A bargain from Next

I think in my whole 19 years, I have only ever bought one thing from Next. I never look in there, I see it as a shop for middle aged women, men and children and it has never really appealed to me. And to be honest, I still feel the same way, walking round there with my mum I grew very bored of all the mumsy tunics and just wanted to get myself to Miss Selfridge. Until I saw my new best friends. Sitting between a hundred pairs of kitten heels and 'sensible shoes' I found the very last pair, in my size, half price. Meant to be? I think so too.

I just think these are the perfect summer heels. I love the wooden type heel, I think it makes them suitable for day wear and the chunkiness means I have more chance of staying upright, even if my dad did decide to take me to a cafe down the cobbly canal. The tan/nude and black combination is a big winner for me, I think they look amazing together and will go with almost any outfit. All in all, I am super happy with my £20 from £40 bargain and will continue to wear them lots through summer. If I can do cobbles in heels, I can conquer the world. (maybe)

Emily xxx

Face of the day; cat eyes

Hello ladies! (and gentlemen)

Just a quick FOTD post today, I was in the mood for a darker eye than my usual fairly natural look so I decided to do whack out the gel liner. I've been wearing a darker eye a lot more recently, I think I like the dark eye/white blonde hair thing. 

My biggest frustration with this photo is my frrrrrrrrrickin eyebrows. They just don't like to behave recently, I don't know what's happened to them. I'm on the look out for new eyebrow product so any recommendations down there in the comments will be much appreciated. So, onto the actual point of this post...

What I've got on my face.

Estee Lauder double wear foundation
Collection lasting perfection concealer
Rimmel stay matte powder
GOSH bronzing pearls
Dainty Doll blusher in 'you are my sunshine'
Natural collection 'crushed walnut' eyeshadow in my brows
Elf clear eyebrow mascara
Elf eyeshadow primer
Naked 2 palette
Bobbi Brown black gel liner
Maybelline rocket volume mascara
Elf matte lip colour in natural

Do you like winged liner? What's your favourite eyebrow product?

Emily xxx

Yummy cheese scones!

Yesterday I didn't start work until 5 o'clock and I decided I was in the mood for some baking! I'm usually a chocolate cake kind of person but I was in the mood to make something savoury and as soon as I thought about cheese scones I got searching for recipes! I used to love these when my nan used to make or buy them but I havn't had them in years so thought i'd make my own. I found a few recipes but I used these to put together my own recipe based on the ingredients I had at home and how I like my scones.

Ingredients

500g self raising flour

Pinch of salt

300g strong cheddar cheese

3tsp oil

130ml milk

1 egg

Method

1. Mix together the flour, salt and grated cheese in a large bowl

2. In a separate bowl or jug, beat the egg and mix in the milk and oil

3. Add this into the flour mixture and mix into a dough. You can add extra milk or flour to get the correct consistency

4. Spread a thin layer of flour onto your worktop and roll out the dough to about 5mm. Fold it over on top of itself and push down gently with your fingers to slightly stick together the two layers (this is to create how scones are supposed to be two sections to cut in half)

5. Cut circles using a cookie cutter and place on a baking tray making sure they aren't touching, however you don't need to worry about them spreading loads like cookies would

6. Bake at 180 degrees for around 20 minutes

7. Cool slightly but eat when warm for extra yumminess!

As you can see, some of my scones turned out better than others with the two layers not sticking together properly, but they still taste good! I'll definitely be making these again at some point, what's your favourite home made savoury snack?

Emily xxx

Top ten under £10!

Good evening!

So today i'm writing this on my new laptop, yippee! I love it and have been stuck to it whenever i'm at home, trying to get the hang of Windows 8! So hopefully i'll be posting more often now I have my very own snazzy new laptop :) I've put together my top ten products for under £10 which are all pretty good quality for the price they cost!

 MUA eyeshadow palettes £4 - These palettes contain 12 eyeshadows each and are such amazing quality considering the tiny price they are! I've listed the 'Heaven and earth' palette which is my personal favourite but they are all full of great varieties of shades.

Rimmel Stay Matte powder £3.99 - A favourite amongst beauty bloggers and often preferred to the likes of much higher end brands such as Mac. This is the perfect powder for me, it takes away shine without making you look too powdery and cakey.

GOSH bronzing pearls £8.99 - I have used this bronzer for years and whilst i've tried loads of other bronzers, powders and pearls, I always come back to this same one. It's not too harsh so I can build it up to however dark I want it, it doesn't make me at all orange and just gives a nice 'bronzed' glow.

Natural Collection LashBuild mascara £1.99 - Again, this is a product i've used for years and still love. This is one of my favourite mascaras, alongside Colossal, but a whole lot cheaper. It doesn't clump my lashes at all or leave black smudgey marks above my eyes, I literally have no problems with this. It lengthens, lets me build as much volume as I want and still leaves my lashes separated.

Rimmel Kate Moss lipsticks £5.49 - Another favourite on the blogging scene, these lipsticks seem much higher quality than their price tag would suggest. The shades I own all have great pigmentation, don't dry out my lips not even the matte ones and last a good few hours, with just the need for a slight top up after eating.

Collection Lasting Perfection concealer £4.19 - Hello holy grail product of the century! Everyone seems to own this concealer and if you don't, why ever not! I use this everyday for an under eye concealer and it covers dark circles and brightens up the area perfectly. To be honest, I don't find it too helpful at covering blemishes, but that's not what I use it for so this doesn't bother me!

Garnier BB cream £9.99 - Okay so only just under the £10 mark, but this deserves its place. I've tried a fair few BB creams and hated them all, but after hearing good things about this I gave it a go and I love it! Basically it does everything it says on the box with the only downside being that it leaves me a bit shiny, but whack on a bit of powder and hey presto!

Dainty doll blusher 'You are my sunshine' £1.99 - I got this a while ago when everyone went mad for all the Dainty doll products on Fragrance Direct for £1.99. This might be cheating slightly because I think its originally £11/12 but I got it a lot cheaper than that and i'm sure there is still some £1.99 products on there. This is THE perfect blusher colour, a gorgeous pink with hints of gold for a nice glow and I wear this literally every day at the moment.

Palmers Cocoa Butter lip balm £1.26 -  I've always had a bit of a problem with lip balms, I swear most of them moisturise for the short while they're on my lips and then my lips end up even dryer afterwards.. However this is the complete opposite and leaves my lips perfectly hydrated, I never have dry lips anymore *touch wood*. Also, this seems to make my lips actually look nice, I know it's just clear but I swear my lips look so much nicer with this on, there's some magic going on in this tube okay.

MUA Power Pouts £3 - I bought two of these as they were on offer for £4 for two so I thought I would give them a go and i'm glad I did. They glide on so easily, are really well pigmented and are just a really nice texture. I feel like I have nothing on my lips when i'm wearing these and they're just a pleasurable product to wear. They don't have the bestttt staying power, but I can forget that when the rest is so good.

So that is my ten favourite products for less than ten pounds! I really thought about this and all the products I chose are honestly great products in my eyes and many of them I use on a daily basis, so if you're thinking about trying any of these, go for it! What is your favourite product under £10?

Emily xxx 

New MAC lipsticks!

Last week I had my birthday so I thought I would treat myself to a bit of online shopping in the form of Mac lipsticks, woohoo! I only had 3 Mac lipsticks, my favourite one of which I lost, so I decided it was time to add to my collection. I repurchased the one I lost, 'Please me', as it was my absolute favourite lipstick of all time and then got two other shades, 'Shy girl' and 'Russain red'.

Please me, matte lipstick

Shy girl, cremesheen lipstick

Russain red, matte lipstick

I'm really pleased with the colours I got, Shy girl is just a really pretty natural colour i'll be wearing on it's own during the day and with a bit of clear gloss for night time looks gorgeous! Russain red is just literally the perfect shade of red i've been searching for, I just need to get a matching lip liner if anyone has any suggestions they would be much appreciated! And of course, Please me is just my ultimate favourite :)

Hope you like the shades I chose and let me know of any good lip liner matches for Russain red! What are your favourite Mac lipsticks?

Emily xxx