The Christmas Tag

I was tagged by Hey It's Jess to do the Christmas tag so I thought I would get into the festive spirit and add another christmas themed post to my little christmas series.

1) What is your favourite Christmas film?

I would have to say 'A Muppet Christmas Carol', I watch it every year at least 4 times without fail!

2) What is your favourite Christmas drink?

I love tea and hot chocolate, they make you feel all cosy and warm!

3) Does your family have any Christmas traditions?

Not really, we have a pretty standard christmas really!

4) What time do you usually wake up on Christmas morning?

I am usually awake at about 4 but we usually get up at around 7!

5) Have you ever had a White Christmas?

No, unfortunately, although with the current weather forecast, I have high hopes for this year!

6) Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

Real! The smell just screams christmas!

7) What is your favourite Christmas song?

Driving home for christmas by Chris Rea

8) What's your favourite colour decoration combination?

I love to have everything pink! I go all out in my bedroom with pink tinsel and glitter and lots of fairy lights with a huge pink tree!

9) Have you ever built a gingerbread house?

No I haven't, but I would love to and I might think about it this year.

10) What is your favourite part about Christmas dinner?

I love stuffing and pigs in blankets! I also love when we have left over turkey and we have it cold in sandwiches for tea on Christmas Night!

11) What's your Christmas day fashion?

Onesies! We always stay at home so I don't really see any point in dressing up!

12) Do you open your presents before or after dinner?

Before, there is no way I would be disciplined enough to wait until after dinner!

I tag you all to do this, be sure to leave me a link below so I can have a look!

Emily xx

Drugstore Christmas Party Look

Today I have put together a simple, drugstore Christmas party look that will make you look a million dollars without having to spend that much!

 Starting off with a base, I primed using the Elf Studio Poreless Face Primer* and followed up with my new found love, the L'oreal True Match Foundation to create a flawless base.  Next I did a Kim Kardashian-esque highlight using my trusty old Garnier Anti-Dark Circle Roller.  I further concealed any problem areas with my holy grail, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer.  I finished with a light dusting of my Rimmel Stay Matte Powder to lock everything in place and keep it there all night.  To inject a little bit of dimension and life back into my skin, I lightly contoured with my new favourite Makeup Revolution Baked Bronzer and then followed that up with a flush of blush and highlight using the Makeup Revolution Hot Spice Blush and Contour Palette.

 For the eyes, I started off with a generous layer of my Elf Smudge Pot in the shade 'Back to Basics' all over the lid, and then focussed a small amount of 'Brownie Points' in the outer corner and through the crease.  I blended the heck out of that, and then I went in with a small amount of the Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow in the shade 'Toast', focussing this on the inner corner and the centre of the lid and then blending it out.  I then took the shade 'Festive' along my lower lash line for a subtle pop of colour and then, you guessed it, blended that out! I finished off the eyes with a thin winged liner and lashings of mascara.

 Lastly, I went for the Maybelline Color Drama Velvet Lip Pencil in the shade 'Berry Much' to match the plummy/purpley hint to the eyes and to incorporate the idea of christmas cranberries.  Alternatively, you could also use a nude lip or even a red with this look as it is very versatile!

I hope you enjoyed this mini tutorial and if you find this helpful and choose to recreate it, before so send me a picture!

Emily xx

Every Day Jewellery

I thought I would talk about something other than beauty for a change today. Jewellery is something that I have always loved from a young age and nothing compliments an outfit more than some classy pieces of jewellery.

Pictured above are a few of my favourite pieces that I wear pretty much every day.  The first things are my rose gold stud earrings that my nan bought me in a Jewellers in Tenerife. They go with everything and are just classic studs that I can wear all the time and don't have to worry about.

The next bits are my Pandora Rings, which if you would have read my Birthday Haul, you will have seen that they are my new favourite thing! I have wanted pandora rings for so long and I finally got some for my 16th birthday! I have 3 which I stack and I wear them all the time.  The stone in the middle ring is clear so I don't have to worry about it clashing with my nails or my outfit and they aren't too fancy that they are too much for every day wear.

Onto wrist things if you could call them that, my first thing is something that you have seen quite a few times before.  I have worn my Sekonda Rose Gold Watch every day since I got it in March and it just looks so classy and pretty without being too much. For the price, this is an absolutely amazing watch and I definitely recommend it to those of you who don't fancy splurging on a Michael Kors watch as they are almost identical.

Speaking of Michael Kors, my nan brought me a Michael Kors Heritage Gold Buckle Bangle back from her holiday and it is such a unique bangle! It is pretty much a gold belt for your wrist as odd as that sounds and I just love it!

Lastly is my Pandora Bangle which I got for my birthday last year.  I got the pink glass bead for my birthday last year and I got the dangly 16 charm for my birthday this year.  Again, this is such a classy bracelet and it looks so nice with my rings!

What are your favourite every day pieces?

Emily xx

Second Chances | L'oreal True Match

We all have those products that we try once and immediately hate them, and in turn end up getting shoved to the back of the drawer never to see the light of day again.  I did the exact same thing with the L'oreal True Match Foundation.

The first time I used it, it was streaky, it clung to dry patches and just accentuated the things that I wanted to conceal.  After that first use it was put in to my drawer for about 3 months, until about a month ago when I was changing up the products in my Muji Storage ready for the change of season.  I decided to give it another go, since everyone loved it so much I should at least try to see what the hype was about and attempt to see it myself, and sure enough I did! I don't know what happened, but this time it glided on so smoothly, blended seamlessly and gave the perfect amount of coverage whilst still maintaining that natural, skin-like look.  It injected the life back into my dull and dreary winter skin and gave it the boost that it was in desperate need of.

The finish of this is neither matte nor dewy, I would say it was more of a satin finish and it is just perfect. I have the shade R1-C1 which is a tad dark, but it was the only one they had that was similar to my skin tone at the time that I purchased it, as this was back in the summer, but if I blend down my neck its absolutely fine.

This is a good foundation for all skin types, especially oily skin because it controls oil and slightly mattifies whilst still retaining a nice glow which is sometimes difficult for people with oily skin because its usually matte or oil-slick with no in between. It just goes to show that over time, your skin and opinions change and something that you once hated, could now be dearly loved!

Let me know if this has happened to you, and I hope this encourages you to give those loathed products another go!

Emily xx

The Sunday Edit #30

My Pug obsession is getting out of hand and I'm not even sorry.

This week I have been wallowing in by stifling pit of revision, and I have to say, I am sick to the back teeth of reading!  I've been glad to take a break from it and write up a couple of blogposts, that way I can take a break whilst still being productive!

This week has been so boring, the only exciting thing was when my English teacher brought her pug (who's name is Doug, yes Doug the Pug) in to school and I literally died.  We all know what is at the top of my christmas list now!  

Today, I will be sat revising whilst my parents and my sister put up the Christmas decorations.  This will be the first year that I haven't decorated the tree which I was slightly gutted about to say the least, but it can't be helped I suppose and its just something that I am going to have to build a bridge and get over!

Next week is exam week so I can't promise that there will be posts up daily, although I am trying my best to make sure there is because I am determined to not make blogmas an epic fail like all my other attempts at daily blogging have been! To be fair, I haven't found blogmas as difficult as I thought I would and I think the key to daily blogging is organisation and preparation which I have to say, I have impressed myself with! It just goes to show that you can do anything when you put your mind to it and hard work pays off. Now I know I can do it and it isn't as horrendous as I thought it was, I can do it again in the future, maybe not permanently but every couple of months I think I would be able to manage it.

I hope you have all had a lovely week, and for anyone else that has exams next week, good luck!

Emily xx