What I Wore: Summer '15

Sweeties, how heartbreaking is it to think its the end of August?! I cannot even fathom the return to school, the return to do the Leaving Cert this week- it honestly breaks my heart. Summer always seems to fly by, whether I'm busy or not. As I sit here writing this, the heavens are weeping outside my window and I probably have to stop kidding myself it's still summer- it's well and truly gone, however to be honest it never really arrived in Ireland.

My posting schedule is less frequent now- I've been writing my column for the Roscommon Herald each week and as I'll do the Leaving, I'll be writing it monthly. It honestly is such a joy and privilage to write it and to see it take up an entire page each week, with my picture and name beside the heading. It still feels so surreal, but in order to build up as much experience as possible I've been spending the last few weeks in the head office. I'm also trying to balance that with studying for my driver's theory test- I can't wait to do all the tests, to get my lisence and just to be able to drive. It's such a pain always relying on my parents to bring me places, I can't wait to just drive around town like nobody's business (we won't comment on my less than admirable driving skills).

As summer fades away, I thought I'll show you a few of the outfits I've been wearing and loving- most of them I wore in Lithuania, as the weather was gorgeous there, but a hoody and jeans was my go-to in Ireland. You can still definitely incorporate some of these into your wardrobe now, if the weather allows it!

Nirvana Top: Penneys

Jeans: River Island

Shoes: Shoe Rack

Blazer: my mother's :O

Jewellry: H&M

Dress: Penneys

Shoes: Shoe Rack

Rose gold chain: H&M

Crop top: Quiz Clothing

Shorts: Topshop

Shirt: River Island

Shoes: Converse

Top: River Island

Jeans: Penneys (I ripped them myself)

Shoes: Shoe Rack

Rucksack: Penneys

Dress: The New York Laundry Clothing

Shoes: Laura B for Paul Byron

Accessories

These are the accessories I paired with these looks- most of them I bought only recently, some of them I've had a while. I really got to love midi rings, rose gold jewellery and thin necklaces with tiny charms

                                       

Rose Gold Chain: H&M

Rings: Dorothy Perkins

Earrings: New Look, Dorothy Perkins, Penneys, River Island

Sunglasses: Rimi (no shame)

Eiffel Tower Necklace: New Look

Rose Gold matching necklace+bracelet: H&M

Rose Gold cylinder bracelet: H&M

Makeup

Mac's Mineralize SkinFinish in Soft and Gentle for highlight and Inglot's #467 

also how cute is my little arrow?! Casey Neistat inspired.

I've been loving a structured brow with the darkest shade from Inglot's brown rainbow trio, using my Zoeva Wing Liner brush and L'Oreal True Match Concealer blended on the brow bone

And that's it, sweeties! Summer is well and truly over, all is said and done. I hope you had a fabulous last three months, I know I did- I've never had a more productive summer.

Thanks for reading!

Gaby x

Let's Talk About Paper Towns

Paper Towns comes out this Monday, August 17th, and yes, I have already seen it. No, I didn't get an exclusive preview. And no, I didn't hitch it off a dodgy site online. I just happened to be in Lithuania when it came out early on the 28th, and I went to see in the first few days of release. I'm not going to lie, I loved it to the moon and back, way more than The Fault in Our Stars, mainly because it's a film I can actually watch and not have a crying fit after. I like Paper Towns because Cara Delevingne has a major role, and because it's main story line is one that matters.



Also this will contain quite a bit of spoilers. If you haven't read the book and hate getting spoiled, then this post may not be for you. I haven't read the book, but I plan to- so some of the points I make about the plot may be a bit off.

The main plotline is about a teenager named Quentin- or Q as his friends call him, even though I prefer Quentin- who, from a young age fell in love with a girl named Margo who moved in next door to him. When they were younger, the pair went on adventures and spent a lot of time together, so naturally Q developed feelings for her. As time went on, Margo became the cool and popular girl at school and Q threw himself into his classes so he could be a doctor when he's older. Time goes by, until in their senior year, Margo turns up at Q's window one night and takes Q on a mission to get revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend and her friends. At the beginning of the movie, Q states that we all get a miracle, and Margo is his. I'm not going to lie, Cara Delevingne is a miracle to mankind, and watching her on the silver screen, watching her twirl and swirl and raise her beautiful brows and smile her British smile and slur her American accent made us believe Q, made us realize that she really was his miracle, this live wire, free and gorgeous girl who is his miracle, who awakens him (literally) and drives him to do the things he never thought he would.



Then of course Margo goes missing, and Q goes to crazy lengths to find her. And this is where I fell in love. Q's persistance and desperation to find this girl spoke to me. It reminded me about the feelings I've had towards people, and how I would hold on to the version of them inside my head. And then search, search and search for them. And when I did eventually find them, because people aren't that hard to find, I realize they are nothing like the version in my head. And that's what happened to Q. 

That's what I love so much about the film- even though it is very unrelatable in a lot of ways, like perfectly sound parents that just let you take a casual roadtrip across the continent with your friends, and how in general it has a very sugar-coaty type feel- it highlights something that hasn't been highlighted before for teenagers. Even though Paper Towns hasn't taken off as much as TFIOS did, it conveys a really strong message. This hits the film towards the end, when Q simply points out, 'She is just a girl.' I think that's the problem that a lot of young people have, it's a problem I constantly suffer with- the tendency to make up personalities in our heads about people we don't know but wish we did. And this puts a lot of pressure on us, to fit in with them, and on them, to reach these crazy expectations that aren't even real. Just like Q did with Margo, labelling her as his 'miracle', when really she was just a lost, confused girl trying to find her own way in the world.

Am I making sense? I wanted to write about it because I found it was such a unique feature I hadn't seen in films before, and I felt it actually mattered, it was such a clever thing for John Green to include in his novel. It spoke to me on a personal level, and it taught me a lesson or two. And that's why I 100% think you should go see it if you can.



Aside from that, the film really is great. It has humour, sadness, epiphanies and even a prom in it- sounds like a chick flick, but I promise you it isn't. All scenes are shot beautifully and carry a similar colour palette to TFIOS, all angles are wide and colourful, but more cheerful obviously. 

It's a great film to watch, and Cara will make you melt. At least she made me melt, I left the theatre feeling 600 more times in love with her than I was before, which I didn't think was possible. She is a queen, her acting is amazing and in general, she and Nat Wolff make the film awesome. The music is good, the editing is good, it's all ay okay. If you've seen TFIOS, you may even recognise someone from it, which is the most beautiful touch. This parallels with Isaac from TFIOS starring as Q, which I love and didn't realize until googling for pictures for this post, but now I understand why Q looked so familiar (as familiar as someone can be when youre looking at them for a few scenes in between having a breakdown).

Even if you go and see Paper Towns and dislike it, that time won't be wasted because you will have just spend some time watching Cara D, which is never a waste of time and frankly only makes the world a better place.

Thank you so much for reading this rushed review of Paper Towns- I just sat and wrote whatever came into my head.




Gaby x