JULY CATCH UP

I do this every year, I'm a bit of a baddie. As soon as the summer rolls round, I abandon any attempt to stick to my blogging schedule, and shelve my laptop for a few weeks. I've been a bit distracted with work and life lately (more on this soon!), so it's been nice to get some headspace and not fret about any upcoming features!

Now I'm back, I'm feeling a bit creative again, and I've been writing my monthly catch up posts for so long now, I couldn't let one slip!

So, yes yes yes, I know it's basically halfway through August already, but here's what I got up to in July.

Instagram username: @eversojuliet

1. As soon as I returned from Croatia (which I will blog about very soon!), I had to speedily repack my bags and head west to Kelburn Garden Party. The Garden Party is a music, art and theatre festival set in the beautiful grounds of Kelburn Castle - Scotland's famous graffitied castle (isn't it beautiful?).

2. Apart from a torrential downpour on the festival's first night, we were lucky to have lots of sunshine and beautiful weather. The Castle is nestled next to the most beautiful glen, which had pop-up installations and sculpture threaded throughout, plus a little cave packed with blankets and beanbags. So perfect!

3. I've decided from now on I'm going to conquer all holiday blues by just immediately going on holiday again days after I return (ha, I wish!). Thanks Kelburn, you were ace!

4. My new favourite hobby is cooing over Soba, who remains as cute (and as grumpy) as ever. I think he's getting fat, but I can't tell, does that make me a bad hedgehog owner? Eep!

5. July was made up of long mornings and lazy breakfasts, in an attempt to get some rest before the madness of August started. This was one of my favourites: Joshua made me a breakfast in miniature, with quails eggs, tiny bacon, mini aubergine slices, tiny button mushrooms, and mini potatoes (made with a melon baller). It took him AGES (and was eaten very quickly), but was so sweet!

6. I dress pretty regularly like a five year old these days, so I couldn't pass up this jumper from H&M. Guttingly, it has just shrunk in the wash (making it appropriately sized for an actual five year old), and I'm weighing up whether it's worth buying again. Is that too insane?

7. I am a fan of subway tiles, and little hipster coffee shops, and bunches of wild flowers. This cafe in Stockbridge has all three!

8. I know it's a bit weird to take a selfie with a hedgehog, but Soba was looking cute, and I was having a good hair day! I was also dressed like I'd just come out of the 90s, wearing a strappy dress over a t-shirt. That's cool, right?

9. One of the perks of my job - I went out for dinner with the British Council, at a super fancy hotel in Edinburgh. A few glasses of wine in, I was seriously impressed with the gold-embossed pudding with a mini palace on it, SO cute.

10. A new farmers market has opened up round the corner from my flat, which means there's lots of interesting food stalls to go to each week... so much nicer than tesco! After my mini breakfast I was quite partial to more quails eggs - look how tiny they are!

11. It was a beautiful sunny day in Edinburgh, so Joshua and I went on a massive cycle. On our adventure we passed a big skateboard tournament and a biker's festival in an industrial state (which included a massive motorbike in the air? It was all a bit mad!). I've been watching loads of Sons of Anarchy recently, so it was cool to stumble across it, although we didn't stay for long.

12. August began with sunshine and pints with the loveliest of friends (and the cheekiest of dogs). Now we're over a week into the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and I am already totally knackered and in serious need of salad. Bring on the rest of the month!

OUTFIT: KIMONOS & CURLS

Alright, I know that jeans are in no way an exciting outfit, but I liked what I wore to work and I wanted to share it! This was from a muggy cloudy day - while the rest of the UK was whining about a heatwave, Scotland was cloudy and filled with thunderstorms.

Kimono - New Look
Vest top - H&M
Jeans - Topshop
Shoes - New Look
Satchel - The Leather Satchel Co

I bought this kimono from New Look back in March when I was feeling enthusiastic about summer, but I've only just gotten round to wearing it. It's really light and floaty, so it's perfect for hot weather when paired with a vest top.

I try to dress a little smarter if I have client meetings (so I'll wear a dress, rather than jeans), but for a day spent in the office, this is a pretty perfect comfy combination.

 

I've also been living in these shoes since I bought them, and they are now so beat up, I'll probably have to bin them soon (sob!). They are the world's comfiest loafers, go with almost anything, and have a nice pointed toe, so even though they are now a bit scruffy, they still feel a little fancy.

Sunglasses - Forever 21
Necklace - H&M

Since I returned from holiday I've been curling my hair pretty regularly in an attempt to recreate sea hair (my hair always curls amazingly in the ocean, it's like magic!). It's a bit of a faff to use a curling iron all the time though, so I'm experimenting with some sea salt spray - I'll let you know how I get on!

I'm also quite obsessed with statement necklaces at the moment, and I really love this plaited one I bought from H&M (who have the loveliest things in right now). Annoyingly though, because I'm a sucker for cheap jewellery, I always face the problem where the colour rubs off and then my neck goes green. Aargh!

HOW TO: GRUNGEY MAKEUP

It's fun to play around with makeup. After years and years of doing the same thing with my makeup (liquid eyeliner and a fairly dramatic cat's eye) I shook off my eyeliner addiction, and have just had fun doing what I want, when I feel like it.

Usually I go for a fairly natural look (mainly because it's quick and easy), but I recently had an excuse to do really dark, grungey makeup and I loved it.

I thought it would be fun to do another makeup tutorial and show you how I did it. It's pretty easy, and most of what you'll need is probably in your makeup bag already. 

I used my favourite makeup palette (can you tell? Sorry it's so obviously used and not picture-perfect clean!). This is a Sleek Makeup palette and I love love love it, their palettes are only £7.99, have beautiful shades and are really long-lasting too.

To start, I just went through my normal makeup routine - filled in my eyebrows, used primer and foundation (which looks a bit yellow in these photos, but it was just the weird evening light when I was taking these shots!), and added a little cream blusher.

You then want to start on your smokey eyes. Use a little gold pink eyeshadow across your whole eyelid, then add a dark purple colour over the lid, using the gold pink shadow to blend it all nicely at the crease. This is a bit easier if you have actual eyeshadow brushes - I didn't, so I just used a few of these sponge applicators instead. 

Build the purple shadow to the colour you want (think grungey and dark), and then add a line of that eyeshadow to your lower lash line.

To make your smokey eye super dark, get a bit of black eyeshadow and add this to your eyelid, close to your lash line. Blend the join between the black and purple shadows. 

Then add black liquid eyeliner on your top lashes, line your waterline with a kohl eyeliner pencil, and add mascara. And that's it!

WINDOWSILL GARDENING

One of the things I was proudest of in my old house was my garden - in just over a year I turned a blank plot into a colourful place filled with flowers, vegetables, trees, and loads of happy birds, butterflies and bumblebees. It was hard giving up that space (and I still occasionally wonder how my garden is doing, I hope the new owners treat it well!), but I've tried to bring as much plant life as I can into my little flat.

Mini ceramic pots - Anthropologie
Wooden house - Tiger
Fox skull - Emporium Galorium

I have a bit of an obsession with cacti and succulents - probably because they are so easy to look after, and only need watering every once in a while. If you don't consider yourself green-fingered, then succulents are absolutely the way to go!

All of these plants are from Ikea, who have an amazing and affordable succulent selection. I've got them dotted around my flat on a couple of windowsills and on my desk.

Dinosaur planter - Tutorial
Cacti painting - by Joshi!

My kitchen windowsill is really broad and gets loads of light in the morning, so it's the perfect place for most of my plants, I just need to remember to water them frequently as it gets so much sunshine! I've got loads of herbs in the kitchen (parsley, basil and rosemary are doing well), a baby tomato plant, and a couple more succulents (obsessed).

My bedroom also has deep windowsills (I love this flat), which means I've got a mini garden set up there too - even though watering can be a bit of a faff, plants make me so happy!

This is a flowering plant (a callie purple, I think), which was sent to me from the kind folk at Set Your World on Flowers, who are selling their flowering plants exclusively in Waitrose stores across the UK. They specialise in growing high quality plants that have loads of blooms and are guaranteed to last - so perfect, for lazy flat gardeners. I was sent a few plants a month ago, and they are all looking very happy (you can see the other one on my kitchen windowsill above) - I love that they are adding a bit of colour to all of my greenery.

If you don't have much shelf space, hang things instead! I made this hanging planter using a tutorial I found on pinterest, and strung up a glass bauble that I got in a charity shop. Ivy is now growing, and should look lovely, when it's a little longer, and starts trailing down the window.

Vase - Ikea

Aaaand finally, more cacti (I'm sorry, I can't help myself). This is a little terrarium that I made a couple of years ago, and the plants inside are all going strong - look how happy the cactus is, it's about to flower! These are so easy to make, all you need is a container, some soil and some sand, and a couple of rocks to scatter about. Then you just need to sprinkle them with a little bit of water every now and again, and you can't go wrong!

JUNE CATCH UP

It's been such a fun month! Here's what June looked liked for me...

Instagram username: @eversojuliet

1. I went along to Edinburgh Zoo Nights on a beautiful sunny evening. It's a lot like most lates events, with the chance to explore with no kids around, beer in hand, but with lots of super cute animals! I've not been to the zoo for years, so it was ace to see their new dinosaur exhibit, and see the animals when they were a bit more active in the early evening.

2. My pal Sian and I went along to the Grey Goose Boulangerie Francois pop-up martini bar on Harvey Nichol's very beautiful rooftop terrace. Despite being the world's most difficult pop-up name to hashtag on instagram, the drinks were amazing and the weather was glorious. If all blogger events could be like this, I'd be a very happy girl!

3. My much-missed Riley cat came to stay with me for a few days. After my break up, Riley went to live with my ex's parents (rather than be shut up in my tiny flat), so it was really nice to have my purring pal for a visit! He's coming back for a longer cat holiday in September, and I am excited!

4. I've been a sucker for Jurassic Park/World this month because I am a MASSIVE CHILD (did you see my dinosaur wishlist?). I couldn't resist snapping this sign, seen outside of Artisan Roast, one of Edinburgh's best coffee shops.

5. After months of pretending it wasn't really happening, I actually ran my 10k Race for Life! I was so nervous beforehand, hated it for the first five minutes, then started to enjoy it (who would have guessed?!) and was delighted to see my parents and Joshua at the finish line. I think I might have caught the running bug!

6. I've definitely caught the doughnut bug. Immediately after finishing my race I went for a victory pint with my loved ones, then went home for a seriously lazy day on the sofa with my book and a lot of sugar. I'm really enjoying this book - it's an old sci fi by CS Lewis (he of Narnia fame), and it's so nicely written.

7. I told you I was a dinosaur loser, luckily my boyfriend is too! Dating a graphic designer has a few benefits, and custom-made Jurassic Park passes is one...

8. ...which we paired with Jurassic Park themed outfits to go and see Jurassic World. I know the film's had a bit of stick, but it was such an excellent nostalgia-fest for me, I think I would have loved it regardless of what actually happened.

9. I took a few photos of Soba for a pet photography blog post and had to keep a very watchful eye on Riley, who was FASCINATED by Soba. This is as close as they got (and Soba had zero interest in Riley), but I reckon if they had met properly, Riley would quickly realise that hedgehogs aren't to be messed with!

10. Since I was in Portugal last year I've developed a fondness for pasteis de nata - little custard tarts that you eat for breakfast (yum!). There's a new cafe in Stockbridge that has just started serving them, and they are so good!

11. The most exciting part of my month was that I went on holiday to Croatia and it was brilliant! I'll blog more about our trip in detail soon, but it had all you'd hope for on a holiday - beautiful sunshine, amazing architecture, secret beaches, good food, and loads and loads of time to read books under the sun.

12. I'm also chuffed that I didn't get any sunburn, just increased my freckles, but I did get bitten by a spider (and have to go to the doctor with a swollen arm, aaargh) and had a fairly traumatic incident with a sea urchin. I survived though!