A Thought With Me

Review: KiraKira Studio AHA 2-1 Facial Wash Liquid Cleanser

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Sun, 17 Sep 2017 14:12:00 +0000

Hands up if you have sensitive skin?

Does your skin get irritated when you wash it or take makeup off?

Do I have the product for you!

Today we are reviewing Aha although, to be honest with you, I've been testing this for about 3 weeks to be so sure that the product is good. First off, this cleansing liquid works as both a makeup remover and a facial wash all in one product. The product is a powerful makeup remover and facial wash which uses Citric, Glycolic and Stearlic acids. It's non-drying and non-greasy and doesn't contain any oil or parabens or skin irritating ingredients. It will leave your skin hydrated, soft, clean and rejuvenated whilst doing a whole other bunch of stuff behind the scenes.

When taking off my makeup, I'll usually wait until later into the night because I just can't be bothered. However, with AHA I was taking my makeup off as soon as I got home. It's so easy to use. Two pumps of the cleansing liquid, rub it all over your face, taking care near your eyes and then wash it off with water and a washcloth. Boom. Makeup free and clean skin.

This cleanser does pretty well at taking your makeup off and breaking it down. The only struggles it has is with some eyeliners, gel eyeliner, in particular, but it still comes off with a bit of extra time and effort! I will say though, it looks hilarious when you have your makeup smeared all over your face from wiping the cleanser around and that makes the final removal that more satisfying.

I thought it would be fun to do a full face of makeup and take half of it off with the AHA cleanser and you guys could see the difference. The cleanser does not irritate my skin or leave my skin red. As someone with uber sensitive skin, I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing that is. Every face wash or makeup remover I have used has left my skin red apart from this one. It's so gentle on my skin. It also has a slight but pleasant smell.

I do suffer from oily skin in areas as well, and usually, a clean face will get oily very quickly. Not only does this product not irritate my skin but it leaves my skin clean and not oily. This has to be hands down, the best makeup remover/face wash to date I have ever used for my skin.

My only flaw of this product is that when I'm rubbing my eyeliner and mascara, I sometimes get the product in my eye, it doesn't hurt, but I do have blurry vision for a wee while. Also, some of my eyeliner/mascara residues can collect in the corner of my eye which isn't a big deal but I can't find anything else wrong with this product. I have to nip pick!

Lastly, special thanks to Kira Kira Studios who sent me their AHA Cleansing liquid to review! If you are interested in trying out the AHA Liquid Cleanser you can go here and buy a bottle for only £19.99 which considering the size of the bottle, 190 ml, is a bargain!

Final Overall Review!

Packaging: Gorgeous. It's simple yet effective and cute.

2 - 1 Facial Wash: Amazing. It's gentle, has a pleasant subtle smell and leaves your skin clean, soft and not greasy!

Price: At £19.99 and considering how great it is, it's well worth it for a 190ml bottle.

What do think of this makeup removing cleanser? Would you try it? Or have you already tried it? What's your favourite makeup remover? Let me know in the comments down below and don't forget to share with your friends!

The Weird Beauty Hacks You Might Not Know; Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 11:23:00 +0000

Photo by SARBPhotography

Here we go again!

The weird and I do mean weird, beauty hacks part 3! Here you'll find my own beauty hacks that I use quite often (that I have tested) and you'll find some fellow bloggers weird beauty hacks too! I love doing these posts, you learn so much about other people's routines, but it's also a nice way to shout out other bloggers!

You can read about not only my own weird beauty hacks but those of fellow bloggers here in The Weird Beauty Hacks You Might Not Know; Part 1 and here in The Weird Beauty Hacks You Might Not Know; Part 2.

Without further ado, let's get into this!

- Never try your jeans on again. If you want to know if a pair of jeans will fit you, take them off the hanger and wrap the waistband around your neck. If you succeed, the jeans will fit, if you struggle to make your two ends meet, they won't. It's such an easy hack and it works! I tried this with 3 pairs of jeans, 2 fit perfectly and one was a little harder to squeeze into, but I suspected they would be because I struggled to wrap the waistband around my neck. It's weird, and you look weird in store but it's so nice buying jeans you know will fit without having to try them on.

- Perfect eyeliner. I'm not sure how weird this one is but you can perfect your eyeliner quickly and easily, just not using eyeliner... I struggle with eyeliner honestly, no matter the brand, type or brush I use, I'm always using a makeup wipe to neaten it up. My latest trick is using eye shadow as your liner. Bear with me here: it's easier to apply, it gives a gorgeous smoky look, the application is very forgiving (thank the smokiness), it's easy to correct and you can make it any colour you want. I personally find that using an angled eyebrow brush gives me the best results but play with this and let me know how you get on!

- Lazy moisturising. I hate moisturising my body. It's a long process that takes a lot of effort for me. And realistically? It's not long and it doesn't take a lot of effort. Still, the thought alone sends me groaning. But I have found a quick and easy method that not even I can grumble at! This is a bath hack I'm afraid so, sorry shower users, when you are almost ready to come out of the bath, pour in some oil. It could be body oil, massage oil, essential oils, coconut oil, experiment here. Swirl it around and relax for a wee bit longer. When you come out of the bath, that oil is going to stick to your skin. All you need to do is finish drying yourself off and you're done! You can rub it in a little more if you'd like, I did, I'm not completely lazy.

- Sudocrem face mask. Sudocrem is rumoured to be beauty's best-kept secret. I know, I know, but it's for nappy rashes? Oh but apparently, it isn't, and I'm excited to try this! You just need a little bit of Sudocrem on your face, you don't want to be wasteful. The coating on your face should look a bit transparent and not completely white. Go to bed or whatever you want and soon the cream will soak in. Your skin will feel and look amazing!

And here is where we find out about some other bloggers weird beauty hacks!

- "I've got one - if you go swimming a lot and the chlorine leaves a green tinge to your hair, a dollop of tomato ketchup in the shower should sort you right out!" Samantha from Cocobutterblog

- "Hair serum on your legs! Shiny, sleek pins without stickiness that lasts all day/night!" Donna from Ladies Pass It On

- "If you have a spot that refuses to shrink and you have no spot treatment on hand, a bit of alcohol hand sanitizer works wonders. Apply a tiny bit directly to the spot with a cotton bud and it will really dry out it out so it can heal. It will sting but it really does the trick!" - Kirstie from Behind The Scent

- "Use a spoon to stop mascara from going on the top lid and sellotape for shaping eye make up are my favourite weird tricks!" - Nia from Beautyblogwales

- "Too hot to sleep? Put a sheet mask on, close your eyes and relax for 20 minutes. The evaporation from the mask will cool your whole head down and you'll be ready to drop off!" - Keely from Keelys-Nails

- "A little baking soda mixed in with your shampoo will help with extra greasy hair or will buy you another day between washes!" Victoria from Fabulousmummy

- "If you have a pair of shoes that you love but they rub you, spritz with dry shampoo before putting them on - you will not regret it! Silky soft and blister free feet!" - Emma from Emsmixedbag

- "The little sponge eyeshadow applicators that you get with palettes I found are amazing for using with foundation or concealer to cover any spots. I find it works better than my fingers or a large brush." - Isabel from Boxesandswatches

What are your weird beauty hacks? Will you try any of these? Or have you used one before? Let me know via social media or in the comments and you could be featured in the next weird beauty hacks post! Don't forget to share with your friends!

My 2017 Goals Bingo Update

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 12:42:00 +0000

We're more than halfway through 2017 already!

So how are you all getting on with your goals for this year?

We're over the halfway mark and I'm doing okay with mine.

I copied my 2017 bingo goal layout from a fellow blogger on Instagram @petitmoi_bigworld and I filled it up with pretty ambitious and not so ambitious goals for this year. I wanted my goals to be both personal and blogging related so that I could develop both sides of my life. If I get a line, I get to buy myself a treat. The whole box? Well, I haven't yet figured that one out, but it'll be special!

As you can see, I am having no problem with reading on fiction books with 7 already this year! Non-fiction, however, I'm so disappointed. I have non-fiction books, I just haven't picked them up. It's really disappointing for me. I'm someone who loves to learn and absorb new information. It's just apparently not happening. So if you have any tips or non-fiction book suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!

Trying 5 new recipes was easy as pie! Pun intended. I tried a lot of new baking recipes and dinner styles within the first few months. That goal was accomplished first. I wish I had extended this one and made it a little more challenging.

Uploading blog posts... *sigh* Okay, so I started off well this year but along the way I got busy and distracted and a bit uninspired. I want to at least post 12 posts and we're doing well! We're sitting on 6, that's half! I know I can do this one, I just have to be less lazy and more proactive.

Increasing my followers on social media as well. Jeez. That one is so much harder than I first realised as well. I was doing well at the start of the year but my progress slowed down quite a bit not long after. Again, any tips, please leave them down below!

My yoga/meditating challenge has only just started. I just started doing yoga but instead of following pictures online, I've been using a yoga youtube channel called Yoga With Adriene. Her videos are so good for me and so varied. Whether I'm looking for a beginners practice or one to help with sleep, she has it and I find her method of teaching and her voice so soothing.

I definitely recommend that if you want to do an exercise, try some yoga. I've never felt so de-stressed. Saying that though, I think my goal of doing it once a week for 3 months was very very ambitious. I'm up to the challenge though! I have fully committed in my own way and bought exercise clothes just for the yoga and a decent yoga mat.

How are your goals coming?

If you've given up or are maybe slacking a bit like me, let this be our wake-up call. We're only halfway through 2017, we still have months to go!

I will post an end of year update and let you guys know how I got on.

What's been your favourite moment of this year so far?

So how are your 2017 goals going? Are you succeeding? Have you given up? Let me know in the comments down below and don't forget to share this post with someone who you think would love it!

Not So Easy Money On Ebay: UPDATE

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 11:37:00 +0000

Guys, I'm awful.

I promised this update more than a year ago now and did I remember, before now, to do it?

No.

I only remembered when I was going through my old posts and re-editing some of them. I saw the 'To
be continued...' on my Easy Money With Ebay post and I felt awful. So maybe a memory hacks post is on the horizon too!

I have now been selling on eBay for a little more than a year and it's had it's ups and downs. I have sold 253 items in that time, and I do consider eBay to be a part time job. Although, I'm not sure if I'd agree with my blog post title anymore. Easy Money? Easy? When you're photographing 50+ handbags that have been given to you by your gran, and then editing the photographs, and then listing them on eBay, I'm not sure I'd call it easy anymore.

Don't get me wrong here, eBay is a fantastic way to make money from items you don't need, but I underestimated a year ago how much of a job this would be. A welcome job, though, especially when you're unemployed. Some of the things I never realised would be a problem, are a huge problem for me. Like if you're going through your own house for stuff to sell, once you've photographed them, where do they go? Back where you found them? That makes no sense. So then you start an eBay box for things that are waiting to be sold, then it turns into two boxes, then three, then a set of plastic storage drawers and you'll find that you now have a room filled with things for eBay alone. Then the storage issue get's worse when people hear that things are going so well for you on eBay, so they give you their stuff to sell as well.

So here I am, sitting in the middle of 50+ handbags, inspecting them all thoroughly and realising how much time this is going to take. Yeah, there's another thing I never realised would be an issue, the amount of time photographing everything takes. The more photo's you have in a listing, the better. The more you have, the more you're showing your potential buyers and the less likely you'll be asked for a refund because the item ~~supposedly~~ wasn't as described. I describe eBay as a job for me now because it almost is, it takes up so much more time than you'll realise but it pays off in the end.

I had another huge problem when I did initially start selling, would you believe? When you're a new seller, eBay holds the payment from the buyer for two weeks, until they trust you're not a scam artist. But they do this for quite a few months, so you're paying the postage money out of your own pocket until your eBay pay day comes around, and that can leave you in a sticky situation! I had to start planning my eBay postage dates around when I had money to post the items! I understand why they do it, but it does make things significantly harder, but if you keep going, eBay will lift that 2 weeks off holding period off your account and you'll start getting your payments straight away.

One more tip I'd like to quickly throw in though. If you are selling an item as 'Buy Now or Best Offer', always go higher than what you'd actually like for the item, that way if you get knocked down, you're still happy with what they're offering and if someone buys the item at the higher price, even better for you!

Saying all that though, and that really is just a warning for anyone thinking about starting out on eBay, I love selling on eBay, and this post isn't sponsored, but I'd love it if it was *cough cough* eBay. Selling on eBay is a job that is hard work but it pays off in the end. Nothing in life is ever easy.

In conclusion, head these warning that I never thought of initially, follow my guide on how to sell on eBay here and remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Go have a look in your wardrobes, I bet you've all got something that still has the tags on it that you've never worn, and never will...

What have you got to lose?

Do you sell on eBay? Have you been thinking about starting? Have my posts been helpful? Leave your comments down below and don't forget to share with your friends!

I Am A Sexist Feminist

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 10:55:00 +0000

These are two words that don't belong together.

Yet there they are in the same sentence.

I am a sexist feminist.

And I'm not the only one. You might be one too.

There was one night I was at my boyfriend's families house and then we had all (family included) went out for dinner. On the way back, my boyfriend's brother and I were desperate to go to the bathroom and he said he was going first. I retaliated with "What happened to ladies first?" and what he said back was a mental slap in the face.

"That's sexist."

And it was. It shut me up immediately and I couldn't stop thinking about it. That was about a year ago and I swore to myself that I would think about what I say more before I say it. And I'm failing. Even a year later, I only am able to seem to catch things after I've said them. And I hate it.

Granted, these things are never said to hurt anyone and I'm not trying to be sexist. And yes, things are said as a joke sometimes but these casual remarks of sexism on both sides, not just women, are only perpetuating that divide between the sexes.

I can hear it all around me.

"Male drivers!"
"Be a man."
"You fight like a girl."
"Ladies first."

And I'm no better. I realise immediately after when I've said something but that's not good enough. I identify as a feminist but I have a bad habit to kick with this. Phrases like these are so ingrained in us from childhood that it makes it really difficult for us to not repeat it. They just come out. That's where it all starts, that's where we pick things up that we hear and take everything in that we're being told. We take all that as fact and it's carried with us throughout our life. The thing is, we're never going to stop casual sexism this like in our speech unless we are consciously aware of what we're saying all the time. Otherwise, our kids will keep repeating us and their kids will repeat them and so on.

Aren't we, as feminists, supposed to be stopping casual sexism in everyday speech?

I know what I'm asking here from society and from you is hard. I know that being aware and stopping yourself from saying these things is extremely difficult. Like I said, I'm failing. But it makes me realise that I'm no better than these people who say these things and don't realise these phrases are sexist. They don't realise but I do. I know how harmful and sexist these simple phrases have become and because of that, I'd argue that I'm worse.

These phrases are said in a way and worded to put people down. Both males and females. And it's not right. You should be able to go through life and not be put down by stereotypes and sexist statements. Isn't that what we've been breaking these past few years? Stereotypes? Teaching people that they aren't restricted to a box that society made?

This is a hurdle that I think will be the hardest. Knocking these sexist phrases out of society, out of our speech and out of our heads will be the roughest hurdle. We still have many hurdles to go before full equality for everyone, but cutting out this kind of speech, it's going to be a long process.

In fact, cutting out any kind of sexist or homophobic or racist speech is a long process. I like to think we have made some good progress in the racist and homophobic speech but I am sheltered from that. We only notice the problems that directly affect us.

If we all took a few seconds to think about what we're saying before we actually say it, imagine how much of a difference that could make.

Let it start with us. Let us be the ones who start calling out these key phrases and stopping their progression any further. Let us all think before we speak. Let us all teach our future generation that phrases like these are not okay. Let us start with the most important step.

Ourselves.

What sexist phrases can you think of? Put them in the comments down below!

What are you like for phrases like this? Do you say them? Or are you better and have pushed them out already? Tell me in the comments down below and don't forget to share this on social media!

Guest Post: 7 Travel Hacks You Need To Know Before You Go

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Sat, 21 Jan 2017 13:15:00 +0000

*The following post is a guest post from PersonalIncome*

Travelling is a great way to see the world and experience different cultures.

It is also a wonderful way to unwind and spend quality time with your friends or family. When you travel, you not only experience different cultures and meet different people, you are also able to gain a deeper understanding of diversity and how it must be respected. If you are going to an area which is poor or depressed, you will learn to appreciate what you have all the more.

One of the things that should be a concern when travelling is how to pack your clothes. Learning to carry only what is essential will help you move about faster and teach you to be content with less. Problem is, how do you carry a lot of your belongings in one bag? You can if you learn how to pack more efficiently for your travel.

Carry only the things you need and learn how to mix and match clothes so you can stretch your outfits for the duration of your trip. Additionally, you can turn shoes into efficient storage places for smaller items such as soap, sachets of shampoo, extra batteries and so on. More importantly, you shouldn’t forget to seal liquid containers shut. Remember that your luggage gets tossed around and jostled in the plane, so sealing everything is extremely important.

This infographic lists down seven travel hacks which can save you a lot of time and energy. Read on and feel free to pass along to friends who like to travel, too.

Did you enjoy this? Read about my Moving And Packing Hacks To Make Life Easier here!

What are your travel hacks? Have you tried any of these before? Let me know in the comments down below and don't forget to share this with someone who's going travelling!

5 Beauty Products I Absolutely Cannot Live Without

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 11:03:00 +0000

Photo by SARBPhotography

It's such a dramatic title, isn't it?

It makes it sound like I'd die without these five products, and while I wouldn't, I'd certainly be miserable. These are the very things that I think are holy grails, they are life savers.

What are yours?

Neutrogena Visibly Clear 2 in 1 Wash And Mask

This stuff is incredible for me.

I mostly use it as the mask but when I'm in a rush I can just wash my face with this and still notice a difference. When applied as a mask, a tingling sensation is present and I love that in a wash/face mask as it makes me feel as though it's actually doing something. It cleans out my pores and leaves my face feeling smooth. You can see the difference once you've washed it off.

Sudocrem Skin Care Cream

I initially received this as a sample and I was sceptical but after using this for a few months, I love it.

My favourite way to use it is at night when I'm relaxing, where I'll put on slightly more so you can see it sitting on the skin, just barely, and then when I wake up, my skin is so soft and nourished. I use it frequently in the mornings too before I apply my makeup and I've noticed a few things it helps with redness, is very nourishing for the skin and I think my makeup looks better on top of it! It was a must have this winter!

P.S. It's also great when you're sick for moisturising your dry cracked nose!

Dry Shampoo

I use this every day. No joke.

This stuff saves my life when I can't be bothered washing my hair or my fringe is looking a little greasy. It's so easy; spray, let it sit, rub and boom! Clean looking hair! Need I say any more?

Vaseline

I know this one is a must have for everyone.

Whether it's my lips or my eyelashes that are feeling a little dry, this always helps in a short period of time. If I've been wearing too much mascara and my lashes need some TLC, I'll put some on before bed and then wash my face in the morning. My lashes always feel and look so much better. Same goes for my lips. I'm of the firm belief that you cannot get better for lip care than Vaseline.

L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil

I ordered a free sample of this years ago and have never looked back.

I have always replaced my bottle before it gets empty, and by the way, that bottle lasts a long time. I use the oil in two ways. The first way I use it, which I do all the time, is I put a squirt of oil on my hands and rub it through my freshly washed hair. The second is if I know I'm having a slob day and I'm washing my hair later, I'll put a generous amount in for the nourishment, and then wash it out later. This stuff is so good for my hair, it leaves it smooth, soft and so moisturised without being greasy.

What are your beauty must haves? Did you have any similar to mine? Tell me down below and don't forget to share this with someone who you think would love this.

Tried And Tested: DIY Hair And Face Masks Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 18:00:00 +0000

I'm so excited to be doing a Part 2 for DIY masks honestly.

When I first tried doing my own masks with kitchen ingredients, it was a weird smelling success! I enjoyed the experimenting and the not knowing if my hair was going to smell like mayonnaise or not and how unusual it all was!

You can read my previous blog Tried And Tested: DIY Hair And Face Masks here, but I loved doing
the last post and you guys seemed to love what I did, with one request, to add in pictures! So I've looked up more DIY masks, some I think will work, some... I'm not so sure of, but we're going to try it anyway!Doing your own homemade masks is cheaper, easier, healthier and more fulfilling. You know exactly what you're putting on your skin and hair and it's all natural. On that note, what kinds of masks do you guys want to see me try? Let me know in the comments down below or contact me via Twitter. I'm always happy to hear your suggestions!

Let's get weird with it!

- Yoghurt And Honey Hair Mask

I feel mostly confident about this mask apart from the fact it uses coconut oil. Now coconut oil and I haven't mixed well with regards to my hair before, read My Coconut Oil Mess to understand, but I'm willing to try this. All you need is 2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt, 1 tablespoon of honey and 1/4 teaspoon of coconut oil and your hair, dry. You massage it in, working from the scalp to the ends of your hair and then leave it on for 20 minutes.

I will say I had to triple the recipe just to get a decent coating on my hair, and I probably would have preferred a fourth batch so judge it on your hair length. This is the best smelling and looking hair mask to date that I have tried but it is quite runny so wear a shower cap, but even then you'll still get some dripping out. It's also sticky, as I'm typing the tissue I'm using to dab away the drippage is now getting stuck to my forehead.

I washed this out the way I would normally wash my hair and it is quite easy to wash out, although I would recommend washing your face straight away as well! Now I dried my hair and straightened it like I usually do and I will say that this mask is great for frizz, there was almost none in my hair. My hair was also soft and shiny, although not as shiny as it's been on other DIY hair masks. There's no residue smell from what I can tell, although I wouldn't mind if there was. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results of this one, but it's still a messy mask honestly, it just smells a lot better!

- Lemon Face Mask

Again, I'm sceptical about this, not because I believe it won't do my skin good, but because the article I read said this was exfoliating... Yet all you use is 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1/4 cup of olive oil. What part of that is exfoliating? But we shall try and see! I was hoping something magical would happen when I mixed this together, that the olive oil and lemon juice would create a reaction that produced sugar crystals or something physical to exfoliate with. Nothing. I even put a bit of the mixture on the back of my hand to test it. It was super oily and made my skin soft, but not exfoliating. I'm also concerned about how this is going to stay on my face, but hey, it'll be fun!

If you're planning on trying this, use a pastry brush to apply it, it makes life so much easier! If you follow the recipe above, you're going to have way more than you actually need, I would suggest thirding the recipe honestly. This does feel oily on my skin, and it is messy and dripping off, although not as much as I thought it would. After washing it off, however, my skin was soft, which was expected. I wasn't impressed at all with this mask and I would not be doing this one again.

- Strawberry Hair Mask

Now this mask is one I'm excited to try! Again, it uses coconut oil but let's push through that fear, shall we? All you need is 6-8 strawberries, 1 tablespoon of honey and one tablespoon of coconut oil. Your hair also needs to be damp for this one. Now when I was making this, I thought back to the yoghurt hair mask, and so I roughly doubled the recipe, and then some, I probably used about 20 strawberries, although more were small, 2 and a bit tablespoons of honey and the same for the coconut oil. I will say that the mixture was extremely runny and that the coconut oil had solidified into tiny white bits just floating around... Appealing. I was worried about this running straight off my head honestly so I added some cornflour to thicken it up a bit.

Don't do this one. It's unbelievably messy. I really struggled to take a photo at all for this and it's constantly dripping off my head. My bath is currently stained pink and I'm praying it doesn't do that to my skin. The coconut oil, as you can see above, has solidified into little white bits so I doubt that'll do anything good at all. Again, don't do this. It's so hard to rinse all of the strawberry bits out of your hair and the easiest method was to comb it all out. In fact, don't put mashed up fruit in your hair. It's a nightmare to get it out! After washing my hair and drying it, I do have to conclude that my hair is soft, shiny and feel nourished, but not at an amazing level where I would do this again. It's way too much hassle and mess.

This has really made me wonder if these sites actually test these hair and face masks, that's two in this post that are a bust for me. Please be wary of these fruit masks, though, they can be a nightmare to wash out, you have been warned.

Are you going to try any of these? What should I try next? Tell me on Twitter or Instagram and leave your suggestions down below and don't forget to share with your friends!

Falling In Love With Fear

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 12:56:00 +0000

Fear rules our life.

Constantly.

Fear of doing badly in school.
Fear of making a bad impression.
Fear of not getting that job.
Fear over money.
Fear of the thought that fighting for yourself would lead to more trouble.
Fear of saying something wrong.
Fear of letting someone down.

Need I go on? Did any of that sound familiar?

I recently wrote about how I overcame my fear of bike riding and it got me thinking about life and fear and its impact on our lives. Everyone is usually so scared to go after something that scares them but they never think of what the good outcome will be, only the bad. Fear is like a little voice in your head telling you that you will always fail. But you won't.

I remember the first time I stood up for myself in an argument instead of being scared. And I felt amazing, like I had accomplished something and you know what? I didn't get in trouble either, in fact, I was praised for sticking up for myself.

I remember being in school and actually speaking out in class instead of being scared I was wrong. I was so proud of myself. I actually started doing better in school and I was trusted by my teachers more.

I also remember the time that I conquered my fear of bike riding. I felt incredible. I can now move around more quickly and exercise a lot quicker.

I remember falling in love without being scared of what could go wrong. And it still feels incredible today. Bringing those walls down and letting someone in is the best decision you can ever make if it's the right person.

So why does it rule our lives? You should never be scared to conquer a fear. Ever. We expect children to do it without much help, whether that's them being scared of the dark or any imaginary monsters. They're thrust into their fear, told monsters don't exist and don't have the choice but to face it because someone's forcing them. And they come out better for it. But who's forcing us?

Face your fears. As far as I can tell, you have two choices. Face that challenge that you have to overcome eventually or you can just let it rule over your life. You will feel proud and accomplished and you'll feel more confident when you overcome it. It doesn't matter what your fear is or what anyone else thinks. At the end of the day, you're overcoming it for you.

Now when I'm going through my day, I'm always aware of what gives me that feeling of fear and most of the time, I'll go out of my way to conquer it. Like underpasses and bridges, I hate them, I absolutely hate walking under them. I used to run under them actually. Nowadays, I take my time walking under. Am I over the fear that the bridge will collapse? No. But I'm slowly conquering it. Some fears aren't a 'one and done' kind, some take longer and that's okay.

It all boils down to conquering the fear in your head mentally and then physically. We all know the power of subconscious thinking. As soon as you think something like 'I'll fail', you will because you've made yourself believe you will. Conquering a fear starts in the mind, when a fear arises, try and counter it with a reasonable thought, like:

Scared of going to an interview? An interviewer is a person, just like you. Just relax.

Scared you'll fail that exam? If you've done all the studying you can then you can only do your best.

Then just breathe and feel your fear slipping away.

Fear is necessary and beautiful. Without it what would give us a challenge? Life would be a breeze, it would be boring.We need fear to grow, as a person and in life.

I've started falling in love with my fears because they're just an extra challenge. And when I overcome them I know I'll feel incredible. It'll always feel like an accomplishment because it is, it's a personal victory. One you should always feel proud about and one you'll always feel more confident about.

As we come into the new year, really think about your fears and what you can do to conquer them. You have what it takes. Let me take you to a quote I have loved since I first set my eyes on it and we'll finish there.

"To me, Fearless is not the absence of fear. It's not being completely unafraid. To me, Fearless is still having fears. Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, Fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death."
-Taylor Swift

What fear are you going to conquer now?

What fear are you going to conquer now? What fears have you already conquered? Share them down below and don't forget to share this with your friends on social media!

Getting Over My Fears For Gears

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 15:03:00 +0000

Photo by SARBPhotography

I have this vivid memory of walking out of a fish and chip shop with my mum when I was six. This was in our mini shopping area, about a cluster of six shops. It was a beautiful sunny day and I had gotten a sausage supper. I was so excited to eat it, right before I was knocked down.

A teenage girl was riding her bike really fast, stupidly so in a small shopping area, she didn't see me and she crashed right into me, just missing my mum. To this day, I still have a dent in the back of my head from where I met the concrete. And to this day, that memory has traumatised me. So much so that I stopped riding my own bike. Now 15 years later, I'm about to tackle that fear...

I live in a small town, it's not hard to get around, but it can be tiring and time consuming if you walk everywhere like I do. And so I decided that I needed a quicker method of transport.

Buses were out; the costs would add up too much.

Getting my own car was out too; that costs more than a bus.

And so I was left with one option: getting a bike.

The very first thing I did was justify getting a bike to myself because my fear was overriding my common sense if I had enough reason then no amount of fear could stop me.

The second thing I did was look online to see if adult stabilisers existed. Anyone who knows me knows that I have terrible luck and that my clumsiness is at unbelievably high levels. There was no chance I was getting back on a bike without a safety net.

My gran and I talked about it more and she said that she would get me a bike as an early birthday present, like more than half a year early, but I agreed. Everyone - bar my mum and my boyfriend- I told about my idea was initially sceptical about me needing stabilisers, they laughed it off and said I’d be fine. When my gran and her partner saw me use my bike for the first time in 15 years, though, they believed me. I was so wobbly and unbalanced and very uncoordinated.

I've had my bike now for just over a few weeks now, maybe a month, and I’m still on my stabilisers and I intend to keep them on until I’m overflowing with confidence. Right now, my main goal is to fix my balance, my confidence and the strength in my legs. Without all those things, I won't get far without my stabilisers. I know it. It's a gut feeling. I need the confidence in myself. I need to feel like I have a better sense of balance before I put it to the ultimate test. I need to build the strength so I can go fast and push myself.

I have a little area where I can cycle around in circles to practice, corners are tough for me honestly, and we have a lot of paths as well that I’ve been practising on. Everyone has marked a difference in my cycling skill, that I’m faster, I’m steadier and I’m more confident in myself and my skills. And you know what? I can see it too!

I’ve had mixed reactions from people when I’ve been out. A few old men on bikes have told me that I’m never going to learn by using stabilisers and that I don’t need them. A guy around my age stopped me and was asking if I was learning, so I told him what happened years ago, and he was really supportive and wished me luck. Then I’ve had kids who have actually pointed and laughed at me.

Yeah, I get it. I’m 20 coming on 21 and I have stabilisers on my bike.

But who cares? I sure as hell don’t. I’m proud of my progress so far. I know where I’ve been and how far I’ve come. As does my family and friends. There’s no shame in it. Shame and fear should never hold us back from doing what we want to do.

You might be thinking what the point of this post was, and I’m getting there, don't worry. My point is, I conquered a fear that I’ve had for 3/4 of my life and it feels good. I still get worried and I still have my moments where I can't keep my balance at all. I still haven't bumped up or down a kerb yet, and I’ll probably keep my stabilisers for a few months yet. But that feeling, of doing something that terrifies you to your very core, and overcoming it slowly, feels amazing.

Okay, there are far scarier things than riding a bike, like bungee jumping, but it's a personal fear, something that had always lurked. We all have them.

This is my challenge to you, if I can do it, then you can do it too. What scares you that you thought you’d never do? If it’s fear holding you back, push it to the side and work through it.

Do something that scares you. You might be surprised.

What scares you? What fear are you going to conquer? Let me know your thoughts down below in the comments and don’t forget to share with your friends!

Review: A Psychic Email Reading From Lyndsay

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 10:57:00 +0000

I love all things spiritual and supernatural.

Heck, I even had my own tarot cards for a while! Sadly I lost them and I can't find them. I've had hand readings before, I believe in the power of certain gems and stones and I am superstitious.

I once read that if you displayed one candle alone in your house, you were symbolising you wanted to be alone and ever since I don't let a candle sit on it's lonesome. It's weird. Do you have any strange superstitions? Leave them below in the comments!

When I saw an opportunity to get a free psychic email reading, I was so excited! Something to review that I was genuinely interested in! And if you haven't noticed, I haven't exactly done a lot of reviews. I got my reading from Lyndsay at livingwithcowsmilkproteinallergy and usually, her readings would cost you £25. At the end of this review, I will tell you if I think that her service is worth the money.

Without further ado, let's get into it;

General Opening:

"As I ask spirit to come forward for you I feel like I am going off in all different directions with you, there are so many twists and turns I feel like I can’t keep up. There’s a feeling of where do I go next and almost a tired feeling of the constant change or battle with your own thoughts here. Spirit want you to slow down and relax, its ok to not know what to do next they have just said. They are speaking about how when we’re relaxed it’s easier to figure things out and the answers will come to you in those moments when you have slowed down and given your brain a rest from all of the racking, to keep racking your brain isn’t helping spirit are saying so please just take some time off from thinking about these nagging thoughts/decisions and try to have some fun."

TLDR; You're life is a mess and your thoughts are always battling against each other. Stop stressing so much and slow down, relax once in a while.

I feel like if you're giving a reading for a 20-year-old, this would suit any and all as an opening. It initially resonated because I never relax and I always over stress but it is a vague paragraph. Again, though, I think you could tell any young adult that they battle with their thoughts and they need to stop stressing and chill out. When I first read it, I was being quite generous with my thinking and I was loosely tying things to my life. Am I a mess? Sure! Do I over stress? Sure! But after reading the rest of the review, I knew it was just a generic opening. I mean, how many people would agree that they stressed too much if a 'psychic' told them so? Too many. Because it's a factor in everyone's lives. Not just a select few.

Question 1: When will my luck improve?

"As I ask your first question spirit clearly say that no one is born with a four leaf clover in their hand, they mention going out and working hard for the things you want in life and that’s not to say you don’t already work hard but it’s a feeling of if you want something in life you have to work really hard for it - I don’t feel like you are one of those naturally lucky people but that doesn’t mean that calmer times aren’t ahead because they are. There’s a sense of you needing to come into your own and really find your feet with who you truly are as a person. You are going to change a lot over the next 18 months and really grow as a person and you’ll gain the confidence you should have! I feel a bit lost inside with you, it’s like you’ve been through it a bit and lost a part of yourself but I am to reassure you that it is coming back and you will become stronger than ever. Spirit want to remind you that it’s important to surround yourself with people who encourage you to do well and try new things, they don’t want anyone around you who doesn’t at the moment ok. I’m not sure if you’ve been having toothache or due at the Dentist but spirit have just made me aware of a pain in my top jaw and then made it numb so that usually means a trip to the dentist."

TDLR; You have to work hard for what you want, you aren't naturally lucky but you and your luck will change in a year and a half. Surround yourself with good people and go to the dentist.

I asked this question because I was genuinely curious. Anyone who knows me knows that I really scrape the bottom of the barrel for luck sometimes, I consider myself quite unlucky. The first few sentences of the answer I received, I skimmed over, I wasn't looking for a lecture that not everyone had a four leaf clover in their hand and that I had to work for what I wanted. It annoyed me. I already know those things, I don't need to be reminded. Then there's the cliche, things will change in 18 months and you will finally be who you're meant to be. It just feels like an overused sentence to me. That being said, one thing did resonate a bit with me: "You've lost a part of yourself." That's a common theme in some of my poetry, if she did research via google on me, she could have found me out but I did believe this part was real initially with that line alone. Then she said I'll get that missing piece back and I knew she wasn't giving me an accurate reading. The piece I lost, I can never get back, and I'm not going into detail about that, but it was here I was really disappointed. Now, the dentist. I have had some trouble recently with my top fillings in my teeth but I'd like to stress that anyone could guess that anyone would be going to the dentist soon for tooth pain, and even if they didn't, you have your 6-month check ups. It feels like an easy statement to make, just like the stress one above.

Question 2: Does anyone have a message for me?

"Yes spirit say laughing as I ask your question - mainly because of the above information I have just been given for you but I do have a grandfather figure here who also who wants to say hello. He’s quite tall and I feel he was quite a placid man. He’s funny though and would have told you it straight but in such a calm and collected way, I like him as you’d always know where you stood with him but he also had a way of knowing when it was the right time to say certain things which people may not like to hear - he was very clever he’s just told me. He liked to make people laugh, he’s showing me him stood in the kitchen making everyone giggle. He had a great outlook on life and wishes you would laugh more now. He’s just said he’s going to come and tickle you if you don’t start having more fun, I’m not sure if you are aware of his presence but he is around you a lot especially recently and he just wants you to be happy. As I ask him for a closing message he flicks the tea towel at you and says come on! That’s his way of picking you up and encouraging you to go and enjoy yourself! Please take his love and know that he is very much around you and if you have been having a niggle with one of your teeth can you get

it checked because he’s just brought that in again for you."

TLDR; You have a loving grandfather who was relaxed and funny. He always pushes you to do your best and he's sending a tickle to you now. He also says to go to the dentist.

I'll be honest with you guys, this was a trick question of mine. Someone close to me has passed away and this was the test to see if this reading was authentic or not and sadly, Lyndsay failed. When I questioned her on her answer here, she told me to ask my mum about my grandfather. This is where she really messed up because the only grandfather who would have acted as she described was on my father's side. My grandfather on my mother's side was not a nice man and I never met him. When I informed her of this, I never heard anything back.

To conclude, Lyndsay got one thing right, about the dentist, but again, that's vague and everyone needs to go at some point in 6 months when you give a reading. This reading was not accurate at all to me and I would hate to think that anyone would waste their money on a site that doesn't give any accurate details that couldn't be guessed.

I'll be honest, I emailed the psychic back to let her know I would still be posting my review and she encouraged me not to. I'm not saying this is an internet scam, but it's a little suspicious, especially after she said in her first email to write an honest review, suddenly, she's not interested anymore. I also spoke to a few other bloggers about this and they've all pretty much experienced the same thing I have. Have I been harsh? Critical even? Sure, but at the end of the day, that's my opinion. A reading, in my opinion, should be accurate and easily relatable. This was not. You draw your conclusions, mines are made.

My advice? Don't buy her service and if you are looking to get something similar done, search for the reviews first. And I don't mean the reviews on their page, you do know that bloggers can delete comments they don't like, right? Search for reviews on the internet, from other bloggers. High chances are, they'll be honest with you about something like this.

I had a lot of inner debate on whether or not to post this review. It could look bad for companies who maybe want to work with me. Maybe I'm being too harsh and it'll put people off my blog. But at the end of the day, I want to be honest with my readers.

What do you think about psychic email reviews? Have you ever had one? Would you have one? Leave your thoughts in the comments down below and don't forget to tell me your weirdest superstition! Don't forget to share with your friends too!

Book Review: Asking For It by Louise O'Neill

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 09:06:00 +0000

Title: Asking For It

Author: Louise O'Neill

Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Young Adult, Feminism

Publication: September 2015

Photo by SARBPhotography

"It's the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O'Donovan is 18 years old, beautiful, happy, confident.

One night, there's a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma.

The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can't remember what

happened, she doesn't know how she got there. She doesn't know why she's in pain.

But everyone else does.

Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night.

But sometimes people don't want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the towns heroes..."

* Spoiler Alert * Trigger Warning *

Where do I even start here?

This book has been on my Amazon wish list for months since I read Only Ever Yours. It was only a week ago when I saw it in my local library in the 'summer reads' section that I leapt on the book. I was so excited, I came home and read about half of it in one go. I am a huge book reader but recently I've been struggling to find an author that sucks me into the story.

I didn't have that problem here.

For me, Louise O'Neill is that kind of writer where she doesn't tell you how the main characters feel, no, she makes you feel what that character is feeling. When I read the first half of this book, I felt as if I was in a trance. I felt raw and I felt like I was Emma. This is a book that is very hard to put down, you have been warned.

Emma is a complicated character, she can be hard to like, perhaps even hard to understand but how people react to what happened to her is even harder to understand. Let me be clear, no one is ever asking for it. Ever. The way Emma was made to feel and the fact she didn't even want to say anything in the first place only solidifies the fact that as a society, we have been ingrained to think that it's our own fault when bad things happen, and Emma especially believes that.

The book is split into two sections, pre-assault and post-assault with a year in between. And what a difference a year can make in the narrative of our main character. This story opens up the discussion about rape, mental health and what is and isn't consent.

When I was reading this book, not once did I think she deserved it or she did act promiscuous. I was firmly against the idea that anyone can bring any assault like this one onto themselves. It's not possible. There is no way to prevent rape. It's not about how you act or what you wear because let's face it, wearing unflattering clothes has never prevented a rape either, it's about what society deems acceptable. And society is against women.

Can we talk about Bryan? Her older brother? Out of the reviews I have read, not one person has spoken about him. He was the only one who saw through her act and really tried to help her. In the book, he was the only character who even tried to care for Emma and do what was best for her. Everyone else was just begging for her to withdraw her complaint, which she eventually did, and only after she did withdraw her complaint, did her family (excluding Bryan) actually start supporting her decision to withdraw. Not before did they support her, but after. They were relieved to not have to deal with Emma's problems anymore. It's disgusting.

This is a book I will always treasure and one I know I will re-read in the future.

This is a harrowing, emotional and raw tale and one I think everyone should read. The writer, Louise O'Neill, is a powerful one and knows how to make us think and feel exactly what she wants us too, and what a talent that is. I personally cannot wait for her next book.

Her afterword is powerful, unfortunately, I can't find the whole thing online and I can't type it all up so I'll give you what I did find and let you end this blog with Louise O'Neills own words.

“We teach our girls how not to get raped with a sense of doom, a sense that we are fighting a losing battle. When I was writing this novel, friend after friend came to me telling me of something that had happened to them. A hand up their skirt, a boy who wouldn’t take no for an answer, a night where they were too drunk to give consent but they think it was taken from them anyway. We shared these stories with one another and it was as if we were discussing some essential part of being a woman, like period cramps or contraceptives. Every woman or girl who told me these stories had one thing in common: shame. ‘I was drunk . . . I brought him back to my house . . . I fell asleep at that party . . . I froze and I didn’t tell him to stop . . .’ My fault. My fault. My fault. When I asked these women if they had reported what had happened to the police, only one out of twenty women said yes. The others looked at me and said, ‘No. How could I have proved it? Who would have believed me?’ And I didn’t have any answer for that.”

― Louise O'Neill, Asking For It

Have you read this book? What did you think? Or has this made you curious to read the book? Let me know in the comments down below!

The Easiest Way To Clean Your Beauty Blender

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 10:20:00 +0000

When was the last time you cleaned your beauty blender?

No, really?

I bought mines a year ago, used it constantly and only just cleaned it for the first time a few months ago. I was horrified by what I saw. The colour of the water was disgusting.

Now I ask you, how do you clean your beauty blender if you've ever cleaned it? Did you buy an expensive cleaner? Did you struggle?

What if I told you I use a bar of soap? Nothing special or fancy, just plain old soap?

Now I can't claim credit for this idea. I originally saw this on YouTube by NikkieTutorials. I watched her video called 'EASIEST WAY TO CLEAN YOUR BEAUTY BLENDER', and I was in awe. I wanted to try it for myself, I wanted to test it to see if it actually worked, and it did. You can watch her video here.

WARNING. Your sink will look disgusting after this and it will need a good clean.

Now what I like to do is fill up my sink with warm water and wet my beauty blender so it expands. Now let's look at my beauty blender for the before pictures.

Photo by SARBPhotography

Yeesh! Okay, I think we can all agree that this sponge is filthy! You can see the difference in the foundation colour and the sponge colour, by the way, this sponge is meant to be orange...

Okay, so we have a sink full of warm water, a filthy beauty blender and a bar of soap. Now what you want to do is start to rub the bar of soap into the sponge and then push that soap through with your fingers. Squeeze it, drop it in the water, lift it back out and squeeze again. You'll be amazed and yet disgusted.

Oh, another warning, this will quickly turn into an obsession. Keep repeating this and rub the soap into anywhere where there is still makeup. If it's your first time, you'll need to empty the sink and refill it with clean water a few times. When your beauty blender returns to its original colour and no other makeup is coming out of the sponge, then you're done!

Let's look at my after pictures, shall we?

Photo by SARBPhotography

What a difference guys, do you see that?

Photo by SARBPhotography

You don't need an expensive sponge cleaner, all you need is soap.

Once again, I'd like to stress that the idea came from NikkieTutorials and I merely wanted to test it out and share it with you guys so you could all clean your sponges in a cheap and easy way. Are you going to try this method now? Leave a comment down below telling me if you've done this before or if this is something new to you!

Take a photo of your before and after and send it to me on Twitter at @TwistedBubbles or on Instagram at @ShannonARBryson!

Do you clean your beauty blenders this way? Will you try it now? Remember to comment down below and share so your friends can see this too!

The Weird Beauty Hacks You Might Not Know; Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 09:06:00 +0000

Weird beauty hacks.

I didn't think I'd be writing a part 2 honestly, I thought that weird but lazy beauty hacks were a 'one and done' type of blog, but boy was I wrong.

It was after my last blog that I realised that there are so many more things that I do that I consider weird hacks yet they hadn't even occurred to me when I wrote the first blog post. And other bloggers kept on sharing their weird beauty hacks with me too, even after I said the blog was finished. But it didn't feel like a 'one and done'. It's funny, because after writing this blog, I'll probably still find something that I didn't think of before or I'll read something from one of you guys, and I'll think, I should write a part 3. What do you guys think? Should we do a part 3? Vote in the poll to the side or comment down below!

Anyway, without further ado, here are more weird beauty hacks, that you might not have heard of!

- Blow those creases. Is your top wrinkled? Don't have time to iron? Too lazy to iron? I feel you. The same thing happened to me and I did something that I honestly can't explain. I picked up my hair dryer and pulled at my top to make it taut where the creases were, and blasted them on the high setting. And do you know what? It actually worked. The wrinkles were significantly reduced and it's become my favourite thing to do in the morning; put on top, blow dry it, and marvel at the results! You do have to be careful though, the air is pretty hot and you will feel it on your skin!

- Gel bar razor heads. Here's another that I'm not quite sure I understand how it works. Y'know those razor heads you get for venus razors, the ones with moisturising strips and gel bars? Whenever I would use them, they'd be great on the first use, but after that, they shrunk and weren't as effective. Well, I've found that if you take the razor head off the razor after you've used it and put it back in the plastic packaging, it won't shrink nearly as much and you'll get a longer use out of it.

- Big bust. Does having the size of breasts that you do prevent you from wearing certain tops or shirts because the buttons gape? Wear a sports bra instead of a regular bra. Sports bras flatten down your bust and it should stop the gaping between the buttons! They might not be pretty, but I'm happy to sacrifice that for a top I really like!

- Greasy hair? Are you like me and live off dry shampoo? What I've found is that talcum powder is a good replacement. I know, I know, but you all knew that anyway. Well, what I like to do is take some talcum powder at night and loosely rub it into my roots and other oily areas. That way when I'm sleeping, it's rubbing in over night and catching teh oil and then when I wake up, I don't need to put anything in my hair and it looks really good! I have tried this with dry shampoo but it doesn't work as well for me.

And again as before, let's see some weird beauty hacks from a few other bloggers!

- "Nivea cold cream works as a way to add 'product' to your hair. Taught to me back in about 1990 before 'products' existed. Great for defining short hair without it going solid as a rock!" - Catherine Pickles from WorzelTheLurcher

- "Use a little hairspray to keep your eyebrows in place!" - Katy Stevens from KatyKicker

- "Use a sock instead of a tanning mitt for a streak free tan!" - Neesha Rees from ReinventingNeesha

- "If your hair is greasy straight after washing it, then it means you've got a product build up. Mix a little bicarb (about a teaspoon) into your shampoo to get rid of the product build up." - Emma Drew from FromAldiToHarrods

- "Here's another great tip and remedy straight from my grandmother - and she swears by it! Mix gram flour (a yellow powder used for making pakoras/bajiyas, can mainly be found in Asian shops) with some yoghurt; then apply once a week to keep the wrinkles away!" Afshan Nasim from Afshanesque

- "I wrap my teabags in foil and refrigerate them after using, then before I do my makeup for a night out, I apply moisturiser to my face, take my teabags out of the fridge and have a 10 minute lie down with them over my eyes - it's cooling and reduces puffiness (plus it chills me out and makes me ready to take on liquid eyeliner haha!)" - Lucinda Kate Hurst from TheFashionFictionary

If you missed The Weird Beauty Hacks You Might Not Know; Part 1, simply click here! What are your lazy but weird beauty hacks? Let me know in the comments down below and don't forget to share this with your friends!

Hay Fever Hacks; Surviving The Pollen Invasion

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 18:48:00 +0000

Photo by SARBPhotography
My essentials for the hay fever season!
Pictured above is from left to right: NeilMed Sinus Rinse Bottle, Covonia Menthol Vapour Drops, Twinings Decaffeinated Green Tea, Dragonfly Tea Peppermint Green Tea, Vaseline, Dorset Tea Wild About Mint, Twinings Chamomile Tea, Sudafed Blocked Nose Spray, Tesco Clear Honey, Primark Sunglasses.

Summer.

When I hear that, I should be happy but I'm not. I've been a hay fever sufferer since as far back as I can remember and I still struggle with coping with it now. However I have found some ways that make this time of year slightly easier, and although they might be well known, there's bound to be at least one that you didn't know or never considered trying.

Here are my tips on how to survive the hay fever season!

- Honey. A teaspoon of honey keeps the pollen away. No, seriously. Honey contains pollen itself, so taking honey can not only desensitise you to pollen, but it can also help your body build up a tolerance! If you don't like honey, try putting it in your tea to help mask the taste. Me? I prefer just to force it down and pull a few questionable faces along the way!

- Avoid caffeine. Caffeine can trigger histamine release, which is something we don't want! But there is a number of herbal tea's to help us in our fight against pollen. Peppermint tea can help you to breathe slightly easier and relieves congestion. Chamomile and ginger are also rumoured to help relieve symptoms and green tea is natural antihistamine and it also helps to build your immune system. Why not pair it with honey and go for a two in one?

- Sinus rinses. This is one of the most unpleasant things on this list for me but it really helps. Are you feeling blocked and mucousy? This is guaranteed to help. It helps to bring out the snot and clear your sinuses and reduce the swelling. You have to have a sinus rinsing bottle though or a syringe, or you might struggle. The solution, however? Don't buy it. You simply need 1 pint of warm water that has been boiled, 1 heaped teaspoon of salt and a 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. I will say the water has to be lukewarm, but not hot, or you will hurt yourself. The water has to have been previously boiled to stop infection. Safety first people.

- Always carry a nasal spray. If your nose is feeling scratchy and dry, that's only going to cause you more pain. Buy a cheap nasal spray to use to help moisten your nose back up, it should help you to breathe easier for a while. Beware, though, you'll also need tissues if you use a nasal spray!

- Sunglasses. No matter the weather, wear sunglasses outside. the sunglasses create a barrier between your eyes and the pollen flying around and will help reduce hay fever symptoms. I find wearing sunglasses helps my eyes to stop watering as much and helps control my runny nose.

- Essential oils. Getting a humidifier or a diffuser might be the smartest investment you'll ever buy when it comes to hay fever. These work by releasing steam into the air, which keeps the air moist for our nasal passages and with a diffuser, you can add essential oils to the water to help! The peppermint and eucalyptus oils are my favourites for helping to decongest my nasal passages and help me to breathe easier!

- Steam. Have a bath or a hot shower and try to inhale as much of the steam as you can. Or better yet, fill a bowl with boiling water and put your head over it with a towel. The steam is going to help moisten those nasal passages and reduce the swelling which will help you breathe a little easier. Add some of the essential oils mentioned above to give the steam an extra boost!

- Lip balm. You'll know if your nose is blocked, you'll breathe through your mouth, that can lead to dry and chapped lips. You'll need lip balm to help keep your lips hydrated and I recommend Vaseline for this, not coconut oil as I'll explain in an upcoming blog! It's also rumoured that some Vaseline under the nose can help to catch the pollen before it hit's your nose!

Do you suffer from hay fever? Let me know in the comments below what you do to combat the pollen! Remember to share with anyone you know who suffers badly around this time of year!

The Weird Beauty Hacks You Might Not Know; Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 16:13:00 +0000

Ah, beauty hacks.

We see them everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. Everyone claims to have something that you've never heard of that makes your life easier, whether it's on a blog, or on Youtube or in general but here, we have some really weird hacks for you.

These are the kind of hacks that you discover along the way of life and you never really share them, until now. These hacks are lazy, weird but genius at the same time! If there's one here you haven't heard of, comment down below!

Without further ado, here are some of my weird and lazy beauty hacks!

- Steam your skin whilst cooking. Are you boiling some vegetables? How about some pasta? Have you ever tried steaming your skin while your food boils away? It's a win win scenario for me. I generally only boil my broccoli for a few minutes so I have to keep an eye on it. What better way than to steam my skin at the same time? You do have to be careful though and not get too close to the actual pan, the boiling water can spit at you and burn you, so keep your afce above the pan, at a safe distance.

- Pavement exfoliating. Walking outside on your feet can hurt sometimes, and you have to be aware of what's around you but it can be great for getting the bottoms of your feel exfoliated. I only do this in the garden personally, because I know there's no broken glass around, but it does feel quite liberating and my feet do feel smoother after i've walked around the garden a few times. It's effortless and gives you fresh air, what's not to like?

- Perfectly painted toenails. Now this is a weird one that I don't quite understand, all I know is that it works. At night I paint my toenails, and it's so messy. No one can actually paint their toenails perfectly without inventing some weird yoga poses, but what if I told you that you don't have to be careful to get beautifully painted toenails? Paint your toenails at night, it doesn't matter how messy they are, I promise you! Put on your top coat as usual after you've done your colour and then slather on some foot cream on your feet and put some fluffy socks on. Leave this on during your sleep. When you wake up and look at your feet, you should have some pretty neatly painted toenails! There might be a bit of polish on your skin that didn't budge, but that should be so easy to peel off now.

Now these are all of my weird beauty hacks but don't fear! This isn't the end of the blog! I asked some bloggers what their weird beauty tricks were and now i'm going to share them, with you.

- "This one might be common but once you've done your face full of make up, gently spray Body Shop Vitamin E face mist all over to set your makeup and make it last longer. I don't know if you could use others, I'm guessing any moisturising face mist *might* have the same effect but i know this one id favoured by a few people." Heledd Jones from YummyBlogger

- "Is using almond oil as eye makeup remover weird enough? I have used every kind of remover and nothing compares to almond oil!" Anisha Kohli from FashionAndFrappes

- "Using soluble aspirin to make a paste and applying it to spots! Clears them right up. Salicylic acid, which is essentially aspirin, is the main ingredient for blemish treatments and costs like 40p per pack!" Sarahjane Wood from CaffeinatedReactions

- "I use skin coloured eye shadow as powder. I used this when I was at a festival and I swear my make up lasted so much better under my eyes and on my nose! It's all I use now to set my under eyes and nose!" Anna Lousia Taylor from UnicornsAndFairyDust

- "Splitting a vitamin e capsule and using the contents to apply to the roots of my eyelashes and eyebrows to enhance growth! This is a great trick for the no make up look on holiday so it looks like you're wearing clear mascara!" Trusha Rx from SecretStyleFile

- "I tried sheep placenta and bee venom infused moisturisers last week if that's weird enough? The placenta one freaked me out a bit but actually really helped plump out my eye area! The bee venom dried out my skin a little but would work wonders on someone with oil skin looking to control shine." Charlotte Clarke from TheLondonBlog

What are your lazy but weird beauty hacks? Let me know in the comments down below and don't forget to share this with your friends!

Getting To Sleep Better: Tips From A Nocturnal Person

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Sat, 14 May 2016 10:41:00 +0000

Sleeping has always been a struggle of mine, or rather, sleeping at a decent time has always been a struggle of mine.

I have been a night owl since I was a kid, staying up late reading a book under the covers by torchlight then, to now, watching a captivating show into the little hours of the morning. I am nocturnal. I love the night. There's something captivating about feeling like you're the only one
awake and just listening to the natural sounds of the world. However, even I know when it's time to break the habit of only getting to sleep in the early-ish hours of the morning.

For years, people have thrown lavender scented products at me and told me things that will help me sleep. Did they work? Not really. I appreciated that they were trying to help but every time I told someone of my sleeping problems, they'd all suggest the same things. The internet is not much better.

Through trial and error, I want to share with you guys, my own tips for sleeping better. Some of these tips, you probably have heard but take it from a fellow nocturnal person, when you try, they can work.

Without further ado, here are my tips:

- Set an alarm. Try and get up at about the same time very morning, no matter what time you get to sleep. You will feel tired, but something I have struggles to accept, is that feeling tired doesn't mean you need more sleep, it's a normal part of life. It takes a lot of patience, but I do find that it pays off and you will start to see yourself sleeping earlier and easier.

- Settle down with a book. Whether it's electronic or paper, it'll help. I find that reading tires your eyes out, which makes you want to close your eyes.. See the logic? Either way, it's a great way to settle down and give you some down time away from social media. However if you do read from a kindle, put the brightness down. The brightness is only going to be worse for your eyes and keep you awake longer because of all the light they're seeing.

- Cancel out the noise. If there's noise distracting you like someone snoring, dogs barking or people outside being drunk, try putting some relaxing music on a low volume. Loud enough you can hear it, but not blasting. My boyfriend introduced me to Norah Jones's Come Away With Me album and it's so soft and relaxing to me. Because it's the album I sleep to, I find it's had an effect on me that whenever I put it on, i'm asleep by the third song. It's psychological.

- Avoid eating before bed. This both benefits your sleep and your body. Eating before bed will give you the energy from that food which will keep you awake longer. Avoid it and drink some water instead. Also, definitely stay away from caffeine in the later afternoon onwards.

- Eat certain foods. I know, I just told you to not eat before bed, but there are foods you can eat during the day that help increase the chemicals in your body that send you off to sleep. Such foods are walnuts, almonds, cherries, rice, strawberries and more! The list goes on! Have a look yourself! Simply look up foods that contain serotonin and melatonin.

- Dark and cold. Keep your bedroom as dark as possible at night and as cool as possible. If you're too hot, chances are you won't sleep well. Something I like to do if I'm too hot before sleep is go stand just outside my front door, I find it cools me enough and gives me some fresh air at the same time.

- Relax with a massage. If you have a partner or a willing family member or friend, ask them for a back rub to help you sleep. Use some body lotion or some lavender scented oil, close your eyes and relax. It's a great way to chill out and feel yourself slowly drifting away.

Let me know in the comments below what helps you sleep! Remember to share this blog!

My Tips For Coping With The Bad Days: Depression

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 12:04:00 +0000

Depression.

It's something that has haunted us all at one point or the other. It's haunted me more times than I'd like to admit. And it's hard. It's so hard to beat. You might be past it, you might have it, or you may be facing it in the future. It's not something you can just 'get over.' It takes time and patience, patience with yourself mostly. It's those days that are the hardest to me. You know what ones I mean. The ones where the day is awful before you've even opened your eyes. We all get them.

I am not a professional in any way shape or form, but I have suffered myself and I still have my down days. These following tips are things I have learned through trial and error and by looking back at my experiences. Most of these are probably easy to guess, but when you're in a dark place, it can be hard to remember to try to give these things a chance. You can think 'what's the point?' and dismiss it immediately. Don't. Slow down and try something on this list, even if it's only once. And please, if you don't think you can do it on your own, tell someone. Don't think you have to be alone.

If you don't have someone to tell or if you're scared, tell me. I know it can be easier to tell someone online because you can't see them or their reaction. You can talk to me in the comments or in the contact form to the right or even on my Facebook that's linked. Don't be alone.

Most of these tips are linked to each other and these things are things I know help me but different things work for different people. Without further ado, here are my tips for depression and those dark days:

- Be patient. This isn't something you can get over in one night. You are going to have to be very patient with yourself and understand that this takes time. Understand that this is a long process and take your time.

- Be kind to yourself. Are you having a really bad day before you're even out of bed? Relax. Did you know that when we don't feel well mentally, our body starts to be in physical pain to tell us to stop and take some time out? It can be a headache, or nausea or anything. Be understanding towards yourself and take an easy day. Do things you enjoy, have a bath, watch Netflix, make a cake, anything you enjoy. I know not all things you enjoy can help, but try something. Worse comes to worse, lie down and read a book or watch a film. Treat yourself and be patient.

- Appreciate the little things. Go outside and look at the world. It's amazing. Plants grow, flowers blossom and the sky moves. Look at someone stopping to pet a stray cat and think of how kind that is. The world can be a dark place, but it has its beautiful moments. Look for those. Appreciate the little moments. Appreciate your loved ones. Appreciate the world. The simplest things can relieve a little bit of your mood. Just look for it.

- Talk to someone. Whether it's a friend, or family or a stranger on the internet. You are not alone. Be honest about how you feel and listen to the other person. If none of that appeals to you, talk to me. You can Facebook me here, you can leave a comment, you can send me an email using the contact form, I will listen and I won't judge. If talking to someone doesn't work, that's okay. Try again tomorrow or whenever you're ready to.

- Breathe. Stop what you're doing and remind yourself to breathe. Deep breathing can help too. Meditation can tie into this tip but it's not something I've tried properly. Take five minutes and just focus on your breathing. It will help.

- Have a hot bath or shower. A bath is preferable to me, there's more option to relax with candles, bubbles and a book. But regardless, that feeling of hot water and cleaning yourself can be so beneficial to your mental health and physical!

- Eat your favourite food. Don't binge eat, but eat something you know you love and enjoy. As previously said, it's all about patience and being kind to yourself. So go ahead and eat your comfort food, it's about making you feel better.

- Bake a cake. It sounds weird but bear with me. Baking has pulled me out of many dark days. There's something about making something delicious out of almost nothing that really lifts my mood. Find a recipe online or find a baking packet in your local shop, and then after, you can eat the goodies or share them out and soak up the good feeling.

- Get a hug. Hugs are proven to relieve stress levels after 11 seconds, and failing that, hugs always make you feel better anyway. They're safe, cosy and warm. What's not to like?

- Eat something healthy. The vitamin boost can help you greatly, failing that, take a multivitamin. The extra vitamins are going to do so much for helping your mental state and body feel better.

- Drink water too. Sugar is going to slow you down and make you feel even more sluggish. If you struggle with water, add some dilution juice to flavour it a bit, it's still better than fizzy juice.

- Have a clear out. Got a box of junk in the cupboard? Go through it. Clearing out and reorganising can be a great distraction and be very productive. Cluttered areas promote bad mental health and sleeping problems so do something productive and get it sorted. Chances are you'll feel better in some way after clearing it out, and you might want to continue.

- Go back to bed. None of these helping? Go back to bed with a hot water bottle and Netflix. Your bed is your comfort zone, it's basically your recharging zone. Many websites tell you to stay out of bed but I know that if you're having an awful day, bed can be just thing you need. It's safe, warm and comfortable. Go ignore the world and just relax.

These are just a few of the things that help me but I feel like everyone forgets them when they're having a bad day. Try a few if you want to and please seek further help if you can't manage on your own.

Remember one thing.

You're not alone.

Let me know what you do on your bad days in the comments below and talk to me if you need to talk to someone. Please remember to share on your social media and leave a comment below!

How To Save Money: The Quirky Hacks And Tips

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 20:26:00 +0000

We've talked about the boring ways in which you can save some money, now let's try some fun ones.

This is the second part of a two part blog post where we talk about how to save yourself some money. In the first blog, we talked about the standard ways to save money, drinking water, buying the cheaper brand, using coupons and so forth but now we get to talk about the quirky ways you can save some money that you might not have heard about or expected. Okay, so calling it fun might be a
stretch, but if you're saving money, that extra money can lead to fun.. Right?

Without further ado, here are the quirky ways that you can save yourself some money.

- Don't buy scented drawer liners. Or drawer scented anything. You remember those scented bars of soap you were given for Christmas that you still haven't used? Put them in your clothes drawers. Don't let them just sit in a normal drawer scenting nothing but air, put them in beside your clothes so they can scent your clothes until you want to use that bar of soap for it's original purpose.

- Don't buy shaving cream. Now here's a tip for all those bars of soap that you have lying in your clothes drawers! Simply lather up your desired shaving area with a bar of soap and shave away those expenses! Too cheesy? Don't buy something expensive when you can pretty much replicate the same effect with something you have lying around and if you don't, buy a bar of soap instead, it'll last so much longer for so much cheaper, I promise.

- By presents in advance. Everyone knows that Christmas is a commercial holiday now and that prices rise. So why not buy your Christmas gifts earlier and save some money as well skipping the Christmas rush? Even better, buy next years gifts in the January sales. You're welcome.

- Make your own cards. Who cares if it looks crappy? It's home-made and has a lot more sentimental meaning than a store bought card. Why not make it even more fun and invite your friends and family to try it with you?

- Look around your town. The amount of free activities and classes you can join are unbelievable. Keep your eye on notice boards and on the internet and go along to some free events!

- Shop for clothes in charity shops. You'd be surprised how much cheaper something in a charity shop can be just because it's been donated. Think about it, you have a bigger variety of clothes to look through, you're giving money to charity and you're saving money. Did someone say win win win?

- Dump your change in a box. Got spare change after shopping? Dump it in a box or a cup at the end of the day and try to not dip into it. If you want to do one better, have several of these boxes and label them so you can have separate boxes for 1ps, 2ps, 20ps and so on.

- Take advantage of reward cards in your favourite stores. You can rack up points which you can spend later and you always usually get a special treat on your birthday. What's not to love?

- Take sachets of sauce home. Why not take advantage of eating out and take those sachets home? Use them at home with meals and you could be surprised by what you save. Same goes for sugar and sachets of milk, salt and pepper.

- Make your own soup. Making soup these days is so easy and cheap compared to almost everything else. Look up a recipe and buy some veg, or do what I do and wing it! And if you have a lot, you can freeze some for another day!

- Enter a free lottery! The Free Postcode Lottery allows you to sign up with your postcode and your email and you can possibly win money everyday! Click here to find out more! After all, what's the harm in something that's free?

Like these tips? Got some of your own? Feel free to tell me in the comments below and share with your friends!

Missed my last post? Catch it here! How To Save Money Part 1!

How To Save Money: The Standard Hacks And Tips

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 23:25:00 +0000

We are all strapped for cash and want to save more money. It's a fact.

It's a constant struggle with all of us, money. A huge part of growing up is learning that money doesn't in fact grow on trees and that we can't keep asking our parents for something we need (read want). Hopefully, I can help show you some more ways how you can save some money just by doing these few simple things.

This will be a two-part blog post where I tell you the ways where you can cut costs and save a bit more money so you can have more to play with. The first post(that's this one) will be more of the standard ways to save money, the boring hacks if you will, but the second post will be more quirky and fun ways to save money.

Without further ado though, let's get saving in the traditional sense.

- Pay with cash. Going to the shops with your credit/debit card can make it so easy to lose track of how much money you're spending. Go with cash instead and not only are you giving yourself a budget, you can control what you're spending your money on.

- Use whatever vouchers you have and can find. Money saving vouchers can make a huge difference over time, whether it's for a supermarket or a drug store, every little helps after all. Voucher Codes is a fantastic website for this with many different opportunities to save money at different stores.

- Enter free competitions. Entering competitions that have money or shopping vouchers can pay off, literally. I've been entering competitions for years and I recently won a shopping voucher! It can feel like a waster of time, but what's the harm in trying? A site I use for competitions and free samples is Magic Freebies.

- Drop the fizzy juice. Fizzy juice can add up to quite a figure if you're having it often. Try something free and healthy and drink water instead, or in between your usual drinks, if nothing else, it'll make your juice last longer. If water doesn't sound appealing, try tea or dilution juice instead.

- Try the cheaper brand. Just try it, you probably won't notice any difference.

- Find the clearance sections in supermarkets. Every supermarket has at least one clearance section of items that are on their best before date. Who's to say the items no good though? Bagels usually cost me over £1.50 and I found a packet reduced to 40p just because they were on their best before date. I froze them and defrosted one when I wanted one, simple and money saving.

- Go through your bills. We all have something we're paying for that we don't use. An old gaming account? Phone insurance? Subscriptions? Really think about what you need and what you don't and work from there. While you're at it, try and call and threaten to leave to reduce some bills too. Many people do this and claim to save so much money on their phone bills.

- Sell on eBay. I've already highlighted the benefits of selling on eBay and an easy starter guide right here.

- Go to the library. Why keep buying books when you can rent books for free? Doesn't that make more sense? An added bonus is that you can support your local community and meet new people!

- Stop those bad habits. Do you smoke? Drink? You see where I'm getting at? You know how much these things cost, why not cut them out and save some money and be a bit healthier?

- Be honest. If you can't afford to go out and do something or buy something, be honest, whether that be with other people or yourself. Don't put yourself in financial trouble because you don't want to tell someone the truth. They'll get it, we all do.

Like these tips? Got some of your own? Feel free to tell me in the comments below and share with your friends!

Stay tuned for How To Save Money: The Quirky Hacks And Tips coming soon...

Tried And Tested: DIY Hair And Face Masks

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 23:53:00 +0000

It sounds simple enough right?

DIY hair and face masks that you can do with ingredients you already probably own. It couldn't be better, you can literally pop down into your kitchen whenever you feel like beautifying yourself. These DIY masks are cheaper, they smell better (kind of) and you know exactly what's in them, whereas with a bought mask, there's many added chemicals.

The following masks I have tried and tested for your convenience. I'll tell you now though, if you do try any of these masks, there's a high chance that it won't look or smell good; I learnt that the hard way.

Without further ado, join me on my messy journey:

- Egg Whites:

All you do is whisk your egg whites with an electronic mixer until you get a thick white froth and that's all your prep for this one. Now egg whites are good for your face and for your hair. Egg whites on your face reduce pore size and combat oily skin, which helps fight acne too whilst on your hair egg whites are fantastic for reducing oiliness and gives your hair a shine.

Now this is extremely messy and smelly to do.

I usually whip up my eggs, dampen my face and put the egg whites on until I feel like it's dry and I do the same with my hair. This is extremely messy and the egg will drip down, so I always found it best to have a large bowl under my face to catch drips. I do find that whenever I use it on my face, my pores tighten up and it really helps my oily skin but on my hair, I didn't really notice a huge difference. I rinsed it out my hair and stuck to my usual shampoo and conditioner hair routine and although it did make my hair a little shinier, it wasn't great enough for me to want to do it again.

However I fully recommend using egg whites on your face, unless you're allergic to eggs then don't do it! I really didn't think that the eggs on your hair was really worth the hassle with the little shine I got though.

- Mayonnaise:

Same principle as the egg whites right? The mayonnaise hair mask is supposed to give you a nice shine, repair breakage and protect your hair from heat damage. All you need to do is dampen your hair, lather mayonnaise all over your hair, stick a shower cap on, wait half an hour and wash it off.

When I did this I actually kept the hair mask on for longer as I was playing a heated game of monopoly with the family, plus I thought that the extra time couldn't do any harm. Now this does smell bad. Like really bad. But you do eventually get used to it. Washing it out can be interesting, and a little tricky but stick with it.

Now when you dry your hair, there's no immediate results. I did find my hair felt a bit softer however I actually had to use heat styling on my hair before I saw the shine. It was a nice shine, a lot better than the shine I got from the egg whites, however the fact I had to straighten my hair before I saw it felt a little contradictory to me.

It did work, my hair felt softer and it definitely had a shine. The smell and washing it out aren't the easiest things to handle but it might be worth it if you want that extra boost.

- Bananas and Honey:

Now this is a double whammy mask as I'll be talking about two masks that are almost similar but for different areas of your hair. For both, you will need bananas and then honey for one.

The first one is a simple banana mask. You mash up a banana really good, the less chunks the better basically, and you massage the paste into your scalp. Banana's on your scalp promote hair growth and keep your roots nourished to keep your growing hair healthy. This mask is supposed to be fantastic for anyone who suffers from dandruff.

The second mask is almost the same. You mash up a banana just like before, except this time, you add 3 tablespoons of honey and mix it all together. Now this is specifically for the strands and ends of your hair. This mask adds shine, softens your hair whilst repairing heat damage.

I tried both at once because, why not? You have to stick a shower cap on afterwards to keep it all in and I kept mine on for 45 minutes. This does look like someone threw up in your hair but smells amazing and let me just say, it's worth it. The honey can be a bit overpowering in smell but you barely smell it when you're washing it out. Speaking of, I rinsed my hair and then washed my hair normally. Really try to go through your hair fully to get all the chunks out if there were any, however I found that when I dried my hair, any leftover bits just brushed straight out.

I found that using these masks really softened my hair and my ends and gave my whole head of hair a beautiful shine. I actually felt that it also gave me a little more volume than usual and my scalp felt really nice too! This was by far my favourite mask to try and I'll definitely be using this again. The smell of your hair afterwards is also amazing guys and worth the mess.

Let me know if you try any of these masks out and let me know how they work for you!

Also feel free to recommend some more food related DIY face and hair masks and I'll try and test them for you! I need your suggestions!

Email me, Facebook me, Tweet me and comment on this blog! I'll leave my contact details below!

Share this if you think this blog was useful!

Email: ShannonARBryson@gmail.com
Facebook: Shannon AR Bryson
Twitter: TwistedBubbles

Basic First Aid Skills Everyone Needs To Know

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 16:05:00 +0000

We've already talked about the basic self defense skills that everyone needs to know.

Now it's time to talk about basic first aid that can save not only other people, but you.

It is always beneficial to invest your time and energy into completing a first aid course as they can always teach you more than the internet can and they can offer you hands on experience. I know
some basic first aid from primary school but everyone can always learn more when it comes to saving someone's life, whether that be your own or another's.

Here are some techniques and tips that can help to teach you basic first aid skills.

- Heart attacks. These are by far the scariest thing to face when you're all alone. But did you know you can save yourself? You can save yourself by coughing repeatedly and vigorously. For this to work, you have to take a deep breath before every cough, and these coughs should be deep and prolonged and repeated every two seconds until help arrives or until your heart starts beating normally. When someone else is having a heart attack however, you need to call for an ambulance right away. After you've done that, you need to get the person into a comfortable position and maybe try getting them to breathe deeply and cough.Chewing an aspirin can also help the person whilst dealing with a heart attack.

- Burns. The first thing to always to with a burn is to run it under cold water. However, there are a few different things you can do. For example putting sugar on a burnt tongue can cure it, mustard can also cure burns and take away the redness, and simply touching your wound can alleviate pain.

- Unconsciousness. What if someone's unconscious? There are a few things you can do to wake them up, the first being to talk to them. If talking doesn't work then try tickling the palms of their hand or the soles of their feet. If they don't wake up then you need to check if they're still breathing. If they are, then give them 5 minutes to wake up, if they don't then call for help. If they're not breathing, you'll need to perform CPR, h ere's a very good guide by the NHS.

- Choking. Choking is terrifying. If the person choking can talk, then just call an ambulance and suggest that they try coughing to lodge the item. However if they can't talk and they are holding their throat, you will need to step in. Get someone to call an ambulance and perform the Heimlich Maneuver. You can find out how to here.

- Shock. It's hard to know what to do when someone's in shock but your best bets are to lay them down with their feet elevated, keep them warm with a blanket and do not feed them or give them something to drink.

- The recovery position. Perhaps something everyone should know how to do is the recovery position. You can find out how to put someone in that position here.

- Diabetics. In a diabetic emergency, give the person something sweet to eat or drink.

- Cuts. Put sugar on a cut and it'll reduce the pain and speed up the healing process.

- Paper cuts. You can heal paper cuts and stop the pain with a chopstick.

You can find more fast first aid help and tips here.

In an emergency always call the emergency services first. Make sure to not put yourself in any danger. If you're not sure what to do, then leave it to the professionals.

What are some first aid hacks that you'd like to share? Leave them in the comments below and don't forget to share and save a life!

Easy Money On Ebay

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 20:26:00 +0000

We've all fallen into that trap of wanting something new to wear, buying it and never actually wearing it.

I know this problem too well.

I have jeans that are too small, hoodies too big, mountains of bags and so many shoes. These things take
up space and are doing nothing sitting in the back of the closet. Now my first reaction would be to give them to charity, a noble thing to do, but you're not getting any money that way. What I want to do is try selling my unused items on Ebay.

Now I have read a few start up guides on Ebay and read quite a few selling tips, and I want to try selling on Ebay. For those of you who wish to also try something new, here are those tips:

- Photo's. Your photo's should be of a high quality standard, and by that I mean in focus. It also helps to have whatever you're selling, in my case boots, lit naturally and against a neutral or plain background. It also helps to have a few photo's showing all the details and angles of what you're selling.

- Details. For example, my boots are from New Look, a size 6, black leather with a lace up front. So my title could go along the lines of 'Woman's Black Leather Lace Up Boots Size 6 From New Look.' You should provide most of the details in the title to help draw your buyers in. It also helps to put a lot of detail into the description, like what they look like, how used are they and what their average price is. Phrases can also be used like NWT (new with tags), NWOT (new without tags) or EUC (excellent used condition).

- Reserves. It's also been noted that items with free shipping sell more quickly unsurprisingly. Now with the price, you can research online to see how much your item is worth but remember, you have to be competitive. You have to give your buyers a good deal to make them more keen. Using the bidding service can help with drawing the money in, however you have to be careful with your reserve, making it too high can put buyers off. Personally I am going to put a reserve of £4 on my boots to cover the free shipping and hope for the best.

Now if you are already quite familiar with Ebay then this should be easy for you. There is a bit of time required to get a good photo and to get all the necessary details in place. Thankfully Ebay have a lot of your usual questions answered and appear like they are willing to help at every obstacle.

One thing I will say after putting up my own listing is that you need a lot of details about your item, so I highly suggest you have a measuring tape with you when you're filling out the form. I will say it's not always easy to find out information about your product online. I only bought my boots a year ago yet I can barely find any information online about them. I actually had to enlist my mums help.

Be critical with yourself and have a think. Dig around your home and look for items you don't actually want or use any more. You might surprise yourself and gain some money to buy something new.

Hopefully it won't just collect dust like those other items!

To be continued...

Have you used ebay before? Let me know in the comments down below and don't forget to share with your friends!

My Coconut Oil Mess

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 01:42:00 +0000

Coconut oil has many different uses for us: food, drink, hair, skin, the list is never ending.

You can find many interesting blogs and articles on how you can use coconut oil and I have read most of them. I'm always looking for weird routines to add into my beauty routine so I finally caved and bought myself a little jar of coconut oil.

Now it arrived yesterday and I was so excited to test it in two ways; hair and legs.

It's well known that coconut oil is fantastic for your hair and also that using coconut oil as a shaving cream substitute could moisturise and protect your skin at the same time. So I sat on my bath with my legs hairy and my hair dirty, ready to go.

First thing I'll say is that it smelled amazing, just like a bounty, and I wanted to eat it. I filled up my sink with hot water to melt it and I first used it on my hair. I used quite a generous amount on my ends and half way up my hair and it felt amazing. I then pinned my hair back and focused on my legs.

I spread the oil on both of my legs and started shaving. Now this is where it started getting messy. I was rinsing my razor in the sink and the first thing that I noticed was how the oil was getting everywhere. However, I did find that shaving was easier and smoother. I am notorious for cutting myself when shaving and I only nicked myself twice. My skin felt lovely and soft and I felt I had really got a close shave. My favourite thing about using the oil, is that I didn't need to rinse my legs and dry them. I literally applied the oil, shaved my legs, checked for missed spots and I was done! I love using the oil on my legs and so I was excited about seeing the results on my hair.

When I started rinsing the oil out, I noticed that it was still very oily, but I had high hopes that when I shampoo'd, the oil would be mostly washed away. I used my Inecto Coconut Shampoo and Conditioner which is fantastic for my hair and I thought would match perfectly with the oil. I continued with my normal hair routine and still thought my hair felt a bit too oily. I considered washing it again, but decided to dry it and hope for the best.

I hate drying my hair because it takes so long. I'm growing my hair out and find it a long and tiring task but I persevered and started drying my hair. By the end of it, most of it felt dry but still looked wet so I went to look in the bathroom mirror as it had better lighting. I was shocked to see how oily and greasy my hair looked. It looked wet but was in fact dry. Now I don't know about you, but I like my hair to look dry and clean.

Frustrated, I prepared to wash my hair again. I tried my best to clean the sink as there was still a lot of oily residue left over from me cleaning my razor. How do you clean coconut oil off surfaces by the way?

I washed my hair again and dried it, again. By this point, I had noticed that the oil was all washed out of my hair. That meant that by the time I had dried it, I noticed no difference.

I don't know if I did something wrong but using the coconut oil in my hair didn't leave me with desirable results.

The final results were in. I had amazingly soft, smooth legs, an oily bathroom, and hair that didn't appreciate being washed twice.

I will never use coconut oil in my hair again. On my skin? Definitely. But never in my hair again. It just made it feel and look greasy, worse than before I had washed my hair.

What are your stories? Share below!

How do you find coconut oil? Do you love it or hate it? Share your comments down below and don't forget to share with your friends!

Contact

noreply@blogger.com (SARBThoughts) — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 22:45:00 +0000

Get In Touch!

Here you guys can find a list of my social media accounts that are related to my blog! Feel free to follow me and send a message along!

Twitter - @TwistedBubbles

Tumblr - @ShannonARBryson

Instagram - @ShannonARBryson

Google+ - @ShannonBryson

BlogLovin - @AThoughtWithMe

Email - ShannonARBryson@gmail.com