Saturday 31 August 2013

August Beauty Favorites

Refuse to believe that it's the end of August and the Summer is over, it's crazy! Putting my dislikes of reality aside, here's what I have been loving during the month of August.


As you can see, there isn't that much this month and that's because I was on a self-inflicted shopping ban. I can confirm that the ban has been lifted and a trip to Boots has already occurred! (see instagram). Anyway, here's some further deets: 

Moroccan Oil - £30.45 from lookfantastic

Like everyone, I had already heard of the wonders of Moroccan Oil, but for whatever reason I'd never got round to purchasing any until now. I am so glad I have! I've been applying one pump to the ends of my locks all month and I can definitely tell the difference, my hair is softer and nowhere near as dry as before. Also, as an added bonus, my hair seems to blow dry much better with this in, meaning I haven't had to straighten my hair all month. Love, love, love!


Conditioning Nail Polish Remover Pads - £1.50 from Boots

I can't find the exact same ones online, but these have come in really handy when I've been on the go and my nail varnish has chipped beyond repair. You get 15 pads in the little pot and I only use two in total per removal, so these do actually last quite a long time. The other thing I like about them is my nails feel really moisturized afterwards, sometimes nail varnish removers can leave my nails super dry.

Mac Plum Foolery Blush - £18.00 from Mac

I've already done a full review here, so I won't bore you with the details again. All I will say is this is the perfect A/W blush to take your make up from the peachy pastel summer look in one - big love.

Mac Tarnish Eye Kohl - £14.00 from Mac

So, my mum walked into my room a while back and was totally rocking an electric blue eyeliner, which looked insanely good. Skip forward and I am in LA with work and I find myself at the Mac counter (duhs) where I spot the Plum Foolery Blush and this super long eye pencil in dark green. I've been using this to line my eyes all month (see FOTD here) and not only is it a great alternative to black or brown, but the formula is amazing. I will defintely be repurchasing this and it's even prompted me to buy some metallic liners since.


Maybelline 24hr Color Tattoo in Pink Gold & On and On Bronze - £4.99 each from Boots

These little pots have been my go-to eyeshadows all month and I cannot get enough of them. Normally when something says 24hrs I think what a load of kitten poo, however these genuinely do last all day long. These have probably been the stand out product for me this month, I just can't fault them!

I picked up On and On Bronze after Lily Pebbles said she wore it, cuz she's gorge. I wasn't too sure about the Pink Gold, but when you blend it onto the lid it creates a gorgeous champagne nudey tone and I have been wearing it pretty much every day to work. If I could get you to try anything next month, try these!


Above: Mac Tarnish Eye Kohl, Maybelline Pink Gold and Maybelline On and On Bronze
I have blended in the colour tattoo eye shadows pretty well, you can create a more dramatic look by packing the product on or including a powder eye shadow over the top - very versatile!

That's a wrap! Stay tuned for lots more more posts this month and don't forget to follow me on all the below links if you want extra. What have you been loving this month? (not that I need tempting by you all!)

Monday 26 August 2013

FOTD: Bank Hol Weekend






Hola! I'm back from Spain and I am on it with my blogging! I posted twice whilst I was away (here and here) and there will hopefully be a lot more going on here at Life by Emmy. I'm not really up to much today as just come back off holiday and want to stay pretty chilled, but here's a run through today's make up.

I prepped my skin with Urban Decay B6 Complexion Vitamin Infused Complexion Prep Spray, which I recently got and am loving (full review soon). After that I used Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in True Ivory and then Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Medium on any blemishes. I am so spotty at the moment, my skin got really clogged from the sun cream on holiday and because I have oily skin I swear it's just 10 x worse! Sad face.

Under my eyes, I used Benefit Erase Paste in Fair (full review here) to brighten up those sleepy eyes. I filled in my brows using Jelly Pong Pong's Wakeup Makeup Palette which I have had forever. I wouldn't actually recommend it, I only use it for the mirror and brow powder, which is actually way too dark, need a blonde one!

After that I moved onto my eyes, where I used Maybelline Colour Tattoo in 'On and On Bronze' which I adore. On top of that I used the dark bronze colour from The Body Shop 4 colour eye shadow palette in smoky moonstone (see more here think they've discontinued it). This just intensifies the bronze tone and makes it easier to blend out. I lined my eyes with Mac Tarnish Eye Kohl which is a dark green colour and makes a great change from black or brown. For lashes I used Maybelline The Mega Plush Mascara, I personally think all the Maybelline mascaras are pretty decent.

On the rest of my face (quite a lot of make up huh!?) I powdered with Rimmel Stay Matte in Transparent, bronzed with Dior Skin in Nude Tan 001, highlighted with Sephora Baked Luminizer in Light Beam 02 and flushed those cheeks with Mac Plum Foolery (full review here). Finally, I gave my lips a bit of colour with Rimmel Apocalypse Luna.

Hope you all have a fabulous bank holiday, if you want to see some snaps from my hol head to my instagram because i only took a few with it being a visit to my g-rents. Ta-ta my friends!

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Review: Mac Plum Foolery Blush


Hola and greetings from Spain! I'm currently on holiday in this beautiful country with my boyfriend. We're staying in a small town/village called Calasparra where my G-rents live. I will be sure to do a blog post about my trip at some point, but for now let's talk make up...

I am currently l-o-v-ing Mac's Plum Foolery blush, which I picked up on my recent business trip to LA. I was in some department store (maceys or something) over by Newport beach when I spotted the Mac counter and well, it would be rude not to have a look!

After I had a conversation with an old lady about the Royal baby "Diana *holds heart* would be so proud of Williams choice in Kate you know" said old lady. "Don't you just love these shoes, they're so cute aren't they?" old lady again. I said bye bye to my new BFF and that's when i spotted Plum Foolery amongst the whole display.

This blush is so gorgeous. It's quite a deep/dark pink, which is different from my usual choices as the warmest I usually go is Natural Collection's Peach Melba.The depth in colour adds a really beautiful pop to the cheeks, whilst adding some definition. It does have a gold shimmer to it, but nothing too crazy and more like a bronzy highlighter has been swept over (in a good way). If you're looking for something different from your usual pinky/peachy tones ready for the A/W you just have to pick one up*

What are you currently loving? Drop me your links below!

 
*Ps, I would have swatched, but I haven't figured out how to make my hands look non-creepy yet...

Sunday 18 August 2013

Girl Crush: Diane Kruger

Sometimes I think "Life can already be hard enough without someone being a total bitch on top". As always (unfortunatley) there's been lots of online bullying highlighted in the media recently and I for one think us girls need to stick together more! Next time you see a picture of a girl and think 'wow she's a babe', comment and say! To think about those that sit in doors or on their phones posting comments like 'lay off the cheesecake' to girls makes me very sad. What kind of world do we live in where we make people feel bad about cheesecake?!

Dessert aside. I'm kicking of my 'Girl Crush' series with this month's babe, Diane Kruger. I recently bought  copy of Marie Claire, which Diane featured in and I just think she looks so good. The girl models for Chanel and is BFF's with Karl Lagerfield for goodness sake. Let's basque in her prettiness...


"I used to think I was so accomplished. 'Oh, I speak three languages, I travel the world, I've seen so many things.' But when I turned 30 I realised I was an idiot." Marie Claire


Ah, amazing. Really is pretty easy to be nice to people. So, who's your girl crush of the moment?


Monday 5 August 2013

Afternoon Tea


We all love an afternoon tea, especially us British folk! After all, when your born in England your family is given a teacup to celebrate the birth of yet another tea drinker* To celebrate my birth rights, my boyfriend's mum bought me an afternoon tea session at the gorgeous 'The Elms' at Abberley Hotel for my birthday earlier in the year. At the weekend I cashed in my voucher and bought another, so I could sit in the sunshine and gossip with my Nan, Mum and Sister.



I wore a cute tea dress with floral print and statement necklace, both from New Look. The dress is so flattering and I have had so many compliments on the necklace, including two people asking me where it was from when I was in New Look! I kept my make up pretty simple, I'll be featuring some new stuff on my blog very soon because I am loving loads including a dark green eye liner from Mac...


The day itself was glorious. The sunshine was out, the tea was flowing and so was the laughter. Mainly because my Nan is 80 years old and like most vintage people (ha) they say whatever they bloody well please, including the phrase "If it comes anywhere near me, I'll batter it" which was used toward a wasp (not a person). I swear my Nan isn't a chav...




 Look at those! 



The afternoon tea consisted of proper tea, so leaves (they were more like balls though?) and a mini sieve, finger sandwiches and so much cake. It all tasted amazing and the surroundings of the hotel are beautiful! Not bad for £30 for huh? (£15 for two).

You can get the details here (it's the Whitley Afternoon Tea), if you are in the Worcestershire area I would definitely recommend. I'm already going back with my friends, but adding a few glasses of champagne, naughty!


*not necessarily true, I may have made that up (the Americans will love this though - shhh)

Thursday 1 August 2013

California Dreaming

So, you know I said work had got pretty busy? Well, last week I was in LA for a week long digital art exhibition and a whole host of meetings. I didn't get much downtime unfortunately, but here's a few pictures of sunny LA that I managed to capture.

 Huntington Beach
 LEGO! At the Lego shop in LA Disney (where the exhibition and hotel was!)
 View from a dinner meeting at the Jazz Kitchen
 Surf Comp at Huntington Beach
 The gorgeous Santa Monica
My favourite fries ever

What did I learn in LA then? 

- Fries with nacho cheese are amazing, why don't we put nacho cheese on everything? 
- Life is 100% better when it's sunny, even if you have work
- American people are either insanely skinny or of the cuddly persuasion - dedication both ways!
- I want to live in Santa Monica
- Everyone is overjoyed at Disney
- You can make anything out of LEGO
- Americans LOVE the royal family, a LOT (especially Diana) 
- A British accent immediately makes you smarter, hotter and more likable in LA - score!
- Don't ever go downtown in Hollywood, unless crystal meth, homelessness and a dash of genuine crazy is what your into... 

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