August favourites, my first trip to Wales and (not so) soaking up the summer sun

The title of this post kind of reminds me of all the Angus, Thongs, And Perfect Snogging books, but I'm going to roll with it. 
September's here, bringing with it colder evenings and darker mornings. It's the start of Autumn and that time where we seem to get some of the most beautiful sunsets. I'm excited for things to get a little more cosy, but as I've got washing I want to get dry (extreme adulting over here), I'm also happy to have a few more warm, dry days.
August was a month filled with mini travels, although it felt as though I spent all of my time at home. I had my first ever work trip, and went to Cardiff for the day through it. It was such a beautiful city, and I'd love to go back for pleasure one day. My sister and I also headed back to Leamington Spa for her birthday where we lived together for a summer. Getting our favourite takeout and spying on all the shops that had changed, I'm so glad we went back.
September's looking to be a little exciting, as I'm heading down to Plymouth for my sister's graduation. I can't wait to celebrate all the work she's done over the past few years, and raise a toast or two!

Beauty favourites
This month has seen a big old favourite of mine stroll back into my life: Liz Earle's hot cloth cleanser (£16.50). I've definitely spoken about this in a favourites before, but it's been over a year since I've done so and I've just fallen in love all over again. This cleanser is perfect for my spot-prone combination skin, and I've noticed such a difference since I went back to it. It gets rid of all of my makeup, including my tough mascara, but does so with such a gentle formula that I can open my eyes whilst using it to check that I've scrubbed everywhere. It's just the dreamiest formula. 
Next up are two LUSH bits that I can't get enough of. Montebalno is a solid shampoo bar that I hadn't tried before, but my hair is responding very well to. It's full of lemons (which became very apparent when I got it in my eye): lemon oil, lemon juice, lemon peel. It's a little drying, but I needed something to stop my hair getting so greasy so quickly, especially in the heat we've had this summer. 
LUSH's cosmetic warrior is SO good at calming down my spots, even if it doesn't smell that nice. It's filled with antibacterial garlic and tea tree to cleanse and soothe spots, and I love that it manages to do this without being harsh. 
My final beauty favourite is The Body Shop's strawberry body yogurt (which I have a whole post on here). This is described as being a gel-cream and it absolutely glides on my skin like a beauty. It's made my skin probably the softest its ever felt and it smells a little like calpol. Winner winner, chicken dinner.

Lifestyle favourites
First up are my Harry Potter slippers which are in the very first pictures. For a fiver from Primark, I'm so impressed with these. Super soft, fluffy, comfy to wear, and the tartan/gold Hogwarts scene design makes them perfect for cosy Autumn nights. I've totally reserved these as my 'nice' slippers and refuse to do any housework in them.
August was a pretty epic month in terms of getting my life sorted. I upgraded to an iPhone 8 and having a decent battery life again is revolutionary. I still haven't worked out why the photos I take are sometimes blurry (does anyone else have this problem?! Trying to take a selfie is painful!), but when it focuses, DAMN those photos are good. I almost exclusively use my phone for Insta shots now and I've not noticed a drop in the quality between that and my DSLR at all. The dream.
To protect it, I picked up the Skinny Dip killer whale phone case which is now out of stock sadly. It looks so nice on the dark grey back of my phone and I've always found that Skinny Dip cases are a great quality for keeping my phone safe when I inevitably drop it.
My new cacti planner is my last favourite this month, but it really sits at the top of my list. I bought the same style of planner last year and found that the layout suited me to a tee, and I wouldn't go back to anything else now. It's a page-per-day one and is filled with useful sections to help make each day as organised as possible. Plus it's BEAUTIFUL (and makes me want to buy hundreds of succulents).
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