July Favourites ’20

I can’t believe it’s August already, can you? I for one am glad as July was so bloody stressful and it drove me mad due to that fact. I just couldn’t wait for it to end to be honest, it started to affect my mental health, which is never good so to have a new month will be good. Plus, September is my favourite month of the year and I want to make sure to have a relaxing month before that favourite comes up. I could write a post every year as to why I love September… Maybe I’ll do it again this year? Let me know if you’re interested.

July wasn’t just a month of being stressed out however, it was also a month of getting good things done, including our bathroom and my nails. We had some issues with our bathroom in May with water damage and decided instead of just getting the water damage repaired, we would look and see if we could justify getting the whole bathroom done. Alas we did justify it and a couple of months later the work was completed and we now have our gorgeous new bathroom! We’ve had the work completed for two weeks now and I have loved it so much. I was going to show off the completed bathroom on my blog, but I have since gone against that as I’d like to keep some privacy.

As well as my bathroom being done, nail technicians were able to open their salons again, so I went to get my first gel manicure done in almost 4 months, which I was very happy about. Yesterday I went and got them done again and I went for black and holographic silver, because why not. 😛

Image taken from The Latest Kate

As always I like to share a positive photo here from The Latest Kate as I find her images are really sweet and the message behind them meaningful.

Here’s to August being a relaxing month, before my favourite comes. 🙂

• Bath Bake Love Cherry Lime Sugar Whip.

I have know about Bath Bake Love for quite a long time now through Instagram, but I’ve never bought from them until now. I feel like I’ve been missing out for a long time as I honestly love their products. So far I’ve bought quite a few of the sugar whips (including Frosting Fairy, Billionaires Shortbread) and some other items they create and sell. The one sugar whip I have fallen in love with is Cherry Lime, it smells just like it and it makes me so happy. I haven’t used it as much as Frosting Fairy, but that’s because I’m savouring it a little. The sugar whips are really creamy in texture and like a mousse, which make it really easy to lather them up and wash with. They make you smell really good and feel soft! The Cherry Lime scent is very zesty and summery, hence why I’ve loved it so much this past month. I can’t wait to use it more and I’ll definitely buy it when it’s restocked next. PLUS look how pretty the product is with the bright pink and green foil inside! It’s actually inspired me to potentially get my nails painted in these shades towards the end of the month.

• Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau de Toilette.

I decided to use some of my “older” perfumes up that I’ve had for quite some time. Years ago my mom bought me a set of mini Marc Jacobs perfumes and I’ve never used them… Until now! These bottles are TEENY and they aren’t the easiest of bottles to work with, but I just dab some of the scent on my neck, wrists and inside my elbows. For an EDT this scent lasts ages! It’s really light and I rather like it, although I doubt I would buy the full sized bottle. I’m not a massive fan of the Marc Jacobs scents, although I really do love Decadence.

• Revolution Skincare Blemish and Pore Refining Serum – 10% Niacinamide + 1% Zinc 30ml.

My good friend Claire recommend this serum to me a while ago, so I decided to buy myself a bottle of it back in June and since then I have on and off used it. I do really love it and I ended up buying some more niacinamide items from Revolution Skincare too, which I’ve been using alongside the serum. Niacinamide is good for oily skin types as it balances oil production and improves texture by making pores look smaller. Considering how warm it’s been towards the end of this week, after using this on my skin in the morning with my moisturiser, my skin hasn’t been as oily on my nose as it usually is! I’m going to keep trying this though, as I do feel like it’s starting to do something for my skin.

• romand – Juicy Lasting Tint Autumn Fruit Series Shade Cherry Bomb.

In June I ordered some goodies from Yes Style and it was a mixture of regret and happiness. I was happy to finally own some more Korean lip tints but regretted it due to the fact it took a whole month to arrive and I was paranoid about customs charges. However, looking back I don’t really regret it and I think I was just on edge and anxious. I’ll happily order with Yes Style again, especially as I’ve seen some stuff I would love for the future. That aside, I ordered two lip tints by romand and out of the two, Cherry Bomb has been my favourite. It’s a gorgeous cherry red lip tint that really does last ages on the lips. I’ve found myself wearing it on the rare occasions I’ve left the house, but I’ve mostly worn it whilst working from home. I recommend these lip tints to everyone and I already know I’ll be buying more romand products in the future.

• The Body Scrub Peppermint Candy Cane Body Scrub.

This is one that I received a couple of Christmases ago and have FINALLY gotten around to using! It’s one of The Body Shop scrubs and I honestly wish I had used it sooner as it’s amazing. It’s a very thick sugar scrub which really does scrub away! I’ve been using it on the tops of my arms, bum, thighs and even my feet. It’s worked amazingly on the latter but has left me feeling a little smoother than usual everywhere else. This was only a small pot as it was part of a set, but if I ever see this pop up in sales on the website in future, I may have to buy a bigger pot. It also smells AMAZING by the way!

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

Favourite TV Show – I May Destroy You.

First of all, this TV show is amazing and I cannot recommend it enough to you right now. In all fairness this does have some warnings due to scenes of sexual abuse/rape. The show is written and stars Michaela Coel (who also wrote Chewing Gum) and is about a writer who goes for a night out to take a break from her work. The next day she can’t seem to remember what happened during the night out, or how she even got home. Everything begins to unravel and she soon grows to realise she’s been raped during her night out. With the help of her friends she gains support, as well as tries to get justice for what happened to her and more. I definitely recommend watching it, it’s an amazing show.

Favourite Movie – A Whisker Away.

This film was an absolute delight to watch and after a takeaway me and Dane snuggled together and watched it on the sofa. It’s about a girl who is in love with a boy and the only way she can get close to him is by turning into a cat. We watched it dubbed, but it is subbed on Netflix as well. The story itself is adorable and we have all been there at some point in our youth with lusting over someone but not being able to get them to like you the same way! My only gripe with this film is that both me and Dane felt like it went on for a little bit too long… Which started to ruin the film for us. This being said, I would happily watch this film again as it did make me smile and the kitten that the girl turns into is adorable!

Image taken from Tumblr

Favourite Book – Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid manga.

FINALLY I HAVE READ SOMETHING! Can you believe it?! I had a quiet weekend in July and decided to start making my way through some of the volumes I haven’t read yet in my manga collection. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid was a priority to me as it’s one of my favourites and I know quite a few volumes have come out for this and the spin off volumes (Kanna’s Daily Life and Elma’s Office Lady Diary) too. I feel so much better for catching up on my manga series but I do need to read more! I feel like I need to just assign myself two evenings a week to just read, as I’m terrible these days for reading and I don’t know why? I’m going to blame gaming as I feel since I bought my Switch Lite I’ve neglected reading, which is a shame. Not only do I have manga to read, but comics and even “normal” books to read too!

Favourite Music – Dai Numo – SUITED.

Years ago on Soundcloud I discovered Dai Numo and I have never regretted that day. I LOVE his music and keep wanting him to release more. I listened to his album on and off to and from Japan, whenever I visit Fuerteventura and when I really need to knuckle down with work of any type (work or personal). I thought I’d share a couple of songs above, but I’d highly recommend you go and check out his Soundcloud AND Bandcamp where you can download the album. I can’t describe what kind of music this is… It’s like chillout hip hop? I love it either way and I definitely recommend it for everyone to check out.

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Aggretsuko: The Short Timer Strikes Back.

First of all guys I just want to say, I am still playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, however I am not on it ALL the time. It has began to “bore” me a little, but lately I decided to sort out my island and redo parts of it, so every other day I’ve clocked onto Animal Crossing a couple of hours. However, recently an Aggretsuko game came out, ready for when the third season hits Netflix at the end of the month. This isn’t an in depth game in anyway shape or form, but towards the end of July I got addicted to it! It’s a free game and I can’t recommend it more if you want a puzzle game to play.

So those are my favourites from July! Again, I can’t believe it’s August already, the eighth month of the year! Next month will be my favourite month of the year and then before we know it we’ll be in autumn, Halloween, Bonfire Night, winter and then Christmas before we get a new year!

2020 hasn’t been amazing due to COVID, but we’re over halfway through this year now.

How has July been for you? What were your favourites? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, stay safe and take care all!

Fuerteventura Favourites

This is going to be like a monthly favourites style post, but instead 2 weeks worth of favourite items and from the island! As well as that it’ll be a mixture of beauty and lifestyle related items that I loved using and enjoying whilst I was away.

I would have included these on my October Favourites post at the start of next month, but I already know for a fact that I’ll have loads of things on that list already and these wouldn’t even get a look in!

A couple of these items have been left in Fuerteventura so due to that I’ve had to use stock images to show off what they are.

Let’s get on with the favourites though, starting with beauty!

Beauty

Image taken from Amazon.co.uk

• Babaria Foot Cream.

My feet really were bad when we were on holiday and they usually are to be perfectly honest due to how dry my skin is as well as how the sea and sand were drying out my feet too. This foot cream said to apply it both day and night, so I applied it before I went to bed and first thing when I woke up. It helped in a short matter of time and I guess I’m just gutted I couldn’t bring it  back with me, especially with how good it worked on my feet! This being said when I was looking for a picture of the product to put on here I delightfully found out that Amazon UK sell this! So I may pick one up when I’ve used my Body Shop Intensive Foot Rescue.

Image taken from Amazon.co.uk

• L’Oreal Hair Expertise Sleek Smooth Intense Shampoo.

This is the shampoo I always use when I got to Fuerteventura and it really did work wonders for my hair whilst I was there. It made it feel so light and moisturised. I loved it so much I had a search for it when I got home to buy and thankfully I found it in Superdrug! I haven’t used it here yet, but a part of me can’t wait to, as sad as that sounds. I’ve been using sulphate free shampoo for about a year now and it really has improved my hair, I’ll never got back to normal shampoo now!

• Skinnydip X Carmex Cherry Lip Balm.

I picked this lip balm up the day before we went on holiday as whilst I have Vaseline, that doesn’t contain any SPF. I wanted to make sure to pick up one that did so I grabbed this whilst in Superdrug. I love Carmex, especially the cherry flavour and this contains SPF 15 too which is perfect! I used this constantly on holiday, both day and night. I did find however in the day time that this would sting the part above my top lip in the day time, which makes me wonder if it’s due to the sun being really hot and 15 not being a high enough number. I didn’t burn though, so who knows! I’m still using this now we’re back and I still love it just as much!

• Essence Out Of Space Nail Polish in shade Intergalactic Adventure.

I picked up this nail polish the day before we went on holiday and although it’s just a bog standard nail polish but it’s so pretty and for the price it’s a complete bargain! I remember when higher brands such as OPI and Nails Inc brought out polishes like this for five times the price! I painted my nails with it before we went and wore it a couple of times whilst we were there. It was especially lovely to wear when swimming in the pool. I want to pick up more of the shades from the collection!

• Barry M Matte Me Up Metallic Lip Kit in Avant Garde.

This is another product I picked up before the holiday and it was my most worn lipstick throughout the holiday. I only wore it in the evenings of course as this is such a dark colour! It’s not at all a holiday type shade, at least not one you associate with holidays anyway. It’s a dark purple shade and the metallic in it shifts the purple to a slight gold colour. Due to it being part of a kit you also get the lip liner, which is amazing too! I’ll be reviewing this really soon on my blog and I cannot wait! This is a gorgeous shade for autumn and winter, especially teamed up with a mustard jumper or dress.

Games

• Miitopia.

The night before we went on holiday I ended up downloading the demo of this to see if it was worth the fuss it was getting. That and it’s meant to be like Tomodachi Life, which both me and Dane love! I fell in love with the demo and downloaded it as soon as possible! It was ready in time for the day of our flight and I played it loads on the plane, as well as pretty much most mornings and/or evenings in the house. Dane loved the look of it so much that he bought it whilst we was on holiday to play with me. Sadly neither of us have played it since we’ve been back, but I’m sure we’ll pick it up soon.

• Pokemon Silver.

Oh all the nostalgic feels this game brings me! I loved the first gen of Pokemon, but gen two holds more of a place in my heart, so when I heard Nintendo were bringing this out on the 3DS I was beyond excited! I pre-ordered it the day before we went on holiday and downloaded it ready to play the day it came out, two days after we arrived. I played it loads the one day and since then I’ve picked it up once. This is mainly due to playing loads of Miitopia! I’ll be playing it more now as I really want to play it and complete it to the level my original Game Boy Color game was at.

• Persona 4 Golden.

This is a game that I didn’t start playing until the day we came home. We flew with Monarch… Do I need to say anymore? 😛 We were in the airport for 7 hours so I needed something to do! I got my PS Vita out and played this for about an hour and played it for half of the flight home. Since then I’ve picked it up a couple of times to play and I’m really enjoying it! I still haven’t finished Persona 5 though, so I won’t invest loads of time into this until Persona 5 is finished.

Book

• Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella.

If I’ve really enjoyed reading a book in such a long time, it was most definitely this one! I’ve wanted it since Sophie Kinsella released it and it was better than I thought it was going to be. It’s about Audrey and how she suffers with anxiety disorders due to something that happened at school. It’s really well written and clearly researched before writing about. As usual Sophie Kinsella writes her characters so realistic that I want to be their best friends. If you haven’t read it yet and love young adult mental health related novels, please do!

Music

Image taken from https://dainumo.bandcamp.com/album/suited

• Dai Numo – Suited album.

Oh man I LOVE this album so much I can’t even put into words how much I love it to be honest! It was the perfect album to play whilst in the pool, driving around the island and on the flight there and back. My favourite track is One Digit, which is how I discovered Dai Numo in the first place! I’ve linked where to get his album under the picture of it, but I’ll also link where you can listen to his music on Soundcloud here. Other than this album we didn’t really listen to much whilst we were on holiday.

Food & Drink

• Nescafe Frappelatte.

These are a real treat whenever I go to Fuerteventura and I just wish so much that we could get them here! They’re really thick coffee milkshakes that are made in a machine just like a Slush Puppy. They’re not expensive and you can get all sorts of different toppings such as cream, chocolate sauce, ice cream and even a Kit Kat. I wish I’d been naughty and drank more of these whilst we were away, but we had one as a treat whenever we’d been swimming at the beach or out for the day. It’s a lovely treat to have, like a Slush Puppy I guess. 😛

• Fanta/Clipper Fresa.

I don’t quite understand why we don’t have strawberry Fanta in the UK because it’s bloody amazing! I gave Clipper a go too as they did a zero version. I didn’t drink loads of this (I’ve definitely drank more in the past!) but it was so refreshing to drink and incredibly yummy. It was just nice to have on the balcony in the day time and as a drink to pick up and have whilst down at the beach or out on a walk. We really need this in the UK though, only through Five Guys at stupid prices is lame.

• Nutella B-Ready.

These ARE in the UK and they’re fucking beautiful! I didn’t realise we could get these at home, but on the night we arrived we popped to the shops and picked a box up. I popped them in the fridge so that the chocolate inside would go hard and it was really nice done like that. These were a night treat in the day time after going for a swim in the pool and in the evenings if we fancied something sweet! Since we’ve been home we’ve bought a box of them from Asda, but they aren’t exactly cheap. Tesco have them on offer right now so me and Dane intend to buy LOADS! 😛 I’ve been eating them in the mornings before work to give me a little something for the day.

So those are my favourites from Fuerteventura, but in reality everything was my favourite thing there. 😛

Do you always seem to have favourite items when you’re on holiday? If you do what were your favourite items from your last holiday? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and have a lovely weekend!