"The prettier the flower, the farther from the path"

Bonjour my little chickens! How are you all? Good weekend? I certainly hope so! This weekend I mainly did a lot of eating (surprise surprise), some singing and dancing (at Into The Woods rehearsals) and plenty of snuggling up with Joe watching stuff on 4OD/BBC iPlayer. Now that the nights are getting darker so much earlier and it's SO DAMN COLD there is literally nothing better than a good snuggle I say!

So this is my November Love/Hate post, I've completely given up trying to come up with monthly pun titles, my brain just isn't as good as it used to be...

I'm currently loving;

Hollyoaks. I'm not even embarassed to admit this. Yes, it's mainly just a lot of stupidly pretty people whose acting skills leave A LOT to be desired but OHMYGOD how good was the Halloween episode?! The whole Silas-is-a-serial-killer storyline went on for way too long, but by golly they did end it very well. If you don't watch it, you won't have a clue what I'm talking about, but in a nutshell; there was an old man called Silas, who was secretly a serial killer and on Halloween he accidentally killed HIS OWN DAUGHTER because he thought she was Lyndsey because they were both wearing the same Halloween costume!!! Dun dun dun!

ANTM. Season 17 of America's Next Top Model (yes, that's right, there have been SEVENTEEN seasons of this show and it only started in 2003) is absolutely brilliant. Basically, Tyra "I'm literally completely mad" Banks has brought back contestants from all the previous seasons and is forcing them to take part in just the most ridiculously bizarre tasks ever. The best one was when all of the models had to write a song about themselves and then Tyra told them they also had to incorporate the lyrics "Pot Ledom, that's Top Model backwards" into their songs. Just... so very mad and so very wonderful.

Glamour magazine freebies. Even though it meant having to buy a magazine with Old Misery Face on the cover (I don't know why she irritates me so much, but she really does), I managed to get hold of a free Nails Inc polish. There are four to collect; Picadilly Circus - a dark plum, Basil Street - a nude beige, Tate - a dark red and Victoria - a red/black (oxblood?) which is the one I got. I LOVE FREEBIES!

A blast from the past. I spotted these in Poundland last week and couldn't resist. Please don't think I'm some kind of baking heathen (I know how bloggers are supposed to be excellent bakers, but quite frankly, I'm just not) but these reminded me of when I was little and used to go to my Nan's house every Saturday. She'd buy My Little Pony cupcake kits and I remember how amazed I was the first time she explained that the little stickers you decorated the cakes with were made of rice paper. Paper you can eat. PAPER YOU CAN EAT!

Beyonce's new video. How flippin' gorgeous is this woman?! I think the styling for this video, and the makeup in particular, is just stunning. Apparently everything she's wearing in the video is from American Apparel, so if you wanted to recreate the video, look for look, you literally could do that. Not that that wouldn't be a weird thing to do, but if you wanted to, you could do it.

I'm currently hating;

My hair. I feel like I desperately need a new 'do, but I'm so darn indecisive. It's a tricky one because it's naturally curly, which limits what styles would really work (for example, I can't have a fringe because I'd either have to straighten it every day, or clip it back, which kind of defeats the point). Also, I don't really want to lose much of the length, because I like that when it's straight, it reaches really quite far down my back. I'm also a bit scared of hair dye, because once you start dying, you can't really stop. Basically, I need a style that works for long, naturally curly hair, that can be worn straight or curly and doesn't require much maintaining at all. Does anyone have the answer? No? Right, I'm off to buy a selection of wigs instead...

June know who I am?!

WHOA! It's been a while hasn't it? Really didn't mean to go this long without blogging; I got back from Lanzarote on 7th June and since then it feels like I've not stopped!

Anyway, thought I'd do a little update post (these seem to be happening monthly now and I'm really enjoying them!) and I filmed a video today with my shiny new video camera so, youtube Gods willing, that'll be up in the next couple of days too. Blogging-a-go-go!

I'm currently loving;

Cheeky holidays. As I've just mentioned, my boyfriend and I decided to book a little last minute break in Lanzarote. I realised it was the first time I'd been properly abroad for about six years - how did that happen?! We ate and drank lots, discovered some pretty beaches and even hired a car for the day to drive around the island and see some sights (driving on the wrong side of the road is scary. And I was only navigating!) It was lovely. Got another holiday lined up for July with Tash - I'm getting a bit of a taste for this jet-set lifestyle ;)

Magazine freebies. I'm sure most people are already aware of this, but just in case you've been hiding under a rock for the past few weeks - Glamour magazine are currently giving away one of three Benefit products with the July issue. You can get your mitts on a mini High Beam, Benetint or Posie Tint absolutely free! Since the mag only costs £2 and the freebies are worth £8-£10 each it's a pretty bargainous offer! I was a bit greedy and got all three, but I'm sure lots of other people have done that too - it seems silly not to! Also, Elle are currently giving away a free Reiss vest top designed by Garance Dore - couldn't help but get myself one of those too!

Dr Faustus. Not the play by Christopher Marlowe, but my sister's new kitten! Yes, that's his name - God only knows why, but Liv has always been a bit *different*. Did you ever see anything as flippin' cute as this?! We're going to be cat-sitting when Liv goes on holiday and I absolutely can't wait - I've got A LOT of snuggles planned.

This video. Anyone familiar with Auto-Tune The News will have seen this sort of thing already, but when my friend Liam posted this Jezza Kyle remix on my Facebook wall last week, I knew I had to share it. Absolutely brilliant.

I'm currently hating;

Insane weather I know that British folk spend their lives complaining about the weather, so this is an extremely mundane thing to mention, but my issue isn't so much that it's too cold or rainy, it's that every day seems to bring with it three different types of weather for the price of one. This sort of mix and match weather is a right bastard because you know that at some point during the day your outfit is going to be rendered completely impractical. I actually walked to the bus stop swearing at the weather last week because the clear blue sky and lovely sun had provided a cunning disguise for what was actually an insanely windy day and my flippy skirt/jersey blazer combo was just no match for it at all. Weather, make up your mind what you want to be and stick with it. Nobody is interested in your identity crisis you little bugger!

Rubbish sequels. I went to see The Hangover 2 last week and thought it was absolutely horrendously bad. It's the exact same story as the first film except with a few tiny details changed and a lot of less funny but more offensive jokes. Sadly, it seems that I'm the only person who thought this because everyone around me in the cinema laughed uncontrollably all the way through. Apparently all a film needs to be considered funny these days is a drug dealing monkey in a denim jacket...

So how've you all been? Have you bought this month's Glamour yet? What did you get? And what did you think of The Hangover 2?

Also, don't forget! My competition to win the Sleek Paraguaya palette ends in a mere few days - if you've not entered yet, get to it, pronto!

Dresses to kill

Jeepers creepers, where has the time gone? I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last blogged, this is massively unacceptable, sorry! Regular posting will commence from this point onwards, pinkie promise.

If you've not already bought yourself a copy of th April issue of Glamour, I suggest you get to it quickly, because not only can you get one of TEN awesome Clinique freebies (I've got two - the Dramatically Different Moisturiser and the 7 Day Scrub Cream - both of which are awesome), it's also their tenth anniversary edition so the magazine is packed full of competitions, offers and marvellous features galore.

One of my favourite features in the April issue is this shoot featuring Jameela Jamil (from T4) modelling a selection of dresses, which Glamour have helped to create as part of a collaboration with ten high street stores. Jameela looks beautiful as always (I WANT her hair) and I'm loving how each dress has been styled so differently. What's also cool is that each of the stores involved in the collaboration are offering special discounts and competitions for Glamour readers (see the magazine for full details). I've picked out a few of my favourite dresses below.

Lara Fit and Flare Dress £169, Reiss

Lace Prom Dress £59.99 (reduced to £44.99 online), New Look

Shelby's Summer Belted Dress, £125 French Connection

How gorgeous is this?! I particularly love how it's been styled too - they've taken such a simple, elegant dress and really toughened it up with the bowler hat and trainers. It's also available as a maxi dress, which is equally as pretty.

RSC Grace Dress, £49.90, Mango

Which is your favourite? And have you bought the new Glamour? What Clinique freebie did you get?!?!

You're so vain

Bleurgh, I'm still feeling ill and therefore very sorry for myself. My eyes are hurting! Why are my eyes hurting?! That can't be good, can it? Also, I've got glee rehearsal tonight and our monthly open mic on Saturday so I could really do with NOT being ill right now dammit!

Anyone got any quick-fix cold remedies? I've mainly been having lots of Lemsips (I actually really like the taste of them, is that weird?) and drinking lots of fluids etc, but seriously, if anyone's got any crazy concoctions that will cure me, please let me know. Ha, that's just reminded me, remember that episode of Keenan and Kel where they make a cold remedy that actually works but then they forget what they put in it so they can't make it again? Haha, I used to love that show...

Last week I realised that it was time for Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood Issue, which I love, because every year Annie Liebovitz shoots these incredible covers featuring some of the hottest and up-and-coming movie stars of the moment. I don't know why I find this so exciting; I'm not that bothered about "celebrities" overall, but I love films and there's something about getting all these hugely talented actors in a room together, dressing them in fabulous clothes and creating gorgeous images that I just think is really cool and exciting.

This year's cover wasn't shot by Liebovitz, but by Norman Jean Roy - not really sure why, but there you go. It features Anne Hathaway, Ryan Reynolds, James Franco and Jake Gyllenhaal on the main cover and then the inside panels (they always have a folded part with the rest of the photo) feature Mila Kunis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Garfield and lots of other shiny, beautiful types. The Hollywood Issue has been running since 1995 and it's really interesting looking back through them, as the general idea is that the photos feature actors who Vanity Fair have selected as the "next big thing". For the most part, they get it very, very right, but every now and then, you spot someone in a photo and think "who the HELL is that?!" I thought I'd select some of my favourite covers from the last fifteen years and share them with you;

2011 - from left to right - Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, James Franco, Jennifer Lawrence, Anthony Mackie, Olivia Wilde, Jesse Eisenberg, Mila Kunis, Robert DuVall (randomly), Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones, Garrett Hedlund, Noomi Rapace

1995 - (how awesome is this?!) Jennifer Jason Leigh, Uma Thurman, Nicole Kidman, Patricia Arquette, Linda Fiorentino (WHO?!), Gwyneth Paltrow, SJP, Julianne Moore, Angela Bassett, Sandra Bullock

1996 - Tim Roth, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Benicio Del Torro, Michael Rapaport, Stephen Dorff, Johnathon Schaech, David Arquette, Will Smith, Skeet Ulrich

1997 - Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslett, Claire Danes, Renee Zellweger, Alison Elliott, Jada Pinkett, Minnie Driver, Jennifer Lopez, Charlize Theron, Fairuza Balk

1999 - (this is one of my faves - they're so 90s and angsty-looking!) Adrien Brody, Thandie Newton, Monica Potter, Reese Witherspoon, Julia Stiles, Leelee Sobieski, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Polley, Norman Reedus, Anna Friel, Omar Epps, Kate Hudson, Vinessa Shaw, Barry Pepper

2002 - Kirsten Dunst, Kate Beckinsale, Jennifer Connelly, Rachel Weisz, Brittany Murphy, Selma Blair, Rosario Dawson, Christina Applegate, Naomi Watts

2003 - (hardly 'up and coming' stars at that time, but still a very cool cover!) Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Samuel L Jackson, Don Cheadle, Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Ewan McGregor, Matt Damon

2008 - Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Alice Braga, Ellen Page, Zoe Saldana, Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin, America Ferrera

2010 - Abbie Cornish, Kristen Stewart, Carey Mulligan, Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Hall, Mia Wasikowska, Emma Stone (SEE, red hair suits her so much better than blonde!), Evan Rachel Wood, Anna Kendrick

Which is your favourite? To see a slideshow of all the covers up to 2008 (2009 didn't do a Hollywood cover and 2010 and 2011 aren't in the slideshow), visit the Vanity Fair site.

All images from Vanity Fair.

freebie jeebies

When I popped into the newsagents earlier to pick up a magazine (and a Galaxy bar, if you must know) and was faced with an array of free beauty treats, I got a bit excited. Being the cheapskate bargain hunter that I am, I love a good freebie and in this time of financial difficulty, I'm sure everyone else does too. So I thought I'd give you all a quick heads up about some flippin' marvellous freebies that are available with the November issues of the UK's top glossy mags.

First up, with ELLE (which is what I bought), you get a mini 7ml tube of Clinique's new Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss in 09 Currant.

As this is a mini version, it doesn't state in the magazine how much it's worth, but the full size 15ml version is £12 so I'd hazard a guess that this is worth around £5/£6. It's a really nice, non-sticky feeling gloss, with the subtlest hint of colour. I was in need of a lipgloss, so this was an ideal freebie for me, plus it's the perfect size to chuck into even the smallest of handbags for a night out. Lovely!

Cosmopolitan is giving away a MissGuided Splash nail varnish with every issue; there's three shades to choose from (see below) and they're worth £5 each.

MissCellaneous, MissFit and MissBehave, £5 each from MissGuided

There's more free nail varnish with Marie Claire, which is giving away a free bottle of Ciaté Paint Pots. You can choose from either Dangerous Affair or Mistress, worth £9 each.

Dangerous Affair and Mistress, £9 each from Ciaté

Normally I'd have definitely gone for a free nail varnish rather than the lipgloss, but I do love Elle magazine and I also feel like I've gone a bit mental with the nail varnish of late. At my last count I had twenty eight different colours and it's not like I can wear them all at once so it seems a bit excessive to get any more for a while. Even so, I am really liking the look of Dangerous Affair - Ciaté nail varnishes are excellent, so IMO the Marie Claire offer is a particularly good one.

Finally, with the November issue of InStyle (which, incidentally, has Ginnifer Goodwin on the cover, who I LOVE!), you get a free 30ml tube of L'Occitane hand cream, worth £7, with three fragrances to choose from.

Shea Butter, Cherry Blossom and Fleur Cherie, £7 each from L'Occitane

I've never used it, but I hear L'Occitane stuff is lovely; my Mum always goes on about the Shea Butter handcream, and she's right about most things, so I would say that this is yet another brilliant offer!

Now I've just done the maths and while I'm not saying anyone should do actually this, it might be worth noting that if you were to go out and buy one copy of ELLE, two copies of Marie Claire and three copies of both Cosmo and InStyle so that you had all of the freebies listed above, you'd be getting £60 worth of stuff for £31.90! That's a pretty impressive saving! Like I said, I'm not expecting anyone to go out and do this - I mean, who needs three tubes of hand cream?! But the point here is, freebies are brilliant!

curl-spiration

Cosmopolitan has been my monthly mag of choice for a long time. Sometimes I mix things up a bit and go for Glamour or Elle instead, but most of the time I go for Cosmo. I think, in large part, this is down to the fact that Elle Woods wins her case in Legally Blonde because she knows that Chutney couldn't have gotten in the shower right after getting a perm, which she learnt from reading Cosmo. God, I love that bit - shame on you Chutney! Any magazine that helps you to win a murder case is pretty darn special if you ask me! (yes I know it's fictional, but that is NEVER the point.)
While their editorials are nowhere near as fancy as Vogue's, one of the things that does always stand out to me in Cosmo's fashion stories is that the models always have amazing hair. Seriously, they must use an agency that only ever represents models with excellent hair. Either that or Cosmo has a frighteningly large selection of brilliant wigs, in which case, please point me in the direction of the wigs cupboard please.

Not only is the hair always beautiful, it is also, very often curly! HURRAH! There are not enough curly-haired girls pictured in fashion magazines, so this makes me happy. So happy in fact, I've been saving up said pictures for one big curly-haired post.

Yeah, I went a bit mad with the scanner again...

If my hair was this curly and bouncy, I would happily wear it that short - so so so gorgeous. From the November 2009 issue, fashion story called "COATS" (about coats - crazy right?)

You hardly ever see blonde girls with natural curls, and blonde hair looks beautiful curly. Love the eye makeup on this girl too. From March 2010 issue, hair story called "Battle of the Textures."

I know these aren't 'natural' curls, but still, lovely hair. And I WANT that Antoni and Alison bag. From June 2010 issue, editorial called "Let's Get Happy".

Love everything about this editorial - setting, clothes, makeup, hair (obv). It's from November 2009 and is called "Sweater Girl" (Cosmo aren't particularly creative with their titles, are they?) Also, how insanely beautiful is this model? If I could, I would steal her face.

I'll be honest, I've got several more curly hair photos but I think that's enough for now. I'm tempted to start a tumblr solely to post photos of curls. Would that be mad?

Anyone else seen any good curly hairstyles of late?

Hmmmm

I just noticed that Tavi, of Style Rookie fame, featured some photos on her blog from the November 2001 US Vogue editorial of models posing as iconic music stars from the past and present. Some of the models included in the shoot were Devon Aoki (as Yoko Ono, with a male model as John Lennon), Karolina Kurkova (as Marilyn Manson, REALLY weird) and Karen Elson (as Janis Joplin). The general consensus on Tavi's blog was that most people didn't really like the pictures, they're a bit ANTM-esque and, to be frank, just aren't very good. The majority of the musicians featured were legendary artists and such mediocre images almost do them a disservice in some way. That being said, I do think that this one with Sophie Dahl as Debbie Harry is rather uncanny;

Although it's not quite the same thing, the idea of celebs posing as other celebs got me thinking about the Marilyn Monroe shoot Lindsay Lohan did where she recreated the famous nude "Last Sitting" photos shot by Bert Stern (Stern actually shot the Lohan version as well).

When I first read about this, it really, really pissed me off, mainly because I hate it when comparisons are made between Marilyn Monroe and anyone else ("Scarlett Johansson is the new Marilyn!" No, no she isn't), but also because Lindsay Lohan doesn't even remotely resemble Marilyn Monroe and could never in a million years hope to look as gorgeous as she did in the originals. Not only that, but to recreate this particular shoot is, I think, kind of insensitive, as it was the last one that Marilyn did before she died. And it's not as if they're just trying to do something similar to the "Last Sitting" photographs; they were recreated shot for shot, same props, same poses, same hair and makeup. I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that, but it just seems a bit conceited to me, as if she thought, "Hey I could so look like Marilyn!"

Come off it Lindsay...

I just looked online, and unsurprisingly, there are countless examples of celebrities recreating famous Marilyn images. The website http://www.ms-monroe.com/ has three whole pages dedicated to 'Mirrored Celebs' from Jessica Alba to Christina Aguilera, to the biggest Monroe impersonator of them all; Madonna. However, none of them are quite as extreme as Miss Lohan. Obviously, Madonna's Material Girl video was based on the Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend sequence in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes;

But for some reason, that doesn't seem quite as offensive, as it's not as if she's actually singing the same song or even doing the same choreography (unlike Kylie Minogue - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=T10VecAun-Y - ick), it's her own version and is really more of a parody, considering the context of the rest of the video and the lyrics to Material Girl.

Maybe I'm just being biased because I like Madonna and don't particularly like Lindsay. And Madonna looks like she's having a good ol' time in her video while Lindsay just looks awkward and uncomfortable in the photos.

I don't really understand what is gained by posing as a legend such as Marilyn, sure it might be good fun to play dress up, but it's not as if you're proving anything about yourself except that you may or may not have some resemblance to the star you're emulating. When asked about the Lohan shoot, Bert Stern said that he suspected Lohan had 'hidden depths'...Well Mr Stern, that remains to be seen really doesn't it? As far as I can tell, a nude photoshoot doesn't actually aid a person in revealing their "hidden depths"...unless that's actually just a euphemism for "boobies" nowadays...

In conclusion, I would say Marilyn is sacred, don't dress up (or get undressed) as her. Ever.

Unless you're Madonna...