New Video

Well this was not meant to take as long to edit/upload as it did so let's pretend it didn't....

If you watch please don't judge too harshly, I'm still learning! This is a great way for me to learn editing (with Donnacha's patience and help) and talking in front of a camera is something I want to do in order to challenge myself, because it may not seem like it but it is a huge challenge and as you may have noticed does not come naturally to me!

How are you all? I was diagnosed with having several small heel spurs on my foot which is basically overgrowths of bone and my understanding is that these cause an irritation and inflammation of the tendon in my foot and that's why it's sore. I had to get insoles for my shoes and the sad thing is I think I just have to be careful about my footwear, so no more cute shoes for Emma  :( I think it's got to do with a)- working on my feet and b)- my arches falling. This is my first ever diagnosis of anything so I consider myself very lucky considering the health issues I've seen loved ones go through for years. If that's the only thing that's been wrong with me in 25 years it's be pretty selfish of me to complain. 

In other news my work situation is stressful as we had a meeting this evening to discuss restructuring and cutbacks in the staff in our branch. Two people will be "leaving" and as of the end of this month my contract doesn't exist  within the new template so everyone has to sort of re-apply for a contract. We've all gone through this before but it seems worse this time. I don't know if I'll even have a job this time next month and the timing is crap too because our friends are visiting the week all the deliberations are going on so it'll be at the back of my mind the whole time. Having said all that I know I am not the only one going through this, not only are my colleagues going to be very worried but so are so many people today. I'm a fortunate person to have as much as I do and have a family and friends who care about me and I just have to be positive and say "Que sera, sera" as my mother used to sing to me when I was little. Whatever will be, will be. I have to trust that things happen for a reason and that everything that happens to me makes me the person that I am. 

I hope you are all doing better than I am, feeling sorry for myself, do you ever wish sometimes we could all just sit down and talk in person?

Emma x

Pay Us No Mind

Last Saturday Donnacha and I went along to Michael Kiwanuka in the Sugar Club with support from The Staves. I had never heard The Staves before and I now wish I had gone along to the acoustic session Donnacha filmed with them that morning but alas I was fast asleep having cuddles with my pillow.

Photos by Donnacha

I had heard a few songs by Michael Kiwanuka and had been recommended going to see him be several people and I wasn't disappointed. He has an incredible voice that you could listen to all day. However it was the support band that I liked even more. The Staves are Emily, Camilla and Jessica Stavely-Taylor, three sisters from Watford, England. They have goosebump inducing harmonies and I won't do them any justice with words so please listen...

and this is the video Donnacha and the boys from Cock and Bull Tv filmed

Emma x

Just One Beat of Your Heart and Stranger Than Fantasy

I can't believe we took these photos almost exactly one year ago. There were way more Cherry Blossoms on the trees then, I guess that means Spring will be a little later this year. This is a belated Valentine's outfit, with my heart print tights and earrings and red and pink nails. 

Dress- Monsoon

Belt- Dunnes

Earrings- Accessorize

Shoes- Clarks

Tights- Penneys

Nails- No. 7 Devil's Delight and Me Me Me and Model's Own Juicy Jules

Lips- MAC Russian Red

Eyes- Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV Missionary, Bust and Skimp

I'll be honest I spent most of Valentine's day in my pyjamas. I love pyjamas, as much as I love putting on make up and a pretty dress, I really do love wearing comfortable warm pyjamas. But Donnacha loves me anyway and prefers when I wear no make up so I guess that's a good thing. We did have a lovely meal together though!

I also want to thank you all for your well wishes about my foot. It helps to know people care about me like that! It's been less painful each day so I don't have to take painkillers that often and I don't have to limp either.

How was your week?

Emma x

Benefit's 'Ticket to Glossytown': A Review

I received Benefit's Ticket to Glossytown as a Christmas gift from my aunts and I thought I'd do a little review of it for you since that's what I'm really into reading and watching at the moment. 

Ticket to Glossytown is a Limited Edition gift set that retails at $24/€39.95 approximately. I'm not sure exactly how long it's available for but you can still buy it on Benefit's site. The set consists of six 3ml Ultra Shines lip glosses in the colours Foxy Lady, Kiss You, Life on the A List, Nudie-Tude, So Frisk Me and Spiked Punch. The full size lip glosses are 5ml and $18/€22 each so you're getting about 60% of the full size glosses in each of the miniatures. 

You can see how each of the lip glosses looks on my lips in each of the photos below

Foxy Lady

Kiss You

Life on the A List

Nudie-tude

So Frisk Me

Spiked Punch

You can read how each of the colours is described on the Benefit site but I'll give you my take on each because some of their descriptions are a bit strange (eg. Nudie-tude is described as "goldspun twist", whatever that means!). First of all they all smell amazing. I know scented products, especially scented lip products are not for everyone but these smell so fruity, almost like passion fruit or mango and I love fruity scented products so for me that wasn't a problem. There is a nice variety of colours, something to go with most looks you may want to wear.

Foxy Lady is a sheer rose colour with blueish shimmer, I would wear this over a red lipstick for a more opaque colour but it's gorgeous by itself as an alternative to a strong red lip. 

Kiss You is a combination of pink/purple with very minimal shimmer, you could wear this over a pink toned lipstick for more colour payoff but alone it's a nice way of wearing this shade without it being too in your face.

Life on the A List is a nude shade, again with minimal shimmer, this is great to wear if you want your eye make up to be the focus but still want some shine to your lips.

Nudie-tude is another nude shade with a small amount of little multicolour glitter particles in it. I think this is my favourite shade mostly because I find a lot of nude lipstick can wash me out but this sits on my lips so well and give an extra dimension to your lips when you want to keep them neutral but still want them to stand out a bit. 

So Frisk Me is the darkest shade from the set and is a gorgeous shimmery berry colour. The tiny particles of gold make it really warm and perfect for this time of year. 

Spiked Punch is a coral colour with almost no shimmer. This is definitely a Summer colour or would also be great for doing a 60s look because it's quite a pastel coral. 

My favourite shades are the more shimmery of the three, Foxy Lady, Nudie-tude and So Frisk Me. I think the colour pay off is better and they look better worn alone whereas I would probably wear the other three over lipstick because they're quite sheer. 

If you like all six shades and would wear them then this set is such great value for money. I would definitely repurchase my three favourites but not the others because I don't think I'll get as much wear out of them but the great thing about sets like these is getting to try out different shades you may not ordinarily and also having a variety of colours for different times of the year. 

The packaging is gorgeous as is the case with all Benefit products (they are one of the brands that made me love make up) and they are handy sizes that won't be sitting in your make up bag for years and go to waste.

All in all I recommend this set to those lip junkies out there, it would also make a great present as it's not something people usually buy for themselves. 

I hope to bring you more beauty reviews and recommendations in future as I love doing my video reviews but there are so many products I use that I would want to go into much more detail about and that would make for very long videos! I have a list of things I'm going to review but if there's anything you would like me to review or know I wear and want to know more about or if you're looking for any recommendations please don't hesitate to get in contact. I've already had several requests regarding beauty products so they're all on my list too.

I  hope you're all doing well! My foot has been giving my some trouble lately and I couldn't walk for a couple of days last week so I had to go get an X ray today. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far!

Emma x

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings

J Tillman has left Fleet Foxes and is working under the moniker Father John Misty. I am currently obsessed with this song and thought some of you might like it too (check out the lovely Aubrey Plaza in the video).



Emma x