Coyne-Operated Culture: Beauty and the Beast

Photo by Bill Cooper from northernballet.com

Last week I headed off to the Grand Opera House in Leeds to watch the Northern Ballet perform Beauty and the Beast. As I have previously mentioned, I am a big fan of ballet, and it was great to see a production I haven't seen before, either live or on television.

I really really enjoyed the evening, the set and costumes trod a fine line between modern and traditional which really complimented the slightly more contemporary style of dance. I recently watched some of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake and personally, I dislike how modern the choreography is, Beauty and the Beast maintained the beauty of traditional ballet while adding modern twists which I felt made it more accessible to the modern audience.

This was my first Northern Ballet experience, but it hopefully won't be my last, I had a great time and felt very Christmassy afterwards!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, I'm still off work so I'm now just savouring the huge amounts of sleep I can have and all the time I can spend with Ryan.

P.S. It's a week until my birthday! Eek!

My Winter Survival Kit

I've never been good in cold weather, come to think of it I'm not great in hot weather either, but the minute I get cold I stay cold, and find it really difficult to warm back up. In changeable weather like what we're experiencing at the moment, it's important for me to have my 'Winter Survival Kit', I know most people think of shovels, fresh water and antifreeze when you think about a winter kit, but mine is a bit different.

My survival kit is all about keeping warm and on my two feet, I have a dreadful habit of slipping over at a spot of rain or ice, and I often sit shivering inside for half an hour after I get in because I haven't worn enough layers. So these are my essential items which come with me everywhere when it's cold.

The Faux Fur Coat

Coat: River Island

My mum bought me this coat two Christmas' ago and it is my favourite piece of kit for winter, it is so warm but because it doesn't fasten at the front, if you get a bit too warm it's really easy to cool down (I often have this problem commuting as you go from being cold on the station to boiling hot on the train). 

The Fingerless Gloves

Gloves: H&M

I seem to buy a new pair of these every year as I always lose one of them. I don't know how people wear gloves now we use mobile phones all the time, but these fingerless ones leave my fingers free for texting, but I can still pull them over my fingertips if needed - perfect.

The Animal Hat

Hat: River Island

I think there was a point last year when I hated these hats... not anymore. It rules. It is warm, it is versatile and most of all it's utterly adorable. It really does keep me warmer than any other hat I have ever owned.

The Welly Boots

Boots: Hunter, Mud: Local park where my parents walk the dogs

I'm pretty firmly against wearing wellies as everyday shoes, they are for dog walking, festivals, and probably most importantly: extreme weather conditions. I love knowing I have a great pair of welly boots just waiting to help me in the snow and ice, or to get me through a particularly rainy day.

What are your winter essentials?

All dressed up with nowhere to go

Feels like all I do recently is dress up nicely in outfits that I want to feature on the blog, but I never have an opportunity to take some photos. I wore this outfit for a trip to Tesco and then a trip to see friends. What an exciting weekend...

 

Jumper: H&M, Leggings: Primark, Vest: Topshop, Boots: Next, Hat: River Island

I love outfits like this, for me this is the perfect balance of fashionable and lazy, and lazy is my middle name. The leggings were only £6 from Primark and they fit really well, but I often find their leggings are rubbish, so it was a bit of a risk buying them. The jumper is from the January sales this year and the boots are falling apart. Basically, this outfit is a bit lame. Apart from the hat, the hat rules.

What's your go-to lazy day outfit? 

The Muppets by O.P.I

I love The Muppets and am so excited for the new film to be released, even though it isn't released in the UK until February 2012. When I heard that O.P.I had released a Muppets inspired line of varnishes I thought I had to treat myself, and because O.P.I is such good quality the full size pots are around the £10 mark, but this set of four mini-varnishes was only £12.95 from ASOS and I think it's probably cheaper elsewhere.

In the mini-set you get Wocka Wocka, Excuse Moi!, Designer... de Better! and Warm and Fozzie. These four colours give you a great idea of what the collection is all about, as it varies from deep, strong colours to sparkly polishes perfect for a night out.

Clockwise from top left: Wocka Wocka, Excuse Moi!, Warm and Fozzie, Designer...de Better!

For my first try I went for Designer...de Better! as it looks quite understated while also having a hint of sparkle (and we all know I love a bit of sparkle). The colour built up quickly, and I only used two coats here (apologies for the awful photo, how do people get these to look good?) and was really pleased with the result. It's a silvery-coloured polish with reddy-pink glitter, but it has a really smooth finish. I haven't even put a top coat on these because my clear polish has gone all gooey.

I'm looking forward to using Excuse Moi! over the festive season as it will be the perfect accompaniment to a party dress. I'm also looking forward to using Warm and Fozzie as I don't have any polishes this colour, and I think it will go well with my leopard faux fur coat when it gets chilly out. The rest of the collection looks amazing, and I wish I could buy everything! The only other polish I'm really tempted to buy is Rainbow Collection, which I saw used on llymlrs and fell in love with - so many sparkles!

What do you think of O.P.I polishes and their special collections? Do you have any of The Muppets polishes?

Perfume and Me

As I get older I feel like perfume becomes more important and the Miss Dior Cherie is on my Christmas list. Not only is Natalie Portman the face of the advertising campaign, it smells amazing and the bottle is lovely, a perfect fit for my dressing table.

Before falling in love with this scent I've been using Gucci Guilty, which is my go-to evening/night out perfume, I have no idea how to even describe perfume, but I know that I don't like overwhelming floral tones and I much prefer a fresh scent to something too heavy.

One thing I've noticed about both of these is that their launches were both accompanied by TV advertising campaigns featuring actors that I like and with very distinct "looks". Gucci Guilty launched with Evan Rachel Wood and Chris Evans taking the lead roles in the Frank Miller directed commercial, and Miss Dior has been gracing our television screens with a commercial directed by Sofia Coppola. Did I only want these perfumes because of the advertising campaign? I guess I'll never know, but I do think I've been more inclined to try them instore because I've remembered the adverts. There's hundreds of perfumes out there and just not enough time to smell them all, so I think the campaigns that draw me in are the ones I'm more likely to buy (or ask for as presents). For example, the Chanel (I think it's Chanel) ads with Keira Knightley just don't grab me, and I probably won't bother trying the perfume the next time I see it, even though it's Chanel and it's a classic.

What perfume is your favourite? Do you think you're drawn in by the advertising campaigns like I am?

Gucci Guilty:

Miss Dior:

Lust-have #10: Sparkly Shoes

All from Topshop

 
Maybe it's because I'm quite a girly girl at heart, maybe it's because I like making a mess or maybe it's because I have an unhealthy obsession with Dorothy's ruby reds but I have always loved glitter. Glitter pens were an all time favourite purchase of mine and I would create works of art with them for hours before I got bored and realised that instead of the paper my hands were all sparkly.

Recently I've noticed an amazing trend which I am lusting whole-heartedly: sparkly shoes. They come in all different shapes and heel heights, there's tall ones, flat ones, loafers and lace ups, though I think my favourites are the chelsea boots.

A few weeks ago I received a £20 voucher from Topshop as a reward for taking part in surveys at www.valuedopinions.co.uk, but everything in Topshop is just so expensive, that I'd have to spend way over the £20 to buy anything decent. However, the Topshop Maccoy Glitter Chelsea Boots have stolen my heart, and at £36 they're not too expensive. I'm not 100% sure on the quality but they're glittery boots, I won't exactly be wearing them all the time, only for extra special days when only the sparkliest of boots will do. I'm hoping I can find them in store soon and spend this voucher as it's burning a hole in my purse!

Do you like the sparkly shoe trend? Better still, do you own a pair? Show me your shoes!

A Trip to Liverpool

Ryan and I spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week in Liverpool, with our main intention being to see the WWE TV tapings for Raw and Smackdown. I forgot my camera, so my plans to do outfit posts alongside what we did has gone out the window, but I still want to blog about it, because

We arrived on the Monday and headed to a Wetherspoons (this became a recurring feature of the trip) to wait until we could check in to our Travelodge room. Once we'd checked in and had got changed we went to Pizza Hut for tea, we chose to get a half and half pizza and my goat's cheese and caramelised onion half was delicious. Again, once we finished, we were a bit early to go to the Echo Arena, so we went to Wetherspoons (a different one this time) for a quick drink, before we headed over. It took a while for us to get in, but eventually we were sat with an amazing view, and completely overexcited that we might be on the telly! The matches we saw were really good, and it was really fun to be part of the crowd, a definite highlight was getting to see John Morrison against Dolph Ziggler - and he won!! After the show we got some snacks from Tesco and headed back to the hotel.

On Tuesday, I wanted to have a look round the shops, sorry Leeds but your Primark just doesn't compare with Liverpool's, so we headed into town and Ryan went to look round his shops and I went to look round mine. I picked up a gorgeous bird print dress (which will appear in an outfit post soon) and tried on a couple of other dresses, which were really nice, but I just wasn't sure I'd wear them that often. I then went over to New Look to look for some new boots, my trusty ones from Next are starting to split at the heel, and I realised that I have giant calves, and only one pair of boots fit me (luckily they were nice!), so they were purchased.

After shopping I met one of my best friends for lunch, we went to uni together and lived with each other for the three years I was there, and now she (being super clever and awesome) is doing a second degree in dentistry, so is still in Liverpool for a while. I was so so happy to see her, and we went to Cafe Rouge for a good ol' catch up. We both had a salmon version of a croque monsieur which was absolutely incredible. So yummy. After another quick look round the shops we went to the Thorntons cafe for hot chocolate and cake and more chats, and when she headed home I went to meet Ryan and his friend Ted to get ready for Smackdown!

Again, we had amazing seats, but overall, I prefer more wrestlers on Smackdown than Raw, so it was amazing to see them all live. Highlights definitely included whenever Randy Orton was on stage *swoon* and seeing Sheamus and Christian. When we watched Smackdown on TV yesterday we also saw that my Randy Orton sign was focussed during his entrance! Eek! How exciting is that?!

Wednesday was all about a big cooked breakfast and the longest train journey back, but we got home, cuddled the cats and caught up on some TV ready to go back to work on Thursday.

Do any of my followers like WWE? Did you go to any of the live shows? We had an amazing time so I hope anyone else did too!