Wednesday 24 February 2016

Film Review: Deadpool (2016).

Hello, everyone. I am so excited to finally review Deadpool
I know it's already been out for a few weeks but I've been ill and busy with uni work so I couldn't see it sooner. But I went last night with my brother and we both loved it, it was so much better than we expected. So, let's get into the review because it's a long one!

The Background
Directed by Tim Miller, Deadpool is Marvel Comics' most unconventional anti-hero and this film tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson. This film follows Wade as he fights to live after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Desperate to find a cure and live a life with his girlfriend Vanessa, Wade goes ahead with treatment that he believes will cure him. Instead, he is subjected to a number of excruciating experiments that leaves him with accelerated healing powers and a whole new look. With his new abilities and dark, twisted sense of humour, he adopts the alter ego Deadpool to hunt down the man who nearly killed him.

My Thoughts
First of all, I didn't realise this was an instalment of the X-Men series despite the fact there was two X-Men characters in the entire film. I also didn't know much about Deadpool himself but I got really, really excited about going to see the film. I mean, before the film even came out, you must've seen the marketing for this film! It is easily one of the best marketing schemes I have ever seen for a film. Taking the mick out of Hollywood cliché film posters (particularly spoofing Nicholas Sparks') and more, have a quick look:

   
    

Anyway, back to the film! The opening credits were enough to make anyone laugh/quickly become engaged. Normally, when you have names pop up who were involved with the making of the film, you have some pretty big names when it comes to a Marvel movie. Not Deadpool. The opening credits literally listed the people as such: "some douchebag's film, produced by asshats, starring God's Perfect Idiot, a hot chick, a British villain and a CGI character, directed by an overpaid idiot". How cool and unique is that?!

The entire film was fantastic, funny and action packed. I've never read the comics for Deadpool but apparently it stayed true to its spirit and Ryan Reynolds amongst others worked so hard to get this film made (11 years, yo!). This is a film I recommend to anybody, a fan of Marvel films or not just because of its humour. That being said, it is definitely NOT a family friendly movie. I saw a mother trying to get her kids into the film when I was buying my tickets.. like lady, you don't understand. It's rated 15 (UK rating) for a reason!

First of all, there is a shed load of blood and gore in it. For Deadpool to work, it had to be R-Rated and my god, it worked. The fight scenes were beautifully and amazingly choreographed - I was blown away by Deadpool's fighting style. Literally, at one point, he cut someone's head off and kicked it at another person. The violence was so gritty and very realistic and really shook up the superhero category. The film is also FULL of bad language and controversial jokes as well as some brief but intense sex scenes which to be honest is NOT a good thing to be watching with your older brother in all honesty!

There's a fair bit of nudity with all genders and to be honest you don't bloody complain when you see Ryan Reynolds naked. Seriously. This man is a god! Also, you see his nether-region in a certain of the part and I almost died. 


What I also loved about this movie was the incredible, badassery of the women in it. 
First of all, Wade's girlfriend Vanessa totally holds her own and isn't just some same-old, boring love interest. She is funny and banters with Wade Wilson so easily. The end fight scene really shows off her skills too. Go, girl!

      
Secondly, Angel Dust is an awesome mutant that has you gobsmacked when she completely bitch slaps Colossus and shows him she's not worth messing with. Their fight scene together is cool as hell and it's great to see her give just as much as she takes.

Lastly and definitely not least, Negasonic Teenage Warhead held her own as well. I thought she'd annoy me as a stereotypical teen but she was actually quite funny and badass too. Her super power is epic and completely not what I expected. She can kick arse and does so! Thankyou to the Deadpool team for showing that women are just as cool as the guys can be.

As far as origin stories go, Deadpool is probably my favourite. It jumped from the present to his past and then back to his present situation in a quirky way. Some moments had me squirming and cringing in my seat because I'm not used to seeing so much blood in a superhero movie and I've been a fan of Marvel for a long time now so this was something new. But what it confirmed for me was that, it was how EVERY superhero movie should be. That may be a controversial thing to say because kids obviously love these movies too but it did make me think how some Marvel films could've been so much better if they were R-Rated. However, Hugh Jackman's last Wolverine movie in 2017 is reportedly going to be R-Rated after Deadpool became such a huge success so that's something.  

In conclusion, Deadpool is worth seeing in the cinema but only for people over 15!! It's not for young kids who sneak in or lie to their parents, trust me. Some of the torture scenes were harrowing and it could be potentially disturbing for kids to watch stuff like that. But other than that, it is an incredible movie and it has already crossed $500 million at the global box office in less than 2-3 weeks despite only having a mere $58 million budget. If that isn't persuasive enough, then I don't know what it is. Join the hype like I did, y'all!

Here's the trailer

Have you seen the film? What did you think of it?
Thankyou for reading.
Laura.

Saturday 20 February 2016

Nail Varnish Review: Kiko Milano's Quick Dry Nail Lacquer in 809 Dahlia Purple.

Hi everyone, hope you're having a lovely weekend so far! 
Today I am doing a review of something new on my blog. Nail varnish! I actually like wearing nail varnish and all kinds of shades but I'm also very lazy and have to really be in the mood to paint my nails. Yesterday, I did my nails for the first time in months and loved the colour so much that I wanted to review it! It's going to be a quick, little review so let's get started!

  
This is the Quick Dry Nail Lacquer from Kiko Make Up Milano in the shade 809 Dahlia Purple. This was very easy to apply thanks to the large flat brush with extra bristles and it dries very quickly as its name states! 

Quick Dry Nail Lacquer  
The colour is really beautiful and when dry, the polish has an impressive, shiny finish. There are no streaks left which is always good! The first applied layer is a beautiful plum purple and when you add a second layer (which I did), it becomes a much darker shade of purple. Almost black, in a certain light. It's perfect for the autumn/winter seasons.

You can buy it from Kiko's site for £2.90 as it's currently on sale!

Have you used this nail varnish before? What did you think of it?
Thankyou for reading.
Laura.

Sunday 14 February 2016

Makeup Review: The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter.

Hey, everyone. I just realised I haven't done a review on anything makeup related in ages! But today I'm doing a review on The Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer's highlighter. I've been loving this recently and I know it's been raved about by other bloggers so here's my review!


First of all, I absolutely love the packaging. It's very unique and shows a classy, pin up girl on the front jailed for looking fabulous! I forgot to photograph the back of it as well so I had to use someone else's but it looks like this:

(x)

It looks so cool and retro. I love it!

The Mary-Lou Manizer states that it is an "innocent honey-hued lumanizer that catch everybody's eye .. your skin looks softer and younger while adding a subtle glow".



The colour is absolutely gorgeous and it is really shimmery. You don't need alot on your brush or finger, it is very pigmented. Gradually add more and more until you're happy with the result. Too much and you can end up looking like a disco ball! Actually, I wore this last night and I don't often post photos of myself on here but I did like how I did my makeup. Have a look:

Hopefully, you can see that highlighter looking on fleek! It really is worth the money and for the price of it, I'd say you should use this for special occasions and nights out rather than for every day use. I got this on sale but it's a higher end product. Get a cheaper one for everyday use because this is one is really too nice just for every day. It is entirely up to you but personally, I don't wear alot of make up every day for uni and stuff but each to their own.

What's more, you can also use this lovely product as an eyeshadow too! It comes out as a lovely yellow gold shimmer and it's really nice to wear on its own or to add a bit of sparkle on top of other eyeshadows for your eye look. Plus it has a compact mirror so you can pop it in your bag for whenever you need to top up.

You can buy it at Superdrug or Amazon for £17.50.

Have you used this? What did you think of it?
Thankyou for reading.
Laura.

Thursday 11 February 2016

Top 5 Tips for Valentine's Day if You're Single!

Hey everyone, I know this may seem a little cliché to do a post about what to do if you're single on Valentine's Day and God knows, I have seen many posts about it. BUT if you're like me, actually glad about being single, then this post is for you! Sure, it'd be nice sometimes to have someone to make my life a little exciting but I feel like Valentine's Day is just a proper stressful day to prove that you love someone when every day should be like that. 

I'll be honest, I've never been in a relationship on Valentine's Day, ironically my relationships all ended well before it or started after it so maybe I'm lucky. Either way, I am a sassy, young, single girl here to tell you what you should do instead of fretting about not being with anyone this Valentine's Day!

1. Meet up with friends
See what your friends are doing, preferably the single ones! Round them up and go out with them for drinks, food or even to the cinema. If you don't want to go out, have a pyjama party! Gather round on the sofa and watch your favourite films with plenty of sweets and have a laugh.

2. Pamper yourself
It's important to take care of yourself sometimes. Whatever works for you, do it this Sunday. Have a bath, do a face mask, try out a few make up looks that you've been dying to do. Or relax with a few glasses of wine!

3. Go to the cinema
Go and see that film you've been dying to see but no one else wants to see! It's actually fun to take yourself out on a date (it's not as sad as it sounds, promise!). But you might feel like avoiding the cinema because of all the loved up couples that are hiding on the back row, so maybe pop a few films on the tv at home and relax!

4. Eat your body weight in chocolate
Literally go out and buy the cheapest box of chocolates or whatever takes your fancy and pig out! Why not? It's a Sunday and if you've got the day off, you might as well treat yourself.

5. Treat it as a normal day!
If any of these don't appeal to you and you find all this a bit of a ridiculous thing, then fine! Just go about your day and literally do whatever you want or whatever you usually do on a quiet Sunday.
  

Honestly, don't be stressing out or feeling down about not having anyone this Valentine's Day. Your time will come just like I know mine will! And if you do have plans for Valentine's Day with a loved one, I hope you have a lovely day and enjoy it.

Do you have plans for Valentine's Day? Are you going to do any of these?
Thankyou for reading.
Laura.

Thursday 4 February 2016

Skin Product Review: Lush Mask of Magnaminty Self-Preserving Face and Body Mask.

Hey, everyone. I haven't done a review of a skin product in ages! Today is the time to do a new one. Today, it's the Mask of Magnaminty face and body mask from Lush. I'll tell you what's in it, so you can see if there's anything harmful to you in it and what my thoughts were! Let's go!

What's in it?
Honey, kaolin, bentonite gel, talc, glycerine, organic ground aduki beans, evening primose seeds, peppermint oil, African marigold oil, fair trade vanilla absolute, *limonene, perfume, chlorophyllin. (*Occurs naturally in essential oils).

My thoughts
This is a lovely face mask! I haven't used many of Lush's face masks, I tend to use their bath bombs more than anything. But I bought this on a whim because I've heard great things about their face masks and I just fancied this one being my first one. I do suffer from break outs and my skin isn't in the best condition so I'm willing to try anything to calm it. 

The colour isn't very appealing and it smells very minty and you shouldn't scrub too hard when applying it or washing it off your face because there are little aduki beans within it that help exfoliate your skin. Also, people on the site have said it really helps with break outs and removes spots within a day. Personally, I don't feel like it did anything for my spots but I suppose it calmed the redness and soreness a little bit thanks to the peppermint and marigold oil as well as the chlorophyllin.

It's really good for when my skin feels like it needs brightening up or just a good exfoliating face mask. You definitely don't need alot when you're applying it, a little really does go a long way. When I wash it off, I tend to use a flannel because it becomes like a hard, clay mask and it's harder to wash off with just your fingers. Also use warm water! My skin is left feeling incredibly smooth and soft so it's good for that. I tend to use it to help me relax when I'm having a quiet Friday night in rather than treating my spots. It's also self-preserving so there's no need for the fridge for this one!

It's a decent sized pot but I do feel like it should £5-6 rather than almost a tenner. But I suppose when you're shopping in Lush, you must be willing to splurge a little!


Have you used this before? What did you think of it?
Thankyou for reading.
Laura.