Not only did August go by in a rush but I also stumbled across and watched August Rush on TV. Such a great film, guaranteed to make me cry, no matter how many times I watch it. And of course it stars the late, great Robin Williams. A wonderful man and a truly talented actor.

This month I started to prepare for a charity Christmas bazaar, making things to sell. I promised to show you what I made with all the buttons in my button drawer and here they are. I nicked the idea from Inspired by Pinterest, they're ridiculously simple - I made a dozen of each in no time at all.

Having bought some eyelet curtains ages ago I was left with a number of curtain rings that I wanted to find a use for. It took me ages to figure out what now seems like the most obvious thing ever! Mini wreaths. Sewing on the beads becomes hypnotic after a while.

I simply wrapped with wool, secured the ends and decorated with beads and bells. I wouldn't be surprised if a few buttons and sequins don't make their way onto a few of these at some point soon.

This month's Birchbox was a triumph. I normally like a few of the items sent but this time I love each and every single one. This only further fuels my current beauty obsession, but I'm not complaining (even if my bank balance is).

Wild About Beauty Crème Eyeshadow
I got the shade Olivia which is a neutral creamy shade. It's so pretty! It can be worn alone for a subtle sheen or over eyeshadow. It blends nicely and stays put. 

Nude ProGenius Omega Treatment Oil
I love this. It's the first time I have tried a facial oil and this totally won me over. The sample lasted a week, using morning and night and left my face feeling soft and hydrated. It is a little expensive so I won't be repurchasing but it has opened my eyes to the benefits of a facial oil. I'm now using B. Replenish Oil, available in Superdrug, and it seems every bit as good for a much smaller price tag.

Vasanti Brighten Up! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator
This is a lovely alternative to my current face scrub. It leaves my skin feeling really soft, looking plump and hydrated. Seriously, my skin must think all it's birthdays have come at once with all these new treats. To be honest it was about time that I had a re-think when it came to my skincare routine so this Birchbox was perfectly timed.

Supergoop Daily Correct CC Cream
I received the light / medium shade which looked a bit scary for some one as pale as me but I tried it anyway and it blended with my skin really nicely. It has a broad spectrum SPF of 35 which I love and covers blemishes and marks without looking (or feeling) too heavy. This is going to give my normal Oil of Olay Total Effects a run for it's money.

Number 4 Lumiere d'Hiver Super Comb Prep & Protect
A great hair treat. The ends of my hair are dry so I've been spritzing this on after washing and it helps to keep the ends frizz free and detangled. It by no means solves the problem entirely but it helps and it smells lovely.


I can't wait for September's Birchbox to arrive. And I might have ordered the new My Little Box too, the latest of the beauty-in-your-letterbox offerings, although this one contains fashion and lifestyle items too. No doubt I'll tell you all about that one soon enough.

Just one last beauty item and then I'll move on. This is my first The Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint. It lasts for ages and is glossy even without a top coat, goes on well and only needs two coats. Highly recommended for the quality and a really good price - £3.99.

The other exciting occurrence during August was the start of a fireplace renovation. We needed to make the fireplace bigger in order to put in a woodburner. This is a 'during' shot. I can't wait to show you the result, but I need to decorate first.

I hope August was good for you, what did you get up to?

Love

Today's #BEDM topic is about healthy living. The last time I was prompted to talk about this I shuffled my feet and looked at the floor, feeling rather uncomfortable, so maybe we'll just leave that one for another day...

One of the #BEDM prompts I've missed is fashion, beauty and grooming, so I've decided to go back to it. I've yammered on about clothes on this blog a lot (to the point of tedious repetition) so I thought I'd do a beauty post and tell you about my top five favourite Birchbox items. This is not the sort of post I do very often, and certainly not one I've done lately. 

I subscribed to Birchbox about 9 months ago and these are my favourites so far.


Chella Highlighter Pencil  |  £15.95
This has to be my all time favourite item from Birchbox. It's for highlighting brow bones, cheekbones, inner corners of your eye but I use it mainly as a eyeshadow primer. I've tried lots of different primers and this one works far better than any other. It also doubles up as a concealer. This post shows you ten ways to use it.

Molton Brown Ylang-Ylang Nourishing Body Lotion  |  £25.00 and Body Wash   |  £18.00
OK, so technically this is two things but I can't decide between them as it's the scent that makes me love these so much, a scent which I can still smell on my skin hours after using. The body lotion is also non-sticky which is a must for me - anyone else hate struggling to pull on skinny jeans after applying body lotion?

Molton Brown Rhubarb & Rose Replenishing Hand Cream  |  £10.00
I've become a little obsessed with hand cream recently after becoming utterly convinced my hands are starting to look old. This stuff is awesome, not only does it smell fantastically rhubarbular*, it nourishes a treat too, without being sticky.

English Laundry no.7 For Her  |  £47.00
Pear, jasmine, vanilla and sandalwood - delightful! And perfect for summer.
(They have a handbag friendly roller ball version for £16.00 that I am so tempted by)

Laura Mercier Body Butter (Ambre Vanillé)  |  £27.00
I loved this. I normally steer clear of body butters as I find they tend to sit on my skin, making me feel slimy, rather than sinking in. But the shea butter and aloe vera gel left me with super silky, non-sticky limbs and the smell was divine! It comes in Fresh Fig too, which I'd love to try sometime soon.

I can't recommend all of the items highly enough, I have to admit I'm a bit of a sucker for a nice scent (which I imagine is probably obvious). I often get face creams and masks etc in my boxes but I find a small sample isn't enough for me to make up my mind about that sort of product, although it is nice to try new things and have a bit of a pamper session once in a while.


I received May's Birchbox recently, so I've got some new goodies to try, including some Soigné Botanique nail polish, which is a lovely colour but has the most excessive packaging for nail polish known to man. Ooh Fancy.


Do you subscribe to any such boxes? What's your favourite product to come out of one of them?

 Love





*my new favourite word, invented by Sophie. I think it should be added to the dictionary.

I've been subscribed to Birchbox for about six months now and have been saving the packaging, thinking that I could find a use for it. I do this with a lot of things, which means I have a lot of stuff sat around my home waiting to become useful, and today was the day for three of my Birchbox boxes!


In a flurry of pine needles, I took the Christmas tree down today (a thoroughly depressing thing to do if you ask me). But instead of simply chucking all the decorations into one big box, like I did last year, leaving myself with a tangled mess to sort out this year, I packed them away by size and type.


The biggest baubles into a smallish cardboard box, the medium sized baubles into an really old Glossybox box and the smallest decorations into the Birchboxes.


Some of our decorations are quite small and delicate and need a little more consideration than simply being chucked into a large box. The Birchbox boxes are the perfect size to keep them safe and when December rolls around again I'll have a much easier task of selecting decorations for our tree (not that I'm looking forward to Christmas again just yet).


I then sat pondering a use for the Birchbox bags, it didn't take long for me to come up with the idea to use them as storage for my very dull, mostly 100 denier black, collection of hosiery. The inner neat freak in me is chuffed to bits, especially as I've decided that 2014 is the year I'll get organised.

What do you do with your Birchbox packaging?

Love