Monday 30 November 2015

Let's Talk: Skincare.

I'm no expert when it comes to skincare and for the longest time that really put me off posting about it at all, but recently I've had a routine that I've really been liking and actually sticking to so I decided to share it, although my advice to always make sure you remove your make up? Buy expensive white bedsheets. I haven't slept with any make up on since we moved! And I used to be really bad for doing that. For serious though, here's what I've been using and enjoying lately. 

First off, I'll talk about what I'm working with personally, I have combination skin that is oily around my T zone and chin, but can get dry around my nose, winning all around. I have suffered with acne in the past and I'd say my skin is quite acne prone, small changes in my life can cause breakouts. Recently I've had this quite under control though.
Here is my no make up selfie, my skin is feeling really clear at the moment and slightly less oily because of the colder weather, I have a small almost unnoticeable breakout on my chin. You can see I'm quite pale and have freckles which often makes my skin look quite an uneven tone with redness etc.  I know that sounds quite negative but overall I'm fairly happy with my skin, i haven't actually worn foundation in over 2 months because I just haven't felt the need/ I'm really lazy and just use concealer where I need it! 

Cleanse::
I was always a make up wipes girl but as I saw more and more about how bad they are for your skin and basically how much money you waste I've really tried to steer clear, Micellar water is way better anyway, I really like this one from Garnier and it's so cheap even without an offer although Boots often does it cheaper. It removes my eye make up really easily and doesn't leave my skin feeling tight if I use it for face make up too. I try remove the bulk of my eye make up with the micellar water and cotton pads before doing a proper cleanse with my Liz Earle cleanse and polish. I do the first step mostly to save the muslin cloths from my copious amounts of blackest black mascara. Oops. Sometimes if I'm being lazy i will do a full face cleanse with the micellar water but it just never seems quite as clean. I love Cleanse and Polish because its so soothing for my sensitive skin but makes it feel really clean and the use of the hot cloth afterwards is a perfect amount of exfoliation. 

Moisturise::
Usually I'm lazy with body moisturiser as dry skin isn't usually a problem for me but with the weather being colder I've noticed more dryness particularly on my legs. I only recently picked up the Aveeno lotion but I have no idea why, a while ago I cared for a patient who had a skin condition, she was prescribed this cream and it worked absolute wonders! I am loving it so far all over my body after a shower, it sinks in amazingly quickly and doesn't leave me feeling greasy. It also has no scent to it so doesn't overpower perfume etc if you use it in a morning. 
For face moisturiser I've sworn by this La Roche Posay moisturiser ever since Rosie wrote about it on her blog ages ago in this post. I use it each morning without fail. I definitely think compared to a lot of skincare products out there it's really reasonably priced particularly as its quite often on offer. This is perfect for my oily skin while still feeling like it's hydrating my skin, it also helps with acne and outbreaks. Wonder product in my eyes for sure, I've been through probably 4 or 5 tubes since February, I just wish they'd make a bigger one! 

Eyes::
This is a fairly recent addition to my skincare, I've maybe had it 2-3 months. I'm 23 so didn't think an eye cream was necessary until i noticed that any concealer i used under my eyes was creasing really quickly. I do think this has helped with that issue although I'm not 100% sold on whether it is worth the price! I do really like the consistency of this eye cream from Kiehl's as it kind of turns watery as you rub it in (using your ring finger only around the eye area as I was taught by my mum) and it feels hydrating but not greasy. I'll use up this pot and then look for something a bit cheaper I think.

Other::
This is the part of my skincare that I'm not sure how to categorise. I had heard a lot about the Serozinc mist from La Roche Posay and since I've loved other things from there I decided to give it a try. This is another one where I'm not quite sure of the benefits just yet as I need to give it a longer go but I've been enjoying it so far. It's a really fine toning mist that i spray on after cleansing containing zinc for acne prone skin. My skin has been the clearest its been for a while recently so hopefully this is to thank for that! 
The Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate oil purchase has been a long time coming, I got it at the beginning of october when we were in London after putting it in my basket about 7 times through the year on the Debenhams website. According to Kiehl's this product is supposed to help with moisture and radiance working overnight. I love it, I have no idea why, I'm not sure it particularly has made me look radiant but its such a luxurious step in my skincare routine that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Even with my oily skin i haven't found it to be greasy and in fact I think it's helped to combat this a bit. It smells like lavender and other natural oils perfect for the last step before bed. I use it alone because of my skin being oily but Kiehl's say it can be used as a treatment  before applying a night cream if needed. There are also a load of other suggestions of how to use it (bath oil anyone?) on their website. An expensive product that iId definitely say was worth the price tag for me. 

I haven't really mentioned face masks because I spoke about this more in my pampering post. They're something I do depending upon how my skin feels at the time but my favourite ones are Origin and the Sanctuary thermal mask.

Hope you enjoyed this post about my skincare routine, if you have any suggestions for a cheaper eye cream alternative please let me know either in the comments or on Twitter!



Monday 23 November 2015

15 Favourite Feelings.

Image from Pixabay.

1:: Waking up and realising you have another couple of hours to sleep.

2:: The first bite of a food I've been craving.

3:: Hugs, of all kinds; from my boyfriend, from family, from friends, with animals.

4:: Laughing so hard that my laugh becomes silent.

5:: Hot baths.

6:: Reading the sentence in the book where the title comes from and thinking 'oh I get it, I get why it's called this!'.

7:: Showing someone something you love and them loving it too.

8:: The anticipation of arriving somewhere.

9:: Feeling like I've done a good job / someone else validating that I've done a good job. I know this sounds odd and like I'm looking for a gold star, I can't explain it very well!

10:: Leaving work on the last day before a week (or 2) off.

11:: When the thing I was anxious about turns out to be nothing, I mean I am anxious a lot of the time so this happens quite a lot but it's still something I try to take pleasure in.

12:: Getting into a real bed after I've been camping.

13:: Scribbling all of my thoughts and feelings into a notebook so they get out of my head. Usually so frantically that my handwriting is illegible, then I can't go back and dwell on them.

14:: Crying, when you've really needed it.

15: Radiator warm pyjamas.

This post was inspired by some YouTube videos I've seen, I believe this idea was created by Hank Green and my favourite version of the video is by Claire Marshall.


Monday 16 November 2015

Premature Wedding Vows.

Today I was listening to the Grace Helbig podcast 'Not Too Deep' when they started talking about seeing dogs in the streets and instantly falling in love with them.
In that moment I realised what the most important wedding vow could be that I have to promise my boyfriend. (We're not engaged and we probably won't write our own vows because, why create more anxiety for yourself?!) I immediately text it to him, I tried to give context but i'm sure I still sounded crazy considering he was at work and we haven't spoken since 1pm.


"I promise, for the rest of my life, to always point out cute dogs in the street that I think you would like." 

So there you have it, a look at the things I find most important in our relationship. 

Saturday 7 November 2015

5 things on the internet.

I'm still waiting to get the camera back so I'm struggling with blogging at the moment, so much of why I wanted to get back into blogging was to improve my photography so often it feels a bit strange for me to blog without the process of photography as well.
Recently I've seen a lot of negativity surrounding the 'online world' with a piece in a magazine about being sick of bloggers and the whole hype surrounding a girl from Australia who is Instagram famous denouncing social media completely for being fake.

I'm not going to lie, I have previously had to have a chat with myself when I tried to take an Instagram worthy post of a mug of peppermint tea when I was ill last week (see below). That was a step too far when I tried to make the fact I had an upset stomach worthy for social media, however, I don't think social media is to blame, we all know that what is shown on social media is a highlight reel, people put their best moments on there and if they don't want to share the bad things, it doesn't mean they're lying about their life. I sometimes tweet about mental health and if i'm feeling particularly shitty but usually I use social media as a place to be positive and really as something for me to look back on to remember good times. If you have Instagram and haven't scrolled back through your feed I urge you to do it soon and see all those moments that at the time you felt were worthy of sharing, no matter how mundane at some point they made you happy.

The peppermint tea picture that didn't make it to my Instagram feed. 
Okay, this took a turn for the serious when all I was going to do was show the things I've loved on the internet for the past few weeks!


// Oh lordy, I was a big fan of Grace back when she had her old channel, I kind of fell out of love with her videos when they seemed to changed from her old style but recently I've discovered them again. I particularly love all of her videos with Mamrie Hart, I love Mamrie, she is everything I wish to be humour-wise. Perfectly pun-y and just the right amount of self-depricating and painfully honest. The HeyUSA series is really worth a watch, so funny.
My Mum is visiting this weekend and i've actually made a playlist of the videos that I know will make us both laugh until we cry, she loves Mamrie too.

// Ella Ceron on twitter. Another funny lady that I often search and scroll on twitter, who else does that? I have a cycle of names that I search on twitter to scroll through their feed if my homepage is a bit dry.


// This. Effing. Dog.  Do I need to say more?!

// I promise I'm not just adding this here because Charlotte included me in her recent 'blog love' post (although thank you!) I have followed her blog for years now. Charlotte's blog was one of the first I found when I previously wrote this blog back in 2012 and has been one of the only blogs I regularly followed in the time when I wasn't blogging. Her writing is everything I wish mine could be, eloquent yet conversational and I don't think there has been a post I haven't loved. This post is my absolute favourite, so much so that I kind of went off on Twitter about it, kind of like a fangirl for a single post if thats a thing. 


// Yoga With Adriene. I think I'm a bit of a stuck record when it comes to Adriene, I can't count the amount of people I've recommended her videos to. How amazing that we have *free* yoga videos to do in the comfort of our own home for any need we may have. I've tried to do yoga every day for the past few weeks, I say tried, its been more like every other day but I'm not beating myself up over it. I always come back to Adriene's videos, there really is one for every mood. You simply have to type into the youtube search box 'Yoga for *blank* and i'm sure there'll be something from her. My particular favourites have been Yoga For a Bad Mood and Yoga for Stress Relief, they're much more gentle practices, which aren't the best if youre doing yoga for exercise, but there are plenty of those videos that will work up a sweat and a shake of the muscles too. 

There we have it, 5 things that make me happy that the internet and to some extent social media is a thing. There is plenty of positivity out there if you look for it, and, as I said before, remember that other people put their highlights out there for the world to see. Try not to compare yourself to that.

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