Recent Products I Want To Try and Buy

Hello my lovelies, I hope you're all well and aren't hating the weather too much. Currently up here in Chester it is wet and rainy and it seems like this weather is going to carry on throughout the next week. I'm currently dressed for autumn right now with my grey jumper on and black jeans. 

So I thought today I would do a post completely different to anything I've done so far as I really need to get back into blogging again. So at the minute in many shops on the high street there are loads of beauty products I am desperate to try and test and want to buy at some point soon and there is also some beauty storage I want to get as well. 

The first product I am desperate to give ago is the new Cushion Nude Magique foundation. It says, 

"Discover liquid foundation revolutionised with NEW Nude Magique Cushion Foundation, our 1st cushion drenched in liquid foundation for an ultimate fresh nude finish, in a tap." 

This sounds like an interesting concept to be able to apply a liquid foundation with a cushion and to still be able to achieve a flawless base sounds like a kind of product I gotta get my hands on. I've always wanted to try out mousse or velvet foundations but never really been that drawn to any of the current ones out there and I've seen this and so many people are raving about it, that it makes me want to give it a try. 

£14.99 

The second product is something I've wanted to try for a while. I see this in Boots and Superdrug all the time and I mean to pick it up but I either forget about it or another product I actually need has taken the place of picking it up. But it's the Maybelline Cover Stick. 

Normally I don't get on well with stick concealer forms as they usually don't cover anything, they don't brighten my face, and they normally don't sit over my foundation nicely. 

It states, "Cover blemishes and dark circles. Waterproof. Available in 3 shades: Ivory, Vanilla and Nude" 

It looks like it will do best to cover redness and brighten certain areas like my t-zone and under my eyes. Judging by what it is, it looks like it might be best to blend out with my fingers rather than a brush or beauty blender. But either way, I'd like to try it. 

£3.99 

Recently this product has been all over all of the makeup tutorials I have been watching on YouTube and so many YouTuber's have said that the baby skin primers are up with all of their high end primers, which makes me want to give it ago and see if it is worth it. 

I've heard mixed reviews saying they're great and that they're not worth the money you have to pay for a little bottle. 

"This water-based blurring complex hydrates, refreshes and smooths the appearance of skin for a perfect finish – with or without foundation."

Now my skin is not perfect and any product that can smooth out my complexion for my makeup to go on top and still look flawless sounds like a good one to try and test. Also, this sounds like it would be great for summer when you don't want to wear much makeup but still want to look flawless and by having a base like this to layer your makeup onto sounds like a helpful product due to what it states it does. 

£7.99 

This is a bit of a weird beauty product for me to be interested in because I don't normally use pearl bead based products as they never seem to work for me. But this is Gosh's precious powder pearls in the shade Warm Sand. I thought they'd be a really nice bronzing shade considering I'm so pale as at the minute the contour shade I'm using is quite dark (it's really an eyeshadow, haha) and I want to switch it up and try something different. 

"Gosh Precious Powder Pearls is the most wonderful ultra fine sun powder in attractive pearl form - for very easy application."

I am mainly attracted by the colour and I feel I could get a nice bronzed kiss look to my skin which is really appealing for the summer months. 

£8.99 

Continuing our bronze and contour theme. The next product is MUA's Bronze & Sculpt Contour Kit. I mainly want this as I have their Highlight & Strobe kit and it'd be nice to get the fully works to use together. I absolutely love the packing and both this kit and the highlighter version are really compact and easy to carry round. Therefore, easy for travelling.

"A duo, bronzing compact perfect for effortless contouring. The lightweight powder in two tones allow for perfect sculpting definition and accentuation."

I think I'll get it in light/medium as I can again get a nice sunkissed look to my skin and both the contour shade and bronzing shade will fit nicely together as they're from the same compact. 

£5.00 

Our third and final sculpting  based product is this bronzer shade from The Balm called Bahama Mama. I don't own any products from The Balm and I've heard a lot of good reviews about them. I don't know what drew my attention to this bronzer, I think it is because it is similar to my contour shade I'm using at the moment but is in a proper form instead of an eyeshadow, haha. 

"A Caribbean getaway in a compact. This matte bronzer creates the look of beautifully tanned skin without any orange undertones for a fresh - off the-beach glow. Bahama Mama also doubles as the perfect contour powder and matte brown eyeshadow."

Now for the drugstore this bronzer is a little more on the pricey side but as I could potentially use it for contour, eyeshadow, and a bronzer I'll be able to use it for more than one step in my beauty regime if I wanted to. 

£14.99 

This highlighting quad from Sleek is the most beautiful set of highlighters I have ever seen and I need this in my life. The palette is called Midas Touch and I can just see myself using this in the autumn and winter months of the year to get a cool ice toned highlight to my face. I have cool toned skin therefore I feel like it would compliment my skin tone and we all know I'm not about natural makeup. 

"A limited edition face and body highlighter palette used to highlight and contour the face and body to achieve the ultimate sculpted look."

I feel as if this could be used for eye lids as well as highlighter and the blue and green shades in the pallet could be used for potential Halloween looks that I'll be doing later on this year. Therefore this set of highlighters is quite versatile and I need them in my life. 

£9.99

I continue on with the highlighter obsession and this is one of MUA's newest highliting powders from their Undress Your Skin range. I already have the shade Powder Pink Shimmer and I use it all the time and it is a beautiful highlighter, it really compliments my skin due to my pink undertones. But this one is called Opalescent Amber and this is quite a daring highlighter, but like we've discovered I don't really do natural makeup, so who cares. 

I feel like this highlighter would look stunning on the eyes as well as on the high points of my face. As it's a mix between copper and pink within the highlighter, I feel it would be great for autumn to still give yourself a sunkissed glow with an autumnal twist. It would also compliment a rose gold eye look. 

"MUA’s highlighting powder instantly radiates and lifts any complexion. This can be applied all over for an added radiance or applied to the cheek bones and under the brow bone to lift and accentuate your natural features."

I really want to buy it already and use it every day, I'd love to own all this range of highlighters at some point as they're really worth the money. 

£3.00 

Damn guys, I'm sorry, I lied, we aren't quite done with the bronzers yet, oops. So I didn't realise that MUA brought out some new bronzers and this shade is Sahara Sunlight. 

"Achieve a sunkissed, radiant shimmer look with MUA's bronzer. Dust over face and body for bronzed perfection! Adds warmth and a soft, natural glow."

I'm aware I want to buy a lot of bronzers and contour's but I'm currently using an eyeshadow to bronze and contour as I don't have any proper powders to do the job. I feel like I want to get a different range and see how I like them and this one just looks so cute. The pattern within the powder also looks quite golden which means it should give off a nice shimmer. 

£4.00 

Were back to another primer based product; the #InstaFlawless from Rimmel. It seems like it would be a lovely primer/ tinted moisturiser for summer time and in the summer I want to look #InstaFlawless without so much effort. 

"Rimmel London #Instaflawless is a perfecting tinted primer with SPF 15. More than just a primer, this clever complexion-enhancer helps perfect and protect skin, visually erasing signs of fatigue and giving a natural-looking radiant glow."

From what it claims to do, my skin would really benefit from this right now. My skin is okay at the moment but I feel like it just looks a bit dull and this would be good a product to help radiate my skins complexion.

£6.99 

We've reached a pallet, what a shocker! I can never get enough of eyeshadow pallets and I saw this on Makeup Revolution's website under new launches and I'm like, "OH. MY. GOD." I need this in my life. It is a new pallet apart of their chocolate collection called Vice. I think the colours are absolutely stunning and this looks like it would be the perfect pallet for the autumnal months upcoming later in the year. It seems you have all the colours you could ever need to create some stunning eye looks for autumn within one pallet and that also means it'd be great for on the go! I desperately need to purchase this ASAP! 

£7.99 

Continuing on with this Makeup Revolution saga, this is their Corrector Pallet. I feel like lately a lot of people have been obsessed with looking overly flawless so in their makeup routine they cover up their redness and blemishes with shades like this in order to benefit the look and application of their foundation, concealer, powder etc. And I want to see what this craze is about and see if will benefit my makeup routine. I've heard good things about this corrector pallet and as it's not too expensive it means I can try all of these colours out and see if they are for me. 

£6.00 

OH MY GOODNESS, we've reached another product that I've been desperate to purchase for the longest time. When I found out Makeup Revolution brought out a rose gold lipstick range I was dying to get all these colours and I still am! Each and everyone of these colours are my kind of colours as I'm not a one colour lipstick kind of person. I'm bright in the summer months and dark and deep in the winter months of the year. In this range there is a lipstick colour for everyone as it goes from nude to a deep plum. I seriously need to buy these!! And not to mention, the packaging is to die for.

£3.00 each 

In the UK we have recently had NYX put into some Boots stores and the Boots website. I have heard so much about these butter glosses from many YouTuber's who are obsessed with these and it seems that they're super popular over here too. They're not the cheapest glosses ever but I would like to try them and see what all the fuss is about. They come in really nice colours and they looked super pigmented. 

£5.50 

And finally we have reached the range that inspired me to make this post in the first place. Recently Primark have brought out a new makeup range called P.S. Pro and it is to combine the drugstore prices but have the quality of higher drugstore products. I haven't found this range at the moment in my nearest Primark, so I need to go on a hunt to find all these products and test them out. I'd like to do a full face of makeup with all of these products to see if they actually work. I haven't heard many reviews of this range yet but I'd definitely do a first impressions review for you guys. 

The prices range from £2.00 - £5.00 across all the products to create a full face. 

Finally, Primark have recently broughout some small storage boxes to put your makeup in and keep it organised. Unfortunately I cannot find a flattering photo of the storage for you guys. But I'd really like to get some, especially for next year when I move into my new house for university and have the storage to sit on my desk and keep it organised. This year it's just been all over the place and has mainly had to live in random makeup bags, when in reality I'd like for it to sit on my desk and look pretty. The storage boxes are big enough to fit a good amount in but also compact enough to not take up loads of room.

Pots - £2.50 

Draws - £4.00  

Well guys, thank you for reading and taking an interest to the new products I'd like to try and test. I will obviously review these for you guys when I get around to buying them. But in the next day or two a GRWM shall be posted, so keep your eyes pealed. 

Love, 

Katie 

MA-HOO-SIVE UPDATE!

Hello my lovelies, I hope you're all doing well and are having a good start to summer. Fiirstly I just want to say a massive apology to all of you as I haven't uploaded a blog post in two months. The end of the year at uni has kept me pretty busy with assessments, essays, and of course stll getting drunk every weekend with my friends. Which means I haven't found the time to fit blogging into my schedule. 

So, what's been happening? Well, I've turned 19 now! It's been exactly a month since my birthday when I'm writing this today you guys and I had one of the best birthday's ever, spent with the people that mean the most to me. We had a pyjama party the day before in order to start the birthday celebrations from 12am, woooooo! I was given a massive card, a big bag of presents, and an amazing homemade cake. Not to mention my best girl, Heather from home came up for the weekend! It was so lovely of them all to do that for me as I really didn't expect it. I've never felt more loved, special, and appreciated by a group of people in my whole life. i love them all to pieces and will miss them millions over the summer. 

Devised assessments happened two days afer my birthday and my groups' went incredibly well. I couldn't have been more happier with what we achieved. Our performance was based on video games and the potential life threatening onsequences whilst still making it funny and entertaining. We constantly changed into different characters from real life to video game characters such as Mario. It  was certainly the most challenging devised show I have ever worked on and put together but all that work, time, and energy was worth it as we were grade 65% which is a 2:1! It was an absolute pleasure to be apart of something so inventive and creative in terms of technology and getting to explore what I can do as an actress. The comments made from our lectures; "It is definitely the most challenging and creative devised piece we've seen from a group of first years" and it's different performances like this that I get to be apart of that makes me want to do this for the rest of my life. Our lecturers have even said we'll be performing it again in September/October for the new first years to watch to see the kind of performance you can create and the limits you can go to. Which is a phenominal achievement for us as a group! Can't wait to perform it again as I will never forget how awesome this show was! 

Devised was definitely the biggest performance of the year, however, we also completed our performance histories performances and I received 69%, 1 mark off a first! (damn, haha) but I was absolutely over the moon as it was my highest performance mark this year in regards to an ensemble piece. We also received our vocal marks back and my group achieved 74% which is a first! Couldn't actually believe it. We're still waiting for a load of essay marks, which will probably be the downfall as I'm not the greatest at essay's but we shall soon see! 

Now it is not long until I leave Chester for nearly four months (omg, le cry) and it's needless to say I'm going to miss living here immensely. I feel like since moving here I've been able to blossom and really become who I've wanted to be. Moving away from home really was the best choice I made for me personally. But, it will be nice to go home and spend time with family and my other friends from home as I haven't seen them in quite a while now. Which will be lovely. 

In regards to blog posts I am definitely going to be getting back into it now as I have more time on my hands. I've got a few I want to do in the next couple weeks and plans for future ones but there's a few bits and bobs I need to get for those in order to actually do those posts. So bare with me guys, I will get around to it. But I think that's all I need to update you on for now. 

So thank you for reading this update and I will talk to you again soon! 

Love, 

Katie 

Coffee Chats: Results, Rock of Ages: Feeling Emotional, Presidential Duties, Next Years Options, The End is Nigh

Hello my lovelies, I hope everyone is well, had a good Easter weekend, and is enjoying the beginning of spring. I am aware it has been a while since I updated you on my life and what has been going on. So much has happened since our last Coffee Chats experience, so I better crack on... 

Firstly, I'm gonna talk about a few uni course bits and bobs. Firstly, I remember when I last was talking to you guys I mentioned our Approaches to Performance unit which has been done and dusted and we got our grades back. I got 63% which equals a 2:1, HURRAH! WAHEY! I'm so happy I done so well with the performance side as for ages I was worried all of the techniques and stuff weren't going into my brain and I felt like I didn't understand it. But then when we did a commentary mock in front of our lecturer, (don't get me wrong at this point my commentary wasn't that great), she said thing for me to consider for the real exam a week later, however she said "you're both doing really well in this unit" to myself and one of my other friends who was in my group for the unit. Which took a bit of weight of my shoulders that she could see I was doing well and progressing. After we'd done the real exam I felt so much better about everything and as you can see above, it paid off. I'm still waiting for the essay marks for this unit to come through to me, to see what I got overall. But fingers crossed I've passed the essay as well. 

Secondly, the presentation, it went pretty well. Was pretty easy like I already said and I wasn't worried about it. I got 57% which equals a 2:2 and I'm happy with that. I feel much better now though as I've got out of the 3rd mark barrier as for my two assessments before these two that's all I kept getting, so I actually feel like I have progressed somewhat now. 

Now, onto the most important part of the term that has just happened for me. After doing Rock of Ages with the Drama Society I fell in love with this musical which is why it is now my favourite of all time and favourite I've ever been in. And to quote my Instagram: 

 

katiej0hnson"Well guys, it's official, Rock of Ages is over and I'm going to miss this show and this incredible cast immensely! We've worked our arses off for 6 weeks to put on this show and we had a few bumps along the road and a few hiccups during the first show night, but I wouldn't change a thing; I've loved every single minute and this musical is now officially my favourite ❤️🎭 and of course how can I forget about my favourite role ever?! Getting to play Miss Regina (Regyna) has been incredible. She is 100% the best role I've ever got to play; the high praise and compliments I got after the shows was the icing on the cake and it means the world to know I did Regyna justice through my own way ❤️ can't thank @uocdramasoc enough for giving me the role 🙈 - we wouldn't have been able to do this amazing show without the talent in this amazing cast and the phenomenal work from the committee; Drama Soc has been such an amazing part of my first year at uni and it will continue to be part of my life for the next two years. Thank you for an amazing year guys, here's to next year."

This show genuinely was the best part of this term for me, even though as a society we went through hell and back to get it all perfect, even though the first night was rough with the technical side. It was worth every single minute and I'm already missing performing it with my crazy bunch. Drama Society is so special to me as it is the nicest and most talented cast I've ever been apart of - it's such a wonderful atmosphere and environment to spend roughly between 9-12 hours every week at. The friends I've made here and I'm so close to is what is so special about being in a show cast like this one. My passion for theatre, especially musicals will never leave my heart, for me they are the most enjoyable and entertaining shows to be apart of and I wouldn't change anything about Rock of Ages for the world. 

Apart from all that, the main person I'm missing, is of course my homegirl, Regina, aka Regyna! She is hands down the most enjoyable, funniest, amazing, craziest, happiest, and lovable character I've ever gotten to play. She truly was a joy to portray and she is my favourite role ever; I will truly miss being her with all my heart. 

But for me as a person, the greatest part about playing her was the high praise and amazing compliments I got from the audiences that came to watch. People said things like: you're amazing, you're so funny, you're energy is so high; it doesn't stop, you're a joy to watch, you were phenomenal, just "wow", so impressive, you're so talented.

I had one girl come up to me in the interval and she said, "Can I just say, you're like one of my favourites in this show, you're just absolutely amazing. Your energy is so high, how do you keep it up? I just, I love it" and that was so lovely of her to do, because she didn't have to say anything and it made me feel a bit emotional already but just so happy to know that I was doing a great job. 

 And as a performer when you get told all that it is just such a warm feeling because you know how hard you've worked and how much you love to do what you do and it was hands down the icing on the cake for me to hear all that. Just to know that I did Regyna justice through my own way makes me feel insanely proud and grateful that I was chosen to be her. 

I will never ever forget just how incredible this show was for me as well as the amazing cast I performed with, and of course the committee. We wouldn't have been able to do any of this, this year without their planning, love, support, and of course enjoyment throughout both shows. Without them I don't think we would have all loved this year as much as we have done. 

Another big and special moment that happened this term at the Drama Society was the AGM meeting. So an AGM meeting is a meeting where you elect the committee for the next year of either a society or a sport etc. The way we did it was on a piece of paper we each wrote who we wanted it to be, so it was anonymous and then the committee would just add up the scores. 

So on our committee you have: President, Vice President, Choreographer, Social Secretary, and Communications Officer. So for Choreographer, Social Sec, and Communications Officer they were handed out straight away as only one person in each category ran for the role. Which was Emily, Andy, and Jess. So yay, sorted. But we had two roles left to fill President and Vice President. So for Vice President the people running were myself, Jenn, and Dave. And the winner was... Dave! Woo, another role sorted and everyone seemed happy.  Then left for President it was myself and Ethan and out of both of us, I felt it was 50/50 because we were both passionate about musicals and Drama Society in general and we are good friends so we supported one another till the end. And the winner was... Me! 

I couldn't quite believe it but I am so happy and proud to know that I will be running the society next year with my incredible team behind me. For a while I didn't mind what role I got in the end, but by the time the meeting came I knew I really wanted to win President. It's even nicer to know that the society voted me to be president and Emily, who played Sherrie in our production in Rock of Ages, she said to me I should win because my heart is 110% in it always and that is why you'd be so good if you were President. After we did the final show of Rock of Ages, Emily mentioned to her mum and dad that I was going to be the President of the society next year and they said, "Well that's an excellent choice because she's phenomenal" and I totally didn't expect it, just comments like this make me feel so happy and proud of myself. 

But now the more exciting part starts, planning the Christmas show and thinking about what were going to do for the spring musical. So we've already started planning the Christmas show, but obviously I'm not going to give you all the juicy details as it's not all finalised and of course, we're not allowed to tell the current society anything were planning so I'm gonna keep that one to myself for now. All I say is both shows are going to be out of this world. I can't wait to get back to uni to start sorting everything out as we've already started planning a bit. But, I just know next year is going to be epic for the society and what makes it better is that everyone on my committee; we're really good friends and have a lot of banter with one another.

As well as Drama Soc, we've all picked our module options for next year, which is another reason why next year is going to be amazing. Apart from the core modules, I've picked: Live Art, Musical Theatre, Directing, and Performance Practice. I can't wait to get started as I'm interested in all of the areas of performance work I've picked and I really hope I do well, as I seem to do really well in things I choose to do rather than what I'm forced to do. 

But that does mean, the first year at uni is coming to an end. My god it really has flown by, it's crazy to think of when I got here as I still remember the day I moved in and how happy I was to move away from home but also the weird realisation that I'm actually at university, how am I already at this point in my life? I said to myself in college, I don't think uni is for me, but now that I've been and experienced a year of it (nearly) I've realised it was 110% the best choice for me. I've met the greatest group of friends I've ever had, my years at Chester uni wouldn't be the same without them going through it with me. I feel like everything I've done this year has benefited me as a person and shown to me that I can do this as I have passed all of my modules so far this year.  It has been a true roller-coaster already and I can't wait to see what these last few weeks throw my way. And I say, 

BRING IT ON! 

I'm sure I'll catch up with you guys again in the next few weeks. But for now, thank you for reading through this post, if you have made it to the end. 

Love,

Katie 

 

Soft, Light, Spring Time Pinks Makeup Tutorial

Hello my lovelies, I hope you're well. I know it's been a while since I done a makeup tutorial for you all, so here is a pretty one for spring! 

Firstly I took two soft tones of pinks and started to apply them with a flat eyeshadow brush, however, that wasn't actually getting the eyeshadow to sit, it just kept moving it around. So I took it on my finger and gently dabbed it over my eyelids. 

Secondly, I blended the crease slightly with a fluffy brush but not too much so all of my product would get brushed away. I then took a really light lilac shade and dabbed that onto my inner tear duct with my finger and gently dabbed and blended it up into the pink (as you can see above) 

Tip: By applying white in the inner tear duct with soft colours like light pinks, purples, and greens it makes your eyes look bigger, healthier, and brighter; the perfect addition to your spring makeup. 

I then just took some more pink on the flat shader brush and my fingers and made more of a softer crease as well as a deeper pink colour by using the tip of the bristles. 

I also added the pink on my under eye line meeting the lilac white shade at my inner tear duct. Both these shades are from a Body Collection's pallet which I think are from Body Care (if you live in the UK you'll know what shop I mean) I then just did my usual makeup routine that I do every day: 

• Rimmel London Lasting Finish Primer 
• Maybelline Better Skin foundation in the shade 0.5 Light Beige 
• Collection Lasting Perfection 24HR concealer in the shade 1 Fair 
• Rimmel London Stay Matte powder in the shade 001 Transparent 
• Set all that down with my Makeup Revolution Finish Spray - Pro Fix for Oil Control 
• Then once that set, I added my Primark P.S. Love eyeshadow in a pinky/rose shade 
• MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder in the shade Pink Shimmer 
• Maybelline Satin Brow in the shade Dark Brown 
• Maybelline Brow Drama Mascara in the shade Dark Brown

Then onto my favourite part of any makeup look I do, the mascara. I feel the mascara brings it all together and it's the one makeup  product I can't live without. So I just applied my Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express Mascara Cat Eyes. As you can see this mascara makes your lashes super long, fluttery, and soft. Which I feel is perfect for spring time. 

Can't forget about lipstick. I applied my Rimmel London lipstick in the shade 084 - Amethyst Shimmer. This made the look super pretty and girly but I would've rather put my bright pink lipstick on from Collection in the shade Sweet Tooth (I think it's called that) just because it's a super bright pink. 

Finally I just took my hair out of the plaits and we're done! I really love this look as it's simple and girly but still noticeable. I feel like this year spring is all about super soft blended looks that are quite subtle. I'm gonna do another spring makeup look with green eyeshadows - so look our for that. 

I'll talk to you all again soon! 

Love,

Katie 

Coffee Chats: Assessments, Results, Rock of Ages, and Happiness!

Hello my darlings and welcome back to another Coffee Chats. I hope you're all well and are enjoying a week off if you've got one. I'm currently at home for development/ reading week; which is where you get a week off from uni, usually after assessments. 

So currently I've had two assessments this term which were Drama and Theatre Studies - Presentation and Approaches to Performance.

The presentation was really easy - we just had two talk for two - four minutes analysing a specific scene or an element of a play we've seen. I'm not going to go into loads of detail as it's a pretty standard assessment. Essentially like a part of an essay but shorter and a bit like a snippet. I'm not worried about that one. 

Secondly, Approaches to Performance; as a class we learned different techniques from a specific practitioner to then apply to a play text and perform it later in the module. 
  Our practitioner was Stanislavski and if you don't know who he is, he's a realism practitioner who's approach to theatre is to have a real portrayal of a character through observations, objectives, and obstacles of your specific character in each moment of the play. 
  The play we were given to apply these techniques to was, The Crucible by Arthur Miller which is all about the Salem Witch Trails in 1692. As events like that were taken completely seriously in those times you can see why our lecturers chose Stanislavski and The Crucible to combine together. I was playing a character called Elizabeth who went through a lot of internal feelings during the play. An example is regarding her husband John as he cheated on her with a young girl called Abigail who used to be the maid of their house. She was an interesting character for me to play, as I don't do a lot of realism/ naturalism performances and I've also not learned about Stanislavski until I came to uni and I actually really enjoyed the unit now that I look back. 
  We also had to do a commentary to say what techniques we've used to build up to the performance now (ie. the day we did the assessment) - talk about what we've used, how we used it in the rehearsal process, include quotes from An Actor Prepares by Stanislavski to link to our points and back up our knowledge etc. The commentary was the element of that uni that I was most worried about because I'd never done a commentary before and we also got asked questions to expand our commentary. But, it actually wasn't that scary at all. I feel like I've done really well for that unit and as far as my class all know, we've passed that module as our lecturer has said we have! WAHEY!... we just need to pass the essay now! 

Speaking of passing assessments, we got our grades back for our Technical Devised assessment as I passed! THANK GOD! I'm just so happy to have passed it as I wouldn't want to come back in August to redo that as it wasn't fun the first time, therefore, I doubt I'd enjoy it a second time round. 

Another super exciting moment for me this term, is the drama society. Now you guys remember from the first Coffee Chats I told you about the Christmas show we put on and that the spring musical was going to be Rock of Ages. At that point in time I had no idea what Rock of Ages was about, who the characters were, what songs were in it etc. But since then I've become obsessed with it and it is hands down my favourite musical ever now - I can't wait to direct it myself one day. 
  So, we had the auditions and I auditioned with song called 'We're Not Gonna Take It' which is sang by Regina in the musical, but her name is actually pronounced Regyna, yes it is how you're imagining it. But she was who I wanted to play because she is a massive character - fun, bubbly, passionate, crazy, happy, sassy, which is just me rolled into one character. 
  In the musical she is the new assistant of the Mayor and she is a hippie who is determined to keep the cities current Rock and Roll life style with her team of protesters against Hertz and Franz, two German developers (father and son) who want to have the city's new look on 'clean and efficient living'. However, she changes Franz way of thinking as he is only going along with his dad's plans to please him and she finally opens him up to his own dreams and desires. And, of course, in good old musical fashion, they fall in love! Eventually, she becomes the new Mayor of the city whilst Franz is living his dream of running his confectionery store in Germany.  Eventually, Hertz supports Franz decisions and realises what he has done wrong and also changes.  She's a character who is 100% up my street, and due all of this massive build up, I am proud to say, SHE'S WHO I AM PLAYING IN THE MUSICAL!!!!!! 
  I'm so happy as she is the best role I've ever gotten and for once I got a role I wanted to play and I'm going to love and appreciate every single minute of it. Also, it was also the best audition for a musical I have ever done and I am so proud of myself for that. Any type of performer never does their best work in auditions, but this is the one time I feel like I did, and that is one amazing feeling to me. All of my friends who are also doing Rock of Ages and are in my year at uni said to me, "Your audition was digustingly amazing!" and "You've hands down got that role, there's no one else who can play her like you can" and just to feel that love and support is massive. It is also means the world to know I get to portray all of my talent through a character I'm so in love with playing. I'm not being big headed when I say this but I am really talented at what I do and we all should be able to say were brilliant at whatever it is we pursue our careers to be because otherwise, why would we do it? I love what I get to do every day of my life and I wouldn't change one bit. 


Everything right now is just really good and I'm feeling good vibes as of right now and I'm loving that I'm so happy. 

Thank you so much for reading this post guys and I will talk to you all again soon! 

 Love, 

Katie

Beautiful Pearly Pink Valentine's Day Makeup Tutorial

Hello my lovelies! I hope you're all well and are ready for Valentines Day tomorrow, I promised you two looks this year and I've kept that promise! So the last one I did was just before this post, so go and check it out if you haven't. That one is a lot more sultry and sexy with pinks and burgundy shades, whereas this one is a contrasting look that is pretty in pink. 

So if you're interested in looking pretty in pink this Valentines Day, please keep on reading. 

Step 1 

Firstly, I primed my face and my eyelids with the Rimmel London Lasting Finish Primer to get my skin nice and smooth. I then took Burn Out from the Naked 3 pallet and Lights Flashing from the Girls On Film pallet by Makeup Revolution. I took these two shades together on my Urban Decay Naked 3 brush (the brush that is included in the pallet) to make a mix between the two and took this all over my lid and in my crease. 

Step 2

Next I took Shooting Star and Walking Hand In Hand also from the Girls On Film pallet on my Makeup Revolution E103 brush (fluffy brush) and blended out the edges of those two colours. And just kept blending till I was happy with the softness of the eyeshadow. 

I then just took a makeup wipe and shaped the outer V into more of a triangular point. I also just took some more of Burn Out on my Makeup Revolution E104 brush (tiny pointed brush) just to create that line a bit more visible that connects to the lid (the triangular wing). 

Step 3 

Then I went and did what I always do, my everyday face makeup:

• Rimmel London Lasting Finish Primer 
• Maybelline Better Skin foundation in the shade 0.5 Light Beige 
• Collection Lasting Perfection 24HR concealer in the shade 1 Fair 
• Rimmel London Stay Matte powder in the shade 001 Transparent 
• Set all that down with my Makeup Revolution Finish Spray - Pro Fix for Oil Control 
• Then once that set, I added my Primark P.S. Love eyeshadow in a pinky/rose shade 
• MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder in the shade Pink Shimmer 
• Maybelline Satin Brow in the shade Dark Brown 
• Maybelline Brow Drama Mascara in the shade Dark Brown

Step 4 

Of course with my Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express Mascara Cat Eyes applied to both my bottom and top lashes. 

Step 5 

Finally I chose to apply one of my newer lipsticks recently; Rimmel London's 084 in Amethyst Shimmer which is just a gorgeous purple mixed with pink shimmery lipstick - I love it. 

Finished! I'm sorry for these two different skin tone pictures, typical natural lighting issues. But this is the finished look I really like it; I feel so beautiful wearing it as I just feel fresh and girly. 

I hope you guys enjoyed the creation of this look and I hope that both have either inspired you to be sultry or pretty on this years Valentines Day. 

Go check out my other Valentines Day makeup tutorial here: http://katielouisejohnson.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/gorgeous-feminine-rose-valentines-day.html

Thank you for reading and I will catch up with you again soon. 

Love,

Katie