What caught my eye...

all images sourced from Tumblr

Berlin there done that + Technic crackle top coat

I love my Berlin there done that nail varnish from OPI germany collection.  It is the perfect taupe-y greige colour to give your talons a sophisticated edge. As much as I love it on its own I also found it to be the perfect accompaniment underneath my technic crackle top coat for an army themed night!

Autumn style - Floral Doc Martens

body suit worn as top- republic sale shorts- customised ralph lauren jeans via ebay shoes- mums closet!

Barbara Daly nail polish in Carnival

Todays lacquer of choice was an offering from Barbara Daly for Tesco's. My first impressions were A; This colour is amazing, I feel like a mermaid. B; This brush is the perfect width to fill my nail and not too flimsy, fab. C; why the hell is this still not opaque after 3 coats?! yep, the one off-putting thing about this nail varnish is it takes an age to build up, I don't actually know exactly how long as I got impatient and stopped when it looked mostly opaque on the nail (I will just avoid holding my hands to the light) This colour and formula is too nice to pass up however so next time I will apply a base coat in a similar colour or a white (which will help the colour pop more too!) 

Garlic and herb spelt bread... that went wrong.

So my latest culinary quest was bread, spelt bread to be exact (as that was the only flour we had). However, I am going to warn you now that it didn't go to plan. What I ended up with was a kind of cake-bread that was quite stodgy, it was still pretty darn tasty though. If you want to make spelt bread, a lot better than I have, then this is the recipe I followed. Of course, in typical me fashion, I added some fresh herbs and used garlic oil for some extra flavour. I feel like the mistake I made which caused it to not rise was too much water, will be more careful next time!

NARS Love Thrill gift set

So my first foray into NARS! I definitely had high hopes after seeing nothing but good things in the blogosphere surrounding this brand. It arrived gorgeously packaged and seemed very high end and chic. I bought this set with a gift voucher from Asos here, would I recommend?

Firstly we have the Super Orgasm (ooh-er) blush (I am wearing it on the main picture on the right). This is a gorgeous pinky-coral-y offering with gold flecks. At first I thought the glitter looked scarily large, but when applied it just transfers as a lovely sheen, negating the need for a highlighter. You really only need the smallest amount of this blush (like my illamasqua one) and it gives a lovely flush to the cheeks, I think it would be perfect for summer.  Next we have a velvet matte lip pencil in Sex Machine (are we seeing the 'love thrill' theme yet? wearing on top right picture). The texture of this pen is just to die for, it really is velvety soft! The pinky-mauve colour is very close to my natural lips and with it's lovely matte finish is going to be my go to natural lip from now on. I have saved my least favourite till last, the lipstick in Sexual Healing. The formula of this I thought was lovely, it felt incredibly moisturising and had a slightly harder texture than other lipsticks.  This made it really easy to get a precise line and not smoosh it everywhere,  yet there was zero tugging (I am not explaining myself very well, am I) it was like a lip-balm texture. However, for me personally, this was definitely not my colour, I found it to look quite outdated on me (main picture on the right) with the heavily pearly/frosted finish. However when applied on top of the matte lip pencil (bottom right)  I liked the different finish it gave and so all is not lost.  

Overall I would definitely recommend this set, even with the lipstick not being a big hit for me, the blush and pencil make it worth your money, especially when just those products at their RRP are more than the whole set currently is!

Are there any other NARS products you would recommend?

Diet tips.

I have mentioned before that I am currently attempting to lose weight, in my first year of uni my weight crept slowly up (as it does with most people) and I was left feeling pretty unhappy about myself. Anyway, little changes and tweaks here and there have all helped towards my total 15.6 lbs loss (so far!). I know you would have probably heard all these before but I still thought I would chuck my 2 cents in. I would just like to say that I am doing this as a life-style change, and this is just what has worked for me, please be healthy and happy!

Alternatives and substitutes 

Choosing alternatives, such as the low fat cheese, low cal sweetner or reduced salt soups etc is a really good change to make towards healthy eating without giving up the stuff you love. Also choosing whole grain bread/pasta/rice is great too. Substituting, like swapping that pack of walkers for some home made kale crisps, that mid-day coffee for a detox tea or that 3rd day of  red meat for some lean chicken or fish is also very good for a healthy life style change.

Water, water and more water!

I literally cannot say just how much I used to (and still kinda do) hate drinking water. I would much prefer to mix it with sugary squash or something fizzy. I also never drank enough in general, you would be surprised how much liquid you actually need in a day! I know carry around a big sports water bottle that I try to sip from all the time, sometimes I add some lemon or some sugar free squash to help it go down easier. I find by having it constantly near me I am always sipping and drinking a lot more than I ever would otherwise. I definitely think drinking more water has helped me feel a lot healthier and energised as well as loosing weight (though that's probably because I spend more time weeing than I do eating!)

Shop online

This is a new one for me, I normally amble down to my local sainsburys to pick up some basics, or wait until the boyf is here with is car to do a big shop. Obviously this is a major test of willpower as you have to walk past the freshly baked cakes and amazing offers on sweets and chocolate and everything that you should not be eating. However, if you shop online, you can search for 'low fat' or 'reduced salt' etc and, hey presto! You can only see the good options, the temptation has been removed and makes for a much healthier shop.

Don't do it alone!

I find that I have the most success when someone in my house is also trying to eat healthily. You can share your scrummy, healthy meals (this cuts costs too!), give each other encouragement when you get off track and the celebratory glass of low cal vino when things go well. Sharing the cooking has also been brilliant for me, if I have had a long day then as soon as I come home I just want something easy and quick (and diet ruin-ingly bad) but when a friend is along for the ride, and she has had a less hectic day, I come home to a freshly cooked healthy, home made meal. Quick and easy but good too! (this works both ways of course)

Exercise

Another one of my arch enemies (along with water) I am most definitely not an 'exercise person' I don't particularly enjoy getting out of breath (having a bad asthma type chest doesn't help) having a stitch or being all smelly after some planned work out. Yet I do enjoy a long walk taking pictures or chatting to friends, an impromptu and energetic dance off with my house mate, saving pennies by walking instead of getting a taxi and spending the whole day strutting around town window shopping. And all these things add up! I am also hoping to perhaps start Zumba class soon with the help of a friend, it can't be too different from the dance-offs right??

Treat yourself

I don't anyone needs reminding to treat them selves, but seriously, do! Use those few squares of chocolate (bonus points if it's dark)  at the end of the evening to get through the day. Drink your water because you know that at that party tomorrow night, you will be swapping it for cocktails. Though not just food, buy those jeans or dress you were lusting after, as your others just aren't as fitted any more, get that lipstick, as a bold lip goes so well with your new slimmer figure, right??

Last of all, GOOD LUCK! you can reach me on twitter if you want to share your milestones, let me know of a healthy recipe or that you managed to resist the gooey chocolate cake at work! @emmiegeeblog


P.S It was bought to my attention on twitter that a lot of low fat alternatives have lots of sugar which our body cannot handle, I am going to be more aware of this from now on and you should too :)

my ASOS winnings

The other day I was hugely surprised to receive a tweet from Fashion vouchers saying that I and ASHLLYD had won their £100 ASOS competition! I was amazed and straight away started having a browse on their site. I decided to be a bit 'sensible' and get some things that I actually needed, jeans and some basic wear-with-everything tops. I then added a little treat by way of this awesome tie-dye cold shoulder dress, and then a definite treat of the NARS gift set! I have never owned a NARS product before and due to my budget would never think to really look at them, so I am super excited for it to arrive. I have some money left over which will treat my mum or boyfriend probably.

Casual.

Another outfit post! This is just a very casual outfit as I was going to Yo! Sushi for dinner with some friends (they have their blue Monday deal all week!!). In true student fashion however it turned into a bit of a night out, cue tipsy toilet photo on the right. My top was stolen borrowed from a friend, my jacket in the sale from Warehouse, jeans from Topshop and some Vans!

My trip to Holland and a message to remember.

I was thinking about what to post for my second day of #BlogYourSocksOffSeptember  and decided to tell you all about my recent trip to Holland! Me and my house mate decided to fly over for a few days and stay with a friend she had over there (so we didn't have to pay for accommodation, woo!). It is the first time I had been to Holland so I was super excited, especially to visit the infamous Amsterdam! We stayed in a little place called Breda near Rotterdam. Rotterdam is a place that was entirely bombed during WW2 and was pretty much rebuilt from scratch, it was amazing to walk around the city and think that it was once completely destroyed! Of course we also did the obligatory trip to Amsterdam. My first thought was that so much focus is out on the red light district and coffee shops, that no one mentions just how beautiful the place actually is! Don't get me wrong, walking through a street and openly seeing prostitutes dancing at windows, live sex shows advertised and cafe's purely for smoking weed (one of them had banned normal cigarettes, marijuana only!) was definitely an experience. However, if that is not your scene, then there is plenty more to see and do! There was a madame Tussuads, lots of shops and we even saw a Capoeira street group which was pretty cool. Unfortunately I have misplaced my camera for no w but I will be updating this post with pictures from my trip when I can. 

Soon after we got home my friend showed me this video;

I was pretty shocked, I guess ignorance is bliss and I had deliberately chosen not think about how or why these people became  prostitutes. It's easier to do than you think when prostitution is allowed over there, I assumed that because it is legal it must be closely regulated and done above-board. I don't mean to leave my post on a sad not but I thought it was a strong and thought provoking message that needs to be heard. Here is the Stop the Traffik website.

Aqua dress + posing fail

Last night I had a spontaneous night out, for this I donned on my gorgeous AQ/AQ (formerly  Aqua) dress! This dress has been on a bit of a journey; My house mate bought it off ebay in the wrong size, exchanged it, a year on it no longer fits her and so; Hey presto! A new, and gorgeous dress for Megan. The dress is very structured and heavy which makes it very flattering to wear and feels uber glamorous. I kept it quite simple with some plain black wedges from Primark, I stuck one of those volume-spikey contraptions in my hair and pulled it back into a messy ponytail so as not to detract from the dress. I felt very confident in this outfit and can't wait for the next Aqua-dress-worthy event (not that a random night out is but shh). 

When posing goes wrong!....