PROM 2016

Hiya!

I've been waiting to write this post for months and the time has finally come and I'm so excited! I'm going to explain everything about the process of getting ready for my prom, as well as including lots of photos for you to see! I was also a member of the prom committee so I've been involved in the whole process so I'm super proud to show off the committee's hard work (in the photos)!

I decided to get my hair and makeup done professionally as I believed that it was definitely worth the money as they were able to do a MUCH better job than anything that I would have been able to do! I wanted my hair to be down as I didn't feel that an updo would suit me as I always have my hair down, and I wanted to look as natural as possible. Similarly, while I wore a lot of makeup, I was still aiming for a natural look that simply enhanced my features (without making me look like I've been caked in makeup!). I had a trial for both the hair and the makeup which I would highly recommend as it allowed me to decide exactly what I liked (and what I didn't) and gave me a general idea of what the finished look would be like.

For my dress, I didn't want to spend a huge amount of an outfit that I would more than likely only wear once. Because of this, I made sure I shopped around to find the nicest, yet most reasonably priced dress possible. In the end, I got my dress from 'T K Maxx' which, like ASOS, stocks a variety of different brands, but at discounted prices. My dress originally comes from a brand called 'XSCAPE', and while this particular dress isn't available anymore, they have plenty of other beautiful dresses to choose from so go check them out! The dress itself cost £59.99 which I thought was very reasonable considering the price of some of the dresses out there!

My shoes came from ASOS but were originally from New Look. They matched my dress perfectly and I couldn't believe my luck when I first saw them! They only have a small heel on them as I'm quite tall anyway, but the dress definitely required a bit of height. They cost me £24.99 which was okay, but I was gutted to see that they went on sale for £13 a couple of weeks after I'd purchased them! They were super comfortable and were easy to dance in, so I would highly recommend them!

The prom itself was absolutely amazing and everyone looked phenomenal! I enjoyed myself so much, the whole night was incredible, from start to finish - we didn't fall into bed until 5am Sunday morning! The school hall was completely transformed and everyone was super impressed which I was really happy about as people were quite skeptical about the location at first; we proved them wrong thank goodness!

I've included plenty of photos below of the night and I hope you enjoy having a look at them, and you can feel even a small amount of the magic that was in the room! I really hope you've enjoyed this post - it's definitely been one of my favourite posts to write!

See you soon,
Charlotte x

BOOK REVIEW: 'Songs About a Girl' by Chris Russell

Hiya!

"Charlie Bloom never wanted to be 'with the band'. She's happiest out of the spotlight, behind her camera, unseen and unnoticed. But when she's asked to take backstage photos for hot new boy band, Fire&Lights, she can't pass up the chance. Catapulted into a world of paparazzi and backstage bickering, Charlie soon becomes caught between gorgeous but damaged frontman Gabriel West and his boy-next-door bandmate, Olly Samson. Then, as the boys' rivalry threatens to tear the band apart, Charlie stumbles upon a mindblowing secret, hidden in the lyrics of their songs ..."

If you've been reading my posts for a while now, I'm sure you'll be aware of my obsession with celebrity culture and my love for novels based around this crazy world that surrounds famous people. So, as you can imagine, 'Songs About a Girl' was right up my street! I have to admit, I was also intrigued by this book as the main character and I have very similar names - coincidence or what?!

My initial thoughts of the novel were very different to my final opinion and I was very happy that I persevered with the story. At first, I thought the plot had a 'too-good-to-be-true' feel to it, as it seemed highly unlikely that a very famous pop star would have been keeping tabs on a student two years younger than him from his old school. However, once I'd got my head around that part of the story, I began to engage with Charlie's experience a lot more and I generally enjoyed the book more!

In general, I felt that the novel was very well written and contained a well balanced mixture of humorous, funny scenes, as well as the more serious, hard-hitting stuff . This made the book more readable and believable and added an almost 'down to earth' quality to the plot. Sometimes, I felt that Gabriel's story became too 'heavy' but apart from that I thought that it was amazing to see a novel address such dark, yet realistic troubles that some teenagers experience.

I truly can't decide whether I'm team Olly or team Gabriel... there's definitely more to the story, so I'm hoping to see a sequel soon! This brings me onto the ending of the novel, and what an ending it was! I have so so so many questions that I cannot wait to find out the answers to, as the story ended on a major cliff hanger that will leave you absolutely desperate for information!

Overall, I would definitely recommend 'Songs About a Girl' to anyone who fancying an insight into what life on the road is really like, and how different dynamics between members can completely change a band, and the disastrous consequences this can have on the whole band. Also, there's plenty of romance within the novel between a certain band member and a school girl photographer (I won't say anymore as I don't want to ruin anything!).

I hope you've enjoyed the review and make sure to grab a copy of 'Songs About a Girl' by Chris Russell (out on 28th July in the UK)!

See you soon,

Charlotte x