Average girl size fashion from TU at Sainsburys

I've got a secret for you: my summer wardrobe has about three outfits in. Each year I think I'll rectify this, and each year it gets to the hottest part of summer and I've realised I've failed to do anything about it. Again. 

Summer bucket list

Summer is not a time where I shine. I'm sweaty, grumpy and honestly it ruins the main joy in my life: sleep. But, I'm working on embracing things, even if they bring me discomfort, so whilst I'm waiting around for the season of chunky knits and cosy nights in to rock around, here's a few things I want to get done this summer:

July favourites and life update

Another hot hot month has been and gone, and I'm just as hay-fever riddled as ever. At this point I'm wondering how I've managed to avoid dehydration what with all the sniffing and the sneezing and general snot. Delightful.

Trying out The Body Shop's new vegan body yogurts

Ever since L'Oreal sold The Body Shop to a cruelty free parent company there's been such a massive improvement in their products and ethics. From campaigning for more sustainable environments around the globe, to their petition to end animal testing, to producing more vegan products, I am here for this improved version of one of my favourite stores.

Getting fresh with summer scents from Korres*

July so far has been a month of perpetual sweat and sighs of 'oh god it's hot in here isn't it?!'. We're still in the middle of this never-ending heatwave also known as a disturbingly hot British summer. Showering has become one of the only blissful parts of the day, apart from that odd waft of breeze that cools the sweat on the back of your neck (tasty).

July favourites and life update

This is hella late (again), but I still wanted to create this post. I've been feeling a little 'meh' about my blog and its content lately, and if I'm honest that's mostly why I'm behind on blog posts. I feel like my posts aren't seismic enough, they don't educate or help people, and I'm just not a good blogger. But, my favourites posts are my only form of online diary. So no matter how behind I am, I really do want to keep up on these so I can look back on the memories I made each month, and discover how my life changed to become what it will become in the future. 

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. 

Rimmel's new Insta range*: does it live up to the hype?

Rimmel has brought out a wealth of new products lately, and their Insta range is a bigun. Whoever does their PR was onto a winner when they created a massive list of bloggers to send their new bits and pieces out to: it feels like this range has been on everyone's lips for the past few weeks. I've spent a little while now testing everything in the range and I've definitely got some firm favourites that have me a little bowled over.

Live Love Dream: my 2017 summer scent

Do you ever come across a scent that you just click with? One that you realise is the scent you've been lusting after but haven't found yet? 
I've always thought that I'm 'not a perfume kinda gal'. I never went through the phase of buying celebrity endorsed perfumes as a teen, and I've *shock horror* never owned anything made  by Marc Jacobs. But, I've actually amassed quite a nice little collection of budget scents and body mists that make me feel a whole lot more feminine than I do without them.
A few months ago I had my first dreamy 'must-buy' situation with a perfume. The design was beautiful, the scent was sweet and refreshing, and I had to have it. The packaging reminds me of the minimalist packing of Jo Malone, but at a much much more achievable price for me. In case you haven't guessed, the scent is 'Live Love Dream', and it's made by Aeropostale.
It smells fruity and sweet without being childish, and honestly gives of a waft akin to the one you smell when stepping into a Hollister. After the heat wave last week, I'm even more keen to use fresh scents that keep me feeling like my presence doesn't come with the nasty tangy odour of sweat, and this has been perfect. 
This is definitely my go-to scent for the summer, and it'll be the one that gets popped into my bag when I have a long day ahead. What's your favourite scent at the moment?
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Clinging onto Summer OOTD

Autumn is officially finally upon us, and whilst we all know how excited I am for this season, it's also nice to catch up on the last few rays of warmth before they disappear again until March. It has been getting a lot darker and colder in the evenings in the last week or two, but there have been occasions on which *gasp* I could actually hang the washing outside, and even want to go for a walk in the nature reserve that is literally on our back door step (or would be if we had a back door). 
This white and blue striped blouse from Primark has been an absolute life saver when it comes to this weird transitional weather period. I find the weather changes almost by the hour in September here in the UK, and I love the fact that this top keeps me warm with its long sleeves, but is loose enough to keep me cool when it's humid. A win-win, huh?
I've also apportioned this blouse to the section of the wardrobe that cover my 'fat days'. Now, I'm not talking about days on which I've actually gained a few pounds, but rather the ones on which I feel like I have. When I'm feeling low on confidence, or bloated because my period is about to start, wearing tight tops just kills off my self-esteem, and so it's loose tops all the way!
Is there any one key trasitional fashion piece in your wardrobe at the moment? Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

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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Watermelon Inspired Summer Makeup Look

I've been so excited about this post and the accompanying Youtube video for it for so long. I'm not going to lie, when I told my partner that I was doing it he looked like I'd just suggested I was going to become a ventriloquist: he was a little concerned. However, after explaining to him (and everyone else that I spilled about this post to) that no, I wasn't going full out and painting myself green, but instead I was just going to be taking a little inspiration from one of the best summer fruits out there. Maybe the best. Either way, watermelon is fab. 
Here's my video, showing you all how I made the look, and the links to all the products I used are in the description box below it! 

I had so much fun filming this one - would you like to see something similar, with a different fruit?! Let me know in the comments!

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John Frieda Miraculous Recovery Shampoo and Conditioner

Me hair means a lot to me, and as such I really do try to take good care of it. I know that sounds super vain, but after seeing my sister lose her hair as a child, I've always been super paranoid about my own falling out. This seems to jar a little bit with the fact that I obviously dye my hair, but this has been something I've only done in the past year, as I combatted my fears of hair dye to do something I've wanted to do for so long. I've got quite naturally thick hair (thank you genes) and so it's basically unmanageable. You know that hair which instantly retangles after being brushed? Yep, that kind of hair.  
I usually go for more natural shampoo and conditioner sets, such as solid shampoos from LUSH (post here) and ones that contain no SLS. But, every so often I get into the treat yo' self mindset and go for one that promises a 'wow' result in exchange for a few added chemicals. So, I picked up John Frieda's Frizz Ease Miraculous Recovery shampoo and conditioner. This promised to help my hair not only stay frizz free (let's face it, in the recent humidity in the UK I need this) as well as to help it come back to strength after all the dyeing and heat damage I've done to it. So basically this is everything I wanted at the beginning of summer for my hair.
These ultimately did wonders for my frizz levels. Usually I go to work with my hair up in a bun and have about 72834 baby hairs chilling all around my face where they've escaped from my attempts to control them within the first hour. But with this my hair actually maintained self-control for the first time ever! My hair has been so manageable in this heat, and I think this will have to be my go-to summer shampoo from now on. Goodbye humid frizz, hello smooth hair. 
Have you ever tried this one? What's your go-to been this summer?
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