January Favourites

First favourites of 2016! It feels weird that 2015 is over; for me it felt like it went on forever. I have no idea what's in store for me, but I'm just going to keep blogging away when I can!

Clothes & Beauty

Accessorize Scarf

Once again I'm using one of my favourites as a flatlay background! I know I don't need any more scarves, but I couldn't resist (also, I had a voucher to spend). It's a lovely pastel tartan, and is really really soft! My one gripe is that it moults quite a bit, so definitely tricky to wear with a dark top...

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Cannes

I'm slowly testing out new NYX products, picking up something new when I can (even though I don't need any more makeup). So obviously I had to try one of their matte lip creams because everyone raves about them! I didn't even swatch this, I just threw it in the basket when I was ordering a few things for le boyfriend. I'm glad the gamble paid off; it's a really nice colour and although it's a bit of a nude-tone, it's not like anything I already own. It's light on the lips and easy to apply. It lasts quite a while but unfortunately doesn't pass the "eating my tea" test, but what liquid lipstick does!?

Lush Popcorn Lip Scrub

The weather this month has been freezing! I've been whinging about having dry, flaky lips for months, so thought I'd finally bite the bullet and buy a lip scrub. This stuff has really helped, especially when I've wanted to apply matte lipstick. The taste is a bit salty for my liking, but all of the other scrubs just seemed so sickly sweet. As long as I don't overdo it too much, the taste is actually quite nice.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Concealer
I picked this up on a whim because it was on special offer in Superdrug. I find concealers a tricky one to buy, but this one is great! The biggest winner for me is that it's really really pale. It's so refreshing to put concealer under my eyes and it actually brighten my skin! It has decent coverage without being cakey, and is easy to apply with your ring finger.

Natural Collection Matte Eyeshadow in Milk Chocolate and Butterscotch
So this month I started building a MAC palette (watch this space, there's a post to come), and ended up having quite a lengthy discussion with one of the girls at the MAC counter in House of Fraser. I realised that I needed more matte shades in my collection. So, there I was swatching a bunch of matte shades, getting stressed at how expensive they were. But then I remembered Natural Collection. 2 for £3.50! I popped in after work and picked up Milk Chocolate and Butterscotch. Why pay loads for a matte eyeshadow? These have pretty good pigmentation and blend easily - they do have a little bit of fall out, but no more than Urban Decay, I suppose. I still think I'll end up getting a few for my MAC palette, but for now these are fab!

Books

Crown of Midnight

I hopped back on the Throne of Glass bandwagon and read the sequel (I'm currently reading Book 3, so you know I'm enjoying it). The second was so much better than the first! I love the action, the intrigue, the suspense (not so much the romance). I still have gripes with certain tropes relating to these books - for some reason Maas' books read to me like fanfiction, although I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing...

But anyway, this series has definitely got me wanting to read more, despite my mild concerns about certain aspects (I think I might look further into this in a blog post once I've caught up with the series). Strong female leads are always good in my books!

Film & TV

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I finally saw Star Wars! Strangely enough, I didn't really know many people who wanted to go and see this - luckily my ever-nerdy boyfriend was more than happy to oblige. I loved it. I really did. I want to go and see it again, which is a really uncommon thing for me. I was so sceptical beforehand after episodes I-III, but this is back on the form of the original trilogy. And, of course, I'm obsessed with BB-8...

War and Peace

Unfortunately, I've been a little under the weather towards the end of this month. Luckily though, it meant that I could catch up with War and Peace. Don't know about you, but I love a good costume drama. And it saves me reading the book - Anna Karenina took me long enough! I can see why this has divided a lot of opinions, but to me I find the whole thing very engrossing. Plus, it has a stellar cast.

Misc.

Star Wars Battlefront

I'm not much of a first person shooter type of gamer, but after seeing The Force Awakens, this had me intrigued. I'm not good at it (I'm a total noob), but I'm obsessed. It actually had me considering buying an Xbox in order to play it (there's no way it'd run on my laptop). I think the familiar settings/characters/ships probably make the whole thing a lot more interesting. I think I'll stick to the offline stuff though before I attempt to play online again...