Wednesday 26 March 2014

The #NoMakeUpSelfie Campaign

Within a week, in fact, maybe less, #nomakeupselfies were covering everyone's Facebook timelines, all with the intention of raising money and awareness for Cancer Research. After these first started showing up, I was highly sceptical about them; they couldn't really be used for grabbing attention as the point is that we aren't looking good in them. But were they really raising money?
Yet, after seeing more and more of the selfies being posted alongside screenshots of their donations, my mind had been changed. The news also started covering the new trend and the awareness for Cancer Research grew by a huge amount. By nominating who you think should post the next unfiltered photo, there is sense that everyone wants to involve everyone else and that we all do actually want to help raise money for a good cause. I have even seen some which have donated to different charities, stating that it is a great campaign, but don't feel pressured to donate only to Cancer Research, but to a charity of your choice.
The fact that it is also so simple to donate, (just by texting), the money raised has been incredible. So far a total of £8 million has been raised for Cancer Research. The newspapers are struggling  to keep up to date with just how much money has been raised; it must then be a good cause!

My mind was changed after realising just how much money was being raised and I followed through with my nomination. I then nominated two of my friends. However there does still seem to be a sense in which we making this seem like a 'big' or 'brave' move upon women; that God forbid we should ever been seen in photos without make up! I'm pretty sure that all of the boys I live with at university cannot tell the difference between when I've got make up on and when I haven't; and they don't care. Yes, it is capitalising on the fact that as women, there is a general belief that we should, and need, to always be wearing make up and that it is apparently somehow morally beneficial to be seen without it. But whatever our beliefs upon this actually are, the difference it is making is incredible.

So maybe we should be grabbing our cleansers and our make up wipes and smearing the norms of society, especially if we can raise money for charity at the same time.


I now nominate all of those who wish to join in the trend/campaign. It seems that the #nomakeupselfie has blurred the meaning of these two words; be a part of something amazing.

Please either donate by texting BEAT to 70099 or online at https://www.justgiving.com/cancerresearchuk/


A great by the soon-to-be SU President of Warwick University.

Thursday 20 March 2014

The Wolf of Wall Street - Jordan Belfort | Book Review


[Sorry again for lack of actual picture; am currently living out of bags and suitcases]

Wow. Mr.Belfort, should I ever have the pleasure of meeting him, must be a truly astounding man. To be able to have written this book in the way he has, making it seem sososo realistic and great, that it's almost fiction, despite being a memoir, and to have lived the life that he did, just, wow. Coming from a background of pretty much complete stock-broking, never would you have expected a book such as this to have come out. I am deeply ashamed to admit that I saw the film first, merely due to timing and not choice, but there are quite a few differences. This doesn't alter the book or the film as being great pieces of work, but the film does alter the reality of what actually happened (spoiler alert!)

Belfort takes us along his journey through being a menial worker on Wall Street to running his own high-end stock broking business, to being caught by the FBI, days in rehab, and his eventual downfall from the wonder years of his life. All doing so, in what we must take to be near word-for-word perfection. You feel every emotion. You hear every word. You see everything. Not only did this book give a great insight into a world which I never really would have considered of much interest before, but he led you along the path of self-destruction in such a way that you understood and sympathised with how bad things actually happen to successful people. 

Whether or not you've seen the film, want to or not, just read this book. Appreciate it for the true piece of genius that it is. And join me in the line to shake Jordan, sorry the Wolf's hand.

Next Up: The Promise of Happiness - Justin Cartwright

Have you read Belfort's astounding work?
xoxo

Friday 7 March 2014

Magazine Freebies #2


It is that wonderful time again when all the magazines decide to give away goodies.  I can just tell that April is looking up to be a good month...

Company
So I was actually going to get this simply for the cover star: Zoella! After hitting 4 million subscribers this week, she is now gracing the cover of April's Company. This is absolutely amazing and such an inspiration! The issue comes free with 'Company Lashes' mascara.


Elle
The April issue of Elle comes with a Percy&Reed hair 'Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Balm' worth £18. Considering I've already got a Percy&Reed product sitting in my box of products to try, I cannot now wait to use this one either!

Marie Claire
Katy Perry graces another magazine cover (she brings out all the freebies!), and with April's copy coming with a Neal's Yard Remedies Lip Gloss. It is called 'Goji Berry' and I think this is the same for every copy and is wroth £9.50. It also comes with a Spring catalogue for Mango. Double win!


Glamour
Not only is the April copy only £2, but there is an offering of Model Co products. There is a choice of five including: Eye Liner Pencil with inbuilt sharpener, Lip Liner Pencil, two Lip Glosses (one a nude colour, the other a pale pink I do believe). There is also a 25% of H&M voucher valid on full price ladies products between 3rd March and 4th April. 


April is definitely a good month for magazines and new products!
Have you got yours yet?
xoxo

Thursday 6 March 2014

My Mascara Collection


Now to be perfectly honest, to some this will look like loads, and to others absolutely nothing. In my opinion, it is quite a lot, but what can I say? At the time of writing this, I have also realised that it is in fact missing two from it, so there we go. What girl doesn't need 12 mascaras?

From left to right: Soap&Glory Thick & Fast, Collection Supersize Fat Lash Mascara, Avon Sparkle Lash and Line, Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Mascara, Avon Mega Effects Mascara,  Rimmel False Lash Affect, L'Orea Paris Miss Manga Mega Volume Mascara, Seventeen doll'd up Mascara, Avon Super Shock Mascara and yes that is another Soap&Glory Thick and Fast Mascara that you can see...
I also own the Clinique High Impact Mascara and No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara. I'd forgotten about these as I wear them together and so they kind of stick together as a pair.

First and foremost, the Avon Mega Effects is the absolute bomb when it comes to mascaras. If you are yet to try this, get your hands on it now. It is a revelation in the mascara world; it looks a little scary in that it does look like a paint brush but it makes your lashes look phenomenal. All the Avon mascaras that I've used have actually been pretty good and I would definitely recommend trying them out!

The No7 Exceptional Definition I find works great as a bottom lash mascara as one side of the wand has smaller bristles (bristles? Is that even right?).

The Soap&Glory, you also cannot go wrong with; the brush is as big as my eyes!

What aren't so great is the Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Mascara and the Collection Fat lash mascaras. They just do not work for me. The Jelly Pong Pong one I honestly had no words for. The brush is just plain weird; it doesn't make my eyelashes look good at all; and it does not come off. I had to pluck it off. It was horrendous. The Collection one can work well as a base for another mascara, but it just does not live up to it's name for me.

I hope that you found this interesting and that it gave you some ideas as to what mascaras to try! I am definitely eyeing up (see what I did there...) the Maybelline The Falsies; thank you Tanya Burr.

What are your favourite mascaras?
xoxo

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Glamour Beauty Edit | 2014


It has to be said. This was a complete impulse purchase after reading about it on Make Up Savvy. And that I was maybe ordering simply because I wanted the Burt's Bees lip balm...but I regret nothing!
The box includes:

  • Pack of 3 Invisibobbles
  • Burt's Bees Peppermint and Vitamin E
  • L'Oreal Paris Miss Manga Mega Volume Mascara
  • Cheeky Chat Me Up Nail Paint
  • Rituals Zensation Organic Rice Milk and Cherry Blossom Foaming Shower Gel Sensation (bloody hell what a long name)
  • Daniel Sandler Long Lasting Waterproof Eyeliner
  • Percy & Reed Abundantly Bouncy Volumising Hair Mousse
I had already used the invisibobbles, however not the branded version. These were all the rage as multi-use bracelets-come-hairbands in Hong Kong back in 2012 when I first discovered them. These are actually really great to hold your hair up for the simply fact that they are tight enough to hold it, but not too tight that they damage your hair. Not so sure how these would work on curly hair though...
Burt's Bees. Well, it was everything it has been hyped up to be and was definitely worth ordering the entire box for...
I found, at first, L'Oreal Miss Manga mascara to be a bit of a struggle to use. The very end of the wand bends, which as I had not really looked into anything about it beforehand I really did not get on with. And by 'get on with', I mean I was struggling to use it and just thought 'Why is the wand so god damn wobbly?!!??! It's just not stable!!!!' ... I know. I know. However, after realising that it wasn't 'wobbly' and that it bends to fit perfectly to the shape of your eyelashes and the exact angle needed for amazing application, wow. This mascara is amazing! I won't add anymore as I have probably lost a lot of respect there for my stupidity on this one...

I have not yet sampled the rest of the products in the box; (don't worry, they are all together with numerous other products that I need to sample). Yet I feel that this is definitely something worth investing in, even if it's just to try some new products. 
The box it still, as far as I am aware, available here. It costs only £14.95!! This is great deal when all of the products together are worth £45, so give yourself a Spring treat! 

What would be your favourite products?
xoxo

Sunday 2 March 2014

A Day In The Life #4 | Taylor Swift at the O2!


Copyright @TheKazlightAnthem

That's right my friends. One of the best nights of my life ever happened. Genuinely cried too many times count. I went with Lucy and at the end she said to me that she thought I had actually died or become paralysed at one point.
Now, Taylor is already the love of my life, and I believe that she is sent from the Gods, so I am obviously biased, but she was AMAZING. She truly is one of the greatest performers that we have currently. To give you an unbiased opinion: Lucy was not originally coming with me but stepped in at the last minute. She's not the biggest fan of Taylor, but in her words: 'What the best thing for was not only the songs, catchy although they are, but her songs weren't commercial. Her songs told us not what we wanted to hear but about the truth. People don't talk openly about how they've been bullied or heart broken and most of the time we're not open to listening about it or feel uncomfortable talking about it. She wasn't truing to be someone that other people want her to be. She was just writing the truth. Which is why I cried and I'm not even a hard core fan. [Apart from when Danny from the Script came on and I was a dribbling ship wreck.] Oh yes that's right, Danny O'Donahue also came on! They duetted Breakeven.

I had already seen Taylor on her Fearless tour in 2008/9 but honestly. No words could explain how amazing this was. She did the entire show (just under two hours) with no break; only 30 second costume changes.
The set list included Red, All Too Well (omg, I think I actually died inside at this one. The Grammy's performance youtube video did not do it justice), Treacherous, The Lucky One, 22, I Knew You Were Trouble, State of Grace, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (the closing number; wow.), Mean, You Belong With Me and Sparks Fly.










All photos are Copyright @TheKazlightAnthem

What are your opinions on Taylor?
xoxo