What’s your favourite scary movie?| samanthalalaa

October 10, 2018October 11, 2018Leave a comment

Don’t be ridiculous – I can’t pick one! I’m a horror girl, always have been, always will be. I never miss a horror movie in the cinema and it’s the only kind of movie I’m perpetually in the mood for. It can be tacky, terrifying or terrible and I’ll sit there with my eyes glued to the screen.

Now, I would definitely go as far to say I am an expert in this genre. In fact, I would say no-one’s knowledge of cinema as a whole compares to mine. I’m so well versed in the art of movie making that this list goes further than opinion – it’s fact.

I’m done being sarcastic now. Let’s begin…

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

It’s almost impossible for me to convey how much I love this movie. This movie isn’t just on of my Halloween favourites, it’s one of my all time, super-duper, top five movies. Everything about it is so beautiful and so creepy.

Set in New York City in the swinging 60s Rosemary’s Baby follows the lives of a newly married woman moving into a swanky new flat with her actor husband. She soon falls pregnant, much to her delight, but things take a turn for the worst. Rosemary doesn’t know what’s wrong, but what she does notice is her husbands distance, and her creepy neighbours, and her strange cravings for raw meat…

The entire movie is so well shot and stays so loyal to the book. I love seeing New York in the sixties and the use of The Dakota (the building where John Lennon was shot!!!) as the Bramford is absolutely perfect.

Rosemary’s Baby Highlights:

Rosemary’s chic, trendy Vidal Sassoon haircut
‘I can’t hear you, you’re in Dubrovnik’
Everything about Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

For some insane reason, sequels have this stigma that they’re not good. Ever heard of the Godfather Part 2? I rest my case.

In all seriousness, Freddy has had his share of bad sequals. In fact, every one except this one is pretty much terrible. But this one works, trust me. Dream Warriors does what it’s big bro Freddy’s Revenge failed to do – bring back Nancy!

Dream Warriors is set in a mental institution where kids are being locked up after the trauma their nightmares cause them. They all find out they’ve been dreaming about the same guy… a man with knifes for fingers… a man called Fred Krueger!! Then our heroine from the original (fantastic) movie comes back, with a little more experience, still sporting her grey streak, ready to help these kids get rid of Freddy once and for all.

Dream Warriors is Freddy meets One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest meets The Breakfast Club and it’s definitely worth your time. It’s when Freddy started bringing a little comedy and creativity to his kills, but before he took it too far and was just super gross.

Dream Warriors Hightlights:

‘Welcome to Prime Time, bitch!’
Freddy being so considerate and making BESPOKE nightmares for each of the kids? I bet their parents and teachers don’t even care about them that much!
Paper-mache Freddy

Scream (1996)

I was two when this movie came out, so I image I probably didn’t see it when it came out. Yet this movie seemed like part of the furniture growing up. I have two favourite genres in life, horror movies and teen movies, and Scream is the perfect clash of two titans.

What was interesting (in the 90s) about Scream was the way it played on classic horror movie tropes. It’s the film that compiled the rules. You shouldn’t drinks, do drugs, have sex… Or else you’ll die.

The killer, or ‘Ghost-face’ as he was come to known was the Halloween costume of the late nineties/early noughties. You couldn’t have a party without someone turning up in the ultimate low-maintenance Halloween costume. But that’s the scary part of the ghost-face costume, it could be anyone under the mask…

Scream Highlights:

‘You hit me with the phone, dick!’
6 words: Drew Barrymore, Drew Barrymore, Drew Barrymore
‘What’s your favourite scary movie?’ – ICONIC

Stephen King’s IT (1990/2017)

This one was difficult, because I truly couldn’t pick. Stephen King’s IT may be a controversial novel, due to the uncomfortable ending, but it’s without a doubt one of my favourite books. The character of Pennywise the Dancing Clown is so genuinely terrifying that it’s the only book I’ve not been able to put down. Not because I was enthralled, but I couldn’t stop reading in case I put the book down and a clown was somewhere behind it. (Can’t sleep, clown’ll eat me)

The two theatrical incarnations of this novel are similar in so many ways, but so different in others. I have my love of both, and my reservations of both, but at the end of the day this comes down to the portrayal of the monster.

Tim Curry plays Pennywise the way I’d always imagined him, a colourful clown that wouldn’t look out of place at a children’s birthday party, hidden in plain sight. It’s what lies underneath that’s scary, the deadlights.

Bill Skarsgaard’s portrayal had to go further with Pennywise, he had to rely on character and charm to show the alluring side of the character as true horror was on the surface.

IT Highlights:

Georgie’s yellow rain jacket
The Turtle???
‘You’ll float too!’

Pet Sematary (1989)

Why have one Stephen King adaptation when you can have two? Pet Sematary is, by King’s own admission, one of his bleakest novels. So dark, in fact, the horror writer placed it on his shelf with no intent on publishing it, until he had a deadline.

Based on King’s own real life experience of living next to a busy road that claimed the lives of many of his children’s pets. This film follows the story of Louis, who takes a job within a university’s health service, and his family. Louis meets some interesting characters along the way, including the spirit of a student that died on his first day, and an eccentric neighbour, who tells him all about the mysterious pet cemetery that brings animals back to life…

Pet Sematary is one of the goriest, but perhaps one of the scariest movies on this list. It doesn’t rely on the supernatural to bring the trauma, it scares you with real life horrors.

Pet Sematary Highlights:

Fred Gwynne as the wacky neighbour – what is that accent? I wish I had it.
Sister Zelda.
Fred Gwynne again, just everything he says. I wish he was my neighbour.

And there we have it, five of my top horror movies to get you feeling spooky just in time for Halloween, as I said before, this is the definitive list of top Halloween movies. You can trust me.

Honourable mentions: Silence of the Lambs, Get Out, It Follows, The Evil Dead, The Evil Dead 2, Halloween, Trick or Treat, Cabin in the Woods, New Nightmare, Hush, Rec, The Shining, Carrie and Psycho.

Sam xoxo

New Nail Polish Review || samanthalalaa

August 8, 2017August 8, 20172 Comments

My friend Emma has just started making her own nail polishes! All of her polishes meet EU standards for cosmetics and she has a CSPR for all the ingredients. Also they are all 5-free so they don’t contain any of the usual nasty chemicals found in nail polishes.

Flipping Your Fins

The first shade I tried was this really pretty green colour that’s totally inspired by Ariel (The Little Mermaid). I’m wearing two coats with no top coat and the shine from it is really intense. It went on really well and dried fairly quickly. Out of the bunch this one is probably my favouite, purely because of that iridescent gliter through the polish.

Unnamed Purple

This currently unnamed shade is a really deep royal purple. This shade is so pigmented that the above photos show me only wearing one coat. This shade is a really high gloss that gave me rich Willy Wonka/Cadbury’s chocolate vibes.

Unnamed Dark Blue

The last colour I tried out was this dark, high gloss blue. This one, in contrast to the purple before went on a lot more transparent. The first coat lay the base colour and the second was wear the colour really began to pop. It’s really lightweight and buildable, and has such a shine that I’m not even wearing a top coat.

These colours are really pretty, unique and you can actually sense that someone has worked hard to get to these exact shades. They are of a really high quality for an indie brand and I am so looking forward to trying out all the other shades!

This Week I’m… | samanthalalaa

July 13, 2017Leave a comment

After a much welcomed and much unneeded hiatus, I’m back baby! To be quite honest with you all, I was bored with what I was doing on the blog. Who hasn’t seen a thousand Lush Reviews? Also who even cares? Not me… anymore.

This week I’ve decided I want to talk a bit about the things I’ve been obsessing over this week, let you know what I’m hooked on, what floats my boat and so on. So without further ado, WELCOME BACK!

THIS WEEK I’M…

Watching… GAME OF THRONES

I know right? Lured you in above thinking I was bringing fresh content, but here I am talking about a show that came out seven years ago. Expect the unexpected people.

My boyfriend is very much into Game of Thrones, and after much persuasion he finally got me to watch it with him. This was mostly due to the fact he took it upon himself to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race with me. I’d watched Season 1 with him about a year ago, and thought meh, that’s okay. It was a bit meaty for me, too many characters, too much to remember, too much history for a TV show. Then about last week I started watching Season Two, which again felt so slow… so drawn out… and by Season 3 I was hooked. For me, that’s when the show got insane. I then watched a season a day until I was caught up, the new season is out on Monday the 17th, and I’ll probably sitting up till two am, watching in in my Daenerys wig with my pet dragon ready to take back the Seven Kingdoms.

Wearing… TOPSHOP GREEN JUMPER

I haven’t had this jumper off since I bought it really. It’s my favourite thing to throw over literally anything. In Scotland, we’re not having too great a summer, sure we get days here and there, but more often than not it’s the same grey weather we always have. It sounds insane, but this jumper is a perfect Scottish Summer staple. It’s warm, but it’s casual and bright. I also love the sleeves because they make me feel like that bit in Back to the Future part 2 where Marty puts on the future jacket and the sleeves don’t fit. In fact, that’s probably why I bought it. It was on sale for £16 in Topshop!

Listening to… ALTERNATIVE EIGHTIES

This playlist by Spotify, Alternative 80s is constantly on in my car. As a wannabe child of the eighties, and a wannabe nu wave, punk, indie cindy – this playlist is right up my street. It’s got Blondie and Bowie, The Cure and The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Simple Minds, Siouxsie and the Banshees… the list goes on.

Wearing (On My Face Edition)… KYLIE COSMETICS – IN LOVE WITH THE KOKO – DOLL

This shade is the most poppin’ colour I have ever put on my face and I am infatuated with it. It keeps even the most basic of my make up looks (which are pretty much all basic) and turns them up to 11. I got the In Love With The KoKo collection from my lovely boyfriend on my birthday and all the shades in it are really beautiful and wearable, but Doll is the winner for me.

Reading… TWIN PEAKS FAN THEORIES

Since the return of one of my all time favourite TV shows, I’ve been obsessed with finding out exactly what the fuck is going on. Week after week I feel like nothing happens and then I go onto reddit and apparently so much has happened. I feel like Twin Peaks: The Revival is akin to sitting on a plane waiting to sky dive and you keep thinking it’s about to happen… and then it doesn’t and you’re still on the plane waiting. That’s my feelings. So /r/twinpeaks is really seeing me though the weeks in between episodes.

That’s all for this week guys! I hope to be back next week with some more of my disjointed thoughts and ramblings.

Lots of love,

Sam xoxo

Bridget Jones and the Reason Rom-Coms Matter | samanthalalaa

October 12, 2016October 12, 2016Leave a comment

This weekend the affable, lovable national treasure that is Bridget Jones returned to our screens, a few years older and a few pounds lighter yet equally as charming as she was 15 years ago.

Bridget Jones’ Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason were probably the first examples of a rom com that I can remember being exposed to. They’re films that your mum loves, and despite having a few blue jokes they are fun for all the family, and I have fond memories of them. Yet after we met Bridget in 2001, it’s as though her success ruined the genre.

After Bridget it’s like Rom Coms were ruined for us, they grew a stigma, and were thrown in a bin labelled ‘chick-flicks’ – pandering, insulting films made to appeal to women.

Romantic comedy is a genre that got lazy. You don’t need a dramatic wedding crasher, or a mad dash through the streets of some romantic city chasing what may or may not be the love of your life (depending on what the other person in the love triangle has to say). What a good rom com needs is its characters. Well defined, fleshed out, characters with their own quirks and faults and histories.

These films aren’t bad, they’re just what people think they want. People don’t know what they want, in reality. The soul of the rom com comes from two people, who really shouldn’t be together, but we, as an audience are willing it to happen. How can’t they see they’re perfect for each other? Because you wouldn’t see it yourself if it happened to you.

The reasons rom coms work better than just a plain old romance or is because falling in love is funny. Things don’t go the way you want them too. Romances are too stiff, too perfect, and I don’t know a single person with the perfect relationship. Someone’s always going to do something stupid and sure, it may not be funny at the time, but it will be, and these movies show us that.

Rom coms are there to show us that happiness can come from the most unlikely of places, if only you can see past the expectations and follow your heart. Bridget Jones returned to our screens looking a bit different, but with the same story. Two men fighting for her attention, or well, the baby that belongs to one of them. Actually it’s the same story with a baby involved. Should she go with the man that is perfect for her or the one that she’s loved essentially all her life?

Sam xoxo

‘Better Than Sex’ – Too Faced Mascara | samanthalalaa

May 20, 2015June 28, 20156 Comments

For the past few years I’ve been a huge fan of Benefit ‘They’re Real!’ mascara, but I’ve recently had just about enough of it. I love the mascara itself, but as with my Benefit ‘Gimme Brow’ it dries out so quickly.

I’ve tried everything to prevent this, screwing it closed as tight as I can get it, yet after a couple of weeks it still dries out and I have to buy a new one, and at £19.50 a tube, I can hardly afford to do that.

So today I found myself in Debenhams, Benefit ‘Roller Lash’ in one hand, Too Faced ‘Better Than Sex’ in the other. I’ve heard good things about both of these, ‘Better Than Sex’ being a big hit amongst bloggers and ‘Roller Lash’ being a hit with… Well, everyone except my friend Aimee. But it was the fact I’ve had enough of Benefit mascara drying out on me that made me go for Too Faced.

The mascara comes in at £19, and I fell in love with the packaging. It’s sort of a dusty pink metal tube that feels nice and looks high end and luxurious.

The brush was also a big selling point for me. I love a proper brush on a mascara, as I don’t think the plastic brushes separate my eyelashes properly and make them look clumpy. The brush on this mascara has an hourglass shape, which is really good for getting right into the little eyelashes in the corners of your eye and enhancing your natural shape.

One Coat

If you ignore the bags under my eyes you can already see a difference between the lashes on the right and the lashes on the left. With just one coat they’re already nice and long and are already making my eyes pop.

Two Coats

I only put two coats on, purely because I was so happy with the results I have here. I have naturally quite long lashes, but this mascara really enhances my natural lash and makes them looks really nice and even. The mascara almost gives a false lash look without mucking about with any glue or fake lashes.

I really enjoy the initial results I’ve got from this mascara, and I’ve got high hopes for it. Fingers crossed it doesn’t dry out on me.

Sam xoxo

Lush Review – ‘Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment’ | samanthalalaa

May 19, 2015June 28, 20153 Comments

The second of my bath luxuries I used was the Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment (£3.95), which is a bath melt. First of all; I’m going to say how strong this product smells. It’s so sweet, and it makes your bathroom smell like a sweet shop, so it’s definitely something you need to be in the mood for.

The bath melt reminded me of the Snow Fairy shower gel and The Comforter bubble bar, having the same sickly sweet smell, and it turns the water a really pretty pinky colour. I put the melt in my bath, went to take off my make up, then by the time I went back the bathroom the smell of the melt had taken over my entire house.

The melt dissolves really slowly, unlike the bath bombs, which I’ve seen a lot of complaints about. When it comes to a bath melt, I think you get what it says on the tin when it takes longer to dissolve than a bomb. It’s a LUXURY product, it’s meant for relaxing and chilling and taking it easy. For some reason I found it a lot nicer than a bomb for that reason.

This product left my skin so soft and creamy and I really enjoyed my bath with this. It’s definitely a luxury product, good for relaxing, but not something you want to use in a quick bath. This is a product to definitely make time for.

Sam xoxo

Lush Review – ‘Sunnyside’ | samanthalalaa

May 18, 2015June 28, 20151 Comment

I get paid weekly, and I get paid minimum wage. I don’t really have a lot of money, because as soon as I get it on a Monday it’s as though I have to spend it as soon as possible. On such a Monday, with various notes crammed in my small purse, I found myself in Lush.

I tried to limit myself, I prevented myself from buying anything over a fiver, or any thing from the same family. After an eternity of sniffing and wandering, I purchased three things, a bath bomb, a bath melt and a bubble bar.

The first thing I used, that night, was the Sunnyside bubble bar. I’ve only bought one bubble bar before this, The Comforter. I love the smell of The Comforter, it’s the same, if not similar, as Snow Fairy (the Christmas shower gel) so I had high hopes. The Comforter if a firm fan favourite, but I just didn’t like it.

The girl in the shop explained to me that with bubble bars you could break them off and use as much or as little as you wanted with each bath, but to be honest I don’t think I was using it right. I was kind of rubbing it in my hands like a bar of soap. THIS IS WRONG, and perhaps part of the reason I didn’t like it.

Using the handy ‘how to use a bubble bar’ article on the Lush website, I used Sunnyside bubble bar by running it under the tap and letting all the bubbles spread across the tub. Unlike the comforter, the bar itself is exactly enough for one bath, which I found a lot easier to use. The Sunnyside bubble bar smells amazing, really citrusy, probably due to the fact it contains oils from oranges, lemons and tangerines. The smells are really summery and fresh and ideal for a bath at this time of year.

The bar itself turns your bath water a quite horrible yellow colour that reminded me of pee, but when I looked a little closer I noticed all the glitter swirling beneath the surface. The glittery looked so ethereal and magical that it reminded me of a potion from Harry Potter (Felix Felicis to be precise).

Overall my second attempt at using a bubble bar was much better than my first and I feel more open to exploring all the different possibilities that my new found love can lead me to. The only downside to this bubble bar is the colour and the fact it leads a sort of yellow ring around the bath, although that comes off quite easily.

I’d definitely try this bomb again, and at only £3.75 it’s an absolute steal.

Sam xoxo

Film Shoots | samanthalalaa

May 12, 2015June 28, 2015Leave a comment

For about 30% of my grade this year I had to design, make and produce a magazine, and being the movie lover that I am I decided to base mine on film. Sound boring, obviously, but the twist to mine is that it is all content provided by students from Stirling, more specifically, all my friends.

The section of the magazine that turned out the best was definitely my film shoots, in which we took an iconic film from each decade and recreated it. My cousin Kris took the photos for me (as his talent is unfortunately not genetic) and I really love how they turned out, so I thought I’d share them here.

1950s – Rebel Without a Cause

1960s – Breakfast at Tiffany’s

1970s – A Clockwork Orange

1980s – The Breakfast Club

1990s – Pulp Fiction

2000s – Mean Girls

Wagamama | samanthalalaa

April 26, 2015August 10, 20161 Comment

I awoke yesterday feeling very hungover after a night dancing in Megan’s kitchen with her mother and auntie and there was only one thing I would settle for; Wagamama.

We finally made it to Livingston. Driving past the sight where my car passed away only days before was tough I’ll admit, but never the less I got on with my day the way he would’ve wanted me to.

I ordered the Teriyaki Chicken Donburi, grilled chicken on a bed of sticky white rice coated in an orange teriyaki sauce with carrots, pea shoots, spring onion and sesame seeds. I’m not a huge fan of carrots and I’m especially not a fan of them shredded like this so I kind of just picked them off like a child. There’s a deceiving amount of food in those bowls and I was unable to finish the entire thing but the dish got better the closer to the bottom of the bowl because thats where all the teriyaki sauce seemed to be.

The dish came with a side of spicy kimchee that was really fragrant and flavourful but a touch too spicy for me to eat all of.

For sides we ordered grilled pork bulgogi wraps which I didn’t take a picture of and we ate wrong. To be fair I hadn’t ordered them and wasn’t sure what they were, but we realised after that it was a sort of a make your own lettuce wrap type dish. We just ate the meat without any of the other stuff included on the dish without thinking about it. The meat was tasty though, kind of crispy but tender in the middle.

We also had chilli squid which was the highlight of the meal for me. I love seafood but it’s so easy to do wrong. The squid wasn’t at all chewy and the coating was delicious. The dip that it came with looks totally different on the website than it did in person, it looks a lot nicer on the website too. The dip we had didn’t add much to the flavour, it was supposed to be chilli garlic and coriander but the dish was fine on its own without it.

All and all, including Adam’s yakisoba came in at just over £30 so it was reasonably priced for a lunch for two people on a Saturday afternoon and as usual, it was very filling and delicious.

Sam xoxo

Lush Review – ‘Twilight’ | samanthalalaa

April 25, 2015June 28, 20153 Comments

Tonight I tried the Lush bath bomb ‘Twilight’. I spent about half an hour in Lush smelling every bath bomb I haven’t tried before finally settling on this one, mostly due to the amazing smell.

I’m not usually a huge fan of lavender scented things but the smell of this bomb won me over almost instantly. The ‘Twilight’ bath bomb is designed to de-stress and relax you using a combination of essential oils. This bomb would be ideal for anyone who struggles with getting to sleep, suffers from anxiety or is just leading a stressful lifestyle.

The bomb its self starts off pink and as it dissolves it reveals yellow and blue underneath. The blue kind of looks like liquid in the middle of the bomb. The water turns a deep purple underneath pink and blue foam and mine sort of dissolved in this really pretty spiral pattern.

The ‘Twilight’ bomb leaves you smelling amazing and feeling sleepy and relaxed. My skin feels really soft and smooth and I feel altogether more relaxed.

Sam xoxo

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