August Favourites

Here it is again; the end of another month. August has gone so quickly, it's just been a blur!

It's not been a bad month, but it has been tiring. I spent much of the beginning exhausted and feeling incredibly unmotivated. I think I got some post-holiday blues, and I had some serious life thinking to do when I got back. I don't think I'm fully sorted, but I feel much better than I did.

But once the blues had subsided, I ended up doing some good things, even if we've not really had the weather for it. I had a lovely picnic with my friends last week. It's always fantastic to spend time with good company, and many of them I don't get to see as much as I'd like. I also spent a day out in London, having the opportunity to see the wonderful Mat Baynton in Holes, which was a bit of an odd play, as well as visiting Bodeans for some delicious BBQ food.

One of the other highlights of my month was going to the cinema to see Peter Capaldi's first episode of Doctor Who, along with many other fans.

But enough of what I've been up to, here are the things I've been loving this month

Beauty

As mentioned in my last post I am loving my new Essie polish. The colour is called Naughty Nautical and is absolutely gorgeous. It's a glittering, turquoise shade and it's just beautiful. I normally only wear one colour a week, but I'm thinking of refreshing this one for longer.

I am also loving High Beam from Benefit. I love highlighters as they just brighten up your entire face. This one has beautiful shimmer to it and looks great on my cheekbones, and under the arches of my eyes when it catches the light.

My last beauty favourite this month is the Urban Decay De-slick. I bought this as I was finding my make-up melted away so quickly, and wanted a good setting spray to keep it in place for as long as possible. I really love this. I bought the travel size a couple of months ago, and it's still going strong. I find it keeps my make-up looking fresh for much longer, so it's just what I needed.

Skincare

I generally don't buy expensive showergels, and, to be honest, I usually just get what's on offer. I normally end up with something different with every purchase. This month I bought this limited edition Imperial Leather showergel in 'enchanting romance' and, oh my, it smells amazing. I was so drawn to the scent, that I may continue to repurchase it for that alone. But the showergel is pretty good too, and it keeps my skin soft. I love it.

Homeware

I love candles a lot, as they're quite atmospheric, but I do have to be in the mood to actually light one. I wanted to keep the fragrance going for longer, so I decided to buy a reed diffuser for my bedroom. I bought this Wax Lyrical one in the scent red cherries, and it smells so good. I love getting home from work, walking into my room and it smelling like cherry bakewells. It's so strong and long-lasting. I love it!

Film

There is no doubt about what this month's favourite film is. I don't normally care for a sequel to a film, as I like things to be standalone, but with Guardians Of The Galaxy I was left wanting more. It was hilarious and adventurous from start to finish. I found myself swept away with it. It's excellent and I can't recommend it enough.



Television

So before Lee Pace became an evil overlord in the film above, he was a sweet pie maker in the wonderful Pushing Daisies. It is quite simply the most adorable programme ever. I have seen the first six episodes multiple times, but never seemed to go any further. Suddenly I have found myself binging on all the episodes this last week. If you've never seen Pushing Daisies, you really must as it's such a brilliant show. It is about a pie maker who has the ability to bring the dead back to life. But there are catches. And then he finds out his childhood sweetheart has died... I'll let the trailer explain it better.



Music

I have been listening to a lot of random things this month. For the first time in a long time I know what some of the current hits are (or at least what they were a month or two ago).Though, this is due to only having two CDs for the entire journey to and around Holland, so a lot of songs grew on me. It's been really hard to choose one song this month. I really love Ed Sheeran's Sing, Iggy Azalea's Fancy, Charli XCX's Boom Clap but I decided to go with something slightly different and chose Sia's Chandelier. I really like Sia's music anyway, and this one has continued to be played over and over. I love the intensity of it.



What are your favourites this month?

Some things I bought

This month I tried to save up a little bit more. Unfortunately it didn't quite work. Although I didn't buy as many beauty products as usual, I made up for it in clothes. But that will be a post for another day.

I spent some time this month wandering around Boots, scouring the make-up and skincare. My local Boots has started to stock some Sleek products, and this made me decide to buy some products by brands I've not purchased from before.

Like I mentioned, I really wanted to try something from Sleek. I decided upon this Gloss Me lipgloss in the shade Angel Falls. To be honest, I am undecided about the product. The formula is sheer and moist on the lips, but quite sticky. Also, the applicator makes it difficult to apply. It is a lovely colour though and I don't even mind the glitter as much as I thought I would. I think I need to give this one a few tries before making up my mind.

Secondly, I bought a NYX jumbo eye pencil in Yogurt. I have wandered into Next a few times, staring at the small display, trying to decide what to buy. I mainly bought this to use on my waterline and in the corner of my eye to brighten it up a little. I love the formula as it just glides on so smoothly. I'm not sure if I got the right shade for what I wanted, so I might end up using it for my eyelids. Either way, I really love the product.

I also decided I wanted to try an Essie nail polish. I've never used anything by Essie before, but I've heard a lot of good things about them. I picked the colour Naughty Nautical, and it is such a beautiful shade. I call it a mermaid colour, as it's a gorgeous turquoise shade, with some sparkles thrown in for good measure. I am wearing it this week and it still looks great. It's also super easy to apply. I managed to do it with minimal mess and it dried quite quickly. I think I will be buying more of their products.

Next up I bought a Maybelline Master Shape eye pencil in soft brown. I've been trying to get my brow technique down recently. The majority of the tutorials I found, I didn't think were suitable. I don't need to shape my eyebrows, as I think they have decent shape, but I just wanted to define them. I found a really nice tutorial that I thought would suit me, and so now I think my eyebrows are really beginning to look great. This pencil was a good price and makes a good addition to my make-up collection. It's really soft and blends in well.

I received the Molton Brown Replenishing Hand Cream in my first ever Birch Box and I fell in love with it then. I finally decided to just go for it, and purchase it in a full size. I bought it in Rhubarb and Rose, which just smells divine. It sinks so easily into the skin and leaves them smooth with no stickiness. I'm loving using this on a daily basis.

Lastly, I picked up a mini Benefit collection from boots. I went to repurchase the Benefit They're Real mascara, and sitting next to it was this Benefit VIP Spree which includes sample products of the High Beam, Bad Gal lashes and Sugarbomb lipgloss. I won't go into detail on these as I plan to do a separate post on all of this in the future, but they are a mixed a bag. I particularly love the High Beam though as it gives such a beautiful glow.

What new products have you tried this month?

Summer In The City

You may not know this, but I live in Nottingham.

For the past few years, Nottingham has had it's own beach created in the centre of the Market Square. At the beginning of the school summer holidays it pops up, and is down again by the time everyone goes back to school. They call it the Nottingham Riviera. everyone in Nottingham calls it the beach.

When I say the beach, I really mean the beach. They essentially create a giant sandpit in the middle of the square, complete with a pool to act as the sea. Not only that, but it is just like the seaside. They have rides, hook-a-ducks, burger bars and even a bar.

Sadly this year, the rides are much more centred towards small children. There was one year which had giant swings which was brilliant. The best thing they have this year is a pirate ship (and I have been on it, excitedly).

It doesn't look very busy in these pictures, but that's because I took them at 5.30pm. That's the best time to go. Earlier in the day, especially when it's warm, it gets packed. It really is that popular.

The Nottingham Riviera is just one of the many reasons I love the city I'm from.

Is there anything like this where you live?

That's a Wrap

A few weeks ago, a girl I know turned up with incredibly colourful nails. They were were covered in rainbow stripes, and looked really brilliant. When I complimented them she told me they were nail wraps.

I'd never considered trying nail wraps before. To be honest, I've never been too adventurous with my nails. I prefer to slap on a good coat of colour and I'm ready to go. But after seeing how nice hers were I decided to give it a go and headed to my local Boots to find some to try.

There wasn't actually a great deal of choice in my local Boots, and it's even one of the larger stores. I ended up choosing the Umberto Giannini Talons in After Dark Lace (£7 here - though the ones I picked up were reduced to about £4.49). I quite like the lace effect so thought these would be really cute and look inconspicuous enough for my first go.

The application of them was really difficult.

The instructions advise that you cut them to the correct size and then apply them. However, I could not work out how to cut them to size before putting them on. I do not have enough hands to be able to hold it in place and trim it. I am sure I am missing a trick here somewhere. I ended up applying them, and then trimming them to size. I don't think it looked too bad. One of the problems I did find was that the wraps were slightly too small. I don't have big hands at all but the biggest wrap was just slightly too small for my thumb so there is a tiny gap.

I do like the way they look, and it is nice not to be breathing in fumes whilst doing my nails. I hoped they would be more long lasting than they have turned out to be. I applied them Sunday evening and by yesterday they were peeling from the top, as you can see in the picture.

So the verdict is that I like them and I'm willing to give them a further go. Though I think I should research how to apply them properly first!

Have you tried nail wraps?

August Birch Box

It's August! And it's Birch Box time!

This month, Birch Box is focussing on getting away from it all, travelling away to far flung destinations complete with sandy beaches and palm trees. They've packed a box full of travelling essentials to help us through the holiday season.

I do think it might be bit late for this theme. We seem to have hit autumn here in Britain, and I'm sure most people have gone on their travels by now. But it is most certainly not a bad little box. I've not been enthused by it as much as I have with previous boxes, but I am still loving my little surprises every month and there are still some great products included.

One particular exciting thing about this month's box is that instead of the usual fabric bag, all the goodies around in this very cute plastic pouch, which will be great for taking travelling with. Even if you're not going away, it will be very useful for everyday make-up.

 So, included in this month is:

Dead Sea Spa Magik Refreshing Bath Shower Gel - I don't really feel like I have much to say about this one, as really it's just another bath/shower gel. I think the scent is lovely. It smells fresh, like the sea. It's a great product to take away on holiday, but other that that, it doesn't seem very special. I do like that the gel is blue though.

Number 4 Super Comb Prep & Protect - This is a leave-in conditioning spray which helps protect against heat and sun damage. As I've got naturally curly hair, any products I use are to help define them and I find it hard to pull away from that. I think this will be great for anyone with straight hair. In fact I've given it to my sister as it's perfect for her. It's just not for me.

Supergoop! Daily Correct SPF 35 CC Cream - Finally something I am looking forward to. I've never used a CC cream before, and this one looks a good one to start giving it a go! It's a light cream to even out the skin tone, and I particularly love that it has SPF 35. I don't normally see foundations with sun protection that high. My one concern is that my sample came in the shade light/medium but it seems incredibly dark. Hopefully it'll blend in well and look great.

Vasanti Brightenup! Enzymatic Face Rejuvanator - This is a facial exfoliator and sounds great. It's definitely one I'm excited to try. The packaging tells me it's enriched with papaya, micro-crytals and aloe. The grains are very small with I find feels better on the skin as it's not too rough. I think this will be great all year round especially in the colder months to perk up the skin.

Wild About Beauty Powder Eyeshadow - I was a little disappointed by this one at first. I don't really wear eyeshadow, so I thought this was going to be another one to give away. However, upon opening, I fell in love immediately. The colour is absolutely gorgeous. It's a bronzy-copper sort of shade which is perfect for summer and it has a beautiful shimmer to it. I'm planing on using this over my lid or to define my crease. It is the shade that may encourage me to use eyeshadow more often!

The Proposal by Tasmina Terry - As a lifestyle extra this month we received the first chapter of a summer read. It is a romantic novel 'which spans 1950s London and present day NYC'. I must admit that this does not interest me at all. As you can probably tell from this post, I don't really read romantic novels. Not only that, but after skimming through and seeing mentions of people playing polo, drinking champagne and generally being high-fliers, I don't think it's a book I can relate to. To cut a long story short - I'm going to give this one a miss. It's really not my thing. But if it is your thing, then it may be worth giving it a go.

Which products sound good to you?

A Little Break

I returned from my trip about two weeks ago, and ever since then I have just felt so exhausted. I have found it hard to find the motivation even to post! But I'm slowly easing my way back into my schedule, and I have plenty of ideas for posts for the rest of August.

As part of my holiday away, we took a day trip to Amsterdam. We didn't do much. We only had time to visit the NEMO Science Centre and go on a canal tour, before having to leave. But it was still a lovely trip. Although Amsterdam isn't somewhere I'll be rushing to go back to, I think it was a beautiful city.

The Science Centre was particularly brilliant, as it is completely interactive. We spent hours in there. I cannot recommend it enough. It also has brilliant architecture. You can see it in the pictures below.

So here are a handful of pictures I took from the canal boat.