Where have I been?

There's been absolute radio silence over here for almost a month now and ... it's been kind of great. So great that I toyed with the idea of quitting blogging completely, but I really found myself missing it at times. 

My 2017 New Years Resolutions: a six month update

I'm big into New Years Resolutions. I love the New Year. It's a time to think about everything you've accomplished in the past year (almost always more than you thought you had), and to think about where you'd like to be in one year's time. This year I've decided to do a lil six month reset, and consider what I'm doing well with, and what I really want to work on. Back in January, I wrote this post on what I wanted to achieve in 2017, so it's time to take a peek at how things are going.

February Favourites and Life Update

February, aka the shortest month of the year is gone. Finally Spring is here. The start of March makes me so nervous but so excited: in almost exactly a month today I'm heading out to Florida. The holiday panic is nigh: I have a buttload of money I need to make and save and a buttload of exercise to do to make sure I don't end up as exhausted as I always am whilst I'm away.

So, what did February hold for me? In blogging terms it's the first month in which I've achieved all of my social media follow goals across board, which has given me such a lil confidence boost. It's also a month in which I've been really proud of so much of my content. I've created some important mental health posts, and I've loved everything I've been putting out there.

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?
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