Why we need more writing like Broadchurch...

So this Monday was the last ever episode of Broadchurch. Now I don't necessarily want to talk about whether the ending was satisfying or not (for me, it mostly was). What I want to focus on is why we need more writing like Broadchurch.

(Disclaimer, I am in no way a writing expert, a TV expert,a series expert or an anything expert so please please please don't take anything I say as solid word on this; this is purely my own thoughts and opinions on it all.)

So let's begin. (There may be spoilers so please only read if you've seen all three series)

Firstly, it passes the Bechdel test, which if you didn't know, means that the series has at least two named female characters who talk to each other (have solid back and forth dialogue), about something other than a man. It's usually applied to films and believe me you'd be amazed at how many fail the test...Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt 2? The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy? The oh so beloved Original Star Wars trilogy? You see where I'm going with this.

This leads nicely onto my second point. Across the whole of the three series all of the characters we meet, although some are shrouded in mystery, are well rounded and fully developed and they are all flawed human beings. Each character serves a purpose. They're all believable as real people in a small seaside village. You develop some kind of connection with every character, you're either rooting for them or hate them or laugh at them or feel sympathy, and you don't get that with two dimensional characters. It's what makes the series so interesting, because as well as being invested in the plot, you're invested in the lives of completely fictional characters. 

Along with that, the relationship dynamics between the characters are so well written. You've got the contrast between Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller, the moody DI and the chirpy DS at base level, the characters work together brilliantly because their dynamic creates a low level of conflict, they both have the same end goal but different reactions to case developments and different ways of tackling things, just like real people do. They develop an odd sort of friendship which feels very genuine. You really see their working relationship grow and the dynamic changes as the case goes on (in the first series) and continuously develops through the second and third series. 

Then you have the Latimers', a family dynamic which is strained after the murder of their son in series one. We get to see the effect this has on a marriage, a mother daughter/father daughter relationship and it all feels very real. They band together, they become volatile, there are explosions of emotion littered throughout each series. The beauty of Broadchurch is that it doesn't just drop the relationships into black and white territory, it's incredibly rare that the characters have straight up opposing view points, they all have their own complex reasoning and motives behind everything they do. 

In the third series we see how the Latimers' are coming to terms, in different ways, with Danny's death and the fact that Joe Miller was found not guilty despite his initial confession. We see the effect this has had on their relationship, Beth and Chlo are trying to move on with their lives, while Mark is stuck focusing on the loss of Danny and is trapped in his own guilt and grief as a father. We watch the turmoil they all go through, each in their own unique way, and how this essentially tears the family apart. Beth and Mark still care for each other deeply but it's clear the emotional damage of losing a child and the way they each deal with that has had an impact on their relationship. 

Broadchurch doesn't shy away from not giving the viewers what the want. 

In an ideal world the heartbreak would have of course brought them closer together, and in some ways, it has, but ultimately it spells the end of a marriage and the breakdown of a father to the point of attempting suicide. 

I could write for days about the complexity of the plots in each series, but I think all I need to say is, that guessing who killed Danny, will Joe get off, and who raped Trish, has been the main topic of conversation in many a work place and in many a coffee shop. There are enough twists and turns to keep you interested but not so many that you can't follow what is happening. The array of characters has you constantly speculating. Just like all good TV drama should. 

The show is unlike most detective 'who dunnit' shows on TV for one main reason. It focuses on the people, the raw human reaction to the crime that has taken place. It focuses on the emotion that atrocities such as murder and rape draw out of people. It picks apart the volatile nature of the court of public opinion. It tackles irresponsible journalism and the dark turn it can take. Ultimately it highlights, interrogates and forgives the fundamental flaws of human nature.  

AND THAT IS WHY WE NEED MORE WRITING LIKE BROADCHURCH.

It's the light

Most people have something about themselves that they don't like. Whether it's a weight thing, or a face thing, or a hair thing, or something entirely different, most people will have something they're not totally comfortable with. Their own personal kryptonite if you like. Most days you can just get on with it and not really give too much of a shit about that bit that you don't absolutely love, you ignore it and go out and have a great time.

Yesterday was not one of those days.

I woke up in a great mood, had a shower, got dressed, did some work. Then I decided I wanted to go out. Now at the minute I'm trying to give my skin a bit of a break from makeup; I'll still fill in my eyebrows and do eyeliner, mascara and lipstick and maybe add a bit of eye shadow if I'm feeling it, but that's it. So I did what I usually do. Except I hated it. To me, my skin looked awful, it was grey and creased and dotty, and I felt like my makeup just highlighted that. My brows looked too dark and uneven, my eyeliner wasn't how I wanted it to be and I felt like I looked like shit. It was all I could see when I looked in the mirror. So I took it all off. 

I started again, except this time, despite my whole trying to feel comfortable with my skin and giving it a break blah blah blah thing, I started with foundation. I thought it would make me feel better, and spoiler, it did...until I did my eyebrows again and I felt like every little dent in my face was screaming at me. So I added some concealer, there we go, sorted, skin's looking okay. So I did the rest of my makeup, complete with contour, blush and a fuck tonne of highlight because oh yes if I'm ruining my skin with foundation may as well go the whole hog and achieve that ethereal insta-perfect glow.

So I thought I looked alright, I was actually quite happy with myself. Then I stepped out of the bathroom and caught my reflection in the full length mirror that stands opposite my wardrobe. Fuck I looked like shit. My blush was too bright, my lipstick wasn't totally perfect, my eyebrows weren't as 'on fleek' as I wanted them to be. I almost took it all back off again. Almost.
Instead I stood in front of my window and opened instagram front camera, highlight on point, eyeliner as even as it was ever going to be, hell I even quite liked how my skin looked. I moved back to my full length mirror and just like that it all looked too much, and I hated it. I went back into the bathroom and it switched again, I was so bloody happy with how my eye shadow has blended.

So I took some snapchats, I took some selfies. (Just, in front of the window, not the mirror) 

And I went out.

Because, I'm not going to let not looking good from every angle or in every space stop me from having a nice day.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that everyone has days where they don't particularly like how they look (yes, even those perfect beyond words insta queens) and that's okay, in fact, it's completely normal, it's part of being human!

And even if you think you look shit,

it's not you, you're just standing in the wrong light.

Creativity

Creativity can be hard.

(It's a long one, you might want to grab a cuppa☕)

Since coming to uni I've never felt less creative, which is odd considering I'm studying a subject I have so much passion for.

It's been incredibly hard to stay motivated with my degree this year, and I hate to say it but I think that's largely to do with my lecturers. With the exception of my creative writing lecturer, (who has been an absolute dream this year and the only thing that has kept me on the course this long), and my physical theatre tutor, none of them seem to have any passion for what they're teaching; and when they have no passion it's so uninspiring.

I go to an actor training workshop knowing that we'll probably only scratch the surface of an exercise that should be studied for weeks, even months. You do the reading on the exercise and practitioner and see that it has so many more levels. You find that in the space of 20 minutes you've skipped straight from step 1 to step 20 having gained no real understanding of what it is that you're supposed to have achieved. It's frustrating. Everything seems rushed and half arsed. 

When showing work for feedback we were told not to criticize. But that's what I want. That's what we all need. Constructive criticism. I want to be told ''no that's not good enough, do it again, try it like this.'' We're first years and nothing is going to be perfect. It's all well and good being polite and kind and saying ''I really like that bit when....'' but it wont get you anywhere. 

You won't develop as a performer. And that's what we're paying tuition fees for right...? 

TO DEVELOP AS PERFORMERS!

I would rather be told a performance was absolute shit in the rehearsal stage to avoid the embarrassment of presenting a shit scene for my assessment. Yes it might dent your ego a little if you've worked hard on something; but in the real world people will give you the straight up truth in reviews, in person, on social media. If what you do isn't good enough, audiences will let you know. And I know not everyone can handle criticism, so okay yes, give some praise to soften the blow if you must; but if you can't handle the critique (which only serves to help you improve) at university level then I don't think you're looking to head into the right industry; where everything you do will be scrutinized and torn apart by anyone and everyone, often in a very public way.

Quite honestly I don't know if I've gained any skills at all from my actor training lessons this year. I feel like I've left on exactly the same level as when I started.

Creative writing, however, has been an absolute blessing this year. I have never felt more inspired or pushed do something impressive than I have in these seminars. We've covered everything; from monologues, to screen plays, to novels, to poetry, to play writing; the list is endless. I feel like I've gained so many new skills and so much knowledge. I am leaving this year so much more comfortably a writer. 

We've explored how to take your own life experiences (you're not as boring as you think, trust me) and turn them into something creative, and then disguise the fact that they even belong to you. The lessons have constantly been thought-provoking, with open class discussion and sharing of work. Everyone has been so supportive, giving praise and improvements in equal measure. Our tutor has picked apart our work to make it the best it can be, and none of the changes made to your writing ever dent your oh so precious ego, because it's incredibly obvious that he is always working in your best interest. 

I've learnt so much about film and psychology and the way all mediums of art and expression fit together. I never expected to explore human psychology on a drama degree, or examine the way colour and music are integral to a film - especially in the first 10 seconds. We've looked at pitching a TV series and how to keep an audience interested in what they're viewing. There have been so many things I never expected to come across on this degree. 

I feel so lucky to have had a tutor with so much passion and life experience and genuine enthusiasm for the subject and helping students develop their skills and passions. I'm glad I chose this course, purely for the three hours of enlightenment a week in the form of creative writing. 

If nothing else this year has given me a whole new range of skills and ideas to keep working on and developing as I go on to study elsewhere.

I think the main thing I've taken from this is that ALL ART IS VALID, so you should always create whatever it is that you want to create. People will always find meaning in things, even if that meaning is different to what you intended.

So I'm trying to get back into being creative, it's taking me a while, but I think I'm getting there.

2017...and we're back?

Well hello there, welcome to 2017! Long time no see I know, I know. It's been quite a while since I've been on the blogging scene, my last post was literally two years ago which seems absolutely crazy to me! To tell you the truth I fell a little out of love with this blog as my space on the internet, believe me I've written posts over the last two years, but none of them ever seemed to be what I wanted them to be and so they remained forever in the drafts section; I couldn't quite bring myself to bin them completely but I didn't feel like I wanted them out there on my blog.

And so here we are, two years later and the first, fresh blog post.

Why now? Well since moving to Bristol for uni, despite the fact that I'm doing a drama degree, I've been feeling significantly lacking in the creative areas of my life. It's been fun to adjust to a new city and a new pace but I just feel like I'm missing something, and so a return to this blog which has given me a freedom to write whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted (no matter how awful it may have been, especially in the beginning) seemed like a good place to start.

Now I won't promise that my posts will be frequent or even on similar topics, I'm just gonna run with it and see what happens. I think I lost my love for blogging when I felt like I had to create the same posts as everyone else - makeup reviews, hauls etc. so this time it's going to be different. I'm just going to post about anything and everything that makes doing this mean something to me. I'm still figuring out the new layout of the blog (so you might notice that my old posts don't quite have text in the right places and a few photos are floating in rather odd positions), but I wanted to switch things up a bit and I'm not particularly good at customising templates so if anyone has any tips they'd be greatly appreciated! Bare with me and we'll see where it all goes.

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#NTUSR14

If you saw my UPSTART! 2014 blog post you'll know that that was a big reason for my lack of existence within the blogosphere; however you may have noticed that that only took up two weeks of my time! Another reason for my absence from this blog is that, 2-ish weeks ago, I went on a residential at the Clifton Campus of Nottingham Trent Uni for three days and it was brilliant! We stayed in halls, tried different sports, did tasters sessions and of course had a party!

Photobooths are a heck of a lot of fun!

Now any of you that know me in real life will know that I'm not particularly good at meeting new people and starting conversation so I was incredibly scared when I turned up by myself and walked into a room full of strangers! I, however, completely surprised myself, as when I was putting my bag down I saw another girl doing the same and went and asked her if she was on her own and we went and sat down at a table with three other girls on it and I ACTUALLY MADE CONVERSATION! HALLELUJAH! GOLD STAR FOR JESS! The other girls turned out to be super nice and we ended up sharing a dorm together! Stopping in dorms was a really good experience as we got to see what they're actually like and get a better idea of what to expect!

After the majority of people had arrived we went outside in the wonderful sunshine and did various ice breaker activities, one of which included making a chair out of balloons and I'm delighted to say that our team won with Derek the chair! Waheyy! We then got into our band-related groups (we were all given a coloured band upon arrival to make things easier!) and had a campus tour which was nice although Clifton campus is having a lot of building work done to make it all shiny and new! Afterwards we had lunch and got our dorms! We had 6 people in our room, including Danetta our student ambassador who was lovely! They were self-catered halls but we only had breakfast in there as the rest of the time we were in the SU having food!

Speaking of food, we had domino's pizza that night and oh my gosh I have never seen so much pizza in my life! There was so much left over that we pretty much took a whole pizza back to our room!

Have you ever seen so much pizza?! (Credit: @NTUOutreach)

However before having pizza we spent the afternoon doing sports activities to get an idea of what was on offer at Trent in terms of sports and societies; there was the choice of either rounders or yoga to begin with (I of course chose yoga which was great!) and then we all got together for an hour of Zumba which took quite a bit of effort and I was hopeless at keeping up with but was brilliant!

After battling through the aforementioned mountain of pizza we went bowling, (I lost spectacularly), and went to the SU on the city campus for a pub quiz and some games which was fun! When we got back to our dorm we were all pretty tired so went straight to bed. Now I wasn't expecting luxury from the bed, and it was actually okay to sleep on, but the pillow...my gosh it felt like someone had stuffed a dead animal into a pillow case (that isn't even exaggeration) so I stayed awake for quite a while trying to figure out how best to put my head on this delightful pillow to make it slightly more comfortable! 

Our little volunteering group!

The next morning after breakfast in our dorm we went down to The Point (the SU on the Clifton campus) and had a seminar on skills and communication which was surprisingly quite fun! We then split based on our coloured band groups and one half did their taster sessions while the rest of us did volunteering! For volunteering the group I was in had to cover a path with wood chippings to basically make it more environmentally friendly as Trent is one of the Greenest Universities in the UK! We split into two groups, and a few of us started at each end of the path while some others wheelbarrowed (word?) the wood chippings onto the path for us to rake. This was actually surprisingly fun, which probably had less to do with the actual activity and more to do with the people because we had quite a laugh!




We then had a short break (drinks and biscuits anyone?) and went to our taster sessions! I'd chosen the English taster session which was a seminar in American Literature where we looked at the Indian poet Sherman Alexie and three of his poems which was incredibly interesting!

Lecture Theatre selfie with Barrie!

After lunch we took a bus to the city campus where we were supposed to have a lecture on volunteering however we were late arriving so it was cut short so we could fit in the two taster sessions we were each attending! The first taster session I went to was criminology which was quite interesting and actually enjoyable! We looked at why a criminal might offend and what we thought the suitable consequences might be. My second taster was law, I won't say much about this other than that it made me realise I did not want to study law! 

We had a bit of spare time while all the groups were arriving back so of course selfies were taken...


We then had a campus tour and the city campus buildings are beautiful! Now during this tour one of my roommates Emily and I took quite a few selfies with the most random of things (everyone needs a selfie with a climbing wall right?) the reason for this being that there was a competition for being the most active on social media and Emily seriously wanted to win (and I mean seriously, there were so many selfies and photos of things over the space of three days!) and sure enough you'll be pleased to hear that one the last day it turned out she had won! We also had a group photo on campus which we were all given a copy of!

Can't beat a bit of treacle sponge and custard!

After getting back to Clifton, we all went back to our dorms to get changed ready for the barbecue that night! My gosh those burgers were so nice! We sat outside in the lovely sunshine just chilling, eating food, and there was treacle sponge with custard (an obvious highlight of the experience)!

We then went back inside, where the tables were filled with bin bags, tin foil and sellotape...
We were then told that we all had to dress up like pirates using these for our 'pirate-bin-bag-basement-party' in the club of the SU which was actually quite hilarious! In the party we had a DJ, a photo-booth which was great, a reaction-tester game thing (yup, that's definitely what it's called) and a basketball game (like the ones you get in an arcade)! It was so much fun and there was a lot of horrific dancing going off which made it even better!

The final day began with a lecture on student support which was again surprisingly fun and useful! We then did a finance quiz where we got into teams and each picked out an envelope with a country on it and played the quiz with a world cup twist! Spookily the team that picked Germany won! After a quick break we again split into two groups, half of us spent half an hour on computers looking at course options and getting the information we needed or writing personal statements with help; and the other half had a lecture from the careers team on how to make decisions for uni and we then switched! The lecture was so unbelievably useful as it explained a lot of how to decide on the best course and things you might want to look into when choosing a uni!

The Epic Yellow Team!

A bit later on we got back into our coloured band groups to do a presentation activity, we were given a topic which we would have to present in a lecture theatre for 3-ish minutes. Our topic was 'the day in a life of a student' which was relatively easy given that we had a student ambassador working with our group so we based it around Sophie's usual days. Myself and Barrie wrote a brilliant poem going through each activity of the day (we were oh so creative) while the others created a miniature Sophie with different sets to project in the lecture theatre and time cards to hold up. After we had finished and everyone had presented, the SAMs decided which group should win best presentation and...we won! (Well we were pretty EPIC)!

We then had to go back to our rooms to get ready for the evening which was a little more formal and pack all of our things away! Then we went down to The Point where our parents all arrived and we had a little buffett (which was very yummy, especially the cakes!) after which we moved into a lecture theatre where we watched the video that had been made of the week and were all presented with our group photo and a certificate for going along! And then it was time to say goodbye to everyone, although seeing as we're all on social media I'm sure some of us will keep in touch!

I honestly had such a fantastic three days and seriously recommend that if you're thinking of applying to Trent next year or even if you're not but you live in Nottingham then you should definitely apply to go! (I'm sure they'll be running it next year!) I was pretty unsure of what to expect when I arrived but it was so much fun and I met some really lovely people! It also helped a lot with knowing how to be more prepared for uni and what to expect when you first arrive which I'm sure will be a massive help when the time comes to start uni next year! Plus it was all FREE! YES FREE! Which is pretty damn incredible seeing as you do so much!
 And if any of you who were there are reading this then thanks for a great three days!

Well if you've read this far then I salute you! That was a heck of a long post!

I hope you enjoyed this slightly different post, I know the last two have been quite life-based but I wanted to blog about them because I think it's good to share you're experiences with the world, which I guess is what blogging is all about really? (getting a bit deep now oo-err) and I also want to remember them and be able to look back at what I've done this year!

I promise my next post will be a little more back to normal!

Do let me know in the comments if any of you have been on any uni residentials or taster sessions! 

I'd love to hear about them!

Or if you haven't just let me know what you've been up to recently!

Until next time, Cheerio! 

xx

UPSTART! 2014

Hello there! You may be aware that I haven't blogged in just over a month, and for that I am not going to apologise, I am instead going to explain why! Two weeks ago I took part part in Upstart at the Nottingham Playhouse, which is a theatre based work experience! A few months ago I applied to take part in the work experience programme, I then had an audition and group workshop and much to my surprise I got in! I got a place on Upstart along with 11 other actors and two designers! The aim of the two weeks was to put together a performance of 'Twelfth Night' to be performed in the last three days of the second week, we did three performances outside at Nottingham Castle on the Wednesday and three performances in the Neville Studio of Nottingham Playhouse over the Thursday and Friday!

UPSTART 2014!

We spent the first day getting to know each other, as we were effectively working as a theatre company for the two weeks so we needed to be comfortable with each other! We also got to have a tour of the Playhouse, going backstage and looking at the props room, paint-shop and costume department and talking to some of the staff! It was incredible getting to see behind the scenes and gaining a better insight into theatre! We also looked over the plot and characters to made sure we were all familiar with the show we would be creating (I mean, you can't really make a show if you have no idea what it's about, can you?)! I think warm ups and drama games are one of the funnest parts of drama based things, they're so full of energy and get everyone working together! Although the warm ups we did throughout the week certainly required a hell of a lot of energy as there was a lot of running!

The second day was spent doing a read through and some people  performed a comedy routine they'd prepared the night before (I am hopeless at comedy so gave it a miss!) We had sketches previously done by Jack Whitehall and Rowan Atkinson which were absolutely hilarious! I'll link to the originals if you'd like to check them out because they are honestly brilliant! Nandos or Hell? We then got our roles, I played Maria who is, in the original text, Olivia's lady-in-waiting; however we modernized the play and went with a sort of Made In Chelsea theme, meaning I was Olivia's rather posh PA. Now unfortunately the MIC theme did mean that I had to sit and watch an episode of Made In Chelsea...I can see why people watch the show but how the heck have they managed to get 7 series commissioned?!

The rest of the first week was spent using the script to devise our short scenes and develop character, we were measured for costume and also had seminars with people working at the Playhouse! Now the aim for the work experience was to educate us all in other jobs available in theatre and to dissuade us all from wanting to go into the acting profession. To do this we spoke to Fiona Buffini the Associate Director, Giles Croft the Artistic Director, Stephanie Sirr the CEO, Derek the membership manager, Bea the Creative Producer in Diversity, Cat who works with Stage Management, costume and props and who also led the work experience for the designers in our team, and Allie Spencer, the Education Officer, who ran the work experience programme! Prepare yourselves for cheesy-ness, but it was honestly so inspiring listening to everyone tell us about their jobs and how they started and how they got to where they are today, it really opened everyone's eyes to the different layers behind theatre! Each person gave us an 'inspirational quote' which were simply brilliant, one included 'You don't have to pluck chickens forever' which I think says a lot about the two weeks!

We also, rather luckily, got to sit in (well stand in) on part of a design meeting for 'Time And The Conways' which is being put on at the theatre later in the year! It was incredible to see the model box for the set design and from listening to the concept for the piece I 100% recommend you go and see it if you're in Nottingham when it's on! This was honestly one of my favourite parts of the two weeks as it's amazing to see all of the creatives together seeing the idea for a show for the first time!

Actoring...

At the start of the second week we went up to the castle and planned our route and how the audience would move from scene to scene, this got a little bit tricky at one point, as a scene we had only planned indoors had to be sorted out on a bridge...we needed to work out where the audience needed to be to be able to see the actors and how best to access the bridge etc etc! On the Tuesday we had our dress rehearsal! This was so unbelievably useful in getting us all used to where we needed to be and where the audience would be and where props should be left! However one girl did drop out of the program which kind of threw a spanner in the works and our assistant director had to step in and take over the part...this effectively meant that by our first performance at 10 O'clock on the Wednesday morning we were still at dress rehearsal level, simply because rehearsals had got a bit more difficult! But we thought all would be okay as we weren't expecting a big audience at that time, maybe one or two people, however it then turned out that a primary school wanted to come and see us, putting us all under slightly more pressure! 

Despite the little hiccups we muddled through the first performance quite well and were all happy with how it had gone! We then had to set everything up for our next show at 12 and then again at 1:30 so the day was very hectic but so much fun! I've never done promenade theatre before and it's incredibly challenging to stay in character the entire time and ad-libbing Shakespeare (or rather trying to) is on a whole new level! There were a lot of 'for sooth's thrown around!
After a day of shows at Nottingham Castle we arrived at 9:30 on Thursday morning in the Neville studio and began reworking the entire show to fit in the space on an incredible floor cloth! Now Allie said that it usually takes about 3 days to rework a show like our into a studio space...we had THREE HOURS! So everything was done at lightening speed and there were so many things to remember! It was quite a stressful morning but it was totally worth it when we performed! We had two performances that day and we continued to tweak little bits after the first show to make it even more effective! On the Friday we had our final performance and although everyone was incredibly tired we all gave it loads of energy!
Performing in two styles of theatre was an amazing experience and the pressure we were working under made the rehearsals very true to the real life of an actor!
After we'd finished on the Friday we had to strike the set, which basically means sorting all of the props, set and costumes and taking them to the right departments and after we had cleared the studio we had a few bits of evaluation to do and then that was it! The work experience was over! 

Oh and just in case any of you UPSTART-ers are reading this (because you never know right?) I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to you all for making the two weeks so fantastic! 

I do hope this post wasn't too ramble-y...gosh it's quite hard to condense two weeks into one blog post! I know this post was quite different to usual but I wanted to share the experience!

It was honestly one of the BEST experiences of my life and I'm so glad I actually pushed myself to audition! The people there were all incredible and some of the nicest people I've met! I urge you guys to just go for things because you never know, you could end up having one of the best times ever!

And if you live in Nottingham and theatre is your thing (and if you're in years 10-12), check out Nottingham Playhouse and apply for the work experience, it's taught me so much and I've had so much fun! If you're not really into acting or designing and just want to see some great theatre then check out what's on because they're always showing new and exciting theatre!

I hope you're all having a really great week (I only have a day and half left at sixth form until we break up for summer! Hooray!)

Until next time, Cheerio!

xx

Shall We Begin?

Well Hello there! How are you on this fine, sunny, day? 

I guess I should begin by welcoming you to my blog! I'm Jess and this is, what I like to term, my little slice of the internet cake! Here you'll find ramblings on everything under the sun, ranging from Fashion and Beauty to my general thoughts on life.
I've been wanting to start a blog for absolutely ages and, after reading a good few blogs, I figured that now is as good a time as any to get my fingers tapping away on the keyboard instead of silently spectating on other people's ramblings.

I think I should probably let you know a few small facts about myself so that we can become properly acquainted!

1. I'm 17 and am currently studying for my A Levels at sixth form
2. I'm taking History, English lit, English language and Drama
3. I have an insane amount of love for theatre!
4. I have an unhealthy obsession with Topshop (especially the jewellery, it's gorgeous) although I can only afford it in the sales *sigh*
5. I honestly think I would die without Liquid Eyeliner...I feel naked without it
6. I think that every girl needs a staple lipstick (Deep reds are my absolute favourite!)
7. I adore reading but unfortunately find myself with less time for books as exams loom closer
8. My lucky number is 4 (despite the fact that I'm not entirely sure I believe in luck!)

Thank you for taking your time to read this and I hope you will join me on my blogging adventures!

Love Jess
xxxx