It's time for the 2014 playlist! A lot of my favourites are albums so, instead adding the whole album the playlist, I'll add my three favourite songs from each album- the rest are single songs. I have discovered every song on here in 2014. This is some of the music I've been loving the most during 2014...
(There will be no change to the playlist at the top this month, because there are too many songs to add)
Since It's almost Christmas (4 hours to be exact) I thought I'd write a little Christmas message on here to the small minority of the world that read my blog. I know there's not many of you, but blogging is something a little different and, whilst it might not always be the most exciting or easy thing to do, when I create a good post that I'm proud of, it makes me really happy.
I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year! If you don;t celebrate Christmas- have an awesome day :-)
Also, I have many ideas for blog posts, I just have to find the time (and motivation) to do them. One of my new year's resolutions is to post on here at least once a week but you'll hear more of that in my new years blog post- or video if you watch my YouTube channel.
That's it for this year, I hope you had an awesome 2014 and that 2015 is even better!
Unfortunately there will be no more 'Songs of __' posts, but don't worry; I will be 'renovating' this series and my blog during December (and hopefully continuing)! It will be called something different and be set out a little differently. Instead of linking to videos, I will create a playlist that will automatically play when you come to my blog and it will change each month with the posts. Some will be new songs that I've found and others will be old favourites- just songs that I've been listening to a lot! Since this is the first post, it's only going to be a short playlist, but at the end of the year, it will be a playlist of my favourites of the whole year so prepare yourself! Here I introduce The November Playlist- enjoy! :P
1. Homesick- Catfish & The Bottlemen
2. Blank Space- Taylor Swift
3. Yours- Ella Henderson
4. #icanteven- The Neighbourhood
5. Don't- Ed Sheeran
6. Change- BANKS
7. W.D.Y.W.F.M?- The Neighbourhood
8. Girls- The 1975
9. The Hanging Tree- From 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1'
It's time for me to share my favourite songs throughout October!
Firstly I have a couple of artists.
The Neighbourhood have always been one of my favourite bands since I discovered them but recently, I've been listening to them a lot more. I think 'Leaving Tonight' and 'Honest' are the two songs that I've listened to the most. Also, the video for 'Let It Go' is pretty cool.
Next is BANKS. I love love love her music and I can't stop listening to it. She's definitely become one of my favourite artists. Her album 'Goddess' is amazing. I've been loving her live acoustic performance for Tiny Desk Concerts (Unfortunately not on YouTube, but it's online. I have it on now!) Brain is probably my favourite song of hers.
The 1975, as you probably know, are my favourite band and they released a new song called 'Medicine' as part of a project for radio 1. The song is amazing- it's relaxing and beautiful and I'd recommend you give it a listen.
Next is a cover Little Mix did in the live lounge. Again, you might know I love Little Mix. I've seen this before but I've been loving it this month.
Since I've have quite a few songs this month I'm going to paste links of the rest here for you to listen to and enjoy :)
Question of the blog: What are your favourite songs this month?
Quote: Forget all the reasons why it won't work and remember the one reason why it will.
Halloween is here and even though you might not be dressing up or attending scary parties (you still go in spirit- get it), you can still have a good time or just enjoy the fact that it's Halloween. Put your feet up, have a nice bath with a Lush Halloween bath bomb and watch a scary film.
I carved a pumpkin a few days ago and I think they turned out pretty well!
It's safe to say that I've played The Sims 4 enough to be able to give you a full review and opinion on it so if you're a Sims fanatic- keep reading.
Like The Sims 3, I found this game quite difficult to get to grips with and get used to at first, but after that, I fell in love with the game. It's graphics are very different, but it's still a great addition to The Sims series.
Personally, I love the new graphics and layout of the game. It's different without being unfamiliar. The controls to manoeuvre around are slightly different, but there's an option to revert back to 'Sims 3' style controls (props to EA for adding that option!)
I think build and buy mode and create-a-sim were the two main focuses for the new game. CAS offers new innovative controls making it really easy to create any type of Sim. It still features, traits, aspirations, voice changer and other familiar things, but also provides a whole new way of creating. You can push and pull on any part of the body to easily shape your Sims. It also offers a great range of clothing and hairstyles and overall, I found CAS a lot of fun to play around with.
One thing I've noticed in the game, is that promotions, aspirations and skill-building are all more fulfilling. Promotions require the completion of set goals, as do aspirations. Skill-building also provides you with a sense of accomplishment. Climbing the career ladder is also beneficial, as you can unlock new items that weren't previously available. There are also many things to collect like postcards, frogs, fossils, trophies, aliens and more which add an element of interest and something to do in the game.
One major addition is the fact that your Sims can now multi-task. For example, they could watch TV, whilst talking to a friend, whilst eating. Being able to do up to 3 things at once is really helpful. There are also little improvements that make the game better to play. Pregnancy is very cute in this game and I'm not sure how or why, but I love it!
Finally, onto the negatives. There's quite a few glitches with the game, but I expected that. The only things that really are disappointing are the fact that there are no toddlers, pools or create-a-style. Personally, I don't feel the need to use create-a-style very often, but I wish they had a colour wheel- I can cope without patterns. Hopefully pools and toddlers will be introduced eventually. It's also quite sad that there is no open world, but I'm getting used to that now, but if it did have that it would probably be the best sims game by miles!
I hope this long, rambly post made sense to you all!
Question of the blog: Have you played The Sims 4?
Quote: All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
I'm sorry this post is very late but better late than never!
Today I'm going to be talking about The Pointless Book by Alfie Deyes. I'm a big fan of Alfie's videos so when I found out he was releasing a book it made me very excited. I think the concept of the book is great and reflects Alfie's personality well because, as a YouTuber, you don't get the opportunity to learn a lot about your viewers, so this allows him to see how they react to the different pages of the book and all of his viewers can come together and enjoy something that he has physically made (not just on a screen.)
This is handy to have around when you're bored and need something to do, because there are pages of random, 'pointless' games. It's suitable for all ages and has activities that you can do by yourself or with others, in the book, or in real life.
I've found this really handy when I have a spare minute and I'm enjoying seeing the whole book come together. Some of favourite pages are the time capsule and the song lyric pages (because I love music.)
Overall, I'd recommend picking this up, as it's a really nice, sentimental way to store memories. It's also not very expensive- you can find it here.
(Also, don't forget to pre-order Zoe's book here.)
Question of the blog: Do you have the Pointless Book?
I've been trying to get into the Halloween spirit recently and I decided to make some Halloween themed cupcakes! They're simple chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese icing and they are so tasty, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you!
Ingredients:
125g Plain Flour
25g Cocoa Powder
1½ tsp Baking Powder
150g Caster Sugar
50g Butter
1 Egg
8 tbsp Milk
For the cream cheese icing:
50g Cream Cheese
25g Butter
125g Icing Sugar
½ tsp Vanilla Essence
For the chocolate icing:
25g Icing Sugar
1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 tbsp Water
The method for the cupcakes is really easy, you just mix all of your dry ingredients, add the rest afterwards, divide between your cases and leave to cook for 20-25 minutes!
For the icing you spread the cream cheese icing over the top, then pipe three circles inside each other with the chocolate icing and use a toothpick to drag from the centre to the outside of the cupcakes to create a cobweb effect.
For a more in-depth explanation (and some cool editing if I do say so myself) check out the video I made:
It took a long time to edit so I hope you enjoy it!
If you make these cupcakes send me a picture :)
Question of the blog: What are you excited about for Halloween?
Quote: I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers
I'm a big fan of the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer and I've heard so much about this foundation that I decided to give it a go. Sometimes with concealer/foundation pairs one tends to be much better than the other, but I was convinced I'd like this foundation.
I bought the colour 010 Light Porcelain which is perfect for my pale skin. The foundation has a nice radiant glow to it which helps to disguise my awfully dry skin. It also has just the right amount of coverage- not too little but not too much. It feels nice and light on the skin and is not cakey in the slightest.
The only problem I have with this foundation is the fact that it settles into my dry patches a little. Every foundation or concealer I have tried has done this though, because my skin, for some reason, is incredibly dry and even moisturiser can't tame it. Bearing that in mind, it's overall a great foundation and for £8.99 you can't go wrong!
Question of the blog: What shall I review next?
Quote: We create our tomorrows by what we dream today.
I'm back with another music blog post which I started around a year ago! Also, let's not talk about the fact that I haven't posted for a month, I'm sorry :S
First up is Paramore's whole self-titled album. It's such a good album and my favourites would have to be Still Into You and Be Alone.
The release of Fall Out Boy's new song Centuries was very hyped up so of course I had to listen to it! It's such a good song and It's been on repeat for pretty much the entire month (or whenever it came out.)
I listened to Teddy Picker by Arctic Monkeys, because my friend Megan listed it as her song of the week and It's really good. It's from one of their older albums but I love it.
Finally, I have two songs that I used to like when I was younger and are still great songs now. Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day and Wires by Athlete are more songs that I have been playing lots recently.
Question of the blog: What are you favourite songs this month?
It's time again for me to share my favourites songs of the month!
First up is a couple more songs by Arctic Monkeys. You'll probably see 1 or 2 of these each month, because as I said last month, I like to listen to the songs gradually but the 2 I found this month are '505' and 'Snap Out Of It.' I really like them both and I'd recommend you give them a listen.
I wanted to listen to Paramore, because I'd never really tried before (although I already knew Misery Business) and I've really been enjoying their songs. I've not listened too much yet, but I immediately loved 'Ain't It Fun' and 'Still Into You.' They're both upbeat and fun and they've been great additions to my playlist!
Maroon 5 released a new song called 'Animals' and I love it! They've released a few new songs recently but Animals is the one I've been listening to.
Next is 'What Would You Do' by Bastille. This is a cover of the song originally by City High, but I prefer Bastille's version.
Next up is an album from Sia. It's called '1000 Forms of Fear' and it is amazing! I loved it as soon as I heard it. My favourites are 'Fire Meet Gasoline' and 'Hostage' but I love very single song. I feel like Sia would also be great to see live, because her voice is great.
'All of Me' by John Legend is a song that was released quite a long time ago, but I've just recently started to love it. It's a slow song, but it's great.
Last but not least is 'Ghost' by Halsey. I loovveee this song and I'm excited to see what songs she will release next and if they will live up to this one!
That's all of the songs I've found this month!
Question of the blog: What songs have you been loving lately?
If you've enjoyed these blog posts in the past, then I'm sure you'll love this one! I have found so much new music this month that I can't wait to share with you!
I stupidly deleted the note on my iPad that contained the songs, so I'll have to try and remember them.
First up is Happy Little Pill by Troye Sivan. I love this song a lot! I'm not just saying this because Troye is a great YouTuber, but the song is right up my street and I love it!
Next, is Good Girls & Amnesia by 5 Seconds Of Summer. Amnesia is currently playing it's so nice. Good Girls is much more upbeat than Amnesia and also sounds quite 90's-ish, but after hearing a few songs from the album, these are the two I listen to.
I listened to Arctic Monkeys a little last month and two new songs by them have made their way to my playlist. Do I Wanna Know? and R U Mine? are great songs. R U Mine? is probably my favourite of the very few songs that I've heard, but I'd like to gradually listen to more songs. I find gradually listening is less overwhelming and makes me enjoy the songs more.
I'm confused as to how I still manage to find more of The 1975's music that I haven't heard or that I've been loving. My current favourite of their songs changes all the time and at the minute it's M.O.N.E.Y. However, I've found 3 covers, a remix and old songs by them that I love. The covers are all from Radio 1's Live Lounge. They covered What Makes You Beautiful, So Good To Me and Rather Be, all of which they made their own. They all sound great and I love them.
The remix is Girls (The Knocks remix.) It sounds the best through good speakers/headphones and it's so catchy and upbeat and fun.
Finally, I've found old versions of Robbers, Chocolate and Sex that are so funny to listen to because they sound so different. There's also songs like 'Ghosts' which I really like that they wrote years ago. It's funny how much Matty's voice and the band's style has changed so it makes them really funny to listen to. (The Sex one is live, because I think it's better than the other.)
Next is Rude by Magic! It's such a catchy song and never fails to be stuck in my head.
Ed Sheeran released a new album called 'X' and there's a songs that's really great called Thinking Out Loud. I've not listened to the full album (which everyone says is amazing) but this song is really good.
Y.O.U & Circa Waves are the two bands supporting The 1975 in September, so I wanted to prepare myself by becoming familiar with a couple of their songs and there's a few I actually enjoyed! Stuck In My Teeth & Volvic are my faves.
Finally, is Pompeii by Bastille. I'm very late to the party with this song, because it was popular last year, but I never hopped on the bandwagon with Bastille. I haven't listened to the full album but I will possibly listen to their next one (whenever it is released.)
Thanks for reading this very long post about my favourite music but hopefully you found some new songs that you can enjoy listening to!
Check out my July Favourites here: http://youtu.be/BKUSWWYOS2k
Question of the blog: What songs have you been loving this month?
Quote: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.
