I've always been that person who still buys CDs instead of downloading music because the feeling of having a physical copy of the album to hold wasn't something I wanted new technology to take away from me. Even now, obsessed with my Spotify premium, I still love the feeling of going out to the shops and buying a new album. Which is why, as vinyl seemed to have come back into fashion over the years, I wanted in on the hype as they are so much prettier than CDs, and I consider them more of a collection than the masses of CDs I have in my drawers.



Seven months later, I have a grand total of eleven vinyl records, which although isn't a mighty amount, it's enough to write a post about, without it being too overwhelming. I came to realise, as I was going through my collection, that apart from the ones I received for Christmas (or the one I got before I even got my record player), I purchased them all from HMV.


This is partly thanks to their amazing sales, which twice a year have deals on I simply can't resist, and also becoming a member of Pure HMV this year. It cost me £3 to join, which I was a little sceptical about, as normally loyalty cards are free, but this one has come with so many benefits when building my collection, such as member-only deals (with huge savings), and building up points towards store discount. It's definitely helped that vinyls and blu-rays have double points, and my dad uses my card a lot when he buys DVDs, but in just over half a year I have already earned a £10 discount, which I can't wait to use towards my next vinyl purchase.

Of course, I would love to explore and support an independent record shop, but there is simply none around me so HMV is an obvious go-to. It's definitely believed that vinyls are crazy expensive, and they can be, but the offers at HMV mean it's easier to build your collection, and all of these albums are by artists I absolutely adore.



We will start my collection with the very first vinyl I owned, September of last year, when The Script released their Freedom Child album. We bought the CD and vinyl bundle from their website as they are both signed, and I couldn't think of a better vinyl to start with.


Niall Horan's Flicker album I received for Christmas from my Auntie and it's a real good one on vinyl. I actually haven't played it in a while, and as I write this I remember how much I love it - On The Loose, the first track, is my favourite. The Killers' Hot Fuss vinyl is an album I wanted for a while, so while it was on sale I took the chance to purchase it on vinyl. I really wanted to listen to Mr Brightside on my record player, but I love All The These Things That I've Done as well.


Ed Sheeran's first two albums, + and X, are two of my favourite albums, and two vinyls I'm very happy to own. X I received from my parents at Christmas, it has two records in it which I guess makes it better quality sound? Then + I bought later at HMV's post-Christmas sale, making it an absolute bargain, especially as it is an orange coloured vinyl, which is why I was even more excited to own it.

Coldplay's A Rush Of Blood To The Head is probably my most played vinyl. My collection would have seriously been lacking something without a bit of Coldplay, and I've fallen in love with their second album since I bought it on vinyl (again, an HMV post-Christmas sale purchase). Rush of Blood is one of those albums that sounds ten times better on vinyl, you know? I would love to own more Coldplay vinyls but they're so expensive! A Head Full of Dreams is my dream vinyl to own, so hopefully one day it will make an appearance in the collection.


Taylor Swift's Reputation vinyl was an exciting purchase, after months of not buying any, I suddenly found on a pureHMV offer for £12.99 and seriously couldn't say no. I mean, how could I say no to two picture discs of Taylor? They are so pretty; it may not be my favourite Taylor album (1989 is just unbeatable), but I'm so happy to own it on vinyl now too.

When 5 Seconds Of Summer's new album Youngblood came out, I was of course going to buy it on vinyl rather than CD format this time round. The light blue colour of the disc received a huge excited grin from myself as I opened it up. It has become one of my favourite albums since it was released lately.


Possibly the best offer HMV have ever done - both of The 1975's vinyls for £19.75?? YES PLEASE! Especially as normally each they are about £25! I didn't even care about the huge chore of carrying two heavy vinyls around college with me all day as it was well worth the purchase. I own their second album on CD already but not the first so I was excited to finally own that one, as well as on two clear discs each - I had no idea what colour they would be but I didn't yet own clear so that was exciting.


My latest vinyl purchase, and hopefully the last one for a little while as I really should stop spending, is George Ezra's latest album Staying At Tamara's. I've been going on and on about this one non-stop so I had been itching to have it on vinyl, and finally picked it up on my trip to Cambridge the other month.



I know my collection isn't the biggest, as I've only been buying vinyls for a few months now, but I hope to grow it more soon. Although I'm trying to stop myself from buying much more right now as I have only recently bought new ones, there are always a few I have my eye on.

I would love Harry Styles' vinyl, as this is one of my all time favourite albums and I mean it's Harry Styles, how could I resist? As I mentioned earlier, I'd love another Coldplay one, and perhaps Ed Sheeran's Divide as then I would have his full collection. Besides that, I imagine all the next album releases towards the end of this year I'll be purchasing on vinyl, so I'll just have to wait and see who releases something soon!

Ah, the internet generation. I am proud to be part of this fast-moving society, where at the simple touch of a button we're sharing our huge news and announcements, or something as monotonous as what we ate for breakfast that morning. But can it be damaging, especially as a blogger, feeling the need to constantly update your online presence?

THE CONSTANT NEWS SOURCE

Once, a teacher remarked 'wow, this girl clearly watches the news' when I answered a question related to current affairs, and I replied 'nope, I just spend way too much time on Twitter'. That's the truth. With the internet at our fingertips, we're always connected to the world and what's going on in it. I'm one to like to be constantly learning, and this is my favourite thing about social media - I'm constantly learning about the world, and feel in-touch with it.

BUT IS IT ALL A LIE?

I've been there - in full-on tears, mid-fall-out with my best friend over Snapchat, quickly hopping over to Instagram to respond, seemingly-happy, to a compliment on my latest Instagram post. Your social media presence is sculpted by your ideal version of you, and yes, it's fake - no one can deny that. Is that so bad? No one should post the worst version of themselves online, certainly, no one should be expected to. But it can be draining keeping up some sort of pretence when all you want to do is have a bit of a rant.

IT IS NON-STOP

My friends may have hobbies such as dancing, or playing an instrument, which takes up a large portion of their time, but they can step away from it all, unlike blogging. Because we're constantly on our phones, blogging isn't like other hobbies, for me, it's 24/7. I'm constantly thinking about photos for Instagram, what to tweet and whether it will be relevant to people who I follow, and sometimes it begins to feel like there's no escape.

THE STATISTICS MACHINE

Over the past year or so I've noticed I have become sucked into the blogging-SEO statistics machine - paying attention to follower numbers, sticking to a schedule and keeping up with a cohesive Instagram theme. Or at least, attempting to do all these things. I'm not going to lie - I've come to realise lately it has what has taken all the fun out of blogging. I feel like I'm posting for the social media numbers rather than myself. If I don't post a blog post for a week - will I lose all my followers? Most likely not, but my brain tells myself I will, and therefore must get a post up. See what I meant about blogging being a 24/7 affair?

TRYING TO STEP AWAY

So my little resolution, going into my last year of college soon, is to allow myself to step away from it. To give myself room to breathe out of the blogosphere every now and again when I need it, to remind myself why I love being part of it so much.

READ MORE BOOKS

My favourite way of switching off from social media is getting tucked into a good book. I'll probably write about this further in a future post, but over the past few years, I have decreased my book-reading habits rather dramatically. Back in the day, I used to read and read - the organisation part of me resents this a little as I have ended up with shelves and cupboards full of them.
Nowadays, I actually read even more, but on social media and screens, so I plan to read more proper books. And branch out of my reading habits. The past few years I would occasionally read a young adult romance book, but now I'm beginning to read some historical books which I am finding super interesting. I've even set up a Goodreads account if you want to follow me on this - yep, creating another social media account to try and get away from social media. I guess it doesn't add up, but it's a start.

TURN OF THE WIFI

I'm not going to say I'm going to turn my phone off for a day, just because I know I would miss listening to music too much. But since I usually start listening to an album and end up on a half an hour deep Instagram scroll, I'd like to switch it off for a while and get lost in the music I love so much.

LET GO OF THE SCHEDULE

This is something that will have to happen the further I go down my A-Level year anyway, so I may as well start getting myself comfortable with not being restrained to a blogging schedule. I attempt to post twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday being the ideal days), and if I don't, as I haven't several times earlier this year, I feel awful about it.

It's what has made me fall out of blogging, as I push myself to get these posts up twice a week, and I'm possibly not really writing about what I actually want to, just in order to get up a post for the schedule, making blogging feel like a bit of a chore. Maybe one week I want to post three posts, and the next just one? At least until the exams are over when I will reassess the situation, I intend on posting when I want - and that goes for all forms of social media; the blog, Twitter and Instagram.

It has been pretty much two years since I watched Friends from beginning to end for the first time - and since then I don't think a week has gone by when I haven't rewatched at least one episode. I may have been late to the party in terms of being a fan of the show - I was exactly three and a half on the airdate of the very last episode.

However, I think that is the true beauty of the show. The fact that even now, 20 years on, Friends still has a huge audience, which has grown even larger this year thanks to its arrival on Netflix (I am not at all surprised it has been the most streamed show by a mile this year). The age range of people attending Friends Fest ranged from younger than me to those who watched the show the first time around.


I attended Friends Fest on its Manchester run, arriving at about quarter to 12 for when it opens, after a walk through Heaton Park, as it seemed to be set up right in the middle of it. I first of all checked out the variety of photo opportunities available - I was so excited about the photo in the frame as Monica's yellow frame is so iconic. The recreating the titles sequence was also super fun.


You could also visit Central Perk, where Friends Fest's own Phoebe Buffay tribute performed all the classic songs every half an hour. There's also the iconic sofa to sit on, or you could hop behind the counter like I did and channel your inner Rachel Green.


There was also a variety of food on offer - I just settled for an ice cream which was surprisingly really good, and sat back in front of the big screen to watch some of the best-loved Friends clips. I think throughout the day there are quizzes held on the main stage too, but unfortunately not when I was there - probably for the best, I would have totally got overenthusiastic with my Friends facts.


As I ate the big screen played a clip from my all time fave episode 'The One Where Everybody Finds Out', I was totally trying not to be embarrassing and say all the words along with it...


The most exciting part of it all was the set tour. We first enter into the props area where you can actually see props used on the show - I was most excited about Phoebe's actual guitar, and the actual turkey and sunglasses from Monica's head on The One With All The Thanksgivings, it was a bit surreal that these were all the props actually used by the cast.


The set tour began with Joey and Chandler's apartment - I think my favourite apartment of the three, just because there were so many iconic items in there. Pat The Dog, the canoe, the Foosball table, you could even hug Hugsy, Joey's bedtime penguin pal, they had everything in that apartment! I also found the polaroids on the notice board super cute too.


Monica's apartment came next, this one is definitely the one with the best photo opportunities. It can be difficult in the set tour to get photos without a million people in the background, but Monica's apartment works best for this as you can pose with the door, in the kitchen or with Monica's Pictionary board.


New to 2018, the set tour also features Ross' apartment, which I tried to recreate the classic 'unagi' moment behind the curtains. Since Ross' apartment was the last one, you could leave the set when you were finished, and so I managed to get a photo on Ross' sofa without people in the background; I really feel like they should have had some margarita glasses though so you could recreate Ross' 'I'm fine' episode!


We were also given time to all stand at the side of the sets to get a set photo. The sets are so realistic I was super impressed, from little details such as the old-fashioned TV's and phones, to little props all over the place that added to the personality of the Friends set.


 One of my favourite photos I got was definitely while being in central perk, trying to be my best Phoebe playing Smelly Cat!

I then finished off at the gift shop - deciding what to buy was definitely difficult but I eventually decided on a T-shirt and a mug. I love how they both say #friendsfest on them, so they're super exclusive to the event. I was actually really impressed with the price of the t-shirt, £15 is really good, when I was expecting them to be £20-25 like at a concert.


Friends Fest suggests allowing 2-3hours for your experience, I spent 2 and a quarter hours, but I did spend a fair bit of time waiting after lunch before the set tour, which was the last thing I did. However because I arrived early, there was less time spent queueing for the photos, so I suppose the time is about right.

Summer lovin', had me a blast...

Not too sure why I had those Grease lyrics in my head while beginning to write this post, I guess because if there is one thing I love about summer, it's the clothing.

This time of year is perfect for styling the most gorgeous outfits in the evening, since the weather is decent enough for me to not become a frozen iceberg by the time it hits 7pm. Think party dresses, jumpsuits, co-ords - the list is endless, and super exciting, so I thought I'd round up all of my favourite evening wear this season.



Onto the dresses! I've provided quite the selection, as even though jumpsuits and co-ords are in in a big way this year, we can't be forgetting about the classic staple dress!

I'm obsessed with this dress from Miss Selfridge, the cutout detail back adds a little something to the simple enough pink bodycon, and imagine how good this would look with a summer tan! The black spotted dress from ASOS is another favourite of mine - I totally can't pull-off bandeau sleeves but I am wishing I could thanks to this dress. There's something understated about it and you know it would look so fab with a glam makeup look on a summer night.

The second ASOS dress was an unusual pick for me - green almost never catches my eye and the pattern is definitely a little like marmite (love it or loathe it), but it was actually the neckline and sleeves that drew me to it. The long sleeves would totally provide a bit of warmth on a chillier summer night and I am such a fan of high necklines, I can't imagine this dress any other way.

My final pick is the lemon print dress from Quiz - can we all agree lemon print is a trend this year that totally works? I spotted this one and instantly thought of how well Lauren of loulabellerose pulled of the lemon print so well in this look. I think the lemons are such a fun print that screams summer so I couldn't think of a better dress to round up the post.


What have you been wearing on summer nights this year? I would love to hear what you think of this year's trends!

Revolution really does seem to be the brand to watch at the moment. They're affordable (a large bulk of their products cost less than a fiver), cruelty-free, and offer a huge variety of products - what started as a little makeup brand is now delving into the world of body products and skincare.

Even so, apart from my beloved contour palette from Revolution that truly has had good use out of, I have never really explored their brand in great depth, and came to realise I was seriously missing out. When they dropped their 'Revolution Pro' range a few months ago, with even higher quality than usual, and only a slight price increase than their main range, I honestly wanted to buy the whole collection straight away.

I am one to want to swatch products before I buy, so embarked on a search for the Revolution Pro range in Superdrug shops across the country. It was a strange search - the biggest cities I went to didn't seem to have it in, yet at my tiny local Superdrug I was greeted with a glorious stand packed full of Revolution Pro goodies.


I was instantly taken aback when I spotted the brow section the brand offers, and definitely got a little overly excited. I've mentioned on my blog before that I struggle to find a dark enough brow shade for myself in the drugstore - they only ever seem to offer blonde, light brown, and dark brown, which is always still too light and warm toned for my almost-black brows.

Whereas Revolution Pro seemed to offer the exact same range as Anastasia Beverly Hills, even down to the names. Just like my ABH Brow Wiz shade is 'Ebony', Revolution Pro offered a shade the exact same name too, so I figured it would work perfectly for my brows. I decided on a brow pomade, something I had never really tried before, and at only £5 I decided it was worth a go.


Application of the pomade seems extremely simple - you can just dip your brow brush into the pot and then apply to your brows. If I'm honest, it doesn't seem overly pigmented and I do have to work it into my brows quite a bit, but I reckon it will get more pigmented the further I get into the pot.

It really is the perfect shade for my brows, however, and that what I was most excited about from Revolution Pro - their shade range is very impressive, especially compared to the other high street brands.


Since I have never used a brow pomade before, I really have nothing to compare it to, so I am very tempted to pick up one of their brow pencils next time I'm in Superdrug to see if it rivals my beloved ABH brow wiz, at only a fraction of the price. But I am very happy with the pomade and can tell I'll be using it daily - I have a feeling it will last forever too.


Whilst at the Revolution stand I noticed they had in the hugely-hyped about lipsticks by Soph, in their beautiful rose gold and nude packaging. The three nude shades are all absolutely gorgeous, I could have easily picked them all up (believe me, I was tempted), but decided to limit myself to just one.


I chose Fudge, the darkest of the three, which appears really dark in the bullet, but upon swatching, I realised it was the perfect shade for me. It actually is very aptly named, I thought it was a real 'fudge' kind of shade, a gorgeous brown nude.


I really fell in love with this lipstick when I applied it to my lips. I wasn't sure what the finish would be like, but it is a lovely satin finish with the most beautiful sheen to it. It is super comfortable to wear throughout the day, and also is long-lasting which you wouldn't expect so much with such a creamy feel to the lipstick.


The lipstick feels so high quality, you would almost never believe it only costs £4! The packaging is so pretty and they have put so much detail into it, even the embossed 'Soph' logo on the bullet, a really pretty added touch.