Eurovision!

So this weekend the Eurovision Song Final was on. Sadly, I missed watching it live, so caught up thanks to modern technology. I love love love Eurovision. As a non-Euro native myself, I think it's awesome to compete nationally with cheesy pop songs. I can only dream of a world-wide-vision song contest one day...

Anyway, I thought I'd share my thoughts on some of the songs this year. They are of course only my opinions, and I'd love to hear what you think too! Did you watch this year?

In catching-up I have to say I didn't watch the entire show. So I missed out on the little snipets from Sweden between acts. These are usually pretty entertaining and I'm gutted I missed out on these. But catching up also meant I missed out on whatever hilarious voice over comments they aired in the UK. I don't even know if it was Graham Norton again this year, but as long as it wasn't Terry Wogan, I'd be fine with it. I know that most people loved Terry's commentary, but I found it kind of insulting and rude. Yeah, I know it's just a laugh, but I kinda would rather hear the songs and save the commentary for after the song. Just me, maybe :P

If you missed out on the songs, you can catch-up quickly with all the songs here on YouTube.


 

First the ones worth commenting on, then the pretty good (all lumped together), and then the wtf category.

 

(In alphabetical order)

 

Belgium

Oh, nice one. Not a winner I think, but I'd listen to this.

 

Bulgaria

Really kinda weird, but I strangely like it. Not sure why, but it kinda gives me a Bollywood vibe... think it might be the pitch of the woman's voice.

 

Denmark

This one won this year, and I think it was a pretty good song. I really like it, but I don't think I'm in love with it or anything. Congrats!

 

Finland

OMG, this is hilarious! I loved this. Shame it didn't do better.

 

Germany

Cascada! Woo hoo! I love her... erm or I used to. This kinda sounds like every other song she's done. Not surprised this didn't do so well.

 

Greece

Amazing! Upbeat and fun sounding. Not sure about the only English I heard 'Alcohol is free' (also the song title), but hey!

 

Ireland

This actually placed last! Dead last! Talk about playing favourites, guys. I liked this a lot. I'd dance to this in a club.

 

Montenegro

This didn't even make it to the finals, it looks like. I thought it was awesome! A weird mix of rap and pop power. Respect for trying something very different.

 

Russia

Dina Garipova was such an improvement on last year's Babushki group. I know they were kooky, but I just couldn't get behind it.

 

Serbia

I shouldn't admit to liking this, but I honestly do. >_<

 

Slovenia

Another great dance song. Would love to hear this in a club.

 

Spain

Ah, I wanted to hate this song, but I can't. I love it. Amazing. (I wanted to hate it because Spain and I have issues with each other :P)

 

The Netherlands

I'm not sure how I feel. I wanted to love this, but I just thought it was okay.

 

Ukraine

Loved this. Another great dance song. Not really a surprise tho, I expect to see a babe singing a pop song for Ukraine.

 

Other entries that I liked, but have nothing especially to say: Austria, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, and Norway. 

 

And lastly, a couple of WTF's go out to:

 

FYROM (Macedonia)

Conflicted on this one... maybe a WTF is too harsh. Just ... well weird.

 

Romania

What?!? O_o

 

United Kingdom

Bonnie Tyler? Sorry, but who? Don't think you're really trying. I mean, last year's bombing with Engelbert Humperdinck wasn't enough? Who thought it'd be a good idea to drag these old celebs out of the closet. By 'old celebs' I mean people no one under 30 has heard of and most people over 30 are embarrassed to admit they know who they are. Serious cringe. >_<

 

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Did you watch? What did you think?

 

Pantone Colour of the Year: Emerald Swimwear

It's summer! Or at least it is for most of the world. To me, summer usually means swimsuits, BBQs, ice lollies, and sunshine. So, today's post is featuring swimwear in lovely shades of Emerald, Pantone's colour of 2013.

Retro one piece (For Luna)

 

Bikini (O'Neill)

 

Polka dot one piece (Next)

 

Another polka dot one piece (Dickens & Jones)

 

Bandeau bikini (Very)

 

Triangle bikini (Insight/Asos)

 

Wrap one piece (Land's End/Debenhams)

 

 

Zigzag textured bandeau one piece (Jasper Conran/Debenhams)

 





OPI's Wooden shoe like to know

Another nail polish post from me! I'm catching up on my colours now :) This one is Wooden Shoe Like To Know from OPI's Holland range.

It's a lovely warm brown with goldish shimmer. Weirdly, in the bright sunlight it looks kinda dark mauvey purple colour.

I also had trouble with the lighting, so some shots are too dark, and some are too light. Sorry about that.

Sorry for the sloppy application. I would say I was being lazy, but actually I was just being my usual self :P

What colours are you painting your nails at the moment?

Gouda Gouda Two Shoes I can paint my nails again!

This was a looooong time coming for me. I finally painted my nails! The last time I painted my nails was back in November, just before I had a heinous finger infection that lead to a Spanish doctor (while on holiday, boo) cutting into my poor finger. Well, only 5 months later and my finger is almost back to normal! ¬_¬ So yes, I am very excited to bring this nail polish post today :)

This is OPI's Gouda Gouda Two Shoes, a mauve with coral shimmer from OPI's Holland collection. I bought this in a January sale and it's just been waiting for me to use it!

Sorry for the untidy paint job. I'm out of practice.

But seriously, this was a typical OPI nail polish. Wide brush applicator and the polish applied smoothly. This was a two coater for me with my usual OPI Nail Envy as a base and Seche Vite for a top coat.

The shimmer is subtle, and you can only really see it if you look up close, but it's what attracted me to this colour. It's a lovely and easy to wear shade for work tho.

Frustration

Sorry, bit of a personal post today.

It's been frustrating lately. Frustrating at work, frustrating in the love life, and worst of all, frustrating with the blog.

Okay, not really the blog, but been having some serious internet connection issues. Literally every time I sat down to work on the blog this weekend my internet cut out.

WHY? Oh, why do you do this to me internet gods?

Yeah, it wasn't really the internet gods, but BT. And here begins my small rant about BT. For those of my non-UK readers, BT is short for British Tele... erm, phone? Tele-com? Not sure actually. I think it's British Telephone, but they have rebranded themselves so you can't see anything but BT all over their website. Anyway, they basically have a monoply in the UK on installing telephone lines. So if you move into a new house, you gotta get BT to hook up your phone line. Oh yes, there are other telephone companies out there, but *none* of them can do you the honour of installing a telephone line. Don't even get me started on how long it takes them to get around to installing one! (I waited 3 months for a landline and internet when I moved into a new build. Seriously.)

Once you have a telephone line, however, you can ditch BT and switch to another company, but of course, many of us are lazy and don't switch. There are some reasons not to switch. For example, if you rent, you can get hit with charges when you move out to have the next tenant 'switch back' to BT to 'connect' their phone line ¬_¬  Honestly, that is a rant for another day. I'm ranting about BT as an ISP today.

A shot from BT ads

They have these series of adverts highlighting how wonderful BT broadband is. Oh, lovely. You can check them out on YouTube here. Every time I see one of this a vein in my forehead starts to bulge (slight poetic license here) and I want to scream at the telly or computer screen 'WHAT? no, it's all lies!' No restrictions on speed? You are one of the worst offenders of traffic shaping I've seen! Ah, but to no avail.

Well, I spent far too much of my weekend thinking about BT, which is decidedly not-beautiful ¬_¬ Everytime I get so frustrated with them, I swear I'm switching to Sky, maybe one day soon I'll follow up on that threat, for now, I've at least managed to get this post out to you all. You can look forward to the usual beauty blogging from now on!

Do you have issues with your ISP that drive you nuts? And if you have BT, my condolences, I know I am not alone in my grievances.

Cleaning out the wardrobe

I can't believe it's Thursday already! It's been a busy week. Sorry I haven't posted much. I'm also going away this weekend to Cornwall! It was a bit of a last minute surprise! I still need to pack >_< I promise more blog posts soon.

I have been clearing out my wardrobe again, so if you're looking for some bargains, I've put some things, mostly dresses and jumpers, but the odd skirt or duvet cover, up on eBay. Check out my auctions here. Everything starts at 99p, so, yeah, check it out.

I hope you're all enjoying the nice weather we've been having (at least we've been having what appears to be SPRING here in England. Woo hoo! About time!). Hope you have a great weekend!

I hope to do some chilling at the beach... altho it prob won't be in swimwear!

Spending ban on makeup and clothes

Okay, so I haven't really mentioned it before, but I've sorta been on a make-up spending ban since Christmas. It's already April, so I've made it 3 whole months without buying any makeup. That's actually really impressive for me.

Well, it's also a good thing, as I'm beyond broke. Boo to that obviously ¬_¬

What I haven't been so good about is spending money on clothes. >_<

I have to admit that I have 3 closets full of clothes. Sorry, this is turning into a clothes horders anonymous meeting or something. Ok, ok, ok, I actually have 4 closets *bursts into tears* but only if count the one at my mom's house. Yes, I think you're never too old to keep stuff at your parents (especially if they don't box it up and throw it away *gulp*).

But anyways, the point is, that I have many clothes. I do not need more, yet for some reason I keep on buying. Hrm. So I am going to make it official, that I will be on a clothes spending ban for the next 3 months.

Some of my closets are more organized than others...

Can I make it that long? Umm.. I'm honestly not sure.

But let's see.