Festival Series: Pre-festival planning!

Hey hunny's!

                       So here I am, after a ridiculous amount of time away,I'm finally back. With a REAL blog post, yes a real one. No long apologies and photo fillers, but actual blogging...it's taken me long enough, I know. But yes I'm back and not with just one post, oh no, I'm back with a whole SERIES of blog posts. Yes you read correctly, a whole series of blog posts to make up for inexcusable absence from the blogosphere. 

And this series is going to be all about festivals, simply because this year I will be going to my first music festival and I am beyond excited. I know lots of festivals have already taken place but arguably some of the biggest are still yet to come (V, Reading, Leeds) so I thought I would share all my planning, tips and other interesting things with you lovely lot. 

Also as this is my first festival, I've been scouring the web for outfit inspiration, make-up ideas and hair tips to keep me going and to be honest I haven't found anything that has particularly taken my fancy. So I thought I'd just do it all myself and let you all in on it too! 

For any of you wondering I'm off to Leeds, it's pretty huge for anyone who isn't familiar with it and this year's line-up is amazing. As I said, it's my first one so I'm not too sure what to expect but here's what I've done thus far....

First thing first, get your ticket. To some this might seem obvious, but if you're unprepared (like me) you will leave completely last minute and then stress out. I got my ticket today, yes today, 10 days before the festival starts. And I don't mean my ticket arrived today after ordering it months ago, oh no, I actually bought it today. I'm a freak I know but here it is, in all it's shining glory.....

TA-DAHHHHHH!!!!

Once your actual entry into the festival is sorted, next thing to do is transport. So for some it'll be a rather tedious coach journey with a load of randomers, others will go up on the train with the backpack firmly attached and their patience preparing to take a battering and for some lucky few there'll be a car journey, which if you're not driving (like myself, thanks Peej) will be quite enjoyable. Whatever your chosen transport, plan it in advance, keep your tickets in a safe place and find someone who doesn't mind you drooling on their shoulder if you nod off. 

Transport, done. Next thing to sort is accommodation, if you're one of those people in the VIP area with a real toilet and electricity, then I hate you. Just kidding, I don't really. Okay, maybe I hate you a little bit. But for the majority of us, we'll be roughing it in a tent. This is possibly one of the most important aspects of the whole festival experience, as this will be your base for however long you're there for. It needs to be durable, comfortable and portable. Don't bring a 10 man tent for you and your best friend, it's pointless and heavy. Find a tent that works and make sure you know how to set it up before you get there. For anyone struggling Blacks is really good and not too pricey, also a HUGE thank you to the staff in their Liverpool store for being super helpful to me and all my rowdy pals on Saturday, you were great! 

Here's my tent for anyone who's interested...

Don't forget the pegs! No one wants to come back to their campsite and find their tent has been stolen by the wind. 

And finally get yourself some wellies. Now if you're like me, wellies are not a part of my wardrobe and the idea of wearing them for 3 days to an amazing festival filled with people wearing amazing outfits, terrifies me to my very core. I'm vain, what can I say? But they're necessary and that's that. For me, I'll be purchasing the seemingly obligatory Hunters but if you're not bothered, run down to Primarni and get yourself a few £3 pairs. If you do want Hunters however, John Lewis is the place to go. Yes they're expensive but they'll last forever and they look pretty. 

So that's my pre-essentials done. As soon as my ASOS order is here and my wellies have been collected a festival fashion post will be up, followed by a beauty post, a packing post and one more kind of summary post. 

I'd love to hear of any festival stories or tips you guys have and I hope this has been somewhat helpful to you all! 

Speak soon kittens.

Stay Classy!X

Existentialism on Prom night...

Hey hunnies! 

                        Long time no speak but basically the last few weeks have been a mixture of the end of exams, a huge load of celebrating the end of exams, crazy last minute prom prep, uberly tanned skin, getting my first ever job, PROM, recovering from prom, starting work and a few more parties...
So as you can see I have been insanely busy as of late and I probably will be for the next month or so as not only do I have my new job which see's me working crazy hours this weekend ( I'm usually coming home at 4am not getting up to go to work) but it's also 2 of my best friends birthdays and I still have to celebrate my other best friend's birthday with her as it coincided with prom! And I obviously have to do all my other general day to day living too! So I just thought I'd show you all some pictures of the last few weeks or so and also finally show you my prom dress, yay! Enjoy poppets, speak soon, I promise! 

Hairband from Topshop

Shoes from AX Paris

Stud bracelet and clutch bag from Topshop

(My Prom dress was from French Connection) 

Lipstick MAC Girl About Town

Yes that's mostly prom pics, but I can only wear that dress once and I want to get my moneys worth...
I'm also on instagram now if anyone wants to have a gander at my every day shenanigans, through the oh so cool camera phone filters the delightful little app offers. My username's izzi96 
Hope you're all doing well and I shall be back with my summer faves post soon and hopefully a haul once I've got paid, yayyy! 

Stay classy!X

Hello...is it me you're looking for?

Bonjour mon chéris! 
                                   Okay, I'll just get it out of the way. I abandoned you for a bit. There's no excuse and I'm sorry, I just needed some me time, you didn't do anything to piss me off, I just needed to be me for a while and remember who I was before we started this little love affair...Just kidding, but I am very sorry I have been away for a while. Don't worry though, now I'm back and glammer than ever becauseeeeee


EXAMS ARE OVER!!!!!!!!


Yes I know, the excitement is a bit much to digest, hence the reason I have walked round for the last few days happier than Larry...whomever Larry may be. 
So this week is going to be all about the prom preparations, meaning there's going to be lots of things for me to post about as I have been purchasing a fair few items to help me feel all goddess like and lovely on Prom night, yay! 


Sorry, that this was just a quick one guys but I'm just updating you all. Speak soon!

Stay classy!X

May Faves!

Aloha hunny pies! 

Apparently somewhere between April and today, May came and went, sneaky little devil. This year really does seem to be flying and I can not believe it is now JUNE! I know, it's insane. So without further adieu here are things I enjoyed through out the month that was May. 

(from back left: Garnier Medium BB Cream, Soap & Glory Hair Supply, Palmers Cocoa Firming Butter, Garnier Ambre Solaire Dry Face Mist, Benefit High Beam, MAC 'Insanely It' Sheen Supreme Lipstick, OPI 'Conquistadorable' Nail Varnish, Nivea Essential Care Lip Balm, MAC 'Indianwood' Paint Pot, Rimmel Scandaleyes Mascare, MAC 109 brush, RayBan large turtleshell Wayfarers, Rimmel 'Timeless Tango' 1000 Kisses Lip Tint, Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer, Garnier Tinted Caffeine Eye Roll-On)

So let's kick this thing off with non make-upy products...

Thanks to the rather strange, insanely beautiful weather that graced Liverpool with its presence during May, I was whipping my limbs out left, right and centre and because of the sun, I gave my usually religious nightly false tan application a rest for a few days. Being a member of the fairer skinned group (ahem ginger...) I don't usually tan very well, singe would probably be a more appropriate word, but miraculously I absorbed a reasonable amount of rays and found myself moisturising like nobodies business to lock in that colour. For this frantic moisturisation, the Palmers Firming Butter worked a treat and it actually did seem to make my legs appear well less...flabby. Tar very much Palmers! 

Now, I have a very paranoid phobia surrounding wrinkles. Yes, I'm only 16 but after watching 10 Years Younger since I was about 7, wrinkles have scared me to my very core because of this I am an avid sunglasses wearer. Not just when it's really sunny but pretty much all the time. Ever since I was presented with these little beauties at Christmas...

They have become a permanent item in my everyday attire. They have become particularly handy of late and I have literally worn them pretty much all day, every day throughout May. However as beautiful as they are, they're also slightly large taking up pretty much my whole eye to nose area. Add this largeness to my tanning obsession and a problem arises, extremely dodgy tan lines. I can feel you all panic but do not threat my little blog friends, Garnier Ambre Solaire Dry Face Mist was on hand to solve my problem, a few sprays across the paler parts of the face and voila, total tan uniformity. Brilliant. 

Next we have Soap & Glory's Hair Supply. It's a hair masque and it smells like utter wonderfulness. For those of you who do not know, sometime last year, I swerved the hair dye and went back to my natural hair colour but my inner non-conformist wasn't happy by this and before I knew it I was getting my hairdresser (A.K.A Deej) to whip out the peroxide and Ombred Isabel arose. I have now became a slave to it and am currently sporting about half a head of progressively lighter hair. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. However with great hair comes great responsibility and looking after bleached hair can be a bit of a task especially when you throw in rather hot weather conditions. In order to avoid my hair starting to resemble hay, I grabbed my Hair Supply, covered my head in it and thanks to whomever master minded this little bottle of beauty, my hair is now looking (and smelling) rather lovely. 

Now for my face faves...

I've loved the Garnier BB cream since the Little Curly Girl (A.K.A my sister) gifted it to me on Christmas morning, but a few months ago I picked up the darker version and my love for this product grew more and more. It smells gorgeous and blends really nicely, it's not too heavy and can easily applied with hands if you're lazy like me. Also on that trip to Superdrug I found the perfect partner to the BB cream, the tinted eye roll on. I absolutely adore this for under the eyes, and for all those night owls like myself who are constantly thinking it's okay to stay up until the early hours even though a 7 AM wake-up call is looming, it does wonders to your under eye area making you look all awake and fresh. 

At the end of April, I went to a party. A lovely party that was filled with pre-exam celebrations and dancing and fish-bowls and lots of awful Facebook photos the day-after. Why am I telling you this I hear you wonder? Well being the make-up enthusiast that I am, I tend to often be called upon as make-up artist to make all my beautiful friends look even more lovely for all our nightly ventures. This was the case for this party. So after beautifying my friends, I was left with about 5 minutes to illustrate my own face, annoying I know. Halfway through my eyelash application, people had arrived and I was all a flutter, still wearing my dressing gown with unfinished smokey eyes. It was as awful as I'm sure you're all imagining, but being the trooper that I am, I quickly finished my face and then graced the party with my presence (minus my dressing gown and plus my best party clobber). This being a house-party there were people up and down the stairs all night and somewhere along the lines my make-up bag became a popular place for party goers and a few of my things were stolen. Awful I know, I was fumingggggg. Because of this I had to venture out and replace my products with a few cheaper alternatives until I could afford to go to MAC to replenish my supplies. On my travels, I came across the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer and I was so impressed with it, I may not even go and get a new MAC Studio Finish concealer, which I have used since the ripe old age of 12. Out of the robbery darkness comes light in the form of this little beauty, every cloud and all that. 

I've also been majorly big on the contouring and highlighting scene this month, venturing back to my old favourite that is the Sleek Contour Kit in Light, I don't use the highlighter just the contour shade as I use Highbeam by Benefit instead. The contour colour plus my new find which is the MAC 109 brush and your face will be looking catwalk ready in no time ( well that's a bit of an exaggeration but they work pretty darn well together). On days when contouring is not really necessary, though I barely ever find one of those days...Highbeam still looks fab on it's own leaving a lovely pink sheen on the cheekbones which looks heavenly in photos. 

And here's swatches...

(From Left: MAC Indianwood paintpot, Rimmel 'Timeless Tango' 1000 kisses liptint, MAC 'Insanely It' Sheen Supreme Lipstick, Benefit Highbeam, Collection 2000 Concealer in 03 Medium, Garnier Eye Roll-On in light, Garnier BB cream in Medium) 

Eyes and Lips! 

This little beauty is MAC's Indianwood Paint Pot and it is one of the most beautiful colours ever! (swatched above) I got it in January and have used it sporadically ever since, but lately it has became my go to eye base for pretty much every single day. It's a gorgeous bronzey colour with gold shimmer and it looks great on its own or matched with something liked Baked pigment from Urban Decay. I've been wearing this alone and quite lightly blended across the lid with some black eyeliner during the day or as a base for my smokey eye at night and I'll match it with colours from my Jemma Kidd Palette or Sleek 'Oh So Special' palette. Love it. 

My favourite mascara of May is... 

Rimmel Scandaleyes Mascara in Black. It's got a huge wand, kind of like the Bad Gal lash by Benefit. It makes lashes look super long and thick and got a really nice formula that doesn't go crispy and gross. Definitely one of the better mascara's I've tried of late and this has been my go to mascara nearly every day this month. Definitely worth a look at if you're in Superdrug or Boots anytime soon. 

Another MAC find now and it's this...

 MAC Sheen Supreme Lipstick in Insanely It. This came out a while ago but I found it in a CCO on a recent trip to Cheshire Oaks and couldn't resist picking it up. It's bright blue-toned pink, I'd compare it to a glossier and sheerer version of Show Orchid. It looks great alone or on top of another colour, I wore it over Girl About Town on Friday and it looked gorgeous.


Also

 Rimmel 'Timeless Tango' 1000 kisses lipstick has replaced Benetint as my favourite lip stain of all time. This is super pigmented and goes on so easily, the balm at the bottom not only seals the stain in but also adds a gorgeous glossiness to the lips. It doesn't dry out your lips and it has great staying power. When it does fade, it doesn't go flaky in places which is also great. Really love this product and the line has a great colour range, perfect. 


I've also been loving Nivea Essential Care lip balm which is definitely one of the best lip balms on the market and is great to apply both before and after lipstick application to avoid it looking dry or cakey on the lips. Also OPI nail varnish in Conquistadorable is a perfect pink for toes this summer and it goes on really easily, yay for that!


Woah, this was a ridiculously long post, so well done if you've got this far! Hope everyone had a wonderful May and are now all looking forward to summer! I for one only have two exams left and then I'm off for 3 months, YAY! Thanks for reading guys! 

Stay Classy!X

(21) Days of Summer

Hola Chicassss,

So I have been majorly M.I.A for the last few weeks but my life seems to have been consumed by an atrocious acronym called GCSE's eurgh. However as the end is growing ever closer I thought I would fill you in on the thing's I've actually done with the little free time I have, and it looks a little something like this...

FOOD! I have enjoyed some rather delicious meals of late...

Ice-cream and lolly ices have kept me sane 

Apart from these ones, they break....

I've also been consuming around 3 twister lolly ices a day, but I'm usually too excited about eating it to take pictures

Revision in the sun is much more fun...

okay so this isn't revision but still

Other shenanigans...

pretty, no? 

 picnic!

scooter stealing, FTM 

Croxteth Hall in the sun, delightful.

So yeah, that's what I've been up to. Hope you've all been enjoying the sun as much as I have! And good luck to everyone else doing exams at the moment, they'll be over before you know it! 

Got a summer must haves post coming up soon, so keep a weather eye on the horizon. 

Speak soon, much love!

Stay classy!X

Blazer Squad

Hey kittens,

Just a quick one today before I pop off out to Cheshire Oaks, yay! 

So I bought this beautiful white blazer from Zara way back when in February and have barely worn out. But over the last 2 weeks or so I have well in truly fell in love with it and would happily wear it forever...hence the extreme need for it to be dry-cleaned ASAP. 

Against my better judgement I'm wearing it again today as it's just so God damn beautiful...

"hey look a camera..." *instantly does weird face*

Yes I know, you can't see the whole blazer but my room resembled a crack den (not because I use crack but because I'm a complete meff) but you get the idea...right? And incase you were wondering, my top is also from Zara and my sunglasses are from RayBan and my hair is from my head. 

Anyway my point is, I'm running out of ways to style it and I would greatly appreciate your help! As afore mentioned I've worn this a few fair times however being the strange little person I am, I never seem to take pictures of myself unless I'm doing this...

*drunken party thought process* I guess I'll just take all my clothes off and put my Ninja-Turtle pyjamas on whilst half the guests are still here, keep eyelashes on though, always keep eyelashes on, lalalala, oooooh Archers don't mind if I do..., ah ha! a camera just what I need to remember this moment forever, brilliant idea, don't forget to smile with my eyes...yep, thats definitely a keeper

I didn't feel that picture was appropriate to unleash upon the internet without some sort of explanation...sorry guys. Swiftly moving on. I managed to find some photos of me in the blazer

Once again, bad pictures I know but I'm sure you get the idea by now, yes? 

So how would you style this bad boy? Especially now we're approaching summer. Let me know guys! 

Love and Light! 

Stay classy!X

P.S. here's a close-up of my make-up today, I'm wearing the Sleek Oh So Special palette with some Clinique gel-liner and the 1000 kisses lip tint and which I think is awesome! 

Getting to know me, getting to know all about meeeee

Bonjour mes cheris! 

I don't know how but horrifyingly I have my first GCSE tomorrow, and I thought I'd get a quick post up tonight before life gets all hectic and shit gets KRAY! Now I have a favourites post that's in desperate need of being published but it also is in desperate need of photos, so it's just going to have to bloody well wait! Instead I thought I'd do one of those nifty little tag things I see floating around the interweb on a daily basis. As I'm new to all this, I thought I'd do a "get to know me" tag, so you can all be intrigued by my fabulous lifestyle...yeah seriously.

Vital Stats:
Name: Isabel Amelia Burke
Nicknames: Izzi
Birthday: 11/02/1996
Place of: Birth Liverpool
Star Sign: Aquarius 
Occupation: sarcastic little bastard stuck in a ridiculous school ruled by an evil dictator

Appearance:
Hair colour: ombred gingeee
Hair length: long
Eye colour: hazel 
Best feature: er my eyebrows? They're hugeeee and I love them. 
Braces: not anymore, I'm the proud owner of a metal free mouth
Piercings: Ears
Tattoos: not yet...
Righty of Lefty: right

Firsts:
Best friend: My blanky...
Award: something from school, I never had any hobbies as I was a boring little child
Sport: football? 
Real Holiday: Tennerife
Concert: McFly, I was in love with Harry

Favourites
Film: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Mean Girls, The Mummy, Peter Pan, Fast and Furious, 500 days of Summer, Scream
TV Show: Gossip Girl, 90210, Desperate Housewives, Smash, Glee, Friends, One Tree Hill, Punk'd 
Colour: pink, grey, green
Song: This is impossible! I have so many but here's a few... Slow Night So Long, London Calling, Downtown, Music When The Lights Go Out, Sugar Town, Here Comes Your Man, Lonely Boy, Post Break-Up Sex, Boys Don't Cry, It's Tricky, Last of The Lady, I Can't Help Myself, Panic
Restaurant: Tokyou, Supporo, Tai Pan, Cafe Rouge
Store: Topshop, Zara, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, H&M
Book: About a Boy, Bridget Jones' Diary, Harry Potter series, Hunger Games, Twelfth Night
Magazine: Vogue, Glamour, Grazia, Style, Cosmopolitan
Shoes: How could anyone ever pick one pair of shoes? It's just too cruel

Currently...
Feeling: hungry, story of my life
Single or Taken: forever single, relationships are for pansies
Eating: I wish
Listening to: Bojangles-The Courteeners
Thinking about: sleep! 
Watching: The Voice 
Wearing: jarmies

Future:
Want Children: I shall adopt lots of them one day and create the next Von Trapp family 
Want to be married: I'm game for a huge wedding, just not the husband part...
Careers in mind: something fabulous, that makes loads of money with a minimal amount of work 
Where do you want to live: Liverpool still, scouse and proud YGM? 

Do you believe in:
God: Yes
Miracles: maybe
Love at first sight: No
Ghosts: Yes
Aliens: Yes
Soul Mates: No
Heaven: Yes
Hell: No
Kissing on the first date: Yesss mwahhhh 
Yourself: hell yeah, I'm a stong independent black woman who don't need no man (okay that's a lie, but it sounds so much better that way, don't you think?)

So that's that guys! I tag you all, so answer the questions and we can all be dead nosy in the comfort of our homes, yay!

Speak soon, be gorgeous as always, lots of love!

Stay Classy!X