Granted most of these products I have actually purchased this month, but apart from these products my favourites hadn't changed that much from my December favourites.

First up is a product that I knew I was going to love as soon as I smelt it and that is the &Other Stories Punk Bouquet Body Scrub, which is really hard to explain but it has hints of vanilla and floral that comes together to create a lovely scent. I lather this up in my hands and apply all over my body to give it a good scrub, leaving my skin feeling so soft and smelling incredible. Next up is a product that I spoke about last week and that is the La Roche Posay Hydreane Legere, which is my new favourite moisturiser. This is aimed at those who suffer with the odd amount of dry skin and it's been working really well for me recently. For my first La Roche Posay product i'm really impressed. Sticking with skincare and another product I spoke about briefly also is the Pixie Glow Tonic which I picked up in London the other week. This just works really well to exfoliate without being really harsh on my skin and i've actually noticed my dry skin to be at bay at the minute. I believe you can now order this online also. Next up is the foundation that i've used literally everyday since purchasing it and that is the Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation. I just love this, the shade matches really well with my skin tone, it buffs in really easily and gives a flawless finish that lasts really well on my skin. So overall i'm glad I purchased this. Next up is the &Other Stories Nail Polish in 'Etamine Lavender' which i've been wearing on my nails for the past two weeks. It's the perfect winter purple in my eyes and lasts quite well on the nails. Lastly this month i've been loving the Nivea Vanilla Macadamia Lip Butter and it's been keeping my lips really moisturised. I love that it's more buttery than the typical lip balms and I actually find this helps soothe the lips rather than just masking the dryness.

So that is everything i've been loving this month!

What have you been loving this month?

Hey guys, something slightly different today but I hope some of you with be able to help me out.

As some of you may know i'm currently writing my dissertation and I wanted to ask you guys a little favour. If you could spare a few minutes of your time to fill out my dissertation survey, that would be great!

Please follow the link here, in order to fill out the survey.

Also if you are a blogger, in the comments section could you leave a little info on what blogging platform you use, and why. 

Thanks 

Had an accidental haul - So I went into my local town centre to get my mum some bits and bobs for her birthday but I ended up buying myself a few things, which i'll feature in a recent purchases post soonish.
Did my first ever box swap - If you haven't already seen, but I did a box swap with Alexandra from The A Style which I received this week! You can read a little more about it here.
Had a lovely day with Mum for her birthday - Today is my Mum's birthday so we've spent the day shopping in Merry Hill and I also treated her to lunch at Frankie & Benny's. Their calzones are so tasty!

What have you been up to this week?

For the first post in the series I have quite a few products and some are very obvious picks seeing as a lot of people rave about them, but I still wanted to add my own opinion as I really do enjoy using them.

First up is the L'oreal Gentle Eye Makeup Remover, which I picked up after hearing it was somewhat similar to the Clarins eye makeup remover and I wasn't really enjoying using my micelle solutions to remove my eye makeup, so I picked this up on a whim and I actually really like it. It removes my eye makeup really well and doesn't irritate my eyes at all which is good, the only downside is that i'm getting through it so quickly. The next two products are both cleansers and i've been rotating these for the past few weeks. The products in question are the Caudalie Gentle Cleansing Milk, which is a really gentle cleanser that works well just to give my skin a really good clean but I wouldn't describe it as a milk more of a lotion almost? and the Soap & Glory Peaches and Cream Deep Purifying Cleanser, which is similar to the Caudalie one in the sense that it's really gentle on my skin and it smells really nice also. I use both of these in the same way, apply to the face when dry and remove using a muslin cloth, easy peasy. I do sometimes double cleanse if I feel the need.

Now moving onto the products I use after removing my makeup and cleansing. First up is a really new purchase but one i'm already loving, and that is the Pixi Glow Tonic. Now i've heard so many bloggers rave about this and I can see why. It's a chemical exfoliating toner, that works to exfoliate the skin without causing any damage like beady exfoliators would and as I get dry patches especially on my forehead and chin, this has been working really well to remove those without irritating them. I wish i'd picked up another bottle of this stuff now. The next product is one that I don't use every single day, but is one that I could not go too long without and that is Hydraluron. I've spoke about this a few times and it's a serum that you apply before your moisturiser in order to keep the skin hydrated throughout the day and it does exactly that. I love this product and it's lasting really well, so i'm very impressed. Last but not least is another recent purchase that I haven't talked about on the blog before, but I was browsing the Laroche Posay section in Boots and I came across a few testers of their moisturisers, which were reduced and it led to me purchasing the Laroche Posay Hydreane Legere, which is basically a hydrating moisturiser. They have two versions of this, one for extremely dry skin and then this version for the odd bit of dry skin. This has actually replaced my Origins GinZing for the time being and it has been working really well, keeping my dry skin really at bay but i've been told that this does smell a bit like sun cream, I personally haven't noticed this but either way it's a great moisturiser.

So those are my current skincare go to products, hopefully this has given you a little more info on some of the products i've featured previously.

Have you been loving any of these products recently?

As I touched on above you can immediatly see changes with Birchbox, they've scrapped the little draw string canvas bags for tissue paper and they've also introduced a small hand sized magazine rather than those weird cards, that always ended up going in my recycling bin. I don't know what to make of the changes as the draw string bags really set Birchbox aside from GlossyBox but now i'm not so sure, but let's move onto the products within this months box.

The first product is the Phillip Kingsley Elasticizer, which is a product i've heard a lot about but one i've never actually tried and i'm glad I now have the chance to give this a whirl without having to splurge on it. Next is another product i've wanted to try out for some time and that is the Benefit POREfessional Primer. I used this product this morning actually and my foundation is still looking pretty in place, but I will report back on this. In every Birchbox i've ever had there is always a random extra product/item and this months box has brought me a Birchbox Eye Mask, i've never really used eye masks before but I suppose this will give my the opportunity to see what they're like and what they can do for my eyes I suppose. The next product is the Rodial Stemcell Super-Food Day Cream, and this is said to give the skin a burst of hydration for a healthy, radiant complexion which to me sounds pretty good, so i'm intrigued to try this out. Sticking with skincare the next product is the Vasanti Detox Purifying Facial Cleanser. I'm always open to try out new cleansers as I really do get satisfaction out of washing my face and knowing i'm getting rid of all the crap building up on my skin and this is said to remove any toxins from the skin, so we shall see. The final product is one that I know I won't use and I wish you could opt out of receiving certain products but it is the Lavera Basis Sensitive Hand Cream. I could be classed as a hand cream hoarder, as I have so many yet I do not use them. Hand creams is just not a product that I need in my life right now.

Even though there are some pretty amazing products in this months box, i'm just a little disheartened that Birchbox is starting to resemble a similar disappointment that I experienced with GlossyBox (which led me to unsubscribing) but fingers crossed that's not going to happen.

What do you think of this months box?

Reorganised my storage shelves - I felt my storage system from Ikea needed a little lift, so I decided to neaten up the shelves with the use of my magazine collection and some cute storage boxes.

Rekindled my love for the Sugar Crush scent - I've been loving using this body butter for the past week or so and it just reminded my how much I love the sugar crush range from Soap & Glory. Crushed sugar and lime, heavenly.

What have you been up to this week?

So we started out down South Bank, where we walked along the river to Tate, which was so much bigger than I was expecting, we spent ages in there taking photo's and getting inspiration but it's worth a visit if you haven't been before. We then ended up somewhere near bank underground station and by this point we were starving so we popped into this little cafe called Apostrophe, which was actually really nice! I had the thickest hot chocolate ever, it was like drinking melted chocolate! After we'd sorted out our starvation we hopped on the tube down to Chelsea to visit the Saatchi Gallery where we saw this amazing exhibition by Richard Wilson, which was basically this room full of oil, it was so still and almost calming in a way. If you ever find yourself near Sloanes Square I honestly recommend popping into Saatchi to see it. After that we walked into the square of shops just around the back of the gallery and found a Zara with the biggest sale ever. We also popped into Space NK on our way back to the station but luckily I stopped myself from purchasing anything. After that we retreated to Oxford St to visit &Other Stories and a few other shops before stopping for some dinner in B-Soho, a little pizzeria just off Oxford St which was really tasty. After that we headed back to Marylebone to get the train home and I got myself a white hot chocolate from the AMT coffee hut in the station. It was honestly the best white hot chocolate i've ever tasted!

Now onto my purchases, I thought i'd throw these in at the end as it wasn't really enough for a separate haul post. In Zara I noticed this Zara Basic Shoulder Bag reduced down to £19.99 and as it was the last one I nabbed it off the shelf straight away. As we were in London we had to visit &Other Stories, where I picked up the Punk Bouquet Body Scrub, which smells so good. I also picked up two of their nail varnishes, Moire Green which is a very light green & Etamine Lavender which is your typical lavender shade but a little darker. Also I spotted that they stock Eborian so I got myself another one of their BB Creme Light as I loved using it during the summer. We also popped into Pixi so I could finally get my hands on the Pixi Glow Tonic, which they don't have in the pump bottles anymore. As we were on Oxford St we popped into this little newsagents that Beckie knew of that sells all of the fashion magazines that you can normally pick up in Selfridges, so I picked up a few for research and design inspo. As for gallery shopping I picked up a few things to put into my fmp research such as post cards and this really cool book which I believe is called Poemotion 1. I also picked up this cute little 'Love' Plaque from the Saatchi Gallery and I thought it would look really cute around my desk area.

Made some very preempted summer purchases - I know, it's freezing outside but i'm already thinking ahead to summer. I picked up this floral print tshirt dress from Primark, knowing full well it won't be in store when the weather starts to get warmer and the bikini was reduced to £3 in Topshop!

Went back to the gym - After a random break from the gym during the majority of December and with the classes starting back up this week, I thought it was about time I got my bum back in the gym!
Had my first Starbucks of the year - As I popped to Merry Hill the other day I decided to grab a Starbucks on my way out. Caramel hot chocolate, yes please. It was strange to be drinking out of a red cup, what with Christmas long gone now!
Tweaked my blog layout - I finally decided it was time for some change and i'm actually really happy with it after a few dilemmas and lots of google aided help. What do you think?
Ordered my lusted after books - I finally went and bought IT and Lauren Conrad Beauty, after not getting them for Christmas and my student loan coming in, I didn't second guess it and pressed 'add to basket'. I can't wait to start reading these, especially LC Beauty!
Ate some tasty chicken - On Friday night I popped out for a little meal with a couple of the girls from college. First Nando's of the year and it's rekindled my love for their tasty chicken!

What have you been up to this week?