I’m sad July it’s over, it was such a lovely thoughtless month and I secretly liked the rainy weather which has not abandoned us for a day most of the times being that I’m not a huge fan of summer’s Italian heat and was a lot more comfortable in a fresh weather. It was also the month I mostly enjoyed so far this year, full of new things and little adventures, while me and my boyfriend also did one year together which brought a lot of beautiful memories back. Hopefully August will be as nice as July, but now up to this month’s favourites. I rounded up a few things I’m loving lately, so here they are…

{Beauty} I’ve never been a huge makeup fan in summertime and even though it’s being rainy most of the time, it’s still hot so bless the lightweight bases which are my best friends in the hot months. This month I’m loving the Rouge Bunny Rouge Tinted Moisturiser Sketches On Water* (£37) again, because not only it’s the perfect match for my skin and super lightweight, but it also makes my skin look healthier and glowy, which makes it my skin’s best friend on any dull skin day (and I’m having a lot recently). I’m also rediscovering the eyeliner just recently and I won’t lie, I’m not that good at applying it, but the Real Techniques Silicone Liner Brush (£5.99) paired with a good gel eyeliner makes everything super easy.
I’m enjoying so much one of my most recent beauty purchase, the REN Neroli and Rose Gift Set (£15) that I bought in the SpaceNK summer sales last month – I especially love the Neroli duo which is perfect for this time of the year with that fruity summer-y scent! Another body product which is becoming an essential lately is the Little White Lie Wash Off Darker* (£8): even though I’ve never been a last minute instant self tanning products lover, I’m being super lazy lately and always forget to have a serious self tan session before wearing a dress, and this Little White product is really coming handy to have a quick natural looking and never orange tan on those lazy days.
On the skincare front I’m trying to religiously stick to a consistent routine which includes products I already talked about a lot recently, but the one true helpers this month have been the Peter Thomas Roth Max Complexion Correction Pads (£24.95): to me summer means oily acne prone skin which is never too much fun, and this BHAs soaked pads really did the trick for me this month to keep my acne at bay and my skin looking as matte as possible.

{Life} As I wrote in my second post in my The Food Diary blog series, me and my boyfriend discovered noodles this past month and we are both in love. Between the instant noodles we have tried so far the Nudelsuppe Chinese Recipe from Tiger are one of our favourites! Not to mention we also went on a quest to find some cute chopsticks and we found some only asking at a chinese restaurant – apparently noone sells them here; they are available on here if you’re interested and they’re super affordable, I really love the cute and simple pattern on them but I’m afraid the exact same one is not available anymore, but the others are so pretty as well!
Can we talk for a minute about how cute that Panda Mouse is?! I know, it can look way too childish, but I love pandas and was so happy when my boyfriend bought it for me – it’s super cute and actually quite handy even though I’ve never been used to use a mouse at my laptop.
I will keep you updated on this next one, but we saw McDonald’s is having this promotion here in Italy that every menu + ice cream comes with a super cute ice cream cup freebie, and we decided to go for it. We already have two out of six available and I know this shouldn’t be an excuse to just go to McDonald’s and eat junk food, but they’re super cute and I need to collect them all!

{Fashion} I’m in love with my ASOS Journey Espadrilles (£10) which are the cuter shoes I own with that anchor print but also so comfortable, lightweight and such a steal as well! I learnt I shouldn’t wear them even if it rains though…

{I’ve been obsessed with…}
. This kind of breakfasts;
. Rosie’s Spinach + feta pasties;
. Lavender scent;
. Lana Del Rey Ultraviolence album (not that I’ve ever been real fan of any album really, but my boyfriend makes me listen to it on repeat everyday!);
. Orange Is The New Black.

What have you loved this month?

You may have noticed from my tweets or just visiting my blog the last few days, that Miel Cafè had a complete makeover and it’s now all changed and prettier. I was planning to redesign my blog completely for a few months now, but I had no clue what to change for a while since I actually decided to sit down and concretely do something.

This wasn’t my original project by any means, I actually didn’t have a real original project if not some ideas and HTML codes and JavaScripts I wanted to use. Thanks to my boyfriend which had the major idea for this beautiful blog design, I was actually able to put together the blog design I’m most proud of and, yes, I’m super proud of myself for being able to do such things without any external help if not my boyfriend always suggesting lovely ideas to make it better. I can actually say this is the result of everything I learned during these past few months of designing other bloggers blogs, and it’s so nice to see I could put every beautiful thing I learned into one blog design. I know, it feels like I’m talking of my wedding dress, but if you can get the most beautiful design you can put together it must be special and need to be the one. I don’t think I would ever had asked something more or different to a more professional web designer than myself, so I’m super happy about it!

Up to the actually blog design, it was definitely inspired by the idea behind my blog of being a safe and comfy place that reflects my personality and the contents I like to produce. It wants to recreate a comfy Café’s atmosphere and it’s really personal being that every illustration and picture you can see in the design were photos taken by me of things I own and live with everyday. My primary requirement was to achieve an easier and nicer navigation experience, and I think the sticky navigation bar as well as the new pages appearance and the neat disposition of every gadget really make it so simple to find anything a reader might need.

I wanted my blog to have a face you can remember and enjoy, something that made it really special and different from any other, and the only solution I find was to actually inspire the design to myself as an individual different to any other one, with things I like and colors I love. Hopefully this will give its very own vibe to Miel Cafè, which is what I always look for.

You might want to take a look to my new Archive, the redesigned About Me & Miel Cafè page, the quicker Contact Form to ask me any questions you may have, as well as the new responsive and mobile friendly appearance of my blog (check it out here!).

Hope you enjoy the new Miel Café’s interface!

I feel like we know each other since a few long lifes ago which is not completely wrong, but me and Ale actually met exactly one year ago. I know it has only been a year, but it was our year and for what is worth, it was so important to us to be able to spend it properly together.

We actually know each other for six years now, five of what were spent far away from each other, not even knowing if an hypothetical real relationship between us would have ever been possible, which was the hardest part, really. Not knowing if we could ever see each other or if we were seriously meant to be together as a real couple. But the years have passed and we were actually pretty lucky to be able to know each other well, like no other did, and when we met for the first time an exact year ago, we already knew we have always been meant to meet each other.

It all changed with no regrets by any means, we’ll never miss those five years but I would personally re-do it all now. It was all worth. This past year was the best I had in a long time, even though I had health and other personal issues and lived a super unlucky period which I don’t still know if it’s over, it definitely was the best year I could ask for. I think we probably know each other a lot more than any other one year couple out there, we shared a lot even before it all started for true, but this year together we grew a lot, we changed and our relationship did, we started sharing dreams and plans for the upcoming and distant future, we made our first decisions together, we had fights and made peace, we laughed a lot, we shared everything that happened to us, we learned a lot and I deep down know if it wasn’t for him being present in my life, I wouldn’t ever have made a lot of decisions or steps I actually did and am super happy about.

This was our first concrete year together, so thank you for giving me the best year I had in a really long time!