I Am Not Afraid To Walk This World Alone...

Hello my beauties! If you follow me on my Facebook or Twitter you will know that I have been away this week, hence why I haven't been blogging and the merry month of March has been a month I have been tight with money, so not many hauls to share with you!

However, I really thought I better write to you lovely lot, as you seem to take the time and read my blog, whether its about my beauty and fashion or whether I am feeling deep... Much like I am today.

So you are probably thinking what the title is all about, so let me explain. The past couple of weeks have been hard, and I have had to come to terms with a lot of stuff, I can't say publicly what some of these are, but honestly, they got me down... So lets explain.

Since around mid-February, I felt everything was crashing down around me, I cried, and I did the worst thing possible... Pretend everything was okay, not talk to anyone. I put that smile on my face, not the happy one... The "look happy and no one will realise what's going on inside" smile. Lets explain the title... What made everything much worse, was the fact my favourite band My Chemical Romance split - (if you didn't know many years ago I used to be into rock and heavy rock music and fashion, I wore a lot of black and heavy make-up, super short hair with an emo fringe...) Even though I no longer sported my 'Black Parade' themed fashion, MCR's music has got me through a lot of tough times, to then have them split, broke my heart. The title is lyrics from the chorus of one of my all time favourite MCR songs 'Famous Last Words' ... So, what did I do? I escaped, I ran away and I took everything into perspective. This week I went away to see my lovely friend in Leicester where we both went to see Olly Murs in Cardiff (sidenote; Olly was absolutely outstanding, even if he did rip his trousers and trip on stage.. Twice.) And by getting away from home for 4 days, not confronting the things that got me down, I then had the chance to understand what was happening and going on. Now, I'm back, when I was away, something followed me, and you know what I did? I ignored it. I rose above it. My subconscious became my friend, telling me "Sweetheart, you don't need to do this to yourself. You are better then this, and you are perfect, whether everyone or no one sees that, you are p-e-r-fect".

So my advice for you? 

1. Love - If you get down over love, especially at my age, pick your tiara/crown up off the floor, you are young and you have your whole life ahead of you! I know everyone says it, but honestly, you are so young, there are millions of people in the world, and there is someone for everyone, the only things you need to do is focus on is you and make yourself perfect for YOU, nobody else! You are stunning and gorgeous no matter what anyone says! So what you don't have the perfect teeth or the skinny figure with the big boobs and butt, but really, who wants to be a Barbie doll, when you can be you?! 

2. Trendsetter - For me especially this is the most important, don't stress if someone does something you uniquely do, its flattery! If someone copies your shoes, your dress, your make-up "your look" see it as a compliment! Maybe they think what you have done is good and they want to give it a go, don't see it as bad! You are the trend setter, be proud of that!

3. Music - Personally, music is a very important part of my life, as said above when MCR split, my heart shattered into a million pieces, but just cause the band split doesn't mean their music won't stop inspiring me and mending my wounds when I'm hurt. Especially now. On Sunday before I went away, I wore my Black Parade jacket, as if it were a bandage to make everything better, and honestly, it was a security blanket. The jacket gave me so much joy and happiness when I was younger and gave me so much inspiration, to which I can only thank MCR for. However, if you are down, my biggest, and maybe most important tip would be, don't listen to sad or depressive songs, they really will only make you feel worse - easier said then done I know (hypocrite of my own words at times, but truth must be told!) Listen to happy songs, that make you feel better! They will cheer you up! Pick a song that has a happy memory to over-ride the bad thought! 

4. You are YOU - This is probably the most important tip. Never, EVER, let anyone tell you that you aren't good enough. I have let too many people walk over me, tell me I'm not good enough or I wont be good at something... Prove them damn wrong! You can be whatever you want to do, if you put your heart and soul into it! Never let one person deny you a world of opportunities, and maybe if you are the one with doubt... Prove yourself wrong! 'Cause really, you can do anything you dream of, there really is no limits!

5. Wounds need time - I am a victim of my own crime. Lets say for an example, you accidentally cut yourself with a knife while preparing dinner, the cut won't disappear once it is ran under cold water. Wounds have a process...

• Open wound - this is when the wound is first created, everything around that wound hurts, no matter how much you try to deter it away. 
• Protection - Even when you apply a bandage or plaster to the wound, it doesn't make it disappear. It only helps to protect the wound from any more damage that may cause more pain.
• Pain - The wound may sting or be painful, the damage has already been done, there is nothing you can do, everything up till now is uncontrollable...
• Healing - Until now... In my view you can take the healing process in two ways.        1) Positive - You can turn every negative into a positive, you turn everything bad to good. You start with yourself - look happy and be happy. Your appearance can not only reflect your own feelings but can also make an effect on other peoples. Over-ride the bad with the good!  2) Negative - You see everything as bad, and the pain lasts longer then you want it to. You take everything good away from yourself and replace it with bad, healing seems a far far place away from where you are now. You are digging yourself in a hole you can't get out of alone... You need positive to give you a helping hand...

Honestly, these past couple of weeks I've been in a bad horrible place, I won't lie to you. Healing doesn't happen overnight, in fact it can take weeks or months, sometimes it may leave a scar, but even if it does just say to yourself "If it wasn't for this scar, I wouldn't be where I am now". I hate seeing people down and upset, whether I know them or not. I want people to know I am there for them, yeah I'm not a professional at this, but really who is? I learn from my own life experiences, even though everyone's experiences are different, the wounds take the same process to heal. So hold your head up high, things take time, and you have to allow that time to get yourself into that better place.

I want you to know, whether we know each other or not, that I am here for you. I am that shoulder for you to cry on, to try and help you through. Never let someone's words bring you down, they are just words. 

And again, the Famous Last Words

"I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone."

Sending you all lots of love

Emma Victoria

xoxo

Rescue Those Lips!

Ever get it when your lips are chapped and horrible? Lots of dead skin obviously showing even when you have lipstick on? We all seem to have some problems with our lips whether they are dried out, chapped or just plain terrible! The worst time to have dried or chapped lips is when you are going to kiss someone; whether its your family or your significant other. I have been looking everywhere online myself to find the best way to help your lips. Here is what I do...

1. Exfoliate
You are probably think 'what on earth is she on about', well let me explain. If you are like me, and use a facial scrub, I always seem to avoid getting this on my lips; I now make sure I always include my lips! As long as you don't actually put the product in your mouth and you make sure you have taken all the product of your lips you will be fine. I also use a toothbrush to help exfoliate and get rid of the dreaded dead skin! Just after I wake-up and just before I go to bed, I rub my toothbrush (without toothpaste or anything on the bristles) over my lips for a few minutes until the feel super soft. 

2. Moisturise
Moisturising your lips is the key to keep your lips soft and in perfect condition! During the day I use Carmex lip products, as soon as my lips begin to feel a little dry or chapped I just pop some of this on and it works wonders on your lips. At night, just after exfoliating my lips I smother Vaseline on my lips and leave it on other night. You will wake up with smooth and soft lips. I always make sure I am carrying at least on lip product other than a lip gloss or lipstick on me in case of emergency. Although, if you have accidently cut your lips ( I have managed to do this many times before) then please do not use the Carmex products. These will make your lips sting and possibly do more bad then good, instead I would just use Vaseline. I personally use the Cocoa Butter Vaseline as its my favourite out of all the small tins, however you can use whatever you like or best suits you!

3. Avoid!
If you want your lips to be smooth and soft without dry skin all over them, then please do not lick your lips all the time, or rip the dead skin off of them. This will only cause you pain and it will just take longer for your lips to heal and get better! If you do constantly lick your lips, make sure you have a pot of Vaseline or Carmex near by, because you will dry your lips out so quickly and you will be back to square one!

Well I hope this helps you, cause it is most certainly helping me!

Much Love

Emma
xoxo

The Fringe...

Just before the locks were copped!

Good Evening from a blizzard like UK! The snow has just not stopped coming down! Meanwhile I bare some good beauty news! I finally got the courage to get my hair re-styled into a sophisticated... Yes, you have read right, sophisticated bob! The image on the left was taken just before I had my haircut by my fantastic hairdresser Laura, in the image I am wearing a beautiful Oversized Pink Gingham Rockabilly Bow from Beauxoxo which I absolutely adore!! 

All Change!

The image on the right shows my hair after it has just been beautifully styled! I decided I would go for some 'bangs' - yes this is actually the technical term! I absolutely love my new hairstyle and I hope you do too! I didn't actually have any length taken off my hair, just the split ends out, and my layers re-done, as well as my fringe being cut in!

I hope all you beauties are well, and stay beautiful!

Love and Hugs

Emma

xoxo

Lip-tastic!

I have various amount of lip products in my small little beauty box in my room, I like to try out different lipsticks, lip gloss' and lip balms and here I am, sharing what I find works best for me! Some are lip products I would re-purchase and some are one's I'd just chuck in the bin!

1. Lip Balms
The first section we will be looking at is lip balms. Now, I have to admit I am an absolute sucker for for Carmex product's and personally I would recommend these 110% of the time, they have a beautiful smell, work wonders on your chapped lips to repair them, also they are so cheap (I mean only £2.69 from Boots, bargain or what?!) and the packaging is fabulous, so chic! However, DISASTER STRUCK! I ran out of Carmex and I didn't even realise, I was currently travelling to Cardiff and waiting for my connection at London Paddington, so off I dashed to a pharmacy which sold a tonne of lip balm products! So I bought several to try out while on my travels! 

The first product I bought was the 'Nivea Lip Care Pearl & Shine'. This balm is tinted pink and packaged in an easy roll up tube. When first applied it makes your lips feel fantastic, however if you have very chapped lips like I did at the time, then this generally begins to bunch round the dry skin on your lips... Attractive? I think not.  This balm smells yummy and does look nice even if you want to go out and don't want any gloss or lip stick on. I found with this that the actual balm doesn't really last long on your lips and you do need to keep re-applying this to get a real effect from it. Overall, a product I would re-purchase if they don't have anything else really in stock. Now I am going to make a huge assumption here and guess that most of you have tried, used, or are currently using Vaseline products Vaseline have quite a few different smell lip balms
such as Rosy Lips, Aloe Vera, Cocoa Butter, and Original. I have Aloe Vera and Cocoa Butter. I personally prefer the Cocoa one as it generally smells better! I do find that this little pots of Vaseline never seem to become empty, I have probably had my Aloe Vera one since 2005, and yes I'm still only half way through! I also use Vaseline not only for my lips but for theatrical make-up for when I do photoshoot's. If I do ever want to buy the original, when my pots actually become empty then I would go to Superdrug and buy 'The Little (Blue, Pink or Green) Tin' as this is only 99p and its basically just the same product!

2. Lip Gloss

I do love myself many lip glosses and sadly if I showed all of them to you then this blog post would probably never end, so what I decided to do in the end was to go into my small beauty box and travel beauty bag and pick out the lip gloss' from these. On the left is one of the lip gloss' I really do rave

about! I adore the colour, the texture, the look, just everything about this lip gloss makes me super happy! This is the Maybelline 'Watershine Gloss'  I have this in the shade 'Cutie Pie'. The packaging is kind of like an ombre fading from bright pink into a baby silver pink. This is so easy to apply even if you are standing on a packed train and have barely any room, it is still possible! This has a small wand to apply with and it screws on the top of the lip gloss product. I have had this product for a while and I've not had to replace it yet which makes me super happy! I bought this product about 9 months ago now in Lloyds Pharmacy for £5.99. I use this product all the time, its my ultimate gloss and I would definitely replace this gloss when its finished! Unless I can find another gloss which blows me away then this will be the top of my list for a long time!

The next product I bought was in the little box of stuff they wanted to shift out of their stock, I rummaged through this box and found this 'Colour Sense' lip balm in 'Cherry Kiss', now to my complete surprise this was also in the clearance part of make-up in Morrisons. I managed to buy this for 50p. I love the smell of cherry products, however when I opened this product while on the train, I was seriously taken a back... First of all you do get the smell of cherry, but it was a very odd smell of cherry. I can definitely see why they had this in clearance and for only 50p. However, if you can by pass the smell of this balm, it is quite nice and feels great on chapped lips. It lasted ages on my lips, and it made them feel very smooth even when the product wasn't on! So, if smell honestly doesn't bother you then you should definitely find this somewhere, but if you are like me and have a sensitive little nose then I wouldn't purchase this. I occasionally use this now when I don't have any other products on me, but I am struggling to shift this product out of my beauty box and beauty travel bag.

The last product I am going to show you is a lip gloss from L'Oreal. This is called 'L'Oreal Glam Shine' and I have this in number 81 'Gold Toffee. I love the colour of this lip gloss, I'm not usually someone to go for this shade of colour as I like bold and bright colours on my lips however, this is an exception this lip gloss is so yummy. I also find that the smell of this lip gloss (I know I smell lip gloss, I'm weird!) reminds me of the smell of Chanel No.5. I am a huge Marilyn Monroe and 1950's fan so for me this is like heaven in lip gloss form! The coverage of this product is really good as well! It doesn't clump on chapped lips like some products and the shimmer gives you that extra little sparkle you need sometimes, even if its just a touch up! It is also really easy to apply, the heart shaped wand helps you to guide the lip gloss on all of your lips not just the easy bits! The only negative I have about this product is that there is just so little of it in the actual bottle! Its 6ml, but just seems so much less! L'Oreal please make this in a bigger bottle I'd love you if you did! 

3. Lipstick's

Okay, I have lots of different types of lipsticks, and this is probably the bulk of the blog post! 

This may take a while! The first 2 products I am going to show to you are from Barry M. Now, I know some people I am friends with actual hate Barry M products but I however love them! They aren't too expensive and I find they work perfectly for me! On the left is the Barry M lipstick in shade 158. I find that this lipstick comes out in quite a red/pink sort of tone. When I went to buy this one I actually thought this was a red lipstick, and I didn't test these 2 out that day as I had loads of products over my hands already! So I bought it and tried this out at home, and I was really pleasantly surprised! The colour isn't too harsh but it is still bright! On the right is the pink Barry M lipstick in shade 157. Now, I personally like to call this one 'Blossom' as it reminds me of Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls! I adore the colour of this lipstick, I've worn it several times and its definitely a contender for my favourite lipstick! I bought these two lipsticks for £4.49 each for either Superdrug or Boots! The next 2 lipsticks are from Maybelline; these are the 'Super Stay 24 Colour' lip products.

Now, I do use this products quite a lot, I mainly use this when I wear my Rockabilly dresses as I don't like to carry too much make-up in my small clutch bag! The coverage of these lipsticks last ages, but I wouldn't say 24 hours. I find that these last for about 8 hours without doing any touch-ups what-so-ever. This lipstick is dual ended; one end is the end with the actual lipstick, It has a wand to paint the lipstick onto your lips, the paint is very slack and you have to leave it to dry until you apply the gloss. (When you leave it to dry do not put your lips together, otherwise they will stick together, and this is not a nice experience!). I have these 2 lipsticks in 'Red Passion' which comes out as a harsh and bright red, which I love; I also have it in a deep pink colour 'Raspberry'. I would really recommend these if you want to avoid constant touch ups, but it can be a right pain to get off even with make-up removal wipes, and they can often stain your lips as well! You can but these for £8.99 each.
The next product is a lipstick from Mary Kay. I bought this lipstick a little while ago when I went round a friend's house for a make-up party with my mum and her mum. I saw this lipstick and knew I had to buy it! Its lasted me ages and smells devine. This lipstick is part of the 'Signature' collection, the coverage of this lipstick is amazing and makes your lips feel super soft as well! I bought this for  about £7.99 and I would really recommend this product. With this company you can also become a sales representative and work on commission and have beauty parties of your own! That just makes me very happy, if only I had the time!! The next product was actually a product I got a while back when I bought a pair of BeYu glasses. While at the opticians, they 

told me that this company had started giving out free samples of their cosmetics to appeal to a new audience. Now I was so happy when I got these, it was just a bonus for my day. Brand new glasses and a lipstick and eye shadow pencil! This is colour 'Rouge à Lèvres' and this is basically a glitter lipstick giving you that extra little shimmer on your lips. This comes out as a baby pink on your lips and is so easy to work with an everyday outfit, office outfit or even for a night out! This is a product I would recommend for Valentine's Day if you have a significant other, but if you are like me and are a single cupcake then this is also perfect for everyday wear! 

I have saved my favourite lipstick till last and that is the Estée Lauder R52 Re-Nutriv Lipstick in Aegean Coral. My mum originally bought this lipstick back in the 1980's but found that she didn't like it that much and she doesn't use it. So after I had a rumage through her make-up bag looking for my eye liner I found this and asked if I could borrow is, so she gave it to me! I have had this now for a year and I have nearly finished it. I am struggling to find somewhere that still sells this beautiful lipstick. The casing is so elegant and beautiful, and even once this is finished I will fill it with another lipstick. This is so chic and vintage and it describes me in a lipstick. The colour is a deep and rich pink, and feels amazing on your lips. It is the perfect lipstick to wear with an elegant knee or calf length dress. The coverage again is outstanding. Never have I fallen in love so much for a lipstick! My mum can't remember how much she bought this beauty for, but if I do find anywhere that does sell this exact lipstick I would pay any money for it! The elegance and sheer class of this lipstick makes me so happy. It is one that will sit proudly on my dressing table when it is assembled!


Emma
xoxo

Driving.. One Step Closer!

Thought I would let all you beauties know that today I passed my driving Theory Test! Next stop is the Practical test! I will be catching up on my blogging very soon as I am currently ill at the moment!

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxo

Shopping Haul!

Hello my beauties! I am finally back - temporarily! I will explain the whole situation at the bottom of this post however lets blog on... Last month I have done a lot of shopping to make-up for the fact I won't be buying too much this month due to a lot of goings on! I have been out and about to various places and shops so I can't do a haul on just one particular shop, however, I will show to you everything I have bought! 

Starting with the products I bought from Boots. I realised I was running low on some of my beauty essentials so I decided to do a little boots haul! As you can see from the picture on the left I bought 2 Barry M Nail Polishes out of the 'Gelly Hi-Shine' collection. Barry M 'Intense Black Mascara 3 in 1', Natural Collection Loose Face Powder and a Soap and Glory Liquid Pen Eye liner  So starting with the Nail Paints. The red paint is called 'Blood Orange' and the gorgeous green/blue toned paint is called 'Greenberry'. I have already tested both of these and I am currently flaunting the Blood Orange. These do exactly what they say on the tin - they leave a glorious shine on your nails. I applied about 2-3 coatings on my nails to make the coating even. The only downfall of these gorgeous coloured nail paints is that they chip so easily! I painted my nails on wednesday night and I have already chipped 6 nails... Woops! I bought the nail paints for £3.99 each with a promotional offer on £1 off on 2 selected Barry M Products... Not bad! The next product is the Barry M Mascara. I usually have a Victoria Jackson Mascara however I am rather skint so went for a cheaper option on the actual packaging of the product they claim that it 'Volumises, Lengthens and Curls'. The mascara most definitely gives my eyelashes some volume and length however the curl? No way! I bought this mascara for £6.19, so not an awfully huge amount of money but as long as it darkens my eyelashes I'm happy! The next is the Natural Collection Loose Face Powder; I got this in neutral translucent as this was the lighter shade. I use face powder as it just helps to hold my make-up such as foundation on for a little longer then usual, which really helps if you are out all day or at work! I absolutely adore NC products, and this is another added to the list! I got this for a nifty little £1.99.. BARGAIN ALERT! The final Boots product I purchased was the Soap & Glory 'Supercat Carbon Black Extreme Eyeliner Pen'... I usually use the Collection 2000 liquid liner however it always stings when first applied so I decided to try another make and here we are! Ever since this eyeliner pen arrived to me I have fallen in  love with it! It is so easy to apply and runs super smooth when applying to your eye! You generally only need to apply one coat as it comes out super black anyway! This hardly ever smudges only if you rub your eyes really hard! They even say on the packaging of the product that it has a 'foolproof marker tip!' if you apply liner a lot or struggle with putting on eye liner then you should definitely purchase this eye liner  I bought this for £6.00 and every penny has been worth it with this product!

On the left you can see myself wearing my fantastic new scarf from Accessorize! I got this beauty scarf for £19, however I actually had a £20 gift card to use which I bought this with! The feel of this scarf if absolutely divine  Its super soft and so easy to add to an outfit! I love wearing this with a black dress about knee length and some heels and basic winged eye liner and make-up and a pink lipstick! Fab-u-lous!


The next product is the gorgeous kitsch flower wash bag! This is a John O'Donnell beauty accessories bag which I bought from my local Lloyd's Pharmacy for £10. I needed a new wash/make-up bag as my current bag is falling to pieces and looks very grubby! This beauty has a double zip to meet at the top and a compartment on the bottom of the bag. In the actual bag it has waterproof lining so if anything is damp or happens to spill in the bag then you just need a damp cloth to wipe it off and its good as new! I adore the pattern on this and the shade of blue is one of my favourites! 

Yes I have been to Body Shop! I never really tended to head towards Body Shop before as I could never really afford many of their products! However I was lured into their shop as mother's day is coming up and my mum loves Body Shop cosmetics! So I went in and I fell in love with pretty much the whole shop. I bought a gift set for my mum as she likes the coconut toiletries from BS. I got this for £16, which isn't a bad price - in the set you get; a body scrub ball, coconut soap bar, coconut body cream scrub, coconut body cream and a bottle of the coconut shower cream. You can also see that there is a Satsuma Body Butter as well, I got this as a free gift for signing up to the Body Shop gift card! I got this for £5, and every time you go to body shop you get 10% off your purchase, as well as this once you have got 4 stamps you get a free gift worth up to £5 and if you get 8 stamps you get a gift worth up to £10, also you get a free birthday gift and treats in your birthday month (mine being July!)

The last product I bought was from Claires. I am always one for trying out new and crazy things with my hair and decided I would try these 'hi-styles' by Scunci. I have had a love/hate relationship with this product so far. They have instructions on how to use the product and how to use it in different hairstyles, BUT I have had so much trouble trying to put this in my hair on my own! Maybe its just me I don't know but I always struggle! I got this for £5 so not a huge spend but I will keep trying till I succeed with this! I got this in blonde as I have blonde hair, you can get it in other colours to your hairstyle though!

And that is it! Now I said I would explain why I have been having problems with my laptop! My Dell N5110 laptop has caused me nothing but grief lately and I have had to get this fixed 3 times in 2 months! Costing me a bomb! I had my laptop fixed again this week yet I have 2 recurring problems; if there is a time that I haven't said why I am absent from blogging that is probably because of my laptop! I will try and let you know via my blog using my dad's laptop!

Much Love

Emma
xoxo