First year has officially come to an end..

I have completed my final work of being a first year FCP student at Nottingham Trent University. This final term has been so busy with lots of work to do but I have really enjoyed the challenge. Being honest there were many moments of feeling stressed and feeling overwhelmed with work, but I managed my time well so I completed my work on time and did it to the best of my ability. 

Here are some photos of a few of the pages of my Promotional Plan of my brand 'Reminisce' and the scented journal product...

Harry Styles' hair cut causes mania

After Styles posted an Instagram photo of a load of hair that he had cut off, a 'fake' photo was released on social media last week. Within minutes this photo was everywhere and seen by millions and people genuinely were convinced it was actually Harry Styles. However, it was later on revealed it was a face swap which left people intrigued to still find out what he looks like.

A few photos of Styles wearing hats were revealed until eventually an actual photo of him was published which left people controversial

over their opinions of it compared to the face swap one.

French Plait (with a twist..)

Since a very young age I've always loved doing hair and trying out new hairstyles. I am forever on YouTube looking at video hair style tutorials learning new things to try out. I have always been able to do the standard, original french plait but recently wanted to learn how to do the 'on top' style. After watching numerous tutorials I could not hack it, until eventually after trying 100000 times I did the hang of it.

To start you grab three partings of hair as usual, and twist them under one another instead of over. Grabbing a piece from the side each time you continue doing this and continue to plait going under! Then as you get towards the end where you do a normal plait you literally continue plaiting as usual. I'd 100% recommend watching YouTube tutorials of this style as it is actually so simple to do and would be an ideal summer hairstyle.

Clever form of Promotion..

A new model white Range Rover was parked by Harrods in London, sprayed with graffiti paint made out to look like it had been done by a mad partner. "Cheater, it's over" and "Hope she was worth it" was all over the car which brought huge attention to the car. By midday the car was all over social media and the news, so by the end of the day pretty much the whole of the UK had seen photos of this car. It has only just been revealed however that this was all a set up and promotion plan to get people to see the car, and it definitely was!

http://www.standard.co.uk/

Dungarees and Pinafores return

I had not worn dungarees or a pinafore since I was in primary school but last week I bought both. Especially since summer is soon approaching, these are ideal outfits that are on trend yet comfy. They can be easily paired with a long sleeve crop top or jumper (weather dependent). They can also be easily dressed up or down which I absolutely love!

www.asos.com

IKEA's latest video advert

While I was flicking through trying to find something to watch on TV earlier I came across a really nice (and clever) advert. At first I was confused what was being advertised but found it so intriguing which made me want to continue watching to find out. Ikea were advertising photo albums and the video showed a young couple ageing throughout the years. It showed special moments in their lives they spent together and it emphasises the man's chair in the living room where he would sit. Then at the end it shows the chair is empty as the man has passed away and his wife is showing the photos of their memories to their grandchild. I thought it was such a nice and emotional advert which did make me stop and think for a moment the importance of keeping photo albums.

I also found it particularly interesting as for my uni fragrance product we created is a scented photo journal, and the idea of it is based on the importance of keeping the photos in a book to reminisce. 

The Sound of Silence - (Disturbed)

I am literally in love with this song! I heard it today for the first time (which surprised me when I discovered it came out on YouTube in December) 

I had heard the original many times and never actually took any notice of the lyrics and the meaning behind them. It was only until I heard this new version and heard the absolute passion and emotion in the singer's voice that I took any notice. The whole meaning of the song is based on the 'inability of people to communicate with each other.' It expresses the fact that people keep a lot of things to themselves and think a lot which is the meaning behind 'the sound of silence.'

Overall, I think it is an amazing song and have it on repeat at the moment! If you're interested definitely have a listen..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

Fragrance Brief Completed!

The past week has been crazy busy as I have been working hard on my Fragrance Brief. I wanted to make the layout of this one a lot more fun and interesting than my first brief so I looked at lots of magazine layouts and images online of fun layouts I liked.

After numerous attempts of trying to make my brief look 'cool' I eventually came up with the idea of taking inspiration from my recommendation for the big idea 'the scented journal' and I adapted the font and layout to look like a journal.

The brief describes my group's three ideas which consists of a scented journal, a mother/daughter perfume and a scented product to help people to sleep. We did lots of primary and secondary research which I have explained about in the brief and then I concluded which idea I thought would be best for the Big Idea which we will take further (The Scented Journal).

Aroma Core Fragrance Factory

I was lucky enough to visit the Aroma Core Fragrance Factory yesterday which was such a great experience. My group and I arranged for us to travel to Brixworth in Northampton and visit this factory where we got to have a tour of the place, and got to talk to one of the workers about fragrances. The tour was amazing -- I was shocked at the effort and time that goes in to actually making fragrances and the process in general.

We could smell the fragrances as soon as we got out of the cab it was crazy, and inside it was even stronger. Whilst having a tour of the place we had to take off our jewellery, wear hats, goggles and an apron.

We then got to have a long chat with one of their sales executives, Charlotte where we discussed what our project is and we told her our three ideas for our own scented product, and we got to get her opinion of what she thought of them all.

The day overall was such an experience and we were even lucky enough to get a folder full of fragrance related products like forecast magazines, scented wipes, books and notepads and more.

Here are some of the photos of the day..

Fragrance Presentation

I had my group presentation yesterday which was based on our three ideas for our own scented product. After doing lots of primary and secondary research and gathered ideas for the products, we finally decided on three ideas; scented journal, mother/daughter perfume and a sleeping scent.

We revealed and explained our ideas and in the feedback our tutors told us the idea they liked the best was the scented journal, which was my favourite too so I was happy for us to take this idea as our 'big idea.'

The idea is based on helping people to remember things in the future when they look back on their journal as the pages will be scented with the places they visited. Therefore, not only is a unique and interesting idea, but it is also designed to help people as it would help Alzheimer sufferers to trigger their memory.

Criticising Perfume Advertisements

Many fragrance advertisements (perfume in particular) have no actual story to them but are actually very random. I created these 'snapchat' design styled ways of criticising them in a funny way by adding a jokingly side to what the story is.

Fragrance Project

My new project is based on creating a new fragrance idea. We looked at existing products on the market to see what ideas and designs already exist!

I have been recording a sketchbook which includes the samples of fragrances I collected and the annotations of existing fragrance advertisements.

My slight obsession with trainers..

As I came home from JD sports yesterday and took my new pair of trainers out of their Nike box and put them on my shef along with my other trainers, the thought came to my mind..BLOG! I have always been a lover of things fashionable and comfy and the main reason I love trainers is the fact that they are of both.

It is quite ironinc to think back to being at high school and the thought of wearing trainers when meeting up with my friends or going out would not have crossed my mind. I literally would only wear boots (UGGs were a big obsession of mine for a long time) or converse. Yet today everyday I wear trainers and looking around I am not alone. Almost every person you pass in the street these days are wearing trainers, mostly either Nike or Adidas.

My two sisters and my mum are also trainer obsessed (maybe not to my level) and they are lucky enough to all be the same shoe size so share and swap their trainers with eachother so literally they wear different ones everyday. Unfortunately for me I have smaller feet so can't share their shoes but it's quite a good excuse to just buy more trainers by saying I'm not as previledged as them as they have loads between them (fair enough..?!)

When I bought yet another pair the other day my mum said 'do you seriously need another pair?' .. of course you know my reply, but they are so ideal for me as my uni accommodation is a 20 minute walk to the uni everyday. So really thank god trainers are in fashion!

'Whatever you think, think the opposite' - (Paul Arden)

The final book I read for reading week was ' Whatever you think, think the opposite.' Once again it was a book I actually really enjoyed reading and took note of some of the quotes I liked in particular.

"It is better to regret what you have done than what you haven't."   - This is my favourite quote from the book and probably out of all the four books I read. It is a motivational quote giving encouragement to go out and do things, make mistakes and learn from them as this is how we get closer to being a success. It is also better to fail and learn learn than to regret what you have not done and always wonder how different your life would be if you had done that certain thing.

"Take charge; be your own worst critic" - This makes it clear that as humans when things go wrong it is tempting to easily blame others or things, but we should not do this. Instead, we should take responsibility! You will be respected more for that.

"Sometimes the clever thing is to not be so clever." - Often people think too hard and get carried away with trying to come up with new and innovative ideas that they miss the simple, amazing ones.

"The achievement of failure"  - This quote caught my eye as I thought it was a cleverly worded quote putting two opposites in to one. However, it is actually spot on as it is so true that you learn more from making mistakes than you can imagine.

There are no rules -- Hegarty on creativity

I really enjoyed reading this book Hegarty on creativity, by Thames and Hudson and took some clever, interesting quotes from it.

"What the heart knows today, the head will understand tomorrow."  -  (James Stevens, Irish writer)
This explains that creativity lies within the heart and as people we get ideas and in our heart we will know whether it is a great idea or not so we should ignore our head and follow or heart!

"Creativity should encourage, enthuse, engage and entertain."

"Creativity is not an occupation; it's a preoccupation."  -  to be a creative you must be always working as this involves constantly looking, thinking and watching. This made me think for a few minutes as to how much I really look, think and watch things around me properly and it made me feel I need to reflect and do these things a lot more often.

"Remove your headphones!"  -  the writer put their point across that wearing headphones walking around is such a big mistake to make as people are cutting themselves from the inspiration around them. Due to the fact inspiration is all around us...,all we see, hear, smell, touch and taste help us to form new ideas, even if we don't realise it at the time. This was probably the quote that had the most impact on me in a way that it made me stop and think for a moment that I constantly have my headphones in when walking around from place to place. Whether I am walking to and from uni, going shopping to just for a general walk, I have my music on. However, I think from now onwards I will try to not always put my headphones in straight away so I can appareciate what is really going on around me and avoid missing out on any inspiration.

'It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be'

Another great book which I honestly really enjoyed reading. It takes a very interesting book to get me to keep on reading as I find I literally can get so easily distracted (literally at anything...) but I found many of the quotes inspirational and lots of them made me stop and think for a moment of their true meanings.

Here are some of these quotes I particularly liked...:

"Your vision of where or who you want to be is the greatest asset you have ..;without having a goal it is difficult to score."   I really liked this quote and found it very inspirational and encouraged me to think of what my ultimate goal of who and where I want to be is. At the moment I concluded I want to be a buyer so reflecting on this resulted in me researching ways to get in to this particular career and I read in to the career quite a lot so I gained new, beneficial knowledge of it I did not know before.

"You can achieve the unachievable"
"If you think you are unable to work for the best company in its sphere, make that your aim."
I liked these quotes because they make it clear that if you constantly think you cannot exceed your limits and get out of your comfort zone, you will only settle for 'decent' rather than 'greatness.'

"Do not seek praise, seek criticism"

"Don't promise what you can't deliver"

"Fail, fail again, fail better!"
When I first read this quote I thought it made absolutely no sense whatsoever as failing is something which we think negatively of and all try to avoid.However, this quote made me realise that it is through making mistakes that we learn and can focus on bettering ourselves until eventually we meet our goal of success.

The French Braid

Originally the french plait is rumoured to have been thought of by an 18th-century French stylist as a twist on the traditional English braid.

French plaits (aka french braids) are a handy, out of the face hairstyle that still look pretty and that an effort has been made. When I was in primary school I started to learn to french plait from watching videos and used to wear them all the time. As I got older I stopped as I thought it was a childish style up until very recently however as french plaits seems to be a hairstyle trend, especially as a sporty look. Now when I go to the gym or for a walk/ run I put my hair in two french plaits which is ideal both fashionably and practically as it keeps the hair off my face but still looks the 'sporty' part.

French plaits can also be worn as an accessory part of a hairstyle by them just being small often done on the top of the head to look like a hairband or at the side. This is a pretty style and looks like a lot more effort has been made to create it than actually is.

www.pinterest.com

www.instyle.co.uk

www.myfacehunter.com

'Damn Good Advice'

I am currently on my uni reading weeks and we were given 4 books to read. So far I have just finished my first book 'Damn Good Advice' which I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed and read it in a day. It is a life lesson book full of tips related to being a creative written by George Lois, an advertiser. I found the whole book very interesting but wanted to share some of my favourite tips mentioned;

1.) If people think you are dumb, you will spend a life time doing dumb work - Lois is encouraging people to face the reality that we should speak out and let ourselves be known to others, otherwise we will not come to people's attention of our capabilities and this will stop us moving up in our career.

2.) Never ever work for bad people!

3.) Even a brilliant idea won't sell itself -- Lois makes it clear here explaining it is only the creator who can sell their idea - it won't just become noticed itself.

4) Throughout your career be thrilled that you are doing work that you love

5.) Never listen to music when you are trying to come up with a Big Idea! -- this line particularly caught my attention as I am most definitely a music lover. However, it definitely makes sense to be in silence or just away from any distractions whilst trying to come up with a Big Idea, especially if you have a passion for music because as George Lois wrote, 'music carries people away, possibly to somewhere you do not want or need to be to discover the idea'.

Interesting Adidas Quote

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am quite the adidas fan recently and with one of my recent purchases of super star trainers I got this in the box. It was on a piece of card and as I was about to put the box away (with the rest of my random shoe boxes with absolutely nothing in) I noticed it inside and found it quite nice. It made me think what adidas may have meant by it and what I got from it was they are not interested in just the followers the approval and getting all the attenetion etc, but just care about their brand and their brand being what they want! -- I am sure this is more than likely to be completely wrong -- what message did you get from it?

Whether my idea of the meaning is right or wrong or neither, I thought it was a nice and different thing to have with the purchase and made me think of what adidas is like as a brand if anything!

Gym wear -- even on non-gym days

Two of my absolute favourite things are fashionable items and comfortable clothing -- and today due to gym wear being a fashionable thing to wear whenever, means these two combined is now possible.

Gym wear can be bought in many mass market shops today unlike before when people would most likely have to go to sports shops to buy their sports clothing. This is due to the fact sportswear, trainers in particular are a big fashion trend today and I buy my sportswear clothing and accessories from ASOS, Topshop and New Look mostly.

These days I find myself wearing leggings and trainers with a sports jacket most days --- (because they are just so nice and comfy). Even going shopping I would just put on some gym wear type clothing and be good to go, whereas this would not have been the case a couple years ago.

Below is a typical outfit I would wear going out during the day whether to the shops or for a walk -- leggings, a baggy comfy top and trainers.

Kim Kardashian is also showing a similar style as she was spotted wearing cropped leggings with trainers walking about with her sunglasses and handbag to add extra style to the outfit.

www.pinterest.com

It is also interesting as recently I joined the gym by my uni and the people there actually wear nice gym clothes. Whilst the guys mostly wear shorts or trackies with a baggy top and nike trainers mostly, the girls seem to wear coloured leggings, a vest top over a coloured sports bra with nike trainers mostly also. Although now I wear these to the gym, to be honest my gym wear does not differ much to what I wear going anywhere else haha!

GLASSES..NOT SO UNCOOL NOW

It is quite interesting thinking back to being in primary and high school when it was seen as an uncool thing to wear glasses, yet today, people are seen wearing them who do not even need them.

I never actually wore glasses in primary or high school but it only came to my attention at the start of sixth form that I actually had pretty bad eye sight. Despite this I literally did everything to avoid having to get glasses until eventually after going for an eye test and being given prescription glasses to wear.

Being honest for my time at sixth form in the beginning of getting my glasses in particular I would put them on as I entered my classes and take them off as soon as the lesson ended. The most annoying thing I find about them is the fact they ruin my make up as they print on to my face (because that's way more important than me being able to see I know). However, I soon got over this when I wore them walking from class to class and received many compliments as the ones I wore were 'geek' style big ones. Interestingly lots of people who never wore glasses before started wearing these particular style of glasses around the same time also. Many people also started wearing them that did not even have bad eye sight but just wanted to wear them by choice.

Now at uni I wear my glasses everyday -- (not actually walking around although I should) but always in my lessons and lectures and don't mind anymore as I can now think of them as partly being a fashion statement.

Also, many celebrities including Niall Horan have been seen wearing glasses as fashion items which I think has also made wearing glasses a fashionable thing these days. In One Direction's latest music video 'History' Niall is wearing large geek style frames which in fact gave me the inspiration to write this post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjmp8CoZBIo

Other celebrities including Zac Efron and Selena Gomez have also been seen wearing the large 'ray ban' style frames as shown below!

www.fanforum.com

www.tumblr.com