Best of June

I've decided to change the name of my monthly favourites to "Best of June" or whatever month because it seems a lot of people use the term "monthly favourites" and I wanted to be a tad different.

1. CRUMBS
Crumbs is a Youtube channel and blog by sisters Claire and Lucy.
They film the most fabulous recipes and I'm hooked, my favourites (and soon to be tested) are miso soup and posh mac and cheese, scrummy!



2. Quinoa
Quinoa is something I have only really discovered this month, and I'm in love!!
I've used it in lots of things, from my skinny stir fry (below) to a salad with tuna, avocado and edamame!

3. Nellie
I won't stop going on about her, I'm a woman possessed, she's adorable.
Today we put the shopping on the floor and turned around to see that she was proudly trotting away with a chicken drumstick in her mouth, she had gone into the bag, into the packet and found her loot. Needless to say we're a packet of chicken down.

4. My new Zara heels
Did I get these a week before they went into the Zara sale? Yes.
Am I bitter about it? A bit.
The photo below is the only real good one I have of them, they're the ones that the world and his wife have, black strappy with a gold heel, they are so beautiful, but definitely the most painful pair I own due to the lack of platform

5. Clean & Clear Morning Energy moisturiser

I've had this for ages but never really appreciated it, it's just your standard fab moisturiser but after you put it on it gives you a "glow", very nice, I need that in the mornings.

May Favourites

Due to revision and birthday goings on I haven't actually many favourites this month, apart from red velvet brownies, which I have completely gorged myself on in the past two weeks, I only have three, the first being my new blusher, Dallas, by Benefit which was a birthday present from my class.

It's actually the best blusher I own, and has knocked Coralista and Dandelion (coincidentally both Benefit) off of the top spot and works with Hoola (I promise this wasn't going to be a Benefit post!) in an attempt to make me look more human.

Describing colours, tones and especially scents really isn't my forte, but i'll give it a whirl.
It's a plummy toned blush with shimmer, unlike Hoola, and I think the darker colours within the blush help you look more tanned.
And with all Benefit blushes and bronzers, it smells really good.
Always a bonus to have sweet smelling cheeks!

The second is a beautiful bracelet from my one of my oldest pals, L. She had already got me a humongous bottle of champagne but she also gave me this,

It's a bracelet with skulls threaded onto it and I love it, I think it's based on a Links Of London design a few years ago but I adore it!

Last but certainly not least is my beautiful necklace from my godmother, Jill.

There are three charms, a turquoise heart (a colour that always makes me think of her and one of my favourite colours), a little heart with a pearl and a heart tag which she had sweetly got engraved, on one side was my name, and on the other the date of my 18th birthday, I love it so much and have been wearing it non stop!

April Favourites

My favourites of this month are ecletic to say the least, I guess they're actually more things I've been using or wearing a lot this month.
Not long ago my little sister went to Kenya, and brought us all back presents. Now, my mum used to live in South Africa when she was my age, we've been back several times and it has kind of become a "thing" between my mum, my sister and I that we have beaded key rings on our keys, so on my car keys I have a green rhino, my mum has a beaded SA flag but then we also have ornaments I've got a beaded lizard, mum has a beaded toad, you get the idea, we're a bit odd.
Anyway, my sister brought mum back the toad, and she brought me back some beaded bracelets made by the Masai.

Because its summer and everyone wants to look a little more "fresh faced" I've been using The Body Shop's Radiance Pearls, I use them along my brow bone and a little on top of my cheekbones.

This body butter smells so delicious, if I could send a smell from my computer to yours, I would. I think that most people know how great The Body Shop Body Butters are so I won't drone on about them, but the other fantabulous ones are Satsuma and Mango

I saw this when I was doing a food shop for my mum, I'm a big fan of the Rimmel Sun Shimmers and thought i'd try this one out, I think it's relatively new but it's basically the same as its sisters in that you really need a fake tan mitt to apply it and it works really well!

Loreal's Rouge Caresse lipsticks came out about a year ago and I found this lurking at the bottom of my make up bag, forgotten and unloved, but not anymore because it really is great. It's a combo of a lipstick, gloss and balm, so depending on how you apply it, it can come out really sheer or quite bold, it isn't unlike a Revlon Lip Butter, I have Aphrodite Scarlet (swatched below) but I'd be interested to try the coral or the red!

Are there any new things I should try out that you guys like?

March/ Easter Favourites

Sorry for neglecting you little bloggy, it's the last week of term before Easter and everything has been pretty hectic with coursework.
I love anything festive or seasonal, so Christmas and Easter are my favourite times (mainly because that's when all the cool food comes out) and in my opinion, one of the best things that Easter brings, along with lambs, are these bad boys,

Should these qualify as a monthly favourite? Probably not. But it's very hard for me to put into words the way I feel about mini eggs, they are just amazing! Luckily for me (unluckily for my waistline) where I work sells them around the year and as I type I am devouring this very bag.

These babies probably shouldn't be here either but I was so pleased with how they turned out (I find rocky road tricky!) that I might call in my boyfriend/assistant to do a recipe!

Oohh, they were so good!

Another thing that I associate with Easter are pastel colours. Now, I'm not really a fan of pastel green and lilac on my nails, although strangely enough I can with pale yellow and most certainly baby pink.

 

This nail polish is from Barry M in Strawberry Ice Cream/309. I find Barry M to be great for nail polishes as they are only £2.99 and they even tempt me to stray away from my usual shades of red.

 

This lipbalm by Estee Lauder was given to me by my cousins for Christmas, I blew it off as a silly lipgloss, something I rarely wear, but upon trying it I realised I was wrong and this stopped my lips from falling off when I was watching J play hockey in arctic conditions.

 



 

 My shade is 02 Tender Pink which comes out very sheer and tastes and smells nice too (always a bonus).

For a while I refused to change from my Body Shop strawberry body butter but I couldn't actually use that for my face, but my friend, L, introduced me to this,

Nivea's Soft cream is good for everything, even sore lips, and it seems to last for forever and it seems to be a make up bag staple in my class!

A slightly food and beauty orientated month, the holidays are coming now, so I promise more posts!

February Favourites

1st March is rolling around, I hope you're going to make some Welsh Cakes, I'm not even Welsh and I'm looking forward to them.
This month has gone hellishly quickly and I'm sorry about the lack of blog posts this past week but I've been doing my mock A levels oh, the unbounded joy that they bring.
I haven't got a great deal of favourites this month so I thought I'd throw in a few of my phone photos of what I've been up to.



My amazing boyfriend brought me back a chocolate ski from Austria



I roasted a chicken (apologies poor blackberry quality)

Eating breakfast like a king: porridge made with coconut milk with honey and chopped banana

My boyfriend has a real knack at knowing exactly what I like, especially when it comes to jewellery, which, from what I've heard is pretty rare.
He surprised me on Valentine's day with these beauties from Helen Odor and I've worn them nearly every day since.

I recently rediscovered this little Estee Lauder blush and bronzer quad, my favourites are the bottom left, Pink Kiss, because it's so fun and the bronzer, Bronze Goddess, which doesn't look like much but is nearly beating Benefit's Hoola for the make up bag spot.

Top: Nude Rose 11, Rosewood 13 Bottom: Pink Kiss 02, Bronze Goddess 01

Nude Rose, Rosewood, Pink Kiss, Bronze Goddess

I popped into Primark (one of the extensive range of shops that Ipswich has to offer... Not!) and I saw this blouse

 

The pattern isn't unlike the Willow pattern we have on our plates and bowls etc, which I personally think is really pretty and at £12 I couldn't find a reason not to buy it.

Now, in the shop this had rhinestones on the collar, I don't like rhinestones so I pulled them off, if you're doing the same, be careful, but it should be fine.

Finally, this MUA palette has been lying unopened in my make up drawer and I've really liked it. It's called the "Undressed" palette and it's a bit of a no brainer that it's a wanna be Naked palette!

 The colours are great but you need a primer to make them last all day.

 

My favourites are 2nd on the top row, for all over eyelid, 3rd on the top row for my brows and 4th on the bottom row for my crease and eyeliner.

Shade 2

A Couple of January Favourites

I am not the biggest fan of spicy food, this could be down to my mother thinking she had roasted a sweet pepper, me wolfing it down and realising that it was not a sweet pepper at all, it was, in fact, a yellow chilli and I wrongly drank so much water that I felt ill.

These, on the other hand are delicious, they are peanuts that have been coated in something with nori or other and then rolled in wasabi powder and they are incredibly morish, hence why the packet is only half full as I had already tucked in.
 

I got mine from the local food hall, but these are the closest that Amazon have.
 

Next up is my favourite lipbalm from Benefit which is half price in their sale!

The balm is sheer so it's great for those who, like me, aren't bold enough to wear a full red lip, and when you know its SPF 15, moisturising and smells of roses, you can't really go wrong, especially for the sale price of £7.

 The fact that both products are by Benefit is completely accidental but "That Gal" is great, again, and I think this is the same with most Benefit products, it smells delish, like raspberries.

It's marketed as an illuminating primer, but I also like to put it on my cheek and brow bones for extra "light"

 

This could be seen as an odd favourite, but this is about both the brand and the jumper.

Beyond Retro is a company who sell vintage clothes and accessories, now I'm a huge fan of thick, warm jumpers, and I get them from these guys. Nearly all of their jumpers are 100% wool and for the quality, they are so inexpensive (mine was £25).

After buying my boyfriend a cream cable knit jumper from them for Christmas, and when it arrived it provoked a great deal of jealousy on my part, I thought I had better get my own.

 

 

 

Apologies for the less than flattering picture, but I wanted to show how it fitted and self-timer really wasn't working out for me!