Mid Year Non Beauty Favourites

Welcome back to my Mid Year Favourites Round Up. On Monday I shared with you my Mid Year Beauty Favourites and today I'm back with my five favourite Non Beauty Favourites of the year so far.

I feel like I need to write about this first non beauty favourite all in capitals. My favourite thing of the year so far has to be the night me and Jasmin spent stood in the O2 singing our hearts out to Shawn Mendes. Jasmin so kindly surprised me with tickets back in January and in April we sang like our lives depended on it. I hadn't been to a concert in a good five years and whilst I was initially nervous to be surronded by so many people but as soon as Alessia Cara and Shawn Mendes came on, I lost all my inhibitions and let my inner teenage self out. I want to say nothing will top that night but I'm finally, finally seeing Carrie Underwood on the 4th July and to say I'm ridiculously excited is an understatment. Having waited ten years to see her live, I think it's safe to say it's going to be just as good if not better than that night at the O2.

Oh how long I'd been waiting to see this film. I was already a huge fan of Taron Egerton from the Kingsman's franchise but after watching Rocketman I'm a even bigger fan. Taron Egerton absolutely smashed it as Elton John, capturing every little eccentric flair of Elton's perfectly as well as portraying his rise to stardom, coming to terms with his sexuality and then his slight downfall due to addiction smashingly. And don't even get me started on the soundtrack. I knew Taron Egerton could sing but damn that man can sing. To this day I still like to belt out the soundtrack to help me get through life's most mundane tasks. Bennie And The Jets, Pinball Wizzard, Take Me To The Border, Rocketman and Tiny Dancer are sung so beautifully by Taron. If you haven't already seen the movie or listened to the soundtrack, I highly recommend checking them out. You won't be disappointed.

When it comes to Ariana Grande's music I find it to be very hit and miss and that's all due to my personal taste but when I heard Thank U, Next in it's entirety for the first time I was hooked. I can't say I have a favourite song but I do have several that I can listen to a million times a day without getting bored. I was going to list them but I can't because as I try, I remember another that I love and essentially I'd end up giving you the whole track list. I'm dying to see her live in October but I have a feeling that it's not going to happen and I'm really sad about that.

I couldn't do a Mid Year Favourites and not mention the record breaking film that was Avengers Endgame. Well I easily could as I spent three hours alternating between sobbing my heart out, cursing the Russo Brothers, gasping in shock or laughing my ass off. There was a reason that Endgame was the Number One movie in the world. It ended this particular phase of the MCU beautifully. Set up the many of new phases well and gave us all a chance to have a movie with many a memorable moment with all of our favourite characters. I'd love to go and watch the rerelease that's coming up but I don't think I can go through all that heartbreak for a deleted scene and a post credit scene. Thank god for the internet.

I feel like this last one's a cheat but they go hand in hand and I couldn't talk about one without the other. Cinemax's Strike Back reboot came back for a second season and it was the best season of Strike Back I've ever seen. It was obvious that the whole cast and crew put so much effort and work into making it the best season yet. And alongside Strike Back, two amazing women called Kelsey and Debs started the Sit Rep Podcast. Packed with an amazing breakdown of the episodes, hilarious behind the scenes facts and cracking interviews with the cast and crew, Sit Rep became the need to listen companion to Strike Back Silent War. And another amazing thing that happened in conjunction with Strike Back and Sit Rep was that I was asked to be a guest on the season wrap up episode of Sit Rep. I was nervous as hell but it went so well and I'm so proud of myself for taking a step out of my comfort zone. All the episodes of Sit Rep are available on Apple Podcasts so if you're a new fan of Strike Back and want to learn more about the show, I'd highly recommend giving them a listen. 

Monthly Favourites: February

Can someone please explain how the hell it's going to be the first of March on Friday? Like where on earth did February go? It's like I've blinked and missed it but I can't complain as it means I'm just that little bit closer to two amazing trips to London I have planned with Jasmin in March and April. But before I bore you all with them, let's get into this month's favourites. Now there aren't as many as January but there's still a fair few.

The first of only two beauty favourites this month comes from Loreal. Their newly released Magic Essence Drops have changed the way my make up looks and feels on my skin. These ultra lightweight hydrating primer drops smooth, hydrate and prep skin perfectly for any base you apply over top. They don't cause foundation to pill on the skin and really help with longevity. What I like the most about these drops is that they're extremely cooling on the skin and help to reduce the appearence of any redness that I may have. Plus a little goes a long way so this bottle will last for ages.

The only other beauty favourite I had this month came from a brand I'm so glad I can get my hands on. Flower Beauty has finally been released in the UK and after watching an interview with Drew Barrymore, I knew I just had to pick up at least one product from the range. The one I chose was the iconic looking red liquid lipstick. In the shade Scarlett Letter, their Miracle Matte Liquid Lipstick has been the only liquid lipstick I've worn this month. Sure it's more of a powdery matte finish but it's still ridiculously comfortable and I've loved pairing it with flawless skin, big lashes and big but natural looking brows. If you've been trying to decide on a product to try from Flower Beauty then I highly recommend their liquid lipsticks, I've even brought another one for a wedding I've got coming up in June.

 The only style favourite I have for you this month is this pair of jeans from Marks and Spencers. One thing I wanted to do this year was buy more bottoms. I've grown bored of just wearing plain black jeans and wanted some blue ones. I thought it was going to take me forever to find a decent pair but M&S sure know how to impress a girl. These are their super skinny, high waisted jeans. I love them so much. I haven't worn black jeans apart from when I'm at work since I brought them. They go so well with so much of my wardrobe and fit like a dream. I do have to roll the bottoms up ever so slightly to stop them from cutting my ankle off at the wrong point but apart from that they are the best £19.50 I've ever spent.

A show I haven't quite finished but have been/am absolutely loving is Umbrella Academy. I was intially drawn to it as I love Tom Hopper but after watching the advert I didn't think I'd actually watch it. It didn't seem to be my cup of tea but on a whim last week I watched the first episode and I was hooked. I still have three episodes to watch but as you can tell I'm stringing them out for as long as possible. I adore Tom Hopper's portrayal of Luther, it's so different to his usual roles and I like that whilst he's still the brawn of the operation, he's also got a gentle side. Robert Sheehan kills me as Klaus and whilst Ellen Page looks a little out of place in it, I'm intrigued to see what happens to her character Vanya in the last few episodes. If I go MIA on social media in the next few days then you know I'm binge watching the end of this series.

I have only listened to one album this month and it comes from the goddess that is Ariana Grande. When I first heard Thank you, next in it's entirety I was so unimpressed. I didn't think the album would grow on me and I'd like a couple of songs if I'd heard them repeatedly. Oh how wrong I was. I gave the album a second and third listen and I was hooked. It's literally the only album I've listened to for the whole of February. It's particularly good when I'm baking even if it means I have twice as much mess to clear up afterwards. Ariana is spilling that tea and it's shocking to think of everything she's been through lately. I have so much respect for her since she released this album and can't wait to see what the live performances look and sound like. When I first added this to my favourites list for the month there were only a few songs I picked out as favourites but as times gone on the whole album has become one big favourite and whilst I still have my absolute favourites from it, I don't dislike any of the tracks. Fake Smile, Bloodline,  Needy, NASA and In My Head have to be my absolute favourites, the ones that I turn it up that little louder for. I can't promise that there will be another music favourite for a while as this album is such a bop, it's going to take a lot for me to stop listening to it.

Last month my inner fangirl came out as Strike Back returned and whilst I desperately wanted to include it as a favourite again this month, I restrained myself. However this season, there is an amazing and I mean amazing podcast that is released every Saturday after the latest episode has aired. Hosted by Kelsey and Debs, Sit Rep is a fan made podcast for fans of Strike Back. Alongside a deeper look into the episode it features behind the scenes facts from showrunner Jack Lothian as well as amazing interviews with the cast and crew. Dan Macpherson, Bill Eagles, Jamie Bamber, Victoria Smurfit and Varada Sethu are just some of the amazing interviews so far with even more insightful brilliant interviews to come. I'm keeping everything crossed that Strike Back gets renewed for another season so that there will hopefully be another series of this brilliant podcast hosted by two lovely ladies who didn't have to go out of their way to do this but did because their love for the show, the cast and the crew is just as big as the rest of us fans.