Your First Festival and Cheesy Chips

With the harsh monochrome sky above me today, I struggled to think of what to post due to the lack of sunshine. I thought about the things that make me happy and I realised that I have never made a blog post about the festival that I went to last Summer, Boardmasters, an event that kept me grinning from ear to ear everyday that I was there. You must be thinking why are you doing a festival post in March? The season is coming round quicker than you think and most people are purchasing their tickets or have already so I thought I'd give a little about my experience at this particular festival to hopefully spark some ideas as to what festival you would like to go to this year.

Festivals aren't for everyone, but they are most certainly great for those who love them and people's opinions differ as to why they are so fantastic. Around 50% of people who go to festivals go for the music, whilst the other half come to socialise, I personally think it's a bit of both. Carys and I originally decided to go because our favourite band Catfish and the Bottlemen were playing and the line up was suited to our music taste - we got to see Faithless, Rudimental, Bastille, Clean Bandit and Groove Armada - to name a few. But sadly not Catfish because of recording commitments.

Nevertheless this had no impact on our time. Not because we aren't fans, but because festivals aren't just a great opportunity to watch your favourite artists, but also for finding new ones. We were fortunate enough to discover Fickle Friends, an Indie Funk Pop group and from that we found new songs to listen to on the bus, and went to one of my favourite gigs where we got to actually meet the band - to me that is a dream come true.

In general, even if none of the people we'd planned to see were on, there was always music on everywhere, and it was all fantastic. Sometimes the line up isn't the best forecast for how good of a time you'll have, because you could end up finding new artists anyway or be so smashed you don't realise what you're doing.

To the other 50% of the population who go for the social aspects, it really was a chance to meet new people and we ended up meeting five new friends who I'm sure we'll know for life. Even if you aren't looking for 'BFFLs', people on a whole at festivals are so friendly and fun, possibly because of the level of alcohol they are in-taking, even if you went alone, you certainly wouldn't be alone for long.

The 'vibes' I guess people call it will differ from festival to festival. Some festivals like Download will be a 'rockier' vibe to others due to the Heavy Metal genre being played there. Other's like Wildlife or Bestival are quite hippy and chilled. Boardmasters was by the sea, and I mean right by the sea, and in Cornwall at the beginning of August. This gives a good chance of sunshine and warmth and because Newquay is the surf capital of the UK, the feel was very, yep you guessed it - surfy. So consider why you're going and what sort of atmosphere do you want, because the only aroma that you'll find exactly the same in each festival is the aroma of a "herbal" substance - everywhere.

I was quite shocked at how many people were 'intoxicated' shall I say ( maybe not the guy in the grey hoodie above), probably due to my young age and very little exposition to things like that, however you soon realise who you don't want to be around and where you don't want be if you aren't interested in that sort of thing. It shocks some, but not others, it really depends on the individual, but I wasn't harmed at all and if I noticed something that made us uncomfortable we just walked away, the only thing you can do (then went to get cheesy chips).

To wrap things up, Boardmasters was amazing and I can't believe how lucky I was to have gone and experienced what I did, I'm not going back this year as I'm on holiday but I have put here's a link to the line up (it's amazing). I will be going to Reading Festival in August though, and I hope to do more festival themed videos nearer the time like essentials, outfits and tips.

Til next time.

Top 3 Albums

Something different today, this is a post about music which is probably my biggest passion in life so i hope you don't mind me discussing it this week.

So my 3rd favourite album is Royal Blood's Album with their debut album - Royal Blood. The concept of using a Bass as a guitar rather than a guitar as a bass creates a fantastic sound against the drummer. Despite the fact that there are only two instruments it creates and incredible sound and pays a great tribute to Rock music. My favourite song is Little Monster which has amazing guitar riffs that force you into doing the air guitar unfortunately. They performed at the BRITS this year and were phenomenal (click here) and they even won the Best British Group and were nominated for a BBC Music Award this year.

2nd is Years & Years' long awaited debut album, Communion. In spite of the fact that I love rock, this band are very very good live even though they're an Electronica Trio, they manage to perform live and be entertaining unlike some bands that have proven disappointing (Jungle and Disclosure if I'm honest). You must've heard the hits 'King' and 'Desire' that many people loved. Their music makes me want to dance all the time and they've definitely nailed the modern electronica feel. My favourite songs from the album are 'Take Shelter' and 'Shine'.

The winner and my eternal love is Catfish & the Bottlemen with their album 'The Balcony'. There are no words to describe my love for this album, It's the first album I've ever listened to where I adore every single song. They've had an incredible year from playing at Reading & Leeds Festival last year, winning at the BBC Music Awards in 2014, getting 'Cocoon' on Fifa, filling in for Sam Smth at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend and playing their first ever Glastonbury the other week. I feel they will be huge, absolutely huge. They're such hard workers and love what they do. They deserve every success that they get and what's to come. Have a listen to Pacifier and Tyrants for their best songs live and and listen to the whole album on Spotify (to follow me my username is cerys.myfanwy).

Instagram: @cerysmyfanwy

Twitter: @cerysmyfanwy

August Favourites!

I thought I'd start doing a favourite's post every month with 3 categories to it; beauty, fashion and random/extra. So let's get cracking!

My beauty favourite for last month is the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer! I think it's safe to say that I'm VERY late on this one but I've been using other concealers instead which, quite frankly, don't match up to this one! A little bit goes a long way therefore this product will last me a while - amazing value! I like to use it to cover up and dark circles and I've loved it as it's saved my tired eyes in the mornings!

The fashion item I've really been loving in August is my Gilly Hicks dress which I didn't give enough love to to start with but as I discussed in my Holiday Outfits post, I really love the fit of it now and I've tried to get as much wear as possible out of it for the end of Summer!

My final favourite is a music one - The 1975. Now, I've loved this band for a long time, but this past Summer, I've really loved them. My favourite songs from their album has got to be Robbers and Girls although I do love them all but those songs hit it out of the park for me!

That is it for my favourites for the month of August and I hope you enjoyed!

Saturday Night Tunes!

Some of you lovely readers will be out living and loving life with friends, either celebrating that it's the weekend or maybe congratulating someone on an achievement this week. I hope you're all enjoying!

Others may be in the same situation as I am, sitting at home chilling, waiting for food and eyes glued to all devices. The "typical teenager".

Fortunately, it's not bad at all! I can currently smell BBQ Ribs and chips scenting all the way from our kitchen to my bedroom. YUM.

Not only am I indulged in such an outstanding smell and the warmth of my snuggly blanket, but I'm listening to two of my favourite albums of the moment right now.

I was kindly given these two albums as a gift for my Birthday two weeks ago and I have to say; I love them!

I've loved Rudimental ever since they made it big in the UK which was about a year and a half ago when they released their single 'Feel the Love' which I think will never ever get old. The album 'Home' has been out for quite a while now and I had been eyeing it down for the past few months. Luckily, my boyfriend listened to me when I kept saying how much I wanted this album :P

I love all the songs, they're all fantastic! But my favourite has got to be one of my favourite songs ever, Feel the Love because it's just amazing!

Although Chase & Status have been around for around 10 years I only really discovered them earlier this year. Ever since I listened to 'Blind Faith' on YouTube I instantly really liked them. I was so excited to watch them live at Glastonbury this year and they did not disappoint me!

When I heard 'Lost & Not Found' earlier in the summer I loved it and then 'Count on Me' was released later in the summer. I then discovered that Chase and Status had a new album out, 'Brand New Machine'. Of course, I really wanted it and thankfully I got it!

This album definitely isn't as heavy in terms of the bass as 'No More Idols' and songs like 'No Problem'. It reminds me a lot of 90's music, as if that was the base to nearly all the songs on the album. I do love this about the album because it puts a slight twist to typical Drum & Bass songs.

I have to say that 'Count on Me' is my favourite, it's as if that song was made for me it has everything I could want in an upbeat song. 

This week I'm going to go old school and listen to some Ninja Tunes and DJ Shadow, both are 90's Drum & Bass songs. Also the apparent King of Drum & Bass, Roni Size. I'll let you know what I think on my Twitter or another blog post. 

Cheerio!