Bad Beauty Habits

When it comes to taking care of yourself, every aspect is important. We're all guilty of some bad beauty habits, and it's time to break them! Some people don't even know that what they're doing, is actually quite damaging. I'm going to talk you through several beauty mistakes to avoid, in order to keep you in top condition!

1) Remove your makeup! Sleeping with your makeup on is probably the worst mistake you could make! Your skin will not thank you for it! Normal face cleanser won't be strong enough to both remove your makeup, and exfoliate your skin at the same time, it's important to remove your makeup using wipes before you wash your face.

     

2) This one isn't exactly a habit, but I consider it very important! Your face needs to be kept moisturised, and body lotion doesn't do the trick! You need a moisturiser designed specifically for your face, others can be too heavy, and can even end up breaking you out! I use the Clean and Clear face moisturiser, as it is beautifully light, and helps keep nasty blemishes away!

3) When your hair gets wet, it becomes a lot weaker, and more prone to breaking. Brushing your hair whilst it's wet will gradually damage it, and you could end up with frizzy, split ends! Use a wide-tooth comb (or even your fingers!) to detangle your wet hair.

4) Another point with wet hair (which even I am guilty of!), is that you should never sleep with it! Sleeping with wet hair can be the equivalent of brushing it- both are aggressive on it, whilst it's at its weakest point!

5) Once you have shaved your legs, the skin becomes sensitive, and slightly delicate. Rubbing then dry with a towel is too aggressive, and you will notice that it does actually take a small layer of skin off. Not very pleasant! To dry off your newly shaved legs, pat them gently with a towel or flannel. Always finish by moisturising them as well.

6)When you apply your eyeliner, it's a lot easier when you gently pull at the edge of your eye. Like this-

This actually stretches the skin around your eye, and you will start to develop eye wrinkles a lot earlier than you should.

7) The last habit is one a lot of people complain about, and I personally find it quite disgusting. What most people don't realise though, is that the habit ends up causing the problem that induces the habit, thus restarting the cycle! My friends often complain about their nails splitting. The worst thing to do in this scenario is to peel them, as this will weaken your nails a lot! Remember, weakness is what causes the splitting! Resist the urge to peel them, as it does them no good (plus, it's not very attractive or hygienic). Base coats (clear nail varnishes) will help keep your nails together, and if you get the right one, it will help strengthen them too.

As I said at the beginning, we're probably all guilty of one or two of these habits, and they really must be overcome. I have tried to include ways to help you stop these habits, but the rest it down to you- be strict on yourself!

DIY - Circle Skirt

Skirts are super cute all year round. Some might argue that they are summer garments, but along with tights, they can still be gorgeous in the winter! I have a simple tutorial for you on how to make you own skirt. It does involve sewing, but don't fret- it's really not hard!

For this project, you will need-

✧1 yard of lightweight fabric

✧1metre elastic (1 1/2 - 2cm wide)

✧Measuring tape

✧Pencil

✧Pins

✧Fabric scissors

✧Sewing machine

So first things first, choose your fabric! I wanted a patterned fabric for a more funky skirt, but you could choose whatever! I would advise a lightweight fabric though, as it will be much flowier.

This is the fabric that I chose for my skirt. I got this up at Bury market up near Manchester, so I can't link this exact fabric.

To start off, lay your fabric on the ground (pattern side up), then fold it in half twice. 

Next, measure around your hips, and find your size on this chart-

32"-XS   34"-S   36"-M   38"-L   40"-XL  42"-XXL

Your size shouldn't affect your self confidence! XXL doesn't mean you're over weight! I'm XS, but I'm only 14!

After you have found your size, compare it to this chart to find your radius number.

XS -4 1/8"      S -4 3/8"      M -4 3/4"      L -5 1/8"      XL -5 3/8"      XXL -5 5/8"

Take your measuring tape, and puncture a hold on zero, and on your radius number. Then, insert a pin into the zero hole, and a pencil into the radius number hole. Place the pin in the very corner of the folded fabric (the corner with no raw edges surrounding, this is vitally important), and swing the pencil back and forth creating a curved line on the fabric.

Keep the pin in the fabric, and make a new hole where you want the length of your skirt to be (decide the length of your skirt, then add 2 inches). Repeat the curved line step, and cut along the 2 lines you drew. This is what you should have.

Sorry that the photo is a bit blurred!

Open out your skirt, and create four marks (all equal distance apart) on the inner circle.

 Then, cut your elastic to fit neatly around your waist, then overlap the ends and sew to secure a large ring of elastic. Make four marks on the elastic, all equal distances apart, and connect the marks on the elastic to the marks on the fabric using 4 pins.

Fold over the top of the skirt, and sew all along, pulling the elastic to fit the length of the top of the skirt as you go. If you want it to look really professional, fold the top over twice to hide the raw edges. 

Afterwards, your skirt should stretch to fit over your thighs and hips, and then sit comfortably at your waist. 

To hem your skirt, fold over the bottom edge twice, and sew all along. When you fold it over twice, it will ensure that no raw edges are visible, so it wont fray at all.

If you find it difficult to make, re read through the instructions, and just keep practising until you get the desired result. You could even make a mini skirt for a wooden mannequin!

I apologise for the quality of this photo, and the state of my room..

Smoothie Sunday- Banana and Cinnamon

There are smoothies for all kinds of people- whether you like sweet, spicy, sour or savoury, there are hundreds of combinations to try! I've created a new recipe for a delicious, sweet smoothie using just 4 ingredients!
This smoothie is rather calorific, so I wouldn't recommend it if you are currently dieting, but it makes a wonderful little snack, breakfast or pudding! Plus, all the ingredients are beneficial in one way or another; the banana provides potassium, the milk provides calcium, the nuts contain protein and the cinnamon provides anti-oxidants!

You will need-
⁍ 1 ripe banana (the riper it is, the more flavour it will add!)
⁍ 300ml milk
⁍ 3/4tsp cinnamon (this can be altered to your preference.)
⁍ 4/5tbsp ground almonds (again, if you're not overly keen on almonds, add less. But I love the nutty taste, so I wanted a significant flavour.)

To create your smoothie, simply blend all the ingredients together for a couple of minutes. I left my prepared smoothie for about 5/10minutes before drinking, that way, the flavour of the cinnamon and almonds had time to sink into the milk.

This should create about 450ml of smoothie (approximately 2 servings).

For a more milkshake-y style drink, add a scoop of vanilla (or even chocolate) ice-cream to the mix before or after blending.

I hope you try and enjoy this recipe. It's quick to whip up, and is a perfect little treat for busy days. Make sure to keep the left over smoothie in the fridge.

DIY - Heart Bracelet

Home made bracelets are always much more beautiful than ones you can buy, but often the simple beaded ones can get a bit boring. I'm going to teach a way of creating a cute pattern on a bracelet using only 2 threads.

For this bracelet, you will need 8 strands of thread, all 25inches long. You will need 4 of them to be one colour, and the other 4 to be another colour. I chose pink and blue.

First, cut your threads to length, tie them together with a 3 inch tail, and arrange the strands as they are in the picture below. 

This pattern is made up of 4 rows; 2 normal, then 2 special. The normal rows use the same colour all the way across. The special rows start with one stitch in one colour, then use the other colour for the rest of the row.

This is how you create a stitch.

Begin with a normal row of red. To do this, tie the end reds to the blues next to them, and keep working you way in. Then tie the 2 red strands together. This shown below.

Next, do the same with the outer blue strands.

 

For the special rows, tie the second outer most strands to the outer strands, then tie the new 2nd most outer strands inwards. So for the third row, tie the outer blues to the outer pinks, then tie those pink strands to the other strands until they meet. Then, connect the pink strands in the middle.

Repeat the last step using opposite colours.

Continue repeating those 4 rows (shown below on a basic diagram) , and you will begin to notice your heart pattern emerging.

Basic diagram

Smoothie Sunday- Orange and Ginger

So after baking the ginger cake for my Grandma yesterday, I actually have a lot of ginger left over. I located an Innocent smoothie recipe book on our bookshelves, and decided to experiment. Kitchen science time. 

Using inspiration from the book, and bearing in mind which ingredients they paired together, I came up with a combination I wanted to try. This smoothie involved orange, ginger, honey and cucumber. Orange is a great base for a smoothie as it pairs with pretty much anything, and is a great source of vitamin C. I added the ginger as we currently have plenty of this around, and then I added honey to sweeten things up. I always add cucumber as my last ingredient to smoothies, simply because it's flavour usually gets drowned out by the other ingredients, so it's extra vitamins that you can't even taste- perfect!

So I tried my new invention and loved it! It has a very earthy taste- the perfect combo of fruity and spicy! The sweetness of the honey compliments the spiciness of the ginger, and creates a beautiful flavour for any time of day!

This recipe really doesn't involve much time or effort! It's quick to whip up, and quick to clear away; perfect for a school morning!

Ingredients-

✢ 1 orange (the larger the better)

✢ 1 glass of orange juice (to thin it out)

✢ 1 ball of stem ginger (if you are unsure, start with less & gradually add more)

✢ 1 or 2tbsp of honey (to your taste)

✢ 2inches of cucumber (rind and all)

Equipment-

✢ Blender

✢ Sieve

✢ Knife

✢ Glass

To make your smoothie, first remove the rind from your orange and chop your cucumber to size. Then-
Blend, sieve, drink!
That's it!

The sieving part isn't vital, but if you're like me and you blended the orange without removing the pith and segment skin, you might find it a bit more pleasant after sieving.

Hope you enjoy your smoothie!

BAKE - Ginger Cake

So, my whole family are really into their spices; spice can liven up any meal or cake, so why wait until Christmas? So as my Grandma is over for her birthday, I figured why not bake her a nice ginger cake? I'm going to share my favourite recipe with you for the traditional ginger cake. This recipe involves a lot of ingredients and steps, but as long as you have everything ready, it's really not diffucult! Plus, it's worth all the time and effort- this cake is gorgeously spongey and moist, with a slightly crisp, chewy top.

Portions: 10        

Approximate Overall Time: 1 1/2 - 2 hours

❀ Ingredients ❀

For the cake:

✧ 225g self-raising flour

✧ 100g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing 

✧ 2tsp ground ginger

✧ 1tsp bicarbonate of soda

✧ 1/2tsp ground cinnamon

✧ 100g golden syrup

✧ 100g black treacle

✧ 100g light brown soft sugar

✧ 50g stem dinger (diced)

✧ 2 medium eggs

✧ 200ml milk

For the icing:

✧ 2tbsp ginger syrup (from the stem ginger jar) 

✧ 100g icing sugar

✧ 2tbsp boiling water

How to make your ginger cake-

1  Preheat the oven to 180°c, fan 160°c, gas mark 4. Grease a     square 20cm cake tin and/or line with baking paper. I lined the base and greased the edges, and found it worked brilliantly.

2  Using a food processor, combine the flour, butter, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. It shouldn't take long, so don't leave it on for too long as the butter could heat up and melt slightly. This wouldn't be a major issue, but you could end up with a doughy mixture and find it harder to use later on.

3  In a medium sized pan, place the syrup, treacle, sugar, and stem ginger. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved (this could take about 5-10minutes), then cook on a high heat for 1 minute then remove immediately. During that minute, small bubbles should be appearing at the surface.

4  Beat the milk into the syrup mixture. It might make a bit of a roaring noise as it will be very hot, just make sure to keep the mixture moving until it is combined. Leave the mixture to cool for a couple of minutes (stirring occasionally), then beat in the eggs one at a time. The mixture will still be very hot, so as soon as one egg is in, beat quickly and get it thoroughly combined, as the eggs might cook if they are left to sit on top of the mixture. Next, stir in the flour and butter mixture (make sure there are no streaks of flour visible). Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes.

5  When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling rack. When cool, pierce all over with a thin skewer so that the icing can soak into the cake later on.

6  Whilst the cake is cooling, it's time to prepare the icing.  To make the icing, combine the hot water, ginger syrup and icing sugar in a relatively small bowl. Once the cake has fully cooled, remove from the tin, and drizzle the icing over. I didn't use all of the icing, but if you want to cover the cake completely then use it all. Keep in mind that the icing will dry partly clear, so if you drizzle it in a specific pattern, it might not be visible. 

Rose made of stem ginger and fondant icing.

Per serving: 

337 calories, 10.1g fat, 5.5g sat fat, 39.5g total sugars, 0.7g salt.

COOK - Fried Egg Slice

So school is fast approaching, and that means hurried mornings of simple, boring breakfasts. I spent my holidays making myself pancakes or French toast for my breakfast, and so returning to a simple bowl of Wheetabix is going to feel a bit lifeless.
I've got a quick and delicious way to spice up a simple slice of toast in just 5 minutes. The bread is a great source of carbohydrate to give you energy for the upcoming day, plus the egg provides protein that will strengthen and repair your muscles.

You will need-
☀1 egg
☀1 slice of toast
☀Oil/butter
☀Frying Pan

How to make your Fried Egg Slice-
1) Place the frying pan over the heat (hob, AGA), and add about 1tsp of oil/butter into the centre.
2) Cut a hole in your slice of bread (I used a cookie cutter to get the perfect circle). The hole should be just smaller than a regular fried egg. It doesn't have to be circular, but you might struggle to get the egg white where you want it to with busy shapes.
3) Place your slice of bread in the frying pan, and crack the egg into the hole you created. To make it picture perfect, very carefully push the yolk to the centre using the end of a spoon/fork. Do not push it with anything sharp as you may break the yolk, and it will not look a pretty as you aimed for...
4) Once the white has turned from transparent to white, remove the slice from the pan and serve.

If the rest of the slice is too plain for you, add some jam, Nutella or your favourite spread to liven it up a bit! 

Trust me, this does not take as long as it sounds, but if you are unsure, then simply practise this at home whilst you have some free time so you know exactly what you are doing.