is my plum autumn leaves makeup look in my seasonal series. I loved doing this as it really complimented my skin colour and eye colour. It was something really different for what it was for. But it is still really wearable to wear for a party or just going out. I love this look so much which is why it deserves my bronze medal. 

2. Queen Elsa 

In 2nd place, just missing out on the gold and taking silver. Yes, it has to be my Queen Elsa look from my Disney series. I absolutely love this and I still love it today. It's really creative and something more interesting to look at. It really compliments blue eyes, which I have. I also really enjoyed doing it. I need to find an opportunity to wear it for something as it's really eye catching. 

1. Dark Angel 

But my favourite makeup look of the year and taking gold is my Halloween Dark Angel look! The reason this is my favourite is because I absolutely enjoyed doing it. I loved wearing it as I felt it was really creative and it gave me a chance to do something really out there and crazy with my makeup - if you can't do that on Halloween, then when can you? This is probably the look I am still most proud of during 2014 as it really complimented my eye colour. Not to mention, I felt like a proper creature associated with Halloween. 

Well everyone, with only a few hours to go we're getting to the end of 2014 and the end of my year celebration! But before it all ends, let's take a look back at some of my highlights of 2014. 

Becoming best friend's with these two incredible ladies.

Seeing The Commitments. 

Seeing Katy Perry live (best birthday present ever)

Doing 13 The Musical with the best cast ever.

Ending the first year and starting the second year with a bang!

Parties with Chloe! 

Obviously there has been more highlights than just that, but these are some of the key ones that I remember mostly. But now as the last day of 2014 is coming to a close, I think during this year I've learnt a lot about the kind of person I am because of college. But, I also think that each year we unlock something about ourselves that's always been inside us but has never made it's way into our personality because there's never been a situation for it to come out. As we don't know who we truly are until we are in our 40's (I think, don't hold me to that). But this year, I've really realised through college who to trust and how to be confident in what I want to do within performing. But I also feel like, expressing myself with my blog throughout the year has made me confident also as I've been doing two things that make me really happy, and, I'm just happy I can share it with you all. 

But, it is goodbye from myself and 2014! I hope you all have had an amazing year and have an incredible New Years Eve. I'm off to a party now! and see you in 2015. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

Katie 

xoxoxoxoxo

A Day In The Life Of Katie: Heather's 18th Birthday!

Hello my darlings! I hope you are all well and are excited for 2015 as I'm really looking forward to next year because it's the year that a lot of things are finally going to change and be different, which is super exciting, and you guys get to come along for the ride. But firstly, we've got the last day of 2014 to get through. 

Classic toilet selfie 

So this is a very exciting post; Heather's birthday was a couple days ago now, the 28th of December. The girls (aka Heather and Jess) and I all went to London as that was what Heather really wanted to do for her 18th, and, it was the first time for me, getting to properly experience other parts of London. I've been to Covent Garden twice with college and then around Leicester Square to go and see The Commitments, again with college. 

This time we went to Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford City by the underground. I actually really enjoyed travelling on the underground because it was my first ever time doing it and it's really not as scary as people make out to me, the only thing I would say, is really hold onto the handle bars above you if you're standing (I almost fell over a couple times, haha!). But Westfield was absolutely packed, it was heaving with eager sales shoppers. Which was pretty awful to be honest, I hate crowded shopping centres anyway, but at Christmas sales it was horrendous. 

But we did go in a few nice shops to have a browse around, of course one being, the Disney Store. Us three are all very big fans of Disney Princesses and just Disney in general. We have very strong discussions about Disney Channel's old shows etc. But Westfield's Disney Store was absolutely adorable and here are some images from it... 

Princess chandelier

Snow falling trees

Princess crown mirror 

The only purchase we made at Westfield was actually from the Models Own stand. For those of you who don't know what Models Own is, it's a makeup brand that is mainly popular for their nail varnishes. They do so many different collections from, Hyper Gel's, Diamond Luxe, Disco Pants, Ice Neons, Scented Pastel Fruits, and most recently, a Scented Sweets collection. So they are very original collections and have many ranges of colours. If any of you are interested in looking at all their collections/ buying some products go here: http://www.modelsownit.com/

Here is the direct link to all of their nail varnish collections: http://www.modelsownit.com/products/nails.html

So we we're intrigued to the stand as it was a proper Models Own stand just for their brand. Usually I can only find Models Own in my local Boots on a small stand, so it was nice to have a real proper stand to look at all their products. They had an offer on which was you can buy any 5 items from nail varnish to makeup brushes for £15.00 and we all got a free kohl pencil in Chestnut. 

So, it was a bit awkward as we tried to divide it up between 3 of us and we only really liked one product completely enough to buy it. So I decided I'd buy a big box of 10 nail polishes that were 50% off (£25.00 down from £50.00) which was the Hyper Gel collection. I'm not going to go into too much detail about them as I am going to do a review on them coming up in January of 2015. But all I will say is that you get 10 polishes and each nail varnish is normally £5.00 each which x10 lots is £50.00 and that makes it fair. So really I paid for 5 polishes and then got the other 5 free which I thought was a really good deal. 

But I'd just like to give a big shout out too all of the girls who were working on that stand on Sunday. They were absolutely lovely girls who really helped us out on what we should choose and all of the information they gave us. They know so much about all of the products they sell which is really helpful. Apart from them doing their job, they were just really lovely to talk to and I just want to thank them for commenting on my nails and asking for my blog name. It really does mean a lot to me, and thank you too any of you gorgeous girls if you have read any posts from my blog. Comment below if you have! 

When shopping was all over, we caught the underground to Leicester Square to go to Planet Hollywood for dinner. This was all of our first time at Planet Hollywood and let me tell you, it was amazing. It is absolutely massive in that restaurant, the staff are wonderful, and the atmosphere there is in there makes you really happy. 

Famous hand prints on the wall

Famous hand prints on the wall 

Famous hand prints on the wall 

Downstairs bar area 

Downstairs bar area 

Costume pieces upstairs 

Prop pieces upstairs

We all really enjoyed our time at Planet Hollywood, us three all thought the famous aspect to it with the hand prints were creative, as well as, all of the props and costume pieces from films and musicals on display. It's just a shame how they only have one Planet Hollywood in the UK which is in London, so if you've ever been there comment below, or, if you get the chance to go, I really would recommend it. 

Dinner - BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger and Chips 

Dessert - Chocolate Brownie Sundae in a giant Martini Glass 

Dinner and dessert were both absolutely delicious. It just shows how close we are as unintentionally we all wanted the same burger, which was funny. But their food is absolutely 5/5 rating and you all need to go and eat their at least once in your life. (If you're wondering, yes, we did eat all of the giant Martini ice cream dessert) 

Table selfie 

Table Selfie

That was our day in London everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as we enjoyed being there. Heather, I hope you had a fab 18th birthday as I know Jess and I loved spending it with you. 

Thank you everyone for reading and I will see you tomorrow for my final ever post of 2014! Which is just a massive celebration of favourites, memories, happy times, bad times, and an overal celebration for 2015! So goodbye for now, and see you tomorrow!

Katie 

xoxoxoxo

Christmas Party Makeup Tutorial

Christmas Party Makeup

Hello my lovelies, I hope you're well and had a fab Christmas and are excited for 2015!  But firstly, I was meant to post this a couple days ago, but, I never got round to it because of all the wrapping and seeing people before Christmas and then I was ill on Boxing Day which was not fun. But I came up with my own Christmas party kind of look, but you could wear this for any kind of winter party, not just Christmas. I used golds and a light ish black... if that's even the correct term. But this is a proper Christmas pin up look with a red lip. So if you want to know how to get this for your Christmas parties, then please keep on reading. 

Step 1: 

Firstly I took Maybelline's colour tattoo in On and On Bronze. I just took the product on my finger and blended it all over the lid as a base for the golden shades we're going to use later on. 

Step 2

Next I took a golden suntan glow sort of shade and applied it just over half of my lid on a flat eye shadow brush. 

Step 3: 

Secondly, I took another gold shade that was slightly darker and applied that on the outer part of my lid on a eye shadow brush. I also took the first gold shade on one side of the brush and the second gold shade on the other side. Then I just rub a bit of each shade into one another to blend both seamlessly together. 

Step 4: 

Next I took a lighter shade of black and what I mean by this are the blacks that aren't that opaque because I just wanted a slight ombre effect and didn't want the black to overrun the golds. I took the black on the very outer V of my eye, aka, the eyeliner wing line. I took it on a small dense eye shadow brush so I could get I precise big wing and connected it to the gold shades above. Then, I just gently blended it into the gold. 

Step 5: 

In this step I just rub off any fall out on my face with a makeup wipe. Also, I perfected the V line with a makeup wipe to make it more striking. 

Step 6: 

In this next step I just perfected the black and ran some of that black shade on the outer part of the lower lashline. As you can see from the images above, I connected the black from the lower lashline to the outer V. 

Step 7: 

Finally I took an even lighter gold highlighting shade and applied it into my inner corners, but shaped it to fit the lines, as you can see above. I then just merged the black and light gold together to give another ombre effect. 

Step 8: 

Then I just applied my base and eyebrows, along with my mascara. I also highlighted my nose, cheeks, and cupids bow. 

Step 9: 

Finally, I just applied my red lipstick. 

Step 10: 

Finished! 

Everyone that is the finished look! I hope you like it as I really enjoyed creating it. I apologise again that it was very late and was meant to be posted before Christmas, but, you could still wear this out in winter. 

Anyway, thank you for reading everyone, and I will talk to you soon! 

Bye for now, 

Katie

xoxoxoxox