How To Find New Music

Over the last couple weeks, I have been getting a little tired of listening to the same music repeatedly, and went on a hunt for new music. My tastes change frequently, and I love discovering new music to listen to. This post will talk about how to discover amazing new songs and artists, and how to keep your playlists fresh and interesting.

Hit Charts

The first, and probably most common way to discover new music is by looking at lists of current top songs. This shows what everyone is listening to right now and what they are loving. Some of the most common charts you can look at are the Billboard Top 100, iTunes most popular songs, and Spotify's top songs. I like to look at music that is currently popular in other countries (some of my favorites are England, Australia, and the Czech Republic) because music from other areas of the world can be really different than what is popular in your own country, and can give you a bigger variety of songs to listen to.

Pandora Radio

Another popular way of discovering new music is through Pandora radio (or apps like it). You can look for certain genres of music, artists that are similar to your favorites, and top songs in your area. This has been my way of getting new music for a long time, and I have had a lot of success with discovering new music to listen to. One of my favorite Pandora stations to listen to is Lorde Radio. Most of the music on that station has a really unique feel, including a lot of synthpop and some pop punk songs.

Spotify

My favorite way of discovering new music is through Spotify. In case you don't know what that is, Spotify is a free music app that you can download on your computer or phone. You can look up mostly any song that you want to listen to, and you can also make playlists that people can follow. The social networking part of it is helpful because you can see what your friends are listening to, which can help you discover new songs. There is a section of spotify that is full of public playlists that you can listen to. There are playlists for almost every mood, situation, genre, time period, and age group. There are also always up and coming artists that promote their music here.

Blogs

If you want to find music that people online love and that might not be well known to everyone, blogs are the way to go. If you search for music blogs or popular blogs on Google, you can probably find tons of blogs that frequently post about music they are currently listening to. They also provide their opinions on the songs and sometimes give detailed descriptions of what the music is like. There is one blogger I go to a lot for new songs to listen to, and I have not been disappointed yet. And hey, this is also a blog that you can go to to discover new music.

Google Search/Youtube

This one might seem kind of obvious for some people, but Google search is also a great way to find new music. It might be kind of tedious and hard to find songs that you think are good at first, but with some patience it will eventually become easier to find what you are looking for. Also, if you go to Youtube and listen to a song you like, you can find suggestions for other songs on the right side of the page.

Some of My Current Favorite Songs

5 Years Time-Noah and the Whale

Applause-Lady Gaga

Earned It-The Weeknd

East of Eden-Zella Day

Elastic Heart-Sia

Empty Gold-Halsey

Hideaway-Kiesza

Home-Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Immortal-Marina and the Diamonds

Lost In the World-Kanye West, Bon Iver

Me-The 1975

Night Changes-One Direction

Riptide-Vance Joy

Run-Daughter

Sweet Ophelia-Zella Day

The Driver-Bastille

The Wire-Haim

Ugly Heart-GRL

You're Mine-Lea Michele

Four Five Seconds-Rihanna, Kanye West, Paul McCartney

Firestone-Kygo, Conrad

Flowers In Your Hair-The Lumineers

Hold Back The River-James Bay

I Choose You-Sara Bareilles

I Lived-OneRepublic

Run Daddy Run-Miranda Lambert, Pistol Annies

Your Bones-Of Monsters and Men

Into the Lair-Zedd

Great Clothing Sites You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Hello, everyone. Today I thought I would do a post about some online clothing websites I love that aren't as well known as other websites. Most of these online shopping sites offer a variety of styles of clothing, shoes, accesories, and some beauty products. The prices range from really cheap (with great quality products that are almost always on sale) to a little more expensive but worth the money. 

Sheinside

I got introduced to this website by someone on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago, and I love their selection of clothing. I have not actually bought anything from here yet, but looking at some of the reviews on items it seems like most of the customers are pleased with the things they recieved. Most of their items are on sale (this dress shown is less than $15, which is a pretty good price), and right now they are doing an event where when you register for the website, you get to spin a prize wheel, with the possibility of winning free things.

Yes Style

This website is a men and women's fashion website that is based in Asia. They offer a large selection of casual clothing, shoes, and accesories that will make you stand out from the crowd in a good way. New members get 10% off until February 15, and if your order is over $25 you get free shipping. I ordered the shoes in the picture two weeks ago, and they just arrived yesterday. At the time I ordered them there was a sale going on so I ended up only spending $35 total. The shoes are excellent quality, and really easy to walk in. They were shipped from China, so it took a while for them to get here (about two weeks) but it was worth the wait.

Romwe

This website is my all-time favorite online shopping website. Out of all the stores I mention, this one is definitely the strangest but most memorable store (at least to me). Some of their items include t-shirts and bathing suits that have cans of tomato soup prints, My Little Pony themed sweatshirts, and dresses with famous paintings (the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper to name a few) printed on them. They also have items that are not as strange, like simple black skirts and comfortable sweaters. Some of their items (but not all) can be a little more pricey, but if you are looking for outfits that are not like anyone else's, it is well worth the extra money. A couple years ago, I bought a pair of galaxy print leggings and a galaxy print scarf from this website, and was really happy with the quality of the items. The leggings are super comfortable (and surprisingly go good with a lot of outfits), and the scarf is really light and a great accessory. This website is also based in Asia so it might take a week or two for your order to arrive, but once again it is well worth the wait.

Miss Selfridge

Miss Selfridge is a website that specializes in women's clothing. They sell elegant dresses, shirts, and skirts, and also some basic clothing items. Most of their items are under $100, and they are currently having an awesome sale. The dress shown is originally $95, but it is now marked down to $18. I have not bought anything from here, but the reviews for their items are good, and I will definitely be keeping this website on my list of places to shop. 

Song Suggestions-February 2015

It's been a while since I have done song suggestions, mostly because I have been too busy to find new songs to listen to, but I have some free time now to share some of my current favorite songs with you. This playlist is a mix of happy and upbeat songs, accoustic and relaxed songs, and mildly depressing songs. Some of the songs are older (from a couple years ago), but they are still great songs that some people might not have listened to before.

1. Noah and the Whale-5 Years Time

2. Zella Day-East of Eden

3. Halsey-Empty Gold

4. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros-Home

5. Kanye West, Bon Iver-Lost In the World

5. One Direction-Night Changes

6. Vance Joy-Riptide

7. Daughter-Run

8. Haim-The Wire

9. Lea Michele-You're Mine

10. Lorde-White Teeth Teens

How To-Dramatic Smoky Eye Look

Today I was going to go to the bike trail at my school and take some nature pictures, but it started raining so I decided to do a makeup tutorial instead. Instead of imitating a look I found on the internet, I created my own version of the dramatic smoky eye look. This makeup look is really good if you want to enhance the shape and color of your eyes without going too over the top with eyeshadow colors.

What you will need:

White eyeshadow

White pencil eyeliner

Black eyeshadow

Black pencil eyeliner

Black liquid eyeliner

Any other powder, foundation, lipstick, etc. that you use

Step One:

Apply white eyeshadow to your entire eyelid. Make sure to apply enough so you can see it well (I put about 3 or 4 coats on). Then put white eyeliner in the inner corners of your eyes (a couple mm or longer on the top and bottom), and draw a thin line about 2 mm long going out from the inner corner of your eye.

Step Two:

Apply a couple layers of black eyeshadow (enough to be visibly dark) on the outer half of your eyelids. Use a slightly damp eyeshadow brush to blend the black and white eyeshadows together where the two colors meet so you don't have a noticeable border. (I blended the right eye in the first picture so you could see the difference, but accidentally did it too much. If you accidentally put the black too far over like I did in the picture, just add a little bit of white eyeshadow over top to fix it).

Step Three:

Apply a very thin layer of black pencil eyeliner to the bottom of your eyes, making sure not to draw over the white eyeliner. 

Step Four:

Carefully draw the outline of a wing using the liquid eyeliner, then fill in the outline. I did not put liquid eyeliner over the whole top of my eyelid, just wings in the outer corners.

Step Five:

Add any extra makeup (powder, foundation, lipstick, mascara, etc.) and enjoy! This is the final product:

One last comment: if you get any excess eyeshadow on your face while you're applying it, Neutrogena makes these awesome makeup removing cloths that are only a dollar at Walmart. They work really good and you don't have to scrub at and possibly irritate your face to get extra makeup off.

Eye Makeup-1/23/15

I decided that every couple days (or just when I feel like it), I'm going to post makeup looks that I have done on myself. Sometimes they will be looks that I imitated from other people, and sometimes they will be looks that I created. I will also give step-by-step tutorials on how to create these looks so you can try them yourself.

Yesterday, I imitated a dramatic eye makeup look that I found on Pinterest.

Makeup used:

-White or light cream colored eyeshadow

-Black eyeshadow

-Dark purple eyeshadow (optional)

-Gold eyeshadow

-Brown or maroon eyeshadow

-Black eyeliner pencil

-Black liquid eyeliner

This is the look I was going for:

And this is how it turned out on me:

I also used light powder on my face and nude colored lipstick.

*Note: The first picture I used from Pinterest is part of a bigger post that can be found at http://www.redbookmag.com/beauty/makeup-skincare/advice/g532/applying-eyeshadow/ . Those pictures and that website are not mine.

3 Fashion Websites I Love

Since I really love fashion-related things and I'm sure a lot of other people do too, I thought I would share with you my three favorite fashion websites. They are all really good creative outlets and good ways to meet other people that love fashion too.

Stardoll:

The first, and my favorite website is Stardoll. I have been a member of this website since around 2007 and it has really helped get my creativeness flowing. On Stardoll you have your own virtual person called a medoll along with a profile page and a suite.

You can also buy clothes, hair, makeup, and decor for your suite. Stardoll has a lot of different clothing brands (some of them are real life brands like Nelly, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, and Dolce and Gabanna), and they are always updating their stores so you never run out of clothing options.

Besides being able to dress up your medoll and decorate your suite, you can also create your own clothes, hair, and interior, and meet other Stardoll users.

Polyvore:

Another great website is Polyvore. On Polyvore you get to create your own looks using actual clothing items. Basically it is a collage-like website. These are some outfits I've made:

There is also a shopping feature of Polyvore where you can buy clothes from the outfits you've made.

Covet Fashion:

Covet Fashion is a mobile app that you can download. Like Polyvore, the clothes on this app are real-life clothes but instead of putting them in a collage, you put together outfits that you enter into contests. If you get enough stars on an outfit in a contest, you could win things like virtual clothing items or virtual money to buy more clothes.

You can also vote on other users' looks that they have entered into contests. 

Feel free to tell me what your favorite fashion and beauty websites are, I am always looking for new websites to join.

Book Review-The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I originally wrote this book review on GoodReads, but thought I would post it on here, too. If some of the stuff in the disclaimer came across as harsh and mean, I am not meaning it to be. I just wanted to get my point across. Enjoy!

****Spoilers Throughout This Review****
Disclaimer: Like other people that gave the book a bad review have mentioned, I am allowed to have opinions on the book that differ from other people's opinions, and I would greatly appreciate it if I didn't get hate because of what I say in my review. If you don't think you can handle negative opinions of the book, I would suggest you stop reading this review now. I know that this is a very popular book that most people love, and I respect their opinions, and I am not trying to discredit their opinions or say that they are wrong for what they think of the book. 

The only reason I gave this book two stars instead of one is because I thought some of the plot twists in the book were interesting and I felt for the characters a little bit towards the end. The Fault In Our Stars has been a book that has been at the top of my to-read list for quite some time because everyone I talked to said it was a marvelous, emotion-filled book that will leave you speechless and sad by the end. I went into the book with really high expectations and finished the book really disappointed. I just didn't find the story super deep at all and I found the characters were highly annoying. It might have something to do with the fact that I am a young adult now (19 years old) and am kind of picky and critical about the books I read, but I just didn't think the book was as great as everyone says it is.

I am aware that this is a book about two teenagers with cancer, and I understand that they are going through a lot of difficult things in their lives, but I still thought they were annoying, pretentious, hard to connect with emotionally, and their choice of vocabulary was very unrealistic. 

I thought it was nice and touching of John Green to write a book about teens with cancer, that is dedicated to a girl that died of cancer. However, I thought that he tried way too hard to try and relate to teenagers. I understand that his books are targeted mainly towards teenage girls, but I feel like he went about trying to catch their attention and relate to them the wrong way. He often used childish sounding phrases and words (one that really bothered me was "condomy problems"-I have never ever heard someone say that, ever), which I think he did to try and make his characters sound quirky and relatable, but I did not fall for it at all. It just didn't come off as relatable or cute to me.

Then other times, Hazel and Augustus used phrases and words that sounded like they came from the seventeenth century (one phrase that Augustus used that irks me is when he talks about the "metaphorical resonance" of an unused swing set. Teenagers just don't say things like that). Throughout the book, both Hazel and Augustus would randomly spew out really long, unused word-filled speeches to each other, which is something that teenagers just don't do.  Whenever I would read one of said speeches they made to each other, I couldn't help but picture them reading the speeches off of a little notecard because I just cant picture people as young as them (or anyone else for that matter) being able to come up with the stuff they said off of the top of their head. One example of this, so you know what I am talking about is here:
"I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.” 

And here:
“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.”
Like I have already mentioned, I think it is very sad that Augustus died and that both Hazel and Augustus have cancer, but I could not really connect to their characters because I find it hard to relate to characters that are as pretentious and annoying as both of them were. I know that there are a lot of highly intelligent young people with advanced vocabulary, but (not trying to sound like I know every teenager in the world, I promise) even really smart people usually cannot say really long speeches like the two examples above without actually writing them out and thinking them over first.

Some other small things that I did not like about the book are:
-The fact that Hazel went over to some guy (Augustus)'s house that she just met like an hour ago, even though he could be a (*Trigger Warning*) rapist or a psychotic killer.
-The whole thing with Augustus putting the cigarette in his mouth without lighting it and saying that he was putting the killing thing in his mouth without letting it kill him. I thought it was a neat concept when he first mentioned it, but when I actually thought about it I realized that he bought a pack of cigarettes regularly just to prove a metaphor, but he is helping cigarette companies by buying cigarettes from them.
-This might just be me being somewhat sensitive, but I thought it was really rude of Hazel and Augustus to make out in the Anne Frank house. Sure, it was supposed to be romantic and they were having a moment, but I don't think it was right of them to do that there. And the fact that everyone clapped for them (you would think people would think their behavior was rude) and the two bowed and curtsied after just made it feel unreal and like they were just putting on a show or something.
-This is just a little minor thing that I'm mostly just noting because it's something small I observed, but I thought it was kind of strange that Hazel sold that swing set to someone without asking her parents about it first. Maybe she did ask them to sell it and it was one of those things that isn't mentioned in the book, but maybe she didn't ask them and they wanted to keep it.

Now some good things about the book:
-I thought that the plot line was good. It was neat but kind of sad that Hazel and Augustus were so looking forward to meeting Peter Van Houten, only to find him to be a big disappointment. This is the part of the book that I was most engaged in, I think.  I also thought it was good that he made up for his extremely rude behavior by showing up to Augustus's funeral (even if Hazel wasn't happy about it), and I thought it was really sad when he revealed that he wrote An Imperial Affliction in memory of his daughter that died of cancer when she was eight. 
-I also thought that even though it was pretty predictable (since he would wince and stuff when Hazel would touch him), it was sad that Augustus ended up dying of cancer even though he seemed like the healthier one throughout most of the book. I didn't cry or anything (like I thought I would before I actually read the book), but I definitely felt Hazel's pain when Augustus passed.

Even though the book had some moments where I felt some emotion, over all I thought the book was disappointing and the characters were really hard to believe and like. I found it hard to really get into the book, and it was a fast read for me. Even though people have their own differing opinions and I respect their right to have their own opinions, I personally think that there are books out there about people with cancer that are way better written than the Fault In Our Stars was. A really good example of a book like this that has a good plot twist is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Also, anything written by Lurlene McDaniel. Her books are really good, but a lot of them end the same way.

Thank you for reading my review of The Fault In Our Stars. I will post reviews for other books when I finish them.