With the excuse that I’ve got amazing Christmas presents and that it’s sales month, January has seen a lot of favourites this time! So here are a few things I’ve loved this month…

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up ; Enjoy The Little Things Candle – Maisons du Monde

I’ve been reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up since a couple of weeks now and I’m not finished yet, but I’m in love with it! The approach to tidying up and discarding Marie Kondo teaches through the pages of her book is revolutionary for real and is making me want to tidy up every single room. And even if I’ve not started yet, I think, with Spring around the corner, I plan a very intense room cleaning in the following weeks! And oh, her method to fold clothes… seriously, why didn’t I ever even thought about it?!

I’m enjoying my time with the book each evening before going to bed, usually with a cup of lavender or fennel tea between my hands and my lovely ‘Enjoy The Little Things’ candle lighten up – it not only is the cutest thing to have around, but also smells so lovely, like as sweet as vanilla could ever be, and it fills my tiny room with its calming delicious scent in seconds!

3 in 1 Wash Scrub Mask – Lavera ; Baby Lips Balm – Maybelline ; Roses All The Way Soap ℅ Lush

Don’t know if it was due to the way too much food I ate during the Holidays, but my skin felt horrific at the very beginning of January. I kept having the feeling my forehead and nose were always shiny and disgusting and felt the urge of washing my face properly even more than twice a day. I picked up an old favourite from my skincare shelf thinking it was going to work its magic once again, but it wasn’t the case: maybe because I have basically not used any skincare product at all in the past months, I had a bad allergic reaction to it which made things even worst! So I’ve decided to go for something different and natural, and ever since I picked up the Lavera 3 in 1 Wash Scrub Mask my skin is getting a lot better. I’ve only used it as a cleanser so far, morning and evening, and it’s nice with its gentle scrubbing action: it leaves my skin feeling nice, soft, dry and refreshed – highly suggested for any oily and super sensitive skins!

I’ve always been curious about the Maybelline Baby Lips Balms but for some reasons (which may involve a bit of an overload of lip balms in my drawer – or maybe not) I’ve never tried one so far, until I received that little couple at Christmas. I felt in love with the ‘Mint Candy’ scent, very nice and refreshing for wintertime. Plus they’re very nicely hydrating as well!

The other day I joined the lovely people at Lush to discover their Valentines line and I left with the extremely lovely Roses All The Way Soap. Delicately smelling very floreal and rose-like, this gentle sweet soap is perfect for this time of the year and on sensitive skins and areas. Containing coconut oil and rose oil and syrup it also feels very hydrating and luxurious! Plus it creates a lovely rich, creamy foam that will leave your skin as soft as ever!

Vegan Chocolate Chips Cookies ; Peppermint Fishes – Tiger

This is probably the part everyone was expecting, right? Those cookies, ahh…
I’ve discovered them at the beginning of the month and I’ve been baking huge batches of them every week ever since. Everyone seems to like them and they would never think they’re eating completely vegan cookies, because, vegan or not, this is truly the very best chocolate chips cookies recipe I’ve ever tried! It makes for perfect size medium-to-large gooey in the middle and crunchy on the sides delicious chocolate-y cookies, the very best type. You should try them, or not – you decide, but don’t feel guilty if you find yourself baking them three or four time in a row, they’re vegan after all!

Let’s talk peppermint fishes: isn’t that tin the cutest thing ever? And it contains adorable fish-shaped little mints! Just the perfect amount of cuteness (and perfect size too) for keeping them in my handbag and smiling at them when I want a mint.

Pyjamas – Oysho ; Slippers – Oysho

A couple of weeks ago, when I was feeling the January blues kind of badly, I decided to treat myself to something nice. And to me ‘something nice’ always comes in pyjamas form (and slippers because why not). I’ve never had Oysho PJs before but now I’m not buying them elsewhere anymore! They’re the softest, cosiest, nicest thing to slide into in the evening, not to mention how lovely those illustrations are – I just can’t resist a beautifully illustrated piece of loungewear! Those slippers, then, make you feel like you’re walking on the softest of clouds – so now I know what slippers are meant to be like!

Evernote App

Ever since upgrading my iPhone I’ve finally got the chance (and enough storage) to download some of the apps I’ve always felt I couldn’t live without anymore, and although I’ve a lot of new favourites, I’ve fallen in love with Evernote especially! I’ve used it in the past, but at the moment its simple way to allow me to create lists for literally anything that can be listed (including making lists of the lists I need to make) and categorizing them is so appealing to me and it’s just helping me so nicely to stay on top of things (and a lot has happened this month, I don’t even know how I actually did it!).

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And that’s a wrap! Would love to know what’s on your January favourites list this month! x

Check out Why You Should Get Into A Paraben-Free Haircare Routine

by Giada at Mode

Around this time two years ago I decided I wanted to cut parabens out of my haircare routine completely. And let me say one thing: that’s probably the best thing I could do for my hair apart from stopping using heat and bleach on it! I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect organic shampoo for so long, only to realize there are tuns of brands that make paraben-free shampoos that are as good if not even better than standard products (enter Lush shampoo bars but also something like Garnier paraben-free shampoos). But last but not at least, my hair now feels so thick and healthy, with its own natural shine fully enhanced and growing as fast as it never did before!

So here are a couple of benefits of a paraben-free haircare routine…

01 :: Results are long term – While chemicals will leave you with the feeling your hair is softer and healthier right now, in the long term they work against your hair and damage it. Natural products instead might not give you instant visible results, but the longer you use them the healthier your hair will feel and look!

02 :: Parabens are bad for the environment – Not only avoiding parabens is good for your hair health, but it’s fundamental for the environment. Parabens have been found in the bodies of marine mammals, probably coming from products we use that are washed into the sewage system and released into the environment.

03 :: Organic products are just as good – While the hunt for the perfect organic product for your hair type could be challenging in a first place, truth is natural hair products are as good if not better! There are actually lots of brands who cares about the ingredients list but also provide amazing product, 100 times better than ones full of parabens.

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{ Check out my ‘Why You Should Get Into A Paraben-Free Haircare Routine’ article for more }
Any of you avoiding parabens? I’d love to know about your favourite natural haircare brand! x

I’ve already shared my love for the Balanced App and the importance of treating yourself more often in a recent post, and since starting using that app and writing that article especially, I’ve started getting into those activities I love doing but somehow I always find myself too busy for actually practicing them. I realized what I was doing with myself was something very similar to suppressing my own passions in honour of work, and work again. Rediscovering those activities I’ve always loved doing felt such a treat recently, and since the beginning of this 2016 I’m feeling my life is actually a lot more balanced between work and passions.

Here are five things I should do more often in the following months…

01 :: Practicing yoga – At the beginning of every year I always feel so very motivated to get into yoga again, but as the year goes on that initial motivation slowly fades until at the very end I hardly ever practice yoga at all. I’ve always loved yoga, taking time for myself, switching off, stretching my muscles, welcoming a little heat (especially now that the weather is so cold it feels so lovely!), and this month I’ve rediscovered it again, wishing this time I can keep it going all year round!

02 :: Read – Reading more always appears in my new years resolutions, but this time I actually managed to start doing it right away (which usually never happens as ‘I have a whole year ahead for getting started!‘): right before bedtime I take my time to get comfortable into my PJs, heat up my hot water bottle and make a cup of fennel tea and immerse myself into some pages. It feels lovely to switch technology off an hour or so before bedtime, it not only helps to sleep better, but I’m also rediscovering the pleasure of reading a nice book and immersing myself in a different world.

03 :: Go outside – Yes, I actually added this one to the Balanced App, because, even though it seems so basic, I tend to forget about stepping out the house even only for a couple of hours a week! I work from home and sometimes it’s easy to forget where work ends and life starts, and when I take some time for myself I usually do it on the couch catching up with TV series – which I love, but sometimes it’s nice to go outside, get some fresh air in my lungs and just enjoy some time outside my usual spaces, at least once a week!

04 :: Colouring – In December we decided to give the whole colouring book trend a go and this month we have come to quite enjoy it on a Saturday night. It’s actually a quiet enjoyable couple activity I think and it totally relaxes me, so it’s something I plan on doing more this year!

05 :: Bake something new – I love baking (you would know it if you’re following this blog since a while!), it’s an activity I have a true passion for and something that always put me in a good mood. For some reasons I still don’t do it often enough for my liking, but I love discovering new recipe and trying my hands at something new. I’ve tried a couple of new recipes since the year has started and I’m totally happy with them! I should remember to bake something new every week!

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Would love to know what you’d need to do more often!
And if you have books and recipes suggestions please let me know! x