My Festival Essentials 2014- What to take to a festival?

My Festival Essentials 2014- What to take to a festival? 

Hey everyone,

I cannot actually describe my excitement right now. In 2 days time around 20 of my friends and I will be attending Reading Festival '14. This event has been building up for so long now and my friends and I used to talk about it all the time like 5 months ago so you can just imagine our excitement at this present moment in time. There are over 200 acts performing but I would say the ones I am definitely most excited for are Annie Mac, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Disclosure, Imagine Dragons, Wilkinson, Andy C, Flume and Ben Pearce (to name a few). I am staying at Reading Festival for the full 5 days, Thursday-Monday. The acts are only on from Friday-Sunday so 2 days just consist of arriving/leaving/camping. I thought it might help some of you out there who are still yet to attend a festival, going to Reading yourselves (if so let me know in the comments!) or are thinking about going to your first festival next year. These are my festival essentials and what I will be taking with me for my stay. Everyone is different so these are just the things I personally think are important or even just fun to take with you to a festival/camping experience.

- 1, COMFORT: The main thing at a festival really is to feel comfortable. You are going to be up on your feet pretty much most of the day, dancing & walking around from stage to stage. Firstly you need to make sure what you are wearing and what clothes you are planning on taking are "festival appropriate". What I mean by this is once you are you really won't be bothered about being the 'hight of fashion'. Make sure you have flat, comfortable shoes that you can dance in. Also check the weather forecast for the event. So if it is hot & sunny take suncream and clothes you will not get really hot in. The weather forecast is supposed to be cloudy with a bit of sun, mainly around 16 degrees for Reading. So I am just taking jeans, a few tops, kimono, 1 skirt and a light rain mac.

-2, KEEP EXPENSIVE BELONGINGS ON YOU: It cannot be stressed enough at how risky it is to leave expensive equipment and belongings in your tent while you are at the stages enjoying youself. Although you may think your things will be safe in the tent there is a very big chance things can be taken. Unfortunately some people purely go to festivals just to rummage through peoples tents and take what they want. This is why I really recommend taking a bum-bag or mini rucksack. I am taking a bum-bag in which I will keep my phone & money in.

-3, TOILETRIES: Toiletries are super important. Festivals in general are not the cleanest of places so you really want to stay as fresh & clean as possible. Shower facilities at festivals can be over packed, cold or just generally poor so is always best to stock up on baby wipes to wash yourself with. A pack of tissues for the loo are SO important to take. Festival port-a-loos run out of paper so quickly so you must take your own. Of course hand sanitizer is extremely in need at a festival. I also suggest Vaseline as your lips can get quite dry when out in a field all day.

-4, HAIR CARE: Boys may not have this worry as much but to girls this is super important. Of course you won't have a chance to wash your hair so dry shampoo is your new best friend. Of course you also need a brush and I always think taking some sort of hair accessory like a hat or head band will hide the dirty hair.

-5, FESTIVAL FUN: It is also nice to take some fun accessories and bits & bobs. I found this pineapple plastic drink canister in New Look and loved it. It is great to carry around your drink in, also at festivals they have water taps which you can use. I thought it was a bit different than just carrying a plastic bottle. A portable phone charger has to be one of those major things you need for a festival. If you have an iphone you will know the battery life on it is awful. I purchased mine from Amazon for only £11.99, they have some really cheap ones. I also got some UV Neon Body & Face paint. It glows in the dark and thought it was very festival related.

 I hope this has helped a lot of you and if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment.

                                                                Thanks for reading!

                                                                           Ell x

Alex Box/Butterfly Inspired Theatrical Makeup

Alex Box/Butterfly Inspired Theatrical Makeup

Hey everyone,

I really did struggle to name this look as I had no idea what I was going to do so thought I would just see what happened as the look progressed, and this is what I come up with! I love using lots of colour and experimenting. One of my favourite quotes 'Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep' is really important when it comes to makeup. Although it is sometimes nice to have a plan it is also good to just let your imagination run free. In my eyes this look is very Alex Box/Illamasqua inspired yet totally random at the same time. I love these 3D butterfly stickers I purchased from a seller on Amazon. They really make the look and give it that edge. In some ways this look reminds me of a woodland fairy so this would be lovely for a fancy dress party or even Halloween if you are not into dressing as a scary, gory character. 

                         'Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time' 

                                                               Thanks for reading!

                                                                           Ell x

Brunette to Light Brown & Blonde Ombre- My New Hair!

Brunette to Light Brown & Blonde Ombre- My New Hair!

Hey everyone,

Today I got my hair done and I already knew that I wanted to go for a big change. I have seen lots of pictures of Ombre hair on the internet, and of course as many of you would know, Zoe Sugg (Zoella) is famous for her gorgeous ombre hair. So as some of you may know I am naturally very fair blonde, when I was a little girl my hair was literally white. The only thing I had done to my hair until this year was one, I repeat, ONE set of highlights in my whole life. And I had them put in last year. So you could say my hair was very natural & untouched. The highlights lifted my hair a lot so it was more of a white blonde. Then back in March of this year I was very daring, bought a home dye packet and transformed my blonde locks to brunette. It was a massive change for me. I used a semi-permanent so each time I washed it, my hair got lighter and lighter. Now 5 months down the line my hair has faded to a very light, mousy brown. With even little streaks of blonde. The process of having ombre is actually pretty straight forward but I got the hairdresser to do it for me this time round. She just put blonde bleach on half of my hair, she said the lightness in my hair picked up very quickly. And then a toner was applied on top to just take away the harshness (yellow/red tones). She didn't cut it today, just blow dried it and curled it with GHD's. I was so happy with the outcome. I hope you like it too. 

Thought I would add a Instagram photo just so you can see what the colour looks like on both professional camera and iphone. 

     If you have any questions based on how this look was achieved please leave me a comment.

                                                                     Thanks for reading! 

                                                                                  Ell x

Theatrical Makeup Look- Queen of Hearts Inspired

Theatrical Makeup Look- Queen of Hearts Inspired

Hey everyone,

Another makeup look for you all today. One of my all time favourite theatrical makeup artists on Youtube is definitely Charlie Short, known as 'Pinkstylist'. He is so amazingly talented and if you haven't checked out his videos all ready, please do because you are missing out! I got this look from one of Charlie's tutorials on his channel. I pretty much followed all the steps then added a few of my own touches. But the credit for this look really does go to Charlie, I just wanted to put myself to the challenge and see if I could pretty much recreate it. I had such fun working on this look. Wish I had the red contact lenses to go with it. This would be so perfect for Halloween. Something a bit different from your usual vampire or zombie. 

Pinkstylist (Charlie Short's) Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Pinkstylist

                                                                     Thanks for reading!

                                                                                 Ell x

Festival Fashion Lookbook 4- Tie-dye, Studs & Rucksacks

Festival Fashion Lookbook 4- Tie-dye, Studs & Rucksacks 

Hey everyone,

So here is the final instalment of my festival inspired lookbook. I love tie-dye and see it as such a festival style design. It's cool, interesting and can be very eye catching. This amazing tie-dye dress is from Urban Outfitters, it is actually designed to be one of those beach dresses you just throw over a bikini but I think it's way too nice just to be kept for that use. I love the structure of it. The way it falls loosely makes it really comfortable and cooling. It has a low cut v-shape neck which does show a bit of the old cleavage. This can be worn both day & night. It obviously goes great with the rucksack which is also a blue tie-dye. Studs are also a massive fashion hit and give a grungy edge to an outfit. 

WHAT I AM WEARING:

- Dress: Urban Outfitters

- Shoes: H&M

- Rucksack: Urban Outfitters 

- Necklace: Topshop

- Sunglasses: Aldo

 

                                                                    Thanks for reading!

                                                                                 Ell x

Festival Fashion Lookbook 3- Quirky Zebras

Festival Fashion Lookbook 3- Quirky Zebras 

Hey everyone,

By what I have named this look today you are probably very confused as to what I will be wearing. Don't worry.. I am not advising you all to turn up at a festival in a big zebra onesie! Although those out there who would, good on ya! When I saw this dress in Primark it immediately caught my eye. I am a massive fan of unusual and weird clothing. So this dress definitely wouldn't be for everyone. Firstly, I love the style and structure of this dress. Cut out shoulders are very popular at the moment and I think they can just totally transform a piece of clothing. The good thing about this dress being black is that it goes with everything, so you haven't got to worry about what shoes will go with it or what accessories to wear. So the only thing that might draw people back is the zebra print. Personally for me, I love it. And in a round about way I almost think the pattern is quite 'festival fashion' anyway. I think the black studded gladiator sandals look great with it. I added a thin black belt to the dress just to give it a bit more structure, but this dress still looks great left as it is (a straight dress). 

 WHAT I AM WEARING:
- Dress: Primark, £7.99 (i think)
- Shoes: Newlook
- Bag: Accessorize, £25.00
- Cardigan: Primark
- Belt: Oasis
- Sunglasses: Aldo

                                                                Thanks for reading!

                                                                             Ell x