August Advertisers

This months bunch of bloggers is such an eclectic and inspiring gang that I'm proud to have had in my sidebar! I love getting the chance to get to read more blogs and I hope you guys do too!


Erin Charlotte-
Erin is one of my FAVE bloggers around, and for good reason too. She writes passionately, shares snippets of her life, chats about important issues, and her love for creative writing gets me every time!

Emmas Bookery-
Emma's awesome blog focuses of lifestyle posts, mental health issues, book reviews & much more! Definitely give her a follow, and you won't regret it.

The Eggplant Emoji-
FUNNY. Honest. Lovely. That's the first three things that come to mind with Emma's channel. She's such a fab Youtuber and I reckon you'll all be smart to go sub to her :)

Favourites In My Mailbox

As a blogger we can often get sent quite a few things in the post from PR's and brands looking for us to try their products; sounds great eh? But any blogger will tell you that this can be totally hit and miss, and even if you like a product; it takes a lot of time and hard work to photograph, review, promote each thing. That's not a complaint, that's just fact.

So for me personally, I try to be really picky about what I feature. Is it worth my time and work? Do I really love it? Is this something new or exciting I'd like to talk about? Is it a brand who have gone out of their way to make it special? A lot of thought goes into what I feature on this blog. Which is why from August, I decided to make a change about how I feature a lot of products on this blog. I'll still have stand alone posts on particular products that I love and want to feature; but I'll also have 'Favourites In My Mailbox' posts every two or three weeks, like this one today. These posts will mean I've chosen a select few things I've been sent, that I think I'd like to chat about. I will not be featuring every single PR sample I'm sent and I will try bunch together a diverse range of products to feature in each of these posts.

New Hair, New Season.

As many of you know, I love a good makeover; especially with my hair. Every few months a change of colour or style can feel like a great refresh, and I was especially excited to bring in Autumn with a new look. Autumn isn't quiiiite here yet officially, but I'm excited.

Up until last week, my hair was a light turquoise/greenish shade, and I decided I wanted a change. I still wanted to stay colourful though, of course! So I decided a deep royal blue, and purple ends would be a fantastic change. What better way to stay colourful but still embrace the cooler months? Go for cold colours, yay!

So last week I got some extensions from Hot Hair* and some hair dye from Colour Freedom*. Many of you will already know I'm a huuuuge fan of hair extensions, because the problem with colouring my hair so much all year round; is that I need to get it trimmed often to keep it looking healthy, and that can mean it's hard to grow longer. Extensions means I don't have to worry, I can have the best of both world. However sometimes it can be tricky to find a supplier that I love and trust.

10 Childish Things To Embrace

Getting older is one of my greatest fears, and it's absolutely ridiculous really. After all there's zero I can do about it, so I might as well let it go. Easier said than done of course. Ageing is going to happen whether I like it or not (most certainly not, thank you very much).

However, I can take care of myself, and use all the magic potions and creams I can find to make me look younger if I wish. But it's worth remembering there are aspects of my life other than appearance that could do with a 'younger' frame of mind.

There are most certainly awesome aspects of getting older that I treasure, but today I thought I'd share with you guys the 10 things one might consider childish, that I'm determined to hold on to.


1. Jumping in puddles/piles of leaves.
Let's stop moaning about the weather and see it for the fun it can be eh?

2. Cartoons.
Gimme ALL the cartoons! I wrote a post featuring some of the cartoons I love a while ago, and you better believe my love for all things animated only grows. Whoever said cartoons are for kids seriously hasn't got a clue.

New Challenges & Fun Things

Hi guys! Happy Sunday!

Usually I write these posts of a Friday or Saturday and have them go out on a Sunday, chatting all about my week and what's going on. I bloody love these posts!

However as you know this week was The Girl Gang event, and since Thursday I've been totally exhausted to be honest! So I didn't really have time to write the past few days. However I'm here today, and I finally feel like I'm getting some of my energy back - and I wanted to check in! After all, I do love our Sunday chats.

I've started my new art journal, which was something I swore I'd do as soon as the event was over with, and I'm SO happy. I've decided I'll work on it every single day, however I feel. I might paint something (like above), collage, sketch, or just write in it. Either way, having a daily creative outlet again is lovely; I thoroughly recommend it.

My First Time Organising An Event - #GGEvent

I finally did it, I got through it; organising my first blog event has been HARD and kept me extremely busy - but my gosh it's been fun!

(Photo by Caitlin)

On Thursday, as many of you already know (and are probably tired of hearing about!) I held the very first event celebrating The Girl Gang - and it was amazing! No thanks to me, but to everyone else who made it a wonderful day!

My biggest worry by far was that people wouldn't have a good time, they would think I'm a horrible hostess or I would embarrass myself a lot. I probably DID do that last one, but oh well! I had Gary by my side all day and he was a huuuge help! From the moment we got there at Dive Bar in Manchester, he helped unpack everything, set up the raffle prizes, get photographs and basically calm me down haha. He's a babe.

#LoveCarex Lovehearts Liverpool Event!

Last Saturday Gary and I popped into Liverpool city center (only a few minutes walk from we live really) for the exciting Carex #ShareTheLove event happening at Mr Simms sweet shop - YAY! Not only did we get adorable photos (perfect for my Instagram haha), we got to visit one of the best sweet shops in town, and find out all about the new Carex Lovehearts products which launched June this year.

Ohh Deer Papergang Subscription Box

If there's one thing I want to be known for, it's that I'm a collector of fine stationery. Some people have wines, some people collect pins, stamps or dolls. Me? I'm all about those paper good. Gimme all the stickers (this is why I sell my own too haha!), give me more notecards, and I want more notebooks that I could ever realistically need. That's just who I am.

So when I heard that Ohh Deer do a stationery subscription box 'Papergang*' I was all over that shiz like a moth to a flame. I tried out July's box and it was hella effing cute!

6 Things I NEED In My Home*

I always seem to have an endless wishlist of things I want for our home, and there are definitely things which are more important than others. By more important I simply mean I WANT them so badly I fawn over these things regularly.

Even though I consider myself a very colourful person, I always seem to be drawn to white, clean products and hints of copper for homeware. It's something about the clean, stylish look which draws me in and makes me want to be a grown up, haha.

The six biggest things on my wishlist right now are (L to R, T to B);

1. The beautiful birdcages shown above, from Joy The Store. I don't even know why. But look at them! Beautiful.

The #GGEvent Goodybags

Today I wanted to give a huge thank you to some of the brands involved with the #GGEvent I've been planning - and which happens this week!

There are a whole host of brands involved, and today I thought it might be nice to feature the guys who helped put together the goodybags. I'll be doing another post just for the raffle stuff too this week, so keep an eye out for that!

There are some really amazing brands involved, and the great thing is that there is a range of big and small brands who took the time and care to make this special for us. I am so, so grateful.

First up we have one of my favourite brands ever - GOSH. The lovely team over there sent over a lovely bunch of products for everyone's goodybag, including; lipsticks, lip liners, foundation drops, nail polish, powder, eye pencils and much more! So I'll be putting something in everyone's goodybag and each person will have something different. I can't tell you how excited I am that they're supporting The Girl Gang!

Sunday Catch Up & New Makeup Look

Another Sunday has crept up on us, and that means I get the chance to kick back and share with you guys my tales of the week, woo!

It's officially FOUR DAYS until #GGEvent which means I am in full panic mode, checking over goody bags, checking raffle prizes, making notes on all the brands involved so I can thank them all, etc. And basically just not sleeping haha. I'm sure it's going to be a great day though, I'm SO excited to meet everyone!

Also in the past week, as you can tell from the above photo; I've been playing with makeup again.

Super Dorkface.

Glossybox August First Impressions & Exclusive Offer

After enjoying last month's Glossybox review so much, I'm back with August's to see how it plays out again - and I'm excited. Yay! This month I've only had a little chance to try one or two of the items, not all of them and certainly not thoroughly. So I thought today I'd share my first thoughts and impressions with you guys.

So let's see how August shapes up, eh?

My very, very first thought when unboxing was - YES, better than last month already. For two reasons, skincare and makeup. I really love that they added the MUA palette as I think MUA are a pretty good brand considering how cheap they are. I have two of their palettes already and I know I'll probably like this one too. Considering there are a lot on nudes in here, it's probably going to be great for day to day casual looks.

The People I've Unfollowed

I wanted to address that sometimes I unfollow people. We all do. Whether it's their blogs, their Twitter, Instagram, whatever. It happens.

Today I thought I'd explain a little about why I might have unfollowed some people. For the sake of time, I'm not including the obvious cases where I would unfollow someone. If I see you're quite mean, rude, have beliefs totally different to mine (offensive ones, not just a different belief system) - I'm obviously going to unfollow.

No, today isn't about that. This is about the nice guys, the swell pals. The 'why would you unfollow those people?' people.


If I've ever unfollowed you, and it wasn't for an obvious reason like you've been a bit of a dick, then I'd like to say sorry. But it definitely isn't personal.

A lot of the time, I will unfollow people if I feel we are totally unconnected, and it's probably my most common reason for unfollowing someone. By unconnected, I mean we never ever talk, I don't read your blog (that doesn't mean it's not great. Perhaps it's not my thing, or I never really checked it out. Bear in mind it's hard to keep up with thousands online.) Unconnected to me would mean we never interact and never have, we don't seem to have similar thoughts, hobbies, beliefs. Maybe I haven't even seen you talk to 'similar' friends. Basically there is just nothing connecting us except when I visit your profile it says 'following'.

Then yes, I will probably unfollow if I realise this. And I really don't want that to hurt your feelings, because I would totally understand if you did the same. It's not a big deal to me, but I know to some people it is. And maybe one day we will start interacting, and I will follow back again. That's cool too. But it's never personal.

Why is women's sportswear so impractical and which brands are breaking the mould?*

Wimbledon, the world's most famous tennis tournament, has been and gone for another year. If you missed it, you missed a fortnight of top-class sport, a second title success for Great Britain's Andy Murray and a 22nd grand slam championship for the amazing Serena Williams. Those were the headlines from the two-week event, but there were also others - including criticism of a new dress from Nike.

The sportswear giants drew flak for its £75 Premier Slam dress, which was deemed impractical in this article by the Guardian. 'When I was serving, it was coming up and I felt like the dress was just everywhere,' commented Sweden's Rebecca Peterson in the New York Times. Some players liked the outfit, others opted to switch for an alternative.

All My Insecurities

Whether want it to, or even mean it to; the blogging world can give off this persona of perfection. We all edit what we share with others, and while I love and appreciate this from a creative standpoint, I do know it can also make us seem absolutely perfect. Even though I'm pretty sure we're all far from it.

Our Instagram feeds might show only the prettiest selfies, the cleanest/most Pinterest worthy shots of our apartments and our tweets might only come across as though we're the happiest and most put together people you'll ever know. We all know logically this might not be true (and probably isn't) but we're taking this information in all day long, and it's not hard to understand why we might feel a little inadequate if we start comparing ourselves to others. I've certainly done it, and I know how hard it can be to not think that way.

Today I thought I'd share with you guys a bunch of things I'm insecure about. A list of things I have little to no confidence in. I do this in the hopes that not only will it remind you guys that we all have a bunch of hang ups, but also to hopefully let it all go myself too. To just put it out there and get over it. Easier said than done I'm sure, but I'm happy to try.

So here's a bunch of things you may or may not know about me and my insecurities. This will all be sort of negative, sorry. But bear with me.

Quiet Sundays

Sundays are great days for relaxing, taking stock of the week and preparing for the next one; even if you work from home and have no real concept of the days (like me). It's something that will likely always feel that way for me, since Sunday was always chilled out day at home growing up.

So these days even though I'm still probably working on a Sunday (okay let's be honest, definitely still working), its the day when I'm most likely to finish a little earlier, or make time for a relaxing bubble bath that evening. It's the day where I'm more likely to stay in my pjs' and have movies playing in the background. I really enjoy these days, everything just feels a little quieter.

This week has felt really creative for me, in a range of ways. I've collaborated with some small businesses on design work, I've experimented with some makeup looks (which I'll feature on here soon!) and I've made sure to make time to paint for myself, not just for customers. In fact, I painted these two (below) a few nights ago, and I'm quite pleased with them. I'm not sure what I'll use them for yet, but I think I want to do a whole range of character paintings like these, for a collection.

The Cutest Box Of Goodies Ever

If you know me at all, you'll know that anything cute, sparkly, colourful, and a bit special - grabs my attention quick as lightening. So when Treatbox sent me out their AMAZING August box, I squealed with joy upon opening it!

Described as a monthly lifestyle subscription box, each one offers a range of adorable treats that you'll be sure to love. I know I do anyway because OMG LOOK HOW CUTE.

August's box included; 1 gorgeous 'Follow your dreams' A5 print, 3 mini cards and envelopes, 2 notebooks, 1 coaster, a pack of 5 cute glitter bath bombs, 1 pack of rainbow drops, 1 rainbow iron on patch and 1 set of fairy lights. YES FAIRY LIGHTS.

I cannot get over how bloody awesome this box is, and seems to be made for me, wouldn't you say? This month was all about focusing on a magical theme, and they really nailed it well.

20 Favourite Things Recently

1. Chocolate milk.

2. Cat cuddles (this is probably a permanent one to the list, yes?).

3. Harry Potter & The Cursed Child.

4. Zoella Beauty Wonder Hand Cream.

5. Painting with watercolour.

6. Rainy, windy days.

7. Izombie (I'm late to this party but so).

8. Storage DIY's on Pinterest.

9. Metallic nail polishes.

10. ASMR videos.

11. Midi rings.

12. Cute backpacks.

13. My Moomins Pjs

14. Posca pens.

15. Snail mail.

16. Replaying Zelda games on DS.

17. Pom pom garlands.

18. Glitter eyeshadow (and just a butt load of glitter in general).

19. Manicure YT videos.

20. Polaroids.









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Spending Time Alone

As a few of you may know, this week my boyfriend Gary took a trip back home to Plymouth to visit his family; while I stayed here in Liverpool to keep on top of work and deadlines I have had. I knew I'd miss him a lot, as we're one of those annoying couples who likes to do more or less everything together. I'm quite proud and surprised to say in the five years I've been with Gary, I've never felt 'suffocated' or got sick of him. That sounds harsh, but I know it can be quite natural. I had it with most other boyfriends, even if I loved them; I definitely needed my own space often. I've never felt that with Gary though, never felt the need to 'get away for a bit' which is lovely. Also I'm probably making you all puke, sorry, sorry, getting to the point I promise.

Anyway, when Gary very first left and got on his coach, I felt a range of things. Sadness for him being gone, worry/anxiety about not having anyone to rely on, motivation to get work done, and maybe a little bit lost. I got back to our flat and it felt very quiet indeed. I didn't really know what to do with myself that first day, and I hate to admit that. I was a bit down. I never wanted to be that girl, pining after a boy. I always wanted to be the cool, independent girl who is fine with whatever. But I wasn't that first day, that's for sure.

However in the days that have passed I've surprised myself a lot; I've become comfortable with my own self quite quickly again, I've missed him of course, but not felt LOST. I've kept myself busy with work, I've enjoyed my usual hobbies and I've taken advantage of having the bed to myself. I've also caught up with friends and family - but I don't want that to imply I'm that girl who only makes time for others when the boyfriend isn't around. I loathe those people, and it's simply not true. I see friends and family often, so it fell on this week as it would have anyway. But yeah, that was fun too.

6 Most Wanted: House of Fraser

As well as watercolour painting, binge watching Dexter (again) and blogging; I also have this hobby of making wishlists for myself. Whether it be stationery, handbags or trips abroad, you can guarantee I have a list of my fave most wanted ones.

I thought today I'd share my most recent wishlist; Lingerie and Jewellery favourite from House of Fraser. I'll be making this a regular feature on this blog, in the hopes someone will take pity on me, and lavish me with all my favourite things (HA).

This past week I've been pretty excited about some upcoming events and night outs I have planned, and the perfect dresses I have to wear for them. Now that the main part of the outfits are taken care of, I've been browsing for some beautiful things to wear with them.

Sunday Coffee Break

Happy Sunday guys, I hope this week went awesome for you all! If not, tomorrow's a new start eh?

My favourite type of posts are the ones where I get to simply sit down, have a chat and update you guys on what I've been up to. It's indulgent, and it's the best. I think they always do quite well comment/stat wise, so you guys must think they're okay too, which is a relief! :)

Where to start?!
Well this week I've added new things to my Etsy store; I've been dabbling with more watercolour and ink paintings and it;s been SO much fun. My new kitty and giraffe prints are the product of friends dropping suggestions as to what they'd like to see in store - do I really appreciate when people suggest things to me! I just hardly get any spare time lately to just sit down and let art happen. I'm lucky enough to say that I'm in a position where I always have orders coming in, for blog headers, portraits or sticker packs etc. But the downside is that leaves me no time to really just create for myself. The ironic thing is, when I do find time to create for my own enjoyment (like with the cats and giraffe paintings) they actually sell really well, haha. So that's a win win. But as I say I have very little time to do that, so I try to make the most of it when I do. But I've loved doing these this week!

What do you guys think?

Little Known Box

I'm guilty of telling a fib or two in my life every now and again, I'll admit. Sometimes I'll tell Mum I love her new dress, even if it's a questionable shade of mustard, because I know she loves it. Sometimes I'll tell Gary that I didn't buy yet another pair of shoes, 'They were sent to me! For the blog!', while hiding a receipt here and there (it's fine, it's fine..). And sometimes I'll tell a little white lie about how many calories I've indulged in on a Friday night.

However, no little fibs are needed to tell you guys how excited I was to try out Little Known Box! LKB as I'm going to call it, a brand new luxury beauty box subscription; brought to you monthly through your post full of awesome goodies.

20 Blogs I Can't Live Without

I've been worried about this post for a while.

In the blogging community, there are ENDLESS amounts of people I love, adore, am inspired by, want to be besties with. I'd be here all day if I tried to name everyone I loved, really. However for ages now, I've wanted to compile a post of my most favourite, fave, FAVEY, faves. Ever. Blogs, that is.

And I feel worried already. Worried that people I consider best friends now will be annoyed at me for not mentioning them. I can already think of a few people that are like sisters to me! And if they aren't named, it doesn't mean I don't adore them/their blog. However, in the interest of keeping this absolutely true and as honest as I can be; here we go.

This is the list of BLOGS (not people) that I can't live without. These blogs inspire me, get me addicted, bring me back time after time. Sometimes I can explain why, sometimes not. I have not chosen a bunch of friends, although it makes sense that I do consider a lot of these guys friends of mine - because you purposely get to know the people you admire, right? But even if I had never spoken to them before, you can bet your ass I'd still have them bookmarked.

So here are the 20 blogs I consider my ULTIMATE favourites, ever. (Not in any particular order.)

5 Tips For Saving Money

You may have seen me tweeting recently that I've been looking up trips to Iceland for next year. It's been a dream destination of mine for forever, and I'd really love to go! However, spare money for trips isn't something I have, so I'm going to have to be really clever about how I do this. Gary and I have been planning everything we want to do, where we'll go, how long for, and the best way to do this - it's been lovely planning it!

But now is the hard part, the actual saving money bit. And that can be tricky, especially for someone like me, who seeks comfort in an online shopping spree when I've had a bad day (anyone else??!). So I've made a list of the five things I think will help me save some pennies along the way, and I thought I'd share it with you guys today. Feel free to leave me more tips in the comments though, I need all the help I can get.


1. Penny jar.
If in doubt, go back to basics! Collecting pennies and loose change in a jar reminds me of being a little kid, hoping to save up enough for whatever music album I wanted next, or the latest glitter gel pen craze. But it's a damn good way of building up a good chunk of money without even noticing! You probably won't feel a difference in simply throwing any little change you have in a jar each day, and soon it'll build up to a surprising amount.

2. Shop wisely.
Don't waste food (I'm terrible for this tbh), maybe hold off on buying another eyeshadow palette, and make sure you grab a great deal when you are purchasing things. I recently found EverydayIsBlackFriday; an amazing deal finder website that scours the web for all the latest deals out there for you. This saves you from doing any work yourself, and you'd be surprised with the amount of amazing deals you'll find! I found my FAVE foundation (Double Wear) on there with £6 off, so it's definitely gone in my bookmarks.

Beauty: New Additions To My Collection

I think it's about time I give a little update on my newest beauty additions; and I think I'm going to indulge in this sort of post each month! Yay. I mean, I'm trying to cut down on the amount of products I have in all my collection, but admittedly that does seem impossible. There are always new things to try and things which tempt me quicker than you can say CHECKOUT, haha. But what better excuse for a blog post?!


The past month I've been trying out the Pure Skincare range*, which has been awesome. Is it just me who gets SUPER excited about trying out a whole new range of products? I love testing them all out together, separately and in depth; to really see how they work and get to know them a little more. Can we count this as a hobby? I'm counting it as a hobby...

From left to right we have;

PURE Regenerate & Boost Eye Serum,
PURE Hydrate & Renew Face Oil,
PURE Regulate & Clear Face Oil,
PURE Clean & Glow Cleansing Oil,
PURE Refresh & Revive Face Spritz.

My Favourite Movie Of All Time

NO SPOILERS.

You know how sometimes in life you find something that so deeply affects you, pierces your very soul, astounds you or changes you in some way? I experienced that back in 2006, a year or two after Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind came out. I hadn't even heard of this film at this point. It was my second year at college, and as part of my Art and Design foundation degree, we had one day each week where we would watch a movie.

Sounds fun eh? It was, mostly. They were all movies chosen to inspire us, that deeply questioned issues our tutors wanted us to represent in our work, or arty ones that were slightly 'off kilter' in some way. I think this was a great idea, and found some truly inspired moments through those Friday morning movie sessions.

July Advertisers

My little letter of love to my monthly sidebar besties might be running a day or two late, so please forgive me. I've had a lot going on the past week or so, and I'm hoping we can let it slide.

I absolutely love getting to do these posts, because it's like my little farewell to a group of people who have so wonderfully supported me for the month, and who I've gotten to know better. Plus it definitely gives me a great excuse to get stuck into a bunch of blogs to read, hehe.

So for July we had a rad bunch of babes, and I'd love for you all to go pop over and visit them!


Fiona - You know this gal, she's been in my sidebar forever - her support is amazing! She's a friend I've not yet met, who blogs about her life, travels, beauty & much more! I can't wait to meet her this month at The Girl Gang event!
Her blog in 3 words: Honest, diverse, cute.

Monthly Highlights

Are you sick of people saying 'Wow, hello August!' yet? I'm not, I'm ecstatic. I love seeing the summer months whizz by! Before you know it, September/October/November will be here and I'm so thrilled! July was a month of lots of fun, laughter and great personal challenges really. Some I'm not quite ready to chat about here. But I'm doing alright really. Looking forward to this next month!

I thought I'd sum up July in all it's glory with some gorgeous lil highlights.


Clothing-
YES. Oh my god. That dress, that one up there. Cute eh? Wanna know how much this costs? £5. YES £5. It is the cutest, sweetest, pinkest, most JEMMA-like dress I've seen in ages, and it's an absolute bargain! You can find it here at Everything5Pounds.com - pop over and check it out! I also got some glittery pumps for the ultimate princessy feels, and the cutest letterman style jacket! FYI I've been teaming this dress with a plain white tee, and converse and it looks SUPER cute. I'll definitely do an outfit post soon!