March Favourites | 2016

I still cannot comprehend how we are already at the end of March. This year is going by so incredibly fast! My favourites this month are actually quite varied for once. Naturally, there is still a television programme because let's be honest it wouldn't be a true monthly favourites for me without a TV show mentioned at some point.  However, there is some food, beauty, books and music to be mentioned as well!

Beauty

I have three beauty favourites this month; a nail polish, bubble bar and a cream eye shadow (which might actually be a lipstick). The nail polish I have been absolutely loving is Marks & Spencer Top Shine Top Coat. This product is amazing, I put two coats of nail polish on and then this and my nail polish lasts on average 4 days without chipping! Not one single chip and I do a lot of work with my hands whether that be at actual work in a cafe or first aiding. I definitely recommend this product because nothing has made my nail polish stay as good for that long in the past. Another product I have been in love with this month is the Mr Brightside bubble bar from Lush. I always reach for the fresher scents in the Spring and Summer months and this bubble bar is as fresh as you can get. It gives off a huge citrus smell of oranges and lemons and when I use this in the bath, not only does the bath turn orange but it smells so clean and fresh, I just love this bubble bar, it is most definitely one of my favourite Lush products of all time.

My last beauty favourite is actually a slightly strange one because technically it is supposed to be a nude lipstick but I don't use it as a lipstick, I use it as a cream eye shadow. It's the NYC City Proof Twistable Intense Lip Colour in the colour Nolita Neutral. It is definitely more of a gold than a neutral because it has a bit of shimmer to it. I wouldn't use this product on my lips because for one it would not suit my skin colour as I am very pale and secondly, it looks amazing as a cream eye shadow. I have been pairing this product with either a dusky pink colour eye shadow to create a rose gold effect or with a warm brown to create a gold smokey eye and they both look very pretty and very Spring/Summer appropriate. 

Television

I actually started a new show this month; Thirteen. It is a BBC series and only has five episodes total. It follows the storyline of Ivy who disappeared when she was thirteen years old and resurfaces again thirteen years later having been held captive and escaped. This series is extremely gripping and will have you on the edge of your seat at least once in each episode. If you like crime, intense thrillers or drama programmes then this is definitely one for you to check out. As I mentioned, there are only five episodes to the entire programme series and they are all available to watch online at BBC iPlayer. This show was incredible, well written and for once I feel that the ending was just right, my mum certainly wouldn't agree but if all of her questions were answered then the series would be about 23 episodes long. 

Food

So I've had a lot of university assignments to do this month and naturally I have reached for the comfort food and (surprisingly) coffee. I never ever drank coffee because it just simply never appealed to me and I am sensitive to caffeine but this month I had been craving it so I bought a packet of decaf instant latte's and I love them. I liked them so much I buy a packet a week and have even tried the vanilla and coconut flavours too! To go with coffee, you need a sweet treat, it's just the perfect combination. Flipz is an American brand and my local Tesco happens to stock some overpriced American products. Normally everything is coated or dipped in chocolate but Flipz not only had chocolate covered pretzels but white fudge coated pretzels. These things are INCREDIBLE. Yes the capitals are needed. The pretzels are probably going to give be diabetes at the rate I am eating them but they are worth it, they are just so tasty. I have told everybody I know about these and my brother, mum and friends now all love them too. They are reasonably cheap as well, only £1.50 which is really good compared to the next American product I recently discovered. Payday is the only bar type treat I've found that has absolutely no chocolate in it. It is literally a caramel centre coated in peanuts, simple as that and it's delicious. A bit pricey at £1.20 a bar but for now I am willing to part with that money.

Music

I have always liked any music that Sia released into the charts, whether that be with another artist or on her own so I decided to buy her album. There are no words to describe how touching and beautiful the album is or how talented Sia is. She draws on personal experiences to write her songs and I love artists who do that. They are honest and people can often relate a lot to their music because of it. Her album, This is Acting is one of the albums I could listen to all day, every day and not get fed up with any song at all. I love every song on the album and have now bought some of Sia's older albums too. If you liked any Sia songs in the past then without a doubt invest in this album, you will 100% not regret it. My brother is already sick of the amount of times I have played it and unfortunately for him I won't be stopping any time soon!

Random

I have one random favourite this month and it is a book. A couple of weeks ago I had a couple of hours to spare between classes at uni so I wandered about the shops in Glasgow. One of the shops I tend to always go in is The Works which is basically a cheap book, art and random gadget shop. As I was having a nosey around, I noticed they had some deals on kids books so I thought I'd have a look. I ended up walking away with four books, two of which being boy and girl versions of Disney 365 Stories: A Story a Day. I just thought the concept was extremely cute and it made me think of my mum reading Disney books to my brother and I. Plus they were buy one get one free and reduced to only £5 and two massive books for £5 is a bargain to me. The next one I picked up was also reduced to £4 and on a buy one get one free deal; A Treasury of Five Classic Tales and contains shortened versions of Oliver Twist, Black Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, Heidi, The Wizard of Oz, The Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden and Treasure Island, all of which I loved reading as a child. A Treasury of Five Minute Stories was the final purchase and is for sure my favourite. It contains absolutely every single story I adored as a child within it's gorgeous covers, even my three favourites; The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Emperor's New Clothes and Rumpelstiltskin which I was surprised to learn not many people actually knew the stories of. Reading through all these short stories with simplistic but nice illustrations brings back good memories of listening to audio cassette tapes on my cassette player and falling asleep to one of the stories. I cannot wait to share these stories and memories with my children in the future.

I hope you enjoyed reading my March Favourites and that maybe I have persuaded to you to watch Thirteen or try the white fudge coated pretzels or even use a lip product as an eye product! April is hopefully going to be a bit more relaxed for me since I have all the coursework for uni finished and submitted because I would love to put up more blog posts. However, my exams begin during the last week of April so I'll see what the month holds. Maybe I'll be organised for once and study a little each day, who knows?! April certainly begins well for me as my mum and I are going to yet another show and my little black labrador Millie turns 3 on April Fools Day! It only feels like we have had her for three minutes never mind three years! What did you love throughout March and do you have anything exciting coming up in April?

xxx