Wow! This month has flown by! I'm very sorry for the lack of posting in this month, university was bad and I didn't get to schedule much content on here. However, I have become a very good egg and already have a few new posts either scheduled or in the works!

Anyway, these are my November faves!

Firstly, this month I have rediscovered the Tea Tree & Witch Hazel range from Boots! I used to use these products back in high school and then kind of just forgot them over the past few years. However, these products have been my heroes of this month as I have had so many stress breakouts and my skin has been all over the place and these products have helped me to pull it back under control!



Keeping with the theme of beauty and skincare, my saviour for this winter so far has been my Burt's Bees lip balm! I have the coconut and pear lip balm and honestly, it's quickly become my favourite lip balm! It's in a handy tube and I keep it in my pocket at all times!


My favourite makeup item this month has been the Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics palette. I have totally fallen in love with it all over again, it's just perfect for a super quick eye look and since i've been so busy lately, it's been so handy to just throw on and run out the door!



I have just one favourite podcast this month! I need some recs! But anyway, The Heart of It by Estee Lalonde is my current absolute fave! I love the range of topics she covers and she is so good at storytelling. Her little guest interviews are also super great and interesting!

This month (in three days to be exact) I am turning twenty. Not having 'teen' at the end of my age is a very scary and daunting prospect. As a kid, I thought I would have everything figured out by twenty. Wrong. Not even close!



What did I accomplish as a nineteen-year-old? I guess that should be the focus, to avoid a rather bleak picture of my failures in life (sorry little Jess, you still won't have learned to drive or mastered guitar by now). Well, I did complete my first year at university, meet a lot of interesting and cool people, see a talk by one of my favourite psychologists, get a new job, move into a new house, and find a new favourite book series.

Another actual achievement: I got involved in volunteering, more than I ever have before. It's super rewarding and in this next year of my life, I want to do even more! I also actively pursued help for a lot of issues that I was scared to talk about. I'm kinda proud of myself for that.

I went on a holiday this year for the first time in two or three years! I got to see a lot more of Cornwall and had a lovely time catching up with my family!



I learned a lot too this year. I encountered a little bit of romance (and subsequent disappointment), passed a lot of exams and read a lot of self-help guides. I also watched Bridget Jones a LOT and I swear the lessons from that film never stop.

Twenty seems like a landmark age, reaching two decades of life on this earth and breaking out of the troublesome teenage years. I am going to try to be an optimist about this next year. There are a lot of things that I would like to change and pursue and I have a strange feeling that this next year is going to be a big one.



Thank you for getting through these ramblings with me! Here's to many more ramblings in the future!

This weekend was a long, frustrating rollercoaster of co-workers calling in sick and a very busy retail job. Coupled with deadlines, this weekend was utter torture. By Sunday afternoon, I was so ready for some much deserved retail therapy!

I'm normally the girl with short, cracked and badly painted nails, something I am pretty fed up of. I'm a busy student who works all weekend and doesn't really have the time or patience to spend much time on fixing my nails. As a quick fix, I decided to give false nails a go and wanted to start as cheap as possible.

Primark has a massive selection of nails in all different shapes, colours and finishes. I was in Primark on Monday afternoon and figured I would grab a pack and I settled on the 'Squareletto Matte' nails in the colour 'Antique Stone'. The pack comes with 24 nails and a small tube of adhesive and the colour is a beautiful beige nude.

The 'Squareletto' nails are a lovely shape but super super long and as someone who is used to having pretty much no nails at all, it takes some getting used to. However, it's not an issue most of the time. The adhesive that comes with these nails has really surprised me the most! It is actually really good and is pretty strong! I'm impressed! The nails were really easy and quick to apply and the glue set very quickly. Once set, these nails do not budge and I have only had to re-glue a nail once since putting them on yesterday! (update: I kept these on for 5 days before soaking them off, but they could have easily stayed on for longer)

I am steadily becoming obsessed with this range of nails and have already gone back to Primark for more! I have found that the almond-shaped nails are best for me due to the fact that i'm not used to very long nails and also because I work in retail on a shop floor so I am constantly opening boxes and putting out stock and I can see very long nails getting in the way of that for me. These are the 'Almond' nails in 'Shameless':

These nails are significantly shorter than the 'squareletto' nails and are a wonderful plum colour. I am in love with these nails! They survived a weekend at work so I am more than impressed! I will definitely be buying more nails in this shape as they are super wearable and I love that they are pointed subtly, a shape that I have never had on my nails before! Since wearing both sets of nails I have received loads of compliments and people can't believe that I only paid £1 for these! I would totally recommend Primark nails for anyone starting out with false nails and whoever wants to get great nails for a super low price!