I'm back with another week in pictures post. It's been a good week, albeit a busy one. It mightn't look it but there's a fair bit happening behind the scenes in terms of finishing my Parsons x Teen Vogue course and designing a website for someone else, oh and savouring the last of my free time before I go back to university. More on that another time. Anyway, here's the week that was..

(Above)-Morning tea at the Onehunga Cafe which I'd heard good things about from Tara and Ellen. This banana cake was vegan and oh my gosh it was delicious. They do pretty decent coffee as well. 

-I housesit+cat sit for Fiona and got to look after her absolutely adorable kitten Bobbi. Seriously, Bobbi is the cutest ever. She makes my heart melt.

-Pink, cotton candy skies on Monday night. So pretty!

-Cute cards and a lil' thank you gift from Fiona. She gave me a voucher for Kikki K and surprisingly it's still intact. 

-Charlotte Gainsbourg inside the pages of The Travel Almanac. One of the perks of being in a magazine shop+office on a Friday is that I get to flick through a lot of magazines. Not gonna lie, it is a bit of a struggle to not take them all home with me but I survive.

*Have the best weekends guys! I'm typing this with my battery bar on 15%, living life on the edge etc. It's a long weekend here so that's a bonus. I'm keen to go watch a movie or something so that may happen too. Have a good one! & I'll see y'all on Monday with a book post.

It's Fri-yay! This week's been lovely, albeit busy so I'm looking forward to a much more chilled, quieter weekend ahead. As you're about to see, things have been looking rather festive around these parts lately. I'm sure Instagram may have gave that away somewhat as well. Anyway, here's what I've been snapping over the last week, when I've not been buried deep in Vlogmas videos...

(Above)-Some blue deliveries in the post. I still haven't tried the St Tropez gradual tanner but it's on the priority list. The Instax is...an experience. I seem to not have the greatest luck with this when it comes to taking pictures. If anyone knows how to master the art, holler. 

-Some of the lovely little bits 'n bobs that are tucked into the latest Frankie magazine. I love the writing paper and their mammoth yearly planner.

-Christmas presents all wrapped up for friends and family. I was quite stoked with how these looked, until I saw Zoe's post. I'm definitely going to be checking her blog out for inspiration next year.

-A little snapshot inside one of the magazines I was photographing at work. It's called Papier Mache and is absolutely beautiful. 

-Christmas macarons from Bluebells Cakery. How cute are these!? They tasted as good as they looked too.

*As always, have the most amazing weekend everybody. If you're out doing your Christmas shopping this weekend, good luck! You're braver than I am. I'm off to work today and maybe visiting Ben and Jerry's. It's a bit hard/rude to avoid it when it's right across the road. I'm having a festive day on Saturday with one of my friends and we're gonna go look at some Christmas lights. Fun times! See y'all on Monday with a new post.

There's not a beauty or book post on this corner of the interwebs today. Are you surprised? I've been wanting to do a post for ages now about the bits 'n bobs you might spy in the background of my blog+Instagram photos. The photography side of blogging is something I really enjoy and I love composing different setups and incorporating various things into each shot. A couple of years back I used to shoot beauty products on patterned backgrounds but I found they often tended to distract from the product so nowadays I will do things like show a corner of a print and then objects in the background. It's all about how you compose shots+what perspective you use and so on as well. Side note: I have to give credit to Shauna and Kate for being the still life photography queens and constantly inspiring me to up my game. Anyway, on with the props.. 

I was gonna say we have recurring objects here but let's be real, they're all recurring. Books or magazines with attractive spines, covers and editorial imagery can look great in your photos. With objects like these I try to look for things that are complementary colour-wise to whatever the main focal point of my images are. Sometimes I forget though and will subconsciously group together objects of similar colour. I often collect cute little perfume cards or bookmarks to use as..bookmarks. Funny that. These also work perfectly in book photos. Mine are mainly from Etsy or independent sellers but things like perfume cards can be found in most department stores. 

This might have to be my favourite set of props because they're all relatively easy to acquire and/or make yourself. The two printed pages are actually free posters or calendars from Frankie and Yen magazine. They're perfect for adding a hint of pattern or colour to an otherwise simple image. You can also reuse them as wrapping paper or on a moodboard later on. That map you see was found in an information centre in Sydney. Don't discount info centres because they're great for things like that, as are museums and art galleries which often have complimentary or inexpensive cards to take away. The dotted paper was just a scrap of paper I cut up and dotted with a gold felt tip pen. Simple. I feel like stationery or cute notebooks look fab in the background of pictures so I whip out my supply. Kikki K, Nouvelle Daily and Rifle Paper Co. are my go-to's for rad notebooks. Oh-and that peony photo is one of my Instagrams from Print Society but you could always just print yours out on photo paper.

Last but not least we have the 'things I found and liked in my space' series. These are all things that you might already have or can acquire easily. Side note: Mix and match your props to suit your blog. If food is more your thing, why not throw some things in the background like the tools you use in cooking or a gorgeous cookbook cover? Here we have more stationery bits: shoutout to washi tape, Kikki K pens and that Rifle Paper Co. notepad. Seeing as my blog does focus on beauty every now and again I like to incorporate beauty products into the backgrounds of some of my shots, both for the blog and Instagram. If they're housed inside pretty packaging like these ones I feel like it makes images that bit more enticing. Another thing I am a big fan of using and working into photos are magazine pages. Again they just add a lil' something to pictures. I often tear out images to use in photos, on moodboards, in my journals etc rather than just binning magazines I'm finished with.

So there we have it. Sorry this post ended up being quite lengthy! Thinking about props for my photos is something I love so I wanted to make sure I covered everything. If you have any questions about anything in this post, please leave them in the comments and I will get back to you.

*Do you incorporate props into your blog photos? What ones do you like to use? 

Another week, another opportunity to get camera happy. This week's been slightly hampered by the rain, mad props to Mother Nature for that *ahem* but nonetheless I did still manage to get a few pictures over the week. Although, in all honesty this week I've been doing more writing than photography. It's funny how things shift like that sometimes. Anyway, here is what I have been up to and seen...

(Above)-The lovely folk at Mac sent me two of their new Giambattista Valli lipsticks this week and the cutest little posy of roses to go alongside them. How pretty is that campaign image by the way? I usually don't keep press releases but this one's so stunning it'll definitely be heading to the mood board.

-On Wednesday I had my hair cut and then I went for a walk in the Auckland Botanical Gardens. I headed straight for the cacti and succulent section on this trip and I could almost pretend I was in the Californian desert. Almost. Next time I visit, weather permitting and all, I'm gonna take my proper camera along for the ride.

-Last week I found this book and discovered the work of artist Beth Hoeckel. Her collages are just so cool and now I want to buy all the things from her Society 6 shop but I am trying to be good.

-Mini beauty things are just the cutest aren't they? I'm most excited about those mini Nars pencils from Sephora but also the Ren samples because I love their skincare.

-The lovely Kate from gh0stparties is a curator of all things lovely, especially stationery and decor. She recently opened an online store and it is awesome. Marbled notebooks, Rifle Paper Co gems and an abundance of washi tape are just some of the things you'll find in here. I highly recommend you check it out if you like beautiful things.

*Have the best weekends ever guys! I just want to take the opportunity to remind everyone to not compare your behind the scenes to someone else's highlight reels, that goes for carefully curated Instagram feeds and all. For example, I have things going on behind the scenes that I don't talk about online, anywhere for that matter and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we all deserve to have as much of our lives kept private as we so wish. Where was I going with this...I don't know but yeah just don't think people have 100% wondrous lives because chances are they face the same struggles you do. I'll see all you cool cats on Monday with another book post x.

This week, in an attempt to get a bit more creative and snap happy, I decided to take at least one photo a day, every day from Monday to Thursday. I found this really fun to do so I might try to make it a regular thing, although my life isn't that exciting. We shall see. Oh-and advanced apologies for the fact most of these photos were taken at home. I was sick during the first part of the week and then when I was out it was too wet to take my camera along. As Siri would say, when she's not deeming all of us friendless, I did try my best...

-(Above) Tuesday was so rainy and awful outside so I stayed indoors most of the day. Here's the view from my desk and a little snippet of my Tumblr. Follow me for an extreme overdose of randomness. 

-My Rifle Paper Co. calendar was finally rehung on the wall and because July's page is just so pretty I had to take a photo of it. Side note: I wish it was blueberry season.

-Lunchtime reads. On this day I was beginning Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen. So far I'm loving this book. Sydney's character is so relatable and I just love it. Apologies for the lack of eloquence here but this book is good. Real good.

-Makeup from Wednesday's face. Admittedly I was only going up the road to run some errands but it's times like these that are good for me to test out new products and also look less...zombie-like. I lovelovelove that Maybelline Mastersculpt* duo. Psst, keep an eye out for Maybelline goodness on the blog next week.

-A photo ready tray at an Estee Lauder launch event on Thursday. I had a fun time drinking delicious soda and catching up with Tara and Ellen from Shop Style Conquer. 

-Finally visited Matchbox Studios in the St Kevins Arcade this week too. I forgot to take photos because I was too busy chatting and admiring things with my eyes and not a lens. Whoops. Anyway, here is what I picked up and I will definitely be back because they have loads of beautiful things.

*I hope your week's have been absolutely wicked. This week's been pretty decent and despite feeling under the weather it hasn't been too bad. Pro's of being ill: I can watch all the guilty-pleasure TV (i.e. binge on old Keeping Up With The Kardashians episodes) and read to my heart's content. Tonight I have a birthday party of sorts for one of my oldest friends. Shoutout to you G if you are reading. I'm also going to a screening of Paper Towns this weekend with Amy which we are very excited for, if only to see the Queen of Eyebrows (Ms Cara D) as Amy puts it. Have a good one x.

This time a month ago I was still in Sydney. To be honest, I wish I was still there if only for the warmer weather! Today I'm finally getting around to sharing some of my holiday snaps with you all. I actually ended up taking less photos than I expected, even though I did have my camera with me most of the time. Sometimes I think it's just nice to wander and not feel obliged to take pictures all the time. Anyway, without further ado, here's what I saw, liked and admired in Sydney...

(Above) -Coffee and cute suburb maps down at Darling Harbour. This was on the Friday before another particularly spendy day of shopping so caffeine was essential.

-Sydney Opera House from The Rocks. I've never been inside here before. One day...

-A wall of Les Miserables goodness outside the Capitol Theatre in Sydney.

-A tower and display of Laduree Macarons in the Westfield building in central Sydney. This was not far from Sephora actually so if you're in the area after some beauty shopping I highly recommend you head here.

-These rock candies were from a brand called Suga and man they were amazing. So, so good! My Mum's going back to Sydney later in the year and I will be roping her in to bringing some more back.

-This was taken whilst I was on the top level (I think) of the QVB building. This building is seriously beautiful and features stunning architecture.

-Another snap outside the Capitol Theatre. Musical theatre buffs, go see Les Mis you will not regret it.

-How intricate are these beautiful ginger cookies?! These were from The Rocks markets and were just so beautiful and detailed we had to buy some to stare at and eventually eat.

-Sydney Harbour Bridge.

*Have an amazing weekend everyone! You may notice The Week  is MIA again this week. I'm kinda in limbo about whether or not I want to keep the feature going. I might make it an alternate week kind of thing. Last night I went along to the Flo and Frankie opening party with Amy which was a good time. This weekend I'll be going out for a bit of a solo shopping day and doing some unexciting errands at some point. Oh, and also I'll be beginning to make a good dent in Girl With The Dragon Tattoo as I'm re-reading it this month! See you all Monday with another book review xo.

Happy Friday everyone. You may notice The Week is on a lil' vacation this week. I'm currently in Sydney and kindasortamaybe ran out of time to schedule a whole lot of posts so I had to do some rearranging. I've actually ended up being quite busy the last few weeks so there's less photos here than I would've liked but I thought I'd show you some snaps that haven't made it elsewhere. Enjoy!

-Above. A garland of Taylor Swift polaroids from her 1989 albums. Those cute rose gold heart pegs are from Typo and I'm a bit obsessed with them.

-Snuggles with the cat and reading one of my favourite novels of late.

-Inspiration from Shauna's blog.

-Watching one of Anna's latest videos on my phone whilst I was doing something else, blogging I think.

-The Taylor garland up above one of our doorways. I wish it could've stayed up.

*As always have an awesome weekend everyone! I'm not too sure what I'll be doing today. I do want to go to Bondi Beach at some point so that may be on the cards if the weather's not too shabby. Tomorrow I'm going to see Les Mis which is one of my favourite musicals ever so I'm really excited for that. There'll be no post on Monday but I'll be back on Wednesday with a beauty post for you. 

*I've started using my visual journal to document my inspiration again. I've really enjoyed doing this so I might make a post about it if you're interested.

*Gingerella on the side of a building in Wellington. I tried finding a bottle of it whilst I was down there but couldn't. The packaging is pretty darn rad though.

I had a little Golden Globes viewing party for one. Basically all of my picks to win left award-less but it was fun watching it anyway. Tina Fey & Amy Poehler's monologue was worth the two/three hours alone.

A window display that I loved in Wellington and a card from my Kikki K set. 

A little snippet inside my 2015 diary. Those shadows are from my hair (I think) which looks insane! Bed head ftw.

The gorgeous sunset outside my bedroom window one night last week. I've always loved shadows and silhouettes so I had to include the bushes in this picture too.

Unity Books in Wellington. One of my favourite bookstores in New Zealand. There's also one in Auckland too. While I don't always buy books when I'm there, I always visit it for a browse if I am near one.

Inside the Yvonne Todd exhibition at City Gallery Wellington. Loved those beaded gowns! She also had her collection of Sweet Valley High books on display and journals which I loved seeing.

*I hope you've enjoyed this little look at what my lens has been documenting over the last month or so. This week's been loverly so far. Yesterday I went to a launch for a new micellar water from Simple. I'll report back in a post next month. Today I'm heading out to mini golf and one of my besties gets back to NZ today! She's been gone for six months and I have missed her a ridiculous amount so I am looking forward to seeing her at the airport. I hope your week's are going awesome. x

-Delicious waffles at The Chocolate Boutique in Parnell with Tara and Ellen. They were amazing!

-Reading Frankie magazine on the train. A regular occurrence. 

-A little pamper night with Golden Wonder, my favourite Lush bath bomb and a read of Girl Online. 

-Peonies! They were good while they lasted.

-Christmas Crackers I grabbed at Kmart to take down to my family when I stay there next week.

-My previous pinboard which was inspired by wanderlust and adventure.

-Another snap at the Chocolate Boutique. Look at all those lollies!