Dear Autumn...

I thought I would write you a letter. Over this past month Carrie Hope Fletcher has been writing you letters everyday, which I have really enjoyed watching and it has made me want to write to you.

Autumn you are one of my favourite times of the year, I can bring out the jumpers and wrap up tightly like having a constant hug from my fluffy coat. The colours you bring are so warm and comforting and the chill in the air brings hope of Christmas! However this year when you have rolled around you brought with you some of the biggest changes of all.

Yes Autumn not only have you changed the leaves in to glowing colours but I have had changes in my life that have left me glowing too. Being a uni has been extremely daunting however, I am beginning to find my way. I have met some amazing people who I can now call my friends and even experienced things I never thought I would do at uni, like walking through the Dales at 2am. And even though you have brought Freshers Flu it has given me the chance to cuddle up in bed with a cup of tea and relax something I don't really get the chance to do. So thanks!

However your cold chill, has also reminded me of home and the people who I miss. But the promise of Christmas also brings the promise of family, log burners and Chirstmas baking!

When your cold hearted counter part comes round, I would like to keep the warmness you bring to my day, so I may be writing to Christmas throughout December!

So for now Autumn, as your final leaves fall, we must say our goodbyes till next year, when I hope I will have more to thank you for!

emily xx

The Freshers Tag!

Last week my twin sister created and posted the Freshers Tag which you can see here. So I thought I would jump on the band wagon and do it my self!

1) Which Uni do you go to and what are you studying?
I am at the University of York, and doing a degree in Biology.

2) What type of accommodation do you live in?
I am in university accommodation. All the accommodation at this university is split into collages, I am in Goodricke Collage. I am in a flat of 12, 6 girls and 6 boys. We all have our own en suites, and share a kitchen.

3) What is your bedroom like?
My bed room is really nice, and its on its way to being sorted. The best part is having an en-suite being able to roll straight out of my bed into the shower. When my room is done I am looking forward to doing a blog post showing you my favourite bits! However for now this is the view out of my bedroom window.

Rainbow over the neighboring collage!

4) Were you nervous to go to uni?
Hell yes! I was so nervous and anxious. I still am now and then when I'm here. However I have been really brave doing things I would never even have considered. Like going along to meetings when I have never met anyone going. I took the advice of just saying 'Yes' and taking the most of the opportunity I have been given so far.

5) Hardest thing to get used to when not living at home?
Mine has to be similar to my sisters. It being so far away from my family. The people i used to speak to everyday, or those i would see once a week. When your away for this long it make you realise how much you depend on the contact. Plus the lack of hot tub time with my cousins is killing me! Haha!

6) What's your new city like? 
B-e-a-u-tiful! York is one of the best places on earth in my eyes. Here is a photo just to demonstrate. There will be many more photos of the city and the campus in the future. The reason I love it here so much is the amount of water I am surrounded by, whether that be the Campus Lake or the River Ouse in the city centre.

York Minster!

7) Favourite freshers event?
I found this really hard as we had so many good events. I really enjoyed all the themed nights when I could get my face paint and make up out! If I had to choose an event I would say it was the first Sunday night because it was just such a good night. If you want to see what I got up to during freshers week check out my last  blog post which you can see here.

8) Favourite thing to do whilst at uni?
My favourite thing to do so far is just to go for a walk round the campus and round the lake. As I have said I find water really calming and when I'm feeling down or panicky this just calms me and I feel a lot happier. Plus having all this time outside in the green is just so different from life at home and I love it!

The campus lake!

A second thing which is now going to be a weekly treat is lunch at the Courtyard which is the Universities best place to get the best food! I had a heavenly chicken fajita wrap this week!

9) Do you feel different now your living without your parents?
Yes, extremely. It is weird but I feel like a proper grown up cooking all my own meals, and washing ect.I do enjoy not being nagged or told to do something. But I know understand why my mum tells me off for leaving bread open or using all the milk! Heheh, sorry mum!

10) Any advice for any Freshers to be?
Just say 'Yes'. Honestly every where around you are opportunities  to meet new people and try new things. And take those opportunities and run with them you don't know where they could take you!

To see what I've been up to, like my Facebook page or follow me on twitter @emily23ltn and to make sure you never miss a post make sure you are following my blog on Bloglovin. There will be more York related posts on the way!

emily x

Goodricke Fresher Week!

Sorry I missed last week but last weekend was one of the biggest weekends of my life so far. On the 27th September 2014 I moved to York University. So the last week has been a whirl wind of freshers so here is what I have been up to.

Saturday 27th September 2014
I woke up early this day and packed up the car and I was off. We arrived at the university at 9.30, and then the carrying of all of the stuff that I had manged to ram in the car. We had lovely people called STYC's (Second and third year contacts), helping me carry all of my stuff up to my  floor on the second floor of the building. I have moved into a collage with in my university and I am in Goodricke collage. The rest of the after was spent making my room cosy and homely and then getting to know my flat mates.

At night this was the first event of the Goodricke freshers week. This was a first letter disco, and as my name is Emily I went as an elephant, it was a great first night getting to know people and being able to remember peoples names by what they dressed up as.

Elephant 'Emily'!

Sunday 28th September 2014
This day was filled with collage photos and health and safety talks which were compulsory but not the most interesting. The freshers event of this night was the Green Invasion. The colour of the collage is green so we put on our 'Goodricke till I die'. This was the first time we went out at night in York and we went on a club crawl, and I had a great night!

On the bus!

Monday 29th September 2014
Today we were welcomed by the VC of the uni and the leader of our student union YUSU! I cant say it was the most thrilling talk but it had some important information in it.

Tonight was Pub Golf, a pub crawl involving a game based on downing drinks. I however did not drink as I felt like I need a  break from Alcohol. I went along with my flat to all the bars/pub within the university campuses. When they were about to leave for town, me and another member of the flat decided to head back to our campus. We then instantly regretted this decision. as soon as we started walking the heavens opened and by the time we got back we were absolutely drench!

Before the rain came!

Tuesday 30th September 2014
I had my first departmental lecture/welcome to day, where we were given a very large text book and given a small tour of the department.

The event of the night was casino night at one of the nicest clubs in York, called Revolution. We first went to Bora Bora for starter cocktails and then moved on to Revs and it was a nice chilled out evening spent with the people from my flat.

Wednesday 31st September 2014
Today was the day when freshers flu hit most of us. Just getting the sniffles and feel just a little crappy. We all decided not to go out so when to the alternative freshers event of a quiz, where we came 4th one mark of 3rd and actually getting a prize!

Thursday 1st October 2014
Today I had a meeting with my supervisor who is super lovely and made me feel very comfortable and supported. Today also brought the start of my lectures, and was in then till 5pm. The event of the night was an Animal Crawl. As a flat we decided to go asa Zebras so i got my face paint out and transformed everyone into zebras.

Stripy!

Friday 2nd October 2014
The day was another day filled with working and lecture. This was the last night of the Goodricke organised events and the theme was end of the world! Yep so I got my face paint and fake blood out and turned everyone into Zombies!

Creepy? Right?!

Saturday 3rd October 2014
Today it was freshers fair! It was a really good experience, where you were able to sign up for different societies and sports. Then at night it was the fresher festival 'Live and Loud'. It was good with the line up including DJ Fresh! There was also a fire work display that looked absolutely amazing. It was a great night but it was really freezing cold!

Pretty!

Sunday 4th October 2014
Today is the day that I am posting this. I just want to say how good this week has been. I have moved to a place that I absolutely love. It is so quite peacful, green and beautiful. I feel so calm and relaxed here and a lot less paniky than I did when I was living at home. I can't wait to take some amazing photos and share them with you all.

OK I should be off know as tonight it is the comedy night with the main act as Josh Wittcombe and im now off into town.

'Goodricke till I die'

To see what I've been up to, like my Facebook page or follow me on twitter @emily23ltn and to make sure you never miss a post make sure you are following my blog on Bloglovin. There will be more York related posts on the way!

emily x

Top 5 Beauty Tools!

This week I would share with you my top 5 favourite beauty tools. This are things that help do my make up or hair, that aren't actually products.

1. Tangle Teezer
 I love my tangle teezer. As I have quite long thin hair it is really hard to get knots out of my hair with out breaking my hair. But with a tangle teezer my hair can be brushed easily and always looks smooth, and if you have problems with not being able to get brushes through your hair try a tangle teezer, which you can see here.

2. Curling Wand
Curling wands are great as you can uses them to create tight curls or loose curls. They are also great for controlling fly-aways when you hair is straight, as you can just run the wand over the fly-aways. The wand I have is this one.

3. Cotton Wool Pads
These are such a simple thing but are so useful for lots of different things. I use them for putting eye make up remover or micellear water for removing my make up. They are great for when you make and eyeliner error or you want to tone down how much bronzer you have applied. They are also great to clean brushes with! They have so many uses and can be brought so cheaply!

4. Eye Lash Curlers 
Eye lash curlers are really important to me. When you don't want to apply make up just curling your eyelashes can make such a difference. But for me curling my eyelashes is really important as i where glasses and if i don't curl my lashes they rub against my glasses, which as you can probably understand is really annoying. When buying eye lash curlers in my opinion the cheap ones work just as well as more expensive ones, and an extra tip heat the curls up with a hair dryer before using them. But just a warning they get hot quickly!

5. Real Techniques Buffing Brush
This brush comes with the core collection of the Real Technique brushes. This brush is great for applying foundation and buffing it into the skin. By doing this you can easily build up coverage and it also prevent your foundation from looking cakey. I love this brush and you can get it here.

 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing what my favourite beauty tools, and share yours down in the comments.

 To see what I've been up to, like my Facebook page or follow me on twitter @emily23ltn and to make sure you never miss a post make sure you are following my blog on Bloglovin.

emily x

Rimmel Lasting Finish Nude Foundation Review

So recently I have been stocking up on make up ready for my big move to uni. Something I picked up was the new Rimmel foundation, which you can find here.

I was really interested in this foundation as it claims to last 25 hrs. To me this is a big deal as most foundation will have gone by the end of the day, even with powdering. This foundation is the medium coverage, which I went for over the full coverage, as like all Rimmel foundation they come in the same range of shades and I am 100 Ivory.

Yesterday was my mums birthday  and I had a busy day. so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to put this foundation to the test.

Here is what the foundation looks when first applied. I applied it with a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush which I used to buff the foundation into the skin. I then proceeded to continue with my normal routine including setting the foundation using Rimmel Stay Matte powder. My first impression of this foundation was that is felt light yet gave a good coverage. I would say that is was a step up in coverage from Rimmels Match perfection foundatio., but not too heavy at all.

The morning was spent in town doing some shopping and then we went for lunch, which was lovely I had a club sandwich with chips! Yummy!

After these three hours my foundation hadn't budged. It still look pretty flawless, even with out re-powdering.

Then we went in to a town close by to watch my cousins dance for the heritage weekend. This was a good test for the foundation as I was standing outside for a good hour or so in hot sunshine, (which normally ends in foundation melting off my face).

When I got home I was still really impressed with the foundation, non of it had melted off! I needed to touch up on the concealer but overall the foundation was still pretty flawless.

In the evening we went out for a meal with the family. For this I did not touch my foundation. I did however remove and reapply eye make up and did re-powder the foundation (but if I was being honest it didst really need it).

We had a great meal out, and I the best amaretti ice cream ever!  This is how my foundation was holding up after the meal.

So with over 12hrs of wear, I can say that it was still pretty flawless.

I can officially say I love this foundation. It is light non-greasy, and lasts really well. It is great for those day when you have a lot to do, or want you make up to last for a really long time. Plus it is drug store so it wont break the bank!

The website I used to create polariod effect: http://www.rollip.com/

To see what I've been up to, like my Facebook page or follow me on twitter @emily23ltn and to make sure you never miss a post make sure you are following my blog on Bloglovin.

emily x

25 Things to Do This Summer Update #2

I think it is time for the second update of my 25 things I wanted to do this summer, so its time for the final 12 things.

If you didn't see the original post you can see it here and the first update here.

13. Buy and wear something out of my comfort zone.
I have three items that fit in this category. The first one is a crop top I got in the sale in New Look. The reason this is out of my comfort zone is because it is cropped, which is something I though I would never go for. The next is this top from Topshop Petite this is also slightly cropped but it is also not the shape I would usually go for. Then finally this white top from Holister which is quite strappy and floaty which I wouldn't usually choose. But I really like all of these.

14. Re-decorate my room

Humm, I haven't quite got round to this. I would love to be able to get it done before I go to uni but i am highly doubting that I will.

15. Have a huge clear out!
I have had a humongous clear out! I have gone though all of my 6th form work, and also through my clothes and everything. This has been helped by me having to pack for university.

16. Try some new foods.
Going on the cruise really helped with this. Foods that I have really enjoyed are asparagus and polenta!

17. Visit somewhere in the UK I have never been before.
Hum I didn't really go to a town or somewhere that I have never been. But I did go to the Ritz which is somewhere I had never been.

18. Keep my room as mess free as possible.
I would like to say that I did, but my mum reads this and I'm sure she would not be afraid to comment say that that I didn't. I have tried in more recent weeks to be tidy. But when I go to uni I'm going to have to learn as my room space will be very limited.

19. Do something a bit scary!
I have climbed over the O2 which I suppose classes as scary, but to me it wasn't that scary. The things this summer that were more scary were things that I was a little anxious about. But my most scary thing is still to come, and that is moving out to a place where I will know no one!

20. Go out with my friends at least once.
I did this. On results night S Club 7 (well 3, Jo, Tina and Paul) played at the club so we all went there. This was like all my childhood dreams coming true and I hold my hands up I cried when they sang 'I've never had a dream come true'.  But it isn't a night I will easily forget.

21. Host a garden party with afternoon tea.

I haven't manged to achieve this. Which I am sad about.

22. Go on  a bike ride.
I did this when I was in London, on our Boris Bike around Hyde park. It was a lovely day and I had such a good time.

23. Sew all my badges onto my camp blanket.
I have almost, done this. As you can see my camp blanket is getting pretty full. I am thinking about doing a blog post on my blanket, if that is something you would wont to see let me know in the comments.

24. Eat pizza and pasta in Italy.
I did this. Pizza in Pisa and Pasta in Rome. They were delicious.

25. This one may sound cheesy but, I just really want to enjoy this summer!
I did really enjoy this summer! :)

Thank you for coming on this summers journey with me. It has been one of the best summers I have had and as you can see I have managed to achieve most of the things I set out to do.

To see what I've been up to, like my Facebook page or follow me on twitter @emily23ltn and to make sure you never miss a post make sure you are following my blog on Bloglovin.

emily xx

Uni Clothing Essentials Haul!

Before I go to Uni I decided that there were a few essential pieces of clothing that I need before I go. I didn't purchase any of these as they were a treat of my Granny for my results and getting into Uni. So here goes...

The first thing I got, i picked up a while ago so you may have seen it before. It was this faux leather jacket I picked up in TK Maxx. I think that a leather jack is an essential as it can be used all the time to dress up and outfit, but i do just love it!

The next the I got was coincidentally  from Next. They are these boots. As I know I am moving up north for Uni I know that it is going to be chilly and may get slippy. So I need some sensible boots that will keep my feet warm and last for most my time at uni. These boots are really comfy even from the first time I have warn them and have paired them with these woolly leg warms I have from a few winters ago. You can see these here.

Jeans were something I was lacking in my wardrobe. But over the past year the only jeans I can find that fit me and do short leg seizes (because my legs are tiny), are the Topshop jeans. So I picked up these darker ones, to wear through Autumn and Winter. The style I like are the Leigh jeans that sit perfectly on my hips. Theses jeans are on the pricey size but they last for a really long time so I feel they are worth the investment. You can find these ones here.

The last thing I know isn't exactly and essential but I saw it and fell in love. It is a mint green thin knit long sleeved jumper with this beautiful lace over lay on the bottom. I picked it up in Dorthy Perkins and i think it will be perfect with a statement necklace and a pair of boots, and is thin enough to layer with a jacket for the colder months to come. You can see it here.

I hope you have enjoyed this and if they are any going to uni post which you wish to see feel free to leave your suggestions down in the comments.

To see what I've been up to, like my Facebook page or follow me on twitter @emily23ltn and to make sure you never miss a post make sure you are following my blog on Bloglovin.

emily xx