Eley Kishimoto Shoes

I brought these a couple of months ago ready for my summer holiday but I just couldn't wait to test them out, I picked a bright sunny morning to try out these babies (though it rained like 5 minutes after this photo) and they did not disappoint. 

I was (and still am) a little apprehensive about the boldness of the print. My regular colour pallet is black, grey and blues and it's rare that I will break out of that mold. 

However these were in a lil sale going for a steal so I thought I'd take a leap of faith and buy them.

They are part of the Living Art collaboration between Vans and Eley Kishimoto, bringing bold prints to the classic shoe design. 

There are so many different designs and styles of shoe so it's easy to find something you like, I went for the classic slip on which I think will be perfect for wandering in the summer sun on holiday.

The shoes themselves are really comfortable, they slip-on easy without flopping around. The soles are thick and a really good quality so hopefully these will last a lot longer than standard shoes do and the cushioning on the back means they don't hurt the backs of my ankles. 

I love the graphic patterns of these shoes, bright and cheerful without being too busy and dizzying; the designers have perfectly balanced vibrancy with casual street-style. 

At Embrace the Light we love to experiment with fashion and be a little bit different so we love the idea of this collaboration. 

The prints add a splash of colour to a simple outfit and I can't wait to play around with different combinations. 

What do you think?

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Hope you enjoyed this post, let us know your thoughts below!

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape or form.

Hitting Pause

Spring semester! The last term of the year, we're a few weeks in and already working on crazy deadlines. Oh the fun life of students.

This semester, whilst being tonnes of fun, can also be the most stressful with deadlines, exams and coursework. Trying to balance all that with a social life, getting work experience and relaxing- it can all get a bit much.

This semester I want to encourage you to take a step back from the desk and breathe. Remember that the deadlines will pass and things will be okay.

Find something you love to do and make time for it every week. An hour a day of something you really like will be the perfect break from the madness of life.

We're challenging ourselves to live healthy so stick with us as we roll out a couple of posts about healthy eating and living!

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Hope you enjoyed this post, let us know your thoughts below!

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape or form.

Step into Spring| Playlist!

March has rolled in and soon we can brush away the cobwebs of winter and welcome the sunny days and chilly breezes of spring! To celebrate we have made a little playlist of all our current favourites to herald in a new season.

Willow- Jasmine Thompson

A Little Chaos- Peter Gregson

Out of the Woods- Taylor Swift

Don't Stay Low- The Good Mad

Now Is The Start- A Fine Frenzy

When We First Met- Hellogoodbye

Rabbit Heart- Florence and the Machine

Reverse- Gabrielle Aplin

English Rose- Ed Sheeran

Don't Lay Your Head- Us the Duo

Have a lovely week, we hope the sun shines for you!

You can find our full Spring playlist on our youtube page!

QOTD:What's your feel good song?

Hope you enjoyed this post lovelies!

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. All photos in this post are taken by Ayah & Kimmy 

Happy International Women's Day| ETL

In honour of International Women's Day earlier this week we wanted to take some time to celebrate the women who have inspired us!

Growing Up...

One of my biggest inspirations growing up was Jacqueline Wilson. Pretty much as soon as I could talk I was telling stories and it was my dream to write books when I was older. I read so many books it became like breathing to me. The constant bags under my eyes are a sad consequence of endless nights under the covers reading until the early hours. One of my favourite authors was Jacqueline Wilson. I loved her books, I loved that she made me aware of issues that adults don't want to talk to kids about. Issues like abuse, domestic violence, poverty, being in care. I loved that she gave a voice to people I had never heard from and I wanted that. That's lead me down the path I'm on today as a journalist. I love to give people the opportunity to understand issues that don't affect them and to give a platform to those struggling to be heard.


I also got to go to a talk by her once and she signed my copy of Lola Rose and that was the coolest thing I had ever done ever so big up Jacqueline.




Fashion...

Anna Wintour. She's a powerful figure in the fashion industry and every girl's fashion icon. Wintour has been American Vogue's editor since 1988. She has highlighted the best fashion designers in history! Wintour has two children and she balances out her mesmerizing job and personal life, like the strong independent woman she is!


Education...


Malala Yousafzai. It is amazing to us how one girl with a passion and a heart for education has changed the world so much at such a young age. Perhaps it shouldn't be so amazing but she is really an inspiration to us. Education should be accessible to all no matter your age, gender, race or orientation and it's awful that some children just aren't given the opportunity to learn. Malala's campaigning has brought girl's education to the attention of people around the world and been a strong voice in all the darkness saying that restricting girls is not okay.


Activism...


Irena Sendler. This lady is truly amazing. She worked as a nurse and social worker in the Polish underground in world war two and with a group of volunteers smuggled around 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto. Any woman who stands up for what she believes in, even in the face of fear, is a true inspiration to us. Irena was discovered, tortured and sentenced to execution but escaped and returned under a false name to continue working in Warsaw.


Music...

Beyonce (aka Queen B). You deffo heard people saying "Beyonce is a feminist hero" or even "Queen B is my role model." Why you ask? Well, Queen B creates the most beautiful powerful music you could ever hear!  Enough said.
AND... SPICE GIRLS... Strong independent women following their dreams and helping others in the process. "If you want my future, forget my past"-  another meaning for "don't judge." #inspired

Question of the day:

Who inspires you most? 

#HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Hope you enjoyed this post, let us know your thoughts below!

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape or form.

Tough Choices| ETL

I hope pancake day was full of chocolate, lemon and sugary goodness for you all! I have to admit pancake day makes me miss home quite a lot. My Mum and I usually make the pancakes together and try to do the most impressive pancake-flip... There is always at least one minor disaster (always on my part anyway).

Doing my degree requires a lot of reading and writing which I absolutely adore but at the same time it means that when I get home I'm tired and just want to zone out in front of a film.

So this year for lent instead of giving up something I've decided to pick up something instead! I'm challenging myself to read a little every day and actually carve out the time to do so. Should be fun, hopefully I'm not too lazy.

I know many people don't buy into the idea of lent, giving things up can seem pointless and just frustrating if you slip up and accidentally fall into old habits. But it's a fun challenge and can be a really good way to kick start some routines.

It's still not too late to join those of us making changes this season. You could give something up like chocolate, coffee or Netflix (gasp). Or if giving something up isn't really a big deal or isn't your thing why not pick something up instead. Challenge yourself to drink more water (find an app that calculates how much you should be drinking for your body), do a bit of yoga daily or do something nice for someone every day for 40 days!

Lent may be pointless to some and that's totally okay! But for me it is a time when I can look at my life and think seriously about what changes I want to make and evaluate what's important in my life.


Whatever you decide, let us know in the comments- we love hearing from you!

Question of the day:

Have you given anything up for lent?

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Hope you enjoyed this post, let us know your thoughts below!

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape or form.

PS. All photos in this post are taken by Ayah & Kimmy 

When the Light Creeps In| Lookbook

As winter creeps in and the weather become gloomier, the colours we wear become darker and darker. The feeling of being alive and in the moment is what we're trying to portray in this photo.

"How rare and beautiful it is to even exist" -Sleeping at last

For this look, we decided to go for intense colours- black, dark purple, and burgundy; to express how dark and cloudy people can feel in their minds but sparkly and beautiful from the outside.

Jumper- H&M

Faded jeans- Bershka

Ankle boots- H&M

Question of the day:

What is your favorite 2016 trend so far?!

If you could chose one wish to be granted, what would it be and why?

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Hope you enjoyed this post, let us know your thoughts below!

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape or form.

PS. All photos in this post are taken by Ayah & Kimmy 

NewYear| Study Playlist '16

Happy New Year everyone! We thought we'd start off the year with some positivity and motivation so we created a playlist for all you music lovers! Especially since it's exam season, we all need some music to pump us up and help us concentrate! Hope you enjoy our playlist!

Eagles- Hotel California

Michael Franti & Spearhead- Say Hey I Love you

Vinyl Pumps- Gold Rays

Tigerweather- Sunshine 

James Young- I'll be Good

Allman Brown & Liz Lawrence- Sons and Daughters

Sleeping at Last- Saturn

Sleeping at Last- In The Embers

Justin Bieber- I'll Show You

5SOS- She Looks So Perfect

You can find the whole playlist here!

QOTD:
What's your all time favourite song?

Hope you enjoyed this post lovelies!

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. All photos in this post are taken by Ayah & Kimmy 

Christmas Playlist 2015!

Just in case you're not quite in the festive spirit yet, or perhaps you need a Christmas playlist to get all that wrapping and baking done to? Well we have you covered. We've come up with a list of 10 great/cheesy/nostalgic Christmas songs to make you laugh and get you in the mood for some festive fun! So grab a glass of mulled wine, a mince pie and kick your feet up!

(Apologies in advance for the extreme cheesiness in song choices)

Christmas Lights- Coldplay

All I Want For Christmas Is You- Mariah Carey 

When Christmas Comes To Town- Polar Express

White Winter Hymnal- Pentatonix 

Baby Its Cold Outside- Jayme Dee

One More Sleep- Leona Lewis 

Father Christmas- Narnia Soundtrack

Christmas- Michael Buble

Santa Baby- Kylie Minogue 

It Feels Like Christmas- The Muppets

Remember- you can find our playlist here on youtube to listen to all the songs! 

Hope you enjoy!

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

 Kimmy & Ayah xxx

PS. All photos in this post are taken by Ayah & Kimmy 

Vintage 1940s Inspired Lookbook

While raiding Ayah's wardrobe, we found this cute little denim tea-dress, and we were inspired to do a 1940's style lookbook.

To achieve this style, we curled the hair and pinned it slightly back. For makeup we went for a winged eyeliner, whilst keeping the rest quite classic with a pink lip.
The gloves were an impulsive addition, we wanted to add a little bit of class (and let's be honest, it's just fun to wear long gloves!). We decided on simple black flat shoes because we couldn't find a heel to suit the look!

Dress: Forever21

Gloves: An independent store

This photoshoot was so much fun to do! It involved a lot of trotting back and forth as we tried to get good 'natural' action shots, as well as ignoring the strange looks we got from people driving past!

As we said, it's only a Vintage Inspired look, so forgive us for a bit of poetic licence in our historical accuracy!

Questions of the day:

Do you like to channel a little vintage into your everyday look?

What's your favourite era of fashion?

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

Facebook: Embrace the Light 

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Hope you enjoyed this post, let us know your thoughts below!

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape or form.
PS. All photos in this post are taken by Ayah & Kimmy 

LONDON Part 2: PLACES TO EAT

To continue on with our London Series, today's post is all about places to eat in London! We've picked out a couple of our favourite places to visit for a quick snack, a gourmet dinner or a fancy treat for pudding! We've tried and tested them and love them all so you can trust us!!


Lunch/Snack:

1) You'll find this restaurant everywhere...and by that we mean literally every 2 blocks!
Pret A Manger is the place to go when you want a quick delicious lunch! They make really delicious sandwhiches of all kinds and have the best carrot and banana cakes! #healthyy

2) For a healthy lunch LEON is perfect for a natural, good fast food! They do little hot boxes like a chicken, lemon and olive tagine or a veggie quinoa salad. They also do a cute little fishfinger wrap which is sooo nice, from sustainable sources and healthy!

Photo taken from Google Pics!

Dinner:

3) Burgers and Lobsters

This is the place to go when you want a more high end dinner. Their customer service is absolutely incredible, I have never laughed so much at a restaurant! And just to add to the fun, the only things they have in their menu are burgers and lobsters! There's pretty much always a que, so make sure you go a teeny bit early! Also, just a heads up, the place isn't cheap but WORTH every pound! 

4) Chipotle 

Chipotle, Chipotle, Chipotle... Best Burritos ever? YES DUHll! They make the best and one of the heaviest burritos! I personally couldn't finish it, it was literallyy huge! But SO GOOD! We'd deffo recommend! ( IF you do, please let us know how brill our recommendation was! Hehe) PS. If you're starving, this is the place to eat at!

Photo taken from Google Pics! 

Dessert: 

 5)For dessert, you have so many options, but we chose to include 

LOLA's cupcakes!  They have a variety of different cupcakes which are all so good! *But Please try the oreo one, it's sooo amazing! The place is always pretty much crowded because it's just that yummy! 

6) For a bit of a fancy treat, try Browns Bar and Brasserie in Covent Garden! It is sooo beautiful, and is a pretty high end place to visit. They do gorgeous afternoon tea for £12 per person, which is quite a good price for such an amazing place and lovely food! 

7) If you're not a cupcake person, then try SNOG! A frozen yogurt place (also a bus!) The thing we love most about it is how funkyy and creative the place looks! It's appearance is so attractivee riiight?!

We hope this gives you a good idea of where to plan to eat on your next trip to London! Or if you're like us, plan your trip around your food!

Question of the day:

What's your favourite foodie place in London? 
What's your favourite type of restaurant?

PS.  We made a part 1 to this London Series which was Places to Visit! Click here to check out that post!

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape or form.
PS. All photos in this post are taken by Ayah & Kimmy except the ones with the captions

Summer Playlist '15

This playlist has been requested by manyy lovelies! SO.. It's FINALLY HERE! We've put some of our favorite Summer songs, hope youu all love it! xxx

Waiting for love- Avicii
Indecisive- Newton Faulkner

All of the Stars- Ed Sheeran

Let me in- Grouplove (The fault in our starts soundtrack)
Shooting Star- Owl City

Sparks- Hilary Duff
See you again- Wiz Khalifa ft Charlie Puth
Hopeless Wanderer- Mumford and Sons 
Beautiful now- Zedd ft. Jon Bellion

Crave- Parachute 

Our international song of the week: Rouh- Maya Nasri

Hope you like this playlist!

If you like our playlist, you can listen to it all on our youtube channel here!

What's has been your favorite song this season/out of this playlist? 

PS. Have a FAB Summer all! xxx

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape or form.

Great Lash Maybelline Mascara REVIEW!

Maybelline are famous for their mascaras! And this one will defo be added to *best Maybelline Mascaras*

First of all, the wand is not too big nor too small, it's the perfect size. The definition it gives my lashes is impeccable! One layer of it is more than enough for me, which is great since I usually put two layers of mascara to give it the effect of false lashes.

This is best for everday use because it's not too over-the-top, but it can be built up for a night out and also, it works soo well with a smokey eye look since it adds so much dimension!

One downside is that if you're a bit too heavy-handed with the mascara and put too much on then it'll clump up quite a bit (but what's new really?) so just keep an eye on how much you're putting on!

The packaging of the bottle is SO PRETTY. 

PS. Who knew green and pink look so gorgeous together? I feel like a big factor that influenced me to buy this product is the packaging. Don't youu think it's really creative? 

It's affordable which is perfect for students who want quality but without the hefty price tag!

Would I recommend it? Yes, yes I totally would! 

Beauty Question of the day:

What brand of Mascaras do you all use/recommend? 

Would love to hear all your thoughts! xxx

BlogLovin: Embrace the Light 

Twitter: @beboldbebright

Instagram: @embracethelight

Confidence.

Light.

Happiness.

Love, 

Ayah & Kimmy xxx

PS. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape or form.