Reading List #2

Another Reading List has come to the blog rather quickly as I've got a bunch more books out from the library to share with you. These books look so good so I'm really excited to read them.

All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher: This is probably one of the books I'm most excited to read this year. I love Carrie as a YouTuber and I admire her wisdom and thoughts so much. I've actually already started this because I'm that excited to see what she has to say, and so far, so good. I feel like this is going to be a great one for slightly younger readers, a girl bible of sorts, as I'm sure Carrie implies for it to be. Side note: I am so excited for her fiction book, On The Other Side, that she is writing at the moment!

Soulmates by Holly Bourne: If you read the Good Reads description of this, you'll get a better idea about what this is about because I'm certainly no good at explaining what books are about. When reading the blurb, I just felt like I would enjoy this book as I like the sound of Poppy and the idea behind the book in general, although it does leave a lot to the imagination. The author, Holly Bourne, wrote a book called The Manifesto on How to be Interesting which I did quite enjoy so I'd be interested to read something else by her.

It's About Love: I really have not much of an idea what this book is going to be but I picked it up anyway as I like the sound of it. I'm pretty much a sucker for 'love' stories, (although it's got to have the right combination of stuff for it to be truly good), so this seemed like something I might like. It's about two people named Luke and Leia ("Just like in Star Wars" it says) and what kind of appeals to me is the fact they go to film school. I don't know. This may be good or it may be bad. I guess I'll find out!

Isla and the Happily Ever After: I love Stephanie Perkin's books. I've read Anna and The French Kiss which I adored, as well as Lola and the Boy Next Door which was also really good. These three books are actually a series, featuring some of the same characters, but with different main characters and different stories. I'm looking forward to reading it, I feel like it's going to give me all the feels! If you haven't read these, I really recommend them (if you like romantic YA fiction, of course).


Have you read any of these, or do you want to read them? Tell me your thoughts x

Lush Bath Bomb Review: Lord of Misrule

I recently picked up one of these Limited Edition Lord of Misrule ($7.90 NZD) bath bombs which came out mid year along with some other Christmas themed items. First of all, the smell of this is incredibly nice (in my opinion) - it smells what I could only describe as herbal and spicy while also being quite fresh and citrusy. The citric acid and jasmine in this bath bomb would explain the fruity, slightly florally tones in this, and it also has ingredients like black pepper oil, vanilla absolute and patchouli oil that would give it a slightly darker, almost 'woody' scent. Obviously it's hard to describe scents but there you go.

For pictures of this bath bomb in action, you can click here to see photos that I took while it fizzed away, but essentially when you first drop this in, it goes a very teal colour as you would expect from it's outer shell. It gradually changes to a mix of pink, white, blue and green as the bath bomb dissolves; and you'd be glad to know there is even some popping candy action. After about 10 minutes, the bath just turns a very pretty deep purple colour. The bath experience itself is quite creamy and there's something about the smell that's very refreshing.

Overall this was probably my favourite bath bomb that I've tried from Lush. I was so wowed by the colours and everything; it looks beautiful in real life and it was super relaxing. These are limited edition, so I went out and bought two more after trying it for the first time. I'd definitely recommend this one if you can get your hands on it - it's available online at the moment and on their website it says it is in store from July 6th.

Have you tried this or do you want to? Also what other Lush products/bath bombs do you recommend?


P.S - You may (or may not have) realised I haven't been posting this week, but I just haven't had endless amounts of free time like usual. A 'This Week' post would have been posted tomorrow, although I'm not sure I want to continue doing that series at the moment. I'll hopefully be posting a little more regularly now.

This Week: Decluttering + Back to the Daily Grind

This week I have been trying to declutter my room and my thoughts. I've started doing yoga again this week and it's been the best. I sound like a hippie most of the time, talking about how great yoga is, but it's something than just the physical aspect of it, but the mind benefits, that make me feel so much better about myself and my situation. This week has typically been a boring one as I've been at home trying to get in as much YouTube video watching + book reading as I can before Uni begins again - (tomorrow!)

This week I didn't actually read much though - I didn't have any books to read, and then I went to the library to pick some up. I managed to finish one book that I didn't actually like all that much, so if you want to see what I had to say, follow me on Good Reads. I'm going to make it a goal to keep reading as much as possible though, even with Uni starting.

Speaking of Uni, I'm kind of not too fussed on being stressed again, however having a month off at home has been quite boring to say the least and I'd probably go crazy if I had more time off. So I guess it's time to get back at it. I'll be doing a post on What's in My Uni Bag shortly as Semester Two starts. Speaking of posts, I have been posting quite a lot these holidays and I don't know if that's going to continue over into the Uni months, but I haven't felt forced to have to write posts - I've just felt like I have too many posts sometimes, which is a good thing I guess.

I can tell you, one thing I'm not looking forward to again is 8am lectures, so please, be thinking of me tomorrow morning. Have a good week xx

Desk Area Redecorate + New Make-up Storage

A few days ago after a bad weekend, I decided that I needed a refreshment of some kind; something to make me feel better, focused and organised. I hadn't been that happy with my room (you know, all those little things that need tweaking/fixing that you just never get round to?), so I changed some things and here are some photos.

My favourite area in my room is probably my desk area because the wall above is usually covered with colourful, pretty things I love that look so visually pleasing. I do change this up every now and then but this combination of 'things' on my wall is probably one of my favourites. Most of what you see on the wall is from Frankie or Yen Magazine. I also decided to move one of my small white shelves onto the desk like I had a while back and love how it looks! I'm a sucker for using my laptop in bed all the time but I'm trying to cut back on that as I know it's not good for the laptop fan and it's kinda lazy. (Not like I won't be using my laptop in bed at all, though. I mean, come on.)

I also had a sudden idea to put up most of the polaroids I've taken that were previously sitting in a closed photo album. I like the polaroids look on a wall like this, there's just something quite pleasing about it. I figured it's nice to actually look at some of the memories I've had for a change. (I feel like using polaroids is such a summer thing, I never crank that thing out in winter??) On a side note I had wanted to buy a disposable camera just for fun, to take random pictures with, but that didn't happen - so for another time I guess. I love film.

Something else I also decided to change up was my make-up storage!

I don't own that much make-up... what your'e seeing is basically what I use. I love the look of clear make-up storage so had a little look at a shop called Daiso which is basically a huge Japanese Stationery shop with lots of (sometimes useless), but at the same time, very useful, objects. They had these clear cases that stack on top of each other (originally for stationery) but in the shop I envisioned putting my flatter make-up (blushes, eyebrow palette, powder, etc) on the bottom one and objects that didn't fit (foundation, mascara, and eyeliner + concealer too) on top. They had a little clear container too that I thought would fit lipsticks in it (horizontally) but unfortunately only my Essence lipstick fits that way, so I just had to put them in the way you see in the photo. Not too bad though, and the three containers cost $10. I also just had a clear jar/cup which I popped my make-up brushes in and that works pretty well.

My white dressing table that I painted two summers ago was looking rather dirty and gross (make-up stains, dust, etc) so I gave it a wipe down. The two big  bottom drawers where I keep most of my clothes were broken and wouldn't slide in properly. This was driving me crazy because it always looked so messy, so my Dad fixed them and now that area of my bedroom looks so tidy and nice! I swear painting this dresser, which used to be really dark, brightens up my whole room and I like the look of it, especially with the fairy lights wrapped around the mirror. The smaller drawers on the top of the dresser host random things that I don't have room for anywhere else, and also store any extra make-up.

I hope you liked this post, and hope it somewhat inspires you to clean up your room at bit and get interior-savvy! x

Reading List #1

Increasingly, I've discovered I love blogging about books, so heads up - there should hopefully be many more book posts on the horizon. I thought it was about time I made a series about books, so every now and then, when I've had a bit of a book haul (or usually gone crazy at the library), I will write about it here and probably post reviews or brief thoughts when I've finished them. Today I have four books which I picked up from the library a few days ago.

1. More Than This by Patrick Ness: I picked up this book while browsing the teen fiction section as the cover looked familiar to me - I think I'd seen it on Good Reads or in a YouTube video or something. I really liked the cover of this hardback edition too. This book seems to be about a boy alone in his final moments, and about the afterlife, etc after he dies. This books seems pretty mysterious to me but I thought I'd pick it up anyway and see how it goes.

2. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith: This is the one I think I'm going to start with first as I need something to get me out of my little reading slump I've had recently. This seems like a romantic story surrounding ideas of fate and love - two people, Lucy and Owen, who meet with a stroke of luck. From the blurb it looks like they are separated in some way and have to maintain some sort of relationship long-distance.

3. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion: I'd heard of this book quite some time ago but haven't picked it up until now. It's not something I'm necessary urgent to read, but thought I might as well. This book is about a professor who hasn't dated much, but suddenly embarks on The Wife Project to find someone he loves. Basically, this is meant to be a bit of a funny, romance novel of a man finding unlikely love. It looks pretty good, so I shall be onto reading this soon enough.

4. To The Moon and Back by Jill Mansell: I'd read Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Mansell so I thought I should probably give another book of hers ago. I had a little look on Good Reads and based on a couple reviews and the story, I decided to get this one. Who knows if it will be any good, but I'll basically read anything these days and try and get something out of it.

So that's my first reading list - hope you enjoyed and do give me your suggestions for books below, as always. xx

The Button Up Skirt

Hi everyone. Today on the blog is an outfit I shot last week in a little hidden spot in Newmarket. That place will forever be my favourite place to shop. Anyway, the main reason for this post is to show off two cute items that I've been obsessed with wearing lately, and those are an oversized cardigan from Temt and a suede-look button-up skirt from H&M. As per usual, my face is looking rather grim as I don't know how to show emotion (only partially joking), but it's all about the clothes I guess.


I had subconsciously been looking for a long, oversized cardigan that would be in a neutral colour, therefore going with everything, and I found that in Temt, last week. It was half price, quite thick and very cosy so it was a no brainer. There's something that makes you feel really good in a fuller length cardigan or coat, and you can afford to wear it with shorter skirts (like this one) so you don't feel as self-conscious.

(Also I thought I'd mention, that in these photos, it looks like I have a permanent hair necklace - it's not jewellery, it's literally just my hair misbehaving..)

The bag you see in these photos was actually purchased about 10 minutes beforehand, in Glassons, where all good things happen, and it was rather spontaneous but I'm glad I did do it. This will be my new bag for Uni as I've learnt with catching the bus many, many times back and forth, backpacks are just not my friend, no matter how stylish-looking. This bag is literally huge and can fit a tonne in (but doesn't look bulky and isn't heavy to carry), so I can bet I'll fit my laptop, notebooks, extra layers of clothing, etc in it. It also has a very handy smaller clutch bag inside it, which can be clipped in to the side, so it's great for storing cards, phone, money, pens, etc. I didn't realise until after I'd bought it, but it's an excellent thing!

I'm wearing... Cardigan from Temt / Shirt from Mirrou / Skirt from H&M / Bag from Glassons / Shoes from Glassons

Hope you liked this post, I'm feeling more inspired lately to take lots of photos in the outside world and also up my blogging game overall. I've had a bit of time to work on my blog these holidays, so hopefully things will be going up from here. xx

This Week: Hill Climbs & Taking Photos in Public

This week began with a much needed fun day with some friends and games, namely Mario Cart and Cards Against Humanity which has now become a favourite game of mine (I was surprisingly good... I do not know if that's a good or bad thing).

This week I have also been shopping and I managed to find a new bag for Uni. I've mentioned that in my last post and the photo above is a little sneak peak for an outfit post that will be coming up next. I haven't really had experience taking outfit photos in public much as I generally just take them in my room or garden, however I think that the background of outfit photos can make the whole thing look a damn sight better. So off I went with my sister in search of a semi-secluded location where we wouldn't have to cringe too much in embarrassment. We found a pretty good place in the end; there were a few iffy moments, but it has definitely taught me that I need to go out and about more and just take lots of photos.

The other day I had a catch up with my friend group from High School (what do you mean I've left High School already?), and we caught the ferry to Devonport and basically took lots of public transport to various places. That particular day was absolutely freezing, but incredibly sunny so it was a good winter day in all. We visited a Navy Museum and spent about half an hour trying on Sailor/Captain costumes and taking photos, then proceeded to climb a hill in a place called North Head. In reality it was a 10 minute climb, but oh boy am I unfit. We had an amazing view of the city as you can see, and it was so, so peaceful to lie on the grassy hill (where it was surprisingly not cold) and listen to screaming, playing children in the background. It was really quiet and I'm glad I got some fresh (brisk!) air this week, at least.

Hope you all have a great week - it's my last week off so I need to make the most of it! xx

A Little Fashion & Beauty Haul

Yesterday I went shopping and picked up a few bits, so I thought I'd do a post and share what I bought! I wasn't planning on getting a new bag on this shopping trip, however I had a little look in Glassons and I think their bags are generally really good. I had wanted a simple black tote for Uni for a while, so I decided to get this one as it wasn't a bad price, it can literally fit so much stuff in it but it's not heavy or very bulky. (I will be posting an outfit post featuring this bag soon so you can see what it looks like in full). As you can see it's difficult to photograph fashion items so the cardigan that is featured a little bit here, (from Temt) you will be able to see in full shortly as well, as they're in the same outfit post.

I can't not have a shopping trip without popping into Lush and it seemed like the perfect opportunity as they're currently having their mid-winter Christmas sale (?), well selling some of the Chirstmas products in store anyway. I don't know about you, but all I want to do after a long day is have a bath, especially since it's so cold at the moment. I like that they have this mid-winter Christmas thing as I generally have more baths in winter. I picked up two bath items - the Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb which I am so (!!) excited to use. It smells lovely to me and looks really cool so I'm hoping it will be a good one. I also got The Comforter Bubble Bar again because it's the one bath item that lasts me quite a while so I don't have to spend loads on many bath bombs. My sister actually bought this but I thought I'd include it in this haul anyway as it's something I want to pick up for myself at some point, but it's the Mask of Magnaminty which is self preserving and looks great, smells of peppermint which I adore! I also picked up an Essence lipstick a few days ago which is in the shade 07 Natural Beauty and it is a nude dark pink. I felt I was missing a good nude lipstick (but not too nude) in my life so I'm happy with this one, and it was super cheap. I believe there is something under $10 in the range.

xx

A Quick Shopping Trip

This is not my best outfit post by any means, but this is what I wore yesterday and I thought I'd share. I was going to wear a skirt but when I stepped outside it was much colder than expected. I think we're in for another cold snap while the temperatures have actually been quite mild lately. I wore this outfit on a quick trip to the mall and bought the cutest (!!!) and most versatile cardigan/coat which I can't wait to do a little post on as I believe I'll basically be living in it when Uni comes round again, etc.

I was having quite a nice hair day as I had curled my hair into tight curls and let them drop and this was the result! I fastened it back with a clip and Voilà! I should probably wear my hair back more often but my hair is kind of a safety net and I always like to have it round my face as it's really cold at the moment, anyway. I'm actually planning on cutting my hair again (I swear it's grown so much already, oh lord) but that'll probably happen when winter is nearing it's end.

Enough hair talk, let's get to the outfit. I'm wearing some Topshop high waisted jeans (Joni, I believe) and they're comfy and cute. They have the very popular knee rips, but I'm actually looking forward to buying some new jeans which are just plain and simple, eventually. The slightly cropped top I'm wearing hasn't had much wear yet as it generally only looks good with skirts and I've not really been in much of a skirt mood as of late. I do really like his blouse type shirt though, it's flattering and I like the little button detail up the back. The black sweater I had to chuck on because it was COLD, is this mens one that had gone missing for a while (that just happens sometime doesn't it? annoying!) but I'm so glad it's back in my life as it's the perfect black jumper.

I'm wearing... Shirt from H&M / Jumper from Jay Jay's / Joni Jeans from Top Shop / Boots from Number One Shoes

I didn't actually get too many good shots while getting photos for this look so apologies for my pretty horrendous posing. I'm excited to share what I bought at the mall probably in some upcoming posts (the cardigan/coat I mentioned and a lipstick! not much).

Have a great day everyone, x

Reading 30 Books in 2015: 6 Month Update

So far this year I have read 24 books out of my goal of 30. I think it's safe to say that I'll accomplish my goal, but if I'm glad about anything this year, it's that I've made the time to read and I've enjoyed it so much. I thought now that we're mid way through the year I'd give a 6 month update about what my favourite books have been. To start with, I track everything I've read on my goodreads account, so send me a friend request if you'd like. I will also give the odd 'review' of some books I feel I have something to say about and you can see what I rate the books out of 5 too.

My Top 5 Favourite Books I've Read This Year: (subject to change) - I also won't spoil anything that happens in these books in case you want to read them and you haven't yet!

5. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes: This book tackles ideas about euthanasia and as I've seen from some reviews on goodreads, I would agree this is not particularly a romance novel as you might like to think it is. It had me thinking about euthanasia dilemmas and such but apart from that, the characters were enjoyable and I liked how they were witty and kind of refreshing in a way from a typical romance novel. This was addicting to read and, yes, if I remember it now, I was reading this while on holiday and all I wanted to do was read this. This is apparently becoming a movie (I was unaware while reading it) so read it now if you're one of those people who like reading books before movie adaptions!

4. Trouble by Non Pratt: This book was just one of those books that was just easy and enjoyable to read, for me. I don't know, I just feel like this book is something I really enjoyed but not for really any main reason. I feel like it was really nicely written and was quite realistic in a sense, looking at British teenage life and flicking between the perspectives of Aaron and Hannah. I feel like I quite enjoy it when books change perspective chapter by chapter, it's just a bit more interesting. I also didn't feel like I preferred reading from one person's perspective compared to the other so it was a good reading experience. There's something I loved about this book so that's why it's in my Top 5.

3. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: This book is only number three for probably one main reason, when I first read this I didn't like the ending (that's not spoiling anything). When reading the book, I completely fell in love with it, so the ending wasn't all that I thought it would be. However, Fangirl is something that I'm so glad I read. If I could forget reading it and read it again for the first time, I think I would. Fangirl was really addicting to read and I think I just became immersed in the lives of the characters (the irony). It was quite a long read too but I felt like I wanted to savour it and I enjoyed it immensely.

2. The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson: This was quite different from anything I'd read before, I'd never read anything on the topic of transgender. I absolutely loved the fact this book was tacking an issue rarely talked about. I felt an emotional connection to the characters and felt like I was understanding something I knew not much about before. Of course, this isn't to say this book represents every transgender person. I'm pretty sure if I can cry reading a book then it's a good book.

1. All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven: I think this remains at the top of my list because I felt like the characters were so unique, special and vivid in my mind. I don't know, there was just something about them, especially Finch who I adored greatly in the book, and who I had such an emotional connection to. He is vivid, exciting, crazy and most importantly not boring. I know some people didn't think this book was AMAZING, but I don't know if it was just timing or something, but something's telling me this has to be placed at number one. I may have had an emotional time.

Honourable mentions:

The Humans: Unlike anything I've read before, this enlightened me and it was a hilarious book!
Three Amazing Things About You: This gave me the warm fuzzies and sometimes I'm a sucker for this type of book.
Finding Audrey: Finishing this quite recently, I'll mention it here because it was funny, sweet and a good all rounder, I think.

Enjoy your day and I'll see you soon for another blog post! x

This Week: Pretty Alleyways, The Dairy & Terrariums

Well my instagram looked pretty this week because I went to Ponsonby! For all of you not from Auckland/New Zealand then all you need to know is that it's a cute little upmarket place just outside of the central city and it has some great places to eat. My friend and I went to Ponsonby Central, one of the cutest places in Auckland imo and we sat down at The Dairy, where they are known for their delicious looking ice cream sandwiches (I'm yet to try) but less known for their food, I guess, because I didn't even know they did food. Their menu is kind of expensive but I was not expecting the big portion I got and was very pleased! My meal is the one closest to the camera, and it was a delicious pulled pork sandwich with stuff like coleslaw, rocket, chipotle mayo, beetroot, etc in it. It didn't leave me feeling horrendously full either so I could still walk rather than waddle afterwards. We both got a delicious lime & raspberry sorbet float which was really tangy and sweet and had nice tasting candyfloss bits on top. You probably know about The Dairy already if you live in Auckland but I would recommend it, it's really good. I'll be trying the cookies next time.

We went into a number of very photogenic shops and we stopped by a rather cute art print and plant place (I forgot the name of it, though). They sold terrariums which I think are some of the most gorgeous things ever and I would definitely have one in my own home in the future. It was so white and pretty, so obviously I had to instagram it. Upstairs they sold some very cute and some quite affordable art prints, and they had a good selection. I was tempted by a print but didn't as my bank account balance wasn't looking too stellar. While in the area we also walked down this pretty alleyway with a cool/creepy mural and it was shame I didn't bring my proper camera as I feel like it would have been a great area to take outfit photos. I'm actually rather craving that drink we had now, mmm!

Hope you have a good week everyone, I'm going into my third week of holidays, and what have I done in the last two weeks, exactly? I honestly DON'T KNOW. Where does the time go?

June

In a way, this month has felt quite long as it seems like ages ago I was studying for exams, which was at the beginning through to the middle of June. Since then, I've had about one or two weeks off and most of that time has been spent at home, catching up on a various array of things... including reading all the books I've wanted to read as well as magazines. At the moment I still have three magazines I've bought but not read yet, as my previous business has made me forget about them for a second. Next month is sure to be filled with more reading and watching as well as going on various lunch dates with friends, I'd imagine. Semester Two begins soon but let's just try and forget about that for now...


^ As I'm sure you're aware I'm still smitten with the Winter Gardens trip I went on with one of my friends, and I was always going to use this post as an excuse to post more photos from that day. Without further ado I'll move along swifty to some of my favourites from the month, beauty wise and more...

As for beauty, this month I have not been big on it at all. I haven't really tried anything new at all, so I've been sticking to the same routines and using the same stuff mentioned in the last few month's posts. I hadn't written up a beauty post in about a month until a couple of days ago, so that should tell you something. I do have a couple of things to mention though, and they come in the form of a cleanser and a face mask. Admittedly, I've already mentioned the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Instant Oatmeal Mask but I have been loving it again this month. It brings moisture back into my face as well as tightening up areas where it's looking a little oily and just bleugh...

The other item is a cleanser like I said, and it's the Simple Foaming Cleanser which comes in a nice bottle with a good pump. I use one pump usually morning and night and sometimes mix it with another more moisturising cleanser. I'm not claiming this to be the best ever cleanser out there but it does leave my skin with a really clean feeling and I'd imagine this would be really good for overly oily skin types. The reason for adding a more moisturising cleanser in the mix would be because at times it does leave my skin feeling a bit tight. I think generally if you're on a budget, Simple skincare is quite good and won't irritate your skin.

Other favourites have included this pretty layered Forever 21 necklace and my beloved Frankie Magazine, which still remains my favourite magazine. I have a couple of issues of Yen I haven't read yet, so I'll have to get onto those soon. The issue you see above is the latest, but I still have a little bit of the previous issue left to read as I've been loving reading books lately. Speaking of...

I managed to squeeze in four books this month, mainly after exams. I feel like I powered through reading these books this month so I'll give you some mini reviews if you're interested. How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran was something I mentioned in my latest This Week post and since then I've watched a couple of long interviews with her on YouTube. I've fallen more in love... She inspires me a lot and her humour and ideas cheer me up a lot. You have to read this book if you're interested in reading about feminism. Confess by Colleen Hoover was something I read a few weeks back at the start of the month. I won't explain too much about it because you can have a look on Good Reads, but the main gist of it is that it's a romantic story about a girl who finds a job at a man's Art Gallery. I felt like while there was an interesting underlying element to the story, the book was just okay, it didn't excite me too much.

Moving swiftly over to two more books. The first is Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Marsell, and I did have an enjoyable reading experience with this one. With this book, everything fit together so perfectly and it made me smile and feel all gooey inside. Jill Marsell is a genius for making this story work how it did. This doesn't centre around teenage characters, rather adult characters, and that's something I'm rarely a fan of because I don't relate as much. I just really enjoyed this book, and out of everything I've read this month I'd say I enjoyed this the most. Me and Earl and The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews was an interesting book, and I can really see the potential for this to be made into a movie (which it is going to be soon) but I felt like this didn't have too much of a storyline or anything too gripping. It's meant to be funny because the main character is meant to be horrendously unfunny, if that makes any sense. I did laugh a few times, but when I finished the book, I just felt 'meh' about it; it wasn't bad and it wasn't amazing. I read this book really fast as it's actually quite short and the way it was written didn't make it to heavy to read or anything.

Other entertainment favourites include two movies which I rewatched during the month. One is How I Live Now, which is about a girl who comes from America to live with her cousins in England and a war is basically happening during that time. It's extremely gripping and in my opinion a good movie. Like Crazy is another I rewatched and I remember basically hating this when I first watched it, but I've learned to like it. I'm in love with the main character, who is played by Felicity Jones (#girlcrush). While I feel like this movie could be better, I'll take it how it is and appreciate some of the good moments in this film. I also got into a little mini series Documentary called The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst . It was recommend by Carrie from WishWishWish and the way she described it, it sounded like it would be right up my street as I love all things mystery/crime related. I've watched a few episodes so far and it's really well made and intriguing. I also tried to get into a podcast called Undisclosed which is basically reviewing things in the famous Serial podcast about Adnan Syed. I just couldn't get into it... I was kind of confused about things and felt in the end if I wasn't enjoying it, I just wouldn't go on. I can't wait for the new Serial seasons which are coming up. (I still have no idea who did it, the end of Serial season one just left me confused, haha?)

Right at the start of the month I was in love with a new artist I'd discovered called SOAK. She has such an amazing voice, I'd urge you to have a listen. My favourite song is Sea Creatures. I'll also quickly mention All We Are who are such a cool, funky, indie band with really chill/relaxing music to tap your foot along to. I don't know, if you're into that kind of thing, I'd recommend this band.

I've been listening to Muse non stop, mostly their old stuff but their new album was released this month so that's been on this playlist. After listening to the full album quite a few times, I do really like it. I've also listened to Florence and The Machine's album a little, but not too much, however I'm really in love with the song Ship To Wreck. The Moon Song has been my favourite little song to sing along to, it's so beautiful and reminds me of the movie Her which it's featured in.

Lorde has reappeared in my music this month as I used to be obsessed with her album Pure Heroine when it first came out. I love all the songs and sing along to all of them, I pretty much know every single word. There's something so unique and cool about her and I love the lyrics. Fantastic Fantastic is also worth a mention as I discovered them while looking for YouTube music believe it or not. They have a sound which is so, so cool - if you like chill, funky, disco, indie things then this is for you!



-A post The Private Life of A Girl wrote on Crime Podcasts!
-A chat with Caitlin Moran video, as well as this video and this
-Deciding whether it's justifable to pay $100 for a rose gold polka dot Gorman raincoat
-Listening to this over and over
-This Sherlock necklace, I need it!

I hope you enjoyed everything in this post + I shall see you in a few for another one x

Favourite Berry Lip Colours

It's been a while since beauty has made an appearance on this blog, so I thought I'd tell you a bit about my favourite berry lip colours because it's winter time here in New Zealand and I'm really feeling the dark lip look.

Rimmel Lasting Finish By Kate Lipstick in 30: A pinkish dark purple (looks lighter in the photo because of the glaring light). This is something I picked up when I was in Hawaii because I thought it looked like a nice winter shade. This is actually quite similar to the Maybelline Colour Drama in Very Berry (which will be mentioned in this post) in the tube, but on the lips it's more pinkish and brighter and doesn't have a matte formula.

Rimmel Lasting Finish 1000 Kisses Lip Liner in 063 Black Tulip: A dark brownish purple which actually goes pretty well with the Rimmel 107 Lipstick blended in to give a more long lasting look. The 107 looks much redder in the photo but they're quite a good match. This lip liner isn't too drying, I personally don't use it all over, only on the edges of my lips and blended with the 107 Lipstick.

Maybelline Colour Drama in Very Berry: A dark purple. I love this so much, the colour and the formula. Unfortunately there's not really any other colour in the range that I'd really want at the moment, maybe apart from the Minimalist one but I don't know how pale that is, I'd have to go out and swatch it. There's hype over these for a reason, they're really good and fairly matte.

Rimmel Lasting Finish By Kate Lipstick in 107: A berry/dark red which can look slightly purple in different lights. Ah, the famous 107, which is a cult product and it's for good reason. This one is matte unlike the Rimmel Lipstick in 30 which I've mentioned. I love the look of matte lips and this one isn't too irritating or drying. Rimmel lipsticks in my opinion are really good overall.

What are your favourite berry/winter lip colours?