In which Demi is Bloglovin'

Not sure why it's taken me this long, but I can finally stop saving links of all the blogs I follow since I've joined Bloglovin'!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Updates to come soon, I promise! I've moved to London for some PR internships, and life has been non-stop since! xo.

In which Demi plays with primers and talks beauty confidence

Primers are my secret weapon when it comes to make-up.

I've been using primers ever since I started to seriously use make-up, making the switch as an early teen from 'Oh God, pile some foundation and powder on my face to stop it looking so shiny!' to 'Hey, if I'm a bit more careful about all this, I don't look half bad.'

It sounds silly, but getting Sky TV was the factor that changed everything. Mum and I started to watch QVC, and their live product demonstrations taught us all sorts of tips and tricks, while their 30 day money back guarantee meant that we could try products out on our reactive skins (I have no doubt in my mind where I've inherited mine from!) and send them back if we didn't have a good experience. We were also introduced to a whole range of brands which we had never seen in shops, whether they were American or more boutique. My mum fell in love with Liz Earle, Elemis and Gatineau, and I found Smashbox.

Smashbox original Photo Finish Primer - Source

This product changed how I applied make-up. And, although it may sound silly, it helped me to change how I felt about myself and my appearance. I no longer felt like I should go out wearing a paper bag to cover my oily skin.

It continually astounds me how few of my friends are aware of the benefits of primers. But then again, they all have naturally better skin than I do, or don't care about make-up in the same way that I do. I love make-up and beauty products because of the confidence they instil in me. With the right face base on, I have no fear about trying out a vampy, dark lip, or electric blue eyeliner. It even extends to my clothes - as long as I feel like I have natural-looking, even-toned skin, I have the confidence to try out different styles, or wear pieces that I maybe don't think I could get away with - but try anyway. My confidence in my exterior is able to match my interior confidence of myself, as a person.

A couple of my close girl friends have pulled me aside before now, to ask me why I feel like I have to wear 'so much' make-up - are trying to make yourself more attractive? You're not trying to change yourself just to try and attract boys are you? You know you don't need to wear so many products? You look fine already!

And the answer is always no, I don't - I don't feel like I have to. I just like to. I like applying the layers, putting the pieces together. Layering products, I've found, gives a more natural look than one thick swath of foundation anyway. Male friends have commented that they don't even realise I'm wearing make-up most of the time, unless it's obvious. I apply make-up for myself, and whenever I challenge my girls in response, asking them if they can honestly say I look better without make-up, I'm met with guilty silences.

But I digress. Smashbox Photo Finish was my primer of choice for many years, helping to fill in my pores and smoothing out my skin tone to a soft-focus sheen. One thing I will say is that it wasn't very good at keeping me oil-free; the high-silicone content stifled my skin and I had to keep powder handy to deal with the effects.

Smashbox then changed to formula of their Photo Finish, and within a couple of days of using the new batch I had worse skin than I'd had in years. I mourned the loss of my staple product, but instantly set about finding a replacement. For a while I used a Maxfactor foundation, which had a second half to the bottle which held a primer (the name escapes me now), which eventually became discontinued. I then settled on Philosophy's Poreless Flawless.

Philosophy's Poreless Flawless Tinted spf15 - Source

I loved this product. Weird apricot colour aside, this spongey, gooey, creamy substance made my skin as smooth as a baby's bum, and controlled my oily skin much better than Smashbox's offering. Plus it has the added benefit of SPF, and to this day remains one of the few SPF products which didn't make me break out into spots within minutes.

Unfortunately, after a few happy years, Philosophy stopped bringing this product to the UK market, and I couldn't face shipping it over from the States. This was only a couple of years ago now and primers had swept the beauty market, and were now being offered by both high-street and high-end brands. So I tried a few out, from Rimmel's cheap and cheerful version to Laura Mercier and MAC - the latter of which, I am sad to say, I hated! Laura Mercier's deserves a shout-out though, because I did really like it, but I just kept breaking out into spots, so I sadly retired it.

My search ended when I came across NARS. I'd never bought anything from them before, but the lovely sales lady at Harvey Nichols gave me small sample tubes of both the Pore Refining Primer and the Multi-Protect Primer (where the SPF inevitably made me break out, dammit! Are you noticing a pattern here...?) and I soon returned to pick up a full-sized version of the Pore Refining version. I've been happily using this for a few years now.

My well-used, slightly mucky tube... niiice.

It's a lot lighter than the primers I'd previously used, and the first time I used it I was sure that such a thin liquid wouldn't be able to do anything! But it held my make-up well, and acted more like a super-moisturiser than a high-silicone primer. Due to its lower silicone content my skin also improved, as it was much more breathable - so I got the best of both worlds!

However, disaster struck on my trip to Nottingham last month, and I forgot to pack my primer! It sounds silly, but I really did panic! It's the first thing I apply to my face after moisturiser, and with a festival to attend the following day I didn't want to have to worry about my make-up running. So I dashed to Boots to find a cheap replacement, and emerged with L'Oreal's Lumi Magique Primer. Having switched to a L'Oreal foundation about a year ago (reviewed here) I figured it would be a safe bet - plus I got to use the 3 for 2 offer on make-up to pick up another Rouge Caresse lipstick (previously featured here too)

Left: Nars      Right: L'Oreal

Awkward hair tie mark on my wrist: Accidental

As you can (hopefully) see, the Lumi Magique primer is slightly shimmery and luminescent. The shimmer, which is not visible when rubbed in, creates a lovely dewy, bright finish to the skin. My skin looks and feels like satin - plus it smells like chocolate! Divine. I was really chuffed with this primer, and now often find myself reaching for it on a daily basis - maybe because it's summer, and I want a lighter look for my make-up. For nights out and a more polished look I reach for my NARS. But I love them both!

Do you bother with primer? Do you have any recommendations? xo.

In which Demi loves the Good Things in life

Good Things Stay Clear Purifying Cleanser

I don't swap and change my skincare routine, as a general rule. I prefer to play with my make-up, to switch up my style through my lips or eyes. My skin has been the bane of my life since the age of about twelve - uneven skin tone, oily, red patches. It took me years to find a routine that worked (or semi-worked at least), and when I did I clung to it like a dying woman to a raft.

My traditional skin-saver was this cleanser from Boots. It has served me very well over the years I've used it, and I still switch back to occasionally if my skin is particularly bad.

Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Foaming Face Wash (nearly empty!)

But over the years, my skin has changed, and I realised that my skin as a twenty-one year old was not quite the disaster that it was at the age of twelve. And so I started to carefully look around at possible changes to my routine. Just out of curiosity, of course....

I stumbled across this cleanser on a list of superfood skincare products on a magazine website - Vogue I think. I'd never heard of Good Things, but the surprising low price and the philosophy behind the brand caught my attention, leading me to do a bit of research. Here's the low-down from their website:

'Good Things Skincare has been developed by award-winning beauty writer Alice Hart-Davis. With superfruit beauty boosters in gentle and super-effective formulations, specially designed to make the most of your skin.' (Source)

Yes please! The line of products is designed for young skin, and while my skin may be better than it was, it's still fairly juvenile and likes to play up a lot. So I high-tailed it to Sainsburys and picked up the Good Things Stay Clear Cleanser and the Bright Eyes Eye Cream. Both are loaded with superfruits (Mango and Blueberry/Raspberry and Lychee respectively) and smell fantastic.

The Stay Clear Cleanser is a clear gel, and the packaging recommends massaging it into wet skin for a full minute. As it is missing many of the extra chemicals which help froth up cleansers, it does need this time to get going and lather up. It works absolutely perfectly with my trusty Clarisonic (which, handily, runs for about a minute - perfect for buffing this in!) and makes my skin feel lovely and soft, smell like a handful of blueberries, and feel less tight than my previous cleanser. I follow this up with Simple's Light Moisturiser and the Bright Eyes cream - voilà!.

My skin has been better than it has been in a long time since I started using it about two months ago, and I love that the products are missing a lot of the junk ingredients of many other brands. It feels like I'm giving my face a daily detox!

I'm super impressed with the Good Things brand, and I'm looking forward to trying out more of their products when I next see them on the shelves.

Have you tried Good Things? What's your skin saver? xo.

In which Demi doesn't entirely believe in the green light.

I should probably state here, for the record, that The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite books, and I don't believe a cinematic version of the tale will ever truly be able to recreate the subtlety and beauty of Fitzgerald's words. Nick's first person narrative issues aside, I think that such a wordy book will never have a fully successful film adaptation, as what we are delivered on screen will almost never match, or indeed outmatch, our own imaginations, unlimited as they are.

Nevertheless, when I heard that Baz Luhrmann was taking up the novel as his new project, a little thrill of excitement went through me. Surely, if anyone could do a decent job of matching the extravagance of Fitzgerald's 1920's world, it would be Baz.

It was certainly close, but no cigar.

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I monitored all press news, photos from the set and rumours incessantly. The more I saw, the more I liked. The cast seemed perfect, with my only concerns saved for Leonardo Di Caprio. It wasn't that I didn't think he would do a good job, as I think he's an amazing actor. I was simply intrigued as to how he would craft the titular character; the rest of the cast fit smoothly into their roles in my mind, whereas Di Caprio was like a puzzle piece which I knew would fit into the whole... I just hadn't worked out how yet.

When the soundtrack was leaked I was fizzy with excitement. Baz made such a fantastic call by getting Jay Z on board, with the music sounding both fresh and nostalgic; jazz and modern rap or dance seamlessly blending.

 Some of my personal favourites from the soundtrack, but the whole thing is amazing.

When it was announced that the film was going to be delayed so that it could be engineered into 3D, internally I reacted like this:

I hate 3D films. It ruined The Hobbit for me. I hate that when you watch a 3D film in 2D (or even in 3D) how inherently false it looks; you can practically see the green screen behind the actors. It jars with the believability of films, and I just wish the whole trend would go away.

So, with hesitant feet, I made my way to my old local cinema during my last trip back to Nottingham, with two equally trepidatious friends.

And, inevitably, felt my heart sink whenever the shots revealed the unnecessary 3D green-screen effect, which in turn affected the lighting quality of the actors and threw several key scenes off-balance for me.

BUT, 3D-hate aside, I was fairly happy. It seemed to take a long time to get going, but once it did the film fizzed into life like an uncorked bottle of champagne - all bubbles and sparkle and light and airiness. The party scenes in particular were great, but the big show-down in the New York hotel scene was the highlight of the film. With no green-screen, no scene-stealing props or gimmicks, we were graced with terrific performances from all of the actors. Leo did an incredible job, even if his 'old sport' catchphrase was slung onto the end of every sentence - but having re-read the book since, he really does use it that much.

Which brings me onto my joy and delight at seeing how much of the actual text of the novel was quoted. I liked the framing of the narrative, the reasoning behind Nick telling the story. While I could have done without the weird floating words in the sky occasionally, I liked that Luhrman tried to tie the book in as much as he possibly could.

However, there were niggles, and many of them. The green-screen aspect and the unnecessary composite layering. The flashy flashbacks. Some strange camera angles. All of these things kept me from sinking into the film, into wrapping its decadence around me like a fur stole.

Baz gave it a solid effort, one which drew out excellent performances from his actors, and certainly beats the Redford/Farrow version in my opinion. But it is a film which ultimately falls short - and not just for the fact that he was never going to be able to match Fitzgerald's unearthly prose.

Did you catch The Great Gatsby? What did you think? xo.

In which Demi shares her arty finds #4

Aaaaand here's some more that caught my eye!

Kyle Thompson

Kyle Thompson's self-portraiture is stunning in ways which I can't fully verbalise; visceral, human, ethereal yet tortured. Or, better put:

'His images have a beautiful sense of movement to them, especially in the recurring presentation of the fluidity of windswept fabric, which often complements his serene expression. Many of the photographer's images alternate between presenting a visual interpretation of inhaling a breath of fresh air and being suffocated by some unnatural force. However, both of these approaches offer something surreally exquisite.' (Source)

For more, you can visit his website.

Lisa Tomasetti

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Lisa's photography is an uplifting contrast between busy city streets and the delicate elegance of ballet dancers. Perfectly poised against the urban elements, the ballerinas seem even more vibrant and serene.

For more, you can visit her website.

Olivia Bee

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Olivia Bee may only be 19 years old, but her distinctively dreamy, verging-on-trippy use of colours and refractions caught my eye - as well as the eyes of high-profile brands such as Hermes, Levi's and The New York Times. Her pictures remind me fiercely of the word 'vitality'. And the 90's.

For more, you can visit her website.

Joanna Lemanska

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 Joanna Lemanska has produced a portfolio of stunning photos which captures the essence of Paris perfectly - and the addition of water reflections push her images to a new level of detail and beauty. I wanted to share every last photo, but there would have been too many, so I heartily recommend you click here to check the whole portfolio.

That's all for my arty round-up (for now!) I've got some beauty posts in the pipeline, so keep your eyes peeled my lovelies! xo.

In which Demi shares her arty finds #3

How stunning are these photos of ballerinas tumbling into sleep? I'd love to buy the first one and frame it. Vanessa Paxton's whole website is full of gorgeous photography, I highly recommend checking her out - here. 

The subtleties of the details and shades of white bright against the dark background are what catch my attention the most. Dreamy. xo.

Source

In which Demi shares her arty finds #2

Carrying on from yesterday's portraits are a collection by Sayaka Maruyama. A clash of Eastern and Western styles, her portraits are moody, haunting and slightly surreal in an attempt to explore "contradictory contemporary understandings of Japanese notions of beauty, from both Western and Eastern perspectives." I think they're absolutely beautiful. xo.

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Want to see more? Visit Sayaka Maruyama's website.

In which Demi shares her arty finds #1

I spent half of Sunday poring over mymodernmet.com, which has some seriously cool and quirky finds on it. I became entranced by the pages and pages of photography and art - something I really wish I had a talent in. As my photos on my blog attest, I have just about mastered a simple point and shoot camera. Smooth.

I've got a whole host of artists I wanted to share as a result. First up is Alberto Seveso, who achieves absolutely beautiful portraits with his mix of photography and ink-in-water. Take a look for yourself. xo.

Source

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Want to find out more? - Alberto Seveso's Portfolio

In which Demi shares her Spring songs

There finally seems to be light at the end of the tunnel - this winter has dragged on, and on, and on. We've had torrential rain, crop and animal-killing late snow, ferocious icy winds, the lot. And I for one cannot wait until summer. Normally I quite enjoy the variety of seasons; by the end of summer I'm looking forward to wearing more layers and snuggling down into winter (if I could hibernate, I would do). And when everything starts to re-emerge for spring, I get very excited at the idea of long days, sunglasses and summer dresses.

Except that the normal changing-seasons thing hasn't really happened this year. It is only now, at mid-April, that we're starting to see mere hints of spring. But they are (finally) here. My mum is a garden designer, and she's suddenly spending all available hours in our garden getting it ready, and racking up new clients who have similar ideas. The clocks have gone forward, I'm having to drive to work with my sunglasses on because of the sun, and I haven't had to put my headlights on in nearly a week.

Source

So, while I may not be able to change my outfits to match how I'm feeling (I am so, so sick of wearing jumpers now...) I have been changing up my music to reflect my new brightness. Spring-ness, if you will. Here's a quick run-down of the music I've been loving recently.

Paramore - Paramore

I'm loving Paramore's new self-titled album a whoooole lot. I used to listen to their album Riot religiously when I was deep in my pop-punk phase, which has died off over the last few years. But this song, 'Still Into You', had me hooked from the first time I heard it. And since listening to the album on Deezer, I'm seriously impressed. It sounds inherently Paramore, but different - they've been daring and inventive, trying out all sorts of styles. The hurt they felt from two of their members leaving feeds the fire of this album, spurring them on to new, and better, things. This is developed, matured, confident pop-punk at its best.

Highlights: 'Ain't It Fun', 'Part II', 'Hate To See Your Heart Break' and the two singles, 'Now' and 'Still Into You.'

Hurts - Exile

 
Ahhh Hurts. I've spoken of my love for this band before, back in January last year (here and here). Their new album is a tale of two halves for me - I adore the first half, but will happily skip a lot of the second half to return to the uninterrupted brilliance of the first seven or eight tracks. They apparently wrote this album on the guitar, as opposed to the piano they used for their first album, and you can tell. It feels current, yet nostalgic; major love. The CD is in my car to stay I think.

I bought tickets for Elf and I to go see them on their opening night of their autumn tour. I AM TOO EXCITED! October seems so very far away....

Highlights: 'Miracle', 'Blind', 'Only You', 'Exile', 'Sandman' and 'Somebody To Die For.'


The Neighbourhood - Sweater Weather (single)

My song choice for spring. It makes me think of warm nights, sunglasses, sand between my toes, fizzy drinks, flirting, giddiness. I absolutely love it. These guys are going to be huge. Since I started listening to them a few months ago, I've started to see adverts for their album pop up on Youtube and this song play in shops - the take-over has begun!

Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob

I'd heard of Tegan and Sara before, but I wasn't a huge fan of their alternative rock/punk style. Their new album is distinctly more pop-y, and very easy on the ears. I much prefer this new style, although I know people who will claim the complete opposite.

The Pierces - You'll Be Mine (single)

Last year's summer song is now forever ingrained into me as a herald for warm days. I'm coupling this with Haim - Falling, because they're similarly vibed and infinitely chilled songs.

What are you listening to? I'd love to hear any recommendations! Happy listening xo.

In which Demi's motivation and mojo emerge from hibernation

Bonjour! I have returned! After another heinous absence, I know. In all truth, I feel like I've just been in the wrong headspace for the last few months. My journal-keeping went out the window along with my blogging, I stopped keeping up with other blogs, and generally lost my writing mojo. Along with my motivation, pro-activity, interest and all sorts of pretty important things.

I was stuck in a massive rut. One the size of the Grand Canyon. Six months out of a prestigious university, with a high 2:1 degree in English, I was working full-time as a waitress in a creparie, on minimum wage, feeling my brain slowly atrophy into mush.

I moved home after university for a number of reasons - mainly because of my health, which threw off all plans of a job until it was sorted. And without a job, I had no money to rent my own place. And, truthfully, I was scared. Scared of graduate life - real life - without the buffers of studentdom. Of holding down a job and paying bills and finding somewhere to live and starting fresh with no-one I knew. Even though I'd trotted off to Nottingham happily enough, that was different - I was living in halls of residence, I had no real responsibilities other than showing up for classes, and I knew two people from school in my own hall, never mind one of my best friends being across the road in another hall.

So I came home. As, I'd assumed, many others in my situation would.

I was wrong. Massively wrong.

I'd (stupidly) assumed that life at home would be similar to my life before uni. I was looking forward to catching up with friends from home, from high school. And it just didn't happen - because nobody came home to stay. The majority headed back to uni at the end of the summer - third years, fourth years, PGCEs, Masters and law school called them away. S. took a much-needed extended vacation following her Cambridge law degree, before she started work at one of the most successful law firms in the country. A. got herself suited up [stylishly so; if there's one thing A. doesn't do, it's boring office clothes] and headed down to London to start her climb up the long ladder at PWC. And my darling Elf strapped on her skis at the end of October to try her hand as a ski instructor for a season. She returns on Monday and I am practically giddy with anticipation.

Because when Elf left, it was just me. Me, and two of my best male friends - one who had no idea what to do post-uni, one who had gone straight into work after quitting school and was soaring up the ranks in the company he works for. And though I love them both dearly, they are two of the most useless people I know when it comes to replying to messages, remembering things and making plans.

So my social life quickly dried up, and although I had a job it was hardly stimulating. I found myself growing more and more sloth-like, unable to muster the energy or enthusiasm even to write. It was a new experience for me, one which I found supremely uncomfortable; I have been writing, in some guise, shape or form, since I was a child. To lose the will to write scared me, and made me even more miserable.

It all came to a head over Christmas, when everyone came home again. I was so excited to see everyone, but became quickly depressed by all of their exciting lives and stories, by seeing faces freeze into awkward smiles as they said "oh, that sounds... nice" when I said I was working as a waitress. While out for a meal with my home-girls, mid-lecture/pep talk by A. and S., I suddenly felt the tears start to well up as I shrugged off their questions about what I was doing about job searching, and why I wasn't being proactive, trying to make jokes and deflect them.

Being quizzed by two of the most driven and career-minded people I've ever met, who had no concept of why I was not pushing myself forward, and subsequently feeling so worthless and lazy and confused, was the thing that tipped me over the edge. I started crying as everything seemed to crash over me, feeling desperately embarrassed at making such a scene at dinner. A. grabbed me and steered me outside, where everything came tumbling out. How I'd been avoiding visiting her in London because I was so jealous of her new lifestyle. How I felt like I was letting everyone down. How I'd suddenly lost all of my enthusiasm for PR, and now had no idea what to apply for because I didn't want to do anything other than stay in and watch movies and bad TV. How lonely I was, and how hard it had been to go back to living under my parents' roof having lived away for three years, but how I felt I'd regressed back to a teenage state after becoming accustomed to it.

I've never been one to make New Years Resolutions. But for 2013, I promised myself that I would make a change. That I would figure out what I was going to do, and then just bloody do it. I was healthy, I was (and hopefully still am) smart, and I owed it to myself, and to others, to get going again.

And, out of the blue, an opportunity fell into my lap. The daughter of one of my mum's horse-riding friends rang me one morning in January, and said that she'd heard I was looking for a job. She enquired about what I was looking for, and asked if would I be interested in an Admin Assistant position at the Human Relations company she worked at.

Within a week or so, I was being interviewed by them. Although not directly related to PR, I knew the job would be a massive step in the right direction – lots of typing, answering the phones, general admin assistance, and the proper office experience which I desperately needed. Coming from a waitressing job, I knew I would be able to handle the hosting aspect of the job – keeping the centre presentable and topping up the tea, coffee, fruit, biscuits etc for the participants and clients of the courses being held at the centre. I almost lost the job when they tested my (highly rusty) typing and Excel skills, but was equally shocked and delighted when they offered me the job less than an hour after I’d returned home.

I handed in my notice at the creparie, and have since been working at the Human Relations company for just over two months now. I am infinitely happier – learning new skills, using my brain(!), meeting new people daily. I get on really well with the rest of the staff, of which I feel very much the baby of the group (but in a nice way). It’s so different from when I was bouncing off one other staff member at the creparie most days, as it was only a small shop. I’m earning more, and have been able to afford trips to both London and Nottingham, so I feel much more connected to my friends, even with the distance.

The job was initially a six-month contract, with the potential to continue, and with half of my time there now spent I am starting to look ahead, and think about what I want to do. The reassuring fact is that I’m not facing forward with trepidation now, but excitement. I’ve got my mojo, my confidence back. I’ve remembered what it’s like to feel like myself again, and I have no intention of letting that go. I’m reading more, and writing snippets here and there. I’m intently keeping up with the news once more, with the newest beauty products, with film releases and my other interests.

I care again. And it’s such a relief, and a blessing, that it’s horrible to even cast my mind back a couple of months to when I simply... didn’t. I was just existing; trudging through empty, repetitive and tiring days.

I’ve got a ton of ideas for blog posts – raving about music I’m loving, new tech, a whole bunch of new beauty treats, thoughts on books and films I’ve been enjoying recently.

Demi is back. And, hopefully, she’s here to stay again. xo.