Dealing with a new lifestyle change

Recently I found out that I am lactose intolerance, which for me was a huge blow because I love a bit of pizza or a milky hot chocolate. Of course, I tried to stop eating anything with dairy in it which is a huge lifestyle change, which at times I found very difficult. I was used to just doing my weekly food shop without having to look at the ingredients and I was very surprised how many of my favourite food had some form of dairy.

One thing I was told about which makes situations like eating out or dinner parties, which is a table you can take with the digestant of dairy from Holland and Barrett which is great when I want to eat out it opens some much more options and won’t be that annoying person at a dinner party that can never eat anything.

But one good thing from being lactose intolerance is that my skin has cleared up so much which is a huge boost for my confident. I had a tough time controlling breakouts on my skin but since cutting dairy out my diet has help so much.

But I am slowly learning to adapt to this new lifestyle and hoping this will lead to a healthier and happier lifestyle.

The Ordinary

When spending time browsing Reddit I love seeing what other skin care people are using and every post The Ordinary skin care kept popped up. After seeing one user comment it was life changing, I thought it was time for me to give it ago. After looking around on the web I found a site called Beauty Bay that sold the brand in the UK. So for the next three months these are the three products I will testing out,

100% organic cold-pressed hip seed oil

Serum foundation SPF  in the shade very fair 1.0N

AHA 30% + BHA 2% peeling solution

Feeling empowered

Something that really empowered was getting my ear pierced, I know right sounds stupid but it really did. It has been something I have wanting to do for years but I have always put it off, thinking it wasn’t for me and I that I wouldn’t suit earring. I didn’t have any confident in my looks and bringing attention to a part of my body was alien to me. For years I used make-up and clothes to cover my everything that was wrong with me and I never when close to touching jewellery. Now I’ve stopped caring what people think about me and you know what it feels good so good. Good that I can do anything I’m highlighting everything and anything I want instead of hiding. So, getting my ear pierced made me feel so empowered and strong. So, moral of the story just stop getting a shit and do something for yourself.

Cruelty free make-up

Recently there seems a big trend of cruelty free make-up, I have noticed of brands such as MAC their Instagram comments are full of people asking if they test their products. After seeing this I decide to see how many cruelty free make-up brands there are and surprising there are a lot of brands that are cruelty free.

For a full list head here:

http://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/list-of-cruelty-free-brands/

One brand that I have been hearing a lot about lately is tarte, this 100% cruelty free and vegan make-up brand has sudden busted onto the market with their release of their shape tap concealer. I feel tarte really does stand by the message they put out. Their products are always packaged beautifully and every product is 100% natural making it ideal for any skin and life style type.

The only problem with tarte is that it’s very difficult to get in the UK. Unfortunately in the UK we don’t have a store such as Sephora or target. The only places to get tarte in the UK is QUVCK which only has a select range of products and shades or tarts website with again only has select products and can be very expensive with the tax, shipping, duties and customs. So hopefully tarte can open a store in the UK for us to enjoy their products.

Tarte shape tape is it the best concealer out there?

Since Tarte released their new concealer shape tape, it’s been blowing up on social media. Its seems now a day you can’t watch a YouTube makeup guru without them using shape tape but is it really that good?
As I live in Scotland trying to get my hands on it was a little bit difficult. But after searching for ways I had to buy it on their website and having it get shipped all the way over here I finally got my hands on it lucky it was a weekend of free shipping.
First impressions, it is one of nicest packaging I’ve seen in a while. With a nice funky colourful top and a nice big applicator. And for once there was a great shade range and I was spoiled for choice but of course I had to pick the palest options possible.
So first thing first I have very dry skin so remember what works or doesn’t work might be different for you so remember this is just my opinion. When first applying it was nice and thick and I could see that it would have great coverage. Easy to blend out and look great but it does really dry fast so you have to be quick when blending. As it dried I started to noticed it was caking a lot and didn’t look to great after powdering. After wearing it all day my under eye didn’t look very good and it looked dry and flaky. Even after trying it with different powders it was still the same result or even worst.
Personal for me its not worth the effort of having it shipped over from American. Where it would great for a photo shoot or if you are wearing it for a short while. But as an everyday concealer I don’t think its worth it and I think there are a lot cheaper options than also have better results.

How a haircut change how I looked at myself

For years, I have the same haircut, it was very long and lifeless and wouldn’t hold a style so I used to throw it up into a ponytail or a bun every day. I was fed up with how I looked, every time I wanted to change I had people telling me not to as I was ‘lucky’ that I could have long hair and that my long hair was my identity. So, people telling me that my hair is my identity was very confusing. It took me a while to discover that identity can be whatever I want and that I should not care what other people thought about me.

After spending hour scrolling through Pinterest for idea I decided on a beautiful fringe with long layers. Now every day I wake up I don’t hate how I look and I enjoy styling my hair.

Origins skin care review

For years, I didn’t understand skin care I thought washing your face with some soap would be enough. But it wasn’t until till I was older that I learn there more to skin care than just washing your face. This is the same time as I really started bin watching beauty videos on YouTube. But after trying a couple of different skin care brands I found one that really work well with me skin and that is origins. Not only do they do free facials but there no harsh chemicals in any of their products.

The two products that has been a life savers for my skin would be the Super Spot Blemish Treatment and the Out of Trouble mask. Before using these products, I had a lot of red painful acne, the Out of Trouble really helped to calm down the acne and stop more spots breaking out. Paired with the Super Spot Blemish Treatment really help me battle my acne.

The Out of Trouble mask comes in a convenient squeeze tube which means you can every last bit of the product out and it’s easier to travel with so you can still pamper on the go. The consistency of the mask is thick and creamy but I can be easily spread across the face. After applying you can feel it warming up with is very soothing. Origins says to leave the mask on for 10 minutes but I leave it on for more like 20 minutes which has no negative efforts unlike any other mask that I have tried. After taking it off with a warm wash cloth my skin feels soft and a lot of my spots have calmed down and some have almost disappeared. This mask is great when I’e had a stressful day or when it’s that time of month.

Super Spot Blemish Treatment is one of the best spot treatments I have found in a while. Before I found this product, I used to use a cream for the doctors which I found was doing more bad than good. But after this Origins product it has really helped my acne disappear. Its comes in a little blue bottle and when applied to the skin it’s a clear gel, after a while you can feel it tightening the skin. It does still burn but it’s not painful, the next day my spot would almost disappear and a lot of the redness has disappeared. This is one product that you have to use often and you can see result as an only a couple of weeks of using it.

Value for money Origins is on the high end of skin care but is not the most expensive one out there but I feel that it is worth the money.