[BEAUTY] No makeup on my face for a year? Challenge accepted.

I have literally no idea where this year has gone! Can't believe it is December/Christmastime already.  When did this happen, and where is my festive spirit?! I don't have a christmas tree up in my house (strike one), I have bought next to no presents (strike two) and I've decided not to go to my work's Xmas dinner because I'm just not feeling the christmassy vibe (GTFO).  

 SCROOGE!! But also, new fringe!!

So I mentioned a couple posts back (here) that I was sick to death of my skin being blemish-prone and ridiculously sensitive, and that I was going to set myself the challenge of not wearing makeup on my complexion (i.e. lips and eyes are ok, everything else strictly banned) for 12 months.  My ultimate aim is to get my skin back to a stage where I can put makeup and new products on it without it becoming overly-sensitised and just basically freaking out! 

Me sans makeup, other than a bit of liquid eyeliner and mascara :)

Well, this is my first update about how that is going .. which is quite frankly awesomely! I have had NO blemishes at all, and my skin seems to be settling down and reacting less to things like weather etc.  My rosacea is non existent too! Hurray.  My new wonder product is La Roche Posay Hydraphase UV Intense Light, which is making my skin naturally radiant without the need for any kind of coverage on my face at all!  The only problem I currently have is that this moisturiser burns my eyelids?! Like, they feel like they're on fire for about 10 minutes after applying it, and then start to peel (I am the sexiest person in the world, I know).  I've been using plain jojoba oil to moisturise the eye area, but I can no longer use it for reasons I don't want to go into I dropped the bottle lid in the toilet so had to throw it out lolololololol.  

I'm also starting to feel a lot more confident about my face without concealer, primer, foundation, powder etc etc - I'm starting to even prefer my skin to be natural, rather than caked in makeup (bad beauty blogger!).  I do really miss blush and highlighters, but I think getting my skin to a good standard is more important currently.  Anyway, who needs blusher when you can take a brisk walk?! Ha.  

Other than completely ignoring the fact that it's Christmas, I've been deliberating over my new hair colour.  I know I know, I'm obsessed, but seriously, I've been thinking about going lighter - like a honey/caramel kind of light brown, just so I could get it light enough to get lots of pastels running through it (its the dream!) in time for Spring.  But now I'm thinking, why not go a LOT lighter, like silvery white?! That way I can put all the cotton candy colours through it that I want if I ever feel like it, or leave it a beautiful snowy colour.  Yeah, I can admit it - I just want to look like Daenerys. My hair is currently a warm level 4, so to get to a neutral level 12 is going to take a lot of work, time and toner,  But I'm excited!! I'm going to have the first bleach done professionally of course, for my birthday at the beginning of January.

I'll leave you with the obligatory cat pic - this is Seren, who has been out of the limelight picture-wise because she's so shy I don't often get a decent pic of her! She's been through a tough time, where she started to overgroom to the extent where she would get bald patches, but she's doing much better now after a lot of TLC :)

Seren cat, who is starting to get a lot happier after a stress episode :)

Tali xxx

MEMEME: Week in Pictures 4

She's sleeping on mah face - cutey kitties; me stuck outside in torrential rain for 2 hours while the bus never turned up; Sparrow sleeping under the duvet; Finished GoT#3; Mike sitting on his humongous pile of new clothes; me with Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Balm Stain in Lovesick; again; cutey kitties again; kitteh lovers; Frankie and Benny's breakfast; Mike showcasing some new clothes; me with Lovesick again again lol

Other than me getting massively ill after the getting stuck outside in the previously-mentioned storm, it's been a good week! I had to take Thursday and Friday off cos I felt so ill - thought I had a cold coming but I'm totally fine now?! Not complaining anyway!! Was ok to have those two days off really - I just slept and chilled out with the kittehcats so I almost enjoyed being ill :)

Finally finished Game of Thrones book 3, and started book 4.  However, book 4 actually made me angry haha, I can't believe what's happened and it's annoyed me, so I'm currently refusing to read any more on principle! Sure I'll get over it and pick the book up soon but for now I'm just mad...you'll know what I mean if you've read it!

I was Mike's personal stylist yesterday (Saturday) - he only buys the odd bits of clothing here and there, and has been feeling a bit crap about himself for a while, so we decided to spend some of his student loan injection on shopping! Woo! I'm normally such a bad person to go shopping with him - he's totally patient and even makes suggestions whenever we're in girlie shops (I know right?!), but when we normally go into any man shop, I'm tutting and looking at my watch etc... so I thought I owed him one! He got his hair done, and bought some beautiful Superdry trawler/workman boots, and lots and lots of other things for *cough* £400! He said he'll do the same for me too soon, woohoo! Haha, but seriously, it's nice to see him with a whole new wardrobe and feeling good about himself.

As a 'thanks for your help and I'm shocked at your patience' treat, I got to go to boots, and bought Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Balm Stain in Lovesick, which has amazing colour payoff and pigmentation, sticks around for EVER (I woke up this morning and my lips were still a little pinker than usual! and YES I had taken my makeup off last night) and isn't drying my lips yet! I also got a Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara - it is so good to have eyelashes again, unlike with my ruined Dior mascara wand! And, although I was looking for the Dove Hair Nourishing Oil Leave in Conditioning&Care Spray, it was nowhere to be seen so I settled with Aussie Dual Personality Anti-Frizz Conditioning Milk.  I'll let you know how it is!

Tali xxx

MEMEME: Week in Pictures

Not posted for a while - this week has been mega hectic! Took Tuesday off to get a (free!) Toni & Guy trainee haircut! It wasn't what I expected - they were only allowed to create styles from a particular book, so the inspiration pics I took in were a waste of time.  She took more off my length than I had anticipated - I only wanted more layers and my fringe cut back in - and ended up with a complete restyle! So bai pink :(

This is completely shadowed however by the AWESOME NEWS OF THE WEEK!! I don't know if I've ever mentioned this but I'm currently supporting my bf Mike through college and eventually university.  He's doing a Web Development course and is completely owning it! He's had a ton of clients and even got an award from his college! Anyway, there was a (paid) internship going at his college and we found out on Thursday (at 3am haha) that he got it! Woohoo.  So he's going to be getting a ton of experience working part time, while still studying his course, and it takes some of the financial pressure off me! Woop! 

So of course I have spent the last few days researching what I want to buy - I want to get a ton of new stuff for the apartment, for Mike and of course for me ;) hi Wildfox Lennon sweater!! My life has been a bit short on the picture front of late - mostly because I haven't really done anything that exciting recently due to being careful with the funds *yawn*.  Now that we don't have to be so responsible, expect to see a lot more exciting pics! Watch this space ;)

Edinburgh George St, new hair, suit up!, amazing Topshop sweater, celebratory coma-inducing Frankie and Benny's, Yin and Yang kitties

HOMAGE: to my cats

I've always been a cat person - or just an animal person in general to be honest - I've always maintained I prefer animals to people!  As soon as I got a job, I pretty much encouraged forced Mike to give in to my demands and get us some kittens.  They were the cutest kittens I've ever seen, so pretty and absolutely bonkers! That's where the good part ended though.  

Mike developed severe cat allergies, to the extent that he would have asthma attacks in the night and you could hear his lungs wheezing and rattling when he breathed.  As he was studying from home at the time, he was pretty much confined to our bedroom - the only room the cats weren't allowed in - and even then he would be so ill.  I tried two or three times to give them back but, as selfish as it sounds now, I just couldn't! I would cry my eyes out, knowing how scared they would be if we gave them back to the rescue home, how much I would miss them and even insanely jealous of whoever got to take them to their forever home, because they would no longer be my babies.  

We ended up deciding to keep them, because neither of us could bear to give them up, and I hope the information I provide here will be of use to anyone who has allergies, or lives with someone who does.  These are a few of the changes I made to our routine, and after 6 months (a year ago), Mike barely suffered at all! Now, when we've had them for nearly 2 years, he only coughs when I miss a vacuum day, and that is probably 0.1% as bad as it used to be!

• Hoover.  I vacuum three times a week - this will obviously get rid of most of the fur and feline skin cells on the carpet.  It is ideal if you can live somewhere that has wooden/laminate floors rather than carpet, as it is much easier to clean it up.  It would be impossible for me to get all the cat fur off the carpet, but the best I can do is to keep it at bay.
• Buy air filters/purifiers.  These used to be on all night every night in our bedroom to allow circulation of the air, and to get rid of all the feline particles (how weird does that sound!) in the room.  Nowadays, I can't even remember the last time we had an air filter on! Mike's allergies have improved so much that we don't need them at all.
• It is important to note that cat allergies are NOT fur allergies - it's in fact an allergy to a protein in feline saliva (FelD1 if you really want to know).  As cats clean themselves so much, FelD1 gets transferred to their skin and fur, and that is when the problem arises!  You can buy cleaning wipes for cats to remove all the proteins and dirt on the cat's coat.  My cats absolutely hated me cleaning them though, so this never really took off!
• Have a cat-free zone.  Again, this never really took off in our two bedroom apartment, as we didn't think it was fair to restrict the cats' area any more than it was already!  In our old apartment, as I said before, we kept the cats out of our bedroom, but since moving to a smaller-but-nicer place, we let them in all rooms during the day, and shut them out our bedroom at night.
• Patience.  This takes time.  If you are that dedicated to getting/keeping your kitties, know now that a cure won't happen overnight.  However, over time your immune system does calm down and stop basically freaking out over FelD1 so much (I won't bore you with the biology!).  You can have immunotherapy injections where they basically inject FelD1 into the blood to help your immune system to create antibodies for it.  This will happen naturally anyway, immunotherapy can (doesn't work for everyone) accelerate the process.  

We're both so glad we kept Seren and Sparrow.  They bring so much joy into our lives.  I know I do sound selfish in this post; keeping the cats in spite of Mike's suffering, but I'm much more of an animal than a children person, and I honestly feel like these two are my babies (crazy cat lady alert)!  Here's some pictures of them:

When they were wee:

Now that they're big fat cats:

Miaow

Tali xxx

MEMEME: 82 day catch up

Me in Espy bar, before hitting the beach (I love this weather! I was wearing bikini top and denim hotpants, on a Scottish beach in June! What the hell.  I'm loving this heatwave <3

Hey ladies! It has been a while for sure.  I cannot BELIEVE I haven't blogged in 82 days!! What started off as a couple weeks of break while I felt a bit uninspired, led into a holiday, which was then followed by Mike imposing a 'social media break' from 1 May for a calendar month (whaddya mean it's not the 1st June yet? Oopsie).  

I don't know how regular my posting will be, but I do know some things for sure, such as the direction I want to take my blog in.  I've never really been one for OOTD posts - I'm not really bothered by them on other blogs, and I always feel a tad uncomfortable and poserish when I get Mike to take blogging pics of me.  AND I NEVER LOOK GOOD WHYYYY.  I love reading (and writing) reviews, and I'm also beginning to realise I love lifestyle blogs, rather than just fashion/bblogging.   I've actually just unfollowed some (very famous) UK bbloggers, purely because I'm fed up of OOTD posts with not much integrity to them.  That coupled with the fact that they just make me want to go out and spend a fortune on MU/clothes/whatever (even though I'm currently supporting Mike through college and therefore don't have a shit ton of money) has left me feeling unsatisfied, both by feeling very consumerist/materialistic "OMG I MUST BUY THIS NOW" and also with my blogging skills or lack thereof.  So yes, back to blogging square 1.  Which is pretty exciting!

I went to Spain.  With my parents.  As much as I was dreading it (I mean, I love them to bits, but 10 days of nothing but your parents for company can seem a little daunting!), it was actually AWESOME.  We all agreed that it was like getting to know each other again, which was really nice! I did a lot of walks with my dad, catching up with my mum and sunbathing to the max :) 

View from the top of a mountain - I love where our Spanish villa is - surrounded by valleys and olive groves :)

Well, it wouldn't be a British blog post this week without mentioning the weather! It's been fantastic!! I just looked at my arms and I think I may be a tad burnt oops! Every break in my labwork as seen me chilling out in the grass by my workplace.  LOVE IT.  I wish it was like this all the time, which I suppose which is why Cali/Australia call to me so much.

Me soaking up some rays when I should be working ;)

I will leave you with this picture of my cat (by the way, don't leave Neurofen tablet strips out overnight, or you WILL end up with hefty vet bills but that's a story for another day!) and also some exciting news - remember my post from 29th January this year (can't believe I've been wanting it for this long)?  Well.. it's happening!! Woohoo

xxxx

MEMEME: Week in pictures

Resolutions: I will schedule my posts better! I will!

From top left: Pentland hills 1 and 2, feline love, poser Monday, OOTD Wednesday, pastel nails, new hair, lap cat, hooked on that book