September Favourites ’17

I’m currently on holiday when this post will go live on my blog and although I’ve only really been in the UK for just over 2 weeks for the month of September, I can still write what products I loved throughout that time… Right? 😛

I do apologise for poor image quality… I took this the night before we left and was rushing to get so much done. 😦

• Garnier PureActive Intensive 3in1 Charcoal Anti-Blackhead.

This is a product I bought on a whim. I love any facial cleansing products that contain charcoal, as it’s great for oily skin and can really help pull any crap out of your pores. As the title suggests this is a 3in1 product which means you can use it as a facial wash, scrub and as a mask. This isn’t the BEST product in the world but it’s done some wonders for my skin so far! It’s not as scrubby as I was hoping it would be, but my skin has been having some sensitive days recently so this has really helped when I want to use a scrub but nothing too harsh. I definitely recommend giving this a go! I haven’t tried it as a mask to be honest, but it’s an amazing facial wash for sure.

• Lush Sugar Plum Fairy Lip Tint.

This is my tube of Sugar Plum Fairy lip tint from last Christmas and it’s a lip product I randomly just started using again this month. I think with all the excitement of the Lush Creative Showcase and the Christmas goodies of 2017 being announced, it jogged my memory of this lip tint. It smells amazing, leaves a lovely magenta pink shade on my lips and moisturises at the same time! I’ll definitely be buying more Lush lip tints this year, including Black Rose for Halloween and Santa Baby for Christmas.

• Paco Rabanne Lady Million EDP.

I’ve owned for a while and when I was first given it by my mom (it was originally a gift she had been given but didn’t like it, so gave it to me! :P) and at first I REALLY hated it, but after using it for a while I’ve grown to love it. The scent reminds me of Yankee Candle’s Fluffy Towels scent and I love it so much. I feel fresh and clean when I wear it and whilst ages ago I couldn’t wait to get rid of it, I now want to buy a new bottle as soon as it runs out. For ages it was my go to scent for work, which to be honest it was for the 2 weeks of September.

• Mandarin Spa Amber Heaven Gentle Hand Wash.

My mom recently gave me this hand wash after noticing I was running low on hand wash in my bathroom. I had a back up ready to pop next to the sink, but how cute is that??? When I lived at home I would often use this hand wash if either me or my mom had bought any. I love the scent of this hand wash so much as it smells so posh! I can’t really describe how it smells to be honest… Sort of musky but a floral musk… If that makes sense? Even though I really like this hand wash at the moment, I do have a hate/love relationship with this stuff. Before now this hand wash has flared up my eczema and I don’t really know why. I has flared up slightly the past month BUT it hasn’t been as bad as it has been in the past.

• Dove Pistachio and Magnolia Shower Foam.

Whilst I love this shower foam, I highly doubt I’ll be buying it again unless it’s on a special offer. I picked this up in Boots for £2.00 and even then I think this was expensive, FYI it’s usually £2.99. There are three different ones you can pick but I love pistachios so I had to pick this one. I have found that this softens my skin after use and will leave me smelling yummy for a while after use, but I just feel like you have to use loads of it to get a good lather going in a sponge or shower scrunch and that in itself is a con for me. This being said this was something new and fun to try and due to the scent I picked it’s also lovely to use as we go into the colder months. The pistachio has a lovely warming scent to it. As I said, when this is on offer again I’ll definitely pick one up!

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

Image taken from weheartit.com

Image taken from weheartit.com

Favourite TV Show – American Horror Story.

First of all, I know I don’t usually include 2 images when talking about my non beauty favourites, but I had to for this. I just want to get this out there that 1. I have a new favourite actor – Evan Peters and 2. The way he acted when playing Tate in season 1 of AHS was amazing and beautiful. I love the first gif I attached but the second one, oh my! Whenever he cried in that season I just wanted to cry with him. He’s one of those actors who nails crying scenes perfectly and those are some of my favourite to watch. Due to studying acting (as well as writing scripts) I love when an actor can be emotional and he’s just perfect at it (and may I add a perfect human being? :P).

ANYWAY… American Horror Story! Me and Dane have heard loads of good things about this, including from his own parents and we’re a little late onto the AHS wagon but it’s better to be late than never at all, eh? We are currently halfway through season 2 and we are loving it. I loved season 1 so much and his parents both said it’s their favourite to date! I have a feeling it’ll be mine too. If you don’t know much about AHS, every season pretty much has the same actors/actresses but each season has a different story behind it. BUT they’re all supernatural themed. They’re currently all on Netflix so I recommend going to watch it if you haven’t already. To be honest I’m really excited to see more of Evan Peters acting. He’s amazing. :’)

Favourite Film – The Girl On The Train.

This was recently on Amazon Prime to watch and I had heard SO MUCH about both the book when it came out, as well as the film. I wanted to watch it in the cinema but Dane wasn’t keen for it at the time. I’m glad I waited to watch it in the comfort of our own home but bloody hell, it’s good! I haven’t read the book so I can’t compare that to the film but even if you haven’t read the book like myself then I recommend you give it a watch. It definitely reminded me of Gone Girl, but in a different way.

Image taken from readeroffictions.com

Favourite Book – Erm…

Yeah I’m shit. I haven’t been reading anything AGAIN! To be honest I’ve been saving all my reading for my holiday. I do have shit loads of reading to catch up on though. I have all the K-ON! manga to catch up on, as well as many other manga books. I also have normal books to read and intend on taking 2 Bridget Jones books with me on holiday (as you’ve probably guessed I’m writing this JUST before I go on holiday…) as well as some manga, but we shall see. I’m sure I’ll do a post about what books I took at some point.

Favourite Song/Album – Porter Robinson & Madeon – Shelter and Rihanna – Te Amo.

These are both songs I discovered this month and ones I know I’ll continue to listen to loads, especially during and even after my holiday. Shelter was brought to my attention by Dane who mentioned that someone had used an anime in their music video. It’s an amazing song and the anime music video that accompanies it is lovely and sad all the same.

As well as that I also discovered this Rihanna song thanks to a beauty video on Instagram. I didn’t know of this songs existence, even though it’s been around for just over 7 years now. Bloody hell! I know my usual music genre tastes are in rock music as well as some electronic but I do have a soft spot for Rihanna. She just writes some catchy as fuck tracks and this is one.

Favourite Game – Life Is Strange: Before The Storm.

I completed this game in a day (including unlocking all the specials in each level of the episode) and I loved it, but at the same time I’m unsure what to think right now. I will elaborate without giving away any spoilers! This is a prequel to Life Is Strange where you play as Chloe, sadly she doesn’t have Max’s power but she has her own speciality. In this game you get to find out what happens with Rachel including how her and Chloe become friends and what happens before Max comes into the picture and Rachel goes missing. You get to be a little more rebellious with Chloe than you ever could be with Max and whilst I like this, I do find that both Chloe and Rachel are bratty. I’m not the only one who thought this either. THIS BEING SAID I can’t really say they’re acting bratty when Chloe’s dad recently died and Rachel has some stuff going on herself, which you find out about somewhat in the first episode. Overall it was really fun to play and I already can’t wait for episode 2 to come out soon! I bought the limited edition bundle so that I can get the bonus Max level, as well as all the episodes for Before The Storm.

So those are my favourites from the 2 weeks I was in the UK in September! It went by really quick and I already can’t believe I’m going away in just a couple of days (as I write this) and I’ll be back in 3 days when this post goes live on my blog (FYI hello future Nat! :P)

What were your favourites throughout September? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time all, take care! I hope you’re all well, I miss all my lovely readers! :’)

March Favourites ’17

Wow it’s April already? I know I say this every month of every year but this year really is going fast already. It’s April now and with this month comes Dane’s birthday as well as us having some time off of work to do some stuff to the house. I can’t wait for mine and Dane’s week off together to be honest.

So it’s time for me to talk about my favourites from March, yay! AND don’t forget I now talk about lifestyle favourites every month now too. Double yay!

• NSpa Fruit Extracts Strawberry Shower and Bath Gel.

I recently picked up this shower and bath gel on a random visit to Asda. I love the NSpa products and have never faulted them for their products, especially the shower and bath gels. I’ve tried various flavours but I’d never seen the strawberry one until that visit. We snapped it up straight away and both gave it a go in the shower the next morning. Oh my it is amazing! It smells just like strawberry lace sweeties which Dane loved. It reminds me of The Body Shop strawberry shower gel but this isn’t as nice. BUT I did find that this one is more moisturing! It’s also BRIGHT RED which is amazing, especially if you pop it into the bath. It smells amazing first thing in the morning and really wakes and perks you up for the day ahead. I definitely recommend giving it a go if you love strawberry flavoured things.

• Blistex Relief Cream.

I mentioned last month in my February favourites (which you can read here) that my lips are suffering quite a lot lately and are constantly sore, uncomfortable and splitting. Since buying this lip cream it’s not been so bad, BUT my lips are still very sore and splitting. I’m going to blame stress and being in the cold quite a lot at work right now. If it doesn’t go though in the next week I’ll be going to the doctors as it’s becoming a joke now. It isn’t cold sores, it’s just weird. xD

• Marc Jacobs Oh Lola EDP.

I recently dug this out of my perfume box recently and I actually forgot how much I love the scent. It’s very floral and refreshing and not only does it remind me of summer days, but also of Bristol, where me and Dane went for our first anniversary together. I think when this is finished I’ll be repurchasing it in the future. I want to get through quite a bit of my perfume collection at the moment so I can try some new scents.

• Superdrug Refreshing Hydrogel Eye Patches.

I found these in Superdrug of late when buying my mom’s Mother’s Day present and I couldn’t pass up the chance to give them a go. I bought three as they were on a 3 for 2 offer and they don’t break the bank at almost £1.50 each. I’ve given two of them a go so far and they really do help if you have tired eyes. I haven’t found they help my dark circles but they don’t really claim to help with this. I’m currently working very early shifts right now so after a tired week of that these really do help when used before bed. I leave them on for a good 15-20 minutes whilst reading a book or playing with an app on my phone. Lovely!

• St.Ives Blemish Fighting Apricot Scrub.

I mentioned this back in August on my favourites and I’m mentioning it again because I was recently reminded how good it is. I have always used it with a wet face and hands and although it did scrub my skin and leave it feeling lovely and soft, I didn’t feel like it was leaving me as soft as I wanted to be. However I recently tried it without wetting my face and hands and I find that it works so much better! You are supposed to use it on wet skin but meh. Although I have sensitive skin I don’t scrub too hard and don’t have any issues. It leaves my skin feeling baby soft and gorgeous. My love for this scrub has been renewed!

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

Favourite TV Show – K-On

Dane recently introduced me to K-On, an anime about a group of high school girls who meet through the band club at school. You see them as they all develop as a band and how they do with their music. We’ve now finished season one and are soon to start season two. I love it so much! All the girls are adorable and the songs throughout the show are catchy and right up my street. My favourite character is Mio, the bass player who is the mature one of the group, but who is also scared of most things, especially singing on stage. 😛 I love her for that, as well as her being a left handed bass player like myself.

Favourite Film – A Silence Voice

I was so excited to go and watch this anime film! I wanted to book the first showing with Dane but sadly due to him working we weren’t able to. It looked like we had lost our only chance to go and watch this in the cinema but with a random Google search I found out they were doing one showing at The Electric in Birmingham. I booked it straight away and not long after I did it had sold out. This is definitely one of my favourite films of the year (including Logan) and I wish I could go and watch it again! I’ve attached the trailer above so you can see what it’s like.

Favourite Book – A Silent Voice

I had wanted to read the manga of this whilst I was reading Your Lie in April, as it was advertised at the end of each volume. I had already bought the first two volumes before we went to watch the anime film version, however just before going to watch it I ended up buying all seven volumes as I knew I wanted to read the rest after reading the first two. It has fast turned into my favourite manga series and I cannot wait to write a blog post about it as well as the anime when I finish the series. It’s about Shoya a cocky school boy who becomes a bully when deaf girl Shoko joins his class. She ends up leaving the school and he’s left on his own as a punishment for his actions by the rest of the children in his class. Years later he learns sign language so he can apologise for his actions years previously and from there we see how their friendship grows, as well as many more. It is a beautiful manga and one I recommend everyone to read.

Favourite Song – Sex Whales & Phantom Sage – One Day.

I LOVE songs that are brought out by NCS for so many reasons! Most of them I find are of the chilled electronic style which I love and are free to use. I can’t recall where I heard this song, but I’m pretty sure it was from a blogger or YouTuber. Either way it’s amazing and very chilled, something I can see me blasting throughout the summer both at home as well as on the move. I’m hoping to start doing YouTube videos this year and NCS songs are what I’d be using on any future videos.

Favourite Game – ???

Erm I can’t lie I haven’t played any games this month… Most of my time has been focused on reading manga in all honesty… Is that bad? 😛 I really do need to pick up Pokemon Moon again though! As well as some of my Lego games. We did buy Lego Worlds when it was released and whilst Dane loves it, I’m not a huge fan. I’m not used to playing Lego games like that and as silly as it sounds it creeped me out a tad. 😛

So those were my favourites from March. It was hard to think of stuff I loved this month apart from the shower and bath gel and the Blistex cream. Only because I just didn’t take much notice really. That and due to my lips being sore lip products other than balms or creams are a no no, which makes me very sad. 😦

What were you loving throughout March? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time take care all and I hope you have a lovely weekend.

August ’16 Favourites

I can’t believe it’s September… This year has really flown by and I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing. To think in just a couple of days me and Dane have had the keys to our house for three months. WOW that has REALLY flown by! Not just that but we’ve now been living here over a month. Oh dear I feel so grown up and awesome and stuff. 😛

Since moving into the house I feel like I’ve discovered some amazing new products and I’m excited to talk about those today.

• L’Oreal Paris Pure Clay Mask in Detox (link)

This was a new purchase in August but one I really fell in love with throughout the month as it’s such a great mask! I use it as a once maybe twice a week treat. I don’t want to talk too much about this as I only reviewed it a couple of days ago, so I’ll leave the link here so you can read a bit more about it.

• NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick in Stone Fox (link)

I didn’t think I’d love this lipstick as much as I did due to the colour… I bought it on a whim and as a treat as I had wanted it for quite a while but it sat in my drawer for about a month as I was too anxious to wear it out. As soon as I put this on though and went out with it I just couldn’t stop wearing it! I even wear it to work and get so many compliments on it. It reminds me of a liquid lipstick but much more comfortable to wear. I’ve already bought another shade, Cherry Skies. I’ll definitely be reviewing this very soon.

• Lush The Comforter Shower Cream (link)

After settling into the house I went into my box of Lush goodies and took out some treats to keep in the bathroom to use. This included lots of bath bombs, bubble bars and of course shower gels and creams. I forgot how much I love The Comforter shower cream and although I only have the small bottle a little bit of this cream goes a long way. It leaves me smelling like Ribena and feeling soft and smooth! Eventually I want to get the huge 1KG bottle of this stuff.

• Soap & Glory One Heck Of A Blot Powder (link)

I wanted to pick up a new face powder that I could use all the time, as I’ve been using a lot of my Chanel powder lately and I want to try and keep that for days off work. I had been looking around for ages for a decent one and finally stumbled across this. From using it so far it really does mattify my face and leaves it looking good for at least 8 hours. I also bought the primer to match this which works really well with the powder. A little bit of this goes a very long way, which is great.

• St. Ives Blemish Fighting Apricot Scrub (link)

I have nothing but great things to say about this face scrub! I use this twice a week to make sure to get rid of any dead skin cells, as well as any rough patches on my face (mostly my cheeks) from where my skin has dried out over the days in between using this. I picked it up on a whim as it was on an offer at the time (£3 from Sainsburys to be exact) and I’m so glad I did. The only problem I have with it is the bits of scrub get “stuck” in my eyebrows and it can take ages to get every bit out. I’ll definitely be buying this again in the future though.

So those were my favourites throughout August. What products were you loving throughout August? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time take care all and have a lovely day.