Lily Collins

Inspiration

Recently, I have become infatuated with the effortless class of Mortal Instruments star, Lily Collins. With her stand out red lips and eyebrows, Lily's style isn't easy to replicate, which is fantastic. My wardrobe has been influenced to an extreme level by her street style. Here are a few of my favourites: 

 

There have been several tutorials on how to get Lily's look, my personal favourite is by Tanya Burr, the link is here: X

Posted by: Holly

Book Ends - Stardust

Stardust

For those who enjoyed the film Stardust as a child,or with their children, the fact that the movie was in fact based off an  adult fairytale may come as a bit of a  surprise. Certainly, the storyline of the  film follows the whimsical magic of the  novella, but the story has something  more that many may find much more  enjoyable, and much darker. 

Like the film kept, the story follows  Tristran Thorne, a young shop boy  from  the village of Wall, whose perseverance of the fools errand his  love Victoria has sent him on leads  him straight into a strange land called  Faerie. But before this, we have the  tales of his father, and how he met a strange old warlock who promised to  help Dunstan, Tristran’s father, find his one true love. And so Tristran came to be. 

The story holds a kind of magic that is  rarely seen in modern fiction, something of real awe and mystery.  The ruthless kingdom of Stormhold  has a true cinematic quality that  the novellas author, Neil Gaiman, should  be highly praised for.

If you enjoy magic, mayhem and fallen stars, the story of the village of Wall and the hidden land of Stormhold should be a true treat. I highly recommend this read.

To buy the book, follow this link : X

To buy the film, follow this link: X

For more on Neil Gaiman, follow this link: X

Posted by: Holly

What I Recommend - Randall And Hopkirk

Back From The Dead

For my first TV recommendation, I  choose Randall and Hopkirk  (Deceased). The show is a brilliant  example of an early 2000’s surreal  sitcom. Starring notorious duo, Bob  Mortimer and Vic Reeves (Of  Shooting Stars fame), as the even  more madcap title characters, each  episode contains fine examples of  British humour. 

 The premise is simple: Two private  investigators, along with ones beautiful fiance, are caught on the wrong side of a client, which ends in a rather tragic death to Hopkirk. From beyond the grave, Hopkirk choses his work partner and best friend Randall as his ‘chosen one’, enabling him to communicate with the living and assist with cases. There is also another familiar face in the form of Tom Baker playing Hopkirks eccentric mentor, Wyvern. 

If you are a fan of British comedy, you will enjoy a game of ‘spot the faces’ as many future stars appear in the show. To name a few; David Tennant, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Hugh Laurie, Jessica Hynes, Simon Pegg and Matt Lucas. The amount of cameos is truly extraordinary, and truly enjoyable! 

Randall and Hopkirk display unorthodox methods in the line of duty, all of which are very entertaining. Both series are brilliant and the show definitely came to an untimely end! I highly recommend giving the series on watch. 

You can find both series on Amazon here: x

Posted by: Holly

The First One: Arctic Monkeys - AM

The First One

Arctic Monkeys, AM (June 2013) 

Arctic Monkeys definitely seem to be the highest ranking band at the moment, due to their recent album AM, released in September last year. It’s hard to fail to notice the praise and ravings about the album, which is Arctic Monkeys 5th studio release. My personal opinion? Don’t believe the hype. 

The album contains definite anthems for indie boys in the near future, for example;  Do I Wanna Know? has the  opening bars of a classic,  swiftly followed by the  raging tone of R U Mine?  But personally, I think the  real question should be:  Does it work? The album  has no rise and fall, no  climax, no stand alone  songs. For those who are  casually listening, it may  seem as though the album  is one long extended  edition of Do I Wanna  Know? The slow groove  presented in the best  selling single is continued  through not only One For  The Road and Arabella, but  also Why D’ya Only Call Me When You're High and Fireside. Thank heavens for No. 1 Party Anthem and Mad Sounds, otherwise I think the album would've been tossed out of the window for the pure repetition of the beat. 

The hype for this album was immense, what with the Monkeys headlining Glastonbury months before going on an international arena tour. But personally, I feel that it doesn't live up to the road paved by previous albums. There is no staging to the album. Ironically, the album that they wanted to sound slick and smooth sounds more like a group of boys trying to be Ozzy Osbourne than any of their previous. There is an air of pretend around the whole album, as though Alex Turner feels he needs to shove the former glory of rock and roll into an oven of 21st century drum machines and musical editing. 

The album is well produced and features many catchy singles that will no doubt continue to plague alternative radio stations and magazines for another few months if not years. The overall effect is a tour through American Rock and Roll history, with No.1 Party Anthem as a typical formal slow dance. The iconic high vocals of Matt Helders brings back a sense of their previous albums. 

Overall I would give the album 4/5 «««« The album is a definite musical step for the Arctic Monkeys, displaying a positive progression in their sound, and featuring many classics in the making. That said, maybe Alex Turner should stick to the day job and leave his Elvis impersonation for a party trick?

To buy the album, click here: X 
For more on Arctic Monkeys, click here: X

Posted by: Holly

Stepping To The Big League

Stepping Into The Big League

A Short Introduction

For several months, I have been attempting to create an interesting blog where I can post about the styles I like, new trends I don't quite get, reviews and music. This has not been a success in anyway, mainly as I was a fool and tried to create it as an additional account to my main blog. This means that I was unable to follow people. So now I am making up for that. I am starting a real blog. There is no promise that this blog will be no more successful than the previous one. But I'm trying.

What To Expect

• I would like to make regular post about people who inspire me, through art, music, or fashion. 
• There will be a series of regular reviews that will also be posted on my tumblr page.
• It is possible that there will be vlogs from me, updating you on my current situation and things that are affecting me. 

What Not To Expect

• I would like to say that anything I post would be of interest, but that's a lie.
• Make up tutorials, I am rubbish. 

Links

Youtube

Tumblr

Twitter

Posted by: Holly