marissa belle ｡･:*˚:✧｡࿐

Hi all you lovely people!

HOW IS IT THE END OF JULY? Time has baffled me this year. It makes no sense at all! I think this entire year is going to go by in a flash as the past 7 months didn’t feel like it existed at all.

Let’s hop right into it, shall we?

Recap and Reflection –

It has been a rather busy month for me, especially at work. I have been tired most days and coming home at 10pm every night is clearly wearing me out after that lovely 3 month break I had whilst working from home. I also never realised how much money I would be spending on food!

As mentioned in my June Recap, I started my course of Accutane. It was very exciting for me as it’s something I wanted to be on for YEARS, but was never prescribed it because my acne was never deemed ‘serious’ enough. So I guess over lockdown, my skin sort of went “I’LL SHOW YOU SERIOUS!” and imploded on my skin.

It’s actually been working well for me! I am definitely going through ‘the purge’ period of 8 to 10 weeks at the moment. Currently, I have 4 huge cystic friends on my face. The purge is painful, ugly and wearing a mask definitely makes it worse for me. I am, however, just grateful to be on this miracle medication, and I’m more than willing to soldier on.

I’m excited for the upcoming weeks and to see more and more results. Fingers crossed!

Also, July was the most I got approved for Adsense!

This was a big deal for me as I had been trying to get approved by Adsense for over 6 months now. I applied over 40 times! I finally got accepted and I think it’s because of minor little tweaks I made to my blog that I didn’t think would have an effect but alas it did! And I’m so glad. I’m still trying to figure out my ad placements and stuff, so apologies if my blog is messy with ads at the moment, I’m in no way an Adsense pro.

July Favourites –

Mason Jars

For some reason I really got into mason jars after seeing some pictures on Instagram, so I bought a pair of them, one with an orange lid and one with a pink lid and I love them! It even says “Iced Cold Drink” in the front which I think is so adorable.

They also look very aesthetically pleasing and are environmentally friendly as they are glass. I had no choice but to buy a pair as they were sold in pairs, so I’m thinking of using the other one as a little makeup brush holder or to put some fairy light in to turn it into a mini lamp. What do you use mason jars for?

Enamel Pins

I used to have a huge obsession with enamel pins last year, but it died down, and NOW I’M BACK AT IT AGAIN! I ordered over 50 enamel pins for myself across several websites and have stuck them all over my tote bag and fake Kanken bag (because who in this economy can afford a real one?)

Here are some of my favourites that I’ve collected –

My personal favourites are anything Van Gogh, Studio Ghibli or Disney related. The little dinosaur with “All My Friends Are Dead” is also one of my favourites – grim but cute. I’m really an art hoe at heart.

My Noodle Phone Case

I think by now everyone knows I’ve got more phone cases than fingers on both hands and even though it is slightly embarrassing, it is a passion of mine and I guess I’m a collector? I love switching phone cases around and having a different feel in my hand every other day, or using a phone case that suits my mood.

I bought a Noodle Phone case for just $5 about 2 weeks ago and it has been my recent favourite!

IT REALLY IS JUST SO CUTE! 

And also, I really love the 3D silicon material for phone cases. Even though they make the overall phone very bulky, I feel it gives me a sense of stability whilst holding the phone as the grip is good. I have gotten some weird stares when using my phone on public transport and people just look at my phone case like I’ve got a profanity written on it or something, but I do like that it’s kind of unique and I haven’t seen anyone carrying something similar… yet! I would love to!

If anyone discovers any cute, quirky iPhone cases, please link me! I’d love to check them out.

My New Llama Night Lamp

Some people have nice IKEA standing lamps, or artsy hanging lamps, but me? I of course get a llama night lamp.

Everyone knows I’m a sucker for cute little animal related things. I found this cute llama night lamp on Shein. It was really cheap and for the price I do think it’s pretty good!

The only thing I don’t like about it is that it’s not a USB device, and it requires three LR44 cell batteries which I struggled to find in my house. On top of that, the battery compartment had to be unscrewed which is extremely inconvenient. But….. I guess he’s a little cutie and it was little work to get him working and as a light, he works well.

Unsolved Mysteries and Trial By Media on Netflix

I’m a big fan of true crime and Netflix have really been bringing out the best crime content lately.

My favourite episodes from Unsolved Mysteries (without any spoilers) would definitely be the Rey Rivera case and the Xavier Dupont de Ligonnés case – both really got me thinking and googling Reddit theories for hours, especially the Xavier Dupont case. It was a crazy story! To be fair, they all were, but this one really stuck with me.

Trial By Media was close to my heart as I was a journalism student once and while studying for my degree I realised how scummy journalists and the media could be, and I swore to never be one of them if I ever took it up as a profession. Trial By Media’s first episode reeled me in like crazy because I had already heard of the Scott Amedure case before (you might have as well, it was a popular story!) and the way Netflix filmed the episode was really immersive and detailed.

10/10 would highly recommend these 2 on Netflix!

I honestly think 2020 will barely exist, we are more than halfway through the year and that fact blows my mind! The pandemic has definitely sort of sped things up while making a lot of other things extremely slow, like getting the chance to travel, doing things you used to love and seeing people you were used to seeing all the time. It’s a weird year, 2020.

Talk about struggling with a long distance relationship at this time!

What have you been enjoying this month? Is there anything from my list that you’re interested in and might look up? Let me know in the comments down below – let’s chat!

Stay safe and until next time….