My Top Photo Editing Apps

We are a generation of picture takers, and 9 times out of ten we're using our phones, not a traditional camera. From our faces to our dinner, with the emergence of Instagram our phones take pictures of practically every moment of our lives. So we might as well make sure they'e good. 

There are so many apps available with a variety of settings and filters, however some are more advanced and professional than others. So I thought I'd share with you a few of my favourites. 

Instagram - Seems a bit of an obvious one, but I thought it was worth a mention simply for its recent update, otherwise it's only mention would be the one above. I still don't use Instagram's editing tools that often because of the other apps I have, but since the recent update, I've noticed that the filters are a lot more subtle and their editing settings are precise and more specific with more options. 

Photo Editor Pro - I like the HD Enhance option for the camera, however the filters are a bit too dramatic. Custom crops are always handy, especially if you are planning to upload it to Instagram later. Features the typical editing functions as well as the ability to draw and add text to your pictures. There aren't  many face editing options, but the less of those we can use the better I think. For editing this is easy and quick, but I wouldn't use it's camera option.  

Photoshop Express - The filters on this app are more subtle and realistic. As well as the usual editing features, you can also control clarity, vibrancy, noise reduction and shadows. For face editing, you've got red eye and blemish removal, and a large variety of frames for decoration purposes. The camera settings for this app are quite high tech, with Night and Panoramic features as well as the classic HDR, which I feel is a must when using an app to take pictures. 

Litely - The camera tools that come with this app are very basic, and there's nothing extraordinary about the editing features either. Just your standard tools. However this is a must have if you like your filters and add-ons. With a variety of filters, from vintage and black and whites to a range of temperatures, as well as kitsch stickers and borders, flares, shapes, and frames, you can turn a picture of your cat into an emoji masterpiece with a cherry on-top. 

VSCO Cam - This is one of my favourites. When using the camera option, pinching out on the screen allows you to control both exposure and focus, which is so useful. It helps you to create clear and bright pictures in environments of bad lighting. There's a small but concise selection of filters but it's much better to create your own using the good range of editing settings which are subtle but it's so easy to get the desired effect you're looking for. This is my go-to for Instagram pics. 

A Better Camera - Kinda does what it says on the tin. This is a smart little app to have if your camera isn't performing the way you want it too, or if it's just not that great. I'm not saying this app will ram it up to DSLR quality, but it will allow you to control white balance, focus and exposure. It doesn't sound like a lot, but these three things can make a massive difference. 

Snapseed - This app has a lot of good and effective features that enable you to select specific areas of the picture on which you can edit individually, which is really handy, but whoever created it has made it really fiddly to use and there's a lot of tapping and swiping involved. If you're patient this could probably be a really clever little app for you and your pictures. 

Afterlight - I've only recently just added this to my collection, and I wish I'd known about it sooner. The camera's pretty average but it's the editing features that make it worthwhile. The variety available doesn't differ greatly from VSCO cam, but I find them to be clearer and crisper. As a result your pictures look bright and fresh, and the colours are vibrant. 

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Vintage Waves - Tutorial

Ever since The Great Gatsby came out I've been obsessed with vintage hairstyles. However, up until recently I couldn't even curl my own hair, so I purchased my Remington Pearl Pro Curl and got practicing. A lot of burnt fingers and dodgy hair-dos later and I've finally mastered it. The brilliant thing with perfecting the skill of curling your hair is that once you've got the knack of it, there's so many styles you can create. So now that I have curling down to a fine art, I can achieve those Gatsby-esque vintage waves, and show you guys the technique. Not only will this tutorial help you accomplish the skill of curling, but take you a step further to achieving another easy yet glamorous style. 

What You'll Need:

A curling wand / iron

A hair bush (preferably a paddle brush, but others will do) 

A large hair clip

A hair band

Heat Protection Spray

1. Part your hair where you'd like it to sit.  

 2. Tie one side of your hair up in a hairband so it doesn't get in the way. Take a strand from the other side, and pin up the rest. 

3. With your curling wand in hand, reach behind you and point the wand downwards. Pull the strand of hair you want to curl out to the side, so that it's in front of the wand, and starting wrapping the hair around. It doesn't matter if the hair twists in your fingers as you wrap. Just hold on tightly. *TIP* Always use heat protection spray, and if your hair struggles to maintain a curl, spray dry shampoo onto each strand before curling. This gives it a bit of texture and rigidity. Then spray with hairspray afterwards as an extra measure. 

4. How long you hold your hair on the wand for depends on how thick your strands are. With a strand of this size, I count 25 seconds before releasing. This is why it's good to start with the hair underneath, so you can perfect your technique as you work your way up. 

5. Slowly release, and you should be left with a gentle curl. Spray with hairspray if needed. 

6. Repeat, working your way up that one side, making sure the strands are equal in size. 

7. Remember to wrap the ends as tight and close as you can to the wand without burning your fingers, otherwise you'll have flicks at the ends of your curls. 

8. When you've completed one side, move on to the next. Remember to swap the wand into the other hand. Using both hands for this may be tricky at first, but after a bit of practice, you'll soon master it. It's much easier than having the wand in front or to the side of you. 

9. When you've completed both sides, give one last spritz with hairspray and let it set. 

10. With a paddle brush, slowly brush out the curls, softening them into waves. So that you don't brush them out completely, wrap the curl around the brush and slowly glide it through. Brushing in the same direction as the curl means that the shape stays, but drops into a wave. 

11. TA DA! I like to give it one last coating of hairspray (since you have brushed out most of the last lot), and if you like your hair a bit on the scruffy side, a gentle backcombing of the waves not only gives it an edgier style, but also helps the waves keep their shape for longer. 

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Black Crow Queen - OOTD

 

Textures! With the temperature dropping, we're wrapping up in as many layers as we can carry. But the only way to avoid looking like a giant ball of cloth is with contrasting textures. 

Choker - Regal Rose

Lace Dress - Ark

Fur Coat - Ark

Satchel - F&F at Tesco 

Boots - Miss Selfridge

As someone who's addicted to wearing black, it's so important for me to invest in textures. It's the only thing enabling me to tell where one item of clothing ends and another begins. 

I'd noticed lately that my wardrobe was lacking not only in textures, but warm outerwear. With the weather dropping to -10 C, my leather jacket just isn't going to cut it. So I went on a search to see if there were any goodies leftover in the January sales, and I wasn't disappointed. 

I bought this crochet dress for £15 and the fur coat for £22 , both from Ark. I've loved Ark for so long. Not only do they stock some awesome brands, but their own stuff is so reasonable and trend-lead. The crochet dress has amazing detailing and I'm thinking it will make an gorgeous beach dress in Summer.Crochet is going to be everywhere next season so I might as well start stocking up early. 

I thought the strong detailing of the crochet would contrast well with the messy fur of the coat, whilst maintaining a soft and feminine feel. 

The Regal Rose choker I'd had my eye on for a good few months. I'm so happy the choker trend has had a bit of a revamp and a revival and seems to be making more of a fashionable mark than its 90s debut. This choker is so different from the generic ones that are out on the high street at the moment. The design is really unique, and the use of gunmetal gives it a grunge element that contrasts well with the shimmer of the crystal. 

This shoot was nowhere near as cold as the last one, or as windy, but that coat kept me ridiculously cosy. I like to think I look like a disheveled raven. CAWW CAWW. 

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Glitter In The Air - Urban Outfitters 'Emperor' Nail Varnish

Just because the Christmas and New Year's parties are over and done with doesn't mean we have to pack the sequins away for another year. Oh no no. In fact I intend to involve sparkles a lot more in my day-to-day looks. I'm kind of failing at introducing colour to my wardrobe, so I'm hoping some glitter here and there will add a bit of pazazz to the Grim Reaper look I've been adopting as of late.  

One way in which I'm slowly introducing the shine to my very matte sense of style is through nail varnish. I did a really easy and sparkly Christmas Party Nail Tutorial as part of blogmas, and received this nail varnish for Christmas. I now have quite a big glitter polish collection, and although they're a bugger to get off, they seem to be my go-to if I want my nails to stand out.  

I'd never tried Urban Outfitters nail varnish before. In fact, I didn't even know they did it. 

This is basically me in a bottle. It's called Emperor and it's grungey yet feminine at the same time. Emperor is such an appropriate name. The pink is a royal, jewel tone, which contrasts magnificently with the dense black. 

I've has so many compliments on it, and it works with both evening and day-time looks. 

So if like me your struggling to find your colourful self this season, turn to nail varnish as a way of sneaking it in without feeling out of your comfort zone. 

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My Defense and Praise of Sia's 'Elastic Heart' Video

I'm just as angry as you, buddy. 

With everything that's happening in Paris and the massive support for the Je Suis Charlie campaign, freedom of speech and creative freedom are very much up for discussion at the moment.

The topic of creative freedom was at the forefront of my mind when I read that Sia had publicly apologised for her 'Elastic Heart' music video, as it triggered outrage among many who saw the video as paedophilic.

I had watched the video just moments after it was released, and was moved to hysterical tears by the raw emotion on show and the story that the incredible choreography brought to life.

Now I've been fascinated by dance for as long as I can remember. Not the most rhythmic of people, I resort to watching programmes like So You Think You Can Dance and contemporary choreography on Youtube to get my fix. So you could say that I have a better understanding than most of the dance industry and contemporary dance so as not to get sucked in by the outrage towards this video. However if you did say that, I'd strongly disagree with you.

I really don't think it takes an inside knowledge of contemporary dance to understand it. I think it simply takes an open mind to the idea that a grown man and a young girl can exist in the same space and create art without it being sullied by society's over-sexualised minds.

Anyone who is remotely involved in anything creative and artistic knows that the meaning of that creative something cannot be found by taking it at face value. You have to look underneath the surface. Ask yourself what it could mean. Analyse. That's the beauty of art. The interpretations of it's meanings are endless. But to see a grown man and a young girl performing contemporary dance together and come up with paedophilia is down right ignorant as far as I'm concerned.

All these people have done is projected their own unease and have proved how sexualised and paranoid we've become as a society if we can look at a young girl and an older man in flesh coloured clothing and before the dancing has even started assume that sex is on the cards.

The pair, through dance, portray a variety of emotions whilst playing 'two warring Sia self states'. Obviously I'm not saying everyone should have assumed that was the story behind the dance. When I first saw it I interpreted it as a father and daughter's turbulent relationship as the father battles depression, and if you look at the not so stupid Youtube comments, you'll see a variety of interpretations of the emotions they play out, but sexuality IS NOT one of them.

The word 'paedophile' has been thrown around way too loosely in this whole fiasco, and it is severely damaging, not only to the creative world, but to society's view of sex.

In this scenario, we're getting up in arms about something completely harmless, whilst girls younger than Maddie Ziegler are subjected to explicit sexual content every single day, and that's just from watching MTV. I opened up a fashion catalogue the other day to find the girls in the pre-teen section smothered in make-up. THAT is more sexually suggestive than prancing around with Shia Labeouf. 

The nude clothing... it seemed to be the catalyst for all this, when in fact, for people who don't have sex on the brain, it's a very clever mechanism. It enables us to focus on the emotions in the face, not the body. OK Maddie and Shia are using their body a lot for the dance, but it's only to emphasise what their face is saying. Watch the video again, and this time, don't take your eyes off their faces. There may be a few dance moves - squats or contortion of the hips - that could be interpreted as sexual, but if you match it with the facial expressions and notice the pain, the frustration, the hurt, you'll see how the body is only assisting the face in it's emotional display.  

These flesh toned outfits don't emphasise flesh. They just show the human form at its purest. In fact all sexual elements have been stripped away. There's no emphasis on any particular part of the body. There's no shapes or colours to distract.  If you strip away the physicality of a human you are only left with emotions. 

But I guess the only dance moves the majority of us can connect with nowadays is a twerk here and a grind there. Maybe sex is the only language we speak in today's society. We're exposed to the human form in a sexual context every single day, whether it's a perfume advert, a music video or a period drama, and it's tainted us, for when we see the human form performing in a way we can't quite understand, sex is the only thing that can make it make sense. 

And it's such  a shame, because we're missing out on something beautiful. 

As for Sia's apology, well, I was slightly disappointed. She said “I anticipated some ‘paedophilia!!!’ cries for this video. All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring ‘Sia self states’” adding that her intention was to “create some emotional content, not to upset anybody”. 

I understand her apologising for triggering any bad memories of childhood trauma among some people, and we all sympathise with them, but they were a small majority. I feel an apology only allows the misinterpretation and sexualisation of a sexless piece of art to continue, tarnishing the work as 'the paedophilic video Sia had to apologise for.' 

Oh, and just something for everyone to think about - Maddie Ziegler danced in the exact same way, wearing the same nude-coloured costume in Chandelier, and there were no cries of sexualisation then. So does that mean Shia Labeouf is the issue here? If it were an older woman dancing with her, would the video have been accepted for the beautiful piece of choreography that it is? Are we now at a place in society where an older man performing with a younger girl equals sex abuse, but an older woman performing with a younger girl equals art? 

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What I Got For Christmas

Almost three weeks later, and I finally have all my Christmas presents. I wanted to do this 'What I Got for Christmas' post a lot earlier, but a heavy-handed courier and a fragile present meant I had to put it on hold for a bit *shakes fist and hopes the courier feels my disgruntlement* My main presents this year were Foo Fighters tickets for me and the rest of the family, and my trip to Prague (which I've probably bored you to death with by now), but I still got some pretty awesome presents from family, friends and the boyfriend which I thought I'd share. It might give you some nifty gift ideas for any sneaky post-Christmas birthdays that might be coming up.

You've probably picked up from my Outfit of the Day posts that I like to revel in the dark side every now and then. But my love of the Gothic doesn't stop at fashion, and judging by this present from the boyfriend, he's picked up on it. I've got a real morbid curiosity when it comes to taxidermy and the creative ways in which they can become pieces of art. This is a brilliant example. I don't know where the boyfriend found them, but I know they're handmade. I actually want a headpiece like that for myself. This was the 'fragile present' that the courier broke, so the seller offered to send replacement, but the boyfriend's mum (bless her) sat down and glued back together the other one, so now I have two. You can find things similar all over the internet. Etsy is probably a good place to start. 

 Because of the courier incident, the boyfriend wanted me to have something to open, so he got me these goodies. If you haven't tried these spreads, throw your New Year diet to one side and dive in. They're worth it. I also have a massive penchant for sour sweets (my poor teeth), so even though my diet started a week ago, it might have to go on hold while I demolish these. 

 Word's got around that I do a spot of baking every now and then. So I was incredibly grateful to get these baking bits. The Bake Off book is incredible. Not only does it have some of the signature bakes from the actual show, but interviews with last year's contestants. And I don't know how I ever coped without silicone cupcake cases. What a brilliant idea. 

 For me, beautie tidbits are always well received. Everyone loves a bit of Soap & Glory. They're definitely one of my staple beauty brands. With the amount of moisturisers I've accumulated over the years I should be slippin' and slidin' off everything. 

 You've probably seen this Rebel Ocean ring popping up in a few of my Outfit of the Day posts recently. I think I've worn it everyday since I opened it. And to go with it, the boyfriend's mum also got me two little ring holders in the shape of a cat and dog. My lovely friend Chloe also got me a stunning pink and black sequin nail varnish from Urban Outfitters. I've never tried their nail varnish's before, but this one is right up my street. 

 PUG SOCKS! My stash of Pug and Alice in Wonderland paraphernalia is forever growing. I do love the artwork on this Alice in Wonderland mug. It's so unique and it's nice to have something with a character other than Alice / the Mad Hatter on. I was so grateful for the slippers and make-up bag. I was getting quite sick of cold toes and make-up spilling out from every nook and cranny. I also thing the cheeky bottle of Sailor Jerry's in the background is a perfect filler for the mug. 

 Speaking of make-up, I think I now own every single piece of the Colour Couture collection. These are a mixture of nail and make-up kits that I' m hoping to review in the near future. I should be a nail art novice by the time I've finished. 

These are some of my favourite presents, simply because of the memories they'll create. On the left are tickets to a Jack the Ripper Secret London Walking Tour. Again, my morbid curiosity squealed with excitement. I'm fascinated with the twists and turns of the Jack the Ripper case, so to actually explore areas in London that are related to the crimes will be so interesting. 

To say the boyfriend did well this year is an understatement. He also got me tickets to Les Enfants Terrible's Alice's Adventures Underground, which is an immersive theatre event. SO.EXCITED. I've been to an immersive theatre event before and I will never forget it. I'm so intrigued to see how they do this. 

Last but most certainly not least, my grandparents got me and my mum tickets to see Matthew Bourne's Edward Scissorhands at Milton Keynes theatre. I'm in love with Matthew Bourne. I've already seen his Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake and they were stunning. He's known for his contemporary adaptations which are played out to the original score's, so it will be magical hear Danny Elfman's score in a theatre environment. 

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