A Very Cultured Week Indeed.

I haven't written post like this in a while but I've done so many things that I want to share with everyone that I thought it was about time for another one. So here I'm going to take a break from reviewing and outfits (although don't worry, there are many lined up) and talk about life!

The Ballet

My cultured week started midweek, on Wednesday when I went to see Swan Lake done by the Moscow City Ballet at one of my local theatres; the Hawth. This was my first time seeing live ballet, although I have watched it on Sky Arts before (including the beginning of Swan Lake). My overall impression was a mixed one.
When you watch ballet on TV what isn't clear is the inevitable noise of many wooden ended shoes and slighty squeaky floors, which detracts from the overall grace and elegant; ballet is supposed to be about silent beauty. However, some of the scenes were truely lovely, especially during the scenes where all the swans amass together in a flurry of delicate white; so pretty. You also expect perfection from ballet dancers (well, that's the seterotype that's convey in films and stuff) but a few mistakes were made, although it didn't take away from the fact that these people aren't just dancers, they're atheletes, especially the men who had the most muscular legs I have ever seen (although the prima ballerina had the most skinnest arms, which was a little frightening).
Another thing I had slight issue with was the story, I feel because there is a set piece of music for each scene they could go on for a while and often it wasn't very obvious what was going on and unfortunately, for the most part (and I do stress for the most part) ballet dancers can't act very well. Luckily the programme had a nice synoposis of each act so I understood what was going on but sometimes I didn't feel what was going on. Nonetheless the dancing was always beautiful and often spell-binding. Odette/Odile was perfection.
And on a lighter note all the men were wearing white tights which meant you could quite literally see everything. Everything.

The Theatre
On Thursday I went to a different local theatre which I go to quite often (the Archway Theatre) to see The Pillowman, a play by Martin McDonagh. A completely different experience from the ballet, the script was so so so good and intense and the acting matched it. For some reason even though the story is really dark I didn't leave the theatre disturbed, I don't know how they did it. I have less to say about this than the ballet because I go to the theatre quite often so it wasn't a very new experience for me - don't get me wrong though, I love the theatre.

Museums

 My favourite room (possibly) of the Maritime museum. The words behind me were being projected and moved like waves.

 My second favourite room just had all these amazing stain glass windows. This one is my favourite, the colours were so vivid and gorgeous. I think we can all agree on who looks the most graceful.

 Walking away from the observatory and the museum.

On Saturday me, the boyfriend and his parents headed to London for the day. Our first stop was the Greenwich Observatory, which is also a museum about time. I got to stand on the Merdian line and later when I looked out of the window I saw a man who looked like an old regeneration of Doctor Who but who actually turned out to be a tour guide. Personally I found it hard to be interested in most of it, but the old clocks were pretty and it was in a nice location.

After that we walked down the hill to the National Maritime Museum which I thought was going to be equally as uninteresting but was actually amazing! The way the information was presented really drew you in, it was really imaginative in how they used technology and other methods to grab your attention. I was really impressed and would definitely recommend it if you've got some time to spare and you're in the area.

Art Gallery Exhibition

On the same day as I went to the museums I also went to the Royal Academy of Arts to see the David Hockney exhibition, where they had basically cleared the whole place of everything and filled it entirely with Hockney pieces. I've got to say, I do like Hockney's use of colour and I really like some of his smaller canvases of the countryside. I also liked how during his films he kept the same unusual, bright palette from his paintings. Maybe it's just me though, but I'm not sure it was worth using the entire Academy, I mean he's good, but I wasn't blown away or anything. I guess it's hard to say since it's so subjective, not to say I didn't enjoy it or anything! It was fun walking around with the boyfriend giving him my impressions of an art snob occasionally. I thought his use of the iPad app was cool, especially at his age to be embracing technology and proving you're an all round artist is very impressive.

So, that about sums up my thoughts. Have you done anything exceptionally cultured recently? Or more interestingly, what's your favourite 'cultured' thing to do; Art? Drama? Ballet? Opera?

Review ~ Illamasqua lipstick in Disciple.

Every time I went onto the Illasmasqua website I would go straight to the lipstick page to look at Disciple. I thought it looked like such a gorgeous, midnight navy blue. I was beyond lucky when Hayley for Illamasqua sent it to me! Literally died of happiness. Before I received I had looked around at other reviews just to see what other people thought. I found that a common complaint was that it was apparently quite dry which meant application was difficult.
Upon receiving it I was happy to see that I was still in love with it. It such a moody, dark colour, almost black but bright enough for the interesting blue tone to be noticeable. I think it's really a great alternative to just black. When I tried to apply it the first time I did experience what others had also - that the formula felt really dry and more like dragging a crayon across your lips (someone else's words, not mine). However I found that once I'd 'broken' into it by getting past the first layer that the application was fine, and on a cold day once I breathed on it for a couple of seconds there was literally no problem.

These swatches was done in natural light. It can look a lot darker than this depending on the lighting, but as you can see, it's so beautiful! Even if this isn't your kind of colour I would definitely recommend you check out the Illamasqua website, they have a lot of beautiful shades and to be honest I just like looking at the photos of their previous collections - they're like little pieces of art, really imaginative and different. I do love the theatrics that comes with Illamasqua. My only criticism is the price - £15.50 which I think is justified for this shade since it's so unusual and I haven't found an equivalent anywhere else (this is also how I feel about Lime Crime's Chinchilla - the only reason I felt it was okay for my boyfriend to get it for me is because I just couldn't find a shade like it anywhere else).

What's your favourite Illamasqua shade?

Outfit of the Day ~ spring awakening.

{And all shall fade
The flowers of spring
The world and all the sorrows
At the heart of everything

but still it stays
the butterfly sings
and opens purple summer
with a flutter of its wings}
~ Purple Summer, Spring Awakening

Blouse & top: Primark.

Dip-hem skirt: Peacocks.

Dragonfly necklace: a gift.

Brogues: New Look.

Crochet tights: New Look.

Eyes: 

Liner ~ Illamasqua in Allure.

Shadow ~ from a random pallete (by the name of Saffron).

Lips: 

Rimmel in Asia with 

Bourjois Effet 3D in Rose Arctic on top.

I went through a brief obsession with mustard a couple of months ago (don't get me wrong, I still love mustard, but back then I loved it), as well as dip hem skirts so it was pretty much perfect when Peacocks (of all shops) was selling this gorgeous thing in a lovely, satin material. I spent a lot of time deciding whether I should I get it, since I wasn't sure if it suited me and actually, I'm still not sure (the boyfriend on the other hand is very decided since he really doesn't like mustard). But I feel a bit regal when I walk in it, so it doesn't matter! But in all seriousness this is all part of finding the limits to my style and what does and doesn't suit me, like in this instance, I think the front part of this skirt cuts off at an unflattering level on my leg and heels might have helped alleviate this problem a bit. And I also think that there might be a bit too much floaty going on with this outfit. All good lessons learnt!

We took the photos at a place in Dorset called Kingston Lacey which is another National Trust place - our passes always come in useful! The boyfriend goes there pretty much every year to see the snow drops. They were so beautiful and absolutely everywhere! Not only that but the weather was perfect (if not a little chilly near the end). I should really do a series, I've been making a habit of outfits in National Trust places!

Lipstick Review ~ Blackest of Black (part 1)

I've been getting into the gothic look a lot recently so I started looking for a good quality black lipstick (not that £1 crap you get at halloween) and realised that there aren't that many obvious options. So I searched pretty much everywhere and here I'm going to try out the various brands of black lipstick I found on the high street and on the internet and compare them (which means that now I am stuck with 6 black lipsticks - the things I do for you guys!). I'm not a professional makeup artist (obviously), so I will apply each lipstick the same, straight from the bullet to my lips and blot once, without primer or sealant or anything fancy. Things I'll be looking for are: high pigmentation and lasting colour. I don't really care about presentation, if the lipstick is good, it doesn't matter what the outside looks like and I'm also not too miffed about staining (although I will mention it).


Barry M - Black

Price: £4.49 (can be found in Superdrug and Boots)
I wasn't too surprised that Barry M does a black lipstick since they generally pride themselves on having unusual colours but I've never tried any of their lip paints so I wasn't sure what to expect.
Thoughts: The application was smooth and even, the colour was pretty concentrate and I didn't notice any smell. I also found this didn't really dry my lips out at all. I didn't find any feathering, however I did find that there was a lot of migration further into my lip, meaning fading happened pretty quickly (just from talking) and it got on my teeth. There was a tiny bit of staining but it came off with makeup remover.

Pros:

• pretty cheap
• good initial pigmentation  
• non-drying

Cons: 

• migration 
• fading happened fairly quickly

Portland Black Lipstick Co. - Black

Sample was provided. Obviously opinion is unbiased.

Price: £8.43 from their Etsy store (or £10.57 from their website, both prices included P&P in to the UK.)
This one came to me all the way from America. This US-based company had 'black lipstick' in the name so that was a pretty promising start. 
Thoughts: I cannot tell you how impressed I am with this lipstick. I got smooth, even coverage, no feathering and only a small amount of fading, even after eating and drinking. I also found that my lips didn't feel dried out. Less importantly (but still cool) it smelt lightly like peppermint which was nice and there was no staining of such afterwards.

Pros:

• super pigmented 
• long-lasting and durable
• no feathering or migrating
• didn't dry out lips

Cons: 

• comes from America (so naturally a bit more expensive if you're ordering from the UK, if not this doesn't really apply)
• applying straight from this shape bullet can be awkward 

Manic Panic - Raven

Sample was provided. Obviously opinion is unbiased. 

 

Price: £6.95 - cheapest found. (Some others, P&P included: Dream Gate, £8.94, Rowdydow, £8.80)
If you've heard of Manic Panic at all then it'll be in relation to their hair dye, but they also do loads of other stuff, including an alternative cosmetic line.
Thoughts: Initally I found that you needed to build the colour up a bit to get an opaque look but once it was layered enough the pigmentation was okay. I'd say as a general this lipstick is comparable to the Barry M one, especially in terms of fade, which it did pretty quickly, even though all I did whilst testing this was talk. However it didn't migrate (unlike Barry M) or feather, nor was it drying.

Pros:

• not drying
• didn't feather or migrate 
• no obvious staining

Cons:

• faded pretty quickly 
• not exceptionally pigmented

So that's it for part 1. Next I'll be looking at Manic Panic's Lethal (from their vegan Creature of the Night range), Miss Sporty's Black and Stargazer's Black, a nice diverse mix! I'll also have a comparison swatch and tell you what my personal favourite is.
Part 2 can be found here.

Outfit of the Day ~ blue shoes, grey day.

{I had a dream
That made me move to New York City
Cause I wasn't about to
About to let this magic slip away

But he did anyway
He was kind of Illusive that way
Like clouds on a promising grey day.}

~ Vonda Shepard

I love this blazer so much! I know I've worn it once before in this outfit, but I felt it needed more love. We did this shoot in a place called Swanage (it's in Dorset) where the boyfriend's parents have a flat (it must be nice being so well off). The loaction was in a pretty hard to reach place, so imagine my joy in trying to get to it in 4 inch wedges. So much fun. But they're so gorgeous, I got them in an ASOS sale a while ago and haven't give them enough attention. They're actually pretty comfortable and in that photo, a bit wet.

Standing on this was the boyfriend's idea and I was pretty skeptical, so he walked me up and then left me on this tiny stretch of cement so he could take photos. Occasionally I got splashed by a particularly mean wave and made a massive fuss. It may not sound like, but it was actually pretty fun. Apart from people stopped to stare at us and I tried to act like I wasn't just being a massive pansy. I got a but self conscious since everyone else was dressed in sensible walking gear and then there was me, in heels. The things I do for a good outfit of the day!

As you can see, my hair is still fading, and due to an insane schedule that I've got at the moment I won't be able to dye it the beautiful turquoise I've chosen until the 1st of April. I don't even want to think how aweful it's going to look by then but at the moment I still quite like it, the boyfriend calls it the "psycadelic lion" which always makes me laugh.

Top: New Look

Velvet blazer: Found at a vintage fair

Necklace: Possibly Topshop, possibly Warehouse. Either way, old.

Cords: Fashion Union

Wedges: ASOS

Bowler hat: Random shop in Brighton 

As always all photos were taken by the boyfriend, check out his tumblr!