Where did July go?! I sat down, all ready to start filming my video for this month's favourites and was convinced I was about to be summing June up! I'm still not over the fact that we're in August already, even though we're on day 6 now. The one good thing about time moving this fast? It'll soon be Autumn, and I'll have an excuse to have all the baths, snuggle in my dressing gown and be permanently glued to my tea mug.
So, what did July hold for me and Nourish ME? Well, I had a few sponsored posts this month - in fact the most I've ever had in a month, and I even had to turn down a few opportunities because I didn't want to get oversaturated over here. This seems totally mad, and I'm really hoping that it's a sign of bigger and better things to come in the rest of 2016.
I finally got a part time job here in Cheltenham, and it's one that (so far at least) is not damaging my mental health progress, and is helping me to get a little more exercise in. It's also been more than a little useful because, you know, getting a secure income is fab when you haven't had one for six months! I'm also finally getting used to living in the countryside, even if we did wake up one morning to an escaped herd of cows just chilling outside our front door.
Now let's get down to my favourites for the month. I'm going to kick start this by talking about my ultimate favourite for July: Vatika's Henna shampoo. This was something that I picked up at Bloggers Ball back in June and had fairly low expectations of. I'm really fussy with shampoos, especially with their scents, and I was a little sceptical about the use of henna in it. BUT, it turned out to be the best shampoo I've used in a long time - my hair has been far less greasy and totally manageable. Plus it smells like apples, which is the most important thing. Obvs.
My showers have been totally dreamy at the moment because of this and The Body Shop's mango shower gel. Mangoes are a perfect fruit for summer, coming in (in my rankings) at a close third behind strawberries and peaches. Vital info here I know guys. But, it means that when the skies have been grey here in the UK this July I've been able to keep myself smelling like summer. The Body Shop have also done a cheeky simple redesign of their shower gel bottles recently, giving them bold black lids, which I totally love.
If you've read my summer daily skincare essentials post, then you'll know that I've been upping and altering all aspects of my skincare in the past month or two. The most important addition is possibly my Eau Roma Water from LUSH. This has wormed its way into my favourites after making a comeback in my life for summer. I used to use it about two years ago, and it was one of those things that I just really forgot I liked (does anyone else do this when they finish/lose a product?!), but it's come back with a vengeance.
I've rambled on enough about my newfound love for NYX recently, so I'm not going to bore you with going over that all over again. Just one tip though: go try the soft matte lip cream in Morocco. It is the most divine coral-y red I've ever tried!
And finally we come to a little fun favourite - my tsum tsums! Baymax and Roo are some of my (many) favourite Disney characters, and I was lucky enough that my boyfriend was kind enough to trawl the internet to find them for my birthday. They look so pretty on my shelves, make the perfect blog prop, and the cat absolutely loves to chase/play with them!
Here is my July favourites video, please give it a watch and subscribe!
I don't know about you, but I honestly sometimes find it really hard to find great skincare pairings. Usually I end up with something that makes my skin a little oily and something that dries it out a little. Rather than working together as you might imagine, this usually sends my skin into overdrive as it's both encouraged to and discouraged from creating its natural oils. UGH. Cue all the spots.
So, I've been fiddling around with my evening skincare routine for the past few months trying to find something that really works in terms of helping my skin lock in moisture without letting me wake up to a pool of face grease every morning. Grim, but you know what I'm talking about, right (please)?
Basically I've been using my Garnier micellar water (yes I have finally jumped on that bandwagon) which I picked up as part of my birthday beauty haul to remove my makeup and get rid of any dirt. This hasn't irritated my sensitive skin at all, or even my eyes, which usually end up red, itchy and a little sore from most makeup removers. I tend to go for more creamy makeup removers, so I've also actually been really shocked at how well this has been working!
After I've got as much as my makeup off as I can, I then wipe one of Nip + Fab's Dragon's Blood fix pads over my face, ensuring I get into all the nooks and do my neck as well. For so long I had such a preconception about Nip + Fab being quite a pricey drug store brand, but actually a full-sized tub of these comes in at just £4.97. The dragon's blood range from Nip + Fab is aimed at hydrating your skin and making it a little more plump, and I have to say that it really does do what it says on the tin, so to speak. These have really been helping to lock in my skin's moisture overnight so that my makeup actually goes on the next day without creating any dry patches.
The two together have really been doing wonders for my skin in terms of helping to keep is cleansed and hydrated. I never wake up in the morning with mascara stains or skin that even I don't want to touch, let alone anyone else anymore. So basically, it's a big thumbs up from here, and if you've got combination skin I would definitely recommend giving this combo a whirl!
I've actually made a little video for you about this one, so please have a watch:
I've never really considered myself to have truly problematic skin. Yes, I did have a few mighty face volcanoes when I was a teen, but I put that down to hormones, a mahoosive consumption of junk food and not actually washing my face. Good ol' 15-year-old Steph. Obviously I also have a metric tonne of freckles on my face, which I've received the odd nasty comment about, but nothing that's ever truly made me ashamed of my face.
However, when I went to Bloggers Ball in June, a particularly nasty PR (there's always one isn't there?!) told me that my skin was clearly problematic due to my excessive freckles and hyperpigmentation. Brill. I'm basically that kind of person that takes everything to heart, so this has been playing on my mind ever since. Every time I look in the mirror now I can see the redness she was alluding to, and it's actually quite affected my self confidence. Presumably she was also alluding to my under-eye bags which are pretty much the bane of my life, and make that area grey and dull. I've tried pretty much everything to get rid of the latter, but without long-lasting success (if you have nay tips, please comment with them!).
I've actually been fortunate enough to work with Korres on a couple of previous occasions, trying out some of their Christmas gift sets and a few of my personal favourites, and I'm always a little bowled over by how quickly I fall in love with their products. I'm a big fan of trying to keep things a little more natural, hence my many LUSH posts, and Korres use mostly natural, organic ingredients. This is such a big win for me and my sensitive skin.
So, when you take my faith in the brand and mix it with my new need to cover up my blemishes, their offer to send me their Wild Rose CC (Colour Correcting Cream)* in shade 'light' was met with a gushing yes. Although this comes in a bit pricier than my average foundation, at £26, it does last me much longer. I only use it on the areas of my face that really suffer from hyperpigmentation, and I don't wear it every day. Hopefully you can see from the pictures (I couldn't resist including little Jeffy in one) I've used that it does actually make a difference in keeping my face even-toned. Plus, it totally smells like roses, which is a definite winner in my books.
Although a product in this post was sent for review, as always, all opinions are my own.
