2 things I've learned this month.
30 May 2015 • learning curve, life lessons
I haven't done one of these in months. That's not because I haven't been learning but because I forgot. But I wanted to bring this little series back, so I thought what better month to ressurrect it in, than the month I turned 24?
1. Fight your battles – Without going in to too much detail, I had a situation at work that required a lot of strength to fight against a really unfair case. It spanned out to about 3 weeks and half way through I was ready to give up. It was consuming so much of my energy and was getting me down. I think when you’re fighting a wrongdoing against you; you start off with all that energy to fight it because you know it's not right. Then it starts to drag on and when you’re in work daily, dealing with the people who put you through it, it kinda sucks and you kind of think "is this worth it?" "Shall I just give up?" I say remember why you started and don’t stand for injustice. Sometimes people will pick a fight with you because they don't expect you to stand up for yourself. Fight your battles. Although I felt like giving up, I thought “fuck it, I’ve come this far.” Lucky for me, I actually “won” in the end, but even if I didn’t I would have been glad to have fought the battle, if it meant standing up to bullies. I was super exhausted after, but I’m glad I can look back on that part of my life and know that I still fought even when I felt like giving up. It might be exhausting at times, but I've found that it's worth it. Standing up for yourself is an act of self love.
2. Say yes more often – I’m so used to saying ‘maybe’ or just ‘no’ to things. As much as I like trying new things, I’m not spontaneous and I feel like everything requires energy that I don’t have. Now, I haven’t gone around being a Yes, Man like Jim Carrey, but last week when my friend asked me if I wanted to join her in an obstacle run I said yes. Initially I didn’t, my head was like well when I’ve trained enough I’ll go and do one. Then I remembered what I’m like and thought “fuck it” say yes and then you will train. And now I’m doing the Colour Obstacle Rush on the 28th of June. And nope, I haven’t started training! But it has made me proud of myself that I've signed up because I've never done and run or obstacle course before. I'm also saying yes to a lot more things, that I wouldn't usually say no to, so hurrah.
What have you learned this month?
Pull Down The Moon 2.1
27 May 2015 • blog updates
I’ve been blogging for years. Like seriously it’s ridiculous how much I like to share things and account for days in my life. Over the past year I’ve been toying with the idea of a blog domain. I convinced myself that there wasn’t much point as I wasn’t serious about blogging, so did I really need a real site? I also thought it would be super expensive, but 3 months ago I looked into it and I was surprised at how cheap it actually was for one year. I never actually got round to buying it but three days ago, whilst I had some downtime from babysitting my nephews, I purchased the name and got it set up.
Previous my url has always read ‘pulldownthemoonarchie’ because ‘pulldownthemoon’ was taken. Now I finally get to have my full blog title in my address and hopefully that makes it less confusing about what the title of my blog actually is.
So now I’m officially at www.pulldownthemoon.co.uk
I’m glad to have another change to the blog. I was so happy when I changed my layout, but I'm even happier about this. Although I can’t promise weekly content, I am taking blogging a little bit more seriously now.
Skincare Shakeup
24 May 2015 • skincare
Over the past 6 months I’ve been working on choosing the best products for my skin, rather than going along with the hype. Quite frankly my budget cannot cater for the hype anyway. There are two products I’ve introduced into my routine that have completely changed the way I feel about my skin.
The first is La Roche Posay’s Serozinc. Yes this is a product that has been hyped up, so I fail on that front. But the only reason I’m talking about it, is because it works! When Escentual first delivered the news that we could finally buy it in the UK, I thought at under £9 I was willing to giving it a try. I mentioned here that I broke out using this and the FAB pads, but neither product has made me break out after further use. That was probably a hormonal breakout as neither product made me breakout again. Anyway I love this product, I feel that the one thing I always neglected in my routine was hydration, and now I realise that my skin is seriously dehydrated. This just added the perfect amount of hydration to my face, especially because I do use acids on my face. I really feel that it’s done a good job in preventing breakouts, and soothing any that do occur. It’s only water and zinc, but it’s just a great product. It’s a great toner and I’ve already repurchased it! I was without it for 3 weeks and noticed a serious change in my skin, it looked dull and lacklustre.
My next skincare saviour is Vichy's Normaderm Deep Cleansing Purifying Gel. I used a product from Vichy years ago and loved it (I can’t remember the name) and I know there are a lot of products from them that bloggers favour. I was hunting around for a good cleanser, I didn’t want to spend shit loads because quiet frankly I’m not spending £30+ on something that’s on my face for like 10seconds. I also wanted something targeted to my skin type. Without any research I just purchased this because of the good reviews I’ve heard about Vichy products and my own experience with that one product.
This thing is perfect for me. At first I avoided using it every day, because I thought it would really dry my skin out and I was also using another cleanser at the time. After my other cleanser ran out, I decided to use this every day. It didn’t dry out my skin because I was using the above toner and oils every three days. This has Salicylic Acid and Glycolic Acid in it so it is good for pores, although you are washing it off your face so you’re not getting the full benefits. Nevertheless it’s a good cleanser for oily skin and I personally think it’s really helped to balance out my skin and the amount of oil it produces. I’ve already ordered another one as a back-up!
So those are the two products I am crediting with changing my skin. I really felt the loss of Serozinc, and it’s only as am typing it that it’s been delivered to me. I cannot wait to get home and use it. I really want to make sure I source products that help my skin and that are affordable for myself. I’m happy to spend the amount on both of those products, as I feel they are worth the price tag.
I’ve recently purchased the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser & Olay Regenerist Micro Sculpting Serum, so I’ll let you know if these will make it into my skin care routine permanently.
What product has changed your skincare routine for the better?
Stationery Wish List.
20 May 2015 • stationery, wish list
Like most girls and bloggers I love stationery. It’s just one of those things that I never grew out of, I remember at the start of every school year wondering around Woolworths searching for the perfect pencil case. New stationery somehow made you feel more prepared to take on that school year. By the end of the year pencil cases were battered and the pens were lost, but it’s still the effort that counted.
These days I pick up loved pieces of stationery here and there. I no longer really have a need for a new pencil case or set of pens every year. I think my most loved piece is a notebook that I picked up in Italy which is actually from the Paperblanks, I remember buying thinking yes it’s expensive but I’m miserable and I love this and I deserve a treat. My boyfriend at the time thought I was insane for spending 22euros on a notebook. But I still use it as my personal diary to this day.
ANYWAY. The lust for the pretty stationery has come back again, it happened months ago after watching Teni’s ‘Work Space Tour’ video. My love for Kate Spade has also increased tenfold. Only she can make spending £20 odd pounds on fucking paperclips the dream. Regardless I’ve bundled together some of the pieces I’ve been thinking about in this post to share with you, so you can all dream about flitting your money away like me – enjoy!
So there we go a mix of stuff, the blogger and just things I want just for the prettiness and colourfulness. I found out about The Fox and Star through The Private Life of a Girl’s blog interviews and I think she makes the most amazing stationery bits!
Are there any stationery bits you think I should know about?
Urban Decay De-Slick Review
15 May 2015 • make-up, review
I don't think I have that much of an issue with my make-up staying on my face, if I leave it untouched. It more to do with the fact that, I'm either swiping away at my face forgetting that I'd gotten up early AND sacrificed sleep to put make-up on, or blowing my nose so much because hay fever wants to ruin my life. Aside from that my make-up sort of seems to stay put. However, I want more. I want it to be guaranteed that my hard work in the morning is going to stay put. And because quite frankly I'm bloody tired of looking into my mirror and seeing oil everywhere like I haven't washed my face in days.
So I've stepped it up a notch, I've decided to set my make-up into my face so that it doesn't budge. At first I looked into powders but then I remembered setting sprays. I’ve heard the term setting spray thrown around in blogs and YouTube videos, specifically Urban Decay’s De-Slick and All Nighter. So I headed there first. I thought about getting the All Nighter but in the end decided to pick something was catered for my skin type.
UD state: Meet your most powerful oil-control ally. Urban Decay's De-Slick Makeup Setting Spray mists on weightlessly to help prevent makeup meltdown as it controls oil, deflects surface shine and keeps skin looking beautifully matte. High-tech formula helps keep foundation, shadow and blush from smudging, sliding or fading—so you hardly ever need to touch up. Your makeup will look just-applied for hours (even if it’s not). I bloody agree with them, I don’t know what magic they have put in here but it’s amazing. I tweeted about this and a friend responded saying she loved it but it broke her out after a while. I’m really hoping this does not happen to me. I’ve bought the travel size version because I just wanted to trial it, and well I kinda like the dinky size it is great for you know travelling.
I BLOODY LOVE THIS STUFF. I’ve worn it about 7 times and I’ve just seen amazing results with it everytime time. I don’t wear foundation every day, so I’ve only used this on days when I’ve wanted my make-up, which also means not wanting oil to show through so easily. So for me this has been a saving grace. I’ve always looked into the mirror expecting to see oil everywhere but with this product I do not look like an oily mess. I barely have to powder when I have this one. If I do I’m powdering like 8 hours later.
I spritz this stuff on in the morning after I’ve powdered, added blush and done my mascara. It is the last step in my routine and then I’m off to work. I would recommend this to all my oily skinned ladies! For other skin types perhaps All Nighter would be great.
So good points:
- Controls oil
- Keeps make-up in place
- Kinda price friendly
Are there any setting sprays that you swear by? Are there any Urban Decay products that you swear by too? I'm really excited to try more by them.
We should all be feminists
3 May 2015
I'm ashamed to say I have had this sitting in my 'watch later' on YouTube for about close to a year. I currently have over 80 'watch later' videos sitting there and decided I was bored of watching the same thing over and over again so I decided to watch this and it's the best choice I made on Saturday.
May Book List
1 May 2015 • books
So another month and another set of books. I read 3 out of 4 books this month, so I didn’t meet my target. This was because of the bank holiday and the two days I had off work, I don’t think I read once during the time I had off, so I did miss 4 whole days of reading.
This month I’ve decided to read three books as my birthday is coming up and I have some more days off, so I know I wouldn’t be able to fit a lot in. I actually started one of the books yesterday, as I’ve been eager to read it since it was delivered.
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