Friday 24 August 2012

Space exploration in style


Hey guys!
I’m currently writing you all from the film set of a massive Brisbane production called Omega. I’ve got my headphones in listening to a Sydney band, but I know the builders are blasting the Tron soundtrack.
Which is kind of fitting, considering this is a futuristic sci-fi film, and I’m sitting in a warehouse housing a full-sized spaceship.
That’s right, our set is a custom-built spaceship. Complete with a cockpit, airlock, its own little shuttle pod (for exploration or emergency evac, whatever) amongst other rooms. I won’t say much because I’m bound by a confidentiality agreement, but this is pretty frigging cool. I come here and all I think about is the detailed interior of the Normandy of the Mass Effect series (yes, yes, I’m a gamer). I’m told the director drew a lot of inspiration from Alien for his vision. This production has been in development for two years, and the crew has worked literally around the clock for months building and dressing the ship’s interior to look über technologically advanced with all its machinery and lights and buttons. There are cables running everywhere, and a curtain of green screen is surrounding the cockpit’s windows. Tonight is the second night of shoot.
I love my job. Filmmaking is such an amazing creative outlet, where the only boundaries are the limits of your imagination (okay, and that pesky budget). Here nobody cares about my tattoos, I get to do my makeup however I like and wear Wheels and Dollbaby instead of some unflattering uniform getup. Plus I get to geek out over awesome equipment; we’re shooting on the RED Epic, same camera Peter Jackson used for The Hobbit. This is the second time I’ve handled beautiful footage shot by this camera, the first being a music video for Caligula’s Horse last month.
Not to mention film people, in my opinion, are the easiest people to get along with (if you don’t mind the contstant F bombs sprinkled every other curse in the book). You literally need to have two things: enough working knowledge to not mess up in your department, and a sense of humour. I’ve worked on music videos, documentaries, short films, TV commercials, and this is by far the biggest undertaking I’ve been involved with (hello, spaceship >>>). And yeah, I stumbled home this morning at 3:30am exhausted and bailed on my other (fake) job two hours later, if only to sleep some more and be refreshed to be back here now.
Just so this post still has some fashion talk, this is the top I was referring to before (I wore mine with more than just panties and socks).

WDB, like Agent Provocateur, has some gorgeous pieces in their collections, and like AP, has been consistently expensive enough to make me cry when I put my credit card details through. They can justify their prices thanks to the slew of celebrities seen donning their clothes. I feel like some of their designs are a bit tired and rehashed, just in different fabrics, so they’re not a brand I would buy from too often (what’s the point?). I currently own three pieces from WDB. The off-shoulder above, a singlet, and this Tres Jolie bustier.
 
That’s all tonight from this little filmmaker. I should probably do some work now…

-M

Thursday 16 August 2012

Spend heaps and live lavishly

I'm afraid that title isn't the most practical advice for recent times. But it doesn't take much to inspire pining for a more glamorous and extravagant lifestyle in me; be it watching flicks modern (Moulin Rouge!) or old (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), or flipping through Vogue or Dita's Burlesque/Fetish and the Art of the Teese. Even 2009's Sherlock Holmes had me salivating over Rachel McAdam's stunning pink satin frock with the cinched waist and bow. I, quite simply, adore having lovely, girlie possessions.

This is partially how I justified buying two tubes of Chanel lipstick in the space of 3 days, and why my friend the lovely founder of this blog has asked me to jump on this page for a product review.



I count myself lucky to have found Chanel's Rouge Coco Shine line. I was in a rush and it was exactly what I was looking for. I wanted something not quite as sheer as lipgloss, but less heavy than lipstick. Matte lipsticks and I don't do well together at all.


I bought two shades. The first was no. 63, a lush red for drama on the lips, which I wore with pale skin and winged black eyeliner - Dita's trademark look.






As I mentioned, it wasn't as heavy as a conventional matte lipstick. I glided it on and it had perfect intensity; it gave a lovely wet shine, and I didn't end up resembling a clown. Thank goodness.

The second shade I bought because I was so happy with the first. No. 68 is a pale nude shade, which I wore to keep the drama on the eyes i.e. dark smokey eyeshadow.







Overall I'm pretty happy with the quality of these. The consistency of the nude wasn't quite as good as the red. And I'm not sure about sites touting these as 'hydrating'; I wore these respectively with a thin layer of Lucas' Papaw Ointment as buffer, and still my lips dried out far quicker than I'd liked. This could be a personal issue though.

I'm not big on lip colours. I don't line lips well and I'm terrible at choosing shades appropriate to my skin tone. And at $50AUD a pop at their David Jones counters, these do not come cheap. However I'd be lying if I said I regretted buying these, or that I didn't love knowing I was carrying around a little tube of Chanel in my handbag.

-M

Monday 13 August 2012

Yummy, scrummy Sunday Pancakes!

As a weekly treat to myself (and my lovely boyfriend) I made (if I do say so myself) the yummiest, possibly healthiest? Pancakes ever! All from scratch :-)

Here's the ingredients I used and steps on how you can also make these delicious flat-cakes:

Banana, Chia Seed & Oat Bran Pancakes

Ingredients: 

x2 cups plain flour - can substitute for wholemeal
x1/2 teaspoon baking soda
x1/2 teaspoon baking powder
x1 tablespoon raw-brown sugar
x1 tablespoon Chia Seeds
x2 tablespoons oat bran
x1 egg
x1 tablespoon cinnamon
x2 brown-ripened bananas
x1 tablespoon cooking butter
Milk - gradually build up the mix


Step One:
In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda and powder and combine together well with a whisk.
Then add the oat bran, chia seeds and sugar doing the same mixing method.

Step Two:
Grab a smaller bowl and start to mash the bananas with a fork. Once done, stir in the cinnamon and set aside.

Step Three:
Start to add the milk and beat in until the mixture is thick and not runny. Add in the egg and beat in well, then add the banana mix and a few more dashes of milk and mix.

Step Four:
Heat up a non-stick fry pan with the butter until melted then begin to add in the mixture bit by bit to create a nice batch.
NOTE: The tablespoon of butter should be enough to use the whole pancake mixture.
It makes them nice and white and not oily per the left image.

And that's pretty much how you do it!

You can serve it with fresh fruit, yogurt, cream etc. or with lemon curd like I did :-)
They taste fantastic and you only need a couple to fill you up which is the magic work done from the oat bran and chia seeds and they're stomach filling abilities :-)





My yummy pancakes served with homemade Lemon Curd, made by a lovely workmate of mine
Hope you like the recipe, I recommend you give this a go!

Thanks for reading :-)
XOXOX 

Monday 6 August 2012

ASOS Gold Anniversary dress (OOTN)



The dress I'm wearing in the top picture is what I wore for me and my boyfriends 5year Anniversary (Outfit Of The Night OOTN) which you can see more about here "Anniversary on an Island".
The dress is a beautiful vintage inspired rose-gold purchase from ASOS. BEST DRESS PURCHASE EVER!
Just so you know it's a criss cross back not a halter neck, and it made my tattoo look wicked :-)

My boyfriends great photography :-)


Love my curves :-)
It's so flattering on me, and I've never been a rail thin girl (a fact that I'm proud of...most times) so this gave my hourglass figure some 'Vavavoom'!


White girl booty XD

















Unfortunately I didn't get many pics of me in this dress that were flattering on the night of our Anniversary; but hopefully these should suffice :-)

I feel so confident and beautiful in this dress, and that's a feeling that doesn't come very often with me!
I feel like a 1950's pinup girl, they were so celebrated for there fuller and curved figures, it's a shame that it's not carried out that much now.
Marilyn Monroe definitely inspires some of my looks these days as well as Bridgette Bardot, both beautiful women!

I didn't accessorise on the night as the dress was already an accessory on it's own!
My makeup was very 1950's-60's inspired too with a nice winged liner and pouty red lips :-)
I will write about that makeup in a later post.

Nail polish is "Congeniality is my Middle Name" by OPI




















The outfit wouldn't have been complete without my favourite nude Christian Louboutin pumps!
They complete any outfit I've worn and just go with anything really :-)

My Loubis :-)
Overall I'm impressed with quality of dress, it fitted like a glove and I will reccommend purchasing ASOS to anyone, especially the fact that they free deliver around the world!

I hope you enjoyed my latest post and you'll be hearing a lot more from me soon!

XOXOX

Friday 3 August 2012

Anniversary on an Island

Hi my lovelies!

Here's what my lovely boyfriend, Andrei, and I got up to last weekend to celebrate our 5years of dating each other....


The most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen! Taken over Little Oneroa beach, Waiheke Island.

28.07.2012


On the ferry. We took my car (Nissan Cube) to save us renting one.
  Getting everything prepared the day before and a month ahead I.E. Gas for the car, money put aside, accommodation, restaurant booking; we were off at 5am to board our ferry that would take us to the little island outside of Auckland, Waiheke.

I'd only been to Waiheke once, and that was only for half a day, so I didn't really get to see much.
So having Andrei as the pro of knowing the island inside and out, he knew exactly were to take me :-)

And as soon as we arrived we went straight into the Oneroa township which overlooked it's beach and the beautiful sunrise which I captured in the first photo pictured.
The most romantic and perfect setting to start our weekend off!


"Happy 5 Years"

Throughout the day we visited different beaches based around the Island that were in reach due to some roads we were driving on were quite rough and didn't take us quite the whole way to our destination.
But otherwise, the scenery was just gorgeous and the vineyards which are found all over the island defined the islands beauty even more!



Hand prints in the sand

Pretty boardwalk at Orapiu Beach


Lovely Polynesian setting to our holiday home!
 

After driving around all morning we finally checked into our holiday home, which for $200 for two night's was not a bad deal as it came with all cooking facilities, cable T.V, a lovely bedroom and bathroom.

It also came with a tiny vineyard which we were entitled to help our self to the grapes when in season but unfortunately they weren't, also a hut with an outdoor bathtub but the weather was too cold!
And last but not least, a two person kayak.

So only three things that we missed out on due to having our Anniversary in the middle of winter but it wasn't all doom and gloom, we had a lovely restaurant to go have dinner at the following day.
And with the promise of it raining on our Anniversary day, we had plenty of cable T.V to watch and a comfy sofa to cuddle up on :-)

Beautiful vineyards defined the gorgeous Waiheke!


29.07.2012

The day we met approximately 5years ago at an ice-skating arena :-)

I honestly don't where the time has gone. We must be doing something good!
But all I know is that when I'm with him I am myself and I don't think anyone else will get me like he does :-)


Our first weekend away 5 years ago!


5 years later <3
 We have come such a long way too and I can't help but get a little nostalgic when I see the photo of our first weekend away together, and how much we've grown since then, it truly amazes me and makes me realise how much I dearly love him :-)

Waves crashing onto one of the beaches we visited on the day

During the day we visited a few beaches and wildlife parks and paid a visit to his grandmother's grave.
So what started off as a nice day turned in to rain, so it was back to base!
We spent the rest of the day cuddled up on the couch and watching a lot of crap T.V until it was time to get ready for our romantic dinner at Waiheke's acclaimed restaurant, Mudbrick, which you can look up more about on there website here http://www.mudbrick.co.nz/


Fairy lights created the romantic and relaxing tone of the restaurant

A real fire place in the dining area


It was the most beautiful restaurant I have ever been to, hence the fact it was pouring with rain!
We were the only one's in the restaurant for the first hour, which suited us fine, all you could hear was our laughter reminiscing of old memories and taking silly photo's, a usual for us :-)

The setting was very rustic and French inspired, surrounded by it's own vineyard and beautiful gardens were they create there own brand of wine and also grow there own garden produce.
A lot of weddings are held there due to the romantic setting and Andrei and I discussed that if we ever decide to tie the knot, that would be the place to have it!

The food was to-die for!
For dinner we both ordered the First Class New Zealand Lamb Lion, that included peanuts, golden kumara, grape & shallot vinaigrette.
And dessert, we shared the Warm Valrhona Chocolate Fondant, that included crème Fraiche Ice Cream, smoked pineapple, candied chilli and a cute chocolate board wishing us a Happy Anniversary :-)

The service and food quality was fantastic and I would love to go there again. I would recommend it to anyone visiting the island.

Our delicious dinner!

Men do love their beer!


Dessert!
After all that good food and bad weather we made out journey home and chilled out for the rest of the evening, watched some more bad T.V and the gymnastics premiered on Olympics :-)

The next day it was back to the main land.(big fat sigh)
We cleaned and packed up at the holiday home and drove around Waiheke one last time and got a quick feed of fish and chips before heading to the ferry dock at 1pm.

Overall it was the best weekend away apart from the bad weather, but I wouldn't have spent it any other way.
It was relaxing and was great to get out of the hussel and bussel of the city :-)


Hope I didn't brag too much and I hope you enjoyed!
Happy Friday everyone and have a lovely weekend :D

XOXOX