The Birthday Treat - The Used Meet and Greet and Illamasqua Haul

I meant to post this sometime ago but, it had to go on the back burner as the last few weeks have been incredibly busy with Hospital appointments and what not.

As a lot of you know the week following my birthday I was lucky enough to go to a meet and greet with one of my favourite bands The Used. My sister and I ventured to London on the cold and wet Saturday; we started off at Illamasqua's flagship store in London.

The visit to Illamasqua was a last minute thing because as some of you are aware I had treated myself to some items for my birthday but the delivery company they use, My Hermes, delivered my parcel to the wrong address twice! I was desperate for the items I had ordered and even though I had to miss out on my industry discount I wanted the items too badly.

I brought the following items: Fundamental Palette, Precision Ink in Abyss, Masquara in Raven, Medium Pencil in Paddle, Nail Varnish in Scorn and Scorch and finally Cream Pigment in Hollow. This haul hurt my wallet extensively and seeing as at that point I had paid twice for it you can imagine what my bank balance looked like afterwards, it was so worth it though because all of the items that I have actually played with are amazing. I am yet to use the Fundamental Palette or swatch the colours so I will do another post probably later today with swatches.

Posing in our new Ves

Once my bank card was well and truly broken we headed over to Kingston's Hippodrome to see The Used; I have to admit Sarah and I were like little girls as this is a band we have followed for a few years and the first time seeing them live. We queued in the rain for what felt like forever but once the line started moving it really started moving. 

Once inside we spied the merch stall (and the very hot merch guy ha-ha) and got ourselves the vest that appears in the Merch Haul post. We both changed into our new merch as this is something we always do when we get stuff at gigs and then the waiting began.

 We were lucky enough to get a great spot at the side of the stage so we really were close to the action. Quinn and Bert arrived onstage and played a short acoustic set which truly was amazing, that man’s voice sounds no different live than on the CD itself.

I like to tell myself he is pointing at me ha ha

The set finished and we were told to make our way to the back area of the venue, Sarah and I have never moved so fast because we really didn’t like the thought of being number 699 and 700, we managed to get in line about 50 people back and then we waited and waited and waited some more.

About 30 minutes passed and then the line started moving, I personally was shaking and very excited and then finally came the moment to meet Jepher, Quinn, Dan and Bert. I had been trying to think of what I was going to say to them but nothing unique came into my head. When I reached the table I was greeted by Jepher and all I could say was thank you for the most amazing birthday present to which he replied "Oh Happy Birthday Sweetie", I rambled something about being old so he asked how old I was and when I told him his reply was "Ahhh that’s not old I turned 80 recently" with a huge grin on his face. I missed out on talking to Quinn because Jepher carried on but I would not change it.

Sarah's head and then from R-L: Jepher, Quinn, Dan and Bert

 We were rushed through Quinn and Dan to get to Mr McCracken himself now I was really shaking, we had been told no pictures with the guys although, we had seen a few people ask and be allowed so we thought we would ask but, Bert’s manager said no. Bert was so lovely about it and looked genuinely upset that he couldn’t and said "if you are coming to the gig tomorrow come see us after and I will make sure you get your picture" we told him we weren’t and he looked really sad and all he could say was sorry. If I am honest I don’t care about the photo I got to meet them and that’s something I may never get the chance to do again.

So, that ends the most amazing weekend and birthday in a long time, it will take some beating I can tell you. I hope you enjoyed reading my rambled post and if you haven’t already check out The Used’s new album Vulnerable you won’t be disappointed.

Ems xo

Birthday Merch Haul

My Godbrother, Sister and her Boyfriend Matt brought me two shirts from Sideshow Familia, My tattooist Mike's Clothing Line and then I treated myself to a very rude vest when I went to see The Used on Saturday. If you are easily offended please dont look at the final image.

Familia Shirt - Excuse the unironed shirt!

 The Familia Shirt can be purchased as a standard Tee £20 like the one above or a vest £15 and they come in both black and white.

The Amazing Bettie Vest - I spy Make-up on the neck naughty me!

Bettie in more detail

 Like the Familia Shirt the Bettie vest come in both black and white and is available as a standard Tee as well. Tee £20 Vest £15

The Used Shirt

The Used Don't Give a F*ck about Sh*t can be purchased on their UK tour dates for £20 or at their store for $29.99

Chill Day

Yesterday was chill day after all the excitement of the weekend date, the sister moving in and lots of emails I took the day off to chill out with my Sister Sarah and my Mum Kathy.

The day started how it usually does when Sarah and I spend time together with stupid pictures and the idea to wear the same outfit:

We are both wearing our Linkin Park Tour shirts, Black bottoms, Wayfarer's and Converse!

When we got  to Mums we had a package waiting and this is what was inside:

Our The Used Vulnerable album and our tickets to the meet and greet session in Kingston next month. Sarah was doubly excited because she had an extra package waiting from Disney and this is what she looks like, She is a weirdo so I wont get angry at anyone that's thinking it!

Once the excitement and jumping around was over we decided to watch One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest with Mum, I have never seen the film and oh my god what an amazing film it made me fall in love with Jack Nicholson even more!

Later in the evening I watched Requiem For A Dream with Jared Leto, It was very slow to start with and its one of those films that I really can't decide if I like it or hate it! I think I may have to watch it again because it may be that my brain was so preoccupied that I couldn't really focus on it.

Music: The New Used Album - Vulnerable

I have just purchased The Used's new album Vulnerable and I have to say I love it. Across the Internet world it has been received with mixed reviews, a lot of them from unintelligent people saying "They have changed I don't like them anymore" All I can say to those people is that a great band will change, grow and try new things, fine its not your cup of tea but they should be praised for trying these things because it shows they are not one trick ponies!

I get very passionate about music and I applaud any band that comes back from a 4 year break with a risky new sound. I am sat here listening to the album as I type and to me yes the style is a little different, a little softer on some songs but its still the same band I fell in love with 5 years ago.

Rant over!

Here is the Artwork and the track listing

The Used - Vulnerable (Deluxe CD/LP Track Listing)
1. I Come Alive
2. This Fire
3. Hands and Faces
4. Put Me Out
5. Shine
6. Now That You're Dead
7. Give Me Love
8. Moving On
9. Getting Over You
10. Kiss It Goodbye
11. Hurt No One
12. Together Burning Bright

Exclusive Bonus Tracks (only on the deluxe version of the album):
13 Machine
14. Disaster
15. Put Me Out (Acoustic)
16. I Come Alive (Acoustic)
17. Together Burning Bright (Acoustic)

You can pop along to iTunes, Hopeless Records and in the UK Banquet Records where you can buy the album and a ticket to the meet and greet and acoustic set in London on April 28th, I will be there and I can't wait.

Give it a listen and tell me what you think

Ems xo