Collective Haul | Fashion.

We are all too familiar with that very beaut of a day formally known as payday and if you're anything like me you've more than likely spent it all. In all fairness ever since I got back from travelling I haven't really been able to spend any money so of course I made the most of my first disposable pay check. 

My partner Alex, and I had our first week off from work since we both started working which was primarily to redecorate his room. But we did manage to get out and about and do some shopping as well as a few date nights- my favourite. So, these are all the goodies I gathered within that week and a few pieces I have bought since pay day. Boy, it felt good to buy some new clothes.

Now, when it comes to shopping I have (thankfully) got out of the mindset of just buying what I like because I like it in that moment. I give items more of a thought now. Have any of you heard of the term 'capsule wardrobe'? Well, this is now my way of living. I ended up putting back so many items because I thought, 'will I wear this in 5 years time?' and the answer was more than likely no. In turn I also ended up saving money which is always great because it's money that can be spent on slightly more expensive pieces that I know I will still wear in 5 years time.  I tend to go for a lot more neutral colours now as well. 

On with the haul.

Firstly, this gorgeous pair of Kurt Geiger's. I have honestly wanted these shoes for the past 2 years and when I saw they had dropped from £160 to £79 I had to snatch them! A few weeks passed and my extremely generous partner offered to pay for them as a treat- isn't he a gem.

A Day In London | Travel Diary 2016.

I absolutely adore London. If there is ever an excuse to go, I am there. Alex and I had wanted to go during our week off from work but sadly never got the chance. Luckily, I did have a reason for us to go which was work related - I had to go to the DKNY flagship store to get some clothing for uniform (£800 worth all for free!!) So, hooray we were going. 

Being my only day off this week, we decided to get the 9:14 train as to have some form of a lye in (still up at 8am). The first thing we did in London was pay a visit to DKNY on Old Bond Street. I got sized and given a bag of clothing which was incredible of them. Then we went to Fortnum and Mason for a look around- we did end up buying Hugh (Alex's father) his birthday presents! With a little bit of shopping on Regent Street next stop, my favourite Liberty! We mooched around and I got colour tested at Nars. By this point we were getting hungry and it was around 13:30 so we headed to our favourite lunch spot Bone Daddies in Soho. We have been previously and seriously the ramen is amazing! I had the Spicy Miso ramen and Alex had Tonkotsu ramen.

Alex's

Natural Deodorants | Review.

Now, this isn't going to be the most glamorous blog post but it's something I wanted to address because I'm forever harping on at the people around me about the importance of using natural deodorant. 

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick a.k.a THE Best Lip Product | Review.

I am going to let you in on my best beauty secret yet! Prepare to receive the most compliments you can imagine because this product seriously kicks ass. 
In my last haul I mentioned that I had picked up 3 shades of the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipsticks in the colours 'Nude-ist', 'Don't pink of it', and 'Cool Brown.' Since wearing this product every day to work I have been inundated with compliments and I've even had them compared to Mac and Kylie Jenner's lip kits!

Mini Boots Haul | Review.

Hello everyone!

I hope you've all had a relaxing or productive Sunday. I certainly kept busy with laundry and clearing out my room ready for moving day. It's amazing how much you can hoard away and then it comes to moving and you've all of a sudden got 10 bags going to charity- where does it all come from! Aside from that I took a walk down to Boots to stock up on some of my skincare bits and a few treats. Yesterday, I went to Winchester with Alex and his parents and I found some lip products I really wanted to try however, all of the shades I wanted were missing or had been opened.. (come on girls). So, I waited until I could pay a visit to my local Boots and hooray they had all 3 shades and to my happiness the 3 for 2 promotion was still on . It's always nice to treat yourself at least once a month for all your hard work.

I'm forever trialing out new body creams making sure to try something different whenever I run out, but on this occasion I repurchased the 'Norwegian Formula nourishing body lotion with nordic berry' because I just love it so much. It's very lightweight and rubs in so quickly with no sticky feeling after. It retails for £5.29 which is so affordable!
To remove my makeup I always used to use my trusty Bioderma H20 water but it was so difficult to get hold of in the UK so when Garnier released their Micellar water I was keen to try it out. I've used nothing since because it just works so wonderfully. It's non irritant and removes my makeup thoroughly so of course I had to stock up when I saw it on promotion for £3 down from £5. I'm going to do a blog post in the upcoming future of my skincare routine and regime. 
Next on my list was my skincare. My skin is a tricky one because most products irritate it or break me out. I've been using the Boots Simply Sensitive range for years now after I was using their Boots Botanics range neither of which irritate my skin. My skin type is combination, oily t-zone, sensitive and prone to acne. I really rate this product line, its ridiculously affordable both toner and face cleanser retail at £1.99 each so I would definitely recommend them. 
Last but not least I bought 3 shades of the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet matt lipsticks which claim to last 24 hours. They are beautiful colours and I cannot wait to trial them.

A Day In The Life - My Weekend | Lifestyle.

For Christmas last year my partner, Alex and I bought his father a ticket to go Gliding at Lasham airfield. It was always something I had heard him mention he would love to do so Alex and I made it happen! Luckily, the ticket could be used at any point within a year of purchase. He decided to wait until our 4 month travels had come to an end as he wanted us to be there with him on the day so we could all enjoy it together. 
The weekend commencing the 23rd of July just so happened to be the first weekend Alex and I had off work together (yay-such a rare occurance) so it was done, booked and ready to go.

Saturday, July 23rd.

Alarm set for 9am I was up and ready to go by 10am. We got there nice and early and it was such a beautiful day- timed just perfectly. Being that his flight didn't take off until 11am we sat in the beautiful sunshine with ice creams watching everyone else take off. Then, came his turn. Alex, his mother and myself were invited along with to the runway so we could watch him take off. It was such a cool experience for him and we thoroughly enjoyed watching the gliders in the air.

After the flight, we headed back to their home for a yummy lunch and we all enjoyed an iced coffee sat outside in the beautiful sunshine. It was honestly such a wonderful day, and it was just so lovely to all have a nice time together.

Sunday July 24th.

'One day you'll wake up at 11:30AM on a Sunday morning with the love of your life and you'll make some coffee and pancakes and it'll be alright'. This was an ecard I read on Instagram on my Monday morning commute to work. I loved it so much because on this very Sunday Alex and I did just that. We got to enjoy a much needed lye in and then enjoy a coffee and some pancakes sat in the garden. We spent the entire day together just the two of us and it was wonderful. The recipe we used for the pancakes was one of Jamie Oliver's. If there is one thing we love, it's a good pancake and we have spent many years trying to perfect them. However, it seems Jamie Oliver got there first and we would totally recommend his recipe as we use it every time.

My 23rd Birthday & Dartmouth | Travel Diary 2015.

(birthday cake made for me by Alex-lemon drizzle)

I feel like ever since 2012 I've set myself up with a very expensive tradition of having to go away for my birthday. Every year when it approaches my birthday month I automatically think right, where to this year and although I haven't necessarily gone away every birthday I've managed to most years. The first time being back in 2012 for my 20th, Alex and I went to Dorset and we stayed in a star gazing pod (glamping) for a long weekend. It was so magical we did nothing all day but watch films and cosy up with the log burner on. The second time being my 21st with a trip to Paris, my 22nd we stayed in Bath and enjoyed a meal at Turtle Bay and a birthday breakfast at Bills the following morning and my 23rd birthday we went to Dartmouth. 

Having already been to Dartmouth in 2014 I knew for sure I wanted to go back again. Alex and I have wonderful memories there and we always manage to enjoy ourselves -we never want to leave. So, we decided to go again for my birthday. We departed the day after my birthday so I enjoyed the day with mine and his family and then got to keep the excitement going because we were going away!