Product review: MAC Hyper Real Glow Palette / Get It Glowin’ highlighter palette

Prior to going into lockdown, my daily make-up routine consisted of just two products: MAC concealer for the bags under my eyes and blemishes on my face, and MAC blush to give my cheeks a bit of colour. On Fridays, if I was feeling audacious, I would top this look up with MAC eyeshadow, usually a glittery pink shade, on the eyelids. I'm certainly loyal to the brand! 

This was an extremely simple process that I could do quickly when my train was ten minutes away from its destination, meaning that my make-up was freshly applied for work. 

Over lockdown, with there not being much to do, I had time to refine my beauty routine, and in doing so, added an extra component to the existing process: highlighter. 

Product review: two Japanese snack boxes

One of the things that a lot of people have struggled with during enforced lockdown was that, without social events to attend in the evenings or at weekends, it was difficult to pass the time without something to look forward to.

I completely sympathise with this, and as an act of self-care, during the quarantine period, I have been ordering myself little treats on the internet every few days. It doesn’t quite substitute the endorphin rush of hanging out with friends in a packed, boozy bar, but I find that if you have mail deliveries to look forward to, it helps delineate the days, and prevent them from blurring into one.

If you have the means to do so, I recommend you do the same!

Two things I ordered near the beginning of the lockdown were two Japanese snack boxes. Below are my brief thoughts on them:

52 Japanese Candy and Snack Okashi Set (£20)

OOTD: When hope was high and life worth living

My attire from a visit to one of my favourite Chinese restaurants in London, long before the lockdown mess began! Because it's nice to have nostalgia about dressing up and eating delicious meals, even if we can't quite do it yet!

Dress: Oasis

Handbag: Michael Kors

Glasses: Red or Dead

Hoop earrings: New Look

An opportune shift

In this working from home period during lockdown, I have to have video-conferences on an almost daily basis. This made me realise that the poster set-up that I'd had on the wall facing my work WebCam was suboptimal:

I absolutely adore the Nick Wilde plushie in the photo though, and wouldn't trade him for the world.

I liked Wonder Woman a lot, it was my tenth favourite film of 2017 (at the time of writing), and It probably makes my top 20 of 2017. But for a film to be rewarded a special spot on my wall, it has to be a bit more special than top 20, top 10 of the year! (It was awarded a place more due to the fact that it was based on a  Stephen King novel, which my favourite film also happens to be. More on that later).

In addition to being films which weren't the best representation of Emma's cinephile tastes, they were also too small to be spotted from the Webcam. So ideally, I'd want one film poster rather than two, large enough that its title could be recognised instantly.

Thus, I turned to my current obsession, and a film I seem determined to own all the merch for, Parasite:

This amazing artwork was done by The Geeky Illustrator. I had already bought a The Shawshank Redemption poster from him and was not disappointed, so I went back for more with this gorgeous Parasite poster. It complements the lime green of my wall so well (not to mention Nick Wilde's shirt), and the use of the son's tent for the second 'A' is just inspired!

So, going forwards, I can now have Webex calls with more confidence. Thank you, The Geeky Illustrator!

Product review: Original Fizzy Cola Bottles Retro Sweets Gift Jar (Berrymans Sweet Shop)

I ordered the Original Fizzy Cola Bottles Retro Sweets Gift Jar by Berrymans Sweet Shop to get me through the lockdown, as I have a sweet tooth and I like to snack on Cola bottles during the day.

These were not the standard I have come to expect from Haribo fizzy Cola bottles. They arrived, saturated with sugar. There was about 2cm of sugar piled up at the bottom of the bottle!

They were too acidic - I like the sour flavour of Haribos, but these went too far; no sweets should cause their consumer to grimace every time they're eating them! And they also didn't have the soft texture of Haribos. Instead, they were starchy and borderline stale.

At £9 for 585g, these sweets are considerably pricier per Cola bottle than the Haribos, and much less appetising. So, for the budget-concious of you out there, this represents a sage lesson for future lockdowns: stock up on Haribos!

The sweets that are available for sale on the internet are but a cheap (although ironically, more overpriced) imitation.

Grade: E

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Lockdown activities: making a pizza from scratch

I decided to make the most of being stuck inside during the lockdown to try my hand at some cookery experimentation. This was what the result was:

It was delicious! A good thing about making a pizza from scratch is that you can pile on all the things you like, and none of the stuff you don't!