February already, say whaaaaat?! I can't get over how quickly the weeks are flying in, especially since I've just started a new telly job and each day feels like it's over in the blink of an eye. Which is good, because it's super busy! But it means that the weekends also pass by a little too quickly. At the weekend just there we celebrated mine and Pete's anniversary with cocktails and dinner at a local tapas restaurant which was DELICIOUS. We caught up on lots of sleep, I spent saturday afternoon at Cafe Strange Brew with Lori, Lynsay and her lovely pals for a Galentine's gathering, worked on my new blog layout (what d'ya think?) had pizza for dinner on sunday, and watched a few movies (Oh, and started on the new X-Files, holy smokes it's good!) This has been a pretty great month so far, even though we're only half way through. So I thought I'd share a selection of my February favourites!
1. Kikki K Stationary
I can't believe I hadn't properly stumbled across Kikki K until now. I heard Carrie from Wish Wish Wish speaking about them on her snapchat recently (my username is hellorogue if you wanna come see pointless snaps of me and the cats) and then my business mentor bought me a notebook, vision board cards and a lovely cotton drawstring gift bag back in January. I finally went on to check out there website, and, well... STATIONARY PORN. I almost love them more than Paperchase. Okay that was harsh, I love them and Paperchase equally. Can't wait for payday so I can place an order for lots of paper paraphernalia which I don't need. Stationary fiends, I cannot be held responsible for what ends up in your shopping basket if you go have a look. It's all so damn pretty!
2. Merumaya Exfoliating Toner
After falling in love with quite a few of the Merumaya skincare products because they gave such quick and effective results, I was sent their Gentle Exfoliating Toner to try out. I need to be honest, I've never used toner in my life, ever (despite always hearing the traditional cleanse, tone, moisturise mantra) So, that's exactly what I've been doing. Cleansing, toning and moisturising in the mornings and evenings, with a Lush face mask once or twice a week (currently on Cup O Coffee, love it!) Trying to keep my routine simple and it seems to be working. I was intrigued by the fact that this toner also exfoliates your skin, due to the natural AHA's which munch away at the dead skin cells, unblocking and cleansing your pores. I'm not used to using cotton pads so the first few times I poured out much more product than what I needed, but I seem to have got the hang of it now. It's helped with my blemishes and still leaves my skin feeling plump and hydrated.
3.Urban Decay X Gwen Stefani -
I never realised that there were going to be any more products in the UD X Gwen collab after the eyeshadow palette, and ohhhhh how I was wrong. I've died and gone to blusher heaven with this beautiful palette. It's a bit big to carry around in my makeup bag so I shall use it in the mornings or before I head out, then keep it safely stored at home like I do with the eyeshadow palette. I was initially worried about letting the lipsticks and lip liners bash around my makeup bag, because look at that beautiful packaging! In the photo I've got the Lipsticks in Wonderland, Rock Steady and Firebird along with the matching liners (which I definitely think you need, as the lipsticks are quite glossy in consistency and no matter how neat I was I couldn't stop them from bleeding slightly along the lip line) And in the shameless selfie at work today I was feeling sassy with Firebird and Easy blush from the palette. They have also released another Brow Box with this range which would be perfect for you blonde haired folks out there. I'm still using their original Brow Box which I mentioned in my makeup vlog, and feel like I'm getting a much more natural feel with my brows these days.
4. Random acts of kindness
A couple of unexpected surprises have came my way this month, which got me thinking about random acts of kindness and how I'd like to pay it forward more often. I received a lovelylittle valentines parcel from Laura full of cute polaroids with inspirational quotes, a photobooth strip and a card - all beautifully wrapped with adorable hand made trimmings. I'd had a really stressful morning on the phone dealing with dreaded life admin stuff, and was suitably raging when I went to answer the door to my postman. Her surprise parcel couldn't have came at a better time, and certainly helped lift the red mist which had descended after a frustrating morning. Lynsay also did a bloody lovely thing and invited me along to a super cute Galentines lunch with her friends on Saturday. We had coffee and cake, took part in a hilarious quiz which Lynsay made for us, and left with cute little goody bags full of girly treats and a GLITTERY GEL PEN YOU GUYS. Using this pen for all serious business work hence forth. Especially signing important girl boss contracts and cheques! Being surrounded by such kind and supportive people makes me want to be a better person every day. So thank you, ladies.
5. Bonnie Bling
I went on a bit of a happy rant on Facebook about personalised things and how they're still a total novelty to me, as I found them pretty much impossible to get as a child (Thanks for the awkward name, Mum! JustkiddingIloveit) I've been wearing this custom name necklace from Bonnie Bling since the day it landed on my doorstep. They have loads of different options but I opted for black and silver on a silver chain, as I wanted it to go with everything. I don't wear a lot of jewellery, pretty much just this and my Bloody Mary Metal crossbones ring which Leah got me. I'd definitely like to add to my silver ring collection though (which consists of um, three so far) Just anything that doesn't eventually turn my fingers green would be great (Topshop your jewellery is pretty but I'm lookin' at you!)
So, that's about it on the February favourites front. As long as I can continue to keep a happy balance between work and play, and not let myself get overwhelmed, then 2016 should pan out to be a pretty good year. I still have days where my anxiety is a total battle but the good days currently outweigh the bad, so long may that continue! Thank you, as always, for stopping by my little corner of the internet.
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I can't believe I hadn't properly stumbled across Kikki K until now. I heard Carrie from Wish Wish Wish speaking about them on her snapchat recently (my username is hellorogue if you wanna come see pointless snaps of me and the cats) and then my business mentor bought me a notebook, vision board cards and a lovely cotton drawstring gift bag back in January. I finally went on to check out there website, and, well... STATIONARY PORN. I almost love them more than Paperchase. Okay that was harsh, I love them and Paperchase equally. Can't wait for payday so I can place an order for lots of paper paraphernalia which I don't need. Stationary fiends, I cannot be held responsible for what ends up in your shopping basket if you go have a look. It's all so damn pretty!
2. Merumaya Exfoliating Toner
After falling in love with quite a few of the Merumaya skincare products because they gave such quick and effective results, I was sent their Gentle Exfoliating Toner to try out. I need to be honest, I've never used toner in my life, ever (despite always hearing the traditional cleanse, tone, moisturise mantra) So, that's exactly what I've been doing. Cleansing, toning and moisturising in the mornings and evenings, with a Lush face mask once or twice a week (currently on Cup O Coffee, love it!) Trying to keep my routine simple and it seems to be working. I was intrigued by the fact that this toner also exfoliates your skin, due to the natural AHA's which munch away at the dead skin cells, unblocking and cleansing your pores. I'm not used to using cotton pads so the first few times I poured out much more product than what I needed, but I seem to have got the hang of it now. It's helped with my blemishes and still leaves my skin feeling plump and hydrated.
3.Urban Decay X Gwen Stefani -
I never realised that there were going to be any more products in the UD X Gwen collab after the eyeshadow palette, and ohhhhh how I was wrong. I've died and gone to blusher heaven with this beautiful palette. It's a bit big to carry around in my makeup bag so I shall use it in the mornings or before I head out, then keep it safely stored at home like I do with the eyeshadow palette. I was initially worried about letting the lipsticks and lip liners bash around my makeup bag, because look at that beautiful packaging! In the photo I've got the Lipsticks in Wonderland, Rock Steady and Firebird along with the matching liners (which I definitely think you need, as the lipsticks are quite glossy in consistency and no matter how neat I was I couldn't stop them from bleeding slightly along the lip line) And in the shameless selfie at work today I was feeling sassy with Firebird and Easy blush from the palette. They have also released another Brow Box with this range which would be perfect for you blonde haired folks out there. I'm still using their original Brow Box which I mentioned in my makeup vlog, and feel like I'm getting a much more natural feel with my brows these days.
4. Random acts of kindness
A couple of unexpected surprises have came my way this month, which got me thinking about random acts of kindness and how I'd like to pay it forward more often. I received a lovelylittle valentines parcel from Laura full of cute polaroids with inspirational quotes, a photobooth strip and a card - all beautifully wrapped with adorable hand made trimmings. I'd had a really stressful morning on the phone dealing with dreaded life admin stuff, and was suitably raging when I went to answer the door to my postman. Her surprise parcel couldn't have came at a better time, and certainly helped lift the red mist which had descended after a frustrating morning. Lynsay also did a bloody lovely thing and invited me along to a super cute Galentines lunch with her friends on Saturday. We had coffee and cake, took part in a hilarious quiz which Lynsay made for us, and left with cute little goody bags full of girly treats and a GLITTERY GEL PEN YOU GUYS. Using this pen for all serious business work hence forth. Especially signing important girl boss contracts and cheques! Being surrounded by such kind and supportive people makes me want to be a better person every day. So thank you, ladies.
5. Bonnie Bling
I went on a bit of a happy rant on Facebook about personalised things and how they're still a total novelty to me, as I found them pretty much impossible to get as a child (Thanks for the awkward name, Mum! JustkiddingIloveit) I've been wearing this custom name necklace from Bonnie Bling since the day it landed on my doorstep. They have loads of different options but I opted for black and silver on a silver chain, as I wanted it to go with everything. I don't wear a lot of jewellery, pretty much just this and my Bloody Mary Metal crossbones ring which Leah got me. I'd definitely like to add to my silver ring collection though (which consists of um, three so far) Just anything that doesn't eventually turn my fingers green would be great (Topshop your jewellery is pretty but I'm lookin' at you!)
So, that's about it on the February favourites front. As long as I can continue to keep a happy balance between work and play, and not let myself get overwhelmed, then 2016 should pan out to be a pretty good year. I still have days where my anxiety is a total battle but the good days currently outweigh the bad, so long may that continue! Thank you, as always, for stopping by my little corner of the internet.
