Boots Christmas Emporium, Plymouth

Last Saturday I headed down to Boots Plymouth, not so dissimilar to any Saturday really... But last weekend coincided with their 10th anniversary in Drake Circus (shopping centre), which made it the perfect opportunity to explore the new 'Emporium' that has launched in only 200 of the best Boots stores across the UK, so I feel kinda lucky that we've been lucky enough to land one in our local store, and the best thing is that it will still be here after Christmas, with the possibility of a further expansion of their services! You're probably wondering what the Emporium is, as I didn't even know it existed, or even what it was until I had a proper look around. I promise that you'll want to get at least one Christmas present from it this year though, and without a doubt a treat or two for yourself...

Boots Emporium is part of a new experience that has been launched in selected stores, it allows you to discover new product lines, create personalised presents from creating your own beauty box, to engraving and creating your own makeup bag, pretty cool, right? Plymouth seems to pretty much have the whole package of services in the Emporium, with some services arriving later this month in time for Christmas. You can even get your own perfume bottle personalised with your name!

I was instantly drawn to the build your own beauty boxes section which is really interactive, and reminds me of the build your own Birchbox that they had in Selfridges, London last year that I absolutely loved! There's something extra special about picking and choosing your own selected products. The box costs £25 and you can personalise everything, from picking your selected gift box, choosing your favourite products (whether for yourself or a loved one) to even picking a ribbon for the box at an extra charge. There was lots of drool worthy Benefit minis and other mini products to choose from, which obviously works out at a slightly discounted rate by buying the box. I think there is more products to come which will be great as the selection is fairly limited at the moment. I'll definitely be treating myself to a box with my Boots points before Christmas...

If building your own beauty box doesn't appeal to you, you can build your own palette with your choice of products, whether that be contour, blush, highlighter or eyeshadow - I absolutely LOVE this idea and it's such a cheap way to do it. Once you've added it to the chosen palette, you can also choose to get it engraved at the cost of £3!

The gift boxes come in the nicest soft pastel colours, which is coincidentally my favourite type of colour palette. Perfect for all the girls in your life! As you can see, you can select the size of your box and ribbons, you can also get a personal message printed onto a ribbon for a really special touch!

There was no shortage of dreamy beauty products and perfumes to lust after as I was looking around the emporium!

The engraving service is probably one of the best things about the Emporium as it's an extra special touch that can be put onto a wide range of presents instore, and the best bit? It only costs £3, which is absolutely amazing, considering that big retailers usually charge at least £10 for this service. The engraving obviously works better on some products than others, such as makeup palettes, makeup brushes and perfume bottles. It will work on clear products, but the effect won't be as outstanding.

You are allowed to bring in products that you have bought elsewhere, but if anything goes wrong with the engraving they won't be able to replace it for you. But with such a huge selection in Boots you're sure to find something. I'm tempted to just get makeup brushes done for myself as it's such a good idea, and it won't break the bank. I think initials and names work well as they're timeless, whereas messages such as 'Merry Christmas' don't seem so appealing all year round!

The Boots Emporium staff are trained on engraving all types and shapes and sizes of products. But as I said, if anything does go wrong with the product whilst engraving, they do of course replace it. You can wait whilst it's done or come back and collect it at a time to suit. Although, I think most customers like watching the process, and it doesn't take very long!

Here is a couple of examples of the engraving completed and as you can see it looks incredibly effective on a black opaque surface, whereas it's more subtle on the clear bottle. I think this is going to be a massivre hit this Christmas, and you can even use your Boots points to get this done!

The last section of the Emporium was where you could make your own unique gifts with pictures from your phone. This section wasn't up and running just yet, but once it's finished you'll be able to make it personal and conect your phone to the tablet in the store, and choose which pictures you would like to use on a cosmetics bag. As a girl, you really cannot have too many makeup bags, so if you're a boyfriend not knowing what to buy your girlfriend this Christmas you can always count on this service!

They also had some pre-made cosmetic bags which I really liked! I think #contourqueen suited me best...

The back of the cosmetic bags also have a little metal insert in them which you can personalise for FREE! I think this is an amazing idea, and again, it would be great for a name, initials or even your blog name!

After spending about an hour looking around the amazing emporium, we bumped into the lovely Elaine who is an advisor for Boots Beautiful You service which only launched last month. Focusing on skincare now, with the prospect of expanding into beauty next year, she will provide you with support and an idea on what products would suit your particular skin type after a quick skincare analysis. This service is completely FREE and is not a sales pitch, she really is there to just help you find the best products for your skin! This service is offered in most Boots stores, so keep a look out for someone with a Beautiul You bag!

100% side tracked from the fantastic Boots Emporium, we couldn't forget that it was the 10th anniversary of the store, and in Boots fashion it was done in style with balloons, plenty of cake and prosecco!

There was a Bloggers play table that was laid out for us so we could have a play with all of the amazing prodcts from a range of brands, it actually proved really popular with customers - but why wouldn't it when everything was to die for?!

Benefit always seems to get their packaging right, how adorable is this Christmas gift set?!

I'm so impressed with the NYX products, and too excited that we now have a NYX concession in Boots Plymouth. I was smitten with this silver roll on glitter, there's no such thing as too much sparkle. I'm going to try and incorporate this into my halloween outfit in some way, with maybe space, glittery hair buns?!

With so many gorgeous gifts and products in our Boots store, I know where I'm going to be heading for my Christmas shopping. But nothing is going to out trump their new Emporium which I think is amazing! It's definitely going to be the go to place for those last minute Christmas presents with an extra special touch, if you don't live in Plymouth make sure you check out their Emporium section online to see where your nearest one is! 

Have you visited Boots Emporium yet? What are your thoughts on it? Will you be using this service for gifts, or for yourself?

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OOTD | Embroidered Shirt of Dreams

Poplin Shirt - Zara

Joni Jeans - Topshop

Mules - Office

Bag - River Island

There's concrete proof that influencers and bloggers are a great form of advertising, as I spotted this Zara shirt on Asos Anna on Instagram last weekend and had ordered it within the space of 10 minutes. I love how Instagram especially allows me to discover so many gorgeous pieces that I wouldn't otherwise find, as unfortunately Plymouth isn't blessed with a Zara. The shirt is a bit like marmite, I think it's one of those pieces that you're either going to love or hate, but come on, what is not to love? The colourful embroidered front is just to die for, and the oversized fit of the shirt makes it an effortless style with skinny jeans. It's definitely going to be a staple piece for me this Autumn.

I'm currently on a 'how many embroidered pieces can I buy in the space of a week' mindframe, it seems to be everywhere at the moment, I only wish I could do some decent embroidery myself and do some DIY on a denim jacket. 

This was the perfect outfit for my first ever flat viewing on Saturday, YUP, I'm practically an adult. Coincendetally, the said flat was on the street of colourful houses that I use for all my outfit pictures, funny that. I've already mentally moved into the flat as it's the perfect location, has insta friendly lighting and the most gorgeous door - not only is it perfect for #doorappreciation instas, it will be a 30 second walk from outfit pictures every weekend. Shame it's out of my price range though, but a girl can dream, right?  

What do you think of this outfit? Are you team embroidery for Autumn?

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Open Water Swimming Series: Plymouth Breakwater Swim & VLOG!

I DID IT! In case you hadn't been following my open water swimming series from the beginning, 2 weeks ago I took part in the 2.2 mile open water swim in Plymouth from the breakwater into Tinside beach, I was told it's only swimming in a straight line for 90 minutes, so it couldn't be that bad?! Since I began my training back at the start of the year I have been hindered by an ongoing shoulder injury, the flu and a diagnosis of asthma, so pretty much every obstacle possible tried to get in my way. The swim was initially meant to happen in August, but due to bad weather it was postponed to October which actually really worked in my favour as I hadn't been on my asthma medication for long and the sea was rife with jellyfish in August. Fast forward to two weekends ago and the weather literally could not have been any better, the sea was a mill pond and the conditions were perfect. It was the biggest challenge that I set myself for 2016 as it was 100% out of my comfort zone, but I can honestly say that although I had lots of obstacles and the 'fear' of the sea to overcome, the actual day of the breakwater swim was one of the best days of my life, and something that would never have happened if I didn't push myself.

I'd been awake since 6am with nerves and excitement on the day of the swim, so I was so ready to head down to register at 10:30am, as we approached the Barbican and went to sign up it all suddenly started to feel real, and I was damn scared! But seeing how still the sea was and how beautiful the day was definitely helped to calm my nerves. 

Number 197 will now forever be my lucky number. Each swimmer had to wear a Selkie cap and wristband along with the number written on our hand so we could easily be identified as we came into shore.

The CEO of my work and co-owner of House of Harris, one of our clients also took part in the swim, it was nice to see some familiar faces before the swim. For the record, yes I did beat them!

I owe everything that I did in the lead up and on the day to The Wild Swimming group that I stumbled upon on Facebook. They are the nicest community that I have ever encountered and they are a massive pool of advice about all things wild swimming. I wouldn't have had a clue about anything before meeting them, and I would never have gotten over my fear of sea swimming. Most of the all weather, all season wild swimmers wear skins in the sea all year round, because the boat trip over would be a bit breezy they had a bin bag fashion show, apparently bin bags are quite warm and it meant that it didn't matter if they got chucked away after the boat left us!

As the time drew closer I got changed into my wetsuit, it only took 15 minutes! This was going to be the longest time I'd ever swam with a wetsuit on, looking back it would have been a good idea to rub vaseline all over my neck to stop the wetsuit rubbing...

The waiting around was the worst bit, but it quickly approached 12pm and we all made our way down to the 2 boats that were taking 280 swimmers out into the sound, it finally started to get real as we boarded, and I was not scared one bit...

At 12:30pm we waved goodbye to our loved ones and hoped that we would all make it back in one piece. It took 20 minutes to reach the breakwater, and it wasn't until we arrived that I realised just how far away it was. It looks even further away once you even get into the water! We had to wait almost another 30 minutes for the damn brittany ferries boat to pull in which only fuelled my nerves more.

As usual I was worried about all the trivial things about the swim like 'what if I can't jump off?' 'what if my ear plus fall out?' or 'what if my swim cap falls off?'. I should have been worried about the distance itself, but nope. But of course, none of those worries actually came to fruition. After jumping off the boat and positioning ourselves in the sea, it was one of the most beautiful sights that I will never forget. In the middle of the sea, surrounded by a sea of blue hats, unfortuntaly I don't have any other pictures from this part of the swim for obvious reasons, but I'll always be able to remember that temporary moment before the swim of how I felt, the conditions and what my surroundings looked like. After counting down, the swim began, the start of races is always the worst, but it slowly filtered out after 5 minutes, and I was always one stroke closer to finishing this epic challenge.

Prior to the swim I was petrified of the sea, what was beneath me, and potentially what could hurt me or eat me.. I'd been in the sea before, but never for longer than 30 minutes and it was always a rushed thing that scared me if I was alone, I did 90% of my training in the pool with the idea that I would just get it out of the way on the day and it would be done. Everything I had worried about never bothered me on the day, I felt incredibly peaceful and tranquil swimming in the sea, there was few waves and there was even a period of time where there was no one near me for about 25 minutes, I did panic whether I was going the wrong way, but smeatons tower lighthouse led me in alongside the colourful beach huts!

The distance itself was perfect, it wasn't a challenge for me in that sense as I swim long distances in the pool regularly, nor was it the conditions or the sea, but the worst thing was realising you'd only been swimming for 10 minutes and it didnt look like you'd made any progress. The first marker for me was 2 massive yellow buoys and every time I looked up I felt like I was close, when realistically I didn't reach it for another 20 minutes. I also didn't look directly at land to start with as it was too unsettling realising just how far I had left to go!

I didn't have a watch with me, so I had no sense of time and really didn't know how long I had been swimming for. The thoughts of a lush bath and pizza afterwards quickly increased my speed, and when I could start to make out all the people on land I knew I was on the home strecth, and it was the best feeling!

I wore a pink tow float for the swim mostly for identification purposes, as most people have orange ones and without this my family would never have been able to spot me as everone looks the same in wetsuits!

Reaching land for the first time was the best feeling ever, that I really had completed this huge challenge. I don't think there was one person that didn't fall or slip over when they got in as it's really strange to feel ground beneath your feet after swimming for so long.

I remarkably finished the swim in 53 minutes, although it's not a timed event as it was for charity, and most importantly raising money for The Chestnut Appeal. For someone who's always been competitive it was nice to know though that I made it in in under one hour which is what I was aiming for.

Coming into the crowds was just the best feeling.

Upon taking off my wetsuit I instantly regretted not using vaseline, my neck was red raw from the wetsuit rubbing and it took about a week to heal, never again!

10 minutes after having a series of pictures and posting one on instagram, my mum told me I had a dirt beard - it was literally disgusting!! If you zoom in on my instagram picture that I posted you'll be able to see it, how embarrassing. You'll also spot it if you watch my breakwater VLOG (linked below!). It just proves how incredibly dirty the sea is, and I'm just so happy it never made me ill, as again this was one of my main worries about sea swimming.

Did I enjoy it? 100%! I never in a million years thought I would ever take up open water swimming, do a challenge like this and partially enjoy it. It was my main goal for 2016, to really get out of my comfort zone and try something new, and you know what? It felt amazing! You don't realise what you can achieve until you put your mind to it, and this day will stay with me for the rest of my life. Now everytime I go down to Plymouth Hoe I have a smile on my face as I stare out to the breakwater and think, did I really do that?

This is the end of my wild swimming journey for now and I may not do it again, but I'll never say never. As my favourite wild swimming quote goes, 'Wild Swimming is like a metaphor for life, daunting to consider, the first step is the hardest, once youre in it feels fine, and afterwards you look back at it glowing, excited and proud'. 

If you want to see more from the breakwater swim, please have a look at my first EVER VLOG and subscribe if you want to see more! It will hopefully give you more of an insight into the whole day! 

What do you think of my first VLOG, eek?! What has your biggest challenge for 2016 been?

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