December Favourites

So this is kind of late... I've been super busy since New Years revising like a crazy person. It only hit me after Christmas that these exams actually count > . < I wish I could be a first year again... I'm probably not going to be blogging an awful lot until February (unless of course the exams kill me), but I'll try to do a few posts, mainly to keep myself from completely losing my marbles from too much revision - _ -

Last month I didn't really have many favourites, but I did discover some new skincare, which I've fallen so very much in love with, and although it isn't a new discovery I have been really loving my shampoo and conditioner too.

Firstly are my three Body Shop Seaweed products. I'm in love. I went out and bought the Ionic Clay Mask after Christmas because I loved my moisturiser and toner so much. I've noticed such a difference in my skin, it's not nearly as shiny looking as it used to be, even at the end of the day and with no other product on my face. The mask has really helped to clear up my post Christmas/New Years skin as well. If you have oily/combination skin I could not recommend these products more!

Next is an old favourite, Herbal Essences Smooth and Soft shampoo and conditioner. This is formulated for dry/frizzy hair so it's right up my street, especially in winter. It feels really luxurious (and smells yummy!). This is my favourite of the Herbal Essences range because it makes my hair feel so soft and lovely afterwards.

Finally for my very short December favourites is The Return Of The King. I started reading this a couple of weeks before Christmas and finished it the night before Christmas, it was so good I stayed up really late and was incredibly sleepy on Christmas day :P So worth it though. I'd seen the films before I read the books and I have to say the books are so much better! Especially because Eowyn and Faramir (two characters I never really liked in the film) are so amazing in the book! I love both of them incredible amounts :P I'm just sad that it's over now :(

Now I'd better get back to revising *sigh* hopefully it won't be too long until I find time to blog again...

Sunny xxxxx

November Favourites!

We have just entered my favourite month of the year! I have my advent calender, Christmas presents I've bought lying around my room, fuzzy socks, my train home booked :D I'd say I'm all ready for Christmas now!

As the month before my favourite month November still makes me happy, I love when the weather gets colder and warm clothes get worn :) Here are some of the things I've been loving this November:

Nails Inc. Glamour Glitter Polish - Whenever a magazine has a freebie (especially a nail polish freebie) I pick it up. I'm not a huge fan of Nails Inc. polishes, but when I saw that there was a glittery one I HAD to have it. I have this thing for glitter... Aside from the fact that it's taken me about 15 layers of this polish to get a decent amount of glitter on my nails I've been loving it. It dried so quickly the 15 layers didn't take too long, and it's been over a week and there's been no chipping. I think next time I'll try it as a thinner coat over other colours.

Clean & Clear Advantage Spot Treatment Gel - Since my epic allergic reaction a couple of months ago I stopped using my Clarisonic Mia for a while, now that my skin is better thank goddd) I've been able to get back into my usual routine. Unfortunately my skin has been doing the whole purging thing again. Luckily I went through this when I first tried the Mia, and I know what it's like. This time I just have a couple of blemishes on my chin, and they're going away nicely thanks to this product. I only picked it up on a whim but it's really been helping.

Etude House Marble Marble Highlighter in Rose Marble Peach - I bought this months and months ago in Korea. I picked it up on my last day of shopping before I left, in the last shop of the day. I'd been in Etude House a lot when I was over there, but I only noticed this product on the last day (that shop has a lotttt of stuff in it). I bought it because it looked so pretty, but never really got around to using it due to the vast volume of make up I'd bought out there. This past week I suddenly remembered it again, and it's really rather gorgeous. I've been loving how subtle it is, I love it, I just wish I hadn't been neglecting it all this time > . <

Yankee Candle Cinnamon Stick - I love cinnamon, I love candles. I love cinnamon candles. There isn't much more to say on this one...

Random monthly favourite - Nightwish
A group of my friends and I went to see Nightwish on their Imaginaerum tour. I love this band, I love their music, I love how energetic they are, and how nice they are. I also love turning up early to the concert and meeting them outside. I may have had a little fangirl moment and been a bit shell shocked for a while. This photo looks really goofy because I can't quite believe what's happening is real, but I can stand looking goofy if I'm having a photo with Tuomas Holopainen (and my housemate too :P).

Sunny xxxxx

(Late) September Favourites!

September has been such an amazing month! Back to uni, my first time living in a house without my parents (scary scary), fresher’s, and the start of my second year! With every new month comes new favourites, so here are a few of mine:

Umberto Giannini Overnight Beauty Moisture Balm :

This stuff is magical, it feels like a really thick moisturiser for your hair. I don’t use it every night, just when my hair feels a little dry (especially recently as it’s getting colder and windier). When you put it on it feels a bit greasy and too much, but as you sleep it sinks in and makes your hair look much better conditioned and less dry. It also lasts for ages, I’ve had mine so long that they’ve changed the packaging of it! I noticed in Boots the other day that the drawing of the girl on the front has changed :P

John Frieda Frizz Ease Curl Reviver Styling Mousse :

After washing my hair I run a small amount of this mousse through my hair and it helps keep my wild lions mane of hair under control. Especially when I leave my hair to air dry, but this also helps when I blow dry it too. I really love the Frizz Ease collection, but this is the one thing I always have to have, it’s become a necessity, and although I use it all year round it’s become especially useful now that the weather’s been turning.

Re-Gen Cream :

Unsurprisingly my favourite new product of last month, in conjunction with my Clarisonic Mia (not a favourite this month as I haven’t been using it long enough) my skin has been looking so much clearer, for a full review look here.

Benefit Benetint Lip Balm :

Benefit’s famous Benetint stain as a lip balm, it’s so convenient to carry around in my bag and top up if I’m on a night out. The colour is rich and glossy, it’s a lot deeper in colour than a lip balm and it gives a lot of colour (not as much as a lipstick of course), but I love using this when I want a bit of colour on my lips.

Non beauty favourites:

Pokemon! :

I never really got into Pokemon when I was little, but all my housemates (and my boyfriend :P) play it.  So one of them gave me his old gameboy and Pokemon Red, and I’m now obsessed. We once spent a very hungover morning (technically afternoon :P) all sitting in the living room, not talking, just playing Pokemon. We’re such wild Uni students :P

Firefly :

The most favouritest of my favourites of this month! How have I never seen this show before!? In my first week here it was only me and my housemate Ben in the house, and he bought Firefly on a whim because he heard it was good. Our friend Amy really, really loves Firefly, so we all watched the entire series over three days, just curling up on the sofa in the evening (this was before fresher’s so there weren’t many nights out) and watching three of four episodes in one go. We still have Serenity to watch, but once that’s been seen it’s all over! I almost don’t want to watch it so I can know that’s there’s still more to go....

Sunny xxxxx

July Favourites

Today is my house cleaning day (I live a very wild life style...), I'm planning to hoover all the ginger fluff my darling doggy leaves around the house - _ - and sort the kitchen out *sighs* At least I've been downloading loads of music (some of which I'm listening to right now, and pausing between typing to have a dance and sing a long :P).

I have been LOVING my bareMinerals night treatment this month, I can see a difference, my skin isn't perfect (awful messed up hormones > . <) but it's looking so much better than before I'd been using it :D Very happy with this product, I'll be doing a full review soon :).

Recently I've been actually bothering to use my eyelash curlers (I got mine from Muji), usually I'm really lazy and skip them, but using them this month has reminded me how brilliant this little tool is. With Benefit's Bad Gal mascara I get lovely long lashes. (Btw, this one is a freebie from a magazine, I ran out of the full size so I'll need to buy a new one soon).

Recently I've been using this Vaseline lip balm a lot, it's a little pigmented and really helps me look more lively and less washed out in the mornings :P Great for helping dry lips look pretty again :)

I loved that one week of pure sunshine England experienced this month. I got to wear my sunnies and sunscreen! I almost tanned (I sort of got tan lines :P). It was beautiful AND I got to go to the beach, although it was during the oyster festival so it smelled a bit fishy :P

One of my favourite songs from my massive downloading spree this month has been The Vaccines 'If you wanna', it's featured on the Rimmel Advert with Kate Moss and I can't stop listening to it :P I have sort of seen The Vaccines live in Leeds last year, I say sort of because it was on my birthday and I was smashed out of my skull so I don't really remember it :P Still a great day/evening :P

Finally my absolute favourite bean of the month (and all time too) is the reason why I'm living on my own for two weeks in the middle of the countryside. My little sweetie Tolly dog <3 He's asleep on my bedroom floor right now ^ - ^

Sunny xxxxx

June Favourites

I'm going to have a reallllllly long car journey to visit my family and come back home again today. I do not like car journeys at all, and I'll be eating travel sickness tablets like they're skittles :P However on the way back we'll be detouring past my boyfriend's house and picking him up ^ - ^ So yay :)

Seeing as it's July now I thought I'd post a few of my monthly favourites :)

Firstly and unsurprisingly is my Naked Palette. This is gorgeous and everyone knows it, enough said.

Next is my Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula moisturiser, I really really really love this. It smells so delicious and makes my skin feel gorgeous. After I've put it on I feel like I could nibble it all off again because it smells so yummy :) And as it's a buttery formula it feels nice and thick when you put it on, and soaks into the skin easily without leaving any residue.

As I said in this post I've been really loving my Witch Stick for helping me clear up blemishes this month. It's great at drying out spots and is easy to carry around, love it.

My Andrew Barton Frizz Tamer has been such a lifesaver for the humid air we've been having recently. When my hair frizzes out it's so easy to put a weeny blob of this all over to smooth it down again. My only issue is that it smells really weirdly of ginger....just me maybe?

Finally and most importantly are my Optrex Allergy Eyedrops. Without these I would have clawed my eyes out ages ago. When I get itchy eyes I have zero self control about not rubbing them. I itch and scratch my eyes until they puff up and hurt so badly I just want to pull them out Kill Bill style. But thankfully these eyedrops have saved me from that, they're just soooooooooooo soothing, I use them twice a day and my eyes feel perfect :)

Sunny xxxxx

April Favourites

It feels like forever and ever since my last post! I hate exams, completely and utterly detest them > . <  I have my first one on the 14th, and I'm ignoring everything else until it's over :P I've decided it's the only one I care about, everything else I will try and blag (this is not sensible life advice by the by :P).

So here I am, on a (short) break from revising my socks off with my April favourites! Apart from one week (which had four deadlines at once - _ -) it's been a really good month ^ - ^ especially seeing a I started it off in Korea!

I'll start off with the beauty products:

I got this Tony Moly BB cream in Korea, and I've been using it nearly everyday since. I love BB creams, they're perfect for daytime when I don't need as much coverage, just a little bit of a brighter complexion. This one is the perfect colour (sometimes BB creams can be too light) once it adjusts to my skin tone, and it's also really moisturising (hence the hyaluronic acid bit). Compared to my old Missha Perfect Cover BB cream this one is better matched to my skin.

This Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish was a free gift with Red last month and I adore it wholeheartedly. Despite having the worst exam stress diet ever (hello fizzy drinks, chocolate and ice cream) my skin has been holding up. I've gotten two blemishes since using this, both after forgetting to wash my face and sleeping in my make up and even they cleared up faster than normal. I love this stuff so much ^ - ^. For a full review click here.

My third is a new purchase (I bought this at the same time as my Chanel foundation). It's Sleek's Storm Eyeshadow palette. These are fantastic. Ultra pigmented, ultra cheap and loads of choice. I was torn between this one and Sleek's supposed Naked dupe, but despite having no money I have decided I AM going to one day buy a Naked palette so I chose Storm instead :P

My next favourite is a little different, it's Nu Nale's nail strengthener cream. When I eat a bad diet or have nail polish on for too long my nails get unbelievably brittle and dry. I've been using this morning and night for a week now and my nails are in good condition again :) Yay! I got this from Boots over  a year ago now, and there's still loads of it left :D

Last of my beauty products is a repurchase of a fantastic product. This is Soap & Glory's The Scrub Of Your Life body buffer, and it's amazing. I've been using this since I got a sample size of it for christmas and it only just ran out last week, so I can't imagine how long this huge one will last :P I love body scrubs, and this one smells beautiful and smooths my skin oh so much ^ - ^. Love it.

Finally for my random April favourites. I'll start with the delicious one...Reggae Reggae Tomato Ketchup *drooooools*. If you've never had this before GO AND BUY SOME NOW. I love all Reggae Reggae sauce products, so so yummy, but the tomato ketchup can just go on EVERYTHING...well not everything but a lot of things :P It's got a teeny bit of chili in to give it a kick, and tastes sweeter than Heinz because it uses sun ripened tomatoes and *droooollsss*.... Although I must warn you that if you live in uni halls it will be stolen, I keep mine in my room now *suspicious glances* at uni if you leave money, an ipod or your phone out in the kitchen it will be untouched, but anything yummy will be stolen in seconds :P

Lastly is a film I watched years ago and loved, I saw in HMV for £6 and simply couldn't resist. It's Park Chan-Wook's (my second favourite director ever by the by :P) Oldboy, and it is epic, to say the least. I couldn't recommend it more highly, especially if you love Korean cinema. The basic premise is a man is imprisoned for 15 years (without being told why) and suddenly released. The man who imprisoned him gives him 5 days to find out why he was imprisoned, if he finds out the kidnapper will kill himself, if he doesn't the kidnapper will kill the girl (who befriends him after he is released and tries to help solve the mystery). I will warn you however that this isn't exactly the happiest of films :P It's quite disturbing at parts and very very very violent. But if you don't mind that then I recommend this film so highly! One of my favourite ever :).

Phew, that's a lot of favourites :P I guess I'd better get back onto the revision. For everyone else who's having to endure the exam period right now as well I wish you good luck!

Sunny xxxxx

(p.s. giveaway entries have been added up, watch this space :P)

February Favourites

Last month has been so busy and fun for me, I've had two friends from home come to stay, three peoples birthdays, an exam and an essay :P A pretty busy month really.

Here are some products I've been loving this month, because I'm saving for my holiday to Korea I haven't been buying any new beauty items, so I've had great fun re-discovering some old favourites.

Firstly my Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in black. This is such a fantastic product and I love it. It's a little pricey, especially when you buy the brush as well (it's a good brush but I think it was too much of an impulse buy). This month I've used this loads, and I've fallen in love again, it's great for nights out because it just will not budge, and it's great for really precise lines (I'm a bit rubbish with liquid eyeliner sometimes and make it go all messy > . <).

Next is my Vicco Turmeric Skin Cream. This is an Indian product which I first used when I had an allergic reaction at my friends house, it soothed it right away, so she said she'd buy me some next time she was in India. Since then I've been to India myself and stocked up, unfortunately I'm on my last tube so I'll have to search through ebay to get some more :( This cream is sooooooooooo soothing, it really reduces redness, makes my face feel really really soft and just brightens up my face so much!  Now I use it on my face after I've washed and moisturised it, however (because I'm lazy) I've been forgetting about it for a few months, I started using it again half way through this month and I've been adoring it ^ - ^ However it does have a slight turmeric smell (as the name suggests :P) but this goes away after about half an hour. Also the cream itself is a bright yellow shimmery colour, but it disappears when it's smoothed onto the skin.

Because it's been warmer these past few days (I've been wearing skirts and vests!!!) I've decided to start wearing bright summery nail polishes, but so far only on my toes :P This is Psychedelic Sister from Urban Decay's Summer Of Love set from a few years ago (I think, I can't actually remember when I got it :P). It's a gorgeous bright pinky orange colour, and it just makes me so happy and in the mood for summer every time I look at my toes! ^ - ^

My final beauty related product is my John Frieda Frizz Ease Curl Reviver Mousse. I really love this product, my hair would be a mountain of frizzy ickyness without it > . < and it's so quick and simple to use, a small blob run through damp hair is all it takes. It's literally my life saver for hair :P Also it lasts forever and ever (or so it seems :P) I bought this one 4 months ago and I've been using it every other day (when I wash my hair) and it still feels really heavy and full :)

My last February favourite is linked to one of my January favourites, it was Starter For 10, a book by David Nicholls. Well this month I discovered that a film had been made of Starter for 10, and not just that but it was a film starring James Mcavoy (drooooooooooooools), Dominic Cooper (droooools some more) and Benedict Cumberbatch (I love him, he's so funny > . <). So I got very excited and watched it, and it's amazing :P The screenplay was written by David Nicholls himself, so the film is very witty and true to the book, I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally recommend it.

I hope everyone has had a great month ^ - ^

Sunny xxxxx