April Favourites 2016

Hi guys!

There were SO many wonderful and newly discovered things I loved all through March and April and so I thought I'd do a monthly favourites and as usual, just share with you some products and random bits and pieces I've been loving and that are worth giving a try! 

LUSH Happy Hippy Shower Gel- 

I haven't tried many of the LUSH shower gels before but have really taken to this one! It was given to me as a gift and I just love it! It is citrussy and grapefruit scented and just smells so nice, especially for the mornings. 

LUSH Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub

Another LUSH product... like I said, I tend to usually stick to the LUSH bath bombs and bubble bars, etc. and so haven't given much chance to all their other products before, but I really love them. They are such great quality and feel really good and natural for your skin. This is a salt based exfoliator, and whilst I also enjoy sugar-based ones, this one foams up and lathers really nicely, feels super good and exfoliating to the skin, and of course, smells lovely. 

Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream Perfume

Oh my goodness, I absolutely LOVE this scent! I pretty much use it as my everyday perfume, and it is just very much the type of scent I love, sweet (but not too sweet), fresh and floral. I think it feel like a good mixture between young and still slightly more mature than some of the other sweeter scents on the market. I previously used 'Daisy', which I also really like, but am currently just loving this!

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick- in the shade 330 "Sloane's Plum"

I went into the shops the other day, knowing in mind that I really wanted like a deep plum/berry colour lipstick, and after a while of looking through all the counters, I found this and fell in love with it! I don't usually wear dark lipstick as I feel quite self-conscious in it, especially in an everyday setting, but there's really no need to, and I really love it, so I have been wearing it a whole lot over the past few months. It is such a gorgeous shade, Rimmel is always very cost-effective and it has relatively good staying power too. 

Mac 217 make-up brush

I am sure I have spoken about this brush on this blog before, and I know that it is definitely one of Mac's most favourite and popular brushes, and it has definitely earned its good reputation! I love this brush, and as I have been using an eyeshadow palate recently, I have just realised how amazing and helpful it is! I basically use a different eye shadow brush to put the various shades on, and in my crease, etc. and then use this one to basically just blend all over and above the lid so that the shadow doesn't look quite so stark and suits a more everyday, smokey look. So yeah, this brush just basically does what it's meant to do really well. 

Academy of Colour- Metallic brown smokey eyes kit

This is a little quad palate with some really gorgeous shades. I have actually had this for ages and never used it as I didn't know the brand and thought it wouldn't be much good, but I love the shades it includes, and they also have very good staying-power. There is a silvery brown colour, a more reddy brown tinged one, one that's matte and very similar to "Cork" by Mac, and then lastly a very dark shimmery brown, and I just love them all a lot, and they are quite natural and work for a simple smokey eye for either a more casual or dressed-up look. 

Essie Millionails Clear Polish

Oh my goodness, I love this stuff! You can use it as a top coat on top of a coloured nail polish, which helps it last a lot longer. But I also like to use on my nails when they don't have anything else on them, and it just seems to really help keep them healthy and much stronger than usual, especially cause I bite my nails, so they need all the help they can get. 

Yankee Candle in the scent Black Cherry

This was another gift, and you can only imagine my excitement when I realised that not only was it a Yankee Candle, but it was cherry scented!! And it definitely lived up to my original expectation, this smells absolutly beyond delicious! Even when it's not lit, if I leave the lid off, it scents the whole room and like I said, it is just SUCH an amazing scent. 

Nespresso coffee

We recently got a Nespresso machine and this has had a very direct impact on my coffee drinking! This coffee is just so delicious, like can't even compare to the instant coffee I usually make at home, and so yeah, I basically have been drinking a ton of it, especially through exams. 

Woolworths Wake-me-up Peppermint Tea

I mentioned this already in my "Studying Tips" post, but yeah I really love this stuff a lot! It tastes as good as it smells, which is amazing, and it is very calming and delicious. 

So that's everything I loved over the past couple of months, sorry it's so late, but still I hope you enjoy some of these products! 

Love, 

August Favourites

Where on earth did August go- my gosh, I had so many blog ambitions for this month and it has literally just slipped away! 

So there have been a few really lovely things I have been enjoying this month! Some new, but I also went back to a few old products that i fell in love with again... So I wanted to share those, and some other bits and pieces I've been loving, with you. 

Okay so let me start with make-up: 

The first thing I have been loving is 

The Body Shop: Honey Bronzer (shade 04)

I will start by saying that I did unfortunately get one or two shades too dark, but luckily, with bronzer, you can sort of get away with that cause you can just use less. This is slightly more on the pricey side for bronzer and I finally decided to splurge and buy one cause I have been eyeing them forever! This is fantastic bronzer, in fact, I think maybe I even like it more than the Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer, which has been my staple for years. This just has so much pigment, makes perfect contours, lasts long and is just beautifully packaged, which always makes a difference!

Rimmel: Wake Me Up Concealer (Shade 01)

For some reason Rimmel in SA doesn't stock this concealer, and it is one I have heard people rave about for ages, so I actually ended up ordering it online, and it was definitely worth the wait. This just really does the job at covering up any spots, and is also good for like overall redness or puffy eyes and all that... I like concealers like this that are quite liquid and almost like a more pigmented base opposed to concealer crayon sticks... This lasts well and just feels nice and light on your face, so even if you put a lot on, your skin doesn't feel cakey or anything. 

Maybelline: 24hr Colour Tattoo Shadow (Shade: Permanent Taupe)

I had to order another shade of this cream eye shadow because the stay power is actually ridiculous! Like I've never found a piece of make-up that will honestly not budge from when you put it on in the morning to when you take it off- it's crazy. That aside, this is the prettiest matte brown colour, that I generally just wear plain over my eyelids with some mascara and that's it. It is very natural but just so pretty, this is currently my go-to thing to do with my eyes on an everyday basis. 

Rimmel: Match Perfection Foundation (Shade 100)

This is an oldy but a goody- I have been religiously using this base for years now, and every time I try out a new base, I always come back to this. The reason I'm putting it in my favourites is because recently I've had so many people asking what base I'm wearing, and it is always this. It doesn't ever feel cakey or sticky on your face and when I put it on, I can see an instant change in terms of overall eveness and colour of my skin, and yeah, it's super affordable, I love the pump bottle and is just a really solid, good-quality product. 

Now for beauty, I just have one thing, which is the

The Body Shop: Shower Gel- Fuji Green Tea

This is a pretty new scent that The Body Shop have released and I absolute love it! It's not as sweet as some of the other, more fruity, scents they do and so I find myself using it pretty much everyday because it's a very natural and suuper fresh scent, which is perfect for everyday. I also find that it doesn't clash with perfume or deodorant that I wear, which is sometimes a problem I have with a few of the other Body Shop scents. So yeah, it just smells really good! 

Now onto some random favs:

The first is a book

Paper Towns- John Green

I am not a big reader, mainly because I really don't have much time. So I finally finished this while I was overseas in June/July, because there's nothing better than reading a good book while lying in the sun on a boat- so that's pretty much what I did a lot of the time! This book is really good, I love John Green, he's just a super cool guy and always manages to create very real characters. The story is completely unique and yeah, I just thoroughly enjoyed it! It's an easy read as well, so nothing too heavy. 

Shameless: TV Series

I am pretty addicted to all the TV series' I watch but this one is kind of on a new level and honestly, I didn't actually watch too much else besides Shameless last month because I was just enjoying it so much! I think this show is kinda an acquired taste and is a bit brash in ways, so isn't for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoy it! I can't pin point what exactly about it either, but it's just really good and worth checking out, I was hooked within the first few episodes! I am only only season 2, cause I started pretty late, but it's already great! 

Is There Anybody Out There?- A Great Big World: album

I have been listening to this CD all the time recently. I only knew a few songs by A Great Big World before, but really liked them, and then I decided to listen to the whole album and all the songs were just super good. I love the main singer's voice and the use of piano in their music, and I also just think that the stuff they sing about it different and positive, and always puts me in a good mood. My favourites have to be Land Of Opportunity and Already Home. 

So yeah, that's it for what I was loving throughout August, check in with you soon :)

Love

March Favourites || 2014

I cannot believe march has passed and with that it has brought on April and its cool weather and rain and wind here in Cape Town. I know April is only the fourth month of the year, but somehow, these next few months to July tend to go so so fast, and I feel like this year has literally just vanished before my eyes! There have been quite a few things that I discovered in March that I am absolutely loving and I thought I'd share them with you, cause I haven't done a favourites post in ages, and also, these are seriously great products (specifically the make-up I'm going to show you) and so I seriously recommend you give them a try! 

BEAUTY PRODUCTS: 

RIMMEL MATCH PERFECTION FOUNDATION
No exaggeration, this is literally the best foundation I have ever used! I've tried out so many different brands to try and find the perfect foundation, and finally, I have found it! This Rimmel base has the perfect, medium, coverage and I have found a shade exactly my skin colour, which is very convenient. It just gives you such a clear, fresh faced look and needs very little concealer with it, because the coverage is good. I also like that it's in a squirty bottle, so you don't have to turn it upside down to get it all out, etc. 

RIMMEL STAY MATTE POWDER
In one of Tanya Burr's videos a couple of months ago, she mentioned that she had paired the Rimmel Match Perfection foundation with this Rimmel Stay Matte powder, and her skin just looked os beautiful and absolutly flawless. So, I thought I'd at least give them a try...and this matte powder is maybe one of the best make-up products I've ever used (that sounds like an exaggeration, but no joke). It 1) works extremerly well with the foundation 2) has amazing, full coverage 3) isn't shiny and so doesn''t make your skin look oily and 4) it just leaves my skin super soft and fresh and blemish-free before I put on blush and bronzer, etc. I highly highly recommend this. 

Mine's almost used up :'(

REVLON COLOURBURST LIP BUTTERS
These are practically the only thing I've been using on my lips lately because they are just so amazing! I bought these two, which are my favourites, right at the beginning of March, when Zoella vlogged about them, and since them, I have just been loving them! The great thing is that they are not just lipstick, but lip butters, so they act as lip ice/balm and make your lips super soft and help if they're chapped. But then, they also act as a really great, nicely pigmented lipstick, so it's literally the best of both worlds.

The first one I've been loving is Candy Apple (035) which is just a classic bright red, but so far, its the best like proper red lipstick I've had!
And my personal favourite, is Juicy Papaya (027). It's like this coral, orangey pink colour, that I have just been really loving this March!

NYX SUPER SKINNY MARKER IN CARBON BLACK
This is just a liquid liner, but because I'm pretty crap at getting a straight line when I put on liquid liner, I thought I'd give this one a try because the tip is really really thin and I thought it might be useful, which it has been. It is so skinny, and so super super easy to put on. My only compliant is that it smudges very easily, and I chose it specifically because it said smudge proof and waterproof, but anyway, its really great as long as I don't rub my eyes, haha. 

ESTEE LAUDER PURE COLOUR EYE SHADOW:
10- ivory slipper 63 tempting mocha 47 nude fresco and 04 wild sable

I love this little hand bag size eye shadow palette, because the colours are perfect for a neutral, every day look. I love ' WIld Sable' because it is a matte, while the others are slightly shinier, so that one is perfect for highlighting your crease. The Nude Fresco is also super pretty and in general, they all just blend very nicely, so are easy to put on and look great. 

THE BODY SHOP- MORINGA BATH AND SHOWER GEL
This is nothing particularly special, it is just a Body Shop shower gel, but this scent is AMAZING! It is probably my favourite one at The Body Shop and so I bought a massive bottle that will last me for ages. I have been loving it, it just smells so so delicious!

LUSH EASTER RANGE

I love Lush so so much, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw a whole new range of stuff in the spirit of Easter! I bought quite a few bath bombs that are in the shapes of eggs! I even bought this one massive one that had another bath fizz bomb shaped like a bunny inside it! 

So that's it for beauty and make-up, but there have also been some other bits and bobs that I was really loving last month: 

BOOK: LOOKING FOR ALASKA

I've not yet finished this book, but so far I'm really enjoying it. It's by John Green, the same author as The Fault in Our Stars, which was such an incredible book! So I got this one, cause I'd also heard great things! I'm not very far in, so can't tell you much about the story line, but just the way it's written and from what I have read so far, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. 

SCENTED CANDLES

Recently, I have had a slight (BIG) candle addiction, so I light them all the time just to give the room a pretty smell, or to feel a bit more relaxed, or whatever... but I have been loving scented candles, of all shapes and sizes. In particular, I've been loving a range of Candles from a shop here called Poetry. The scents are just really clear and beautiful and they come in these pretty glass jars. These are my favourite two at the moment, the scents are Jasmin and Frangipane- both smell incredible!

CREME EGGS!

Oh my gosh, these are probably one of the best things Cadbury has ever done! *fun fact, did you know that Cadbury Chocolate is South African* but sadly, these are not made here, and they only come out around Easter overseas anyway. SO the only way to get them is to go to a shop that imports overseas chocolates, etc like Spar. And sadly they are pretty pricey because they aren;t from here, but I guarantee you they are worth it. They are little chocolate eggs and the inside is filled with the gooey white and yellow stuff (like a real egg) that is sweet and just tastes SO amazing! So I've been eating a LOT of these recently!

THE MINDY PROJECT

So my friend recommended this show to me, and now I am completely hooked The episodes are 20 mins, so a perfect length for a little study break, etc. Its about this woman, Mindy who is a Ob/Gyn doctor and it's kind of just about her life and the people she works with, and so on. It's just very funny and light hearted and yeah, give it a try, its super super good!

THE LUMINEERS

Definitely not a newly discovered band, I' sure I'm pretty late on the band-wagon here, but I only ever new Ho Hey by them, and atually they are such an amazing band, and have some great great music! My favourites by them are 'The Big Parade', 'Submarines', 'The Dead Sea' and 'Ho Hey'. 

Have a listen, this one's my fav!

So those are my March (and kind of early April too) favourites!