TOGA ! TOGA ! TOGA! -OOTN

Its the most wonderful time of the year

Its around this time of year I get really excited for Christmas. After all the excitement of Halloween  is now over its time to prepare for 2 months of feeling all festive. Being an advertising student I always get excited to see all the Christmas advert , there basically the only adverts I really like . I'm not gonna lie I do get emotionally involved in Christmas adverts. These are my top 5 Christmas adverts of all time.

1.Coca - Cola Its not Christmas with out the Coca-Cola advert. Its now just synonymous with Christmas , the first sign of the advert and its iconic tune everyone goes mad. Its only officially Christmas when the coca -cola advert appears ,  until then everyone sits and waits . This advert consistently ranks as the UK’s favourite Christmas advert of all time, which isn't surprising.

2. M&S 2013 -Rosie Huntington-Whiteley +
Helena Bonham Carter + David Gandy = A weird but perfect combination for a Christmas advert. As soon as I saw this advert last year  I was instantly drawn into it.I'm always a big fan of interpretations of fairytales and there's no better person to play a fairy tale character than Rosie . She perfect and I secretly want to be her.The all British cast created a modern vision where fashion meets fantasy . Honestly M&S will always have competition from John Lewis with their Christmas advert but they did a good job in keeping up with them with this advert . Its a bit bizarre for a Christmas advert but  David Gandy stars in it and you cant go wrong with David.

3. 'Homecoming' Sainsburys 2013 - I think this advert is so simple and really effective . Using real home video's really highlights whats really important at Christmas and really brings out the realness of the emotions. Its not all about big budget adverts ,sometimes it can just be simple. 

 4.'Aliens'Argos 2011 -  I think this advert is really fun , and captures everything to do with Christmas. It shows that Christmas adverts don't have to be really serious or emotional to be effective . Its just really fun and lighthearted ,things an Christmas advert should be 

5. 'Monty the Penguin' John Lewis 2014 - This isn't a surprise .If I wrote this post a couple a days a go I would of chosen last years John Lewis advert but I saw this one yesterday and cried. I love this advert . Just as you cant think John Lewis can't top last year's advert ,they go and do it again . Its not just the advert , its their whole marketing campaign for it which I love . Its pretty much flawless. John Lewis are making it interactive with the consumers , allowing consumers to be apart of the advert, whether its using technology to place you within the scenes of the advert or getting your own toy to be in the advert. The in-store interactivity is really amazing. Just like last year their also cashing in on merchandise with Monty onesies , toys ect .And Who doesn't love penguins. I cry every time I watch this its just so cute .

What is your favourite Christmas advert ? 

OOTN - Halloween

Trick or Treat - Part 2 Costume

Continuing with the Halloween theme and from yesterdays make-up post , Im now going show you how to create a cute/haunting but scarily cheap Halloween costume . The whole look cost £11.50. This outfit was influenced by  my hockey social outfit from last week . The theme was 'When I Grow up' and I wanted to be a dancer ( even though i cant dance at all and haven't had a dance lesson ) , obviously it wasn't all blooded up when I wore it then.

I couldn't find a leotard anywhere so I popped into Primark and found a stretchy vest dress (if that's even a real thing ?) which looked like a leotard under the tutu. I didn't realise how ridiculously short the tutu was before buying it so I needed something to cover. I pretty much just cut into the t-shirt in random places to give it a ripped effect . Using the fake blood I just randomly throw it on making sure it wasn't too neat , I would apply the blood using a foundation brush  around the cut areas though .I did this a few days before I'm going to wear it so that it dries. I then just applied the fake blood with a brush onto the tutu . Its so simple but it looks really effective when everything comes together.

Products Used  

T-shirt/Dress from Primark - £3.50

Tutu from PartyPlanet - £8.00

Fake blood from ClintonsCards - £1.50 

Trick or Treat - Hockey Halloween Social

Last night was the Hockey Halloween social  which i'd been looking forward to for ages because hockey always go full out. Instead of the normal routine of choosing our own costume ,each team had to wait till the night to find out what they would be wearing. Each team had a different choice of costume and all members of the team wore the same outfit,  which made it easier to find people for when I decide to walk off and lose everyone. I literally had no idea what the 3's would be wearing , all we were told was to dress in all black. Naturally I thought we were going to be cats or witches , so it was a total surprise when we were turned into pumpkins !

It was such a clever idea. We pretty much just cut a pumpkin face onto an orange t-shirts . That simple. Then we all put our hair into high buns and sprayed green and orange  hairspray on (trying to wash out the hairspray was out this morning was such a pain though .) The look was finished off with green eyeshadow and green liquid eyeliner for the make-up. It was such a good night , probably the best night I have had with hockey so far.

We all look so good 

Trick or Treat - Part 1 Make-up

Halloween is pretty much my favourite time of year ,well second favourite after Xmas. Being at university there's so much going on this year, which isn't good for my bank balance . Its every university students dilemma at around this time of year though , what do I dress up for Halloween  without spending all my overdraft ? .So I'm pretty much going to show you  how you can solve this problem by showing you my look that im going to use for Halloween this year ,starting with the make-up  .Its easy , quick and cheap . I had all these products already in my make-up bag so I didn't really spend anything on this look but you can use any other products that are similar.

Being naturally really pale I didn't really need to use any white face paint for the base but obviously if your skin is tanned or darker white face paint is an option . If you are going to use face paint I would recommend using a an old clean foundation brush to apply it with just because it produces a more even coverage and its easier to apply. A cream paint is always the best option  , which is basically like a £1 from any shop .Hardly breaking the budget .

If you are pale like me I would suggest using your normal foundation or a shade lighter than you normally would . I just used the Rimmel Match Perfection in Light Porcelain which is my everyday one .

Next I created the smokey eyes with the Undressed Pallet from MUA. Im not the best when it comes it eye make-up so I  just applied shade 11 all over the eye and underneath as well . Clearly if your better at make-up than me  and better at creating a real smokey eye than do that . I actually use the eyeshadow to contour the cheekbones as well , I found that it showed up better than actually using black face paint

To create the stitches I just used a black liquid eyeliner .Simple . I would go over the top on them because then it would just look like one black mess, three or four will do. I would recommend drawing them on quite large as I tired smaller ones which just ended up looking like black spots in photos (not a good look.) . I also added a little bit of fake blood with a foundation brush on them to give it more of a realistic effect

Lastly I just added a little bit of colour to the lips to give it more of a going out feel . I love the Sleek True Colour lipstick in Cherry , its really moisturizing and leaves your lips feeling soft and looking glossy, Everything that has been used can also be re-used into your normal make-up routine.

PART 2 COMING TOMORROW


Products used 

Fake Blood  from Clintions Card  - £1.00 
Face Paint ( Optional ) from  Poundland - £1.00 for both black and white .
Rimmel Match Perfection From Superdrug - £6.99 
MUA Undressed eyeshadow pallet from Superdrug - £4.00 
Collection 2000 Fast Stroke Liquid Eyeliner from Superdrug  - £2.99 
Sleek True Colour lipstick from Superdrug -  £4.99 

What Would LC do - 10 life lessons that The Hills have taught us

Ever since the early days of Laguna Beach and through out the years on The Hills , One thing stayed the same with Lauran Condrad ; she always gives the best advice . Whether it's about friends , boyfriends , make ups or break ups you can always count on LC to rely on to get you through the tough times. Here are some of the lessons she has taught us.

1) Ending relationships are tough for everyone. Whether you’re trying to move on from an ex-boyfriend or breaking up from your best friend , LC has taught us that no matter what situation you’re going through it's going to be tough times .  Its always good to cry and let it out.

2) It’s the quality of your friends , not the quantity . Having a stable group of a few close friends is key. Fake friends are not worth it .

3) Happiness is key. If you’re in a relationship where you are not happy then it’s probably not worth the stress and drama. Don’t be in a relationship with someone just for the sake of it. You should be with someone that treats you right not that makes you think you’re not good enough . 

4) Life isn’t fair. Sometimes you just have to look on the positive sides of situations even if you think that nothing is going right. Just think everything happens for reason .Things have to get worse before they get better.  But instead of dwelling on it you can accept it as it is and move forward

5) You can’t trust everyone you like. Don’t trust someone too fast. Wait a while before you talk about your secrets, work out who's real and who's there just to cause drama.

6) Always choose Paris. Don’t ever let anyone stand in your way between you and any opportunities in life because you'll always think about the' what if's'

7)Trust is the most important thing. Once that trust is broken it’s hard to gain back , no matter how much you want it . 

8) Not everyone is out to get you. There are some people that want the best for you . Most of the time we always hear things how everyone is out to get you and we forget that we all have people in our lives that want to see us happy

9) Saying goodbye is hard especially to someone who you used to be close to, but sometimes it’s the best thing to do. Move on from people who cause too much negativity, its best just to cut them out your life.

10) Most importantly , Forgive and Forget ( Take that how you want)