Over the weekend my family and I headed down to Leamington Spa for the day to attend their annual food festival. We don't live very far from Leamington and its one of a few places we frequent regularly, purely because it is such a beautiful town with a lot of things to do, places to see and some of our favourite places to eat. The Leamington Spa food festival is somewhere that I had never been to before so I didn't really know what to expect, but my parents assured me that it was something that I would not want to miss! And they were most certainly right!

August has flown by so quickly this year, I can't believe we're already in September! It's almost (almost) time for Halloween and those cold, dark nights where you can snuggle up in blankets and baggy jumpers and drink hot chocolate by the fire (I'm so so excited!!!). But first, we have to say a very sad farewell to Summer - you will be sorely missed.

In homage to summer, I have collated a few of my favourite things that I have been loving this past month. I've seen these kind of collections videos posted onto Youtube and I really love watching them, so I thought I would start a new series on my blog: 'monthly favourites'. At the end of each month I will gather up some of my favourite things that I have been loving and I will share those things with you!


First up this month is 'Yes Please' by Amy Poehler. I picked this up a few months ago because I love Amy's character of Leslie Knope in the hilarious sitcom 'Parks and Recreation' and thought "oh what the heck". I can safely say, I wasn't disappointed - I absolutely devoured this book when I went on holiday. It is the perfect mix of funny, eye-opening, honest and wise, it is frank and open without being heavy and a struggle to get through. I highly recommend this book to everyone, in fact, it should be a necessity for every woman. You'll thank me in the end, I promise you.


Next up, is this gorgeous Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in '446 Huckleberry'. During the summer months, particularly when I'm nice and tanned, I much prefer to wear pale nail varnish colours such as this one. I love this shade, the icy blue colour sits perfectly against a golden tan and really brings out the colour of your skintone when you wear it. The formula is not one I would normally go for when I do my nails myself, (I normally save gels for the salon), but I was pleasantly surprised when I used this nail varnish for the first time as the finish is exactly the same as the results I get from the salon, it even lasts for ages in the heat and chlorine in swimming pools. This makes it a perfect shade to wear with your bikini at that pool party you've always wanted to go to! A word of warning, don't apply too many coats as it can smudge out of place and chip quite easily if you do. Other nail varnishs I have been loving this month are Essie's 'Blanc' and Revlon's 'One Perfect Coral' and 'Charming'.


To keep my skin soft, supple and hydrated this month, I have been using the Body Shop Coconut Body Butter, a must-have for the summer months to keep that tan fresh! This is a product that I have been using for years and years purely because I love it! Not only does it keep your skin nice and hydrated, but the smell is pure bliss - I love the smell of coconut in the summer and this product does not disappoint! Once you apply it to your skin, the smell of coconuts lingers until you next shower, so maybe if you don't like the smell of coconuts, this wouldn't be for you. I also love the Strawberry and Mango body butters from the same range.

The last item I will be sharing from this month are these River Island sunglasses. A good dupe for the Ray-Ban blue Aviator Flash Lenses, these babies will set you back a whopping......£10 haha. Reflective lenses have been all the range this summer, with almost everyone sporting a pair at some point! These sunglasses look great with pretty much every outfit you could ever want to wear and will look great transitioning into Autumn and Winter too (when that Winter sun is crazy strong). Pair in the Autumn/Winter with a leather jacket, chunky scarf and patterned flats and you're good to go!

Yes Please by Amy Poehler: Waterstones, £9.99
Barry M Nail Paint: Boots, £3.99
Coconut Body Butter: The Body Shop, £5
MAC's Lady Danger: MAC, £15.50
Sunglasses: River Island, £10