What I Got For My Birthday + VIDEO

In case you haven't managed to have a peek at my 25 things to do before I turn 25 post, I turned 22 on Saturday. I had such a wonderful day with my family and boyfriend, and managed to spread out the celebrations over three days (woooo!). I've got a little round-up of some things I was fortunate enough to receive on my 'big day' and I really wanted to share them with you all, so here we go! I love these kind of posts - it's a chance for me to be uber nosy and have a little peek into what other people enjoy. 

Here are some links to my birthday picks:

Paperchase Beautiful Slogan List Pad

I've already got cracking on using this one, and I'm really excited about keeping up to date with all of my freelance tasks in it!

Paperchase desk organiser

This is going to be sat on my desk permanently when I get properly set up in my new home (we're moving on saturday - *nervous emoji face*).

The Body Shop Mango Shower Gel

I love love love fruity scents in summer, so I'm pretty darn ready to get crackalacking on this.

The Body Shop Honeymania Shower Gel

This is one that I've been dying to pick up from The Body Shop for what feels like forever. It's sweet without being sickly and is really fab at making sure your skin doesn't get too dry.

Stitch Tsum Tsum

I've been really slow to catch up on the Tsum Tsum game, but this is my third now and I' hoping to have a Tsum Tsum space in our new flat.

Literary Paper Dolls

This was possibly my favourite present. I have SO many memories of me and my sister playing with paper dolls as children, and ones with a literary twist have basically made my life. 

Gryffindor top - Primark

I am absolutely in love with this top, and it's made me want to go and visit Harry Potter World even more than I already did!

I hope you enjoyed this post - what are you hoping to get for your next birthday?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

May Favourites, Life Update + Video!

It's that time of month again, when you're scrolling through your Bloglovin' feed, hoping and praying that there's something other than a monthly favourites, or new goals or life update post available. So, sozzles, but you've found another one. I actually love doing these - it gives me a chance to think about what really has gone on in the past month, what I'm looking forward to in the upcoming month, and which products I've been reaching for more often than usual. 
If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that in my April favourites post I told you all about my current spending ban as a result of the fact that I'm moving into a flat soon with my boyfriend. We've actually decided now that when we leave our student house (hallelujah), we're going to move into his parents' house for a bit. I really want to save up so that I can go to IKEA and splash out on allllll the pretty things on our new home, and we simply can't afford to do that at the moment. 
Something more exciting, but still money-related (boo), is that for the first time this month I've made enough money from my freelance writing and social media management alone to *almost* pay my rent *squeals*. I read a post by Vix Meldrew over the weekend all about getting engagement over followers and it really stuck out to me in terms of keeping things relatable. I often find myself getting stuck into the hype of keeping quiet when things go wrong, and piping up in gleeful terms about everything else. I love the positivity that this brings to my blog and I never want to move away from that, but my attempts at earning a living through freelance work over the past five months have honestly been abysmal. So, I am so so proud about the last month's earnings, to the extent that I could almost cry. 
Anyway, now that that little rant is over, let's get on to what I'm looking forward to in June. For starters it's my birthday month, so as of the 4th I will officially no longer be in the 21 club (does that mean I have to start doing real life adult things?!). I've also got a whole month's worth of exciting posts lined up for you guys, and I'm finally going to *fingers crossed* have a full time job again and get into a proper routine. 
Okay, okay, I know what you're really here for: the favourites, not me blabbing on about my life. So, what have I been loving in my second no-spend *weeps* month? I realised about half-way through May that I was having a bit of a mental health flare-up. Eventually I realised that it was basically caused by me cutting out my self care rituals (read about my favourite anti-anxiety beauty products and rituals here) to the extent that I just didn't really have 'me' time anymore. 
So, I took to my bath armed full of goodies, and practically shoveled in a *cough* reasonably sized amount *cough* of Champney's Cloud Nine bubble bath*. I actually picked this up at a blogger event they held, but it got lost and forgotten in my armoury of toiletries until this month. Alongside this, I grabbed my elderflower and prosecco tealights from New Look and we were good to go. Seriously, these candles smell absolutely incredible: lightly floral and a little sweet, even the tealights make a difference to the scent of the entire room. 
A bath isn't complete without a good tea, right? I love to ooze down into the warm water, with Netflix up (safely away from getting wet), and a cup of warm tea keeping my hands warm. I've now discovered the perfect tea for this: Taylor's strawberry and vanilla green tea. I've been searching for a replacement to Clipper's strawberry green tea for MONTHS and finally discovered a solution. All hail the tea gods.
Finally, a couple of beauty products sneaked their way into my favourites this month. The first is the gorgeous Mermaids vs Unicorns eyeshadow palette from Makeup  Revolution.  I'm really loving making summery looks with their sea-like hues, and I've spoken about this product in a lot more detail over on my Makeup Revolution haul post. 
Last, but not least, is my Dr Organic tea tree face wash. I've been eating pretty unhealthily recently, and so I switched from my Nip and Fab Glycolic cleanse face wash back to this in an attempt to reduce the number of toxins in my skin. I did break out on the first few days of  using it because it was drawing the oils out of my face to balance the PH a little, but after that everything calmed down and my face feels super healthy.
Here's my May favourites video (I'd love it if you checked my channel out!): 

What were your favourites this month?
Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube