Oh June, you’ve been lovely this year! Not so much on the weather front as we are properly experiencing Summer only now in these last couple of weeks, but we had the chance for so many lovely moments, read: alfresco dinners have become a weekly thing, homemade pizza has been made more than usual, iced coffee has become appropriate every single morning and the weather lately has been good enough to allow us to put together picnics and spend time outside enjoying moments!

So here are a few material things I’ve loved this month as well…

Watercolor Wishes Card Kit ℅ Stamping’ Up

Craft

If you are a long time reader of this blog you’ll surely know about my love for stationery and paper in general. And you’ll know I’m a creative and love getting crafty even on my spare time every now and then. So you’ll understand my excitement when opening a box of lovely watercolour-themed papers, envelopes, stickers, stamps, tapes and literally everything you’d need to put together cute and unique greeting cards and having fun in the meanwhile!

The Stamping’ Up Watercolor Wishes Card Kit* includes all the tools to create twenty hand-crafted incredibly sweet cards, but what I love the most about it is their signature stamping kit that always allows me to create unique designs with beautiful scripts. I now have my greeting cards for any occasions really all nice and sorted, but I reckon this kit would make such a perfect gift to anyone into crafting and cute paper goods as well!

OITNB ; Paper Fairy Lights – Maison Du Monde

Life

Like the rest of the world, this month I’ve been *obsessed* with Orange Is The New Black. For some reasons I realized I still had a few episodes from last season to catch up with, so as soon as the new season has been released earlier this month, I was ready and excited for more episodes to devour each evenings, one legitimate reason for spending my hours on the couch with chips in one hand and ice cream in the other! I’m half way through the new season already and I’m excited to see things evolving!

And yes, I finally caved and bought fairy lights for atmosphere. I mainly wanted them because of the many dinner alfresco that surely need some sort of outdoor lighting action, but I ended up hanging them behind my bed because they’re too pretty not to!

Striped Pleated Midi Skirt – Zara ; Scented Sachets – Maison Du Monde

Style

Talking of picnics, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect picnic-inspired midi skirt for months! It wasn’t easy and it was probably due to the fact I’ve never thought I would have liked a midi skirt on my body figure, but, after trying one on, loving it and finding myself obsessively thinking about it for days, I decided to give this Zara midi skirt a go! I might have a thing for striped skirts (or stripes just in general) but for some reasons I have a feeling this skirt will get a whole lot of love all Summer long! Plus it screams “Picnic!” to me, which is surely a good reason to love it.

And talking about wardrobe, I won’t stress it too much again but I’m the biggest fan of scented sachet, especially if you can hang them, and especially if they look extremely cute and smell nice and summery! So yes, I stocked up on pretty scented sachet once again, and this oriental vanilla option is just the best thing.

Salted Coconut Scrub ℅ Lush

Beauty

On the beauty front, with the heat, the short dresses and all that shaving, my Lush Salted Coconut Scrub is coming in quite handy indeed! I don’t only use it to scrub my hands but also on my body as well, because it’s quite gentle but still effective. Nice and hydrating, this scrub smells like dreams and I’m not even kidding! Always such a shower guilty pleasure to me!

Food

Because I couldn’t really close the first favourites post of summetime without mentioning ice cream, right? I’ve been eating a lot of ice cream, a tiny bit more than appropriate, but it’s Summer so it’s OK, no?! And in particular I’ve recently discovered the Ysco Extreme Brownie Ice Cream and I think I’ve literally just discovered the best thing ever existed. So y’know, I thought it was worth sharing! 😉

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And that’s a wrap!
As usual I’d love to discover new things so do let me know what’s on your favourites list this month! x

It has been a couple of years now, since when I decided to cut parabens out of my haircare routine completely. I couldn’t have been happier with the results I’ve been seeing on my hair ever since and now I can barely remember the feeling of sad, flat, dehydrated hair. Yet it hasn’t been all peaches and cream: having oily hair and specific issues like sensitive scalp, not all the product were the right fit and there have been days when I tried a new shampoo every week without finding anything that worked close to what I hoped!

… And natural organic shampoos and hair products in general are damn expensive! And not very easy to get your hands on as well. But, with a couple years of experience and an infinite amount of testing and trying, I have something that works perfectly for my oily hair and sensitive scalp now. Not all of them are 100% natural or organic, but I like to think I’ve found a good compromise; and if one thing is for sure is that I don’t see things changing anytime soon!

Hopefully these will work great on any other oily hair girl out there who is on a desperate mission to avoid parabens and go natural with their haircare!

It all started with spotting and deciding to try the Garnier Ultimate Blends Lavender Shampoo: I already knew the Ultimate Blends line is paraben free but haven’t really found a shampoo especially great on oily hair just yet. But if there’s a thing that works for my hair is lavender – not really sure how and why but it works! This shampoo is my day-to-day pick, it leaves me with perfectly clean and lightweight hair every single time. And that is all I want from a shampoo, I want to feel my hair clean without the need of going for something too dehydrating (especially for my ends) and something that would allow me to wash my hair every two day (which is already a miracle!). Plus this smells like a lavender field and it’s like heaven!

Being such a fan of the Garnier lavender shampoo, as soon as I heard about their new line being launched, I knew I had to give it a go! The Garnier Ultimate Blends Delicate Soother Shampoo is not specifically thought for oily hair but is a shampoo that can be easily alternated between washes with something more intense like my lavender pick. It always leaves my hair extremely soft and nourished without making them feel oily or greasy by any means. The smell of this one is sublime as well, sweet and delicate just how I like, plus this shampoo is thought for delicate scalp and fragile hair, and my sensitive scalp is getting on quite well with it!

A recent discovery of mine is the The Seaweed Bath Co. Volumizing Lavender Shampoo. Lavender, once again! This is slightly more expensive and I tend to use it a little bit more rarely than the others, but this is 100% natural and organic and it’s definitely one of the best I tried so far. It’s especially great if your hair is usually quite flat because it alone can provide some nice volume, plus it’s a great option for scalps on the oily side.

Last but not at least, not in pictures but definitely one of my favourites, Lush Jumping Juniper Shampoo Bar is one I would suggest to anyone suffering with oily sensitive scalp! It features lavender (I know!) and rosemary, together with lemon and lime, and this really is deeply cleansing and 100% organic! It keeps grease at bay like any others and apparently it’s especially good to enhance blond hair as well! But even being brunette, this shampoo bar will always be my top pick!

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Anyone else with oily hair and wanting to go natural with their hair products? x

I’ve been complaining about the weather for weeks now, saying how sad it was that Summer should have been around since a while but all we got was nice-ish mornings and sad rainy afternoons everyday since the beginning of June. But then, you know what, Summer wasn’t *officially* started just yet, so there were reasons to hope!

And on the exact day that marks Summer Solstice, that’s when the nice weather officially came around! And although I’ve never been the biggest fan of hot Italian summers, I can’t express how excited I am about the new season being in town! That day I bought sunflowers because they’re too pretty not to, and because my mood is *that* much influenced by seasons and weather.

Plus my excitement was even more enhanced by the fact we had plans for the very first dinner alfresco in the evening to celebrate Summer Solstice, strawberry moon and everything… which I was extremely afraid would have been ruined by one of those random early evening storms we’re now used to see coming around pretty much everyday.

But instead it was nice and warm all day, which allowed me to swirl around in my first proper summer dress until late that night. And so we put together the nicest dinner with mayo and smoked salmon croutons, homemade pizza by yours truly, mint & basil infused water and creme caramel as dessert.

We brought everything outside on the patio, lighten a string of fairy lights, allowed the sunflowers to join the party… and that, to me, was the dreamiest dinner scenario of them all!

We had some paper laterns that haven’t been used and so we thought it was the perfect time to light one and make a wish for summertime on the very first day of Summer this year. Strawberry moon was also in plans but somehow, between all the food and the bellies demanding some rest and the wishes being made and gone up high in the sky, we managed to forget it. Well, I bet we’ll remember about it in 2062! 😉

Did you celebrated this year’s summer solstice? x