I love reading, but there's something so lovely about it finally being the summer hols and you can crack open a book and really get stuck into it. I find that during other holidays, I have so much reading for uni that I rarely have much time for reading for pleasure. I've gathered together some books I've loved reading over previous summers, perfect beachy reads and a couple I'm going to be getting stuck into myself.

There are few things worse than not believing or having faith in yourself. You are meant to be your own number one fan after all, and whether you like it or not everything you do is literally for you. But sometimes a little tiny seed of self-doubt will plant itself in the back of your mind and it's the pits.

I've dreamed of going to Paris for what feels like ever. For my birthday, my boyfriend got me Eurostar tickets to Paris; needless to say I was ridiculously excited. For medical reasons we could only stay two nights, so we were determined to make the most out of our trip last week, which was just magical, everything I thought it would be and more.

More recently I've been wanting to experiment and try out more budget friendly options. I try to use a mix of higher end products and budget friendly, but for a lot of things I've been gravitating to more expensive products. Don't get me wrong I love using those products, but the cost isn't my favourite thing ever and for some things I actually prefer a lot of the cheaper offerings. I'm planning on posting several budget beauty themed posts this July, starting of with a little haul of recent purchases.

Confession time; I'm an overpacker. When it comes to me packing I think I'll need absolutely everything, and end up barely being able to lift my own suitcase. Considering this year I'm going on two mini break/long weekend trips I thought it would be the perfect time to perfect my packing for a short trip away. Tomorrow I'm heading to Paris for a kind of long weekend break, but it's not actually at the weekend because it's so much more expensive. Anyway, going for a couple of days means that in reality I shouldn't need to pack too much, leaving space for any shopping that may or may not happen. I've picked up a few tips and tricks for lighter packing for a weekend getaway this summer, and so here they are.