Preparing for Christmas... Tips!

I know, I know "Its only NOVEMBER!" but - I like to be prepared for Christmas, and not have to panic at the last minute like hundreds of other people! So here are a few of my tips for Christmas, not only for this year but for future years.

1. Make a List!
I'm not saying make a list just for other people  for what to get you - make a list for yourself!
Normally around mid-late September I start planning for Christmas. What I'm doing for dessert for Christmas day (as I'm normally the one who does dessert), presents, Christmas Cards, Candles, decoration themes & plan. Everything! I normally have a list of presents compiled by mid-October for everyone and have a budget set on how much I'm spending.

2. Spending
Now I have heard countless times of the shock bills we get in January and the impending doom of debt... However I completely avoid this and don't normally have a panic attack of lack of money by 10th January.
What I do, and is one of the best things I do, is put money away for Christmas presents every week of the year, starting the first week of the New Year. This year I saved up just over £300 which was more then enough for my presents and more! It makes things so much easier and less stressful too!

3. Plan Ahead 
Overall the key thing to Christmas is to plan ahead - don't leave anything to chance. Don't wait for the rush of the 1st December to start getting things in. The earlier you start planning and buying things the less panic and rush December seems. I normally go for a waltz around the shops in December after I've done all my shopping for look for myself.

4. Buying after Christmas
So, normally after Christmas is over, everything goes on sale. Last year Balsam Hill had a huge sale and we got an 8ft Christmas tree with lights for £299 when the original RRP was £650. We finally took the plunge and bought a fake tree as we found we could shape them better and have the tree up for much longer!
I normally buy my wrapping paper, cards and other bits and bobs just after Christmas for the next year.

5. Enjoy the Season!
Its one thing I find that so many people are stressing out - that they can't enjoy the time! Which makes me so super sad!!! I love Christmas with all my heart - I love the fake snow, the joyous songs and little children getting excited for St Nick! 

So please enjoy the time, have a cheeky little Baileys, watch a few Christmas episodes on TV while wrapping up presents and writing cards, go out to the local town which has all the beautiful decorations alight at night! (I love going to Oxford Street and Winter Wonderland every year in London, especially at night!)

(P.S I normally love going to see the Choccywoccydoodah Christmas displays in Brighton, and now also London. They are so phenomenally amazing - definitely a recommended visit!)

Emma Victoria

xoxox

Mini Winter Haul!

So, on the 28th October I went to my local town to run some errands and get some essentials for winter! 

Lets start with the make-up... I popped into boots to get some Christmas Pressies and I saw this most amazing deal for a product I really needed! The offer was "Spend £10 on any Rimmel Products and get a mascara for free" - AND I NEEDED A NEW MASCARA! So to qualify for the fantastic deal I bought a nail varnish in the colour 'Black Cherries', Kate Moss Rimmel lipstick in shade 107 and 2 red lip liners in 'Red Dynaminte' and 'Black Tulip'. I really needed a lipstick for winter and thought that this

plum/berry coloured lipstick would be absolutely perfect! I've seen a few other people pick this lipstick up too, and I must admit, it is a super gorgeous colour and has amazing stay on your lips!

Moving onto the nail varnishes, after going to Boots I also popped to Lloyds to pick up my prescription and I saw they had a sale on winter nail polishes from Mavala (I SUPER LOVE Mavala nail polishes!) and I fell in love with the 'Warm Grey' colour, its a mix of grey and beige together! I don't normally pick these colours but I just had to! (I'm gonna do a little nail tutorial with the Warm Grey too when I've bought a new white nail pen!). I then qualified for my new mascara, its super good and it does make my lashes look really full too (yay to no more small eyes!).

Another winter essential that I haven't had for nearly 3 years is a pair of decent working gloves! I used to have fingerless gloves and mittens all in one, but the wool started to come apart so they turned into fingerless gloves, then the wool came away again and I had no gloves. Last year I just kept my hands in my pockets HOWEVER I finally decided I'd invest in some cute, cosy and decent gloves... AND ALONG CAME THESE!!!! 

I popped into Peacocks in my local town just browsing, no intention to actually buy any gloves from there and on the end of the rack with some very beautiful snood's may I add, and I saw these adorable Fairisle cream gloves WHICH WORK WITH TOUCH PAD PHONES. These were only £3.50 - bargain! They are comfy, not itchy like some gloves with wool and they are stretchy to fit your hand too!

Well that's all from me! I know posts are a little out of schedule at the moment, but I have to do everything on a day by day basis due to my back pain and the tolerance of it. I also have some camera update news - I finally got a quote about fixing my lens and they said it will cost £45 and maybe additional parts on top, and I looked up the price for a new one and I found someone who will sell one to me for £42.99. So in around 3 weeks I will hopefully be back on track with my camera quality and off the dodgy iPhone camera pictures!

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxox

YouTube - Day in the Life: Halloween

I have posted my first Day in the Life video on YouTube! I filmed this on Halloween and I have finally figured out how to edit it (a huge accomplishment for someone who is terrible with technology).

Make sure you watch, subscribe and like!

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxox

OOTW; Curvy Collectif!

As I mentioned in my weekly overview on Sunday that today I would be meeting some of the lovely people who follow and support my band, we sat in Costa for around 2 hours with lots of coffee's and coolers, and had a lovely chat! We then went for lunch and after lunch we went to the park and did a little sing song and people passing also stopped to have a listen! My outfit today is a cute 'Collectif' look, and I bought both these items in their Hot 50 Sale at the end of July!

Dolores Sweetheart Gingham Top, Collectif - £30

Black Liesel Skirt, Collectif - £46.50

White Trixie Cat Eye Sunglasses, Bow and Crossbones - £8

'Love' Quote & Swallow Necklace, Gift - £Free 

Red Hair Flower (Pack of 10), Amazon - £4.99

Gold Buckle Waist Belt, New Look - £5.99

Black Patent Frothy Soda Flat Shoes, Clarks - £44.99

For my make-up, instead of doing my normal black winged eye liner, I used a glitter liquid liner and just did exactly the same style as normal and touching up my eyes with mascara, on my lips I have used the Seventeen lipstick in shade 'Hollywood', I'm really sad as this lipstick just broke on me one day, but the colour of this is really beautiful! For my hair, I did a loose low pony tail at the back of my neck, and then folded this in on its self, to create this simple look; its good because its not meant to look perfect or tidy! You can finish off your hair with a hair flower!

For my nails, I have painted them in the Barry M nail polish in shade 'Peach Melba' which is absolutely cute! For my shoes I am also wearing my new flat shoes I bought from Clarks! After breaking my 2 toes I realised I should buy some proper shoes instead of cheap £10 ones all the time which gives my foot no support what so ever! I chose to get this in patent instead of the matte shoes generally because patent looks a little more finished and prettier then the boring matte ones (plus they are easier to clean!).

Much love my lovelies!!

Emma Victoria

xoxo

Weekly Overview; 28th July

I've sewn labels in 47 items today!

I can't believe we are in the last 3 days of July... how quick is 2013 going?! I swear it will be Christmas before I know it! Any who, lets get on with my weekly overview! 

Today All I have done is sewing labels into my brother's clothes for his scout jamboree! My fingers are killing after threading a needle through clothes all day (since 10am) ouch. Early night tonight, after all that sewing (oh and watching Gavin and Stacey!)

Monday I have lots of errands to run, I need to put money into my bank, do some ironing, do my shopping list, do more washing and have a shower! Its just one of them boring house days which consist of baggy clothes and no make-up! I also have to go to the airport to see my lovely friend and band member Ricky off on his holiday! He won't be returning till the 2nd of September! I will also be doing my OOTW tonight because I just won't have the time tomorrow!

Tuesday I am off to London with my best friend to go shopping! Yay! I'm so excited! Me and my friend Charlie are going shopping as she wants to find an outfit for Summertime Swing and also just because we want to go shopping in London! Afterwards, I'll come home, relax in bed and watch a film! 

Wednesday I have to go food shopping, all on my own! Big stuff for me! A full weeks shopping to do for myself! I think Chocolate will definitely be going in the trolley! I may also (finally) do my Birthday Haul video, I know its been around 2-3 weeks since my Birthday but I've just been finding a way to do it!

Thursday I have to see the doctor!! I have to see the doctor for a check-up on my foot after breaking 2 of my toes! After having one of my toes re-set they just want to make sure that the toe is okay, I also get to find out if I can wear heels again! 

Friday I need to help pack all my brothers clothes for his scout jamboree and get all his stuff together! Just another relaxed day and getting all my stuff ready for the weekend too! I may even go DVD shopping if I have enough money!

Saturday I'm up super early to help get my brother to his International Scout's Jamboree, he is super excited about going and spending time with all his friends! Once my brother's gone my mum and dad are going away till Monday to a concert in Whistable (I think they are seeing the Blow Monkeys), which means, I'm home alone with my dog Freddie! I may get a takeaway just for myself as a treat, or I'll cook, it depends! I may bake a cake too seeing as I have the whole day (and house!) to myself! I think its Film Night too for me!

Sunday I have my best friend Charlie coming up and staying with me and we are going to Summertime Swing!! I'm so super excited about going and seeing the Jive Aces! I've no idea what outfit I'm going to be wearing yet either!!! Charlie will be staying over at mine, which means I'll post my Weekly Overview on Monday next week as I just won't have time next Sunday!!

Busy week ahead, but also super exciting! Also, tomorrow I will finally be posting a collage of some of my birthday photos, Wednesday will be a lifestyle post all about relationships and love and how to get over someone so if you need a bit of love advice then stay tuned! Also if you have any questions related to relationships then please let me know and I shall answer them in my post! Next Friday will also be a guest post (hopefully) from my lovely friend Anja!

Much Love

Emma Victoria

xoxo

Summer To-Do List!

Seeing as I finished work on Wednesday and my summer holiday began yesterday and goes right through to the 2nd of September! So, here is my summer to-do list of all the things I wish to do in my summer holiday...!!!! I will keep updating and re-posting this, ticking off the things I've done and also adding things as I go along!

Go to Summertime Swing with my best friend Charlie!
Go and See Monster's University
Go and see Despicable Me 2
Go and See The Worlds End
Do my Birthday Haul YouTube Video
Dip-Dye my Hair some wacky colour?
Buy some new cigarette trousers
Buy a New Pair of Black Heels
Go Shopping in London 

Go Shopping in Brighton
Go out for the first time 
Do some photo shoots
Buy a new rockabilly dress

Tailor My Lady Vintage Dress 

Do an all nighter!

Do something fun in the house on my own (3rd August)

So what are you going to be doing this summer and have you made a summer to-do list!! Post in the comments if you have and what you have planned!

Much Love

Emma Victoria

xoxo

Summer Shopping Haul!!

I promised you I'd do a haul! And here it is!! I have been super busy lately with party planning, building furniture for my room and work, that I have had to do all my shopping on-line. Never the less all the things I have bought are absolutely beautiful, and I have my mum to thank for introducing me to SimplyBe. 
Okay, so first of all, SimplyBe is a clothing company that caters for the non size 0 people of the community like myself! (They sell from sizes 14-32!) I am in fact Size 14-16 in SimplyBe (size 16 depending on the cut of the clothing around my bust area!).

So lets start with the beautiful clothes I bought! All the clothes this haul are from SimplyBe as mentioned above! I absolutely loved the Joe Brown range, it was so retro, and I just had to buy something! So lets start with my new denim gilet!

I absolutely adore this waistcoat/gilet! Its the perfect accessory to any outfit, whether its a dress or a pair of short/trousers and a cute tee! 
On the image on the left you can see the frayed detail on the arm hole. The colour of this jacket is a denim wash, and its the comfiest denim gilet in the world! This item is perfect if you are trying to achieve a rock chic/festival sort of look! This is even more perfect if you have  problems with finding these jackets to fit over your bust, this has a stretchy material so it is easy to fit over your chest and to button this up! You can wear this unbuttoned or buttoned up and you will achieve the perfect rock chic look! You can buy this for a nice round price of £30, this gilet will last you a while and it wont be part of the 5 minute fashion fad!

The next item is the Joe Browns Legacy Print Dress, now this item didn't actually look how I expected it to look when it arrived; in the catalogue it showed a pale purple (like the image on the right) but when the dress arrived it was a much more deep purple, however I was still very much in love with this dress! This has a sweetheart neckline which gives you a lovely cleavage, this dress also has a ruched area on the bust by the neckline, which also has buttons (however these cannot be undone). this dress pulls in at the waist perfectly, giving you a stunning figure. The skirt on this dress has a dipped hem, and is perfect to wear with a white flowy cardigan and a pair of wedges for a cute summer look. At the back of the dress, it also has a ruched area on the back, to pull in the dress to extend your stunning curvy figure! I bought the legacy print dress for £38.

The next item is the gorgeous Joe Browns Meadow Swing Dress, this out of all the items has to be my favourite!! I am a sucker for floral swing dresses, and if I could afford every single one I probably would buy them all, sadly I am not that rich... yet! Moving on, this dress has a mustard yellow sort of colour in person but always comes out brighter in pictures! The flowers on this are different shades or pinks and the green is a deep green. This dress is a dream to wear, it has a small slip skirt underneath the material, so another extra little bonus there! There is no zips or buttons on this dress and it has a stretchy waist so if you have any concerns about the dress fitting, may your worries be taken away! I bought this beautiful dress for £45 but it is worth every single penny, the quality of the dress is amazing, and this product washes really well, and also super easy to iron as well, just needing a quick press on the skirt!

The last clothing item I bought was this lovely floral 'Pick of the Season' tunic dress. You can wear this as a casual sort of dress or for a special occasion  it fits lovely to your figure, pulling in at the waist. This dress has a scoop neckline, and is made of a light material so its perfect for hot weather! (Not like we get much hot weather in the UK!) You can buy this dress in Red or French Blue. I bought this little beauty for £38 and I adore wearing this little number with a cardigan and some cute little flat pumps!

Now onto the accessories bit! This is always my favourite bit, adding to an outfit! So lets begin with the lovely pair of cat eye sunglasses I bought from the kitsch Bow and Crossbones...






I bought these lovely 'Trixie Pin-Up Rounded Cats' Eye' Sunglasses for a lovely £8. I bought these in white, because I already have a black pair of Cats Eye sunglasses. This pair are super sturdy and are the perfect accessory for the sun or to just prop on your head to finish off a hair do! The lenses are a deep shade or black/purple and work really well with all my Swing Dress'! 

The next is this lovely mini Tote Bag (Woodland), again from Bow and Crossbones; I bought this in the clearance sale. I bought this for £1.50. I like to call this my mini Bambi Bag! I love the design on this and the handles are really sturdy when carrying small but heavy items. With all my babysitting duties lately, I have had to work with a pram and a 3 year old to go shopping, and yes its not easy! But I always get the little 3 year old involved in shopping but getting her to put things in her bag, and when we get to the checkout we empty out and see what she's got! Such a fun little game, and a handy little tote bag! Highly recommend this little bag, cheap, cheerful and super retro!

These are my new favourite shoes! You would've have seen these in my OOTW this week! I bought these amazingly comfy and stylish summer wedges for £18! I never tend to buy shoes from shops such as New Look, Peacocks etc because I like to buy my shoes from the shoe shops! However, these are an absolute exception, I've been looking for a pair of black wedges for a while as my white pair don't tend to go with all my outfits! I was a bit dubious with the height of these as I like low heels instead of higher ones, but these are so comfy! I can wear these for hours and have no pain in my feet at all! These are very much styled like flatforms except with a super small arch! So easy to walk in, and this is someone who walks in small heels instead of high ones! The black material is made of suede and has a cap for your heel at the back and an ankle strap to make sure they stay on your foot, especially if you go and do some dancing! 

I bought these lovely photo frames from a lovely little shop in my local town called 'Emma Louise' now she sells Sass & Belle products, which these are, in that shop I paid £5.95 each, but you can buy these Oval Portrait Picture frames for £4.95 each from the Sass & Belle website! I didn't mind paying that little extra cause the lady in the shop is the absolute sweetest woman in the world! I have pictures of me and my 2 friends who mean a lot to me in these frames on my windowsill! 

I also bought this lovely little Cream Rose Heart Wreath, which is also from Sass & Belle. I bought this for £3.95 from Emma Louise, but you can buy this also from the Sass & Belle Website for £4.95. This so cute and sweet!

The last item I bought was this retro 'Make Chocolate Cake, Not War' coaster for my bedroom, I'm going to buy one of these each month for my room, as they have a selection of many different ones! I fell in love with this one, because lately I have been doing so much baking of cakes and breads and all that, that I thought this would be perfect! I love the colour and the simplicity of this lovely little retro coaster, and for only a £1 from Bow and Crossbones! 




So that rounds up my huge haul which I've been promising you for a while! I shall hopefully be blogging more and I have some new ideas to blog you with! Hope you enjoyed this post, sorry its a tad long!

Much Love & Well Wishes

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