City Review: Las Vegas

When I initially planned my trip to the USA I had two dates to choose from... one meant that I would be in Las Vegas on the fourth of July, the other, didn't! Well, considering that the fourth of July is one of the USA's biggest national holidays, celebrating their independence, I could hardly toss up a night at the biggest party location on the biggest party date the US has to offer could I???

After driving for hours and hours in anticipation of the bright lights, as we saw the famous Vegas strip growing from a tiny dot on the desert's horizon to a booming metropolitan collection of casinos, bars and hotels, I couldn't help but inexplicably scream, 'Vegas baby!' I was so psyched it was unreal. Imagine my ecstasy when after spending the previous few nights roughing it on US campsites, we were told that our next accommodation was situated in the world-renowned Stratosphere hotel. I nearly burst!

The Stratosphere boasts and 80,000 square feet casino, six restaurants, a swimming pool, a salon and spa combo AND a mini theme part on top of its 1,149 foot tower. Literally, the hotel is like a mini city.
We only had a couple hours in which to get ready, so I rushed up to my bedroom and turned the bath on. While the hot water was running I marvelled at my family-sized room, looking out at my view of Vegas and the Stratosphere tower. Within the next few hours, I'd poured myself into a obscenely short and tight lilac bodycon dress (only in Vegas...) and headed out with four cans of Red Bull in tow due to my exhaustion from spending my day trekking the desert. Needless to say the Red Bulls were washed down with a couple of splashes of vodka in hotel-room pre-sesh.

We had all paid the extra to go on a limo tour of Vegas so we headed down to the lobby of the Stratosphere. Seriously, in Vegas everyone feels like a star, but I felt even more fab as heads turned in the casino as we strutted past and hopped into our stretch hummer. Inside we were greeted with a state-of-the-art sound system blaring the coolest chart tunes, a mini-pole (too small to practice any of the tricks I picked up at the British Pole Dance Academy, sadly) and a few bottles of champers. Needless to say, the party had well and truly started.

The first stop on our journey was the world-famous Fremont Street. This is one long street which features a huge screen canopy which stretches from one side to the other displaying images and flashing lights like you've never seen before. As it was the fourth of July, as well as the usual bars and casinos which are open daily, there were also three huge stages along the street, each featuring 80's music cover bands. If you know me, then you know that the 80's is my absolute favorite era of music so I was in my element, pounding my dancing feet, shimmying my shoulders and giving the odd crafty wink to the lead singers in exchange for some Mardi Gras-style beads. I distinctly remember bouncing away to Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, Jump by Van Halen and Message in a Bottle by The Police, just three of my favorite songs of all time. I'll never forget the carefree feeling I had dancing and drinking on Fremont on the fourth of July.

All too soon though, our time on Fremont Street was over. So we jumped back into the limo and headed to the Vegas sign for some fantastic photo opportunities. After much posing, we stopped at a petrol station to (rather classily) make use of their restroom facilities, because us ladies with just bursting. Once again we headed off in the limo to only God-knew-where.

Pulling up outside the lobby for the up-market Bellagio hotel just in time to catch their spectacular fountain dance with the backdrop of the Paris hotel Eiffel Tower icon. I will admit, I went into the Bellagio under the pretence of 'needing to use the rest-room' but really I just wanted to see how deliciously luxurious the hotel was. I was not at all disappointed as the whole lobby smelt of flowers and the golden glow of the lights bathed the shiny marble flooring. Just gorgeous.

By this point it was only about midnight, and we were nowhere near ready to turn in just yet. So you're in Vegas, you're part of a slightly intoxicated group and none of you want to gamble... what do you do? Head to the classiest strip club in Nevada of course! After making the executive decision to barter with the manager, I got my negotiation hat on. They wanted to charge us $28 each just for entry, and drinks were going to be about $16 for a shot and a mixer!!! No, no, that's not right.

I explained that we were a bunch of 14 horny tourists, who would rather spend money on dances than entry and drinks. Eventually I managed to get the guy to knock the price down to $25 INCLUDING two drinks each! Winner. That means I saved my group $35 each. Great success :) Naturally, none of us paid for a dance. However, most of us gave the lovely ladies a tip or two and a great night was had by all.
After getting a taxi back to our hotel at about 5am, we just about dropped dead onto our fluffy king-sized matresses and stayed that way until 10am at which point we were hanging-hungry and just had to go out and explore daytime-Vegas.

We hadn't quite factored in how unbearably hot it can be in Vegas, so our very noble ambitions of walking the whole strip rapidbly became more realistic as we strolled to our neighbouring hotel Circus Circus for a burger before heading back to the Stratosphere. It seems Vegas during the day is pretty much the same as Vegas at night, and considering the fact that none of us had enough money to go shopping, we decided a nap was in order so that we could enjoy the next night.

Once naps were over, I grabbed a (very average) burrito in the hotel food court area and we all headed up to the Stratosphere tower to check out the rides. Thankfully, because we were Stratosphere hotel guests, we didn't have to pay to go up the tower. This saved us a whopping $18 each. Great success. The main aim of going to the tower? Watch the boys jump off the top. Literally, they wanted to bungee from the top of the tower. I'm glad in a way that there was no space on the bookings form because I definitely would have lost my nasty burrito from nerves sickness watching them! As the boys couldn't take the leap, they decided that we ALL had to do Big Shot, the 160 foot freefall ride on the Stratosphere, for which they very kindly paid the $15 ticket fee for is. Isn't it lovely being spoilt by Aussies?

The rest of the night was spent in much the same way as the previous night at Fremont Street's bars. Obviously my stamina isn't what it should be as I was exhausted after 1am so headed back and hopped back into my beautiful bed. The next morning we left Vegas at 8am, so I was glad I'd got a good night's sleep as they Grand Canyon was the next stop.

Vegas was exactly as I expected it would be. Bright, brassy, brilliant. One thing I wasn't expecting was the fact that anything you would do in Vegas at night can also be done during the day, which means that if you're going out at night you really don't feel so bad about sleeping all day. Something else which a couple of members from our trip had to learn the hard way, is that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas... Do with that information what you will!

Have you ever been to Vegas? How would you imagine it being? Do you think you'd enjoy it? I didn't expect I would love it as much as I did to be honest, as I'm not usually a big goer-outer-er, but Vegas is oh-so-different.

Love and kisses
gabriellasofia
x

A Few Changes I'm Making at HauteFuture...

Hello there everyone!

This is just a quick post going through some changes you can expect to see at HauteFuture over the next couple of weeks.

Since getting back from my trip I've been looking at my blog and the blogs of others, just trying to work out what I can do better. There are loads of features which I'd like to remove, tweak, or add in order to make the page work better for me and my readers also. If we got from the top of the page and move down, I'll run you through some of the changes I would like to make... Some of you may even be able to help me with some elements if you like!

                             

• I would like to change my header. Initially I liked that it was simple, clean and classy looking. However, since working more with my blog and looking at the blogs of others I can see that my header is a little plain and the image resolution isn't actually very clear at all. I would love for my header to have the same general colour scheme, and I really like that the shape of my border works well with the pink posh-wallpaper print down the margins of my page. However, I'm looking for something which will appear a bit more detailed, intricate and pretty whilst also looking like good quality. Something a little more professional I guess! If you are good at designing headers or computer graphics and art-work please let me know as it would be a great help. 
• My little blurb about my blog isn't as clear or concise as I would like it to be. I think that the name 'HauteFuture' is a good one and I believe my page will always go by that name. But some people still can't quite get their head around it, meaning that my explanation isn't doing the trick. This is something I need to think about.
• I'm thinking of making the writing space larger and hence reducing the size of the margins. Just because I believe people need to scroll too much because of the lack of writing space, and I know that hacks me off about some people's blogs. 
• My 'buttons' aren't real buttons at the moment, because last time I was fiddling with my HTML and layout etc I had spent ages trying to make my page look like it does right now and I couldn't be bothered to spend even more time learning how to format real buttons so they would work as I wanted them to. I currently have each of my different sites as an individual 'button' of their own, but I would like them all to be a part of the 'Contact Me' button. Also, I would like to make it easier for people just hunting for a specific thing to be able to find it by using the buttons. For example, at the moment I have a 'reviews' button in which the links for all of my reviews so far can be found. However, I would like buttons such as, 'Health and Fitness', 'Beauty', 'Fashion', 'Travel' and 'Lifestyle' so that the people who only follow my page for my travel stories can find them without having to sift through all the beauty tutorials and diet reviews.
• I would like to have a 'Search' box so that people can find what they are looking for just by typing in a few key words. I also want a 'Tag Cloud' so that people can see how often I post about certain topics and then if they spot something they like the look of such as 'Revlon' then they can click on it and find everything I've written about Revlon.
• I'm going to get rid of the HTML code for my 'Button' on my main page and will move it to the 'Contact Me' tab. I know that's probably a big deal for most bloggers as they might think, 'How can people put your button on their page then? You will be missing out on promotion!' I just think the code and the code box itself is lovely. Also, there's no need for me to have my own button on my own page, it's just overload! Plus, I don't know many people that have volunteered of their own accord to put my button on their page against my knowledge. Most people get in touch and ask if it is ok, or let me know they are thinking of doing it. Plus, technically, you don't even need the HTML code to make the button work, you could just copy and paste the picture and link it back to my page. I think my button is a bit void. Nonetheless, I will keep it in my 'Contact Me' tab so that those that do feel passionately enough about my page to get in touch will also find the button and be able to use it if they so wish.
• This is a big one... I want to get rid of my GFC button. I know many of you are shaking your heads right now in disbelief. I love each and every one of my followers, really I do and I appreciate the fact that they have been loyal and clicked to follow in the first place. However, I don't like the term 'followers'. That is the first reason I've decided to get rid of GFC. I know people 'Follow' on Twitter, but it feels more like they are following and keeping up with my life rather than on my blog I feel like the term 'Follower' when I'm talking about fashion or beauty to make things feel rather too dictatorial. Like I'm supposed to be some kind of leader telling you all what to wear or how to live. I'm probably looking into it too deeply, but I think HauteFuture is all about the way I choose to live my life and encouraging everyone to make their own choices also, with or without my guidance or influence. At the end of the day, we're all different and all I can post about is my own opinions. Sometimes they will coincide with those of my readers and sometimes they won't, but I absolutely don't want it to seem like people should 'Follow' me. Also, I've noticed that many of my followers don't actually click to read my posts. Furthermore, there is so much pressure in the blogging world surrounding, 'Ooooh, how many followers does such-and-such-a-blogger have? Oooh she must be terrible' that I just don't want to fuel that any longer. I find it is just negative and blogging shouldn't be a competition in my opinion. So I'm looking into having an email subscription means of allowing readers to keep track of my posts. Apart from that I'll just be writing for random readers that just click through. I hope you understand why I'm doing this, and once it goes ahead I hope my loyal followers with join the email sub service.
• I might get rid of my Bloglovin' and Hello Cotton accounts for the same reasons as above. Having said that I've never had an abundance of followers via either of these means, so I don't expect this to affect most people or myself for that matter.
• I hope to invest more time into my Tumblr and YouTube accounts. I feel like both of these are neglected a lot. With Tumblr I feel this was initially because I didn't really 'get' it and I still don't... but I just need to invest more time into learning about it. As for YouTube, I love recording videos, but I've often found it quite time-consuming to prepare for, record, edit and post my vlogs. Nonetheless, I would ideally like to get at least one video posted each week as I have a few subscribers at my channel who expect more from me.
• I am hunting for some more buttons to add to my sidebar and I will be getting rid of those that I feel aren't 'friends'. I know that sounds harsh, but when I first started blogging I just wanted to know everyone and be a part of the whole thing and one way to connect with others was to add their buttons to my sidebar. However, in hindsight, about 50% of the buttons I currently have aren't even from blogs that I 'follow' and I have virtually no relationship with the bloggers that used my naivety in order to get a bit of free PR. Having said that, I am looking for new buttons and I will be contacting my favorite bloggers to collect theirs. Please get in touch if you think you have a blog I would be interested in and a button which would match the HauteFuture image and I would be more than happy to stick it up there :)
• I want to make it so that on my main page each of my posts only appears in brief, to be clicked on if people wish to read on. Only because at the moment, my main page can only fit about three posts on it before people need to click and load another page. Some people only check your front page before deciding if they want to hit 'Follow' or subscribe to email updates so I feel I'd rather a larger sample of my work available for viewing in order to provide a wider overview of what HauteFuture is all about...  

So I think that will just about cover most of the changes I'm hoping to make. I think I might also change my main image to a collage of pictures of me doing blog-related things, only because I feel the photo I have at the moment is a tad outdated and doesn't really demonstrate what my page represents in a clear enough way. A lot of changes really, and I'm sure it will take up a lot of my time to fiddle and twiddle with things before I'm completely happy with them. However, I'm sure I'll get there and the new image of HauteFuture will be more current and relevant across the board than it is right now. I actually considered crossing over to Wordpress at one point, but if I can make all of the changes I want to make and I am happy with the final result I will stay with Blogger, if only because crossing over kind of scares the living daylights out of me... In the long term I'm also considering paying the difference not to have '.blogspot.' at the end of my URL and perhaps offer advertising space for a small price. But that probably won't be for a couple of months.

Could you design me a chic, pretty and professional looking header? How do you feel about email subscriptions to a blog? Can you think of any other changes I should be considering for my page? Please let me know if you can think of anything, because this blog is as much for my readers as it is for me, and I really value your opinions on making the page run as smoothly and successfully as it possibly can.

Hope you'll bear with me through the changes, fingers crossed in a couple of weeks time you'll be looking at the new and improved HauteFuture.

Love and snuggles

gabriellasofia

x

Outfit of the Night: Waterfall Snakeskin...

This time last weekend my lovely friend Vikki from Victoria's Vintage came to my hometown as we hadn't seen each other since before I went away! Also, it had been her birthday the week before, so this called for a celebration of course... We decided to go out clubbing with my sister and close friend Andrew. Here is what all us girls wore:

As usual my hair looks horrifically out of control and my sister is wearing a full outfit of my clothes. But that is ok, because my own outfit was nabbed from her wardrobe of beautiful new garments acquired while I was trekking the States. Caring is sharing, right?

Anyway, onto the outfit...

I initially thought this dress was horrendous. It is green, it is snakeskin, it is short at the front and long at the back, it has buttons to the waist and a collar. Not the most attractive description, and yet all of it is true! However, once I tried this Topshop dress on, I was hooked and wouldn't even entertain the idea of wearing anything else.

When my sister wears this dress, she had to wear it with a bodycon skirt underneath because she is so tall and long-legged that her lady bits are on show. Luckily (for once) I am shorter than her, so I can go without a poon-protecting skirt. Not to say that I didn't show off my other lady bits... I originally did my buttons up to the top but it looked a bit wrong. Like a housecoat, or one of those coats a woodwork technician wears. Just odd. So I popped the top few buttons and let my cleavage loose. After all you're only young once!

I paired the dress with my sky-scraping Topshop wedges, a skinny black belt to cinch the middle and a pair of black tights because there DEFINITELY would have been too much skin on show if I hadn't, plus it was a little nippy outside.

What do you think of this outfit? Do you raid your sisters', friends' and moms' closets? What are your thoughts on baring skin on nights out? It can be risky business!

Love and kisses

gabriellasofia

x

Culture Shock: What I've Been Watching: Magic Mike (2012)

On the recommendation given by my younger sister, this Orange Wednesday just gone my mother and I headed out to our local Vue cinema to catch the biggest naked-man phenomenon to grace the mainstream world since the Chippendales first strutted onto the stage in all their bow-tied glory. I'm sorry to say that Magic Mike (2012) was altogether a huge disappointment for me.

I am a huge fan of the cinema. I love dressing in my comfies and getting excited about what snacks to buy. My mom and I like going to see films together as a cute mummy-daughter activity and we've caught some really good ones in the past such as My Week With Marilyn, The Help, The King's Speech and The Iron Lady. As you can tell, our usual tastes are drama and history type pieces with a bit of comedy and fashion thrown in. Having said that, I love a good dance movie or romcom too, so we weren't too concerned about Magic Mike. That is until the first month sign-post symbolising that the film begins in 'June' popped up totally randomly. It was all downhill from there really.

*This is what I wore to the cinema...*

So let me break it down for you... Think Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer and Matthew McConaughey getting naked and swivelling their leather-clad snake hips all over the stage. Sounds brilliant right? Now imagine that this is all that really happens for about two hours straight. I know full well that there are many people out there that wouldn't mind this at all. I even surprised myself by finding that after the first ten minutes of slobbering into my popcorn I just felt so intellectually neglected that I sort of shut off to the naked men and hunted amidst the six-packs for a storyline worth following.

I needn't have bothered. Now, if you haven't seen the film or didn't want to know the storyline (because you value your time) I apologise as I'm about to give you the bare bones... which is actually the whole plot. So Pettyfer's character is a 19 year-old sleeping on his sister's couch and hunting for a job. He runs into 'Mike' (Tatum) and gets roped into being a male stripper in McConaughey's character's club. Mike is an aspiring entrepreneur wishing to open his own furniture design company, for which he has saved $13,000 over the years. Pettyfer's character gets led astray into selling drugs and gets into a big fight when he's stripping at a sorority house party resulting in him leaving behind $10,000 worth of pills. Mike pays the drug dealers $10,000 out of his own savings, just because that's the kind of guy he is. He also decides to quit stripping and pursue his furniture-related dreams. McConaughey's character decides to move his business to Miami and takes his remaining strippers with him. Pettyfer's sister knows that her brother is now a drug addict and seller and gets naked for a living, but she doesn't mind because Mike snogs her in the end. End of story.

Literally, that is the whole story. The thing that irked me the most was Pettyfer's character's sister because she was so dull and passive, there was almost no point in her character existing. Whatever happened to intelligent, fun, interesting leading ladies? Is it realistic that a woman doesn't mind that her younger brother is in danger as long as she's got a new boyfriend? I don't think so. And its not like there wasn't interesting women in the film, there was. I actually related more to Olivia Munn's bit part as a promiscuous bisexual than I did to Pettyfer's character's sister (who is a relative unknown named Cody Horn) and that is saying something as I have never had bisexual tendencies and would not call myself promiscuous. I found it almost offensive and very anti-feminist that the main female character was not developed into an admirable heroine. Similarly, it annoyed me that the male stripper characters were all permitted to be as promiscuous as possible, dancing naked every night, 'sharing' the breasts of their wives and sleeping with a variety of women, whilst Munn's character is portrayed as a terrible person when Mike discovered she was in fact engaged when she'd slept with him. Obviously I'm not condoning that kind of behaviour, but when the male characters misbehaved, it was portrayed as being 'endearing' or 'cheeky' or 'expected' whereas when the women did the same they were portrayed as being horrible and misleading and dirty.

I didn't hate the film. But it bored me a lot, and I just found that the naked-dancing was used as a vehicle to sell cinema tickets in spite of the fact that the plot was lacking in a big way. Had I been in the cinema by myself I probably would have got up and left, but my Mom seemed to think it was 'good fun' so I sat quietly marvelling at the lack of intelligent characters whilst Matthew McConaughey thrust his hips at me.

I think this is a good film for young girls who have never had any kind of erotic experience before or have never seen a male dancer or a porn king in action before. Similarly, I think bored housewives would enjoy this film too. On top of that, I think it is probably not a bad film for those who have no interest in the way women are portrayed in the media in comparison to men. I could also watch this film when I'm very very bored late at night and there is nothing else on telly and I can't sleep.

So many of you probably think I looked far too deeply into what is essentially just a 'fun' film. But that's just my opinion I guess...

Did you watch Magic Mike? Does the portrayal of women in the media bother you at all? Have you seen any other good films recently?

Love and kisses
gabriellasofia
x

Social Networking 101: My Blogging Likes and Dislikes #1

Hello there hot stuffs.

 

*See. Travelling, innit?*

I've decided to start this feature because since I got back from travelling in the States (where my internet access was limited) I've come back and thrown myself full-force back into my social media sites. I've been blogging again and tweeting and pinning and facebooking and youtubing to my heart's content and I've loved it :) I've also been able to catch up with other people's blogs and pinboards and other sites which has been fantastic because I love seeing what everyone else has been up to. Having said that, it's also meant that I've done my seasonal cull of facebook friends and I've been much pickier with the blogs I choose to follow. At the end of the day there are so many great blogs out there, but not all of them are applicable to me, so why should I have them cropping up on my dash, clogging up my virtual space? 

I've seen quite a few different 'How to Blog' type posts recently, and I want to outline that this is not a 'do-this-don't-do-that' type post. I believe in freedom of speech (and type) and everyone is entitled to do whatever they want with their virtual space. However, some of those things don't appeal to my personal tastes, so I wanted to share with you guys just some of the things I do and don't like in blogs that I read or choose not to read. So here goes...

I Choose Not To Follow Blogs Which...

1) Use curse words frequently without the use of asterisks. I hate to say that in my personal life, I can be quite a stressy person and around close company (friends and family) I have been knows to spit out the odd naughty word in exasperation. However, I see my social networks as the best representation of me and a way of PRing myself as a professional. So I choose not to use those words in writing unless absolutely necessary and even then I use asterisks in place of the central letters, because I respect that many people don't like swears. Blogs which don't do this aren't for me.

2) Clearly haven't been proofread. The odd slip-up or typo happens occasionally of course, and I'd never crucify someone for typing 'than' rather than 'that' or something like that. However, the quality of some people's writing can be so poor that its a lot of effort to fumble through the spelling mistakes to find the true meaning of a post. 

*Even when I don't look fab I'll post the picture because blogs are about human imperfections rather than the supermodel images we could find in magazines!*

3) Use stock photos from the internet at all times. I follow blogs because they are personal and I like the photos on the posts to reflect that. I understand that sometimes someone's camera may be broken, or their post doesn't require the use of personal photos but an internet pic is thrown in just to break up the text. But more often than not I like to see how the blogger looks in the disco pants, or how Estee Lauder's new foundation looks on the blogger's face. This is why I choose to follow blogs rather than just read magazines.

4) Only really include words. Seeing a ton of writing on a website doesn't exactly scream, 'I'm a thrilling piece'. Naturally, depending on the tone of the actual piece itself, sometimes it is not appropriate to have photos (if you're telling us about your recent pregnancy scare or your horrific car accident, for example) but I don't tend to follow blogs which frequently feature this type of post.

5) Are TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Again, leading on from above, although I like to see a personal touch in someone's blog, I don't want to read reams and reams about how they treated their thrush outbreak or how they want to commit suicide because their boyfriend broke up with them. Its fine to have weaknesses, and I myself posted a very personal piece back when I decided to take a blog break because I was struggling with my degree. However, blogs which ONLY really concentrate on depressing topics really aren't for me. 

I don't like keeping things serious and negative, so...

I Love Following Blogs That...

1) Demonstrate personality. Everybody has a personality! And by blogging you are proving you have a passion strong enough to dedicate time to it even though you there's no-one or nothing forcing you to do it. Passion is personality, so don't hold back. If you love a product and think it is the eighth miracle of the modern world, then tell us. If you experienced a terrible allergic reaction to a mascara, let me know. If you want to hit back against a particularly nasty hater, go for it! Your blog is your space to get your voice out there, so make sure you're not just hiding behind your content.

*I love seeing what people are eating, what they are reading, who they are seeing, where they are going, what they are wearing, how they are applying, why they are travelling, etc. Make your blog a collage of the fab things that happen in life and don't let your main discipline trap you.*

2) Mix things up a bit. I know many blog readers absolutely hate when a blog usually focused on beauty decides to feature a restaurant review, but I absolutely love these impromptu posts. In the #bbloggers chat on Twitter, I've often seen bloggers expressing their apprehension at posting outside of their main 'discipline' and I just wanted to say that personally, I find myself MORE drawn to those pages which show variety than those that simply focus on one area. 

3) Aren't afraid to tackle controversial issues. I love reading debate-style pieces and even if I don't agree with the opinion its nice to be able to see what other people think. For example, I read a fantastic piece FOR animal testing a couple of weeks back, and even though I don't necessarily agree with animal testing myself, the piece was argued so eloquently and with such knowledge that I automatically respected the blogger and resultantly hit 'Follow'. 

4) Reply to commenters. Blogs, and social networks of all kinds in fact, are all about interactivity. I like blogs which start discussions and respond to the readers who have taken the time to get involved and express their own opinions. Some people say they would blog even if no-one was reading, and although I find that admirable and I love writing, I can't really say that this is the case for me. What I love about my blog is that I can tell readers something they wanted to know and answer their further questions or hear about their own experiences in the comments box. This is why I always, without fail, answer all blog comments and I really respect those that make the effort to do the same. Obviously, some of the more popular bloggers couldn't possibly reply to all of their comments or they would be there all day. However, the odd Tweet back or responsive blog post saying something like, 'I really appreciated all of the comments on my previous post' makes me want to be one of those commenters.

*Making current affairs into original content shows you've really thought through your blog post... kudos!*

5) Post up-to-the-minute relevant content. As I've said above, I love seeing personal posts such as, 'Here's what I got up to this weekend', but I also enjoy seeing content which is current and topical. For example, I really love beauty blogs which featured tutorials inspired by the Diamond Jubilee a few months back, or the Olympics at the moment. I follow a brilliant fashion blogger who each October posts a handful of DIY Halloween Costume ideas. I also know a baker who likes to bake, photograph and blog about cakes which reflect celebratory events going on in the world around us. Such an original spin on content which is accessible by everyone! Just because you are posting about something which anyone else could write about, with a little creativity you can make the story your own, and I really enjoy original and creative posts of this nature.

Finally, just to finish off...

I Refuse To Click On...

1) Instagram posts. I actually don't have Instagram and maybe that's part of the reason I don't like these posts because I'm well jel of those jammy beasts out there with access to this popular form of social networking. However, consciously, I believe that Instagram posts are a little lazy... You're getting a blog post out of content which you've actually already technically published. Also, I very rarely find these posts original. Blogger A shows a picture of her cat. Blogger B shows a picture of a mug of tea. Blogger C shows a picture of some clouds. Blogger D shows a picture of a Starbucks cup. Blogger E posts a picture of a cupcake. And then we go round in circles. It's a bit like one of Peter Kay's buffets... vol-au-vonts, chicken legs, cheesecake, vol-au-vonts, chicken, legs, cheesecake, vol-au-vonts, chicken legs, cheesecake...

2) Beauty box descriptions. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing reviews of the company, or items within beauty boxes. However, in the first week of every month, I don't need to read ten posts by ten different beauty bloggers telling me what was inside their Glossybox. If I wanted to know, I would just consult the Glossybox website!  This is one of the cases where a little creativity wouldn't go amiss.

3) Blogger interviews. I LOVE reading guest posts on people's blogs, and after reading them, if I love the post I will genuinely go and check out their site. Guest posting is a genius way of putting in a bit of effort and promoting your page. Blogger interviews on the other hand are boring to me. I don't really care what Blogger A's favorite cocktail is, or when she last cried, I want to know about her blog and her writing style and content. Although I have partook in an interview myself once or twice, I won't do again as I just find them to be quite cold and clinical, a bit of a waste of time to read really.

*Hosting giveaways TOO often, for no reason and with complicated rules hacks me off...*

4) Giveaways. I don't have a problem with giveaways really, I even organized one myself a little while ago. I often retweet giveaways that I think are good and don't think any less of those that enter them. However, I just don't have that much of an interest. I find the rules and regulations of giveaway can often be a bit too complicated and time-consuming (*For two entries follow me on Twitter, for three Retweet me, for four...*) Pages that host giveaways too often aren't for me as they look a bit spammy on my dash and don't interest me that much at all. I only really enter giveaways if the prize is incredible, it is a one-off giveaway post (rather than a 'Follow me and you might win' type thing) and it isn't too complex to enter.

5) Blogger awards. When I first started blogging, I was flattered to be given a blogger award. Within a couple of weeks I realized that although it was nice that someone had thought enough of my blog to post my link on their page, I also realized that this award wasn't really worth the five dull questions I had answered in order to 'claim' it and pass it along. I always hated chain email, and I find the blogger awards are our equivalent today. They pressurize bloggers into posting content which they never normally would and passing the award on. I find these awards to be a nuisance and boring to read about. Having said that, if 'awarded' myself I will usually thank the blogger because I appreciate that not everyone thinks the same as me. But still, you will NEVER see a blogger award post of that nature on HauteFuture again.

I will post similar 'Social Networking 101' posts in the future including topics such as the #bbloggers chat on Twitter, the ever increasing number of blogging groups on Facebook, how I'm getting my head around LinkdIn, how I like to use my Twitter account, how best to make your social networks work together, the reason I don't have many facebook friends and a simple post on how to start a blog. If you can think of any more ideas, please let me know and I'll see if I could write on them :) Also, I only gave five points on each topic but obviously there are other things I love and hate about blogs and I'm sure as the industry changes I'll want to add things, so I've called this 'Social Neworking 101: My Blogging Likes and Dislikes #1'.

Once again let me remind you that this isn't supposed to be a dictatorial post, only one stating what I look for or what puts me off in a blog.

What do you love seeing in people's blogs? Does anything that bloggers do with their pages really get under your skin? Have you ever unfollowed a blog because of a post you haven't liked?

Love and snuggles

gabriellasofia

x

City Review: San Francisco

About seven weeks ago I made the 10 hour overnight Greyhound coach journey from Anaheim in to San Francisco. The Los Angeles chapter of my trip was over and I was on a bit of a low because I'd only just realized how awful it is saying goodbye to friends you've made when you're travelling alone. Further still, I had literally no idea what to expect from San Francisco. San Francisco isn't like New York or Los Angeles where you see them on television all the time, or where everyone knows someone who has been to 'the best cheesecake shop in town' or 'spent so much money in the mall there'. All I've ever known about San Francisco comes from the Mamas and the Papas song (which I love, by the way) so I was a little nervous when the bus pulled into the station.

 

I had originally planned on walking from the station to the USA Hostels building, but I was exhausted and had my big backpack, so instead I hopped in a cab and found myself in the lobby, ten minutes and six dollars later. USA Hostels is very different from the Banana Bungalow. The staff seem more professional, there seemed to be a lot more organized walking tours of the city, and the hostel was much larger than the Banana Bungalow. As I was a couple of hours early for check-in the receptionist buzzed me through the main doors to let me go grab some breakfast and use the internet. I soon realized that the free breakfast at USA Hostels was much better than at Banana Bungalow. We had a variety of breads and juices and fruits to choose from, AND there was all you can eat, make-your-own pancakes with maple syrup. Needless to say, I was very happy :)

I was even happier when I saw my bedroom. Two bunk-beds and a sink sounds very simple. But the view of the San Francisco street outside was beautiful. The bed was already made and there was enough plugs inside the walled off half of the bed for all of my electrics which was a bit of a problem at the Banana Bungalow. Plus, I met a lovely German girl in my room called Madeleine. I was exhausted from my journey and still a bit sad from the goodbyes, so as the weather was a little miserable I decided to take a nap for a couple of hours, but once I woke up, San Francisco was my oyster!

The hostel is located a couple of blocks from San Francisco's famous and historic Union Square. Better still, Union Square is home to a big ol' bunch of my favorite US stores including Victoria's Secret, Macy's and Forever 21. So after spending a couple of hours sitting in the newly squeezed-out sunshine reading The Help and eating my 360 Burrito on the grass in the middle of the hustle and bustle, I started to explore a little. 

 

After window shopping and buying a very pretty dress which I'm going to post about soon, I headed back to the hostel for their $5 pasta dinner. What a bargain eh? Sorry to say though, it was really quite average. But cheap. Never underestimate the power of a cheap dinner when backpacking. Once we'd finished up, I took a shower and Madeleine and I decided to head out on the hostel pub crawl because I really needed cheering up. Thankfully, the other people on the pub crawl were really cool and we made great friends with a group of Aussie boys (WHAT IS IT ABOUT AUSTRALIAN LADS, EH???) The pubs were very similar to those which we'd expect to find in the UK, the more modern ones I mean. And in comparison to the $7 beer I'd been scammed into buying in LA, the $3 equivalent offered in San Francisco got top points from me!

The next day I woke up a little late... It was about 11am by the time I was ready to even consider doing anything! Luckily, I'd planned a relatively chilled day for myself on top of a hop-on-hop-off bus tour with City Sightseeing and once I'd managed to rope one of my room-mates, Sally, into the idea we headed to Fisherman's Wharf to catch the bus. On this bus we managed to hit up some of San Francisco's most famous sights including the squigliest street in San Francisco, Lombard Street, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Sadly, the weather was terribly foggy so we couldn't grab any pictures of the whole bridge as we were literally stuck in a cloud. However, when we emerged on the other side of the bridge, we saw the most beautiful town in front of us, Sausalito.

Sausalito is one of the most expensive places to live in North America and I'm not surprised as it was gorgeous. Each of the houses were completely different from one another, all mounted up on the hills, hidden amongst the trees. And the town centre was lovely too with independent designer boutiques, expensive little cafes and mouth-watering ice cream stalls. Not to mention the scenery which was so lush and green, it reminded me a little of photos I've seen in the past of New Zealand. My love affair with Sausalito was soon over though as the bus spent less than twenty minutes in the area. I will definitely return though. When I'm a millionaire and can afford one of the houses.

My next couple of days in San Francisco flew by in a whirlwind of walking tours through the city, mandolin players in China Town, clam chowder and sea lions on Fisherman's Wharf, heart-shaped icons in Union Square and one very questionable skanky beer bar. On my second to last day I sadly moved out of USA Hostels as I needed to meet my fellow travellers at the Best Value Inn, so me, Madeleine and the Aussies had a few rounds of beer-pong before I packed my bag and said my goodbyes once again.

I can honestly say that San Francisco just oozes effortless cool. There are people living there from all walks of life and everywhere you turn you can find yet another culture. If you like fresh fish, you absolutely must head to Pier 39 because they have the most delicious catches of the day on offer virtually everywhere you turn. The art and literature culture in the city is so rich with famous quotes written on paving stones and even the works of our own Banksy splattered across public walls. If you're after somewhere that is full of bright lights, somewhere that screams, 'THIS CITY IS SUPER-DUPER COSMOPOLITAN' then San Francisco probably isn't for you. If you're looking for a place which sits back in its down-to-earth way just relishing in being naturally eclectic, whispering, 'Visit and you'll never want to leave' you'd better book your flights now.

Have you ever been to San Francisco? If not, how would you imagine it being? I really couldn't even imagine! Do you think you'd be interested in going?

Love and kisses

gabriellasofia

x

Outfit of the Day San Francisco Sight-Seeing...

The city of San Francisco is so laid-back and cool that I almost didn't know what to wear. My clothes generally are a lot more 'stand-out' than you would see on the hills, so I had to think long and hard about how I would be able to throw together an effortless look. Then I realized, 'Oi, its not effortless if you have to spend this long thinking about it, is it, you silly billy!' So I grabbed the first piece of denim I could feel at the bottom of my backpack and a comfy casual light-weight Topshop vest top. San Francisco is a lot windier than I expected, so I went for denim on denim and threw my Hollister jacket over the top and due to all the walking I was going to do, I chose my Topshop wedge trainers.

*Luckily, the first piece of denim I pulled from my backpack was my peach pair of skinny jeans from River Island. This gave the look a bit of an edge while not making the overall denim effect of the whole look too much.*

*This is definitely the most casually I'd dressed in MONTHS, but I kind of enjoyed the novelty of not wearing a dress or skirt. I usually shy away from jeans thinking they are unfeminine and make me look short. But this pair are skinny enough that they hug me in the right spots, and bright enough that they have a bit of a girly feel.*

I know I look a bit rough in these pictures because I'd just said goodbye the day before to a very special friend of mine and was a bit sad. Plus, I had literally JUST got off my 10 hour overnight coach journey from Los Angeles to San Francisco, so I evidently was not looking my best. In which case, I actually look a lot more 'together' than I should have done, so don't judge eh? 

This look has San Francisco written all over it in my opinion. Not too over-thought, sexy but not slutty. I felt comfortable but confident all day and really liked the fact that I felt like I fitted right in with what I have since deemed one of the coolest cities in the States.

What would you wear if you wanted to look casual but cool? Are you afraid of jeans like I sometimes am? How do you dress denim to make it look more feminine?

Love and kisses

gabriellasofia

x

Backpacking Packing Guide: Capsule Wardrobe

Packing is always a nightmare for me. Not because I have a tonne of clothes, but because I want to take everything I own every time because I can't think of anything worse than being away and thinking, 'Oh God, if only I had my flowery pink bralet with me... this entire look won't work now!!!' Last summer I literally took ALL of my summer clothes to Orlando when I went to work at Walt Disney World but I was going away for three months then AND I'd paid for an extra suitcase. This time I was only going away for six weeks and I had only a backpack to put all of my things in. 

So I got to work thinking, how many pairs of shorts do I need? How many going-out outfits might I want to choose from? How many T-shirts is too many T-shirts? This is what I settled on...

*This was the state of my bed after I had finally chosen all of my clothes. This is NOT a lot of clothes to me... I began to be concerned...*

So I settled on eight T-shirts (two not shown)...

Three pairs of denim shorts (one not shown) and two pairs of jeans, one blue and one peach...

Four tops for going-out which could be dressed up with skirts and heels or down with jeans and flats...

Four going-out skirts, two midi and two mini...

Three going out dresses, one specifically to be worn with heels, the others can be worn with flats for daytime or heels for night-time...

Four bikinis...

Two pyjama T-shirts, four comfy shorts (for pyjamas or casual days one not shown), one pair of joggers, one hoodie and a pair of sleep-socks...

This is how I packed all of my things so that they didn't take up too much space. 

I rolled everything into tight roles and then packed them into separate plastic bags depending on the category of clothes. So I had one plastic bag for going-out clothes, one for pyjamas and slouchy clothes, and one for my casual t-shirts, jeans and shorts. Then I also packed 14 days worth of knickers and socks and 5 bras into a fourth plastic bag. Packing things into plastic bags makes things much easier in terms of finding stuff inside your backpack and it makes it a lot quicker when its time to pack your things back away.

I also took one pair of gladiator sandals, one pair of running trainers, one pair of flip-flops, one pair of wedges and one pair of wedged trainers. 

Here are the lessons I learned about packing for a backpacking-style trip in North America:

1) Pack two pairs of denim shorts (for when one goes loose after you've worn them for a few days) and one pair of jeans (if you're travelling cross country in the States the weather can be unpredictable... Yosemite and San Francisco were cold and New York can be at some times of the year)

2) Pack two different pyjama sets 

3) Don't pack more than seven pairs of knickers and socks (every campsite and hostel worth going to has a laundry room and any more will just make a mess in your bag)

4) Take a pair of warm-ish jogging bottoms and a hoodie (if things get cold at night these clothes are comfy enough to sleep in. And they're great to wear on laundry day when all of your nice things need washing.)

5) You only really need one bikini. Choose your favorite and buy another while you're there if you need to. When you're bust is as big as mine, supportive underwired bikinis take up a LOT of space in your pack.

6) You MUST have a pair of flip-flops. They'll act as slippers and are great for wearing in the nasty showers which you find on some campsites or in some hostels. Unless you like standing in other people's hair, ants and veruca germs.

7) Depending on how often you like going out DEFINITELY take a pair of heels or high wedges. I took mine and I ended up wearing them loads. I had friends that didn't take heels and spent the whole time moaning about how much they wish they had. They take up a lot of space and weight, but they're 100% worth it.

8) Again, depending on how much you like to go out, take a few different options of night-out clothes. When you're in a different culture people dress differently for going out and you don't want to feel unexpectedly bizarre in the club. Also, different states require different looks... in San Antonio I wore a checked cowboy style shirt, denim hotpants and heels. In Vegas I wore a purple bodycon dress and heels. In Memphis I wore a mini bodycon skirt, patterned vest blouse and gladiator sandals. 

9) Pack a spare T-shirt, knickers, socks and pyjama set into your hand-luggage for just in case your bag gets delayed or lost! This happened to a friend of mine and she had nothing with her. Whooops. 

So there you have it! In hindsight I probably could have taken I couple of kilos worth of weight back out of my backpack if I'd known what I know now, and I hope that next time I go travelling like this I remember to read this blog post. It can be really hard for me not to get too over-excited with packing, but considering this was my first time backpacking I don't think I did too badly. 

What would you take backpacking? Or more to the point, what wouldn't you leave home without? How many night-out options would you take? I think I could have cut down on these BIG TIME. But it was nice having options!

Love

gabriellasofia

x

Backpacking Packing Guide: Capsule Cosmetics Collection

When I decided to go backpacking, my friends and family pretty much all said the same thing, 'You can't take your entire makeup collection you know'. I confidently replied that I'd have no problem compressing my collection into a capsule makeup bag. No problem whatsoever. Then I looked at my train case... Oh dear.

*The image which sparked fear in my cosmetics-obsessed mind pre-travel*

Ok, don't panic, I thought. You can do this. You need two 'looks'; one for daytime and one for night-time. Keep it simple. Less is more. I began applying the bare minimum makeup face that I would feel comfortable wearing out shopping or whatever... I know it looks like a lot, but here's what I came up with.

*A mattifying primer by LOreal, Maybelline's BB Cream, my Royal&Langnickel foundation brush, 24hour Maybelline concealer, Ecotools contour brush, benefit CORALista blush, Nars Orgasm Illuminator, benefit BrowZings, Ecotools fluff brush, Urban Decay Naked Palette, benefit They're Real mascara, Revlon Peach Parfait Lip Butter*

The most important thing was to appear dewy but not sweaty. Hence the mattifying primer. Plus I wanted a natural look so the BB cream was light enough to give this look. Revlon's Lip Butters are so beautiful and hydrating, plus the Peach Parfait colour matches my CORALista blush perfectly. Coral colours always look fresher and more natural. The Nars Orgasm Illuminator kept the look dewy also. I used the colour 'Virgin' to brighten my eyes without making them look too 'done'. And this is the natural, fresh, daytime face I came up with:

  

I was happy with this look. NEXT I wanted the kind of look which I could wear on a night out. Something a little more obvious... snazzier. So I'd need a brighter lip, rosier cheeks and a smoky eye. Thanks to my Naked Palette I didn't need to include any more eye shadow. However, I knew I'd need eyeliner, blush and lipstick. Here's what I grabbed for this look. 

*Everything is the same as above until my LOreal True Match face powder, benefit HOOLA bronzer, Lumiere Mauvelous mineral blusher, NO7 Deepest Red lipgloss, Urban Decay Primer Potion, InColour Fabuliner and MAC lipstick in Sin*

I wanted my evening look to be a lot more matte than my daytime one with a lot more contour in the cheekbones. I used Virgin by Urban Decay in the corners of my eyes, Gunmetal from two thirds of the lid out and Creep in the crease and outer corner, and dragged a little into the lower lash line. Obviously I slicked on some eyeliner and piled on the mascara. Here's what it looked like:

Now, I know I should have stopped at this point. But I started fiddling around with the makeup I already had in the capsule collection and had to add just a couple more things in order to create a third look. This third look is a more versatile look which I thought could be easily transferable from day to night without looking too overdone during the day or too underdone at night. These are the products I used...

*As you can see, I only really added the brown InColour Fabuliner... I also added benefit's POREfessional and my Burt's Bees lipbalm. See, I was REALLY well-behaved realistically!*

And this is the look I came up with using the above products:

*I figured this would be cute for a nice lunch out or an early gig or beach party. I used coral-ly colours, a relatively dewy base and a gold-brown based eye with Urban Decay's Half-Baked, Buck and Smog.*

And that was it! I decided I did not need any more make-up than this. If I was going on a night out, I layered a second painting of BB cream on for slightly heavier coverage and did the same with blusher and mascara too. I was able to play more with my Naked palette than ever before as the colours inside were the only eye shadows I had. In times of desperation needs must!

*My entire capsule cosmetics collection... And these were my absolute essentials.*

*I set my tools out separately. This was VERY hard having to choose just four brushes! And my eyelash curlers had to stay at home as they just wouldn't fit in the bag :(*

I was really quite proud of myself! If I wasn't so into makeup, I could quite easily have taken just my BB Cream, BrowZings, one blusher, mascara and lipbalm. But you know what I'm like! It was actually kind of fun trying to create so many different looks out of such a bare collection while I was away. Not that I'd rush to do it again in a hurry. I'm currently rolling around in all of my beloved cosmetics and I refuse to be parted with them again for the foreseeable future. Its all I can do to prevent myself from putting it all on at once in fact... *Clown-face warning*

Anyway, have you ever needed to compress your cosmetics collection into JUST ONE BAG for an entire 6 week vacation??? What would be your essentials? What are your tips for transferring your look from day to night with the smallest amount of extra products?

Love and snuggles

gabriellasofia

x