Crazy Cat Lady

I have many obsessions. Some of which are bigger than others; one of my bigger obsessions, if you haven't guessed already by the title of this post, is my cat obsession.  Today, I've decided to use some of the many many pictures I take of my two favourite cats; I think it's about time I mention them on my blog, I imagine they will appear on here quite frequently. Plus, I've managed to get some really great pictures of them in the past so I thought I'd show them to you. I adore most animals but cats just win at everything ever. They make the best noises, have the cutest ears, the most beautiful eyes, they always land on their feet, their toes look like beans... I think I've made my point, yes?

I'm pretty sure that cats are one of the main reasons why one of my best friends, Shay, and I get along so well.

I have a cat named Leo. He's getting quite old now, I think he's 7/8 years old (in human years) and I'm definitely his favourite human. This is probably because, like me, he loves food, being warm, cuddles (but only occasionally) and my bed...

We were meant for each other. 

The other day, whilst my Mum decided to torment a sunbathing, peaceful-looking Leo in the garden with a twig, I took a few (well... maybe more than a few) pictures of him. Out of the huge number of photos that I'd taken, I managed to capture him looking like a crazed ninja...

I am so utterly amazed and proud of this picture, I didn't think he was capable of doing such a pose!

One thing Leo doesn't enjoy is when I come home from my Grandma's house where OJ (pronounced 'odge', like 'dodge') lives. He pads over to me as soon as I come home and sniffs around my legs for a while before turning his nose up at me and walking away. These are the nights where I get a bed to myself... But he soon forgives me for my betrayal the next day when I feed him.

OJ is my second favourite feline. He isn't quite as characteristic as Leo but he's still cute and very chubby (chubby cats are great). The thing I love the most about him is that he lets me take some really great photos of him:

He absolutely loves any kind of attention. These pictures make me chuckle; this cat is more photogenic than I am! 

So, that's it for today. This is a pretty rubbish post but I do have a lot of fun ones planned, they're just taking a while to put together; you'll see soon enough! 

Side Note-

I haven't posted many beauty/fashion posts yet (well, I've only posted one so far actually!) and for this, I apologise. I do have beauty/fashion posts planned but there's so many fun and festive events coming up that have given me some really good ideas for my blog. I'm also holding back slightly with beauty/fashion posts because I just don't think they will look very good at the moment; I think that pictures are a big part of these particular types of blog posts and, as I've rambled on about in a previous post (this one), I'm saving for a DSLR camera so I'm relying on my iPhone for pictures. I will do beauty/fashion-based posts whilst I'm still saving but they won't be as frequent. This doesn't mean, however, that I won't be blogging in general very frequently: as I've already mentioned, I have some non-beauty posts planned for the upcoming months that I am very excited about.

Hmm, that wasn't meant to be a ramble.I was going to call it a 'little' side note but it was a few sentences too long to be deemed 'little'. Funny how a few sentences can soon turn into a paragraph... Whoops. 

Ciao for now

x

Kick Ass 2

The other week, I finally sat myself down with a lovely cup of tea (that I gulped down within the first ten minutes) and watched Kick Ass 2. Since I enjoyed the first one so much, I just had to write a blog post reviewing the sequel. If you haven't seen the first one and you're planning on doing so, I advise you don't read this; there may be some major spoilers. I'll try not to give too much away about KA2 though, incase you haven't managed to watch it yet.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. The mix of action and comedy throughout the film blend very well together, creating a really great comedy-action movie. The graphics were as good as the first one, if not better, and the stunts looked incredible.

The plot of the sequel itself didn't go quite the way I expected (and wanted) it to go. I'm not saying the plot was bad, I still enjoyed it, it's just that I'm very fussy when it comes to film endings and I was just slightly disappointed with it. Whilst watching it, I had a scenario in my head of how it was going to end but I was wrong. At some point, as you've probably heard already, Union J feature in the film and, quite frankly, I just don't get it. It literally has nothing to do with any of the plot. They just appear for a few minutes and then that's it. They're never mentioned again after that. Fair enough, if you're a fan of Union J, you might like it but they're not my favourite.

Aaron Johnson doesn't fail to impress with his attractive, moustache-ridden, ways in this sequel. He literally doesn't look any different in this movie than he did in the first Kick Ass (but I'm not complaining). That curly hair and those beautiful eyes, what's not to love?

 Chloë Moretz, on the other hand, looks so much older. She really has been blessed by the puberty fairy during the two-year gap between the first and second Kick Ass- lucky girl. I really love the way Chloë plays Mindy/Hit Girl, I couldn't imagine anyone else playing her.

Jim Carrey also stars in Kick Ass 2. I didn't even realise it was him at first which is surprising; he has such a distinctive voice. As he does in every movie he's ever been in, he played his character perfectly. Yet another amazing casting choice made there. It's quite a strange casting choice aswell, I don't think this is the typical type of movie that Mr. Carrey usually stars in yet he fits in so well.

I felt so many different emotions throughout this film, one scene could make you laugh and then the next scene might have you on the brink of tears (or full-on sobbing...). Considering this, the movie is, overall, so hilarious and quotable. Comedic, quotable movies are the best kind (unless you consider Mean Girls to come under this category; other than a few famous lines, that film is a pile of utter garbage, sorry, not sorry).

Think I'm done reviewing/rambling now...

Ciao for now

x

Happy Autumn!

Just a very quick post to say...

Well summer has sadly come to an end... But you know what that means, don't you?...

IT'S OFFICIALLY AUTUMN!

Yes, it's finally that time of year where I smother myself in knitwear, buy the whole of H&M (..wait, I do this anyway!), drink tea until I drown, stay in bed all day watching movies (yet another thing I do regardless of the season) and make a fool of myself by stomping on every crunchy leaf I come in contact with.

Me and my friend Annabel (who's blog I absolutely adore- you can have a nosy at it here) got really excited today when we saw a tree's leaves turning from green to orange for the first time this year. We were way too excited to the point where we were holding hands, jumping up and down and squealing with excitement. A few odd looks were exchanged around us.

Be prepared for lots of seasonal and festive themed blog posts in the next few months, I love getting festive. Excited is my favourite mood to be in, if you haven't guessed already by the amount of times I used the word.

This is just a little update post for now; I do have a real one planned for this week but this is all from me today.

Ciao for now

xx

Skincare

Let me begin this post by apologising for the awful quality of the photos. I'm currently saving for a DSLR camera for this blog and for taking pictures in general, the quality of the camera on my iPhone just isn't satisfying but it will have to do. I will probably have enough money to buy one around December/January which is a very long way away but DSLRs are not cheap. I’ll try my best with my phone camera for the time being which I do really apologise for. There are worse phone cameras I suppose but the iPhone camera is still not very good quality. I could just get all of my photos from the internet until I have a good enough camera but I don’t want to. Taking pictures of my own purchased products, for me, is like evidence to prove that I do own it and to show I'm not just copy and pasting someone else’s review and getting a picture from Google, it’s easily done. I've tried my best to work with what I have so please bear with me. Sorry for rambling, let’s get onto the actual blog post now…

Skincare is very important for me as I have awful skin. I used to never take much interest in my skincare routine, I just couldn't be bothered, until I realised that my skin is really important and needs to be properly looked after. I have really oily skin and quite a lot of blackheads but the products I use do help this, luckily.

 Clean&Clear Exfoliating Wash

Gosh this stuff is good.  Like I've already mentioned, I have very oily skin meaning I have to look out for oil-free face washes so this is ideal for my skin type. I'm on my second or third bottle (could you class this as a bottle? I'm not sure...); it's just so great at keeping my spots at bay. I love this face wash because it's so gentle on the skin; the micro-beads used in it to exfoliate the skin don't make you feel as though you're scrubbing your face with gravel like some exfoliators do. I use this twice a day (when I wake up and before I go to sleep) and I very rarely get extremely noticeable spots with it. Obviously, I get the occasional huge spot but I think every teenager does.The only disadvantage I can think of with this is that the scent of it isn't the most appealing. It doesn't smell bad, it just smells very slightly like men's aftershave but I'm willing to look past this.

Clean&Clear Dual Action Moisturiser

Another Clean&Clear product that doesn't fail to impress. Since I started using this, I can really feel the difference. It's such a great face moisturiser, it leaves my skin super-soft. I'm not too sure if it is the product to blame for keeping my spots away but it's good to know that it's helping to prevent them. This is also oil-free; I can't use moisturisers on my face that aren't oil-free because I would just break out all over my face (it has happened before). 

T-Zone Nose Pore Strips

Without these little beauties, my nose would just be one huge blackhead. I may hardly get spots but, to make up for my lack of spots, I have so many blackheads. I use these strips once or twice a month and the impact it's made on my nose is unbelievable. I'm really starting to see my blackheads clearing off and my pores mimimizing. Six strips doesn't seem like a lot but when you only use them once or twice a month they really do last. Plus, they're dirt cheap from Superdrug!

St. Ives Apricot Scrub

I know I already use a face wash but I like to use this St Ives one (oil-free like my other face wash) twice a week to deeply cleanse my pores and clear away dead skin cells (ew gross). This is a very heavy-duty scrub and I don't think it would work as well if I used it every day. I do really enjoy using this though. It leaves my skin feeling so fresh and revived plus it smells amazing. It has a really fresh, fruity scent, I love it.

Nivea Hand Moisturiser

Even though the rest of these products are face products, I just had to put this in. You can use this moisturiser for your body and face but I prefer to just use it for my hands, that's why I use the 75ml bottle. I've never been one to have soft hands but this moisturiser definitely helps. I use it every morning and I love it. Although, I wouldn't recommend this for your face, I used it on my face and it made me quite fiercely and abruptly break out in spots. This is when I realised that I need to use an oil-free moisturiser; if there's one thing my skin isn't short of, it's oil.

So these are the skincare products that I use on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. I hope you liked it. I apologise once again for the bad photo quality, they will get better once I get this camera, definitely. That's all for today.

Ciao for now

x

Remember, Remember, The Fangirls Of November

For fangirls like me, and because of a few other personal events, November is a huge month. It’s completely filled with so many events that I've had to type them into the notes app on my phone; there’s not enough room on my calendar. If the 3-year wait for Series 3 of Sherlock left me in a near-death state, the events of this month will definitely be the cause of my death.

Kicking off the eventful month is Bonfire Night, of course. I don’t particularly like Bonfire Night, I'm a huge baby when it comes to loud noises and fireworks are the worst of all. Since I moved into an attic bedroom at the beginning of this year, I imagine that the loud bangs of them will sound even louder. On the plus side, parkin cake and toffee apples are always a necessity during the Bonfire Night festivities, yum.

Unfortunately, the day after Bonfire Night, I have my first GCSE maths exams. I’m looking forward to getting these out of the way.

The excitement of November picks up again for me on 17^th November, I'm going to see Vampire Weekend with one of my best friends. She asked me to go earlier on this year but, although I knew a few of their songs, I didn't really know who they were; I've only very recently started liking the band properly. Now that I know a lot more of their songs, I'm really excited.

22^nd of November is next on the list: the worldwide release of Catching Fire, the second film of The Hunger Games book trilogy. Eeeeep! I absolutely adore The Hunger Games books; dystopian is probably my favourite book genre. The casting for Catching Fire is, overall, not too bad; I have taken a strong liking to the actor playing Finnick (he has a lovely face). I've watched the trailer so many times now and each time I get more and more enthusiastic about it. I’ll admit, I did watch The Hunger Games before I read it but, personally, I don’t think this matters. I hate it when people get annoyed at somebody because they watched the film of a book before reading it, why does it matter? If you haven’t seen the trailer for Catching Fire yet, you can click here to go and watch it.

Oh my word. Doctor Who – The 50^th Anniversary episode, The Day of The Doctor, on 23^rd of November, I'm probably going to sob my heart out. I can’t wait for David Tennant to come back (even if it is just for one episode), he’s my favourite (and my first) Doctor. This episode is followed by the ‘Christmas Special’ where The 11^th Doctor reincarnates into The 12^th. I cannot believe Matt Smith is leaving, I'm heartbroken. I've only just gotten used to him. I was so upset about letting David Tennant go and then as soon as I finally come around to getting used to Matt Smith and his even crazier ways, they have to smash my heart into a million pieces again. “Merry Christmas Whovians, we’re killing off 11!” If I'm even still alive and functioning after November, I am going to flood the world with my tears when I watch this. The 12^th Doctor, Peter Capaldi, seems like he will be a lot more serious and sinister. I have a feeling he’s going to be very hard to get used to; I don’t think he will be as eccentric as the 10^th or 11^th Doctor. 

Pre-ordered and ready to be delivered on 25^th of November is, *queue the tears*, One Direction’s third album, Midnight Memories. This is the first album of many from the predominantly non-teenage version One Direction (with the exception of Harry). Yes, as shocking as everyone I tell seems to find it, I'm a huge One Direction fan and have been since 2010. I'm known for liking bands and artists such as Mumford and Sons, Arctic Monkeys (who I'm going to see in October), Jake Bugg etc. but One Direction have a very special place in my heart. All of my best friends (with the exception of Annabel… I think) don’t agree with this specific choice of boyband but they've learnt to humour me whenever I decide to have a spurt of One Direction fangirly-ness by giving me a small laugh followed, usually, by an eye-roll.

It has been rumoured that Series 3 of Sherlock, which we have all been (not so patiently) waiting for, is due to air around October or November (this is what I've heard anyway). So I thought it would only be right to add this in, even if the rumours aren't true. Although, I will probably cry (depending on if I have any tears left at this point) if these rumours turn out to be false. WE'VE DONE OUR WAITING; GIVE US SOME DAMN JOHNLOCK MOFFATT!

Concluding this oh-so eventful month is my birthday! This is on the last day of November (30^th) and this year it’s on a Saturday, woohoo! I do love my birthday but it’s so near to Christmas that I always forget about it. Christmas is a big deal for me, I just really love everything about it: Manchester Christmas Markets, all the good Christmas food, present shopping, secret Santa with my friends, decorating the Christmas tree, Advent calendars, need I go on?

I did say that I’d be updating weekly, I've already posted something this week, but I wrote this a few days ago and just decided to put it up today; I was quite excited about it. I have so many blog post ideas based on Autumn and Winter-based events so I will probably be uploading twice a week quite a lot.

Ciao for now

x

Etsy in Autumn.

Everybody loves Etsy. Anybody who doesn't is a liar. Since Autumn is officially here, I picked out some cute and cosy items that I will most definitely be buying throughout the autumn period.

 

Vintage World Map Watch

First of all is this absolutely beautiful watch.Since the new school year has just started, it's always good to have a watch instead of a phone to tell the time. I love the vintage look of this watch, the brown in the map makes it look as though it's old and worn. I also really love the big face and the thick leather strap, I don't particularly like thin watches. Brown is such a great autumn colour and goes with quite a lot of colours, so it'd go with any outfit.

Book Scarves Shop

This is an Etsy shop that sells 'book scarves' -different literary greats printed onto scarves. I think this is such a great idea. I absolutely adore books and scarves so, for me, this is just perfect. I would probably wear this throughout any season but, since it's Autumn and it's getting chillier by the day, it serves it's purpose of keeping in the heat. The shop make several different prints: Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes, Wuthering Heights and more. I will be purchasing the Alice one, I love Alice in Wonderland so much, to be able to wear it in scarf-form excites me a lot more than it should do.

Panda Cookie Mug

With the exception of maybe my cat, tea is my favourite thing in life and when the cold Autumn morning and nights come, I will be indulging myself in many cups of it with a few sneaky cookies. When I saw this panda mug with a shelf dedicated to cookies, I got extremely excited. This is literally a dream come true for me. Tea is simply not tea without at least one cookie and a cute mug.

Banjo-Playing Cat Jumper

If someone told me I could have anything my heart desired, I just had to ask for it, I would ask for a jumper with a cat playing a banjo printed onto it.This has to be the cutest thing I've ever seen. As much as I love summer, I've been itching to start buying cosy jumpers; they're always my go-to top choice in cold weather. This is partly because I hate being cold but mostly because Etsy have adorable jumpers like this. Who doesn't want a jumper with a print of a cat playing a banjo?

Felted Monster Case

I already have one of these adorable felted phone/tablet cases in cream and I will definitely be using it a lot in Autumn. I might even purchase one in another colour. There's such a variety of different designs to choose from, it took me such a long time to choose. These cases are available for iPhone 4/4S/5, Blackberrys, Samsung Galaxy Note/S2/S3/S4, Kindles, iPads and MacBook Pros.

That's all for my Etsy purchases this Autumn, if you like the look of these items, have a look on my Etsy Favourites for more pretty things. Oh, I do love Etsy.

Ciao for now

x

Hello..

Uh, hi. This is just a blog post introducing myself and what this blog will be about.

My name's Kate (if you haven't guessed already) and I've wanted to start a blog for a while. I've always read people's blogs but never had the confidence to start blogging myself. Now I've decided to start one up as a (sort of) project for my school work. Although, I'm hoping to continue this afterwards. I really love talking about the things I do and what I like, so I think blogging is the perfect thing for me to do.

Most of my posts (I'm hoping) on this blog will be beauty related, but I will probably get way off-topic at times and ramble on about random things. So my blog posts will be things along the lines of cosmetic product reviews, beauty tips and anything else beauty related I can think of. I'm also probably going to blog about new music and movies.

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing, as long as I don't run out of things to talk about, which I very much doubt I will. I have no idea how this is going to turn out but I hope I get something good out of it, even if that's just a few views a week. I'm just trying it out.