The wait is over, Ivy Park has now been annouced and available to buy from Topshop online. 

We love beyonce, who doesn't right? If you are in love with her as much as we are, or even if you aren't a fan.. we can almost garuntee, you will still love her clothes! They are super edgy, quirky, comfy and not forgetting.. super sexy.

Below are a few of our fave items from Ivy Park Casualwear and Lesuirewear clothing.

Oversized Logo Hoodie by Ivy Park

Sleeveless Logo Body by Ivy Park

 

Hi everyone, ever since the news about Banksy’s Dismaland went viral on social media, I wanted to go. Not only am I a big fan of art, but visiting an anti-version of Disneyland, with an arty and society criticising twist excited me for weeks. After a long, draining and nerve-wrecking chase for the tickets, my visit happened today and I can’t tell you how upset, angry and disappointed I am. I do mean it honestly and not in the literal sense how the place likes to market itself as being the most depressing place on earth.

I do get that Dismaland is a place to criticise amusement parks, in particular Disneyland for beeing corrupt and money greedy, and also wants to confront visitors with our distorted images of society. The staff is meant to be unhelpful and grumpy, the park itself is meant to leave you dismal and upset. Well, it certainly has. I came back home crying, because I was angry about how the place handled the situation. Security comes first but they didn't make any move towards a contact person or what's going to happen. People invested time and money to travel to see that once in a lifetime masterpiece of art and then they don't even have the respect to offer anything? They even had the audacity to still charge £5 for their tour guides. 

We made our way into town to find 'somewhere nice' for tea and coffee. However, this is Weston, and finding a place was hard. We ended up in Nero's having some cake and a hot chocolate. Unfortunately, both couldn't restore my world. I may sound overdramatic here, but I get very sulky and moody if I feel frustrated, uncomfortable and upset, and that was definitely the case. This day was meant to be special and also a little treat for my friends and family. I'm not a person who can brush things like that off easily and be all smiley and happy when things go wrong. So I'd really like to apologise to my friends who had to see me so devastated and cope with my miserable self. 

Before we left, a few people tweeted me kindly, that Dismaland potentially-maybe re-opened in the evening. Well, staying until then wasn’t an option, because Alex's mum has two dogs at home which we didn’t want to leave for 8h+ on their own, plus it had a reason, why I wanted to see Dismaland during the day time. When we left at 5pm the winds got even stronger, so I don't think anything would have changed later on.

Update: No Refunds For Dismaland Tickets

Only by accident did I come across this account on Twitter. I shared it on my feed and hope, other visitors that day have seen it. I've asked a few times if they can let me know any contact details for the Dismaland management or the organisers, as there are no information given on the official Dismaland website. They hide somewhere and completely ignore the fact, that this is a serious customer issue.

Like many other people who visited that day, I can't make another trip to the park. I don't live in the UK so a return to Weston within the opening period of Dismaland isn't doable for me. I know Dismaland is all 'lols dismal' but given the situation they should take their customers serious. After all, the artists accuse Disneyland to be a company full of corruption, manipulation and greed for money. I really get mixed messages here, for what Banksy's amusement park stands for and what it actually practices. This has nothing to do with art anymore and please decide for yourself if you feel a trip to Dismaland is worth your time and money.

16/09: I still haven't had any reactions from Dismaland's management or the organisers regarding a refund for my non-existent experience at the park. I've tweeted a few times to the North Somerset account to please let me know any contact details, but it comes at no surprise, that they've been ignoring my requests. Cleverly, there's no contact information given on Dismaland's official website.

Thank you so much for reading today's post and I'm sorry it has had a slight upsetting undertone. I can't help it. I'm probably fine tomorrow but for now, I can't express how disappointed I am. I feel robbed of my time and the opportunity to experience the exhibition. I wanted to see Dismaland and experience it to the fullest, yet it has been a rather surreal and upsetting afternoon for me. I've missed out on an experience which I didn't want to miss out on. Life certainly isn't a fairytale but I didn't need Banksy to tell me this. I knew this already.

Till next time,

xx CAZ xx

Blog post written by Style Lingua

If you noticed this edition of 'Random Facts' blog series is food-centric. Do we have something in common? Don't be shy and feel free to share.

I love my Urban Decay Naked palettes with a passion, but at £38.00 per palette, it is an expensive love.

I had heard that W7 did good dupes for the Nakeds at just £5.99 per palette (although you can pick some of them up for less in B&M).

I decided to see what all the fuss was about and how well they stacked up against my beloved Nakeds.

I apologise for the swatches being on paper, but my arm was starting to react to all the swatching I have been doing!

URBAN DECAY NAKED VS W7 LIGHTLY TOASTED

Straight away, the W7 palette has nicer packaging, although the brush isn’t as good, and there is no mirror.  I have never been a fan of the velvet texture on the Naked palette as it can be really hard to keep clean.

From left to right, you can see that the shades on both palettes look almost identical.

NAKED

LIGHTLY TOASTED

There is very little difference between the two palettes with these shades.  The pigmentation is slightly better on the Naked palette but both are so similar (and there was quite a bit of fallout and kick up with some shades on both palettes).

NAKED

LIGHTLY TOASTED

Again, the W7 palette matches the Naked palette shade for shade.  The quality of colour payoff and pigmentation varies on the second half of the palettes – some are better in the Naked palette and some are better in the W7 palette.  Again, fallout and kick up was a bit of an issue, but not massively so.

VERDICT ~ I am super impressed with how good a dupe Lightly Toasted is.  Naked has the slight edge when it comes to quality, but when you consider the price difference between the two palettes, then the W7 palette is a great option if you don’t want to spend too much money.

URBAN DECAY NAKED 2 VS W7 IN THE BUFF

The packaging on these two palettes is quite similar, but again the Urban Decay brush is better.

At first glance, from left to right, the palettes are almost identical, with a couple of slight exceptions.

NAKED 2

IN THE BUFF

The first half of both palettes are pretty much identical.  Pigmentation wise, the Naked 2 palette just has the edge, but the colours look unbelievably close to each other.

NAKED 2

IN THE BUFF

The second half of the palettes are slightly less similar than the first.  Some of the shades are almost the same, but there are a couple, such as Busted and Thunder, and Blackout and Onyx that aren’t as good a match as they could have been.

VERDICT ~ overall, the W7 palette is lovely, and is an almost perfect dupe for Naked 2, but the last couple of shades let it down.  Quality-wise, again, Urban Decay is better, but In The Buff almost matches it for colour payoff.

URBAN DECAY NAKED 3 VS W7 IN THE NUDE

The packaging is again very similar, with a rose gold metal tin with gold writing, although the Naked 3 is by far the prettier one.  I was surprised to realise that I have never done a full review of Naked 3, so if any of you would like one then please comment.

Again, at first glance from left to right, you can see that the majority of the shades look very similar, but maybe not as closely as the previous palettes have done.

NAKED 3

IN THE NUDE

The first half of both palettes look identical to each other.  There was very little difference between pigmentation and colour payoff too.

NAKED 3

IN THE NUDE

The second half of the W7 palette doesn’t match up quite as well to Naked 3 as the first half did.  The shades are similar but aren’t the same.  I also found that there was a lot of fallout with the W7 palette compared to the Urban Decay.

VERDICT ~ The first 6 shades of In The Nude are a perfect dupe for Naked 3, but it is let down by the second half of the palette.  For me, Naked 3 is by far the better palette, although the W7 was close to getting it right, just not close enough.

URBAN DECAY NAKED SMOKY VS W7 IN THE NIGHT

I don’t think that the W7 is supposed to be a Naked Smoky dupe, but seeing as they are both smoky palettes, I thought that I would include them.  The packaging on Naked Smoky is beautiful and makes the W7 palette look a little tacky in comparison.

These palettes don’t match up from left to right like the others have done, but you can see that there are some similar shades.  The swatches have been done from left to right, so whilst the shades won’t look the same, you will be able to see some shades that look alike.

NAKED SMOKY

IN THE NIGHT

The first half of the palettes are quite similar, although not identical.  The Urban Decay shades are more pigmented than the W7 ones by quite a long way.

NAKED SMOKY

IN THE NIGHT

The second half of the palettes are where the biggest differences are.  In The Night has more pink and purple shades than Naked Smoky.  In terms of quality, again the Urban Decay shades have the edge.

VERDICT ~ Whilst not being an exact dupe for Naked Smoky, the W7 palette is a nice palette and has plenty of shades to create a variety of different smoky eye looks.  It isn’t as lovely as Naked Smoky though, but it depends what colours you like to use.

1 LOOK 2 PALETTES

I decided to try to create a makeup look, using an Urban Decay palette on one eye and a W7 palette on the other.  I did this twice, with Naked and Lightly Toasted, and Naked 2 and In The Buff.  I would have carried on and done it with the other palettes, but my eyes needed a little break from makeup.

For this look, I used Naked on the right eye (left on the picture) and Lightly Toasted on the other eye.

Base ~ Virgin (UD) and Teddy Bear (W7)

Inner Corner ~ Sin (UD) and Wonderland (W7)

Crease ~ Smog & Hustle (UD) and Di Di & It’s A Dream (W7)

Lid ~ Half Baked (UD) and Twister (W7)

For this look I used Naked 2 and In The Buff.

Base & Inner Corner ~ Booty Call (UD) and Sand (W7)

Crease ~ Busted (UD) and Thunder (W7)

Lid ~ YDK (UD) and Wave (W7)

The looks were done super quickly just to give a quick visual at how similar the palettes are.

Overall, I still prefer Urban Decay but that’s because I have a real love of higher-end palettes.  However, if you are on a budget, or object to the high prices of the Naked palettes, then the W7 palettes are really good dupes, and amazing quality when you consider the fact that they are just £5.99 each.

Have you tried the dupes? Do you prefer high end palettes, or are you of the opinion that you don’t need to spend a lot of money when it comes to eyeshadows?

Blog post by - Beauty by The Bunny