Weekly Update #4

So first of all, I want to apologise for my lack of posts. 

I started work last Tuesday and have been trying to figure out a blogging schedule around work. I'm usually too tired afterwards to blog at night so I'm trying to write a few on my days off to schedule!

So far its going great! I'm loving it. They're all so nice!

I definitely got lucky and got into a nice place to work.

I haven't really done anything exciting this week as I've been working. I was supposed to go shopping on my day off on Thursday with my friend Lisa but she ended up having to work that day! We're trying to reschedule for next week!

I may be going out tomorrow night (that would be tonight when this is posted!) but I don't plan on drinking much. Having a sober night is going to interesting haha.

I'll be testing out my new shoes. Omg seriously you should see these shoes. When I saw them online I didn't think they looked that high but when they came I was like holy crap. THEY'RE HUGE! The heel is 6.25 inches. The platform is 2 inches so the heel isnt THAT high but I'm still not used to being that high off the ground haha. Plus I'm so used to wearing wedges for the last year that heels feel weird!

I'll definitely do a post showing you them because they are gorgeous.

I hope you all had a lovely week (feel free to share below!) and please bear with me while I try to figure out my blogging schedule!

Emma xo

Weekly Update #3: Spend Spend Spend, Shots Shots Shots

So I think this is just going to be a weekend update as I don't want it to be too long and my week was quite boring!

I went for lunch on Saturday with my friend Caron that I hadn't seen in a while, we walked up all the hills in my town (please tell me thats 9326302957395 calories burned??) to get to the hairdressers as I WAS GETTING THE CHOP. Yep, I got quite a bit cut off my hair. To be honest, as much as I liked it long, it was really gettting on my nerves. It was fine when it was curled but when it was straight it just hung there flat and just got in the way. I also had quite a few splits ends and I just thought it was time for the snip. I really like it though, Its still long, the only way I can describe it is if you look at the photo above, I got it cut up to about the top of the D in Daniels but its not a hassle anymore, it also looks a lot healthier and sleeker! After I got home and Caron had left I ended up going BACK into town with my Mam and of course I ended up spending! I bought a gorgeouuusssss bag which I will show in a future post.

Last night I went out and lets just say I'm not feeling too great today! I'm not going to go into too much detail about THAT. I don't think doing 3 shots one after the other was a good idea. Although my friend Roisin and I managed to score 2 free drinks each ;) I ended up wearing my 12 year old sisters dress. Im surprised I fit my boobs into it as it was a 12-13 years old size. Not sure what 12 to 13 year olds they were thinking of when they made the dress! Only for it was a skater style dress I know for a fact a I would never have gotten my ass into it. I wish I'd taken a photo as its a really nice dress too!

I start work on Tuesday which I am very excited about and I'm looking forward to going shopping with one of my very good friends Lisa during the week.. I'm going to clear my whole wardrobe out tomorrow and get rid of anything I haven't worn in months (with the exception of Summer clothes of course, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather this Summer) so if I do pick up anything nice I can have room for it!

I'm not sure how everyone feels about these personal posts, I personally love being nosey and reading all about what everyones up to, but I didn't want to go into too much detail in this as I thought you all might get bored.

Anyway I hope you all had a lovely week and weekend!

Emma xo

30 Ways to Save £1

Hello so I've got a different type of post for you all today. We all love to save a few pound so I've put together a list of 30 ways to save £1 (or more, or a little under). The lovely people are MoneySupermarket.com are giving all bloggers a chance to submit their 30 Ways to Save a £1. For every tip you share, you get £1! Nice one huh? You find out more info here.

1. If you're shopping online, check online to see if there are any discounts codes available. You'd be surprised at how much you could save!

2. Every week, have a clean out of your purse, put any coins into a jar, after a while your jar will start to fill up! 

3. If you have any old phones you dont need send them to envirophone!

4. If you have any old cds/dvds etc send them to Music Magpie. They're no use to you sitting around the house unused.

5. If you find yourself stopping off to grab a coffee on the way to school/work, try bringing your own from home in a reuseable travel mug. Those few pounds add up!

6. Always bring your own lunch from home to school or work. A lot of the time its healthier AND cheaper. Win win!

7. If you're a student, check out if you're eligible for a student discount. Many stores offer them. All you need is a student card.

8. Instead of buying a new wardrobe, root through your own and try DIYing and customising old clothes. There are a million helpful tutorials on youtube!

9. Have a root through your dads closet! Cut the sleeves off one of his old baggy t shirts and make it into a muscle vest top!

10. Make a list of everything you spend money on each week. Cut anything that you really can't live without. Be brutal.

11. Instead of always having nights out, have nights in with your friends. Each of you could bring a snack (microwave popcorn, chocolate, sweets!) and pop in a DVD. Way more fun than a night out and generally will cost less!

12. Make a list before going grocery shopping with the estimated cost of each item. ONLY bring enough cash to cover the cost of those items (maybe an extra fiver just in case you guessed wrong!). This will stop you throwing random items into your trolley!

13. Thrawl eBay and local charity shops. You never know what you'll find and it can't hurt to try!

14. Skip the hairdressers and dye your hair at home (unless you're going blonde.. do..not...do...that.)

15. Fill up water bottles with tap water and pop in the fridge to chill instead of buying bottled water. 

16. Make sure your TV isn't left on standby.

17. Plug out any electrical items from the socket. Especially phone chargers. Even if your phone is not attached to the end it still rises your electricity bill!

18. Don't be afraid to bargain at a car boot sale. Chances are, that seller wants the item gone that day so you might as well chance your arm! 

19. Don't be attracted to huge SALE signs on items in the supermarket. Just because its on sale doesn't mean you need it. If you weren't going to buy it in the first place, don't. You're just throwing away money because its on sale.

20. Be wary of 3 for 2 sales. If you were only going to pick up one item. Only get the one. Don't double the cost for yourself to get the extra free item. Its not worth the cost. 

21. eBay is a great place to pick up phone cases for a couple of pounds compared to the £15 in shops!

22. Try shopping in store rather than online if you can. You avoid shipping costs and also the costs of sending the item back if it didn't fit properly. In store, you can try it on.

23. Always ask for a sample if you're thinking of buying something. Don't be afraid of the sales assistants. Its their job to ASSIST you. Be brave and explain you wanted to try a particular product but weren't sure how your skin would react with it and ask if you could have a sample to try at home.

24. When shopping, watch your basket. Even though you might think 'oh everything is so cheap'. All those cheap items add up.  

25. Check reviews online from your favourite bloggers (hint hint ;)) before buying a product. 

26. If you have old gold jewellery at home that is useless to you, try places like cash for gold.

27. Have a wardrobe clear out and head to a car boot sale. If getting up early isn't your thing, hop onto eBay and sell sell sell!

28. If you smoke, STOP IT. The amount of money you could save on cigarettes is crazy. 

29. If an item of clothing has a small stain or something that you could easily fix at home, don't be afraid to ask the sales assistant if you could possibly get a discount. 

30. Use MoneySupermarket to compare prices!

Weekly Update #2 - New Job, Nail Polish & 8am Wake Up Calls From 4 Year Olds

I'm back with another weekly update! I'm not quite sure what to call these though!

So this has been quite an exciting week for me (you'll all probably find it extremely boring though!)

Last Monday I had a job interview in a local salon. I was a little nervous but very excited. 

Its been quite hard for me to find a job since finishing college last June. There are literally NO jobs in my county. Especially for a beauty therapist. So to say I wanted this was an understatement.

After I'd finished the interview, they told me that they were holding a second interview, which would be practical (doing treatments) and would let me know if they wanted me to come back in for that. 

Long story short, I got the second interview and then finally the job. So I am SOOOO HAPPY.

I literally screamed the house down after they rang to tell me.

I start at the end of April/start of May so I'm very excited about that. I honestly love what I do (beauty therapy) and wouldn't change it for the world. I think thats a good thing too. Enjoying your job. I can't imagine waking up in the morning dreading going to work..

IM BACK! Weekly Update #1

Hey guys, so most of you may know I've been taking a break due to blogger deciding to not publish my new posts to my followers reading list. I don't think its back working yet but I don't care, I couldn't stay away any longer :D

So I had literally the worst week and a half of my life. 

I have never been so ill in all my life. I started off with an eye infection. I got drops from the doctor and just went downhill from there. I ended up with a non stop headache for like 3 days, nausea, a fever/chills, weakness, a throat infection and pain in my limbs along with my persistant eye infection. I finally went to the doctor after a couple of days spent unable to get out of bed. He prescribed stronger eye drops for my eye but he had no idea what else was wrong with me. He seemed a little worried as I'm rarely sick and prescribed 2 different antibiotics and painkillers to try and get rid of my illness. He said if I did not see any improvement after taking all the pills for 24 hours then he was sending me to the hospital. 

I must have looked pretty horrendous as when I went into the pharmacy afterwards to pick up my prescription the chemist took one look at me and said 'Woman down!! You're not well at all are you?'. 

Thankfully after a couple of hours I felt an improvement. I actually managed to get out of bed and lay on the sofa with a big snuggly duvet. I still had a slight headache but eventually after another few days of it, it wore off!

Today is the first day since I've gotten the eye infection over a week and a half ago that I've worn my contacts and did my makeup fully. I finally feel like me again. Yaay. 

I think I'm going to do these weekly updates as I love just talking to you all, unfortuantely this week hasn't been eventful at all as I've been ill! I'll try to include some photos next time!

I hope you all had a good week regardless!

OOTD: In The Navy & Update

I'm so awkward when taking OOTD pictures I never know what to do. Hashtag not a model.

Hey guys, so this outfit is actually from like.. 

Sleek Giveaway Winner & Blog Changes

Hi guys so I picked the winner of my Sleek Giveaway!

the winner is....

DUN DUN DUN

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations Isabel! 

I've emailed Isabel and if she doesn't respond by Friday night I'll pick a new winner but I'll let you guys know on twitter if I'll be doing that. 

I'm sorry if you didn't win this time, but don't worry this won't be my last giveaway!

Now that the giveaway is over, there will be a few changes on the blog, a new URL, a new name and a new design so bare with me while that happens!

Prize Unboxing/Opening from AqeelaKeela.blogspot.com

Helllooooo, 

I hope you all had a fabulous St Patricks Day/Paddys Day (NOT Pattys Day or St Pattys Day, take note Americans).

Today I wanted to share a package I received this morning with you all! I've been very excited for this package to come and it finally came this morning! It's a prize package from the very lovely (seriously I know everyone says that about people but she's seriously sooo nice) Aqeela, I would advise you all to check out her blog if you haven't already, just click here and it will open in a new window for you to have a nose! She does these AMAZING eye looks, she also does a weekly makeup tag with a different theme each week and the entries make me jealous of how talented her and the other girls are!

Anywhooo thankfully I was able to stop myself ripping it open before taking photos.

The minute I got it I was praying nothing was broken as postmen tend to be very rough. I ordered a Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant not long ago and when it came it was smashed in pieces. Someone literally stepped on it and I ended up with a bag of dust and shards of plastic. To say I was pissed was an understatement. Luckily nothing in this package was broken drastically and what was broken was cleaned up easily with a towel (more on that later).

So lets get straight into the photos!

What's In My Makeup Bag

Sorry for such dark photos, I took them at night, but I figured because they don't need to show much detail etc that it wouldn't matter too much!

I keep this makeup bag on my dressing table beside all my other makeup organisation. Inside it, I keep the products I wear basically everyday. If I'm staying over at a friends I throw this bag into my purse and it has everything I need for the next day.

The bag is from Lancome and I got it as a prize from Erica's (Abundance of Erica) giveaway!

So let's jump in!

Confessions of A Beauty Blogger TAG!

1. How many hours a week do you spend writing/editing posts?

To be honest it depends on the type of posts I'm writing. I post every other day but usually I'll pre-write a few posts and schedule them . A few hours at least!  Especially with all the photo taking (I take about 50 of one particular product or eye look then narrow it down to about 5).

2. Are you a spender or a saver?

SPENDER! Money burns a hole in my pocket. If its in my purse or my bank account you can bet it wont be there for long. I honestly think I may be addicted to shopping, I get such a high from buying things. Shopping is like crack. 

3. When is it easiest for you to blog?

Probably mid morning! If I say 'ahh I'll wait until later on' I'll never actually do it. I'll find something else to do instead. Then all day its on my mind that I need to blog. If I get it done in the morning I don't feel guilty for watching telly!

4. What makes writing behind a computer easier?

I don't know, it feels sort of safe. It is a bit daunting posting photos though, I could sit for an hour staring at one photo of myself picking out everything that's wrong with it. It gets to the stage where I decide I look hideous and delete it. There goes my FOTD post :/ 

5. What’s your worst makeup/hair habit?

Brushing my hair with a hairbrush when its wet. I KNOW I KNOW you're supposed to use a comb but to be honest I haven't got the patience for that. My hair is sooooo knotty when its wet that I'd be there for hours. I just grab a hairbrush and basically pull the head off myself with it. 

Use a comb to brush my hair??

6. Whats your one quote I wish the world would live by?

Ummm.. yep..

7. How long do you spend getting ready everyday?

If its just a normal day about half an hour including hair makeup and getting dressed. If Im going on a night out...all day.  I could get ready faster for a night out but I like to take my time and piss around in between watching youtube videos/staring at my twitter timeline.

8. What’s my favourite video on youtube?

I watch far too many youtube videos to have a favourite! I spend more time on youtube than I do watching telly!

9. Who is the blogger that you read that deserves more subscribes than they have?

There are sooo many I'd be here all day, I have a list as long as my arm. I follow some amazing, lovely girls who deserve so much success.

10. What’s the one thing you most excited about in the up and coming year?

I can't wait to go to the Irish Beauty Show! I didn't get to go last year so I'm looking forward to it this year. Also I know quite a few Irish bloggers are going so maybe I'll run into a few! If you're going let me know below or on twitter!

11. Whats your most awkward blogging moment:

I don't think I've had one yet! I've had a blogger who I liked and talked to unfollow me on twitter but I don't think that really counts as awkward. 

12. How long does it take to prep a post?

If its a review I'll use the product for a while, an hour for taking photos and editing then another hour or two actually writing the post. 

13. Are you wearing jeans/pants/skirt of pyjamas right now?

PJS ALL THE WAY

14. What are you most proud of in your life right now?

Completing my college course with honours, sticking to writing regularly on here, not murdering certain people... I'm joking.. 

So that's it for the Confessions of A Beauty Blogger Tag! Let me know below if you've done this tag so I can check it out (I'm nosy).

Emma xo

*all photos taken from google.

Personal Post: My Christmas Day Plans

Merry Christmas everyone!

Technically its the 23rd as I'm writing this but I wasn't sure if I'd have time to write up a post on the actual day what with all the family that will be visiting, so I decided to play it safe and schedule one!

I'm not sure if I'll be writing posts throughout the 'holiday' (oooh I feel very American saying that!) period but I might schedule posts so I wanted to take this chance to wish you all a very happy and SAFE Christmas and New Years. If you are planning on going out to celebrate over Christmas and New Years please be careful and stay safe :)
Also as this is my first Christmas on this blog I just want to say thank you to everyone who follows, reads and especially those who comment even if its just to say you liked the product as well, it honestly makes my day.

ANYWAY onto the post!..

Personal Post: My Blog Journey

So I love checking out the #bbloggers trend on Twitter, whenever I'm on twitter you'll find me scrolling down through it. Any of my tweets that have to do with beauty/fashion I always add a #bbloggers or #fbloggers hashtag because I like other bloggers to get involved and reply to my tweets. Anyway, tonights topic was how we got started blogging and our experiences etc. 

I did tweet a little about how I got started but thought I'd write a post as I find these kind of posts really interesting, maybe its just my nosy side coming out haha, but I like knowing how others got started.

So. Where to start..

Win the Essie Winter Collection & A Selection of Nail Goodies?

Hey guys so I wanted to give you all a heads up on an amaaazing giveaway being hosted by HelloMissNiki.com. 

''One lucky winner will win the FULL Essie Winter 2012 Collection, Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat & a Mini Manicure Set, with grooming tools and products!''

How cool is that?!

If you want to enter just go to the giveaway post here and enter using the Rafflecopter widget! Simple!

Good Luck girls :) 

Emma

x

Boohoo.com #PartyPose Party Outfit Entry!

So you all know how much I love picking out outfits and making collages on BeautySets.com so when I saw Boohoo.com were holding a Party Outfit contest I jumped at the chance to enter!

So basically you have to create an outfit from the HUUGGEE selection on Boohoo.com but the catch is the outfit has to be under £100. Which is surprisingly easy with the amazing prices on Boohoo!

So here the outfit I chose..

Boohoo.com #partypose

So this is definitely an outfit I would wear! We all know sometimes we can go a little crazy around Christmas and buy an over the top extremely glittery dress that isn't really appropriate year round - I'm guilty of this - so I decided to go down a different route and chose a dress that would be versatile. I chose this gorgeous lace dress that can be worn casual or dressy and is perfect year round! I paired it with a classic black blazer (which by the way was an absolute BARGAIN) for extra warmth, a gorgeous snakeskin clutch and a simple black peep toe heel. Because the dress was very pretty and lacey I wanted to keep the blazer, shoes and clutch black so as not to draw attention away from the dress. For jewellery, as I was keeping everything else quite simple, I decided to go all out and chose some crazy in your face pieces. I chose this spike bracelet and really pretty gold ring.
And now for the important part.. did I stay within budget..
£96.00! I think that's pretty damn amazing for a dress, jacket, shoes, clutch AND accessories?
All the items are listed below with the price and a link to each item.


1. Simone Lace Netted Skater Dress £22 here
2. Serena Black Fitted Scuba Blazer £20 here
3. Lilly Ornate Armour Ring £8 here
4. Millie Snake Print Envelope Clutch £18 here

5. Yara Black Suedette Peeptoe Platform Heels £20 here

6. Xanthe Chunky Spiked Bracelet £8 here

I hope you liked my outfit. For more details on the contest and if you'd like to enter then you'll find all the details here.

Emma xo

A-Z of Emma

So I saw this on Sophie Rose Hearts (you can read hers here) and thought it would be a fun post to do! Plus you'd get to know me a bit more!

Age:

Im 19.

Bed Size:

Double!

Chore You Hate:

Ironing! I'll do anything but iron.

Dream Room:

Big, Brown and cream theme. Just cosy.

Education:

Primary school, secondary school and then I went to a private college.

Favourite Colour:

I love purple or pink but I wear a lot of black and looovee black packaging on makeup.

Greatest Achievement:

Passing my college exams with honours!

Height:

Around 5,3. I'm soooo short!

Instruments I Play:

None! I could play tin whistle, recorder and a glockensphiel at school but I doubt I could now!

Job Title:

Beauty and Massage Therapist. Oh and Electro Epilationist or whatever its called.

Kids:

No.

Live:

Ireland!

Motivations:

I don't really know it depends on what I'm doing!

Nicknames:

My dad used to call me Molly, he still does sometimes and my Aunt used to call me Emma Lou. My name isn't really long enough for a nickname!

Overnight Hospital Stays:

Never!

Pet Peeves:

I have too many to list!

Quote:

Go hard or go home. haha I don't know I can never think of quotes off the top of my head!

Right or Left Handed:

Leftyyyyy

Shops I Love:

Penneys, New Look, River Island, Forever 21, A|Wear

Times I Wake Up:

It depends really!

Ultimate Food:

Chocolate! Or chinese. I looove chinese food!

Vacations:

Ive been to Spain a few times, France and then I went to Blackpool for a dance competition.

Whats Makes You Run Late:

I'm never late. End of. I'm a bit OCD about organisation and time keeping. Like I will freak out if I'm not organised or on time. If I have somewhere to be the next day I will literally count out how many hours/minutes everything I need to do in the morning will take and then give myself about half an hour just incase anything happens and that will tell me what time I need to get up at. If I don't do this I will have a meltdown. I'm so weird.

X-Rays I've Had:

Just my teeth I guess?

Yummy Food I Make:

Nothing fancy haha, just like spagetti, pasta bake easy things like that.

Zoo Animals:

Elephants are cooool! Or tigers! And giraffes! I love loads haha.

So thats the tag, I tag all of you to do it! If you do, leave a link below so I can read it! I'd love to get to know all of you more!

Emma xo

Collective Haul

One of my favourite posts/youtube videos to watch is hauls. I think I'm just a nosy person haha.

Sometimes someone will show something that I would love and didn't know was in a certain store so I can add it to my list of things to pick up when I go shopping again!

Tbh I never really go on shopping trips, like I never go to town with a purse full of money with the intention of buying a lot of stuff. That usually only happens around Christmas or my birthday. The rest of the time I just happen to see stuff when I'm wandering around shops and pick things up randomly throughout the month.

This month, I didn't really buy much because I'm trying to save for Christmas (good luck Emma) but I thought I'd show you anyway!

Accent Tag/Challenge - Irish

So I ended up filming an accent tag and I keep pissing myself laughing when I watched it after editing it because I have such a horrendous accent. I actually do not pronounce half the words correctly. I.e water = wa-er.

If you do want to watch it you can watch it here:

Also excuse the vampire/voldemort complexion, I filmed this near a window for natural lighting and it looks like I'm sitting infront of the sun! I don't know how other youtubers manage to use natural lighting without being washed out!

Emma xo

THE MODELS OWN SHOP IS FREAKING AMAZING

Ok so I know this is a pretty pointless post but when I saw this I just had to share it with you all. Maybe some of you have seen it before (soz I'm a bit late on the bandwagon) but I hadn't and I AM AMAZED. THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER.

Its the Models Own Bottleshop at Westfield London Shopping Centre, Sheperds Bush.

Seriously this is the coolest thing I have ever seen, props to Models Own on their creativity. I've never seen anything like this before. Have you?

Have you been here? I WANNA GOOOOO :( 

emma xo

Avon Prepare To Party Gift Set

So I picked up this Avon Prepare to Party Gift Set for the bargain price of €12. 

I think these little sets would be perfect as Christmas presents for any friend or family member (or for yourself like I did) with an interest in makeup. 

So first I'll just talk you through everything that comes in the set.

Your 'Perfect Smile' Kit free with Cosmopolitan??

So while I was in the supermarket i couldn't help but check out their magazine section and of course I couldn't leave without picking up at least one..or two. I ended up picking up Cosmopolitan and Stellar and thought I'd give you guys a heads up on the freebies in Cosmopolitan!