Sunday 24 April 2016

Thoughts of the week

1. What a crazy few weeks we've had. School holidays, friends staying, gastro (the boys and I), looking after kids whilst a friend had a meltdown and now the PILs here this weekend. Crazy. But it's been fun (mostly, gastro was not fun).

2. I'm finally back on the FitBit bandwagon. I got rid of my Charge HR because the battery only lasted a day. I returned it six times in six months and after the sixth time gave up. I've now got the Alta and so far I'm loving it.

3. Winter has arrived with a vengeance. We've had beautiful cold, wet weather lately, it's been wonderful. I've had the slow cooker going 24/7 making lovely warming soups, it's been glorious. 

4. It'd be even more glorious if I could eat the lovely soups I've been making. My stomach has yet to return to normal after my bout of gastro so I'm temporarily back on my bland Crohn's diet.  

5. I've had a distinct shift in mood recently. It arrived with the cold weather. Gone are the negative, gloomy thoughts, I'm back to my happy, optimistic self. I love winter. 

Wednesday 20 April 2016

My favourite night time lip balms


Redwin Coconut balm - Coconut always makes me think of happy times and summer, which is one of the reasons I love my coconut balm. Out of all my night time balms this is the lightest, however despite that it's still very hydrating. The texture is lovely, it smells amazing and it keeps my lips soft and smooth.
 
Natralus Paw Paw balm - It's rare that I'm found without a tube of paw paw in my possession, I carry it around in my handbag to deal with bumps, scrapes, nappy rash, dry lips etc. I particularly love the Natralus paw paw balm, it smells and tastes good, has a great smooth texture and doesn't get lumpy or oily. As a night time balm it's wonderful, it keeps my lips happy and it's thick enough that I can still feel it on my lips the next day.

Lanolips 101 Ointment - Lanolips will always a staple in my lip balm arsenal. I love the versatility of the 101 ointment, it has so many uses (101 in fact). I'm obsessed with the limited edition cranberry ointment they released for christmas and have been using it non stop. As a night balm this works wonders. I apply a really thick layer if my lips are particularly dry and a thin layer when they aren't. 

Philosophy Kiss Me Tonight - Another staple in my routine is Philosophy's Kiss Me Tonight balm. As you'd expect for a night time balm, it's thick and deeply hydrating. My pot has little specks throughout the balm that disolve when I rub the balm into my lips. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like that

Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask -When I need an intense lip treatment I reach for my Agave Lip Treatment. It's a very rich, hydrating balm that works miracles on dry, parched lips. I can still feel it on my lips in the morning and I wake up with happy, hydrated lips. I also use this one during the day if my lips are really dry.

Blistex Deep Renewal - This is an iHerb purchase (use code YUF175 to get a discount on your first order), however it's now available here, yay! Blistex Deep Renewal is my go to night lip balm, mainly because it's easy to use. I put my lip balm on after I've finished my night time skin care routine, so my hands are usually a bit slippery from the products I put on my face and the tube means I don't struggle to get the lid off, haha. Aside from the ease of use, it is a nice balm. It has a pleasant fragrance and hydrates enough for nightly maintenance.

Monday 18 April 2016

Sensitive skin saviour

I have found a new miracle product that all sensitive skinned people need!
Normally around the change of seasons my skin is awful. It gets sensitive, sore, irritated and I can't use anything on it. As per normal that happened a few weeks ago. I got out my trusty Clarins Skin Beauty Repair Concentrate then spotted my Eco. Skin Rescue Serum and decided to give that a go instead. Brilliant idea!

SRS is a light, quickly absorbed oil that worked miracles on my irritated skin. I only used it four times (morning and night for two days) and the irritation was gone. Normally my skin will stay irritated for at least four weeks, but thanks to SRS my skin was back to normal within a few days. I've continued to use SRS as night treatment over the last few weeks just to make sure my skin stays happy. 

SRS is my new miracle treatment. It's a big call, but I can see it replacing my beloved (and much more expensive) Clarins Skin Beauty Repair Concentrate. SRS costs $18 for 15ml and Skin Beauty Repair Concentrate costs $85 for 15ml.

 What's your skin miracle product?

Friday 15 April 2016

FFS Friday - Sugar sugar

I seem to be going through a phase where life is a challenge and I wonder wtf I've done wrong. FFS.

The school holidays started this week and I was so excited to have both boys home. By 6am Saturday morning (the first day of holidays) I was wondering wtf I had kids and why I'd been looking forward to the holidays. FFS.

Saturday was one big nightmare. FFS.

The day started at 5am when Eljay woke screaming because he wanted to watch Cars. FFS.

He woke up Chai. FFS.

They started fighting straight away. FFS.

It was still dark outside. FFS.

They fought about what blanket they had, they fought about Eljay being too close to Chai, they fought because Chai looked at Eljay etc. FFS.

I was still trying to wake up. FFS.

At 6am they started nagging me to take them to the park. FFS.

I explained that we would go to the park but we had to wait a little while. They were not impressed. FFS.

After about five tantrums from Eljay and Chai asking me every five minutes if it was time to go to the park, we got to the park. Not FFS.

We'd been there fifteen minutes and they decided they wanted to go home. FFS.

Eljay had a tantrum because Chai was following him. FFS.

Chai went in front of Eljay who then threw another tantrum because Chai was beating him. FFS.

Halfway home Chai decided he didn't want to go home. Too bad son. FFS.

I had a Dr's appointment so I loaded them in to the car and off we went. When we got there Eljay threw a tantrum because Chai pressed the lift button. FFS.

We made it in to the Dr, halfway through the visit Eljay chucked a tantrum and neither I nor the Dr could work out why. FFS.

He continued his tantrum as I was paying, the car ride to the chemist, the whole time we were at the chemist, the entire time we were at the supermarket and the whole trip home. FFS.

Naturally I had to wait twenty minutes for my prescription at the chemist. FFS.

Despite my reservations, we stopped at the park on the way home. 

Unsurprisingly, after twenty minutes there they decided they wanted to go home for lunch. FFS.

When we got in the car Chai started crying because he didn't want to go home and because he was hungry and didn't want to wait until we got home for food. FFS.

The afternoon was all crying, fighting and throwing tantrums. FFS.

My usual tricks didn't work. Cuddling, tickling, rough play, reading books, dancing etc. None of it worked. FFS.

Dad came over at 4pm. Chai spent twenty minutes yelling and crying because I wouldn't let him eat in the theatre room. FFS.

I finally got them fed, bathed and ready for bed. Eljay wanted to go to sleep and I was trying to keep him up for another half hour because I didn't want him waking up before 5am. I was doing okay until Chai decided to hit him and that was it. FFS.

 I settled Chai in front of the tv and went to put Eljay to sleep. 

Chai decided he needed one of his toys. When he couldn't find it he started crying then came into the bedroom and sat there crying for 45 minutes whilst I tried to calm him down and get Eljay to sleep. FFS.

You can imagine how well that went. FFS.

I couldn't get Eljay to sleep. FFS.

By that time I was so exhausted, angry and totally over it. FFS.

I dumped both kids in front of the tv and sat down for a few minutes to calm myself down. FFS.

Chai came over crying because no-one was cuddling him. FFS.

I had nothing left. FFS.

I told him he had to leave me alone for a little while. He did. Thankfully.

Tiger Skyped them and told them that they needed to behave themselves. 

I finally got them both to sleep. Thank fuck for that.

I really wonder what I'm doing wrong that they behave like this. It never happens when Tiger is home. Never. FFS.


Sunday I figured out what the problem was. FFS.

The boys have very little sugar. They rarely eat lollies or chocolate, don't eat jam, hardly ever have juice etc. On Friday I'd bought four boxes of the reduced sugar kids fruit bars. Sunday they were all gone. Four boxes! That's 24 bars! I'd only opened 2 each for them on Saturday but they are all gone. They either stashed them somewhere or they ate them all. I'm going with the latter. It'd explain their behaviour. Sugar high. FML.
  Just to top things off both my ears are infected. One has pus behind the ear drum and the other is red and inflamed. Great. FFS.

Thankfully the rest of the week has been pretty good.

Now it's your turn. Tell me how great or awful your week has been.

Wednesday 13 April 2016

Products I regret buying

It's been a while since I did one of these posts, it's now pretty rare that I buy a product I don't like. That's one thing I love about blogs and social media, it's easy for me to get great advice about make-up and skin care products, which means I rarely buy products that don't work for me. 

This one will probably be a bit controversial because I know how well loved Go-To products are, but I really don't like Properly Clean. I wanted to, I really did, but it just doesn't work for me. It doesn't easily clean my make-up off, it irritates my eyes and it smells strange. I tried it for a few weeks hoping that it'd grow on me, but it didn't. I even tried it again before writing this post, but it's still a big no for me.

Clarins Double Serum is said to be a miracle serum, I see so many people who love it, but for me it did nothing. It was pleasant to use but I got no results at all. Now that I've finished it I've noticed no change in my skin condition, which just proves that it was doing nothing for me. I usually love Clarins products but Double Serum just doesn't work for me. 

It's not secret that I'm a huge lip balm addict, so when La Mav had a free shipping offer I took advantage it and bought one of their tinted lip treatments. On their site it gets great reviews (4 1/2 stars out of five) and they say that it gives hydration and a sheer hint of colour. Unfortunately that's not true for me. The colour is great but it's a very lightweight product that gives no hydration and is gone within fifteen minutes. 

What products have disappointed you recently?

Monday 11 April 2016

Lip Balm Challenge Update

Just over half way through the Lip Balm Challenge and I've finished four lip balms. (I forgot to keep one of them which is why there are only three in the photo below.)

I'll need to pick up my game if I hope to finish six balms in the next five months. It'll be difficult but not impossible. Originally I'd planned to use up certain balms (shown in the top picture), but that quickly went out the window and now I'm aiming to finish any ten balms.
I haven't managed to finish any potted balms, I'd love to but I just don't use them much, they're too bulky to carry around so I only use them when I'm at home and happen to have one within reach. I will try to finish at least one balm pot before the end of this year. I've also been working on finishing an EOS balm. That is proving difficult because I have to hide it from Eljay. He loves lip balms, especially the ball ones, so whenever he sees it he wants it and then has a tantrum when I won't give it to him.

For those of you participating in the Lip Balm Challenge, how are you doing?

You can read my previous Lip Balm Challenge posts here and here

Sunday 10 April 2016

Thoughts of the week

1. There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who take the pegs off the line and those who leave them on the line. I'm the former. 

2. One of my favourite blogs has closed down and I'm so upset. I'm really going to miss your blog Natalie. 

3. Sometimes a few simple words can change your day. Thursday I was having a tough time with the kids. Eljay had spent a good portion of the day throwing tantrums for reasons I couldn't understand. We were at the supermarket checkout and he was screaming because I couldn't hold him and scan the shopping at the same time. I was standing there looking like a crazy, frazzled woman, madly scanning everything, trying not to lose it and explaining to Eljay that I'd pick him up as soon as I'd paid for the shopping. The lady at the check-out next to me looked over, smiled and said "You're so calm". I could have kissed her. I certainly didn't look or feel calm but those few words were exactly what I needed to hear. Bless you lovely lady.

4. Last week I placed an order with Burt's Bees. It's the first time I've ordered from them. I didn't get a confirmation email or a tracking number and their website showed my order as pending remote fulfilment. I emailed them Thursday asking what was happening with my order. They replied with a tracking number and asked me to call Australia Post. How bizarre.


5.
School holidays have started. I was really looking forward to them but after the performance the boys put on yesterday I'm wondering how I'm going to survive.

Friday 8 April 2016

FFS Friday - Toilet talk

Tiger's gone back to work. FFS.

He and I were both sick the whole time he was home. FFS.

Tiger is still sick. FFS.

The boys got sick just before he went back to work. FFS.

Brilliant timing. Not. FFS.

As per usual, everything goes wrong when he's not here. FFS.

The day he left I twisted my ankle. FFS.

I have no idea how I did it. One minute I was walking along, the next I was in agony. FFS.

Chai started crying because I was hurt so I had to pretend I was okay so he'd calm down. FFS.

I couldn't put any weight on my foot which made pretending to be okay very difficult. FFS.   

I somehow managed to get inside and iced my foot for a while, whilst Chai asked me over and over again why we couldn't walk to the park. FFS. 



Luckily my foot made some sort of miraculous recovery. Not FFS.

It's still sore but nowhere near as bad as it was earlier in the week. Not FFS.

For the last month all the boys talk about are penises, vagina's and bumholes. FFS.

At first it was mildly amusing, now it's just annoying. FFS.

Everything is penis, vagina or bumhole something. FFS.

For example instead of eating an apple they'll want a penis apple or a bumhole vagina apple. FFS.

One day I heard them arguing in the bath over who was called Penis and who was called Bumhole Vagina Pirate. FFS.

Yesterday morning I was trying to find out what Eljay wanted on his toast. It went something like this:
Me: Eljay, what do you want on your toast?
E: Penis.
Me: Very funny. What do you want on your toast?
E: Penis.
Me: I can't put penis on your toast, what would you like on your toast? Do you want paste?
E: No paste. Bumhole.
Me: You want bumhole on your toast?
E: Yes.
Me: That's not possible either. Do you want promite?
E: No!
Me: Okay, until you tell me what you want on your toast I can't give you any breakfast. What do you want on your toast?
E: Vagina. 

At that point I gave up. FFS.

Adding to my irritation, I'm trying to go sugar free at the moment. FFS.

Clearly I'm failing as a mother. Send help. And chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Pana chocolate if possible.
 

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Project Use It Up Update


Project Use it Up has been going well. I use my Shu brow pencil and Benefit Fake Up every day so I'm making good progress on them. 

The Dior Lip Maximiser and Hourglass blush are finished! I don't remember the last time I finished a gloss or a blush so I'm really pleased with myself. I'm now determined to finish a few more glosses this year. 

My beloved Bobbi Brown Corrector has gone in the bin. It was a difficult decision but I realised that it's over five years old and I just couldn't continue using it. I will replace it once I've finished or gotten rid of a few more concealers.  

I haven't used the Shu foundation much, I was concentrating on finishing my CC cream then moved on to a tinted moisturiser and forgot about the Shu foundation. 
April

January
As you can see, there hasn't been a whole lot of progress on these products. I'd totally forgotten about the Dior lipstick and haven't been using it at all, I've now moved it to the front of my lipstick pile so I'll use it more regularly and I'll be making more of an effort with the other products too.

You can read my original post here

Who else is doing a project pan? How's it going? If you've posted about it, please leave the link below.

Have you entered my Natralus giveaway?

Monday 4 April 2016

I finished a blush!

My Hourglass blush is empty! It's been years since I finished a blush, I think the last blush I finished was a Napoleon cream blush. I used my Hourglass blush every day for fifteen months and it's finally empty. I'm in mourning because it was my all time favourite blush. I'm currently using a Max Factor blush that is very similar but it's not the same.
What was the last blush you finished?

Have you entered my Natralus giveaway?

Friday 1 April 2016

FFS Friday - Human poo

You know when everything happens at once? That's us this week. FFS.

Tiger and I are both sick. FFS.

The PILs are here. FFS.

Today we're helping a friend move house. FFS.

Brilliant timing. 

Something's going on with Tiger lately, I don't know what it is. FFS.

He can't make a decision to save his life and needs help with every tiny little decision. It's driving me crazy. FFS.

When I say every tiny little decision I really mean every little decision. He's currently asking me what clothes to dress Eljay in. FFS.

First he asked if he should wear jeans or shorts. Then if he should wear short sleeves or long sleeves, then if he should have a t-shirt or singlet underneath etc. FFS.

He's not normally like this. FFS.

I don't know what's going on. FFS.

Yesterday we went in to town and he got all flustered cause he didn't know where to park and I wouldn't tell him. Seriously. FFS.

He got so upset and said to me "Well I don't know what to do, I need a bit of help here." Since when it is so difficult deciding where to park? FFS. 

I've asked him what's going on but he doesn't know. So what am I supposed to do? Take him to the Dr and say that he can't make decisions? I might just do that.

The MIL won't stfu. FFS.

She's crapping on about all sorts of irrelevant stuff. FFS.

Apparently you should only donate clothes to red cross because they're the only ones who help poor countries. Clearly the struggling Aussies don't deserve help. FFS.

This morning she told me that Eljay did a human poo. WTF?

What did she think he'd do, a possum poo? FFS.

A koala poo maybe? Who knows what goes on in her brain. I certainly don't. FFS.

Have you entered my Natralus giveaway?