Last month I had been meaning to put together my January favourites after deciding to start a ‘favourites’ series of 2018. Within the midsts of uni assignment deadlines and other tasks, I didn’t get around to writing my January favourites. I also didn’t want to start the series on the second month of the year and forget all my January favourites, so I have compiled together both months and made a mix match of both January and February favourites.
There is quite a range in the favourites I have chose to discuss, so I’ve tried to section them into categories. Beauty, fashion, lifestyle and food. This may change throughout the year but for now I thought this was the best way to break it all down for you.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with ‘monthly favourites’ posts, it’s something I’ve seen commonly on YouTube and something which I thoroughly enjoy watching. Basically I’ll be sharing with you a collection of things that I’ve been using more or enjoying more in that particular month. The types of products and items you’ll see within my favourites are going to be very wide spread, hence the subheadings, so feel free if you want to jump to the section you’re most interested in. I’ve got quite a list for January and February combined so I hope you find something here useful or interesting…… I will supply links to each item where possible.
Beauty
1. Bourjois lipstick
This is something which I mentioned in my Christmas shopping trip and I have since bought another shade in the Bourjois collection, purely down to its longevity. I’d been admiring these bold, matte lip colours all over Pinterest and Instagram but whenever I wore lipstick, no matter how pretty the initial application looked, within half an hour or as soon as I tried to eat or drink anything, the colour would fade, smudge, transfer and my bold lip colour had gone. I heard about this Bourjois lipstick range from Alix Coburn’s YouTube channel “I Covet Thee’ late last year and after seeing its long ware I had to try it!
This is not a lip colour which I would wear day to day as bright orange/red is quite bold for me. However I love this for special occasions or if I’m going out for a meal as its bright, bold and stands out from my usual nude shades. I will be looking out for a couple everyday nude shades in this range, because its the first lipstick I’ve found that actually lasts on me and I love how mattifying it is. I got this in the shade Abrico Dabrail 04 and it’s made me want to try more make-up products from Bourjois, because if others are as good as this one, then I’m missing out!
2. No.7 Gel Finish Nail Colour – Ginger
Another product from my Christmas shopping trip blog post. I feel like nail varnish colours are very seasonal and I find myself coming back to the same shades year after year. Throughout autumn and winter I was obsessing over the shade burnt orange, hence the bold choice in lipstick in my first favourite. I scoured the shelves in boots for the perfect shade to go with my seasonal collection. It’s a deep burnt orange which at the time went great with my red lip and burnt orange eyeshadows. This was my go-to colour around Christmas time.
I’m so happy that I could find the perfect shade but unfortunately nail varnish never lasts for me, story of my life. I’m now looking for an amazing top coat to stop the colour from chipping.. any suggestions?
3. Carmex Peach and Mango lip balm
This next one has been an absolute life saver this winter, especially on our ski holiday, this lip balm came everywhere with me. It now has a permanent spot in my car door so that it’s always at the ready. I love lip balms and I couldn’t go without them, I’ve compiled quite a collection this year due to the terribly cold winter we’ve had. But hands down, the best yet is my mango lip-balm! I can feel it tingle as though its instantly healing my chapped lips, it lasts so much longer than any other I’ve used and it smells AMAZING! – a lot like the old starburst choozers, who remembers those?
Fashion
As it got colder I realised my shoe collection was lacking a good warm winter boot so Jasmine treated me to some chunky mustard ankle boots for Christmas. I couldn’t wait to get them and I’ve been wearing them all through the cold snowy weather. After waterproofing them, they fended very well in the bad weather and have been very comfortable. As much as I’m looking forward to spring, I will miss the chunky mustard boots.
5. Rucksack – Dark Grey (Amazon)
I’ve tried many handbags in the past, but never a rucksack, I just didn’t think they were for me. After getting fed up of carrying handbags and getting dead arms, I ended up barely taking my bag around with me and would just take my purse out instead, this very much defeated the object of having a bag. I decided to find myself a rucksack and I came across this. It’s a dark grey leather, just the right size to fit everything I need (even a university binder), without allowing me to over fill it so it cant get TOO heavy.. I love it. It has zips on either side, I think these are more for fashion, but I open them up to made the bag a little bigger on uni days, so all my work will fit in. It then fastens with a leather draw string and a magnetic button. I cant tell you how much easier it is carrying a rucksack around instead of a handbag. No more dead arms and both hands free of bags.
Lifestyle
I struggled to find a link for this one, so I’m sorry if the link I’ve used expires. I’m assuming there is little to no stock left, but I’ve seen various people selling them on eBay so I’m sure if you want one you’ll find it there.
Another Christmas present favourite! I was treated to lots of new baking tools and equipment and this in particular has proven to be very useful. In the past I would just use clear plastic food containers to store any baked treats, but these were an eyesore on my kitchen worktop. This might not sound that important because I suppose the food containers did the job, but I just love how much prettier these look on the shelves or on the kitchen worktop. A pretty cake tin never goes a miss and this came in a pack of 2.
If you’ve read a little about me on my blog then you will know that I love stationary. I think you could actually go as far to say that I’m rather obsessed with it. I like to waste lots of time shopping in The Range, looking through all the stationary supplies. When I came across these notebooks it was like finding gold, I fell in love with them and they look great on my desk. I love getting pretty notebooks but I always put off writing in them because I don’t want to start writing about one thing and then change what I’m using the notebook for. I do this too often and then I just refuse to use the notebook because its not fresh anymore, is this just me? I liked these ones because they were thin paper backed books that still looked pretty but were a little more ‘casual’ and didn’t have to have just one purpose. I like to jot things down, make lists, massive brain dumps and any notes I want to make on training videos, which these are perfect for.
8. Filofax planner and inserts (Amazon)
This looks like two products in one but I couldn’t talk about one without mentioning the other. At the end of 2017 I was looking to change up my planning method from a bullet journal to a Filofax. I love the system of the bullet journal and I decided to integrate some of these into my new Filofax planner system. For anyone who doesn’t know what a bullet journal is or if you want some bullet journaling tips, comment below your questions ⬇️
I started to look into finding my Filofax and realised the slightly larger price tag that came with using a Filofax and not a bullet journal. After a lot of searching I came across this one, saved on money and compensated a little on the design. I love the colour (orange), material and pattern, however the design made the book slightly impractical and I need to remove inserts in order to write on them properly. Despite this, it does the job and I love the flexibility of the Filofax as I can move pages around whenever I want, so it had to be included in my favourites. The inserts I got were also from amazon and they replicated the bullet journal system as they are fully dotted pages. I love the dotted paper as I can repeat all my favourite bullet journal spreads and design my planner exactly how I want it to look.
If you want a run through of my Filofax system and how I plan my days, let me know in the comments ⬇️
Who has seen this? This isn’t a product you can go out and buy but you can definitely watch it on catch up. Derry Girls is a program which started this January on Channel 4. It’s basically a sitcom with five teens living in Derry, Northern Ireland, in the 1990’s. It was absolutely hilarious and I’m so sad that its finished. I’m hoping a new series is on its way! You can head over to All 4 Catch Up to watch the first series now.
Food
10. Aldi energise capsules
This may seem like quite a random item to include but I discovered these energy capsules last month and I actually think they make a difference. They dissolve in water and it tastes like a tropical cordial drink. I feel more energised and able to get more things done in the day when I would usually start to feel tired and less productive.
11. Aldi melt in the middle salmon fish cakes
Melt in the middle says it all! Another Aldi favourite of mine, these fish cakes are incredible. They cook very quick in the oven and they really do ‘melt in the middle’. Now I never go food shopping without throwing a packed of these in my trolley.
So there are my 11 favourites for January and February. I hope you found some part of it useful and let me know in the comments if you’ve tried any of the products, or watched Derry Girls? I’m really hoping for a second series.
Please give this post a like or a share if you enjoyed it and hit the ‘follow’ button because it really boosts and supports my blog and then you wont miss out on future posts!
Keep a look out for my March favourites next month… 💕
Get-it-Together Blogs 
One thought on “WINTER SHADES, COSY VIBES AND NEW YEAR FAVOURITES”