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.