December Favourites: What's In My Bag.

It's winter time! And I thought I'd share with you lovely people a few items in my tiny little bag.
Enjoy!

1. Chunky Accessorize scarf.

I bought this chunky piece of knitted goodness last year as a Christmas present to myself, it was a premeditate buy and one that I am so glad I went for! The scarf is a big snood and is 100% wool- I cannot express to you how warm it keeps me. I have to wear it as one big loop when it's even mildly sunny because the thing keeps my neck a little too well insulated at times. I am DEFINITELY the sort of person who feels the cold (I blame my mother for giving me her incredibly poor circulation) and this buy is one of the best I've ever made.

2. Palmer's Cocoa Butter Lip Balm.

Palmer's- I don't know what it is, but they just get it right for me. Being a huge advocate of all their moisturising products, be it butters, oils or any other chocolatey products of joy- their lip products is what got me hooked. I usually go for a tube of their glossy moisturisers but when I grabbed this little gem off the shelf in a Tesco express all in a faff (as per usual) I figured I'd have a regular chap-stick type balm, for ease of access. This one is the chocolate and mint, and lord the smell is honestly gorgeous, but not too overwhelming either.

My lips have been so completely chapped and sore lately (my lip struggles never cease, I won't bore you with the details) and this little lip balm is an absolute saviour. Usually I put some on in the morning as I do my makeup to keep them soft, top up before I rush out into the cold and then also a little at night before I go to sleep so I don't wake up with that awful chapped and mildly pissed off look. (Instead I just stick with the mildly pissed off look.)
Palmer's you're just doing it right. Thank you for gorgeous smelling, beautiful effective products.

3. Sony earphones.

Earphones. Essential for travelling around Kent on poor public transport, especially in the dark and cold, by myself.

My current companions are little pink Sony buds, and I love them very much.

4. Lena Dunham's: Not That Kind Of Girl.

Okay, so this could turn into an entire post fangirling over Lena Dunham: her amazingly successful shows, her acting or writing, her wit, her honesty, her incredible sense of humour, fabulous levels of realism, how she is flawed in such a human way that everyone can relate to the broken pieces of her, her approaches to her own hair (currently luminous and amazing), her outlook on body image- Lena Dunham is someone who has completely enticed me into the arts world she emerged from.

Her book is hilarious and heartbreaking, realistic and outrageous, sincere and obscenely sarcastic- the storiess you will hear will each have an impact on the reader: making them stop to think and consider something: their own outlook on the world, their parents, their childhood fears, a string of ex-boyfriends, being in love, being heartbroken. Lena Dunham is incredible- I bought the book the second it hit the shelves in Waterstones and I keep it in my bag for free periods or coffee's alone, even the bus (despite the fact reading whilst travelling makes me feel gross- that's how much I was committed to reading this book.).

5. Kleenex. (I'm not going to photograph it because y'all know what Kleenex is, don't play.)

It's cold season, embrace the granny attitude of keeping tissues on you. You will thank yourself, I promise.

6. Body Shop Hand Sanitizer.

Again, it's cold season and after feeling like my insides hated me for about 4 days, I am OVER being ill. I am by no means a germ freak BUT I am sick of being ill, painkillers and laying in bed not being able to sleep. So I invested in hand sanitiser- which usually I have issues with because the smell makes me feel like hospitals and waiting rooms (and I don't know about you, but it's not a smell that hugely appeals to me). My personal favourite is Mango Hand Cleanse- but I'm just a mango obsessive so.

7. To Do Book.

I am a very disorganised and easily panicked individual, so I have a to do book. I picked up this teenie little black book for my notes and lists etc from Sainsbury's for literally 99p, and I feel like everyone needs a light little list book full of their to do lists. My essential.

Hope you enjoyed this little insight into what's in my bag! Please feel free to comment below anything you have to say- I'd love to hear from you!

X

Winter Skin Worries

Summer is coming to an end, the bronzers, fake tans and bikinis are being hidden away again and the cool weather is coming!
If you're anything like me the cold weather means my skin will decide to play up and fuss. It's understandable, it comes as a nasty shock to many when the cold weather comes around. But never fear, this is my cold weather products for skin!

1. Washes and Cleansers!

Okay, so teenage years are infamous for being the ones spent desperately trying to sort out various issues with appearance, one that affects us the most? Your skin. The only way I've been able to battle my skin over the last couple of years has been trying a variety of different face washes and finding ones that work for me. My skin is fairly average, although it gets oily around my nose and T zone in the summer, and dries right out in the cold weather! (Basically my skin just hates me...)

So, I use Neutrogena's Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit wash for my everyday in the morning. I had to try it because I used Neutrogena's regular orange coloured wash- and this one was pink. Pink. What can a girl do?!

I love this product because if your skin is feeling oily, not fresh and just a little bit meh, it's really great for getting rid of that without drying out your skin completely! I always find any facewash with microbeads in it make my skin finish up feeling really clean and scrubbed and soft afterwards, and this was no exception. The product smells great, looks very cute but most importantly works for me! The only thing I would say is I wouldn't use this product more than once a day on myself, simply because my skin would dry out so quickly! For removing impurities this product is my number one sking product, but I would say that the product claims to sort out your blemishes... it may do an extent but I havent found it to fix my blemishes completely! *Sigh*...
To conclude: great smelling, leaves my face feeling super soft, clears impurities super well, and doesn't dry out my skin! It's only about £3.00 at Boots, and such a bargain!

2. Moisturisers

This moisturiser was the easiest thing to pick, and yes- I am going to gush about it.
My mum has always been a great believer in the goodness of The Body Shop. I grew up on fruity soaps, sweet perfumes and am the proud owner of every lip balm flavour The Body Shop can offer. My mum left me the Vitamin E Moisture Lotion as a little pre exams present (because she knew I was stressed, and my skin was also in a sad state, and just also because my mum is a wonderful lady...) so I had no hype or expectation for it to be fabulous.

I fell in love with this moisturiser straight away. Why?
Well firstly, it smells subtly wonderful. The scent isn't super strong and overpowering, just slightly sweet and fresh enough for you to just appreciate it and think "ahh".
Secondly- it's light. Now i'm usually useless with moisturising- I hate it. It's tedious and boring and I forget to do it. Due to this product I now remember and (this will sound really very sad) look forward to using this product. It's very very light and has a kind of "whipped" quality to it, so it doesn't sit on your skin for hours and make it look oil.
Thirdly, you only need a tiny bit of the product and it goes a long way- I've had mine since April and it's still going strong with me now, and I use it every day! I absolutely love it, and even though it looks like a very small tube for a £7 product- it's 100% worth it.

Now I keep skin simple and with washes and moisturisers, so part 3 would be my regular foundation/ tinted moisturiser/ BB cream things- and as those change so regularly I won't put all the ones I use on here!
So that's it really, if your skin is getting a bit boring and sad, and just generally neglected- these are my little skin pick me ups for when the weather gets grey and you skin needs a little happiness!

If you have any suggestions about any  reasonably priced foundations that are good for every day please leave me any comments, or if you have anything to ask/ say about the products above I would love to see it so let me know!
That's all from me,
Love Matti X