Everything Erin

Finally, the evenings are getting dark, the leaves are falling and it's autumn again. Autumn is my favourite season for many reasons, of which I will be sharing with you all today in a collab post with the lovely Gabija of everylittlethingblog.weebly.com. Make sure you check out what she loves about autumn after you've read mine! 

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Cosy jumpers - Autumn is the season of sweaters and jumpers and I love it. They are so comfortable, recently I bought a new burgundy sweater from New Look which brings me onto my next point...

Wearing lots of burgundy - Lately I realised I own lots of burgundy clothing, it's definitely my favourite colour to wear and I think that's because I connect that colour with autumn so much. I love autumnal clothing in general though, I can't wait to start wearing my khaki parka again too.


Brown leaves everywhere - walking to school crunching the browned leaves as I walk makes me feel so happy. They are instagramable too right?!

Autumnal Makeup - I may not be one to be grabbing a berry coloured lipstick this autumn, but I think brown toned lips (such as MAC's Velvet Teddy) can be just as autumnal. Plus, just because I don't suit dark lips doesn't mean I can't appreciate the posts from bloggers who rock them! 

New music - The amount of my favourite singers and bands who bring out their new albums in time for Christmas buying is crazy. From September onwards I get so excited for new music and new tour announcements for next year. There's always something to watch on a Saturday night come autumn too; are you a Strictly or X Factor person?


Darker evenings - some of you may prefer the long days of summer, but personally I love the days when the sky goes almost pitch black before 5pm. On the contrary, I very much dislike dark mornings, they make me want to get out bed even less!

Better nights sleep - Although the dark mornings make me not want to get out of bed, it's also probably because in the autumn time, I have a much better night sleep than in the summer. My room just gets so warm in the summer time that it can take me hours to get to sleep. I feel so much more comfortable and less tired in the autumn.

Bonfire night - for those of you who aren't from the UK, Bonfire night is the 5th November and is one of my favourite nights of the whole year. The fireworks look so pretty and are so exciting, but I think there's another reason why I love this night so much...


My birthday! - the day after bonfire night, I do enjoy having a birthday in autumn. Sometimes I may be envious of friends with summer birthdays - last year on my birthday it rained almost all day! But it gives me something to look forward to before...

The lead up to Christmas - Yes, that's right, I said the C word! Before you know it, my birthday has been and gone and the countdown for Christmas is on. I love the festivities this time of year brings, it's so exciting.

Burning Candles - cosy evenings spent by the fire while burning a candle that makes my living room smell divine (thank you Yankee Candle!) is why I love autumn so much in a nutshell. 

What do you love about autumn?

I have been blogging for quite a long time now, and although I go through months when I don't feel as motivated as others, I always keep up with it because I enjoy it so much. Here are a few reasons why I love blogging.

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It's somewhere to share my thoughts. I have always loved writing, but I never had any ideas about what to write about. When I discovered blogs, I thought it would be the perfect oppotunity for me to write more. It's an amazing feeling when other people actually care about your thoughts and what you have to say.

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The community. Blogging has given me the chance to speak to so many lovely fellow bloggers, especially being part of the teenage team. Our chat always makes me smile after a hard day. It's amazing to have that community to share ideas and feelings with. Lots of bloggers have their own blogging friendship groups and I feel very lucky to have mine in the teenage team.

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It has taught me a lot. Through blogging I have learnt a lot about writing and photography I wouldn't have learned otherwise. Looking back on my posts from a year ago, my photos have massively improved, and so has my writing style. I've also learnt about HTML which is something I wouldn't have a clue about without blogging.

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Giving and receiving feedback. It's a lovely feeling when you check your blog the day after you've posted to receive lots of lovely comments. I always love reading what people have to say about my post, reading positive feedback about my blog makes me feel really happy. But blogging isn't a one-sided thing; I also love reading and commenting on other blogs. I love discovering new, amazing blogs to read - if I have a free moment I'm probably reading the latest blog posts in my Bloglovin' feed!

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I would love to hear why you love blogging too in the comments!

The first ever album I owned was McFly's Wonderland, after seeing them perform All About You on TV when I was 4 years old. I would listen to the album on repeat countless times on car journeys, having no idea in over 10 years time I would see this album in its entirety, along with my all time favourite album Motion In The Ocean - on McFly's Anthology Tour.


Their tour consists of four locations: Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London, with three nights at each. Each night is different - night 1 consists of their first album, Room On The Third Floor and a few extras. At night 2, the night I went to, they performed Wonderland and Motion In The Ocean, their second and third album. Night 3 consists of Radio:ACTIVE and Above The Noise, the last two albums.

Some lucky fans managed to get tickets for all three nights - I was originally going to the first two but when the tour was postponed from June to September due to Harry's injury, the Manchester dates moved from Fri/Sat/Sun to Mon/Tues/Wed, and midweek dates meant I could only travel to Manchester once. I ended up going to show 2 because I had early entry tickets for that night, and those two albums are my favourite.


After queueing for a few hours and getting caught in a horrendous storm, we finally got into the venue of Manchester Academy. I managed to be about five people back, towards the middle (because my favourite member is Danny) and slightly more towards the left side, so I also had a good view of Tom. Both at this tour and Lytham Festival last year I've never managed to get the best view of Dougie, I can hardly see him!

After support act My - who was Sweedish, and although didn't have the best vocals did have good stage presense, McFly finally came on at quarter to nine. I instantly started crying when they came on - I couldn't believe how close they were and I was so happy to see them again! They began with I'll Be Ok, the first track of the Wonderland album, and I think the perfect song to start on. The crowd were singing along to every word, it was amazing.


Highlights of mine included She Falls Asleep, a song performed by Tom solo on his piano. The other McFly boys wished him good luck as they went off stage - Tom was clearly nervous about performing this one in front of us all. It truly was a musical masterpiece and I'm very happy to have heard it live. Tom said in his vlog he made mistakes in it but I couldn't tell at all! It was an enchanting moment.

One of the reasons McFly shows are so amazing is the banter they have on stage, especially when they come to Manchester and make fun of Danny being from the north! As it says on my new tour t-shirt, he is the 'King Of The North' after all! They also made fun of each other's outfit choices for the concert: "You're not in LA anymore, Dougie!" Harry found it very funny that Dougie dressed in a hawaiian shirt and Tom wore his 'knitwear collection'.


I also loved Bubblewrap, one of my favourites on Motion In The Ocean. Star Girl was another great moment, because Star Girl is my favourite song ever. Every single time I've been to see McFly (or McBusted) they have sang that and I always love it. Walk In The Sun was probably the song I was most excited to see, Danny performs this solo on his guitar. I saw it live the first time I saw McFly in 2012 at the Keep Calm And Play Louder and it was amazing - I didn't even know it back then! Definitely worth the four year wait to see it live again, he performed it so well.


They finished the show with The Heart Never Lies, which they finish on at all three nights. It's the perfect ending song, hearing Tom sing the words "McFly's here forever" is the best feeling, especially because it's reported we might not get new music from them for a while.

I also managed to get one of Tom's guitar picks at the concert, which I am so happy about. At the end of the concert the boys threw several things off the stage, and a man stood next to me caught both Tom's pick and Danny's towel, so very kindly gave me Tom's pick. I am so grateful about it, and it goes very well with Harry's drumstick I got from a previous tour.


McFly continue their Anthology tour to Glasgow, Birmingham and London over the next couple of weeks. Have you been to any concerts lately?

Over the past few months Twitter has become my favourite app. This is mainly because I love how easy it is to connect to other bloggers and discover new amazing blogs to read using it. Twitter is an incredible way to promote your own blog while sharing the love for other blogs too. Today I'm going to share how I've used Twitter to boost more than triple my monthly page views.

1. Twitter Chats - If you're starting off with Twitter and need to grow your follower base, twitter chats are a wonderful way to do so whilst having fun chatting with other bloggers. If you're looking for new bloggers to follow, they are also a great idea because during the chats you can get to know the blogger a little better too. A few of my favourites are #thegirlgang chat on Mondays at 6pm, #teenageteam chat on Wednesdays at 7pm and #GRLPOWR chat on Tuesdays at 9pm and Thursdays at 8pm. I am always looking for new chats to join so let me know your favourites in the comments!

2. Buffer - Few months back in my '5 Apps Every Blogger Needs' post, I mentioned the app Buffer because I knew it was useful, although I hadn't used it much and didn't have much idea how to work it. Since then I have been using it a lot more, and the results are amazing. I now try to schedule 2-3 posts per day on Buffer because on days that I do, it works wonders for my page views. I often promote older posts too that didn't get as many views when I first posted them. It's so easy to use and although you'll have to remember to keep topping it up (I always forget!) that has probably made the most difference to my page views.



3. Connect with other bloggers - Just like commenting on other blogs, it is also important to retweet and like other blogger's posts. If you enjoy a post of theirs, tweet them and let them know! Mention your favourite bloggers in a #FF (Follow Friday) tweet! Give the love and eventually you will start getting it back. Your blog following isn't all about the numbers, but the support you receive from other bloggers, and that all starts with giving support back.

4. Find your blogging community - Personally I am part of the #teenageteam. I've made so many blogging friends since it started in June, and whenever I have a free moment I'm always checking out their posts first. This may be hard because there aren't always that many communtities around (maybe you could get a bunch of bloggers together and create your own?!) but it has been so useful and fun to be a part of.

5. Use hashtags and retweet accounts - When promoting your posts, it's important to use hashtags and retweet accounts so your tweets get seen by bloggers who may not necessarily follow you. One of my favourite bloggers Nicole of Thrifty Vintage Fashion has actually posted an ultimate list of hashtags and retweet accounts to use and it's definitely worth checking out!

What tips do you have for using Twitter?

This year I haven't seemed to read as many books as usual. I'm not sure whether I got too busy, or I just didn't find any novels that took my fancy until the summer when I read four books I want to share my thoughts on with you. I'll try and leave my mini reviews spoiler free, wish me luck on that!

August has been a different month for me. I haven't been at school for the whole of it, so it seems to have gone really slow yet really quick at the same time, if that makes any sense! Today I'll be showing you what I've been loving this month.

This month I got MAC's Velvet Teddy, and you may remember in my first impressions post that I loved it as soon as I used it. Throughout August it has definitely become my favourite lipstick! I understand the hype about it because it is a stunning matte brown toned nude, my perfect lipstick shade and formula!


I've also been loving the Rimmel sculpt palette, in particular the contour shade. It's not that pigmented, but it's the most cool toned bronzer I've found; it's not orange toned at all! I actually quite like the fact it's not overly pigmented because it means I can't accidently apply too much! The blush in the palette is a really pretty coral shade but I'm not too fond of the highlight, it really lacks in pigmentation!


I hardly ever paint my nails, however this month because I've been off school I have really liked painting my nails with this Maybelline Color Show nail polish in the shade 'latte'. It's a nude polish so it's very subtle while providing a lovely glossy finish to my nails.

This month my Victoria Secret Love Spell body mist has been a firm favourite of mine. I've wanted to try a Victoria Secret spray for a long time, so when I heard they were selling them in Superdrug now I popped into my local store and chose the scent Love Spell. It's a really nice, fresh scent and I've been spraying it constantly this month!


I've read a few books this month (a post about them all will be coming soon!) but one I wanted to mention in my favourites is the fifth Geek Girl book, Head Over Heels. I've loved the Geek Girl books for ages now, they are my favourite series and I loved this one just as much as the rest. They always manage to make my laugh, and Harriet's wonderful character grew maturely in this book.


At the beginning of the month I went to see Lawson perform in my hometown. It feels so long since then that I almost forgot to include it in this post! I really enjoyed seeing them live because I've liked Lawson's music for years. I recommend listening to their new album Perspective, I love the song We Are The Fire on it. I listened to their song Standing In The Dark from their first album a lot this month, that song was so good live!

The other song I've been loving lately is Ellie Goulding's new single Still Falling For You. You'll probably know that I love Ellie's music if you read my blog a lot, I feel like I'm always mentioning her! Still Falling For You is quite possibly one of my favourite songs of hers now! It's incredible, I even think it's better than Love Me Like You Do and  definitely worth checking out!