Download Festival Part 4

Sunday started bright and early with Sirens In The Delta as heard from the covered bench area near Jake's whilst eating cheesy curly fries. Afterwards it was off to main stage for a little sit down for 36 Crazyfists (I apparently only know one of their songs and they were shoutier than I had expected) and Cavalera Conspiracy. We also caught a bit of Evil Scarecrow (which was an experience...CRABULON, CRABULON) before heading to see We Are Harlot in yet more rain.

Our wildcard of the day was Trashboat. We'd laughed at the name as it was on Regular Show...and apparently they did literally take their name from that! They were actually pretty fun pop punk.


Billy Idol was one of those sets where I knew most of the songs despite only being able to name two off the top of my head. Rebel Yell was definitely worth sticking around for!


In Flames were a band I knew of, but didn't know any songs. Rob wasn't expecting them to be good live, but they were brilliant!

I only knew one Yellowcard song, but I really enjoyed their set and really need to invest in some of their CDs at some point. Couldn't see as there was a post in the way, but that means dancing room!


And the only reason I went...Enter Shikari! Such a shame their set was so short and that it was still really light out.


I think I annoyed just about everyone around me. They were all just stood there not doing much but I was dancing like crazy, singing like a gangster, and swigging from a hip flask of Jagermeister, as one does.


This is only decent photo I managed to get as I couldn't stand still long enough to take any better ones!


Nice to see Sorry, You're Not A Winner back, but an entire predictable setlist aside from There's A Price On Your Head. Not that that makes it a bad setlist! The set didn't seem as energetic as usual, but I'm guessing that was at least in part due to Rou's hospitalisation earlier that week.

We left as soon as they finished as Harry and two others were already waiting at the car as they left after Lamb Of God. Thankfully I fell asleep on the way home as 5 people and tons of camping gear shoved into a 3-door Micra wasn't too comfortable. It was definitely a relief to crawl into a real bed at 3am, even if we were still smelly and dirty!

Download Festival Part 3

The weather on Saturday was horrid! It rained all morning so none of us could really bothered to leave the comfort of our slightly leaky gazebo. However, I've managed to miss seeing FFAF repeatedly so I dragged poor Rob out into the rain with me and we caught the very end of Heart Of A Coward.


After such a long wait to see Funeral For A Friend, I was left disappointed. I think Matt must have had a bad throat or something as his vocals were really ropey. Good little flash back to when I was first getting into proper music, though.


We stuck around for Mallory Knox since we missed them at Takedown, but we scooted off back to camp afterwards to try to warm up and get a little drier! Which meant missing Apocalyptica which was a shame, but no regrets. I was feeling pretty miserable! But we did catch a bit of Rise Against when we got back.


Then a band I was really looking forward to...A Day To Remember! They're quickly becoming one of my favourites.


I really want to see them again! Preferably somewhere dry. The rain definitely kept my mood dampened.


We discovered a cocktail van called Beetle-Juice during Faith No More (who sounded good for a bunch of old dudes). I had a few Beetle-Juices (lychee,raspberry, & gin) whereas Rob was favouring Dark & Stormy (lime, ginger beer, & rum). We had to hang around outside for Andew W.K. as the tent was too packed, but it was still kinda fun. Rob was amazed that there are so many songs about partying that all sound pretty much the same.


Then there was Muse! With big bouncy balls!


As usual they played really well, but the setlist was a mixed bag. Mostly new stuff off of Drones which I only got to listen to once before going.


Microcuts and Citizen Erased though! Even though they were supposedly not playing Origin of Symmetry tracks again...bullllll.

Probably should have been closer for Muse to get more hype, but watching the crowd was quite a sight in itself!

Download Festival Part 2

On Friday, after a yummy breakfast in town, we headed into the main arena for the first time. The route to it had changed since we last went. It used to go across the race track, but now you have to leave the site and go around into the arena which is confusing.


The day started off really hot! We were sat outside of Maverick for Gnarwolves at this point! I think we saw some stuff on Main Stage before that (All That Remains, Hell Yeah, and At The Gates), but I don't really remember as we were mostly just soaking up the sun.


Lacuna Coil were amazing, I didn't realise they were so good! Also knew more of their songs that I had realised.

After that I made Rob come to Modestep which was kinda crappy, but at leas it broke up the heavy music a bit!
Snuggles outside Maverick during Sylosis and before Dragonforce.


Babymetal did a song during their set! I perched on the barrier to see but got told to get down even though the people on shoulders and people smoking in the tent were fine apparently -_- so mostly couldn't see anything! Want to see them again.


Stayed put on the back barrier for Fightstar even though we've both seen them before. They're always good live though, and have ordered some of their CDs since getting home as I feel it's time.


We weren't really interested in Slipknot as we saw them last time and it was raining, so we headed back early for sleep. In hindsight we both wish we'd gone to see A, but oh well!

In all honesty I think the tactical early night was a good move, even if it wasn't very metal of us...

Download Festival Part 1

So this year I decided to give Download Festival another go! I mostly wanted to go to hang out with friends but that didn't even happen, so it probably wasn't the wisest choice as I'm not really into heavy music any more.


My other impetus was the desire to see Enter Shikari again as soon as possible. I was initially bummed out as their warm-up gig was announced after I bought my ticket and it was set to be held in Bristol on Friday which would have been much easier for me...but it was cancelled at the last minute. So at least I didn't miss out!


We met Rob's brother Harry at his place just after 5pm on the Wednesday to travel up together, so I guess we didn't reach Donington until around 8pm. We ended up in Pink camp which was down a big hill, but it wasn't so bad.


On Thursday we went for breakfast in town (this is actually a photo of Friday's breakfast, but I had the same both days haha) & then I drank too much and ended up missing both Andrew O'Neill and the sharkie meet because I'm an iiiiiidiot.


At least the weather was good! But Beesting is always a bad choice.

SpiritHoods Red Fox/Wolf(?)

SpiritHoods seem very popular with Sharkies, so I found myself becoming interested in them even though they're cultural-appropriating and stupid looking.


I previously bought a Grey Wolf hood on Ebay after missing the Galaxy Wolf BM collabo, but I don't think the seller ever sent it out and I was subsequently refunded. I instead decided to risk it again on Ebay to save a few quid and customs, and grabbed what was listed as a Red Fox.


I will admit, I felt pretty uncomfortable spending £43 on a dumb hat. On the site they are around £65 not including postage or customs. However, they are lovely and soft! But...this isn't a fox? It looks more like the Red Wolf which is annoying as the traits of the Red Fox suit me better in my opinion (Clever|Wise|Adaptable rather than Loyal|Social|Teacher). I only noticed this after leaving positive feedback...but they look really similar so I'm not 100%.


They have a little pocket in one sleeve, and a button so you can secure it in the wind.

I'm assuming this is an old hood. It doesn't have an ear tag, but it seems genuine (earlier hoods didn't have them). I'm not sure how often I will get to wear it, but it's comfy & I'll try my best (even though I feel a bit silly in it).

I'm hoping to catch the Aurora Kitty BM collabo when it restocks despite the price as I think I want to collect the Black Milk ones if I can. If I fail at ever finding Galaxy Wolf I am also tempted to get the Grey Wolf HB3 instead as the built-in headphones sound like a brilliant idea!

Why do I continue to fall for expensive and stupid looking fashions?

Shinies & Fails

Upon returning from Download I found a bunch of customs slips which stole a good £67 from me. Boooooo. But that meant excitement at getting new shinies!


The first pack I opened was actually an Ebay purchase, the Geometric Floral Pink Reversible Straps Dress from the Witch Please collection. I always preferred the teal but was unsure of the cut. Usually see these for high prices, but this one was a steal at just over £30 so I couldn't resist trying it. Good excuse to try to find a better strapless bra, methinks!


This order was a huge bummer. The High In The Sky Touchdown is a heavier fabric than my other touchdowns, so it loses the lightness of the others. Then I pulled out the Sheer Combat Pants I'd been wanting since forever to find really bad fuzzies on them. They also look like someone with a big ass has tried them previously as the shape looks awkward as hell with slightly stretched butt and thigh seams. So they have to go back. No complaints about The Awesome High Waisted Leggings thus far though, although I probably should have gone for an XS. They're sooooo comfy but not really thick enough to wear without covering my butt.


How the hell this skipped quality control, I do not know. They're definitely over-stretching themselves if they can allow a £45 pair of gym pants to be sold in this sorry state!


I did get a Yu-Gi-Oh! doodle though at least...


This order was the first weekly one to contain an IOD. I hated the colour of the Tartan Barbie Vs Candy Hearts Inside Out Dress in the stock photos, but thankfully it is cuter in person. It doesn't suit me at all though, so I think I'll have to get creative with coordination to goth it up enough to not look odd in it. I had never intended to get the Mermaid Straps Skater Dress but it has pockets so I had to. They do make the skirt fall a little oddly and it's definitely shorter than the Merboy one, but pocketsssessss.

Hoping my exchange pair of gym pants are up to scratch when I receive them, it has really made me start to lose faith in the company. They have been sending out lots of trash to people recently & they really need to get it together!

Hair!

I've been bored of my hair for a while, so I figured I'd just do something crazy because YOLO. Also my aunt did it for free, which is always a plus.


To be honest, I'm really not sure about it. Lots of short bits of hair stick out at the top! And the rest needs a trim as it's too long to not plait for work, which looks odd with a shaved head!

I guess I don't really regret it, even though I prefer how it was before. I'd only keep wondering "what if?" if I didn't do it, and they say you only regret the things you don't do! And if there's one thing I'm good at, it's growing hair. It'd grow back really quickly if I wanted to.

Think I need to play around with styling a lot. I dyed my dip dye back to pink, but I'm considering dyeing the lot once it's a bit shorter. I just can't decide between purple and green!

Artscow Skater Skirt Review

My Artscow skater skirt arrived! I used a $2.99 code for this one too.


I didn't do a good job of the print. My image wasn't big enough, so I tiled it. And it has a watermark from the wallpaper site it's from on it. But unless you look closely, you can't really see!


Again, the print quality is pretty good, but maybe a bit lighter than I would have expected. I would consider altering the levels of the image to account for this in future.

I haven't tried in on yet, but it also looks like it probably runs big. I'm not sure when I'll ever get an opportunity to wear such a stupid skirt, but I just couldn't resist making haha.

Museum & More

Black Milk bank balance doom continues!


My first order was actually the last to arrive somehow! I had been considering the Roller Disco Bodysuit since it came out a few weeks ago, and in the end I couldn't risk letting it sell out in the hope of a crop coming out later! The sleeves are so soft and floaty, makes me wish I could justify the maxi shirt of the same fabric! Matte Pocket Leggings were finally in stock in my size, so I grabbed some, along with Sheer Leggings in the hopes that they last better than tights do! They're the same soft fabric as the bodysuit sleeves.


This was the first of my museum release orders! Both skipped customs which is a miracle these days. The Sheer Spot Swing Crop wasn't a museum piece, but I had considered it a while and it was made limited. Unfortunately I bought the M size (was supposed to be for sizes S-M) and it's HUGE. I think the S would have been too loose too. I doubt I can sell it though, so I'll try to make use of it! The fabric is soft, at least. I also bought the Centre Stage Bodysuit as I love mesh and wetlook. I can't imagine a time I'll ever wear it though, oops! I can't even figure out how to get into it to be honest...


I went back for the Mesh Touchdown that I missed in the sale. I'm not taken with it in person though. The print is shiny and sticky, and the mesh panel shows far more bra than I had expected. Hoping it will grow on me! At least it was the right size in the end. I had also considered the Houndstooth Skater Skirt for a while before ruling it out, but then I saw sarahnicoleboo in it and I had to get it then! I like black and white a lot.


I tried to resist the Awesome Soirée Dress, but it has pockets! I'm not sure about the neckline and open back, but I mostly intend to layer it with nana tops anyway. I just hate missing basic pieces, and one can never have too many little black dresses, right? Another of my big loves are oversized tops, so naturally the Om Nom Muscle Top was a must! Sadly it isn't the fabric I was expecting, but it ordinary stretchy tshirt fabric so it doesn't fall overly nicely. Had I realised, I'd have sized down as I feel like a whale in it (had the fabric not been stretchy it would have been too tight on my hips in the smaller size!). I've already worn it a few times though, so I regret nothing.

Please stop releasing so much stuff now, BM...

Artscow Leggings Review

There were a few Artscow codes going around to allow you to make custom leggings for only $2.99 including shipping, so I cobbled together something quickly just to give it a go! I ordered on the 19th of May, so they came pretty quickly considering they had to be made and sent from China.


I decided to use some artwork from Enter Shikari's Common Dreads album. The image I used was 3642x2688.


I'll admit that I did a bad job of matching up the print on the front, although it didn't look this bad in the preview. This was also supposed to be the back, but they put the tag in the wrong way.


I think I like more detail on the back, though.


The material is super soft, although I imagine it will snag easily due to the fabric and the thinness. I can't fault the quality of the print, although it is much lighter than the preview image.


Here's where the problems start. They're too big. I bought size S (my BM size), and my measurements are actually bigger than the listed ones for that size. There is only one size smaller than this, and I'd definitely buy that in future.


I'm a bit miffed as my design had nice ankle detailing that you can't see due to them being too long and too loose. I was expecting them to be more for my height as they were made in China, but I guess not.


The material is super stretchy and comfy, but it fails the printed underwear test (admittedly I have a huge butt). You can't see my tattoos (knee and thigh) through them though.

The verdict? I wouldn't pay $19.99 plus postage for them, but you can't really go wrong for $2.99. Just gutted the sizing was off. I was planning to wear them to Download over thick tights anyway though, so it's not really a big deal!