Money Supermarket's Charcoal Challenge | Budget BBQ

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Money Supermarket to take part in their summer 'Charcoal Challenge'. They very very kindly gave me £50 with the task to then have a BBQ to show that it is possible to do so on a budget. As I live in England and the weather is, lets just say, unpredictable, it's taken until now for it to be warm enough to actually have a BBQ but finally, the sun shined and me and my mum ventured to the supermarket to buy all the food and other things we needed; y'know, burgers, buns, snacks and of course sweet goodies too! We also got two mini 'one-time' BBQ's, which were perfect to cook the amount of food we got and were surprisingly easy to use as well - although word of warning, use them on a brick surface and not on wood like we did...lets just say we nearly ended up with a garden fire!

As you can see I bought a good amount of food and it definitely did not go to waste - especially the  chicken skewers and chocolate fingers! We had a lovely little BBQ and this just proves that you can have a really great time, with really nice food, all for under £50. Thank you Money Supermarket! 

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Money Supermarket's Inspect A Gadget | Kobo Mini

I was recently contacted by Money Supermarket and asked if I'd like to take part in their 'Inspect-a-Gadget' (get it?) initiative to find the best budget gadgets out there that are perfect for travelling. They very kindly offered me the chance to review the new Kobo Mini e-reader and of course I said yes and set out on my way to WHSmith to pick up the pocket-sized device. 

E-readers have always been something I've wanted to try out but have always found it difficult to move away from paper books; I just love having actual books to hold for some reason. That being said I went into this with an open mind and the e-reader experience was actually quite enjoyable one. The device is one of the smallest and lightest out there and comes with a 5" E ink display, which though small (see the comparison photos!), is really just the perfect portable size, both to carry and to read. It's not uncomfortable or hard to read at all and the anti-glare screen means even if you're on holiday in the sun, you can still see the screen! 

It has around a two week battery life, depending on how much you use it and it has up to 2GB of space so plenty of room for all your favourite books. One thing that pleasantly surprised me was the fact that you can actually browse the Internet (sort of) on this device which is great and also that it has three built in games included. These are fun little things that really make it a bit different and less of a standard, E ink reader, they aren't super hi-tech though so don't expect that!

One thing that left me a little disappointed was the navigation within the device. Nothing is really 'signposted' and although once you're on a book it's fine, actually setting up the device proved a little difficult and I just wish things were a lot simpler to begin with. That being said, once you've gotten used to it, it's really simple to use and I've had no real issues with that. One final thing about this e-reader is that although it does have the anti-glare screen, I think a useful thing would be for it to have a back light function because reading this in the dark would be an impossible task; but if you're like me and never sit in the dark, it's not really a problem.

Overall I think for the price, this e-reader is really good but if you're looking for a high-tech device, this may not be right for you. If you want something to simply read on then it's perfect. 

The Kobo Mini e-reader* is £49.99 and is available online and at all major WHSmith stores. 

SPRING/SUMMER OUTFITS | #PASSIONFORFASHION2

So technically we're now in Spring and although here in the UK it still looks like winter *cough* go away snow *cough*, everyone is more than definitely planning their spring and summer outfits. Moneysupermarket.com are once again holding a #passionforfashion competition but this time the challenge is to find three outfits, each under £200, for the categories casual, party and holiday. I'm going to give this competition a shot again but if anything, this is a good chance to search the web for some bargain items. 

blouse | skirt | sandals | watch | bag

For the casual outfit I decided to lean slightly more to summer than spring and went with a denim skirt and a very feminine, creme shirt which I just love! I found some white sandals with really nice gold studded detailing on the heal and matched these with a creme and gold watch. To finish off the look I chose a pink floral satchel to add a little bit of spring/summer colour. 

swimsuit | dress | sunglasses | sandals | bag

I absolutely love the monochrome trend and as soon as I saw this swimsuit I knew exactly what my holiday/beach outfit would be. I'd pair the statement swimsuit with a plain black maxi dress which is nice and cool for on holiday and perfect for by the beach/pool. I paired this with some black jelly sandals, a pair of sunglasses (any!) and a bright neon yellow bag to contrast with the black and also to be big enough to carry towels, magazines and anything else you fancy taking with you!

dress | shoes | bag | bracelet

For my party option I went for a neon skater dress with cut-out detailing around the neck, which makes it slightly more interesting and the neon pink odour is great for this season. I paired it with black platforms with matching neon pink ankle straps and a black studded clutch along with a simple silver bracelet. 

So these are my three spring/summer looks for casual, beach/holiday and party. I really enjoyed putting these together and even managed to keep two of the looks below £100! 

Emma xo