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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!