Coconut oil – hair mask *****

So you may or may not have seen but I recently did a trial of coconut pulling (see previous post). Anyway, the outcome of that meant I had some coconut oil spare so looked up other tricks I could do with it. After reading a few recipes that are good using coconut oil i stumbled across using coconut oil as a hair mask. So I have think damaged hair at the moment, it is quite long and has been for a while now so as I am sure you can understand or even sympathise the ends of my hair aren’t the best they could be. Now I am not at a stage where I am willing to chop it all off so have been purchasing strengthening shampoo and condition, using leave in conditioner and heat protective spray when I blow dry. Basically I am trying anything to save the lengths of my hair from looking dull and dead. So I thought why not try the hair mask trick. So I waited till my hair was three days un washed (usually what I go between washes). Like how i had with the oil pulling I spooned a table spoons worth of coconut oil into a pyrex glass and microwaved for a short time – just long enough to melt it to a completely liquid form. Then over the sink I dipped my fingers in and then just ran through the lengths of my hair till it was all in there. I would recommend you use the right amount of oil for your hair, so less oil for shorter thiner hair and more oil for longer thicker hair. I concentrated the oil on the lengths as opposed to the routes as I wanted to avoid excess grease the next day. Once it was all in I just put my hair up in a high bun and slept on it. (I did have to change the bed sheets the next day as the pillows got rather oily!) But was it worth the oily pillow case?! YES YES YES! My goodness yes. I woke up, washed and conditioned my hair like I normally would and blow dried it. My hair has literally NEVER looked this shiny and healthy. It is honestly unbelievable what 12 hours with coconut oil on your hair can do to it. My hair is not greasy or oily in anyway, it somehow feels thicker and the shine is amazing. I am not one to overreact and give credit to something that is not worth it, but I can honestly say I will be doing this once as week now  (the day before I change the bedsheets!). Although coconut oil is expensive I will only be doing it once as week and think the jar will last. Some blogs I have read say to leave the mask on for a couple of hours but because I have had such a good result from the 12 hour trick I will be keeping this up.

Much love,

Joanna x

Lush lip scrub review!

I have not heard much about this stuff anywhere, or heard much of any lip exfoliator/scrub for that matter. And in my opinion, the fact exfoliating lips is not talked about more is a travesty!

and here are 4 reasons why…

My lips are often dull after doing my foundation, even after wiping them –  I never find my lipstick goes on as well unless i have exfoliated before application. Lip stick is less flakey and generally sits a lot smoother and is longer lasting after exfoliating my lips.

The blood flow makes my lips so much plumper – I can walk out confident without a lip tint or lipstick on. Exfolating makes my lips look so much brighter and healthier and I would be more than happy with o’natural lips as long as i have exfoliated them.

The lush lip exfoliator range tastes SO good! – I am currently using the bubblegum flavour from Lush, but I have previously used their popcorn and mint Julips (which is a minty chocolate scrub) and both I have LOVED scrubbing them all over my lips, if not just for the effect they have on my lips but also the taste they leave lingering. They really do taste like what is said on the little pot so I would recommend going for your favourite flavour. For me after trying three of the flavours my heart will always lie with bubblegum.

It takes off the dead skin you never even knew was there, revealing a much healthier looking lip – if you are anything like me you will rub your lips sat and work and find (without going into too much information) horrible flakey skin. Lip scrub completely stops this and as long as I don’t go more than three days without using my scrub the top layer of skin on my lips will remain a healthy pink.

So how and when do I apply it if you have not guessed already. I place a small amount as shown in the picture and rub vigorously all over my top and bottom lip after I have done my morning make up. I will then leave the scrub on while I brush my teeth and as you can guess this takes most of the left over scrub and dead skin cells off and then I will take a flannel and wipe the excess off and reveal the lovely plump pink lip I will be wearing that day.

So far the lush scrub is the only one I have any experience with but if anyone has any other scrub they think is worth trying please let me know. The scrub retails at £5.50 and in my opinion this is a little high but when the demand (I expect) is so high and the supply is lacking, Lush would be silly to make their scrub a steal. But, before I was introduced to this lush scrub I was making my own and I will do a post with a DIY lip scrub for you this week.

Much love,

Joanna x

GHD Rose Gold Straighteners Review

After my GHD IV styler decided to pack in after a trusty 6 years I decided to stick with what I know and go GHD once more. I can’t lie, I did barely any research around the different models, I went onto feelunique.com and saw there in all their glory on the homepage the GHD Rose Golds on sale. Now you’re probably thinking it was the sale part that got me… think again. If you do not already know by now, I LOVE anything and everything rose gold. So without a second thought I ordered them there and then.

GHD did not skimp on the packaging of these and carry the rose gold theme though, from the box they come in, to the detailing on the heat resistant roll bag. The straighteners themselves are all lovely and rose gold with the exception of the plates which I was so excited to see little sprinkles of rose gold in them (it’s the little things in life right?).

The product comes with a few little extra bits and bobs I was very happy to find in my box. And the straighteners also have a few little bonus features:

☆ Heat resistant rose gold roll bag
☆ Protective plate guard
☆ 2 x sectioning clips
☆ Smoother plates than previous GHD models
☆ Lighter body
☆ Automatic sleep mode

Now, to the important bit. Yes they are beautiful, yes the packaging is to die for but are they worth £130?!

In my opinion and as long as they are as long lasting as my last pair of GHDs YES! I use these for both curling and straightening and I have yet to find a style I can not create with these. The automatic sleep mode which kicks in after 30 mins has saved our house on more than one occasion and the lightness is perfect for me as I do a lot of travelling. Whether it is because my IV stylers were old I am not sure but unlike them, these plates just glide over my hair without that horrible pull of hair when you reach the end. The only qualm I have is that I have burnt myself on a few occasions, I have yet to work out if this is a design fault or me just getting used to the shape of my new straighteners. I am more inclined to go with the latter as I am a very accident prone person!

I bought mine from feelunique and I have just seen they are still in the sale, as these are limited edition and if this review has helped you decide on what to do -http://www.feelunique.com/p/ghd-limited-edition-rose-gold-styler-set DO IT! (not that I’m a bad influence or anything)

Happy straightening

Much Love,

Joanna x

Benefit they’re Real Eyeliner – review

Eyeliner is one of the trickiest products in our make-up bags, not only the application of the stuff! but finding the right product for you is a nightmare. Gel, felt tip, liquid?! argh. And unfortunately after being promised the world with this product … I am still searching for my perfect match.

Application

This was the first problem I found with the product but like all make-up something someone else might be an ace at applying beautifully. The nib is flexible silicone and angled.. apparently for ease of application. But I just found it impossible to apply without it bending and giving me a thick line. Which would be fine on a more dramatic make up look but for everyday I always go for a thin discrete line.  The way you get the product out of the pen is also something i struggled to understand what benefit were thinking when in the design process. It’s all or nothing with the product, one twist is nothing, two twists and too much of the product is dispersed. Maybe i got a dodgy pen… but i am not willing to spend another £18.50 to test my theory.

Staying power 

The staying power of this product is INSANE! Im still trying to scrub the swatches off… it might be time to call the brillo pad in. On a night out this is exactly what any women wants or needs from her eye liner, but for everyday, I would never apply this again. Unless you purchase the Benefit … this product does not budge. It got to the point I thought I had it all off and would wake up in the morning and have to have another session at trying to budge it! Now some would see this as a positive thing… for me rather like being able to take my make-up off quickly and nothing having to spend £15 on a specific make up remover just to take one product off.

Consistency 

The product is SUPER thick and difficult to thin out using the silicone nib. It’s waterproof which gives it its helping hand in staying power and it is very good for giving a bold eye but again, not my every day kind of look. It is a matte look liner and I must hand it to benefit, they’ve given us a liner which leaves no gaps or transparency.

As you can probably guess, I will not be repurchasing this product. For some who love bold eyes may love it, but I’m afraid Benefit they’re real ‘push up’ eyeliner is not for me.

Much love,

Joanna xx

Maca powder – 5*

I’ve been incorporating Maca powder into my diet for around six months now, after i had a very bad spell of lacking in energy. Now this wasn’t only due to my diet but also external factors. But when I psychically struggled to get out of bed every morning i looked for alternatives to energy drinks and caffeine. I wanted something that did not make my body hate itself. So introducing…..

I read a lot about Maca on the internet before i decided to try it out, lots of positive reviews but also lots of negative and neutral reviews. Everyones body is different and I think thats very important to keep in mind when reading reviews, what might be great for some might be something your body reacts badly to and vice verser. At the desperate stage i was willing to try anything to pick up my energy levels and stabilise my moods though. As recommended I started on half teaspoon daily, I would usually put this in my morning porridge or in a smoothie. In my naivety I thought I could get swallow the powder straight, soon after opening my first packet I realised this was never going to happen! I have loved every second of trying different recipes out to include Maca. After around 3 months I upped this to 1 tablespoon of powder on a daily basis. I read that taking in too much can lead to horrible effects on your hormones especially as a women but i must admit myself or anyone close to me has not noticed any negative differences in my moods or behaviour since using Maca.

Energy 

It did take a few weeks to notice a difference but after my around 3 weeks of half a teaspoon daily getting out of bed and being out and about became far less of a struggle. Before maca I was not able to go out shopping for more than a few hours before having to get home for a nap! Yes some may say I am lazy and I understand i am opening myself up for criticise here but try not to judge without knowing the full picture! So to raise you energy levels I would definitely recommend incorporate Maca into your diet.

Hormones 

Another reasons I started using Maca in my diet was to stabilise my moods, It was a point in my life that was very truculent anyway and because of this my moods were all over the place. Made a lot worse by being female … at very certain times of the months.

Overall, I do not think Maca fixed all of this but it certainly elevated some symptoms and made life easier for myself and the people around me! woo hoo!

Skin

I have read that Maca can help with skin problems, specifically acne. Now I have never been too prone to spots so I can’t comment on this but i can certainly say it did not have a negative effect on my skin.

I hope anyone thinking about trying Maca out has found this helpful, any questions feel free to contact me. For any recipes i use to get Maca in me please ask and I will post some 🙂

Much love,

Joanna xxx

Liz Earle hot cloth set

This has been my skin routine for a little over two months now and knowing my skin it takes a while to get used to a new routine, so I wanted to leave this review until I knew exactly where I stood with the products. And like 99.9 per cent of reviews on Liz Earle out there this post is no different, they are absolutely amazing, hands down the best products I have ever had the pleasure of smearing all over my face. Now, everyones skin is different and everyones skin will react differently to products so I will start by giving you and brief idea of my skin type. I get quite an oily tea zone but can also get dry patches all over. I am not prone to spots but I do get the odd horror from time to time. Luckily my skin is not something that gets effected at different times of the month (eh hem) but it does very season to season. In summer I could probably fry an egg on my face but in winter my skin can get super dry. However in saying that, I have read a good few reviews of these products and it seems most skin types react well to Liz Earle.

Now to the product – I bought this set from John Lewis in a Christmas offer, however I popped into lakeside a few weeks ago only to find Liz Earle had started being sold in boots! So far more accessible now, probably due to the fact this product is finally getting the recognition it deserves. My set includes the hot cloth cleanse and polish, Instant boost Skin Tonic toner, moisturiser, Eye lotion (more of a toner consistency) and 2 muslin cloths. The first stage is cleansing… and the most difficult part of this routine to get used to. You apply to cleanser to a dry face with all your make up on. I generally start massaging into the areas with less make up spending a few minuets massaging into the skin and working my way around finishing with my eyes. I then like to put the muslin cloth under piping hot water and throughly wipe everything away. Not only does this product smell fresh and beautiful it literally takes off every scrap on make up, and if you have missed anything the toner will pick that up. Once I am satisfied I’ve removed all the product I splash my face with very cold water, this process closes the open pours you opened up with the hot water. It also REALLY wakes you up in the morning, something I often need! Once towel dried now comes the toner. I have never been a toner user but this step of the process is so refreshing and the product like I said is amazing for removing any make up that you may of missed in the cleansing process. Much like the cleanser this product is so refreshing and smells so lovely, it is not too perfumed but just enough to make your skin feel fresh and beautiful. It has a really luxurious spa like smell, cucumber and aloe vera.  I apply this mainly over my tea zone where I have quite large pores using cotton wool pads. Then every other days I use the Eyebright Soothing Eye lotion, the only reason I don’t use this everyday is because the bottle that came with the set is only 150 ml (sad face) so because this is a quite expensive product I want to make it last. This product really makes your eyes feel a lot brighter and awake as one of the main ingredients is witch hazel. I apply this using cotton wool pads again and usually leave them over my eyes for a few mins to let my eyes inhale it.

Finally comes the Skin Repair Moisturiser for Normal/Combination skin. I apply this all over and spend as long as I can massaging it in to get the blood flowing to the surface of my skin. The only fault with this product is (and it may just be my skin type) is it does not absorb into the skin very quickly. So I often get a comments from my beloved laughing at my white oily face! but this does pass, it just seems to take a while for my skin to absorb it for some (and no I am not putting too much on!) I use all these products quite sparingly.

I will definitely be repurchasing all these products and after pay day I plan on trying some more Liz Earle products out, so no doubt more reviews from them in the coming months. If anyone else has some Liz Earle tales, good or bad let me know! I love reading these reviews.

Much love,

Joanna xxx

Finding it difficult to blog

Everyday I kick myself for not blogging and I can’t tell you why I don’t. I have this complete and utter desire to blog all the time about things that mean a lot to me, or things i find interesting or fun but there is this massive wall.

Partly I think it is due to that fact I am a very ‘nothing will ever be good enough’ person. I find it incredibly difficult to let things go because I never feel like things I create or do are good enough. I never feel like things I do represent the real me? I know it sounds weird and stupid but unless you are similar to me in that sense I guess you’ll find it difficult to understand.

Am I also the only person who spend a lot of time thinking everyone else is doing it ‘right’ and I am the only one doing it wrong? ergh, sorry this is such a rambley blog but I just want think I need to put this down in words so I understand it better myself than having things jumbled up in my head where I usually keep everything in a mess.

Maybe it is an age thing and at the baby age of 22 I have’t quite worked myself out? or maybe I have worked myself out and this is it? a rambley person who always has about 2 million thoughts rushing through her mind and not the capability to convey them in a productive or meaningful way? That was one of the goals of starting a blog, but to date nothings improved.

This blog post has been a product of an evening reading and watching other blog posts and video blogs from people around the glob, writing and talking about a series of different topics and myself laying on my bed wondering why I can’t write or talk like that? I’ve lost track of the amount of blogs I’ve written and deleted because rereading them for the 600 time I’ve decided it cant go out. Hell, I closed two tabs about 20 mins ago, both of which had complete blog posts on. One was on difference in men and womens approach to relationships and the other on some recent research conducted by Simon Baron-Cohen. Why did I delete them? I am not sure. Was I sad to see 1200 words gone in the blink of an eye, no.

Hmmmm, I hope i get better at this stuff, I really would like to be someone people read the words of and feel inspired.

For the time being, Much love.

Joanna x

Seven ways to make bad days good days!

We all have them… ‘those days’ where the world hates us and we hate the world. But here are seven little things I try and consciously do on those days which helps make them slightly more bearable. I hope you find these useful. 

 

1- Smile – simple as! Just keep that smile on your face as long as you can. There is something satisfying about walking around with a big grin on when inside you are anything but smiley. 

2- Make a joke of the things affecting you that day. If you joke about them you start to realise just how trivial they really are and the ones that aren’t so trivial it buys you some time to figure out how to deal with them rather than just stewing. 

3- Go for a drive with your favourite songs on a playlist, with the windows down singing your heart out. Even if you don’t have a destination. 

4- Don’t focus on the things getting you down, thats what they want! focus on the things that make you happy. Deal with the problems when you are in a more positive mind set, nothing good comes out of trying to solve problems when you’re grumpy and irritated.

5- Go out of your way to make someone else’s day brighter. 

6- Do some exercise, it will release some lovely endorphins which will perk you right up. 

7- Do not take it out on anyone else, all that does is make you unpopular and it doesn’t help you or your mood in anyway – if you can’t do this, just avoid people where you can. 

 

 

So there we go seven ways to perk up your rubbish days. We all have them, don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re the only one! 

Much love,

Joanna x

Bake Off Baked Alaska #bingate controversy

As I am sure even if you don’t watch the Great British bake off you are aware something went down this week… something bad… something really bad. Diana removed Iain’s Ice cream for his baked Alaska out the freezer (despite there being enough space) and left it sat on her bench on the hottest day of the year, causing it to melt (no shit). I know right? this will go down in history. Incase you’ve been living under a rock here is what we are talking about

 

So what do i make of it? I must admit, I was furious straight after the show aired, I was even one of those 811 nobs that complained to the BBC. The BBC edited in such a way the only thing your mind could comprehend was that the Ice Cream had been left out enough time to completely ruin it, which is a lot longer than the 40 second claim they keep banging on about. So yes, myself and a handful of other people I know, jumped on the justice for Iain bandwagon, I mean come on, who wouldn’t throw a massive tantrum if they thought someone had deliberately sabotaged their precious baked Alaska? and for someone who should understand forgiveness more than anyone is that arrogant Paul Hollywood after his affair with his half his age American co host. So on principle Iain definitely should not of gone home. But rest assured baker fans, by the sounds of it Diana has had a fall and will not be returning to the show (convenient for the BBC hey?) and I am 95 per cent sure Iain will make an appearance again.

Do I regret complaining.. no. Because even if their ’40 second claim’ was true, they need to work on their editing skills and sack the person who has caused poor Diana all this grief, Is it really necessary to have her face on the front of The Sun newspaper calling her a witch? and by the looks of the papers the abuse is shifting from Diana to the BBC for what they have done to this lady. I get it, I do, their editing has got their programme in every British newspaper, plastered all over social media and has people talking about the bake off who knew nothing about it before… it worked, but to the people bullying an elderly lady who has not been given the chance to tell her rendition of the story, lay off, after all it is just TV and if thats not enough, your playing into exactly what the BBC want, exploiting Diana, all the women wanted to do was bake in that glorious tent. Perhaps it’s the naivety in me, but i can’t believe Diana did it on purpose. 

Incase like me you missed the show stopper challenge because you were too busy discussing the controversy you’d just witnessed before your very eyes. Here is what a baked Alaska out of the bin looks like. 

 

 

 

Much Love,

 

Joanna x

Psychology fun facts

As I’ve mentioned previously I am now a Psychology graduate, and i thought a good idea would be to share with you the TOP TEN little theories, models, and research which I found  not only super interesting to look at but also found so helpful when I applied them to by own life.

So here it goes, if there is anything else you would like me to expand on I have a feeling psychology related posts may become a predominate feature on my blog so Just ask, I’d love to ramble on some more about psychology *nerd alert*

 

10.  The spot light effect. Now I LOVED looking into this, in basic terms it means we believe people are paying more attention to us than they are. It is the idea that we are the centre of our consciousness, so we find it near impossible to comprehend that we aren’t at the centre of everyone else’s consciousness. So basically, no one actually cares if you fluff up because everyone around you is too busy worrying about what they are doing. woo!

9. Memory loss occurs following on from an emotionally traumatic event. This is our brains way of defending itself from having to relive the emotions. Pretty clever huh? So don’t feel bad if you can’t emotionally relive traumatic times or even the time leading up to and following few days after it, it’s our brains way of telling us it’s probably for the best.

8. More of a biological fact but we had to do a lot of biology on the course I took – As you probably know we are constantly shedding and reproducing cells and in 7 years from the time you read this you will not have a single cell you have now. So in technical terms in 7 years time you’ll be a new person!

7. Research shows birth order does effect the person you become! So when your mum yells at you for being ‘too laid back’ tell her it is her fault for having you second.

 

6. Extraverts are less internally confident than introverts. So BIG UP TO THE INTROVERTS.

5. We become.. to some extent a combination of the 5 people we spend the most time with, SO CHOOSE THOSE PEOPLE CAREFULLY! Whether we know it or not, you will imitate mannerisms, change the way you speak and present yourselves dependant on the people you have been spending time with.

4. Eye contact! So eye contact is such a good habit to get into, not only does it give someone more of an incentive to listen to what you are actually saying to them but it also increases your confidence in the situation!… in fact the only time I would advice avoiding eye contact is definitely while eating a banana.

3. In some cases there is no rhyme nor reason as to why some people recover from traumatic brain injury and some don’t. It’s debated it’s down to the type of person you were before the injury took place.

2. Excessive use of social media creates lower self esteem in an individual. It makes sense though doesn’t it? The more we read about other people the more we compare ourselves and the more we compare ourselves to other people the lower our self esteem. After completing a piece of research on this in my second year ever since I’ve made a conscious effort to spend as little time on Facebook and such likes as possible.

1. And finally it’s now been absolutely drilled into me the positive and negative effects of taking anti-depressant drugs to combat depression, stress and anxiety. Do not get me wrong I am not saying they are a bad thing, I am saying they are not a long term solution though. All these drugs do are stop the symptoms, they stop the shaking or loss of appetite, sleeping pills help you sleep but they do not touch on any of the actually causes of these health problems.  To tackle them you need to change something other than adding taking a pill to your daily routine.

Much love,

 

Joanna x