BEAUTY

Starting off with a shower favourite, if you read my recent Soap & Glory review then it'll come as no surprise to you that the Sugar Crush body wash made it into this post! If it's possible to be head over heels in love with a scent then I certainly am - so much so that I went out and bought the body lotion, the spray & the hand cream in the scent the weekend after I wrote that review. Smelling like sweet, lime goodness 24/7 is now an achievable goal thanks to Soap & Glory!

Moving onto makeup, I have two products I want to talk about; a lipstick & a mascara. The lipstick in question is 'Twig' from MAC which I won in a blog giveaway back in January and I can say without a doubt it's my new favourite lipstick. It's one of those gorgeous deep pinky brown shades - definitely my kind of nude. The satin finish means it's got serious lasting power whilst still being forgiving on the lips, aka a match made in heaven. I can't gush about it enough!

The mascara is one I picked up on a whim one day when I was in the pharmacy. I'd never heard anyone talk about the Wet 'n' Wild Mega Protein mascara before, nor am I the biggest fan of bristle wands but something drew me to it. Possibly the bright green tube, possibly the fact that it was only £2 something! Each time I use it I'm more and more impressed at how it manages to coat every lash without going clumpy, almost like you've just had your lashes tinted which is ideal for me. My only complaint is that it tends to go on your eyelid when you're applying it but that could just be me being more used to plastic wands. It's something I'm happy to put up with though as the effect & the super low price make it worthwhile.



ETC.

As for more miscellaneous favourites, I have two Youtube channels I've been loving and two Things I Did to mention. Not sure how else to categorise the latter!

The first Youtuber is Sophie Eggleton who I discovered through a collab she did with Zoe London. She shares a variety of vlogs, interviews, honest & interesting chats as well as fashion & beauty videos, all delivered with a good sense of humour! Funny & down to earth are two qualities that are used to describe people very often but believe me when I say she really is both of those things. I find her particularly relatable because we both have CFS and it's always helpful & comforting to be able to get the viewpoint from someone who really understands.

Bess Oates is someone I also feel I share a lot of similarities with. This month she created a new channel in a bid to start afresh and allow herself to make videos about anything she wanted to without any pressure. I'm so glad she did because you can tell she feels happier & more free to talk about topics like feminism, veganism and plenty of other good things. She uploaded a video everyday in February and I watched & enjoyed every one each day! Both Sophie & Bess have served as inspiration for the type of content I want to create on Youtube when I get back into it so if either of them read this, thank you!

Lastly, the two fun things that happened in February were recording a podcast with Catherine & meeting up with my blogger pen pal Megan! Both events were so much fun & definite highlights of the month for me so I couldn't not mention them.

So those were my February Favourites! Get involved in the comments below and let me know if you've tried any of the things I talked about or know of any of the channels I included!

What was your favourite thing about February?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

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So there you have it, another week gone by! It's hard to believe this time next week we'll be in March already. Go ahead and get involved in the comments below and let me know what you got up to this week! Anything nice?

How was your week?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x

Nina Nesbitt

The month kicked off with the release of Nina Nesbitt's Modern Love EP, from which my favourite song is definitely Chewing Gum. I really like how she's formed into a seemingly gutsier, more powerful lyricist since her first album and that goes hand in hand with the actual melody which is insanely catchy too. Nina actually uploaded a video on her channel sharing how she wrote the song and how it came to be from a mere idea which is a pretty interesting watch. It's refreshing to see an artist be so frank about the writing process & I kinda wish more would do the same! Overall the EP is a nice little taste of what's next to come from Nina.

Rihanna

Also in February I was listening to Rihanna's new album, ANTI. As a longtime fan of hers I always look forward to her releases however this album as a whole sadly didn't meet my expectations. Don't get me wrong there are some great songs on there like Desperado and Love On The Brain, both of which I really do like a lot, it's just those are the only ones I enjoy. Work too, her current single which has been all over the radio lately. I know it's had mixed reviews from people but I personally love it! I think (and hope) the other tracks on ANTI might just take it's time to grow on me, yknow?

FKA Twigs

Then by chance I stumbled across FKA Twigs' new song, Good To Love on Spotify towards the end of the month. It came as a lovely surprise as I didn't know to expect anything new from her and I think it could possibly be the song of hers I like most! I think she's presenting an impressive new quality to her voice as well as a more optimistic outlook in the lyrics which I love. Fingers are crossed for more soon!

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I also want to leave a little note on something in music which really affected me & got me thinking this month. Kanye West (who you might know is one of my absolute favourites) dropped his long anticipated new album, The Life Of Pablo a few weeks ago. We'd been eagerly waiting for a new list of songs to get to know and on the 14th February he released them. Except, not really. He made the decision to make the album exclusive to Tidal subscribers.

In my current situation I can't afford to subscribe to Tidal every month. I'll unashamedly say that that's the truth & the reality for me as I'm sure it is too for plenty of others. I'd be happy to buy the physical copy of the album once I know if I like it, that's what I always do with music; if I absolutely love an album after streaming it I'll buy the CD as a way to support the artist I'm loyal to. However Kanye's not making this available to buy on disc.

The numerous album name changes didn't annoy me, neither did his frequent Twitter speeches but this did. Seeing as he's spoken passionately in the past about how problematic exclusivity is, I can't help but feel disappointed, confused and quite honestly a bit upset that The Life Of Pablo isn't available for everyone to listen to. But as always, Kanye is an open & unfinished book so who knows what could happen next! There's even word of another album this year which I truly hope anyone will be able to access!

So there you have it, my monthly music wrap up. I'd love for you to get involved in the comments below and let me know if you have any recommendations as to be honest with you I'm in desperate need of some really good new music to get into! Please also share your thoughts on the Kanye situation if you'd like to, I would love to chat about it with someone.

What have you been listening to?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x

This week . . .

. . . began by recording a podcast with Catherine! I'd never done one before but it turned out to be so much fun and I'm so happy we did it. We also intend on doing another one in the near future so keep an eye out for that. If you have any topics you think we should discuss feel free to let us know, that would be pretty cool!

Then on Monday night I went to the first yoga class in the new gym my mum and I signed up for. I hadn't done yoga for about a month beforehand so it feels great to be getting back into it and I'm really looking forward to having an hour every week dedicated to relaxation mixed with gentle exercise! It left me fairly sore afterwards but I definitely think it was worth it.

While we're on the topic of excitement, I met up with my blogger friend & pen pal Megan yesterday! She was in Belfast for the weekend so we took the opportunity to get together for a chat in Caffe Nero then have a wee look round Boots which was great fun. I really recommend checking out her blog as she is beyond lovely and we have lots in common with each other too!


And that brings us up to today. I spent this afternoon having lunch with my parents in M&S (their pesto, mozzarella & tomato grilled sandwich is amazing) then just chilling at home which is what Sundays were made for!

Well now you're all caught up on my week, I'd love for you to get involved in the comments below and tell me about yours!

How was your week?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x

Clean On Me

Y'know Soap & Glory's signature scent? Well this is it in shower gel form! If you're not familiar it's a lovely mix of floral & fruitiness which I think would appeal to most people. As the name suggests, you come out of the shower smelling super fresh & clean!

Rich & Foamous

Almonds, oats & brown sugar are all part of this yummy aroma which I now know pairs with The Breakfast Scrub exfoliator, the scent I considered my favourite before trying Sugar Crush. I would definitely buy the full size of this!

Clean, Girls

And lastly, this one is quite similar to Clean On Me in that it's both fruity & floral but there's just something that little bit different. It's hard to describe but it's almost like they're sister scents!

So there you have it, my thoughts on these body washes! As a result of writing this I now really feel like trying some more from the brand so if you have any recommendations, please get involved in the comments below!

What's your favourite Soap & Glory product?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x

Somehow we managed to record almost an hour's worth of chatting - I don't think either of us intended for it to be that long but Catherine and I get along really well so when we get talking there's no stopping us! In the podcast we cover a wide variety of topics such as Valentine's Day, blogging, music, fate, the weather & many other things so if you fancy having a listen, you're very welcome to press play and join the conversation!

I really enjoyed trying something new and want to thank Catherine for inviting me to be a part of her podcast. Get involved in the comments below if you have any opinions on anything we mentioned, I'd love to hear them!

Whose podcasts do you like listening to?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x

This week . . .

. . . began with the welcoming in of a brand new month! I spent Monday morning - which I remember to be beautifully sunshiney - spring tidying my bedroom. I love rearranging things in it every now and then and I'm so happy with the current layout. Although saying that, it's gradually starting to get messy again as I'm horrendous at maintaining a tidy room. I've come to realise that while I do like my stuff to have order & place, I am a messy person. I'm not sure I could ever do the whole minimalist thing either!

So that was my week! Now it's time for you to get involved in the comments below and let me know what you've been getting up to recently!

How was your week?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x

@dallasclayton

I've been following Dallas for quite a while now - he's an author & an illustrator and his creations vary from intricate, busy patterns to simplistic outlines accompanied by annotations. I seem to really connect with them as they're relatable as well as thought-provoking - sometimes even motivational. I really want to get myself a mug or t-shirt or something from his shop so that I can have a piece of that creativity in physical form. I'm even thinking of getting his signature 'reaching arms' tattooed on me. Just a thought at this point in time!

@marcmartinillo

Every single time I scroll through my Instagram and see a photo of Marc's illustrations I want to get my watercolours out and paint. I don't think I've ever been artistically inspired in such a strong way by anything else. Seriously, what he does with watercolour is on another level! He mainly paints people, animals, vehicles & buildings but still manages to maintain a constant flow of something unique every time. He has such an incredible talent!

@jean_jullien

I've only recently started following Jean's account but from the very first glance at his art, I knew it was my cup of tea. The way he incorporates illustrations alongside everyday objects takes his creativity up another couple of notches. For instance, once he placed two twenty pence pieces on a page and drew bodies on the paper under them to make it look like they were attached to the heads on the coins. He has an interesting view of the world, that's for sure!

Well those are just three people on Instagram that inspire me creatively and I really recommend you check them out! There are lots more cool creatives out there and so many different ways to be creative too. Now I want you to get involved in the comments below and tell me who your favourite creative people are!

Who inspires you to be creative?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x 

So those are my thoughts on the ever-hyped Serozinc. Go ahead and get involved in the comments if you have any questions about it! I'd also love to know if you have any other La Roche-Posay product recommendations!

Have you tried this?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

x 

So there you have it, my thoughts on 'The Difference A Day Makes'! Get involved in the comments and let me know if you've read this or anything similar - I'd love your recommendations!

Would you read this book?

Thanks for reading,

Maeve

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