I haven't done a monthly favourites in so long! I was very much stuck in a rut of using the same products over and over again. Lately I've been using some more new things and so I thought I'd show you what I've been loving this month. Most of these products have featured in lots of other posts already but hopefully you won't mind too much.

The first favourite is MAC's Girl About Town lipstick. I've been wearing this almost every time I wear makeup this month, which is a huge deal for me because it's quite a bright lip and to me is a physical representation of how much more confident in myself I'm becoming. It's a lovely colour and goes well with the summery weather and bronzed up skin. 

This nails inc varnish in Marble Arch I'm sure you've seen before because it was in my latest NOTD, and as well as then I wore it literally every day this month whenever it got chipped I found myself taking my nail varnish off but putting it straight back on again. It's such a beautiful colour!

After giving myself a kick up the bum in my shop my stash post I've been making myself reach for this Accesorize Blusher in Bombshell much more often, and I'm so glad I did because it's actually really nice. I put a light dusting along the cheekbones and because of the bronziness to it it doubles up as both blusher and bronzer saving me a step.

When I first started using The Body Shop's Vitamin E serum I was really disappointed in it thinking it never sank in and just sat on top of the face making it far too oily, but then I realised I was using two pumps, since then I cut down to one and now just half a pump and find that it works perfectly. It sinks in so well and leaves my skin feeling so soft and looked after. I'd definitely recommend using this before bed.

Is it weird to put a deodorant in your favourites? I'm not sure but this Right Guard Women Xtreme Dry has been a firm favourite this month! I'm not going to skirt around the subject I'm just going to come out with it, other than when working out I don't think I've sweat a drop since using this deodorant! It's so impressive if you see it next time you're shopping please pick it up you won't regret it!

A random favourite now, is Cinderella! If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know just how deep my feelings for Disney are any classic film or song you can bet I know all the words, I've found myself watching Cinderella more and more lately though, in fact just writing about it is making me want to watch it as soon as I finish this post. 

So with that in mind I'll draw it to a close and say goodbye! I hope you enjoyed my monthly favourites. What have yours been? I'll see you next time.

xxx

Quick & Easy Back to School Makeup Look:

Many of you will soon be heading off to school again so you'll probably be having to think about some more natural everyday looks that won't feel too heavy on all day. You'll probably want something quite bright and wakening since back to school usually means early mornings. With this in mind I put together this supernatural barely there make up look.

I popped some concealer under my eyes to cover up dark circles and on the little scar I have on my nose but that was it in terms of coverage. When I was at school I didn't like wearing foundation because it felt like it was heavy on my face and wearing it everyday for school would probably cause spots. To combat shine throughout the day though you may want to pack a little powder in your school bag. 

To awaken your face more you're going to want to put on a light peachy toned blush, start on the apples of your cheeks and spread it backwards towards your temples. Over the top off this add some highlight on the tops of your cheekbones and in the inner corners of your eyes. This will wake up your look instantly. That's all I did for the eye area apart from curling the lashes and applying mascara which will open up your eye hugely. I haven't applied anything to the lids or eyebrows. I find that when you're younger you usually don't have to fill in your brows as much and quite heavily filled in brows can make the face look quite harsh and aged. For the lips all you're going to need is some lip balm in the morning so it will sink in during the day.

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you're starting school soon then the best of luck to you!

xxx

Thoughts on & Tips for A-Levels:

I'll start with tips, and my first and most important one would be don't underestimate just how big a work load it's going to be! All my teachers and all the older students tried to warn me about just how huge the leap between GCSE's to A-Levels and I just didn't believe them I was sure that they'd phase us in slowly and we'd be used to the change but oh how wrong I was! There is no time for phasing in! Trust me when I say (depending on the style of subjects you take of course) that if you want to do well then you'll have to work hard and continue working hard from day one.

A tip to help with that would be stay organised! You can feel easily overwhelmed with the amount of work laid on you but try not to just look at that pile of reading and coursework etc. to do and think you'll leave it to tomorrow because by tomorrow you'll have even more to do. A tip that may seem to contradict this one however, is try to stay calm and relax as much as you can. Yes, do your homework and make sure your notes are in order and you're not missing anything important, but when you've done that take some time out. Catch up on Youtube, read some blogs whatever you fancy just do it. My friends and I cared a lot about our grades and I think put too much pressure on ourselves to the point were we were taking sick days because the thought of going back in made us want to cry.

I don't want to scare you if you're already worried but I feel I have to be honest and this is what my experience was like. I would also say make sure you take the first year as seriously as you can. Don't just tell yourself you'll catch up your grades next year because the better you do in the first year the better you'll do in the second year which is what will get you into University or not. Speaking of University, make sure you book plenty of open days, do your research into what you want to do and sort your UCAS out as soon as you possibly can, believe me I remember everyone telling me to do it and I just couldn't be bothered, but once you get started you can do it fairly quickly and it's a huge weight off your shoulders as well as the fact now you've applied to Universities you know what grades you've got to work towards. 

One thing I will say though is that don't let it get you down too much. Constantly remind yourself that it's  not life or death. If you don't understand something then it's your teachers job to help you. When it comes to results day if you don't get what you thought you would then I wouldn't let that upset you too much. That's what insurance offers are for! Or even clearing if you need it. There's no shame in it and I know of people who went through clearing and now couldn't imagine themselves anywhere else. 

In terms of my personal experience with A-Levels, I'd say in all honesty that it did nothing but bring me down and make me doubt my ability and intelligence. At the end of the day my grades were my own (I got a B in Psychology and 2 C's in Theology and English) and it was my responsibility to work towards what I wanted, but if I was to blame something in particular for my grades not being where I wanted them to be (2 A's and a B) then I have to say the teaching staff at my school was pretty shocking. In my first year I went through 3 English teachers, because 2 of them left to have children (of course not their fault), I then went through 3 Theology teachers because one of them had a serious illness and the other refused to teach us the new curriculum! Literally refused, he was determined on teaching us a course from the 90's. As for the third teacher he was new to the subject so he really shouldn't have been teaching A-Level, he didn't seem to know what was going on himself. As for the second year they bought back the teacher that was teaching the wrong curriculum and our other teacher was far more interested in telling us about his holidays and getting distracted (that was if he ever bothered showing up at all to teach us!). We had two new English teachers, the first was another fresh out of University who would there with her mouth hanging open, when she did talk to us it was (I kid you not) her going on about her ex-boyfriend. Whenever we tried to ask her a question we'd be met with a long gormless pause and then an "Ummm...I'll Google it". There was many a time we'd all walk in sit down and she wouldn't even have planned a lesson. She'd ask us what we thought she should do and sit there texting. Our other English teacher I have to say was a complete and utter ANGEL! She saved us all and taught us not only her side of the course but everything else we were missing out on in the other lessons. She was the kindest of women and became all of our shoulder's to cry on whether about our home lives or A-Levels. 

Personally, I think A-Levels are just a letter at the end of the day. They don't represent intelligence just ability to remember folders of information. They're also dependant on how you're feeling on that one day of your exam, what questions come up, how harshly they are being marked and so much more. I may have passed mine but even if I didn't I don't think that they would affect who I am as a person. I also think it's far too much pressure to be putting on a person who isn't even legally an adult yet to chose their future when all they should be worried about is having fun and being young. By putting kids through this they either have to sacrifice their youth or be called stupid and have to sacrifice their grades. I believe that our grades should be about how much effort we put in throughout the year, how well we have developed, how well we know the entire course not just the random questions put into the paper. 

If you're going through A-Levels then do take them seriously but please remember they aren't the end of the world! 

xxx

"How Many Stupid Times a Day I use the Word I"

Yes I am using a Princess Diaries quote as the title of my post, because I love it it's one of my favourite lines from the movies. (Perhaps besides the famous "make all the boy moose go muuuahhh!" from the second film!) I think the reason it sticks with me so much is because personally I really relate to it. I'm the first to admit after taking a look at myself that I can be a very selfish person. I mean, who isn't when it comes right down to it. This sounds very harsh I know but have a proper think how many times have you had a conversation with someone and found yourself replying with something like "oh yes that happened to me" or "I know how you feel, I remember once..." e.t.c. and then going on to talk about yourself? We don't even know we're doing it!

Even when blogging it's hard not to just talk about yourself. This is my favourite product, I wanted to do a post like this, it suits my skin tone well and so on. I hope I remember this post in future so up coming reviews can be more about what other kinds of skin people would suit basically about talking about someone other than me. Of course I can't realistically say that I'm never going to mention myself or my views in my posts because at the end of the day this is my blog and reviews will be from my point of view. 

When someone asks you a favour, do you find yourself agreeing more if it suits you and your plans? Maybe you don't and I really am just a selfish person, but I have a feeling it's a part of human nature to be a little selfish. Now there's nothing wrong with being selfish sometimes you really need it. For example cutting someone damaging out of your life because they were just bringing you down, but we all need to do good for others too. That's definitely something I want to work on.

*image from weheartit*

I don't really know what I'm trying to get to happen with this post, but I just found it an interesting topic, if you do too then please do start a discussion in the comments. I think the main thing to come from this blog, for me at least, is that I'll try to listen to others and instead of turning a conversation on to me perhaps ask how they feel about a situation or what their opinions of something are. Or even if you're just quite a closed off person giving someone a big hug when they need it. I hope this post didn't come across preachy because I really don't want it too, as I've said I too am a selfish person and this is something I've found about myself that I don't like and wanted to talk about it. No one is perfect.

xxx

Review: Nspa Coconut Body Set:

I bought this set a long time ago but it's taken me a while to get through it because of all the products I had. The set includes a rich body butter, a shower and bath gel and a daily refresh shower scrub.

I worked through the scrub the fastest, although I have a sneaking suspicion that my family have helped me getting through. It had plenty of particles in it but they didn't seem very scrubby. They're very good for refreshing your skin and getting the blood flowing but less good if you want to actually scrub off dead skin cells. 

The shower gel was very nice and very strong smelling, I used it not only as a shower gel but also as a bubble bath. It made lots and lots of sweet smelling long lasting bubbles and made my skin feel really clean and soft.

As for the body butter it had a good balance between thick and moisturising but light and able to sink into the skin straight away so you're not left feeling sticky and left unable to put your clothes on for a while. This too left my skin feeling very soft and well looked after.

All three products claim to be full of natural vitamins good for the skin and they really must be because I have to say whilst using the set my skin felt so soft that I can't remember it ever feeling so good, the scent also lingered well in between washes. The coconut scent is lovely for summer but there are plenty of other scents available and I'll definitely be tempted to try them out now I've finished these.

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you've got any other skin care suggestions then please do let me know.

xxx