Hey There Everyone! Spring is almost over, and the sweltering Summer will soon be upon us. Don't get me wrong, I love Summer, but not when it's humid as hell and you're constantly sweating. Anyway, more about Summer later. Today, it's all about what I've been loving over the past three months. Spring is my favourite time of year, not least because it also coincides with my birthday, but because it's such a refreshing time where we are finally graced with a warm sun after the Winter. There's a lot of favourites to get through, so let's go! Starting off the several beauty favourites is The Zodiac Palette from ColourPop! This palette is in collaboration with YouTuber Kathleen Lights, along with several other pieces in the Zodiac Collection. As soon as I saw this palette on ColourPop, I just had to have it - I love all things to do with the Zodiac, and all the colours in this palette looked stunning. As you will probably all know by now, I LOVE ColourPop's eyeshadow formula, so of course I wasn't going to say no to another ColourPop palette in my collection. I've had so much fun playing around with all the different shades, and this palette has really helped me move away from just brown/nude looks. And speaking of browns, I love that the shade for Virgo is a gorgeous chocolate brown, because it's literally my go-to colour. I now really want to get other items from this collection, as well as picking up the palette from Kathleen's Dream Street collaboration. While we're on the subject of brown makeup, I have been obsessed with Tarte's Tartiest Lip Paint in the shade 'Bestie', which is a gorgeous nude brown. Of all the liquid lipsticks in my collection, I've been missing a brown nude like this, so when it arrived in my September Bellabox, I fell in love with it instantly and have been wearing it ever since. The formula is really creamy and it doesn't feel as drying as other matte lips I use. This is also my first foray into Tarte products and it's been a very positive one - I definitely want to get some more of their matte lips, even thought I don't really need any more matte liquid lips. This is most certainly one my favourite products to have received in a Bellabox! Onto haircare, and a brand that I've been using for the past year has been John Frieda, in particular their 'Brilliant Brunette' shampoo and condition range. I've previously talked about their Colour Protecting shampoo and conditioner, but a new favourite that I alternate with Colour Protecting is the Visibly Deeper shampoo and conditioner. As someone with dyed dark brown hair, I've noticed that this formula has worked well in refreshing my colour and, especially at the moment, keeping my regrowth at bay. In general, I really love the Brilliant Brunette range and my hair always feels and smells great after each wash. My hair is definitely loving John Frieda. During Spring I finally got the chance to smell and pick up products from the Zoella Beauty Splash Botanics range. The scent is probably one of my favourite - right up there with Jelly & Gelato - and it's the perfect Spring/Summer scent. In particular, I've been loving the body mist and 'Quench Me' body sorbet. The moisturiser is so refreshing and cooling, so it's been very much appreciated as the weather has warmed up. This is definitely going to be my Summer scent! Speaking of Summer, I've started using the Bondi Sands Liquid Gold Foam tan to bring my pale-ass skin into the healthiness of Summer. I'm still quiet new to using foam tanner, so I'm far from being a pro, but I've really loved the Liquid Gold formula. It's a gradual six-hour tan that you can literally put on and run out the door. The colour is really nice and natural - very Aussie summer glow - and looks really good. If you see me over the Summer, I can guarantee that it's not the sun giving me golden skin, but this Bondi Sands! Final beauty favourite has been some Sukin Masques, in particular the sensitive 'Pink Clay Facial Masque', super greens 'Detoxifying Facial Masque', and oil balancing charcoal 'Anti-Pollution Facial Masque'. I've been doing a mask about once a week, alternating between all three, depending on what my skin is like. I don't know how drastically different all three are, but my skin has certainly been enjoying the weekly treatment. This is the first time I've actually used a Sukin product, but I had always heard really positive things about the brand in general, and it certainly lives up to the hype. Plus, it's an Australian natural skincare brand, so that makes it even better! Okay, I've been way to obsessed with the white chocolate Cadbury Fingers - they are heaven! I love anything with white chocolate, so I was always going to love them, but I'm honestly addicted. I've gone through so many boxes over the Spring, which probably isn't a good thing, but they are just so good! Seriously, you need to try these if you haven't already. A new game came out during Spring and I've been obsessed with it since it was released, and that's Farmers 2050. It's a farming game similar to Farmville and the likes, where you grow crops and raise animals in order to create various products in the town. As you level up, you have access to more crop types, animals and crafting abilities, as well as the ability to expand and produce more - "Grow crops, raise livestock, craft and sell goods and engage with local and global partners as you level up. Feeding the world relies on balancing your economic, social and environmental sustainability so strive to be a leader. Along the way, real farmers from across the world will show you what they are doing on their farms. " It's a 100% free app that provides agricultural education and shows the importance of farmers to the larger world. Plus, it's super addictive and I'm on level 27 already... Another app obsession has been Paper.io 2, which I've played way too much these past few months. I admit, it's easy to become obsessed with any of the .io games, but I've particularly enjoyed this updated version of Paper.io. Like the original game, the aim is to takeover as much of the board as possible, killing other players along the way or stealing their portion of the board. It's so easy to fall down the rabbit hole, saying you'll only play for 5 minutes, only to still be sitting there three hours later trying to get your new high score. It feels like forever ago, but a bit favourite over Spring has been Gabbie Hanna's Honestly/Honestly (Encore). I've loved these songs from the moment Gabbie released them, and I still can't get enough. The two songs are amazing, as is the accompanying music video. In particular, I think the encore comes out on top as my favourite, but only just. The lyrics of these songs are so powerful, and the music works so well with what Gabbie is singing. And on a side note, Gabbie's newest song Monster is also pretty amazing, but it's not quite reached obsession like Honestly just yet. While we're on the subject of music that has been released for several months, I finally discovered Youngblood by 5 Seconds of Summer! I have heard it a few times since it was released, but it's only been in the past couple of months that I've truly appreciated it for the amazing song it is. And if I'm being honest, it was all because Joe & Dianne danced to this song on Strictly back in October that I really fell in love with it. I've not listened to much 5SOS since their debut album came out, but I now really want to go and check out all the songs that I've missed. Finally on the music front we have some more Jesse McCartney! Earlier in the year Jesse released Better With You, which instantly became a favourite, and more recently he released Wasted, which was also an instant favourite. Seriously, if Jesse keeps releasing A+ singles, this new album is going to be epic! And you know what else Jesse does so well? Acoustic versions! Both Better With You and Wasted have acoustic versions, and they are honestly just as good as the originals. I'm very excited for whatever Jesse releases next! When I got The Zodiac palette from ColourPop, I decided to check out Kathleen Lights, and then I fell down the rabbit hole, watching many of her videos from the past eighteen months. Kathleen is such an easy YouTuber to watch, even when I wasn't necessarily interested in the products she was using or reviewing. She's such a laid-back beauty YouTuber and comes across as very down-to-earth, so I'm always keen for her new videos. In particular, I really liked her videos talking about her ColourPop collaborations - how she came up with the theme, colours and names. Similarly, I also started watching Safiya Nygaard, and once again fell down the rabbit hole. Her videos have been popping up in my recommended videos for a while now, so I finally clicked on one and it was such a good decision to make! Safiya makes really fun and interesting videos that are always fun to watch - from mixing all her lipsticks together to wearing a ridiculous piece of clothing, her content is the unexpected. Like Kathleen, I'm always keen for Safiya's new videos, and she's quickly become a YouTuber I watch the day she uploads. Christmas hit me like a freight-train in mid-November, and the tide me over until I could put up the Christmas tree and for Vlogmas 2018 to start, I went back and re-watched all of Zoella's Vlogmas'. I've actually binged these videos several times over the year, but I still love coming back the videos time and time again. Of all the creators doing Vlogmas, Zoe is always my favourite person to watch (closely followed by Alfie and Joe). Zoe also LOVES Christmas, so her Vlogmas videos are always super festive and I'm definitely way more excited for Christmas now than I was before I started this rewatch. BRING ON VLOGMAS 2018! I don't usually talk about books on this blog, given that I've got a whole blog dedicated to books over at My Books Are Me. But during Spring, I've been bingeing some of the works of Emma Hart, one of, if not my all-time, favourite romance authors. I've been working my way through Emma's books for about eighteen months now, and whenever I get back to her work, I always end up reading several of her books back-to-back. All the books I've read so far are four to five star reads, and I honestly can't get enough of her books! Thank god Emma is always releasing new books, because I'm scared of the day I finally catch up and don't have anything left to read. Seriously, if you're a romance and contemporary fan, you NEED to check out Emma's books! Three I recommend for first-time Emma Hart readers are - Best Served Cold, Four Day Fling, and Miss Mechanic (although honestly, you start with any of her books). As I said at the start of this post, Spring is my favourite time of year (very closely followed by Christmas), so I've been loving the past three months and the Spring atmosphere. The sun is finally throwing some warmth, daylight savings has kicked in, and everything just feels fresh.
If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, I hope you've enjoyed Spring just as much as me, and if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope the Fall/Autumn has been fabulous. With December (and the Summer) almost upon us, get ready for LOTS of festive content to celebrate the Silly Season! See You Soon! Victoria :) |
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