So far in oz....

I've met some interesting people to say the least. A camp oz guy on the plane who's gone to London to see the jubilee and was covered head to toe in union jacks, an Irish girl trying to smuggle crisps into the country, and a German/belgium/Canadian guy who so far hasn't eaten in 3 days, to name but a few. I'm now sat in my hostel room with 7 other guys listening to an American surgeon and a Portuguese drummer jamming to guns and roses. And we're only on day three.....

Off to Oz I go....

Hey lovelies, just a quick one to say I'm off on my travels today! I'm flying to Oz later tonight for my 12 month adventure so I'll be posting a LOT less regular. I hope I'll still manage a couple a month, just some Australia related ones and some outfits etc, and hopefully I'll discover some new products out there I can tell you all about. I'll still be here though, so don't forget about me!

Lots of love

xxx

All my favourites...

We're on final count down now, three sleeps till Australia! I went out with the girls for the last time on Sunday and decided to throw on all of my favourite elements in one outfit....over the knee socks, Litas, leather, denim, studs, black and my Saint Germain lipstick....

Then I just went out to get some last minute things for my travels...I needed a couple of memory cards for my Canon as I'll be taking loads of snaps! Again, I threw on ripped denim, black vest and my converse...all my favourites!

I'm off to finish my packing now and make sure it all fits in my bag!

Loves

xxx

Sunday lunch OOTD....

Firstly, ONE WEEK until Oz, how fast has that come round?! Mum and Dad took me out for lunch on Sunday as a bit of a 'farewell' meal (I'm hoping it wasn't a 'thank god she's going lets celebrate' meal!). Thought I'd dress up for the occasion and wear my favourite Miss Selfridge skirt...

Top & skirt: Miss Selfridge

Bag: River Island

Tights: Primark

Boots: Office

Jewellery: Asos, Forever21, Primark

LOVE this nail varnish, it's a random one from the W7 range that I picked up in New Look I think, super neon!

EL Double Wear

Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer

Rimmel blush (old old old one, the shade has rubbed off!)

Eyebrows: HD Brows & GOSH eyebrow gel

UD eyeshadow in Naked

GOSH liquid eyeliner

Maybelline gel eyeliner 

Bourjois Volumiser mascara

Vivo lipstick in Red Red

Hopefully I'll get a what makeup I'm taking to Oz post up this week before I leave!

Loves

xxx

Secret holiday....

If you follow me on Twitter or read my last post on here, you'll know my boyfriend booked a secret four night getaway for us and would not let on to where we were going. With the car packed up and a 'secret holiday playlist' cd blasting we set off. After many guesses (every time I saw a signpost for a new place) I found out we were stopping in a gorgeous log cabin (complete with hot tub) just outside York. In short, it was absolutely amazing. Thought I'd pop a few pictures and OOTD's up for you...

Dress: Miss Selfridge

Shirt: River Island

Tights and hoody: Primark

Vans: Office

Top: Forever21

Shorts: Topshop

Tights: Primark

Jewellery: Asos/ Forever21/Miss Selfridge

Converse: Office

Loves

xxx

Summery OOTD's....

Hey loves, it's been a bit quiet on here this week (again, I know, poor excuses...) but I've been so busy getting things sorted for Oz and catching up with everyone before I go! I went out on Friday to meet some old work colleagues for a Nando's and a glass of wine or two...

Top: H&M

Skirt & Necklace: Primark

Bag: River Island

Watch: ASOS

Bracelets/Rings: Various

And then for an all you can eat chinese with the boyfriend last night (any excuse to stuff yourself silly really) and made the most of the nice weather to wear a floaty dress for maximum belly feeding!

Dres: New Look

Jacket: Topshop

Bag: River Island

Necklace: Miss Selfridge

Sunglasses: H&M

Watch: ASOS

Bracelets/Rings: Various

I'm away next week (off to a secret location for a few nights courtesy of said bf, can't wait!) so I'll be back next week with some good pictures hopefully!

Hope everyone's had a lovely week/weekend in the beautiful sunshine!

Loves

xxx

My leaving night out...

It's still three weeks to go until I jet off to Oz but I had my leaving night out on Saturday before all the chaos of the last few weeks starts! Thought I'd put a couple of pictures from Saturday into a post, you may have seen some of these on Instagram (_miss_emma_ if you want to follow me!!) but there's a few more random shots from the night out...

I wore my new dress from Primark (bargain!) with my JC Lita's and just a Dorothy Perkins black belt round the middle! I also went for red lipstick which I realised I didn't actually own. Nearly 100 lipsticks and no red....Nightmare! I picked one up with my Boots Points from Revlon called Fire & Ice which is now my favourite lipstick I own!

Loves

xxx

I threw a wish in the well...

I went into Leicester this week to get my last few bits for Australia, safe to say it's going to be a squeeze to get my stuff in my rucksack! I wore a blazer with my denim shorts which I don't often go for, but kind of liked it instead of a leather jacket...

Blazer: H&M

Shorts: Topshop

Top & Bag: River Island

Converse: Office

Tights & Headband: Primark

Belt: Dorothy Perkins

Earings: ASOS

Jewellery: Forever21, Miss Selfridge, ASOS

Loves

xxx

Peep Show....

You know that annoying morning when all of your mascaras seem to give up on you and you struggle to get a full set of lashes coated with your dried up old favourites? I had one of these days last week so wandered into town to pick up a new one. I tweeted to ask what I should go for and most people tweeted back with some great suggestions, but all seemed quite pricey. When I spotted that all 17 mascaras were only £4 each in Boots, I remembered Peep Show being mentioned in a lot of recent favourites posts and thought, well why not. 

Best decision I've ever made makeup wise. 


It claims to have lengthening fibres, which I strongly believe. When you pull the wand out, you can actually see them. Transferred to the lashes, I only needed two modest coats to make my lashes look incredible. Curled, defined, volumised, and most of all, long (unfortunately I suffer from a particularly stubby lash). I did worry about fall-out or flaking off throughout the day what with these cheeky little fibres hiding out in there but nope, they stayed perfectly in place throughout the day! 

On top of that, the packaging is cute, and the price is a bargain right now in Boots...all in all, I will re-purchase this forever and ever. Result. 

Loves

xxx

My top five foundations...

I'm not really a collector of foundations to be honest, I tend to stick to what I like and not really change my ways, although I have collected some beauties over the past year or two. 

(L - R Body Shop All Over Face Base, Bourjois Health Mix, Revlon Photo Ready, Mac Studio Fix Fluid, Estee Lauder Double Wear)

Body Shop All Over Face Base: The one and only non liquid foundation in my top five, I used this religiously for about three years back when I was around 17/18/19. It does give a very powdery finish but I used to suffer from oily skin so this was the only product that really stayed put. I tend to reserve this if I need to apply makeup at the speed of light, but I'd never be without one in my collection. 

Bourjois Healthy Mix: Well considering I hated this when I first tried it back in the summer, I have eaten my words. I LOVE this, so natural and light, easy to blend, and although I do find I need a powder to set it I think it lasts a good 5/6 hours before I need to powder again (which is really good on my skin!)

Revlon Photo Ready: I can get past the 'shimmer particles' in this foundation because to be honest I can't even tell! This is my current every day go-to foundation, I've got it in a couple of shades (one was passed on by my Mum who wasn't really a fan) and I just reach for this every day. I don't think this necessarily needs a powder (unless I'm expecting an all day wear) and I think it gives a really flawless finish.

Mac Studio Fix Fluid: I used to swear by this and got a few of my friends on the band wagon with me, but I started to crave something a bit lighter on my skin so switched to lighter covering foundations like HM. I do still use this from time to time, and I think it's great to cover up last nights sins if you've had a particularly heavy one. I love that this is a mat foundation but I do tend to favour something a bit fresher these days.

Estee Lauder Double Wear: I don't know where to start with this, I'm officially in love. Yes I know I just said I don't like heavy foundations but a little bit of this goes a long way. I do reserve it for nights out or on days when I need a 7am - 12pm sort of coverage. I don't necessarily need a powder, although something light like Elf HD Powder is perfect with it. It goes on well, blends well, stays on all day, doesn't slip and slide, and most off all, looks gorgeous in my makeup collection.

Are any of these in your top five?

Loves

xxx

Setting me off like sparks...

Firstly, hello after another too-long break (I need to buck my ideas up). Secondly, who else hates the rain? It's driving me a little mad if I'm honest! Anyway I could go on with a massive rant or I could just show you Friday nights outfit (and yes, yes I realise it's Wednesday, I have no excuse other than laziness!)

Shirt - Miss Selfridge

Bag - River Island

Shorts - Topshop

Tights/ rings - Primark

Watch/ necklace - ASOS

Boots - Office

Sleeveless leather jacket - Matalan

Loves

xxx

Brown eyebrows, bun rings and a bit of naughty shopping....

Hey all :) I've had a bit of a busy week again this week, I went to Birmingham to see Example on Tuesday (which was, by the way, AMAZING!) I didn't get an outfit of the day but I did post this picture on Instagram looking particularly excited....

Whilst I was in Birmingham, I did a bit of shopping, mainly for things to take to Australia so nothing too exciting. I did get a new dress for my leaving night out which is in a couple of weeks so I'll save that for an OOTD if you want to see it!!


I'm really lazy with my hair right now, just throwing it into a messy bun and a quiff or plaiting the front of my hair but I was sorting through some boxes last week and came across my bun ring. Me and the bun ring have NOT got on in the past, but I set aside half an hour and had a play around and it WORKED...

(not finished my makeup at this point sorry!)

Speaking of playing around with something different, I decided to have a go with a lighter brow. That's right, BROWN instead of BLACK. I still think I prefer the black brow, but I did love going for something a bit lighter with a lighter, more delicate eye makeup...

That's all for now, I've got my review of the Illamasqua brow cake coming up after the weekend and hopefully a bank holiday in outfits post! 

Loves

xxx

April empties....

This will be my last empties post now before I set off to Oz, I've managed to get through most of my products I wanted to, and I'm now in the use and repurchase stage with all of my everyday products. 

Products I've repurchased: The only two things I've done a straight re-purchase for this month is the baby shampoo (for my hair extensions) and the Boots nail and cuticle oil...definitely a holy grail product! 

Products I loved: LOVE the No7 face wipes but I only tend to get them when the vouchers are in Boots. I was also a huge fan of the Lee Stafford hair treatment but I've got a few others to use up yet so didn't repurchase. As always, deodorant and Vitamin E moisturiser got used up, I actually branched out and picked up some different brands to try (I know, I know, crazy kid over here)

'Meh' products: The pore strips used to be one of my favourite face products to buy but they've recently changed the formula of these particular ones and I'm not so keen now. The Dove hair mask was a ok, its was only sample size though so I might have been more impressed if I'd given it another try. Make-up wise, the teeny eyeliner you can see there that I can no longer hold is the Rimmel kohl pencil, OK but not amazing in my opinion. I also wasn't a fan of the Vivo highlighting concealer, it wasn't bad but nothing ever matches up to Sleek's version of this to me so I won't be repurchasing. 

Loves

xxx

My ring collection....

Jewellery is one of my favourite things to buy/collect but it seems to slip under the radar on my blog, so I thought it would be nice to show you some of my favourite pieces I've collected over the years. I've got no really expensive pieces, most of it is high street although I would like to add some vintage/market stall pieces to my collection. First up are rings....


'Big' rings

Top Left - Right, Bottom Left - Right

Turquise stone - Primark

Pink centre - Primark

Green stone - Forever21

Silver & Black - Forever21

Gold and white - Primark

Black stone - Forever21

Blue Stone - Forever21

Oval flower - Primark

Silver armour ring - Forever21

Gold spiral ring - Topshop

Top Left - Right, Bottom Left - Right

Plastic brown and white - H&M

Black square - H&M

Turquoise stone - Dorothy Perkins

Silver square - H&M

Black square - Primark

Gold and turquoise triple stone - Dorothy Perkins

Live is Blind - ASOS

2 x Pink circle rings - H&M

Turquoise and gold - Primark

Large silver stone - Forever21

Thin/stackable

Left - Right: 

Spike rings - Miss Selfridge 

Pink stone ring - gift

Peace/Cross ring - ASOS

Small heart ring - New Look

Silver square rings - Forever21

Silver and pink ring - vintage fair

Star ring - Forever21

Silver stackable rings - H&M

Green leaf ring - ASOS

Dark Green flat stone ring - ASOS

Thin pink and silver ring - gift

Multi finger ring

Left - Right:

Love ring - Matalan

Anchor ring - Matalan

Lipstick ring - ASOS

Silver Cross ring - ASOS

Leaf ring - Primark

Cream and black ring - Forever21

Sliver cross ring - Miss Selfridge

Diamond cross ring - Forever21

'Special' rings

All rings from Topshop

Only a small collection but I love them all!

Loves

xxx

Top five eyeliners...

Next instalment in my top five series is eyeliners! I'm not a huge eyeliner hoarder, I tend to have a few and just stick to the ones I like. 

l-r Barry M Wink eyeliner felt tip, GOSH Carbon Black liquid eyeliner pen, Mac Kohl pencil in Smoulder, Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl, Maybelline gel eyeliner pot 

Barry M Wink eyeliner felt tip: This is actually on it's last legs, but it's a REALLY thick felt pen that is so easy for beginners wanting to create a winged liner look. It dries up quite quickly and the nib on mine has gone a bit strange so it doesn't have a long shelf life, but it's really black and SO easy to use. The staying power isn't the best, but for around £5 I wouldn't complain.

GOSH Carbon Black liquid eyeliner pen: This is SO black, stays put until you get some sort of heavy duty makeup remover near it, and is quite easy to use. The nib is fine so you can create all sorts of looks really easily, the only draw back with this is it's quite watery so you really need to wipe the nib before you get going.

Mac Kohl: This used to be the love of my life. I've had about five of these, and whilst it is amazing, it's no longer my favourite kohl eyeliner. It's quite black, fairly long lasting, and you can sharpen it to quite a nice point if you wanted to use it on the lash line. It is great for smudging, however it sometimes smudges beyond all control when you get a bit warm....not ideal for sweaty night clubs or hot atmospheres. 

Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl: This is, in the place of Mac, the new love of my life. I've done a full review on it here if you want to take a closer look. It lasts ALL DAY, no lie. I use it on the water line, it doesn't smudge or slip, it's a really intense black, and it comes with a sharpener in the lid!! The only draw back is it's quite a soft, gel consistency so impossible to sharpen to a point, not ideal if you want to use it on the lash line. For £5, all I have to say on this is GO BUY IT :)

Maybelline gel eyeliner: I use the sigma eyeliner brush with this, brilliant for the waterline and on the lash line, and creates a gorgeous winged liner if you have a steady hand. Again, seriously long lasting, really black, easy to use with a bit of practice and lasts ages! This is always on offer in Boots or Superdrug so really worth a go!

What other eyeliners does everyone else love?

Loves

xxx

FOTD...out for drinks...

I've been a bit off radar recently, had a busy week and I've been swapping my blackberry over to an iPhone (oh HEY Instagram and Draw Something!!) which seems to be very time consuming! Anyway, just a quick one until I can get some pictures taken for other posts! I popped out for a drink with an old friend last week, where we basically just spent a few hours talking about going travelling!

Foundation: EL Double Wear

Concealer: Bobby Brown Corrector and Collection 2000 lasting perfection

Powder: Elf HD Powder

Blusher: Mac Fleur Power

Eyebrows: HD Powder (Darkest shade) and GOSH eyebrow fix gel

Mascara: Bourjois Volume mascara

Eyeliner: Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl 

Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Buck

Lipstick: Vivo at Tesco in Pink Pout

Also....my fringe is long enough to fit into a (very tiny) plait *cheers and punches the air*

Loves

xxx

Weekly review...Revlon PhotoReady Perfecting Primer....

I'm not one for a primer, I'll be honest with you. I always feel like I SHOULD, but never really find that they make much of a difference (with the exception of Benefit Porefessional but some of us can't justify the price tag so save it for 'special occasions'). I always have one on the go, though, just in case I feel the need to 'prime' of a morning. I picked this one up from the lady who stands on my local market selling amazing makeup and silly cheap prices. I think I paid £6 for this which is about half it's RRP. Bargain. 

It's a pale pink in colour, with a faint iridescent shimmer to it. The shimmer is subtle, like the foundation,  and to be honest I don't notice it when it's under foundation. The formula is quite 'liquidy' compared to most primers I've tried, is really easy to blend, and has a slightly chalky feeling when it's applied. This isn't a bad thing though, and I think it's what makes it more of a matt finish. 

I like it. My makeup stays put, I don't get too oily, it smells nice, it's not shimmery on the skin. Basically it's everything you'd want from a primer. You get 27ml of product which I think is a fair amount for such a thin consistency, as a little goes a long way. Hard to say if I'd re-purchase this again as I could probably quite happily go without primer in my daily makeup routine, but this has impressed me!

Has anyone else tried this primer?

Loves

xxx

Tiny Birmingham Haul and OOTD...

So I fully intended to go to Birmingham to pick up a few things for Australia and failed spectacularly! I mainly wanted to go to Illamasqua to pick up one of their Brow Cakes and the sealing gel which I did manage to get. I got the shade Gaze which is a dark grey but does go almost black with the sealing gel, but I was slightly disappointed they didn't have a black shade. I also just picked up a couple of rings from Forever21...rude not to...

 I just wore my new Zara top, H&M leather jacket, Zara jeggings, white converse and standard River Island bag....

Loves

xxx

Easter Bank Holiday in outfits....

I think it's safe to say I've had the best Easter Bank Holiday EVER!


Went out with the girls for a warm up session on Thursday, just to our local town for a glass of wine or three...

Top: Miss Selfridge

Shorts & Necklace: Topshop

Tights: Primark

Bag: TK Maxx

Belt: Dorothy Perkins

Boots: Office

Foundation: EL Double Wear

Lashes: Eyelur Kimberley Girls Aloud

Lipstick: Topshop Brighton Rock

I just popped into Leicester with the girls on Friday to look for outfits for the big bank holiday Sunday night out and for a Wagamama's...lush! I literally just threw on a baggy t-shirt from Miss Selfridge over a long black tank, my Primark mens hoody and some converse. 

Then the big event on Sunday...I'd been saving this outfit since Christmas when I bought these shorts but couldn't actually fit in them! 

Top: New Look

Shorts: Primark (!!!)

Tights: ASOS

Lita's: Random shop in Leicester that sells beaut fakes!

I wore the TK Maxx handbag from the Thursday outfit, and just bracelets stacked up my arm and a couple of rings. Lipstick was, of course, Saint Germain by Mac

Kellie, on the left, wore a Miss Selfridge Dress and Peacocks shoes, Steph wore a strapless dress from River Island, and Sarah had a New Look lace, glittery top with a stretchy black skirt and black shoe boots, also from New Look I think!

Loves

xxx