Happy New Year!

I can't believe 2013 is already here! Is it just me that thinks 2012 went by way too quickly?

I'm really looking forwards to this year, and I'm hoping to achieve a lot more than I did last year. I will definitely be back to blogging regularly! 

I have come up with a few new years resolutions for 2013, and I'm going to try my hardest not to break any of them! 

 New Years Resolutions

Utilise Wardrobe

I recently had a huge clear-out of my wardrobe to make room for new buys, but ended up re-discovering items that I didn't even realise I owned! I've realised my problem with clothes is that I'm too lazy to look at what I already have, so I get stuck in a rut playing it 'safe' and wonder why I never have anything to wear! I'm going on a spending ban with clothes so I'm forced to make outfits out of clothes I already own.

Stop Hoarding

I am a massive hoarder, and my boyfriend recently looked around my room and said to me "...You just love stuff, dont you?!" I really need to be ruthless and get rid of about 60% of the crap I'm holding on to. I do not need to hold onto boxes from products I've bought, and I definitely do NOT need 3 desks in my room (sadly I'm not exaggerating). Even Tereza has told me I need to make this one of my resolutions haha.

With regards to clothes - any items of clothing that either I cannot make into an outfit or that I have not worn by April (excluding summer wear) will be sold or donated.

Fitness

This is the one resolution I make every year but always break!

I NEED to strengthen my core at the very least. I also want to make fitness a part of my daily routine - even if it's just a small amount a day. 

Blog

Of course I need to blog more! I've neglected my poor blog for too long. I also want to take more outfit posts and focus a little more on fashion, and make it more 50/50 fashion and beauty focussed. 

Live!

I need to do more with my life. You only get one, so I want to do as much as I can with it. Whether thats socialising more, going on more days out or focussing on the future. As long as I waste as little time as possible I'll be happy. I spent way too much of 2012 doing nothing, I definitely want to look back on 2013 and say I spent it well!

I wish you all an amazing 2013 and hope it brings you everything you wish for!

Have you made any resolutions for the new year?

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Searching for a New Holy Grail Foundation - Part 1

Its no secret that I am a little obsessed with mineral foundation (provided there is no Bismuth Oxychloride anywhere in the ingredients). However you may have seen a post I wrote recently where I talked about my skin starting to become acne prone.

Although I've pretty much now got my skincare regime sorted, the outbreak has left me with quite a few pigmented scars which my current favourite foundation just doesn't cover.

My Previous Holy Grail

Up until now I have been using Funky Fresh Minerals as my foundation, and it has been my Holy Grail. I first heard about it on Sarahs blog Sugarpuffish and, knowing that it was free from Bismuth Oxychloride and that it was such a bargain, I had to try it. The great thing about it is that it covers any slight redness of the skin, gives a nice flawless coverage without being too heavy. I never had a problem with its ingredients so it never broke me out or irritated my sensitive skin.

Ingredients: 

♔ Titanium Dioxide (Cl77891) ♔ Zinc Oxide (Cl77947) ♔ Kaolin Clay ♔ Iron Oxides (Cl77491, 77492) ♔

The only problem now is that it just doesn't cover the new scarring that's been caused. So now I need to find a foundation that gives full coverage, isn't greasy and won't slide off my face (as there's no point in it being full coverage if its just going to reveal what I want it to hide a few hours later). Not only that but it needs to be one that doesn't contain any ingredients that irritate sensitive skin or cause any breakouts on acne prone skin.

Ingredients I'm Trying to Avoid:

♔ Bismuth Oxychloride ♔ Dimethicone ♔ Lanolin ♔ Isopropyl Myristate ♔ Alcohol ♔

♔ C and D dyes ♔ Talc ♔

I'll be posting reviews on all of the foundations I'll be testing out, as I'm sure I can't be the only one trying to find this kind of foundation. I've already been researching into it and the most difficult part seems to be trying to find ingredients online, so I will be posting the ingredients of each product I review from now on.

If you sensitive or acne prone skin I'd love to hear your foundation recommendations!

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DIY Ombre Hair

If you follow me on twitter or instagram you may have seen I went ombre earlier this month!

I know I'm quite late on joining the bandwagon, but I've been wanting to do it for ages and I'm so happy I finally took the plunge!
The main thing that put me off is the fact that already I dye my hair dark brown as I hate my natural hair colour, so I was worried I'd end up ruining my hair if I bleached my coloured hair - I really don't want to end up having to get all my hair hacked off!

Products Used

♔ Aluminium Foil ♔ 

♔ Tint bowl + Brush ♔ 

♔ Ion Blue Bleach Powder ♔

♔ Ion Colour 7.1 Performance Ash Blonde ♔

The Process

I took inspiration from this Youtube video (despite the warning in the title) and tested a small strand of hair to see if it would work.

It was quite a long-winded process to get the right effect, and I made sure I tested a strand of hair beforehand to see what I needed to do to get it looking the way I wanted. It turned out there would be 4 stages to get the look I wanted:

Stage 1:
I mixed the bleach with the developer and applied it to my hair in small sections. I covered each section with aluminium foil just to make sure I didn't get bleach everywhere.
At this stage I applied the bleach as high up as I wanted the ombre to go.
I kept this on for 15 minutes

Stage 2: 
I rinsed off the bleach and dried the ends of my hair so I could see the effect so far. At this stage it looked pretty awful.
I applied the bleach in the same way, only I applied it a little lower down than before and left it on for another 15 minutes.

Stage 3: 
I rinsed off the bleach and dried my hair as before.
At this stage I looked in the mirror and thought 'what the hell am I doing to my hair?!' - it was so orange!
I carried on any way and applied the bleach even lower down than before, only this time I left it on for 30 minutes.

Stage 4:
I rinsed off the bleach and dried my hair again.
Then I mixed the Ash Blonde dye with the developer and applied  it to the bleached ends to make it less orange. I left this on for only 10 minutes as indicated from my strand test.

I rinsed and dried my hair for the last time and here is how it turned out!

The Result

I'm really pleased with the results, although it took a few days to get used to!
I did think I would need to buy a toner to make it less orange, but I quite like that there's a bit of a coppery tint to it.

Whilst I was in Sallys buying the bleach etc I made sure I purchased a hair treatment, which I make sure I use every week and I haven't noticed any extra dryness to my hair. Though I'm sure I would if I didn't use a treatment.

The only problem now is that my lighter roots are coming through!
I need to come up with some way of colouring the top of my hair darker without ruining the ombre.
(If you next see me fully brunette you'll know it all went horribly wrong!)

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Getting Orgaised - Belts

I cannot believe my last post was nearly a month ago! Everything's been so hectic this past month, I had no idea how much time had passed! The reason I've been gone so long is that I have a new job! It's been a big shock to the system going from having pretty much nothing to do all day, to working 45+ hours a week! I'm still trying to get all this time management stuff figured out, but in the mean time there will be the odd post popping up now and again.
-I definitely have a new found respect for bloggers with full time jobs, especially those who post daily - seriously, HOW DO YOU GUYS DO IT?!

Getting Organised

I decided to have a series of posts on my blog dedicated to getting organised. I am a bit of a hoarder, and hold onto a lot of useless rubbish, have too many clothes that I never wear, and have make up I never use. Every now and again I pretty much turf everything out of my room, get rid of things I don't need, and re-organise everything I'm keeping. Seeing as I'm now going through one of those phases, I figured I'd show you how I'm organising things, and maybe it will help give you some ideas on storage and how to save space.

Belts

One of my biggest obsessions are belts. Particularly waist belts (which I'm so happy to see are back in a big way for A/W), and although I probably have way more than I need, I still want more! Previously I had my belts hanging on my door on the same kind of hanger I use to organise my scarf's (see post here), but I found it warped some of the belts, and was sometimes a bit of an effort to put belts back onto, so they ended up strewn across my room. So here's how I've re-organised them:

On the left are waist belts that would get ruined if I rolled them up, so I've stored them length-ways to keep their shape. In the centre I've used 2 small Ferrero Rocher boxes to store my slim non-waist belts, which I rolled up and stored side-by-side. Finally on the right are my elasticated waist belts that can be rolled up easily, and stored more compactly.

It's so much easier to see what I have, and so much easier for my to put the belts away at the end of the day.
Seeing as I'm a bit of a belt freak, I'll be storing the box under my bed for easy access!

I'd love to know how you store your belts?

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