Ed Sheeran Concert

On the 22nd of October I went to see Ed Sheeran at the Capital Fm arena in Nottingham on his 'X World Tour.' If you haven't read my previous post then go check it out, as it was a 'Get Ready With Me' which included my outfit along with hair and makeup for the night.

Ed had two acts before himself, one of which was a new support act called Jamie Lawson. The style of his music was mostly soft and acoustic and he chose to sing and play guitar. One of my favourite songs of his was 'Wasn't Expecting That' which unfortunately isn't possible to purchase on Itunes yet. However, his EP 'Between Each Breath' is available and comes at such a cheap price of £1.79. There are also a few of his albums on there, so if you like that kind of music I would definitely give him a listen! I must say he gave the show a great start and got everyone in the mood.

Next up was Callum Burrows who is better known by his stage name of Saint Raymond. Callum is a 19 year old singer-songwriter from Nottingham. I've previously had the chance to see him before at Splendour earlier this year, so I was very excited to witness him again. His music and energy managed to keep the crowd entertained and warmed us up for Ed Sheeran himself. I can quite truthfully say that after his outstanding performance I have decided to go and see him for a third time on his February tour in 2015 where he'll be playing at Rock City. I would 100% recommend for you to listen to him as he doesn't quite receive the recognition he deserves. Callum was also hanging around outside the arena at the end of the show and luckily for us we saw him and got a photo with him (we somehow avoided all the queues as well which was a plus.)

Now onto the main man himself, Ed Sheeran! On entering the stage he immediately sang 'I'm a Mess' from his album 'X.' After this exciting welcoming he then introduced himself (not that we don't know who he is) but he also mentioned that this arena was the first that he ever performed at, which I must admit gave me goosebumps. He sang many songs from his album 'X', including some personal favourites like: 'Don't', 'Bloodstream', 'The Man' and 'Thinking Out Loud.' He did however include some of his older songs like "Kiss Me', 'Lego House' and 'A Team.'

During the song 'Tenerife Sea' Ed asked the audience to put their torches on or any form of light on their phones and wave them in the air. Everyone got involved and the whole arena lit up in the dark and it looked beautiful.

One of my favourite moments was when he played 'I See Fire' which features in The Hobbit. Not only is it one of Ed's best songs but the performance and colours on stage were magical. There was an array of orange lights coming out from the stage at all angles and at one point there were moving images of dragons and other mystical creatures on the back screen. Sadly, I didn't get any photo's of the dragons but managed to get a few of the lights, however due to my clapping and moving around the photo's are rubbish and the quality is quite poor, but here's hoping that I'll get a decent camera for Christmas.

Technically Ed's final song was 'Give me Love' which left me close to tears. Ed taught us a harmony and so when Ed said goodnight and left the stage, we continued to sing the harmony along with chants of Ed's name in desperation to bring him back on stage. When he did appear for the second time the audience were in hysterics. He sang the full version of 'You Need Me, I Don't You.' Himself and the audience were so passionate about this song and he even got the majority of us on our feet dancing. His final song was then his award winning 'Sing' and even as he left the stage the crowds were still singing and I found myself singing the melody all the way to the car!

It was such an amazing night and I wish I could do it all over again! For any of you who are contemplating seeing Ed, I would tell you to go for it as it was such a thrilling experience I wouldn't have wanted to miss it!

I also came away with an Ed Sheeran t-shirt from the merchandise stall. There was so many on offer but this print was my favourite.

Thank you for reading! Be sure to check out my previous post on my outfit. I hope you enjoyed reading this post even though it was slightly different to my other posts. I'd love to keep posting about events or fun things going on in my life as well as makeup and fashion.

Gina x

GRWM Ed Sheeran Concert

Todays post is a 'Get Ready With Me' and I decided to show you a look that was quite dressy but still casual. I wore this for the Ed Sheeran concert at the Capital Fm area in Nottingham. I'm going to structure this with a step by step process, including how I did my hair and makeup and the outfit I wore.

I always start by doing my hair when I'm getting ready as it takes the longest to do. Also when I curl it I like to leave a little time before I go out for the curls to drop. I also wear hair extensions usually to add volume and thickness to my hair. The extensions I use are Dirty Looks HK Full Head Hair Extensions which are 20-22 inches in the shade Paparazzi Highlights. Over the years I've tried out a range of different hair extensions and it seems these are the ones I always come back to. The quality is very luxurious as the hair is all real and it has just the right amount of shine. I only wear 2-3 wefts as my hair is almost the same length anyway. These extensions can be curled, straightened, washed and dyed and if kept in good condition can last around a year.

Dirty Looks website: http://dirtylooks.com/

Using Tresemmé's Curling Wand I wound my hair around it and curled it away from my face. I did a looser curl for the bits of hair around my face just to frame it. I added a spritz of Urban Iced Raspberry and Vanilla Hairspray to keep the curls in place and to add volume to the crown of my head.

Next up was my makeup. I decided to go for a fuchsia lip with a neutral brown smokey eye. I'm in love with smokey eyes at the moment as they make my eyes appear much bigger making them pop and stand out. Some people are able to pull it off everyday, but unfortunately for me it takes too much time so I took this opportunity and added a winged line to it. I thought this was a fun makeup look due to Rimmel's Apocolips pink lipgloss/stain, but didn't seem too casual like my everyday look.

Left to Right:

Benefit POREfessional Primer

Urban Decay 24hour Liquid Liner

Rimmel London Apocolips in 303 Apocoliptic

MAC Prolongwear Foundation in NC15

MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC15

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer 

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Hazel

Ecotools Eye Brushes 

Cosmopolitan Blush Brush 

MAC Prolongwear Concealer in NC15

Benefit They're Real Mascara 

Real Techniques Buffing Brush 

Benefit The Bronze of Champions Kit

Okay, so for the outfit I decided to wear dark colours which consisted of mostly black apart from my skort which was the main attraction of the outfit. Although it had a floral print it wasn't girly or too feminine. In addition I found that it sat comfortably, unlike most skorts I own which can be uncomfortable but because of it's stretchy fabric this skort was fine. I like the wrap effect as it adds a little more to the look, making it more interesting. I decided to wear tights because the weather was quite cold out and I didn't want to brave it for the walk there (although this look would look fine without tights.) I wore my leather jacket to keep me warm, and this jacket has to be a staple in my wardrobe at the moment. These boots too are very comfy and surprisingly easy to walk in. The buckles also make them edgier. 

Wrap skort - New Look £17.99

Black cami - New Look £9.99

Leather Croc Print Jacket - TXMax 

Boots - Boohoo £29.99

As for jewellery I accessorised with a chocker from Topshop which has an attached Yin Yang necklace dangling from it. The colours of these worked well with the outfit.

Part of a set - Topshop £12

Here is the finished look! I've also included a photo of myself and my friend before the concert, and although you can only see half of my face it was the only close up photo I had that showed my makeup. I apologise for the poses.

Thankyou for reading! I've decided to do another post following on from this one, which will be about the concert itself, so for any Ed Sheeran fans I'd recommend the upcoming post for you. Sorry that this has been slightly late but I've got a lot more idea's so I'll be hoping to keep on posting regularly.


Gina x

Zoella's Autumn/Fall Makeup Look

Today's post is something slightly different. I wanted to do a makeup look, but I was so inspired by Zoella's Autumn/Fall Makeup Look on her beauty channel, that I thought I would do my interpretation of it. Her look was based on a berry lip colour and gold eyeshadows.

Zoella has been a big inspiration of mine when starting a blog and I've been subscribed to her youtube channel for a few years now, and I'm proud to say I was with her at 300,000 subscribers. She's become a huge star recently, having had her book 'Girl Online' released, her beauty range 'Zoella Beauty' make an appearance in Superdrug and she's even hit 6 million subscribers!

    Check out Zoe's video here!

I'm going to guide you through how I recreated this look, however I made a few personal changes and used some different products.

Firstly on my skin I used the 'Simple Light Moisturiser' and Benefits 'Porefessional' to prep and prime my skin. Although Zoella didn't include this step in her look, I think it is really important to prepare your skin for makeup, not only to protect it but to keep your makeup lasting all day. This primer especially helps reduce the look of large pores and it helps to even out the colour of my skin.

  

Next up, I used MAC's 'Prolongwear Foundation' in NC15 which gives a matte finish, and lasts a for a good 8 hours on my skin. Zoe used Nars sheer glow foundation, which unlike Prolongwear it gives a dewy finish. However, I prefer more of a matte finish on the skin in the colder months. The concelear I used is also MAC and again is Prolongwear in NC15. I find the concealer and foundation work well together and both give off the same finish. This concealer has a very thick consistency, so is full coverage, but for me its the only concealer (of the ones I've tried) that does justice and covers my under eye circles. I used the Real Techniques 'Buffing Brush' to blend these in together and into my face. I love this brush as it gives an airbrushed effect, making the face look flawless. Real techniques brushes are also not too expensive and they're are so many- theres one for everything! 

On my cheeks, I only used one product which was Sleeks 'Face Form' palette in the shade 'Light.' I used the brown shade to contour my cheekbones with Real Techniques 'Contour Brush.' Zoe used this brush to blend in her concealer, which I have also tried previously, and it works both ways because of it's versatile shape. I then took her advice to do a rosy cheek as I am quite fair, and I thought this would add more colour to my face. I used both the highlighter shade and the rose pink shade, as they blend well together and complement one another. The highlighter added a soft glow to the top of my cheeks which shimmered when it caught the light. I used Bare Minerals 'Flawless Face' brush, which packed on the colour nicely. 

On to one of my favourite parts - eyeshadow! Before I applied any eyeshadow I primed my eyes with Urban Decay's 'Eyeshadow Primer Potion' and although I forget to use this sometimes, it really helped keep my eyeshadow in place and prevented any shimmer or glitter falling onto my face. I used three shadows from MUA's 'Heaven and Earth Palette' which are similar dupes for Zoe's MAC eyeshadows. This palette only costs £4 and with the primer I find they work just as well as eyeshadows from the Naked palettes aswell as MAC. On my lid I used the top far right shade and I used ECOTOOLS 'Large Eye' brush (bottom) which ensured that my whole lid was covered. In my crease I went for the colour next to the one I'd previously used. This was a dark brown, shimmery shade, and although Zoella wasnt too heavy on contouring her crease, I decided I would go full out with more of a brown smokey eye. I used ECOTOOLS 'Highlighting' brush (second down) which is the perfect size for my crease. I then ran this same colour under my eye in the corner and outer half of my eye with ECOTOOLS 'petite eye shading' brush (top.) Finally I added the top left colour on my brow bone to add more dimension to my eyebrows, using the ECOTOOLS 'Angled Crease' brush (third down.)

Although Zoella didn't add liquid liner, I much prefer it and thought it would complete my look. Using Urban Decay's '24/7 waterproof liquid eyeliner' in Perversion I created a basic wing and followed the line all the way across my upper lash line. After curling my lashes I applied 'They're Real' mascara by Benefit, which has always been my #1 mascara! To fill my brows in I just followed my usual routine, with 'Professional Eyebrow Pencil' by Rimmel in the lightest shade '002 Hazel.' Then to make sure there were no loose hairs, I gently applied 'Brow This Way' brow gel by Rimmel in '001 Blonde.' 

Now for lipstick! I decided to use 'Diva' by MAC as it's one of my favourite Autumn lipsticks and it has a gorgeous berry undertone. I took Zoe's advice to line my lips first and using the same lipstick and ECOTOOLS 'Smudge' brush I went round the outside of my lips and started to fill in at the sides. I then applied the lipstick all over, but dabbed at it a little with my fingers. This is because 'Diva' can come off as a browny, deeper red, but when wiped off there was a really lovely berry red shade underneath. This lipstick is also a matte finish which worked well with my matte skin and contrasted with the shimmery eyes. 

Last but not least I sprayed my face with the 'All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray' from Urban Decay, which helps keep my makeup in place throughout the days and nights. Honestly when I use this my makeup does not budge! 

Here is the final look! I also decided to do my hair as Zoella did, as it completed the look. 

Thank you for reading! I know this may have seemed really long winded, but there was so much information that I wanted to get in. I hope you have found some products you want to try out, or I've even convinced you to try this out yourself! If not then I hoped you enjoyed this post. 

Gina x

Yellow Tartan OOTD

This is my first OOTD, so heres hoping you all like it!

I decided to go for a versatile look, something that could be worn throughout the day and night for a variety of occasions. It could be worn on just a normal day out shopping, or on a more casual day substituting the boots for a flat shoe. Furthermore, it could be worn on a night out as it can appear as dressy, and could even be worn to a meal. I also attempted to use colours that fitted to the Autumn season. 

Hat: Primark
Yellow cami: New Look
Tartan skirt: New Look
Leather Jacket: TXMax
Boots: TXMax
Necklace: Primark 

This yellow cami is actually really comfy with plenty of flow in it which is good as I didn't want it to be tight and I love the combination of the cami and the skirt, because the colours work well together. The most common tartan colours are those of red and greens, so I wanted to mix it up a little and try something different with yellow and navy. The skirt itself has proved popular in my wardrobe as its easy to throw in a bit of pattern and colour into an outfit without being too much. I also love the warm toned yellow in the cami, as it's easier to wear than a more vibrant cool toned yellow. 

I'm loving these hats at the moment as it adds class to an outfit and they're great on a bad hair day (which I was having on this day). I find that these hats are flattering on most people and give the appearance of longer hair, you can also get them really cheap depending on where you shop! 

These shoes are a holy grail of mine! I always turn to them if I'm wearing black tights and they can be worn in the evening and daytime, so they come in handy a lot. I love the chunky boot look, as it adds a bit of grunge to an outfit without being too over the top. Cut out boots are more interesting and make your foot look slimmer, which I suppose is a positive! Unfortunately mine are a bit scuffed and aren't in great condition. 

I decided on red nails as it went with my red lip, which I thought added more vibrant colour to this outfit. I also accessorised with a silver statement necklace and a few silver rings. I thought this was the right amount of jewellery as its easy to over do it. 

Rings on index and middle finger: Primark
Other ring: Bottlekiln

I also love the scaly, snake skin texture of the leather jacket because it gives an outfit more edge, in particular in this outfit I wanted a few different textures running through it, otherwise it can come off a little plain. 

Thank you for reading, I hope you liked my OOTD, and I can't wait to do more of these in the future! I also hope to get a better camera, so I apologise for the quality of some of these photo's. 

Gina x