Sorry! Dx

Hey guys, I'm sorry for the massively long gap. I'm currently in the USA studying and for the past few months I've been going through some personal issues which has made things a little difficult.

I promise, I will be back.

Many thanks,

Kitty

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Natural spot treatments, natural acne treatment: Raw Honey

SEE UPDATE BELOW

Aaaah, as of late my mind has been all over the place. I have no idea whether my recent crazy breakout is due to the raw honey I've been using on my face lately, or stress. Because for a good 3 weeks my skin loved it. Pores shrank and my face felt awesome. Scares were fading and it seemed like I'd finally found that holy grail all in one cleanser and moisturiser. But for the past few days, my skin has gone NUTS. Whitehead nuts. I'm used to getting one of two whiteheads occasionally, but now I have 5/6 active whiteheads on my face and I'm afraid it may be from the honey! Grrrr! I've looked up that there is a possibility that people could have a sensitivity to raw honey, but really?! 3 weeks in?! For some people it has been a MIRACLE worker, and has worked wonders for very severe acne. Now I have new whiteheads emerging all over my face and they aren't even the small ones, they're big and ANGRY. Oh, and for good measure I've got some nice blackheads too.

I'm wondering if the actual breakout could be caused by stress? I have been very stressed these past few days, and it's not like I have a normal sleeping pattern any more...but while this seems more likely the reason why my skin is like this, I've lived like this before, without these kinds of results. Sigh...

Well, for now I think I may have to lay off the honey. I've been trying and trying with the natural skincare regime and it looks like I might have to start using oatmeal, the MILDEST thing ever, to clean my skin. Perhaps I'll use grapeseed oil to moisturise? Return to the OCM and try that again? It's so frustrating that I can't pinpoint exactly the cause of the acne. The only thing I can do is wait it out and try new things that I couldn't possibly breakout to!

Sorry for the ragey post guys, see you next time :D

*UPDATE* 30/09/2013: Sorry for the long gap guys, I'm currently in the USA and I've been studying like nuts. I've recently tried a few acne products from CVS and whichever one it is (the cleanser, toner or the two moisturisers I bought, or the other cleanser or the serum or the - the list just increases in length, and my bank account is quietly shrinking Dx ) has made my face so much worse! (Intense chin acne with white heads and blackheads invading areas that I didn't know could break out anyone?I think it's due to overuse and trying out too many different things at once! Darn my impatience!) I recently returned to honey, and within 2 days my skin is getting better, along with the help of a peel off mask I recently purchased. I think at the time when my skin broke out when previously using honey, my stress and health in general weren't in check, and therefore, the breakout. Raw honey seems to be saving me right now, the only regret is that I decided to experiment with a whole host of new products that pretty much ruined my skin! Ah well, I'll keep going with the honey, and hopefully the guilt of spending so much on products that don't work will eventually fade Dx Cheers guys!

*FINAL UPDATE* 11/10/2013: Sorry for the long gap once again guys - unfortunately the honey cleansing didn't work. I kept breaking out with the honey and the honey gave me a few cysts as well! Lots of scarring here, but I am glad I tried the honey, even though it worked then stopped working, it's not entire loss since I can just eat the honey :) I might try it again in the future, but for now I'm laying off it :)

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REVIEW: Body Shop 4 Step Smoky Eye Palette

Phew! Sorry for the long gap guys - my life has been a little hectic lately, but here's a review nonetheless! I bought this palette quite a while ago on sale at my local Body Shop, and it was reduced to £5 from £15! I generally don't buy things from the Body Shop - I do love the whole natural ingredients only hype but it's certainly not cheap! Most of the stuff is cleansing related anyway, and there's only so much skincare a person can use. Their make up isn't bad either, but I can find cheaper stuff in Superdrug and Boots along with more variety. Anyhow, I'll try to keep the review short and sweet!

Wow, I'm surprised my camera actually took the pictures well lol. As you can see, there are 4 neutral colours. All of them are frosted/shimmery and pretty pigmented. Not the most intense things I've ever come across when applied but nice nonetheless. If you dislike shimmer and are more a matte person (a bit like me) then you may want to avoid this palette. I wish there was at least one matte colour here, but ahh well. 

A great thing about this palette are added brushes. OK, the brushes themselves are not amazing by any means, I definitely recommend getting your own in the long run, but if you haven't got any of your own in the meantime, these will do fine. The round brush does well for patting and pressing the eye shadow, but the angled brush in my palette wasn't really as nice as I'd hoped. I wasn't expecting anything great but the brush wasn't as thin as I would've liked, and would probably have been better suited as a eyebrow brush as opposed to liner. I like thin liner, especially when using eye shadow so I can smudge upwards a little. I supposed I can try to flatten the brush myself by wetting it and pressing it down, but I'm still a little -_- (sorry I can't think of the right word for that expression lol) about having to do it.This is all personal preference though.  

What can attract a human more? Those little reduction stickers can make any shopper happy! I obviously overlooked the fact that the palette is "meant" for blue eyes. I understand that there were other palettes for other eye colours, but there weren't any for brown eyes when I checked the sale section. Like it matters :P anyone can wear neutrals! And I'm calling Body Shop out on the cover picture lol, the eye shadows are NOT that pigmented xD. (Still nice though!)

Problems?

It's lovely  how they give instruction on how to use the palette, but there lies on big problem for me in the instructions. They are for Western eye shapes! I'm Asian, so when I tried to use the palette as instructed it didn't work, and for a small amount of time I wondered why and then finally realised! This isn't a major problem and obviously isn't the Body Shop's fault, and there are many tutorials and blogs who help out with this dilemma. All I need is a quick google search and hundreds of hits will come up. 

Final thoughts?

A nice palette, especially for the price! 4 eye shadows from the Body Shop at £5 is a steal, even against other cheaper brands. If I went to wards Rimmel, Maybelline or any other high street brand of decent quality I could probably at most only buy one eye shadow. Am I happy? Yes, there aren't many problems with this palette, and the ones that do exist can be easily rectified.

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REVIEW: Brow Kandie Eyebrow Stencils

I recently bought these eye stencils out of curiosity at Superdrug. I've always found my brows annoying to shape and when I think they look OK the next minute a photo is taken they look ridiculous! I'd known about eye brow stencils for a while, but I'd never bothered searching for them with all the youtube videos that teach you how to do brows anyway. But I found these by chance, and at £4.99 (bit steep for what you get really) I thought it might be worth a try.

First thing to note - these stencils are for Western shaped brows. If you don't get what I mean, in Asia brows are far less arched and tend to be thicker and fuller for a more youthful effect. The "Korean Brow" , which is basically a thicker straight line is very fashionable right now, but this trend hasn't transferred over to the West.  Being Asian, I tend to find that arched brows and straighter brows are both fine, but I prefer thicker brows for the youthful look and my brows are pretty full anyway. The stencils in the pack are all pretty arched and either start off thin and end thin, or start off thick and end thin. I ended up going for the thickest one, and even then it's pretty thin! Let me show you.

They come in a plastic packet like this.

And here are the instructions:

 Basically, put the stencil on your brow and fill in your eyebrows as normal. Remove the stencil and then pluck out any hairs that don't "fit" in the stencilled shape.

 As you can see, I didn't exactly do that. I opted for black eye shadow (something you should never use for eyebrows, even if they are black, always go for a shade or two lighter.)  just so I could see the shape. Even though I hadn't plucked my brows for a long time, the stencil fitted pretty well. The only problems I had were that my brows are naturally shorter than the stencils, so no matter what I do my brows need to be extended anyway.

My Zoeva angled liner brush did the trick in filling my brows.  After using the stencil on one brow all you need to do is flip it over onto the opposite brow - which is exactly what I did. Here's the final result!

 Sorry for the dodgy picture, I actually think the picture is a little misleading with the way I've angled it. My brows actually match a little better, and as you can see they are full and short.

Final thoughts:

- I originally was disappointed with the pack when I opened them. All of the stencils were far too thin for my taste, but I worked my way around that simply by allowing a little more room around the stencilled shape. But honestly, some of these stencils are so thin I have no idea who would want them to look that artificial.

- The plastic the stencils are made out of isn't particularly strong, if you cut it it's easily tear able. I understand that the stencil needs to be  flexible but I feel that they could be a little sturdier! They should really make these a bit cheaper - £4.99 for something so easy to break makes my wallet cry a little.

- Out of the entire pack, I only used ONE. That means 9/10 of the stencils have gone to waste (unless I'm dressing up for a particular look) so that £4.99 only paid for one useful item.

- Would I repurchase? Not really, I think I could live without these. I did end up liking them quite a lot after I had finished using them, but for £4.99 I think I could spend that money elsewhere. If you are completely clueless about brows and can't do them freehand, these could be super useful though.

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Natural spot treatments, natural acne treatment: Bicarboante of Soda as an ex foliator/ Baking Soda scrub.

Hey guys - now this ex foliator is definitely worth writing about. It's so cheap and it really does scrub!

My teensy weensy jam jar (taken from a scone serving at Valerie Patisserie wahahahaa) filled with baking soda. It's so cute! xD

Despite the powdery texture of the soda, it really is gritty stuff. A large pinch of it in the palm of your hand with a little warm water and a wet face and it really feels like a a tough scrub. I've never felt anything so gritty. Not unpleasant gritty, like a tough sand if anything. This stuff is so much better than other ex foliators, those have zero exfoliation powers in comparison to this stuff.

Has it got rid of black heads or cured any of my skin issues? Not that I can see, as of yet. I'm using it in conjunction with the OCM Method, It definitely is getting of dead skin, and I look forward to see what long term effects it will have. One thing I've been very bad at is that I think I've recently over ex foliated my face, which has made my skin a little rough. I'll let my skin heal for a week and see how it goes. But on the whole, this stuff is natural, cheap and is really great so far.  

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REVIEW: Holland and Barrett PUKKA Castor oil & REVIEW: Miaroma Grapeseed Oil

Hey guys, just wrote another post about the oil cleansing method and here are the products I'm using for it! Just two oils, and that's all ya need for the method anyway.

I ordered both of these on line, and I think because my cart went over a certain price the shipping was free. 

PUKKA Castor oil &  Miaroma Grapeseed Oil

I think the price for both of these are just over £10, and considering how much you get and how much you need they really will last a long time. A scrub nowadays costs roundabout £5 anyway, so two of these together I wouldn't consider expensive. 

PUKKA Castor oil: One thing about Castor Oil. IT SMELLS. Now, I don't know whether it's just this brand,  because I've googled to see if it was just me dying from the smell and it seems that the internet disagrees since others have said that there shouldn't be a smell or that there wasn't one to begin with. This leave two options a) It's the brand I'm using b) My bottle has gone bad. I know it's not b), since the expiry date is about 2 years, and the bottle was sealed when I got it. So I guess it's just this brand. I'll write down below how to deal with the smell. Other than the smell "problem", the oil is thick very thick, and is a very, almost clear, pale yellow. It seems to be doing its job with the cleaning, and at 250ml it's a good size. The bottle is made of glass, which will be a pain in the butt for me since I don't want to take it overseas. Then again, I could just buy Castor oil when I go the USA as all the gurus who use the method are from the US anyway. (Also, this oil is cold pressed and organic, which is the ONLY type you want.)

Miaroma Grapeseed Oil: At 118 ml, this plastic bottle helpfully comes with a lid that you can squeeze oil out in drops. Still causes a slight mess, but it's better than the Castor which is just a screw on lid. A pain in the butt when you only need 3 drops! Anyhow, the oil is much thinner and is a yellow colour, very easy to distinguish both oils from each other so I can never get them mixed up. This oil doesn't really have a strong noticeable smell, and the only tiny tiny issue I have is that I'm not sure if Grapeseed oil in general should only be used if organic. If so, I can't tell with this one. The ingredients only say Grapeseed oil and vitamin E. Neither are bad for you, and the oil doesn't seem to have a negative effect even if it isn't strictly organic. 

Solving the smell and quantity issue! I recently bought these two joys from Ebay. Two glass 10ml droppers. One for Castor and one for Grapeseed Oil. This solves the smell problem with the Castor as I only need to open the droppeR and squeeze 3 drops onto my hand. This minimizes the strong smell and the only time you smell it is when you rub it on your  face. You have to squeeze the dropper quite hard on the Castor oil to get the oil into the pipette, but it's doable. Before getting these droppers I was pouring the oils into a small shallow plastic jar, which wasted SO much oil and made it so hard to measure. I would have to pour the oils into a spoon trying to get the right quantities and then pour them into the jar. Annoying as heck, especially with the extra cleaning you had to do all the time. These droppers also make measuring SO much easier, 3 Castor drops to 7 Grapeseed Oil crops. Mix, and rub it on ma face! Love these two, and using them is actually quite fun. Kind of like having vials of chemicals that you need to scientifically measure wahahaha. Vials are always cooler, they seem like fun old school chemistry that you see in old books. The droppers were relatively cheap by the way, when buying from Ebay only look for them sold in pairs, buying one on it's own isn't really worth it.  

Grapeseed Oil left (the oil is actually much more yellower in real life), Castor Oil right.

My review of the OCM:

http://thesilverpocketwatch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/natural-spot-treatments-natural-acne.html

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Natural spot treatments, natural acne treatment: The Oil Cleansing Method! OCM Method

Hey guys - as said in a previous post I said I would try the oil cleansing method. Well, I have, and so far it's been...good?

I add the question mark because I'm still using it and despite having used it for a while I've read that the method does take a few weeks to work its magic (and I think in general skincare products take 6 weeks to work, and I don't think I've used this method that long as of yet) so I will persevere. Having said that, I have noticed a few changes to my skin, so good, some not so good:

- The blemishes on the top of my cheeks and under my eyes have gone completely! My skin used to have a constant strip of tiny bumps and now they've been replaced with smooth smooth skin! Great stuff.

- My overall face has feels smoother and cleaner, despite what it looks like (more on that in a sec.)

- Some big pores that were bothering me have definitely gotten smaller or have gone completely. Another thumbs ups.

- OK, now onto the "bad" stuff. I say "bad" because the method has caused me to break out. Not major terrible breakouts but there have been a number of small white heads and recently there was a very large white headed on my chin, which is still healing. From what I can see the white head wasn't made from one big white head but a few small ones together. It's mostly gone, but there's still a spot and it will definitely make a mark afterwards. Hopefully it'll clear up soon.

- Blemishes have appeared elsewhere. For some reason very recently above my left eyebrow a group of spots have emerged - not big angry ones but little ones. Not even spots really, blemishes. Maybe they like that eyebrow for some reason. Also, my cheeks. Both cheeks have blemishes and they are pink and noticeable. Not big angry spots, but it sure is annoying. I hope these will clear up too since they are appearing in places where I don't normally have spots.

- Blackheads. When I talked about some of my cheek pores getting smaller, I'm sure it was my pores getting clean. My chin and nose however, haven't had massive changes. I know I have a deep suspicion that I will always get blackheads, so this isn't that big of a deal. I think some of my blackheads of risen to the surface a little and some have gone, but it's not been a magical change.

- *NOTE* I want to point out that I have recently (I think) over ex foliated my face. Two days in a row of ex foliating and I think I've caused a mini breakout or made more spots appear. These recent spots are VERY recent, so I will report back in the long run since I'm not sure if it's the ex foliation of the oil doing its work.

- *NOTE* For those who are unfamiliar with the oil cleansing method, there will be a detailed run down below. The reason I haven't stopped this method even with breakouts is that the method takes a lot of time to work. Also, I believe that the process I am going through with the breakouts is called "purging", as in my skin is getting rid of the impurities and pushing them out, hence the breakouts.

*UPDATE* 10/08/2013 Hey guys - I recently decided to stop using the oil cleansing method. For a short period of time I stopped using the method due to laziness and when I resumed using the method I broke out. I decided to persevere for a little longer but after another week or two I decided dealing with the breakouts really wasn't worth it. I'm not entirely sure if my skin was going through another purging stage or if my skin was rejecting the method entirely. Either way, I decided to stop. I have recently started using another natural cleansing method, and somehow that's backfired on me too -_-.


THE METHOD:

Now, I have read far better blog posts on the OCM method with much greater detail and easy instructions I have followed with no problem. I'll an excellent one here so I don't have to write a mediocre one in comparison:

http://www.crunchybetty.com/nitty-gritty-on-the-oil-cleansing-method

Scroll down to "What oils are best for your skin?" And read from then on.


Follow those instructions well, and see how it goes! I have to point out that the method DOES NOT WORK FOR EVERYONE. As with every skincare routing it never works for everyone, but this method does take time to work and does cause breakouts, making it even harder to tell whether or not your skin is liking it or not. Only experience can solve it I'm afraid.

See ya soon! (Expect reviews on cleansing oils next!)

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REVIEW: Babyliss Ceramic Straightening Brush

Hey guys, quick review on something I bought the other day. I've been interested in getting one of these since I saw Lisa Eldrige talk about it on one of her youtube videos about her favourite hair styling tools and products. Whenever I wash my hair I tend to leave it wrapped up in a towel for a  good while while I put lotion and moisturiser on, and by the time I take the towel off my head my hair has dried to the damp stage. I have a big habit of tucking my hair behind my ears, so whenever I do this with my wet hair I get a gigantic fabulous kink when my hair has fully dried, even after using the hair dryer.

So I bought this! 

Here's the brush open and closed normally.

It's really easy to use, and the little vents on either side of the brush allow hot hair to easily pass through.

And it comes with two sectioning clips as well, though I don't use those.

I have to say I really like this product. When I use it I brush my hair through first to get ride of knots, then I divide my hair into two, and clamp individual sections with the brush and bring the brush down slowly while passing hot air through the length of the vent. Here are my results:

Pretty happy with the results. Bear in mind that my hair is naturally straight and the front part of my hair was cut so it would feather towards my face. 

I very rarely do anything to my hair - I wash, dry and that's pretty much it. But this method I think will help me not get the gigantic kink from putting my hair behind my ear. I'm sitting here typing this now and I haven't been tempted to put my hair behind my ears, since my newly dried hair isn't really moving or getting in my face. 

Pros:

- Less than £10 for the brush, you could get these instead of straighteners if you wanted.

- Works, and is easy to use.

Cons:

- I wish the brush came with a case so I could put the brush in a case with the clips. I'm afraid that I'll one day I'll need the clips for some reason then realise I can't find them. Right now I'm just leaving the brush and the clips on the floor next to my hair dryer.

- Some who prefer super perfect hair may find that these don't create the perfect straight hair in comparison to straighteners.   

Overall:

I really like this, I'll probably use it quite often whenever I wash my hair. 

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How to get rid of Keratosis Pilaris

Aaah, keratosis pilaris. I didn't know it existed till I accidentally come upon it when I was watching a random beauty guru on youtube talk about her "chicken skin" on the back of her arms and how she managed to get rid of it. That's not to say I've never noticed my KP on the backs of my arms, heck from a short while I would just sit there at my desk and pick away and ease out all of the ingrown hairs (OK, gross, but it's not infected or gross, it's just like picking off dry skin) as a form of terrible procrastination. When I realised I had it, I was somewhat relieved and surprised that it was actually a thing. I haven't fully removed my KP, and even though I have made excellent progress I know the parts I picked at will leave a red scar for a long, long time. Anyhow, here's how I've managed to reduce my KP.

1. Exfoliating gloves. Ordered from Ebay for less that £2, and these gloves can be rough if you're too harsh with them. Gentle buffing motions guys.

2. Whatever shower gel you like. Being cheap and Asian I naturally gravitate towards the cheap gels, I'm currently working my way through a bottle of Palmolive something or other.

Method:

1. Put on the gloves and wet with warm water. I normally do this in the shower to kill two birds with one stone.

2. Squirt some shower gel onto the palm of your gloved hands, then rub both palms together to get the foam going.

3. Whatever area you want to exfoliate  buff in circular motions for a minute or two. Don't be harsh and over do it, the skin will look way worse afterwards.

4. Rinse off. After this ex foliation  I use excess oatmeal from my facial cleansing routine and rub it on my arms and legs. For more info on that click HERE. Then I get out, towel dry and use a body lotion as normal. Make sure to wash out your gloves so no shower gel dries up in them.

And that's it! The effects are eventual, but believe me, the skin will be so much better. I use this method every time I shower, if you shower everyday religiously, then that's fine but just be gentle. The eventual process should end up with smooth skin. I have been using it for a while, and there are still bumps, but there are definitely a lot less than before.

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REVIEW: Rimmel Fix & Perfect PRO primer 002

Hey guys - I've had this primer for a while now and when I first bought it I bought it with a few Rimmel products. I originally though I was allergic to Rimmel products because all of the products I used seemed to burn!! However, looking back I think it's because when I was using the products I scrubbed my face WAY too hard before hand so my skin didn't react well to the products.

This primer claims to be a "Skin- perfecting" primer for "5 in 1 results: smoothes, resurfaces, brightens, mattifies and protects. Prolongs foundation wear."

Well, I have to say that it actually does those things, to a certain extent. Bear in mind I have OILY skin - even the best mattifying products don't last for too long on my skin. This primer does certainly smooth my skin, (not so sure about brightening, can never really tell and I'm kinda pale but brightening has never been a priority for me anyway) and in terms of resurfacing my pores do seem a bit smaller and as for protection I can't really tell either, since I haven't been placing my skin under any adverse conditions. (It's exam season, so I'm in my room 99% of the time.)

But all in all, it does mattify my skin for a few hours, possibly 2/3 hours then my oil begins to seep through. If you have normal, dry or only mildly oily skin I think this primer is pretty good, my skin certainly feels wonderfully velvety after applying this.

White, gel like texture. Blend very nicely on the skin, lovely velvety finish.

Pros -

- Feels great and velvety on the skin, certainly makes my skin feel smoother
- Pores seem a bit smaller
- Light
- Not expensive, around £6
- Did reduce my redness a little on my face.
- You only need a little, so quite long lasting.
- You can wear it without foundation, the gel blends out clear.

Cons -

- If you have ultra oily skin, this won't be a miracle product by any means. But if you've got a nice mattifying foundation or have other ways of controlling oil then this could work in combination with other products I guess. (But then again, if you have oily skin then I don't think there is one holy grail product that takes away all oil forever! Good skincare, a good foundation for oily skin and milk of magnesia will probably do the trick for long lasting oil control though. Oh, and a good powder too.)

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Sorting myself out: Cleansing the inside and out!

Hi guys~

Just wanted to write a quick post to remind myself that I need to seriously start taking care of myself before I go overseas! I plan to start consistently exercising, eating more fruits and veggies and cleansing my skin more to get rid of the breakouts and blemishes. Adapting to a new consistent lifestyle is never easy, but none of these changes are particularly drastic anyway, I think.

My To - Do List:

- Eat a box of tomatoes mixed with cucumbers and lettuce every weekday (from my lunch hall at uni)
- Exercise everyday if I can, for one hour. If not, I want to exercise at least three times a week.
- Start cleansing my face everyday consistently with the OCM method and moisturising consistently as well.

Hopefully by the time I leave for the USA I can be healthier on the inside and out, and hopefully a bit fitter too! I know being in the USA for a while will be great fun and it actually contributes towards my degree, so it's win win really. Gotta try to stay healthy and exercise though! Hopefully my new room mate won't find my hips thrusting really weird lol. Heck, I hope they join in.

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Easy salad dressing - lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper!

I'm currently in a catered hall at the moment, so the healthy food I can get is mainly reduced to salad. Tomatoes, cucumber, and lettuce. Sometimes one of two the options run out, so I only end up eating one of the three. Recently I've been taking a tupperware box and filling the salad into that, then taking back to my room where I can eat it in my own time. It's been a little bland lately, so I use this super easy dressing to make things more interesting.

 - Olive oil (extra virgin if you can)
- Lemon juice
- Salt
- Pepper

It's up to use how much you use of each, but generally I use more olive oil than lemon juice, then I put in the salt and pepper and whisk it all together with a fork then pour it onto the salad.

Happy eating!

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Getting CLEAN cuticles when using nail varnish! Removing nail varnish from cuticles.

I didn't really mind when I used to drown my cuticles in nail polish. Back then my hands weren't taken care of, I didn't even moisturise them when they were dry! Now my cuticles are treated a little better, but I find that my cuticles are softer, and the nail varnish is no longer stopped by them, but instead it seeps under the cuticle and leaves a mess and a horrible looking nail. Here's a quick tip to clean them out! It does take time, but it makes your nails look SO much better!

Here are the tools!

Acetone 

Small nail art brushes or paintbrushes.

1. It's a really easy method, just use the brushes dipped in acetone to gently clean the cuticle from any nail varnish. The acetone is quite strong, so only a few swipes of the brush. I also recommend that after dipping the brush in acetone dab it gently on some tissue to get rid of excess. 

2. When you're done with both hands, make sure to wipe the brushes on clean tissue and make sure the brushes are clean by swirling them in acetone. Pinch them back into shape, and store safely. 

3. Your nails might feel dry after acetone, so gently apply moisturiser to stop your hands from getting too dry. 

Nice and clean, and the polish looked neater too. This was my first time trying, and I'll make sure to do it every time I paint my nails :)

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Natural skincare products, natural acne treatment - Coconut Oil? Lemon juice? Oatmeal? Baking soda? The Oil Cleansing method?

Through out the majority of my life my skin was fine - until puberty struck! Now, my skin, by any standard is actually very good in comparison to people with actual acne. I'm so lucky in that respect. No dermatologist visits or acne treatments or anything for me, but I do have a annoying consistent condition on my face. Red/ pink cheeks, large pores (on cheeks mainly, where the redness lies), oily skin,blemishes all over and permanent (until I gouge them out with a extractor at least) blackhead armies on my nose and chin. Honestly, I am sure some of those black heads have been there for years, and when I squeeze my nose, the amount of tiny white dots that appear just makes me roll my eyes in defeat.

Constant clogged pores now seem a permanent part of my face, which I know isn't meant to be the case! Not to mention the occasional white head. These things are huuuuge, and when they arrive they leave marks and those take months to fade as well. Despite this graphic description, my skin on the outside really doesn't look that bad, it is very far from causing me real upset and I could probably cover it up with make up  easily if I could be bothered. I have a definite feeling that my skin problems are underneath the surface, and I need something that can really penetrate my skin and murder the cause.

I'm under the slight suspicion that I MIGHT have a very mild form of acne, but I've yet to see a doctor or dermatologist, and in reality I don't really want to. I understand that if I do have mild acne, I might have to take various medications or creams despite it not being that bad, and that is terrifying considering I have no idea what may lie in those products, and I'm only relying on some else's word. I need to take time to analyse and break down what's good and bad for my skin, and understand my body better.

So, I've been looking at natural remedies, and I've come under the impression that they all have some common attributes with each other.

• They're cheap
• Edible
• Generally found in kitchens or easily bought at super markets
• Come in large quantities so you hardly need to stock up

I mean, there's nothing to lose with all of these treatments. If they don't work as cleansers and exfoliators I can at least bloody eat them so I don't waste anything.

So, from what I've gathered, here are the ones I'm interested in the most that I'm going to try in the coming months:

Organic Extra Virgin Coconut oil - there's a lot of information and blogs relating to this one. For some, it's a MIRACLE product. It's destroyed acne, cleared skin, some people have even stopped using cleansers, moisturisers and toners and use coconut as a replacement for EVERYTHING. People cook with it instead of using other oils, they eat it on toast, they take a tablespoon  day, they shave with it, use it as lubricant (?!?!?!?!) and they steam it off with facial steamers or hot towels. Oh, and it makes a great hair mask apparently. 

BUT! The side effects vary. For some, they say it clogs their faces like nobody's business and makes them even worse and it takes months to clear out the clogged pores. But there are those who strongly advocate that these breakouts after using coconut oil are necessary  as the oil brings out impurities to the surface and after a week or two, it clears up. After all, it is anti bacterial, and anti fungal. By the way, make sure it's an organic extra virgin coconut oil brand - other types will definitely clog you up. 

Summary on coconut oil:

- Coconut oil can be used for acne, some swear by it, some stay away after use. People are different, so the only way I can know is if I try.

- No matter what happens, I will try it for at least a week, and if I do have a break out I will keep using it until the week is over. If it's a no go, then I'll just eat the stuff or use it on my hair or legs or whatever.

- It can be mixed with other oils for the OCM method (oil cleansing method, whereby you mix oils in varying amounts and use it on your face - there's science behind this one, but to sum it up, oil beats oil.)    

Lemon juice - An old favourite. Never cleared blackheads out for me, I would use it as a after cleaning toner and sleep with it on. You can certainly feel it working (stings like heck) and some say that it's too harsh to use like a toner, and that you should wash it off when you've let it set a little. I never found that my skin went insane after I used it, if I put on too much it would go red certainly but then I would just wash it off. It certainly faded scars for me, not so much on the miracle blackhead cure though. I need to go back and use this stuff some more. Bottled juice is fine by the way, I can't use real lemons all the time at university so I just have a bottle of the stuff in my room. I wrote a post dedicated to lemon juice HERE.

Summary on lemon juice: 

- It's not bad stuff, but if you have really sensitive skin you can use a few tablespoons in a mask or scrub and it should be fine. Not a miracle cure for me, but the blackheads I have are the deep rooted kind, so I was hoping for a little too much maybe?

Oatmeal - I've talked about this in a previous post, and I'm still using the stuff on my body and face as per usual. It still cleanses, and is a nice mild exfoliant. However, I want to say that it DOES NOT PREVENT spots/blemishes/e.t.c  for me but merely CLEANSES without agitating the face. If you have great skin, you'll love this stuff, and with the amounts it comes in a bag will last you for ages. It's a nice cleanser, I'm thinking if I combine all of these natural treatments into one routine oatmeal would only be for the shower since it's messy. Oatmeal helps with redness too, and you really do end up with a smooth face. I wrote a post dedicated to it HERE.

However, after a bit more research on the internet, some people have said that oatmeal has helped their acne a lot, which I think is mainly due to the calming properties of oatmeal on the skin. It's not "fighting" the acne aggressively per say, but the cleaning certainly aids in calming the face. Oatmeal mixed with yoghurt and other natural ingredients seem very popular as masks, so do try.   

Summary on oatmeal: 

 A good cheap cleanser, gently exfoliates, can be used all over the body and calms redness and could possibly help out with angry red acne. I would recommend this for anyone who has a low tolerance to harsh chemicals, it's really nourishing. 

Baking soda - Now this one is one I really need to try. My current exfoliator claims to have the maximum concentration of Salicylic Acid, and while it certainly ex foliates  it really hasn't made a noticeable difference. Oatmeal doesn't ex foliate my skin enough, and my recent try with ex foliating gloves on my face was a no go - waaay too harsh and despite my skin feeling smooth afterwards it did not look good. All of my blemishes felt raised and my cheeks looked redder. Whether I had finally removed a necessary amount of skin so my spots could  breath or whether I went overboard I'll never know. Either way, looking red ain't a great look. 

There are a few points to note about baking soda. For some it's a miracle worker, and for others it was too harsh or it burnt or it dried up skin like nothing else. This won't stop me from trying it, it does have 4.1 out of 5 on Make Up Alley, but I think I'll be wary in that I will only use it for a short amount of time, not leave on the scrub to let the ingredients sink in! Also, I think the general consensus is that you use a TINY amount in GENTLE motions and for a short amount of time, and only ONCE A WEEK since it's pretty abrasive.  

Summary on baking soda:

- A small amount, mixed with a tiny bit of water and in gentle motions, once a week. The stuff is darn cheap, and if you really need that little of an amount it should last you a long time. This can also be mixed with oils to combine a exfoliant with a moisturising oil (like coconut). If you have very very sensitive skin you must be cautious, test a bit of this stuff on a small patch of skin before going the whole way - you may be one of the people who can't do with baking soda. No worries there, you can always revert to oatmeal for something milder.  

The Oil Cleansing Method  (OCM) - Another one I'm very interested in! This one links back to coconut, but rather then using one oil on its own, the OCM mixes two oils and you apply it on the skin. After you rub it in like you would any cleanser, you remove the oil. A better post on it would be found HERE. I can't say I know too much about this one, but the idea remains simple in that oil beats oil. Also, there are different ratios of oil for different skin types, e.g. an oilier skinned person could use more of one oil than another in comparison to a dry skinned person. *UPDATE* click links below about the OCM method, it goes into specifics about the method on what to use and what not to use! 

Summary on The Oil Cleansing Method:  

- Really interesting, and potentially less risky than coconut oil since coconut oil can be too heavy for some. However, like coconut oil the routine established with OCM will take a a week or two to adjust to. But I'm definitely interested in this one and I'm definitely going to research some more.

*UPDATE* Link here for my review of the OCM!
http://thesilverpocketwatch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/natural-spot-treatments-natural-acne.html

LINKS (No copyright intended!It's a really great blog to follow, highly recommended):

http://www.crunchybetty.com/nitty-gritty-on-the-oil-cleansing-method
http://www.crunchybetty.com/trying-and-troubleshooting-the-oil-cleansing-method-tips-for-flawless-oil-cleansed-skin
http://www.crunchybetty.com/when-your-extra-virgin-olive-oil-isnt-so-wholesome

Please note, there are SO many websites talking about the OCM method, many conflicting with each other on different types of oils and in reality the only way to trust the method is to experiment and research yourself, everyone has different skin so there's no foolproof method regardless of what you try - some things are more reliable than others, but you may find yourself in a minority when it comes to certain products and methods.

ALL IMAGES TAKEN FROM GOOGLE - NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED

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DIY brush guards! Make your own brush guards! Cheap Brush guard tutorial! (Big brushes, tiny brushes and a angled eye liner brush!)

Brush guards are great - after washing your brushes you can really get the water out of them by placing your brushes upside down while keeping the shape intact. They're also great for travel too, so your brushes don't get squished in transit. I'm too cheap to buy brush guards, particularly with the amount of brushes I have, so I DIY them. You can buy the mesh on Ebay for extremely cheap, I think I ordered 1m from China for 99p, so it took a month but hey, it arrived.

I don't think I'm the first to do this - if someone else has done it then by all means go for it. A quickie post on how I did it and that's all from me folks!

You'll need thread, a needle, scissors and the brushes you wanna make guards for. If you only want to use guards for big brushes, then you won't need anything but scissors and you can slide your brushes through straight away.

I've used the mesh on a variety of brush sizes, the DIY will cover how I made a guard for a tiny tiny eco tools eye brush, and a zoeva angled liner brush.

The angled eye liner brush, due to to it's shape, will be cut differently and won't be as tight as other brush guards, further explanation below.

1.  Cut enough mesh to cover the head of the brush.

2. Cut the mesh at an angle, so the largest part will be the part covering the brush head.

3. Get sewing! Doesn't have to be nice or neat, just poke the needles through the mesh holes and bind the mesh together firmly so the mesh doesn't come apart and can take a brush being pushed through.

 4. You end up with a thing that looks like this.

5. Slide the brush into the mesh starting from the bottom of the brush, and there you have it. The angled brush shouldn't be squished up and should be able to be placed upside down for drying without the brush falling through. If it does fall through, it means you need to sew it tighter. Better tighter than looser when sewing these - if it's too tight then you can just stretch the mesh a little.

6. Leftover mesh? 

7. Make a tiny brush guard!

8. See how thin it is in comparison to the brush? (Travel sized tiny brush by the way.)

9. But it fits perfectly cause of the stretchy - ness! With normal brushes you can just make the guards as tight as possible - the angled brush is an exception because it's flat, so you don't want to squish up the sizes and deform the brush! That's why I made the guard flatter and a little bit looser than my other guards. 

10. Ta da! Perfect for putting your brushes in to dry after washing!

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ZOEVA brushes - 228 Crease, 230 Pencil, 104 Buffer, 330 Contour, 227 Soft Definer Vegan, 225 Eye Blender, 317 Wing Liner.

Hey guys! I recently invested in some brushes from Zoeva. This brand wasn't very well known but rave reviews have helped the brand gain a reputation of being very affordable and of high quality! Plus, there are many bloggers who have compared a number of brushes from Zoeva with other notable brands such as MAC and Sigma. You'll have to take their word for it I'm afraid, since I've never had any high end brushes and hopefully I'll never need to with the existence of Zoeva!

Just a haul and unboxing. I've yet to test out the brushes, but when I do I'll make sure to blog about it!

Picture heavy post coming!

The box arrived well, and was a lot bigger than I thought. Make up brushes aren't exactly big, but when you open the box it's very well wrapped with air packaging on top and bottom which takes up more space.

The brushes are wrapped in tissue paper and sealed with a sticker, which makes it look like a nice present as opposed to an order.  

Very impressed that Zoeva took the time and money to individually wrap every single brush and give each brush its own plastic packet. It must cost them a bomb just in packaging alone! 

Here's the buffer brush - with bigger brushes they secure the head with a tough plastic that takes some strength to pull off the first time, and the bottom of the brush has a plastic wrap.

And smaller brushes are just held in plastic.

8 brushes in all! 

Not much I can say about the actual brushes until I use them - but what I can attest to is that each brush is very soft and all seem to be made to a very nice quality!

                                                                       

More love for Zoeva packaging - the brush packets are sturdy and I've taken the largest one that had the buffer brush in and one of the smaller packets and I've managed to fit ALL of my other make up brushes in both! That includes all my other eye brushes, blusher, even my beauty blender dupe! This will be amazing for when I travel, both packets are relatively slim and I bet will fit very well into a suitcase! Totally saved me buying a make up brush case.

So far, a lot of love for Zoeva, looking forward to experimenting once my exams are over! Reviews will come as soon as possible guys! 

See ya next time! 

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