The Round Up: First Week of Blogging

What a week it has been for Almost1998! Our first week of blogging has almosted come to an end and I'd like to say without too much drama but I'm sure not everyone will agree. Only a few hiccups such as the deleting of a label on our blog (thank you Jamie), slight writers block and the lack of blueberry muffins actually eaten. Somethings just cannot be forgotten 
can they Loren.

We started off the week with a tutorial on how to make beautiful nylon flowers which I'm sure our creative readers will be busy bees making this week. The simple things make the greatest impacts and a gorgeous nylon flower ticks them boxes. 

Next up was our very own make up guru with vital tips on having flawless skin without the need for photoshop, the lifesaver foundation of Nars is highly rated and I'm sure the girls will be dipping into their pockets to be saved by this product, as will our readers. 

It's always good to be pushed into the right direction, especially when it comes to ourseleves so the Be Yourself article was an inspirational piece to read. We're all a little lost and to have that little push into believing that being yourself is the best thing you can be, well you cannot go wrong really. 

Baking trays at the ready, we dived into making Amazing Blueberry Muffins and for even the most hopeless bakers, i.e myself, could have a go at what look to be delicous muffins but I wouldn't know as Loren scoffed them all before the rest of us even got a look in. Rude. 

It's only been the first month of 2015, however The Best Celebrity Moments of 2014 refreshed our minds on the whirlewind year the celebrity world experienced. From Kim Kardashians derrière to Brangelina to the mind numbing song 'Happy' which makes me quite the oppostie to happy, we can defintely say that 2014 is the year to beat in regards to celebrity culture. Here's to 2015! 

Yesterday, we experinced the LGBAT+ community and what it consisted of. I'm sure this was new to all that read it but it's nice to see what other people believe in and to understand it a little more. I'm sure will hear more in the future. 

Well that's the round up of the first week of Almost1998 and it has been enjoyable one. Let us toast to many more to come!

LGBAT+ : The Basics: The Serious Stuff

Meeting new people may not be something that happens often to me, but when it does, I panic. Not because of things like my name or the way I look, but because it’s stupidly hard to subtly slip into conversation “no, I am not straight”. 

This is why it frustrates me when people get annoyed at me for ‘making everything gay’. I don’t make everything gay, I’m just trying to show you that not everything’s straight, because it makes it really hard for me when people think it is. 

It’s not like they do it on purpose, it’s a subconscious assumption that is ingrained in all of us, and that makes it pretty hard to unlearn. It’s the same idea that a robber is male, or a sex worker is female. 

Essentially, my thought is that people do this because all they know is straight, or gay. Growing up I only knew about homosexuality because of gay family friends we have, my parents didn’t hide me from it, but I wasn’t exposed to it either. 

Unfortunately, this meant that when I started getting feelings for both boys and girls, it was terrifying. I ignored it for about two years before I actually started thinking about bisexuality and what it was. Even then I discounted it, because all I knew about bisexuality was it was done by pretty girls who wanted attention, and even then it only lasted for a couple of years.

It took me a while, but eventually I accepted myself as bisexual, and then pansexual when I learned that there was more than just two genders. And all of it would have been so much easier if I had just known that not being ‘normal’ didn’t mean that I was broken, or wrong.

What I’m trying to say is that people need to know more than just boys or girls. There is so much more to sexuality and gender than the binary, and if we can start teaching this to young people, maybe they wont be so god damn terrified when they aren’t what society shows us to be the 'norm'.

So for my first post, I’m going to run over a list of sexualities and what they mean. All of these are normal and, most importantly, real. If you’re reading this and thinking ‘nah that can’t be a thing’, please try telling that to the hundreds of people who experience it, and watch as the either beat you up, or beat up themselves.

The important stuff is in italics.

LGBAT+: The Not Straight / Cis Community

L - Lesbian

This one should be pretty standard. A woman who likes women. A homosexual woman. Please be aware that if a trans women is a lesbian, that doesn’t make her any less of a woman.

G - Gay 

Again, an easy one. A man who likes men. A homosexual man. The same point above about trans women applies to trans men too.

Homosexual Pride Flag

B - Bisexual 

Bisexual is where someone is attracted two genders. Though this can be any two genders, it’s usually male or female. Pansexual also falls under the B in LGBAT+, this is where someone is attracted to all genders. Do not tell these people that they are greedy, experimenting or that it’s just a crush/phase. They will either kick your teeth in or cry, in both situations you are an asshole.

Bisexual Pride Flag

Pansexual Pride Flag

A - Asexual / Aromantic 

Even though these ones may have the simplest concepts, they seem to be the hardest for people to comprehend. An asexual feels no sexual attraction to anybody. An aromantic feels no romantic attraction to anybody. 

Yes this means sexual attraction and romantic attraction are different things. You may wanna kiss a boy but cuddle with a girl. Usually both attractions are the same, but they may different, more on that in a later post.

Demisexual also falls under the A category. Demisexuals do not feel attraction most people, but do to a chosen few. This may be one or more people, but the attraction usually comes after being in a relationship / knowing them for a while first.

Do not tell these people that they haven’t found the right person or that they shouldn’t knock what they haven’t tried, they probably know themselves better than you.

Asexual Pride Flag

T - Transgender

This one isn’t a sexuality, but it’s in LGBAT+ so I’ll cover it anyway. Transgender is where your gender is different to the sex you were born as. For those who are wondering about the difference between sex and gender: sex is your physical body, gender is who you are inside. 

Trans people don’t have to just be male or female, they can be any gender. This also means that their pronouns may not be he/him or she/her. If they are not male or female, it’s best to ask for their pronouns, but it’s probably they/them. Correct pronouns are not something that only ‘nice’ trans people deserve, they are a basic human right. 

If you’re still confused, don’t worry. Gender is a big topic and I’ll definitely be covering it more in later posts. 

Also if you’re wondering, the word for when your gender is the same as the sex you were born with is cisgender (cis for short).

Transgender Pride Flag

+ - Non Binary

The plus part of LGBAT+ is for anyone who doesn’t fall into the binary of straight / male or female and who hasn’t already been mentioned above. 

All in all, sexuality and gender is a pretty massive topic and I will cover it more in the future, but the point of this post is to keep your mind open. 

You're all beautiful humans!

THE BEST CELEBRITY MOMENTS OF 2014: CELEBRITY CULTURE

Isn't this exciting!? I am welcoming you all to my first blog post here on Almost1998 and I sincerely hope you enjoy. The music and celebrity world is very fast changing and so since we have all just entered 2015 I thought there was no better way then to do a post on the best and most memorable celeb moments of 2014.

Lets begin with a very recent photo shoot whilst it is fresh in our minds which could quite possibly be the most controversial of 2014. Of course it is Kim Kardashian with her front cover of the winter issue of 'Paper' magazine. 

It's safe to say she broke the internet and her work doesn't stop there! Kim was kept very busy last year with the launch of her very successful (and addictive) app and even tying the knot with rapper Kanye West. It is estimated that the social media personality is worth $65 million as of 2014!

However the marriage of Kim and Kanye does not come close to the wedding of celebrity power couple that is Brangelina. (That's Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for those of you living under a rock). Yes, the pair released the photos of their beautiful wedding in France in September and the world went into meltdown. The wedding dress of Angelina was breathtaking and the sentimental value of their six children's sketches on the back of the dress were truly fascinating and absolutely brilliant! Luigi Massi did a stunning job of creating that master piece.

As well as this Twitter went into meltdown after the 2014 Oscars on March 2nd. The social media site crashed and broke because of the fantabulous selfie which every celebrity ever wishes they were in. It was posted by the one and only Ellen DeGeneres who later said they had 'made history'. The selfie featured Ellen herself, Bradley Cooper, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Brangelina and more. It is now the most retweeted tweet ever in history and beat the previous record after being posted for just one hour.

Another surprising celeb moment which I feel needs some attention again was when the insanely talented Daniel Radcliffe (most known for his role as Harry Potter) treated us all to a rap performance on 'The Tonight Show'. Everyone was pleasantly surprised when he gave us a little insight to his brilliant rapping with a very enthusiastic Jimmy Fallon in the background. He performed it insanely despite the difficult lyrics...it was almost magical! Here it is below for you all to enjoy:

So how about ending this post remembering some of the best music of 2014? 'It might seem crazy what i'm about to say' but the annoyingly catchy song 'Happy' sung by the sensational Pharrell Williams was defiantly the hit of the year. The song has sold millions of copies worldwide and became hugely successful. Success has hit many other artists as well such as George Ezra, Ella Henderson, Sam Smith, The Vamps and 5 Seconds of Summer to name a few. These artists have really broke out in the charts of 2014 releasing albums which were all in the top 10 and storming into the limelight. I can't wait to hear more from them this year... 3 albums which really stood out to me would be the fantastic '1989' by Taylor Swift, 'Four' by One Direction and 'X' by Ed Sheeran. All are wonderful and defiantly worth a listen if you haven't already. You can even check out my review of 'X' here if you would like another read. I'm sure Taylor, Ed and the gorgeous boys of One Direction will be releasing new music in 2015!

Amazing Blueberry Muffins: Baking

Amazing Blueberry Muffins!

I'm so happy to share with you my favourite Blueberry Muffin recipe. I love these because they are really easy to make and they contain blueberries which are super good for you!

Ingredients: 

• 100g Sugar
• 110g Butter
• 150ml Milk
• 2 eggs
• 1tsp Vanilla essence
• 275g Plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 2tsp Cinnamon (optional)
• 200g Blueberries
• 170g white chocolate chips (optional)

Method:

• Firstly you will need to pre-heat the oven to 170'c and line a baking tray. This mix makes around 10-12 muffins so one tray should be fine.

• After you have done this, heat the butter slightly in the microwave (around 20-30 seconds) so that it will be easier for you to combine it with the sugar.
• When the butter is soft, add it to the sugar and cream together.
• Then, add the eggs one at a time and mix together on a low speed using an electric mixer (you can use a spoon but i dont have the muscles for that)
• Once this looks combined, add the milk and vanilla essence.

• Once this is all mixed together, it should look like a smooth and creamy batter
• This means that you can now add the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder and cinnamon.
• To get as much air as possible you can sieve these ingredients in. This will make your muffins light and fluffy.

• Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet batter until it is all combined.
• Now you can add the blueberries and white chocolate to your mixture

• Now spoon the mixture equally between each muffin case and put the tray in the oven to bake for 35-40 minutes or until they look golden brown on the top.

• You can then go upstairs and have a nap whilst your mum cleans up the mess you made (jokes, i cleared it up myself;))

• Once they come out of the oven, leave them to cool down for 20 minutes, and then it is up to you how you eat them, either for pudding with some hot custard, or just by themselves as a tasty snack!

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you have any questions about the recipe then feel free to leave a comment below! See you next Thursday!

Be Yourself: Life, Advice and Rants

Peoples opinions of me make me paranoid. Do they like me? Am I annoying to them? What do they like in a person? All theses questions go through my mind when starting somewhere new or interacting with people I have never met before. Starting school, more secondary/high school, is the time when we begin to understand ourselves. It is also the time when we make new friends. I used to always wonder how I should act in a way that people would find more socially desirable and would appeal to them more. Over years of new experiences I have finally come to the conclusion of how to do this, just be yourself.  

Humans have a natural desire to be liked and personally, I always strive for acceptance by peers. Your only going to find the people you'll connect with the best by being who you are and doing the things you love. I have 3 ways in which you can find out how to be yourself:

1. Find yourself.
You can't be yourself if you don't know, understand, and accept yourself first. It should be your primary goal to find this out.The best way to do that is trail and error, so find things you wouldn't normally do and see if you like it. Its the best way forward.

2. Avoid fixating on the past.
One of the most unhealthy approaches is to make a decision that who you are is defined by a moment of time, after which you spend the rest of your life trying to still be that person from the past rather than someone who is still you but grows with experience. Just remember a definition excludes the possibility for change so let yourself grow, improve and become wiser.

3. Relax.
Stop worrying about the worst that could happen, especially in social situations. So what if you trip over flat ground? Or get food on your face? Or accidentally head butt your date when leaning in for a kiss?  If they don't like it, they aren't the right people for you. Just find people that would laugh but then also help you back up just to laugh a little bit more.

So you know what, you play the sport that isn't stereotyped to your gender, you kiss whoever you want to kiss whether you be the opposite sex or same sex and you follow whatever religion you believe in. We cannot spend our lives pleasing others if it means not making ourselves happy. You are the most important person to you, remember that. If someone tells you what you enjoy, believe or love is wrong just laugh. Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind. To be yourself in a world constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

I live everyday as myself and trust me, it has given me the amazing friends I have the pleasure of spending my life with. It may take time but eventually it will be worth it. A friend will be someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself and don't ever let someone tell you that you can't be exactly who you are.

As Oscar Wilde said "Be yourself; everyone else is taken."

Nars Sheer Glow: Beauty

When people ask me about my skin, I panic. I have been dubbed the 'queen of concealing' however, it took a few disappointing products to get there. Covering up my blemishes has become an everyday task I just deal with but under a layer of well blended foundation and concealer is a far from perfect canvas. I put my good, 'glowy' looking finish down to my holy grail foundation. And that foundation, ladies and gentlemen is Nars Sheer Glow. I found an hour or two for myself a few months ago and I took a trip to Bluewater to purchase this product that I'm sure anyone with a slight beauty interest (or is friends with me) has heard of.

Yes, I was late with the Sheer Glow beauty craze and I apologise. Since I'd heard of this product and the legends that surround it, I wanted to try it. The fact that it's a 'holy grail' foundation for many people suggests that it's worth the hype. I won't bore you with the details, you've heard it all before but, I really love Sheer Glow. I'm just so happy with it. The Nars counter lady tested me with two of the shades but actually we both decided on the same one, 'Santa Fe'.

Described as a 'glowing, natural radiant finish foundation with sheer and buildable coverage that immaculately evens skin tone', Sheer Glow ticks all the boxes. Nars also quotes that it hydrates skin and makes it 'more luminous, softer and smoother'. I agree with this almost completely and as it's the best foundation I've tried, I'm hesitant to complain about it.

The shade is lovely and compliments my skin very well. As well as this, there is no SPF which avoids the slimy look for flash photography. It looks natural on the skin and this is partly because it's easy to blend. The coverage is a great medium and could be built up to full coverage if needed. It glides on beautifully but still feels weightless which is an immediate pro for me. I absolutely love the coverage because a little goes a long way with this product. If I'm having a horrible skin day and I need a tad more coverage, I'm not wasting too much of the product. 

Nars suggests that the best method of application is with fingers and although I'm a bit of a germaphobe and prefer not to touch my face, it tends to be easier to work in with fingers. It certainly gives you a nicer finish but I also like to use my Real Techniques Buffing Brush to apply this foundation. I was actually surprised because the name is completely misleading. Whilst brilliant at covering blemishes, the foundation isn't sheer or glowy. A small amount of product hid my redness and acne scars effortlessly. I tend to stay away from shiny products so the word 'glow' worried me. But, it genuinely makes the skin look flawless, refreshed and alive.

With no added fragrance to suit normal and dry skin types, my temperamental skin loves it. However (and this is a common point made by many about the Sheer Glow) it tends to slightly cling to dry skin patches. I have learnt to control my dry skin so this isn't too much of an issue but, around my nose and eyebrows where I tend to get dryness, it highlights it. My only other reason for disappointment with this product is the bottle. Now the clean glass with the iconic Nars name is simplistically glamorous but the fact that you have to buy a pump separately is a bit silly. 

Being the most expensive single beauty product I've bought at £31, it's not kind to my credit card but 100% worth it. This is my new go-to foundation for everyday wear but, I recommend giving you skin a break from the full coverage once in a while. My biggest mission now is to force all my friends (especially those on this blog) to save up for it and I may even have to take them all to Nars to get swatched!

Nylon Flower: Textiles

Nylon Flower

For my first textiles post I thought I start with an easy technique that you can use to decorate almost anything. I found this technique about three years ago on YouTube when I was in my first year of GCSE Art Textiles and I still use it now. Without further ado, let’s get started!

First of all you need to gather your equipment. You’ll need:

·   Organza fabric (anything synthetic will be fine as long as it not a polycotton blend)

·   Hot glue gun and glue

·   Pen

·   Candle and lighter/matches

·   Scissors

·   3 round objects that vary from small, medium, large

Before you begin, plug in your glue gun to allow it to pre heat.

 Below is an image with three circles with numbers below them. These indicate how many circles of fabric you will need in each size. Draw around your objects on your fabric and cut out, 3 large circles, 4 medium and 3 small. It doesn’t matter if they are slightly jaggered or wonkey.

For each circle you will need to cut off the bottom side, creating a flat edge which will be the bottom of your petal. The images on the right demonstrate this.

Now the fun begins! I have to warn you this is dangers so make sure you have no flammables near you and also ask you to take caution. I have often burnt myself a few times or set the fabric alight completely, so be careful.

Light your candle and hold the edge of the fabric to the flame briefly and move the fabric edge so the entire edge has been exposed to the heat of the flame. As you will see this will melt the fabric fibres which will stop fraying and will also create texture by the petal curling slightly. Do this to all your petals.

              

This is how they should look:

 

 

 Starting with your smallest petal with the flat edge facing downwards fold the left edge to the centre and put a dab of hot glue on it. Then fold the right side so it covers the glue. This will make the centre to your flower.

Now with your second small petal, again with the flat edge facing down, dab a blob of hot glue onto the over lapping edges of the centre petal and press the right edge of the second petal to glue. Make sure the petals edges are curling outwards. Then glue the left edge to the right edge, like you just did with the centre petal.

From here it is reparation of this process; gluing the last edge pressed down and covering it with a new petal edge.  As you do exactly the same thing with the last small petal.

 

You have now used all your small petals and so you move onto the medium petals. These is the same process as before, over lapping you will begin to understand is the key technique here, however the petal will not (depending on your circle size) go around the whole flower bud, this is meant to happen don’t panic.

Carry on gluing your petals as you have been doing until all the medium petals have been applied. It should look similar to this. If not remember it is art and art is never wrong.

Now for the final layer of petals, the largest of the circles. Like before glue the edge to the edge of the last petal and then glue the other edge to the point in which it reaches around the edge of the flower. It’s important not to stretch the petals during the gluing.

Once all the large circles have been used, that’s it! How easy was that? Using this method you can adapt it to your objectives. Obviously you don’t have to use the same colours as I did, that was just to show clearly the different petals I was using. If you want a fuller flower just increase the number of petals you use. Again it’s art! You can’t go wrong!