Autumnal Favourites

I haven't done one of these lately, not since January actually, so in case anyone was interested here are a few of my favourite things from the last few months...girls in white dresses and blue satin sashes...not included.

First, let me tell you a little story about Neom Organics. I first came across the aromatic fragrance company when I was looking to buy my sister a leaving present when she moved to Australia (for a year...*updste* she's a permanent resident now), and I was taken in by the mix and match miniatures for the company that was 'scent to make you feel good.'

The problem was that it was actually a bit too good and I fell in love with their product range (so did my sister, and she has been requesting more of their, best-selling pillow mist because she has run out), and a trip to Neom Organics has become quite a regular item on my 'to do list'

My latest purchase (besides some Christmas presents) includes this candle for the Sensuous 'scent to calm and relax range.' The whole relaxing thing is not something that comes easily to me, I'm a bit of a worry monster and get stressed out very easily, so I love the calming scent of this candle, which includes 16 natural essential oils including ylang-ylang, patchouli and frankincense. 

The first musical item on my list, because you knew there was going to be at least one is 'Waiting' the latest EP from Tom Speight. Because I know that I've been 'Waiting' to have this EP by 'my side' and I'll be looking forward to hearing Tom's debut album next year.

#TBT to my review of Tom's Leeds date on his debut UK headline tour  latest review coming soon

When the weather turns that little bit colder a good hat is absolutely essential and this season I have not one but two faves!

The first, a little beanie from Leeds based company In Music We Trust

In Music We Trust, run by Aiden Hatfield donates 50% of their profits to Mind charity to support people who suffer from depression and other mental health problems, a very worthy cause and they have some rather cool clothes too!

Hat number two simply says ' bunnies over people' which, as a crazy bunny lady myself I can totally relate to. 

This surprise gift from my sister is from Worried Potato and Co the merch brand of Instagram famous Bunny Mama. Lily, Edgar and Beatrix Potter most certainly approve of this hat. 

My final current fave is also of the musical variety, this time in the form of an album, from...you guessed it...Coasts. 

This Life Vol. 1, Coasts' second album, was released in August of this year, and I have listened to little else ever since. The band accompanied the release with an epic 38-date UK tour, journeying to corners of the country, including places they had never been to before and reaching out to fans who flocked from far and wide. 

Before you ask, I didn't go to all 38 dates, only 5, including Bristol, Bath, Brighton (you can read the Brighton blog here if you want), Leeds and York.

Coasts are back touring in the UK in April and will be joining The Hunna on the European and Australian tours! 

Current Favourites

So February and March sucked....just kidding I mean I did go on mini tour around Germany following Coasts - no biggie

Musik und Frieden - Berlin

Molotow - Hamburg

Anyway I still neglected to upload a favourites blog for those months so here's a summary of my current favourites.

1. Dan Croll 

I was super excited to hear that Dan Croll would be appearing at Live At Leeds as I haven't seen his beautiful face since 2014. Dan has been keeping quiet over the past year and I can't wait to hear what he has been up to. 

Yesterday, he dropped this acoustic video of one of my favourite singles of his; From Nowhere. 

I have recently been playing his current album, Sweet Disarray, in anticipation of LAL next week.

2. The Little Paris Bookshop- Nina George 

This week I entered Waterstones in search of a particular book and left with four completely different titles. One of these was 'The Little Paris Bookshop' and it's so cute! Originally in German, this book is an international best seller, having sold over 500k copies worldwide. 

In essence, its about a man called Jean who owns a bookshop on a barge. Jean has the rare ability of being to prescribe the right book to cure his customers of all emotional turmoils, yet the only person he seems unable to heal is himself. 

This is a tale of love lost, friendship, adventure and even includes a variety of recipes at the back - winner!

3. By All Greens- Origins 

Is it a face mask? Is it a cleanser? By Jove it's both!!

Why indeed this is the first face mask and cleanser in one of its kind and contains all-natural ingredients including green tea, spirulina and spinach. 

It has a very refreshing smell and is gentle on your skin - great because mine is so sensitive and all that. 

When it comes out, it's a lovely place green colour. 

Apply to your face and leave on 10-15 minutes. 

As the mask dries it becomes translucent. 

Wash of with warm water and it becomes foamy and stuff. 

4. Cucumber water

Talking of skincare, I recently (and by recently I mean as of like yesterday) started drinking cucumber water, which, amongst other benefits, is soothing to the skin and calms irritation. Another really great advantage of drinking cucumber water it that it contains silica, which keeps to keep muscle tissue strong and supple. Read about more benefits here 

January Favourites

The longest, most tedious month of the year is finally drawing to a close and I for one, am glad to see the back of it. It hasn't all been doom and gloom though; here's some of my favourites during the month of January:

1. Coasts 

So I don't know if any of you remember but in my 'Top Gigs of 2015' post I mentioned that a certain band (who were, by the wa,y number one on that list) were set to release their debut album on the 22nd of this month. I was most definitely not disappointed when I received my parcel from Amazon (naturally, I had pre-ordered), and I may or may not have had the album on repeat ever since it was released.

I am not alone in my love for this album (and the band obviously) as they went straight to number 1 on the Alternative Album chart on the day of release and hit no.4 of the regular Album chart.

2. Harry Potter

Spurred no doubt by the passing of Alan Rickman  (R.I.P.), who will ALWAYS be Professor Snape to Potterheads all over the globe, I have been re-reading Harry Potter this month and am currently about half-way through Half Blood Prince. To be honest, I actually skipped 1 and 2 in favour of starting Prisoner Of Azkaban. The Harry Potter series for me, and I'm sure many people, is rather comforting to come back to over and over again. We grew up with the characters of this story, so diving into the world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is like being welcomed back by old friends.

3. My Nespresso machine

Having already written an entire post on the subject I'll try not to waffle on about it.

Waking up to fresh coffee every day that tastes just as good (if not better) as barista-made never gets old and I recently purchased a top-up of coffee capsules. Indeed, I now have in excess of 200. The next coffee's on me it would seem.

Ok I know I normally do 5 items in these kinds of posts but its January so yeah...that