Remember when... we met Ben Howard

Earlier this year (I wanna say May time?) me and Michael went to see Ben Howard in Blackpool, and ended up having a little chat with him (about Brudenell Social Club in Leeds) outside of the venue. He was lovely and we were massively starstruck after being fans of both the album and the EP for a long time. (Though we didn't let it show obviously!)

Jealous? ;)

24hr Tattoo Eye Colour in Pink Gold

I know they've been hyped about for a while but I finally got round to trying out this little beaut, whilst on a little jaunt around boots. I thought the colour was pretty, swatched it, liked it but my conscience and some willpower kicked in to say 'No I don't need this.'

...however, after getting home and going about with my life, I realized by swatch still hadn't wiped off. This tattoo effect staying power out lasted my own willpower, so on my next visit into Boots I headed straight for the Maybelline isle and picked it up. The price is very reasonably at £4.99 so it wasn't too much of a struggle on my post-uni purse (conscience, is resting easy).

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Gel Cream Eyeshadow

Pink-Gold

£4.99 from Boots

Swatched in natural day light.

I'm not overly one for eyeshadow, I think it still reminds me of bad school disco makeup and I really struggle to stray from the cat eye flick that I have been applying for at least 7 years (seriously). I thought this would be nice for a summer day time look, I like it as the payoff as it's quite dewy and gives a hint of warmth to my eyes. I've worn it here with my traditional liquid liner but I think it would like nice simply on it's own with a slick of mascara. Need to work up the courage to ditch the cat flick first though!

Not My Type

In the wake of my Fine Art degree I'm trying to find new avenues to fuel my creative urges. Because my course was so conceptual, a lot of the things I'm drawn to are back to my old craftier/illustration roots.

So I started drawing again and in order to find some inspiration I responded to a songwriter who was looking for someone to illustrate his titles, his first one being 'Not my type'.

We haven't gotten round to doing another title as of yet, but it's a start, and something to keep my creative juices (ew) ticking over. As well as this I have been starting to make resin jewelry, but I'm unsure how successful they are yet, resin is very temperamental (and expensive) as I found out from working with it this year. So, we shall see..

Begendings and the What Nexts?

Opening Night at Leeds Degree Show 2013

If you haven't heard blogger Ze Frank talk about 'begendings' then you would probably be a little confused by the title.

The begendings, and what I'm currently facing with my time at Uni is, as you have probably guessed, the beginning of the end. That moment when walking the same route that you have done a million times for the past three years, you suddenly become aware that there is a limited amount of times left that you will have to. I find myself walking through campus staring up at the big old beautiful buildings as if in a cliched movie, in complete naive surprise that I hadn't noticed how impressive they were and how lucky I was to be part of such a good University. I kind of like that feeling, the hazy joy of 'I enjoyed this chapter of my life.' But then the What Next sets in. It is the question on every to be graduates lips, and what we constantly ask each other warily '...so what are you doing next year?' and the panic of not quite knowing what to reply. All my plans are a little up in the air at the moment, with a very last minute PGCE interview for Birmingham next month and the possibility of living at home or in Leeds, and it would be very easy to fall into panic mode.

To combat 'the fear' I've been trying to come up with strategies to keep calm and keep focus on the future, when finishing a chapter of my life.

1. Start a new job. I recently left my awful bar job for another not so awful bar job. The people are lovely and it leaves me with something to come back to in September if I choose to be in Leeds.

2. Start a new project. Or a blog! My use of resin in my work has meant that i've become really interested in resin jewellery, so I am making plans to create some resin pieces. Not only this but I've also started a collaboration with a singer/songwriter to create a drawing everyday to one of his song titles, let's hope I can keep up!

3. Plan all of the things. Book some gigs, buy festival tickets. Plan a date night with your partner, or a meal with family or friends. Go traveling! Keep your calendar busy and you'll start to fill the empty gaps that were usually jammed full of the chapter you've finished. Plan a holiday, you probably deserve/need one.

4. Don't set your expectations of yourself too high. If like me you've just finished Uni, it's really easy to feel like you desperately need to be on the path to your career now and if you're not you're a failure. WRONG you've just finished something major, you can allow for a month, six months, a year or even longer. If you've not sorted out your ideal job yet, stick with a part time one and if you can, get some experience in you're prospective field.

I feel like the biggest hypocrite ever for writing this, let's hope I can take my own advice!

Close-up of my piece 'Lists' 

 A much more exciting countdown.

"Gatsby? What Gatsby?"

So in the midst of all the end of University stress, tearing my hair out, waking up crying, and other such madness, the ever suffering boyfriend decided he needed to drag me away from my work and take me to the cinema for a couple of hours. To see, of course, the film I feel like I have been waiting for years for, ever since it was announced. *drum roll* The Great Gatsby!

I'm not going to go into what I did and didn't like about the film, and bore you with a review, but I will say even as an avid lover of the book, I think it's a must see.

To add to my Gatsby excitement even more, I was lucky enough to win some Gatsby goodies from Literary Emporium, that I raved about.. here.  This actually happened a couple of weeks ago, but due to University Stress, I haven't been able to get round to posting about it (or anything for that matter!). It came on a day when I was having a really bad time with my work load and felt miserable, and then this delightful little package dropped through my letterbox.

Couldn't believe all my goodies! And Rio over at Literary Emporium is such a sweetie, check out her little note! My little package (beautifully wrapped, as always) included, three post cards, including my favourite quote from the book (which I'm considering as a potential new tattoo, shhh)

"So we beat on. Boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

A Gatsby badge, which you can just see in it's wrapping there, featuring the artwork from one of the editions of the book. And finally and most exciting the little bow-tie necklace.

The necklace is so delicately made and the prints are all flawless. I have worn the necklace loads already, usually with a little sun dress. Expect to see it in many more of my posts! (And expect to see more posts now I am officially free!)

I must have been having some crazy Gatsby related luck, because I also won some Gatsby Merchandise from The Vue Cinema at The Light in Leeds, but yet is yet to arrive from Warner Bros.
Strange because I never rarely enter competitions and then I won two at once, just goes to show that someone has to win!

I'm such a quote nerd that I love Literary Emporiums pieces, do you have a favourite literary quote?