Review: The Maze Runner

I saw 'The Maze Runner' last year in the cinemas but didn't think to review it at the time. So last night I watched it again, just to see what I thought of it now. I really liked it at the time, but it's one of this movies where so much is happening that doesn't make sense, you have to watch it at least twice to really make your mind up about it.

It's another dystopian future themed movie based on a series of books. This is the first in the series, with the second movie due for release sometime this year. I actually quite enjoy this genre. I like delving into post-disaster worlds that people create because even the ones that appear similar on the surface usually turn out to be completely different (I'm saying this with everyone who called 'Divergent' a 'Hunger Games' rip off in mind, because I personally couldn't find a ton of similarities to those series). 

'The Maze Runner' revolves around a young dude name Thomas, who wakes up in a metal box that is being elevated upwards. When he reaches the top he is found by a group of other young dudes. He can't remember anything but his name and has no idea where he is, just like the other guys. It turns out that every month for the past couple of years a new guy arrives memoryless in the box with supplies. They are in the middle of an enormous maze that is patrolled by 'grievers', which are basically massive ugly, spidery killing machines. Each day 'runners' go out into the maze to try and find a way out. Thomas becomes a runner (duh) and become determined to get himself and his new friends out. Not long after his arrival another box is delivered. This time the only thing in it is a girl with a note saying 'She's the last one ever'. It then becomes imperative that Thomas, the girl and the other guys find a way to beat the grievers and find a way out of the maze in order to survive. 

THE GOOD:

The idea behind this story is a great one. I've read a lot of books and watched a lot of movies in this genre and I haven't really seen one like this. I like that the author of the books was clearly unafraid of coming across as sexist. Don't get me wrong, as a woman I love a good story with a kick arse heroine, but I think sometimes authors and screenplay writers get a little too concerned with coming across sexist and end up missing the mark. I have no problem whatsoever with a story mostly comprised of male characters. What I look for in stories is a group of characters that are distinct and original. 

The group of actors chosen for this movie works really well. They provide the right amount of suspense and drama without overacting. I haven't read the books, so I went into this (the first time) not having the foggiest idea what it was about. All I could figure was that there would be a big maze at some point. With that in mind, I love the storyline of the movie. It really keeps you guessing. Just when you think you kind of know what's happening it changes gear and throws you in another direction. 

THE BAD:

The character Gally absolutely shit me to tears. I'm guessing he was supposed to, but for most of the movie I just wanted to slap him and tell him to stop being such a massive baby. Also, right at the end, after they've clearly left him behind in the 'Glade', which is the place they live in the middle of the maze, he shows up out of the blue and there's no explanation as to how that was even possible. I watch CinemaSins on YT all the time and all I could think was that they would totally sin the crap out of that.  

Some of filming choices were a little disorienting at times. For example, in the scene when the grievers attack them in the Glade, it's so dark you can barely see it properly and they have a lot of running shots, which are really bumpy. I get where they were coming from by having those, but I think the technique might have been a little overused.

THE OVERALL:

I really enjoyed this movie. It was different from other in its genre, though my personal favourite is still Divergent. I think the casting was great and the story itself was nice and suspenseful. Apart from the possible overuse of a filming technique, nothing else felt over done in the movie (except for the screen time Gally had, but hey, I just didn't like the dude). I give kudos to the actor who played Gally, because it's very rare that I seriously hate a character. I think when you hate a character to an irrational degree you can thank the actor for doing his job so wonderfully. It's easy to like characters, but I think it must take so much extra effort to make a character really hate-able. The last character I hated to such a degree was the Governor on 'The Walking Dead'. Anyone who watches that show knows what I'm talking about. If you're in to all these dystopian-type movies (and books), I would definitely suggest giving this a go! 


   

First Impressions: Eve Lom Radiance Perfected Tinited Moisturiser (Alabaster)

Okay, so this was supposed to go up yesterday but I was really lazy yesterday, like taking-a-nap-lazy so I pretty much did nothing. Anyway, the review I'm bringing you today was drafted yesterday, so it's still a 'First Impressions', you guys are just getting it a day late. 

Like the Ellis Faas foundation, this is a super expensive product ($96) and I was comparing it to one of my HG foundations, NARS Sheer Glow (in Siberia).

11:00 AM:

Unlike the Ellis Faas stuff, I decided to leave the sponge for the day (mostly because walking all the way into the bathroom to wash it. Gross, I know) and use my Models Prefer flat top buffing brush. Mistake. It did not apply nicely with the buffing brush at all. In all the time I've had that brush I've never had a foundation not apply nicely with it. I know the NARS one does. I ended up trudging into the bathroom to wash my RT sponge so I could try to blend out the mess I created. 

I'm not a fan of foundations that aren't versatile enough to be applied by different methods. Sometimes my sponge is dirty and I don't want to walk the 12 feet to my bathroom an wash it. Sometimes I just want to use a brush. Sometimes that brush is really dense, sometimes it's my soft and fluffy. 

So basically it took me twice as long to apply it as it should have because it really didn't like my brush. Not happy so far. 

The finish once it was blended out was okay. I liked it a little better than the Ellis Faas, but it still wasn't great. I will say that the coverage is great considering it's a tinted moisturiser. 

4:00 PM:

Most of it had completely faded off by about an hour ago and now it's really patchy. Honestly there's really not a lot else to say about it. By this time laziness had well and truly set in, so unfortunately I forgot about taking a 'update' photo. Sorry!

OVERALL:

Another miss for me. Something else I noticed about this stuff is the smell. It's not awful, but I didn't enjoy it and I could still smell it, even when most of it had worn off. I know it's a tinted moisturiser, so I have no problem with the fact that it was mostly gone by 4:00, but I do wonder how they can justify $96 for this stuff. Yes, it had good coverage, but so does Sheer Glow. Also I get a better finish when I mix Sheer Glow with my Aveeno moisturiser than this stuff gave me. I was not at all impressed at the fact that it took a wet sponge to blend it out after applying it with a brush. I'm definitely grateful to the girl in Mecca who helped me out and gave me both samples to try, but I think I'm definitely going to just pick up another bottle of the Sheer Glow. It's cheaper, more versatile and most importantly, it's better. 

First Impressions: Ellis Faas Skin Veil Foundation (Shade s101)

I went into Mecca Cosmetica yesterday thinking I was going in to repurchase a bottle of my beloved NARS Sheer Glow. Turns out I was actually going in to suss out what other foundations I could try. I couldn’t help myself. Once I was in the presence of all that makeup my mind went into overdrive trying to figure out which section to check out first. Sheer Glow kind of became an afterthought, after all I’ve already tried it! After my little shopping trip (in which I purchased no foundation but instead opted for the Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil) I came home with three different foundation samples. I got the Eve Lom Tinted Moisturiser, Guerlain Parure de Lumiere and the subject of today’s review, Ellis Faas Skin Veil Foundation.

This was supposed to be a trilogy, with a ‘First Impressions’ each day for three days, but it’s only to be two now because when I swatched the Guerlain on my arm this morning, not only was it a bit too dark, but it also started stinging and itching. Suffice to say I won’t be applying it to my face.

Without any further ado let’s get stuck into the review. I’m going to break it up into three sections to coincide with how often I checked up on the wear of it.

12:00 PM:

I applied the foundation with my Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge, just like I do with most of my liquid foundations. Right off the bat I wasn’t impressed with the application. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t awful, but for $110 a bottle I expected a hell of a lot better. Just so you know, I’m comparing both of the foundations to the Sheer Glow because it’s the benchmark they have to live up to in order for me to even consider purchasing them. With that in mind, as soon as I apply the Sheer Glow it looks amazing, especially when using the sponge. Actually this is the first high end foundation I’ve ever tried that hasn’t made me look instantly airbrushed by using the sponge. In the photos below I have myself after moisturising and primer but before foundation and then after the foundation was applied, and finally after I applied the rest of my makeup.

Like I said, it’s okay, but not great. So far I’m nowhere near as impressed as I was told I would be. I’ve barely heard a bad word uttered about this stuff, and I just don’t get it. Not at the ridiculous price point it’s at anyway. Oh, and just so you know, I know how crap the photos are in this post, but I think it's also because I wasn't enjoying the foundation and felt a little self-conscious about it. Basically I just wanted to take the photos quickly haha! 

4:00 PM:

So the foundation’s been on for about four hours now and it hasn’t really changed in appearance at all, except for one section. Around my mouth and on my chin it’s gone really cakey. I don’t think you can see it in the photo below (in which I'll ask you excuse my squinty eyes, it was really sunny when i took it), but trust me, it was. When I first applied the foundation I had trouble blending it into that section, and I’m pretty disappointed to see it’s gotten worse. As for the rest of my face it’s okay, but I’m still not happy with it.

10:00 PM:

Hour 10 and the foundation is definitely looking worse for wear. I never really expect a foundation to last this long anyway, but when comparing it to my Sheer Glow, it’s looking much worse than the Sheer Glow does as this point. By the 10 hour mark with the Sheer Glow the foundation is starting to go a little bit patchy, but it’s still mostly there and if I were to simply touch up with a bit of powder I think it would be right for another few hours. With the Ellis Faas I feel like to get a half decent finish again I would pretty much have to wash it off and start again. Now, this isn’t a huge problem. I rarely wear makeup for too much longer than 10 hours anyway, but at $110 you kind of want a freaking miracle from the foundation. The photo below shows the state of the foundation at hour 10.

OVERALL:

To this foundation I just say no. It doesn’t apply anywhere near as easily and nicely as the Sheer Glow and it’s nearly double the price. Personally even if I loved this foundation I would have a very, very hard time trying justify the purchase to myself. In a way I’m almost glad it disappointed me. It takes away the angst I would feel if I loved it but couldn’t afford it. I’m sure that the people who rave about this aren’t completely out of their minds. The whole reason I’ve been wanting to try this for ages is because Wayne Goss loves it and gave it such a great review, and since he’s so awesome, I tend to believe him. After all, he turned out to be right about the Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Stick (once I found the right moisturiser)! Unfortunately I can’t jump on his bandwagon with this one. There are so many other foundations out there that are absolutely beautiful which will not require a mortgage, your soul and your first born to be able to afford. 

Review: NYX Love in Paris Palette (Madeleines and Macaroons)

Today’s review is of a little NYX palette I bought just before Christmas. I got this because I wanted something compact to take on my holiday so I only needed it and my UD Naked Basics palette.

THE GOOD:

The colours in this a really pretty and there’s a good selection, despite it only being a little ‘neutral’ type palette. I like that the packaging is sleek and compact. It makes it so easy for travel. It was also really inexpensive, just like pretty much all of NYX’s products.

THE BAD:

Yep, that was it for the good stuff. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was with this palette. Apart from maybe one or two shades, there is absolutely no decent colour payoff to the shades. It’s pathetic really. You can tell from the swatch photo below that the colours are weak. The worst part is that these swatches were done after I practically created a dent trying to get some sort of colour payoff for the photo. I’m just at a loss for words to describe how much I dislike this palette. I’m so glad it was only about $15 because I would have been really mad if I’d paid a lot for crap quality like this.

THE OVERALL:

This palette sucks. It just sucks so bad. I don’t know if I got a dud or if they’re all like this, and I have no intention of finding out. I don’t think I will ever buy NYX eyeshadow again. Just a big ol’ disappointment for me this time.

Review: The Water Diviner by Andrew Anastasios & Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios

Last week I finished reading ‘The Water Diviner’. It was written by Andrew Anastasios and Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios. Andrew was a co-writer on the script for the film starring Russell Crowe, which I unfortunately missed at the cinema and will now have to wait until its DVD release before I can watch and review it.

The book follows the story of Joshua Conner, an Australian man whose sons went missing after the landing at Gallipoli in World War I. After the death of his wife, Conner ventures over to Turkey in search of his sons so they might be buried next to their mother. Along the way he discovers that his eldest son may have survived and the recovery mission becomes a rescue mission. He befriends a young Turkish boy, who he feels a kinship with. He also forms a bond with a Turkish soldier who fought at Gallipoli against his sons and the other Australians.

THE GOOD:

This is a very compelling story. While I was reading the book, I was constantly intrigued. I wanted to delve deeper and deeper with Conner as he travelled through his story. The story is very well researched. The attention to detail in the flashbacks of the battle scenes is amazing. They didn’t shy away from the gory and terrifying parts of the war. From what I understand, the authors took inspiration from actual accounts from the war.

Another part of the story I loved is the fact that there were no ‘bad guys’ or ‘good guys’ in the story. It would have been very easy for the authors to paint the Turkish soldiers in a bad light, but that didn’t happen at all. In fact, the Turkish characters are the heart of the story. Without them Conner’s story would have been very different and possibly terrible to read. It displays excellently how war is not about ‘good guys’ versus ‘bad guys’. War is terrible on all sides and each side is fighting for something they are will to kill and die for. This book understands and shows that.

THE BAD:

I’m going to be real. It’s not that well-written. Now, it’s no Fifty Shades of Grey. That is the worst written book I have ever read (I mean, didn’t she have a thesaurus? Why was the chick ‘flushed’ all the time?). The thing with this book is that I was very aware that these people seemed very inexperienced in novel writing. If the story was so compelling I probably wouldn’t have made it past the first few chapters. The chapters before he gets to Turkey were so hard to get through. They seemed all over the place and like the authors were trying to cram way too much information into them.

The only other problem I had was that on top of not being well written, it wasn’t edited all that well either. I found multiple mistakes, including spelling mistakes. At one point I found the word ‘they’ where the word ‘the’ should have been. To be honest, I was a bit embarrassed for them. I would feel bad if I had worked so hard on a book only to have it published with such silly little mistakes that shouldn’t have been missed.

THE OVERALL: 

I really liked this book. Once I got past the first chapters I was engrossed in the story. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested in war history and wants a realistic fictional story. I will issue this warning though: the scenes in which battle conditions are talked about are fairly graphic. The authors obviously wanted to be as realistic as fiction would allow them, and some of the scenes can be confronting. If this isn’t the kind of thing you would be okay reading, I would stay away. It’s a shame it wasn’t better written and edited. It could have been a truly spectacular read if it was. 

Review: Wild

So yesterday my beautiful bestie and I decided we were going to do something different and go for walks around some national parks and animal sanctuaries. I had even planned on doing a blog on our little adventure, complete with tons of pictures and funny anecdotes. But alas, the temperature was a son of a bitch. I think it was about 35 degrees (and the ‘Real Feel’ on my phone said 44). It was so hot!! So, we decided to go shopping and then to a movie. On the upside, I got a post out of the day anyway.

We decided to see ‘Wild’, since Kate really wanted to see it. Honestly, I wasn’t too concerned with it at all. It wasn’t on my list to see, but I’m willing to watch anything I can get a review out of.

Here’s what the movie is about:

Cheryl Strayed, played by Reese Witherspoon decides to walk 1,100 miles (around 1,800km). The movie is told in flashbacks of her memories while she journeys along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). At age 22 her mother, played by Laura Dern passed away suddenly. This sent Cheryl spiralling for the next few years, while she tried to quell her all-consuming grief, until it culminated in her decision to walk the PCT.

THE GOOD:

I went into this thinking it would bore me a bit, and be kind of mushy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for inspirational movies, but I prefer the ones that are more real and raw in their emotions. I don’t really go in for the ‘feel-good’ inspirational stuff (unless it’s ‘The Blind Side’, that’s awesome). With that in mind, it was with trepidation that I entered that cinema and sat down. I was wrong.

This movie is most certainly inspirational, but there is nothing ‘feel good’ about her journey. She battled death, divorce, drugs and drowning in her own grief and self-loathing. It didn’t shy away from real parts of life, which let’s face it, can be utterly disgusting sometimes. For example, she can’t figure out her gas burner and has to eat ‘cold mush’ for days, resulting in a shot of her ‘cold mush poo’. Yep, poo. She covered it with rocks, but still. Also, the movie opens with her removing her boot to find one of her big toe nails hanging mostly off. Yuck! Even more disgusting is her pulling it off completely. Double yuck! Despite being grossed out, I was also highly impressed by the movies decision not to shy away from that kind of stuff. It’s real and the movie would have been less without it.

The chemistry between Witherspoon and Dern is great. Even when they’re at odds it works. The same goes for Witherspoon’s chemistry with her other co-stars. The best performance from her, however, comes in the scenes where she’s alone on the trail. She goes through a barrage of emotions; happy, angry, frustrated, frightened, starving, disgusted (mostly with her own personal hygiene). Witherspoon helps you get lost with her and helps you feel what Cheryl is feeling.

THE BAD:

I can’t fault this movie too much, but it isn’t flawless. One thing I found a little hard to swallow was Witherspoon as a junior in college. It wasn’t necessarily her age, although I think a 38 year old playing an 18 year old is a bit of a stretch. I think she looked too experienced. Although her scenes with Dern were fantastic, I still couldn’t help but think ‘gee, they can’t have that much of an age gap in real life’ (I was right by the way, they’re only about 10 years apart).

The only other bigger issue I found with the movie is that you don’t really know that it’s about to end until she’s speaking the final lines, of which the last word is ‘Wild’, which I found a little cliché. I don’t necessarily think it ended badly, but it kind of just ended. She does mention the life she will go one to have, but for me, it didn’t feel like it was time to roll credits.

THE OVERALL:

I really enjoyed this movie. I don’t think it’ll come close to being the best movie I see this year (that spot’s being reserved for Jurassic World), but it was definitely poignant and beautiful without being mushy and self-important. I’m not going to lie, I kind of wanted to go hiking when I left the cinemas, but then I remembered I’m lazy and not really in need of self-discovery, so I just went home instead. It also made me want to go straight out and buy the book, which I will do very soon, and review as well. I think this is a great movie. It’s not hard to watch and I definitely left feeling empowered and inspired by her story. I think the casting of Witherspoon as Cheryl was spot on and I would definitely watch this movie again. 

January 2015 Favourites

Today I am bringing you my favourite things from January. I’ve decided that this year I’ll have a healthy mix of beauty and random stuff in my monthly favourites since I really want to branch out and cover more stuff on here.

Without any further ado or babble let’s jump in!

MODELS PREFER TAPERED FACE BRUSH:

I bought this a couple of months ago (I think) and it’s really only this month that it’s been getting a real work out. I’ve used it for both blush and setting my foundation. I’ve more recently been using it for setting foundation and I love it. I love that it’s not so huge that powder gets everywhere, but it still covers a good amount of you face in one hit. It distributes my Hourglass Ambient Light Powder beautifully. It’s so soft and glides over the face so lightly that it doesn’t disturb any of the makeup it’s going over.

#GIRLBOSS BY SOPHIA AMORUSO:

I know I have a review of this, so I won’t go into too much detail, but I wanted to mention this because I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I started and finished reading it. She gave such good advice and shared some really important lessons throughout the book. It’s so well-written and so easy to read. I highly recommend it!

M.A.C. OMEGA EYESHADOW:

I love this eyeshadow!! It’s the perfect cool brown crease shade. I wear it all the time. I’ll either wear it just in the crease, with a light shade over the lid or I’ll just slap this baby all of the lid. The other day I wore it over the top of my Bad to the Bronze Colour Tattoo from Maybelline and it looked beautiful. Another way I have been wearing this is as a contour. I find it hard to find a contour that I like, and this guy has been working a treat. It’s great because I can be really light-handed with it and it makes my contour look really natural. It makes me want to bother with contouring, which is very rare.

M.A.C. CREAMSHEEN IN PEACH BLOSSOM:

This is the lipstick I mentioned in my Christmas Haul. I got this when I used my M.A.C. gift card. I’ve worn this so much this month. I don’t honestly wear a lot of lipstick. I usually stick to lip balms and tints. This has changed how I feel about lipsticks completely. It’s so creamy and lovely on the lips. It builds nicely, but it can be sheer as well. It is the perfect peachy nude for the colour of my lips and my skin tone. It looks like my lips but better!

M.A.C. BLUSH IN LOVECLOUD:

Last M.A.C. product I promise. This was the other product I got with my gift card and I literally have not worn another blush since I bought it. It is the perfect pink. Although it is a little on the cooler side, I find it to be more neutral than anything. It’s really buildable and pigmented and has the slightest sheen to it, which gives your cheeks the perfect healthy glow. I just love this so much! It’s as good, if not better than my favourite blush, which is the Estee Lauder Pure Colour Blush in Peach Passion.

BURT’S BEES ULTRA CONDITIONING BALM:

This is the best night time lip balm I have ever used. I get really dry lips and I find that this keeps them nice and hydrated all through the night. No other lip balm I have even used, not even my Benefit ones, do that. I wouldn’t recommend this under lipstick, although I do if I don’t want a tinted one, because it’s the only untinted one I have at the moment, but if you have one that’s a little less moisturising I recommend that, because lipstick and stuff can slip and slide over the top of this balm. It makes your lips look nice and supple. I just love it so much!!!!

THE FLINTSTONES:

This is a really random one, but there is a reason to the madness. I spent the better half of this month with a terrible ear infection. I felt terrible and spent a lot of time lying in bed like a miserable bump. Usually when I’m sick I opt for watching my ‘Star Wars’ collection (yes, even Episode One), but I felt like watching ‘The Flintstones’ this time. So, I cracked out my DVDs. I have seasons one to three, and I like that there’s about seven episodes on each disc, so I didn’t have to get up to change them. I grew up watching this show. My mum use to tape them in the morning for me when I was a kid. She even sat there and took all the ads out, so the VHS was just straight cartoons, no ads. I still love this show (and I’m not embarrassed!) and am glad I had the DVDs on hand.

NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL BY LENA DUNHAM:

This isn’t a shocker. I’ve completely fallen in love with Lena Dunham and this book really cemented that. I’m hooked on her now, and if it weren’t for all the other books on my list to read, I’d read it again and again!

BAREMINERALS FOUNDATION IN FAIR:

I rediscovered this stuff this month while I was sick. There were times when I needed to venture outside and this is the foundation I would slap on quickly. This shade is pretty much a perfect match for my skin tone, and unlike every other mineral foundation/powder I’ve tried, I don’t have a reaction to it. All the others make me red and itchy, but I don’t react at all with it. I did ever so slightly with the matte formula, which I tried first, but the original formula is totally fine. It looks beautiful on my skin, and even in the crazy heat we’ve been having here, it stays nicely throughout the day. I wore it for 12 hours yesterday and it only went patchy at about hour 10 or 11.

AUDREY HEPBURN T-SHIRT:

I got this from K-Mart for about $15 a few weeks ago and have lived in it since. I got a bigger size so it was loose and I could laze about in it. It’s so comfy and it has Audrey on it, need I say more. Audrey Hepburn is my favourite actress of all time, and I admire her wholly. I didn’t even think twice about this shirt. Usually I wouldn’t spend more than a couple of bucks on a shirt I wasn’t going to wear anywhere but the house, but this is different. It Audrey Hepburn!