Blew My Mind

All photos are from Ann Street Studio's tumblr.

Recent Favourites

Everyone goes through phases right? Once every few months you find a new band and listen to them constantly or you'll be bowled over by that new film a friend told you to watch.

I love reading posts of people's recent favourite things as I'm kind of nosey, so I decided to do my own.

Being a lover of foreign films (see my last review of Le Herisson) my friend suggested the French film The Intouchables to me, and thanks to the wonder of Netflix I watched it the other day.

The Intouchables is a comedy-drama film which follows the story of an ex-criminal who becomes the carer of a wealthy man with tetraplegia (paralysis of the body minus the head). It's a wonderful film which shows you the struggles the two men face with each other as they get to become good friends. As a film it completely grips you as you expect it to be sad, yet it isn't at all. There are many hilarious moments in it which will make you literally laugh out loud. A definite watch for those who enjoy foreign films and want something easy-going but interesting.

A couple of months ago I started reading Chuck Palahniuk's books after finally getting around to reading Fight Club (the film is amazing but the book - wow). After being amazed by Fight Club I also read Haunted which contained the gut-wrenching story which is ironically called Guts. His work is so different to anything I've ever read before, it's weird, obscene and downright brilliant.

Recently I bought Choke second-hand from World of Books and so far it's great. The story is about a man who causes himself to choke mid-way through every meal in a restaurant to fund his mother's care home and what he starts to discover. Everyone should give at least one Chuck Palahniuk book a read. 

Music wise I pretty much like most genres, although my favourites are rock, alternative music and screamo. I love using Spotify to create playlists and to find new music. When listening to a band and going on their profile, a suggestion list pops up at the side suggesting other bands you may like. The other day when listening to Rolo Tomassi (one of my favourite bands), a band at the side caught my eye called The Blood Brothers. I had never heard of the band before but their name really drew me to want to listen to them as I love Blood Brothers the play. 

The first song I listened to was Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck, and after that I was smitten. Their music is my favourite kind of genre, which is post-hardcore. They sing/scream and mix up their songs. I love music that isn't repetitive and when the guitar riffs and drum beats completely change halfway during a song. It was slightly depressing to find out The Blood Brothers split up in 2007 though, as they'd be great to watch live. 

With most bands, I usually download a couple of their songs off iTunes and that's it. You know you've found a really good band when you like every single song; so after giving most of their albums a listen I ordered 3 of them off Amazon last night.

If you like post-hardcore, give The Blood Brothers a try and let me know what you think.

What have your favourite reads/songs/films been this month?

Alice

  x

Smooze Fruit Ice

I've had the photos ready for this post for ages and completely forgot about them. I first saw the Smooze fruit ices advertised on the Facebook of my favourite shop in Lincoln, - Yellowbellys of Bailgate. Being a huge ice lolly/cream/fruit ice fan and a huge coconut fan these sounded amazing to me. A couple of weeks after spotting them on the Yellowbelly's Facebook page I spotted some for sale in Grain Wholefoods in Hull when I was visiting my friend Emily and decided to try the Simply Coconut flavour. My verdict? Delicious!

As soon as I returned to Lincoln I hiked (literally) up Steep Hill to Yellowbellys to grab a box. I can't even describe how much I love this shop. It stocks mainly vegetarian and vegan food and even though I'm neither of these everything is wonderful. The owner Linda is so kind and lovely, and after a 20 minute chat she gave me a free coconut and pineapple Smooze to eat on my way back home.

I walked away from Yellowbellys with a box of ten Simply Coconut flavoured Smooze. They aren't frozen when you purchase a box, so you can wander around without worrying your fruit ices are melting. When you get home you pop them into the freezer for 24 hours and they're ready to eat.

The best thing about Smooze fruit ices is that they're healthy, dairy free and gluten free. They're creamy, refreshing and satisfy your sweet tooth without being sickly. 

I feel like I may be betraying Ben & Jerry's ice cream here but I must admit, I do prefer Smooze. They're good if you're trying to be more healthy and they don't leave you with the guilty feeling of over-indulgence. I'm a mission now to try every flavour and I think the next will be the coconut and pink guava as it sounds so good. 

Have you ever tried Smooze or similar fruit ices before? What do you think of them?

Alice

  x

Weekly Wantings: Statement Necklaces

Weekly Wantings: Statement Necklaces 

Big necklaces are everywhere at the moment. Going into your local Topshop or New Look is like visiting a sweet store, so many different necklaces to choose from. I love how a simple outfit can change with statement necklaces like the ones in this post.

These are a few of my current favourites; and if you haven't already realised, I really like the triangle style ones.All of these necklaces are from New Look, ASOS and Marks & Spencers. I particularly like the two smaller arrow spike necklaces from New Look and both the colours they come in.

Do you like statement necklaces at the minute? Which are your favourites?

Alice

  x

Origins Ginzing Moisturiser

Hurray we finally have the internet in the new house! We were only without it for about 4 days but it felt like forever... What's worse is how excited I was to have it back! It's weird to think how important the internet can be in every day life...

Anyway, before I end up having a post discussing the internet, here's a post I've been meaning to do for a while now.

I feel like such a cliche blogger posting this, as I have read so many reviews and posts on it by other bloggers. However, Origins is a brilliant brand and this moisturiser is amazing.

The last post I did about Origins was quite a while back now, but I can remember the consultant telling me about this new moisturiser that was about to launch which had the same name as their eye cream.

Now I didn't actually rush to buy the new moisturiser as soon as it hit the stores. Even though the consultant from last time had told me it would be one of the cheapest moisturisers that Origins would do. She also said that the price range and moisturiser itself was based around people my age (18 - mid twenties).

If you read my last post you may remember me saying that my mum is a big user of Origins skincare and she snapped up this new product immediately. As I was home for most of the Summer I kept seeing it every time I walked into the bathroom and after a while ended up using it several times. (completely by accident of course)... I honestly couldn't help myself as it was (and still is) amazing.

After a couple of uses I felt guilty and decided it was time I bought my own Ginzing.

The moisturiser is said to bring a 'healthy glow' to the skin and keep it looking refreshed. To be honest, when using it I haven't really noticed any kind of 'healthy glow' but I do feel it has perked my skin up. It has a subtle orange scent which is gorgeous, but beware as it tends to make you want to put more moisturiser on (it does with me anyway). If you have dry skin or combination skin then Ginzing is perfect as keeps your skin soft but not oily. Your skin is also moisturised for the entire day as it doesn't dry out on your skin like some moisturisers can do. 

Overall I'm really pleased with Ginzing as it has lived up to the hype. It's a great moisturiser. The only downside is the scent tends to make me want to smother loads on my face... But maybe that's just me.

Have you used this moisturiser? What do you think of it?

Alice

  x

Hiatus

Sorry if you don't see an update from me on here for a while. I've just moved in to my new student house in Lincoln and our internet isn't working... It's kind of weird not being able to use it, but it also means I've started to work on my dissertation and take time out to read.

Hopefully our internet will be up and working next week so I can blog again!

Alice
  x

The Past Few Weeks in Instagram Form (4)

                         New novel purchases                                                     Endcliffe Park

                         It was... um... weird                                              Finishing BB for the new episodes

                    Trying on clothes in Cow                                                         JAKE CAME HOME

                          Philip Larkin toad                                                    Toffee & honeycomb cheesecake

The past few weeks have been a mixture of dull and interesting to be honest. I'm kind of bored of being at home and tomorrow I'm properly moving into my Lincoln house for 3rd year so I'll be back to more of a student lifestyle. I actually can't wait to settle down & get ready for the hard work of my last year.

Anyway, lately I've been getting back into reading and after finding the website World Of Books I ordered 3 I'd wanted for a while. World Of Books sells second hand books for about 2-3 pounds each. Absolute bargain! All the books I purchased (the ones pictured above and Cloud Atlas) were £2.90 each and in very good condition. The books also came with a free sample of Teapigs popcorn tea. Very very impressed. 

Last Wednesday I was supposed to go to a free swimming session across town as I bumped into a friendly gym representative in town who offered me one. I was convinced I knew where this gym was. I was going to go for a lovely morning swim and come back feeling happy and refreshed. The real outcome? I got 2 wrong buses and ended up in Endcliffe park. Always check your buses people... I did end up having lunch with my friend in a lovely pub though so it all ended well anyway.

Me and my friend decided to go and see Only God Forgives as she is a massive Ryan Gosling fan. All I can say is that it is good, but very very odd. It's unexplainable to be honest, but I still suggest that you go and see it.

The new episodes of Breaking Bad came out yesterday so I've spent the last week hurrying my way through series 4 and 5. I'm addicted. It's so so good.

One of my best and closest friends Jake came back home for a visit. He rarely comes home but when he does it's always lovely. We wandered round Sheffield and he convinced me to buy a gorgeous jacket from Cow. I love Cow but when I go myself I always assume nothing will suit me. The cute artwork is from the changing rooms but it is a little unsettling when trying things on. We also went on a night out and had what I like to call 'an awkward family style photo' beforehand.

The day after going out with Jake, I went to Hull again for my friend Emily's birthday. 2 of us from uni visited her and went on a night out then spent time wandering around. We went on Princes Avenue and Newland Avenue which are both amazing. I chose Larkin's bar as our place to eat and the food was DELICIOUS. It was £11.50 for 2 courses and the portion sizes were huge. I had a mexican bean and sweet potato fritter burger, which came with halloumi and garlic butter in it as well, on the side were cajun seasoned fries and coleslaw. For dessert me and Emily both had the toffee and honeycomb cheesecake which was also so delicious. If you're ever in Hull, definitely go there for food! 

I also got quite giddy about Philip Larkin (the poet) as he worked and lived in Hull. So we went to see the flat he used to rent out that looked over Pearson Park and found one of his toads. I really do like Hull.

What have you been up to lately?

Alice

  x

New Found Love: Oh Comely Magazine

It's not very often I buy magazines any more. The phases of buying them once a week or month usually wear out for me after a while. I've been through many magazines but always seem to get bored or only like certain sections. However, when I travel by train I always feel an urge to browse in WHSmiths and choose a magazine to flick through. A couple of weeks ago I had a nosey before catching my train to Hull and Oh Comely caught my eye...

I've flicked through Oh Comely before but never properly read the entire magazine. It's a fairly costly magazine as it's £4, but I decided to give it a read. The fact that there was an article with Audrey Tatou (aka AMELIE - I love that film too much) and weird, random pictures didn't influence me at all...

Oh Comely is genuinely a fantastic read. It seems so random as it has so many different parts scattered throughout the magazine. They feature various artists (both the musical and drawing/painting etc kind), simple recipes and much more. Issue Sixteen (which is the current issue) features an array of portraits, including families who live on houseboats, Japanese bookbinding and taste testing fried chicken. See what I mean? The mix of content is odd but works brilliantly.

The design itself in the magazine is rather minimalist but with dreamy photographs and small text. The layout also differs as you go through Oh Comely, and your eye is drawn to something new every time you turn the page. I will definitely be purchasing Oh Comely again. The only problem is that it's bi-monthly so I have to wait a while until the next issue!

Have you read Oh Comely before? What are your favourite magazines?

Alice
  x

Weekly Wantings

Weekly Wantings No. 3 by alicelucyrose-1

I am currently addicted to putting all the clothes/jewellery/shoes/bags/makeup/etc onto my Polyvore account at the moment... It's making it very difficult not to whip out my debit card and purchase all the pretty items on there. 

Polyvore is great if you're like me and bookmark/favourite every item you see online. It may seem a good idea at the time but scrolling through endless website savings to find one page is tortuous. However, with Polyvore you can place a 'Clip to Polyvore' on your bookmark toolbar and it saves images with the price tag and the site the item is from. No more having to go and make a cup of tea while your computer scrolls on forever to your wanted website link.

Anyway these are my favourite items from my Weekly Wantings series (I've done 3 now ooooh). I admit I've already purchased the bag from Zara this afternoon... I'm so iffy with bags; they need to be big enough to carry around all the necessities but without being too humongous. After seeing it appear on Olivia's blog the other day I decided I 'needed' it & had to order it off Zara's website. The delivery for Zara is very impressive as well. I ordered the bag at around noon today, chose the standard delivery and received an email at 7pm telling me it's arriving tomorrow. Fast and easy delivery is always good. 

I'm not usually a heel fan as 80% of the time I resemble a newborn foal in them. These ones from ASOS are gorgeous though. The heels are fairly small so they could be suitable for day and night. I'd love to purchase them but buying shoes online is such a pain; especially if you have wide feet like me. I'll have a nosey in the shops instead to find a similar pair.

This yellow dress by Pop Boutique on ASOS caught my eye as it reminds me of the dresses Suzy Bishop wears in Moonrise Kingdom. Any clothing that reminds me of a Wes Anderson film is an instant favourite of mine. Not sure if I could pull this look off, although I still adore that dress. The earrings are also from ASOS and suit the dress perfectly. Huge, dangly earrings just look good with everything.

I love this nail varnish from Topshop as it's a simple yet elegant colour and doesn't really draw any attention away from the dress.

So these are my weekly wantings from the past week. What are yours?

(If you want to find out more about the items such as their price click on the link under the collage) 

Alice

  x 

A Change of Name

After reading a couple of my favourite blogs this morning (What Olivia Did & Wish Wish Wish fyi) I decided that my blog needed a better name. I liked my old name (Tongue in Chic) as it's one of my favourite songs by a band called Rolo Tomassi. Although it's a good title for a song it somehow just didn't suit a blog. After 5 to 10 minutes of thinking of alternative names, Alice and the Rose popped into my head and I liked it. It's unique and it's suited to me (my full name is Alice Rose if you didn't already know) and sounds better.

So there we go, welcome to Alice and the Rose. A (hopefully) new and improved blog.

Essie Nail Polish in Sugar Daddy

Anyone who knows me will know that I have an obsession with nail polish. It's gotten to the extent that when I wander round town with family & friends and do so much as look at a nail polish they all shout "NO!" at me. I think I have over 25 at least... But even though I'm admitting to my nail polish addiction it still hasn't stopped me buying more...

At the moment I've been loving nail polishes which are neutral or classy colours. I'm still on the hunt for one which goes with every outfit and is perfect for day and night.

The other day I was browsing in my local Boots store when I happened to fall upon the Essie stand (well sort of, deliberately fall upon). Looking through the shades my eyes laid upon Sugar Daddy; a very light, sheer looking pink colour. I thought it did look a little too sheer for me as I hate having to layer nail polish over and over for a decent colour but decided to give it a go anyway.

It seems Sugar Daddy surprised me as a colour and was better than I expected. I was correct in thinking the nail polish itself is very sheer. However, it doesn't have that cheap looking, watery look that other sheer colours do. 3 layers of Sugar Daddy gave me the best coverage (shown on the picture below) but even one layer looks good. This is the nail polish you need if you want basic, simple but classy nails. Essie is a brand I always like to go as well as their polish is long-lasting and it has a variety of colours to choose from. I'll be using this colour quite a lot as it's a great one to go to!

What do you think of Sugar Daddy? Do you like Essie's nail polishes? 

Alice

  x

Edinburgh

I said in my 2nd Instagram post that I would follow up on my trip to Edinburgh. So here is my full post (a bit late but nevermind!). Be warned as this post is picture & text heavy!

At the beginning of July me and me friend Bekah were moping about saying how we wanted to go on holiday to somewhere nice. Then after about half an hour of debating where we could afford to go & saying we wanted to explore a new city, the idea of Edinburgh was born!

We booked the hotel (well guest house) for a week on in our excitement to go and found a fairly cheapish one that said it was about 10 minutes walk from the city centre. I never actually took any pictures of the guest house or our room as it wasn't much to look at. It was a basic double room with an en-suite, TV, tea station etc. I can't actually remember the name offhand but if anyone wants the name or address leave a comment and I'll find it for you.

On the first day we arrived fairly early and decided to explore Edinburgh whilst carrying our luggage. We thought it'd be a good idea but boy were we wrong. After half an hour in the heat dragging ourselves up long steep streets we were both sweaty and complaining. However, it was still too early to check into our hotel so we went to The Natural Museum of Scotland. Even though our backs killed the entire way around it was absolutely amazing and I'd love to go again. The museum had over 4 floors and hundreds of exhibition spaces. One of my favourite exhibitions was the Natural World which was on several floors. So many animals! There were hippos, sharks, giant squids, whales, dolphins and various types of fish all dangling above your head which was an amazing sight. Taxidermy animals do scare me a bit but every single one looked fantastic.

My second favourite exhibition was the World Cultures. So many pieces of fantastic artefacts. The different types of masks were the highlight for me, most of them were used in various cultures as performance masks & were used to cleanse the soul or to scare away spirits. I also loved the beautiful set of prayer rolls (which I think were either Chinese or Tibetan) on the bottom floor.

However, there was one thing which came top for me in the museum. The Millennium Clock. The Millennium Clock is a type of tower which is over 10 metres in height, and is a timepiece which contains fragments of the past millennium. At the bottom of the tower a monkey stands turning the wheel and as you look up the figures of dictators such as Hitler, Lenin and Stalin stand out in the middle. These are used to show the pain and death of the past millennium. At the very top of the clock tower stands the figure of a woman carrying a dead man. This is the Pieta, and acts as a symbol, signifying the strength we need to move on. The tower is absolutely beautiful and if you visit the museum I definitely recommend going to see the clock.

After going round the museum and killing our backs we caught a taxi back to our guest house and went out in the evening. My friend Bekah is a vegan and we walked back and forth so many times to look at menus but after a while ended up at Nandos as they were the only restaurant we could find with a proper vegan option. Next time though I would love to go down Rose Street and visit the pubs and bars there. Rose Street was just hidden off the main shopping bit and had a few shops but mainly fancy restaurants and bars. It was adorned with pretty fairy lights and had a wonderful poem at the beginning of the street.

Day 2 of Edinburgh consisted of checking out of the hotel and going to visit the castle. We had previous trouble deciding whether to go to the castle or the zoo, but with the zoo being far away we decided on the castle. It was boiling and extremely sunny again so we searched for left luggage facility. The train station was really the only place we could find so we dumped them in there. I think it cost us £9 each which was ridiculous (and to make it worse we found £1 lockers in the National Gallery of Edinburgh later on!!) but it was worth saving ourselves from being sweaty messes in pain.

The castle was stunning and was a lot bigger than I expected. There were so many different sections to look at and walk around. The views from the castle grounds were gorgeous as well. I made both of us have the whole tourist in front of a view pictures but decided not to place them on this post as they're a bit cringey... Tickets for the castle were £16 each which I thought was a bit pricey, but overall it was worth it. If you're visiting Edinburgh for the first time going to the castle is a must!

After the castle we wandered around the old town part of Edinburgh which was filled with beautiful little boutique shops. My favourite of them all was one called Miss Katie Cupcake. The jewellery in there was so lovely and I ended up buying a pair of cameo earrings that I love. The woman behind the counter was extremely friendly and chatty to all her customers as well!

We then went from old town to the National Gallery of Edinburgh which was a lot bigger than I expected. When walking up the staircase lots of head figurines were layered above your head and looked fantastic (if you check my Instagram you'll understand what I mean). The best picture of all was one called The Skating Vicar which was amusing but brilliant at the same time.

Before catching our train home for a loooooooooong journey (4 hours) we sat in Princes Street Gardens. The gardens were so vast but filled with lots of people sunbathing/playing sports/reading. It was such a nice atmosphere.

Overall Edinburgh is a beautiful city. The places are nice, the people are nice and the sights are lovely. Just finishing this post is making me nostalgic and I'm dying to go back again. If you ever want to get away for a few days then Edinburgh is the perfect place!

Have you been to Edinburgh before? Where did you visit?

Alice
  x