Westfield London Haul

Recently I went to Westfield Stratford shopping centre in London and went on a little shopping spree. I picked up some beauty stuff and also a few clothing items. I absolutely love it there as there are so many shops that I don't have where I live. So I thought I'd show you a few things I picked up.

Seventeen 'Define and Conquer' contour kit

I've wanted this for a while now so I finally picked it up and I really like it. Both the shades in it are matte and I love the packaging. The only thing is that the highlight shade in it doesn't really do that much. So If you have pale skin then I wouldn't recommend the highlight shade. However, the contour is really nice.

Kiko eyeshadow- 124

I already own an eye-shadow from Kiko and love it. So I thought I'd pick up another, and this one looked really nice. It's got a bit of shimmer in it and I think it will look really nice through the crease.

Kiko Vivid colour Lipstick pencil- 03

This is just a really pretty peachy orangey colour and I haven't got anything like this, so I thought I'd try it out.

Burt's Bees Lip Balm- Honey

I love Burt's bees lip balms, so just wanted to pick up another one. It smells very strongly of honey, so I feel like some people might not like it, but I think its really nice and they are so moisturising.

Benefit Badgal Lash mascara

This was one of the minis and was only £5, so I just brought it to try out. I love how the wand is so big and there are so many bristles on it.

L'Oreal Paris Brow Artist Plumper

I had heard a few people raving about this, so I thought I'd try it out. I love how the brush on it is so small so it's easy to use and also the packaging is so pretty. The only thing is, I picked up the medium/dark one and I think it would have been better to get the dark blonde one. But I can still use it, I just have to be careful.

Lush 'Big Bang' Bubble bar

My mum actually picked this up for me because it smelt SO good and we had to get something from lush! It has two really cute pink stars on the top and some glitter in the little yellow blobs on the sides.

Next from Forever 21 I brought this jumper. I really like it as it's cropped and I brought it a little bigger so it's really cosy and quite baggy. I also really like the little 'happy' on it and I think it's really cute. My mum also kindly brought me these sunglasses from Forever 21 and I can't wait for summer so I can wear them more. Then from Topshop I picked up this Skinny dip phone case, because I really wanted a new one and I really like the design of it.

I also brought these Adidas Superstars from Office, because I've wanted a pair for so long and I love them. I did sort of want the pair with black stripes, but so many people have them, so I went for the silver ones.

Finally from Urban Outfitters I brought this backpack which I now use for school. I love it SO much and it has so many pockets inside which is really useful. It's black leather, but is so soft, which is really nice. So yeah, I'm basically in love with it.

Thank you for reading!

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Kew Gardens | London

Recently, my mum, my brother, my brother's girlfriend and I went to Kew Gardens/ Royal Botanical Gardens in London. It's basically a HUGE garden with massive greenhouses full of exotic and different plants. It was really cool and there were so many plants and flowers that you wouldn't ever see in England. We took A LOT of photos there, so I thought I'd show you some of them. Brace yourself, there are tonnes ;)

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Fairy Godmother // Tanya Burr Cosmetics

I really like Tanya Burr nail polishes and have  a little collection of them now. I think that the packaging is so cute and the colour range is amazing. If I could I would definitely buy them all!

This one that I have on my nails now is called 'Fairy Godmother' and is a really pretty pastel blue with lilac tones. I also think that this is perfect for spring and summer, as I always love wearing bright/pastel colours then.

Thank you for reading! Let me know your favourite nail polish from her range is and if you like them.

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My Favourite Bloggers

As you may know I love reading peoples blogs. I think its so nice to just read about peoples interests or products they are loving. I also obviously love blogging myself and am really getting into it at the moment, so its quite motivating and I get a few ideas. So today I thought I'd show you my favourite bloggers. Some you definitely would have heard of and are so successful (*cough, cough* Zoella) and some you may not have heard of. But I promise you their blogs are definitely worth a read! and I love them all.
Meg Says
Meg also has a YouTube channel along with her blog and she just seems like the sweetest person in the world. She is always so positive and woks so hard on her blog, which is beautiful, and her YouTube when she can, as she has M.E. All her photos are also beautiful and at the top of her blog there are some really cute illustrations which make me really jealous.
She also lives quite near me, so in some of her vlogs on her YouTube channel, I recognize places and get really excited (I know, I'm weird I get excited about the smallest things).

Tanya Burr
I think you all know that I love Tanya very much and it's almost been a year since I met her in Norwich for her book signing for 'Love, Tanya', which is crazy. She, also, is so cute and I love her style. Her blog quite recently got re-vamped and I think it looks so professional and gorgeous. Its also nice that she keeps her cute and funny personality in her writing on her blog and can sometimes ramble on a bit, which I love.
Tanya has also recently done some blog posts on her honeymoon travels with Jim. It looked absolutely amazing and her pictures from it that she took are going to be so nice to look back on, as there are a lot of them!

 Petitelliee
I think what I love so much about Ellie's blog is that she is SO active. By this I mean that she posts so much and I honestly don't know how she does it as she also goes to college. She posts a lot of stuff about beauty and you can really tell she loves it, but she also has a few posts that go a little deeper and are life related.
I found her blog through her Instagram which likewise is amazing!

 Zoella
Now I sort of feel like there isn't much to say with Zoe as you will all know who she is (she recently hit 10 million subscribers on YouTube!). But I'll talk about her anyway.
She has the most amazing blog and all of her photos are such amazing quality! She also started her blog before her YouTube channel and has been doing it for so long now. She is also so friendly and funny and is just such a likeable person. I also love that she is now really getting into baking and she has so many posts about recipes, so if you are into that, then I'd recommend you go and have a read of her blog!

Georgia Louise
I only found Georgia's blog recently, but I think it's amazing. she's been doing it for a while now and has so many posts and her photos are amazing. She also does some posts on fashion and I absolutely LOVE her style. So you should definitely check her blog out!

Thank you for reading!
Let me know who your favourite bloggers are.

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Barry M Nail Polish Collection

Barry M nail polishes are one of the the first nail polish brands I ever tried and I still love them now. They come in so many different colours and ranges so you can always find whatever colour you are looking for. And they also seem to last quite a while without chipping and the formulation is just really nice. They are only £2.99 or £3.99 for the 'gelly high shine' and other effects. I definitely recommend them :)
So for this post as I have a little collection of them now, I thought I'd go through them all and show you some of my favourites.

'Gelly High Shine'

Cotton

This is just a plain white, but I really like it for summer on its own, or in winter with a sparkly nail polish over the top. 

Prickly Pear

I think this is one of my favourites and I used to wear it a lot. It's a very pretty pastel lilac colour so the name doesn't really fit, but its cute.

Lychee

I have done a whole blog post for this nail polish before so if you want to check that out just click here. Like I said in that post it really is just the perfect nude colour and is easy to wear as it goes with any outfit and is quite discreet.

Satsuma

This polish just reminds me of summer so much as I wore it quite a lot then and it's such a nice bright orangey red.

Huckleberry

This is such a nice pastel blue colour and the name is the cutest thing ever. Again I love this for summer and its quite easy to wear.

Blueberry

I didn't get this that long ago, but I'd seen a lot of other bloggers/youtubers wearing it and I just thought it looked so pretty. I really should wear this more often as I love the colour.

Clear
I use this for a basecoat more than a nail hardener or topcoat, and it works okay, but sometimes if you wear really dark colours then it doesn't really protect your nails very well, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Jingle Bells
I have also done a blog post on this before as it's so nice for Christmas and makes me feel so happy with all the confetti and stars in it. If you want to go have a read of that then you can just click here.

Black
I got these two ages ago and to be honest I can't remember using them much at all. Also this colour is pretty self explanatory so I don't really need to go on about this one too much.
Neon Pink
This is quite a nice colour but I don't really think it's 'my cup of tea' if you know what I mean. It's just a really bright pink and it also has a sort of metallic look to it.

'Speedy Quick Dry'

Kiss Me Quick

I really want to get some more from this range as I really like them and the packaging is also really cute. This colour is a really pretty pastel pink and I really like it as it's quite girly compared to a lot of my other nail polishes.

Pit Stop

I love this nail polish A LOT. The colour is amazing and even though I have about five different shades of grey nail polishes from different brands, this is probably my favourite. 

Thank you for reading!
Let me know if you are as obsessed with Barry M nail polishes as much as I am!

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Face Mask Loving

I've recently been loving using face masks and trying out different ones, so I thought I'd show you a few of my favourites. I love using face masks as they can really improve your skin and I think it's nice to have a little pamper night using one, or just whenever you want to really. I'm actually sitting here right now, writing this, using one!
My favourite are from LUSH, as all the ingredients are good for your skin and aren't tested on animals. I also can always tell difference in my skin after I have used one. 'Cupcake', 'Mask of Magnaminty', and 'Catastrophe Cosmetic' are all really nice and are good for clearing your skin.
I've also been using the Liz Earle Deep Cleansing Mask a lot recently and I really like it. It's made of green clay, manuka honey, propolis and rose scented geranium. These ingredients are meant to 'purify and regulate oiliness' and I definitely think it helps.
Lastly another mask, that I've talked about before in my 'Soap & Glory Faves' blog post I did back in december, is the 'No Clogs Allowed' face mask by Soap & Glory. This mask is so cool as it's self-heating (well I guess cool isn't the right word then ;)). When you put it on  you then wet your hands and massage it on your face and you feel it getting really hot. I like this mask as it really feels like it's doing something and it makes my skin feel so smooth.

Thank you for reading! and let me know what your favourite face masks are.
Love, Emma x

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Review: EOS Lip Balms

EOS lip balms are talked about quite a lot and a lot of people love them so I thought I'd do a review on them to show you if I think they are worth the hype.
 If you live in the UK it's quite hard to find them, but I know Topshop sell them and you can also get them on Amazon. I love that the packaging is sort of matte and I just think they look so cute! I have 'Sweet Mint' (my favourite), 'Honeysuckle dew', 'Strawberry Sorbet', and 'Passion fruit' and I love them all. They feel really balmy on your lips and are quite moisturising, but not as good as say 'Burts Bees' or the Body Shops 'Born Lippys'. I think my favourite thing about these lip balms are how they smell, as they are SO nice and they also taste really good (not that I eat them or anything).
I think they are quite good value for money, at £7 from Topshop, but there isn't anything too special about them so £7 is a little too expensive. There are, however, lot's of different flavours to choose from and eos also sell hand creams that are a similar shade to these lip balms.

Thank you for reading! Let me know you're a fan of these lip balms and if you like this sort of post,

Love, Emma x

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Recent Beauty Splurge

As It's just been Christmas, I've received some money as presents, so I went on a little shopping spree and picked up a few things. I absolutely love shopping and I love reading/watching peoples 'haul' videos/posts. So I thought I'd show you what I picked up. There are a few makeup things and also some skincare items, which I'm so excited to try out properly.

First of all, I picked up the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. I've wanted this for SO long and I absolutely adore it. The shades are so beautiful and you can create so many looks. There are also some matte shades in it, which I love. The packaging is also so gorgeous and I think I might have to keep the box forever ;)

It also came with these four testers of  the primer potions ( eye-shadow primers). There is meant to be a week worth of primer in each packet, but my brothers girlfriend said that they lasted her longer than that.

I then went to boots and bought the Maybelline 'Master Sculpt'. I've also wanted this for  a while and finally got it. Underneath the contour and highlighter there is a really nice mirror and also a contour brush, which is actually quite good. The bronzer/contour I was using before was quite old (which is really gross) and no colour actually came off it onto my brush, which is really weird. So I needed a new one and had heard great things about this one. I have used the contour shade already and love it but am yet to use the highlighter.

In boots, I also picked up a L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche lipstick in 'Juliannes nude'. This lipstick's packaging is SO gorgeous and I'm in love with it. It's such a pretty peachy pink nude colour and is easy to wear. I definitely think I'll be getting some more from this range soon.

Then I saw this Real Techniques Bold Metals 201 'pointed crease brush' and it was in the clearance for £3! The other bold metals eye brushes were also round that price and I really couldn't believe it, as they are usually so expensive. I've used it a couple of times now and it's so soft and blends eye-shadows so nicely.

And finally I got a few skincare items. I re-purchased the Garnier Micellar cleansing water, because I just love it and it's so easy to use and is now one of my holy grail skin care products.
But I also bought the Liz Earle Essentials Try-Me-Kit. I thought that this would be good, as I want to try out more of Liz Earle's skincare, but want to see if I like them first, before spending the money on the full size products. I have done a post already about two of their products before so if you want to read that you can just click here. In the kit there are mini sizes of the 'Cleanse & polish hot cloth cleanser', 'Instant boost skin tonic', 'Skin repair moisturiser', 'Eye-bright soothing eye lotion', and a muslin cloth to use with the hot cloth cleanser.

Thank you for reading!
Love, Emma x

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New Years Beauty Resolutions

Even though you might not follow them, I always think it's a good idea to have new years resolutions. They are sort of there to keep you on track, even if it's for a little while. So I'm going to share with you my new years beauty resolutions!

1. Clean my makeup brushes every week

I usually do this anyway, but there are some weeks when I forget or just don't have time. But it's so important not to miss this step as a lot of bacteria can build up in your brushes and if you think about it, thats kind of gross to be brushing all of that into your face and into your skin. I just use warm soapy water and let them dry upside down in the Real Techniques travel cases that the sets come with. However, you can get proper brush cleaners and Real Techniques have come out with one quite recently. So overall I just want to make sure I clean my brushes every week and never skip it.

2. Drink more water

I know just about everyone says this for their new years resolutions, but again it's really important. I've included this in this post as a 'beauty resolution' because it can improve your skin a lot. I know that some people say that it really helps their under eye circles to fade and not be so dark, so maybe if you struggle with that, you just need to drink a lot more water (and get more sleep of course!). Also it's really important to stay hydrated. For me, especially as I'm in school, it can be tricky as I tend to forget to drink water, but a few months ago I did keep it up for a while and just always had my water bottle out on my desk in my classes. In the morning as soon as I go downstairs for breakfast I just down a big glass of water, and that definitely kind of wakes me up and makes sure I don't get any head aches throughout the morning. 

3. Always wear lip balm

I have no idea why, and it's really annoying but my lips are always quite dry. I wear lip balm quite a lot and I find that some really help (e.g. carmex, lip smackers, body shops born lippys) but after it's sort of worn off, my lips just go back to dry again. So This year I want to try and stop this and just try to moisturise my lips all the time. So if you know any really good lip balms, please let me know in the comments.

4. Look after my hair more

I'm actually pretty good when it comes to my hair and I hardly ever use any heat on it. However, I want to start using hair masks and just sort of pamper my hair more. I've heard some great things about LUSH hair treatments, so maybe I'll give them a try this year!

5. Mositurise my body all year round

I'm going to be honest with you, I don't always moisturise my body after I have a shower or bath. A lot of the time it's laziness and I can't be bothered, which is really bad because I do actually have a whole drawer full of body butters and body lotions, that are really nice. So I just thought this should be one of my resolutions, as it's really important, especially in the winter.

6. Be more adventurous with my makeup

I don't mean crazy clown makeup or scary over the top Gothic makeup, but maybe just wearing different eye shadows or a lipstick that I wouldn't usually wear. As I feel like I only ever wear quite natural makeup and nude or bronzey toned eye shadows. But I recently purchased the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette, so I can experiment with some shades in that!

Thank you for reading! let me know some of your new years beauty resolutions and I hope you have a happy new year.

Love, Emma x

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