Bria Lou Reviews

Hey Guys x Do you believe in magic? I heard this quote ages ago and I've fallen in love with it. Obviously I don't believe that Roald Dahl believes in magicians and illusionists. When I read this, I think about every day magic - ordinary miracles and magic that make the world a better place. And, as it's the last day of November, it feels like right before Christmas is the time to write this post that I've been holding onto for such a long time! I believe in magic. I believe that people can create magic, they can inspire magic, and they can be the source of magic for other people. In the film Aquamarine, Jojo's character says that love is 'the closest thing we (humans) have to magic' and I have to agree. I've never been in love, but I've seen people in love, I've watched and read about people in love, I've even made up my own characters and written them in and out of love. Love is magical, it's the best thing, and I c...

Hey Guys x I can't believe I'm finally hitting 500 blog posts - I'm halfway to 1,000, which is incredible! I thought it would take me so long to hit this milestone, because I was basically giving up on blogging a few weeks ago because I had no more ideas. However, I am so glad I decided to post everyday until the end of November. I sat down on a Sunday and wrote out 11 posts at once. It took me all day, but I've never been so passionate about the blog before. I felt the same way when planning out my Blogmas and movie posts, because I can't wait to actually start writing them! A part of me can't actually believe that I single-handedly created this blog, and that I've been using it for over 2 years and have written 500 posts. I can't believe that I've kept it up, and thought of 500 individual things to write about! I mean, there's been blogmas and tags and collabs and Guest Week - I've done a lot with this! Obviously I have to th...

Hey Guys x So, I can announce that I am taking part in Blogmas this year! However, I'm not doing it the way I've always done it. Normally, Blogmas is 25 days of Christmas based posts, and that's what makes Blogmas special. However, not only can I not think of 25 Christmas based posts to write, but that's not really how I want to do it this year. I love Christmas, but there are a lot of things at Blogmas that I force myself to post about that I don't really care about, so I don't want to do it like that. This year, my biggest passion without a doubt has been movies - filmmaking, watching movies and actors. So I'm incorporating this into Blogmas. I'm really excited about this idea! So, I will be posting every day for Blogmas. Actually, I'm going to be posting every single day for the entirety of December - so there will be a new post on this blog every day until 2017 which is really fun! On certain days my Blogmas post will be a post...

Hey Guys x It's time for another Favourites post! I have too many things that I want to talk about this month and I really hope that you fall in love with the things that I've been loving this month! As always, leave your own favourites in the comments so that I can check them out! Favourite Movie: Hell or High Water Yes, my Chris Pine obsession continues greatly, but I have to say that I'd love this film whether he was in it or not. This film is about two brothers who rob banks so that their mother's ranch doesn't go into foreclosure. I could not describe it to be as amazing as it was, but it is such a good film. It's set up like a Western but it is so much more than that. It's dramatic, emotional, funny, it has everything that a good film needs and left me crying at the end - definitely a contender for a 2017 Oscar nomination! Watch this if you haven't because amazing isn't even a good enough word to describe it! Favourite TV Show: How T...

Hey Guys x I've been blogging for a long time, next year will be three years, so I've learned a lot about the types of posts that will get the most reads. This isn't meant to be a guide for how to get blog views, more just something that interests me. Also, this is very specific to my blog. For example, if I was a beauty blogger, my most read posts would be beauty posts, but as I'm not, beauty posts are my least viewed! List Posts Any 'Top 10' post tends to get a good few views because people like to measure your top 10 against their own. As well as that, list posts are easy to read because they tend to have pictures attached for each number that people can look at, which is nice. I also think they can be quite personal, which is quite a good way for your viewers to get to know you. Favourites Posts Favourites posts will always be popular, which is why so many of us do them every month, myself included. For me, a favourites post is g...

Hey Guys x Today I want to talk about my experiences of using CBT to treat anxiety. This past summer I had 12 sessions of CBT to help with my anxiety, and I wanted to write a post about it as soon as it was done, but I decided to wait a few months to see if what I was taught actually helped with the anxiety once the sessions were over. These are my own personal experiences, it might be different if you want to try it so keep that in mind. Also, my CBT was conducted with a trainee, not an official CBT therapist - I don't know if this would have changed my experience or not. I'm also not going through week by week, but just a general overview of my 12 weeks. So to start with, we talked so that she (the therapist) could determine where my anxiety comes from and the thoughts that come into my head that cause me to be anxious. She worked out that I have mainly social and travel anxiety, caused by thoughts of not being good enough or being in some form of danger. For t...

Hey Guys x I have high friendship expectations. I think this is because of how much I read. When you read a book, the friendships are great! The friends drive around to see each other at all hours of the night, cross countries to be with each other and everything! Have you read 'Paper Towns'? Because the amount of stuff that Q does for Margot is incredible! I mean, he does everything he can to find her and bring her home even though (SPOILER ALERT) she never wanted to be found in the first place! But let me tell you something - this would NEVER happen in real life!! First of all, if you could cross the country without telling your parents, teach me your ways because mine would be calling me every 5 seconds and demanding to know where I am all the time! Second of all, Margot was the most annoying, selfish person in the world! If you deserve good things, you'll have good friends who make good things happen for you, as well as you making good things happen for...

Hey Guys x I haven't done a playlist post in so long! In a way, that's a good thing because I've had a lot of time to fall in love with new music. So, here have been my favourite songs this month! Little Mix - Shoutout To My Ex I love this song so much! Honestly, I can't stop listening to it. I don't have an ex, but the song makes me happy to be rid of this non-existent man! Their vocals are on point, the video is really fun and I think it's really well written to. Overall, a great break-up single! Nathan Sykes - Famous As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of Nathan, so I was really happy that this song was genuinely good. His voice is amazing, and he's one of the most underrated artists around right now. Listen to this song if you haven't and be blown away by his amazing talent! Chris Pine - Someday Came Today Yes, I'm currently in love with Chris Pine. I may be quite biased, but I think he has an amazi...

Hey Guys x I've been watching Sex and the City for years, and I've learned a whole lot from it! As someone who's never had a relationship, I know for sure that I will be able to handle any situation that comes my way in the future because of this show! If you never watched it, start watching it because it will change your life! These things that I've learned are specific to my thoughts about relationships, I'm definitely not telling anyone else how to live their lives Also, as the title of the show suggests, this post may talk about sex a bit but that's just to be expected and obviously won't be too graphic or anything! Sex on the first date never ends well Carrie and Mr Big sleep together on their first date. They had bumped into each other once or twice before this but this was their first extended period of time together. Carrie thought everything went well, but she later in the series found out that Big had major commitment...

Hey Guys x About 2 years ago (I can't believe I've been holding onto this post for so long!) I had a conversation with a friend about confidence. I can't really remember the main point of the conversation, but she said that she thought that I was confident. I proceeded to laugh both inside and outside - confident was a way that I had never been described before (and probably won't be again to be honest). When I asked her why, she said that she thought I was confident in myself - I know what I like and don't like, I know what kind of person I am. That started me thinking about different types of confidence. Is it possible to be completely confident inside and with yourself, but completely unconfident outside, where everyone can see you? I don't know the answer to this question, but I do kind of agree with what she was saying. If you're not confident with who you are inside, there's no way you could be completely confident on t...

Hey Guys x So, last post I said that I was having severe bloggers block and would probably take a break until December, then maybe do Blogmas. Then, I looked over my list of blog post ideas, and decided to delete the ones that I was never going to write, and then to write up the ones that I was before the year finishes so that I can start 2017 with a completely new slate. So, when I was deleting the post ideas, I realised that I was left with enough to write a post every day until December. I was going to delete some more, but then I decided, why not? I haven't been the best blogger this year and have missed a lot of days, so why shouldn't I blog every day for the rest of the month? So, get ready to see 11 completely random posts from me until December! And for those asking, I still haven't decided if I'm doing Blogmas yet, but if I do, it will be different from the way I've done it previously. Also, for those asking about my pictures - for the more ambig...

Hey Guys x This is what I call a 'live' post, and by that I mean that I'm publishing this the second I finish writing the last word - no picture, no editing, nothing, just a raw post. I have severe Bloggers Block. I've had it for weeks, and it's the main reason that my posting has been kind of spotty for the last few weeks, and why I'm really conflicted about doing Blogmas this year. I don't know what to write about, I have no ideas, and I feel like everything I do write is pointless. On top of that, I keep forgetting to write posts, which I know sounds ridiculous, but it's true. I planned to write this when I got home at 4 but literally remembered 10 minutes ago. Part of me feels like just taking a break until December, whether I do Blogmas or not, but I don't want to get to the point where I enjoy not having anything posted. However, I probably will post a bit less in the coming days and weeks - I'm really sorry about that but the...

Hey Guys x I was nominated for the 'Sunshine Blogger Award' by HALE, who's post you can check out here ! Thank you so much HALE for the nomination, I appreciate it so much! Everyone reading needs to check out their blog because it's amazing! The rules : 1.) Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog in your blog post. 2.) Answer the 11 questions that your nominator has asked you. 3.) Nominate 11 blogs to receive the award. 4.) Come up with 11 questions to ask the bloggers you have nominated. 5.) List the rules and include the sunshine blogger award logo in your post. HALE's Questions 1. Who's your favourite YouTuber/actor? At the moment, my favourite YouTuber is probably Hazel Hayes, just because all of her tweets/snapchats about the election are amazing! My favourite actor without a doubt is Chris Pine - I still have a few of his movies to watch and I'm still completely in love with him! 2. What 3 tips would ...

Hey Guys x I wrote this on the day that Donald Trump was voted the President of the United States. I was definitely not in the mood to write a positive, happy post, because along with a lot of America as well as most of the UK, I'm not happy with the result (don't ask me why I care about the US election being British, I don't have time to explain why American politics impacts the world) and am having a little trouble organising my thoughts. To be honest, if I'd posted on Sunday or Monday, I wouldn't be posting today because I'm really not in the mood. However, I am posting. And I'm not writing a post about the election because I really don't know that much about the presidential candidates or anything to be able to give an informed opinion, so this is probably the first and last time I'll mention it on the blog unless something happens that I can't keep quiet about. Anyway, I'm going to talk about my fear of public speaking. This is a...

Hey Guys x So, welcome back to another 'Like A Writer' post! This time I'm talking about original ideas, or rather, my struggle with finding them! I don't know about you, but I definitely feel like everything that I think about writing has already been done in some shape or form, and there's nothing left! Especially because, in this day and age, things get popular so quickly because of social media. For example, 'The Girl On The Train' - it's the most popular thriller book and movie out right now, that I feel like anyone who writes a thriller will be compared to it. Not compared to the story exactly, but compared to the feeling that you get when you read it, and this is something that I definitely want to avoid when I eventually publish a novel - comparison. Of course, comparison is unavoidable, and a bit of comparison here and there after the product is released can be a good thing, a necessary thing. However, I hate comparing my story t...