Guest Post: Andrea's Twist On Skin Care

Hi everyone, today I have another great guest post from the lovely Andrea, who writes the blog No More Twist. Andrea is a fashion designer that creates beautiful clothing and does it all herself. She also has a Youtube Channel where she shares all her tips and tricks on being a fashion designer. Do check her out as her blog is interesting and a great read, and shes super lovely, too! 


Ohhh cleansing with oils....as weird as that may sound, it feels so right on my skin. I have oily/combination skin with a problematic chin area. (Curse being female for this!!) Oil cleansing has been the most beautiful way to treat my skin with some respect and gentility, finally! 

Images courtesy of:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/traditionalcraftsUK?ref=l2-shopheader-name

I discovered this method through hours of Youtube trawling and was dumbfounded! At first I thought no way man! That's just zit city. I was clearly wrong. 

Using oil as a cleanser does not cause spots or acne, would you believe. Those skin ailments are usually down to bad diet, hormones and bacteria. When you cleanse with commercial face products all those nasty soaps, chemicals and preservatives actually strip your skin from its natural happy face oils. Therefore your face goes into overdrive, panics and produces an obscene amount of sebum causing your over oily skin. "Oil dissolves oil." By cleansing your skin with lovely natural oils your face doesn't freak out and over produce, it feels it simply has no need to. It will help gently remove the dirty oil and replace it with good, nourishing, healing oil which you can tailor to your skin type. 

I use a beautiful smelling oil which I got from a lovely lady at Traditional Crafts, she is on Etsy, find her here:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/traditionalcraftsUK?ref=l2-shopheader-name

She has so much information written under each of her products, so you can really tailor you oil choice to your skin type. As I have Combination skin I use the Geranium and Grapefruit All Natural Cleansing Oil alongside her Beauty Sleep Serum. I also use a little Olive oil on reusable cleansing pads just to get rid of the majority of my eye make-up, you can use the cleansing oil, I just don't want to waste it because I wear so much eyeliner! 

Images courtesy of:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/traditionalcraftsUK?ref=l2-shopheader-name

How beautiful is that packaging too! Traditional Crafts had my items out to me in no time and her shipping prices are really great. She makes everything herself and they smell amazing, all the cleansing oils are 100% natural and are handmade to order! I cannot describe to you how good these products smell! Just soooo very good!!! 

Anyway, how do you do it?

Simple really, I like to do mine at the end of the day, you don't need to oil cleanse too much, once a day should be fine. I get myself a nice hand hot jug of water with a lovely flannel in it. If I have stubborn eye make-up on then I will take a reusable cleansing pad with a little Olive oil on and gently wipe away as much of my eye make-up as possible.

After this, I take a small amount, like 10p sized, of my Geranium and Grapefruit cleansing oil into the palm of my hands and warm between my palms then gently massage into my face and neck in upwards motions. Do that for as long as you feel necessary, I find a minute or so is fine.

Leave it to sit there and be all natural and lovely for about 30 seconds then take your hot steamy flannel and place it over your face and let it cool. Then gently wipe away any excess oil. The steaming helps open the pores and draw out any impurities your make-up may have left behind. I then let my skin air dry for a little bit, before either patting a little bit more of the Geranium oil as a moisturiser or moving on to the Beauty Sleep Serum. This I spend a little bit of time working in, it will be absorbed overnight and you will be left with baby soft skin in the morning. I enjoy having dewy well-balanced soft skin now! 

Thanks Zoe for letting me post on your lovely site! I assume that if you like beauty, you may also like fashion! If that sounds appealing you can come see my work on my blog at:

http://andreabonnell.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks for reading guys, I hope you enjoyed it! 

Guest Post: Soap and Glory Thick and Fast Mascara

Hi everyone, today I have another guest post from a fantastic and lovely blogger, Amy. I really enjoy reading her blog, you can check it out here. I'll hand it over to Amy!

Hi guys!

First of all, many thanks to Zoe for letting me do a guest post for her lovely blog. :)

I thought that after checking out her product directory, it would be pretty fitting to talk a Soap and Glory product, since it seems she's a fan, and so am I!

I'll be reviewing the infamous Thick & Fast Mascara, which is both loved and hated in the world of beauty enthusiasts.

　

Anyway, here's what I reckon....

Packaging

In typical Soap & Glory style, the packaging is girly and pretty. What more is there really to say?

Price

This retails for £10, which isn't the cheapest you can get for "drugstore" makeup, but also not the most expensive by any means. I think it's pretty reasonable.

What I reckon....

This, for me, is totally hit and miss!

The formula is a nice jet black, but the brush is HUGE, which is usually fantastic, but can be a bit of a pain for dealing with teeny little lashes.

For me, it did live up to its claims of being volumising (and doing it fast, for that matter), but I do have a problem with my lashes clumping together a little, which sometimes happens when I add more than one coat, which is a shame, although I can usually fix this by giving it a thorough combing through with a spooly brush.

As for lasting power, I'd say this is pretty great! I don't have any problems when it comes to flaking and smudging, and my lashes seem to still look lovely and thick by the end of the day!

　

All in all...

I think this is a reasonably priced mascara with impressive results. Saying that, I wish Soap & Glory would perhaps downsize the brush to grab my teeny tiny lashes and save me from those irritating smudges on my eyelid.

Overall, a thumbs up, Soap & Glory!

Thank you for the fantastic review, Amy! Do check out her blog its a great read!

Have you tried this mascara too? What are your thoughts?

My Favourite Lipstick!

I wrote a guest post sharing my very favourite lipstick for my blogging friend Clare's blog, A little Lipstick Blog.

Check it out here!

Guest Post: Confidence

Hello lovelies! Today I bring you another brilliant guest post written by the gorgeous Bethan from All About Bethan. She writes here about great ways to encourage confidence! I think confidence is something a lot of us girls struggle with, read more to find some great ways to boost yours!

"What makes someone naturally beautiful?" This was the question that I had going around in my head after I decided to write a guest post for Zoe... I sat at work thinking about women who to me are just naturally beautiful, (Zooey Deschanel, Cameron Diaz, Mia Kunis...) and I realised one thing that they had in common- confidence. Lots and lots of confidence.  Especially the Jess character in New Girl, she is so quirky and I have such a girl crush on her. So I decided that I wanted to write about ways that we can become more confident about ourselves and this will then make us all feel more naturally beautiful. Afterall, everyone looks better with a big grin on their face!

When you are confident and happy, other people will soak this up from you... This is why blokes who aren't necessarilly the most handsome can be so attractive, let's take James Corden as an example. His cheeky grin and confident manner really make him someone I could fancy, even though I don't exactly think his body is as good as other men in the spotlight at the moment (lets all just take a moment to think about Channing Tatum...)

So here are my top 5 tips for getting your confidence up, and creating a more beautiful person all round :-)

Find what works for you, and use this to your advantage...

One surefire way of feeling confident is to be happy with how you look. I know we all have our hangups, I'm sure even the most amazingly stunning models do too, but that's life. So find something that you do like about yourself, and focus on that :-) I'm not keen on my hips and bum, but I know that I have a small waist, so I always try to wear something that shows off my waist and flatters my hips. Thank God for skater dresses, that's all I can say!  So if you are constantly worrying about your chunky thighs, or your big nose? Well look past it, find something to love instead, and then everyone else will love that too!

Be unique. If you have something different about you, show it off...

Who wants to be the same as everyone else? Noone. Who wants to stand out and be interesting? We all do! If you play an instrument, let people know that you are proud of it. If you can speak another language, let people know.  Whatever it is, embrace it, don't hide it away.  If you don't like your quirky features, how can you expect anyone else to as well? And you never know, you admitting to something may encourage other people to admit they do something similar!

If you don't feel it, fake it...
When I'm feeling ill, I'm a great believer in putting on appearances.  If I don't feel 100% I will stand up taller, put on a smile, and face the world.  It is only with my closest friends that I will allow the fact that I feel poorly to show.  This can be used in making yourself more confident and beautiful too. Imagine you are heading out with your girlfriends on a night out, but you don't feel as amazing as them for whatever reason (we all have a girlfriend who would look good in a binliner dont we) then hold your head up high, smile, walk taller, and think to yourself "i look great" -other people will think so too! :)

Don't try to please other people...
I loved reading this post (here at scaredtoast). Wear your makeup, or the clothes you choose, because that's what you enjoy wearing and because that's what makes you feel good.  Just because someone else thinks one thing, doesn't mean you have to as well.

Admit to, and learn from, your mistakes...
So something didn't work? You can either mope about it, get annoyed, or be stubborn and keep going... Or you could admit that you made a mistake, and move on. Not only will other people admire you more for being able to say "i was wrong", but you will be more confident in the future about your decisions.  This is a tough one, afterall noone wants to admit to being a failure, but actually it's not so hard and people will love you all the more for it.

So basically what I am trying to say is that when you add all these things together, have a bit of self belief, and play to your strengths, you will be a lot more of a happy confident person, and other people will see this too :-)



Thanks so much Bethan for writing this beautiful piece for me! You hit the nail on the head!
Do check out her blog, it is a brilliant read and she is a completely lovely girl who deserves much more recognition for what she does! I adore her blog and definitely believe you should go and subscribe to it now! :-)

If you are interested in writing a guest post for me around the topic of confidence, self - belief and true beauty like Bethan did, do not hesitate to contact me :-)
xxx

Guest Post: What True Beauty Is To Me

Hello lovelies, today I bring you a beautifully written guest post from the very beautiful Gill from Gillian, Etc. She kindly offered to write a post related to a subject I am very passionate about, and feel it needs to be given much more awareness. I think we all often forget the true beauty that is life, we sometimes have to sit and think about everything we are so lucky to have and the people in our lives we are lucky to spend time with. 

When Zoe said she was looking for guest bloggers on the subject of 'True Beauty', I signed up straight away thinking it would be an easy subject to write about.

Well, guys, a week on, and I'm only just now managing to type this post. It's not going to be particularly long, as I've kept Zoe waiting far too long now.

True beauty... surely, I thought, I could write something quickly about that? And then I started thinking, what is true beauty? Well, my answer finally came to me this week, and, cheesy as it may be, true beauty, to me, is a key part of this lovely blogging community I've found myself a part of.

When I started my blog, I had not a clue about beauty blogging. I fell into the world of cosmetics completely by accident, but I've landed on my feet with a pretty successful (if I do say so myself) blog, and with that, I've met some amazing people.

 image from Vanezza at WeHeartIt.com

How does this relate to true beauty, you ask?

There's just something about people who put so much effort into and have so much passion for their blogs, that just earns my respect. To give a true opinion on an item, to post photos, news, videos, and even (shock horror) photos of yourself without makeup on a website for the world to see, is, to me, just an amazing thing. And that's why I fell into beauty blogging. I wanted to do that.

The people I've met through blogging have proven to me that it doesn't matter where you're from, or what you look like - anyone can have that passion, and if having something, like a blog, or a hobby or even a car, that you're so enthusiastic about, is what makes you happy, then it doesn't matter where you're from, or if you're cruelty free, or if you have never tried a MAC lipstick or the Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser. As long as you're happy, then you're beautiful.

And that's my cheesy post finished now.

Thank you for reading :D

Gill

xxx

Thank you so much again Gill! What a beautful post, so very honest and as she states, whatever makes you happy...it makes you beautiful. Very inspiring words, right?! If you are wondering where this lovely lady on the interwebs is, do check her blog out here. In fact you should all go check her blog out now and tell her I sent you, as shes a lovely lady and writes a brilliant blog! :) 

If you are interested in reading more blog posts around this subject, I will be writing posts about confidence, self belief and true beauty regularly on my blog. I will also be featuring other guest bloggers to discuss this subject in their own words here too - keep a look out! Do check out my page above which is a little overview of what the subject means to me! 

xx