Movie Review: Amy (2015)

Despite just two albums to her name Amy Winehouse is one of the biggest music icons in British history. With a voice often described as a combination of Billy Holiday, Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan, Amy Winehouse was a pop star with soul; a once in two generational musical talent whose appeal crossed cultural and demographic boundaries. But while her music made her a star, her chaotic personal life stole headlines.

Since her first album I've been a fan of Amy Winehouse's music. I went to two of her concerts in Amsterdam with Laura and when she died I framed my concert tickets. When I heard this movie was coming out, I knew I wanted to go there, so I asked Laura to join me, since we've also been to her concerts together. We didn't really know what to expect, we already saw every possible bit of info about her and her death on the internet. Well, that's what we thought.

We were wrong. Apparently Amy and her friends used to 'Vlog' a lot. Using a handy cam to film each other. The documentary had lots of new footage, stories from friends and families and lot's of Amy singing. It's a raw, sad, tragic, funny, but most of all beautiful documentary about the life of one of my all time favorite singers.

Review: Lush giftbox Rosie

At my last day at my previous work, my ex colleagues got me a lovely present: The Rosie giftbox from Lush! They all new I love their products, so this is a perfect gift for me! When I was home I immediately unpacked it, smelled everything and tried some of the products out:

Rose Jam shower gel, a limited scent and it smells sooo good! 

Rose jam bubbleroon, also smelling delicious, can I eat this?

Ro's argan skin conditioner. This even helps with my super dry legs. And yes, it smells good.

Tisty tosty  bath bomb, with real rosebuds, so cute!

Amandopondo bubble bar. Can't wait to take this baby with me in bath!

Such pretty and good smelling products!

All the products in the box smell amazingly good. The skin conditioner is perfect for my dry legs and I can't wait to try the rest out in a relaxing bathing session! Thanks so much for the perfect gift!

Review: Monbento Lunch box + accessories

Years ago I started making Bento Boxes (Japanese lunch boxes) and I really liked it and I'm not really sure why I stopped doing it! Bento boxing perfectly fits in my healthy lifestyle, since it's perfect to prep my meals in. Last weekend this Monbento lunch box came in the mail and immediately prepped monday's lunch in there!

I got the original white and grey double lunch box!

Let me tell you more about this lunch box!
The first collection designed by monbento®, MB Original is the ideal format for lunch at the office, picnics and TV dinners.

Consisting in two airtight containers, a food cup for MB Original in color of top container or a divider and a wide elastic strap, foods stay in place and arrive intact.
Similar in design to its predecessor, the new version has many new features. Made in stronger high-quality plastic with a "soft-touch" finish, the new lunchbox combines sturdiness and style.

To vary your meals and open compartments more easily, the intermediary lid has also been improved and is now 100% airtight ! And because ease of use is an obsession for monbento®, the new MB Original is now fully microwave ready (thanks to a little silicone cap in the intermediary lids) and dishwasher safe.

CHARACTERISTICS :
Microwave-safe
Dishwasher-safe
Hermétique
Airtight
BPA-free
Food grade

COMPONENTS :
2 containers, 1 lid (material PBT)
2 intermediary lids (material PP)
1 food cup or a divider (material PP)
2 caps + joints (material Silicone)
1 elastic band (material Elastane)

I also got these little sauce cups. Perfect to hold your salad dressing or pine nuts!

They fit in the box perfectly!

A little extra: Silicon cups, you can add them as an extra container and in the big one you can bake stuff (like banana bread) that'll fit perfectly in you lunch box!

I got my Lunch box plus accessories from www.monbento.com, but for the Dutchies, they're also sold on Bol.com!

Review: Fuji Instax Share SP-1

Instant photography has always been one of my hobbies. I own several Polaroid cameras, but I stopped using it when the film got more and more expensive. I got myself a Fuji Instax Mini, because film for that camera is much more affordable. At the time it was hard to get your hands at that camera, so I was super happy when I finally got it. Right now those cameras are sold everywhere and so is the film! I've used it for a couple of years, but in the end I didn't use it as much as I would like to. It's pretty hard to get the settings right, my photos often came out too light, too dark, or out of focus. Now the film is affordable, but it's certainly not cheap. So I ended up not using it anymore, because I was scared to ruin more of the film.

A couple of months ago I found out they made a new Instant device. The Fuji Instax Share. It was just what I was looking for! It's an instant printer that uses the same film as the Fuji Instax Mini (so I could use the film I already bought once). The big difference is, you can print the photos from your phone! This means, every picture comes out just the way you want. So no ruined film anymore, the first day I got this baby at home I finished a whole pack of film!

It's really easy to use, you download the app, you connect your phone with it through wifi, you make a photo or pick one from your film roll, there are some editting options and you just press Print! I already thought up some projects I want to do with my photos and I'll share the DIY's here on my blog.

Book series review: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

Titles:
• The Alchemyst (2007)
• The Magician (2008)
• The Sorceress (2009)
• The Necromancer (2010)
• The Warlock (2011)
• The Enchantress (2012)

Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on 28 September 1330. Nearly seven hundred years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life. The records show that he died in 1418. But his tomb is empty and Nicholas Flamel lives. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects - the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. And that's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. Humankind won't know what's happening until it's too late. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it. Sometimes legends are true. And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time.

"When in doubt, we follow our hearts. Words can be false, images and sounds can be manipulated. But this...' He tapped his chest, over his heart. 'This is always true”

Michael Scott wrote 6 books with a story that only happened in less than 10 days. This series is the outcome. And because of this, the story is super fast paced and very well constructed. There are a lot of twists and turns. Michael Scott added a lot of interesting subplots that are connected to the main plot. While reading this book, you learn a lot of mythology and legends, because lots of the characters are based on them, manipulated to fit into the story. I think that's awesome. I've always been interested in mythology and I like to learn more about it, through reading fantasy stories (like Percy Jackson).

What I also liked about this series, there were no romances involved. I like this because, I always think 'love' in YA novels is a bit to cheesy to me most of the times. The protagonist did not go and find love, but the character development was strong anyway. They switch sides, you see them develop.

The ending to this series was amazing, I never would have guessed this would happen. But I still have a lot of questions. I wanted to know more about Sophie's future, have a bit of a closure on her story. And there were other subplots I wanted to read more about. We didn't find out the fate of Black Hawk, Billy the Kid or even Machiavelli after the action was all cleared up. There was also a rather vague description of what happened with other characters like Scatty, Joan and Virginia. But besides all of this, I did liked the ending. It surprised me and I like surprises!

And how beautiful are those covers! Each book represents an element, and the title a character from the book. The design is beautiful and the spines look awesome next to each other in my bookcase. To be honest, I bought the first book, just because I thought it looked amazing, lol. Cover artist Michael Warner did a great job.

If you love mythology, folklore, history, fantasy, and action, then I highly recommend this series!