The First Date Outfit.

A bit of a strange title for a post for someone who has been in a relationship for the past year and a half, I know, but hear me out. My boyfriend and I have been together since the first year at university, and we got together in a rather unorthodox way where our 'first date' was more our first meeting after speaking to each other loads through Facebook. Now, we're not an internet couple, we knew who the other was and were on the same university course etc, etc, but we just hadn't actually got round to spending the time together so as friends we decided to finally see who the person we were talking to actually was (me reckoning he was actually a robot/computer that had human emotions...). So we met, and it wasn't a first date because neither had said it was a first date but it felt like it, from then on drama ensued much like a Rom-Com film, just without the endless amount of money or the fabulous city setting. Anyway, we never really had a first date, so finally, a year and half in, we decided maybe it's about time that we actually had the typical, boy-picks-girl-up-and-takes-to-restaurant, date that we had missed out.
      It was a great success and surprisingly I got the 'first date' nerves as I waited eagerly for him to pick me at my house, my heart jumping into my throat and my stomach doing the flippy thing like it wants to be some sort of acrobat, that you get when you are extremely excited but nervous at the same time about something. He picked me up, with white roses my absolute favourite and took me to this lovely little restaurant that looked like Christmas had thrown up on it whilst being decorated with Old Hollywood pictures which was just the most awesome atmosphere mixed with the soothing voice of Bing Crosby, improved by the fact that because we were both so comfortable in each other's company that when I spilt my drink on my sleeve or my chicken fajita fell in my lap, we got over it pretty quickly with minimal embarrassment. It was the perfect night.

Anyway moving on from this, the point of the post was to show the outfit I wore just because it's cute and haven't done a post about dresses and cuteness before so thought I would. I went for a purple theme tonight, just because colourful tights are amazing and the purple ones just seem to go with almost everything. But without anymore babbling, which you are most likely already starting to drift in and out of conciousness, here's the outfit:

 What's being worn here is: Purple checkered dress with polka dots - H by Henry Holland, Purple Tights - New Look and Brogue Shoe Boots - New Look.

Now I love this dress, it's just got the 1950s design but more modern and original (not original but I feel weird saying 'funky' as I am not from the 70s...). I love that it's short but not too short, and it has this beautiful underskirt and mini petticoat that makes the corset-like material at the top to pull you in, in all the right places and then poof out to emphasise the hourglass shape. It's just a very, very flattering dress! Definitely recommend it! The tights, now new look doesn't always do the best because things can break easily from them, or rip or just generally not survive any sort of wear-and-tear, but these tights have lasted me for over a year (a record for someone who is constantly ripping every pair of tights being worn) and are extremely thick and warm. They're only £6-8 and they really do last, plus come in a variety of colours, I have red, turquoise and white currently but always looking out for more! Finally, the shoe boots, my beloved shoes boots... These are beautiful and they make your feet look tiny. They're very vintage looking with lovely ribbon laces, they mix the gorgeous design of flat brogues with a little bit of a heel, not too much that you are keeling over with every step you take but enough to give you that cute heel walk wiggle.

Anyway, I love this outfit, I hope you do too and that it's been an interesting read. Hope you're all having a great evening and enjoying the countdown to Christmas - 11 days to go! :)

xx

The Crazy-For-Chanel Haul of November 2010!

Firstly, I want to say sorry for being such an awful blogger recently! No posts for almost a month! Even I am completely horrified at myself for this complete lack of posting! My only excuse is that I am in my final year of university doing History so am completely swamped with reading and essaying at all times, but now I have handed in all my assignments for Christmas I have a complete week before going home to do as I wish so will make up for the lack of contact this month!

Anyway, skipping along happily, this post is about the Chanel haul that I got for my 21st birthday (plus my beloved Chanel lipgloss that I bought last year to start the Chanel obsession) in November. In those timeless black and white bags you know something good is coming, so when I started unwrapping to find several of those excitement did start to set in. Now I don't know about you, but I am just the teensiest bit in love with Chanel, have been for many a year and already have the plan that when the first real paycheck comes through a Chanel bag will be bought even if it means starving for a month... But that may just be me! It's the timelessness of their products that makes me adore Chanel so, that despite however much fashion changes over the decades and how much companies change their products to keep up with the style, Chanel continue to produce the same classy, sophisticated and timeless beauty that is attached to that period of the 1940s and 50s - which is my period.

So this is what has now been added to my little Chanel stash:

Left to Right: Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Colour in 19 Gabrielle, Levres Scintillantes Glossimer in Charming, Natural Finish Pressed Power in 20 Clair - Translucent, Chance Eu Tendre perfume and finally the double faced mirror in it's little velvet pouch.

So there it is all together, and to be honest with you I try to not use it too much but keep them in their pouches, using only on very special occasions. Silly, I know, but I just cannot bring myself to use them all up! Anyone, some close ups of the products:

 I love the amount of detail that goes into their products, that they carve it into the lipstick itself, and they do the same with the powder! But as a comment on the lipstick itself, it is definitely worth the buy! The price tag is still a shock to the system, as all Chanel is, but it is long lasting, very soft and moisturizes the lips and is such a beautiful colour. It's the perfect 1950s shade which goes with my look so was very happy with it, and not just for the CC.

The powder is lovely too, goes on very smoothly and being translucent it just works to give you that matte, fair look that I aim to achieve the 1940s/50s look. The lipgloss is really beautiful as it's not too pale but isn't a deep, rich colour so if you are going for a dramatic eye look it works really well as it gives your lips a shine but emphasises your eyes even more. Finally, the perfume, it's just gorgeous. It's a floral scent but quite delicate and fresh so a very spring scent! It lasts all day and it does not change throughout the day when on. One of the best perfumes I have ever had.

So there we go, that's my rather long post on the Chanel haul that the 21st brought in! Hope you found it interesting and there is someone out there who shares the passion with Chanel otherwise this is a very boring post for you (sorry!). But yesh, hope you liked it :)

xxx

What happened to my Hogwarts letter?

So yesterday, instead of continuing with my reading for the next day's seminar, I decided it was a much better idea to watch the live streaming of the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One in Leciester Square. This did indeed turn out to be a much better plan then reading an endless amount of law cases which I have to work through for my dissertation class, although I am not so sure my dissertation leader agrees ... Anyway, whilst watching the red carpet getting more and more filled with the cast and other celebrities (and some X Factor nobodies who shouldn't have even been there...) as well as the swarms of fans crushed up against the fencing on the red carpet, I couldn't help but get even more excited for the release of the long awaited final chapter to the Harry Potter phenomenon! In a week's time I will be in the cinema, in full Hogwarts attire, watching the first part to the end of what really was a big part of my childhood (and still quite a feature in my current, apparently 'adult', life now), as I'm sure many of you have the feeling too. It's unbelievable the excitement felt, and if you are a Harry Potter fan reading this then you understand it, for just one film, but I can't help it, this was my favourite book out of them all and one of my favourite books of all time (that's saying a lot being an English Lit student!)!

Though everytime I do watch Harry Potter or read the books it makes me more and more curious who stole my acceptance letter from Hogwarts?! I mean really, something must have happened to it for me not to recieve it! I couldn't have just not got one, I am clearly a witch, I have the uniform and everything (as picture shows...)

So where did it go? Did the owl not know where I lived? Or maybe someone intercepted my owl and stole my letter, the gits! Maybe I had an Errol like owl delivering mine so they just got confused or too tired to bring it to me... The explainations can go on and on but now I am wondering, more realistically since I am not eleven, if there is a graduate course I could do at Hogwarts? Maybe a speed course to make up for all the years I have missed, maybe even be a mature student? I shall look into post graduate courses for Hogwarts in the future (after finishing this degree) but does anyone else wonder what happened to their Hogwarts letter too?

xx

Oh la la Maquillage! 30 Followers Giveaway!

Hi Everyone!
It's horrible weather today (I'm hiding out in my room for the day as don't want to spend the rest of the day looking like a wet mouse!) but it did lead me to the discovery of the awesome giveaway that Miss Naty over at Oh la la Maquillage! is doing! She's offering all sorts of designer goody samples from Sephora as well as an awesome Lancome Mascara and more to whoever wins! All you have to do is be a follower of her blog and comment about what part of her blog you enjoy the most. It is that easy! So quick, whilst it's having a storm outside, sit inside in the warm, have a nice cup of cocoa and enjoy a read about the pretty little world of make up :)

                                                      (What you could win!)
xxx

The All-About-Eyes Files #1

Hi there! So this is my first post on make up or more specifically eye make up as I always find you can be so much more adventurous with that than anything else! Anyway, the PSM (Platonic Soul Mate) Dani asked me to start doing blogs on my techniques with liquid eyeliner and general make up as I use it everyday and have done since 15/16 (yet still make many mistakes with! The panda look when I jog myself with eyeliner will often come out when in a rush...) so here goes trying to blog about it!

Moving on, I am currently on bed rest at the moment and so have decided to spend my time practising my 'going out' looks despite the fact I'm not going out (though I do think my posters appreciate the effort ) and this particular one is using exaggerated eyeliner flicks with turquoise/blue eyeshadow.Here is just a general picture of how it turned out:

The products I used were: No 7 Intelligent Balance Mousse foundation, No 7 Creme Touch pressed powder, No 7 Natural Blush cheek colour, Loreal Match perfect concealer, Urban Decay's 'Flipside' eyeshadow, No 7 Eyeliner pencil in Ink Black, No 7 Amazing Liquid Eye Liner in Ink Black, No 7 Exceptional Definition Mascara in Black, No 7 Stay Perfect smoothing and brightening eye base, Benefit Lust Dust in 'Snow Bunny', No 7 Beautiful Brow pencil in Brown/Black and finally (I know you are probably wondering how I keep my head up with all these products on...) Chanel's Levres Scintillantes Glossimer for lips. (If you want prices for all these products just comment and I'll get them for you :) )


Most of those are my normal day products and I often get my day to day products from No 7 (a Boots brand) because I have always found they are of very good quality and quite reasonably priced for how well they work and last. However, Urban Decay has become a member of my top five make up brands since buying the Sustainable Shadow Box which has lasted about three months so far, barely diminishing and is the main source for my night time looks as well as my usual day time look using 'Half Baked'. 

So for my evening eyes of turquoise/blue 'almost-an-ice-queen' look, this was the eye shadow I used ^^^ Its more a turquoise than a blue but it switches between depending on the light. What I find amazing about Urban Decay eyeshadow is how little you have to use to get a full and evenly spread colour, definitely making it worth the spending price (cost me £18 for the shadow box on a special airplane deal, normal selling price is around £23 - £25). The Sustainable  Shadow box also comes with a small vile of Eyeshadow Potion which is a very good base although it runs out fast which is why I used the ever lasting No 7 eyeshadow base (£7.50) as previously mentioned. Both bases secure the eyeshadow for a day/evening long period without creasing, rubbing off, fading or smudging. This is a must in my books if you want to have your eyes look the same at the end of the day/night from when you started it! The eyeliner which is also No 7 along with the mascara are both good although the liquid eyeliner can sometimes need several applications to get an even colour.


So how I achieved this look: first you put on the eyeshadow base, making sure the eyelid is completely covered smoothly (I use my fingertip but you can use the sponge applicatior it comes with or a brush if you wish), then using an eyeshadow brush (I use quite a thick, fluffy one instead of the thin, quite stiff brush that came with the Shadow Box) you just brush over the base with 'Flipside' until completely covered (tip: put a tissue underneath your eye in case to catch any loose eyeshadow when brushing over the eyelid). Once this is done and you are happy with the coverage, its the tricky liquid eyeliner part. Every girl who has ever used liquid eyeliner before knows that it is one of the trickiest things to try and perfect (if that is even possible!) so my advice is do it very slowly because if you rush it, it could end horribly wrong and requires starting all over again. With mine, I stretch out my lid with one fingertip to the side so I have my eyelid as flat as possible then do an initial line from where my eyelashes start to the end of the lid, keeping the liquid liner across the lash line, then letting go of the stretched corner I create a flick. Once this initial line is done you can build up as much as you want on that line and what I do for this look is exaggerate the flick upwards towards my eyebrow but end it where my eyebrow ends so that its almost parallel to wear my eyebrow end and then thicken it, making it a more defining flick than in the day time. After you are satisfied with your flicks and lines, then I use a little Benefit Lust Dust to just highlight the space between my eyebrows and the eyelid, before defining my eyebrows (making them more arched), adding my mascara (several applications with a little wiggling to try and avoid clumps) and eyeliner pencil on my lower lashes (not on the inside of my lower eyelid but just underneath the lashes - very little used). Then for the finishing touch I used the smaller but more firm brush that came with the Sustainable Shadow box, wet the brush a little, then coat it in the 'Flipside' eyeshadow and brush it over the pencil eyeliner underneth my eyes and into the corner of my eyes so that my entire eye is framed in tuquoise just to make the eyes stand out that bit more. Here are some close up of the finished product:

                                                         (products used to create the look)

Sorry if the pictures aren't great, I am still trying to figure out all the fancy things you can do on my camera almost a year after getting it... But yesh I hope this gives you a general idea of how it is meant to look. I'm thinking the next blog I do will be on my day time look but hope you have enjoyed this blog, sorry if it has been a bit of a rant and hasn't made you fall asleep (although if it has maybe I can market it as a new sleeping aid...) and has maybe even been a little bit helpful :) TTFN xxx

Camera, Lights, Action - To Hollywood Studios we go!

Firstly, I would like to apologise for my complete neglect for this blog I am a bad llama. My only excuse is that I have just been swamped with working all this week so too exhausted at the end of the day to blog - pathetic excuse I know but it's the truth, I could have come up with a more exciting excuse like I have been getting chased by bears all over the country and therefore could not reach a laptop but there are flaws and it would have to be an extremely long tale that has been thought out for months and then approved by the publishers etc and its just alot of hassle. To be honest what has been happening is I come in from standing 8hrs day and just collapse on the sofa mumbling a few words about dinner then getting an express train to Napland (not to be confused with Lapland - two veeeeery different places, mine has sheep jumping over a fence instead of Santa and deers).

Aaaaanyway, moving on from this point, I am back in Florida!!!! Yes, it is nice to be back in the good old sunshine state and heading back to Disneyworld to visit all the old cast member comrades! I'm quite intrigued to see how it feels to be back there today and not be a cast member, so not being able to go backstage and into the backrooms, but pretty excited at the aspect of being treated like a guest even if I can't pop backstage. More to the point I am really looking forward to seeing my old work mates again, which is the plan for today as I head back to the wonderful world of Disney's Hollywood Studios! I have a horrible feeling I will be spending all my hard earned wages on more Disney merchandise, but what can I say, I just love what Disneyworld merchandise produces and to be honest I was a merch cast member so can't help loving the stuff ( that's my excuse and I am sticking to it I tell you, nothing to do with no self control when it comes to Disney, not at all).

Right, sorry it's a short one but am dashing off to the parks now to visit the gang :D Shall write more soon I promise!

Do-It-Yourself Hogwarts - the beginning...

So you want to know how to do-it-yourself Hogwarts do you? Well this post can't tell you exactly how to build your own Hogwarts (sadly, I have no talent in building anything as my Resistant Materials teacher from GCSE would happily tell you with evidence of my 'chair') which I know probably makes you feel led on but don't go yet, wait! No, come back here... Ok, thanks. What I was going to say is that it WILL give you a little idea of  how my PSM/housemate and me plan to decorate our uni house next term so we can get it as close as we can within our small, student budget to the inside of Hogwarts and I shall tell you how.

Firstly, the rooms we are creating are the Room of Requirement, The Great Hall, Gryffindor Common Room, Ravenclaw Room, Hagrid's Hut (we have a shed...), The Forbidden Forest (our crazy garden) and Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom.We are also using the idea of passwording our front door like Dumbledore's Office... Yeah, we are that cool.

As we haven't actually decorated it yet, this is just a general idea of what we're going to do, once it is completed pictures of course will be posted with more details but the general ideas for decorating is as follows: The Great Hall a.k.a our living room will have candlesticks being hung from the ceiling (lots of bluetac and string as well as hoping they won't drop on our heads as we walk around) and it'll have pretty dishes and cutlery, the hallway will have our chocolate frog cards and printed pictures of the portraits all along the hallway leading to Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom (can't really decorate that except with a sign to be honest :p) and then to the common rooms. This is where the real decorating comes in! The common rooms will have the House colours and banners hung outside the room, portraits on the room doors  which require a password to get in and then of course in the room they'll be decorated in those colours. But, yes, this is just a general idea of what the madness of our Harry Potter themed house is going to be like, it'll be more detailed when we begin decorating it as my descriptions aren't that great, sorry! However, it is not just decorating the house, the PSM and I are going to have wands (courtesy of Wizarding World of Harry Potter), robes, scarfs and lots of Bertie Botts every flavour beans so it's not just about where you are but the company you are with XD

Anyway, am going to sign off here, sorry it's not a massively interesting post but just thought this be one of three posts most likely on creating our own Hogwarts. Look forward to pictures in September, I'm off to make butterbeer now. TTFN.

No! Not the videos of the school music show! NOOOOOOO!

As I sit here, chuckling to myself over le boyfriend's Oscar award winning performance in one of his youth group shows as a tramp, an Elvis impersonator amongst countless other characters, it makes me think how filming such shows should really be outlawed. I say this in defense for my boyfriend, who now instead of getting love and affection, is instead receiving smirks accompanied with sarcastic side glances and comments as I write this, shall we say interesting, background music that is inspiring this post. Now, personally, the sight of my boyfriend at the age of eighteen dressed as a wannabe Elvis and singing something that I assume links with the costume brings me great entertainment after a hard day at work as well as the question if I will ever be able to look my boyfriend in the eye without stifling a laugh. Bless him, eh? But I can hardly make judgement, there are no doubt a stash of these haunting videos that I have myself, my parents weird idea of a joke to store videos of me when I was... less refined... and cause no end of laughter to those who somehow manage to sneak them past my careful watch and relish in my 'adorable' childhood years to the hell raising teenagehood. But I ask you, why?! Not why must they be filmed, of course every parent wants to hold onto the treasured memory of their children growing up, but why must they be shown to people OUTSIDE the family?! There is no need for this! Especially when it is your boyfriend (in my case) who is delighting in your humiliation which you cannot always exact revenge on. It's just not right I tell you. By all means parents, keep the records of my youth and watch them when I have moved away to university, or get married, or have my own children, but DO NOT SHARE THEM AROUND AS IF THEY ARE CHOCOLATES!
     Yes, everyone will act that they are cute but you know what they are secretly thinking, as you would think yourself, your instant thought is 'Hahahahahaha! and I'll log that away to alway use against you when you are causing me hassle" or even "Hahahahahaha, thank God my parents don't know where I have stashed my videos otherwise I would have to endure this" and feel smug that you are not the one who's head is shoved deeply into their palms, mumbling inaudible curses and complaints. I know you feel smug for a fact as this is how I am feeling currently, having the little video of my boyfriend making a fool of himself now permanently locked away so that in times of despair I can laugh at someone else looking more stupid than I am. I will always treasure that, even in my old age when I forget who I am, I will fight life and limb to cling onto that little memory and taunt him with it. Evil? No, I think this is more an effective way of keeping my youth and mind agile instead of using the Philosopher Stone.
     Anyway, drawing a close to this rather long post, the morale of the story is this - hide your childhood videos! Because one day, if has not already happened to you so far, there will be someone who charms and persuades your parents to retrieve them out of whatever crook or cranny they have been stored in, put them on and revel in your 'beautiful' singing and dancing that the example of le boyfriend (which I only wish I could describe to you into more detail, yet I value my life just enough to withhold that information from you... at the moment) has shown to you as a warning.

Introductions, Introductions...

Hi again!


I'm not very good at introducing myself, but I'll give it a go! Hello, I'm Stephanie but known as Stephie to most. As you can probably tell from the name of this blog and it's title I am indeed a fan of Harry Potter as well as baking (my speciality being cupcakes and banoffee pie... Well by 'speciality', what I actually mean is these certain types of baking haven't exploded, caused food poisoning and have, to my knowledge, been edible...) so that's where the names came from. Interesting, I know. Moving swiftly on before you fall into a boredom induced coma, I'm guessing you might be interested in just what sort of person you are reading adventures about so here's go: I love everything Disney related and worked in Disneyworld Florida after my first year at university, I am a history student so am quite geeky about everything in the 'modern' history section and my summer job is actually history related, I love books which range from the classics to  modern, I am very into the 1940s/50s and have a vintage clothes collection as well as loving everything from that period. Moving on again, I have a PSM (Platonic Soul Mate) who is my best pal and have known her since our first class together in our first year at uni, we are basically the same person and after much deciding between calling ourselves 'horcruxes' due to our almost identical personalities we settled on the term PSM from first year onwards - this will be the person who will be most mentioned in my blog most likely so remember that term :D Next is le boyfriend who I have known since my first year of uni as well and who, like me, is also a history geek who reads all the time and is insanely smart, so much that I now use him as my personal dictionary and encyclopedia. It's very useful. These two people are who I spend most of my time with at university and at home (along with the magnifico family) so you'll be hearing about them alot which is why I introduce them to you here. Very polite, you see? Anyway I think this suffices for introductions, you'll find out more in upcoming posts but yes, hi! Welcome to my blog. It's a bit rambly, but stick with it and I'm sure you'll find something interesting...Maybe?