These are a few of my favourite things

In times when everything goes wrong, it's always nice to remind yourself of your shallow materialism. Like Ariana G. says, "Whoever said money can't solve your problems, must not have had enough money to solve them", which I don't. Nonetheless, sometimes meaningless things distract me from daily cr*p in a nice way, so I thought I'd share some of my faves (with less of a negative tone I promise). 

Therefore here are some of my favourite things from the last month or so:

1. SAD Lamp

not the sun but as good as- who needs to go out?

Honestly, this should be called a happy lamp (dad joke o'clock). Not only does it wake me up in the morning and make me less grumpy it provides ideal lighting for makeup and a cheeky selfie, which is absolutely what it's meant to be used for. But for real, if you live in a dark and dingy room like me and don't get much sunlight during the day, or find yourself experiencing lower moods in winter months, any lamp like this is the best way to improve your mood and provide a sun-like light quality (aside from medication). You can even buy them as alarms to slowly and healthily wake you up in the mornings.

2. Oil burner

I live in a flat that doesn't allow candles, and I don't particularly feel like having to pay for a whole house if, by some freak accident, I violate insurance when I start a fire just for wanting to burn some oil. Have I over-thought that? Nonetheless Santa had my back this xmas and got me an electricity powered oil burner, that gets to the ideal temperature and doesn't require diluting the oils with water. FYI my favourite oils are Ylang-Ylang and orange. I think there's lots of information out there on using oils as aromatherapy, where different scents have different effects on your mood, but personally I just burn whatever smells good.


3. ABH Soft Glam

I'm a photographic genius i know.

This was a bit of a splurge, but I did buy it for nearly half the price in Canada last summer. Anywaaayyy, all the eyeshadows are gorg and there are some really nice transition shades (hi, I'm a beauty guru). I feel like this palette is v versatile; going out, staying in, trying to look more awake than you are, trying got look like you know sh*t about eyeshadow or just bored and want to try a drag makeup look at home? This can do it all. In short, go on a really expensive trip to North America so you can spend more money buying something for a little cheaper than you would have in the UK.


4. Pixi Glow Mud Cleanser

I have acne at the mo which means I'm also using duac cream. If you've ever used this you know it dries your skin out big time, and some cleansers (particularly alcohol heavy ones) double dry it out leaving your skin a big flaky sheet of paper. However, this cleanser feels like its soothing and moisturising whilst purifying and removing whatever rubbish is left on your skin. To be honest anything that doesn't make my sensitive skin react gets a thumbs up.

5. My Bed

love of my life

Honestly what a babe. Always there for me when I need, keeping me warm, comfy and rested.


6. Coffee

Another babe. After my bed does the resting, coffee does the waking - what a duo.


7. Fake Plants

that's actually me behind the plant. 10/10 hiding spot.

Not only are these a decent £6 - they cannot be killed. They are the perfect size to dangle off a shelf and look like you're a fashionable working person who has their life together. I do love having real plants in my room, however the reality is they are dead in a week. In fact, I once overwatered one of my succulents and drowned it, which I didn't know was a thing. Clearly you can love something too much, RIP Diane.


8. Netflix: Ted Bundy Tapes, Grace + Frankie

First of all Netflix will always be my fave. Currently I've been binging the Ted Bundy Lost Tapes and the new Grace and Frankie series. Initially I didn't think I'd like Grace and Frankie but actually it's bloody hilarious; comedy in it's purest form. It's also refreshing to see characters more dimensional than being young and beautiful (even though I would still pay to look like Jane Fonda does in her 80s now). Also, I'm a self-confessed documentary junkie so I couldn't not watch the Ted Bundy doc. The issue is the amount of documentaries I watch mean that I now think I'm a criminal psychologist. I find myself watching doc's like the Ted B. one and saying things like "ah yes a classic narcissist with clear sociopathic traits, it's no wonder people were fooled by his charm but you can tell he has violent tendencies in the way he treats his girlfriend and talks about himself so highly".


9. Ambulance on BBC

This programme is bloody incredible. I don't think it's on at the moment but programmes like this and Saving Lives at Sea restore my faith in humanity. They are also really interesting. As a nosey person I love being able to see the ins and outs of how things work that you wouldn't normally be able to. Again, I now find myself thinking I know things about paramedic life. One of my family member's was training to be a one and I ended up chatting to him as if I was also a paramedic. "It's so hard to know who to blame isn't it? I mean you need to go off and save the next person but there's a queue for discharge at the current hospital and you can't leave that patient because you have a duty of care and then the whole region runs out of ambulances and all of a sudden there's a car crash and it's just like what can you do you know?". Mega-cringe.

10. Hollow Coves

A classic white-boy folk-indie-chill (or something) music duo from Aus. I don't claim to have a particularly unique music taste but this group was recommended by my spotify and I'm in love. Their music is like being in a industrial-chic coffee house in LA, where you suddenly realise the music is actually really good so you have to shazam it. Did that make sense? Thought so.