Five Outfits...

... I've worn recently.

Emma x

Five Perfumes...

... in my current collection

 

Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel

Bergamot, Orange, Jasmine, Rose, White Musks and Vanilla

I don't know anyone who doesn't like Coco Mademoiselle. I was given this as a gift this past Christmas after years of spraying it on myself every time I walked past a Chanel counter. I would describe this as a vivacious and timeless scent, almost like Chanel's little sister if that makes sense. It's very expensive and is definitely a perfume you either give or receive as a gift. I can't see myself ever getting tired of it.

Stella by Stella McCartney

Peony, Rose Mandarin Orange and Amber

This is one of the more recent additions to my perfume collection. I tried Stella after reading about it on countless blogs, it seems to be everyone's favourite perfume right now.  This grew on me gradually and now I just love it. It's such a warm, sweet, rose scent. I would say it's quite modern and grown up and I like to wear it as my night-time fragrance.

Bronze Goddess by Estée Lauder

Citrus Floral- Orange, Citron, Tangerine, Lavender Flowers and Lemon Tree Leaves, Grapefruit Tree Blossoms

This is the most recent addition to my collection. I bought it a couple of weeks ago after continuously going to Estée Lauder counters just to spray this on myself. I knew if I didn't get it I would regret it as it's a Limited Edition Summer fragrance that is part of the Bronze Goddess Collection. This scent is Summer in a bottle. I would describe is as a creamy citrus scent, very orangey and so perfect for the Summer months. I can't really imagine wearing this when it's snowing outside in December so I'm getting as much use out of it as I can whilst also trying to preserve it because it's Limited Edition. If you get a chance I urge you to try this, but beware, you will want it! 

Crème de Pistache by Laura Mercier

Pistachio nuts, Almond, Praline and Hazelnuts

 I love everything pistachio scented or flavoured, so when I saw that Laura Mercier had released a scent along with their Pistache range I knew I would love it. This is another scent I used to go to the counter just to spritz on myself. My mam actually got a Laura Mercier gift set in the Christmas sales last year with a 15ml bottle of this and she gave it to me because she knows how much I love it. It's definitely one of those love or hate ones and I for one completely adore it.

Sensuous Nude by Estée Lauder

Woody Musk, Bergamot, Rose, Black Pepper, Honey, Amber, Sandalwood and Vanilla

I first discovered Sensuous Nude two years ago when a lovely Estée Lauder sales assistant gave my mam and I some samples of it when I was getting matched for my first tube of Double Wear Light. As soon as we tried it, we were hooked. My mam, my sister Kate, my friend and I all bought the perfume in the Duty Free on the way to Italy for Kate's wedding and we all wore it on her wedding day so for us it's linked with such a wonderful memory. I would describe this scent as delicate, powdery and feminine. I adore musky scents and this for me is the ultimate musky scent. Several people have asked me what I'm wearing when I've worn this and they have told me they went out and bought it straight away. It's the perfect date night perfume.



What perfumes/scents are you into at the moment?

Emma x

Five Songs...

...I've been listening to recently

I first heard this song because Childish Gambino used it in his song New Prince. It's also used in the trailer for Sofia Coppola's new film The Bling Ring which I'm so excited to see. This won't be to everyone's taste but I love listening to it when I want to hear something really loud.   

I've been trying to get into French music and I discovered this after reading up about the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. One of the songs on that soundtrack is Chick Habit by April March which is an English language version of Serge Gainsbourg's song Laisse Tomber Les Filles. April March recorded the French version too but I love this one which was originally recorded by France Gall in 1964. 

There seems to be a film theme going on here as this New Order song opens the film American Psycho. It's a great used of music in film and I was fortunate enough to get to see New Order perform this live last year. 

Yet another film song, I'm Deranged is on David Bowie's album, Outside from 1995. It was also used in the opening and closing credits of David Lynch's 1997 film Lost Highway, which if you haven't seen is definitely worth watching (although if you don't like David Lynch, you probably won't like it). This is such an eerie song, perfect for a Lynch film. 

I've been listening to Beck again quite a bit recently. I loved Guero when it was first released and it's always great to go back and rediscover an album you once loved. This is actually a bonus track on a Limited Edition release of the album, but it is one of my favourites. 

What have you been listening to recently, all suggestions welcome, I love finding new music!

Emma x

Five Tv Comedys

I've been watching recently...

 

 New Girl

I watched the first couple of episodes of New Girl when it first aired last year and I thought it was a bit lame. However after numerous people telling me it got better and was actually really good, I decided to give it another go. The second time around I fell in love. I know some people think Zooey can only play the kooky cutesy girl, but if it ain't broke, right? I personally love her and I liked her character Jess more and more with every episode I watched. Another big attraction to the show for me is my love Jake Johnson (who is excellent in Safety Not Guaranteed too). He is adorable. My brother in law and Donnacha are sick of Kate and I swooning every time he is on screen. I still don't get Winston though, people seem to love him but I don't think the writer's have given him much to work with. If you hate Zooey, you will not like this, but I'd recommend it for Nick's "I gave you cookie" speech alone. 

Workaholics

Workaholics was all over tumblr and I kept wondering what it was and then Donnacha asked if I wanted to watch it and we did and we never looked back. It really reminds me of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in that the guys in the show are all friends and write it together. Like New Girl, it's another grower and gets better and better. For those of you who haven't heard of it, the show revolves around three house-mates in their mid twenties who work in the same cubicle in a company where they do as little work as possible and drink all the time and act like they are 15. It's hysterical.

Nathan For You

Nathan For You is a show wherein Nathan Fielder tries to help businesses to become more successful by providing them with the most ridiculous ideas to improve the way they do things. All the businesses and people are completely real and Nathan is unbelievable at playing the straight man in the most unbelievable scenarios. I cannot stress how amazing Nathan Fielder is. You have to watch this show.

Kroll Show

Nick Kroll has been in so many amazing shows such as Reno 911, Parks and Recreation, The League, Community and The Life and Times of Tim and now has his own sketch show in which he plays lots of ridiculous and obnoxious characters. The scary thing is that some of the characters aren't that far from reality. It has some great guest stars too like Jenny Slate, John Mulaney and Jon Daly, three of the funniest people ever.

Bob's Burgers

Bob's Burger's is from Loren Bouchard, creator of another one of my favourite animated shows, Home Movies. Once again a show where I watched the first episode and wasn't crazy about it and so Donnacha watched it by himself but had it on a few times while I was in the room but not really watching it. Slowly I started laughing at bits and pieces I would hear in the background and then I started watching it too. It' so cute and funny and the characters are great and it has Jon Benjamin. Please be warned though, it will make you want a burger. 

What are your favourite comedy shows?

Emma x

*I could have included Arrested Development but I just finished watching it and need to digest it some more. Plus it kind of deserves it's own post, right?


Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Five Films...

...I've seen and really liked recently.

This is 40

I was really looking forward to seeing this being a huge fan of everything Judd Apatow has made in the past. I saw it in a packed cinema on Valentine's day and I was so shocked that Donnacha and I were some of the only people laughing. I loved it just as I knew I would but I think some people just don't like Judd's sense of humour which is fair enough. I thought his and Leslie Mann's real life daughters were excellent in it as were Leslie and Paul Rudd, who can do no wrong in my opinion. If you're an Apatow fan already you definitely won't be disappointed by this.  I'm already looking forward to watching this again when it comes out on DVD. 

Sunset Boulevard

My parents and younger brother came over for dinner a few weeks ago and we were trying to pick out a film that all of us wanted to see, not an easy task! I was pushing for Moonrise Kingdom, but Donnacha suggested Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard from 1950. Surprisingly I had no idea about the plot of the film and about halfway through it struck me as being ahead of it's time and just such an excellent story. I can totally see someone making the same film today and it would still be relevant to today's film industry. Gloria Swanson is unbelievable in it and the fact that Wilder chose to film in black and white adds to the unsettling feel of the film. If you haven't seen this already, it's definitely worth watching.  I only watched Some Like It Hot recently for the first time and absolutely loved it and we watched Double Indemnity in college and again recently I loved that too so I'm looking forward to watching more Billy Wilder films.

Erin Brockovich

I saw Erin Brockovich when it was first released into cinemas in 2000. We had a film night recently and one of our friends hadn't seen it so we decided to watch it since Donnacha and I hadn't seen it in years either. Soderbergh is one of Donnacha's favourite directors and we'd been watching a lot of his films recently including his latest film Side Effects, so it was interesting to go back and watch Erin Brockovich since it was probably one of his most successful films. I forgot how incredible Julia Roberts is in it, the dynamic between her and Albert Finney really makes the film.  It's also nice to watch it again after studying film and knowing more about Soderbergh and being able to appreciate how beautiful it looks as well as being such great true story. 

Antiviral

We watched Antiviral the same night as Erin Brockovich and I suppose the main reason for wanting to see it is that it is directed by Brandon Cronenberg, David Cronenberg's son. Again, Donnacha is a huge Cronenberg fan (I love some of his films, others I'm not crazy about) and therefore we were both really interested to see what kind of film his son would make. We actually got to attend a talk he did in Trinity college a few years ago which was such an interesting and once in a lifetime experience. I could listen to him talk about film all day! So we all went into this not knowing anything about the plot and we were all pleasantly surprised by how much we liked it. It's definitely clear that Brandon has been very influenced by his father, as you would expect, but he has managed to create such a frighteningly realistic alternate/futuristic reality in which "celebrity" culture has been taken to a completely extreme level. It reminded me of Gattaca and films like that, in the sense that there are so many advances in science that are controversial at the moment but how long will it be until they become common practice because people will be willing to pay a lot of money for their use. The lead actor Caleb Landry Jones gives one of the best performances I have seen in a while. If you're squeamish you might want to avoid this but it's one I've been recommending to everyone since we watched it. I won't say anything else because I think it's best to go into films like this knowing as little as possible. 

Spring Breakers

I had been looking forward to Spring Breakers since I first heard that Harmony Korine was making a new film. When I then heard that Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez were cast in it I was even more intrigued because if you know anything about Harmony Korine, or if you've seen any of his other films you'll know why that casting came as a surprise to me. You will either love this or hate it. We saw it on opening night in a packed theatre and there was a definite "what is this?" atmosphere going on. I think the main issue with films like this is that people see a trailer or a poster and think "oh I'll go see that" but they know nothing about the film or the director or what it's really about and then they get mad because it's not what they thought it should have been just by looking at a one minute trailer. I don't read film reviews, because I generally know what a film will be like because I have a genuine interest in them and know about directors/writers etc. I also don't like to know much about a film before I see it because I like being surprised, whether it's good or bad, and if I don't like something I know it was my choice to go and see it. If you choose to pay money to go and see a film, I think it's your responsibility to make sure you know what is it actually about, not what the trailer portrays it as being. In my local cinema they tell you at the ticket desk if the film you've just asked for is a foreign language film. I think that is so ridiculous. A person has no right to be annoyed if they pay to see a film they have done no proper research on. That is all I will say about Spring Breakers, other than I loved it and James Franco is amazing and the soundtrack is amazing. I'd love to know what you think about this as it's one of my biggest pet peeves.

Like I said I don't read film reviews and I didn't want to write any here, I just wanted to share with you some films that I really liked because I love to get recommendations of film/music/beauty products etc. from my fellow bloggers. Have you seen anything recently that you can recommend?

You can read my first two Five Things posts here and here.

Emma x

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Five TV Shows...

...I've been watching recently.

The Walking Dead

I liked the first season, I didn't love it but I thought there was a lot of potential. I was completely let down by the second season, it was just boring. The third season however has been amazing! It is filling the tension gap until Breaking Bad returns later in the year. It has had me gasping and watching through my fingers on many occasions this season. I also love watching Talking Dead afterwards and seeing interviews with celebrity fans of the show and cast and crew members. Daryl has to be my favourite character, isn't he every girls favourite?

Dawson's Creek

Where do I start? My love affair with the Creek started many years ago. I watched DC when it was first on Irish tv and it's remained one of my all time favourite TV shows since. I think this is my first time properly re-watching it from the beginning and I'm about to start the third season which is my favourite (fans of Pacey Witter will know why). If you preferred Dawson to Pacey (like my friend Simon) I don't want to hear about it! ;)

Girls

I started watching Girls before all the hype/controversy on a whim. Donnacha and I have found it very hit and miss and it's hard to pinpoint why. One thing I noticed and Donnacha agreed was that all of the female characters on the show are stereotyped to a certain degree whereas the male characters aren't and that bugs me. I like Adam and Ray best and I don't have any major issues with the other characters except I cannot get over why Zosia Mamet's character talks like something out of an Amy Poehler sketch on SNL. I don't love it or find it as amazing as people are making it out to be but there is something that keeps drawing me back every week.

 

Enlightened

Enlightened. I cannot recommend this show highly enough. It's on HBO as well as Girls and if you had to pick one to watch, this is the winner by far. Although it's just finished it's second and possibly final season it just blew me away. I am a huge Laura Dern fan so when I saw she was in this I immediately wanted to see it. It's written/created by and stars both Laura Dern and Mike White (who also wrote some Dawson's Creek, some Freaks and Geeks, Dead Man on Campus, School of Rock and The Good Girl etc.). Luke Wilson, Diane ladd (Laura Dern's real life mother), Timm Sharp (Marshall from Undeclared), and Dermot Mulroney are all in it too as well as lots of other familiar faces. That's all I'm going to say because I would love you all to watch it. Two stand out episodes are the ones centred on Diane Ladd's character and Luke Wilson's character. It's the most unique and original television I have seen in a very long time. 

Home Movies

Donnacha and I have been re-watching this in the evenings. It is the cutest/weirdest show about Brendon Small and his friends Melissa and Jason and the movies they make together. Jon Benjamin of Archer and Bob's Burger's fame (one of it's creators Loren Bouchard also created Bob's Burgers) does a few of the voices. It's seriously hilarious. Jason and Coach McGuirk are my favourite main characters but I also love the weirdos Walter and Perry. This won't be for everyone but the subtle humour is amazing. 

Have you seen any of these shows? What do you think of them? What are you watching at the moment? Do you have any recommendations?

Check out my last Five post here.

Emma x

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Five Songs...

...I've been listening to recently.

I've been listening to Phantogram pretty much non-stop since first hearing about them from my friend Amber.  Nightlife is my favourite song from their EP of the same name. 

Wild Nothing are a very recent discovery for me. I listened to a few songs and had to get their music straight away. This is one of my favourite songs so far from their latest release Nocturne.

I've been going on about Simple Minds on here a lot recently but that's because they are very good. I'm going to see them in March with my sister, my aunt and my dad. New Gold Dream is such a good album and I really love this song.

I've been listening to David Bowie for most of my life and I had forgotten how much I loved this song until it came on shuffle on my ipod a few weeks ago. It's actually a cover song from the album Pin Ups, originally recorded by The McCoys and then by The Merseys. The other versions are great too, but you can't beat Bowie!

Rano Pano is from Mogwai's latest album Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. It's just a great instrumental song.

Hope you all are well. 

Emma x