Spring Fashion Haul

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend, mine has mostly consisted of studying for my open university exams in a few weeks, socialising with friends and family, wedding planning and eating.

So, its been a jammed packed weekend...oh and some how I managed to fit in a spot of shopping, so I am treating you to a little fashion haul.

 I didn't buy everything at once,  although it has been known in the past, but I am 'supposed' to be saving at the moment. Anyway  this is a collective haul of a few bits and bobs I have picked up over the last weeks in preparation for my holiday to Dubai next week.

Be prepared for lots of pastels and floral patterns coming your way.

These adorable floral dungarees were £9 from Primark. I saw them the other day in Primark and literally did a little gasp, ran and grabbed them, I just thought they looked so cute and pretty and I think they would go perfectly with a white shirt. Literally cant wait to wear these.

 Sticking with the floral theme my next purchase from Primark was this lovely colourful floral shirt. Like the play suit above I just couldn't resit this, its a beautiful minty green shade which is my favourite colour to wear in the spring summer, it a collared shirt which I love and it has flowers, what more could a girl want. This cute shirt cost me £12.

 
Then I popped these light weight polka dot shorts in my basket. I love polka dots and again I would team this with a shirt or a peter pan collared top. For £5 I couldnt resist and I had to have them for my holiday.

Finally from Primark is this polka dot denim skater dress which cost £12. I love skater style dress they are really comfortable and easy to wear. Again more polka dots, I have worn this a few times already and really like this dress. I feel very Kate Middy in this. 

Next up is a lovely blue summer dress from Topshop. I purchased this with a voucher I got for my birthday and I was inspired to buy this by Laura over at buy now blog later. This is a beautiful shade for summer. This dress is slightly too big for me so I would add a brown belt to give it some definition. I cant find this online at the moment but it cost £34.

Now I have a few bits from MissGuided which has quickly become my favourite online shop, there are so many pretty clothes I would love to add to my wardrobe, however I managed to resist and just get a few things.  The first thing I bought was this blue and white mini dress you can find it here. It was £19.99 and I love the pretty pattern on this dress.

Then I got this lemon yellow curve hem skirt, this would go really nicely with a white shirt or vest top. I don't own very much yellow clothing so I am really looking forward to brightening up my summer wardrobe. You can find this skirt here for £14.99.

So I have yet another pastel blue dress, can you see a trend going on in this haul. This blue and white contrast dress will be perfect for my holiday, whether is a day of shopping or a spot of lunch in the sunshine. This dress was a bargain at £19.99, I think dress looks much more then small price tag, there is somethung very Zara like about it, you can get yours here.

Finally from Miss guided is this lilac tailored coat, I have been desperate for a pastel coat for so long now and I instantly fell in love with this beautiful coat, and I got even more excited when I saw it was only £34, most of the long pastel coats I had seen were going to cost me upwards of £70 so for under half the price I was instantly sold, and well its just so pretty. Unfortunately the purple shade is currently out of stock but you can get it in pink or brown here, I am so tempted to purchase the pink shade too, but for now I will resist temptation.

Finally is a really sweet pale pink dress with a white collar from BooHoo. Remember what I was saying about collars? I am literally obsessed. This a great dress for a summer day or with black tights and ballerina pumps for a day in the office. I cant find the orginal dress on the boohoo website, but here is a very similar design. 

So there you have it, my spring fashion haul, all ready for my summer holiday. Now I have snapped everything up I off to pack my suit case and hide my bank card somewhere to stop me spending. Wish me Luck.

Thank for reading

Confessions of a Beauty Blogger

 

While reading blogs It would be easy to assume the beauty blogger behind the blog is perfect in regards to their makeup, skin care and hair routine.

Well I thought I would do a little post today to show you that in my case any way (and I am sure I am not the only one) this couldn’t be further from the truth

. I am not perfect, no one is and thought it might be nice for my readers to get to know a little bit more about me and my flaws. 

Hopefully you will all still continue to read my blog, after admitting I don’t religiously stick to every beauty rule out there.

1.       Sometimes (just sometimes) if I have had a long day and I feeling lazy before bed, I am very naughty and use a face wipe to remove all my makeup. Not even a nice high end face wipe, we are talking the £1 wipes from Primark! 

 

2.       I hardly ever get my full 8 hours of beauty sleep a night.

 

3.       I am so impatient when it comes to painting my nails. I cant sit still for very long so normally end up smudging, re applying do the same again, have a paddy and take it off. To stop any possible melt downs I tend to go for Shellac nails at my local beauticians.

 

4.       I quite often forget to use heat defence on my hair before blow drying or straightening.

 

5.       I am a little bit clumsy when it comes to tanning,  I manage to get fake tan everywhere. I have ruined so many towels, desperately scrubbed carpets and walls to remove evidence and permanently stained quite a few parts of both my mum’s and my bathroom.

 

6.       Thankfully I have discovered contouring and highlighting, I am no expert but I have definitely moved on from the days of furiously applying bronzer all over my face. Cringe!

 

7.       I still haven’t mastered winged eye liner, I have tried and tried and tried, but failed. No matter what I do one eye always seems different to the other, maybe it’s because I am perfectionist and that 1mm different really does bug me, but I just can't get it right. 

 

8.       I am not very good at relaxing, when I do decide to have a pamper and a bubble bath I can quite often me found applying a bubble beard 5 minutes in.

 

9.       I very rarely curl my lashes, maybe it’s the lash curler I use but I really cant see a difference when I curl them or don’t, maybe I am doing something wrong, or maybe they just don’t work for me, who knows. 

 

10.   Finally, I am dyslexic, I can’t spell very well at all and I rely heavily on spell check and reading my writing numerous times to correct my many mistakes (sometimes I spell so badly the spell checker can’t even try and figure out what I am attempting to write), but no matter how many times I check my work there still seems to be some errors or even whole words missing. So yes some of my post aren’t perfectly written or spelt correctly, but I just try and write naturally and think about how I would talk to a friend and if there is  mistake here and there I am sure it’s not really going to hurt anyone is it? Being dyslexic does put me at big disadvantage as it takes me twice as long to complete any kind of learning or writing task. However, I don’t let it stop me and when I think about it, it actually makes me really proud for starting and writing my blog and not letting dyslexia stop me from doing something I enjoy. 

 

So there you have it that’s me and my imperfections. I would love to hear your beauty confessions, because well nobody’s perfect are they.

 

Pink Pout Picks

left to right, Showy matte balm, lip butter strawberry shortcake, mac girl about town, mac creme cup, mac girl next door, aurora by tanya burr

Hello everyone, Sorry for the lack of posts this week, blame university work combined with a full time job while trying to my wedding, but I am one of those people who tries to spin about 100 plates at once so I have no one to blame but myself.

When it comes to my pout I am a fan of all things pink, be it bright pink, baby pink, nude pink, shimmery pink, you name it, its probably in my slightly large lip collection.

So today I wanted to share with you my top pink lip products....if you hadn't already guessed.

Revlon lip butter- Strawberry Shortcake
For regular readers of my blog this lip product will come as no surprise, I am a big fan of the Lip Butters from Revlon and rave about them regularly. The lip butters are a great every day lip product, they are a buttery balm with great pigmentation and a glossy finish. There are normally 2 (maybe 3) of these lip butters floating around my handbag. My favourite shade is strawberry shortcake, its a lovely everyday pink shade, which really compliments any skin tone. Strawberry short cake is a creamy soft baby pink shade, with lilac undertones, but I find its not too blue and frosty toned. Its my go to lip products and I wont admit how many of these I have been through it the past year....cough cough three.

Mac Girl About Town
As most beauty bloggers I have a love affair for Mac Lipsticks (and eye shadows but that's a different post). I just love Mac for lipsticks, there is so many pretty shades and collections to browse and pick from, I love the formula's and they aren't too pricey either.Girl About Town was the first bright lipstick from Mac, I was influenced by Tanya Burr and one of her tutorials if I remember rightly. Its a beautiful bright fushia pink shade and is a amplified cream formula, so its unlike some bright shades it leaves my lips creamy and buttery and doesn't dry them out. This lipstick it is very build-able and can worn lightly for the day time but build up for an evening look and this lipstick does not budge at all, which is great for a night out. This is one of my favorite bright lip sticks and I think its a great first bold lip colour if your not too confident with bright lip colours.

Mac Girl next door
Sticking with Mac my next favourite is one of the pieces from the Archie girl collection, its nothing to do with the super cute packaging, promise. Girl Next Door is a luster formula and the shade is a very light pastel opaque toned pink with blue under tones, so this wont be everyone's cup of tea, but I personally love it. It gives my lips a sheer pink finish and I find this works really well with a dramatic smokey eye. Not looking forward to the day this little beauty runs out so if anyone has a dupe please let me know.

Mac Creme Cup
Sorry one more mac lipstick, last one promise. This is my go to Mac lipstick for everyday. Creme cup is a cream sheen which is my favourite mac formula, because as the name suggests it leaves my lips soft and creamy. Creme cup is a soft pink nude shade and gives me lips the perfect pink glow with just one swipe of colour. 

Aurora By Tanya Burr
As soon as I heard Tanya Burr was releasing her lip gloss and nail collection I knew I would be purchasing a few bits and pieces. Tanya's make up tutorials were the first I ever watched on YouTube and I have been addicted to make up and beauty tutorials and blogs ever since, which then led me to write my own little blog, so I have a lot to thank Miss Tanya Burr for, thanks Tanya I am now a make addict, but I wouldn't have it any other way. So anyway enough fan girl rambling, back to the gloss. Aurora is a really great everyday light pink toned gloss with a subtle glittery particles. Worm alone this gloss gives the lips a really pretty pink sheen and is great to give you a pop of pink colour, buts its also great over the top of a nude pink colour to give it a shimmery finish. I also have the gloss in ' Afternoon Tea' but I need to try some more because these glosses are amazing, they are long lasting, really well pigmented and smell so yummy. You can read my full review here.

Revlon Colourbust Matte Balm in Showy
This is a bit of a new lip product to my collection, I did a full review of this balm as well as two of the Lacquer balms here. I am not normally a fan of matte lipsticks or products but I have fallen in love with this balm. I think because its a balm formula with added coconut, mango and shae butter it leaves your lips soft and hydrated but with a matte finish. I love the shade of this balm too its not to dissimilar to 'Girl about town' from Mac, in that its a bold bright pink with purple undertones but it has a more opaque finish. This can be worn more as more of a sheer bright pink in the day and then built up with a few more coats for a more dramatic bold finish.

So that's it my favourite pink pout picks, or simply put my favourite pink lip products. Do you have any favourites I need to try.

Thanks for reading lovlies

Dreaming about......

Hello, 

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend and it hasn't been to wet where ever you are? Thanks to YouTube, Blogs, Instagram and Pintrest I seem to have a never ending and ever growing wish list, hopefully I am not the only one?

I love reading wish lists, it normally results in my wishlist growing again, so I thought I would share with you some of the top picks on my wishlist at the moment.

Dreaming about...... by emma-louise1402 featuring a zara coat

1. Kate Spade watch, as much as I love my Michael Kors rose gold watch I would love to have a bit of wrist candy with a pop of colour, and Kate Spade is the best designer for a pop of colour.

2. Tarte Amazon 12 hour Clay Blush, in 'Natural beauty'. This was purely added to my wish list thank to Laura from Buy now Blog later, Laura is one of my favourite beauty and fashion bloggers you can see her review here, it instanstly made me think 'I need this blush....right now'.

3. Laura Mercier translucent setting powder, I have heard some many good reviews about this powder and its been on my wish list for so long.

4. How cute is this instax mini camera, one its pink, but I would love a camera that instantly prints phots. Thanks to social media most of photos say online or on my computer but an actually paper copy never surfaces, which is so sad really when I think about it, because I have so many childhood memories of looking through family albums and photo boxes.

5. NYX butter lipglosses, I was sold at the word butter, anything glossy but with a butter like feel and finish it perfect for my makeup collection.

6. The Zara yellow coat, oh my godness even my fiance has noticed my obsession with this coat, although he still hasn't bought it for me, must hint harder. Again I fell in love with this after seeing it at 'Buy now, Blog later'.

7. The Balm Betty Lou Highlighter, I have seen this popping up on my blogger feed quite a lot recently and I am really keen to give this a try. I am always a tad cautious about buying high end highlighters and spending money on them, as I am in love with my Mac mineralize skinfinish in 'soft and gentle', I did a full review here so I am not sure if any other highlighter will compare.

8. Yet another 'Bloggers made me do it' item on my wishlist I have seen some much hype about Nars radiant creamy concealer, I have convinced myself I need it.

9. Oh the Naked 3 palette so long I have lusted after your array of rose gold shades, hopefully the wait will soon be over and you will be mine soon enough.

10. This blush from two faced looks beautiful, I promise its nothing to do with the pink heart shaped packaging, honest!!

11. I really need a new cover for my I pad for travelling and this cover from Ted Baker is just so cute and girly and will look lovely in my hand bag.

So there you have it a sneak peek of my ridiculously long wish list, I may well treat myself to a few bits and pieces this month but will see if my bank balance allows it.

Thanks for reading, have you tried any of the products on my wish list? What's on your wish list?

MAC Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skinfinish

Today I want to share with you one of my favourite pieces in my makeup collection. Mac soft and gentle is one of the few products in my collection I would give the ‘Holy Grail’ title, even though I really dislike the term HG, I can think of no other label to give it that justifies just how much I love this mineralized skin finish from Mac.

‘Soft and Gentle’ is a finely milled shimmering high lighter powder from Mac, it’s an attractive soft 'gilded peach bronze' shade. This highlighter looks beautiful in the pan and transfers exquisitely onto the skin giving you glistening and soft champagne glow.

 Now £22 may seem steep for a highlighter but as with all mineralize skin finishes from MAC there is a lot of product in the pan and a little really does go a long way, so I cant see myself having to repurchase this highlighter for a long time. So I personally don't mind the price tag at all.

I have found the trick with 'Soft and Gentle' is using the right tools. I have seen lots of reviews complaining that this highlighter just left glitter all over the face, and yes a large brush all over the cheeks is not the way to apply this one. Personally I have found the contour brush from real techniques is the perfect sized brush to apply just the right amount of product to give you a beautiful warm glow. I use this highlighter on my cheek bones, cupid's bow and brow bone to highlight and enhance my face and bone structure.  This highlighter can be used for a day and night look, I just use a very light hand for an everyday glow but build up the colour for a more dramatic glittering evening look. Sometimes I use this as an all over lid colour for a softer smokey eye if I am wearing a bright lip and I don't want to go too heavy on the eye make up. Can you tell this is a well used product in my collection? 

I adore this mineralize skin finish its my go to highlighter to give my complexion an instant pick me up and radiant glow, its a permanent staple in my highlighting and contouring routine and cant imagine finding a highlighter that will replace it in my make up bag anytime soon.

Have you tried 'Soft and Gentle'? Or do you have a different mineralize skinfinish favourite from MAC?

Calling All Beauty Professionals-Introducing Pamper Pad*

Hello everyone, I hope your all recovering nicely from a chocolate filled Easter weekend. If only every weekend was a four day weekend, I would be a very happy girl.

Today's post is a guest post from Samantha at Coco Butter, for more posts from Samantha check out her beauty and fashion blog here. She was the one who convinced me to set up Emma Louise Dreams and I love reading her blog. 

So enough rambling from me, over to Sam, 

Online beauty hub,PamperPad, to launch in April 2014

The website is aimed at professionals interested in raising their profile

With 70% of self-employed people working in the beauty sector, PamperPad has been created to bridge the gap between beauty and hair professionals and the general public. The website, which will act as a hub for those offering and seeking beauty and pampering services, is set to launch in April 2014.

All regions are encourage to join PamperPad from the offset, but the beauty hub will primarily roll out acrossLondon and Birmingham from April 2014, followed shortly after by a roll out in other regions across the UK.

PamperPad will allow people in need of a little pamper to pick up deals and offers from local professionals and review the service that they receive. PamperPadmembers will be able to post images, prices and offers online to attract new clients.

Working in partnership with the British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology (BABTAC),PamperPad will provide invaluable resources for start-up businesses, Spokesperson from the BABTAC, Kelly Ramsay says: ‘We believe that PamperPad can do a lot for our industry. Finding reputable beauty professionals will become easier and more convenient with this website, and it’ll help self-employed professionals to get their voice heard.’

As well as bringing professionals together with the public, PamperPad will also work as a vital marketing tool. Its user-friendly dashboard will offer PamperPadmembers handy statistics, such as how many visitors have viewed their profiles. Such figures will give the member an idea of what offers, images and informationentices the public, and this is something that they can then incorporate into their business as a whole.

The dashboard also allows members to see how many referrals they’ve had as a result of PamperPad. HayleeBenton, creator of the website, explains: “For us, being able to offer the self-employed beauty industry a chance to grow their business is paramount. I know how hard it can be to get your name out there, specifically when the industry is so saturated. PamperPad will act as a shared platform bringing the public and industry together.”

PamperPad is proving to be very popular, with a host of professionals on the waiting list already. Hayleecontinues, “We’ve had a great response to the website, which fills me with confidence that this is going to help a lot of self-employed professionals. We can’t wait for the site to launch in April 2014.”

Editors Notes

PamperPad allows you to promote your business in a professional and innovative way. The user-friendly website will help self-employed hair and beauty professionals to build a strong brand identity and interact with potential clients.

Contact Information

For further information, images or interview slots with Haylee Benton, please contact Caroline Elvin at Branch PR:

Email: caroline@branchpr.co.uk ​Telephone:07557041827

Egg-tastic Baking

Hope you are having a Eggs-tra special Easter weekend.

Emma Louise Dreams is usually full of beauty and make up rambles from yours truly but this weekend I am going to introduce another one of my passions to my blog....baking. 

I have always loved baking whether it was decorating cupcakes with my mum and sister,( I always remember the cupcakes with the editable stickers of barbie or Tom and Jerry, anyone else remember those) baking bread with my grandma or just testing out new recipes now I have own my place. I love trying new things and I find baking really therapeutic and good fun. 

I am in the Easter spirit today and my flat is full of creme eggs and chocolate treats so this was the perfect opportunity to whip up some Easter themed baked goods. My bake of choice today was Cream Egg brownies. 

My sister was actually the one who introduced me to recipe (she knows me well), after she sent me an article about 10 Recipes using Creme Eggs, which left my mouth watering, here is a link if you would like to take a look. Credit to expatwomen.com for the recipe. This is a very easy recipe but will impress a crowd with the gooey melted Creme egg goodness mixed in. 

So lets get cracking on and get baking. 

What you will need:
185g dark chocolate
185g unsalted butter
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
3 eggs
275g caster sugar
6 Cadbury creme eggs

What to do:

• Firstly preheat the oven to 180oc. Then, melt the butter and chocolate together until it’s a runny consistency. 
• In a separate bowl, mix the egg and sugar until it turns to a mouse-like consistency. It will take a while but keep at it,(at this point I wish I had an electric whisk! Must buy a new one). Next up mix together the cooled chocolate and the fluffy egg mixtures.
• Then, sift in the flour and cocoa powder together and gently fold it into the mixture.
• Poor it all into a greased baking tray and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
• Cut the crème eggs in half then remove from the brownies cake from oven and gently place the halves onto the brownies – evenly spaced.
• Pop it all back into the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes to melt the creme eggs into the cake.
• Finally, let them cool and enjoy.

Here's my Egg-tastic creation....sorry I will stop with the easter reated puns, maybe!

So I hope you enjoyed this baked themed post, these brownies are super easy to make and taste A-mazing, they got a big thumbs up from my fiance who is my top taster. If you enjoyed this post, I may well treat you to some more baked themed posts. 

Let me know if you have tried this recipe or any other Easter themed baking, I am always wanted to try new recipes, so send your inspiration my way.

Thanks for reading lovlies.