Surprise Book Unboxing

I gave my Dad £30 and my Goodreads wishlist and told him to order me some books but not to tell me which ones he's chosen.

I absolutely loved filming this video and the whole process, it was so exciting knowing I was opening new books but not knowing which ones to expect!

I loved most of them but there was one I was hoping to receive, but i guess that's all part of the fun! 

The books I received were:

Illuminae - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Cinder - Marissa Meyer
Looking for Alaska - John Green

November 9 - Colleen Hoover

The Casual Vacancy - JK Rowling

The Kite Runner -Khaled Hosseini

 

I made a video opening them on my YouTube channel, if you'd like to watch it and see my reactions to each package... here is the link to my channel: www.youtube.com/allyelouise

The Boy with the Cuckoo Clock Heart

Mathias Malzieu

2/5

My Grandma bought me this book quite a while ago, I never actually got round to reading it until this month. I think she purchased it wholly for the cover if I’m being honest. Just look at the illustrations, they’re beautiful. I however didn’t really enjoy the actual book. It was generally a good idea for a storyline but I didn’t feel like the language or writing style flowed nicely. From what I have discovered, this book was translated from French into English and this may be why the writing didn’t progress smoothly throughout. 

I was fond of the different characters and was able to imagine what each of them looked like and create a picture in my mind from the descriptions. I felt like aspects of the story were too farfetched even for a fairy-tale at times and most definitely didn’t enjoy the ending. I disappointingly felt like it had a slightly rushed finish. All in all, I wouldn’t highly recommend this book personally, although people who prefer more of a darker, twisted fairy-tale genre may feel differently.

Dublin

This post is going up a bit late BUT I did go to Dublin for a few days with some of my friends recently. I'd been once already prior to this trip but I was so young that I thought that dipping my finger in the foam on top of my Grandad's Guinness to see what it tasted like was an  extremely rebellious act. 

We stayed in the loveliest little hostel in a great location not far from most of the main attractions. It was called Generator Hostel and was full of young travellers. The room was small but cute and had all of the necessities, the place was clean and they even served Pizza in the bar downstairs. We also stayed in one night for a pub quiz which was a lot of fun!

We had heard some rumours that the main typically "Irish" area was called Temple Bar and it was a must to visit however very pricey. This was true, the drinks were expensive, but saying that nearly every part of the trip was expensive. Two of us actually ran out of Euros in the mere 3-4 days we were there for. Temple Bar area on the other hand was worth the money, there was traditional Irish music playing at all times and we really enjoyed drinking there. 

The highlight of the whole trip for me, was the Leprechaun Museum! We really enjoyed hearing all of the folk stories and tales about the origins of Leprechauns. It even had some giant furniture in the museum in order for us to have a taste of being as small as a Leprechaun. 

All in all, Dublin was so nice, luckily for us it was very sunny so we had a nice time sitting out in the street listening to buskers and people watching. Many things we visited and places we ate or drank in were definitely overpriced but I would still highly recommend a visit there to experience the City. 

Graduation!

So, I can finally say I’m a law GRADUATE! After three painful, boring years of studying law, I finally graduated last week!

The day of Graduation, I expected to be extremely stressful, but it actually went smoothly and relatively stress-free. (probably because I did everything so, so early). I was up at half 5 in the morning getting ready and had already pre-booked my taxi to the robe fitting building and everything was pre planned.

My parents were so proud when I walked out in my cap and gown and it was such a relief to finally know I had succeeded getting this degree I never believed I’d achieve.

For the day, I decided to go very girly. I wore a lovely floral dress from Boohoo for a mere £18! I decided to stick to nude/light pink accessories as to not take too much attention away from the dress. I got my nude heels from New Look for a reduced price of  £12.99, my glittery clutch bag I also got from New Look for just £10.  Finally, for the first time ever I got acrylic nails (also in nude). I got them done in a lovely nail salon in Llandudno called Studio K for £25.

 

Altogether, I had an amazing graduation. It was a lovely way to conclude my three years at Liverpool John Moores University. But I must say, I’m not sad to say goodbye to studying law!

A tip for any girls graduating this month, take bobby pins for your hat and safety pins for your gown!!

Thanks for reading, see you next time!!

May Favourites 2016

This blog post is going up a bit late, but my vlog was uploaded on time! Hahah, bare with me guys <3

My May Favourites:

This soap was made by my Aunty who has a business selling soaps and bathbombs. You can find her page on Facebook by typing in Soapy Goat Cymru. It uses natural ingredients local to Wales. This particular flavour is coffee mocha but she has many different flavours and scents.

 This Clinique mascara was only a tester which I received free with a magazine. I LOVED it however, it wasn't clumpy and made my eyelashes long and spread out equally. I will definitely be purchasing the real thing after this tester!

This book was absolutely brilliant. It was a lovely tale which brought laughter and tears throughout. I have made a more thorough video reviewing this book on my YouTube channel if you want to check it out. I highly recommend this book to anyone and am excited to read some of JoJo Moyes' other books. 

This nail varnish was included in my favourites because I adore the electric blue colour and love the No7 brand! It states on it "speed dry" and that is not at all a lie. My favourite part of this varnish is how quick it dried once it was painted onto my nails, I could get on with my day without worrying it was going to smudge.

Finally, I couldn't not include this Vaseline Intensive Care Repair moisturising cream. I noticed some dry skin under and around my eyes and eyelids. I tested this out, putting it on at night for a couple of nights and no word of a lie, I saw such a difference within about 3-4 days! I strongly recommend this to anyone suffering with dry skin issues. 

Thank you for all reading my blog and HUGE apologies for it being uploaded so late in the month!

Ally x

Fundraising Gig

Looprevil Live 2016

As manager of LJMU’s student radio station, I decided to put on a fundraising gig to raise some money for the station to buy new equipment. 

The night went amazingly and exceeded my expectations. I sold tickets for £3 each and made over £200 altogether. I had 6 acts performing, five were bands and one solo artist. 

The acts who played were all local to Liverpool or from my hometown Llandudno. They were Retro Youth, Wired Goliath, Weekend Wars, Lilium, Black Pulp and Blair Lawson. 

Here are some of the best photos from the night!

Law Ball

Each year at University we have a Law Ball which is in a posh hotel and includes a three course meal and just an evening of dressing up posh and having a good time. I recently went to my last ever law ball before I finished my degree. I wore a beautiful black Boohoo dress. It was full length with a slit up one leg and a fair bit of cleavage on show ;) I absolutely loved the dress and felt so classy and posh in it. I wore it with some glittery silver heels which were £25 from a market in Liverpool. They were beautiful but by the end of the night I was in tears from the pain of the shoes (even with my insoles in both). 

I brought my boyfriend as a +1 to the ball and got a really cute, couple photo done by the official photographer there. 

Here are some of the other photos from the night. 

MCM Comic Con

On the 12th of March I went to my first ever Comic Con in Liverpool! 

I cosplayed as Suicide Squad Harley Quinn and had the most fantastic time. I absolutely loved walking around in full Harley cosplay. My friend Jennie dressed as Arkham Knight Harley and together we looked amazing! People kept stopping us for a photo with the two Harley's. 

These photos were taken by Paul Sherriff Photography and Ian Chantler Photography!

All in all, it was a great experience, I loved seeing everyones costumes and how much effort all of the cosplayers put in. I wanted to buy SO many things especially all the Pokemon teddy's but couldn't afford to! After the convention, we all went for food and then on a night out (in full costume) it was fab!

Here’s some of my favourite photos of the day!

I also have a video of how I transformed into Harley Quinn which I will link here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM9Hb_HimoE

Thanks for reading,

Ally <3