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!