Playlist Spotlight: Covers

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I've always had this guilty pleasure (I hate that phrase) of preferring cover versions of songs to the originals a lot of the time. This can vary from remixes, acoustic covers, mash-ups of different songs to whatever else you can think of.

My only thing is that it's gotta be different - if somebody covers a song and they don't have their own personal swing on it then I don't really like it, there's gotta be some personality and style in the music to warrant a cover in the first place. 

One such cover that comes to mind when I think of drastically changing the song is "Comfortably Numb" - originally by Pink Floyd but covered by the Scissor Sisters. The original Pink Floyd version is a slow dreary little number with feelings of sadness, pain and anger, whereas, on the other hand the Scissor Sisters cover version is the complete opposite with psychedelic disco-pop beats. The high-tempo beats of the cover make the song seem happier than it is despite the dark lyrics behind the music. People hate me for this, but I honestly prefer the Scissor Sisters version; that's partly because I can't stand slow dreary songs as I'm more of an upbeat music kinda person.

Below is my covers playlist, a lot of the music I find to put in this is just happened upon by chance and not necessarily searched for. It's always a happy surprise when I come across an album with a cover song which I absolutely love.

I think my favourite on this playlist is the I See Stars cover of the Hozier song "Take Me To Church" - the acoustic vibe and the harmonies are to die for. Do you have a favourite cover?

  

Don't Let Doubt Control You

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I absolutely love makeup; I love experimenting with different colours, different techniques, and just generally practising my skills - I have a side hustle makeup business which has definitely helped add to the love of it all.

On Saturday afternoon I did my makeup early for work and randomly decided that I would try a cut crease on my eyes - this is a technique that defines the crease by "cutting" across it with a contrasting colour. I tried once before months ago and failed miserably, the cut crease line was incredibly messy, and there was no way in hell that I could ever save it. My first failed attempt was actually filmed on Facebook Live which adds to the hilarity of the situation, but I guess practice makes perfect, and the second time around, practice definitely helped.

I blended my powder eyeshadow then used a peachy nude cream eyeshadow to create the cut crease itself, I then blended out the outer edges using concealer. I was so unbelievably happy with the result that I just couldn't stop looking at it - I'd finally managed to successfully create a cut crease eyeshadow look that I was happy with.

Then came the doubt. As much I absolutely loved the look, thoughts started coming into my head like, is this suitable for work? Will I get moaned at? Will people like it? Is it too much? I'm not even joking when I say that I almost scrubbed the entire thing off to put on some liquid eyeliner and mascara like I usually wear. These ridiculous doubts almost stopped me rocking this look at work, but they didn't!


I pushed aside all the unnecessary thoughts in my head and wore my makeup with pride - I knew it looked good. I got so many compliments on it as well which was amazing and definitely a massive confidence booster. The best thing? It lasted all night and didn't rub off which I am so happy about (top tip: eye primer is LIFE).

Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself when doubt tries to take control of you is to do what makes you happy. I was genuinely happy with the way my makeup looked that day so I decided to just feel the fear of being judged and go out anyways not caring what other people thought. You can take this example and switch it around to whatever situation you are in - feel the fear and do it anyways is one of my favourite mantras. Your mind can be very controlling when it wants to be, so don't give it the chance to, don't let it take away your happiness and try as hard as you can to push through it. You'll probably find that those worries were kind of meaningless, I know I did!

Reasons I Blog

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I've been blogging on and off for years now under different names. I'm one of those people that will create a blog and stick to it for about a month, completely forget about it, then 6 months later decide to start again with a new account so I can start "for real this time". This is the same for a lot of other aspects of my life, but that's another story for another time. At the end of the day, I always come back to blogging because I absolutely love it and I enjoy writing in my little corner of the internet - here are some reasons why: 

Something to focus on
I'm a very distracted person by nature, so to have something to focus on other than my own thoughts is awesome for me. I've committed to completing BEDA (blog every day in April) this year, and I haven't and don't plan on missing a single day. I'm almost halfway through the month and it's definitely not been an easy task so far, but it's keeping me busy and giving me something to look forward to doing. I'm one of those people that sometimes needs to be forced to do activities, even if I do love them, and blogging every day certainly isn't second nature to me so it's a much-needed challenge that I'm thriving from. 

I know I've created a habit when I can't stop thinking about when I need to write a blog post, what I'm going to write about and if I've scheduled a tweet or not. When these thoughts, and ones of a similar nature, start popping into my mind I know I'm on the right lines. I'm now slightly obsessed with keeping my blog up to date and this is something that I've been wanting to do for quite some time now. It's definitely a positive thing that's been keeping me going in recent weeks.

It's a creative outlet
Since I was very young I have been a creative person; I've never been into academics and always liked the more hands-on subjects at school like drama, art and graphic design. Even when it came to exams, I never failed but I was never a top of the class A* student - I just got by. I seemed to excel when it came to coursework throughout the year though, rather than the one-off big exams we had to take. 

Since school, however, I haven't been as creative as I would have liked - I stopped art, I stopped design...but fast forward a few years and I've found blogging. Although it's not art as the general concept of the word goes, it's an "art form" and I definitely use my blog to fuel that love for creativity. I love curating my own blog from the words, the pictures, to the general aesthetic of my work - I like to be proud of what I put out there.

Gets me out more
I find myself sitting at home scrolling my internet feeds a lot of the time, and this is something that I need to get out of the habit of. I like the idea of blogging about my experiences from restaurants, days out, holidays, hanging with friends, etc, and I can't do that if I sit at home 24/7 with a laptop on my lap. It's kind of obvious, but I need to experience things to be able to write about my experiences; I don't think anyone would be interested in "top 5 tips to not get pins and needles when sitting in the same position all day". 

I want to get out more in general; I signed up for a Cineworld card to do just this, but I also want to use content for my blog as a reason to get out more too. Getting out more, seeing different things, and taking a lot more pictures - that's the goal.

I can express myself
As much as I use this platform to express myself creatively, it's also a great place to express myself emotionally. Although, on the whole, I like to create a positive place for myself and others on the internet, it's also natural to discuss negative things too, as nothing is ever perfectly positive all the time. We all have down days, and sometimes it's can be massively therapeutic to write everything out and put it on your blog; you never know, there may be someone out there reading your blog who can relate wholeheartedly with how you're feeling right now. Some people might find writing something so personal and putting it out there a bit daunting, but more often than not when I do it, I feel like a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders. 

Do you blog? And if so, why do you blog?

Five on Friday

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Let's make some Friday favourites - I'm not talking about things that I've liked doing, seeing, using, etc, during the week. I'm talking general favourites; different types of books, films, makeup, whatever the hell I fancy writing about on that particular week. Let's be real here, I can't write general weekly favourites to save my life and I'd spend most of the time just thinking about what my favourites were (and struggling) than writing the post itself. So this is what we're gonna do, and this weeks theme is: HYPED BOOKS THAT I'VE LOVED. 

 These are books that have been talked about a lot in a positive light that everyone seemed to love, and for once, I loved them too. I normally have a thing against overhyped books fyi, so this list is pretty special to me!

 The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
This. Was. Magical. I knew that everyone was raving about it, but I picked it up not knowing too much about it. Actually, my Dad got it for himself at the library and I wanted to give it a go myself so I read it after he did. It was beautifully written and I just loved the idea of a magical circus; I'm a massive fan of magic in books in general, but adding a circus to the mix was just a perfect combination waiting to happen. It was darkly mysterious with wonderful characters and an interwoven plot line which I absolutely adored. This is probably a book that is due a reread because as much as it's still a favourite, the plot has become a little bit blurred around the edges in my mind so I need a refresher.

A Darker Shade of Magic - V.E. Schwab
I read "Vicious" by the same author (which again was hyped up) and found it mildly average, so I went into this book with very low expectations. Boy, was I wrong (when have I ever said "boy" in my life like that?). Schwab has created worlds within worlds, and what's amazing about it is that every one of these worlds is the same but completely different - they all revolve around "London", but they all have very different ways of life, different landscapes, and even different languages; she created LANGUAGES for crying out loud. I just loved everything about this book, and this post has literally just reminded me that I need to read the second book, haha!

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding this book with regards to the author, but I'm looking at the story on its own and nothing else. This book was absolutely incredible and had me hooked from the word go, despite the monotonous tones of the book; let me explain. Ender ended up in a military school of sorts and you followed him climbing the ranks through war games, physical activities and other such lessons. This is pretty much what the book is based around, obviously, there's a back-story and a reason behind it, but on the surface level that's what it is. However, the way that Orson writes is absolutely enthralling; the characters development, the thought processes and the build-up to the massive "I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING IN A MILLION YEARS" plot twist. This was one of the only books that literally made me shout out loud when the plot twist was revealed.

 Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
If you haven't read my review for the movie then you probably won't know (you should) that this is my ALL TIME FAVOURITE BOOK IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. When I first read this book I was absolutely blown away, and since that time I haven't read a book that comes close. It's fast-paced and imaginative whilst still creating believable, relatable characters with an 80s gaming theme running through the entire thing. I found myself going through a plethora of emotions while reading this book; I was smiling, laughing, on the edge of my seat, sad at times, and with a splash of angry added in for good measure. If you haven't read this book, then I'd wholeheartedly recommend that you do, and now! This book still has a lot of hype and to be honest, I'm creating a lot of it myself.

Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson
This trilogy is one of my all-time favourite series - it's the only series where I've loved every single book and there have been amazing plot twists in each one. Each book in this series was fast paced, action packed and had lovable characters who you felt massively emotionally attached to. Brandon Sanderson is an absolute genius when it comes to magical systems, and Mistborn isn't an exception; this magic system revolves around metals, and people having the ability to use them to pull themselves through the air, move objects towards them, or even sense when someone is nearby. There is no way that I could ever explain the true extent of the magic system so please read this series - it's a big one, but it's so addictive that you will find yourself flying through it. 

 Have you read any of these books? What are your favourite hyped books?

30 Reminders For Anyone With Anxiety

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Sometimes life can get a little bit overwhelming so take some time to breathe and give yourself a few reminders:

1. More people care about you than you think
2. Don't be afraid to tell people how you feel
3. Change your mindset, change your life
4. Don't be afraid to do something different
5. You are your biggest critic
6. You are not as alone as you feel
7. Your mind creates scenarios that are never gonna happen
8. Remember to take a deep breath and carry on
9. Your anxiety is real, don't let anyone tell you otherwise
10. Let go of toxic friendships that are holding you back
11. Sometimes people just grow apart
12. Don't believe everything you think
13. Write it out whenever you feel down
14. You are loved
15. Things will get better
16. You are the only person that decides your happiness
17. Having a small group of friends isn't a bad thing
18. Don't listen to the little voice in your head
19. Remember that your thoughts are not your reality
20. Losing friends doesn't mean that they hate you
21. You are not an annoyance
22. You are not alone
23. Don't feel obligated to do what people tell you is best for you
24. The past and the future can't hurt you
25. Worrying won't change the outcome
26. If you can't control it, there's no need to worry
27. Get some fresh air and clear your mind
28. Trust and have confidence in yourself
29. You are more than capable of managing
30. Stop rushing and slow down

Do you have any reminders for yourself?

Unpopular Opinions #1

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Let's talk about some unpopular opinions, more in particular, unpopular opinions of things I hate. Yeah, hate's a strong word, but it would be a bit of a weird theme if I wrote "things I have a mild dislike of", would it? 

Avocados. They don't taste of anything, how can you love something that tastes of nothing.
Celeb Crushes. I've never been drawn to films because of certain actors getting half naked or really fanatasised over anyone in the media whatsoever. It just all seems pretty pointless to me.
Six Packs. Yes, it's good that you're fit and healthy, blah blah blah, but I just find them unattractive and try hard.  
Adele/Coldplay/any other depressing artist. I just can't stand any artist/band like this. Why would you wanna sit and listen to depressing music all day? What would you even do at an Adele concert? Cry all the way through? A friend actually told me that she did this; I don't understand why you'd put yourself through that.
Football. If you wanna see overpaid grown men act like children faking their injuries then be my guest. Got some award winning performances in this sport.
Sweet Potatoes. In Australia I worked on a sweet potato farm to get my second year visa. No, this didn't make me hate them, it just made me hate them more. I just hate the texture of the vegetable and just plain and simply think they taste gross.
The smell of Lush shops. I literally can't go into a Lush store without gagging, I only need to walk past one to have a sensory overload and feel physically sick. Don't get me wrong, I love their products, but I have to order them online to get them because I can't stand the smell of the place.

I think I'm gonna stop there and create a series out of this with different themes; hate, love, films, music, etc. It's always a good point of discussion and I love having mini debates about things like this; I've had people question their friendship with me over sweet potatoes and avocados for instance - I never knew people felt so strongly about these things, ha!

What's some things that you hate that everyone else seems to love?

Weird Things You Didn't Know About Me

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I absolutely love reading random weird facts about other people; things that you wouldn't really know unless you got to really get to know someone. You know when you're in new group situations at a class or something and one of the ice breakers is to go around the circle and tell someone a random fact about yourself, well these would be my answers:

I have a handwriting perfectionism 
I love the physical act of writing, not just on a keyboard, but with an actual pen and paper - I absolutely love it. My writing does tend to change depending on what pen I'm writing with, and I find myself screwing up pieces of paper because I'm not happy with the way that my writing looks. I'm even talking about when I write shopping lists, meaningless shopping lists have to be written perfectly before I take them out. 

I don't like bananas that smell like bananas
I finally met someone that understood what I meant and completely agreed with me the other day, so I was extremely happy about this. Basically, I can't stand bananas that have any kind of brown on them, and when that starts to happen they start to smell like bananas - I know that sounds stupid, but when they're at the greeny-yellow stage, they have no smell whatsoever. I like that. 

I hate velvet but I have to touch it
I don't have a phobia per se, but I absolutely hate the feel of velvet; I've even told a friend to not come near me (savage) because they wore a velvet dress on a night out once. However, whenever I'm in a clothes shop and I see something velvet, I have a massive urge to touch it. I guess, to make sure that I still hate the feel of it, but every single time that I do it I regret it, because every single time it makes me cringe so hard.

I love cutting mushrooms
I don't know what it is about cutting mushrooms that's so satisfying, it helps that I love them, but I think it's the texture and the way the knife glides through it. There's nothing more to say on this one, haha.

I can spend hours putting makeup on just to rub it off
I've done this so many times, but I spend ages putting on my makeup and getting it right, only to scrub it off because I'm not happy with it. On times like these, I rub it off and just put my usual eyeliner and mascara on because I don't feel confident enough to rock a full face of makeup. This doesn't happen much anymore but it does occasionally. 

Does anyone agree with any of these? What are some weird facts about you?