Favourite things of the month - July 2016
So these are my favourite things I got during the month of July.
The list: accessories, books, clothes, cosmetics and skincare
- Barry M molten metals nail varnish in bronze bae and copper mine
- Collistar anti-age lifting body cream
- "Dead Man Walking" by Simon R Green
- M.A.C x Brooke Candy lipstick in Witching Hour
- M.A.C Technakohl liner in Snowed In
- M.A.C Technakohl liner in Sourpuss
- NYX color mascara in forget me not
- Yves Rocher anti-fatigue ice gel
- Yves Rocher repair shampoo
- UNIQLO Alice Through the Looking Glass collection t-shirt
- 7 book omnibus of Jules Verne's Extraordinary Adventures
- custom Zatchels Foxton satchel
Because my inner steampunk demands metal nails
I really loved how bronze bae (far left) looked on the photo, so I got two. I got one Copper Mine (3rd from the left), because the colour is a lot like my copper from OPI (just much cheaper), so I'm using that up first before I break this one open. But if bronze bae is anything to judge by, it'll be pretty awesome. It's a little sparklier than I like, but I still like it enough to make it a July fave :)
One for the collection and one murder mystery to enjoy
I found this Jules Verne omnibus in the British Museum for £25, which is a bargain considering it contains 7 books, including the one I collect: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
The other books are: Five weeks in a Balloon, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Round the Moon, Around the World in 80 Days, The Mysterious Island.
The Simon R Green book is a review copy of his latest murder mystery, Dead Man Walking, that Simon gave me (thanks!). It's the second instalment in his murder mysteries series featuring Ishmael Jones, and I absolutely LOVE it! I'll put a review up on The Gatehouse next week. But if you love murder mysteries, get this (and it's predecessor The Dark Side of the Road).
Paint those lips and colour that water line and those lashes!
I actually got Witching Hour on June 29th, but I got home late that day and didn't feel like bothering with lipstick. The day after I woke up with a sunburnt nose (it was just red, thankfully it wasn't worse!) and red nose + purple lipstick = just no. So I didn't try this 'till July. So July faves it is! I did a full review of it before, so if you want to know more than just "I love this!", click this link.
The eyeliners are pretty neat, Sourpuss gives a spot of colour when I don't feel like wearing metals or white, and whilst Snowed In doesn't really show on my waterline, it works as a good base so white or vintage white kohl pencils do stick without becoming a smudgy mess. It also looks really nice on my lower lash line. Sourpuss also matches my yellow mascara and gold eye shadows really nicely, so bonus :)
i already owned the NYX color mascara in perfect pear (yellow) and when I went to Ghent earlier this month, I decided to get the lilac and brown too. I do like the brown, don't get me wrong, but you know, it's just a bit plain, whereas the lilac one gives a nice effect. Not for every day, but I will still find plenty of opportunity to wear it I'm sure :)
Refresh those aching feet, treat your skin and you hair
I first got Yves Rocher's anti-fatigue ice gel last year, but as it is mostly a summer kinda thing, I bought a new tube this month. This stuff is AMAZING. There's organic lavender in it, and some non organic stuff as well. It smells like peppermint, and for the vegans: it contains no animal products :)
Basically it does what it claims: it provides some reliief to aching feet. I'm sure it doesn't just help in summer, but I only ever get tired and aching feet in summer so yeah. I love this stuff, it's a real feet saver and comfort bringer!
The Collistar anti-age lifting body cream was a sample I got at an ICI PARIS XL store. It doesn't contain parabens, and because I didn't want to lug a glass jar of face cream to London, I figured I'd improvise with this. My face is part of my body after all :D. And 'lo and behold, it did the job just fine. And it made my skin MEGA soft. Bert used it too (for the same reason) and he liked it as well.
I'm not sure I'd actually go out and buy a big tube of this stuff, but to take along on a trip it's definitely a great essential in sample format.
Another sample I took along to London because it was such a practical format is the Yves Rocher Repair shampoo for very dry or frizzy hair. My hair isn't dry (anymore), but it sure is frizzy, so I figured I'd give it a go. It also meant I didn't have to lug along a much bigger bottle. i really love this stuff, my hair has never been this well behaved and soft. I've had the sample for a while, just never got 'round to using it (as Bert and I tend to keep the samples to take on holiday with us), but I'm definitely going to see whether they still have it in regular sized shampoo bottles!
curiouser and curiouser...
I did go to see Alice Through the Looking Glass, and I even reviewed it for The Gatehouse. Whilst I wasn't terribly excited about the movie, I was about this t-shirt. Contrary to many other Alice in Wonderland print garments on the Japanese UNIQLO site, for some reason I still can't fathom, this one wasn't budging. At all. Which was great for me, because it meant I ended up getting it at 990 yet instead of 1500. With the help of my amazing shopping service Nicole of course (thank you Nicole). Of course, after Nicole ordered it, it suddenly became pretty popular, so for once, my timing was ace :)
I absolutely LOVE this top. It's a really cute oversized cut, and the print is simply stunning. The fabric itself is also super soft and plesant to wear, it's without a shadow of a doubt my favourite Disney geek tee. I even love it more than my beloved all over Cheshire Cat print tee!
But it doesn't even come in dark brown...
... and it still doesn't. Yet mine is dark brown, and at no extra cost I add. Why? Because Zatchels has amazing customer service!
Originally I ordered the Foxton satchel in Kilworth marsala red on May 27th during their 50% off everything flash sale. Because it said on the site it could take up to 28 days 'till it would arrive, and my order didn't budge, I asked customer service what was going on. Turned out that they couldn't give me an ETA (not even a guestimate) because of a delay on that particular leather arriving at their workshop. But did I want another colour from the range? I said I didn't, and that I'd only consider dark brown, but as that wasn't a range colour it wasn't relevant. And that I hoped it'd arrive before my birthday. I didn't hear from them for like 2 days, and then a nice customer service person got back to me and asked if I wanted it in dark brown. OBVIOUSLY I said yes (all my Zatchels bags are dark brown because you know, I am a bit of a steampunk cliché). If it had been a regular range colour, I wouldn't have ordered it in red to start with. So that is how my bag became a custom bag :)
And how it went from pretty cool and neat to fucking amazeballs awesome :)
Yes, I had to wait for over a month for my bag, but I knew from the start that it could be quite a while 'till I got it, so I'm not going to complain about that. Customer service with Zatchels were real stars, whenever I asked for an update they always answered promptly, and they were always friendly. And even though they had already accomodated me with the custom colour, they still threw in a free keychain AND added a super cute birthday card because I had to wait so long. Seriously, Zatchels very likely has the best customer service ever!
I wrote a lenghty review about this on The Gatehouse, check it out :)