Throwback Thursday Week 4: Music

In true 'Throwback Thursday' style today I wanted to look back at the music I listened to whilst I was growing up. I remember listening to cassette tapes, followed by CD's when I was younger and music has been and still is a huge part of my life. I've never really been a TV or film addict and would much rather listen to a new album in the sunshine or whilst driving my car instead of sitting in a cinema.
  I have also always loved the thought of having a physical CD in front of you. With technology taking over most of our lives it is so easy now to download the music straight to your phone but I love the concept of seeing a CD and the album cover. I do still download a lot of the music I listen to but if there is a particular CD I want I will go out and buy it. 
 The music I listened to growing up was inspired by the music that others around me was listening to. My mum has always been a huge fan of Robbie Williams and Take That so I've been familiar with their work for a long time. I also obviously developed my own music taste as I was growing up and I wouldn't particularly say that I have a particular genre of music. I'm open to listening to any song and if I like it I will play it again and again regardless of who it is sung by or how old or popular the song is. 

  I remember at one stage growing up I was a little obsessed with buying the 'Now That's What I Call Music' CD's and would always get them as birthday and Christmas presents as well as buying them myself with my own pocket money. The first CD of this collection I got was Now 54 and this was released 11 years ago back in 2003. I was 8. After this CD I didn't get another until Now 57 but I have every single release from Now 57 all the way up to Now 80 I think. 
 Another huge part of my music collection when I was younger was dominated by the band Blue. I was literally obsessed with their music and I actually have all of their albums. I remember buying one of them in Woolworths and playing the Guilty album all Christmas Day one year. I even saw Blue in concert at the old Wembley Arena and this was one of my earliest memories of a concert. Their album Guilty came out again in 2003 and I'm surprised the CD still works considering how often I listened to it.
 I love rediscovering old albums that I loved and so when I came across this one last year when sorting through my music it was played solid for a good two weeks. My 18 year old self loved it as much as my 8 year old self all those years ago. 
 Atomic Kitten was another band that I used to listen to a lot. Their favourite album of mine was Feels So Good but when I listened back to it I found that I didn't recognise a lot of the songs on there. Along with Atomic Kitten I also liked the Sugababes but I was never a huge fan of Girls Aloud and I don't own any of their albums or particularly like any of their songs. I have bad memories of their performance on the X Factor when they all wore gold glittery dresses and didn't sing that well!
 The final band that I remember listening to a lot was Steps. I discovered this band through one of my childhood friends and remember watching the tape version of this album showing all the music videos round my friends house multiple times.
 Although Steps got back for the TV show 'The Big Reunion' I didn't watch it because I wanted to keep the memories of when I used to listen to them as a kid and I knew it wouldn't be the same as when I loved them all those years ago.
  Although I haven't featured them here there are so many other artists and bands that I listened to throughout my childhood and whilst growing up such as: The Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Busted, McFly & S Club. Although music has changed over the years and my taste has developed I really enjoy listening back to the old albums and reliving the songs that I used to play on repeat on the good old portable CD player or even on a tape in the car.

Nail Tutorial: Ombre

It's always exciting when you find a new nail art technique to experiment and try out. The fashion world has gone crazy with everything ombre over the past two years and if your not sure whether or not to try ombre hair, ombre nails are a much quicker, reversible solution for all your ombre needs!

  This effect can take a while to perfect and I am still trying to perfect it myself, so my finished result may not look as amazing as it can do, but it shows that this can be a difficult technique to master. Anyhow, like with other nail effects, you can use pretty much any colour that you want and a contrast between the two colours can make it look really effective.

Items needed to create the ombre nail effect

For this tutorial you will need:

• A base colour
• A different colour to create the ombre effect with
• A small sponge, slightly larger than the size of your nail
• A plastic sheet or poly-pocket
• Something to mix the two colours together such as a toothpick or nail art tool
• Base/Top coat (optional)  

Barry M Nail Paint in Blueberry

Step 1

1. Firstly you need to apply a decent base coat, especially if you are using nail polishes which are likely to stain your nails. Once this is dry, you need to apply a base colour to your nails. For this tutorial I am using the Barry M nail paint in 'Blueberry.' 

Step 2

2. Next, on the sheet of plastic you need to paint a thick layer of the base nail polish onto one side of the sheet. Then next to it as close as possible without allowing the two nail polishes to touch, you need to apply a thick layer of nail polish which will be used to make the ombre effect, as shown above. The nail polish which I am using for the ombre effect is Barry M nail paint in 'Bright Pink.' You will need to make sure that the combined nail polish is the length of your nails to ensure that your nails will be covered effectively. 

Step 3

3. Before the nail polish has time to dry you then take your toothpick or nail art tool and gently mix the two colours together in the middle so you are left with one colour on the left, the mixture of colours in the middle and the other colour on the right. This creates the ombre effect on your nails.

Step 4

4. Next, you need to take the sponge and put it into the nail polish mixture. At this stage you should have the base colour at the bottom of the sponge, and the ombre colour at the top, with the mixture of the two colours in the middle. This is shown below. You will need to work quite quickly to ensure that the nail polish doesn't dry. 

Step 5

5. Once the sponge has been dipped into the mixture, you then press it onto the nail. You need to ensure the top of the sponge is applied to the top of the nail in order to create the ombre effect. You will find at this stage the nails will look rather messy because of the sponge but this will be cleared up later in the tutorial. Repeat this stage until all your nails have been painted, which may mean you might need to apply more nail polish to the plastic sheet.

Step 6

6. Once you have applied the sponge to all of your nails it is important to allow the nail polish to dry. When you are satisfied that it is dry, take a cotton bud and dip it into nail polish remover. Then use the cotton bud to clean up any nail polish which has got onto your cuticles or skin and you have successfully created the ombre nail effect. Using the sponge gives a textured finish, and you can alter the amount of ombre by the amount that you mix the two colours together. At this stage you can also apply a top coat if desired.