Tuesday 28 June 2016

Shark Leggings! | 2nd Hand Style

Welcome to the first of a few Outfit Of The Days using 2nd hand clothes from a dear friend of mine. Living ethically in the world of clothes was a lot easier when I was a size 10 because charity shops here cater well to the smaller lady. As a 18-20? I look stupid in old lady clothes and can't afford ethically made garments. Thank fuck my friend had a clear out! So, SHARK LEGGINGS:



Sun face.


These are amazing and beautiful and well made and I hope they last be forever. I've never had patterned leggings before so learning to style them is proving fun! I've chosen a long vest with control pants underneath for a super easy and comfortable look. For outside adventures I don my trusty not leather jacket and sexy, comfy boots. This is my everyday "look at my shark leggings" outfit.

I'd include product details you can get that shit anywhere and most likely from more ethical places than Primark or New Look.


Well hello there, change of lighting! Don't you make things look different!


I fucking love sharks. Last year I discovered Hungry Shark Evolution, have been addicted ever since and have learnt a fair bit about sharks! If you like sharks too there is some super rad shark apparel (including leggings!) at Sharktopia. Their proceeds go to marine conservation organisations, so not only are you buying ethically kinda (supporting an artist and the sea... American Apparel), but you get cool shark stuff! Don't be surprised if I end up head to toe in shark gear one day.

Oooohhhhh! And if you want a crash course in basic shark knowledge there is a series called Shark on Netflix narrated by Phwoar [Paul] McGann!

Anyway, I love these leggings. Yay for 2nd hand clothes!




Thursday 23 June 2016

My England Game Make-Up

I haven't really been into make-up during an international Football event yet, so this year I thought I'd have some fun.


All I really did of interest was use a red lip liner for eyeliner on top of some white, shimmery eyeshadow, and slapped one some bright read lipstick! Product list below:



Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in 1 Fair over blemishes, and 2 Cool Medium under eyes
Arbonne eyeshadow in Sand to fill in eyebrows
A shimmery white eyeshadow (2nd row from left) from the e.l.f. 150 Geometric eyeshadow palette all around my eyes and one of the neutral tones from the same palette as a transition shade.
Barry M lip liner in Red on upper lids as eyeliner and on the lips
Barry M Lash Vegas Waterproof mascara
Barry M Natural Dazzle bronzer in the usual places
The pinky-toned highlighter in the middle of this Makeup Revolution Go! to the City palette on the top of my cheeks, inner corner of eyes, brow bone, nose etc.
e.l.f. Essential Lipstick in Fearless

I enjoy looking like this quite a lot! COME ON ENGLAND!




Monday 20 June 2016

Rambling #1

Hey!

This is my blog getting seriously bloggy. I've had a week off work - it's been weird. Lots of thinking.



I have been working way more than I should have been lately - covering other people, arriving early to get things done, not being able to take breaks or eat and oh my days, it's ruined me. I find that when I'm so overworked, not only am I spending more spoons, I'm losing sleep, stressed, anxious and resorting to caffeine. Huge snowball! Obviously, this makes me so much more exhausted and fatigued than normal. So it comes as no surprise that I can't keep this up very long or even achieve my normal amount of activity.

This happened through out the merry month of May with it's fucking Bank Holidays. I'd booked a weekend off to attend and recover from a wedding. But then had to work the day after it. Yay. This rendered me useless and unable to work my next shift, then I was given the week off to rest. So. Needed.

The first few days I was restless. I was so overstimulated and overworked that my brain could not calm down. Anxiety set the mind on overdrive and thoughts were flying around it 100 miles per hour. My self-worth was disappearing, depressive thoughts took over and I wanted to quit my job. Scouring jobsites brought me no solace or luck, and I felt doomed for misery. Being stuck with a chronic illness in this society is hard, it's like being trapped. You can't do what you want to do, almost ever. Be it big life dreams or small bits throughout the day - you just can't. You can't be the person you want to be or live the life you want to lead. I can't have a dog and a job. I can't have a social life and a job. I live with and am dependent on my mum at the age of 28. How I am not miserable 24/7 I don't know.

Once all this was out of my system and I had rested a bit - I started to feel much better. I took stock, got passionate about my goals and realised I was already on the most sensible and realistic path - past Lisa had got it right after all. I noticed that for a few weeks I was only having one day off at a time which gave me no time to rest or do anything even slightly recreational. My days off were spent trying to juggle recovering from work and preparing for work, and shoving a driving lesson in if I wasn't too tired. This was running me into the ground physically and emotionally. The answer is not quitting a job I enjoy, with people I adore, and a manager who understands I need to pace and listens to me - it was to talk to this manager and amend this. I need to work 4 days a week, swapping my 5th day for a driving lesson, and have two days off in a row again. Simple, really.

As for the rest of it? I've accepted my life for what it is and minimised pining for what it's not. I will continue to learn to manage my illness to make the most out of the short time I have on this planet. I lost enough to depression as a teenager, my life is for enjoying.

Something I am grateful for is that after many, many mistakes, I have learnt not to act drastically out of emotion. I didn't quit my job in the middle of a breakdown. After lots of work on my mental and physical health, I knew I was miserable because of fatigue more than anything. Saving jobs to apply for was making me feel better but I wasn't applying until I was less exhausted and still thought it was a good idea. Of course, that didn't happen.

It's amazing how much fatigue can affect one's life. I do not suffer from depression anymore, but when exhausted I fall back into unhealthy thought patterns so, so easily. This week off work has been paramount to my health. I will be trying to do this 2-4 times a year to keep on top of things.

I am sure that working with dogs is what I want to do with my life. The course I am attending is the best step for me to take towards that. Learning to drive will enable me to attend my course and give me more ability to work with dogs and volunteer at the shelter. Driving is a priority. I need to make time and reserve spoons for it.

I'm not entirely sure why I'm posting this - I like to read little life stories from other bloggers so this is like, an extremely uneventful one from me? Maybe it'll help someone is some tiny way somehow? You are not alone, I freak out and give up sometimes, too? Who knows.

It really is so important to look after your health when you have a chronic illness. If, like me, you are a born workaholic, it is so easy to be swept up in work, chores, things to do... blogging!, that you forget to pace, keep on pushing through and end up lay in bed despairing for three days straight. This sets you back. It really is worth taking some time to yourself as often as you can (I'm trying to get it in daily like I used to be winning life) to just check that you are getting the little things done you need to, and are getting enough rest. You can't do any of the things you wants to do if you make yourself too tired. Don't forget we're all in the slow lane :)





Thursday 2 June 2016

5 Pink Lipsticks for £5!

Hello!

On a little venture to Superdrug lately, I found a B. lipstick palette for £5.99, which was 5 lipsticks for £10 off the original price or something, and got all excited. The lovely lady working there noticed this and recommended the Freedom Pro Red Lipstick collection as a tried and tested alternative for £5. While I wasn't sure about the ingredients at this point, I popped the B. palette back on the shelf to research these and return. Thanks to the wonderful Kelly of The Vegan Taff, I found out these were indeed vegan, and had a good old rummage in the Freedom section a few days later.



There are a few collections for a fiver from Freedom, here is the whole selection. I already have a few reds, I'm not brave enough for the Vamp, Far Away Galaxy or Now collections and the Bare collection looked a bit orange for me. However, I am trying to do the whole pink lips thing for spring, and thought 5 pinks for £5 was a pretty safe way to learn how to wear pink and what pinks I like.

So, here are the pinks!



Candy Sweet.



Flushed.



Pink Lust.



Tell Your Friends.



Wildflower.


So, okay. I kind of love them. I went for Flushed first because it looked like the safest shade and I couldn't go wrong but having tried them all, Candy Sweet is my favourite. I would never have predicted that! The brightest, most in-your-face-pink is my fave? What?! Rad. I have a lot of love for Flushed and Pink Lust, too. These will be perfect for when I want a more subtle pink lip. Tell Your Friends made me look a bit washed-out for my liking, but has a really nice formula and is lovely to wear. If it didn't make my lips the same colour as they are when I'm super ill, pale, and dehydrated, I'd love it! Maybe I can keep it for when  want that sick look... or wear it with a heavier eye? Any ideas? Wildflower is pretty nice but you need a tonne of it on your lips to stop it looking streaky and only being visible in the creases of your lip.

They're not completely opaque, but aren't super sheer either, which makes them very wearable for lipstick noobs like me. They're very buildable which is a good enough solution for this for me. What impressed me most about these is that they really last. I thought the only lipsticks that stayed on lips for more than five minutes were matte ones, and only really the liquid matte ones. I was wrong. They only need a bit of a top up after eating and that is with no lip liner or anything. I think I have finally discovered straight-forward lipsticks at long last! 2016 is the year of the lip.

If I wasn't already working my way through a bunch if e.l.f. red lipsticks, I'd buy the Red collection right now. The Vamps will probably be bought when autumn comes around. I am trying to keep my make-up collection small and containing essentials that I actually wear only, but first I need to find out what those products are, right? ;)

I couldn't recommend this collection more. Each lipstick is only £1, lasts and is easy to apply and wear! I can't speak for the other collections, but the quality appears to be consistent across the range, judging by other peoples reviews. Go treat yourself, or someone else :) I'm off the find the perfect cheap eyeshadow to recreate this Tanya Burr look using Candy Sweet :)

Have a great day!