Firmoo Giveaway

Today I have a giveaway for you from Firmoo. They are kindly giving me 25 vouchers worth $20 each and all you have to do to enter is Like their Facebook page and leave a comment below telling me your favourite style of eye-wear or sunglasses.

 

You can fin the above sunglasses here and the below ones here.

You could put the vouchers towards some sunglasses as a Christmas gift or just as a gift for yourself or on a new pair of glasses! 

The giveaway will be close at midnight GMT next Thursday the 29th as I want to give you plenty of time to order before Christmas. It is also open internationally. Don't forget to leave me a way of contacting you if you win. I will be choosing 25 people at random and announcing the winners here on my Facebook and by email. 

If you want to find out more about my thoughts on Firmoo, you can read my previous posts here and here. 

I look forward to reading your answers!

Emma x

Ce Matin-La

Two and a half weeks ago my sister, her husband, Donnacha and I got a 7am plane to Paris. Here are some photos from our first day exploring the city.

We arrived in Paris in the morning and dropped our things at the two bedroom apartment we rented for four nights in the 13th arrondissement. We went to buy food and supplies at a local shopping centre and afterwards we hopped on the Metro to La Tour Eiffel. Luckily it was the only day that it rained, unfortunately that meant queuing for quite a bit in the rain to go up the tower. 

Because we were queuing for so long we got to see the view from the top as it started to get dark and all the lights around the city began to turn on which was pretty amazing. I've been to Paris twice before, once when I was 9 and again for a day when I was 15 but I had never seen the view from the Eiffel Tower at night. You can see from one of the photos above that there are lights all over the tower and they twinkle every hour on the hour which is such a pretty sight. 

After that we got some dinner in a little Italian restaurant we just happened upon nearby. We all had pizzas and an €8 bottle of still water between us! Yes, €8 for a litre of water! 

We decided to end our first day strolling down the Champs-Élysées. It is so gorgeous at night, especially the Arc de Triomphe all lit up. 

There were two things I really wanted to do on the Champs- Élysées, one was to visit the Ladurée café and the second was to buy a little something in Sephora. Luckily the guys indulged me and because everything is open quite late we got to do both! If you ever get to visit Paris I encourage you to visit Ladurée, it's worth the extortionate prices just to see the inside of the café. The photos above could never do it justice. Kate was so impresed even though she wasn't crazy about her thick dark hot chocolate (which cost €6.90). She said it was one of her favourite things we did there. I got a Café Creme which was unbelievable and we shared 4 mini macarons (I had Pistache, my favourite flavour). 

Before getting the Metro back to the apartment, I quickly ran into Sephora to grab a Chanel lipstick. I could have gotten it a few Euro cheaper in the duty Free but like the sap that I am I really wanted to buy my first Chanel lipstick on the Champs-Élysées. I'll be showing it to you soon!

As you can see from the photos we may have smuggled some extra guests on the plane with us. Beemo from Adventure time and Doctor Who himself Matt Smith came along for some fun. You should see what they got up to! 

More Paris posts coming next week, I hope it wasn't too boring but I do love seeing what other people do when they visit places so I thought some of you might find it interesting. I'm also writing a post with my advice about/ a guide to an inexpensive stay in Paris. 

Emma x

Gift Guide- Why Not Ask Her Friends?

It's now just 5 weeks to Christmas and let's face it, there's always at least one person on our gift buying list who we struggle to come up with ideas for every year. I find that if you don't know someone very well or don't get to spend a lot of time with them, it's much more difficult to come up with gift ideas for them. Whether it's an aunt, brother, mother-in-law, grandmother, father or sister sometimes we just need some inspiration instead of getting them the same boring present we get them every year.

So when I heard about Ask Her Friends, a site that helps you to find the perfect gift for the women in your life I was intrigued to see if it would actually help to give me gift ideas. Ask Her Friends was founded by a man who once bought his ex-girlfriend a worm farm and I don't think he is the only one guilty of giving bad presents.

I decided to try out the Idea Map with the answers relating to my mother and I was actually quite surprised to see the results it gave. There were some really great ideas that I don't think I ever would have thought of including a gorgeous mirror and a magazine subscription. Donnacha also tried it out answering questions about me and found a few things he thought I would really like. You just follow the steps answering questions about the person you are looking to buy a present for and it gives you ideas according to your budget.  

One thing that really struck me about the Idea Map was asking yourself what life changes has the person gone through recently. Have they lost their job or gotten a new job? Have they recently moved house or had a baby or gotten married? It got me thinking outside the box and considering new possibilities. 

You can also search by budget and by category so if you have a general idea of how much you can afford to spend and the kind of present you want, maybe you heard the person say they wanted some new make up or homeware, you can search for ideas under those categories. 

I decided to show you some of my picks from the site for between £5 and £50 since most people have had to cut back on gifts in recent years, this shows the variety of gifts you can find for a small to medium budget.

Maybe you've gotten you mam or sister or girlfriend some perfume and you want to get her some other smaller presents too, then this perfume atomiser is a great present for under £10 because it allows her to dispense the perfume into a more handbag friendly container. 

I just love this chalk photo frame! I would love this as a gift and there are a few people I know would love it too. It's such a great change from an ordinary photo frame. I love giving photos as gifts, it's something I think everyone likes to get. There's lot of other great gift ideas on the Dutch by Design site, especially for anyone who is newly married or has just moved house. 

If you really can't think of anything to buy for someone, why not get them your favourite show on DVD. Something like Breaking Bad, Mad Men or Homeland. Great shows that they can watch through on a DVD box-set over Christmas. I really want to see the recent BBC drama series The Hour. Amazon have some great deals on at the moment and you could get most of your shopping done without even having to step outside into the cold! 

This Retro Sweet Box could be a really great gift for your younger brother or sister (although I'd love it too).  

These next two things would be great for the woman in your life that's make up and skincare obsessed. If you know they love make up but you have no idea where to start. This Nails Inc minis set is great because you have lots of different colours so you don't have to choose the colour, they get to decide themselves!

Like with the Nail polishes, this GlossyBox subscription is perfect for when you know what the person's interests are but you haven't a clue about those interests yourself. This is the more modern version of a magazine subscription and let's them try out loads of new products each month. I can't think of any woman who wouldn't love to receive this present. 

There is also a great blog on the site which discusses gift ideas and new online shops that you may not have heard of as well as a James Bond themed gift guide and a giveaway. One of my favourite parts of the site however is a section where women have shared stories of the best and worst presents they have received. This is a really great place to get ideas of what she'll like and what she really won't like! It's definitely worth a read if you're looking for good advice from real women, there are some really great ideas if you have a read through them.

What do you think? Would you try out this site or one like it? All we need now is a site like this for the men in our lives!

Check out the AskHerFriends Facebook Page for more regular updates.

Emma x

***Disclaimer- I was compensated for writing this post, however all opinions are honest and my own. It's a great site!

Estée Lauder Double Wear Light

I've been meaning to write a post on Estée Lauder's Double Wear Light foundation for about a year and a half now. I talked about it in one of my videos last year but I wanted to do a more in depth review of it since it's my favourite foundation that I've ever tried.  I first discovered it last summer when I was researching foundations to use on my sister for her wedding day.  I settled on this one after reading lots about it and trying it out at the make up counter. Double Wear light is a 15 hour wear foundation and I would completely agree with that. It lasts all day, even through Summer sun and a long work day. It's got SPF 10 too  so it would be great to take on holiday. It is oil free so it doesn't melt on your skin like other foundations can after a few hours wear. 
What I really love about this foundation is that you don't have to worry about it, it really is a "Stay in place" foundation and even though I would class it as medium coverage, it feels so light on my face. One piece of advice I would give is if your skin is a bit dry, use a really good moisturiser first or a primer (I like to use Clarins Beauty Flash Balm sometimes) and apply the foundation with a buffing or stippling brush pretty soon after you've applied your moisturiser because it just makes it easier to blend. My mam has worn this foundation too and she has much much dryer skin than me, but she finds with a serum it works really well.

I don't wear this everyday because it's so long lasting. I like to save it for days when I know I'll be out all day and into the evening. If you're thinking about using this for your wedding day foundation I really can't recommend it highly enough. My sister wore this and I didn't need to touch up her make up once throughout the day. I know some people say that foundations with SPF don't photograph well with a flash, but I've never had any problems with it and in fact I think it looks amazing in photographs, both with and without a flash. It's also fragrance free which I don't really mind, I prefer a foundation to be fragrance free rather than for it to have a scent you don't like. It also comes in a really handy tube and therefore it's very easy to dispense the exact amount you need.



These photos really don't do this foundation justice. You can see here how the foundation looked in my sister's wedding photos. If you're not sure I always recommend asking the sales assistants at the counter about it and perhaps getting a consultation and having your full make up done with the foundation before you decide to buy it. If you do go to a make up counter, know what you are looking for colour wise, do you like your foundation slightly darker than your natural skin tone? Or the exact match of your skin? I would always go for the latter but have unfortunately been pressured into buying a darker shade than I was comfortable wearing, I had no one else to blame really so now if I'm buying a new foundation I make sure to speak my mind and say if I don't like it. Double Wear Light retails for €34 for a 30ml tube.

What do you think? Have you got an all time favourite foundation?

Emma x

Cosy Winter Outfit

I was asked recently to take a look at tuccistore.co.uk, the website of UK based branded and designer clothing shop Tucci, which first opened in 1987. They sell brands like Guess, Barbour, Firetrap, Ted Baker, Toms, Joules and Lacoste. I put together some of my favourite items from the site as an outfit I could mix and match into my own wardrobe quite easily.

The scarf, dress and jumper are all from Firetrap, a brand I know but have never owned any of their pieces. I love the colours of these items and I thought they would look great layered together with the men's Ted Baker reversible belt tied around the waist of the dress in either black or tan. The jumper looks so cosy and I love the layers at the end of the dress. If you don't know already I have a bit of an addiction to scarves and  I love the feather print and the colours of this one. The dress and scarf are also on sale at the moment.

The leather and shearling Muubaa Jacket  looks so warm for Winter. It's the type of jacket that is going to last years and will never go out of style. I've wanted a jacket like this for ages but it's so hard to find the perfect fit because I'm tall. You could seriously wear this jacket with everything!

The Toms Desert Wedges are a less expensive version of my beloved Clarks Yarra Desert Wedges. These are my go to shoes for when I want a bit of a heel as I'm not a heels person usually. I've heard these are just as comfortable as the Clarks ones and they come in Black too. I'm very eager to try these on!

Lastly is the Guess bag. This caught my eye straight away even though I'm not usually one for anything other than neutrals when it comes to bags. I loved the shade of red and the longer handle as well as the gorgeous plaited top handles and the shape and the lining which is very unusual. It's not too expensive either for a designer bag at £140. I'm definitely adding this one to my Christmas wishlist.

What do you think? Do any of my choices take your fancy?

Emma x

***This post was written on behalf of TucciStore.co.uk.

Sun at the Sacré Coeur

As most you of probably already know I was in Paris this past week and it was the perfect opportunity to try out my new pair of sunglasses graciously provided to me by Firmoo. I chose a pair of Black framed RX sunglasses with gold detail on the sides. They are not currently available on the Firmoo website but I will link them as soon as they are available again. They were $40 which works out at approximately €31 or £25.

I really love these sunglasses, they are big enough to protect your eyes from the sun during those really sunny days in the Summer. The case they came in is not as sturdy as the one that my previous ones came in, but I do like to buy my own cases for my sunglasses anyway, I have a leopard print case that I tend to use most of the time for my bigger sunglasses because it's easy to spot (pun not intended!) in my bag.  Like with the previous pair, this pair came with a cloth to clean the lenses and a little contraption to tighten the screws. It's $15.75 for express courier shipping to the UK and Ireland which works out at €12/ £10. 

What's really great about Firmoo is they offer a free pair of glasses/sunglasses for first time buyers and all you do is pay for shipping. This is such a great offer especially coming up to Christmas if you're looking for gift ideas. You can find a list of countries they ship to here. 

Check out their Facebook for regular updates and photos from customers.

Emma x

EDIT: Here's the link to the sunglasses

***The sunglasses were provided to me by Firmoo free of charge however all opinions are 100% honest and my own.  

Gift Guide- Tartan, Leather and Tweed

I know I'm not the only one who finds it difficult to come up with gift ideas for the men in my life, I always struggle when it comes to buying presents for my brothers, dad and grandad. I wanted to put together a little Men's Gift Guide with something in it for every age and every budget.

Okay so you may be thinking "socks? seriously?" but let me finish, these socks are Ted Baker socks and they are in a nice gift box. If you are going to buy someone the most mundane of presents at least get them ones that are in a fancy box.

This Tartan Barbour Scarf and these Ted Baker Sheepskin Gloves, like the socks, are a bit more practical because they will keep you warm and cosy but they are also quite stylish. To be honest, I love this scarf and I will totally be adding it to my Christmas list!

The Ted Baker Notebook and Dubarry Leather Wallet were chosen inspired by the men in my life. I know a few guys who carry around notebooks to write down ideas at a moment's notice and what better to store you thoughts in than this graphic fly print sturdy notebook. I've also seen way too many wallets that are falling apart so this durable walnut leather wallet would be the perfect gift for someone who is constantly losing change from all the holes in their wallet.

Lastly, another gift I would also love to receive is this Joules Hip Flask with tweed and leather trim. It would be the perfect gift for any wannabe Don Draper.

So what do you think of my picks? Have you any ideas for gifts for men?

Emma x

*** This post was written on behalf of Number Eight Clothing.