Death of a Bachelor - Panic! at the Disco

I've always been at least a casual fan of Panic! At the Disco. I actually still remember the time I Write Sins Not Tragedies was released, and man – it's still such a tune. The reason why I describe myself as a "casual fan" is simply because I was never invested enough to be devastated when Ryan Ross, Jon Walker and Spencer Smith consecutively left the band. Brendon Urie is doing more than just fine on his own, and he very impressively illustrates that in Panic! At the Disco's newest release called Death of a Bachelor.

To be quite honest, I had only just caught up on the previous release – Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die – from 2014 (which is also a great record), when I realised that the next one was already out. Death of a Bachelor is mostly fast-paced with three slower songs (Death of a Bachelor, House of Memories and Impossible Year) thrown into the mix. It clocks in about 37 minutes, and it's addictive. I've caught myself listening to the whole album multiple times a day; I love to listen to it on my way to work, because the first song alone – Victorious – has me levelling up. Perfect song to power walk while lip syncing to it on the street (and have people look at you like you're a lunatic, too)! Same goes for Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time and especially Emperor's New Clothes: What a tune. Great music video, too!

Brendon Urie's range is quite impressive – I understand little to nothing about the technical bits of music and singing, but I love how he can belt out the high nothes and do the low Sinatra-eque (listen: Death of a Bachelor) bits as well. Vocally, I think it's the best Panic! Record yet – maybe together with Vices and Virtues from 2011.

When I first described the record to a friend, I think I said "It's so good, it makes you want to destroy things – but in a good way!", and that's still pretty much my opinion. Since it's so fast-paced with a great beat and lyrics, it's the perfect album for hitting up the gym (oh wow, another sentence I never thought I'd type a few years ago!). I'd actually go as far as to say that even though it was released in January, this will probably be one of my Top 3 albums of 2016 – I think that's quite the claim myself!

Favourite tracks? Pretty much all of them, but if I HAD to narrow it down to 5 ...

Victorious – Hallelujah – Emperor's New Clothes – Crazy=Genius – Impossible Year

Collection: Wearable Nude Lip Colours

For ages it was super hard for me to get into nude lipstick. A few years ago I always thought that nude lips equal "boring" or looking like a drowned corpse. (We say that in German, looking like a "Wasserleiche", I think it's not an actual saying in English. It's pretty macabre thinking about it, but you get the mental image ...) Fast forward a few years, and I have a small but growing collection of what I like to call "wearable" nudes that I actually wear quite a lot - so I thought why not write a roundup post of my favourites!

Sephora Cream Lip Stain in 13 Marvelous Mauve – About a year ago, I bought two bright shades of the Sephora Cream Lip Stains during a trip to Barcelona, and I always knew that next time I had the chance of visiting a Sephora, I'd have to buy the mauve shade. In November I visited Prague with my girls, so that's when I got this beauty. In short: Gorgeous mauve shade, super matte, extremely long-wearing, feels nice on the lips. Big thumbs up for this one!

MAC Twig – I just posted a review of this a few weeks ago when I first bought this. I still absolutely love it, right now it's my favourite "every day at the office" kind of lipstick that I just slap on in the morning when I don't want to think about it. It looks good paired with anything, so it's kind of a failsafe option!

MAC Brave – This satin shade is last year's Twig, if that makes sense. I bought it in Spring 2015 and it was the first nude-ish shade that I bought in a long time. It's a dusky mauvey pink, a bit lighter than Twig. Super easy to wear, and I'm probably going to break this out more again when Spring properly arrives.

MAC Kinda Sexy – Actually the first nude lipstick I ever bought. It's a peachy nude with a matte finish. I love the look of this paired with a bit of matte eyeshadow and a cat flick, it looks very 60ies that way. I feel like this is a great option for everyone who wants to try a "classic nude" colour that isn't a mauve, because it is pigmented enough so that it doesn't wash you out completely. Definitely worth a swatch!

MAC In Control – This Prolongwear lipliner has one of the best lip formulas I have ever come across. It glides on smoothly and then locks itself into the lips – you can wear this all day without having to reapply it. Granted, not everyone will like the feel of this on the lips, it's a bit different than most lipsticks because at the end of the day, it is incredibly dry. I don't mind it at all though – but I almost exclusively wear matte and retro matte lipsticks all year round, so that's also something to be considered.

MAC Spice – One of the most versatily shades in my collection! I actually really like wearing this just on its own because of its staying power. It's pretty much the matte 90ies nude that's been so en vogue for the past year, so if that's what you're lusting after Spice is a very solid choice!

The cool thing about all of these lipsticks and lipliners is that you can layer all of them. I love Kinda Sexy and Twig over Spice, for example. In Control I love on it's own, but layered with the Sephora stain it's literally bullet proof. Layering lip products is one of my favourite things while doing my makeup right now – it gives you so many possibilites without actually buying new products! Definitely worth a try if you're stuck in a makeup rut! :)