Monday 23 April 2012

When spots attack: products to fight back!

There are many causes of facial spots and I can only talk in this post from my experiences of the little (or sometimes MASSIVE) blighters that have taunted me over the years. This is not a post aimed at those with more severe acne, but at those who encounter pimples regularly and want to know what they could try in order to avoid them hanging around and also reoccurring as often. One thing is universally true about skin break-outs: they usually occur exactly at the moment when you have an occasion where you want to look good- school photos, dates and weddings are favourites for those bastard blemishes to make an appearance. I am of the thinking that if there are things you can try to fight back, you should do it (within reason, of course). I am fortunate enough not to have major acne problems and I can only sympathise with those that have, but I do often experience flare ups which range from minor 2-3 day to fortnight-long battles. Rarely am I blemish-free for long before another rears its ugly head.


Firstly: prevention.

It makes sense that if you can create a happy environment for your skin, it will behave itself more than if you deprive it of what it needs. I won't be a hypocrite and say I am the healthiest eater- far from it, but it makes sense that if you're not feeding yourself with the necessary elements of a balanced diet, your body will rebel, inside and out. If you do one thing for your skin, eat fruit and vegetables as part of your daily diet. If you have to, take vitamin tablets, but ideally you should try to incorporate the foods you need into your eating plan. If you are not eating any fruit or veg, an eating plan or eating re-think may be your path to less volatile skin.

Saturday 21 April 2012

Light Coverage for Spring/ Summer: 3 options for dry skin

For a long time my skin was not a friend of mine. Having pale white skin which burns at the mere suggestion of the sun has meant that I have had to ensure I wear at least spf15 on sunnier days, particularly as I didn't always do this when I was younger and less educated on these matters. Of course, my skin colour also means that I am in danger of sporting the 'tangerine-glow', if I don't find suitable matches. To throw in another variable, I also have dry skin which gets easily weather-beaten in the Winter and, if I'm not careful, in the Summer too. Although there are imperfections I would like to cover up, having cakey-looking, obvious-looking and dryness-emphasising foundation is not a good look for me.

Sunday 15 April 2012

The Best Mac Everyday Shades: from the pan to the eye!

I began trying Mac eyeshadows and building up my collection quite a few years ago. I've generally favoured neutral shades since I started wearing make-up, with the exception of a few of my teenage years where I experimented with crazy colours for fun. I am not denying that the more exotic colours offfered by Mac draw me in like the next magpie. On the contrary, I own some bright shades which I will look foward to showing off in a future post. But for everyday in my profession, I steer clear of anything that will make people double take.
Left: Malt; Right: Quarry

For those who prefer not to spend their time or money on make-up, I can totally see that many of the shades I will talk about lovingly and in detail are very similar, perhaps even clones of each other in some cases. If, like me, you have ever debated for minutes, hours, days over whether to go with one colour or its sibling, considering undertones, pigmentation and consistency, you may like this. The photos were taken at different times so the lighting may vary, I'm afraid.

I will start with my favourite: Quarry.

Thursday 12 April 2012

Salisbury, Ducks and Rainbows

Salisbury is famous for its cathedral. Whilst visiting a friend for lunch, there was opportunity to take some snaps of the beautiful building, and also the ducks.


My pet duck came with me
Although this was not a shopping occasion, the city has plenty to offer in the way of high street shops in a prettier setting than many towns I frequent.

The other draw for me is that there is a nice riverside area where you can see the ducks (real ones) and swans. Today we saw some little new-born ducklings chirping and bobbing along the river. They were adorable!

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Review: Revlon Lip Butters


Lips: it's a thumbs up from me
As you can see by my toothy grin, the Revlon Lip Butters are a hit with my smackers! I am sporting number 055 'Cupcake' in the photo which is my favourite of the three I have.

The Colorburst Lip Butters were quite recently released in the UK after being a coveted item of many US bloggers. I was curious to see if they lived up to the hype, especially as Mac tends to be what I turn to most nowadays for my lips, especially their conditioner in the pot- it's amazing.