NZ FASHION WEEKEND

Fashion Week is possibly my favorite event of the year. It is a time to appreciate fashion and ones personal style, this time is where we see the incredible styles from people all around the world. Fashion is about more than just clothes, fashion is showing who you are through what you wear, a simple color can represent so much, a choice of shoe, a decision to wear that bag we pick these things for a reason more than just because it looks good or because we're lazy. I went to a show in NZ Fashion Weekend which presented Andrea Moore, Taylor and Storm.

 ❝Don’t be into trends. Don’t make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way you live❞— Gianni Versace. 

- Soph x 

Perfect Eyeliner

One who has mastered the skill of perfecting ones eyeliner has mastered a small part of the art of control. A black line running along ones lashes, how hard could such a seemly simple task be? You unscrew the top of the liquid liner and place the fine brush against the corner of your inner eye, you steadily but somewhat shakily move your hand along your lash line but the process is not yet complete, oh no. Holding your liner like a pencil you draw a somewhat straight line at the end of your eye and draw another creating a triangular like shape known as a flick. If only it was the end, but wait we own two eyes? It's like your eyes have been painted onto a canvas and the artists final touch is this line, both eyes have to be identical. 

I have been applying eyeliner for about three years and only recently have I fully begun to master the art of this. So I am going to help you perfect this rare skill

1. Find the right eyeliner

You have to like it, it has to feel right and secure within your hand. You also have to find the right colour - i'm talking black or brown, I have a brown one because it's slightly more subtle and works well with green eyes. I use liquid colour stay in brown by Revlon

2. Get a position

In order to maintain a steady hand you need to begin the the correct positon, I hold my brush in my right hand and I hold it like a pencil

3. Getting the line

Begin in about the middle of your lash line and steadily draw a thin line, as you get more confident you can draw it thicker faster. Continue this line up until the end of the lash line, go back over this line adding as much thickness as you want

4. Adding a flick

The hardest part of the process, get out your makeup remover because I can guarantee you will make a few mistakes. First you want to draw a straight line outwards from the end of your lash line, the angle of the line depends on the look you're going for along with the length. once this line is drawn, draw another from the lash line so it means with the first line creating a thin triangular like shape. You can make this as thick or curved or straight as you want 

That is the base of painting ones eye, of course no artist completes a masterpiece on their first go, practice makes perfect. I'm tossing doing videos? Would people watch them or should I just keep it as a blog? I hope this helped you lovely artists.

Source: Tumblr

- Soph x

Science Of Happiness

Happiness.

What is it?

Is it something we can see? 

Is it something we can hear?

Touch?

Taste?

Smell?

Is it a word?

Is it an action?

Does anyone really know?

You gather 100 people into a room and ask each one of them what happiness means and each individual will give a different answer. Because each individual finds happiness in 10,000 different ways. 

But happiness isn't something that is always easy to come by, sometimes it's easier to allow ourselves to be sad and envious rather than joyous and blissful. Tal Ben Shahar did a presentation entitled "The Science Of Happiness" and this is what i've based this post on. 

1. Permission To Be Human

• It's human to feel emotions, when preventing yourself from feeling an emotion not only are you blocking the bad ones but also you're preventing yourself from feeling the good ones. When you try to suppress an emotion you only intensify them, when you accept that emotion, it weakens. It doesn't disappear but it becomes more manageable. Something I don't think people realize is that you're not the only one who has felt that way. Usually when going through a point of depression you feel alone, so you try cover it up, hide it, ignore it but really what you're doing is encouraging your mind to think about it. You need to accept the painful emotion then do something about it.

2. Stress

• Stress can potentially lead to depression and is one of the largest causes of depression and anxiety. So what can we do to decrease levels of stress? Simplify your life "quantity affects quality"if you're loading your life with work, activities, chores continuously of course you're going to suffer from stress. Now i'm not saying drop everything you do, but, allow yourself time to step back and reflect, appreciate things like friends and family as friends and family are one of the biggest reasons for happiness. "The problem isn't the stress it's the lack of recovery" it is important we take time to appreciate the little things, do yoga, meditate, breathe deeply. 

3. Mind/Body

• Exercise is one of the greatest remedies for depression, a person who exercises is more likely to be happier than one who doesn't. Exercise can reduce levels of violence and anger as well as lessening things such as anxiety, panic, stress and depression. Wellbeing is a huge part of happiness

Think of happiness as a puzzle which is full of many different areas, these areas are different for each person. We all have individual puzzles and sometimes we may loose a puzzle piece but we can find ways to discover it again to help complete our puzzle. 

So take time to think. What makes you happy? 

- Soph x 

There And Back Again - Bali

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” 
― Augustine of Hippo 

If you stay in one place your whole life, if you never meet new people, if you never try new things, how do you expect to learn? I would prefer to try something and fail at it then never do it and always wish i did. I live my life imagining it's a book, i don't want the reader of my story to get bored. 

Bali is beautiful, there i resided at Club Med resort. I like to meet new people, I think that the more people you meet and get to know the more things you learn and the more you widen your mind. So what did I do? I went over and talked to one of the girls, was it a bit scary? yes. Was it a bit awkward? of course. Would I do it again? 100% yes. The guys and girls I met are some of the greatest beings on this planet, a few of them have become some of my best friends. Each one of them was different, they all had different opinions, ideas, experiences, stories and it was refreshing. 

We stayed up till 12.00 at night listening to music, talking. We played basketball in the mornings. We sunbathed in the afternoons. We grew closer to one another and created memories together, things i'll never forget. 

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay home.”
― James A Michener 

I actually got a tan - finally 

Elephant riding, ticket that one off the bucket list 

Bastille Day 

Poppy Lane

- Soph x 

Questions

• 1. Are you easy to get along with?
• I hope so
• 2. Are you outgoing or shy?
• A bit of both, i'm rather confident but then I can be incredibly timid
• 3. What kind of people are you attracted to?
• Hot ones 
• 4. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now?
• Who knows, i'm not too fussed about it 
• 5. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?
• No
• 6. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?
• - I'm a mess - Ed Sheeran
• - please, please, please let me get what I want - The Smiths
• - Asleep - The Smiths
• - Come on Eileen - Dexy's midnight runners 
• - The whole TFIOS album 
• 7. Do you have trust issues?
• sort of
• 8. Would you rather live without TV or music?
• TV, don't know how i'd live without music 
• 9. Describe your dream girl/guy?
• Francisco Lachowski. 
• 10. What are your favorite stores to shop in?
• Well NZ has bad shopping but, Country Road is my main then maybe Glassons?
• 11. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean?
• I'm sad, frustrated, worried, day dreaming or just thinking
• 12. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?
• I wish i didn't worry and overthink so much 
• 13. Favourite blog?
• Too many
• 14. Favourite colour?
• Orange, because black is a shade 
• 16. Mac or Pc and why?
• Mac because i just prefer the way it looks
• 15. Been arrested? For what?
• Never
• 17. Favourite food?
• HARDEST QUESTIONS burgers. 
• 18. How many pillows do you sleep with?
• I have a double bed so 1 on either side of the bed
• 19. Favourite video game/games?
• Just dance 
• 20. Favourite movie/movies?
• Too many, but Devil Wears Prada, Titanic, Confessions of a shopaholic, The Holiday, Tangled, Hunger Games, Divergent, TFIOS and The Avengers 
• 21. What colour shirt are you wearing?
• Grey
• 22. Is something irritating you right now?
• Not really, well i washed my hair and it's still really wet thats a but annoying 
• 23. Do you have trust issues?
• Haven't we answered this already?
• 24. Favourite book?
• Don't have one? I like so many
• 25. How tall are you?
• 5.10 1/2
• 26. Tea or Coffee?
• COFFEE
• 27. Where would you like to visit?
• New York, Greece, Paris (again), Vienna, London
• 29. Have you ever turned someone down?
• I don't think so..?
• 30. Favourite T.V. show/shows?
• Pretty Little Liars, Miranda, Big Bang Theory 
• 31. Do feel strongly about any issues, if so what?
• gay rights, I believe people should be able to love whoever the want 
• 32. Which fictional characters would you like to meet the most?
• So many, this question is very stressful but many of the princes from the disney movies like from tangled and the little mermaid 
• 33. Are you hard to get along with?
• Hope not
• 34. Do you want to get married?
• Yeah
• 35. What is your dream Job?
• Working at  fashion magazine in New York 
• 36. What kind of music do you like?
• A lot of kinds 
• 37. What are some things that scare you?
• I have a fear of pain, of the unknown and of natural disasters like tsunamis and also not being needed 
• 38. Who has influenced you the most?
• A lot of people, especially my friend Indy and my friend Matt
• 39. What are your favourite websites?
• Tumblr, Polyvore, Asos
• 40. What is the first thing you do in the morning?
• Wake up?
• 41. Do you prefer to talk or text?
• Talk of course 
• 42. What is your biggest turnoff?
• Piercings in certain places possibly? Or just being a general asshole i guess 
• 43. What is your biggest turnon?
• Look at Francisco lachowski - all that 
• 44. Do you ski or snowboard?
• Ski
• 45. What is your favourite kind of dog?
• Dalmatian 
• 46. What is your greatest skill?
• Dance? Or finding the best in people 
• 47. If you could change your whole name what would it be?
• I like my name, apart from my last name 
• 48. If you could have one superpower what would it be?
• TOO STRESSFUL I want to be invisible, then i want to fly and then i want to read minds I CAN'T DECIDE 
• 49. What is the weirdest thing you find attractive in a person?
• For a guy, big hands? Feel protective I guess. But personality wise, someone who loves food. 
• 50. What are you in university for?
• Not there yet my friend
• 
  
• Have a lovely week
• - Soph x

You Are The Writer Of Your Story

I believe that life is like a book. Each and every one of us have chapters that make up our lives, some longer than others, some joyous and others sad, but all other these chapters collate to make one book. If you imagine, the first chapter will be the creation of you, then the baby, then the toddler then chapter by chapter it will build up to this chapter, the chapter you are currently living. Now, we all regret things, there are always things we would like to forget but a writer doesn't write a book then tear out a few individual pages? Then the story would not make sense. You see all those hardships, all those times of embarrassment, sadness, loneliness are important, they lead to other moments, great moments, they help make the rest of your story, a quote from The Fault In Our Stars -  “Without pain, how could we know joy?". 

Think about it, what would be the name of this chapter of your life? The best days? The worst days? The day it all went wrong? The day I felt happy?  This chapter isn't the end of your book. You still have more chapters to go, you can't just end the story here. You have to turn the page, create a new chapter, create new moments and learn new things. Because all of these good and bad moments will make up a great book, and who doesn't want to look back on that book and be thankful that they didn't stop at a chapter half way through. 

You are the writer of your story. You make the choices. Make the most of this chapter and strive to make a new chapter. 

Okay?

Confessions Of A Shopaholic

Hello,

My name is Sophia and I am a shopaholic. 

I have been labeled a spender, I can't seem to walk into a store without coming out with something. 

"A man will never love you or treat you as well as a store. If a man doesn't fit, you can't exchange him seven days later for a gorgeous cashmere sweater. And a store always smells good. A store can awaken a lust for things you never even knew you needed. And when your fingers first grasp those shiny, new bags... oh yes... oh yes." - Rebecca Bloomwood in Confessions of a shopaholic

When I walk into a store and run my hands along those garments, I feel calm and collected. "That moment. That instant when your fingers curl round the handles of a shiny, uncreased bag—and all the gorgeous new things inside it become yours. What’s it like? It’s like going hungry for days, then cramming your mouth full of warm buttered toast. It’s like waking up and realizing it’s the weekend.  Everything else is blocked out of your mind. It’s pure, selfish pleasure" - confessions of a shopaholic 

You turn your head and you feel your heart melting, racing, an intense feeling of happiness rushes through you - that's the feeling most people get from a boyfriend or girlfriend or just a certain person they're in love with - me that's what I get when I see clothes, I don't have to go through the heart ache of being in love with 'someone' when i'm in love with 'something'.

Shopping is how I make myself feel better. When I'm upset or frustrated all I want to do is shop. And we're meant to do what makes up happy right? 

Shopping gives me a sense of control in a world full of chaos

And that's why I'm a shopaholic 

- Soph x