Stripped back: A 5-piece skincare routine

Stripped back: A 5-piece skincare routine

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

No toners, no masks, no mists, no scrubs, no serums, no oils...

THE BACK STORY:

Trust me, I've been there; I've been the girl with a skincare wishlist as long as my arm, spending every available minute in SpaceNK or on the Cult Beauty website lusting over new additions to add to my stash. At one point I even lost most of my interest for new makeup and was on a full blown skincare high - it was all about which cleanser was all the rage or which face oil I just had to try. I spent more money that I had ever imagined possible a few years earlier on lotions, potions, and all things 'life-changing'. It was all quite exhausting - a constant search for the 'one' when really that perfect skincare routine never really existed, always being shifted and updated every time something else tickled my fancy. 

Looking back, my skin never really benefited from any of it. It didn't really deteriorate either, but hundreds of pounds worth of 'goo' (for lack of a better word!) was being generously applied day and night for months without really achieving anything. Then, towards the end of my university career, I decided that I was sick of all of this money and effort going towards a routine that wasn't working. I finally snapped - I was right before my graduation ceremony and I was sick of not having clearer skin like I felt I deserved after all of the time and effort I had been spending on my face. My skin wasn't bad, but I felt like I was still dealing with a teenager's skin as a 21-year old rather than calmer, clearer skin like most of my friends had (some of who even used soap in the shower to wash their face, much to my horror!) I ended up crying down the phone to my mum one day, and she suggested that I go for an appointment at the place where she gets her skin checked and often pampered. An appointment was booked, and as they say, the rest was history (you can read more about what happened here).

MY UPDATED SKINCARE ROUTINE:

DAY: cleanser + day moisturiser
NIGHT: makeup remover + cleanser + spot treatment/night moisturiser

The Eye/Lip Makeup Remover  

An oldie but a goodie from The Body Shop. This is the only part of my routine that wasn't 'prescribed', but it's a product that I remain faithful to because it really is the best eye/lip makeup remover that I've come across. As suggested, I only use this around my eyes and on my lips when needed, as to not interfere with the rest of my face, and it's never caused me any problems. 

The Cleanser 

This is the second cleanser that I've tried out since switching routines, and it's been the best for me. The salicylic acid helps to dry out any oily skin and chemically exfoliates my face at the same time so that I am left with a well-balanced, exfoliated and happy skin! Not to mention, the menthol used in the formula is really soothing on the skin and helps to calm any irritated areas.

The Spot Treatment 

Tretinoin has been a life saver for me throughout this process, and I'm sure that I wouldn't be where I am right now without its help. I was started off with a weaker strength (0.025) but have since bumped up to 0.05 to help with the more stubborn spots and scarring. The retinoic acid in it has helped to even out the texture of my skin immensely, as well as promote the fading of some of my more noticeable scarring.

The Day Moisturiser 

This moisturiser is completely different to anything that I would've used before I started this entire process (oil-free??) but I guess that's how wrong I was doing before! I mentioned my oily/dry skin dilemma in this post, and this moisturiser manages to control any oily zones and hydrate any drier zones, all whilst providing a great level of SPF, and smelling great! 

The Night Moisturiser 

If I'm honest, I use this moisturiser more than I've been recommended to - oops! I'm only supposed to use it every so often if the cleanser and tretinoin have dried out my skin too much, but I usually end up using it ever 2/3 days. Like I said, my routine can be pretty drying, so some nights I need to give my skin a nice bit of moisture so that my skin doesn't look too dry the next day. It's pretty touch and go, though - sometimes my skin is fine without using it for a week, and sometimes I have to use it three nights in a row, there are just so many factors that can end up affecting it!

Could you be using too many products in your daily skin care routine? Have you ever tried simplifying things a bit? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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Where to start with foreign literature

Where to start with foreign literature

Saturday, April 9, 2016

As a linguist as well and a bit of a history buff, one of my favourite book genres has always been historical fiction, and the fact that I've lived in several countries and grew up abroad has also definitely contributed to this. I have a great appreciation for learning about different cultures whilst working my way through an engaging story, and often find that my favourite reads are ones from which I actually learn something about a different culture or an important historical era. Below I've listed some of my all time favourite books that focus on a particular culture/country/language outside of my own - the majority are fiction, but a few are non-fiction but have a storytelling format to them which makes them more interesting than your typical non-fiction 'textbook'.  

Hispanic:

- Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) by Laura Esquivel

- The Poet's Wife by Rebecca Stonehill

- Ghosts of Spain: Travels through Spain and it's silent past by Giles Tremlett

Russian:

- The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

- The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great by Eva Stachniak

- The Russian Tapestry by Banafsheh Serov

- The Jewel of St Petersburg by Kate Furnivall

Asian:

- Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

- Nothing to Envy: Ordinary lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

- Sister of My Heart by Chitra Divakaruni

- All Women and Springtime by Brandon Jones

Middle Eastern:

- Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these books; have you read any of them or are you planning to? What are some of your favourite foreign/historical reads? 
I'm always looking for new books!

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My updated blogging process

My updated blogging process

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Back in 2014 I wrote about the steps I was taking when creating a blog post, and you guys really seemed to like my step-by-step walkthrough from brainstorming to hitting publish. A lot has changed since then, from updated technology to preference changes, but the bare bones of the process still remain - just with a few more steps added. Today I thought I'd go through my current process so that you guys can get a better idea of what goes on behind the scenes here at IR. Who knows, you might pick up some tips for your own blogging process, or if you've never blogged before, you should be able to get an idea of how much work actually goes into running a blog in this day and age!

The Process:

Brainstorm → Filter + add to Notes → Editorial calendar (paper) → Confirm ideas → Google calendar → Draft/bullet point ideas → Photograph → Edit and upload photos → Collect any (affiliate) links → Compose post → Proofread/double check → Schedule post → Schedule tweets, Instagram post, and FB Page post.

Here we have the typical steps I take when taking an intial idea for a post and making the final product that you see on your screen. Not every step is taken everytime I create something; sometimes I get carried away with an idea and it will never be added to my notes or even my editorial calendar, and other times I completely blank out or am too busy with work to schedule all of my social media, but these are the steps that I like to take when possible.

The Resources: 

APPLE NOTES // EDITORIAL CALENDAR (link) // SHOPSTYLE (link) // HOOTSUITE (link)

When creating a post, there's a few different programs/websites that I tend to use. Apple Notes is great for jotting down ideas wherever I am because it syncs to all of my tech, and I love the new(-ish) checklist feature they've added to it because it makes keeping track of things so much easier. 

Next we have a very basic editorial calendar that I whipped up in Photoshop one day. The main reason I made my own is because I find that most of the nice calendar templates I've found online have the week starting on Sunday which drives me crazy because I'm not used to that! I always found myself screwing up my calendar because I would put things on a Sunday that I meant for a Monday (I like to print these out and work out my month's content by hand) which frustrated me greatly, so I eventually made my own so I would stop messing things up. Download a PDF of my editorial calendar here. 

Something else I tend to use a lot is Shopstyle, the site where I create my 'Shop the post' widgets that you see in the majority of my beauty posts. This is great because you can keep track of what links get clicked and even make a little money (although not much in my case, still going strong at £4 after using it for 4 months!) I mainly like it because of the widgets which I think finish off my posts nicely.

Finally, I find myself using Hootsuite, a site/app where you can schedule social media posts, a hell of a lot more than I used to before my relaunch. This tool has become extremely valuable to me now that I'm a working girl because I can get all of my posts written and social media scheduled at the weekend and know that when I'm busy during the week that everything will go up when it's supposed to, where it's supposed to. It's a bit like setting everything on autopilot - it really takes the stress out of trying to work full time and juggle a blog!

So there you have it, a fairly detailed look at how I go about running IR on a day to day basis! The only resource that I haven't really mentioned above is Photoshop, which I use to edit all of my photos, but I think I'll leave that for another post. I hope you got a better idea of what goes on behind closed doors, and if you have any questions do feel free to leave them below!

If you're a blogger, do you use many of these steps? For you non-bloggers, did you know that this much work can go into a single blog post? Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below :)

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Lipgloss for lipgloss haters

Lipgloss for lipgloss haters

Monday, April 4, 2016

I've always hated wearing things on my lips. For some reason, I find it hard to feel comfortable unless my lips are completely bare, and as a beauty lover, this has often been restricting. Slowly but surely over the years I've been able to introduce more and more lip products to my routine, but there's still one thing that I cannot tolerate, and that is sticky gloopy lip gloss. So, today I've compiled a list of my favourite non-sticky glosses so that those of you who can't think of anything worse than your hair sticking to your lips can finally find solace whilst rocking a glossy look. You're welcome...

bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss (£16)

Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Lip Gloss (£6.19)

L'Oreal Paris Glam Shine Stain Splash (£7.99)

YSL Huile Volupté (£23.50)

Are you in the same boat as I am? What are your favourite non-sticky glosses?

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A yearly goal list, revisited.

A yearly goal list, revisited.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Here we are, four months into the year, and I thought that it was about time to take a look back at the fifty goals that I set myself back in January, so that I can see how I'm progressing (you can see the original post here) With many of my goals being ongoing affairs or year-long commitments, I am only able to tick off a few of them this early in the year. Despite this, I'm well on my way, having already firmly ticked off six of the more short-term/bucket list like tasks. I won't discuss them all here because some of them are more personal, but I thought it would be nice to give you a little insight into how I've been doing so far!

- I've managed to plough my way through 11 books already this year, meaning that no doubt I'll be smashing my 15 book goal in no time. Because I've gotten into such a reading groove, I've upped my goal to 25 books, so I'll keep you updated on my process! You can take a look at some of the books I've been reading by checking out my Reading List posts.

- Amongst those 10 books, I've completed all of the (released) ASOIAF (A Song of Ice and Fire) books, which was another one of my goals! Now just to wait for the next one to be released... 

- If you've been following me on Instagram or Snapchat, then you'll know that I've managed to learn a new hairstyle - the dutch braids! I haven't quite perfected it, but I'm still pretty chuffed with myself.

- January saw me complete another spending ban, meaning that I got my year off to a great start! I'm definitely considering doing another one later in the year (perhaps to help save up for Christmas?) We'll see!

- In my post earlier this year, I mentioned that I didn't get around to watching all of the Star Wars movies last year because I couldn't be bothered. Well, once I finally got to the cinema to watch the seventh installment (twice!) I decided that I did, in fact, want to watch both the original and the prequel trilogies. A few movie nights later and I completed a goal that somehow took me a year to tick off!

Like I mentioned, many of the goals on my list can't be ticked off just yet, but I have managed to start some of them off... I've visited Amsterdam (post here!) which makes for one of the three new cities/countries that I'm aiming for,  I'm working my way through my second online course, Photoshop for Bloggers by A Beautiful Mess, I'm on my way to 1.5k Bloglovin' followers, and I'm trying to go to the gym, at least two times a week, if not three.

So, there we have it! How have you been doing with your resolutions/goals/bucket list this year? 

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