August Favourites + Life Update

Right, so this post was meant to go up four? Five? days ago now and yet here we are. I've been a little AWOL from the blogosphere and life in general for almost a week now due to being ill and then rammed with lots of long shifts at work (ugh). But, I'm lucky enough to have this Monday off (praise the gods of irregular customer service work hours, right?) after having worked allll weekend, so I've actually got time to share my August favourites with you!
I'm sorry about the really long rambly nature of this post but, urm, I've been up since 6 30am, and am writing this at 8am, which is basically unheard of in Steph's life. I'm much more of a night owl than an early bird, let's face it. So, yeah, tiredness is creeping in and my brain doesn't start to fully function for a good couple of hours. At least it's partly down to working lates at the pub rather than pure laziness, which makes it okay, right?!
So, what was August filled with for me? Disappointingly, not a summer holiday to some far off toasty destination filled with sun loungers and cool breezes. BUT, I did get to visit Camden again, which I've written all about for you here. We made the trip down for my sister's birthday, and it definitely made me want to visit more parts of the UK before the year is out, so *fingers crossed* Nourish ME will have some more travel posts coming soon! I also finally started to feel settled in my new town, secure in my part time job and landed my first big freelance paycheck for an editorial position I have on an academic journal. All in all, despite a little mental health setback mid-month, August was pretty fab for me, and now I'm excited to see what September holds!
My favourites for the month are pretty much entirely beauty related, but as I've been trying to really up my makeup skills this summer, it's hardly a surprise. First up is a lipstick in the shade Boho Nude from the new Rimmel by Kate 15th Anniversary range. I love pretty much everything about this range, I'm not going to lie - the dreamy rose gold packaging, the creamy formula, the hue of the lipsticks themselves, the list goes on. I'm wearing this in the picture above, which gives you some idea of the actual shade. It's a brown based lipstick with beige tones that is neither too light nor too dark for my pale skin tone. This has been my go-to every day at work for the past few weeks and I just can't get enough!
Alongside this, I've been reaching for my MUA Undress Your Skin shimmer highlighter in iridescent gold. It's getting to that time of year again when shimmer highlight and berry lips are all we need to feel totally Autumny and I've definitely been preparing for this in all the right ways. This totally suits my pink-toned pale skin and I'll definitely be wearing it all through the coming months!
Next up, we have some skincare favourites. We all know how much I loved Garnier's micellar water, after I finally jumped on that bandwagon a few months ago. When I ran out, I wanted to give their Pure Active micellar water a go to see how it compared. It's been really great at removing all of my grotty makeup at the end of the day, even my waterproof mascara, but I do think the original still slightly tops it. 
A little bit of a fun favourite is this new(ish) Love Hearts hand soap from Carex. I usually avoid liquid soap as I recently found out that this is what was setting off the eczema on my hands that I was suffering with. But, I HAD to have this - it smells like love hearts, so how could I resist? I can use it sparingly with no reaction on my hands so this has worked well alongside my normal soap bar. I've tried pretty much everything else in Carex's fun range - bubblegum, strawberry laces, cola bottles, so I could hardly not give this a go!
And finally we have the odd one out here - socks. I have a bit of a thing for cute, quirky socks, and if my anxiety is feeling bad in the morning, popping one of my favourite pairs on does lift my mood, as odd as that may be. I couldn't resist having these adorable little koala socks (similar here) with bobble ears in my favourites this month, and so many people have commented about how much they want them on my Instagram! 
Here's my video roundup of my favourites, which is a little more coherent (I hope) and a lot less rambly. I'd love it if you gave it a watch!

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