First and foremost, I must apologise for my silence over the past few days. Working only on weekends and being off university means I have Monday to Friday daytimes exclusively to myself, and as a result aim to write and post at least one blog post a day. However, I've been a bit busy with another project that I might update you with at a later date!
Today, I decided to bring another new little segment to my blog, 15 favourites. Every few weeks or so, I'm going to pick a topic (or you can send me some ideas in my ask box if you wish!), and narrow down my 15 favourites. For instance, my favourite songs, artists, films, places to visit, clothing items, beauty products, really anything!
On another note, today I read a rather interesting post from Stephi LaReine, a blogger I'd just recently discovered through the magic of BlogLovin (incidentally one of my new favourite websites). Stephi wrote this piece on her most used applications on her tablet, titled "Most used Android apps of a Blogger" and I thought this was a really great idea.
As a result, I thought I'd make this my first "favourites" post. And while I don't own a tablet of any kind, I am glued to my iPhone, so without further ado, I've narrowed down my top 15 iPhone apps (or thereabouts).
1. Instagram I'll start off with an obvious one. Instagram is an app I've fallen back in love with as of late. I often find I don't take as many photos as I'd like, but I'm constantly finding inspiration from the people I follow on Instagram to do so. I use the app solely for the social networking purposes, as I edit my photos separately, and upload them without using any of Instagram's filters, but I'll get to that a bit later.
Favourite people I follow: Charmaine Olivia, The Fat Jew, Caesar Sebastian, Dillon Francis, Patron of the Arts
Find me on Instagram: @katiewilkinson
2. Twitter Another obvious one. I'm glued to Twitter. As sad as it is, it's pretty much the first thing I check in the morning, and the last thing I check at night.
Favourite people I follow: Zach Braff, Harley Morenstein, Chris D'Elia, NASA, Historical Pics
Find me on Twitter: @katie_ew
3. Squareready, Pixlr Express+, & VSCOCam Granted, these are three separate apps, but they fall under the same category, and I use them for the same thing; photo editing. I love the social aspect to VSCO, and the filters are better than Instagram's, so that's a no brainer. Pixlr Express+ is the app I use for a bit more extravagant edits, as well as collages. And finally, Squareready, turns your portrait or landscape photos into tidy little squares to make them Instagram ready.
4. Buzzfeed I've fallen in love with Buzzfeed articles a little recently, and I've found myself checking this app ridiculously often.
5. Snapchat I never really 'got' Snapchat until about 6 months ago. I'd had an account for some time, but never really understood the point in it, until I was trying to find a decent birthday present for my Mam, and wanted my sister's approval, but also didn't want to pay for MMS! Since then, I've been pretty much addicted to it, but that's not really restricted to using it for appropriate or even sensible means.
6. Wish I discovered this app through a Facebook ad, how awkward. Regardless, this is quite a little gem. The app is basically an eBay/Etsy cross, and boasts hoards and hoards of inexpensive clothing, beauty products, accessories, gadgets and loads more. I've just recently made an order using this app in order to test it out, so an entire haul post reviewing the products I've bought will be coming, just as soon as they all arrive!
Find me on Wish here.
7. Bloglovin I've had an account on this site for a while too, but only recently got fully into it. I've since downloaded the app onto my phone and it's now something I check pretty much religiously. I've discovered a lot of great bloggers and a lot of great content on that app, this post idea for instance! I love finding my inspiration from others!
Follow me on Bloglovin here.
8. Timehop This app has it's good days and bad days. I've had a few days this week where it has offered me up some gems, such as 5 years since I met Russell Howard, 2 years since I saw blink-182 on their reunion tour, 3 years since finishing college, and 5 years since leaving school. However, this app has also served to remind me how cringe-worthy my 2008 Facebook statuses were. Win some, lose some.
9. Spotify, SoundCloud, Hype Machine Another little cheat here, but again, these three apps all fall under music, so I'm putting them together. Spotify is one that's grown on me over the years. The app is free and available to all free account users, however the benefits of having a paying account far outweigh the costs. So it's definitely worth the investment if you're going to use it often.
Soundcloud is a bit sketchy on the web, but the app is fantastic. I mostly tend to use this app when getting ready, or when I'm listening to music in the bath or shower. I actually favour this app now over the generic Apple 'Music' app.
Hype Machine is one of my favourite websites to keep up to date with what's trending in the music and blog world. I've found loads of little gems on there, that otherwise, I probably wouldn't have discovered. The website is free to use, however, the app is £2.49. But, it's worth the money if you're going to use it daily.
10. Fitocracy If you know me, you'll know I'm not a massive fan of the gym. This app has got me convinced. You input your session into the app and it awards you points. The most points you get, the higher your level, and the more achievements you get. I've only used it a few times so far as it's quite new for me, but for those, like me, who find the gym really quite dull, it really makes exercising more fun!
11. Shazam I don't use this app very often, but it is absolutely perfect for when you're wandering through a shop, or you're in a bar, and you want to know what song is playing.
12. IMDB Probably one of my most used websites and apps all in one. Perfect for when you're watching something on TV, and it's bugging you to try and remember what other film you've seen the actor in.
Also, I pretty much do not watch anything now without reading the IMDB trivia afterwards.
13. Dropbox Dropbox is most definitely a student's best friend. I used this app throughout my entire time at university, mostly uploading documents to access them on another computer. It's also brilliant for sharing videos, as where Youtube as Facebook don't allow others to download the videos for themselves, Dropbox provides a link to a folder, where anything inside can be shared and downloaded, even if the person does not have an account.
14. Dreamdays I've been after a good countdown app for absolutely ages, and this one does the job, and looks absolutely beautiful.
15. 2048 Totally addictive game. Undoubtedly the reason why my battery is always hovering between the 10-20% mark.
Sunday 29 June 2014, 11:17pm
