Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Duo Boots Blogger Competition: What's Your #BootTribe?

I was asked by Duo Boots if I wanted to take part in their What's your #BootTribe? Blogger Competition in which you choose a style of boots from their Autumn/Winter Collection and style them in a blog post. I chose the #ankletribe as I'm a huge fan of ankle boots during the colder months.



Duo Boots #ankletribe





I saw these Mandel Animal print ankle boots and immediately knew they were the ones for me. I love the small heel, the shape of the toe and the rise of them. The boots are styled on the Duo website quite casually, so I went for something dramatic to show how they could be worn differently. I wanted the boots to be the main focus of the outfit so I went for a cute sixties inspired dress from Marks and Spencer and cosy black tights from H&M. I then added the fur coat from Boohoo, the hat from H&M and some dark lipstick from Revlon to add some extra drama. I finished the look off with some dainty earrings from Stella and Dot and Rings from Gorjana.

What do you think of my choices? If you're interested in entering the competition, you can read about it here. The winner will get an Autumn/Winter footwear wardrobe of up to £750!

What's your #boottribe?

Emma x


Sunday, October 19, 2014

A Thousand Words #7

Today I have a lazy Sunday post filling you in on what I did in July. There was a lot of food, drink and music! 


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I love this Moomin mug belonging to my mam, she's just as obsessed as I am now


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Peter Gabriel tickets arrived. Can't wait for December!


July InstaStyle Collage

Lots of lovely jewellery in July, Energetix, Stella and Dot and Swarovski


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Going out for drinks before Eric's surgery (which was postponed three times before it finally happened in September)


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I Heart the Monster Hero/ Night Trap gig in Whelans


July Instanails Collage

Broadway Nails ImPress Ex on the Beach; Rimmel White Hot Love; Essie Buy Me A Cameo; Essie Style Hunter


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Hall&Oates, the most fun I've had at a gig in ages


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Misty south beach in Skerries


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Wedding fun with the best man in my favourite COS dress


July Instafriends Collage

Lots of fun with family and friends


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We were at the Fleetwood Mac table (also one of my favourite FM songs)


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K Chido Mexican Food Truck- So good!


July Instafood Collage

99 with sprinkles; Pulled pork tacos from K Chido; Oatmeal and cranberry cookie and berry smoothie; Salmon and Avocado Sushi from Zakura; Brunch at the Whitefriar Grill


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We finally finished The OC


July Instadrinks Collage

Whiskey Sour in The Morgan; Diet Coke (best marketing campaign of all time); Zombie and Tequila shots in The Mint Bar


I'm so happy I took so many photos in July, otherwise I'd never remember everything I did.

I'm going back to work tomorrow after a relaxing week off, I got to do lots of blogging and catch up on all my favourite Tv shows. How was your weekend?

Emma x

PS. Follow me on Instagram if you want to see what I'm up to every day and leave me your usernames below if I'm not already following you!

Thursday, October 16, 2014

NARS Contour Blush

I've been looking for the perfect contour product for my skin tone for the longest time. I knew what I wanted but everything I'd seen reviewed was for darker skin tones and bronzing rather than contouring. I've always just contoured by using a highlighter to bring out my cheekbones rather than a darker contouring product under my cheekbones so I was very excited when I saw swatches of NARS Contour Blush Duo in the shade Olympia.


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The idea behind this duo is to create natural looking dimension to the face, the deeper shade defines while the lighter shade illuminates the high points of the face. 

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As you can see Olympia contains two matte shades, a lighter ivory and a deeper pale brown/pink shade. I always worry about the texture of matte powders but these are soft and easy to work with and blend.


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I use this in a few different ways, for daytime I lightly use the darker shade just under my cheekbones and sometimes I even use it on the apples of my cheeks as a blush if I'm in a hurry or I want a hint of colour on my cheeks. Then I use the light shade on the tops of my cheekbones and down my nose to highlight. 

If I want a more obvious contour look for nighttime, I go a little more heavy handed with the darker shade, then a blush depending on the look I'm going for and then I use a shimmery highlight instead of the one in the duo as I have found that it is better suited to more subtle daytime looks. 


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I love how subtle the combination is on my skin tone. It's exactly what I wanted to give slight definition to my face. I think this is the perfect contouring duo for fair skin tones, but as this isn't the cheapest product, €37 to be exact,  I would definitely ask at a counter to try it out if you're not sure. I got mine from Brown Thomas.

What do you use to contour?

Emma x

Monday, October 13, 2014

As Long As You're Next To Me, Just The Two Of Us

I haven't taken any outfit photos since May when I was in France so I thought it was about time I changed that. The weather has changed a lot since then. I'm so excited to start wearing my Autumn clothes after a long Summer. Over the weekend we took a walk down to one of my favourite areas of Dublin, Grand Canal, and decided to snap some outfit shots since it was such a nice day. 


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Coat- H&M
Dress- South via Littlewoods Ireland
Hat- Esprit c/o Surfdome
Bag- Marks and Spencer
Jewellery- Stella and Dot Rebel Pendant and Eden Ring
Shoes- Clarks Hamble Oak
Scarf- Accessorize Oversized Pioneer Jacquard Blanket Scarf
Sunglasses- ASOS


I saw this H&M coat advertised on the tube in London and it was love at first sight. What I loved even more was the price, it was only €29.99 for a wool mix coat. I think it's a really flattering length on me and even though I would usually go for a more fitted coat I really love how this looks on me.

I got this dress back in August and although it looked more fitted on the model than it is in reality I still love it, it's one of those dresses that is so easy to thrown on. The shoes are my most recent purchase, once again my feet have been acting up and long days standing and running around in work haven't been helping so I decided to invest in some more comfortable casual shoes for wearing in work. I adore Clarks shoes for stylish yet practical shoes that are comfortable to stand in all day.

I've been wearing my Stella and Dot jewellery almost every day. I was after the Rebel Pendant since I first saw it earlier this year and it's been my go to piece of jewellery since I bought it during the Summer. I love the vintage feel to the Eden ring, it's actually on sale at the moment and I'm very tempted to buy second one I love it so much. I'm so impressed by the quality of these pieces, I feel like they look more expensive than they actually are.

What are your current wardrobe favourites?

Emma x

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

A Thousand Words #6

I'm a bit behind on these posts, but seeing as I had such an amazing Summer I wanted to share it with you all. Here is some of what I got up to in June. 


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Creepy cat statue in the graveyard (I don't usually just hang out in graveyards, it was the Blessing of the Graves)


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Mint tea in a Moomin mug


June Instafood Collage

Homemade fish tacos; Chocolate from France; Duck salad from Avoca; Savoury mini ice cream cones at the opening of The Loft at Smyth and Gray; Pho Bo in Pho Viet; My favourite panini ever, the Blue Parma from Olive Skerries (I campaigned long and hard to get this back on the menu and succeeded!); Sicilian Lemons; Katsu, Sushi and Gyoza from Zakura; Pineapple and Coconut cake from Apple Bettys in Skibbereen, Cork.


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Brina and I


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The ceiling of Gino's Gelato on Grafton Street


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Free Wine


June Instanails Collage

Essie Style Hunter; Lime Crime Lavendairy; Model's Own Beach Bag; Revlon Apricot Nectar


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I Heart the Monster Hero Single Launch in Phoenix Park. Check out the music video!


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Homemade Lemon Iced Tea; Kirin Ichiban; Cocktails in The Liqour Rooms; Homemade Mint and Lime Iced Green Tea


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Beautiful flowers at the Jessica Nails event


June Instastyle Collage

Necklace from Accessorize; Shoes from Land's End; Blouse from Olsen; Wearing all of my rings; Pretty details from Lucy Nagle; Stella and Dot A/W Collection; Mint Sandals from Marks and Spencer; Swarovski Treats; Mint Zara Sunglasses


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The view from our tower in Cork


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Barley Cove


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Stunning views at Mizen Head Signal Station


June Instaselfies Collage
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Home Cinema


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Our own private beach


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Double rainbow on the drive home from Cork


June Instabeauty Collage

Buying Molecule 01; Repurchasing No7 Skincare favourites; Jessica Nails Blazing


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Pixies


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Arcade Fire


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The gorgeous windows of Parfumarija


June was such a fun month for me, it was actually really nice to look back on all these photos, it makes me realise how blessed I am.

I'll be recapping the past three months over the next while so check back in for those posts if you're interested!

How was your Summer? Are you ready for the colder months yet?

Emma x