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! :’)

May Favourites 2014

Wow I can’t believe we’re already halfway through the year and this weekend I’ll be off to Bristol for mine and my boyfriends first anniversary together. I’m beyond excited!

Also I apologise that this post is all of a day late but I had a rather busy weekend and I sadly didn’t get time to get anything written down, apart from notes on which products would be featured on this post this month.

So let’s get on with it!

• Soap & Glory Hand Food Hand Cream.

I wrote about this hand cream a while ago on this post and since then I won’t lie, I hardly used it. It sat in my room being unused for months on end until recently I decided that I would keep it in my hand bag to use on the go and boy am I glad I did just that! This hand cream has the Soap & Glory pink scent to it, which is one I can tolerate in the body spray but not in their body products. This however isn’t so bad and has a lovely conditioning feel to it, I love to use it before I leave the house for work as well as when I’m out on the go as it absorbs quickly and isn’t greasy or sticky feeling so it won’t leave your hands feeling clammy. I recommend this if you want a good hand cream for your bag, this being said I probably won’t repurchase this just because I want to try something new when this is finished.

• Dettol Revitalise Hand Wash.

This was a random purchase during May and one I’m glad that I made! As regular readers will know I love my Dettol E45 hand wash and have always said I will never replace it, however I don’t think this counts as a “replacement” due to the fact it’s by Dettol too, it just doesn’t contain any E45. It only cost 99p from B&M and for that it really does keep my hands soft and smooth, as well as clean and smelling like pomegranate. Can’t go wrong really!

• Phillip Kingsley Flaky/Itchy Scalp Shampoo.

I love Phillip Kingsley’s shampoos and you can’t really go wrong with his products as they suit all hair types and do exactly what they say on the bottle. This one is the flaky/itchy scalp shampoo and whilst I don’t suffer from dandruff as much as I used to when I was younger, I do suffer from my hair getting greasy every few days so I like to try and tackle that with a good shampoo. This shampoo is amazing for that and since I started to use it my dandruff has pretty much disappeared and my hair feels soft and looks beautiful all day long after use. Not only does it leave my hair feeling and look good but it also leaves it smelling delicious as it has an apple scent to it! I love this shampoo so much and this huge bottle should last me ages too.

• Lady Million by Paco Rabbane.

A while ago over on a guest post I wrote for my friend Amy over at Von Dork I announced how I hated the smell of this perfume… I’ve kind of taken that back now as I’ve been using this perfume none stop for the duration May. Yes this does smell of fresh towels and clean bed sheets but that’s actually pretty nice, especially if you’re feeling a little down in the dumps and need a reminder of your nice warm bed. This was actually my Mom’s perfume but she wasn’t getting on with its scent and ended up giving it to me to try out. My boyfriend loves this perfume and when I say to him, “Hey help me pick out a perfume to wear.” he’ll usually pick this one. If I’m not feeling too well I won’t wear this as the powerful scent can give me a headache and a bit of an irritated throat, other than that I love it and it’s become my favourite perfume to throw in my bad so far this summer.

• Sure Maximum Protection Deodorant in Sensitive.

I’ve spoken time and time again of how much I love this deodorant but there is one reason why this is being featured on here this month, besides the fact that I love it anyway. As regular readers or even new readers will know I went to the Lake District with some friends during May and it was amazing! I also mentioned how we all climbed up a very tall mountain whilst we were there and without my deodorant I would have sweated loads, as well as being smelly and shown sweat patches on my t-shirt. Luckily this didn’t happen and if that isn’t some sort of marketing ploy then I don’t know what is! I love this deodorant and I wouldn’t go a day without using it.

• Maggie James Candle.

I have to first add that I don’t actually know the scent of this candle but when I’m sniffing it it does remind me of a latte, a caramel or a vanilla one, a sweet coffee anyway! I bought this from TK Maxx about a year ago and since then I’ve not burnt it all that much, due to neglecting it for my Yankee Candles. However whilst I had the house to myself I’ve been able to burn it, as well as the fact I decided it needed to start being used. It leaves a lovely strong scent behind, which doesn’t fade straight away after blowing it out either, which is always good. Although this is a strong candle it doesn’t leave you a headache or a dry throat, which is always good in my books! Apparently Maggie James do a lot of different scented candles, but where I do not know! I paid £3.99 for mine.

• Bath & Body Works PocketBac Hand Sanitizer in I Love S’Mores.

I love my PocketBac’s and I always make sure there is one by my bed, as well as in my hand bag for when I’m on the go and at the moment the one I seem to be reaching for the most is my favourite, I Love S’Mores. It’s such a yummy cake scent to it but not as strong as the cakey PocketBac scents, if that makes any sense! Sadly this was a limited edition one for autumn last year and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to find a replacement bottle of it on eBay somewhere, which is where I got this bottle from. As well as keeping my hands smelling gorgeous is leaves them lovely and clean, leaving me less worry about germs so I can concentrate more on how good my hand smell!

• Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Lip Balm.

An old favourite and one that’s come back around again for yet another favourites post. My lips have been  pretty dry this month and I don’t know if that is due to being poorly, using too many satin lipsticks on my lips or just the dramatic weather changes. I know there is only one lip balm that can save the day when my lips get really dry and sore and that’s this baby! It’s a thick formula that applies like butter and feels super moisturisng as well as smelling and tasting of chocolate. I had a cold sore at one point in May and this did really help soothe it and calm it down too. I’ve actually missed using it and since beginning to use it again I’ve been making a habit of using it for work.

• L’Oreal Paris Glam Shine Stain Splash in Milady.

This was a new purchase I made mid May and since buying it I have done nothing but wear it out, both day and night! It’s a gorgeous purple lip stain that can be applied light or heavy to get the type of purple you desire. It lasts ages on the lips so I’ve been able to wear this for work and not have to worry about applying anymore, same can be said about nights out and when I’ve been out in the day time with my boyfriend and friends. I’m going to be writing a huge review on this soon, I have the images ready and everything, I just need to get some better pictures of myself wearing it. If you’re after an affordable and gorgeous lip stain then try out one of these by L’Oreal as they’re really worth the money.

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

I literally finished reading this book today and it has been one of my favourite reads for quite a while now. The film version of the book is one of my favourites and it always makes me cry when I watch it so I KNEW I had to buy the book to read and for £3.99 I knew I wasn’t exactly spending  fortune on it. I’m so glad I bought this as it was such an enjoyable read. I’ll be writing a full blog post about it because I just loved it so much. If you’ve watched the film version then I recommend you read the book as you’ll love it and if you’ve read the book but not watched the film because you’re worried you won’t like it, then I suggest you give it a go as the film is pretty great! Stephen Chbosky who wrote the book also directed the movie, so the film is pretty much how he pictured it to be. Definitely a good way to end May, such a lovely book!

So those were my favourites for May! I hope that June will be full of lovely summery things so when July comes along I hope to have lots and lots of lovely summery things to talk about with you all, if not a few new bits and pieces.

What were your favourites during May? Let me know in the comments!

So until next time take care all and see you soon!