I love finding out about a band or musician before they hit it big - I supported One Direction from day one of X Factor, and 5 Seconds of Summer while they were still uploading onto youtube, all look where they are now! There's something about following a musician / band from when they are small and seeing them gain bigger and bigger audiences, and in a weird way, I become proud of these acts who are going on to bigger and better things. So, I thought I'd share with you some of the people I've been loving and supporting, starting with these five favourites!

John Adams

I discovered John when he auditioned for the X Factor in 2010, and have been in love with his music ever since. His voice is so beautiful, with such a gentle tone to it. Listening to his music helps me relax, and his album The Pavement Is My Stage is an amazing debut album. It's incredible to see how he's grown from 'Canon Ball' three years ago, to writing his own music and creating some really meaningful songs. Have a listen and you'll instantly fall in love with his soothing lyrics and voice. Who would have thought a maths teacher could become such a great performer!



Vanquish

Last year when I went along to see Rebecca Ferguson for her Freedom tour, I fell in love with her support act Vanquish. My sisters and I got so into their performances, dancing away in our seats, so as soon as I got home I started checking out their youtube channel. These girls seem like such fun and total sweethearts that its impossible not to fall in love with their music. With covers such as 'Girls' by The 1975 (which has to be one of my all time fave covers) to their own music, these girls are the perfect pick me up band that everyone needs in their life. And their newest single is absolutely amazing!



Ellie Rose

Last year I was sitting in the student union for lunch listening to this amazing performer who turned out to be Ellie Rose. After doing a bit of youtube stalking, I found lots of covers and original songs which were totally up my street. Her songs are super catchy, and after a couple of listens you'll be singing along. I love her newest song 'Off The Record', which has a super cool vibe to it. I can't recommend checking her out enough, her twitter always brings a smile to my face - Pineapple Tuesday is totally something that you'll become strangely obsessed with too (at least I hope its not just me!).



Model Aeroplanes

You've got to admire these boys for their creative self promo, if nothing else. I actually met these chaps while queuing for a 5 Seconds of Summer gig in Glasgow, while they went up and down the rows of girls, chatting away and taking photos under the guise of being the support act. It's pretty impressive how many fans they must have got from working that crowd, and I am one of them. They've got some awesome songs up on soundcloud, and with their amazing songs have been touring as support acts, as well as doing their own headline tours. Their songs are really catchy and its hard to get the chorus out of your head once you've had a listen. I love how they're from a small Scottish town and are doing so well - representing for the Scots!



Chasing Midnight

Remember District 3 from 2011 X Factor? I absolutely loved them, and was gutted about their break up. BUT Dan and Greg have gone ahead to form another band with JJ and Heather, creating Chasing Midnight. I've absolutely fallen in love with their music - there's not that many male - female bands around, which has really drawn me to Chasing Midnight. The mix of their vocals is perfect, and they've created some awesome covers, as well as some of their own original songs. Their cover of Ellie Goulding's Love Me Like You Do literally gives me shivers (as well as making me develop a little crush on JJ and his high notes).


Have you listened to any of these artists before? If not check them all out - its so great to back musicians and see them doing well. Who do you like to listen to?

Love,
Emily
xxx

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You may have seen my tweets last weekend (and in the run up to) where I was very excited for the Festival of Museums. This is something I hadn't seen until I was emailed about it inviting me along to an event. Across Scotland museums were holding events to encourage the public to engage with their local history, and get to experience some history / archaeology in action. What with history being my fave thing, I decided to go to two events on the Saturday - Burke's Bones and A Scandal At Surgeon's Hall. 

You may have heard of Burke and Hare before - a very famous pair of murders who sold the bodies of their victims to Dr Knox to perform anatomy on them. It's a super popular tale in Scotland, and especially in Edinburgh where you can visit the streets that the two walked. Since I know a fair amount about the brutal murders that occurred, I was super excited to go along to hear a lecture on Burke and Hare, and a chance to see the Anatomy Museum where Burke's skeleton is still displayed. It was such an interesting talk, and great to visit the museum again to see some of the more squeamish exhibits.



That night I then attended 'A Scandal At Surgeon's Hall'. I was SO excited to go along to this event, and decided to take along my sister and her boyfriend since I hadn't seen them all Easter. The event had everything going for it - a murder mystery, a ceilidh, fortune tellers, magicians and face painting. And best of all we were encouraged to come in costume. We tried of course, but our attempts at Victorian style costumes ended up looking more 1920s, but nonetheless it was great to see 200 people all dressed in Victorian / Steam punk inspired get ups.







One room had the 'crime scene' in it which we had to solve, using clues dotted around the room. We made a pretty good attempt, and came almost close to solving it, after spending about an hour deliberating over different theories of 'who dunnit?'. The decorations were amazing for the room were amazing. So much effort was put into creating the murder scene, with hand drawn medical diagrams and even a dummy staged as a the victim. It was incredible to see the crime scene and it really added to the atmosphere of the night.




The majority of the night was spent upstairs at the ceilidh. The band were amazing and got every one up off their feet dancing. We spent so much time dancing, that unfortunately we missed the fortune teller, which we were gutted about, but we were quick back up on the dance floor!

We did make a stop at the face painting station, and I was in love with the design that the woman painted on my face. They were all so talented, and I was so impressed!




The night unfortunately came to an end at 11 o'clock, and a couple hundred victorian people spilled out onto the streets of Edinburgh. It was such an amazing night, so much fun and not something you get to do often.

As I've said before, history is so important and its great to see the different ways that history can engage the public, especially young children. Make sure you take a trip to your local museum to see what history surrounds you, it is so fascinating. I'm so glad I heard about Festival of Museums, and got to attend some of the events, I can't wait to see what events are held next year.  

Here's the three of our outfits for the night, you can decide how well we did!





Were you in Scotland for Festival of Museums 2015?
Let me know what your favourite thing about history is, I'd love to get chatting with some history buffs!

Love,
Emily
xxx

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Ps: I'm nearing 800 followers on Bloglovin which is just crazy! I'd love it if you'd give me a wee follow and keep updated with all my posts. Thank you, thank you!

I was invited along to a blogger event at a macaron shop in Edinbugh's West End - Mademoiselle Macaron - to celebrate the cute little shop turning one year old. The owner of the shop, Rachel, couldn't have been lovelier as she made her way around the bunch of bloggers chatting about her passion.




The shop itself is very adorable, and was decorated with balloons and bunting, adding a very homely feel to it. There's an area in the front where you can buy some macarons or cakes and have a drink, and a section in the back where she leads workshops. Because there were so many of us, we spilled into both of these areas, although I tended to stay around the table where all the macarons were laid out.





The macarons were AMAZING. Never have I even considered trying a savoury macaron but the details that they added to make them all look absolutely delicious made it impossible to resist. After trying them all (and going back for seconds) I think I've come to the conclusion that the macarons with cream cheese, rocket and parma ham were my favourite, although it's hard to pick a favourite when there's options like gin & tonic, raspberry & jam, scottish tablet and mini burgers. (YES, mini burger macarons- such an ingenious idea!)






While working my way around the table, with a glass of prosecco in hand, I chatted away to lots of other Edinburgh bloggers. I love events like this where I can walk in - without knowing anyone else there - and still have a blast. It's always so lovely getting to chat away to people who have the same hobby as I do. It was also fascinating talking to Rachel, and she explained how her love for macarons came about, as well as her love for France.


I thoroughly enjoyed this event, and can't thank Mademoiselle Macaron for inviting me to celebrate in style. I can't wait to head back over and try more of their fantastic flavours!

Love,
Emily
xxx

I was sent Oz Natural's Hyaluronic Acid Serum* to give a go, and see how I got on with it, and so this week's 'Happier & Healthier' post is a review of it. I'm always on the look out for products that improve my skin, so jumped at the chance to try this organic serum.

Co-founder Angela Irish created this product to look after and promote healthy skin. What really drew me to this product was the fact that it is cruelty free and organic, something which is very important to me.



When the package arrived, I was impressed with the packaging and the bottle, and very excited to try it out. The hyaluronic acid serum is an effective against ageing and wrinkles, and helps to plump and soften skin. As my skin is still young- and I haven't got wrinkles yet - my mum decided to try it out alongside me, so we could compare the effects.

It's really simple to use, each night I carried out my normal skincare routine and add in this step after cleansing, but before moisturising. Using the applicator, I dab a small amount of the serum to my cheeks and around my eyes in a thin layer. The serum dries quickly, and once it has I carry on with my regular moisturising regime.



I've used it for a week and I already notice a difference. My skin feels so much softer in the areas that I've been using it, and I swear there's even a difference in my dark circles too. My mum has also said that she feels her skin feels softer and rejuvenated.

I don't have any complaints about this product, if after one week I've felt a difference in my skin, then I'm excited to see how my skin looks and feels after regularly using it for longer. I'd definitely recommend this - if you're interested, here's the amazon link.

Let me know if you've used this product, and what you think of it.

Love,
Emily
xxx

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*This post was sponsored by Oz Natural's through Brand Backer, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you've been keeping up with my 'Happier & Healthier' Series, then you'll have seen quite a few recipes that I've posted already. While those were all for healthy meals, I thought I'd share a recipe for those with a bit of a sweet tooth, like myself. Here's the recipe to a chocolate cake that I made with my sister the other day.




Ingredients

For the Cake

• 3 Eggs
• 200g of Brown Sugar
• 60g of Cocoa Powder
• 150g of Plain Flower
• 50g of Butter
• 2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder