It's that time of the month again and I've got quite the favourites lineup here. There could have easily been about five or six more things included but I managed to edit it down to the true staples. Okay the music inclusion may be cheating a bit as I only acquired it five days ago but it deserves a mention. As well as music there's a book I'm recommending to everyone, some beauty+body bits and even a fashion item...

H&M Bag-New Zealand, Auckland specifically acquired its first H&M store at the beginning of this month, as well as Zara. Finally. This was one of my buys as I wanted a smaller bag to take out and about that wasn't a tote. It's nothing fancy, just a black bag with gold zip detailing and some tassels. I love it though and it fits all the essentials; my wallet, keys, phone and a little makeup bag I carry around. 

Lush Sugar Plum Fairy Lip Scrub-The kings and queens of Christmas body+pamper gifts, Lush in other words, dropped their Christmas releases into stores at the beginning of this month and they are not disappointing. More on that some other time. Today though I have to mention this new lip scrub. It smells like The Comforter and jelly lollies. Delicious in other words. Aside from its scent blessing properties, it also does a good jobs of restoring my Winter damaged, read; dry, cracked and gross lips to tip-top condition. 

Joanne x Lady Gaga-It's possibly cheating a bit to include this as it was only released last week but I'm justifying it because I know it's just as likely to have been in November's favourites too. I have to confess, I wasn't a fan of ARTPOP, not in its entirety at least. This album however is like Gaga's revival. She's collaborated with producer Mark Ronson on many of the tracks, Ronson is famous for working with the late, great Amy Winehouse among other artists. It's a match made in music heaven basically. I'd say it has some country influences in the mix and also pop+rock vibes throughout. Oh and there's a track with Florence Welch and Lady Gaga which my eighteen year old self would have been crying tears of excitement over. Heck, my twenty-something self loves it. My favourite tracks right now are; John Wayne, Million Reasons, Hey Girl, Joanne and Grigio Girls. It's all fantastic though. Give it a listen.

Korres Santorini Vine Showergel-Whilst I was away housesitting earlier in the month this came with me and it's become my new favourite showergel. Move aside, The Comforter. It's kinda tropical, kinda fruity but not overpowering. It's a bit lighter than something like the shower creams from Lush but I like that about it, it's more suited to the Summer months. I'll definitely be investing in the full sized soon. I like it that much. 

Bobbi Brown Retouching Wand*-The unexpected favourite, without a doubt is this product. It has not left my bag(s) at all this month. The shade Light is perfect for me and doesn't contrast wildly with any other base product I might use. It's super easy to blend, with either a brush or fingers and is great for on the go touchups. It's going to get a lot of use come Summertime when makeup just seems to evaporate. 

Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson-If the fact this book has made its way into another blog post this month isn't stressing just how much I love it, I don't know what will. Perhaps the fact I read it twice this month further reiterates it. It's beautifully written and is the kind of book I can imagine myself returning to again and again. There's something special about it that I cannot quite articulate in words. Just go read it and let me know what you think about it.

Aesop Rejuvenate Intensive Body Balm-Super hydrating, super luxurious, super lush and vanilla+sandalwood-y. That sentence summarises this balm really. I lovelovelove it and will pray that Aesop never discontinue it. If you want to read less condensed ramblings about it, head here. 

Why hello and happy Wednesday. Academia is slowly eating my brain so today I have a list of experiences and digital things I have been loving lately. Netflix, creative women and fabulous drag queens, there's something for everybody...

The return of Lorelai and Rory-Advanced apologies if I become that person who gets far too overexcited about the four episodes of Gilmore Girls coming to Netflix. In fact, I know I will be that person because I am already excited. It's basically like a pre-Christmas for me and is going to soften the blow of Summer School. Anyway, naturally the pop culture hub that is Buzzfeed are excited too and compiled this list of the must-have foods we need to make our Netflix experience more Lorelai and Rory worthy. While some may be a bit harder to track down in the Southern Hemisphere, you can sure as heck bet I will be loading up on American snacks and coffee. 

Beauty adventures and free sample paradise-Rosalind Jana is fast becoming one of my favourite writers and I really enjoyed this piece she penned about makeup in her adolescence and the beauty bag of treasures she obtained from the magazines. It made me nostalgic and also made me smile as I reminisced about the similar habits I had back in the days. If you've grown up loving beauty and the tools that accompany it, you'll relate to this.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert-Last week I was lucky enough to attend the first show of Priscilla's return season here in Auckland* and oh my goodness, it did not disappoint. It is safe to say Lucie and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, as did the rest of the audience. I have never seen an audience come alive like that during a show. It was something else. It's had a bit of a makeover this time around, I think it is closer to the Broadway adaptation than the original Australian production but I like that. It gives it new life and colour, especially with the updated soundtrack. It is just as hilarious, just as fun and just as amazing, especially in the costume stakes. If you want a fun night out, it's on until the 13th of November so go see it. You will not regret it. 

Haters Back Off-This is turning into a bit of a Netflix love letter unintentionally. Miranda Sings aka Colleen Ballinger's new series debuted at the end of last week and I am loving it. Honestly at first I thought it was going to be a bit of a letdown and I have only watched two episodes thus far but I am loving them. It's lighthearted, funny and just really cleverly done. Colleen and everyone else involved have done an awesome job. If you're a Mirfanda and there are a lot of them out there now, you need to see this. Do it. 

Mara Wilson in conversation with Emma Gannon-Mara Wilson's written what is easily one of my favourite books of the year and I loved Emma Gannon's too. What happens when you put two inspiring women like this together is all kinds of magic. Emma interviewed Mara ahead of her book's release and the conversation is well worth a listen. If you are not already subscribed to this podcast, I highly suggest you change that. 

-What have you been loving lately?

*Tickets provided c/o Auckland Live.

This year has really rekindled my enthusiasm for poetry. When we think about it, poetry is just music without an audible melody so it's surprising in a way that it has taken me this long to re-immerse myself in it. It also seems to have really ignited my passion and enthusiasm for reading a wide range of literature as well. It's not a secret that I have always been a reader but this year it seems to have gone to a whole new level, when I'm not distracted by Parks and Rec and re-watching old series on Netflix of course. So for book club this month, I set aside two books to read. Both were highly anticipated, by me and both were ones I'd been hanging out to read for a long time. They did not disappoint...

Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson-Like many a child of the nineties I was a fan of Mara Wilson. Matilda still is one of my favourite films and probably always will be and of course I have a lot of love for Mrs Doubtfire. In more recent times I found her blog on Tumblr and then discovered she had quite the amazing Twitter account. Where Am I Now? Is a series of essays from Mara on topics such as her accidental stardom, show choir, anxiety and depression and more. It also includes this poignant essay she wrote about Robin Williams which did the rounds in the weeks following his passing. Think of this book as less of a tell-all, scandalous read and more of a reflective, engaging collection of stories and experiences from Mara's life thus far. In amongst her stories of growing up on film sets, there are also snippets of her life that are really relatable and it is that connectedness which makes this book truly special. I loved this so much that I have read it twice already and will no doubt return to it again and again. It is fantastic.

milk and honey by Rupi Kaur-This is another book that is extremely special. As Laura put it in her post, "if there's only one book you read this year, make it this one. It will rip you to shreds." Kaur's collection of poetry is split into four sections; the hurting, the loving, the breaking and the healing. It deals with love, loss, abuse and the beauty in learning to heal and reemerge from moments of darkness. You will want to return to this regularly, dog-ear passages and underline lines that speak to you. Reading this is quite an overwhelming experience, in the best kind of way. milk and honey is a book I will be gifting and recommending for years to come.

-Have you read either of these books? What did you think of them?

Why hello and happy Thursday to you all. You may have noticed that there's been no book club review this month because I didn't finish the book. Yeah, about that. Life got in the way, assignments got in the way, I've been reading other things basically. I'm a serial reader or something like that. My bad. Anyway, I still wanted to talk about books and things today so I thought I'd give you a little overview of September's book, well what I've read so far anyway as well as the details on October's books...

So September's book was The Lonely City by Olivia Laing. It documents her experiences in New York City and discusses introvertedness, being comfortable in your own company and art among other things. It's beautifully written and while I've not given it much time yet, I've read about fifty pages or so, I am really enjoying what I have read so far. My aim is to finish this by the time I do my next book club post so I'll talk more deeply on it then. If you're like me though and are just as happy spending time by yourself or have ever adventured around a big city on your lonesome then I think you will really relate to and connect with this book. 

Next month is October, how/why/when?! In seriousness, October is so close which means Christmas and Summer are even closer. Instead of freaking out, let us celebrate those two joyous things. Anyway, enough reminiscence, October's books are by two amazing women and storytellers. First up we have Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson. I've already read this. Waiting to read it was like being told you can't touch the biscuits that are fresh out of the oven. Painful and far too tempting. I loved it and am going to be re-reading it again very soon so I can do a more insightful review for you all. Secondly we have milk and honey by Rupi Kaur which is very popular among bookstagrammers and reading enthusiasts in general at the moment. It is split into four sections; each being intertwined with thoughts, poetry, ideas and illustrations. It's an incredibly powerful, emotional read. I've found myself getting quite overwhelmed with emotion and memories reading this. There's a lot of dog-eared pages and underlined passages. I'm not quite finished this as I am savouring it but again it is going to be getting high-praise around these parts next month. 

-If you're taking part in my book club next month, let me know. The more the merrier! If you've read any of these books, let us know what you think of them in the comments too. It's always interesting to hear everyone's insights on books, especially the more personal ones like these.