Rose Byrne, SAG 2012

Out of all the dresses sweeping the red carpet last night at the Screen Actors Guild awards, Rose Byrne was by far the best dressed catching everybody's eyes in this beautiful Elie Saab jumpsuit. I, like many others I'm sure, tend to gasp a little at the word 'jumpsuit' imagining some monstrous design resemblant of a mechanics' overalls in some garish floral pattern intended to add a touch of 'femininity'. *vom* And yet, out of all the gowns, the sequins, the lace, the ruffles and trains, it is Rose Byrne's jumpsuit that I find myself staring at in wonder. 

The designer outfit is actually from Elie Saab's A/W Couture collection 2009, way back when, but apparently Rose has only just plucked up the courage to wear the top to toe embellished garment to compliment her beautiful new bob. I think the new cut suits her so well and I much prefer her with a fringe. It is taking all my will power to refrain from re-chopping all of my locks off into a similar style, but after growing mine out for well over a year, I must resist the urge of paying my hairdresser an all too tempting visit. 

Can I just look like Rose Byrne now, please? 

Who was your SAG 2012 best dressed? 

Sunday #4

1. I said I would do these Sunday posts to keep things up and coming a tad more regularly, but I am so far not doing a very job at keeping up with them. This week has consisted of your usual uni work overload leading to unhealthy amounts of procrastination and dissertation panics etc. etc. You now the drill by now. Get it together, Melita!

2. After a rather stressful detour to Basildon (how?!) from Brighton, Rob finally made it to Canterbury and we spent Friday night perving over the all too beautiful Zooey Deschanel in New Girl. If you haven't yet watched it, go and do it now! She is delightfully funny as are all the other characters and being the impatient couple that we are we ended up having a marathon and have finished the series. Now, if you would just hand over your hair Zooey, I'll be on my way...

3. The weather turned against us on Saturday night and a dinner date out turned into a dinner date in with Rob cooking up what can only be described as...half a cow! Cue steak with home cooked chilli potato wedges, pimento parmigiano salad topped off with hot Belgian chocolate fudge brownie pudding with vanilla ice cream, hoegaarden and rosé wine. A feast of kings, to say the least!

4. Today's plan was to adventure like the adventurers we are to Whitstable for the first time, but British weather being dependable as ever resulted in one too many showers so those plans were saved for a sunny day. Plan B was to go to a café in Canterbury and drink cups of tea whilst painting pottery but we didn't realise that we had to make reservations so that was plan B out the window. Plan C? More food! Lunch in one of my favourite places in Canterbury, Boho Café. 

5. Now, hopefully you will have by now noticed the new blog header and with that, the new blog name, Hyper Heart. I had been pondering changing it for a while now and Rob once again leant a huge helping hand in designing and creating me a new header, which I am extremely grateful for! I took the name from lyrics by The National, which I had posted a while ago here. Hopefully it doesn't cause too much confusion as my blog URL has now also changed, so I must apologise in advance for the spamming via twitter/facebook and the blog just to get the message across to any readers! You likey or no lighty? Too far...

Lucky No.7

I have always found my moisturiser to be a reasonable base for applying my make-up, but the staying power of foundation has been a constant battle I seemed incapable of winning. The word 'primer' has floated past my ears once or twice, so after receiving my 18373657 £5 off Boots No.7 voucher, I decided to invest in one at the now not so bank breaking cost of £6 for 40ml (RRP £11). There were a few to choose from including two colour calming primers, one to help correct dull/sallow skin and another to correct reddish skin tones. I decided to go for the 'shine free' base as I thought it suited me best.   

The bottle claims to, 'Keep shiny skin under control all day long , with this mattifying oil-free base.' It comes out of the squeezy tube as a white cream and you rub it into your skin as you would a moisturiser, then apply your foundation on top. It does not have a very strong smell, it really just smells like 'make-up'. It has extracts of watermelon and cucumber in it and these scents are slightly detectable, but by no means over powering. It is some what drier than a moisturiser but not unpleasant to apply to your skin; being the first primer I have tried, I am not sure if this is a common trait? You just have to blend it in quite quickly as it tends to dry rather fast, but this really is the only downside that I find with the product. 

My make-up lasts all day. My foundation from when I return home from uni looks pretty much as it did when I left the house that same morning, not a hint of fading or blotchiness. My foundation looks smoother and more evenly applied across my face and shiny skin is no longer a problem. I really regret not pricking up my ears sooner and investing in such a product, as I feel like I am getting far more wear for my money from my make-up now. How does this rate up to primers you have perhaps tried, any recommendations? 

I Covet Thee, A New Bag

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Blogging has once again taken a back seat, not only due to the stresses of the undergraduate life, but also because my memory card has sadly gone walkabouts. I have a couple of items in the pipeline that I really want to review so I am hoping that it turns up soon as there are also a fair few photos that I want to get printed and have not saved anywhere else. Back up people, back up! 

This weekend, Rob and I ventured to Bluewater as it is a rare treat that he has some dollar in his pocket and it was burning some what of a hole. There really were few things on my wish need list that I hoped to find, a new pair of jeans were about as exciting as it got! I despair at the thought of jeans shopping, being of a petite stance; too often petite jeans will fit length ways but not around my hips, either being far too big or far too small yet equally as troublesome, and vice versa. I tend to find that only Topshop salvages this problem but at extortionate prices and not very good quality; I have found that their skinny jeans are not capable of holding out for more than a handful of wears and washes before the material starts to fade and unravel itself, and for 40 quid I expect a hell of a lot more. 

And then there's Dorothy Perkins. Brilliant, underrated Dorothy Perkins. Stumbling into their petite section and finding their jeans at a mere fraction of Topshop's price, I decided to give them a go only to be very happily surprised. The length is perfect as is the measurements around the hips, very true to size I would say; a jean that truly accommodates for the petite fille. Plus, with a whopping 25% student discount at the moment, it is a worthy investment. Does anybody else have this much trouble buying jeans? 

Anyway, to finish quickly as I have babbled quite a bit, one thing that I really did want and, to be fair, am in desperate need of is a new bag. A large bag, big enough and sturdy enough to accommodate for all of my handbag needs. For day to day life, I prefer a smaller, more compact bag, but my uni bag is falling to shreds after about 4 years of day to day usage and so I reckon that warrants a new investment! The bags I have chosen above are my favourites that I have found whilst scouring shops and the web alike, but I am holding out until I have scoured some more. Any recommendations as to where else I should look? 

La Mode

The beautiful Clémence Poésy was my muse for this month's Motel Rocks Amassador task. We were asked to write about an inspirational style icon relating to our degree subject and quite frankly, the French don't come a lot more stylish. Have a read and a perve over how stunningly belle she is here!

Last night, Rob and I went to the cinema to watch The Iron Lady. We sat awkwardly in front of a cinema full of OAPs and ended up being completely fascinated by the depiction of a woman we admittedly, knew very little about. Meryl Streep gave a flawless performance as the older version of Margaret Thatcher. The film gives quite a sympathetic view into the life of the UK's first female Prime Minister and has a terribly sad ending which moved me to tears, (although that is quite easily done, be it films, TV or books). I'm interested to find out how factual the film is, but if you haven't yet seen it, I would definitely recommend it for an interesting watch. 

Next on my 'to watch' list is The Artist, has anybody seen it yet? 

Sunday (Monday) #3

1. The first week of 2012 seems to have flown by, doesn't it? I celebrated New Year's Eve with some wonderful friends in Brighton at a couple of house parties. With everybody disappearing back to uni very soon, it was a lovely chance to get a good group of us together to welcome in 2012. We then nursed our hangovers (some of us worse than others) with the magic of a fry up. After trudging through the pouring rain to the train station, missing our train and therefore enduring a 40 minute wait for the next one, we ventured back to Eastbourne to be welcomed by more rain. It has been a long time since I have been so relieved to get into my PJs and slippers!

2. My brother turned 20 at the beginning of December but due to both him and myself being at uni, we were never really able to mark the occasion as a family, so my mum decided to round up the troops this week before we disappeared again and take us to Buffet Time! Not so good for resolutions, but who cares when they bring you cake like this (see below) for your birthday? 

With lights turned down and music turned up, Happy Birthday was sung and rapturous applause followed. Embarrassed much, little brother? 

3. On Thursday I went to The Argus in Brighton for an interview and aptitude test for a journalism course that I want to start in September. I had to do a written exam which included proof reading for spelling and grammar, summarising an article in only 70 words and then writing an article using some information given. After being given a tour and an interview, myself and the other two applicants there were told that the exams would be marked that afternoon and an email would swiftly follow. So, as you can imagine an evening full of constant phone and email checking followed to no avail. 

On Friday, I returned to The Argus for a journalism taster workshop and was once again welcomed by Paula, who informed me that I had passed both the interview and test and offered me a place on the course! I am so happy and incredibly excited to start this September, although I cannot yet quite imagine how hard it will be to have lessons from 9-5 Monday to Friday. 

I hope everyone's 2012 has got off to a wonderful start.

It's Only Temporary

Just before Christmas, I decided to make my first purchase from the lovely Sarah of Temporary Secretary. Worthy winner of the Look Magazine blogging competition this year, she has a beautiful blog filled with detailed posts and is always extremely friendly and chatty. Her shop, also called Temporary Secretary, is an absolute delight, filled with beautiful new and vintage jewellery, bags and scarves all at affordable prices. Being the indecisive so and so that I am and lover of all things bargain, I decided to go for one of the lucky dips. For just £10 you can receive 5 items and for double your money you can expect a selection of 12 different products. Lusting after pretty much everything that Temporary Secretary had to offer, I was not at all worried about what would be arriving in my parcel and a 12 item lucky dip was purchased and let me tell you, it was an absolute steal! 

Being too excited to see what I had been sent, I was not patient enough to take pictures of the beautiful packaging that encased my gifts. But after tearing open the pink ribbon and yellow tissue paper, I was not left disappointed. With a selection of hair accessories, earrings, necklaces, rings and some chocolate thrown in for good measure, I could not have been more chuffed; even the business card is beautiful. There was also a Christmas card from Sarah, a very thoughtful, personal touch. And with a sale currently on the go, I implore you to take a look at her shop and test out her products for yourselves!