What I’ve Been Loving in August

Hi! Me again 🙂

I used to write monthly favourites, but who can honestly say they’ve loved something brand-new, every single month? Well, maybe you can, but I can’t. So I tend to write these ‘favourites’ posts as and when I have enough things to share with you. And August happens to be one of those months.

I’ll start with something I’ve been using since around March time. People moan a lot about the amount of ads bloggers and instagrammers post, but to be fair to them, if you saw something you wanted, you wouldn’t moan. They can’t offer something YOU specifically want every time, so just let the ones you’re not interested in go. And if you don’t trust their opinion, stop following them! (Rant over) If it hadn’t been for Maria J posting on instagram about the Lee Stafford Rainbow Shine Bubble Waver, I would never have found my perfect hair styling tool.

I have long, poker-straight, hair that I try to twist and bend into some kind of waves, but it’s stubborn and the curls would drop out unless I sprayed concrete fixing spray on it or spend hours curling and setting it. Enter this amazing bubble wand.

Not only does it look like it came from a Unicorn salon, but this waver is so easy to use and produces amazing beachy waves, every time I use it.

I have fine hair and find it only takes a maximum of 5 minutes to wave my whole head. It’s amazing, and I use it every time I wash my hair. It comes with a heat protection glove, which is great for accident-prone me. I bought an inexpensive travel pouch for it, on Amazon, which also doubles as a heat protecting mat, since the little stand on the wand does get pretty warm. I love this hair-styler so much, and I can’t believe I went without it for so long! Oh and it’s only around £40. Win!

To protect my hair, I also use the Lee Stafford Coco Loco Heat Protection Mist.

You’ll know, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, that I’m a sucker for anything coconut scented. To find this heat protectant in this gorgeous coconut scent was such a bonus. It can usually be found for around £4-£6 depending on what deal it’s on, but I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than £4 on it. I spray this over my towel dried hair before I blow dry it. Then you’re supposed to spray it onto each section ahead of curling, but I find this too heavy for my hair. The light amount of spray I’ve been putting on my head ahead of drying it seems to be doing enough, and my hair isn’t suffering at all from the heat of the curling wand. I also find I can still smell this spray in my hair, right up until I wash it again a couple of days later. It’s subtle, not overpowering, and really pleasantly natural. I have found I get comments from people saying my hair smells nice, when I hug them (I sometimes hug people….)

Next is something I was given for my birthday, but I’d asked for it in the hope it would be good. I’ve heard a lot about Lancome’s Monsieur Big mascara, and though I don’t own it, it’s on my list of things to pick up in Sephora on my next trip to the States, because it’s slightly cheaper there. But they recently launched a waterproof version, and I thought it would be great for the Florida heat. I don’t generally get on with waterproof mascaras. They’re notoriously hard to remove and traditionally do ZERO for my lashes, leaving me with a massive removal issue and no pay-off.

This launched exclusively in Boots, though it might be available elsewhere now. They do a ‘midi’ size which I figured would be perfect for travel and since I don’t plan on using it every day, would mean less waste when it eventually dries out.

So, as I say, I was given this as a birthday present, and to date I’ve used it twice. And I am SO impressed.

Not only does this give me a lovely full, lengthened and fluttery lash-look, which is hard with my straight lashes, but it kept its curl all day. It doesn’t flake or run. I kept it on when I washed my hair and it didn’t run at all with much water and rubbing over my eyes. AND it was easy to remove using a Simple makeup wipe. It came off with very little issue, no rubbing and my lashes felt conditioned afterwards.

I’m so impressed, I can only hope that the non-waterproof version performs as well.

The last beauty item I’m talking about this month, is one I’ve used a couple of times, but again love it so much it’s worth mentioning.

I’ve spoken about the Glossier Generation G lipsticks before. They offer a matte, subtle and very comfortable wash of colour to the lips for a ‘blotted’ look. They can be built up nicely for more pigment, and wear off comfortably and evenly. I needed to pick up some more lip balm and eyebrow gel so I decided I’d get a new shade of Gen G whilst I was at it. I picked up this one in Cake.

The Glossier website is great in the way it shows how each shade of product will look on different, so I knew this shade would be subtle on me. But I hoped that it would be close to my natural lip shade and offer me a little ‘something’ when I’m looking a little dead in the mornings. And it does just that!

I’d call this a brown shade, with a little rose colour in there. I’ve used it twice, and though it’s very subtle, it really really add that pop to the lips that I sometimes need. It’s comfortable and can be built up too. I can also offer you 10% off your first Glossier order, if you wanted to buy one of these, by following this link http://bff.glossier.com/hCHG5 (I’m not being sponsored for any of this, but I do get some credit in my account if you use the link, which will help keep me in lip balms for a few more months!)

The final thing I’ve been loving this month is the new Ariana Grande album Sweetener.

I mentioned it in a past blog already, but I’m seriously in love with this album. I wasn’t too sure the first time I heard some of the songs, but now I can’t help but listen to it every single day. My favourites keep changing but I LOVE Goodnight n Go, God is a Woman and Breathin. If you like her past stuff, this has more of the vibe her Christmas & Chill EP had (apart from this isn’t about Christmas) and probably should win an award for some of the most annoying background noise samples in an album, but I still love it! I’m hoping I’ll get to see her when she tours this album!

And that’s what I’ve been loving this month. Have you tried any of these things, or heard Ariana’s new album? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

This Week I Have Been Mostly….

This week I have been mostly wanting to crawl into a hole, if I’m honest. I haven’t had the best of weeks mental health-wise, and it’s been hard enough getting out of bed, let alone actually wanting to do stuff or eat any food.

I go through periods like this, but I’ve been feeling fairly ‘off’ for around a month now. It’s been various different things that’s caused it, and I’m sure anyone I spend time around, friends, family, colleagues would say they hadn’t noticed any difference. I’m fairly good at hiding it. It’s my full-time profession, you know.

Other than feeling like a head-case, I had my birthday last week. I turned 35 – and before you assume, no that’s not why I’ve been feeling low. I enjoy getting older. I think I might struggle with 40, but that’s a way off for now.

I took the day off work, as I usually do for my birthday, and spent the day in my PJs, watching YouTube and then saw My Neighbour Totoro for the fist time. I really enjoyed it! Film 4 are currently having a month of Studio Ghibli films, and so I’m recording them all so I can watch the ones I’m interested in! We ate Chinese on my birthday evening, and enjoyed a relaxing evening in. It was exactly what I wanted, and needed.

The following day I was totally spoiled by my work colleagues, and they got me some amazing gifts. I’m a lucky girlie!

A couple of days after my birthday, I got a belated birthday treat – Ariana Grande released her 4th album.

I’ve been listening to it non-stop since, and I will say on first listen I wasn’t into all of the songs, but now I love them all. My favourite is Goodnight and Go, which takes some of Imogen Heap’s song of the same name, and makes it very Ariana. It’s stunning and makes me tear up every time I hear it! There are a lot of tracks about her past and current relationships, anxiety in general and some which speak to the tragic events at her concert in Manchester last year. She even made the final track ‘Get Well Soon’ to be 5:22 (the date of the attack) by adding 40 seconds of silence at the end. I always loved Ariana Grande but this album has cemented it even more. It feels more grown up, still fun, but a little more ‘sorted’.

This past weekend we watched A Quiet Place and really enjoyed it. Since I love film so much, a guy at work told me about an awesome app called Letterboxd (which is also a website) where you can rate and review every film you can imagine.

 

You can add them to your activity feed, which diarises when you’ve seen them, and you can add movies you want to see in the future to your watchlist. I find this function to be really useful because I’m always seeing trailers for films, or hearing about them, and then forgetting I wanted to see them! You can also follow people on the app, and this means you’ll see films other people watch, who might have similar tastes to you. It’s a great way to discover new movies! It’s also user-friendly and looks great so that makes it the kind of app you want to use. No, this isn’t a sponsored section – I just really it! If you have this app, or decide to download it, feel free to find and add me. I’m Groggits (of course!)

We’ve been continuing to plan our Florida trip, and 17th August saw Disney World’s first Halloween party of the year. Yes, in August! It’s barmy that they’re making them earlier and earlier every year, but the first party was sold out, so I guess there’s demand for it! But the coverage of the party looked great, and seeing all the Autumn decor up on Main Street USA has made me so excited to go back! We’ve even found more places we want to eat at, and I can see me being the size of a house when I return…. eek!

So that’s my little life-update for now. I’m very much ready for a proper holiday, and we’ve got a few exciting things to look forward to ahead of the holiday, so I’m hoping my mood will improve between now and then. Either way, I need to remind myself not to be too hard on myself.

Here’s to beating those obstacles.

Smelly Witchcraft – The Magic of Scent Memory

We’ve all done it. We’ve opened up a bottle of sunscreen, got a whiff and been transported to a warm holiday destination. We can feel the sun on our skin, the breeze in our hair and almost feel the sand between our toes. It’s an incredible feeling to get from just a small sniff of a fragrance.

I have a very strong sense of smell and taste. It’s a hindrance at times, but wonderful at others. I never really was a fan of perfumes until a few years ago. I always wanted to wear them, but since my sense of smell is so strong I found most of them overpowering. Some even made me sweat because the scent was so acidic.

But yet, I still loved the idea of having a signature fragrance. Something people would smell and know it was me. Friends did this, and I would go out and buy the same perfume and it would never smell the same on me. And it’s scientifically proven that fragrances will meld with a person’s body chemistry and create a new version of that aroma. But I could never find the one that worked best on me.

That was until I turned 19. One of my friends bought me Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue for my birthday. I have no idea how she managed to find a fragrance that was so me. Light, citrusy but not heavy, overpowering or too sweet. I love it. And at that time I had just started seeing my boyfriend (now husband). I didn’t wear the perfume too much, but every time I wore Light Blue, later on in my life, it instantly transported me to the time in which I was falling in love. Excitement, fun and endless possibility in a bottle. I wore this perfume on my wedding day and even now it reminds both me and my husband of the early days of our relationship. It’ll always be my favourite perfume.

New fragrances are being released all the time. I’ll go through some of my favourites in a little bit, but since there are so many, cosmetics brands are starting to try to stand out from the crowd, using chemical innovation rather than just creating a new smell. Glossier, for example, released their perfume ‘You’ which is supposed to have ‘humany’ notes and smell familiar from the offset. I personally didn’t really like the scent. I’m not even sure I like the idea of a perfume that’s ‘human’ scented…. Byredo is also about to release a perfume called Elevator Music, in collaboration with Off-White, they claim is almost so subtle it disappears even before it reaches contact with the wearer. Ben Gorham of Byredo says “the idea is that its wearer is noticed, and not the perfume”.

I’m not sure about that but I must say I do prefer a subtle scent over a garish cloud of chemical mist. I followed someone through the supermarket the other day who almost brought me out in allergies because her perfume was so strong.

Scent memory is so important to me, that I decided a few years ago I would buy a perfume for each holiday I went on, wear the scent during the trip and then I would forever be transported back to that place each time I wore it. My idea didn’t exactly go to plan since perfume bottles aren’t very travel friendly and I just didn’t wear perfumes when I was away (plus who has that kind of money?!). Instead I moved onto body sprays and scented skin care, and that seemed to work well.

I started off with coconut and pina colada scents since they’re so tropical and remind me of holidays anyway.

Enter Coconut Passion from Victoria’s Secret. I wore this every day for about a year and a half. It’s so fresh, coconutty and reminds me of summer. But it also reminds me of Christmas in New York since this is where I discovered it. I love this stuff and could swim in it.

This Body Shop fragrance, I believe, has gone the way of the do-do. Their Polynesian Island Tiaré came in a perfume and body spray option. I went for the body spray and it’s delightfully light but strong enough that you notice it. It smells like tropical islands but with enough floral notes to stop it being too sickly. It’s wonderful.

I picked up this little glass travel spray of Bath and Body Works’ At The Beach perfume, last year in Florida. It does exactly what it says on the bottle, and transports you to a fresh, salty and tropical beach. I also bought the hand cream and body wash of this and used it whilst I was away. To me, it screams Florida.

As does Tahiti Island Dream in hand cream form, which I bought the year before in Florida, and I used the shower gel during my trip too. This reminds me of carefree, sunny, hot days in the Disney parks. It’s honestly the most amazing scent, and I’m trying not to finish this since I couldn’t find it on my last trip. I need this scent in my life always!

Another Bath and Body Works fragrance was this Snowflakes and Cashmere body spray. I didn’t use this until I returned from my trip to the States, and used it all throughout the Christmas season. I then moved onto a different scent (which I’ll come to next) but recently when I went back to use this in the last few weeks I was pleasantly surprised to discover it smells like Christmas to me now! I was instantly transported to Christmas-time and I loved it!

And last but not least, is this Ariana Grande perfume called Sweet Like Candy. I love sweet fragrances, but not too sweet. And this is perfect. I was given this as a Christmas gift and I wore it pretty much every day until recently (I’ve been giving some of my spring/summer scents a go!) and I adore it. She’s just come out with a new one, Moonlight, too which smells amazing too! Sweet Like Candy isn’t too strong and it lasts beautifully on my skin, all throughout the day. It also mixes really nicely with other scents too.

So as the years went by, and I struggled to find my signature scent, I seem to have realised that I don’t actually want that. I want different scents that remind me of experiences and times in my life, rather than a scent that will remind other people of me. What’s more important to me is that incredible element of instant time travel you can get from smelling something that reminds you of a time past. I’ll always be afraid of over-using a scent and losing that. And I feel I have somewhat lost the power of the memory I received from smelling Light Blue. But at the same time, those memories will change, so if I don’t wear it from fear of losing the original scent memories, I won’t be able to create new ones.

I think I’ll always be amazed at how intricate our senses are. I’ll never understand the chemistry that occurs that allows us to experience scent memory, but I’m not going to knock it. I’m just going to keep sniffing those incredible scents and going on my own little time travel experience for as long as I possibly can.

London, Manchester and Carrying On

Just under two weeks ago I had a couple of days off work booked, because I was supposed to be seeing Ariana Grande at the O2. As you might know I’m a huge Ariana Grande fan and it was going to be the highlight of my summer.

I don’t need to tell you why the concert was cancelled, and I don’t want to go deep into my feelings about it here. We had a hotel booked (the Intercontinental O2, which is right next to the O2) and we’d paid already so we decided to go and have a couple of days in London in the sunshine despite the attack.

I’m really pleased we did. London in the sunshine is beautiful. Our room overlooked the O2 and we could see the people walking over the top of it – we were that close!

We had a lovely time wandering around. We never really have the chance to just mill about, since we’re usually in London for a particular reason. Stands selling fresh fruit, juices and waffles pop up this time of year, and they look and smell so inviting.

We ate dinner at The Diner, and I had this yummy corned beef hash.

The next morning we grabbed breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien and sat outside on Covent Garden markets – it was already too hot to sit in the sunshine, but we had a lovely warm breeze from our table.

I won’t lie, the police presence was both reassuring and scary. I have an issue with guns, they make me nervous just by seeing them. I know they’re in capable hands in this circumstance but they can still be used in error. Besides that it was a lovely couple of days and a nice way to spend it in lieu of the events.

As I type this, the afternoon after the London Bridge attack, my heart is heavy once more. The Ariana Grande concert for Manchester is this evening, and I don’t suppose my eyes will stay dry. The whole situation is frightening and frustrating. No one knows how to behave in these kinds of situations and people are sensitive for varying reasons. Arguments are being caused because of people’s differing opinons in situations like this and no one knows what to do. No one feels in control. All we can do is do the right thing and continue to live our lives.

I’m glad we decided to keep our reservation in London and continue our day. London is beautiful in the sunshine, everyone was happy and it was lovely to see so many people enjoying themselves.

2016 Favourites: What’s Made the Cut?

My one and only 2016 resolution was to learn how to use makeup. And I can honestly say it’s the only resolution I’ve ever kept! I’ve really enjoyed learning about and using makeup and have found an awesome community of people through it.

I subscribed to GlossyBox for one year, and though I’ve now not renewed my sub with them for next year, I can honestly say it did give me the chance to try some things I wouldn’t have otherwise tried.

So, I’ve compiled a list of all the things I’ve talked about over the year, that have earned a place in my favourites for the whole year. They’ve stood the test of time and I think these are worth the hype.

I’ll start with non-beauty favourites and then get into the makeup!

Music:

Ariana Grande’s album Dangerous Woman has been my album of the year. Since it came out, it’s pretty much been the only album I listen to. Fact.

TV:

I’ve watched so much amazing tv over the year. Here are the ones I LOVED:

• Love
• Gilmore Girls
• House of Cards
• Pretty Little Liars
• The Night Of
• The Man in The High Castle
• Making a Murderer
• The Jinx
• Billions
• Stranger Things
• The Affair

That’s not to mention things I’ve continued to watch, but these are the ones I discovered this year.

I also got heavily into YouTube this year, partly through watching makeup YouTubers (that’s a real word now btw) and partly through watching Disney Vloggers.

So now onto the beauty side of things!

I started the year with the Laura Mercier Almond Coconut Milk and Honey bath, which was given to me as a Valentine’s gift. I’m still working through this jar, though I can see myself needing a repurchase towards the start of next year. It’s an amazing bubble bath, which smells so relaxing and gives the best bubbles. It’s a real treat every time I use it!

Gwen Stefani had an amazing year collaborating with Urban Decay. I picked up the shadow palette and a couple of her lipsticks, but the one that really stuck with me all year was this blush palette. I’ve used it so much and can find use from every single shade. The powders are pigmented, buildable and blend-able and last all day. Plus the packaging is awesome!

TheBalm Balm Shelter is a tinted moisturiser I use practically every day that I wear makeup. It’s pigmented, light, comfortable and gives natural coverage. Enough said. Oh and I bought it a year ago and it’s still going…..

2016 was the year NYX came to the UK and I’m so glad it did because I’ve found a few staples for my makeup collection. The Tres Jolie gel eyeliner pencils, for tight lining, their Dark Circle under-eye concealer and their Pro Mix foundation lightener. Amazing.

PIXI Glow Tonic (I no longer need to exfoliate, like, ever!) and the PUR Hydra Gel under eye primer – just buy them. Seriously, you’ll thank me.

Makeup Revolution’s Radiance Palette transformed my summer look. I adore this palette and for basically no cost. The powders are pigmented and buildable and give the perfect amount of bronzing, shimmer and highlight.

Better Than Sex by Too Faced and Cover Girl’s Clump Crusher mascaras have changed my eyelashes from straight thin wisps to fabulous girly lashes.

My go to and absolute favourite lipstick this year has been the Charlotte Tilbury K.I.S.S.I.N.G lipstick in Stoned Rose. It’s a fantastic pinky, nude, brown. It’s long lasting, comfortable and smells amazing too!

And lastly, I managed to pick up a full size of the Victoria’s Secret body mist in Coconut Passion, which I drench myself in daily.

So, those are the things I’ve loved over 2016. Have you used any of these this year? I’d love to hear what you’ve been loving – comment with a link to your 2016 favourites! I’d love to have a read.

Keep an eye out for my 2016 overview!

May Favourites

And all of a sudden it’s June! The weather of late has been acting more like November, but thankfully I’ve been flooding myself with happy things to remind myself that it’s really the end of Spring and Summer is surely on its way.

So let’s take a look at what I’ve been loving this month!

I’ve mentioned a few of these products in my last couple of blogs, but they’re worth mentioning again!

The By Nature Coconut Sea Salt Spray is light, natural and smells amazing. It hasn’t got the same hold as my Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray but it’s a nice lighter alternative and I like the effect it gives.

The Barry M Lip Oils are fabulous. So much so that I’m almost at the end of the Coco Loco one I have. But at £4.99 each they’re the kind of product I don’t mind using all up and re-buying. And I will!

The Bee Good Plump and Firm Moisturiser was part of May’s Glossybox. I hadn’t tried it until I read a tweet from someone I follow who was raving about it. It’s an expensive product (full size is about £24) so I’m trying to keep this sample size as long as I can. The first time I used it my skin practically drank it up. It’s light but not too light, soaks in really fast and leaves my skin feeling lovely!

Milani isn’t a brand that’s generally available in the UK and I plan to stock up on their products when I’m in the US towards the end of the year. But I’d been stalking their cult blush shade Luminoso on Amazon for a while and when I saw it at £4.49 with free P&P I knew I had to snap it up. When it arrived I was impressed with the packaging. A nice chunky compact with lovely gold surround, opens up to the baked blush with all its swirly pigment. And underneath the product is another compartment for a little brush. I won’t be using this brush but it’s great to have the option when you’re on the go. The colour on my skin is lovely. A nice summery coral blush, it’s VERY pigment so a little goes a really long way with the option to build up if you want to.

The NYX Dark Circle concealer is a product I’ve been trying for a few months now, and I’ve really grown to love it. Not enough on its own, I pat it onto my under eyes in a thin layer and it does an amazing job before I top it with concealer (at the moment I’m using Benefit’s Boing) I like how light it is, so it does its best to prevent creasing, unless you use too much. It’s a great peachy colour which works against my dark circles and has some great reflective qualities.

I mentioned this lip balm in a lip product blog I wrote not so long ago, but I’m loving it so much that I’m going to mention it again. This Dr Bronners lemon lime lip balm is choc-full of lovely oils and scent. It’s gorgeous on my lips, so hydrating and really good underneath lipstick.

The Urban Decay Gwen Stefani range has to have been their biggest hit with me out of all the ranges they’ve released. I love Gwen anyway, but I now own both the eyeshadow and blush palettes, two of the lipsticks and a lip liner. One of the lipsticks, Firebird, was bought only a few weeks ago and I bought it specifically for a hen party I’ve just attended. No word of a lie, the colour lasted the whole day. And that was afternoon tea, cocktails and pizza afterwards. It was comfortable on my lips, didn’t bleed or crack and just stayed looking like it had when I’d applied it. It’s a lot brighter than I would normally wear but I got tons of compliments and it matched the pink feather boas we were all wearing!

Go pick it up!

I’d be stupid if I didn’t mention the new Ariana Grande album Dangerous Woman as a May favourite. I’ve listened to it more times than I can count, and now even Gary knows some of the words! I can’t decide which songs are my favourites because I like them all, but I have woken up with Moonlight in my head on more than one morning. If you haven’t checked it out yet, then you must!

This Week I Have Been Mostly…

You might have noticed no blogs last week. I decided it’s nice sometimes not to blog J So I took a little break. You could still find me on both my twitter accounts (@groggits and @Shutterbug_Blog) but I decided that as I was feeling tired, run down and had a relentless headache turned migraine, I would give myself a break.

Apart from feeling totally exhausted and run down this week, I’ve done a little cooking with some fresh ingredients. Last weekend I made a lentil salad for my work lunches, which involved roasting cherry tomatoes, red onions and a whole garlic. I’d never roasted garlic before but was pleased with the results. It all looked pretty and tasted good, but I’m not sure it was worth the effort in the end.

Towards the end of the week I made myself a nice scramble using leftovers.

We’ve been beginning to pick up bits and pieces for our Florida holiday in September, and I purchased this Yankees cap to wear whilst we walk the parks. I’m not great in the heat and relentless sun, being a true brit we’re rarely subjected to it. This cap is perfect and light in colour so hopefully will keep me cool. I’ll just have to deal with hat hair for a while!

We’ve been visited a couple of times recently, by a fox, who likes to hang out in our garden. Totally relaxed and dozing, he likes to sun himself on our lawn. The birds don’t seem threatened by him at all, and as a result neither are we. He can share our garden with us!

And this weekend, I have been mostly listening to the new Ariana Grande album Dangerous Woman. It’s really great and I might go as far as to say it’s her best yet. My favourites at the moment are…. actually I can’t choose one. They’re pretty much all good! Though I was surprised Focus on Me didn’t appear, and can only be found on the Japanese version of the album, which I obviously don’t have….

What have you been up to? Have you heard Ariana’s new album? What did you think?