Happy New Year!

In a few short hours, it will be 2013. 2012 has seen many good moments for me, and many, many bad ones. In hindsight though, even those bitter moments have taught me a lot, and opened new, more significant doors for me. This year, I finally saw the truth in two of my mother's signature quotes; "what goes around comes around" and "there is always a reason for everything". I now believe in these two ideas because of a number of important events in 2012.

Let me give you an example. In 2012, I didn't make the bursary shortlist for a very popular private school. I didn't make the shortlist, because I stuck up for myself in the interview. I entered that interview with every grade an A* with the exception of two A grades. Not once was I asked what I could do for their school, instead, the 'gentleman' interviewing me did nothing but talk about how those two A grades where unsatisfactory. After about 20 minutes, I very politely said farewell and walked out of the interview.

I was mentally kicking myself for a good while, thinking I had lost the opportunity of attending what I then considered a superior school, until I got home to realise that the man had sent four emails to both of my parents asking whether I would like to be interviewed again. Without telling me, my dad replied with a rather extensive email highlighting all the reasons why he didn't like that establishment, and for a good few days I hated him for it. That was however, until I realised that the school don't even use the well recognised exam boards of Britain, but rather a 'Mickey Mouse exam board' (as my grandad called it). The exams are nowhere near the level of standard of regulated exams, and this is why the school achieved like it did. This is something that I am really glad I experienced, even though it made me shed a few tears at the time because now, I am more determined than ever to get into a good university, so I can scan my acceptance letter and send it to everyone who said I wasn't good enough to make it.

Not all of 2012 was bad though! I started this blog in August, and it is something that I will never ever regret. Nobody reads this dark little corner of the web yet, but hopefully in 2013, that will change. I have made a few resolutions that I hope I can keep, because losing weight is just not a realistic goal.. :L



My Resolutions!

I hope 2013 brings new opportunities, both for myself, and those around me.

Thanks for reading!

Rabbit.

Review: Urban Decay Naked Basics

To celebrate my good report and the fact that the Christmas holidays had started, my mum bought me the new Urban Decay palette while we were out shopping. 

The exterior packaging

 

The new palette features 5 matte colours, and one 'satin' shade (It's shimmery. There. I said it.). Urban Decay have released this palette due to many of their customers saying that there was not a useful balance of matte and shimmery shades in the Naked/Naked 2 palettes.

 (L-R): Venus (satin pink nude), Foxy (matte buttery yellow), W.O.S (matte champagne), Naked 2 (matte mocha), Faint (matte cool chocolate), Crave (matte blackest brown)

This palette was, therefore, designed as the bigger palettes' sidekick, but I think I will truthfully use it much more than my Naked 2. I am someone who prefers matte colours, and personally, I like that there is one slightly shimmery shade for the inner corner/brow bone highlight. The shadows are good quality, but very light and neutral- some people seem to confuse the two.

 

The packaging is also something that has improved drastically. The Naked palette is covered in a flexible felt-like material that you have no hope in hell of cleaning. The metal exterior of the Naked 2 does not attract dirt, but it attracts twice as many scratches, and has a pitiful plastic hinge. The new palette however, is made of a very sturdy heat-formed plastic shell, with a similarly secure hinge. I have not had mine for very long, but it seems very hard to scratch and can even be cleaned with a dry tissue.

The Naked 2 (top), and The Naked Basics (middle). The Naked palettes are about twice the width of the new one.

The palette retails for £20, which is a decent price drop from the £36 price tag of the full size palettes. It is much more present worthy too- I don't know about you, but I don't have a steady run of money to buy expensive gifts, and £36 is really pushing it.

Thanks for reading!

Rabbit.

Review: Revlon Lip Butters

It's not that I'm exactly late on the bandwagon with this product, it's just that the first one I bought, I didn't really like. I didn't hate it- it was sort of a 'meh' moment for me. The colour (Cotton Candy) didn't really look that nice on my lips. To be honest, I had so many other products with a similar effect but in better colours, I forgot all about these lip butters.

My two shades (L-Raspberry Pie, R-Cotton Candy)

A few days ago I was shopping with my friend, and I swatched some of the new colours in the range. I fell in love with the colour "Raspberry Pie" and decided to give them another go.

010, Raspberry Pie

Raspberry Pie is a creamy colour with no glitter, and one of the main reasons I didn't like Cotton Candy was because it had small flakes of gold glitter in it.

One coat of Raspberry Pie

I love the consistency and I always have, so I have been wearing the new colour a lot! It really is the bee's knees, especially for this time of year. I really like the packaging too, its really classy and not at all cheap looking- unlike some of the things one sees in pharmacies.

Revlon Lip Butter packaging

Sorry I have been away for a while!

Rabbit.

Happy Halloween!

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick note to say Happy Halloween. I didn't have the most adventurous night. Only 5 or 6 kids came to our door, but they took enough candy to feed 50 people. I enjoyed my amazing film-a-thon though. Here is the pumpkin I carved, looking a little worse for wear, even with a witchy nose!

Our masterpiece.

I promise I'll have a proper post up soon,

Rabbit.

Red Velvet and Cream Cheese Madness!

At my school, we do something we call 'Cake Friday'. Every week, we take turns, making cupcakes or biscuits for the class. Last week it was my turn, and I decided I didn't just want to make the standard cupcake with a bit of buttercream. Instead, I went online, and found this recipe for red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

The cakes I made this weekend

The recipe is a little unusual, because it contains a few ingredients one wouldn't associate with baking, let alone cakes. The important thing is though, the cakes turned out amazing!

The cake batter

 

I found following it closely to be the best method, however some measurements I took into my own hands, such as the amount of colouring and vanilla essence.

There was only one major issue with my batch; the recipe did not specify how big the cases were. I doubled the original recipe, aiming to make 24 instead of 12, but I ended up making more. A lot more. 36 more.

When I made them again this weekend, I didn't double the recipe, thinking I would get 25-30 cakes from the amount listed. I used different, bigger cases though, so I only ended up with 15 very heavily iced cakes.

Cream cheese frosting!

Overall I do think it's a lovely recipe, but one may not end up with the number of cakes desired.

Sorry I have been away for a while,

Rabbit.

Beautiful Bunting!

I woke up on Tuesday and decided I needed bunting in my life. I have to admit, it wasn't all that spontaneous, as I had watched a very well-made video on YouTube the night before. Either way, I headed into town on the good old public transport and hiked all the way to Fenwicks (the department store). First of all, I want to point out how much cheaper it was to make it. I spent about £15 on the fabric and the tape, making about 3 metres of finished bunting, but I have a shed load of fabric left over, so I could probably make about 10 metres with £20 (the tape is about £3 for 3 metres).

My fabric (John Louden Tonal Floral Fat Quarter) and the remaining tape

 



I bought a floral pattern but they had all sorts of bundles!

One of the patterns in the pack

I'm really happy with how the bunting turned out- I absolutely LOVE it! It did take a good few hours (on a sewing machine) but it was well worth the effort.

The finished product

I also found this amazing book while browsing, and I decided to pick it up because it had instructions for really intricate bunting.

This book is amazing!

 I was really excited about this post,

I hope you enjoyed it!

Rabbit.

Something Wickedly... AMAZING!

I first saw these books last year when I was browsing in Waterstone's, and I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but I did exactly that- and I don't regret it one bit! I soon realised it was a series, so I picked up the first two books, and came straight home.



Something Wickedly Weird 1-6 (old cover)

I have the books in the hardback edition, but I'm pretty sure that they aren't printed anymore. The new copies are paperback and some of the names have been changed, so I'll list both the old and the new names:-

Old/New
1. The Wooden Mile/The Werewolf and the Ibis
2. The Icy Hand/The Ice Pirates
3. The Silver Casket/The Bucaneers' Bones                         
4. The Darkling Curse/The Curse of the Wolf
5. The Smugglers' Mine/The Smugglers' Secret
6. The Treasure Keepers/The Golden Labyrinth

Now I'm not ruining it for anyone who wants to get them, but the books are about a boy called Stanley Buggles, who inherits some property from a late family member, in a place called Crampton Rock. A map of Crampton Rock is printed in each of the old books, but I don't know about the new ones.



The map of Crampton Rock

The books are a great read for any age- I made my dad read the first book and he loved it! The whole vibe of it isn't very conventional and I really like that it isn't any old adventure story. I hope more books are added to the series, even though I do feel sad that they won't be in the hardback anymore.  


New on the left, Old on the right




I know this has been a little longer, but I didn't want to miss anything out.

Thanks for reading,

Rabbit.

Review: Essie's Flawless

I can't remember exactly when, but a few months ago, Essie nail polishes became readily available in the UK. I was very very very excited to try them. Firstly, because I have heard amazing things about them and secondly, because Kate Middleton wore a mixture of Essie's Allure and Bourjois' Rose Lounge on her nails for her wedding.

I quite literally sprinted from my house to the Essie stand knowing for a fact that I would buy Allure, but when I got there, the colour did not appeal to me. At all. I was going to head home and have a good comfort binge, but then, Flawless, No. 21, caught my attention. There was only one bottle left on the stand and admit it- we all know how we get when there is only one left of something!


Essie polish in number 21, Flawless

It took me less than 10 seconds to cave and pick it up, much to the dismay of the girl behind me. I went to the till and paid the eye-watering £7.99, unsure of what to expect.

I am pleased to say, I ADORE IT! I can completely and utterly justify the money I spent because I have repainted my nails over and over again. The brush is phenomenal- I only need one sweep to coat my whole nail, and only 2 coats for full opacity. The polish lasts a good 4 days WITHOUT base coat or even topcoat, which to me is amazing. I will definitely be picking more of these up in the foreseeable future.

Flawless, freshly painted

The Essie polishes are available in the larger Boots stores, and have been available in the US/Canada for quite some time.

So there you have it folks, my first proper post. Hope you enjoyed!

Rabbit.

Oh, hello there!

Hello everyone,

I just though I should do a short post introducing myself...sort of. I know we have the whole 'profile' thing but meh- it just didn't feel right leaving it at that.

I love writing for the sake of writing, and I can't believe I didn't think of posting a long time ago! My posts have no particular theme- I will post about anything I like, from book reviews to blush reviews, it all depends on my mood. I hope both me and my readers get something out of this, but even if nobody is interested, at the very least I have somewhere to ramble.

The cutest rabbit in da world.

My username is a long, long, long story, but it was either that or owl, and I like the ring of rabbit just a tad more. I'm sure I could write a lot more about myself, but I think it's more fun if you learn about me and my interests along the way. I'm sure that with time I will get better at this.

Thanks for reading my first post!

Rabbit.