Week 18 manicure challenge

Went for a more natural look on my nails this week, although I did add a bit of sparkle with Rimmel's space dust in Aurora.

Tanya Burr lip glosses

I got sucked into the twitter excitement of the Tanya Burr range being launched in Superdrug stores a couple of weeks ago. I was going into town on the launch day anyway, but thought I'd go and have a look to see what all the fuss is about.

I'd seen "picnic in the park" on a few blogs, and although the bright pink is a little out of my comfort zone (you may notice that I'm heading out of that zone more regularly at the moment) I got it. At the till about to pay; I decided to get "first date" too as it looked like a really nice lighter pink.

On first application picnic in the park and I made good friends. It's a great colour for spring/summer and complements my skin tone well. My relationship with first date was a little slow starting, I initially considered it to be too light and didn't want to look like a barbie doll. However, I have worked on it, and with a lighter application and sometimes a mix with another gloss, the friendship is now blooming.

These lip glosses seem to have great pigmentation, so I presume the rest of the range must be similar. I think I shall be trying more, as soon as I start to use up some of the many other glosses I already own. You could call me somewhat of a lip gloss hoarder, or addict if you will. But whats the harm, eh?

Emma x

Week 17 manicure challenge

Summer-y coral with a white 'n' glitter accent nail. Loving the bright nails!

Floral peg trousers (SS14)

A Spring/Summer 2014 trend seems to be brightly coloured, florally peg trousers. River Island retweeted this picture the other day of @sosueme and I fell for the look.

So much so, that I took myself in to town the next day and headed to River Island in search of 'those' trousers.

Anddddd, I got them!

I wore them out for a meal last night, paired with a black vest top, blazer and platform wedge sandals.

I will definitely invest in some more as they are so comfy and light for the warmer weather.

Week 16 manicure challenge

I've been seeing a lot of talk about neon nails over the past week, what with models own bringing out their neon range.

I haven't invested in anything new, as my nail varnish collection is a more than adequate size. But I have dug out one of my nails inc minis which is quite a bright, almost neon orange. Works really nicely with an orange toned lippy too.

Sorry about the chips, I forgot to take the photo when the mani was fresh! 

Baking a cake

I got one of the Hummingbird Bakery cook books for my birthday which has some amazing cakes in.

I asked my boyfriend to pick one for me to make him as a birthday cake. He only went and picked one of the most complex cakes I've ever seen! 

So for my first real baking experience (other than packet mix cupcakes) I made a chocolate cake with vanilla meringue frosting.

I'm not overly skilled in the kitchen, but I'm very methodical, so I followed the recipe to the nearest tea spoon. Praise to the Hummingbird Bakery, as although it was quite a complex recipe, I found it relatively easy to follow.

The finished result...

Not quite as neat as the picture in the book, but it tasted delish!

Week 15 manicure challenge

Pretty pastels, a different colour on each nail.