Tips, tricks and quick fixes

Natural beauty

I don't know about my readers, but I have to work flippen hard just to step out the front door in the morning. My hair needs taming, my face needs covering and my tummy needs some sucking in. Yes I know it must look pretty "put on" at times, but it's either that, or it's... me. So for the sake of other's, it's the "put on" version. I don't know what natural beauty is, or if it's a real thing. How much of it is natural and what is my idea of natural vs the next person's idea of natural. 

Today I've decided to do a post for those of us that lack a little "natural beauty". I'm not saying that we're not beautiful the way we are, but we all have that one, two, maybe three things we don't like about ourselves, but love on our favourite celeb. If you know what I mean, read on, this is for you.

The "fat" issue

This is by far one of the biggest issues in the world today. Mostly because if people aren't obese or anorexic (both equally dangerous and unappealing to the eye), they're of a healthy, normal weight and still hate themselves. Face it woman, we will never feel thin enough and we'll never reach that "goal weight". The key is to feel good about yourself as you are. It's time to start loving yourself. Look in the mirror and look past the curves you don't like while acknowledging the curves you do. Also, start dressing for your body shape. You'll be amazed at the difference it makes. 

I have found that when I eat too much junk food and I start to feel bloated and sluggish, I start to feel "fat" and unhappy with myself, so my advise would be; try adding healthier things to your diet, without cutting the things that you love out. The moment I have to eliminate an item from my diet, I crave it. Don't eliminate, add. Also, exercise. I know, I know, it's sh*tty, you don't have the time, you don't have the motivation, you don't know where to start, every time you start, you just end up quitting. I know it. I come home from work and know I have to exercise, but let me tell you, the biggest obstacle of all, is that inner dialog your have right before you do, or don't exercise; "I've had a long hard day. I was stuck in traffic, look how much time I've lost already, I don't have time to exercise. I exercised yesterday, maybe my body won't notice if I skip it today. I know I had one too many cupcakes for lunch, but I did run up and down the stairs a few more times than usual." - if you're laughing, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And guess what, in the 20min it took you to experience this inner turmoil, you could have been halfway through your routine already!

Even if you feel like the exercise isn't doing much for your weight, it will do wonders for your self esteem, and, muscle weights more that fat!!

Dry brushing

Dry brushing does wonders for the skin. It detoxes,  gives the skin a healthy glow by getting rid of all the dead skin cells, helps blood circulation (which in turn assists with skin tone and cellulite) and boots your immune system. This is something everyone should be doing and there is no excuse. Get yourself a body brush, and in a circular motion, brush the skin all over just before you pop into the bath or the shower.

Healthy hair

I'm sure you've heard the one about egg yolks in the hair? To be honest I've never tried it, but please feel free to let me know if you have and it's worked for you. I've heard of rinsing the hair with vinegar for a healthy shine, but who wants to walk around smelling like a fish and chips shop? At my last visit to the hairdresser, after my hair was washed, the hairdresser asked the lady washing my hair to rinse it with vinegar. She poured plain old white vinegar over my hair and let it settle in a bit, before finally washing it off. My hair looked fantastic, and they claim it is an age old trick. Try it. Let me know what you think.

Glowing complexion

I recently tried something I saw on Pinterest; wash your face. Take a teaspoon of olive oil, and rub into the skin. Steam face with olive oil still on, by filling the basin with boiling hot water and resting your head over it with a towel over your head. Once you've had a good steam, wipe excess oil off with cotton. Then make a paste with bicarb and water massage into skin, focus on blemishes (warning; this may burn). Once done, rinse off and then wipe face down with pure lemon juice (warning; this may burn even more). This, done twice weekly, will not only clear skin, but will even get rid of old scar tissue. The olive oil softens the scar tissue and blemishes once warmed up and the steaming helps it get in as deep as possible. The bicarb scrubs off those softened cells and the lemon juice will promote cell regrowth. 

Another things you can do for your face: for acne, scrub face with a homemade paste of cinnamon(1tp), nutmeg(1tp) and honey. They say this is the fastest fix for breakouts.

That's it for now my beauty queens. I normally finish my posts off with a tip, but since tonight's post was full of tips, maybe you can send me a few?

Night night 

My new favourite thing :-D

Girly girl...

I'm a shallow person. I know it. No body needs to tell me, I'm fully aware of it myself, as I am after all, fully aware of myself :-P

I think the point I was trying to make was; I like pretty things. I love them when they're in pink. I can't go through a single day without spotting something I love (and yes, I WILL spot something I loathe too, with equal passion). I love heels, handbags, make-up, healthy chic hair, oh and, all things pink. I will discover something new, absolutely love it, make sure everyone else loves it too, and then move on to something new. Today I have a new favourite thing, and it's not in pink...

Sally Hanson - Magnetic nail color

it's PURPLE!!

Oh my heart. People, this product is exactly what it looks like. It's a combination of beauty and science, beauty created through science. It is quite simply, awesome.

How it works

This product is very much like a normal nail polish, in that it comes in the regular packaging. Apply one coat to all the nails and allow to dry. Once you're ready to apply the second coat, get the magnetic cap from the nail polish bottle ready, apply the second coat to the first nail and then rest the cap on the skin just above the nail about 1mm or so from the nail's surface (you'll see that the cap is designed to rest easily like this, so you won't mess it up). Count to ten, you will immediately notice the colour pull and then you can move on to the next nail. Once all the nails have dried, you can apply a top coat to keep the colour lasting longer.

All good things must come to an end

I have but one negative thing to say about this brand of nail polish - it doesn't take long to start chipping off. Look if there's one thing I hate, it's the look of chipped nail polish on a woman's nails. If you can't keep your nail polish perfect, take it off. If you walk around with chipped nail polish on your finger nails, you look like a crack whore in withdrawal. I'm sorry, but someone had to say it. Most people will probably just stare. People who know you a little better, but not all that well, will start to wonder about your hygiene standards. Strangers will pull their children closer in the hopes that the child doesn't catch hepatitis B just by the mere sight of you. Yes people, chipped nail polish looks that bad. Don't do it to yourself; you wouldn't wear torn clothes to the mall, you wouldn't be caught dead in public if your mascara was running down your cheeks and you wouldn't leave the house if your red lipstick was smeared along your jaw line, so how is this any different? Just.don't.do.it. 

Tip

I see a lot of girls going without any nail polish on because "it's too much effort", or "it takes too long to paint my nails" or "If I try paint my own nails, I end up painting the whole finger". Well, boys and girls, we can't all be Picasso now can we, but that doesn't mean that we can't pretend to be artists and just have fun with it. I'm not Gordon Ramsay, but I'm not going to starve to death because of it, I still need to eat. 

Try using a Q-tip to apply petroleum jelly to the skin around clean, buffed nails. This will make it easier to remove any nail polish that has gotten on the skin during the art of nail painting. You can also dip the Q-tip in nail polish remover and use it to remove the nail polish from the skin after you've painted your nails. I, however, find that the best way to do it, is to just go wild and ensure that the entire nail is painted, and once it's dry, I hop in a bubble bath and allow my skin to soften up. Just before I get out, I use either the sharp tip of a nail file, or a push fork knife to scrap any excess nail polish off my fingers. It works like a charm!

Night night my beauty queens, next time I see you, I want to see clean colourful nails ;-)

Wild thing

Shout out

First and foremost, I'd like to send a shout out to that one awesome person who commented on my last post and said they really enjoy my blog; you rock, you awesome person you, and I'm not just saying that because you are my one and only reader ;-)

To condition, or not to condition, is that even a question?

You know that sound when the dj  stops a track and it scratches to a halt? Or when a car slams on it's breaks and they scream and shrill? Or when a room full of doctors and nurses simultaneously gasp when the woman in the delivery room gives birth to a hairy beast with 1 eye when they were expecting a cute little baby? Well that's the general reaction I have when I hear that someone either doesn't use conditioner, or only uses condition once in a while. Don't get me wrong, it's not because I feel that using conditioner after shampoo is as to hair as moisturiser after face wash is to skin, it's just, I can't even get a comb though my mop if I even attempt to use a cheap conditioner. It's as if my hair is this stuck up little poppie and nothing but GUCCI or Louis Vuitton will do...

What kind of personality are you?

Everyone has a different hair type, even people who think they have the same hair type, don't, going to a hair dresser to get the same hair cut will prove this (I speak from experience). Sometimes I feel all alone in this world. There is one thing I seem to have in common with most people though; damp weather really ruins my hair, only, instead of becoming bouncy and full of volume, my hair loses it's style and falls flat. If a cow licked  me it would look more flattering. I therefore cannot speak for anyone else but myself, when I talk about what hair problems I have, and what works for it. I do however think, that most woman feel the same as I do when I say that most days, I'm convinced my hair has a personality of it's own. Not only does my hair have personality, it has moods. It has fat days and thin days. It has leave me alone days and I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD days. Sometimes it's happy, sometimes depressed. We fight a lot. We make up though, which is a good thing, as I can't picture us apart. I found a good therapist though - Elvive.

L'oreal Elvive

What I love about the Elvive range is; they seem to have a product for every mood of the week. When my hair is feeling depressed and limp, and doesn't want to see anyone, I use the Nutri-Gloss. When my hair is feeling over worked and stressed, I use the Re-Nutrition. When my hair is having a good day, and I want to keep it that way, I use Volume Collagen. For everyday use, I use Colour-Protect. This is like an entire range developed just for me, and I love it. Thank you L'Oreal, because of your hair therapy, my hair and I are not only still together, but our relationship is healthy and happy!

What about you?

I have no idea what kind of hair my readers may have, but what ever it is, and how ever your hair may feel, I'm sure Elvive has a product just for you. Give it a try, I swear you'll love it. 

Tip

If you colour your hair a lot, or you blow dry it, or use a straight iron a lot, why don't you get yourself Elvive's Re-Nutrition (or Damage Care) hair masque? When you bath or shower at night before you go to bed, towel dry your hair, apply a generous amount of the masque to the hair, massage in, wrap a warm towel around your head, and leave in over night. You'll find that after you've rinsed it out the next morning, your hair will be as soft as a baby's bottom. 

Well that was short and sweet, night night everyone, go get that beauty rest ;-)