My 2015 In Review; Highs, Lows, Boyfriends, Life Lessons, Honesty & Goals For 2016

Hello hello hello! 2015 has been a crazy year, filled with ups, downs, excitement, tears, you name it, the year had it. I wrote a post similar to this at the end of 2014 and it went down well so I wanted to do another one this year. This isn't me boasting about this year but it's more me celebrating the opportunities, feeling grateful for them and talking through some highlights, as well as setting myself some goals for the future ahead and also, looking at where a few things went wrong but showing you that it isn't always the end of the world. I really don't think there should be an issue with celebrating and recognising that things can go right, just like it's a good thing to look at where things went wrong. I hope you like this post, I'm so nervous to publish it! 

Get The Best At Home Blow-Dry; Jose Eber Infrared Blow Dryer Review

I haven't had a hair dryer for a long time, why? Well, I try to be good to my hair and avoid using too much heat on it. As most of you will know, I've struggled really badly with weak, damaged hair due to a bad experience with hair extensions. I treat my hair like silk now and try not to use much heat on it (and Sassoon Leeds have well and truly brought my hair back to life). Sometimes though, a girl needs a hair dryer. I have naturally curly hair and usually, using a hair dryer makes it frizzy so I tend to stay away from them. I got to the stage of really needing a hair dryer recently though because most of the time, I find myself running to places with my hair still wet and never leaving long enough for my hair to dry naturally. The search was on then for a new hair dryer that wouldn't just give me beautiful hair, but would also speed up the drying process and not damage my hair too much, oh and not turn my hair into a frizzy mess. Tough challenge hey. That's where Jose Eber comes in...

Spending My Birthday At Le Meridien Piccadilly, London

Having a birthday during December kinda sucks, I'm not gonna lie. I'm not a lover of joint Christmas/Birthday presents and I'm someone who just adores celebrating birthdays so it's rubbish that everyones usually either ill, too busy or not got enough money to celebrate December birthdays. This year, I decided to mix things up a little and spend my birthday weekend in London as a tourist for once. Let's see what I got up to...

Top Trends of 2015!

Hello hello! So with 2015 coming to an end (I can't believe how quick that went) I wanted to show you some of my top viewed outfit posts of the year and some of my absolute favourite styles this year. You can see a little sneak preview above but I've listed 11 of my top viewed looks from 2015 and I can't wait to recap them with you! Hopefully it will help you find some wardrobe staples as I know that most of these have become wardrobe staples for me. The great news? Most of these items are in the sale now too!

The Best Christmas Ever, Your Rules! & Win A £100 House Of Fraser Gift Card!

Hello hello! So seen as my things I love about Christmas post went down really well (thank you if you gave it a read and I hope you enjoyed it!) I wanted to stick to the festive theme with another Christmas themed personal post to get you feeling in the festive mood because it's Christmas eve eve after all! House Of Fraser kindly asked me to get involved and are giving one of my readers a £100 gift voucher at the end of this post too which I thought would be a lovely treat for you this Christmas, see it as a little present from me! Their new TV advert recently launched (watch it here) and made me feel all types of festive, finally because I never seem to feel festive anymore. The idea behind the advert is that we don’t have to conform to Christmas traditions and that it is everyones own traditions that make the holiday extra special so I wanted to touch on a few rules I break on Christmas/during the Winter period, maybe they'll give you a bit of a giggle of maybe they'll just make you feel festive! I was watching The Holiday this week too and it made me feel so excited and completely inspired this post. 

A Weekend In Munich! Munich Christmas Markets, Aloft Munich, My First Time In Germany!

Oh hey travel post, it's been a while! I must start by apologising, the end of this year looked like I had a lot of trips in the pipeline to end the year on a high; skiing, Iceland, Greece, Austria and more but for one reason or another, they either overlapped or got cancelled last minute or I was just too busy, so I couldn't go. I hate being 'too busy' to travel, it's not an excuse and I plan on upping my travel game, just like I did in the middle of this year, more in 2016 but sometimes, life takes over (as you'll know if you read my recent 'honesty' post). I miss seeing somewhere new every weekend. This year I promised myself I'd see more of Europe, I still feel like there's so much more of Europe I'd like to see (how haven't I, biggest carb lover ever, visited Italy?!) but, this was my first time in Germany so at least that's another destination ticked off. Let's see how I got on in Munich as my German starting point...

BareMinerals Make Up Review; Brand Spotlight

Hello hello! So in todays brand spotlight post I'm talking about a brand I only recently started using. In all honesty, I haven't looked back since using this brand, it's amazing. I've walked past BareMinerals counters before and heard of the brand, but it was only recently when my skin decided to get all dehydrated and unhappy on me that I researched into the brand. I wanted to put more caring/mineral based products on my face and I feel confident that BareMinerals won't ruin my skin. Their products are kind to the skin, beautiful and they feel like they're really high quality. I can't wait to show you my round up of BareMinerals! 

The White Party Dress

Party/festive season is upon us (gosh that came around so quickly) and that doesn't mean we can't wear white. I'm a lover of white clothing and I'm sure you'll all know that by now! I popped on my new white dress (on a really chilly day), let's take a look and talk about party wear! 

Soap & Glory Review; Brand Spotlight!

Hello hello! Yay a beauty post from me! It feels like it's been forever, I'm sorry! I love writing brand round up/beauty spotlight posts rather than single product reviews because I always like to try a few products from a brand in order to get a really good feel for it. Today, I'm talking about a brand so many people love, Soap and Glory. I feel like now is the right time to write about Soap and Glory because Christmas is around the corner and they always have the most incredible Christmas gift sets... (don't forget to read my Christmas gift guides, you can read my Men's Christmas Gift Guide here and my Women's Christmas Gift Guide here as well as my under £15 guide here!) so let's talk about beautiful smelling, delicious treats from a very popular brand...

A Weekend In Manchester; Manchester Christmas Markets!

Even though I've lived in the North for most of my life, there's still so much to explore. The North of England is beautiful, with so many incredible cities, villages and hidden gems. Whilst Manchester isn't particularly 'hidden' and I have visited it thousands of times, a couple of weeks ago I decided to stay there for a little weekend away. Sometimes it's just nice to get away even if it is only down the road. 

Styling Knee High Boots & Ray-Ban Giveaway!

I am officially obsessed with knee-high boots. I've gone from the girl who was far too scared to wear them (I was always worried they looked a little bit risqué) to the girl who can't take them off. They're comfortable, they're warm and they're easy to wear (my boyfriend really doesn't get them though but hey, I like them and so do my friends). Plus, they actually go with so much. Today I paired them with my favourite cord dress, trusty leather and my new Ray-Bans (who said Ray-Bans aren't allowed in Winter?!). Plus, you can win a pair of new Ray-Bans at the end of this post, so get reading! 

My Favourite Easy Healthy Pizza Recipe!

Hello hello! A healthy snack/food post from me today. If you read my updated What I Eat post - I wrote about how much I adore making healthy pizzas. They taste (almost) as good as pizzas but they're not unhealthy and they're easy to make. I promised to share my special healthy pizza recipe with you so here it is today to mix things up a bit from all the gift guides I've been writing! I tend to eat this for lunch or sometimes even for dinner and oh gosh it's amazing. Let's discuss.

Little Things I Love About Christmas...

I've always wanted to write a kind of 'my favourite things about Winter/Christmas post' so to celebrate the launch of Littlewoods new Christmas advert, I've been invited to write about just that and it's safe to say it's got me feeling so festive. It was also really nice to look back at some of my favourite Winter photos too. If you read Emtalks a lot, you'll know that I love writing personal posts. I've been wanting to write a kind of 'my favourite things about Winter' post or 'my favourite things about Christmas' post for so long so this is perfect. It really is the little things that matter and today I want to show you that and talk about my favourite things about Christmas, looking back at these photos made me so nostalgic. Fancy gifts are all well and good, but for me, it truly is the little things that make my Christmas. Let's go, hopefully this makes you feel all festive!

Christmas Gifting with Very! #VerySpecialSomething.

Hello hello! A little gifting post from me today, well actually, quite a naughty gifting post. I've put together a list of things I personally love, things that are from some of my favourite brands and things that have made it onto my Christmas list, but, these double up as things you can also gift others with too! I've actually featured quite a lot of 'classic' Christmas gifts here too which I hope you'll love as much as I do. I hope you're not bored of all my Christmassy features yet - totally in the Christmas spirit. I love Christmas and find it way easier to shop for others than myself actually but I did find myself looking at all of this and lusting over it all. I decided to get involved with Very's #VerySpecialSomething campaign and show you some of my favourite gifts from the site (for me and you, oops!) so let's go...

Best Top Christmas Presents Under £15 For Him & Her

Hello! So today I thought I'd put together a top Christmas presents (for him and her!) under £15. I'm very much about 'it's the thought that counts' and you really don't need to spend a lot this Christmas. This is great if you're just wanting to buy a little something, treat yourself or do a Secret Santa. There's stuff for men and women here and I've scoured the internet so you didn't have to. Thank me later! You can read my Men's Christmas Gift Guide here and my Women's Christmas Gift Guide here! 

Gift Guide For Him - What To Buy Men For Christmas

Men can be so difficult to buy for so I love putting together male gift guides. Here are a few things for the man in your life, whether it's a friend, your dad, a boyfriend, uncle or, if you just fancy getting something for yourself. Hopefully this will inspire you this Christmas! You can read my gift guide for her here.

Top Tips For Boosting Your Immune System This Winter; Boosting My Immune System With Pukka; The New Superfood

I always get horrible colds in Winter, no matter what I do, every Winter, one creeps up on me. I eat well, I work-out a lot and I wrap myself up, but still, I always get bad colds. Having lived in -30 degrees last year in Canada though, I totally upped my game, drank a lot more matcha tea, made sure my diet was on point and made sure I was always wrapped up in thermals, the result? I wasn't half as ill as I get in the UK. I think because I was so aware of how cold it was, I wrapped up and took extra care, something I know I'm guilty of not doing in the UK. If you read EmTalks a lot you'll know that I am a huge lover of superfoods, so I was pretty excited when Pukka got in touch and asked if I'd like to work with them on boosting my immune system and those around me! Let's discuss (because we're not letting any Winter colds get in the way this year!)

Styling A Pinafore - Black And White Outfit Of The Day With Sure!

Ah if you know me you'll know I adore wearing monochrome/black and white. Also, you've probably realised by now that I haven't taken these boots off. I am so happy that it's knee high boot season (even if I have been a little bit scared of wearing them up until now). When I was challenged by Sure (my favourite deodorant brand, you'll also know this if you read Emtalks a lot) to dress up in my fave black and white outfit and try out their new deodorant, I could hardly say no. Let's see how my black and white outfit got on with the Sure Invisible Black+White antiperspirant! 

10 Ways To Feel More Confidence/Build Confidence. My Top Tips For Confidence.

When Pearl Drops got in touch and asked me to share my winning formula for 'feeling confident'. I knew I just had to write this post. If you read Emtalks often, you'll know that I love writing personal posts. I like to do one at least once a month as I feel like I can really write and just ramble. I love writing about travel, I love writing about beauty and I love writing about fashion but for me, writing about personal stuff is my favourite. I like to just be 'me' and talk about my problems and things I've overcome (or maybe things I'm yet to overcome) in the hopes that it helps just one person. The topic of confidence is something close to my heart, as a child I had barely any confidence whatsoever. I actually sat and Googled 'how to be more confident'. I found it difficult to eat in front of people and walking by myself past a group of people at school was always one of the most daunting parts of my day. Looking back now, that was so trivial, but these are examples of how bad my lack of confidence was as a teen. Confidence however, isn't really something that can be taught, I can't say, right: do this and you'll feel confident. For me, it just came with time and by pushing myself into scary situations. I'm still not 100% confident though, we all have wobbles, we all have things we're unconfident about and there are still so many situations that make me feel really unconfident and nervous. However, there are little things you can do which will make you feel a bit confident within yourself (everyone differs but I thought I'd share a few things that make me feel a little bit more confident!) Let's go...

Women's/Girls Christmas Gift Guide - What To Buy Girls This Christmas!

It's the most wonderful time, of the year! Ah so it's time to start doing my gift guides and gosh have I put together some festive pieces for you! Don't worry, I won't drown you in them too much but there are some amazing bits around at the moment when it comes to Christmas gifts so today, first and foremost, I wanted to share my Women's Christmas Gift Guide with you! Whether you use this as inspiration for your own Christmas list (I know I have!) or presents for your Mum, friends, Grandma, aunties, girlfriend, anything - hopefully it'll come in handy and give you some nice inspiration! At the bottom of this post, you can quickly click interactively through some of my favourite gifts too, hopefully making Christmas shopping/lusting easier for you! You can read my gift guide for him here.

The Black Jumpsuit With ForeverUnique To Celebrate #Back2Black!

What do you do on a rainy Saturday? Go outside and take photos of course (oh England, you and your chilly weather). Black Friday is over (phew, I spent far too much money), but, it's basically 'Black Friday weekend' and most of the offers are still on (read my blog post here for updated on top shopping offers this weekend). There are still so many special promotions going on this weekend and I was kindly sent a gorgeous black item of my choice from ForeverUnique to celebrate this weekend - Cyber Weekend some are calling it! Of course, in true 'Black Friday' style, I chose something black but with a pretty sparkle too...I hope you love this party piece as much as I do! 

Best of Black Friday Sales; Top Black Friday Sales And Black Friday Promo Codes List!

Ah it's midnight and that means it's Black Friday! Personally, I cannot stand the thought of going shopping today, I'd much prefer to sit on my laptop and shop online so I've done all the work for you and put together the ultimate list of Black Friday sales so you can sit here and click through them all. There are some amazing Black Friday sales going on at the moment and I'm excited to share a list of the best Black friday deals with you right now. These are the top UK online sales this Black Friday making it easier for you to shop! Enjoy and happy shopping/saving! *I'll be adding new sales all weekend as they go live so keep checking back! 

Winter Wardrobe Staples With Chicwish

I'm a sucker for long-line camel coats (you'll know that if you watched my top Winter coats video!), leather trousers and all things mesh. It seems then, that this outfit was pretty much made for me. As much as I adore dressing for Summer, Winter clothing is pretty hard to beat too. Give me all the coats, dark colours and chunky knits. I thought I'd put some of my Winter wardrobe staples on this post - a good coat, leather trousers, nice boots and of course, a big jumper! 

Top Products For Dry Winter Skin!

Oh hello hello! If you know me, you'll know I'm all about nice, smooth, glowing skin and I'm forever on the hunt for products that can help me get there. I'm pretty addicted to making my body as smooth and illuminated as I can make it. With the colder weather approaching, it's time to up my game and start taking better care of my body. Cold weather and my skin don't get on, the coldness makes me feel dull and dry so here are some of my favourite, top products for cold weather! 

Exciting New Beauty Products; What's In My November Make Up Bag

Ahhh I've been using (and loving) so many new products recently so thought I'd give you a little look into my current make up bag/show you what's on my face at the moment. It's been a long time since I've done a 'monthly make up bag' style post and I miss doing them! I was excited to sit down and write about what I've been using recently so let's discuss...

Top Winter/Festive Styles Inspired By Nintendo Style Boutique!

Hello! A different one from me today! My childhood was spent playing video games, I’d be lying if I said I wasn't a little obsessed with them. As much as I adored dolls and other toys, I was usually sat glued to a game. I was never really a TV kind of child, I preferred to play games. My favourite game of all time was Lemonade Tycoon, where you’d get the chance to start your own stall and make money through selling lemonades. I’ve always really loved business so maybe this is why I enjoyed the game so much. After that, I was all about Rollercoaster Tycoon, I loved being able to run my own theme park. I guess I just wanted to run my own shop and please the customers and gain virtual rewards for it. I had all the games you could think of and adored playing them. One day, I guess I grew out of it and I guess there was a time in my life when it wasn’t really ‘cool’ for girls to play games. But, as I've got older, games are completely cool again. I find myself craving them on long journeys or when I'm a little bit bored. It was only this week actually that I was reminiscing how much I’d love to play the Sims again. I love nothing more than playing a competitive game with my friends and recently, I’ve been spending a few nights in with my boyfriend eating pizza and playing video games. It’s fun and it relaxes me. It’s really nice to just strip everything back sometimes and be a big kid. When Nintendo got in touch then with their new fashion game New Style Boutique 2 - Fashion Forward (aimed for aged 15-25 so perfect for me yay), I was pretty excited. Let's discuss...

The Blazer Tux Dress; Affordable Balmain Style?!

I fell in love with this blazer dress as soon as I set eyes on it. When I saw it on the site, I worried that it may be a little too big for me but actually, I couldn't be happier. The best thing? It unbuttons fully and can be worn as a coat too. Double whammy. Let's talk about this affordable take on a Balmain style dress/jacket... 

A Trip To NYC Part 2; Dinner At The Standard In New York & Clarisonic X Keith Haring Mia 2 Love Event!

One of the main reasons for my recent trip to New York  was to learn all about the brand new Clarisonic cleansing brush. This meant me and Victoria were lucky enough to meet up with the founder of Clarisonic whilst out there and attend a pretty cool launch event in the city. I can't wait to tell you what else we got up to (if you've missed the first part of my New York trip you can read that here)...

Urban Decay Vice 4 Palette Review

When the Urban Decay Vice 4 Palette landed in my postbox I was so excited. We all know that Urban Decay do the best eye shadow palettes, there's no doubt about that. For me, I'm a huge lover of other Urban Decay products though, particularly their blushers and lip glosses (you'll know that if you've been reading EmTalks for a while!). My favourite Urban Decay palette is actually their Naked Basics as it's just simple and easy. The Vice palette blew me away though as soon as I opened it. Before opening it, I thought it would all be a bit too bright for me and I hate palettes that are full of colours I'll never use but honestly, this was love at first sight. Let's look at the all new Urban Decay Vice Palette! It's pretty special...

Visting New York In October With Clarisonic; West Village, Jacks Wife Freda, Soho

In October I was lucky enough to visit New York with my good friend Victoria and Clarisonic. We were invited to New York to celebrate the launch of the new Clarisonic x Keith Haring cleansing brush (more on that soon but it launched in the UK on nov 1st yay) so today, I wanted to invite you for a little wander around New York and show you what we got up to... 

Huge Pre-Christmas Giveaway! Win my exclusive shopping haul with E.ON Energy!

Hello, an exciting one (even if I do say so myself) from me today! I was recently sent out on a shopping haul, one where you guys (my lovely readers) get to win all the prizes eek! I was sent out shopping for treats for you, you reading right now! E.ON contacted me and explained how easy it is to lose track of how much you're spending when out shopping for things you love (tell me about it) so I was given the task of spending a certain amount of money to show just how easy your tightly controlled budget can quickly be forgotten! I want to show you how difficult it can be to keep a track of your spending without any idea of how much things cost. Below is a picture of my haul from the recent shopping spree and, what I want you to do, is tell me how much you think the total price comes to. The closest to the correct total will win all of the goodies while, for everyone else, it may be a good time to start thinking about ways to keep an eye on your spending! I am so jealous of whoever wins this special pile of treats. Good luck!

Favourite Things In October! October Favourites!

Hello hello hello! I feel like I haven't done a favourites round up in so long, I'm so sorry for that! I love reading favourites posts because it means you can really see what someone is truly loving and I love sharing what I'm loving with you all. You guys know just how much I adore writing about beauty and every time I take like a week off from the topic I miss it so much. I'm happy to be here today writing a lil round up though of some of my favourite things from October (mainly beauty related, yay!). I have been loving so many things over the past month so it was actually really difficult to write this post. Let's see what made the cut!

My Shopping Haul! A Haul With TSB Contactless!

When TSB contacted me and challenged me to go on a lil shopping trip, I could hardly say no. Who can turn down a shopping trip? Certainly not me. I'm guilty of spending most of my money online, it's so easy (far too easy actually) to just click, add things to the basket and then they magically appear at your door. It takes some serious will-power for me on a daily basis not to buy the whole of the online world. I prefer online shopping because of the ease but at the same time, I prefer high-street shopping because you get to actually feel things and try them on. I find high-street shopping pretty dangerous too though, because I never have time to try things on so usually I find myself grabbing anything and everything and coming home with lots of things I didn't actually need, particularly if they're on offer! It was time to take my new contactless card for a spin (thanks to TSB) let's see how I got on and what I bought...

Monochrome; The Fifth Label

Monochrome is my favourite and I think it always will be. You can't beat black and white outfits or, black and white wardrobe staples. When I went to London recently, I couldn't not snap this outfit. I paired so many of my favourite pieces together for this look and I hope you'll love it as much as I do...

What I Eat, My Favourite Healthy Foods - Easy Healthy Vegetable Based Dishes - Vegetable Challenge With AO.com!

Hello hello! So today is a health related post yay! I'm often asked what 'I eat' and I've promised to write some updated blog posts about this but because what I eat varies on a daily basis it's quite difficult to capture on a blog post (and also everyone is different when it comes to food). I'm not a nutritionist so I don't want to start telling you what you should and shouldn't eat because that's totally up to you but this post gave me the chance to share some of my favourite healthy meals with you. When AO.com got in touch and challenged me to eat vegetable only based meals for one week I jumped at the chance and saw it as a great way to share my food shopping list with you and show you some of the things I eat because I tend to eat quite a lot of vegetable based dishes anyway. I actually found it quite difficult though because I do adore my chicken and tend to have lots of chicken with veg normally. I thought it would be a really good idea to show you how you can put your veggies to use in a really easy way because we all know how good they are for us but often forget to put them into things. Let's talk yummy but healthy meals!...

Putting Fashion With Phones! Designing Phone Cases With Case Station!

When Case Station got in touch and asked me to design five phone cases I jumped at the chance. The world of flay lays, Instagram and Pinterest has made me (and 95% of the world) adore and long for all things pretty and clean and I'm always in the mood to create things now. I've always been a really creative person but I'm really not good at art, drawing or keeping things tidy actually. I have the ideas and the visions in my head but I'm not the neatest person so I was excited to test drive Case Station and see my ideas come to life (you can too!). Let's see how I got on...

Top/Favourite Travel Destinations So Far & Travel Bucketlist!

I recently read an article called 'how to have more birthdays than the Queen' discussing travel routes that allow you to celebrate your birthday more than once by manipulating time zones and travelling. I got a little bit excited. It gave me a few ideas in terms of travelling, do I fly to Australia and celebrate my birthday and then have another one elsewhere?! Think of all the cake. This got me thinking about my love for travel (if you read EmTalks or follow me on Instagram you'll know that I am forever suffering from wanderlust) and this article has made me want to discuss my favourite travel destinations (so far). Over the past year I've been fortunate enough to travel a lot so I decided to write about my top 10 destinations (so far) out of the places I've visited...I've never really done a travel round up so here we go! 

Too Faced Brand Spotlight; Too Faced Beauty Review

Too Faced is one of my favourite brands. As a child, I'd stand in Debenhams at their stall and wish I owned their Lip Injection lipgloss (and everything else). I used to ask for it every Christmas when I was younger. I knew from the age of about 15 that I had a fascination with make up. Now, my make up bag is brimming with Too Faced products and rightly so. They just keep bringing out amazing products. You may have seen lots of their items feature on my blog over the past few years actually but today I've decided to put them in the brand spotlight and give you a little overview of the brand as a whole. Let's talk about Too Faced...

The White Blazer & Khaki Two-Piece

You may have seen me obsessing over this coat/jacket/blazer recently on Instagram (@emshelx - come say hello!) so it only seemed right that I feature it on my blog. I am so excited to finally be taking it for a proper spin today and showing it off to you! Not to mention another two-piece...

Honesty. I Need To Be Honest With You. New Chapter, Positivity!

Hey everyone! So today I wanted to write a personal post.  Today was one of those days where I just got home and cried and that hasn't happened in a long time. I've had to build up a resilience to things so tend to be quite numb sometimes but today all my emotions came out - thank gosh because sometimes you just need to cry. It's really hard to be strong all the time. I've been through things in my past and it's made me put up this kind of guard which isn't always a good thing. This post went live and I freaked out, got scared so reverted it to a draft but it's back now. Phew. I haven't written a personal post for quite some time but today I just wanted to be honest with you I guess. It's quite a quick post as I want to keep things as short as I can ahhh. So much has gone on in my life over the past few months and I haven't really discussed it on social media because even though I discuss a lot of my life on social media, there are parts of it I choose not to discuss. It's weird really, I put my life on the internet but I guess we choose which parts we share and which parts we don't share. I try my hardest to be positive on Twitter and social media but sometimes, it isn't all positive so I wanted to just be a little bit honest with you guys today and touch on what's been going on in my life recently and talk about how it's a new chapter now! I actually love this time of year, it feels like so many fresh starts are happening and I've made myself a few goals too! 

A Weekend In Barcelona, Part 2

We seemed to cram so much into one weekend that I had to break my Barcelona post into two. Barcelona seems like so long ago now when actually it was only last month. I'd do anything to head back but for now, I'll have to relive it with these photos...

Panasonic IPL Hair Removal System; Stress-Free Hair Removal At Home

When I was asked if I'd like to try the new Panasonic IPL Hair Removal System I jumped at the chance. Something which promises to make hairs not grow back/grow back slower/lighter? Count me in. So does this at home hair removal kit really work? Let's discuss...

LVNDR Clothing & Accessories Relaunch! Exciting Announcement!

As most of you will know if you follow me on social media or read my blog regularly, back in December 2013 I opened an online store called LVNDR. Inspired by my love for all things pretty, Pinteresty and pastelly, LVNDR (lavender) was born. Things have been so hectic recently with my blog (which is exciting and good!!!) so LVNDR took a little bit of a backseat but today, I'm really excited today to share what we've been working on with you. The most amazing, dedicated team have been working crazily so that we could re-launch LVNDR and today is finally the day! Eek. I couldn't be more excited to share this with you. We're back, with new lookbooks, a bigger, better (more-user friendly!) site (which I am so in love with) plus, lots more, new and exciting product ranges. I hope you'll fall in love with all our new items just as much as I have done. Come take a first look at the all new LVNDR store and a few images below eek!

A Weekend In Barcelona; Barcelona Hidden Gems - Part 1

When Hotels.com asked me if I wanted to explore a European city I could hardly say no. My mind said 'go somewhere you've never been', Italy was naturally top of the list (I cannot believe I am yet to visit Italy), but my heart said Barcelona (again). I've visited Barcelona once, a few years agoand since then, it's still remained my favourite city in the world (so far). If you read my blog a lot you'll know that I've been fortunate enough to visit quite a lot of cities/states around the world in the past few years but most of them have been miles away from home and I always jump at the chance to go on a European adventure. Barcelona did something to me the first time I visited and I had this urge to go back. I grabbed as many Summer outfits as I could find, got my bikinis back out and packed a bag. It was time to go back to the place where my love for travel began... Hola Barcelona!

Vichy Dermablend Review; My Favourite Foundation

Hello! Ah a beauty post. Golly I needed to get my beauty head back on. Trust me, I have so much beauty stuff coming up. I promise... beauty things just seem to take me a long time to write about because I like to rigorously try them first. Today though I wanted to introduce you to a very old favourite (in new packaging though!). I've actually done a review of this before but I did it years ago  back when I first started blogging and I wanted to do a new one because this is well and truly my favourite foundation in the world. I was actually inspired to write a new review of Vichy's Dermablend when quite a lot of people on Twitter asked what my favourite foundation is. Let's discuss a foundation which doesn't make me break out, gives me amazing coverage, looks flawless all day, doesn't cost the Earth and is my holy grail item...

What I Wore In New York; New York Outfit Of The Day ft Kurt Geiger

Last week I was lucky enough to spend some time in New York city (New York posts coming your way really soon eek). It was so good to be back in New York after my first big trip there, I've really missed the USA over the past few months whilst I've focused on spending some more time in Europe so it was nice to quickly pop back. You really cannot beat the big apple! Today though, I wanted to share this outfit with you from my trip as I cannot get enough of my new Kurt Geiger boots! Lets discuss...

I Was Given 'Acne' For The Day; World Mental Health Day 2015

Last week I was invited to work on something for World Mental Health Day. I don't really know how to put it into words. I've never done anything like this before but I am always up for speaking out about things. I was asked by Pharmacy2U if I'd like to have acne for the day. Not to make fun of people with acne of course, but to kind of see what it's like/see how people make you feel (obviously it isn't 100% the same but I wanted to try do this to raise even a tiny bit of awareness after reading some upsetting statistics about acne sufferers). There are statistics which show depression levels are really high in people who have acne and this really struck a chord with me. I was basically asked if I'd like to walk around with acne for the day to see if people looked at me differently/see how I felt. Let's discuss further...

How To Grow Long, Strong Hair; The Best Products To Grow Hair.

Hello hello! So today I wanted to do a little hair update post. I am so so happy with my hair at the moment and the way it's heading - I'm finally rid of the damage and it's finally growing. I feel like I am finally on the road to long hair! The strength and condition has improved so much and I just couldn't be happier.  This time last year I thought my hair strength and condition had improved but another year on and it's just getting better. It's got stronger and longer than I could ever have hoped. I found a new hairdresser (Lee and Valencia at Sassoon salons), revamped my hair product collection and mainly, continued to take care of my hair. If you don't know anything about my hair journey, I was left with bald patches and extremely damaged/weak hair after hot bonded hair extensions. I was basically told that my hair would probably never grow again. The truth is, hair growth takes a long time but if you're patient, it's worth it. I promise. Let's talk about my favourite products for hair growth at the moment...

Room Tour; My Bedroom!

Hello! I've wanted to do a bedroom tour for quite some time on my blog/YouTube but just never really got round to it. Well, today is the day. My bedroom is still a work in progress in terms of little bits here and there (more cushions, wall art and little things like that for example) but I felt like I wanted to share it with you today as my video tour uploaded yesterday so let's talk and then you can see it properly in my video at the end of this post if you haven't watched that already...

Plump It! Lip Plumper Review - Get Bigger, Juicer Lips!

When Plump It! got in touch and asked me if I wanted to try their new volumizing lipgloss I couldn't say no. If you read my blog a lot you'll know that I really want bigger lips but obviously without surgery. I feel like I missed out on the juicy lips gene and for as long as I can remember I've been trying to find a way to fake bigger lips using only make up. Lip liner rescued me a little bit but I missed that glossiness and that juiciness. That's where Plump it comes in! Let's discuss...