The Realities of a Festival

I went to T in the Park this weekend and when I was there I thought it would be interesting to make a blog post about the actual happenings of a festival and what does it actually take to get that perfect instagram worthy festival pic where the sun is setting, your decked out in UV paint enjoying the music and atmosphere? 

The band was a black, red star design it's a shame that they fastened it so tight that it hurt my wrist and had to cut it off when I got home, I'm the person who tries to keep festival bands on for as long as possible so this was quite upsetting. 

This is my sister Katie who thought her hat was the best thing ever (follow her on Instagram @katieegreenwood)

When I thought of Scotland I thought rain, cold weather i didn't plan my wardrobe for boiling sunny days so I ended up sweltering in shirts on the last day I gave up the 'fashion student status' and opted for an Alex Turner t-shirt, PJ shorts and wellies.

Ellie Goulding (pictured above) was insanely good she had the whole crowd going singing along to all her songs.

The security pissed me off so much during the festival they had no idea what was happening and didn't want to help you at all when I was in the crowd waiting for Ed Sheeran to come on my sister had a sun stroke and needed to be pulled out of the crowd just when Ed came on stage. This would have been prevented if the security at the front of the barrier were passing cups of water out to the crowd constantly but they only passed 3 cups every hour or so which obviously wasn't going to help anyone, they had barrels of water and cups they were just too lazy to hand any out. 

The atmosphere at Steve Angello was so good the crowd were up for it and with it being the first night of the acts starting everyone just wanted to party.

This was the Palm stage which played chilled house music where everyone went to after the acts finished on the night, I wish you could have seen how cringey the DJ's were they were in their 30's and taking selfies with the crowd and doing weird dance moves then one of them tried to crowd surf but the crowd wasn't having any of that.

Yes I wore completely sequinned shorts I wanted to be a shining disco queen for Calvin Harris who was brilliant although the rain absolutely soaked us it felt like someone was just chucking buckets of water at me.

I'm in love with this palm tree print shirt I got from New Look it's a soft cotton and is so comfy I think I'll do an OOTD post on it soon so look out for that...

I took these next few photos to show you the aftermath of a festival, rubbish thrown everywhere, empty cans littering the place for me, a neat freak this was really pushing my boundaries!

It's safe to say I don't want to taste cider in a very long time as that was all I drank for 3 days straight I'm sick of the sight of those cans!

When I went food and drink shopping with my friends prior to T we decided to get 8 cans of these different cocktails for a £1 each we thought it would be great but when I tasted them (cocktails being my speciality drink) it was like drinking flavoured mouthwash. This certainly isn't comparable to my favourite Peach Bellini at Dirty Martini!

A tent for £17 from Argos for a 3 day festival seemed a bargain until it was Saturday night and the torrential rain had soaked through my tent leaving puddles everywhere and soaking my clothes. I legit had a breakdown as this was my worse nightmare but I decided to go sleep in my friends tent as their's was bigger and most importantly dry. This meant for the next day and a half I only had sequinned shorts to wear (which were too big for me and kept falling down) so I opted for PJ shorts, not quite fashion icon but at least I was dry and comfortable! I think I'll try and get PJ's into wearable fashion that way everyone will be happy.

This is the guys smiling after the most stressful morning of my two friends on the left having their bag stolen in the night with their travel tickets, ID, iPhone, money etc. in for hours they done everything they could to solve the issue but 3 hours later a kind girl handed it into lost property finding it near her tent. Thankfully everything was still there except the cash so it was a HUGE relief to us all we could now manage to enjoy the last day of the festival!

Before Bastille came on stage Radio 1 DJ Greg James came on stage to get everyone to shout 'Bye Bye Balado' as it was the last year the site would be used for T in the Park and I love Greg's show so it was so exciting to see him in person (also a slight crush on him but shhhh).

Okay I'll say it, I'm in love with Alex Turner I can't help it even with his slightly ridiculous American-twinged accent and slicked back hair it makes me love him more, I normally hate arrogance in people but with him I think it works towards his charm. Arctic Monkeys were my absolute favourite act that I saw I love this band so much they were one of the main reasons I went to T in the Park so I could see them again. 

Getting back to the point of this post what you don't see in the instagram picture of festival go-ers is the hours in the burning sun, getting sun stroke and sun burn, leaking tents, littered mess, poor hygiene, vile toilets that you could smell a mile off and creepy guys going inside your tent at 5am to steal your belongings while your asleep.

After all this is it worth it to see your favourite bands, join in the festival atmosphere with a group of people who share the same love for music and escape from reality for a few days to a place where anything is accepted and youth is lived endlessly through the night?

Yes, absolutely yes.

Instagram - @stephgreenwoodx

Twitter - @stephgreenwoodx

Click here for Part One of my Festival Trilogy and here for Part Two or click the 'Festival Trilogy' tag below!

A Pink Themed June Favourites!

Another month comes to an end and this June I have been settling back into life in the North of England for summer and we have had a good couple weeks of sunshine so I updated my make up routine and wardrobe with some summer picks. I decided to try out some more lightweight make up for June as the air is warmer and I hate my skin feeling clogged up with heavy make up. I like to change up my make up for more skincare products in summer to clear my skin and let the sun give me some much needed Vitamin D so that will definitely be happening in July.

I can't bare using foundation in the warmer months so I picked up the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser Oil Free from Space NK I decided on oil-free as I naturally have an oily T-Zone so adding more oil based products would cause breakouts. I have been using this for about two weeks now but I just had to put it into my June faves as I love it so much it has made a drastic improvement to my make up routine. The moisturiser has a dewy effect which I prefer but you could tone it down with powder, it has SPF 20 which is great for summer and it's so lightweight on my skin it doesn't even feel as though I have anything on but still gives a good coverage.

I went for the shade 'Porcelain' as I'm really fair-skined but they have lots of shades and when blended it completely blends into your skin I use the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge to apply.

I decided to try a brightening concealer as I have been loving bringing lots of light to my face this month instead of contouring to make my skin look more youthful so when I was in Boots I picked up this Loreal Lumi Magique Concealer. This is known as the drugstore dupe for the YSL Touche Eclat there isn't lots of coverage so I use some of my Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer to hide my dark circles. This is a really lightweight concealer and is really brightening also the packaging is gorgeous I think it looks quite expensive for a drugstore buy!

For peachy cheeks I've been enjoying using Natural Collection 'Peach Melba' Blush which is a similar colour to MAC's 'Melba' Blush I find it gives a natural pink/peach glow to the cheeks although the formula is quite talc-textured for £1.99 you can't really complain. I find that this blush works best for light-medium skin tones.

I've mainly been using lip balm this month but when I wanted a touch of colour on my lips I always had my Revlon Lip Butter in 'Peach Parfait' in my bag, it provides a lovely shimmer rosy pink with a moisturising formula that lasts for hours. 

I love the Revlon Parfumerie Nail Polishes and this past month I've mainly just had 'Lavender Soap' on even my mum put it on her toes! It is a beautiful pearlised lilac colour that does slightly smell of lavender soap when dried on nails, these polishes last for ages and a bonus is that they are scented with cute packaging!

I've definitely went for the pinks this month I just wanted to go for a simple feminine look that was easy to apply so my go-to-kit has been Benefit's 'Feelin' Dandy' beauty box which features their Posie Tint, High Beam, Dandelion blush and gloss.

High Beam is my favourite highlighter of all-time I've been using it for 4 years and I can't find any one that I like better, the pink compliments my skin tone it lasts for ages and really adds a glow to your features that looks amazing when the light hits. I always apply it in three swipes on the top of my cheekbones, cupid's bow, down the bridge of my nose, under and above my brow bone then blend quickly with my ring finger. This is one of those products that you'll notice a difference when you have on but other's think that you're just blessed with bright skin and excellent lighting. 

I've also loved the Dandelion blush to add a natural pink glow to my cheeks this blush is another one of my favourites from Benefit I've used it for so long and is the perfect blush for fair skin.

My fashion favourite this month has been my white crochet kimono that I got from New Look this was the last one so I just got a size bigger because I knew that I would want to wear it constantly and I was right! I've been just wearing different combination of all-white outfits this past month as that what most of my wardrobe for summer consists of and this kimono just goes so well and especially when you need to take a light cover up for chilly days and nights. 

I love the delicate crochet on the sleeve hems and down the front and the material is so light and flows really softly on the body normally I don't see anything in New Look but this is such a good quality that could be easily sold in Topshop for double the price it's so perfect for summer!

I have been absolutely in love with my Birks this month they are so comfy and as I said before with just wearing white outfits they complete the look I recommend getting a size smaller as they are quite big fitting even my dad got some 'Milano' birks in brown (trendy dad).

The two albums I've been listening to non-stop are Lana Del Rey's 'Ultraviolence' my favourite song is 'Money Power Glory' the whole album is great easy listening I just love Lana's voice.

I've also been listening to Ed Sheeran's new album 'X' I love so many songs on this album it's hard to pick one but 'Don't', 'Photograph' and 'The Man' are some of my favourites this album is amazing and I'm so excited to see him at T in the Park!

That's all for June favourites let me know your favourites of the month by Twitter @stephgreenwoodx and follow me on Instagram @stephgreenwoodx