Monthly Favourites: June

the cherry blossom girl // visionary dreams // fancy treehouse // feathers and things // flashes of style // blushing ambition // missing lovebirds // 
a fine day for sailing // delightfully tacky // selective potential // jennifhsieh // keiko lynn // shades of monet // wish wish wish //  
the magpie girl // flattery // po mojej stronie lustra // streets and stripes

I can't believe its almost July already. Nothing major has happened this month on the blog (if anything I've been a little absent from the blog, mainly due to not being able to get out because of the weather), but next month should be a little more exciting. It's my blogs 2 year anniversary and its mine and Shane's 3 year anniversary and we have a few little things planned which should be good. What have you been up to this month, and what styles have you been loving lately?

Shut Eye

I don't really have much to say today. I've been stuck in bed ill for the past few days with a terrible cold/throat infection but thankfully I was feeling quite a bit better today which was nice because the weather has been lovely. This is definately one of my favourite dresses and I'm so shocked its from Tesco. I never look at the clothes in there but I got it just over a year ago on a whim and I absolutely love it. I always mean to go back and have another browse but I never do. Hope everyone has a lovely week. 

Dress: Tesco // Belt: Thrifted // Bracelet: c/o Willis Judd // Sandals: Dorothy Perkins

Photo Diary: Week 32

 homemade pizza // statue // 'beauty & the beast house' // out for walks // shane // herbs - week 3 // carbonara // grapefruit // mr toff chilling on the car // birthday cake // our living room // finally some sunshine // out for a walk // taking outfit pictures // souvlaki and greek salad

you can follow me on instagram with the username aprileveryday :) 

hope everyone had a great week!

DIY: Homemade Facemasks

These are perfect for when you have some overripe ingredients left around the kitchen that need to be used up, but you don't particularly want to eat them. I had a few brown bananas and half an avocado left over and my skin was super dry so I decided to make some facemasks with them (and they also make a nice snack haha).

Avocado Face Mask:

1/2 - whole avocado

1 tablespoon honey

Mush up the avocado with a fork and pour over the honey, making sure to mix well. Apply to face and leave for 5-10 minutes then wash off thoroughly. 

Avocado's are great for dry skin as they contain so many natural fatty acids and oils which help to moisturise the skin and the chlorophyll in them helps to regenerate skin cells. My skin felt really refreshed and a little firmer after using this face mask which was really nice. 

Banana & Honey Face Mask: 

1 Banana

2 tablespoons honey

(2 tablespoons) ground almonds

Mush up the banana with a fork and add the honey then sprinkle with the ground almonds and stir thoroughly. Apply to face and leave for 5-10 minutes then wash off thoroughly.

Bananas are good for combination skin as they don't contain too much oil but still have moisturising and antioxidant properties which naturally restores the condition of your skin. Apparently they also help with any swelling and relieve irritation so this would be good to use if you are prone to breakouts. Honey is a great natural antiseptic and is great for moisturising dry skin. The ground almonds in this are great for exfoliating while still being quite soft, so add as much or as little as you want depending on how much exfoliation you are after. My skin felt so much softer after using this mask and I could definately see the difference in moisture levels of my skin after. 

Please note, I am not a skincare expert - I just looked at different face masks and came up with a couple variations. These worked fine on my skin, but your skin may react differently.

Three Hundred

I just realised that this is my 300th post! I honestly can't believe I've stuck with it for that long (almost 2 years). Usually I get really into something and give up after a few months, but not this. Although blogging can get a little stressful at times, I absolutely love it and it has definately pushed me to be more creative and made me get out more and enjoy life so much more. Anyway... this dress is actually a skirt that I've worn a few times. I bought it from a blog sale that Ella had, and intended to cut it to a shorter skirt, then realised it was just long enough to wear as a dress too. I love how it now has two uses rather than just as a skirt. I'm definately not going to be shortening this anytime soon! :) 

Skirt (worn as dress): Blog Sale // Belt: H&M // Cardigan: Mango // Shoes: Minnetonka

Summer Lovin'

The weather has been so lovely today, so I jumped at the chance to go for a little walk with Shane and take some pictures. This skirt has basically became one of my staple items now haha! I was actually debating buying it and put it back on the rack a few times, but I'm so glad I picked it up again. I loved the way they had it styled on the mannequin with a pink top and a denim shirt so I'd love to be able to recreate that look, though I don't have a denim shirt. Hope everyone has a good week! 

Top & Belt: H&M // Skirt & Necklace: Topshop // Sandals: Dorothy Perkins

Photo Diary: Week 31

 back to decorating the house // fruit crazy // our bed // bruschetta // out for a walk // pretty view // homemade chinese // tea // week 2.5 of growing herbs // afternoon snack // melon // healthy lunch // finally touched up my roots // bbq // favourite slippers 

By the looks of things, I haven't done much apart from eat and drink tea this week haha! I started decorating the hall finally so I didn't really have much time to do anything else. What have you been up to this week? If anyone has done any posts like this, leave the link so I can have a nosey :)

You can follow me on instagram with the username aprileveryday

Recipe: Quick Tomato Bruschetta

I absolutely love making this for lunch. It's so tasty and filling and it's pretty much made in 5-10 minutes. Most of the ingredients for this are ones that you will usually have around your kitchen anyway, so this is the perfect cheap, quick, simple and healthy lunch to make. And, its perfect to use up those bread ends that no-one likes, which is what I do rather than going and buying fancy bread. You can also just serve the tomato mixture as a salad without the toasted bread.

Ingredients: 

Handfull Tomatoes (any kind - I used plum here) 

1 clove garlic

1 spring onion 

2 Slices of bread (I used the ends as that's what we had) 

Splash of Olive Oil

1-2 tspn basil (dried or fresh)

salt and pepper to taste

Method: 

1. Put the bread under the grill with the good side down. 

2. While the bread is toasting, chop up the tomatoes into small chunks. Finely slice the spring onions and crush half of the garlic. Check the bread and if browned, turn it over. 

3. Put the tomato, onion and crushed garlic in a bowl and mix. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in the basil and olive oil and stir. If the tomatoes are too bitter, add in a sprinkle of sugar. 

4.  By now the bread should be nicely toasted. Take out from the grill and rub the other half of the garlic clove on the bread to bring out more garlic flavours. Then spoon over the tomato mixture and cut each slice into 4 pieces and serve.

The Rocks

I can't belive how long it's been since I last did an outfit post. The weather we've had lately has made it kinda hard with the constant rain (is it seriously June?!). Me and rain are not friends so you can imagine how that ends haha. Luckily it held off today so we managed to get out to take some finally. I absolutely love the print on this blouse, though I can't really think of many ways to style it because its only just short enough to tuck into my skirt. Hope everyone has a good week!

Top: New Look // Cardigan, Skirt & Belt: H&M // Shoes: River Island

Photo Diary: Week 30

 lunch with the family // strawberries and cream // pretty // amazing typewriter decoration in next // love the wallpaper and wall hooks from next // map art in next // crazy skies // drinking more tea // afternoon tea // love the vintage plates // amazing victoria sponge cake // purchases from next // favourite cider // growing herbs - week 1 // presents for the house from my friend // naughty cat thinks he owns the house now // food // spent way too much money on ren and mac // porridge for breakfast // salmon & cream cheese bagel // shane's homemade ice cream

I actually had quite a busy week this week, though the pictures don't really show it haha! On the bank holiday monday we drove up to Stafford to see my family for the day and did a bit of shopping in next. It was great to spend time with them since I only get to see them a few times a year and we all had such a laugh. Spending time with family really is the best. I also started growing herbs (coriander, basil and parsley) so I've decided to document them growing haha! Hopefully it will help me keep them alive haha! What have you been up to this week? 

You can follow me on instagram with the username aprileveryday

Photo Diary: Week 29

 planting herbs // finally found an essie stand // bought essie lapiz of luxury // becoming addicted to tea // to do list // breakfast // making cupcakes // finished cupcakes // pretty meringue frosting // bath bomb disaster // ice blast at the cinema // addicted to the kindle app (reading divergent) // snuggles with mr toff // shane made dinner (prawn salad) // burgers

I can't believe it's already June. Seriously where is this year going haha?! I didn't really get up to much this week, though I did manage to bake these lemon meringue cupcakes though they didnt turn out too good (I'm not used to baking with US measurements so they turned out a little too floury). I also found the kindle app on Shane's iPad so I had a little play around with that and decided to get a sample of Divergent which I've been wanting to read for a while. I loved it, so I bought the whole book (and the next one, Insurgent too) haha! I'm about 60% through Divergent and I honestly don't want it to end. It's such a good book and I totally recommend it. I love how you don't have to physically have a kindle to read the books so I'm completely addicted to it! I find that I actually enjoy reading books a whole lot more now. What have you been up to this week?

You can follow me on Instagram with the username aprileveryday! :)

Review: LUSH Dragon's Egg Bath Bomb

  Dragon's Egg Bath Bomb: £3.15

I can't ever go into lush without buying something. It's like a problem haha! But a few months ago, I decided to have a sniff of their bath bomb's (aren't they just amazing?!) and then my lush problem set in. As soon as I smelled this bath bomb, I just had to buy it. It. Smells. Amazing! After I got out the shop I realised I had a tiny problem. I hate taking baths! I don't know what it is, but I just dont like them! So it sat there for a couple months smelling lovely, till the other night when something suddenly came over me to take a bath. (I've become all sorts of crazy since we've moved into our own house - another being that I now have some kind of tea addiction... but anyway...)

I had no idea what I was actually buying when I bought this bath bomb apart from the fact that it smelled lovely. It smells like the typical lush scent - really citrusy (and apparently hints of jasmine and bergamot). It has lovely little paper 'scales' in it too which float around in your bath.

I kinda didn't get to experience the full bath bomb experience because mine had a little accident before I got in the bath and my suprise was ruined, but it was still lovely to use even if it was broke in half haha! The white layer foams up when you put it into the bath and it feels nice and creamy on your skin. Then when that layer is gone the little mini bath bomb inside fizzes and turns the water this amazing orange colour. I thought it was almost over till another bomb inside that started going off. It was gold glitter! I was so suprised at it but it was so cool to be sitting in a bath of liquid 'gold' hahah!

The bath bomb lasted about 5-10 minutes till it was completely dissolved - though I'm guessing it would have lasted a little longer if it wasn't broke in half, though that was completely fine with me since I don't exactly enjoy baths. I came out of the bath smelling amazing and my skin felt really soft, though the only downside was that I (and the bath) was covered in loads of glitter after so it's a good job I didn't have to go anywhere important the next day. I would definately buy this again - I think this may just get me over my dislike for baths haha. Have you used it? What did you think of it?