It's that time of the month again, no not that time, the monthly favorites part of the month! When I was trying to compile the list of things I was loving this month nearly everything was repeating from last month, because i'm clearly such an exciting person, but mainly because I binge watched Once Upon a Time and finished it. I totally regretted flying through all of the episodes as the new series won't be out till the end of September and now I've to wait a whole month to see what happens next. But after listing everything that i've been loving this month, I actually had more than I thought, and decided not to add in Once Upon a Time again as this little paragraph summed up how much i'm still addicted! SO lets get into it..
1. Mac Retro Matte: Relentlessly Red
This has been my favourite lipstick as it's the perfect shade between pink and red. If you apply it lightly and smudge it with your finger you get this beautiful deep dusty pink shade and if you apply it normally then you get the amazing pinky red shade. I'm also a huge fan of matte lipsticks so this is perfect, and also stays put on your lips, no need for much re-applying, unless you're eating.
2. Wacom Bamboo tablet
Since the month of August has been really busy for me with work, i've been using my Wacom drawing tablet a lot more. It's so easy to use and great if you want to creating digital lettering pieces with your own hand lettering as it's the same as using pen on paper.
3. Urban Outfitters WIP nail varnish: Burst
This is such a fun top coat with any colour nail varnish as a base. It has different shapes and sizes of confetti pieces such as pink hexagons, black dots, smaller blue hexagons and more. It's great for making any plain nail varnish colour that bit more fun.
4. Aldi Pizza base and homemade pizza with dough balls
I've been loving using this roll out pizza dough from Aldi as it's ready to go and you just have to add your sauce and toppings. As our oven is a little bit smaller than regular ovens, the whole dough doesn't quite fit so I have to cut a section off from the side, but then I just use that small section to make garlic butter dough balls by making garlic butter, spreading it on the smaller bit of dough, rolling the long end in, cutting it into sections and standing them on baking paper on an oven tray on their opened rolled side. They cook at the same amount of time as the pizza. I use my pasta sauce recipe, without the added ingredients, for the sauce base then add whatever toppings and cheese I want. It's such a delicious dinner and so easy to make.
5. Swatch watch
Since wearing my other swatch watch to death everyday for about 3 years it was time to get a new one for my birthday in March, so after having a navy one that went with every outfit, I decided to get a more colourful one. I got the Shunbukin swatch watch with the pink and purple straps with the green face. I've been loving it for the whole summer as it's so bright and goes with all my summer outfits, not that i'm going to take it off for winter, but I just thought i'd share it as it's one of my favourite fashion accessories at the minute.
6. This American life podcast
After listening to the whole Serial podcast series, I needed something else to listen to, so keeping with the same people I decided to give the 'This American Life' podcast series a go and i'm really enjoying it. It always has a great narrative and different interview with different topics about American life each week. I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking for something new and interesting to listen to.
7. The Great British Bake Off
The best time of the year is when The Great British Bake Off comes back on our screens. This has to be one of my most favourite things to watch, I love seeing the amazing ideas and learning new tips and tricks about baking, mostly what not to do when making particular things. And it also means we get to watch Mary Berry on our screens again! This show makes my love for baking grow more and more with each episode.
8. Insomnia Orea Ice Caps
When I downloaded the new 3Plus app I noticed that you could get 2 free Insomnia Ice Caps to try, only one at a time, so I was curious to see what they we're like. When I went in there was 4 different flavours to choose from, but of course I opted for the oreo one and it was amazing! Almost like an oreo milkshake but cool and refreshing like a slushy.
9. Audiology Portable Phone Charger
I got this charge in the sale in Urban Outfitters for €6 (usually €32) and it's great. It's small enough that it fits into any bag. You simply leave it on charge until you see a blue light and then it charges your phone on the go. I think it has usually lasted 3 full charges until i've needed to recharge it again. But this is so handy to have on the go, especially since I usually watch Netflix on the bus. I got the plain pink one but you can find the same ones here with different patterns.
10. 3 Plus app and 2 for €10 cinema
I'm such a huge cinema fan, especially if it's just an excuse to get cinema popcorn (YUM!). So when I heard about the new 3Plus app and the 2 for €10 cinema tickets in any IMC, ODEON, Screen and Savoy cinema, I was sold! This deal starts from Sundays after 6pm till Thursdays, and you can book online with the code or show the code on the app in the cinema when you're purchasing the tickets.
11. Pixar's Lava short film and song
Since getting the 3Plus app we've been going the cinema a lot more than we used to, and recently went to see InsideOut, which was such an amazing movie by Pixar, as usual! But before the movie started, we we're shown the new Pixar short film, which is usually shown before each Pixar movie. This one was about a singing volcano with a play on the phrase 'I Lava You', it was so heart warming and I immediately fell in love with the song, and have been playing in on my Spotify playlist almost every day.
Hope you enjoyed my favourites this month,
Jess x