A little haul.

Payday came and went... therefore I have treated myself to a few little bits and bobs. Enjoy my loves.

I work in a care home, and because the air is very dry and hot most of the time, my skin is getting the brunt of it. It's dry and I am having more break outs than usual. I popped into Superdrug and picked up the Garnier night cream, and the lady working there could not rave about this stuff enough, I picked up both the day and night cream in the Garnier Skin Active Moisture Bomb range, it is supposed to penetrate 5 layers of skin so we shall see. They were on offer, a third off at around £5.30 ish each. So affordable. Also in the same range the tissue masks, I love these things and always buy loads in when they are on offer, at 99p you cannot go wrong,

I popped into Body Shop, I do not tend to buy a lot from Body Shop but this Peach body mist is out of this world, it smells so nice and ideal for Spring time, I have also sprayed this on my pillows because it is so nice. It was on offer for £4, so cheap and a lovely scent. I went into Boots, of course, I have wanted to try the Rimmel Fix and Go 2 in 1 primer and setting spray for a will, I often find my make up wears off a lot around the nose area the most, maybe because I wear glasses and I am forever pushing them up but I thought I'd give this ago. I will let you know how I get on, that was £6.99. I had to repurchase this little angel again, the ARGAN Secret Miracle 10 spray is everything! My hair was in such a bad place before I started using this. I know use it everyday when styling my hair, not only does it do amazing things to my hair it smells amazing too. My hair has never been in a better condition. This is my third bottle in about 8 months, I got my latest bottle from Amazon for £15.91 and it is so worth it. £16 every three months really isn't that bad.

I decided to dye my hair (surprise!!) a darker grey this time round, my hair was previously blue so where the grey is now fading into a lighter grey the blue undertones are making it green and dirty blonde in some places. I love the Colour- Freedom Metallic Glory range, I chose the darkest grey they have which is stone grey. It is not far off black, but where I use head and shoulders itchy scalp every other wash the dye does fade, so I know that it will not be this dark for to long. A usual in Superdrug they were on offer at £7.99 each, buy 1 get 1 half price so of course I brought two. I dyed my hair today using it, and I love it. They do not damage my hair at all, the shea butter and aragn oil really help. The wash in wash out versions of these dyes also by colour freedom are great as well and long lasting.

Finally onto film and books, I had to buy the new Harry Potter and Fantastic Beast and where to find them DVD, I have yet to watch it but aim to watch it with the family tonight. A review will be coming. I also purchased the 4th and 5th series of Grimm as I have nearly finished the first 3 series on Netflix. At only £16 for both series I could not resist. Thanks Amazon Prime haha. A shopping trip with my best friend would not be complete without a stop in Waterstones, we each brought a book and together did the buy 1 get 1 half price deal. We both went for Young Adult books, I chose The Memory Book by Lara Avery, because it reminds me of dementia which is strange I know, but it follows a girl with an illness who begins to forget everything, but she wants to remember... hence the memory book. I hope to start this tonight.

I did buy some new NYX lispticks but I am going to do an individual blogpost about them. I hope you enjoyed this.

Love yah
IsThataRedHerring

BLOGMAS Day 12: My favourite books and why!

I have done it! That's right.. my top 5 books EVER! In no particular order at all...

The Martian by Andy Weir

FanGirl by Rainbow Rowell 

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion 

Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon 

But why these books in particular? Each of these books mean something different to me. I read them all at different times in my life. I have reread Where Rainbows End aka Love, Rosie dozens of times. I adore it, simply adore it. It was one of the first 'bigger books' I have ever read. It's set out in such a way that I had not read before. It is constructed via emails, letters and texts. It's great. We jump from conversation to conversation and follows two best friends of the same age but at very different stages in their lives. Based in Ireland, one best friend moves away to America and the other remains in Ireland. It's a lovely book and a very easy read, and for me the ending is perfect. It has been made into a film, called Love, Rosie, and honestly I love the film as much as the book. I was hesitant at first with the film, and I didn't actually watch it until about 6 months after it was out, however I can hand on heart say I loved it. I have watched it over and over again. Although some parts are different, I feel like it works for the film. Highly recommend both film and book... let's face it I am going to highly recommend all of these books haha. 

Time to move onto my most recent read which is The Martian by Andy Weir,  I watched the film before I read the book which sometimes is a mistake, but I think for me it helped, because some of th stuff is technical in this book! But OMG this book is amazing, and really well written, And as for the film they are basically the same. I loved every word of this book, and it hit me right in the feels. I felt like I was with him, stranded. Such a good book. I haven't read anything like this before and I am really glad I did.

Everything, Everything was a really, really quick read for me, and it was great. It follows a girl who is allergic to everything and hasn't been outside her house ever. She has a full time carer for when her mum is at work. She is talented and is home schooled. Everything is fine and she doesn't miss the outside world until a new family moves in next door and she befriends the son. She begins questioning everything her mum has told her... is she really allergic to everything? Read the book to find out. I love quick easy YA novels like this. I love these types of books for the summer. Got to love a romance novel.

Thank gawd for Rainbow Rowell for bringing me this book FanGirl,  I adore this book, it follows a set of twins who could not be any different on their journey to college. Cath an introvert who loses herself to fanfiction and her sister Wren who wants to experience college and all it has to offer. Cath wants everything to stay the same between her ans her sister but Wren wants some distance. It follows the journey of these two girls, does Cath get out her comfort zone and does Wren push things to far? Cath writes fanfiction of her favourite film/book series which is very poplar, but how will it all end? This book has everything for me, adventure and romance, a really cute read that I want more of.

And finally The Rosie Project, this book follows a young man who is ready to find a wife, Don is a scientist through and through and sits somewhere on the Asperger scale and takes everything literally. His brain is very much wired in a way that everything can become an experiment including his love life. Don creates a questionnaire, and when on dates uses the questionnaire to determine if the women in question is a suitable candidate. In comes Rosie, she ticks non of the boxes but yet Don is drawn towards her. She is the opposite of what Don wants, and seeks to change Rosie in every way. But does he succeed or does Rosie change him? There is a sequel to The Rosie Project called the Rosie Effect, and I didn't feel that, that book lived up to the first one, it painted both Don and Rosie in very bad ways, and took me quite some time to finish.

Well those are just some of my favourite books, I could add loads more to the list, but for now I am happy with those. If you have any suggestions for me, please comment them below as I love reading.

Love yah
IsThataRedHerring 

January wrap-up!

That's right I thought I'd jump on the band wagon and start doing monthly wrap ups. It is also nice for me to look back on each month and see what I've done and things I want to achieve next month and so on.

Fitness
Let's start with fitness. A lot of people in January make it their resolution to lose weight and get fitter, but I started my journey back in October and its going well. But in January I stepped it up a whole new level. More determined than ever to better myself. Of course I've had my ups and downs, slipped up a few times (had the odd one too many biscuits) but I didn't let that deter me. As soon as I felt myself slipping I did something to change that and distract myself.
If I did slip I didn't then force myself to do a 5K run or anything drastic, i simply told myself that 'I am human after all, and there will be times when I've had a really bad day at work, or just don't feel like exercising and you know what that is perfectly fine. I am not going to give up things that I like and enjoy. Restricting myself completely of the things that I love, yes I'm talking about those KitKats, is a silly idea. I tend to crave it more and give in and go on a binge. Whereas letting myself have a little treat every now and then stops me from binging on the bad stuff. In the long run for me it is better. Instead of having 3 or 4 biscuits I only have 1, filling the craving but not causing to much damage. I'm always on the look out for healthier options of my favourite foods. But sometimes I need a little fix!
My biggest achievement this month though is a 10lb weight lose. I am extremely happy with myself and feel a lot more confident. It's nice that people are noticing as well.

Book Haul
As usual I have brought way to many books this month, but my top picks are Deathnote books 1 to 4, which if you haven't read or heard of you must give them ago. Deathnote is a Manga series based in Japan. I will be doing a separate blog on Deathnote and why more people need to know about it. I got a great deal in Forbidden Planet it was 3 for the price of 2 on most books. So I picked up books 1,2, and 4 they were missing 3 :( but went into hmv and there it was so I picked up 3 as well. Each book has two volumes and to be honest they are such an easy read I will finish the 4 books by the end of the week. I got the black editions and they are amazing, so beautiful!

Other books I am really looking forward to reading are The art of being normal by Lisa Williamson , Cinder the first book in the lunar chronicles by Marissa Meyer, The Martian by Andy Weir, and The Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Mitchell. I will be doing reviews for each as and when I read them. 

Clothing 
I may have done a little clothing haul or 3! I brought some very boring things like new socks and underwear, trousers for work... But I did buy some new running shoes well actually two pairs oops. In my defense my old trainers are horrid, they are the typical style you see kids running around in at school for P.E. it was time for a change. I got a good deal on a pair of Sketchers Flex Appeal on Amazon and they are amazing (see picture below) I got mine for £41 and worth every penny. I did a fair amount of research into which trainers to get and time after time these popped up. I cannot wait to try them out properly later on this week at the gym.

I also brought a basic black pair of running shoes. I got these on a whim and honestly they are amazing. Myself and my boyfriend were shopping in Southampton and came across a sports shop I hadn't heard of before called Decathalon. We went in on the off chance there will be something we want. And to my surprise they did a lot of great sports gear for a very good price. So I brought myself a pair of Kalenji (see picture below) running shoes for only £12.99. I cannot stop wearing them.

Favourite Film of January 

Straight Outta Compton. This film was amazing. Contains very strong language but based on the true story of N.W.A, safe to say it doesn't hold back any details or swearing! A must watch, one of my favourite all time films. 

Favourite TV Series of January 

Mr. Robot, Amazon Prime original, it's really good. Very quirky and has everything a good series needs. Highly recommend. 

Favourite Book of January 

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simison, the second book in the duo-logy, follows Rosie and Don after their marriage and a surprise baby on the way. (Not really a spoiler as its all over the cover) 

Favourite Song of January 

Dessert by Dawin, I love this because it keeps me motivated in the gym :D 

Overall January has been a very good month, a great start to 2016 :D roll on February

Love Yah
IsThataRedHerring