June favourites and life update

I know most of you are going to flick past this, exactly the way I do when I see a favourites post this late on in a month because, really who cares at this point. But, I promise you that there are some absolute gems in here that you need to get your hands on. 

My Summer in Pictures

This post is something that I've been wanting to do for so long. I love reading other peoples' photo diary posts, and basically having a good ol' nose at what they've been up to, so I figured I would finally do one of my own. I've also been feeling a little bit 'meh' and a weeny bit lost in the past week or so, so writing this post is a great reminder for myself of all the cool things I've done and all the things I've achieved in the past few months.

So, we're kicking off this photo diary with my birthday (of course), which was wayyyy back in the beginning of June. I was still living in my student house at this point, and was so excited to get out of there and move to my new town. I packed up and moved a week after my birthday - totes 'feeling 22' by the way - and my birthday weekend was spent in a mad scramble of packing, visiting Birmingham and having one last barbecue in Leamington.

June was also a month of (albeit tiny) personal achievements for me. I overcame my anxiety and dealt with moving to a completely new town in which I knew no one, and still can count the number of people I do know on my fingers. I also finally learnt how to Dutch braid my hair, and even made a little tutorial for you guys on it. This is something that I've always wanted to do, and I feel like it gets neater every time I give it a go!

The end of June saw me heading to my first ever real blogger event in London, and I had so much fun! I got to meet a whole crowd of absolutely lovely bloggers, and I've written up my experiences in a post here. It gave me the chance to push myself out of my comfort zone and get in touch with a few brands too.

July really felt like such a 'nothing' month for me until I started really thinking about it. I did a whole bunch of pretty awesome things, but they were so spread out it definitely felt like not much went on! I finally found a job that I was (and still am) really happy in to go alongside my freelance work, which has taken a heap of stress off of my finances! 

I went back to Leamington to visit my two closest friends, have a little cocktail making session and get a lil' broody over a beautiful newborn boy that one of them had just had. It definitely helped to ease my homesickness and make me feel less lonely, but it was so hard to leave all over again after a couple of days there!

I did my first fashion post in over six months in July, which really helped me feel more confident after gaining a lot of weight in the last year or so. It was nice to feel sassy and pretty again in a little photo shoot in the nature reserve behind our house!

We also started exploring our local area more in July. The Tewkesbury food festival was my absolute favourite outing of the month. We tried lots of local cider, tasty treats and walked away with some homemade fudge to munch on, mmmm. 

Finally, August saw me do my first bit of UK travel in quite a few months. I headed into Camden to spend a day browsing the markets and hitting the Cereal Killer Cafe with my sister for her birthday. It was the best day I had all summer (possibly), and has me totally inspired to travel more of the UK in the coming months! 
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June Favourites, A Life Update and VIDEO!

June was possibly the most exciting month of my 2016 so far? Who knows. Anyway, SO much went on in the past month that it has honestly been a whirlwind. I finally landed my first big freelance writing gig, which I'll be finishing off in the next week or two and I've been working around the clock to organise this! 
Away from the work front, I turned 22 at the beginning of the month, which meant I finally got to move away from the spending ban I've been ranting at you guys about for the past few months, even if it was only a couple of days' release. I got to see both my parents, my sister and even a cousin and uncle, so there were a whole tonne of festivities going on. Me and my boyfriend even hosted a barbecue, with reasonable success - the sausages weren't even blackened!
I also got to move out of my student house for the last time, which honestly could not have come sooner. I don't know why student housing landlords all seem to be genuinely horrible, have no regard for their tenants, and charge extortionate prices for their disgusting homes, but y'know, freedom tastes wonderful now. At the moment me and my boyfriend have moved into a small building off of his parents' house with the hamsters and Ted the bunny until we both get stable incomes sorted so we can rent a flat together. 
Seriously though, all of this in one month has has me swept off my feet half the time, and I'm hoping that July is a little more quiet so that I have more time to focus on my freelance work and blogging.
I've really been trying to up my skincare in the last month as we move into summer. I had been super lax with using moisturiser, and picked up a tub of The Body Shop's pinita colada body butter in an effort to combat this. This is part of a new range they brought out earlier this year and I can honestly say that I fell in love with this scent. It's definitely become my staple summer scent of 2016, and I can't wait to get my hands on some more of the range to see if they live up to this. I picked up the mini version of this and I'm honestly so gutted to have run out. Paired with this, I've been using LUSH's Rose Jam shower gel. I don't know what it is about this combo, but my skin feels amazingly soft, and I smell fab (if I do say so myself *wink emoji*). 
I've read so many posts about blogger's facial skin care regimes in the past few months that I've been itching to improve mine. But, well, the spending ban said no. So, I finally jumped on the Garnier Micellar Water bandwagon and fell a teensy bit in love. I've been using this after my LUSH 9-5 cleanser to remove any extra bits of makeup that didn't come off with my initial cleanse. I've also been following it up with Nip + Fab's Dragon's Blood Fix Pads. I'm not going to say too much about this combo now, because I'm saving it for another post, but let's just say that if you need a hydrating evening fix, I've got your back.
Nip + Fab really have done it for me again this month with their Kale Fix Clay Mask. This is another one I'll be talking about in more detail in the future. Although it's a clay mask, it is actually designed to hydrate dry/dull skin, and it really hasn't made my skin feel tight after using it at all! 
One thing I haven't really mentioned that I did in June is that I stripped the ends of my hair for the fifth time (why is it so dark, argh?!). It's now fairly blonde at the ends, and a dark red at the top (it doesn't look as bad as it sounds, I promise!). As a result of this, my hair has been a bit drier than normal, and in need of a slightly more intensive care routine. So, I've cut down on my hairdryer usage even more than usual, to just a couple of times a month. I also switched shampoos to give the John Frieda Frizz ease Miraculous Recovery shampoo and conditioner a go. These are doing wonders at keeping my hair nourished and hydrated, and I think they'll definitely have to be repurchased when *weep* they run out.
Finally we have Luscombe Drinks' Wild Elderflower Bubbly*. I first got to sample their drinks at the Bloggers Ball, and fell a little in love. Their PR team were kind enough to send me over a couple to try and oh my word this elderflower one truly hit the spot. paired with an ice cube or two, this is going to be my drink of the summer for sure. 
Here's my June favourites and life update Youtube video:

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