Blanc

While watching the season premiere of Mad Men last week I was once again really struck by the amazing attention to detail from costume designer Janie Bryant. I love reading interviews with her about where and how she sources the costumes for the show and how there is a story behind all of the pieces. Talk about a dream job! 

I mentioned on my facebook page a few days ago how much I loved the sunglasses Megan Draper wears in Hawaii at the beginning of the episode, I also loved her make up throughout the episode and particularly the white nail polish she wore on New Year's Eve. So I went out in search of an opaque white nail polish and found Matt White by Barry M. 

I think this is such a great shade for all year round, Summer or Winter. White doesn't seem to be a nail colour I read about or see on blogs at all really so I wanted to share how I got on with this one. I was worried this was going to look like Tipp-Ex on my nails but the colour is really nice and not as in your face as I thought it might be. It's not matte as the name suggests, but actually quite glossy and fully opaque after 2 coats. The formula is a little thick for my liking but for €4.59/£2.99 I can't really complain too much. These are available from the Barry M site and in Boots. 

What do you think of white nails? More importantly what did you think of Mad Men?

Emma x

Five Films...

...I've seen and really liked recently.

This is 40

I was really looking forward to seeing this being a huge fan of everything Judd Apatow has made in the past. I saw it in a packed cinema on Valentine's day and I was so shocked that Donnacha and I were some of the only people laughing. I loved it just as I knew I would but I think some people just don't like Judd's sense of humour which is fair enough. I thought his and Leslie Mann's real life daughters were excellent in it as were Leslie and Paul Rudd, who can do no wrong in my opinion. If you're an Apatow fan already you definitely won't be disappointed by this.  I'm already looking forward to watching this again when it comes out on DVD. 

Sunset Boulevard

My parents and younger brother came over for dinner a few weeks ago and we were trying to pick out a film that all of us wanted to see, not an easy task! I was pushing for Moonrise Kingdom, but Donnacha suggested Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard from 1950. Surprisingly I had no idea about the plot of the film and about halfway through it struck me as being ahead of it's time and just such an excellent story. I can totally see someone making the same film today and it would still be relevant to today's film industry. Gloria Swanson is unbelievable in it and the fact that Wilder chose to film in black and white adds to the unsettling feel of the film. If you haven't seen this already, it's definitely worth watching.  I only watched Some Like It Hot recently for the first time and absolutely loved it and we watched Double Indemnity in college and again recently I loved that too so I'm looking forward to watching more Billy Wilder films.

Erin Brockovich

I saw Erin Brockovich when it was first released into cinemas in 2000. We had a film night recently and one of our friends hadn't seen it so we decided to watch it since Donnacha and I hadn't seen it in years either. Soderbergh is one of Donnacha's favourite directors and we'd been watching a lot of his films recently including his latest film Side Effects, so it was interesting to go back and watch Erin Brockovich since it was probably one of his most successful films. I forgot how incredible Julia Roberts is in it, the dynamic between her and Albert Finney really makes the film.  It's also nice to watch it again after studying film and knowing more about Soderbergh and being able to appreciate how beautiful it looks as well as being such great true story. 

Antiviral

We watched Antiviral the same night as Erin Brockovich and I suppose the main reason for wanting to see it is that it is directed by Brandon Cronenberg, David Cronenberg's son. Again, Donnacha is a huge Cronenberg fan (I love some of his films, others I'm not crazy about) and therefore we were both really interested to see what kind of film his son would make. We actually got to attend a talk he did in Trinity college a few years ago which was such an interesting and once in a lifetime experience. I could listen to him talk about film all day! So we all went into this not knowing anything about the plot and we were all pleasantly surprised by how much we liked it. It's definitely clear that Brandon has been very influenced by his father, as you would expect, but he has managed to create such a frighteningly realistic alternate/futuristic reality in which "celebrity" culture has been taken to a completely extreme level. It reminded me of Gattaca and films like that, in the sense that there are so many advances in science that are controversial at the moment but how long will it be until they become common practice because people will be willing to pay a lot of money for their use. The lead actor Caleb Landry Jones gives one of the best performances I have seen in a while. If you're squeamish you might want to avoid this but it's one I've been recommending to everyone since we watched it. I won't say anything else because I think it's best to go into films like this knowing as little as possible. 

Spring Breakers

I had been looking forward to Spring Breakers since I first heard that Harmony Korine was making a new film. When I then heard that Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez were cast in it I was even more intrigued because if you know anything about Harmony Korine, or if you've seen any of his other films you'll know why that casting came as a surprise to me. You will either love this or hate it. We saw it on opening night in a packed theatre and there was a definite "what is this?" atmosphere going on. I think the main issue with films like this is that people see a trailer or a poster and think "oh I'll go see that" but they know nothing about the film or the director or what it's really about and then they get mad because it's not what they thought it should have been just by looking at a one minute trailer. I don't read film reviews, because I generally know what a film will be like because I have a genuine interest in them and know about directors/writers etc. I also don't like to know much about a film before I see it because I like being surprised, whether it's good or bad, and if I don't like something I know it was my choice to go and see it. If you choose to pay money to go and see a film, I think it's your responsibility to make sure you know what is it actually about, not what the trailer portrays it as being. In my local cinema they tell you at the ticket desk if the film you've just asked for is a foreign language film. I think that is so ridiculous. A person has no right to be annoyed if they pay to see a film they have done no proper research on. That is all I will say about Spring Breakers, other than I loved it and James Franco is amazing and the soundtrack is amazing. I'd love to know what you think about this as it's one of my biggest pet peeves.

Like I said I don't read film reviews and I didn't want to write any here, I just wanted to share with you some films that I really liked because I love to get recommendations of film/music/beauty products etc. from my fellow bloggers. Have you seen anything recently that you can recommend?

You can read my first two Five Things posts here and here.

Emma x

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Worldwide Wardrobe Competition

When I read about the Worldwide Wardrobe Competition from Travel Supermarket I thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up. All you have to do is create looks based on five different locations and activities around the world for under £200 and say why you chose your items. The five themes are sightseeing in Paris, clubbing in Ibiza, shopping in London, cocktails in New York and partying at the Full Moon Party in Thailand. There is a winner for each city and the prize is a trip to the destination your outfit was inspired by. You can enter all five, or pick however many you want. I chose Paris, New York and London.

I chose London because despite the fact that it's incredibly near to Dublin, I've never been there before. Keeping in mind that I was creating an outfit for a shopping trip, it had to be comfortable as well as stylish, as London is one of the most stylish places in the world. I chose a printed 90s inspired midi dress from ASOS as it's a great transitional piece since the weather still isn't great this side of the world. I chose the leather jacket because like I said it's still jacket weather at the moment and in London you have to be prepared for rain, snow and sun! I chose the Topshop boots because I felt that the midi dress would require a slight heel to balance it out and boots are always handy for an unexpected rain shower while out and about, the heel isn't too high so they would still be comfortable for shopping all day. The Zara Taylor ring is another 90s inspired item, it reminds me of the mood rings everyone used to have when I was younger. I finished the outfit off with some inexpensive accessories. The Zara messenger bag is big enough to fit the essentials in for a day out and the two tone colour brightens everything up. Finally the oversized ASOS sunglasses are always handy to have in your bag in case the sun decides to shine. 

Total: £198.99

I  have recent first hand experience of sightseeing in Paris and my main objectives for this outfit were comfort, practicality and of course some Parisian inspired style. I found this striped dress from Next and I based everything else around it. I added the denim jacket because layers are always a good idea when your going to be going between being outdoors and indoors all day. One of the most important things you can wear when walking around a city sightseeing is comfortable footwear, so I chose a pair of shoes from Clarks as they always have the most comfortable shoes. Another must have is a small cross body bag that you don't have to worry about. It's perfect for keeping your passport, wallet and other essentials. The sunglasses and belt are self explanatory, I thought the ring would add a nice bit of colour to a pretty neutral outfit and the watch is just a bit of fun as well as being practical so that you can keep an eye on the time for museum opening hours. 

Total: £189.97

It's always been one of my dreams to visit New York and what could be more classically New York than a Breakfast at Tiffany's inspired black dress. I chose some simple black court heels to wear with it and some gold and coral accessories. A simple coral clutch, a cocktail ring and some cute Marc Jacobs daisy studs to echo the cut-out detail of the dress. 

Total: £195.86

I found it was more difficult than I thought it would be to stay under the £200 limit but I'm very happy with the end results. I chose outfits that I would actually wear in each location and it was actually quite fun looking through different sites for the right pieces. 

You can find all the details on how to enter here.

If you decide to give it a go please leave me a comment and let me know so I can have a look at your outfits!

Emma x

Violet Crush

I was at the Estée Lauder counter last September and saw that they had a new collection out called Violet Underground. The stand out products for me in the collection were the lip colours. There were two velvet lipsticks Violet Crush and Black Cassis and matching glosses in Rebellious Violet and Chaotic Currant. 

The one that really grabbed my attention was Violet Crush, a velvet finish lipstick in a stunning shade. Since it was a Limited Edition shade I knew I would regret not getting it and I'm so glad I did. 

I have never seen a lipstick colour like this one before, the texture is smooth and creamy with a matte finish but my lips don't feel dry after wearing this for hours. It also lasts on my lips really well and doesn't need constant re-applying. I seriously adore this lipstick and contemplated getting Black Cassis too but decided it as too similar to my Revlon Black Cherry to justify spending €24 on it. 

If you haven't tried Estée Lauder lipsticks yet, I would definitely recommend taking a look at them, they really are beautiful and the packaging it something else! 

This shade doesn't seem to be available on the Estée Lauder site anymore but I'm sure if you did some digging around you could find it somewhere. 

Emma x

Seaside Saturday

This past Saturday Donnacha, Kate, Eric, Simon and I visited my family in Skerries. We went to Stoop Your Head (Stoops) for lunch. Their seafood chowder is the best. Afterwards we joined my aunts at Olive for coffee and dessert. These two are some of my favourite places to eat in Dublin county. If you're ever in the area, I can't recommend either highly enough. 

The sun shone for the first time in ages on Saturday, long enough for us to be able to sit outside and eat lunch. 

I just wanted to say a quick thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post, it really made me so happy to hear from you all. 

How was your Easter weekend?

Emma x

I'm Subtle Like a Lion's Cage

I can't believe it's been three months since I've done an outfit post. The last time we took photos was on Christmas day and unbelievably it was colder yesterday taking these photos than it was on Christmas day. In fact in was so cold I couldn't even bear to take off my coat to show you my boring old black dress so don't worry, you weren't missing anything. 

Coat- given to me by my granny

Shoes- Marks and Spencers

Tights- Penneys/Primark

Beret- eBay

Brooch- Vintage from Etsy

Necklace and Rings- Zara Taylor Hello Sailor Telescope Pendant and Three Brass Rings set

Gloves- Accessorize

Bag- Zara Basic Shopper

Scarf- Ruche Oxford Circus Plaid Scarf (now only $5!)

Nails- No7 Me! Me! Me!

Lips- Chanel Pirate (review coming soon!)

This has pretty much been my uniform over the past three months. Simple dress, warm coat, beret, scarf, gloves and lipstick (of course). I don't think I've ever been more excited about the Summer, I need some sunshine after this 6 month Winter! I just realised while browsing through my Tumblr dashboard the other day that this beret is a similar colour to the one worn by Suzy in Moonrise Kingdom. I was looking for the perfect check scarf since September and finally found this one from Ruche, it was such a good price and their international shipping is very reasonable. I like that it's not the usual red colour, even though I do really like the red ones. I've also been wearing this bag almost non-stop since I bought it in October. 

As you may already know, the past three/four months have been among the most difficult in my life. I've had almost all of my family, my boyfriend and brother in law suffer from varying levels of ongoing illnesses, I lost my grandfather and have had some bad news about the company I work for too. All of these things combined with the atrocious weather (seriously, blizzards in late March?) have resulted in a complete lack of outfit posts and a lack of posts in general. At one stage I was thinking of throwing the towel in and just stopping altogether, but thankfully that didn't last long because I soon realised that blogging, whether it was writing, photographing, reading or emailing my blogger friends, was one thing that was getting me through the tough times and taking my mind off things. Blogging combined with spending time with my family and my closest friends and throwing myself into work have all meant that I have kept positive and stayed focused on the good things, however small they are. 

Thank you for being a part of that.

Tell me how you are, comment or email or whatever, I'd love to hear from you! 

Emma x

Me! Me! Me!

These are what I like to call my Barbie nails. I don't tend to wear pink nails that often but there is something about this colour that brings me back to my childhood and those bright pink boxes I opened at Christmas and Birthdays. 

Me! Me! Me! is one of the No7 Stay Perfect nail colours. These polishes have a large brush which is so easy to use and are opaque enough that you can get away with just a single coat. No7 products are available in Boots in the UK and Ireland and in Target in the US. The nail polishes retail for £6/€9. 

What nail polish have you been wearing recently?

Emma x