The Little Mermaid...

Disney 1989

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love The Little Mermaid, and that I'm head over heels for Ariel. She is my favorite Disney Princess. When I was little when people would ask what I wanted to be, I'd say I wanted to be Ariel so then I could be a mermaid.

Many people say that Disney hasn't got a very good reputation for feminist characters, Ariel being one of those unfeminist characters. My response upon hearing this constant complaint about Ariel as a character is and always will be bullshit.

The constant complaint about The Little Mermaid is that Ariel changes who she is for a man who she hardly knows. This isn't fully true. I agrue and always will argue played a factor in Ariel's decision to turn human, but he was by no way the main cause. Part of Your World is where, if you are unfamiliar, Ariel sings about wanting to be human and to 'be out of these waters'. This song is sung before Ariel meets Eric, so her desire to be human is already clear to the audience. Also Ariel is obsessed by items from the human world, constantly getting in trouble with her father and Sebastian for going to the surface to meet with Scuttle, to find out what the items she found were. Within the first fifteen minutes the audience is very aware of Ariel's obsession with humans. Check mate. Also, if we look at one of the many versions of the Little Mermaid, she wanted to be human so she could have a soul, because once mermaids died they turned to seafoam.

Many people aren't happy with who they are. We constantly change who we are to try and improve how we think of ourselves. Some women use botox, and others go into education to improve themselves that way to get a better chance in the world. I know I try to change myself by spending the morning in front of the mirror to try and look like the person I want to try and be.

Disney Princesses are imperfect feminists. Belle stands up to an angry mob, Jasmine speaks against arranged marriages, Tiana works hard so she doesn't have to rely on anyone. As time changes so do our perspectives on how the world works, and how it should work. We start to see characters like Merida who refuses to marry a man she has just met, and doesn't love. We start to see stories that focus on family relationships more than romantic relationships. It's pretty cool, but it doesn't make older Disney Princesses weaker. They are all strong in their own ways. Rapunzel left the safety of her tower to see a world that she believed was cruel and dark. Belle saw through a beast to find a kindness. Cinderella went through years of abuse and still managed to sing a smile, when I know I'd be on the floor crying everyday. These characters are strong. Maybe not as strong as society today wants them to be, but that shouldn't matter.

Fairy Tales are stories, good vs bad with a happily ever after, in most cases. Leave them to their simplicity, because when you're a child you sometimes need those stories of bravery, adventure, and noble intentions to see you through hard times. Let them start to develop their own ideas before you bombard them with different varieties of critical thinking.

New Look Must have!

It's the run up to going back to university, and I wanted to make sure I have the basics like jeans, shirts, and a few new shoes. I had seen a pair of jeans that I had wanted for a while, which I was so happy I managed to get.

I've always wore bootcut jeans, which I started to hate, so I avoided wearing jeans whenever I could. It was the shape of the jeans that I hated, they just seemed to make me look boyish and weren't flattering at all. I decided to buy some high waisted skinny jeans from New Look.

New Look's Inspire Navy High waisted Supersoft Skinny Jeans.
£24.99

These jeans are amazing, the fabric is just as it reads on the label, super soft. The jeans have a comfy stretch to them, and they look amazing. I love the colour, and I feel happier wearing them than I ever did wearing the boot cut jeans. You can wear these anywhere, and style them up in any way you want. I plan on wearing them on a night out when the weather is slightly colder.

I truly recommend buying these jeans, I plan on buying another pair soon. You can find a link to these amazing jeans here.

My Current Summer Favorites of 2015

Lighter nights, warm air, ice cream vans visiting your street daily. It can mean only one thing. It's summer time, and it's time to through away the drab reminders of cold winters nights. Today I'm going to celebrate all my summer favorites from 2015.

I bought this at my local Clinton's store. I was looking for a new candle as I wanted something different. Clinton's was having a big sale on candles, and I went in expecting to buy a Yankee Candle. However nothing compared to the beautiful scent of this double wicked pomegranate and pineapple candle. To me it was how I imagined summer to smell like. I am completely in love with this candle and burn it frequently. I know I will cry a lot when it's empty.

I always tend to wear darker shades of lipstick, mainly various shades of red. I wanted to change things up this summer and go for more subtle shades, I am aware the purple lipstick is far from subtle but it's a nice colour that I wear well, and it's also nice to have an occasional bold colour lipstick. Currently I'm into wearing mainly lip crayons, it feels lighter than lip stick and some actually have a glossy look to them. Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Crayon (Fuchsia-Ristic) is very light and gives a natural glamour to your lips. It adds a simple amount of colour to your lips, if you didn't know you put the gloss crayon on, you'd just think it was lip balm. I've also being wearing Collection Lip Butter, Vintage Rose, which gives a beautiful coral esque colour, and Perfect Plum, a nice bold purple. The Collection Lip Butter applies so easily and evenly, which I often find isn't the case for most lipsticks. These lip crayons and lip butters are a beautiful addition to your summer make up routine.

BarryM is my go to nail varnish. I personally believe that they produce quality products that I can rely on. With other nail varnishes I feel like the varnish doesn't last as long and wears within a day. BarryM never lets me down, Their Quick Dry range is a beautiful mixture of pastels and bold statement colours. I have Eat My Dust, and Pole Position. They really do seem to dry quicker. My mum doesn't like Classic White, but I personally love it. It's different from pastel nail varnishes, and gives a slight edge. It's different, and I love it.

Lush are know for their beautifully wacky products like adult shower playdough.However, I'd never imagined they'd put chunks of sea salt into a shampoo. When I heard about this shampoo I wanted to try it out as soon as I could. The sea salt is meant to volumize your hair, and I was actually surprised when I started to notice the difference after one shower. It's an amazing shampoo and I will be buying some more of it for going back to university. I truly recommend it to everyone who wants more volume to their hair. Granted it will take one or two showers to get use to the salt, but it truly is relaxing.

This was a birthday gift to me from one of my amazing friends. It's the Shadow Box Eye Pallet by Urban Decay. I actually used this as my main eye pallet through winter, however a few of the colours are perfect for summer. I regularly wear Bordello, Sin, Tornado, Baked Cowboy, Free Love, and Blackout. Shadow Box is the perfect year round eyeshadow pallet.

I'm still a beginner when it comes to liquid eyeliner. My cat eyes are far from perfect. However Soap and Glory's Supercat is brilliant for beginners like me. The eyeliner is like a felt tip, it applies easily, and is easy to wash off if you've made a mistake. I certainly feel more confident applying eyeliner with Supercat.

This was my biggest treat of the summer. Something purely for me, nothing for university or anything like that. I finally bought a Pandora braclet. As much as I love silver, when I tried on the silver bracelets and bangles, it just felt like too much, it felt too showy. So when I saw the braided leather bracelet I felt it was more casual and relaxed, more me. I could wear it with a fancy outfit, but I could wear it day to day without worrying it would be too much. The charms I have are a windmill, a vintage bicycle, and a sea shell. I can only fit about nine charms on my bracelet so the general rule is that the charms have to have a significant meaning behind them.

With the added heat of the summer we tend to sweat and be a little more smelly than usual. Recently my mother and I have become with these fragrance mists from Victoria Secret.They have a beautiful set of scents that, if we could, would buy every bottle ten times over, just so we could always smell that good. I'm almost out of Pure Seduction and Passion Struck. Their both floral, strong, and romantic scents, and I know I'm going to cry like a bitch when their empty. However I've recently got two new bottles, Love Spell and Vanilla Lace. Love Spell is a delightful mix of cherry blossoms and peaches, it's rather an innocent smell that charms you into wanting to smell more. Vanilla Lace, where do I begin. The only problem with this fragrance mist is that you'll get hungry and want to eat cake. It's a sweet smell that gets the attention of people nearby. The amount of compliments I've had about the delicious and delightful smell of vanilla was outstanding.

The Girl who was Saturday Night was written by Heather O'Neill. I bought this book in June, and it's been an absolute joy to read. The writing is truly well crafted, and the voice of the narrator, Nouschka, was so brilliant and engaging. I admit it took a chapter or two to get sunk into the story, but once you're hooked on the story of Nickolas and Nouschka, you will not be disappointed. I enjoyed the story that much I'd take it slow when reading it because I truly did not want to finish it. I plan on doing a book review to The Girl who was Saturday Night, and the book I'm currently reading, Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre.

To me it doesn't matter if you have to beg, borrow, or steal to get this book. This book is worth it.

There you go. Those were my current summer favorites of 2015. I had fun enjoying each item. If you have any questions about any items from the above please leave a message, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

I hoped you enjoyed reading my summer favorites, and enjoy the sun!
xxx

Dear 22 Year Old Ashleigh...

Dear twenty-two-year-old Ashleigh.

It's currently 10:25pm Wednesday, the 15th of July 2015. I'm currently knackered thanks to you not wanting to go to bed until you get the majority of the things on your to-do list tick. You organized bugger.

Right now you're twenty, going into the third year at Edge Hill University in a few months. You're also the social media manager for Under the Fable, and yesterday we found out that we'll be calling the West Yorkshire Playhouse our office for a few weeks in August. I hope you have great memories of each.

I'm currently single and have been for a while, but I won't go into much detail because you know all about that. Sorry for the upcoming cringes of memories. If that's changed, then great. Don't settle. You deserve to be happy, and we are happy in the future.

Right now I am living with mum and dad for the summer before going back to uni. I'll be on campus next year and I'm looking forward to the daily showers. We love our showers.

Enough about me, I want to know more about future me. :)

How's life? How are you doing?

You should be out of university for nearly a year now, what was graduation like? Hope we did well. How's life outside of university?

Where do you work? Hopefully, you're in a nice job, not expecting you to work at a publishing house or a theatre just yet, though it'd be nice if you were. As long as you're working, right now that's all that matter. Sometimes we have to work the small jobs till we get to where we want to be.

Where are you living? Further up north I hope?

Are you happy, with work, with people, are you happy with who you are? I know you hate being asked questions but this was your idea.

I've set an alarm on your iPhone for the 15th of June 2017, so hopefully, I'll be able to remind you that you need to answer these questions. I hoped you are ok future me, and I hope we have finally gone to Amsterdam.

Goodbye.

West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice...

West Yorkshire Playhouse, to me, is a cultural icon of Leeds, situated on the entrance to Leeds. Its mission is to create world class compelling and thrilling productions, and you can tell when you go see one of their shows.

Recently the West Yorkshire Playhouse put on a production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, which ended last Saturday, the 4th of July 2015. I managed to see the last performance and I was blown away.

The set was amazing! It featured a turntable house, since the play is mainly based there, and a curtain which dropped down when it was time to move location. The back of the set was reminiscent of a junkyard, filled with rubbish and shiny plastic show bar curtains. And the house just looked like it was ready to collapse. Everything looked worn, filthy, and stressed the point of the characters situation. Big dreams while trapped in a gutter.

Nancy Sullivan was Little Voice, and her characterisation was brilliant. She had gotten the timid behaveour and silence of LV perfectly. Though she did not speak with her words, you could see exactly what she was saying with her body language. Her singing was extraordinary. It's a challenge to impersonate great singers like Shirley Bassey and Judy Garland, among others, but to do them one after another. Nancy Sullivan handled it brilliantly and truly kicked arse with her performance.

Ray Say and Mari were performed by Coronation Streets very own Chris Gascoyne and Vicky Entwistle. Both gave a good performance of their characters. Chris played Ray as a cool  man about town with a ruthless edge. The character was played so well, dare I even say I love it more than Micheal Caine's portrayal. Vicky captured Mari's loudness and bold character. She was truly brilliant.

The rest of the cast were brilliant. Joanna Brookes was hilarious as the quiet Sadie, The slimy and crubby Mr Boo was played by Brendan Charleson. And the adorably sweet Billy, who made many a woman in the audience aww, was played by Tendayi Jembere.

It was a brilliant cast, and production team that made this production fantastic. The staff at the West Yorkshire Playhouse was a delight like they always are. It proves that you don't have to go down to London to see a brilliant West End worthy performance.

The British Tag...

So I thought for a bit of fun I would do The British Tag, especially after reading through the questions. It looked like fun. ^_^ I've got my tea at the ready!

1: How many cups of tea do you have a day, and how many sugars?
I tend to drink about 1-2 cups a day, depending on how I feel or how much coffee I've had. But I have only been drinking Earl Grey for a year now, and I love it. Any other tea that I've drank just tastes weaker and less flowery compared to it. I don't put sugar in my tea. I'm not a heathen. Plus we only have baking sugar in the house, so it's sorta awkward when people ask for sugar in their tea. It's gotten to the point where I steal sugar packets from coffee shops just in case someone wants sugar.

2: Favorite part of your roast?
Gravy soaked yorkshire puds. Gah! So delicious, the perfect mixture of soggy and crunchy. But I also love the carrots, and roast potatoes, and the delicious, crispy, juicy meat! It's like asking a parent which child is it's favorite. It's impossible. I love each item the same.


3: Favorite dunking biscuit? 
A biscuit is a biscuit. Though, if you have to have one then  I'd say a Party Ring.

4: Favorite qunitenstial British past time?
Does complaining about the weather while drinking tea, avoiding the sun, and watching QI count? That or watching The Real Housewives and being thankful I am British.

5: Favorite word?
Well I can't say my favorite word because many people will stone me for saying it. So I'll go for my second favorite word. Bollocks.

6: Cockney Rhyming Slang.
I have no flippin' clue on this one. I'm think this is one. Nelson Mandela, what a fella. I hope that's right.

7: Favorite sweet?
Haribo eggs, or the fizzy ones with the white bottom.

8: What would your pub be called?
I've actually answered this question when I was younger. I wanted to open a pub and name it Jugs. So in honour of ten year old Ashleigh, I'd call my pub Jugs.

9: No.1 British Person?
Does this have to be a real person or fictional? Erm, favorite real person is my Nana Grace, and my favorite fictional person is Captain Hook.

10:  Favorite Shop/ Restaurant?
Erm, Debenhams or Worlds Apart in Liverpool, and Wetherspoons.

11: What British song pops into your head?
Queen, Fat Bottom Girls. Because butts.

12: Marmite.
That's more of a statement but I'll bite. No I hate marmite, but I love twiglets.

That was the British Tag,  I nominate you all to do it! :D

I'm Adulting Right?

Do you ever have those days when you release that you're starting to act like an adult? I'm slowly having this realisation and it's freaking me out a little bit. I just finished my second year of University 3 weeks ago, and my thoughts have already turned to life after University, and getting a job. It's scary adult stuff, but the thing that scares me the most is the fact that I've naturally come to those thoughts. This moment happened to me yesterday while I was doing some work.


In my spare time, when I'm not working on assignments, bugging my friends, or plotting world domination, I work as the Social Media Manager for a online fiction magazine called Under The Fable. So yesterday I was working on promoting the magazine, and trying to sort out a venue for a poetry tour the magazine is doing, as well as searching for a summer job, and I just stopped and realised that I was acting like an adult. It was one of those cartoon moments. I just stared at my screen for a while I tried to take the fact that I'm an adult in. I put down my laptop, went upstairs and put on my dinosaur onesie, then came back downstairs to carry on with work. If I am going to be an adult, I might as well have fun. I may now be an adult, but it doesn't mean I have to be a serious adult.