Honeymania, from The Body Shop

I recently bought the new Honeymania lip balm from The Body Shop, and I can honestly say it’s the best lip balm I have ever used! With the weather getting a lot colder, a lot quicker, my lips are getting dryer than ever. Forget Vaseline, this is the one to buy for sure. My lips feel so smooth and so plump. At only £4 as well, I think it’s worth every single penny.

 

 

I also bought the gift pack of Honeymania shower gel, soap, body butter and scrub for a Christmas present, so we’ll see how my mum likes it too! (I’ll be secretly using it too obviously!)

 

 

 

I’m working at The Clothes Show Live, in the NEC, Birmingham tomorrow, which should be fun! If anyone’s there, come visit the Birmingham City University stall for all the information you need on future courses, including Fashion Design, Textiles, Photography and more!






x

To be alone, On my own

I like to be alone

To listen to my thoughts
To watch my surroundings
                Watch people
                Be aware

                Listen to everything

                See everything

I feel free,

                        A little intimidated,

                        But free

Away from everything and everyone

               To make my own choices,

                        My own decisions

Just to be alone

               To breathe my own air

               To see my own space

               Working out other’s stories

On my own

  

Fashion Head

Part of fashion design is drawing (can you believe it har har). But anyway, I drew a head for my designs. It’s basically a modified drawing of a photo of Cara Delevingne, as I needed a slightly narrower mouth for the scale that I needed the head to be at.

Let me know what you think!

Motivate me..

http://elitedaily.com/life/motivation/this-video-uses-jelly-beans-show-you-how-much-youre-wasting-your-life-video/

The small video above is worth a watch. It actually motivated me get on and do something today, rather than trying to put off uni work. It makes you think, how many minutes, hours, days are you wasting by just sitting around waiting for something to happen? It all adds up in the end. I need to make changes in my life, and this video has proved that. I don’t want to look back on my late teens/early twenties and think I could have done something better, something worthwhile. I need to work for what I want and there’s only one way that that is going happen, by doing it myself, and only myself. Life is too short to worry about what could happen and what happens if… Just do it!

Quoting lord Drake, YOLO!

Waiste Clothing

I found, through instagram again, a new range of clothes called Waiste Clothing. I think the designs and styles and quite boho-chic, but theyre wearable and they’re sooo reasonable at pricing!

Visit www.waiste.co.uk for the clothing and jewellery. Username on instagram is WAISTE_CLOTHING

Their website features the Waiste blog too, which is definitely worth looking at. I am actually in love with a crushed velvet boho jacket. It’s sold out at the moment, but for £25, I am definitely waiting!

 

Print SS14

I love Company Magazine. I follow them on instagram (my username is ‘jemmleigh’ if anyone is interested) and today I saw a couple of posts about the label Mint Velvet. They have their own website here,

http://www.mintvelvet.co.uk/

I think the designs are very contemporary casual. They’re simplistic, but comfy. And if I’m honest, for a label like Mint Velvet, with the range of designs and the quality of their clothing, I don’t think the pricing is too much. Definitely have a look, it is well worth it!

Back to Company’s instagram, I saw some really interesting print on a bomber jacket, peg leg trousers and miniskirts, and I assume its press day for SS14, because I couldn’t find any print like that anywhere on their website. Definitely will be keeping an eye on their site, and my bank balance as a student if I want to buy some of their clothing!

Fabrics

I thought this would be fashion related; found some cool sites for fabric today, five free samples and then a charge for each sample after.

www.myfabric.co.uk

 

I found some AMAZING faux fur that would work so well in my current project at uni (I’m basing a concept on Robert Scott’s Antarctic exhibition). But seriously, check these guys out.

 Also found this site, based in London.

http://www.thesilksociety.com

You can’t order online, but the range of fabrics looks sooooo good! Plus the fabrics been used in the film Snow White and the Huntsman. I reckon that’s well worth a trip to the capital!

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing illustrator, Furry Little Peach

So I was thinking, I want to feature other blogs, including illustrators and fashion guys, on my own blog.

Firstly, I want to introduce Sha’an D’athes from Australia.

Go visit her work http://furrylittlepeach.blogspot.co.uk/

I found her through a friend on facebook. She has a page called Furry Little Peach, and it’s just the most amazing paintings and drawings that I have seen in forever! Her style is so unique and her drawings seem so effortless and flawless. I will definitely be writing about her again in the future!  They have been the motivation for me to start my own collection of drawings and illustrations. Yay for Sha’an!

Here are some examples of her work that I love,

 

Always a meaning

I finished my own personalised sugar skull at last (hurrah!) I'm pleased with it if I'm honest. The flowers, the tear drops, the love hearts and even the crosses (I'm an atheist but I do believe in the faith and hope that every religion carries). The writing, instead of a web that would symbolise death, is actually my tattoo that I have on the side of my right foot.

It says "la mia bella principessa", which any of you Italian folks know, means 'my beautiful princess'. It sounds cheesy, but the meaning is not.

My great nan, who I adored so much, passed away about 18 months ago. I was always close to her, even though she lived in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and I lived in Southampton, England. We spoke on the phone weekly and whenever we would she each other, we would just have a laugh. She was no ordinary great grandmother, she was my crazy Italian great grandmother that I looked up to in so many ways. I was her first great grandchild, and when I was young I have the biggest blue eyes and red curly hair, and she called me her 'beautiful princess'. I still think about her everyday, and no decision is made without thinking of her view and her wacky answer that she would come up with.

Nothing should be made without a meaning behind it, whether be a decision or something creative. Rarely any good pieces of art or otherwise are made without a true meaning.

But back to the skull, I will eventually get round to the colour. But for now, I'm going to spend more time on my pencil and pen techniques, yay!

Meanings continued...

From

http://crueldazeofsummer.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/sugar-skulls-status-in-popular-culture-what-is-their-meaning-and-where-do-they-originate-from/

"Within the Western culture, skulls usually depict the dark, macabre and gruesome death. However sugar skulls’ origin (or calaveras de azucar) springs from Mexico. Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday, celebrated on the 1st and 2nd November in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saint’s Day and All Hollow’s Day. The festivities start at midnight on the 31st October.  Sugar skulls are often used to decorate the gravestones of the deceased. The reason they are called “sugar skulls” is because the authentic sugar skulls were made out of clay molded sugar, decorated with feathers, colored beads, foils and icing. These sugar skulls are very colorful and whimsical, not scary at all. The name of the deceased relative could be written on the skull’s forehead and then put on the altar, accompanied by marigolds (the marigold is perceived as the flower of the dead), candles and maybe even the deceased’s favorite food and beverage in order to encourage and guide him back to earth.

In terms of meaning, the skull symbolizes death but in a positive manner. In Mexico it is believed that death is not the final stage in one’s life but rather a step forward into a higher level of conscience. For the Aztecs skulls were a positive symbol, not only of death but also of rebirth.
Supposedly the symbolism of a sugar skull is rooted in the decoration around the eyes. Flowers are meant to symbolize life, while cob webs symbolize death. Burning candles set inside the eyes are a sign of remembrance. These items can also be used in combination to personalize the main focus of the skull as well.”

From which has some interested answers:

http://tattoos.answers.com/history/an-inside-look-at-the-meanings-behind-sugar-skull-tattoos

“The size of sugar skulls has an important meaning. Small skulls represent the souls of dead babies and children; large skulls represent deceased adults. If you have only one sugar skull tattoo, pick any size you wish. However, if you plan to have multiple skull tattoos, their size must reflect the relative ages of each person commemorated.”

Also found another interesting link:

http://www.celebrate-day-of-the-dead.com/sugar-skulls.html


I couldn’t find any answers into what some of the symbols on the sugar skulls meant, apart from that marigolds represent life, webs represent death and writing on the forehead is the name of the deceased.  I guess the added symbols represent the deceased life, and as I am definitely not deceased, I’ve decided I’ll design a sugar skull based on the 19 years I have lived.

Meanings

By studying Fashion Design, I have to choose concepts for projects and look into the background behind them. I’ve actually started doing this for everyday research that I do. Like, I have been looking at sugar skulls, for both Halloween ideas and illustration. I realise that I can’t just allow myself to draw an ordinary sugar skull, but I have to find the meaning behind each symbol, with every skull being different.

 

Here goes. Updates to follow…

Obession or love

I'm in love with the forest. I always have been. Ever since I was a baby, my mum told me that she could just push my pram under a tree while the wind blew and I would be memorised for hours. The movement, the colours and the freedom just captivates me. I feel free when I'm among nature, like nothing is important. It's kind of like a therapy to get away from day to day stresses. I think that's why I feel I don't belong in a city, because I grew up in the forest, with space and for somewhere to go just to be alone for an hour or two without feeling like I have to look over my shoulder every two seconds. I live here, in a city, but somehow I still feel like I need to find my purpose, if you like, in the great plan of life. I feel I need to find myself within myself, to find my true loves. And my true hates. I need to find identity, and going back to the forest every other weekend isn't going to help. I've been drawing, which I think might help get rid of negative feelings or emotions, to have time to myself, to think about nothing but myself, as selfish as it sounds. I find I can't express my emotions through speech or writing, but I like to think I can express through other similar situations, through the power of illustration.   So...   Here's the start. Year 2. Birmingham. The start of the illustration and hopefully a new identity within my life.

 

I'm in love with the forest. I always have been. Ever since I was a baby, my mum told me that she could just push my pram under a tree while the wind blew and I would be memorised for hours. The movement, the colours and the freedom just captivates me. I feel free when I'm among nature, like nothing is important. It's kind of like a therapy to get away from day to day stresses.

I think that's why I feel I don't belong in a city, because I grew up in the forest, with space and for somewhere to go just to be alone for an hour or two without feeling like I have to look over my shoulder every two seconds.

I live here, in a city, but somehow I still feel like I need to find my purpose, if you like, in the great plan of life. I feel I need to find myself within myself, to find my true loves. And my true hates. I need to find identity, and going back to the forest every other weekend isn't going to help. I've been drawing, which I think might help get rid of negative feelings or emotions, to have time to myself, to think about nothing but myself, as selfish as it sounds. I find I can't express my emotions through speech or writing, but I like to think I can express through other similar situations, through the power of illustration.

 

So...

 

Here's the start. Year 2. Birmingham. The start of the illustration and hopefully a new identity within my life.