Favourites of the Week #7

It's the return of my weekly favourites!!

While I was travelling I didn't really have time to do these posts, and I've missed them. So, without further ado, here are the things I've been loving this week...

Track of the Week
Can't Hold Us - Savannah Outen and Jake Coco (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Cover)

This week I've been testing how fast I can sing/sort of rap by having this cover of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on repeat on my iPod. Trust me, there's nothing like the feeling of satisfaction when you realise you've learnt all the words...



Album of the Week
Ellie Goulding - Halcyon

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love Ellie Goulding to pieces and this album is most definitely top of my playlist this week. There are a few standout tracks (Figure 8, My Blood and I Need Your Love being three obvious favourites), but there are a couple that really grow on you the more you listen, which is one of the things I really love about Ellie's music - Don't Say a Word and Hanging On are two examples of this.



TV Show of the Week
Veronica Mars

I never need an excuse to revisit Veronica Mars and something told me (maybe all the Kirsten Bell interviews I've been watching!) this week that I should make the always exciting move of rewatching the Pilot - I'm hooked again already. Honestly, it is one of the best television shows of all time!!! I couldn't be more pleased that a film is finally in the pipeline!

Film of the Week
Silver Linings Playbook

As I mentioned in my What I've Been Watching post the other day, I absolutely adored Silver Linings Playbook and went out and bought the dvd. Never, in recent times, have I parted with £12 for a newly released dvd - I'm more of a 'wait till it's been out a few months and get it cheap on Amazon' kind of gal. But in this case I couldn't resist. I love everything about this film, from the plot to the soundtrack to the brilliant acting from every single member of the cast (with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence both completely deserving their Oscar nominations). If you haven't seen it, you should! I know this is one I will watch over and over again.

Beauty Product of the Week
Revlon Lip Butter in Wild Watermelon

I treated myself to this when they were on offer for £5.99 in Superdrug and I've fallen completely in love with it! I adore the Revlon Lip Butter's anyway, but this colour is gorgeous. It's much more vibrant than what I usually wear on my lips, but I really like it, and will do a proper review, complete with photos and swatches soon!

Book of the Week
One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern

As you all know, I love Cecelia Ahern and I downloaded her most recent book on my Kindle while I was in Australia. I didn't get a chance to start reading it till I got home though, and I'm about a quarter of the way through it - really enjoying it so far. It's the story of a journalist named Kitty who has found herself in hot water after wrongly accusing a man of a crime he didn't commit, with disastrous results for her personal life and career. Alongside this, her friend, mentor and boss has just passed away, leaving her with a list of names connected to a story she wanted to write before she died. Kitty is left to figure out how these one hundred people are connected and hopefully write the story Constance never had the chance to. It's another interesting concept from Ahern, and I just love her writing style.

YouTuber of the Week
Louise - Sprinkle of Glitter

We all know I love Louise, but this week she uploaded an interesting video addressing the tricky subject of self-harm and I think she handled it brilliantly. It must be difficult for YouTubers with a lot of subscribers when people ask them to make videos on this sort of serious topic. But it was a well balanced, properly researched video and didn't go on for too long - it said exactly what it needed to say. Apparently it was mentioned on the BBC and Sky News too!

Blog of the Week (new category!)
Roaring Twenties

You know when someone has a distinctive style that you just instantly love? For me I found that when I first started reading the lovely Margaret's blog a few months back after meeting her at a blogger event in Edinburgh. I love the tone of her posts, the film quotes and the fact that she rarely writes a post that doesn't have me laughing out loud (I wish there was a way to describe that that didn't instantly make me see LOL in giant letters!), she just has a brilliant writing style. Anyway, go and check out her blog, and if you're anything like me you'll love it :) (http://roaringtwentiesblog.blogspot.co.uk)

Website of the Week
Twitter

Loving twitter again - I found out about the Harvey Nichols Beauty Parlour through twitter last week and attended the event tonight! It was great fun and I got to catch up with the lovely Roisin from Lost my Heart in Wonderland and meet Laura from The Likely Lady for the first time, which was great (more on this event in another post)! I also thoroughly enjoyed the #lbloggers chat on Sunday evening, it was nice to join in again after my travels!

Style Icon of the Week
Emmy Rossum

I'm just going to ignore the fact that Emmy Rossum's Donna Karan Atelier gown doesn't exactly fit with the punk theme of the 2013 Met Gala, because it is beautiful and I want it. I love the colour, I love the shape, I love the beaded detailing and I love that she didn't overdo it with the train. It's perfect. And her heavy smokey eye, nude lip, perfect brows and braided up-do compliment it perfectly. Love. It.


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Hope you enjoyed that guys, what have you been loving in the film, fashion, music and blogging world this week?

Thanks for reading!

Books etc.

Hello hello lovelies! Yes, I have just used the name of a book shop as the title of this blog post because, in a nutshell, that is what this is going to be about!

I was a seriously avid reader as a child. My mum, dad and granny all used to read to me constantly, which led to me reading lots on my own, and I loved books! The later years of high school saw a slight drop in my 'reading for pleasure' what with all the work for my Highers, and then Uni came along and I got completely out of the habit of it. Sadly, I had enough to read for my film and tv course, and even more so for my comparative literature course in first and second year, so at the time of night when I used to read, I started watching youtube videos, and never really looked back!

Now, however, I want to get back into the way of reading, so thought I'd share with you the pile of books I have waiting next to my bed to be read over the coming weeks :) If you have read any of them let me know what you thought (I expect The Hunger Games will be one a lot of people have already read!)...

Top to Bottom - Cecelia Ahern - The Time of My Life, Harlan Coben - Caught, Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games, Steve Hamilton - The Lock Artist, Amanda Hocking - Switched, Craig Ferguson - American on Purpose

Also, I thought I'd tell you a couple of books I have thoroughly enjoyed over the past year or so, and ask for some tips on what to read next!:)

Firmin - Sam Savage

I cannot tell you how much I loved this book. It tells the story of a rat living in a book shop, who eats his way through the novels, literally digesting knowledge, and becoming wonderfully wise, and clued up on all aspects of life. It is lovely.

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The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

This is a much more intellectual kind of read. I read a lot of Russian literature from the late 1800s/early 1900s for my Comparative Lit course, and I really enjoyed it. This one I have only read once and will need to read again to properly understand and appreciate it, but even the first time round it totally captivated me. It explores religion and politics and human behaviour all in a really interesting way.

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Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult

I'm a fan of Jodi Picoult's, I always find myself fascinated by her characters, and she tackles some really serious topics in a totally unpretentious way, which I love. This one, I read on holiday last year, and thought it was brilliant. It hasn't overtaken 19 Minutes as my favourite book of hers, but it's a close second. It explores how religious experience affects the non-religious when a single mum's young daughter starts talking to angels. I thought, even just in terms of exploring what it means to be a parent, this was a really good read.

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Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me - Mindy Kaling

Have you watched the American version of The Office? If so, then you'll recognise the genius that is Mindy Kaling as not only an executive producer, and writer, on the hit show, but also one of it's stars - she plays Kelly Kapoor. Anyway, this is a sort of autobiographical book, compiled of snippets of her life, her work, and her thoughts, and it is absolutely hilarious. She really reminds me of my best friend and me in terms of the things she discusses in this book, and her sarcastic tone, so it got a huge thumbs up from me.

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I'm halfway through Craig Ferguson's autobiography (American on Purpose) at the moment and I'm loving it! He grew up not far from where I live, so it's a really interesting read.

If you guys have any good recommendations (I'm hearing a lot of good things about Game of Thrones?) then let me know in the comments! What you been reading recently? :)

Hope you're all well, and look out for my next favourite youtube channels post, it'll be up later in the week :)

Lynsey xxx