When I got the Gwen Stefani Palette from Urban Decay for Christmas (you can see everything I got for Christmas here) I knew it would be perfect for a New Years Eve look.

Benefit’s Rockateaur Blush
Sleek Makeup’s Contour Palette in “Light”
Concealer
Collection’s Powder

I really want to make the the eyes the main star for this look so I decided to go with a natural face. I used the blush to give myself a natural Winter flush and took the highlighter from the Sleek Contour Palette to make my skin glow. I then applied concealer to my under eye circles and set my under eyes with the Collection Powder.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Soft Brown
Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Palette using the colors “1987”, “Danger”, and “Serious”
Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara

I started my eye routine by filling in my brows using the Dipbrow and highlighting my brow bone using the same highlighter I used on my face. I then moved onto eyeshadow. I took 1987 (the gold color) and applied it all over my lid I then took serious (a blackish gray) and applied it to my crease with a windshield wiper movement. After I was satisfied with how that looked I took danger (a dark navy) and applied to the outside corner of my eyes and brought it into the crease to blend with serious until it looks how I wanted it to. I also took danger under my eye to give it a sharp look. I thought about adding some eyeliner to this look but after I finished my eyeshadow I decided that it looked good without eyeliner and eyeliner probably would have taken in over the top. I finished off my eyes with mascara.

NYX Lip liner in Nude Pink
Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Lipstick in Ex- girlfriend

I wanted to have a nude lip for this look and couldn’t find a lipstick in my collection that I thought would look good and then I remembered that I got samples of Gwen Stefani’s lipstick line with Urban Decay in the Gwen Stefani palette and saw that Ex- Girlfriend would go perfectly. I started by lining my lips with Nyx’s pinky-nude liner before taking a using my finger to apply Ex-Girlfriend (I couldn’t find my lip brush!). 

I started blogging about 6 months ago and I am very happy with how it has been going so far but I still have a lot to learn and a lot of things I want to change with my blog still so I thought I would share some of my blog goals with you :).

I have been getting kind of frustrated with using wordpress.com because I can’t do exactly what I want to do and my blog doesn’t look anything like I want it to look like. I also want more control over my blog because I often see that I get more likes than views on a post through wordpress and I have a good amount of followers on bloglovin but never get a single view from bloglovin. But that whole rant is for another time!

As you may know, if you read my What I got for Christmas post, I got a new camera for Christmas so I really want to put out nice high quality images and work on composing exciting flat lays.

I read so many different blogs but I never comment and I want to comment more and be more interactive on social media, like twitter which basically never gets used. I also really want to meet some bloggers in person and attend a blogger event.

I have been pretty good at sticking to a schedule but I have only been doing on average 2 posts a week and I want to bump that up to 3 or 4 posts a week.

I really want to venture into the world of videos. I started out watching videos before reading blogs and I would love to give it a shot.

I got to almost 200 followers in 6 months so I would love to try and got to 500 followers by this time next year.

These are all the blog goals I have for 2016 and I also have 2 personal resolutions for 2016.

I have been feeling dehydrated lately and frequently catch myself having a few cups of coffee a day with no water which is so bad for you!

These past 2 months have been particularly bad. I have been eating horribly and I need to go back two healthy eating and going for runs. I ordered the skinnycoffeeclub 28 day detox to start January 1st (if it gets here in time!) to kick off eating well.

What are your new years resolutions or blog goals for 2016? tell me in the comments!

See you soon!

X Emily

I thought I would make a little post about what I got for Christmas this year, and it was a big one!

I thought it would be fun to share what I got this year for Christmas because I like reading these types of posts.

The big gift I got was a Olympus Pen e-pl7 and a 14-42mm lens! I am so pumped about this, I have been wanting a good camera for awhile now. Get ready for better quality photos!

My Grandmother got me a coloring book with a pack of colored pencils. I love the coloring book trend. I already have one that I left at school and I am happy to have one at home with me.

I got some good stocking stuffers this year. Lip balm and hand lotion are Winter essentials that are always good to have laying around. And who doesn’t love an iTunes gift card? I’m sure this will be gone by the beginning of the year.

If you have been reading my blog for awhile you probably know I went vegetarian a few months ago. I have been making the same few meals over and over again so I was very happy to get Thug Kitchen, a vegan cookbook, to test out some new recipes. I also got a spiralizer to make zoodles which I’m happy about because I tried to make zoodles with a grater once and it didn’t turn out good.

My sister got me this turtleneck sweater from The Loft that I have been admiring since she got one for herself at Thanksgiving. I will definitely get a lot of use out of the sweater this Winter.

I have been lusting after this palette since it was announced. The colors are so pretty and and I will definitely get a lot of use out of it.

Look out for some makeup looks with this in the new year.

I love subscription boxes and have been reading BirchBox unboxing posts for awhile but never committed to making a subscription so I am definitely excited to have a 3 month subscription! look out for unboxing for the next few months!

I love this mug that my mom got me. As you know, if you have been reading my blog since the beginning, I lived in London for 5 months at the beginning of the year and fell in love with the city and definitely plan on making my way back there someday soon.

I also got some mint green tea from Teavana, which is a great tea brand. I can’t wait to give this tea a try in my new mug!

What was your favorite gift you got this Christmas? Let me know in the comments! I got a lot of great gifts but I am most thankful for my new camera and I am so excited to take a lot of high quality pictures ( and maybe make a few videos?).

See you soon!

X Emily

Hello everybody!

We always spend the holidays with my mom’s side of the family, who is all Swedish. Because of this we have became accustomed to a few Swedish traditions for the holiday ( warning: all of them involve food haha).

We always have Kringle, which is a Scandinavian pastry that is amazing ,  as an option for breakfast and my favorite flavor is almond. It’s to die for, and obviously very sweet because its Christmas time and why not have something sweet for breakfast? I don’t know why we don’t have these all year round but we just don’t, its strictly for Christmas in this family.

These are probably my favorite Christmas cookie ever. It is an almond flavored cookie and its just great. If you ever come across them pick them up because YUM.

I’m pretty sure this is technically an American-Swedish food but I’m not positive. It is kinda like a cheddar cheese but like better I don’t know how to describe it haha but it is the best cheese to make grilled cheese with hands down! You can get it two ways, with caraway seeds and without, and I hate the caraway seeds I think they are disgusting but the one without the seeds is BOMB.

Okay, now onto what I really wanted to talk about! GLÖGG! Glögg is basically a Scandinavian mulled wine that I want to try and make because I’ve never had it before and according to my mom my grandparents used to really like it. I also thought that now would be a good time to make it because I turned 21 this year so why not make something alcoholic, right?

I picked up a Glögg spice mix from a local Swedish shop and looked up some recipes online, they provide one on the back of the mix but its lame and I found better. I ended up using this one:

Pour the red wine and port into a stainless-steel or porcelain kettle. Do not use an aluminum or copper pot since these metals interact with the wine and brandy to impart a metallic taste. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, orange peel, raisins, and almonds. Cover and simmer.

 Put the sugar in a pan and soak it with half the brandy. Warm over a medium-low flame and stir occasionally until it becomes a clear, golden syrup and all the sugar is dissolved (at right). Let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the tiny bubbles become large burbles. This starts caramelizing of the sugar and adds a layer of flavor.

Add the sugar syrup to the spiced wine mix. Cover and let it simmer over a low heat for an hour.

It stated smelling heavenly, all the spices mixing together. We let it cool down a little before serving and let me tell you it is amazing! It has a very strong alcohol smell but it tastes delightful! 

Glögg is a perfect holiday drink to feel festive with. It is perfect for the cold winter nights right before Christmas (not so much this year since its going to be 61 degrees but still).This is definitely becoming a new Christmas tradition for my family! 


Do you have any Christmas Traditions that relate to your heritage? tell me about them in the comments!

See you soon!

X Emily

Hello! I hope everyone is loving my festive posts! since today is technically the first day of Winter I thought I would do the Winter Tag for you guys! 

Do you like the cold?

I love the cold! I know people may this that is weird but Fall and Winter are my favorite! I don’t think I could ever live somewhere that was just one season all year round for very long.

What is your most worn Winter nail polish?

 I love a dark red almost black nail polish for the winter. Anyone that knows me knows that I love dark colors always so this is no surprise.

What is your favorite clothing item in Winter?

I mean it is sweater weather am I right? I love cozy over sized sweaters.

Do you have a favorite Winter memory?

This is more of a Fall memory than a Winter memory but is the first thing that came to mind but my sister and I used to make a house out of leaves, which you could also do with snow to make it more Winter-y. We literally made a floor plan with leaves as the outlines of walls and openings for doors and would pretend these were our house.

Another Winter memory could be going to ice skating lessons every week but that was a September through April/May kinda thing so it also wasn’t technically just Winter.

Top 2 Winter Beauty and Fashion Essentials.

 1. Winged eyeliner. there is something about Winter that makes winged- eyeliner a must. I guess its because its too hot to try in the summer so I go hard in the Winter.

2. Red lips. I mean come on a red lip is classic and looks good on anyone. I don’t care what you say, if you don’t red lips then you just haven’t found your perfect shade yet.

What shoes do you tend to wear the most in the winter?

 I live in my L.L. Bean Bean Boots. I got them for Christmas a few years about and haven’t looked back since. They keep my feet toasty warm and are completely water proof. They are great for living in the Northeast.

Does it snow where you live?

 YES! oh boy does it snow. Its not as bad not that I am living directly on the water but my home town usually gets a ton of snow.

Have you ever made a snowman?

Do you want to build a snowman… SORRY I had to. Of course I have! Every child should build a snowman. Every adult should build a snowman. You are never too old to play in the snow.

I hope you enjoyed my responses and let me know what your responses are whether its in the comments or you make a blog post tag me in it so I can see!

See you soon!

X Emily

I have talked about my vegetarianism on here a few times and with the holidays here I thought it would be a good time to give vegan baking a try.

My family and I usually go down the sugar cookie route during the holiday season and this year I thought I would make gingerbread instead so I thought why not go ahead and make them vegan too!

I researched recipes and found this one on Food.com and it seemed simple enough and decided to give it a go. I’m not going to list all the ingredients because you can just go to the recipe to see all the ingredients.

you start by mixing all the dry ingredients together and all the wet ingredients together then slowly mix the two together to make a nice dough that you an pack into a ball.

Next put it in the fridge to chill for for 2-4 hours.

After, it’s time to roll out the dough to make the shapes. I decided to do a mix of gingerbread men, stars, an trees.




Then put them in the oven to back for 8-10 minutes. I baked them for 8 minutes and they turned out great.

My sister and I tried to decorate them to be very clean and classy but obviously that didn’t exactly happen but they have character :).

Overall, I think these cookies came out great! It tastes exactly like a regular cookie but so much healthier, they are nice and soft which is nice since gingerbread can have a snap to it and I like softer cookies.



I hope you liked this little baking post, I enjoyed making them! Have you tried vegan baking? Do you like vegan cookies?

See you soon!

X Emily

Christmas is my favorite time of year! I love picking out a fresh Christmas tree every year.

This year our Christmas tree picking didn’t go quite as planned. We go to the Lions club tree sale and get our tree there but this year they were all sold out  so we had to go somewhere else which wasn’t ideal but we still found a great tree! 

I love decorating the tree with Christmas music in the background.

My Family has an eclectic mix of ornaments that have been collected / made throughout the years and I love how homey it looks. I think that the themed trees tend to look cold and uninviting.




I hope you liked this little post! Do you have a themed tree or an eclectic mix of ornaments?

Check out my other Blogmas posts!

I love Christmas sweaters! My christmas sweater collection doesn’t accurately show my love for Christmas sweaters though. I only have 2 but they are pretty awesome. 

See you soon!

X Emily

Tis the season of parties! I love day to night looks because it makes it so easy to get ready for a night out when you are crunched for time, especially if you have a holiday party on a Friday after work or school.

 I started off the day look by applying Wake Me Up concealer to my under eye circles and Revlon HD concealer to the inner corners to brighten them up. I set the concealer with The Collection’s powder. I filled in my eyebrows with Anastasia’s Dipbrow in Dark Brown.

Next I move on to my eyes. I used the Naked 1 and 3 palettes for my eye shadow. I started out wth taking Naked Palette’s Toasted  and applying it all over my lid, then took Naked 3’s Factory  and applied it in my crease. I then made a thin line of eyeliner with Soap & Glory’s Supercat eyeliner to make my eyes more defined. I finished off my eyes with L’Oreal’s Miss Manga mascara which gives a very natural look.

I finished the day look off with applying Tanya Burr’s lipgloss in Chic.

After I went out for the day  I came back to touch up my makeup for a night out with friends.

 I started by touching up my concealer. Then I went in with the Naked Palette’s Hustle and applied it to the out corner of my eye to darken up the look. Then I went back in with Supercat eyeliner and made a thicker line and a defined wing. I then I curled y eyelashes and applied Maybelline’s Lash Sensational mascara so make my lashes longer and voluminous.

I then applied NYC bronzer as a contour and wiped off what was left of my lip gloss and applied L’Oreal’s Infallible Red lipstick and went out for the night :).

I hope you liked this makeup look!

See you soon!

X Emily

Red lipstick can be very intimidating. I used to be very self-conscious in red lipstick because it is so bold, but it was last year that I fully embraced red lipstick, my first being the Stila Stay All Day liquid lipstick in Tesoro.

Over the past year I have accumulated a couple other red lipsticks and I thought I would see what my perfect Christmas red lipstick is now.

I still really like my original Stila liquid lipstick. It has great pigmentation and doesn’t budge from my lips. The lipstick is also matte which I love but is also very drying, like all matte lipsticks, and doesn’t always make my lips look their best. The red lipstick also has an orange undertone that, with my new purply hair, would probably no longer look good on me.

My second red lipstick is Tarte’s Glamazon lipstick in Wild. I really like this lipstick, its moisturizing and it stays on a long time without retouching. The only thing about this product I don’t like is the pigmentation. This product is on the older side so I think it may have dried up a little or something because it is more pinky than red on me but I feel like it used to be a vibrant red. It is still a nice color but when I want to go for a strong red it just doesn’t work anymore. The other day, I was wearing this color  and my friend thought I was wearing pink lipstick which just isn’t the look I’m going for.

The last red lipstick is L’Oreal’s Infallible lipstick in Infallible red. I picked this up a few weeks ago because my sister has one of these lipsticks and I love the color of hers but she had Beyonce’s red but I couldn’t find it anywhere. When I went to my local drugstore I saw Infallible red which is a true red color so I thought it would be a close match to my sister’s color. I really like this color, its definitely the perfect red for Christmas but I had some problems with the application. The lipstick is a 2 step lipstick with 2 products in one. The consistency of the color part of the lipstick is like a lip gloss and it is very sheer and hard to build up because when you put a second layer on it just kind of moves around on your lips and doesn’t really go over the first layer. But once you get a good consistency, you set the lipstick with a clear coat that then makes the lipstick matte which I really like.

Overall, these are all good lipsticks but my personal go-to red lipstick for christmas time is definitely going to be the L’Oreal Infallible lipstick. Its a great color and if you take your time with the product you can get some good pigmentation.

What’s your go-to red lipstick for the holiday? let me know in the comments and I hope you guys are having a great day!

See you soon!

X Emily

Hello lovelies!

Tis the season for dry air. Which means you should be getting ready to go into battle against your lips!I have two go-to products I use when my lips are starting to feel dry.

First, I use the E.L.F. Lip Exfoliator to scrub away dead skin when they are looking particularly bad or when I’m about to put on a matte lip and want my lips to look especially good. I really like this product, it does a great job at getting rid of dead skin while not being too harsh on my lips. I also really like the packaging of the product, the lipstick packaging makes if very easy to apply where other lip exfoliators that come in jars are very messy and leave my fingers feeling sticky.

My other go-to product is Burts Bees lip balm. I love this stuff, I have been using it for years and have never felt the need to try other products because Burts Bees is just perfect for me. It leaves my lips feeling very hydrated and moisturized  even in the dry Winter months. When I feel my lips drying out I just pop some of this on and my lips feel instantly better and is pretty long lasting.

These are my two go two products for battling dry lips! What are your go to lip products for dry lips? I hope you enjoyed this post and are liking Blogmas so far!

See you soon!

X Emily

P.S. sorry for the blurry photos I borrowed a fancy camera and didn’t realize some most photos are a little out of focus :(.

Everyone loves rocking out to a good christmas tune so I thought I would share some of my favorites with you! I know some of these songs are no surprise because they are probably on everyone’s holiday playlist but I still want to share mine with you!

Let me know if you’ll be jamming out to my playlist or if you have any go-to songs that didn’t make my list.

See you soon!

X Emily

P.S. There may be a few songs that aren’t suitable for all ages (ahem the Blink 182 songs) but I just couldn’t resit adding them.

SO. Today is my first day of Blogmas. I am only doing the 12 days leading up to Christmas as you’ve probably gathered by now. I thought I would start of simply with the Christmas tag to get the festive ball rolling on my blog. I got the questions from Boston Beauty Buzz’s post from last year.

1. What is your favorite Christmas film?
Hmmm. I’m going to have to go with Elf. It’s a classic and I never get sick of it but a new favorite is going to have to be Arthur Christmas. I believe it came out last year but I saw it for the first time at the end of November and I have watched it quite a few times since.

2. Have you ever had a White Christmas?
Of course! I live in the Northeast so I get a white christmas about half the time. Although most of my snow doesn’t come until January. We’ll see what happens this year but I am thinking probably no to a white Christmas this year.

3. Where do you usually spend your holiday?
I spend my holiday at home with my family. My grandparents come up from Florida and we all celebrate together.

4. What is your favorite Christmas song?
I have so many favorites (Look forward to my christmas playlist blog post coming out tomorrow!)but I think my all-time favorite will have to be Last Christmas by Wham!

5. Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
No! presents are strictly for Christmas Day! Opening presents on Christmas Eve is like cheating!

6. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
I’m not even sure how many Santa’s reindeer there are but I’m just gonna name off some I know without the help from Google (THAT’S CHEATING)and hope for the best! Donner, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Blitzen, and Rudolf…duh.

7. What holiday traditions are you looking forward to most this year?
I love baking and decorating Christmas sugar cookies. It is something we have done since I can remember and even though they come out looking ridiculous and honestly aren’t my go-to cookie choice I still look forward to slapping some neon colored frosting on a bunch of shape cookies.

8. Is your Christmas tree real or fake?
Real. I love getting a real Christmas tree every year. Going looking for the perfect tree is a great family experience and I find the fake trees to be wimpy and just generally make me sad when I look at them.

9. What is your all-time favorite holiday food/sweet treat?
I love the Spritz cookies my mom makes every year and I love getting Bond-Ost cheese from our local Swedish market and making grilled cheese with it the few days before and after christmas. I love all the Swedish food we tend to have during Christmas because my mom’s side of the family is fully Swedish.

10. Be honest: do you like giving gifts or receiving gifts better?
I’m gonna be honest I love getting gifts. Who doesn’t love getting gifts??? And I find buying gifts to be very stressful because I never know what to get people and I’m so worried they won’t like my gift.

11. What is the best Christmas gift you’ve ever received?
I think it would have to be everything I got last year getting ready for my trip to London and my iPhone.

12. What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season?
Home. I don’t understand why people would want to celebrate the holiday at a resort or something. Christmas, to me, is all about being at home relaxing with your family.

13. Are you a pro-present wrapper, or do you fail miserably?
I would like to think that I am a pro-preset wrapper but others may say I fail miserably. So it all depends on who you ask .

14. What made you realize the truth about Santa?
I honestly don’t even remember a specific turning point where I no longer believed in Santa I think it just happened.

15. Do you make New Years resolutions? Do you stick to them?
Ehh. I stopped making New Years resolutions a long time ago because I wouldn’t even make it to day 2.

16. What makes the holidays special for you?
Just spending time with the family. Especially my grandparents because I don’t get to see them as much.

17. What do you wish for Christmas this year?
I really want to get a camera this year because I have been getting into photography and my blog and I would love to have a good camera to use besides my iPhone.

18. Favorite Christmas smell?
The smell of a fresh-cut Christmas tree!

19. What is the worst/weirdest gift you ever got?I don’t think I have had any really bad gifts besides some questionable clothing picks.

20. Favorite holiday drink?
I love Eggnog but definitely only in small doses because it sure is thick and rich!

21. Have you ever spent Christmas in another country? If yes, which one(s)?
No!

22. Were you naughty or nice this year? You know that Santa is watching *smirks*
I’m always nice!

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this tag post and I would LOVE if you also did this tag! I want to read your answers!

See you soon!

X Emily

A few weeks ago I picked up a few things at Target and included in my little haul was the E.L.F. Color Correcting Powder. I feel like over the past year color correctly palettes have become a big thing in the beauty community and I wanted to try one out to see if it really worked.

I love the brand E.L.F. they are super affordable and put out quality products so, I decided to try out their color corrector because I didn't want to spend a lot of money ( the palette was $3) on something I didn't know if I would like and isn't exactly necessary. So without further ado, lets get on with what I thought about the product. 

To start I was really excited about this product because I have, in my opinion, really bad under eye dark circles so I really wanted this palette to sort those out. Overall, I wouldn't call this powder color correcting. I didn't really see a difference in my under eyes after using this product, they just looked the same. So on the color correcting front it was basically a big fail BUT the powder worked well for setting my concealer and prevent creasing so it wasn't a complete fail.

If you are looking for a very effective color corrector I wouldn't suggest using this because it basically did nothing but it does work well as a translucent powder so if you are looking for a cheap powder this gets that job done.

Have you used this product before? What do you think of it?

See you soon!

X Emily

P.S. GET EXCITED FOR BLOGMAS