Hi guys! Happy last day of July! This month has really been a total rollercoaster for me, with a lot of downs and a whole lotta ups as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a much calmer and more focused August! As you can see, my favourites this month are mainly beauty related items with a couple of other life things thrown in as well. I hope you enjoy them! 

Impulse Spray Perfume- This reminds me so much of high school, when everyone used these even though we weren't allowed! It's strange how different you can feel when you start using a different scent, but this doesn't require quite so much commitment as buying a whole new perfume! This one is 'Illusions' and I'm really enjoying using it for something a bit different. 

Revo Lip Balm- I picked this up because it reminded me of the EOS lip balms that everyone seems to rave about. This one is watermelon scented, it's so smooth and tastes really sweet. I wasn't sure whether I'd like the big applicator but I really do!

Nude by Nature Makeup Brushes- I bought these as a pack about a month ago, and have been loving them so much! They're so soft and make my makeup application so much easier, as well as making it look so much better...plus they're such a pretty rose gold colour, what more could you want?!

Maybelline MasterPrecise Eyeliner- I'm absolutely terrible at eyeliner, but this is definitely making it as easy as possible! I love the tiny point, it's a lot easier to use than my old Maybelline Master Graphic eyeliner! 

Formula 10.0.6 Skin Clarifying Mud Mask-I've been scared of using mud masks for so long thinking that they'd make my acne flare up, but this honestly makes my skin so much better! I use it every 3 days or so and it really seems to make a difference...and it smells so good too!

Radical Self Love book- I won't talk too much about this as I'll do a full review soon, but for anyone who remembers my Instagram post wondering if this would change my life? It has, it totally has! 

Discover Weekly Spotify Playlist- This actually makes me look forward to Mondays! For anyone who hasn't seen this, every Monday Spotify will update your personalised Discover Weekly playlist based on the music you've been listening to. Without fail, I always love most of the songs in my Discover Weekly playlist, it helps me find so many good new songs! (This is the main reason my monthly playlists have been getting so long!) 

So that's all my favourites this month! What have you been loving lately? Do you have any good self-love books to recommend?

Hoping you all have a happy sunshiney August!

Kate x

What's In My Uni Bag?

Hey guys! Today is my first offical day back at uni, so in honour of this I thought I'd do a little feature on what I carry around with me to classes. Being prepared and organised makes your life so much easier when it comes to studying at uni, so I always make sure to have these few essential items with me so I'm prepared for whatever situation arises!

First things first, the bag! This bag is a fairly new purchase, and I am completely in love with it. It's the Macy Computer Tote from Kate Hill in a lovely light blue shade. Yes, it's a bag with my name on it and yes, this makes me very excited! It has two compartments, which is perfect for keeping my laptop safe from scratches whilst also having room for everything else I need! It has really sturdy straps as well so I never have to fear that it's going to break on me. It honestly fulfils my needs perfectly, I'm very happy about this purchase! 

MY UNI ESSENTIALS:

Water Bottle- Water is good for you... and the fact that this bottle is super cute and matches my bag is just a total coincidence, I swear! (It's totally not)

Notebook- You never know when you're going to need to jot something down or draw a diagram. Or make a paper airplane. #iamamatureadult 

Wallet- Very necessary for spontaneous coffee trips! 

Pencil Case- AKA where I keep all the random things I don't want floating around in my bag. Pens, bobby pins, receipts...you get the picture! This cute little one was bought at Sportsgirl a few years ago. 

Sunglasses- I live in Australia. These are needed every single day. 

Hand Sanitiser- I'm a total sushi addict, but I always feel gross eating with my hands without washing them first! This saves me every time! This is the Palmolive Raspberry scented one and it's great. 

Lipstick- This is my holy grail lipstick, Maybelline Colorsensational in Totally Toffee. It goes with everything and I wear it basically every day! 

Hand Cream- L'Occitane hand creams are something that I am very passionate about, and this almond one is my absolute favourite! 

Snack Bar- Your brain needs fuel! I always end up getting hungry between lectures so I keep one of these in my bag. It's a Naturally Nood Berrylicious bar, and it's basically just pressed dates, cashews and raisins. It tastes amazing and it's pretty healthy too! 

Headphones- My beloved rose gold Happy Plugs! I get SO many compliments on these, I love them so much! 

Cardigan- For some reason our lecture theatres are always antarctic temperature, and I always freeze after about half an hour of sitting still! So I keep this in my bag to prevent dying of hypothermia. 

Laptop- Need I explain? A pretty vital piece of equipment in my opinion!

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! What handbag essentials can you not live without?
Sending sunshine and happy vibes to you all!
Kate x

July Playlist

Hello my lovelies! It's playlist time again! I've been on holidays from uni basically this whole month, which means I've been driving around in the car a lot more than usual, roadtripping home and back and catching up with lots of friends. Nothing cheers me up like driving in the car with my music up loud, so this month's playlist is a special mix of all my absolute favourite songs to sing (very loudly) in the car! I hope you enjoy them (and sing as loudly) as I have been!

Champagne Problems- Nick Jonas. 

Red Dress- MAGIC!  I've been absolutely addicted to this one! Especially seeing as I just got a new red dress that I'm totally in love with haha! (See my Op Shop Haul post)

Lovers Friends- Mowe, Daniel Nitt

Desert- Paces, Guy Sebastian

Bacon- Nick Jonas, Ty Dolla $ign. 

Kiss and Tell- Ludomir, Sowl. This one is another super catchy tune that I've had on repeat!

Renaissance- Steve James, Clarity

Blind- Feder, Emmi

Where I Wanna Be- ARIZONA. Something about the chill vibe of this song just makes me so happy!

Who Do You Think Of? -M.O

Better- We Are Friends, Grant Genske. Dedicated to all the friends and family in my life that make everything better!

False Alarm- Matoma, Becky Hill

Perfect Strangers- Jonas Blue, JP Cooper. My fave song to listen to before a night out!

Millionaire- Cash Cash, Nelly. One of my absolute faves from this month, it's ridiculously catchy to sing in the car!

Summer On You- Sam Feldt. So, so much love for this tune!

Spaceship- Comet Blue

Let Me Hold You- Cheat Codes, Dante Klein

wRoNg- ZAYN, Kehlani

Sit Still, Look Pretty- Daya. The theme tune for every strong, independent woman out there!

Thief- Ookay

Party All Night- Sean Kingston. So everyone who watched the Inbetweeners movie will definitely recognise this song! I just watched the movie (a few years late, I know!) and have had this song stuck in my head ever since!

I hope you guys enjoy these songs! You can find the playlist on Spotify here. Please let me know what you've been listening to lately, I'd love to know!
Here's to an adventurous August!
Kate x

Semester 2 Goals

It's that time of year again...tomorrow I will be heading back down to Uni to begin another semester! Whilst attempting to pack (much more dancing than packing has been happening at this point!) I've been thinking over what I'd like to achieve in my last semester of pre-clinical Med, and I thought I'd share some of my ideas with you guys! 

Study:

• Go to the library more to study. I'm very good at getting distracted when I study at home, and I've always found that going to the library puts me in a really good mindset where I get things done! 
• Try the Pomodoro Technique. I've heard a lot about this study method and I think it's time I try it! I'm a really bad procrastinator when it comes to study, and I think this method could really help me to get over that! (click here for info if you don't know what the Pomodoro Technique is!)

Life:

• Keep up with my blog! I've been terrible at this lately, mainly just because I've been out of ideas to write about. However I have the next month's posts all planned out so I hope to be back on top of my game here! 
• Surround myself with positivity. I'm at a point in my life right now where I just don't have time for any unnecessary negative influences. Whether it means unfriending people on Facebook or even in real life, if people don't add positivity to my life then they've gotta go! I've started following more inspirational Instagram accounts and surrounding myself with positive quotes, and you wouldn't believe the difference it can make!

Health: 

• Practice mindfulness. We've actually learnt a lot about mindfulness and its benefits in our classes, and I think it's a really valuable tool in staying mentally happy and healthy! I recently downloaded the Headspace app to try and help me with this-I've yet to try it out but will get back to you all when I do! 
• Walk to class more often. Walking to class is an amazing way to fit a bit more exercise into my day whilst also giving me time to clear my head! Plus I save on fuel if I'm not driving so much, so what excuse do I have?! 

So there's my main goals for Semester 2, although I'm sure I've forgotten a couple! I have so many cool things to look forward to this semester, including a trip to Brisbane to see Troye Sivan as well as our Medicine Ball and many other things! I'm excited to get into it all again-although it's always tough, I have some wonderful friends and family by my side who always keep me going!

Here's to being the best version of ourselves, every single day!

Kate x

My Favourite YouTubers

So I'm one of those people who spends quite a lot of time watching complete strangers talk on YouTube. It seems to me that YouTube is this whole world which you're either a part of, or you don't understand at all. Most of my friends don't really watch YouTube and don't quite understand where the attraction for it comes from. I actually had a good friend ask me the other day 'why do people watch YouTube? I don't get it?' and that really got me thinking in trying to answer his question!

For me, I think it's mainly a form of escapism. I really enjoy being able to live in someone else's life for a little bit while watching someone's video (much like watching a movie or reading a book). I also love finding people who seem to have a similar outlook on life to me and feeling more 'understood'- the same way as blogging! I find that once you've been watching someone's videos for a while (especially if they're vlogs) you feel more connected to the person and almost feel as if they're a friend. I also love watching the videos of bloggers I know or read, as it's always such a surprise and so lovely to hear them talking in real life (I bet none of you are imagining me saying this in my part aussie/part kiwi accent haha!)

So without further ado I though I'd just mention a few of my favourite YouTubers. Some of my absolute favourites who I've been watching for years include:

Dodie (aka Doddleoddle/ Doddlevloggle- Dodie just seems incredibly real and down to earth, she struggles with the same kind of things that we all do...in my eyes she's just nailed 'imperfectly perfect', if that makes any sense!

Dan and Phil (Danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil)- I like them both separately, but any video where they're together is just so much funnier!

Zoella- I just want her life, honestly!

Vivianna Does Makeup- mostly for her non makeup-related videos. Anna just seems so lovely and I totally aspire to have my life together like she does! I love her vlogs and lifestyle videos so much!

Giovannasworld- Gi is honestly one of the cutest people ever! She's so lovely and positive about life, while still staying so real and down to earth! Her and her husband Tom (from McFly) have been my OTP for years, and now they have their two sons I love them even more!

Now for some newer discoveries! These next few are all YouTubers that I've discovered over the last couple of months, and I'm loving all of their videos so much!

Shy Life Living- I absolutely love Sophie's Monthly Moments videos, I think they're such a lovely way of sharing some little snippets of your life, and I somehow just find them so calming and nice to watch! I'd love to start trying to do something similar sometime!

Through The Glitter Glass- Saira just makes me smile so much! She's such a natural to making videos and she's always so cheerful and lovely to watch! She always makes me super jealous of the wonderful things she gets in her hauls as well...forever wishing I lived in the UK and could buy the same things haha!

Rhiannon Ashlee- Rhiannon is another simply lovely lady to watch, I adore her vlogs as she's so independent and really makes you feel like you're a friend following along with her. She's also due to have a baby any day now, so I'm waiting with huge excitement for the announcement!

Alex Martinez- Alex has such lovely videos that are so professionally done! I love all her stationery hauls and school-related posts, and always end up incredibly jealous of her monthly favourites! She finds some really lovely things that always have me wanting to go and buy them for myself straight away!

So there's my list... I'd love to hear why you guys watch Youtube, and who your favourites are!
Kate x

3 Places You Need To Go In New Zealand's North Island

As a kiwi girl living in Australia, I often find myself missing my home country an awful lot and wanting to re-live all my memories in any way possible! So to accompany my reminiscing and wanderlust today, I thought I'd write up this little feature on my 3 all-time favourite places to visit in the North Island of New Zealand.