Should Disney Only Use Caucasian Princesses?

Are people serious?

Now, don't be put off by the title. The question is very much mocking those people with no broadening mind. I recently came across a post about how 5 Disney princesses had been reimagined as if they were caucasian. Being a huge Disney fan, this intrigued me therefore i clicked the link (which can be found here) and was absolutely horrified as to what i read.

Firstly, the pictures just looked weird and to me frankly hard to look at. However, my argument is that Disney created different raced princesses for a reason. The comment in particular that caused me such upset was this 'The Princess And The Frog is an exciting journey about the power of friendship and acceptance, not the color of Princess Tiana’s skin. It’s important for all girls, regardless of race, to feel represented in movies for kids' - the change of race for these princesses are so that people of those races have someone to represent them!! There are a variety of different races in order to make everyone feel as though they can have the perfect princess life and not feel as though it is just for white girls!

Secondly, Underneath the picture of Jasmine, it states that the film would have been just as amazing or maybe even better?! WHY would the colour of her skin or her nationality have anything to do with the success or the quality of the film? 

And possibly using the hashtag  #WhiteDisneyPrincesses is just screaming for negative comments to be thrown at the writer? I was super angry when there was no comment section or no way of finding the reader. 

I happen to enjoy the multicultural nature of Disney and therefore should continue to represent them in best way they can.

What are everyone else's thoughts?

Lauren

Thorpe Shark Hotel Review

New Thorpe Shark Hotel review 

Recently, I stayed at the new Thorpe Park hotel called 'Thorpe Shark' for two days and one night using the Thorpe Breaks Website. I went with my boyfriend and was presently surprised at the price. It was £99 for both of us for two days of park tickets, an overnight stay and a cooked buffet breakfast in the morning. If you are familiar with the usual day prices on entrance to Thorpe Park for the day, you will understand that this is such a good price and definitely value for money!

After reading some, lets say, worrying reviews on trip advisor about the experience, me and my boyfriend were very sceptical about what we had paid for and were therefore scared about going. HOWEVER.. the stay has just made me realise just how stupid some people can be. The reviews stated that the accommodation shouldn't be called a hotel, how the rooms are so small you couldn't 'swing a cat' and how the staff were unhelpful. I don't know if they were seeing something completely different to us but we had excellent service, the room was just perfect for a place to crash after a day in the park and the breakfast was absolutely perfect!

The room itself was quirky. Yes, it was admittedly small but all you need is a shower, a bed and a toilet as you don't spend hardly any time in the room. The bed was super comfy and the wet room shower was heavenly. Although, the water did escape through the door into the room, so make sure you put a towel down beforehand. The only problem with the room was that the air conditioning and heater was hard to work and was very loud and the temperature wasn't consistent so therefore had to wake up a couple of times to sort it out, which wasn't ideal. However, after a not great night sleep the breakfast was definitely what I needed! There was a coffee and tea station, a buffet of hot breakfasts with beans, sausages, eggs, hash browns and bacon which was all cooked properly and was lovely. There is also continental breakfast treats too! Pastries, cereals, yogurts and also a range of fruit juices. So i filled up nicely for the day ahead! 

We went in the last week that Thorpe Park was open for this year and was after the event of 'Fright Night' therefore we were basically the only people in the park. The longest we queued was 20 mins and for people that are aware of Thorpe Park they know that that time is NOTHING. We quite often walked onto rides, stayed on them for a second ride and sometimes were the only people on the ride!! Now as amazing as this sounds, the park got very boring towards the end of the second day and most of the time we PRAYED for a queue! But apart from this, it let us experience the full extent of the park. Also, with the room you get a fast track wristband for the second day that lets you skip queues for the first hour of the day. We didn't need to use this due to the reason above however would come in handy for other times of the year!

Overall, the park is so much fun, the hotel is clean and well worth the price and the overall experience was definitely one i was glad to have!

so, IGNORE TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS!!

What is everyone's favourite ride at Thorpe Park?

Lauren. 

Halloween Costume idea!

Halloween is my all time favourite holiday - because fancy dress is my guilty pleasure, not in the dirty sense before you ask. ;)

Now, being at university halloween is made into such a huge deal, with club nights having crazy halloween themed nights out. Tomorrow i am attending one, so thought i would have a play at what i could go as!

However, i am very vocal of the fact that putting on cat ears and drawing on some whiskers whilst parading around in a skin tight cat suit... is NOT scary therefore you cannot dress like it for halloween. MY OPINION..

so, zombies, vampires, witches, horror film characters are a must, fake blood, wounds, make up are musts!

Therefore this year, i decided to go full on with my costume..

meet Jigsaw....

To do this look i used:

Snazaroo white aqua based face paint - This you can get from amazon or from any fancy dress shop

SuperCat Soap and Glory Liquid eye liner 

Maybelline colour sensation red lip liner

Sleek Au Natural Palette - Black eyeshadow and Brown Sparkly eyeshadow

NYC Lipstick 

Playsuit from Primark 

Bow Tie from Hollywood Fancy Dress

Red tights from Primark

There are LOADS of tutorials on Youtube to do this look and it really is simple to achieve! 

What are you dressing up as this year?

HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEN!

Until Next Time

Lauren x

Lush Haul - LiveLikeALauren Lifestyle

So, this is the time of year when every blogger gets sucked into the halloweeny christmassy world of Lush. I fell for it even harder this year because i have been soooo ill that nothing seems to shift it like a nice bath with my favourite scents.

HOWEVER, this year, i decided to purchase ones that i have never used before.. so here goes!

1. Dragons Egg Bath Bomb: £3.35 

I have never tried this one before, but heard such good things about it. It actually happened to be the first one out of the batch that i tried. It smells amazing and even though it doesn't do spectacular things in the bath - it does fizz and release orange and blue in the water with gold glitter - it makes your skin feel and look amazing!

2. Twilight Bath Bomb £3.35

Now, i suffer from insomnia, which is where i have trouble sleeping at night. The Twilight Bath Bomb has been known to help with its delicate scent, so thought i would buy it and give it a try. Plus, it's an amazing pink colour so thought it would make my bath water cute 

3. Father Christmas Ballistic £3.50

IT'S NEARLY CHRISTMAS. This one was very well received as anything that smells like christmas just makes me so excited. Fingers crossed it is as good as it smells! 

4. Golden Wonder Bath Bomb £3.75

Gold, present, christmas scent!? how can you say no to this! I looked at this one on the Lush website, because it gives you a little demonstration and this one looked so good!

5. Luxury Lush Pud £3.50

How cute is this one! It doesn't look that christmassy, but with the little holly on the top it just makes me love it. Plus, i'm excited to see what the polka dots will do in the water as well! 

6. Lord of Misrule £3.50

This screaaaaams cold nights to me as the scent of patchouli and the wine coloured centre just makes me feel so calm. I can't wait till it snows so i can use this one

7. Northern Lights Ballistic £3.50

An oblong bath bomb? who'da thought, but the colours in this are amazing and can NOT give it enough justice so you will need to buy it!

and FINALLY

8. Star Light, Star Bright Bath Melt £3.50

Now, i love love love bath melts because they can last for more than one bath and you only need a small amount to crumble in. This one is super glittery and makes your bath looks like the night sky, how sweet!

what is your favourite Lush product?

Until Next Time

Laurenx

I FINALLY SAW GONE GIRL!!

FILM REVIEW:  SPOILER ALERTS

A Film starring Ben Affleck as a husband whose wife (Rosamund Pike) mysteriously disappears one morning leaving a suspicious crime scene behind her. The narrative then follows the story through the police and the people of the town throwing accusations towards Nick Dunne (Affleck). Did he have anything to do with it? Or is there something their ‘perfect marriage’ is hiding.

For a crime thriller, the film is highly recommendable with there being top rated actors within it such as Affleck, Pike and also Neil Patrick Harris who bring Gillian Flynn’s characters to life perfectly. Also, for those who are like me and read the book before seeing the film, it sticks very closely to the challengingly descriptive narrative. The film itself is gripping and allows several different scenario s and possible film endings to flow through you whilst watching it, which is helped on by the clever story line as lots of different clues are revealed. It’s not just simply a ‘man marries wife happy ever after’ type film, its twists turns and tensions break it away from any normal film about marital struggle.

Looking at characters individually, at first I was skeptical about the casting of Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne after reading the book. This is because her character is so complex, fiery and ultimately haunting therefore seemed a tough role to play for someone known for being one of Jane Austen’s Bennet sisters. However, I was totally taken aback on how amazingly she portrayed one such character and thoroughly enjoyed her performance. 

Ben Affleck still now confuses me. Don't get me wrong, he is an incredible actor and plays the part really well, but I am still gutted because he is not what I pictured at all. I pictured more of an Italian New Yorker looking type guy, skinny, with longish hair. Don't ask why! Also, WHY WHY WHY is Neil Patrick Harris cast as Desi Collings? Out of all the casting, this one infuriates me. After reading the book, I pictured an Indian looking dark skinned relatively chubby man therefore I couldn't concentrate on the scenes he was in.

The director however, David Fincher, does a stunning job to portray the darkness of the storyline in a creative and interesting way through the flashbacks and present story. Alongside the score for the movie it creates an eerie atmosphere that you can feel throughout.

Overall, I encouragingly ask you to take a trip to the cinema to see this incredible adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Did everyone else enjoy it?

What did everyone think of the casting of Nick, Amy and Desi? 

Until next time

Lauren

My Top 5 Tips for University

Now, I know the University year has already started and you freshers are stuck in bed with freshers flu, however now being in my second year I have now realised just what the DO's and DONT'S are when it comes to university: so here are my TOP 5 TIPS:

1. Under NO circumstance get NETFLIX or any other similar platform.
-Yes, you may have spare time -  and believe me in first year you do, but do not get sucked into the emotional vortex that is netflix. You will start a tv show and then feel so attached to that show that you will never work, never sleep and never eat. This is coming from first hand experience. By all means, catch up on television shows - but i made the massive mistake of starting to watch a show that already had 8 seasons, and managed them only in a few weeks.

2. DON'T just speak to those who you live with, because chances are they're all horrible or too different to you anyway although in my exception, my flat mates were lovely. JOIN SOCIETIES because it fills up your empty time to refrain you from doing point number one^ but it also gives you the opportunity to meet new people who share the same interests as you. If your university is anything like mine there is societies from things even as weird as BACON! 

3. READ, READ, READ - Just because you have copied down your lecture notes, it does not mean you are done for the day. Additional reading around your subject is KEY.

4. An obvious one - but DON'T leave your assignments to the last minute - I did that last year, and boy did I suffer. Plan ahead!

5. Actually HAVE FUN! yes ultimately it is down to the studying, but explore your new town, go out and get drunk occasionally, meet best friends for life, enjoy your course.
BUT if you're not having fun, there are people you can talk to!
 

As you can see, I have met an amazing group of people here, and just want to make everyone's university experience how good mine is!

If you have any questions about university - then don't hesitate!

Until next time, Lauren. x

Book Review: Gone Girl

 

I am a huge bookworm, to the point where I cannot see an adaptation film in the cinema without reading the book first. However, I read this book before I even knew it was to become a film as it was recommended to me by a friend. To start the review off in ONE word....

INCREDIBLE!!

Now, I can't put good books down, ever. So this book took me only a few days to read as the storyline is so gripping! To explain without giving it away, the book follows and man and wife through, call it diary entries, about the disappearance of the wife, 'Amy'. The media and police suspect that 'Nick', the husband, has something to do with it, and suspect him of murdering her. So, it follows the crime scenes, the numerous pleading missing persons reports but it also delves deep into Amy and Nicks past and their marriage to help you conjure up your own opinion as to 'Who killed Amy Dunne'.

I am yet to see the film, however, as all bookworms are, i am scared. The people who have been cast are not who i imagined would bring these characters to life. I imagined Nick tall, skinny and almost italian looking, you know the sleeked back combovery typed man, which is nothing like Ben Affleck who has been cast. Even though i love Rosamund Pike and think she is incredible, i portrayed the character of Amy as a fiesty women, curvy and ultimately 'sassy'. Rosumund Pike I feel doesn't have the fiesty character. This however i am only basing on her previous roles, such as Jane Bennet in 'Pride and Prejudice'. Despite this, i am excited to see the book brought to life.

Gillian Flynn is definitely an author I am going to investigate as she has a few other thriller themed books that i have yet to read. 

Has anyone else read it?What does everyone else think?

Until Next Time!

Lauren

x