May was my birthday month, so there's a couple of favourites that were birthday presents. Some of this post was tough to put together, because I feel like a lot of my May favourites were ones rolled over from April. I really need to find some new tv shows and food faves...
Clothes and Beauty
Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer
This isn't really a new favourite, I've had this concealer for a while and use it pretty much every day. But I'm adding it to my favourites because I bought a new one last week and I just love it. It's perfect for the under eye area. Plus it's a lot less cakey than the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer. It's not really suited to covering up spots, but it definitely hides redness. The first time I bought it I worried about the limited selection of shades, but Ivory suits me perfectly.
Nivea Daily Essentials Extra Gentle Eye Makeup Remover
My mum picked this up for me whilst in Sainsburys when I asked for something to replace an old Boots one that had gone out of date. I wasn't expecting much because I didn't read any reviews beforehand but this stuff is so good! It removes even the most difficult of mascaras (Benefit They're Real, I'm looking at you). The eye make up remover that I had previously used to blur my vision slightly after use, and this doesn't at all. You don't have to rub your eyelids with a cotton pad, your eyemake up just slides off. Way better than scrubbing at your eyes with face wipes!
Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue: Escape to Panarea
This was a "it's your birthday so treat yo self" purchase. I picked it up for £26 in the sale at Debenhams. It was the last one and I was just drawn to the beautiful packaging! It's actually a limited edition fragrance from last summer, but I compared it to this year's and prefer this so much more. It's subtle: some of the 'notes' are pear, jasmine and orange blossom. So a lovely fruity floral scent. I just wish the fragrance lasted longer; it tends to need a touch up if you're wearing it all day. I got a 25ml bottle, because unfortunately that's all they had, but it's perfect for travel and will be my new scent for the summer!
Boohoo Natalie Sunglasses
This was a "it's your birthday so treat yo self" purchase. I picked it up for £26 in the sale at Debenhams. It was the last one and I was just drawn to the beautiful packaging! It's actually a limited edition fragrance from last summer, but I compared it to this year's and prefer this so much more. It's subtle: some of the 'notes' are pear, jasmine and orange blossom. So a lovely fruity floral scent. I just wish the fragrance lasted longer; it tends to need a touch up if you're wearing it all day. I got a 25ml bottle, because unfortunately that's all they had, but it's perfect for travel and will be my new scent for the summer!
Boohoo Natalie Sunglasses
I've been lusting over these for a while, but I could never seem to justify the purchase to myself. Then the price went down to £6 and I couldn't say no. They're quite a basic style, but I just really wanted some pale pink sunglasses. I'm surprised by how good the quality is - Boohoo tends to be a bit hit and miss (so many times have I had to send things back in disappointment). I'd say they're better than ones that you'd find in somewhere like New Look. The only worry I have is that the lenses aren't very dark. I suppose I'm lucky that I live in the north of England, where it's not usually very sunny... You can get them here and they're also available in black and brown!
Clarks/Primark shoes
So I have two pairs of shoes that I've loved this month - one pair that I've worn a lot and one pair that haven't had a chance to leave the house (if you look closely, there's still tissue paper inside of them). The left pair are Primark plimsolls, which cost £6. Primark have really upped their quality with these: they just feel so much more durable and look like Vans. In the past, every pair of these I owned had to be thrown out because the sole would crack and I'd start getting wet feet. These ones are so much better. They're a bit more tricky to find, and have a very limited selection of colours, but they're so worth it.
The pair on the right are Clark's Glove Puppet shoes, which I actually got as a birthday gift. They've been really popular, and have been selling out fast. I love Clarks because they sell half sizes, but I actually needed these in half a size smaller (a size 5). Unfortunately, the black ones were an online exclusive and had sold out in that size, but luckily a 5 1/2 fits fine with a thin insole inside. The reason that I haven't worn them yet is that they're made from perforated suede. The weather here has been way too cold and/or way too rainy for me to wear them. I can't wait for summer, I think these will become an every day favourite!
Books
Jurassic Park
Yes, I've been feeding my dinosaur addiction. As you saw in my Diary of a Dinosaur Addict post, this month I read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. It's just such a good book; I think I actually enjoyed it more than the film. It's thrilling, scary and way more gory than you'd expect. I whizzed right through it because it was such a rollercoaster of thrills that I couldn't put down. Definitely recommend. Now I just have to decide whether I want to read the sequel...
Yes, I've been feeding my dinosaur addiction. As you saw in my Diary of a Dinosaur Addict post, this month I read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. It's just such a good book; I think I actually enjoyed it more than the film. It's thrilling, scary and way more gory than you'd expect. I whizzed right through it because it was such a rollercoaster of thrills that I couldn't put down. Definitely recommend. Now I just have to decide whether I want to read the sequel...
Film/TV
Geordie Shore
So I used to watch quite a bit of Geordie Shore, but stopped after a while because I started to lose interest. Boredom resulted in me checking out the first episode of Season 10 on catch up. And then I ended up binge watching the rest until I had completely caught up. I'm not even sorry. It's trash tv, but it's good trash tv. And seeing Charlotte's slim new body, it actually tempts me to watch her exercise video. Damn girl, that is one toned body!
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
This one was another result of boredom whilst browsing Netflix late at night. It's a cute sitcom starring Ellie Kemper, following her character Kimmy as she moves to New York City after escaping a doomsday cult in Indiana. It's written by Tina Fey, so it has the kind of humour that's quite witted and leaves you giggling. It's got a few well known faces in it, and is just some laid back tv to watch when you're not sure what to put on. I'm excited to see whether it gets a second series!
Misc.
Muji Storage
I have finally sorted out my makeup collection, thanks to this birthday present from my sister. Prior to these, I actually used a Crayola stationery draw set to organise everything. Now it looks a bit more grown up. And what can I say? It's perfect. I have two sets of the 2 drawer wide boxes, and a flip lid one on the top. I organise it from top to bottom as: face and eyebrows; mascaras, eyeliner and eyeshadow; lips; palettes; and miscellaneous tools and hair clips. I don't need to tell you much more really, because most bloggers I know use these acrylic boxes as storage. I love that you can come up with the best combination to suit you. And you can buy them online here (although mine came from Selfridges in the Trafford Centre).
I have finally sorted out my makeup collection, thanks to this birthday present from my sister. Prior to these, I actually used a Crayola stationery draw set to organise everything. Now it looks a bit more grown up. And what can I say? It's perfect. I have two sets of the 2 drawer wide boxes, and a flip lid one on the top. I organise it from top to bottom as: face and eyebrows; mascaras, eyeliner and eyeshadow; lips; palettes; and miscellaneous tools and hair clips. I don't need to tell you much more really, because most bloggers I know use these acrylic boxes as storage. I love that you can come up with the best combination to suit you. And you can buy them online here (although mine came from Selfridges in the Trafford Centre).
iPad Mini
You might have already spotted it in my dinosaur obsession post, but from my Dad for my birthday I got an iPad Mini 3. And it's just been such a great addition to my life. My laptop has had a lot of strain on it and slows down a lot (to be honest, I think the thing needs to be wiped and have everything put back on it from scratch) and my Kindle (the original Kindle Fire HD) just doesn't really cut it in terms of tablet computers - although it is still my preference if I'm reading an eBook. There was an amazing deal on at Curry's at the beginning of the month, which took around £70 off the price. Otherwise it would have been way way out of my price range. So I'm very thankful for that. But yeah, it was such a good birthday present, it really helps me out. It means I can turn my laptop off more often and conserve more of my phone battery. And for things like reading posts on Bloglovin (you can follow me here), I actually prefer it to using a PC.
You might have already spotted it in my dinosaur obsession post, but from my Dad for my birthday I got an iPad Mini 3. And it's just been such a great addition to my life. My laptop has had a lot of strain on it and slows down a lot (to be honest, I think the thing needs to be wiped and have everything put back on it from scratch) and my Kindle (the original Kindle Fire HD) just doesn't really cut it in terms of tablet computers - although it is still my preference if I'm reading an eBook. There was an amazing deal on at Curry's at the beginning of the month, which took around £70 off the price. Otherwise it would have been way way out of my price range. So I'm very thankful for that. But yeah, it was such a good birthday present, it really helps me out. It means I can turn my laptop off more often and conserve more of my phone battery. And for things like reading posts on Bloglovin (you can follow me here), I actually prefer it to using a PC.
Love the black slip on shoes!!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a Muji near me so I could get some the storage, it looks great!!
The Everyday Life of Rachel
Thank you :)
DeleteIt's so annoying, I feel like Muji have closed loads of branches outside of London in recent years, there used to be one in the centre of Manchester a few years back. I don't drive, so getting out to the Trafford Centre is a nightmare if someone can't take me!