Another Day, Another Film Premiere

A bit late on this post so I do apologise most sincerely for my rude manors and beg you not to throw my apologetic self to the curb.  A couple of weeks ago, I managed to win some film premiere tickets to Ridley Scott's latest movie 'The Martian' thanks to Glamour (as in the magazine, just thought that I should make that clear in case you thought that I was claiming to having won the tickets due to being glamorous which would be a little bit obnoxious and, you know, also a lie).

Pretty Self-explanatory

 



My fate lied in the hands of the Glamour and Twitter gods as I simply and suavely (because I am both simple and suave) retweeted one of Glamour's tweets and calmly awaited the outcome of this simple and suave action which led to the below:

 

 

I should probably point out that I'm @amandalindseyb in the above list of winners (feel free to follow me on Twitter or Instagram if ya fancy it).  This outcome meant two delightful tickets to stare (in a completely non-creepy way) at Matt Damon's face both onscreen and in person.  Thank you Glamour and Twitter gods, I respect you both in equal measure and bow down to your supreme greatness.

 

 

Matt.  Damon.

 



Being the great flatmate/best friend that I am, I very kindly decided not to give the other ticket to my flatmate/best friend.  *Dramatic pause*.  Just kidding.  Of course I invited my flat mate/best friend, I'm not a monster, I was more just throwing in a dramatic plot twist to keep your attention but I can see now that that was cruel and so yet again, here I am apologising to you, I do hope you can forgive me?

Sean Bean, Kate Mara and Jeff Daniel looking
pretty happy here.

Now, I'm no amateur when it comes to attending a film premiere, I've been to two before and consider myself somewhat of a pro (no one can refute that.  You have NO proof that I am not a film premiere-attending pro.  Also, feel free to check out my previous film premiere post for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy by clicking here.) however, I still get quite intimidated and paranoid that I'm going to trip over when walking down the red carpet despite the fact that no one is even registering my existence as I traipse down these red pathways as I am neither Matt Damon nor Kristen Wiig.  How unfortunate.  You'll be relieved to know that I did not trip over, unless you're still harbouring a grudge against me for being late with this blog post and then in that case I should think that you're slightly displeased that there was no tripping over involved.

Kritsen Wiig's facial expression in this photo is
EVERYTHING.

Anyway, I digress (ALWAYS wanted to write that in a blog post.  Nailed it.), whilst strolling down the red carpet my friend and I bumped into someone that my friend knew who was working on the red carpet.  I won't lie to you, we felt pretty cool at this point until a rather intimidating security guard came along and told us that we couldn't stop on the red carpet to chat - apparently you can only do that if you're famous or something. 

These guys again.

Once seated inside the Odeon in Leicester Square we found our free 3D glassed (jackpot!) and our free popcorn which was the most disappointing-flavoured popcorn ever (sweet coconut and vanilla flavour?  Really?  REALLY?  In what world is that an acceptable flavour of popcorn?!).  After this slightly mundane discovery of an unpleasant popcorn flavour which was probably really interesting for you to read about, the cast came out on stage to introduce the movie and as we were seated in the second row, we had an amazing view of the entire film premiere-attending cast.

The whole, slightly blurry, gang.

I find it so bizarre that the genius that is Sir Ridley Scott was standing right infront of my face and, in all honesty, I was slightly disappointed that Sir Ridley didn't spot me in the audience and see some unearthed star potential in me and want to whisk me off to Hollywood to put me in movie that would go on to win me the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actress (because I'm a beginner at this acting malarkey in this imaginary scenario, I would be part of an ensemble cast hence the award would be for Best Supporting Actress and not Best Actress).  Kristen Wiig, Jessica Chastain and Kate Mara all looked stunning and exuded glamour (this time I am not referring to the magazine but, in fact, Hollywood glamour.  Just thought that I should make that clear.).  Whilst Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels and Matt Damon (I really hope that every time I mention Matt Damon that you flashback to 'Team America: World Police'.  You know what I'm talking about.) looked just as stunning their female co-stars but in a slightly more masculine manner.

Sir Ridley Scott wearing a pretty swish scarf
and failing to notice my star potential.

As for the film, it was brilliant - intense, fun, dramatic and so many other superlatives.  I would wholeheartedly recommend it, Ridley Scott has not let himself down with this movie.  Plus, for any 'Community' and/or Childish Gambino fans, Donald Glover is also in the film and nearly steals the show in my opinion even though he wasn't at the film premiere which broke my heart a little bit but it's fine.  Totally fine.  I'm over it.  Who even is Donald Glover?  Exactly.  Also, I wrote that this 'Donald Glover', whoever he is, 'nearly steals the show' because essentially Matt Damon is about 75% of the movie so I'm not sure that it's possible to steal a movie from someone who makes up three quarters of the actual film.

What's everyone looking at?  Probably Matt Damon.
 

I seriously suggest that you go check this movie out which you may have already done seeing as the film has been out for a couple of weeks so, I, er, guess this whole blog post is actually pretty redundant now, what a shame.  Oh well, if you have seen the movie then feel free to drop me a comment and let me know what you thought of it, you don't have to leave a comment though because you do have freewill and I respect that.     

White Henna Exists. For Real.

Can we all just take a moment and acknowledge the fact that white henna exists. 

Now that we've all taken a moment, I shall continue.......no wait, I'm going to need a little longer to fully take in this new nugget of information. 

First came the tan/brown henna then the evil/dangerous black henna and now the beautiful white henna.  Now, if you're thinking, 'white henna? Really?' with an edge of scepticism then feast your eyes on this stunning white henna (and nail art may I add!) courtesy of Reecey Roo's Instagram feed:

God Bless Reecey Roo's Nail Art Bar for this stunning white henna!
(Image via Reecey Roo's Instagram page)

Looks stunning, doesn't it?  Plus how perfect would this be for a wedding?  As someone who's fairly obsessed with henna (obsessed in a completely healthy way - see below pics for my henna love affair), white henna just seems to be the next step for me and I can't wait to try it out! 

This is a temporary henna tattoo transfer that I applied myself. 

I love my tiny henna temporary tattoo transfer which you can see on my
middle finger here.  Also, feel free to appreciate the nail art that I did which
featured real dried flowers!

Please ignore my slightly mannish hand and appreciate the  intricate henna design
here that I got from Pavan's henna bar in Selfridges last December.

Let me know what you think of white henna?  Have you tried it before?  Plus if anyone knows of anywhere that does great henna for a reasonable price (I've only ever had it done at Selfridges where it's quite pricey or used temporary tattoos) then please let me know?

Thanks!

The Tale of the Dreaded Spring-Clean

The incident happened last weekend, it was spur of the moment and as if I had been taken over by another being, a more tidy and house-proud being, a being who enjoyed the delights of BHS homeware and a humble teacup lamp.  This 'incident' was so shocking that should you continue to read on then feel free to gasp out loud in astonishment, I won't judge you, in fact, I implore you to gasp out loud as I recount to you......*pause for dramatic effect*.....'The Tale of the Dreaded Spring-Clean'.

Have I caught your attention?  Good.  Dramatic openings aside, spring-cleaning is no walk in the park and a nightmare for someone like me who has a tendency to be sentimental over the most pointless of items like the pair of flip flops I found hidden in my wardrobe and which hadn't been worn since summer 2007.  Simply put, the flip flops reminded me of an amazing holiday that I'd been on and despite the fact that they were slightly broken, I had held on to them all this time along with the memory.  The thing is, and this is what I discovered last weekend, my memory of that holiday can still exist without the flip flops sitting at the back of my closest, just like my memory of my best friend's eighteenth birthday party isn't dependent upon me keeping that one dress that I wore to it and haven't worn since.  I decided that I would much rather give the dress to a charity shop and know that it can help to create a new memory for someone else rather than hanging out in my closet and never getting to see the light of day!  The clearing out and fancying up of my room was a lengthy (and at times soul-destroying) process and I relied on A LOT of Taylor Swift's music to get me through it.  Probably too much.  I had 'Style' stuck in my head for five days straight after my spring-cleaning escapades, not that that's a bad thing.....although I'm not sure that it's a good thing either?  I don't know.

I can't deny the fact that I'm still a sentimental fiend and wasn't quite able to part with everything that probably could or should have been thrown out but I was probably the toughest I've ever been when spring-cleaning my room so yay me and fifty points to Gryffindor, or something like that anyway!

In truth, the best part of tidying out my room was being able to get some new bits for it and fix it up shabby chic-style, we're talking new bed sheets, a bed runner (didn't even know those were a thing until I bought a Kylie Minogue one in a sample sale for £2.50 reduced from £75. BARGAIN.), new cushions, candles, lights, lamps, photo frames, storage boxes and vases - there was no stopping me, I was a homeware buyng fiend and one that couldn't be stopped - feel free to check out the fiendish results in the photos below:

Glamour and Roald Dahl's 'The Twits' - best combo!

Note to self: do not try and drink tea out of these guys, could
be potentially catastrophic.

All my favourites.

 

No better storage box exists on this planet.

 

Tea cup lamp? Check.  Harry Potter storage box?  Check.  Clutter-free room?  CHECK.  Turns out spring-cleaning isn't so bad afterall, and as for the ending of 'The Tale of the Dreaded Spring Cleaning', well, let's just put it this way - I'm pretty sure that I'll be living clutter-free ever after.  The end.

 

 

Making Glitter Nail Polish on a Sunday Night

Sunday night blues are the worst, you know it, I know it and I'm pretty sure that that person sitting next you to on the train on your early Monday morning commute knows it.  So, seeing as I was suffering from those dreaded Sunday night blues earlier this evening (mostly due to the fact that I have to be up at 4:50am tomorrow morning for work), I decided to have some nail polish-related fun and create my own glitter nail polish. 

Back in the January sales, I purchased Ciaté's Nail Lab which was reduced from £80 to £25.  BARGAIN.  This nifty nail kit supplied me with paint pots, top coats, test tubes, a funnel, a scooper, 6 mini nail polishes, recipe cards, labels and LOTS of glitter. 

Ciaté's Nail Lab in all its glory!

Making up the nail polish was so easy and fun, I cranked up the music and felt like a mad scientist (of the nail polish-creating variety.  It's actually a very common type of mad scientist.) as I commenced upon my glitter nail varnish-making journey.  I decided that I wanted a super sparkly silver glitter with holographic confetti strands so I selected my glitters and added them to my test tube using the funnel and then gave it a good shake to mix up all the different glitters.  Once I was happy with my glitter mixture, I simply poured it via the funnel into one of the top coat nail varnishes, shook it up and it was good to go. 

If chemistry had been a bit more like this at school
then maybe I would have enjoyed it more!

I won't lie to you, by the time I was finished, it did look like there had been a fairy house party that had got out of control in my kitchen thanks to the amount of glitter that had spread all over the table and on the floor.  It's easy to clear up though with a wipe down of the table and a quick sweep of the floor so it's hardly a big deal. 



'Sunday Glitz'

One homemade glitter nail polish ready to go!

 What I love about this kit is that it includes labels for you to name and label up the nail polishes that you have created, I named mine 'Sunday Glitz' because, well, it was glitzy and it was Sunday.  I'm pretty deep.  I also used Ciaté's Paint Pot in the shade 'Looking Glass 131' as my base colour under my glitter to make my nails look even more sparkly and eye-catching.

Ciaté's Paint Pot in 'Looking Glass 131'

I have to say as great as Ciaté's Nail Lab is, I'm not sure that I would have paid top dollar for it as £80 seems quite excessive and I definitely would not have been impressed to have seen it go into the sale if I had paid so much for it in the first place.  However, £25 is a steal for such a great concept and piece of kit - not only did I feel mighty creative when making up my nail polishes but I also completely forgot that it was the end of the weekend because I was so caught up in my mad scientist ways (I genuinely should have been wearing a white lab coated, goggles and maniacally giggling away).

My finished nails with Ciaté's Paint Pot in 'Looking Glass 131' as it's base colour
paired with my homemade glitter nail polish top coat in 'Sunday Glitz'

I also purchased Ciaté's Flower Manicure kit in the same sale which I'm going to try out next weekend for Easter so I'll be sure to let you all know how I get on with that but I have a feeling that I'm going to love it just as much as their Nail Lab so you've been warned!

So proud of these beauts!

Growing Up and Becoming an Adult

Lately I've become increasingly aware of time slipping through my fingers with not just me, but everyone else around me, growing up and becoming an 'adult'. 

I'm not ashamed to admit that being referred to as an 'adult' has, at times, caused an odd and unexpected wave of panic to rush through my brain and forced me to acknowledge the fact that I am an actual, real-life, official grown up.  I think that a lot of that panic boils down to the fact that I spend more time watching Disney movies than watching documentaries, reading Roald Dahl books instead of listening to Radio 2 and wearing blouses that feature cat-face pockets instead of blouses without cat-face pockets.

 

Cat-face pockets - the pinnacle of my existence to date!

Essentially, it's like my whole being is rebelling against the prospect of admitting that I am, in fact, a grown up now and have been for the last however many years or so. 

Of course there are plenty of great things about being an adult such as not having to have a curfew (I still get a buzz out of staying up past 10 o'clock on a Sunday night.  I'm a rebel through and through.), being independent and, most importantly, having the space and freedom to define yourself and figure out exactly who you are.

The adult world is scary though, when things go wrong you can't blame them on anyone else but yourself and long gone are the days when your parents would write you notes to get you out of PE (or in my case, to tell my school that I was allergic to the mashed potato served in our school canteen*) or pick you up from school when you felt ill.  This being said, it also forces you to take ownership for yourself, when things go wrong you, and only you, can rectify the situation and vice versa, when things are going well, you know that you achieved that success all by yourself which can be a very powerful feeling. 

However, just because I, or anyone reading this post (all two of your probably!), may be considered part of the 'grown up community', it doesn't mean that we can't still acknowledge those things that brought us joy in our younger years - for example, have you tried reading 'Alice in Wonderland' through adult eyes?  It's like a whole new experience, a weird and slightly darker one, but a new experience nonetheless.

So, if you ask me, it's all about growing up in the least adult way possible by not cutting out what made you happy in days gone by, and so if that means that you'd rather listen to 'Now That's What I Call Disney' instead of Radio 2 then hats off to you, because you truly are the best kind of grown up!

*Disclaimer:  I wasn't actually allergic to mashed potato, I just did not appreciate the lumps in it, although I'm pretty sure that the dinner ladies were on to me about this as the replacement for the mashed potato was one huge, under boiled potato instead!  Those pesky school dinner ladies! 

Guess who's back, back again?

Guys, it's been a while, I'm not quite sure how it's been so long since my last post - it turns out that time goes pretty fast when you're not even paying attention to the whole 'time-thing' (raise your hand if any of that made even a modicum of sense to you?  Uh huh, I feel you, it barely made any sense to me so let's all take some small comfort in that.).

Anyway, time for a casual update on the exciting developments that have occurred in my life since my last post (when I say 'exciting', I mean my version of 'exciting' - so essentially you may want to lower your expectations a little!). 

So, let's see.....let's see......right, ok, it was my birthday in December (woo!  And no, it was not on the 25th December because I am not Jesus.  There.  I said it.  Now let's all move on.).  Seeing as it was my birthday, I decided to get my nails done all quirky and stuff, my hands done all henna and stuff and my hair dyed all green and stuff (isn't 'stuff' a great word?  It's definitely not vague at all!), check it out:

 

Since my last post, I have also seen Georgia King (fans of 'The New Normal' will know who she is) on the tube holding the world's cutest dog*, bought a light-up print of 'The Snowman and the Snowdog' from my local garden centre, stocked up on Lush essentials for the winter, hit up the Ciaté sale and got some treats which I will be sure to blog about, I have become incredibly addicted to 'Jerseylicious' (thank you ITVBe, I now have no space on my hard drive because it is full of episodes of this deliciously trashy reality show - I hope you're happy?!), ordered some divine Jeffrey Campbell boots which I got for under half price (yay to life!) and have recently taken up ballet classes because I had to let my inner Darcey Bussell free somehow (now all I have to do is meet some guy from the wrong side of the tracks who happens to be a great street dancer who will teach me his rebellious dancing ways and together we will combine our insane dance skills and I will win a place at Juilliard**).

I think that all sums up what's happened since I last wrote on here so I hope it was of some interest to you and if it wasn't then that's cool but you probably should have stopped reading about three paragraphs ago.

Make sure to keep an eye out for my next blog post next week - same time, same place?  Cooool.

*Disclaimer: This may or may not have been the world's cutest dog.  Cuteness is subjective.
**Disclaimer: This may or may not be the plot to 'Save the Last Dance'.

P.S If you rap/sang the title of this blog post in the style of Eminem then please come back again.