I refuse to believe it's already August. Time is going by way too fast for me to comprehend what is going on. The past month has been pretty good in terms of travelling - I started the month hopping over to Warsaw to visit one of my best friends before ending it with a short trip to Edinburgh to celebrate my girl's birthday. Everything else, including makeup, has sorta been on the lowdown the past month but I still managed to pull together some things I've been really enjoying the past month so here goes. 
My makeup has been kept fairly simple the past couple months. The lethargy that comes with not having a schedule that makes me leave the house is real and definitely translates to the makeup process. I've been opting for the old favourites for a quick look, but this month I've been opting for a gel liner, rather than my usual pencil liner. I picked up the Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner (£7.99) some months ago on a whim but I've been really enjoying it the past month. It provides more drama than a regular pencil but still maintains a softness that a liquid liner cannot achieve. I just use a small eyeliner brush to work it in the lashes, no wing, just simple definition. 
The drama in the makeup look I've been wearing the past month is always the bold lip. It's just so quick and easy to look like you have put in tons of effort when wearing a bright lip. I've been opting for the Sephora Lip Creme in 03 Strawberry Kissed most days as it's comfortable to wear and extremely long wearing. I'm still not over the fake cake smell but fortunately, the smell goes away after it dries down. Or at least I don't notice it any more. On days when I'm looking extremely casual, I especially like to wear the Marc Jacobs Le Marc Lip Creme in Oh Miley! not just to add colour, but also the bright red still has the effortlessly cool vibe while being chic at the same time. My kind of vibe. 
I had near 25 centimeters chopped off my hair mid-way into the month and let's just say that it's not the best haircut I've had. I've been struggling to find a new hair routine that will help me tame the thick mess I have a pleasure to call my hair. The Redken Rough Paste 12 (£16.30) was the product that made me start loving my new cut and not rolling around in a ball of agony. I work a little of this mixed with some hair oil into the body of my hair to add instant texture while maintaining the softness of the waves. I'm slightly at a loss for words on how to explain how wonderful this product is, but my friend who has long, thin, and very soft hair (basically the opposite of mine) is also completely smitten with this. I'd say if you're looking for a product that won't weigh down your hair while adding texture, give this a try. 
The sun came out quite a bit the past month and the Quay Australia Steel Cat Cut Out Cat Eye Sunglasses managed to make me look semi-cool when I was still wearing t-shirts and jeans. They work exceptionally well with my new bangs as they balance each other out in terms of the fierceness of the sunglasses and the softness of the fringe. 
I've also been trying to stop carrying around all my belongings in my bag, so downgrading to a smaller bag has been really helpful. I snatched up the ALDO Laser Cut Clutch last month in sales and started using this in lieu of a normal bag. I even brought this along as the only bag when I was in Poland and it's quite refreshing to know that life won't always be a disaster if I don't carry around a dozen lip balms and three sunglasses. Plus, the hot coral pink adds some colour into an otherwise white/grey/blue colour palette. 
Last but not least, I've been completely obsessed with the Korean idol group 2PM since they appeared on Running Man early in the month. I'm pretty sure I've played their entire discography on repeat several dozen times this month. All of their songs are great, but some standouts include하.니.뿐. (A.D.T.O.Y.)  (which has the sexiest video ever),우리집(My House) (their newest title song that allowed me to learn how to tell people to come to my house in Korean...), Hands Up (in which my favourite wears a leather jacket full of LED lights), and이 노래를 듣고 돌아와 (Come Back When You Hear This Song) (in which they tie in the seven deadly sins and it's wonderful). After listening to them on repeat the past month, I've obtained a vocabulary vault of romantic/shady sentences that will probably get me nowhere when I want to order food.  What have you been loving the past month?   With Love,  Daphne x