July Favourites ’18

Why hello August! I know, month after month I moan about how fast the year is going but as much as I hate how fast it is whizzing by BUT I’m not going to do that this month… I’m actually excited for September.

Both me and Dane had some lovely news in July, which I’m not going to mention here and NO before you guess we aren’t expecting or having a baby. 😛 Honestly, you will not see a post in 3 months of me holding a scan… Not unless it’s of a puppy fetus. 😛

URGH I really did ramble. I didn’t mean to. 😛

This months favourites were pretty easy to write up, but at the same time they did feel like a bit of a challenge. I hope you enjoy them either way, I always love writing my monthly favourites, so I hope you always enjoy reading them.

• The Body Shop Body Yogurt in Banana.

I recently posted a wish list Wednesday about The Body Shop and the majority of that wish list had the new limited edition banana range on it. Literally 3 days later I was in a store buying all of the goodies I had posted on that wish list. Since I picked up the body yogurt I have been using it daily and oh my, it has changed up my daily routine! My skin has been looking and feeling dry lately and I HATE moisturising. Not only do I find it a chore, but thick creams can leave me feeling clammy and warm so I avoid it like the plague. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the yogurts and it was Estelle’s The Body Shop haul post (which you can read here) where she spoke about the strawberry one that got me into giving it a go. Thanks Estelle! 😛 This has just been a game changer for my skin. It really is lightweight and only takes 5 minutes max to apply all over and thankfully doesn’t take long to dry so you can be dressed quickly. I plan to have a review of this up on my blog ASAP, possibly this time next week so keep your eyes peeled for that!

• Fairy Glo Gel Polishes.

Since I picked these up a couple of months ago I’ve been meaning to review them as they are AMAZING gel polishes for sod all money. Since getting my Le Mini Macaron gel nail kit I’ve been kind of obsessed with gel nail polish and have certainly gotten into it more. I picked up a massive 14 piece gel polish set, with 12 glitter/holographic shades as well as a base and top coat. All for £15.99 on Amazon with Prime too! I’ve worn the polishes a handful of times now and I do adore them. I feel so pretty when I have the shades on and I especially love the silver holographic shade, as well as the lilac and blue shades. My mom also recently gave me her UV lamp as it was taking me 2 hours to do my nails with the little one nail LED lamp that you get in the Le Mini Macaron kit. I’d love to start doing peoples nails, but that just isn’t going to happen. 😛

• Korres Wild Rose Lip Butter.

I really miss wearing lipstick(s) and yet I don’t know why I stopped wearing them. I think it’s due to the fact that I now have on and off eczema in the corners of my lips, which sucks to be honest with you. Using a stick lip balm is now a thing of the past for me and I have to constantly now use lip balm in tins, e.g. Vaseline. I recently picked up a couple of tinted lip balms from The Body Shop but I decided to dig out this old favourite and start using it at work. No, it isn’t lipstick but it’s a gorgeous tinted lip butter which leaves my lips feeling moisturised and with a gorgeous dark pink colour. I would love to try more of the Korres lip butters, but this one has lasted me so long, I don’t know if I need to. 😛

• The Body Shop Body Butter in Banana.

Yes, another one of the banana products from The Body Shop and this one I have fallen head over heels in love with, for many reasons. There is one product I dislike from The Body Shop and that’s their body butters. They’re really thick, and don’t last very long for how much you spend on them! I’ve tried at least 3 different ones over the years and each one has left me feeling sticky and hot both in the colder and hotter months. However, the banana one smelt amazing so I KNEW I had to pick it up. But I decided to pick up the little tub so that I could test what I thought of the body butter as a hand butter instead. Well, so far I am LOVING IT! It makes such an amazing and deeply nourishing hand butter and I do love it. Whenever I use it at work I get nothing but compliments on the scent, which in turn makes me happy. I’ll definitely invest in the bigger tub soon and just keep the little tub to decant the product into. I’ll also definitely give other scents a try in future, including strawberry.

• Clean & Clear Blackhead Clearing Cleanser.

This is another product I’ve mentioned recently on my blog (you can read that post here) and since I picked it up at the start of July I have loved using it on my skin! I was after a new toner and for years my mom has been using this one and always praised it up. My skin has been in atrocious condition for the longest time now, which was down to certain products I was using, including the old cleanser I was using. This one has helped clear my skin so much and for under £3.00 I am so CHUFFED to have finally discovered it.

So now my beauty favourites are done, time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month!

Image taken from tenor.com

Favourite TV Show – Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.

This is such a random one TV show to start watching, but recently BBC put it onto iPlayer so I’ve just been binge watching it pretty much. I used to LOVE Two Pints growing up and as a student, I just felt like I could relate to it, even with the humour and such. It also just reminds me of when I was younger too with the themes and the fact it’s set back when I was younger. I’m currently on season 5 and close to finishing it. If like me you loved Two Pints growing up, then honestly give yourself a blast to the past and watch the whole box set on iPlayer whilst it’s on there.

Image taken from Giphy.com

Image taken from giphy.com

Favourite Film – Inglorious Basterds.

This was such a random film for me to watch but I saw it on Netflix in July and just thought I’d pop it on to watch one morning whilst I got ready for work. One morning turned into a week pretty much! I do love this film so much and it’s definitely one of my favourites by Quentin Tarantino for many reasons. I remember going to see it with my dad when it came out and he loved it so much. When looking for gifs for this post I giggled at so many awesome ones! 😛

Image taken from giphy.com

Favourite Book – A Polar Bear In Love Vol 3.

Yay finally Vol.3 came out in July and I was so excited to read it after how they left off in Vol.2! I honestly love A Polar Bear In Love, as it is such an adorable manga and one that I will enjoy reading until it finishes. I FINALLY found a gif to use on my blog for posts like this one! They also have short anime clips out of parts from the manga, which is equally adorable, if not cuter. 😛 If you love cute manga, I cannot recommend this enough!

Favourite Song/Album – Daft Punk Random Access Memories.

Recently at work we were talking about music and one of the questions that went around the office was, “What band would you like to see before you die?” and my answer was Daft Punk. I have LOVED this band for as long as I can remember and they are a massive part of my life. They’re the reason for my love of a lot of music and are for sure a band I would love to see perform. This is the last album they released (I pray they’ll bring out another soon!) back in 2013 and it came out not long before I met Dane. This album reminds me of that year and how rough it was. I listened to it when things were hard because it always made me feel better. I even wrote a MASSIVE review on it back in the day, which I’ll link here. I’ve been listening to this album quite a lot since then and ARGH I just forgot how much I love it and how I need more Daft Punk albums on my iPod for my car. I’ve added a couple of my favourite songs from the album above.

Image taken from giphy.com

Favourite Game – Pokemon Go

Yes, I am still playing Pokemon Go and I am LOVING every minute of it. Me and Dane are still playing it loads and even going out late at night to play it. Since me and Dane bought our Pokemon Go Pluses we play it every day. I know it’s seen as a lazy way to play the game, but if you’re going for a walk, or a day out shopping you don’t have to get your phone out to get all the Poke Stops you walk past, which is so handy. The only issue I have is that the game drains my battery, but that’s what I have my battery pack for. 😛 Recently on our way home from visiting Dane’s parents we made a u turn to a local shopping area so that we could catch a Dragonite! It was for sure worth it and we both have a Pokemon we’ve wanted for AGES. I just love the game so much and I wish I’d never stopped playing it years ago. I remember the game coming out in July 2016 and that’s when me and Dane were doing up our house so it does take me back to that time too. 🙂

So those were my favourites from July! I feel like they weren’t anything special but to be honest with you I feel like July went by in a ball of madness! It’s been a pretty decent month to be honest in every single way. As I said at the start of the post me and Dane both had some great news, we’ve had some amazing sunny weather and some much needed rain. It’s overall been a pretty decent month and I’m excited for what August brings!

What were your favourites from July? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a great week so far.

My Daily Skin Care Essentials

Okay at the moment I am so DONE with how clammy and hot it has been. I love the hot weather, but I really don’t love it in the UK. Maybe it’s because work is hot and stuffy and maybe it’s because the UK isn’t prepared for heat? Meh either way, I just want a little bit of rain, if not for my gardens sake over my own!

Today’s blog post is one I’ve always thought about writing, but never have until now because I thought my skin care routine was boring and that no one would ever wish to see it.

This being said, why would it be boring? Especially if it works for my skin type! I feel like recently I’ve hit a jackpot with my skin care and FINALLY found some products that work for me and leave my skin looking great, as well as feeling good too.

Get yourselves a nice cold drink, maybe an ice cream or an ice lolly and prepare for this evenings blog post! Not only has it taken me a whole 6 years to write this post, but I’m spontaneously writing it at nearly 9pm. Oh dear, I hope it’s good reading. 😛

I have 6 main items I use when doing my morning skin care routine, some of them are recent newbies and some are products I’ve used on and off over the years. BUT it is finally so amazing to find products that work with my skin, and don’t cost a fortune to pick up either!

• Australian Bodycare Skin Wash.

This is the first thing I’ll use everyday as a part of my routine and it’s only recently that I’ve started using this on my face. My skin was breaking out constantly and I started to worry I had acne and was feeling ugly constantly. I looked how I did when I was 13 and very much so like a pepperoni pizza! You can use this skin wash all over your body and considering I always use it on my body, using it on my face couldn’t hurt, right? It was amazing to be honest with you and it’s really changed my skin for the better this past month! You don’t need a lot of this either, which is even better considering this is a 1000ml bottle. I need to get some refills for it as soon as I can.

• Clean & Clear Blackhead Clearing Cleanser.

This is the newest product in my skin care routine and it’s one I’m so glad I picked up! I needed a new face cleanser/toner and I usually pick up a tea tree one. They didn’t have that sadly and my mom has always raved about this cleanser, so I thought I’d give it a go. If I didn’t like it, I could always give it to my mom and pick up a different one. This is amazing to be honest with you and I feel like it really does lift up any leftover muck from my pores. Gross, but true! 😛 This is also really refreshing to use whilst the weather is hot.

• Simple Kind To Eyes Soothing Eye Balm.

This is an eye cream/balm I’ve been using for many years now and chopped and changed using it on and off for various reasons. I always go back to it though because it always leaves my eyes feeling cool, moisturised and although not looking “better”, they certainly look somewhat refreshed. This lasts ages too as you only need a little bit and it doesn’t cost a fortune either. My only issue with this is that it doesn’t help with ageing, which I probably need to start thinking about now… 😛

• LOreal Paris Hydra Genius Liquid Care (review here).

This is by far my favourite product alongside the tea tree skin wash in my skin care. This came out last year and it released at such a great time considering it was boiling when it came out. This is now my second bottle and look how much I have left! I’ll buy myself another bottle soon enough to be honest with you as I love using it everyday. As you’ll read from my review, this is a really light formula, which goes a long way and leaves your skin feeling moisturised and cooled down. It’s perfect to take abroad with you (if possible) due to how cooling it is. I especially love using it after a face mask.

• Rimmel London Insta Fix & Matte Translucent Powder.

This is my second one of these now and I love it so much! This is probably the only bit of make up I always use to be honest with you. Due to my combination skin, I get an oily t-zone and due to that I like to matte it down as much as I can, with as little effort as possible. This powder is really light and doesn’t do a heavy coverage at all, but nonetheless for me it does an amazing job!

• Collection Colour Lash Clear Mascara.

Due to having such big eye brows I need a good clear mascara to keep them in shape all day long and this is by far the best and most affordable clear mascara on the high street! I used to use the Miss Sporty one but the staying power wasn’t as good as it could have been. I’ve not really tried any other brands, I don’t need to considering how great the Collection one is! I recommend it if you want to use a clear mascara on both your eyelashes and eyebrows.

So those are my daily skin care essentials and my favourite ones to be honest with you! There are other bits and pieces I like using on and off too, but they don’t get a mention here. 😛

What are your daily skin care essentials? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re excited for the weekend, I know I am. 😛