Top 5 Items I Can't Live Without

We all have those essential items that we simply couldn't do without. Whether I'm at home or travelling, here are my top 5 items that are always within reach.

Just like your favourite pair of jeans, or that cosy sweater you simply refuse to let go of, there are also going to be items that come into your life that will become essentials. These items will make your life so much easier and more pleasant to navigate and giving them up is just a straight up HELL NO!

1. BOOKS!

Naturally being a huge bookworm and voracious reader, number 1 on my list of things I always have close to hand is a book. I read a lot, and without the wonderful escape of reading I would feel lost. For obvious reasons I am not going to add my phone to the list as it is always on my person, and I read from my kindle on there when I don't have a hard copy with me. So my first essential is a book, always! I'm currently reading Pamela by Samuel Richardson and it is so slow going I could cry... but for it's time it was a true revelation and a story of power and hierarchy as told by a lowly house maid, Pamela. I will let you know what the end result is when I get around to finishing it, maybe it revs up?!

2. OILS

It's weird to think that just over 18 months ago, I went to the supermarket, or online and bought beauty products to clean, tone and moisturise my face. Completely normal. I became a little obsessed with finding natural products and veered into the direction of making some at home for myself, just to see what it was like compared to the store bought options out there. It was a revelation for me, literally, I revised my entire skin regimen and threw out all of my store bought chemicals post haste. It started as a month, just one little month to make all my essentials and stop using anything that wasn't natural. I ended up using a combination of oils and hydrosols (the by product of distilling essential oils) and I came up with an oil cleanser, a hydrosol toner, and a day oil serum and a night oil serum to replace my creams. I feel that with your skin being the biggest organ, what we slap on there has an effect, obviously and where possible I try to be chemical free so, this stuck and I am not going back to the store, EVER! I have a travelling kit that I use when I go away, and I pop oil into small 10ml rollers to take on the run for the day to day stuff.

(Just a small side note: my skin is a combination skin type, sometimes dry patches in winter. I did not find that using any oils made my skin oily, quite the opposite, after the oil sinks in, some take a little longer than others, I always feel a wonderful glow up and very hydrated. Make up glides on after too!)

3. COFFEE or TEA

I'm sure there are many of you out there that can agree that this is indeed an essential part of life, the elixir that makes the morning worth waking up to. I don't discriminate in this department and technically for me it's just the process of waking up and making a hot drink to languish over whilst I wake up. I am always the first person awake and up in my house, so I take the opportunity to make a hot cup of something and if it's nice, sit outside and if it's not, catch the morning sunrise from my living room. Either way, I cannot start my day without a cup in my hand and a little quiet and calm before the storm of a new day.

4. MY CAMERA

Now this isn't a hard and fast rule, I don't take it out grocery shopping and I don't sleep with them anymore, but over the last 12 years I have amassed a little collection of cameras, both film and digital and I love the creative outlet it gives me. I'm also a little bit of a tech nerd so I do like the technical aspect of photography, and film is where my heart is happiest. The digital revolution has stopped us printing our photos and making keepsake albums to treasure for our younger generations to pick up and pour over, like I did as a child. I studied and achieved my diploma in photography and it is a skill I am so grateful to be able to use often.

5. MY GLASSES!

I am blind people, blind, blind blind. I wear glasses all the time, and my sunglasses are prescription too. I never transitioned to the contact wearing adult I should be, I think I am just lazy, but also my glasses are a great little accessory and I get to buy all the different colours, and shapes and latest fashion thanks to online stores and my prescription in hand. I like to buy a few pairs at the same time and then rotate them around. But they are always on my face, all the time and I love them. They are a huge part of my personal style and I wouldn't trade them for all the tea in China, well maybe all the tea.

There you have it, my top five essentials that will always be in or around my vicinity at any one time, do you have a similar list or something radically different? Tell me, I want to know!

Bussi Babe xx