New Benefit Roller Lash Mascara!

Hola people!

I recently bought Elle Magazine and the freebie included was the new Benefit 'Roller Lash' Mascara. I pick up the magazine on the odd occasion, however I'd already seen amazing reviews of the mascara from other beauty bloggers and wanted to try it for myself. So seeing it as the months freebie with a mag that I like to buy was a bonus!

I have always wanted natural, gorgeous, lengthy Marilyn Monroe type lashes (I'm sure I'm not the only one!). ;) I've never really had particularly long lashes and have tried too many mascaras to try and fluff em' up and make me feel more glam, but there's only ever been a select few that ever worked particularly well. I remember trying lots of mascara's when I was in Year's 10 and 11 at school and quickly discovered that awful moment when you apply too much and it looks like your lashes are thick spiders legs and you try to wipe the excess off but you just didn't do it properly and end up taking clumps of lashes out...!! *And breeeeathe* What a horrifying make-up moment. Though, you'll be pleased to know that I immediately got out of the habit of over loading the lashes and have since, never encountered a spider-leg-lash moment. *thumbs up* ;)

The mascara I usually use is Bellapierre (one I got from a previous Glossybox) and while it's so brilliant, I have to say, the new Benefit Mascara is bloody amaaaaaziiiiing! Honestly, the curl on those babies! No more non-existent eye-lashes for moi! 

The mascara is so light when applied. I've used it every time with my make-up since buying it and it has never had that horrible clumpy consistency that some mascaras have! The specially shaped wand does exactly as promised. It rolls your lashes brilliantly and fans them out to give such a glamorous but natural look. Your lashes end up looking fab for hours! This will be a definite must buy for my make-up bag and I dare any make-up lover to not love it! :)

If you've tried the new mascara yourself, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below! 

Until then, Rock On!

Plus-Size Novelty Knickers!

Hola people! 

Knickers to you too! As a plus-size woman, I sometimes find it difficult to find fun novelty knickers. I'm a size 20-22 and while there are amazing stores such as Yours Clothing and Evans for us plus-size babes, I find they don't always do the awesomely quirky (and affordable) knicks that you find in places like Primark. I've been lucky on a few occasions and found a size 20 in Primark's knicker range, however I'm always disappointed when those sizes are barely stocked. 

So...imagine my complete and utter excitement when I find that George, Asda, have bigger knicker sizes in what can only be described as 'Purely Frickin' Awesome Undies!!' 

On offer at 3 for £6, I couldn't turn down the option of Disney underwear and who, tell me, could resist batman knickers?! Not meeeeee! Check them out!

I'm a big fan of Asda clothing in general as they tend to have many clothes in sizes 20, 22 and sometimes some in 24 and up. Their quality is great and one thing that makes me love them even more is that no matter the size, they always have suitable styles for the variety of ages. Some plus-size ranges (such as Rogers+Rogers in Matalan) tend to do a lot of plus size clothing that would only typically suit the older woman. While that's brilliant, it's not always nice to be a young woman wearing something that would suit your 50 year old mum better than you, just for the sake that it comes in your size. So, Asda is win win for me! :)

Of course, if you're not plus size, Asda do the above knickers in all the usual sizes, so go and grab them if you love them too! 

Until next time, Rock On!

Fifty Shades Of Grey Film Review! - A Valentines Post

Hola people!

***Happy Valentines Day!***

As a Valentines gift, my partner Scott took me to the cinema yesterday to see Fifty Shades of Grey. It was a fab date! 

I have indeed read the books. In fact, I read them before all the major hype began, when they went practically unnoticed. I've since read them another 3 times! I really enjoyed them. I will admit, it does annoy me when people assume it's all about sex. The primary plot is of love. It's a love story. It just so happens that the Hero has particular tastes in the bedroom and said tastes are (as he says) very singular. He finds a woman he's intrigued by and introduces her to his tastes. As we all do with our favourite things! When we meet people, (either as friends or more) we shares likes and dislikes and putting it bluntly...it's the same with sex! We all know people have different preferences when it comes to sex and Fifty Shades is the epitome of that. 

The fact that Christian Grey has secrets and a guarded heart is due to his childhood. This, also, is a big factor in his and Anastasia's story. Traumatic events and major influences from certain people in his past have made him behave a certain way, thus ensuing his particular lifestyle. 

While all this is quite a deep part of the story, their love is so encompassing! The passion they have for each other (outside the bedroom ;)) is lovely to read. It may be fiction, but it's intended to draw you in and make you fall in love with Christian and his love for Ana and for me, that absolutely happened! I enjoyed reading how they overcame emotional turmoil and how their relationship grew.

I understand that Fifty Shades isn't for everyone. Totally. Each person has individual tastes! However, this whole "abuse" malarkey that has come about lately has really ticked me off. 

In. No.Way. Is there abuse in Fifty Shades of Grey. I've seen rants online from strongly religious people stating it's the work of the Devil as it highlights domestic abuse and glamorises it! I've even seen some women rant online, claiming that he rapes her into submission. Even after these women have admitted that they have NOT read the books! This is all buuuuuuull-crap! It's a case of, one man, showing a woman he fancies, a particular lifestyle he's adopted. Throughout the books and throughout the film, it is constantly mentioned that her consent is needed for anything sexual to happen and that she is free to say "no thanks!" to what he is showing and offering to her. If it were abuse, he would have forced her into doing something she didn't want to do...this does not happen. If he raped her, I'm pretty sure the series wouldn't be considered a bloody romance and y'know what? The books wouldn't have then been allowed on the shelves!! If he abused her so obscenely, E.L.James wouldn't have sold over 100 million copies of her series. Enough said.

So! Enough of the ranting! (Got a tad carried away there!)

Onto my thoughts of the film...

I, seriously enjoyed it! I think Director Sam Taylor-Johnson should be proud of herself. Considering many book-to-film adaptations don't have a good reputation, Fifty Shades Of Grey, does stick closely to the books and gives us loyal fans something to compare to our own imaginings of the erotic tale.

I personally, don't picture Dakota Johnson (Anastasia) or Jamie Dornan (Christian) as my perfect representations of the characters, however they did a great job on screen and really did bring the love story to life. There were plenty of laughable moments! Dakota did bring a fun side to Ana! She didn't take herself too seriously and as someone who had the immediate attention of a famous business mogul, she certainly keeps him wanting more! ;)

The sex scenes were HOT. No doubt about it. Of course, there are plenty of sex scenes in the book and they need to be portrayed on screen so us as the audience can gather what their sex life is all about. BDSM or no BDSM. In fact, Christian Grey's Playroom may look daunting considering it's filled with a luxurious bed and furniture, toys (no not Lego! :P) and BDSM paraphernalia, but the sex between them is really quite tame considering there is much heavier content out there in other romance books. Believe me, I've read it. ;)

Seeing the camera pan up to Escala (the building where Christian lives) was awesome! I was doing a proper fan-girl squeal inside. That moment when he takes Ana out in Charlie Tango (his private helicopter) for the first time made me a little bit giddy as I knew what was going to be proposed to her by CG. When he first showed Ana his Playroom, it slightly took my breath away! I personally think it looks quite beautiful! Lol!

Their passion. Oh, their passion. It was captured in such a beautiful yet deeply erotic way.

As someone who's read the book repeatedly, it's hard to not sit there and compare the movie to the book constantly. So many of the most iconic and memorable quotes are all there and delivered in the way they should be! 

The only things that I had a slight problem with were:

Jamie Dornan didn't seem as completely dominant as CG is in the book. I felt he was a little softer, or maybe tamer is a better word? I appreciate that some things have to be toned down to be fit for cinema screening. Though in the books, (I say that too much!) I feel Christian is slightly more controlling (not in an abusive way) and more focused on Ana's life.
There's also a part where he explains something crucial to his life when Ana is sleeping. Part of me thought...woah, that doesn't happen til book 3?! How come they've shown the audience now? That particular part I thought would have had more of a build up to it as it's what draws you in to wanting to find out what makes CG tick. I don't want to explain what he says right away as it's a slight spoiler, but if  you get what part I'm talking about, let me know in a comment below and tell me what you think too!

Lastly, one teeny tiny nitpick....she didn't have a Blackberry phone and nor did he. LOL!
If  you've read the book, you know that Christian sends Ana a new phone, new laptop, new car among various other gifts and you also know how E.L.James' writing is a product placement companies wet dream! With frequently mentioned brands like Blackberry, Audi and Apple, I expected to see those small details in the film. Though, Ana has a regular American flip-up cell and Christian has an iPhone 5 ;) hahaha!

Like I say, I'm really nitpicking with that last one, but I thought I'd mention it. :P

The soundtrack is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I'm in love with it. Most frequently played are Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding & Earned It - The Weeknd (correct spelling). 

I can't actually begin to describe all that is right with these two songs! They're just truly perfect!!
The soundtrack sticks true to the books also, by featuring songs such as Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra which is played when Christian is taking Ana to meet his parents. In all honesty, if the songs mentioned in the book weren't in the film, it wouldn't create the full atmosphere.

Finally, one last brilliant thing about the soundtrack...Danny Elfman! One of the best composers (one of my faves) in the world and he himself has composed two songs for the film. YES! :D
Awesome work Danny E! <3

So there you go! My long arse review (and slight rant) of Fifty Shades!
I can't wait until the next installment comes out...in a years time...*cries*
If you've read the books, seen the film, done both or neither and want to chat about it, leave a comment below! Let me know what you think of it, even if you hate it entirely. ;)

Until the next post, Rock On!

New Blog Design & A Quick Catch-Up!

Hola people!

Happy New Year! 

Wait...what do you mean I'm a bit late? It's February already?! Wow...shows how long I've been neglecting my poor blog! ;)

Over Christmas and January I had the highly unfortunate issue of being very ill. I had possibly one of the worst virus's ever and it made me extremely upset to be ill on Christmas! It continued into the new year and while I tried to pick myself up and blog, I didn't feel I'd be giving it 100%. So I have waited until I'm completely better and can now get back into blogging with some oomph!

Now, those who have visited my blog before maaaay have noticed some interesting changes....*wink wink, nudge nudge*. If you haven't, then....go and get your glasses on! ;) 

I've had a complete change in layout and design! Ta-dah! *cue streamers and celebratory music erupting from your device* No? No streamers? Just me then... :P

So. Why did I decide to have a complete change even though my blog is only 5 months old? Well. As many people say, New Year, new me! In this case, it's New Year, new blog! Even though I loved the colour scheme and look of my blog beforehand, I did feel it lacked professionalism and was quite closed in in all it's dark themed glory.

I googled many sites for a funky blogger template and found this beauty! You liiike? It's called Retro Darling and is from a site called Pipdig!

They are a fantastic site who offer many templates for both Blogger and Wordpress. They come at a small price for such awesome features. PLUS, you have the option to install the template yourself once purchased, or you can fill in some details and someone from Pipdig will sort it out for you. I know...groovy right?! A big thanks to Phil from Pipdig who emailed me some help and advice once it was all sorted! *salutes Phil*

If you fancy checking their site out and having a mooch at their templates, click the bright pink link above! OR, you can head to the very bottom of my blog and click 'Blogger template by Pipdig' for a direct link too.

As well as a new blog layout and design, I also took it upon myself to try my hand at making a Header to go on my social media for the blog. Check it out!

I'm quite proud of it I must say. I am an artistic person, however, usually in the form of a pencil and paper or paint brush and canvas...not the internet. HA! It was simpler to make a header than I originally thought. Again, I found a great site. This being, PicMonkey.com! 

They have templates, images, colours and all sorts. A real easy website to navigate. 

Coming up on the blog:

Soon on the blog will be 2 Glossybox reviews (one from Christmas, oops!) and several makeup reviews. I have vowed to myself that I will try harder to post more regularly and try to raise my blog views. I want people to enjoy visiting my blog and hopefully interact with me! :)

Feel free to let me know what you think of the header I created and if you have used any funky sites to create headers, let me know!

Oh! I have a little signature pic to go at the end of my blog posts too! Again, those of you who have visited my blog before will know I always ended with "*Insert imaginary funky drawn skull here*". Weeeeell, not anymore peeps! Now, I have a real funky little skull to include next to my name. ;) I do love my skulls <3

Woop woop!

So, until next time!

Rock on!

November Glossybox!

Hola people!

Admittedly, my November Glossybox review is late. However, my box arrived a lot later than expected so I obviously couldn't do the review with no products to show you! Haha.

So...Here we are! Novembers Glossybox! :)

When opening the box, this envelope was abundantly obvious. I discovered it was an invitational £20 gift voucher to join a site called Best Secret. Personally, the website isn't to my taste or affordability. And while I was slightly excited that I could buy something for £20, I was mistaken as it was only valid if you spent a minimum of £60! So...yeah. Not entirely impressed with that.

The products:

MONU Skincare Soothing Hawaii Facial Oil
Lollipops Makeup Eye Pencil
Burt's Bees Lip Shine
H2o+ Face Oasis Hydrating Treatment
Natural World 
Coconut Water Hydration & Shine Weightless Hair Oil


Two products I love from Novembers Glossybox and will definitely buy again are Burt's Bees Lip Shine and the Natural World Coconut Water Hair Oil. The lip shine was my saviour seeing as I've been suffering from chapped and dry lips due to having a cold these past few weeks. It feels just like a lip gloss on your lips and while I'm not a big fan of lip gloss, it is amazing stuff. After just one time using it, it made my lips feel super soft and it started to combat the cracks.
The Natural World hair oil is pretty darn good too! I used it on the ends of my hair while it was damp and used the hairdryer as normal. It definitely did what it says on the bottle; leaves hair beautifully hydrated, soft and shiny.

I've yet to try the other 3 products, however if they're truly amazing, I'll more than likely do a blog post on their brilliance. :P

I hope you enjoyed reading this short Glossybox review! 
Until next time, Rock On!

Bex.xx
*Insert imaginary funky drawn skull here*