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Posted on April 29, 2013

The importance of sleep

Sleeping Beauty

Doesn’t she just look so peaceful and youthful while she’s lost in her own little world?

Don’t you just wish you could look as rested as Sleeping Beauty herself?

Well believe it or not,it’s possible! I mean you certainly won’t look as animated as she does, but you can indeed look more rested and youthful once you realize the importance of sleep.

Personally, I never have to force myself to bed, it baffles me why anyone who isn’t in school does because like water, sleep is a natural source of beauty; when you sleep, your whole body goes into repair mode which is particularly good for your skin because it means that your skin renews itself by replacing older cells with newer ones. I mean it’s a bit of a no brainer really, if you get rid of something old and replace it with something new it’s only going to make it look better right?

Maybe I should get a little bit more technical than that.

When you deprive yourself of sleep, your body releases more of the stress hormone cortisol. Too much cortisol in your system can break down the protein that keeps your skin smooth as well as elastic, and this may cause fine lines which lead to wrinkles. Also, a lack of sleep causes your blood vessels to dilate and as a result , it gives the appearance of dark circles.

And for those of you who suffer from break outs every now and then, you should really know that not enough sleep directly causes acne through inflammation so believe me when I say that it’s worth skipping The Late Late Show over this, just think of the effects that staying up will have on your skin the following morning.

But as usual, every cloud has a silver lining! And the good thing about sleep is that it helps recover your skin fairly quickly which means that if you get your 7-8 hours of sleep on one night alone, it will instantly show on your face the following day and if you get a good night’s sleep tonight, there’s no doubt that everyone will notice it tomorrow: you will look well-rested, energized and on top of that, your skin will glow!

I mean who needs a face-lift when you have a good sleeping habit? And after all, Sleeping Beauty did nail a prince after 100 years of being in a deep slumber, surely all that sleep had something to do with it!

Hope you get all your hours in tonight, but, if you happen to wake up with baggy eyes, just check out one of my previous blog posts!

Thanks again for reading, and remember, there’s a reason why they call it beauty sleep!

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Posted on April 17, 2013

Olive oil: The perfect eye makeup remover

Natural beauty/ product review

A lot of people get startled when they see olive oil in the toilet, they think that olive oil is something that should be ”kept in the kitchen and no place else because it is used for cooking and nothing else”

Boy are they wrong…..

I woke up one morning and found it quite odd that I still had a bit of white eyeliner on my waterline from the night before (the excitement of trying on new makeup!) I found this pretty strange as I’m usually pretty good at getting all my makeup off before going to bed and up until now, Boots Essentials Cucumber Eye Makeup Remover Gel had never let me down.

It then occurred to me that white eyeliner would probably need a little bit of extra care when trying to remove it, especially for my skin tone and because the liner was the complete opposite of my skin color, even the tiniest of makeup residue would still be visible!

So I searched and I searched and I searched some more, until I finally had a breakthrough and discovered Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the perfect eye makeup remover had been sitting in the kitchen press just waiting to be used.

After I saw how effective it was, I quickly went out and purchased a 100ml bottle of Olive oil in the nearest chemist and decided that from that day on, it would be the only eye makeup remover to ever touch my eyes. (dramatic much?)

50ml, 100ml, 500ml

Perhaps I am a being a tad bit dramatic, but it’s excusable, and here’s why:

1. A drop or two of extra virgin olive oil and water on a cotton pad instantly removes any eye makeup without irritating the skin.

2. It has a lipid profile very close to that of the human skin meaning it is suitable for all skin types when mixed with water.

3. It helps smooth wrinkles that can form around the eyes.

4. Extra virgin olive oil is the highest quality of its class as it has the added advantage of providing strong antioxidants like vitamin A and E that help repair and renew damaged skin due to sun exposure.

Besides all the technical stuff, olive oil is cheaper than other eye makeup removers, it lasts a lifetime, and it conditions your lashes leading to possible eye lash growth! I would highly recommend it to everyone, and even if you aren’t sure about going out and buying a bottle just go to your kitchen and give it a go before making such a ”huge” commitment.

For those of you who would like to take a leap of faith, here is a link to where you could but it now:

http://mccabespharmacy.com/shop/beauty/skin-care/olive-oil-pharmacy-brand-ireland-4645.html

Thanks for reading such a long post! Feel free to comment and share!

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Posted on April 14, 2013

How to get rid of puffy eyes

Natural beauty

Anybody who knows me personally, would definitely back me up when I say I NEED MY SLEEP.

Without it, I cannot function. Without it, I look like death. Without my sleep I wake up with one of the most horrifying things that any woman could ever wake up to: Puffy eyes.

I’ll save ‘‘the importance of sleep’‘ for a rainy day (which is never too long away when you live in Ireland), but today I feel almost obliged to write about this because for the past two nights I haven’t been getting much sleep so I will happily take this time to share with you a few tricks on how to get rid of puffy eyes

According to some people black eyeliner is holy grail for tired eyes, sorry to burst your bubble, but those rules don’t apply for puffy eyeballs so don’t even attempt it! Perhaps a bit of mascara, that always does the trick right?

WRONG!

The best ways to treat puffy eyes is to go straight to kitchen and look for the following:

1. Cucumbers: Lean back for 5- 10 mins with a slice of cucumber on each closed eye! They’re cool, refreshing and their astringent properties reduces puffiness.

2.Chamomile tea: Put two tea bags in hot water and remember to let them cool down in the fridge for about 10 mins before placing them on your eyes! Any tea works really,but chamomile in particular contains anti-irritants that soothe redness and inflammation.

3.Metal spoons: This is my favorite! Before going to bed I would sometimes put 4 spoons in the freezer (expect the unexpected!) so that if I happen to wake up to puffy eyes I could just take two and place the curved side of the spoons on each of my eyes(replace with another spoon if they start to get warm)

Unfortunately, Some people cannot enjoy the luxury of doing this is the morning, especially when you’re pressed for time.

If that’s you, don’t worry there’s another solution! Just splash your face (several times) with cold water! I know this may be difficult in the mornings, but beauty is pain right? The cold water constricts blood vessels and this will help reduce the swelling and puffiness.

Now that you know how to get rid of puffy eyes, go get some sleep! I don’t want to be the reason why you end up applying these guidelines so soon! 🙂

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Posted on April 10, 2013

The power of your eyebrows

Beauty/ eyebrows/ Natural beauty

A lot of people tend to underestimate exactly what their eyebrows do for their face, why? I’ll never know! But what I do know is that beautifully groomed eyebrows really do transform your face and brings out your natural beauty. So if something takes very little time and also makes a huge difference to your appearance, then why not invest in it?

Doing my eyebrows almost comes as a second nature to me and I genuinely can’t imagine myself ever leaving the house without my eyebrows done especially since it only takes about 5 mins! But I should probably ‘fess up in case it ever comes out in the near future; there was a time in my life where I would spent almost 40 mins doing my eyebrows alone, I’d use hair removal cream, tweezers, brow pencil, brow shadow and the whole shebang!! But looking back at my old pictures now, I can honestly say that all my efforts didn’t really do me any justice!

Over the years I learnt that less is more and that the less time I spend on my eyebrows the higher the chances of them turning out to be a tad bit normal!

The picture above is basically a sketch of what an ideal brow should look like. The first line represents the start of the brow, and this should be aligned with the inner corner of the eye and the side of your nostril. The second line is the arch and it really does break my heart to see so many people getting this all wrong! The arch should always be two-thirds of the way across the brow so unless you dress up as a drag queen from time to time, there really is no reason why you should have your arch anywhere else. Finally,the last line represents where the brow should end and as you can see it doesn’t extend past the corner of the eye.

It’s that simple!

I have seen some cases where people barely have any brows due to over tweezing and other cases where the brows are too far a part. All that can be fixed by adding a few strokes of a light eyebrow pencil. I like to use a brow shadow with a brow brush on top of my pencil because personally I think it adds more definition to my brows but at the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference. Lastly use a brow gel to keep all the hairs in place, if you have extra long hairs on your brows just use baby scissors to trim them off.

Now that I’ve gotten all that off my chest, let’s have a bit of a laugh! Here is a link I found of a few celebrities without eyebrows:

http://celebritieswithouteyebrows.tumblr.com/

I hope you have now realized the power of your eyebrows

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Posted on April 8, 2013

All-natural beauty product: The beauty benefits of drinking water

Natural beauty/ Skincare

For those of you who were kind enough to read my about page, I’m sure you have a bit of an idea as to what kind of topics I plan to include in my blog, so it should be no surprise to you that my post includes a picture my number one beauty product: Water. Don’t look so baffled! It mightn’t be a topical cream that could easily be identified as a ‘beauty product’ It truly is an all-natural product that keeps your body well hydrated and prevents your skin cells from becoming dry and looking flaky. The beauty benefits of drinking water are more than you would think so let me walk you through this short article.

The reason why I consider this as my number one beauty product is because every time I include more water in my diet, my skin clears up significantly. Unfortunately for me, I happen to be one of the unlucky ones in the family who has oily skin so extra maintenance is a must!! To be completely honest with you I find that the auld ”8 glasses of water” actually does indeed work and at the end of the day, the health of your skin really does start with a healthy nutrition so if you could get your 8 glasses in every day, you wouldn’t be too far from consuming a healthy diet not to mention getting all the beauty benefits that comes with it.

I’d imagine that 8 glasses of water a day would require a good bit of effort for some people, so I discovered that having a glass before and after every meal would probably be the easiest way to go about in doing so! Lets say you have 3 meals a day, if you apply this theory you will have already gone through 6 glasses! The other two can be taken if you feel guilty after having too many sweets or too much dessert like cheesecake (I’m a recovering cheesecake addict!)

It really isn’t that difficult. Give it a try tomorrow and see how you get on, the first day is usually the hardest, but eventually you’ll get used to it! Think of it as your natural beauty source, after all it’s inexpensive, natural and with some ice it can be very refreshing!

Do you think there are beauty benefits to drinking water? If so, I would love to get your feedback!

Feel free to comment below!!!

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