What's in my carry-on?

Hey Guys!
So. I was sat here figuring out which posts to schedule for when I'm on holiday in the next couple of weeks (Fuerteventura if you were wondering), at the same time as making a list of items for my hand luggage, and it occurred to me that I should combine the two! I'm going with my family as its our annual summer holiday, so I don't have to carry any of the super important things, but here we go anyways.

 

Okay so obviously we have the essentials first, to ensure a satisfactory flight (and what I mean by that, is that I'm a 2 year old at heart that has to be entertained during a flight - I get squirmy otherwise).

• Passport - because I'm not really into that whole 'illegally boarding a plane without identification' situation.
• My Phone/Baby - Did you really think I'd leave this wonderful device behind? This doubles as my iPod, so I'm all set with good tunes.
• Headphones - It's a must really. This pair from Sony gives out good quality sound (they've even been approved by my musically obsessed BF, so I would recommend).
• A good book - at the moment I'm reading 'The Distance Between Us' by Kasie West, but I've packed about 8 more in my suitcase #sorrynotsorry

• Phone Charger - We always take a trip to the airport lounge, which has plug sockets to top up on some extra phone charge. My phone is having a bratty phase at the moment where it likes to lose charge super quickly, so this is an essential.
• Instax Mini - I LOVE my instax. At this moment in time I'm currently sitting by the window as I write this, frantically glancing out of the window and praying that Amazon Prime does not disappoint and delivers my new instax film in time. Nothing more fun than an old school polaroid in my opinion (except Disneyland, but that's a given.)
• Notebook and pen - I've taken a notebook on every flight I've been on since I learnt to write my name. In my younger years I imagine I filled it with stick people and crappy poems, but now I intend to plan out my blogging schedule and write some more of my book.

• Slipper socks - As soon as the plane takes off my feet turn into icicles. Is that just me?
• Toiletries - And last but certainly not least, the carry-on item that causes the most stress. The 100ml liquid, clear plastic resealable case sitch. What even constitutes a liquid anyway? Because to me, a face powder is not a liquid. Okay, rant over. In mine I usually take Sunglasses (obviously not a liquid, it just bulks up the case), a hair tie, deodorant, eye drops, mascara, concealer, lip butter, perfume, hand sanitizer and gum.

I might have forgotten a couple of items there, but those are the main ones that I take with me. By the time you read this, I'll be tanning by the pool...yes, yes, YES.

 

What are your carry-on essentials?

Emily xoxo 



One Year Down the Line

It's officially been one whole year since my very first blogpost, and since that post I've written 103 others. This is basically a 'Thankyou' to anyone who has ever read a post of mine, or dropped me a comment. I know there isn't many of us, but I'm still grateful for all the views I receive because to me its never been about a subscriber count, just about doing what I love (writing) and hopefully inspiring or helping someone else to do the same.

A lot has happened in this year. First of all, I feel like my style developed a lot as I became more comfortable with being myself. Now when I go to a store I choose clothes that I want to wear, instead of trying to save up for all the brands that everyone else has and basically looking like a carbon copy of any other college student.
This year saw my first heartbreak, which was so unexpected and hit me a lot harder than I could have seen coming. Thankfully, the heart is resilient, and sometimes we have to experience a bad thing to make room for something so much better (I might write a post on this in the future if I build up the nerve). I'm quite naïve as a general rule, so it was difficult seeing a side to a person that I never expected to show its colours - but once you've dealt with a manipulator once, I think it becomes easier to spot one again and recognise the signs of a toxic relationship.
I also feel like I grew up this year, maybe as a result of my experiences (but I'll never know) to a point where sometimes I don't feel like myself at all. But I've decided that's a good thing, because evolving never really feels like a bad thing, at least not in my opinion. My Mum once told me that the years 16-19 are where you change and learn the most, and I completely trust her on that one.

I tried to make my blog purely fashion, but even though I love writing those posts the most, I think my blog will always be a mixed bag. I can't confine myself to one thing and I'm terrible at decisions, so even one year on I continue to just post anything that I feel like posting - and hey, even if I'm the only one reading it, that doesn't matter to me. Writing has always been my escape, and I like to think that this corner of the internet will keep being my place of escape for many more years after this one.

Stay beautiful and always be true to yourself,
Emily xoxo

Dinner Date OOTD

Hi guys, today's post is an OOTD, perfect for a summer dinner date!

 

  

 

 

(Yes, I cut all my hair off and said goodbye to the blonde)

 

Dress - Brandy Melville

Flower Earrings - Forever 21

If you're going somewhere fancy you could pair this with heels, I refuse to try and walk in them so I chose a pair of flats.

 

Emily xoxo

50 Things to Do This Summer

1. Take a polaroid picture
2. Go out for breakfast - my No1 is cinnamon toast!
3. Host a cocktail (or mocktail) party - find a recipe for my personal favourite here.
4. Eat less junk food
5. Beach walks
6. Create a photo wall on one side of your room
7. Get a summer job and earn big bucks
8. Buy some water balloons and surprise attack your friends/boyfriend
9. Start a blog
10. Delete Facebook (honestly the best decision you will make for a long time, read my post on it here.)
11. Be brave and wear an 'out there' outfit
12. Start drinking Iced Tea
13. Go to an outdoor cinema showing
14. Start a new series on Netflix (this is the true meaning of summer lets be real)
15. Fill an ice cube tray with juices and fizzy drinks to make bite sized lolly ices
16. Make a summer playlist
17. Go Geocaching - this is a global scavenger hunt, find out more on this website
18. Make your instagram theme all pretty (follow me at emilylaura_13)
19. Tie die some shirts
20. Go sea shell collecting
21. Try watercolour painting
22. Set up a tent in your backgarden
23. Build a pillow fort
24. Bake cookies
25. Go berry picking
26. Find a pet rock (jk, but I'm running out of ideas)
27. Learn a rap song off by heart
28. Make S'mores
29. Play a summery sport (I like rounders and badminton)
30. Watch some fireworks
31. Bike rides
32. Learn how to do a new type of braid
33. Have a BBQ
34. Read some summer romances
35. Take a picnic to your favourite outdoor place
36. Go. On. Holiday/Vacation.
37. Rollerskating
38. Start a Graze box subscription (see my review here)
39. Put up sprinkers in the garden and run through them
40. Visit family members that you don't often see
41. Eat a meal the opposite way (dessert, main, starter)
42. Explore your hometown/city more thoroughly
43. Go all old fashioned and write a letter to someone you love
44. Play paint twister
45. Learn to speak a little in another language
46. Photo Booth
47. Send a message in a bottle
48. Go up a down escalator
49. Keep a dream diary for a week
50. Be the very best version of yourself

Stay beautiful!
How's your summer been so far?
Emily xoxo

Taylor At Hyde Park

Okay. So this post is long overdue, because I went to London three weeks ago, but I can't NOT post about it. On the 27th of June I went to the Taylor Swift Hyde Park concert with my friend Hannah and it was absolutely amazing! I also went to the Manchester show prior to London but the whole festival atmosphere at Hyde Park made the day unforgettable.

When we arrived at the concert at 1:30pm (Taylor wasn't due to come on until 8:15) we  were given a 'pit pass', meaning that we got there quick enough to gain a spot in the area right by the stage. This was my fourth Taylor concert and I've never been even remotely close so this was such a shock and started off our train of extremely good luck. We headed straight to the Taylor Nation fan club booth where this photo was taken, so that Han could hand in a gift she'd made for Taylor, and then got some merch and snacks and headed to the actual stage area. For some reason we found it quite easy to sneak our way through the crowds, and ended up right by the front of the B-Stage! Because we'd already seen the show at Manchester we knew that Taylor spends a good proportion of the concert on the B-Stage, so before we even entered the park we knew where we wanted to head for. To put this into perspective, a family told us the next morning that they'd got there for 9am and only ended up around 50 people from the front - we got there around 5 hours later and ended up smack bang at the barrier, with Taylor only around 3 metres away!

 

I took a LOT of photos on my phone from the concert, which was, as always, phenomenal. Taylor never disappoints and being close enough to see her properly made it all the more emotional. To sum up the most exciting parts of the concert, Emma Watson walked right past us along with Andrea (Taylor's Mom), and the special guests during 'style' were Cara Delevingne, Gigi Hadid, Karlie Kloss, Mar Hunt, Kendall Jenner and Serena Williams. All of these celebs came to the B-stage, which was so so exciting! The support acts were Vance Joy, Ellie Goulding, and John Newman, and despite the fact that by the end of 8 hours standing I felt like I could collapse, every time I think about this day I begin to smile.

 

Have you ever been to a concert?

Emily xoxo

Graze Review

Hola!
So a couple of days ago (yes, I had to resist this yummy looking package for two whole days) I received my first Graze box in the post. Graze, if you don't know what it is, is a company that distributes boxes of snacks based on your likes and dislikes. You can choose to get it weekly or fortnightly, and can choose from a wide range of options such as the breakfast box, the kids box, the chocolate box, the 'light' box or the variety box, which is the type that I picked. It costs £3.99 per box, but you get your first box half price and then your 5th and 10th boxes completely free. Each box contains four snacks, which you can tailor to your preferences by unselecting options from the online menu, and a little booklet containing all the necessary details (such as calories or fat content) is included with each delivery.

My first box contained the following punnets:
Toffee Apple - Pieces of dried Granny Smith apple (which are surprisingly soft = bonus) with toffee sauce to dip. This is so yummy, I want this in my next box, and the one after that!
Habas Tapas - Jumbo chilli roasted corn, roasted corn kernels and chilli broad beans. I love savoury snacks like this, and I polished the whole thing off whilst settled down with an episode of PLL.
Cookies & Cream - Mini chocolate cookies, white chocolate buttons, sunflower seeds and mini chunks of chocolate Cornish fudge. I'd never tasted sunflower seeds before today, and I'm glad to announce that I give them an A+.
Vitamin C Crush - Dried pineapple, coconut and mango slices. I'm a fan of dried fruit in general, but this snack mix just tastes like summer in a punnet. Yes.

I'm really happy with my first box as I enjoyed all of the snacks. The service is really good, and the box fits through the letterbox so you don't have to worry about it rotting away in the post office delivery terminal. All in all, its a yes from Me to Graze! Yeah I could spend my money on a beauty box, but I've been down the Glossybox route before and wasn't that impressed - food however, can never really disappoint.

Have you ever tried a weekly box?
Emily xoxo

June Playlist (#5)

Forgive me for uploading this on the 11th of June, its been a crazy time.

Just a Kiss - Lady Antebellum
Lean On - Major Lazer
I Know You - Skylar Grey
Shots (Broiler Remix) - Imagine Dragons
Turning Tables - Adele
Some You Win - Nina Nesbitt
Tenerife Sea - Ed Sheeran
Xo - Kelsea Ballerini
Love Me Harder - Ariana Grande
Better Than This - Hunter Hayes
Settle Down - The 1975
Runaway (U&I) - Galantis
Dime Store Cowgirl - Kacey Musgraves
Good For You - Selena Gomez

Listen to my June Playlist here
What have you been listening to recently?
Emily xoxo

Sephora Haul and an Explanation

Hi guys, long time no see!
So, I finally broke my streak of posts. It was extremely annoying and not what I wanted to do at the time, but I'm glad that I did because now I feel refreshed and have SO much to post about! I've been travelling a lot lately, including university visits to Cambridge, Warwick and Edinburgh (I might do a series of posts about these trips but I'll play it by ear), a mini holiday to Poland and a trip to London. That didn't leave much time for blogging, but I saw a lot of interesting things on my travels and also bought a lot of interesting things...cue Sephora haul.

Sephora is a bit of a novelty for Englanders because (as far as I know) we don't have it. It's basically just a beauty store with branded and non-branded items, and I spent a bit of time browsing the shop in Poland:

 

Okay. Firstly I picked up a set of 'Invisi-bobbles', which are basically plastic spiral bobbles which prevent kinking and hair breakage. I got the clear style, because I never really use colourful hair ties and prefer them to be simple.

When I went to the Sephora in Barcelona last year I bought the Chocolate Body Wash, and I loved the scent so much that this time I bought the mini 7ml perfume in the same scent - this smells AMAZING.

I'm having a serious crisis at the moment where I cannot find a good eyeliner. My favourite is the Maybelline Master Precise, but it always seems to be sold out so I decided to try the Benefit 'They're Real!' Push up liner. I might do a review on this, as I've heard great things.

I then bought two Sephora lipglosses, in the shades 'Fresh Peach' which is a pinky nude, and 'She Sparkles' which is a beautiful shimmery gold colour.

 

 

The other day my Dad kindly bought me a MAC lipstick, so I thought I would add it to this post considering its a make up haul. He bought me the lipstick in the shade 'Spirit', which is a brown toned nude that I've been wearing almost every day since because its absolutely gorgeous. In the bag they gave us was also a mini mascara sample.

 



 

I've finally added a swatch to a beauty post *applause*! Going from the top are 'She Sparkles' lipgloss, 'Fresh Peach' and then 'Spirit'.

 

I'm back and ready to start posting again!

How have you been lately?

Emily xoxo