February favourites

Monthly favourites are one of the most popular blog post series around, at least I think so, and after some consideration I decided that I might as well try them out myself. I mostly decided to do so because monthly favourites are something that I personally enjoy reading from other fellow bloggers, and I thought that some of you might enjoy this as well. My monthly favourites will be posted on the last day of each month, hopefully exactly on time although we all know that sometimes life can interfere with blogging, though hopefully it won't happen at all or at least not too often. Also you might remember that I mentioned about something being in the works and I honestly hope you guys would get to see the end results in this week but sadly enough there were some complications and it's something I'm still working on and I hope it will be done as soon as possible. 

But now enough chitter chatter and let's move to the entire purpose of this blog post, shall we? Let's start everything off with something I enjoy the most — BOOKS.

1. OTHER LIVES, HENRY NOIR. It's the book that I constantly talk about, and perhaps some of you wish that I would shut up about it by now but the thing is that I just can't get over how brilliantly written it is. Perhaps I'm biased because one of my best friends wrote it, though I honestly loved the book and read it in just a day! Which says a lot, since I tend to get distracted by other things really quickly. The book is about a young girl named Paz who due to an accident suffers from amnesia, and she founds herself in a sudden company of a little ghost, or an Other if we're using the book's terminology. Paz has to go through a lot because of her situation, Others aren't greatly acceptable as they show themselves around people thought to have psychological issues. Later on she finds important information about her past and embarks on her very own adventure, accompanied by her Other and a new loyal friend. 

2. AFTER DARK, HARUKI MURAKAMI. You all should know that Murakami is my all time favourite author, and I still haven't found a book of his that wouldn't leave me entirely captivated by the storyline and the characters involved. However, I often find myself unable to explain to people just what the book is about. Perhaps it has to do with the complexity of the books, and perhaps I think that one must read Murakami in order to understand him. In After Dark we change between two perspectives, see insanely different characters bond with each other, we're stuck in a room as spectators to a sleeping girl and a figure in the television watching her, a seemingly regular businessman beats up a prostitute in a love hotel, and much much more. Honestly, you have to read it for yourself. 

3. THE BELL JAR, SYLVIA PLATH. Oh, Sylvia, dear. Perhaps I would not recommend this book if you find yourself emotionally unstable or anything similar, as this just might send you in a downward spiral. It happened to me, it happened to my friends, and it might happen to you. So read at your own risk, okay? The Bell Jar contains triggers such as depression, suicide, and probably quite a few more that I prefer not to remember at this very moment. It is an amazing book by an amazing author but if you prefer your novels cheery and with a happy ending, then this won't suit you well. 

And with that we conclude the books chapter of the post, and let's perhaps move on to something more sociable, shall we? It's time for my favourite PLACES of February.  

1. SISI SHOP. I first saw this little shop randomly while browsing through Instagram, and after checking out their Instagram page I just could not help myself but to go out to the city and check out the shop as well. Wow colour me impressed but this shop has instantly turned into one of the most amazing places that I have ever seen. Honestly, it might just be better than Ikea, although A LOT smaller. The items in there are just amazing, I personally only got the gorgeous iPhone case but they have so many beautiful things for your home that you'd never want to leave. 

2. BARABUK COFFEE SHOP & BOOKSTORE. A short while ago I did a full post about Barabuk, that you can find here. You may wonder why I feel the need to talk about it AGAIN, right? I just honestly thought that my favourites post wouldn't be complete without this place, considering just how much I grew to love it, and their special morning offer that includes coffee of choice + brownie/croissant for just 2 euros, which I find incredibly cheap and such a bargain! 

Not that many new places that I would love this month, so it's time to continue being sociable and focus a little on all the BLOGS that I couldn't stop reading this month. 

1. THE NECTAR COLLECTIVE. This would definitely have to be one of my absolute favourite design blogs, which also features a lot of inspirational posts, especially for a young studying graphic designer as myself, and I honestly check her blog every single day, and if there aren't updates by chance I would just go read old posts that I might have missed. It's just THAT good, you know? Not to mention that Mel's writing style is simply amazing and it pulls you straight in, definitely worth checking out! 

2. WIDE EYED LEGLESS. Visually I find myself completely astonished by Madelynn's blog. It's minimalistic with amazing photography and incredibly well written posts. The thing that made me follow Wide Eyed Legless however are the Perfect Wardrobe series, which helped me immensely and then I just fell in love completely with the rest of the blog. After all, just one glance at its minimalistic perfection and you'll be hitting that subscribe button before you could say "black". 

3. NOTHIN' FANCY, REALLY. Even though the name implies otherwise, Živa's blog is completely fancy and absolutely beautiful to look at! Not to mention the greatness that is Živa, and the cleverness of her writing (I must admit that she made me giggle a few times, and usually I read everything with my poker face on). When it comes to beauty products, I myself trust her judgement and would definitely check something out if she mentioned it, at least if it applies to me skin wise or the similar, you know? If you're after a brilliant beauty blogger, you should give her a chance and she won't disappoint. 

4. LOVELY LITTLE LUXURIES. And last but most definitely not least — Ana Ina from Lovely Little Luxuries. Well, you should all know that Ana Ina is my personal beauty guru, whenever I go out to buy new beauty products she is that person that I would want next to me to advise me on my purchase. This girl is insanely invested in her blog and to me she is like a walking beauty encyclopedia. Not to mention that she is really pretty, although please don't tell her I said that because she can never know! 

Those are just some of the blogs that I loved this month, although I felt the need they were the ones that needed to be mention, as I couldn't possibly mention them all. And after being extremely sociable, it's time to think a bit about ourselves, which brings us to BEAUTY products. 

1. BIPOINT FREEZING WAX. As you may already see from the graphic above, I am obsessed with my hair! And to be honest with you, I have spent AGES looking for the right wax that would suit my hair properly, and for a while I thought I will have to order it online. Personally, online ordering isn't always my thing as I prefer to check out the item in person before I purchase it, so I was insanely happy when I found this one at a Limoni store in Italy, and I am absolutely in love with it! It doesn't leave any residue in my hair, it doesn't get sticky and it has that matte finish that I was longing for, and to top it all the hold is fantastic! What's not to love? 

2. JOHN FRIEDA FRIZZ-EASE SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER. Ana Ina was the one who recommended John Frieda to me, and I will be forever grateful for that, as will my hair! The Frizz-Ease collection makes my hair easily manageable, even though my hair is immensely stubborn and rarely does my biding. Well not anymore, with the Frizz-Ease shampoo and conditioner, I can easily style my hair without almost having a nervous breakdown. This collection is definitely the haircare Holy Grail for me, personally! 

3. GRACE COLE FRUIT WORKS LIP BALM. When I was buying the Biopoint freezing wax, I saw these cute little lip balms by the check out desk, and I couldn't help myself but to grab this particular one which is Pineapple and Passion Fruit scented, and probably even flavoured to some extent as the flavour of it is absolutely delicious and it takes a lot of self constraint not to eat it off your lips! What I love the most is that it's extremely nourishing and moisturising, which is something that I need as my lips can get quite dry, especially during winter, and then I would just end up biting them constantly, and that's no good. So, I find this lip balm incredible, and it smells amazing, so that's always a bonus, right? 

And we're almost at the end. Now that we finished with pampering ourselves, let's pamper ourselves a little more with some incredible MUSIC, yes? 

1. DESIRE LINES, CAMERA OBSCURA. Well, I am that person that always puts on some relaxing music while taking a bath, or whenever I'm blogging (I'm listening to it right now, actually), or even when I'm playing in PhotoShop and InDesign, this album is my go-to album, to be honest. There is something incredibly relaxing, yet really mesmerising about it that I just seemed to love. The vocals are amazing, the instruments are brilliant, and all in all I just find myself loving this more and more, even though it's not even that new of an album. 

2. MIND OVER MATTER, YOUNG THE GIANT. I clearly remember that I got this particular album simply because I really fancied the cover art, and I still do. Luckily enough, I seemed to enjoy the music from the get-go as well, and after a week this soon became one of my favourite albums. The sound is a bit different from what we might be used to but I find the whole thing to be brilliantly constructed, and let's be real, you should all give this album a shot just because of the perfect cover art as well! Or maybe that's just the impulse of the graphic designer in me, huh? 

3. BEYONCE, BEYONCE. Her unannounced self-titled album is the reason why I now completely adore Beyonce! I wasn't always a fan, in fact I barely just turned into a massive fan of hers! But how could you not after she dropped the album just like that, without a warning? And I must admit that almost every song on this album is just fantastic and it makes you want to dance and perform a striptease for someone. I mean, oops TMI? Probably everyone LOVES this album though, right? 

And with that it's time to end this month's favourites, I honestly hope you guys enjoyed this and I also hope you're all having a great week and see you very soon for another weekly dose of Sunday Vanity. 

What did you fancy the most this month?