I'm in love with anything that provides my skin with hydration and moisture- especially when its to do with lip products. I've tried and tested many over the years, some which have worked, others not so much. However, I have never tried or used a lip oil, which made me very excited when one of my favourite brands added to their lip oil collection with even more flavours, that I was already dying to try.

I present to you the Clarins Instant Light Lips Comfort Lip Oil. You won't be disappointed.




I finally managed to get my hands on one, in my favourite colour and flavour- mint (theres four shades in total). To me lip oils are still pretty new and an awesome concept which I love. I've always associated Clarins with lip products and they defiantly didn't disappointment with this.

 

"A lip care treatment infused

with all the power of plant

 oils to nourish and enhance

your lips' natural beauty."

- Innovative formula

Hello, hello!! Sorry for the lack of blog posts last week, I got very caught up with revision and celebrating birthdays and just life in general, but I'm back again now- writing quite a few blog posts in advance to avoid future delays within my posting schedule.

So, today's topic is 'How to combat dry skin', I feel like a little bit of a seasoned pro with this now after suffering from dry skin since I was a child and I've felt like I've tried every remedy possible; some of which have worked and others not so much. Personally, my skin gets very dry in winter like most with the cold weather and then in summer my skin takes a bit of a turn and becomes more oily which then leads me to wearing either very little or no makeup just to let my skin 'breath'.

I know first hand how annoying dry, itchy and flaky skin is and can be as well as how much you desire relief from it. Mine got considerably worse when I hit puberty due to my eczema, making me unable to use some of the same remedies as others due to having such sensitive skin.

Now, it's important to keep in mind that your skin is affected by a lot of other things too, including the environment, how you clean and care for your skin, and even your clothes.

Hot water-
Having hot showers are good every now and again but aren't advised for having on a regular basis by many dermatologists. By having hot showers you're actually stripping your body of its natural oil barrier which helps keep moisture and keep your skin smooth and moist.
Skin care experts recommend short, warm showers/baths lasting no longer than 10-15 minutes.

Cleansing-
When washing, use a soap less cleanser. By using gentle soaps that are fragrance free you are being more gentle on your skin. For example, products with deodorant or antibacterial additives are much harsher on the skin. A great alternative is a cleanser containing ceramides- fatty molecules which help to make up the outer barrier of your skin and hold in moisture. By stripping back on your use of toners, peels and other astringents you are helping your skin stay moisturised due to all of them being drying. Exfoliating is a similar issue with some scrubbing too hard and fast leading to irritated skin and thickening of the skin.

Shaving-
Did you know that shaving can irritate and cause dry skin?
When shaving you're also shaving off natural oils. Shaving after you've showered is the best possible time; with the hair being more pliable. Remember to shave in the direction of hair growth in order to protect your skin. In addition to this, make sure the razor is sharp. A dull razor blade can also cause irritation.

Sun damage-
Sun damage is one of the main causes for dry skin, wrinkles and skin roughness. You can prevent this through wearing a broad-spectrum SPF 30 sunscreen year round.


Moisturising-
Moisturisers help to track the moisture into the skin that already exists. To achieve this you need to apply moisturiser within a few minutes of drying off after washing or washing your face and hands.

If you're anything like me, then you like to stay organised. I have to admit that I do have more than one calendar hung up in my room, just so I can always have a clear plan of my month ahead. However, staying and becoming organised isn't as simple as it may seem. I can't count how many times my to-do lists have become messy and I started another one and the process repeated itself or how many times my calendar has become overwhelming.

I wanted to do a blog post on how I stay organised with everything and give you guys some tips so you can be organised too!



To-do lists:

For me, to-do lists are life savers. I use them for everything and I make them on anything I cant get my hands on, the majority of the time in my bullet journal and if I'm out the house then on my phone. However, you have to keep them reasonable. For example, don't have 50+ things on your to-do list )slight exaggeration, but if you do that's impressive), consolidate them down a little. Once you've done that, prioritise everything on your list. After this, complete the first 1-5 before even beginning to worry/ stress over the other items on the list. Repeat the process until everything is done. 

To-do lists are amazing for giving you a hard copy of everything you have to do and get done. It helps a lot to have a visual representation in front of you, instead of just having a mental to-do list. If you aren't much of a list maker then I suggest at least jotting down the top 5 things you have to do and get done.


Prioritize:

As important as this step is we can't predict what interruptions might pop up that could obstruct our priorities. This makes re-prioritizing just as important as prioritizing. An example of this was, that my media coursework was my main priority for a while due to its due date, however, once I had catched up with everything that I had to do I realized that I was falling behind in English. English then came my priority once my media coursework was handed in.


Organizing binders:

I'm an a-level student which means that I have a lot of paper with notes on that I have to organise into their designated subject folders and a lot of things I have to learn; so having my binders organised is such a HUGE help. I group things into different sections and texts I study so it's easier for me to look back over and revise from. Everything has a place and is easy to find, compared to that of a folder which is quite the opposite- which would probably take twice as long to find the same piece of information.


Planner:

This is the same as a bullet journal just a lot more structured and concise. My school provides us with one at the beginning of the school year to help with school events and homework. Planners are so helpful for keeping on top of deadlines and school schedules. I really recommend that if you are in school and you don't have a planner then you buy one, or make your own on OneNote, for free.


Keeping schedules and making deadlines:


I hat wasting time, I always want to be doing something and be productive at least. Keeping things organised goes alongside being productive like the numbers 1 and 2. Making deadlines and keeping to schedules and making to-do lists for everyday and for the week ahead makes me 100x more productive and more likely to get everything that I need to done. By setting goals and sticking to them you're speeding up the progress between you and your main goal.


Don't procrastinate

I know we are all very guilty of coming home from school and spending an 1 or 2 on our phone unlike the 15 minutes we had planned on the journey home. I've found for me personally, that the longer I leave a task, the harder it is to complete and the stress that comes with alongside it. I've prevented this as much as I can through organising everything that I can and getting the task done quicker. What gets me through procrastination and starting on my to-do list is the list of goals I have on my pin board above my desk, being my main motivation to get things done.


Everything having a place to stay

This is the most common form of organisation and the easiest to accomplish. Everything I have is organised by type of item and how frequently I use it. For example, all my stationary is organised next to my desk and easy to reach when I need it. When organising don't make a space really overcrowded or cluttered, that's just defeating the purpose of organising in the first place.

We've all heard of the traditional bucket list, but have you ever heard of the reverse bucket list? I previously did a travel bucket list which you can find here. If you have no clue what I'm on about while talking about a reverse bucket list is, here's it simplified:


Looking back on everything I have already accomplished took a lot of reflection and gratification for everything that I have been able to achieve and experience already in my lifetime. In a world in which billions of people live, its very common that a lot of people have done the same thing as you, making it less special once you think about it.

However, if something doesn't sound like a big deal to someone else then it doesn't make it any less important or special to the person who achieved it.

This was very fun to make I have to admit, though it did take a lot of thought and time. I'm so incredibly proud of everything that I have achieved so far and I'm looking so forward to everything else that I get to experience and do in my lifetime.

Hello!! I wanted to write a blog post on a topic that I know near enough everyone has suffered from at some point. Stress. I'm very stress and a lot of people I know are too, some even more than me. It comes in all different shapes and forms and can really affect our mental state.

My exams are approaching closer and closer by the day and I know how stressful the approaching time of year can be. I really wanted to write a blog post on how I personally deal with stress and how I try and prevent it.

When the tiniest bit of stress occurs for me, I try and identify the source and find a solution to the problem. However, this isn't always possible to do, this is where I then turn to other sources of relief.


Be active-

I know that I won't get rid of the stress but it will help to reduce some of the emotional intensity that you could be feeling. Exercise is a stress eliminator and is great for releasing endorphins. During my GCSE's last year, when I was feeling particularly stressed I would take a short walk around the nearest neighbourhood to distract myself from revision and providing myself with a distraction. Walking helps so much to clear my thoughts and feelings and helps me to re-focus in on the task at hand.



Take control-

There is always a solution to the problem. Not doing anything about a problem can sometimes make it worse, increasing the intensity of stress. The act of taking control is empowering and helps to combat the problem and increase productivity.



Chatting to friends-

Having a good support system around you is crucial. Friend and family provide a lot of help when it comes to those problems that you need to take control of in order to de-stress. Connecting with people is vital for when you need to turn to someone and let it all out and find a solution. I'm so relaxed when I'm with my friends and family and I spend the majority of my time laughing- which is another awesome stress reliever.



'Me' Time-

I know how stressful school and work can be and how little time we actually spend looking after ourselves. I always leave Sundays completely free so I can relax and do things that I love without having to worry about school or anything else. The same applies to my evenings after I have done all my schoolwork.



Avoiding unhealthy habits-

Relying on alcohol, caffeine and smoking to cope does a lot more damage then it does good. Instead, relying on your friends for support is both healthier and is long-term relief. Drinking and smoking as well as relying on caffeine will only provide you with temporary relief and will lead you to putting off the problem for longer and making your stress worse. Deal with it sooner rather than later.



Work smarter not harder-

Prioritizing on tasks that are the most important are key. Concentrate on the ones that need the most attention first and the ones that require the least amount of attention last. Also, don't expect to get everything done that you wanted to in the day, we can't predict what life is going to throw at us and on the other hand getting everything done in one day may not be an option or easy to do.



Accept things that you cannot change-

Changing a difficult situation isn't always the outcome or the best option. Concentrate on the things that you know that you are in control of. Accepting the secure outcome is the better option when it comes to stress instead of dwelling on something that is out of your control.



Don't sweat the small things-

It's easier said then done and I know you have heard it a million times before. It works though. Sometimes we all need to take a step back from the situation and re-assess everything that we are doing and everything that is currently happening. If it's not going to be around in a months time or even longer down the road then is it worth stressing over. We have to put life into perspective  and realise that the small problems aren't worth stressing over.



Toxic people-

Negative people are never good news, especially if they make you anxious, stressed or try and put you down. If there is someone like that in your life, its in your own best interest to take yourself out of the situation and re-evaluate those in your life. People are nasty, negative and try and put their stress on you and you need to prevent these types of people from entering and staying in your life or at least keep them at an arms length. I experienced this myself not that long ago, and I took a step back from that situation and immediately knew that some people were never truly my friends and didn't care about myself or my wellbeing. To cut it short I removed those people from my life as best as I could and I'm now much happier and content with my life and myself and no where near as stressed as I was in that point of my life.



Organization-

Organizing helps to abolish stress in general and makes life a lot easier. I become very easily stressed if I don't know what's happening or when things are due in, because of the lack of time to plan everything for my own piece of mind. As my mum says, a organised life leads to an organised mind.



Don't be hard on yourself-

Someone always has it worse off then you do, don't put the weight of the world on your shoulders because you will only be putting more stress on yourself that you don't need. You can always get through anything that life throws at you. Remember that so far you have survived 100% of your worst days and you are still breathing and living.

Motivation is what keeps us going. Energizing, maintaining and controlling our behaviour in whatever we do in life. The role of motivation is to continue pushing us so are the best possible versions of ourselves, to achieve in life and to keep us there.

For me, my exams are approaching quickly, much faster than I would like, and motivation is vital in order to get me through to the end of all the revision and planning and preparation, which will hopefully all be worth it in the end.

Due to this, I wanted to write a blog post on how to get and stay motivated for anything in particular.

HOW TO GET MOTIVATED:

- Set small but realistic goals. Achieved it? Set the bar higher and repeat the process.

- Practice small compassion; productiveness relies on you and your feelings. If you have an unproductive day don't beat yourself up about it. Sometimes you wont be able to do any work in one day, that's totally fine and normal and acceptable. Work at your own pace and refer back to the first note being set small goals. If you don't do the work on one day just move it to the next working day, everything will be fine, don't forget it.

- Envision your future. If your goal is to revise two topics in one evening for example, imagine how you might feel after you finish those couple of hours with revision, with your breaks included. Will you be happy? You might because you've done something that can be ticked off your to-do list. If you cant find the motivation to get out the textbook and revise, imagine how you might feel once you've done the exam and then how you might feel on results day when you get the grade you wanted.

- Believe in yourself- this if the first step for most things. Think of yourself in the best possible light and you will achieve great things, block out any negativity that comes your way, because seriously who really gives one about what other people think about you. How you perceive yourself is the most important thing and those who are below you will try and bring you down and you have to block them out, I know its hard but its something we all need to be able to do in order to succeed.

HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED:

- Positivity- we're at our most unproductive when we're in a bad mood. Procrastination is a mood managing technique broken down into little sections. Happiness increases productivity and makes you more successful. Positivity links to optimism. If you're not optimistic, monitor your progress and celebrate it. Nothing is more motivating than progress. Ticking off one thing on my to-do list makes me motivated and makes me more productive and get the work or task done.

- Reward yourself- rewarding yourself feels good. Research shows that rewarding yourself is responsible for 75% of the things in which you do according to Dickens too. Treat yourself when you complete a homework assignment or when you finish your revision for the day. Personally, for me I like to treat myself to watching an episode of the Netflix show that I'm currently watching in the evenings after I've done everything that I wanted to for the day.

- Peer pressure- the good kind is the best kind of peer pressure. Surround yourself with people who you aspire to be. I've been brought up around some of the strongest, most independent and hard-working women I know and that is what I aspire to be. The people you associate yourself with are a key part in the person in which you become. Looking back on things, I have certainly adapted some of my friends habits, them all being good ones with have helped me grow as a person and an individual and I don't think they even noticed, I certainly didn't until recently. I'm incredibly lucky to have the friends that I do and they're all very amazing in their own way and I know they will all aspire to greatness and go on to be what they want to be.

-Stay active- I recently touched on a healthy lifestyle in one of my recent blog posts. A sedentary lifestyle can lead to a lack of energy which will then affect your motivation. Try and attempt to do something pro-active at least once a day, could be a short walk down the road and back if you'd like.

-Light- It's hard to be motivated in a dark room, get in as much natural light as you can. It makes it easier to be productive and stay motivated. All the activity happening outside will also make you more active, referring to the step above.

-Goals- you're not going to work towards something if you don't have a goal, especially if there's no aim at the end of it. The best way to start making goals is to make them small and strategic in order for you to achieve the 'big' goal at the end. You need to be able to visualize your goal down to the very last detail; see it, feel it, hear it, visualise the end of it.

- Make a list of the reasons why you want to accomplish the goal- write your list down with a pen, it helps to reinforce it. By writing it down with a pen, you're helping to engage your brain more within the activity and making a stronger mental connection to the task.

-Chunking- this is making your main goal into smaller goals, as I mentioned above; otherwise known as 'chunking'. By completing a smaller goal you're one step closer to the main and bigger goal. You're less likely to succeed if you set one main goal and try and complete it. In addition to this, you're going to be overwhelmed if you try and do it in one instead of breaking it down.

When I first started working out and trying to loose weight, I was under the impression that I couldn't eat any of the junk food that I did at the time. That I had to eat healthy all of the time in order to loose weight. Boy, was I wrong. Looking back on that time when I started to really care about my health and what I was putting in my body, its safe to say that I didn't really have a clue, I'd never been taught that you could still eat the food that you wanted while working out, you just needed to cut down on how much you consumed.

Now, you're probably thinking, what even is the 80/20 rule that you mentioned in the title of this very blog post?

Well.. the 80/20 rule is all to do with balanced eating. To put it simply, the majority of the time, the 80%, you eat healthy, while the other 20% you eat can indulge in as much chocolate, cake and other  food as you'd like. You're not on a diet because you're not cutting anything out, instead just making a healthy habit.

For me personally, I try and eat healthy Monday-Friday and then over the weekend I indulge.

When I first started I counted every calorie, after working out what my daily intake should be, and it made the process a whole lot more stressful than it should've been. You want to make loosing weight fun and enjoy it, not see it as a chore as I originally did. It's not healthy to obsess into great detail about how many calories you are consuming and where those calories are coming through.

I cut everything considered 'bad' food out of my diet within a couple of days, declining chocolate which I LOVE to say the least and it sent my body into a state of shock. Instead of loosing weight, It stayed on despite working out and eating healthy simply because my body didn't know what I was doing or what to do. However, once I had the tiniest bit of chocolate, something clicked inside of me and I started loosing weight at a very healthy pace and within the recommend time period.

I thought that by consuming anything that wasn't meat, fruit or veg, everything I was doing in terms of fitness would go to waste and that I would've ruined anything that I had done since I made the commitment.

I wanted to loose weight the healthiest way possible, but what I was doing wasn't healthy until I introduced the foods I loved back into my diet in smaller portions. I was very aware before I even started working out that quick-fixes wouldn't work and I wanted to loose weight in a time span that was flexible and adaptable for me and one in which that was recommend to be the safest and healthiest way.

I didn't think about cheat days or cheat meals once when I first started. I did when the cravings began after around two weeks of being healthy and not even touching any food that I knew I wasn't supposed to indulge in because I didn't want to lose the progress I had made and how far I had already come.

I promote healthy eating as much as I can, as much as I promote indulging every now and again in the foods that aren't *healthy*.

Why you should give up on dieting-

Most people who start I diet, fail in the long haul. They're not realistic, sustainable and are not customised to an individual person, instead based on someone's idea of what a diet should include. Being based on restriction and denying yourself, punishing yourself to say the least, of your favourite foods. If you're anything like me then you don't want to being following a fad idea decided by someone sat behind a desk or being decided by the health and fitness industry.

You want to work on yourself with the intentions of sticking to healthy eating and living for the long haul not for a month or two. Listening to your body will be the biggest help you could ever find for this.

I have always loved fruit and veg, having it everyday either as a snack or most commonly with my dinner. Yes, there are fruits and veg that I don't particularly like but I stick to what I know both myself and my body likes and I always feel better afterwards.

I don't think I've ever had a McDonalds or some other form of takeaway and have felt good afterwards. I always feel a bit sluggish and worn down and a bit tired, and I now know that's because I'm not giving my the body the nutrition in which it needs.

I'm not saying you have to have a salad for every meal you ever have for the rest of your life! I'm saying that you need to make sure your plate holds everything your body needs in order to be healthy. You can still have a McDonalds, but if you have it more than once a week, cut it down to having it only on a Friday night for example, and then start cutting it down even more so as time goes on and you get more comfortable with everything that you are doing.
The best example I could provide of this would be whenever you are next at a restaurant order the healthier option and see how you feel afterwards and then compare it to what you felt like after having something that was so high in calories.

If you give up on dieting and focus on building a healthy lifestyle you will get where you want to be, a faster pace in most cases-which is the better and healthier way might I add.
Your body will adjust over time to what you put in it, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be for me to cut out things like sweets and cookies at the beginning. Once you start eating more protein, nutrients, vitamins, veggies etc. and start feeling more energized, it changes your everyday life and it makes working out less of a chore to be doing, because it isn't.

The indulgences you have are allowing yourself to still have the food that you love without feeling guilty about it because you've earned it. I don't feel bad if I decide to have a Chinese on a Friday night at the end of my week because after all we only have one life.


Why indulgences are important and key-

No one is perfect. No one. You have to accept it.

Aiming to eat 100% perfect all of the time is a ridiculous idea because only a select few of people will actually stick to that plan. You need to allow room for indulgence and the sugary tasting things in life. You need to expect that at some point you're going to need the indulgence in order to keep progressing with your workout plan and general health.

By indulging on the weekends you're less likely to binge eat away everything you've done and increasing your chances of keeping all the weight off.

Perfection makes people go off course and eat everything that comes in sight of them because they've been restricting themselves of the things they've loved for days on end. Don't aim to be perfect, aim to be the best version of yourself.

Cheat day-

Having a cheat meal/day isn't going to kill you. It helps a lot especially when you first start trying to loose weight and begin working out and you develop the cravings of the foods you love. It's approaching Easter and all of the Easter eggs have begun lining the shelves of all the local supermarkets. My family brought a couple of Easter eggs and I indulged in beginning to eat one of them, a quarter of one to be precise. I didn't feel bad about it at all because I eat healthy 80% of the time.

The media doesn't help to fight the stigma surrounding the 80/20 rule, but the best way to get past it all is remembering that social media in most cases only shows the best parts of someone's day- some being incredibly staged and planned and oh so perfect.

Don't deprive yourself, it only makes it harder and you're not dooming yourself by indulging every now and again.

Balance, balance, balance-

It took me a while to find my balance, everyone is different. Life is about balance. Work is about balance. School is about balance. Everything and anything is about balance. You need to find what works for you.

Yes, you want to be able to live a strong and healthy life and be able to eat healthy every second of every minute of every day for the rest of your life, you want to be able to actually, you know... live.
That means having that entire pizza to yourself  (come one we've all done it at least once or twice).

That is after all, what the 80/20 rule is about and what it allows you to do.

Aiming to be healthy 80% of the time gives you the room to enjoy yourself that little bit more and still be sane at the end of the day. It allows you to be adventurous and try new things and not get bored of the same old same old while aspiring to be perfect-which I've already mentioned, no one is.

Once you stop obsessing over every little detail, loosing weight actually becomes fun and enjoyable (I know for a fact that there is someone reading this thinking 'how can loosing weight be fun', that's for another blog post my friend). Enjoying life is about freedom and that's what this rule gives you.

Friendship: the quality or condition of being friends.

Friendships are generally amazing- friends being the non-biological family in your family tree. Having someone there to talk to through all the good and bad times, through thick and thin and someone always being there for you.

However, sometimes friends may be just 'friends' and at first everything is good and nothing's wrong, but once you look a little closer you notice all the little cracks which eventually turn into one big crack. Or the 'friend's' that are poisonous and over-time make you feel worthless and not your true self at all.

I experienced this lot over the last two years, being part of a group that I didn't feel 100% apart of, thinking I had a group of friends that I could talk to but weren't actually there for me in my time of need like I was for them, and actually made me feel worse overall. I could go and write a full blown essay on every little thing that happened, and what made me distance myself from those type of people but I won't because I've risen above it and moved on and grown as a person because of it.

Instead, what I will do is write a blog post on how to spot 'fake friends' from the get go, a list that I know would've come in handy a while ago. No one should ever have a fake friend, it's not a nice thing to experience, your friends should be there for you and support you not the opposite. So here's a little list on what a fake friend does:


- expect you to drop everything you're doing when something happens or goes wrong but when you're in the same situation, they won't bat an eyelid and brush you off.

- they'll only hang out with you when it suits them or they'll only make plans when their 'better' plans fall through.

- if you are in need of some space, a real friend will let you have it and not bad mouth you behind your back.

- they don't support you in everything or anything that you want to do. A real friend will be there for you every step of the way.

- they'll make every thing about themselves and how it benefits them instead of you when something big happens.