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Day: 25 April 2016

Top 5: Under £5

Written by Kassi Allcock on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer: £4.19

If there were ever a drugstore product that could compete with the beauty gods of Nars and Bobbi Brown, Collection have hit the ball out of the park with this miracle of a concealer. Known to the masses as every beauty blogger’s holy grail product, this masking masterpiece can hide those tired 9am lecture eyes like no other concealer can. It’ll cover up any and every essay-enduced blemish with ease, and it’ll fit right into your pocket for midday touch-ups. At only £4.19, the Lasting Perfection Concealer is an absolute steal.

Rimmel London Sculpting Palette by Kate: £4.99

Fairly new to the market, Kate Moss’ trio of beauty is now standing loud and proud on the Rimmel London displays in Boots. With countless high-end blushers, bronzers, and highlighters coming in individually at a whopping £20-30+ price point, it’s a sigh of relief to see a 3 in 1 product for a fraction of the price. Much like her fantastic lipstick collection for Rimmel and her inspiring fashion collection for Topshop, good ol’ Kate has outshone herself again. With an almost exact dupe for NARS’ Orgasm Blush, her palettes should be flying off the shelves.

Rimmel London Lasting Finish Lipstick: £4.99

Treating yourself to a new lipstick without breaking the bank is becoming increasingly difficult. Having a browse through my own lipstick collection I am definitely no exception to this, with all but one causing over £5 of damage. Funnily enough, however, the £4.99 gem that sits smugly amongst the rest is actually one of my most reached for shades. Rimmel’s Lasting Finish Lipstick in ‘Sugar Plum’ is a beautiful, vibrant pink which remained a firm staple in my make up for the whole of last summer. As the weather is soon to make a turn for the better, I’m sure that it’ll soon be making a much needed reappearance.

Makeup Revolution Iconic Palettes: £4

The Urban Decay Naked palettes are on every beauty lover’s Christmas and birthday wish lists. Infamous for their beautiful array of long lasting, breath-taking eyeshadows, it’s a slap in the face to know that they each leave a £38.50 dent in your bank balance. Dreaming of making the palettes more accessible to students on a budget, many brands have brought out their own replicas. Makeup Revolution’s take is practically an exact dupe of every single colour, with their Iconic 1, 2, and 3, cloning Naked 1, 2, and 3, for a far friendlier price.

Barry M Speedy Quick Dry Nail Paint: £3.99

Barry M are renowned for their inexpensive nail polishes, every single one coming in at under a fiver each. Their Speedy Quick Dry collection, however, is definitely something extra special to be shouted about. With a brush shape not too dissimilar from the nail polish Queen, Essie, and a finish that won’t smudge when you’re in a morning rush, these cheap and cheerful colours are a nail polish lover’s dream. ‘Eat My Dust’ is a charming cornflower blue, ‘Pit Stop’ is a glamorous grey, and ‘Lap of Honour’ is a loving lilac. For £3.99 a bottle, I could quite easily find myself purchasing every single shade…

Preview: Eat Beats

Written by Tabatha Taylor on . Posted in Music.

Eat Beats is a brand new, forward-thinking student night in Manchester hosted by Sound Control. The launch night kicks off on Wednesday the 27th of April with a fantastic line up of top-notch DJs covering house, techno, bassline, hip-hop, grime and everything in between. Joining them on the evening will be resident DJ duo Understate. Quickly becoming a name to look out for, they have created a buzz in the house and electronic scene with their bass-heavy tracks and energetic live sets.

We caught up with the guys to get the low down on the party and find what Eat Beats is all about.

You’re playing at the launch party for Eat Beats—the brand new, forward-thinking night at Manchester Sound Control. Are you looking forward to this one?

Yes, it’s a really exciting time seeing a new promotion team coming in with some very exciting artists on the line up. We have just recently finished the uni lifestyle in Leeds and we are aware of student culture. We think it’s got the right format to get people gassed. There’s a very bright future for Eat Beats and we are really proud to be a part of it.

What can we expect from your set?

High energy and good vibes. We spend a lot of time working on our sets to ensure a flow of groovy house bangers that people can get stuck into on the dance floor. We play a lot of our own productions intertwined with artists that are really pushing boundaries within the house scene. We like to play a lot of different records together, different aspects of house, which at points will slip into the darker side of tech.

You’ve played warm up sets for the likes of Disclosure, Gorgon City and DJ EZ and will be playing at Hideout Festival this summer. What else have you got planned this year?

We have some really exciting material we have been working on over the last few months, which will be surfacing throughout 2016. This year we have been working with some very talented vocalists and producers that have been feeling our sound. Hideout is a big thing for us this year, everything leads up to this.

You’ve just completed a promo mix ahead of the Eat Beats night, how did the mix come together and track selection?

It was a fun mix to put together. It’s very current and represents an insight of what to expect from an Understate set. There’s tracks featured from local artists right up to major house players. It’s more steered towards a tech sounding set but right at this moment in time, it’s the tracks we fully back for the club.

You’ve recently dropped your new track ‘Don’t Stop’ which is available for free download via your Soundcloud page. Tell us about the track.

We started this track a long time ago. Usually we would scrap tracks that linger about but there was something a bit special with this one. It kept drawing us back and as our sound developed further we finally got to a place where we could smash it out. It’s kind of where the name come from. ‘Don’t Stop’ until something is finished. It was a small lesson to keep hold of those wavey ideas that don’t make the cut and then come back weeks later with some fresh vibes.

What music is on your radar at the moment?

Solardo, Kideko, Sonny Fodera and Justin Jay are some of the artists we’ve been feeling at the moment.

What activities have you got lined up for 2016, any more new music?

We have some really exciting material we have been working on over the last few months, which will be surfacing throughout 2016. This year we have been working with some very talented vocalists and producers that have been feeling our sound. We’re feeling the collaborative thing at the moment, it’s great to work with other musicians who bring new ideas about. We have just released a special track ‘Earl Grey’. It’s a collab with our late friend Hunty, who was a big supporter of our music.

You can catch Understate play at the launch party of Eat Beats at Manchester Sound Control on Wednesday 27th April. Tickets are on sale now and are available at soundcontrolmanchester.co.uk/events/eat-beats-launch-party/

For more information check out:

facebook.com/EatBeatsManchester

facebook.com/understateuk

A United Perspective: Everton in the FA Cup

Written by Magnus Henderson on . Posted in Sport.

There is no such thing as certainty when it comes to Manchester United nowadays. They were expected to roll over Aston Villa comfortably, but that fixture was anything but comfortable. The Claret and Blues hit the post and Gestede very nearly scored in the dying minutes of that match. Next came Palace, a once combative team now flirting with the relegation zone. This midweek fixture was slightly more relaxed as Van Gaal reverted to a 4-1-4-1 and let his players express their attacking ingenuity, finishing the game with a clean sheet and two goals. Confidence has grown over the past weeks, but the Dutchman is still under the microscope. While a top four finish is United’s main objective this season, the Red Devils have almost stumbled into the semi-finals of the FA Cup, without prioritising it over League or European fixtures.

The road has not been an exceedingly tough one: they scraped a lucky 1-0 win over Sheffield United, comfortably beat a struggling Derby side 3-1, rolled over Shrewsbury 3-0 and managed to clinch a replay win against West Ham. Everton were not expected to really test the Reds when they travelled to Wembley; the Toffees have significantly underperformed in the League this season, sitting eleventh with a team full of talent. It has been a bit of a shock that Martínez has clung on to his job for this long. Nevertheless, like United, it has been almost impossible to predict their performances this season. Surprisingly, Everton had not conceded a single goal in the competition going into this fixture.

United lined up in an odd 4-1-4-1 formation, with Rooney and Fellaini partnered in the attacking midfield role, but had clearly been instructed to swap box-to-box duties. Lingard’s energy was preferred to Mata’s creativity on the right and Martial drifted up and down the left wing with his usual elegance. Carrick deputised for the rested Schneiderlin at the base of midfield, while the promising Fosu-Mensah was given a start at right back with Smalling, Blind and Rojo making up the rest of the defence. Rashford took up the lone striking role once again.

The game started frighteningly quick; Martial tore down the left and almost set up a chance before Lukaku skipped past David De Gea and passed the ball towards the empty net, only for captain Rooney to get back and clear off the line. United gained some composure and scored the opening goal soon after. In classic Fellaini style, the lanky Belgian scuffed the ball into the turf after Martial’s mazy run set him up on a plate. Often the scapegoat of United’s failures since the departure of Sir Alex, the former Evertonian made the effort of pointing to the name on the back of his shirt in celebration, reminding the fans that he’s not all that bad. In fact, he probably had one of his best games in a United shirt.

The Toffees didn’t really look like threatening De Gea’s goal until after the break. Martínez must have given his men one hell of a team talk because the team which came back on the pitch was ten times better than the team which left it at the interval. Barkley and Lukaku dropped slightly deeper, picked up balls in space and ran directly at the Reds’ back four, eventually causing some problems. After an excellent pass from Lennon to pick out Barkely, the English youngster was (debatably) fouled by Fosu-Mensah in the penalty area. Lukaku stepped up to take it, hoping to turn his below par performance around, however, things only got worse.

The striker’s firmly hit shot was denied by the outstretched De Gea, who saved United’s season for the hundredth time. Everton, although, did manage to equalise not long after. The introduction of Deulofeu caused Rojo a problem at left back; his quick feet were too much to handle and his cross following his humiliation of Rojo was unfortunately deflected into the net by Smalling in the 74th minute. The following 15 minutes was a nervous state of affairs: end-to-end, chance after chance was made, yet both goalkeepers produced fine saves and neither side could find the back of the net.

In the final five, Van Gaal hauled off Fellaini and replaced him with Herrera, who had an important impact. In the 92nd minute, Martial picked up the ball on the left wing near the halfway line and played a one-two with Rashford. He then rolled the ball to Herrera who stumbled, swivelled and poked the ball back to Martial who raced towards Robles before coolly slotting the ball past the onrushing keeper. Celebration ensued, as the Frenchman, deemed a “waste of money” by the Mirror back in September, yet again provided a classic United moment, up there with his debut goal against Liverpool. The match finished 2-1 and the Red Devils went through to the final of the FA Cup to face either Crystal Palace or Watford.

Even before the game, not many United fans were confident of silverware this season, but Louis Van Gaal did what he does best: pulling out a result when his back is against the wall. No matter which team United face in the final, they will be clear favourites. However, with the top four unlikely, the real question is whether Louis Van Gaal will retain his job next season if the FA Cup is delivered, and would the fans want the Dutchman still there? The most likely answer is no, because of the importance of Champions League qualification with Adidas’ kit deal. But, if Louis was to win the FA Cup in his last ever match and retire the Old Trafford job, he would leave with his head held high and with the Red Faithful’s respect. A win-win situation.