Celebrity Style: Karlie Kloss

This 6'1 stunner is definitely my favorite supermodel at the moment. She is currently a Victoria's Secret Angel and the new face of L'Oreal Paris. I chose to write about her because apart from being gorgeous, she has a beautiful personal style. Karlie never looks overdone and is always on trend. Being a model, she is probably given a lot of clothes, but she knows how to pick out things that will flatter her. She even looks like she's walking down the runway when she's walking on the street in NYC! I wish I could do that! She is also one of the people who inspired me to cut my hair along with her BFF Taylor Swift.

Who is your style icon of the moment?

xx
Ashley

Black & White Cookies

I wish that I could bake every day of my life. Especially cookies. I've been making a lot of cookies lately for friends and family, and they've all been asking for recipes so I knew I had to write them down and blog them. So here is the first recipe. It's my black & white cookies. This recipe is a slightly adapted version of the white & milk chocolate ones that Tanya Burr made in a video.

Make sure to tell me how you like them if you make them!

Ingredients You Will Need:

200g butter
300g granulated sugar
1 egg
325g self raising flour
dash of milk
100g of milk chocolate
100g of dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F*

First step is to mix together your room temperature butter and sugar with an electric whisk or Kitchen Aid (that's what I'm using here.) Just mix it until creamed together.

Next step is to crack in the egg and whisk it in as well.

Now take your flour and gradually add it in. (Make sure you don't put all of the flour in at one time because it will be a disaster, trust me.)

If it looks a little dry once it's been mixed all together, then this is the point where you could add a dash of milk.

Now is the chance to put away the mixer and start using your hands or a spoon. Break up the chocolate into chunks and evenly mix it into the cookie dough.

Once the chocolate is mixed through, start forming balls of dough. I got about 16 out of the batch.

When that is done, put the cookies in the oven for about 16 minutes, swapping the trays positions about half way through so that each tray can get enough time under the heat.

Once they are done, take them out and let them cool for at least 20 minutes.

Voila! The cookies are finally done!

I hope you guys have fun!

xx
Ashley

Autumn & Winter Lipsticks

Now that the weather is getting a bit colder, I love to bring out my darker lipsticks. Red, wine, and berry shades look amazing and quite festive, which definitely fits the time of year. Here are a few of my favorites.

From left to right: NARS Lipstick in Red Lizard, MAC Matte Viva Glam I, Rimmel London Lasting Finish By Kate in 107, Rimmel London Lasting Finish By Kate in 01, AVON Ultra Color Absolute in Radiant Raisin, and Marc Jacobs Lovemarc Lip Gel in Cabaret.


I tried to mix drugstore and high end just so everyone has options. The quality of all of them are amazing anyways, but sometimes it's nice to splurge a bit. I never used to be a lipstick person, but recently I've fallen in love with them because they completely dress up a simple makeup look.

First off is NARS Red Lizard. This is one of the most pigmented lipsticks I have; high pigmentation is definitely something NARS is known for. Although one of the rather expensive lipsticks of the bunch, I think it is totally worth the money. It has a really long wear and the color is gorgeous.

Who doesn't love a good MAC lipstick? I have to admit that I am not the biggest MAC fan you will ever meet, but I really love this lipstick. It's part of the Viva Glam collection. The color is almost a brown toned red and looks really good on many different skin tones.

The Kate Moss Rimmel Collection is probably my favorite drug store collection because the lipsticks are so high quality for the price. They are really affordable and are all beautiful colors. 107 and 01 are my favorites because they are both really deep reds.

I never really tried much of AVON's makeup until now. I received this lipstick in the goodie bag at the Nicholas K show at fashion week and I fell in love with it. They had the color on the models and it paired so well with the Autumn Winter collection. Also, I never thought I would wear a purple lip color but it's actually really flattering.

I am a huge fan of Marc Jacobs and when I found out he was coming out with a cosmetics line, I freaked out. This lipstick came in a promotional set that Sephora had a few months back. It stays on all day and the color is so beautiful and pigmented.

If you are not a dark lipstick girl, I hope this inspires you to try something new this season and next!

What Autumn and Winter lipsticks can you not live with out? Comment down below!

xx
Ashley

Taylor Swift Releases Blank Space Music Video

THE BLANK SPACE MUSIC VIDEO CAME OUT TODAY!! Yes, I understand I'm an overly excited person, but I just really love Taylor Swift and this song! The video actually got leaked and wasn't supposed to be out yet but Taylor decided to fully and officially release it after the issue.

Besides that, the video is absolutely incredible! From her incredible outfits to the beautiful location.
Watch it for yourself and tell me what you think!

xx
Ashley

Interview with Tyler Ewing

A few months ago, I was approached by someone at Go Rogue Records, asking me to listen to a track called Breathe by Pinewood Social, "the creative alter universe" of composer Tyler Ewing. I was curious and had to take a look. I listened to his new track and fell in love with the sound. It's fresh, new and inventive. It also had a sound very similar to my taste in music already. Based in Nashville, Tyler blends pop, folk and indie sounds to create music that is really unique. Once I listened to the track, I knew I had to set up an interview with Tyler to pick his brain and find out where his inspiration came from.

- How long have you been making music and when did you know that you wanted to do it for a living?
I've been playing music since the 2nd grade when I began taking piano lessons, and began writing and recording (on a four track tape recorder ... gotta start somewhere) when I was in 6th grade. When I was in high school, I played bass in a band, cello in the school orchestra, piano in the choir, and began experimenting with music technology in music theory, which helped to shape my decision to pursue music as a career. I got the opportunity to write professionally when I graduated from college and have been fortunate to get to write music everyday for a living.

-Do you think living in Nashville has influenced you or your music at all?
Nashville has definitely had a huge impact on me musically. I've gotten to work with some great musicians over the years that have really pushed and inspired me to improve on everything from technique to mixing. I've also been very fortunate to have had some great mentors along the way.

-Who are some of your biggest musical inspirations?
That's a really difficult question because there is so much amazing music out there, but some artists that I've been particularly interested in lately and have influenced my work are: Bruno Coulais, CHVRCHES, Jonsi, One Republic, M83, and Mumford & Sons.

-What inspired you to write Breathe?
I had worked with the singer on Breathe, Hannah Arn, before and really wanted to write something that would feature her incredible voice and talent in a different way than what we had done before. I can't say that I really drew inspiration from any one source in particular, but I knew that I wanted it to have a bold and eclectic quality to it.

-You have such an amazing and unique musical style, what is the best way you can describe it?
Thank you! I try not to fall into any particular style, but will say that I typically lean towards an indie pop sound. I do my best to think outside the box and really experiment when I'm writing and recording.
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Make sure to check out Breathe here!
And be sure to follow @GoRogueRecords on Twitter for updates on Tyler's new music!

xx
Ashley