Top Skincare Advice: Problems With Skin and How to Avoid Them

Enlarged Pores

Use toner everyday but don't forget to moisturise well afterwards as it can dry your skin out because the pores close and your skin produces or allows less sebum (natural oil) to naturally moisturise you. 

Cool water on the face or a hydrating spray will close the pores, while heat opens them up.

Some people have larger pores naturally.  Pore size is genetic also. 

Oily Skin

Avoid over-washing and over-stimulating sebum (oil) production. 

Wash your face with a mild and gentle cleanser and do it regularly twice a day and no more. 

Avoid touching your skin with your hands when you don't need to.

Flaky Skin

Exfoliate with a good facial exfoliator. Doing this with a rough cloth is also good but these can harbour germs so wash them at a high temperature regularly.  Moisturise well as this will keep the top layer of dead skin from drying out to fast. Avoid to much Central heating or air conditioning as dry air doesn't help dry skin.

Spotty Skin

Spots are a build up of natural oil on your skin. Wash regularly but not more than twice a day.  Avoid harsh cleansers as they dry the top layer of skin but not the trapped sebum or oil beneath. 

Squeeze white spots only. Do this when the skin has been soaked in warm water to open the pore and avoid any pinching as you will damage capillaries and this causes permanent redness in time.

This sounds mental but saliva actually helps get rid of spots. It must be the enzymes or something! A dab every few hours will do the trick and do it before bed.

Beat the Monday Blues with a Bedroom Make-Over: New Secret to Getting Up in the Morning!

Wake Up Happy

Cold, dark January, Monday mornings, and a messy bedroom. A recipe for a depressive mentality until at least 11am. I was determined to change this, and wake up happy. So I decided to make my bedroom wake-up-friendly.

A bedroom is a place to relax, so despite my affinity for bright colours and loud, dramatic artwork, I decided to calm down and think outside the box. I went to Homebase (Richard's favourite - not.That experience was enough to make anyone want to relax...) I walked along the aisles of paint (Richard huffing and puffing behind me, desperate not to identify himself with any form of DIY). Ignoring my urges for plush purple and bright aqua, I turned my attentions to 'forgiving' colours - easy to look at, and let's face it - quite bland (they always look more extreme on the wall). I chose duck-egg blue.

Then I chose my theme to compliment this. It's too easy to go for the same colour in the room's accessories, however too much of a colour can make you just sick to the back teeth of it. Also the room is quite small so I needed to break it up a little. I chose brown accessories and champagne silver. We luckily already had a luxury furry throw of exactly these colours so it looks great on the edge of the bed-frame. 

To brighten the room a little, and emphasise space, I used mirrors from The Range - really good prices and lots of choice! I also added a couple of white ornaments from Dunelm Mill - the bird cage garland was £5 and the white wicker heart was just £3! These match well with the white-washed wall which blends to the ceiling. Leaving these walls white keeps the room bright and airy. 

I also bought some false flowers from Dunelm to match the white and champagne colour theme. These face the bed so that the first thing I see when I wake up is pretty. 

To encourage low, subtle, calming lighting, I bought a table lamp. I hate using the main light in the bedroom - it's so harsh and unforgiving. The lamp was from Wilkinson's - such economy, wow! 

To set a 'feeling' or 'theme' we added a rustic clock from Lightinthebox.com (it was Richard's idea to have a French Roman-Numeral one, which was part of his Christmas present). This added a shabby chic feel, and I threw in some furry cushions from Next. These were £14 each, and are so incredibly big and soft. I also included some soft brown plain ones from The Range. 

My other accessories are items I already had, and felt complimented the feel of the room. They add to the 'ambience' and promote a little inspiration on a dull morning :)

And there we have it, a calm, inspiring and pretty room, with colours that compliment one-another and are easy on the eye. Waking up in this room is so much more peaceful and inspiring that the plain white room with a clothes-covered floor I was used to since we moved in! 

Black and Gold Party Nails to Beat the January Blues

Black and Gold Leaf Party Nails - Whoop-Whoop!

Craving Something Shiny in these Cold and Dark January Months? These black and gold party nails look even better in real life. I have had so many people noticing them and I really recommend them!

2 Black undercoats - Maybelline Colourshow (approx £2.99 from Superdrug)
2 coats of gold leaf - Bourjois Paris (comes free with two items of make-up in Superdrug)
1 Rimell Topcoat

Lasted at least 1 week with no chips :)

Nail Art Ideas & Transfers

Nail Art: Funky French Manicure!

I'm a creative person and I'm always itching to draw and paint, so of course, this is no different for my nails (when I can be bothered to make an effort with them!)

This design is a French manicure but instead of using the typical French white for the tips/free edges, I have used a subtle lilac with a lovely sheen.

The product is called 'Lunar Haze' from Boots - in the Natural Collection range. The iridescent shine is so lovely and it makes a subtle yet flattering finish when it's just used on the free edge of the nail.

Because the nail varnish is translucent you do need to follow the natural curve of the free edge as much as you can. This is so you don't have over-lapping lines where the nail varnish and the natural line marking the free edge meet.

Detailed Nail Art: Making Transfers

With details and patterns the thing that gets me in a flap most is having to paint with my left hand. I came up with the idea of transfers, and after looking online, I found that it is really easy to make your own nail art transfers!

1. Paint a layer or two of top coat onto some cellophane or plastic sheeting

2. Paint nail art designs on top in acrylic paint (or nail varnish but not too thick)

3. Paint a layer of top coat over this

4. Wait for it to dry

5. With your nail or a cuticle stick, scrape the edge of the top coat upwards to get an 'edge' so you can peel the design right off. Be careful of peeling only some of the design off - make sure the edge bit you've peeled is in an even line and you're peeling the whole length of the top coat.

Mini Garden Makeover! Small Garden Ideas for Brightening Up a Low-Maintenance Garden

My lounge looks out onto the garden, and quite honestly I was sick of looking at this everyday:

So when we got back from our holiday, Richard and I set to work and changed it to this:

The things we changed were simple, easy and quick things to do for a low maintenance garden (as we both work full-time). We live in a 'new-build' house so the garden is small and the earth is not very nutritious as it was previously a brick yard! We have had to build this garden from scratch and here are some of things we have done:

1. Flower beds

A tiny garden can't take massive flowerbeds without looking overgrown and cluttered, so I dug narrow ones on one side, and a larger corner one at the back. I planted the taller plants at the back and put smaller/lower ones at the front. I also put some  bulbs underneath the tree which will look lovely in spring. 

The plants that are particularly nice colours and low maintenance are the Mexican Orange Blossom, which has bright green/yellow leaves, and the beautiful lilac iris. Also the Lupin is not in flower in the picture but is so pretty with little purple blooms in a pointed cone shape. These plants are really low maintenance and I have had to do nothing to then all year other than water them on sunny and dry days. 

Lupins and Irises

Lilac and Yellow Iris

2. Trellis & limbing plant

The brick wall is not a pretty sight so I added a jasmine plant which smells lovely and will hopefully climb quickly and cover the wall in lovely evergreen foliage (and small white flowers in summer). Although a trellis itself is generally not bad looking and definitely breaks up the brick wall nicely. 

3. Small tree

The curly willow makes a great feature at the back and in the corner. It will grow up to 6 meters which is just right for a corner like the one pictured, and not too near to the house. 

4. Bike shed

We love having our bikes available so we took them out of storage and had a small bike shed put in so we can actually use them! Also the shed breaks up the monotony of the brick wall. We ordered our shed from Garden Buildings Direct

5. Hanging basket and ladybird ornament

I added a hanging basket to make the shed look more pretty and ornamental - as with the ladybird addition to the actual shed itself. A bike shed is just a functional garden building but add a couple of pretty items and it looks totally different. 

6. Mini herb garden

Herbs smell amazing and they also make cooking more fun and delicious! I added them in small circular pebbled flowerbeds for a delicate and pretty look, and to make them stand out, and they have thrived. I used chives, lemon thyme, and corriander - which all thrive in the sun. 

Make-Up Tips and Ideas: Be Creative, Be More You.

Make an Artist of Yourself: Exciting Make-Up and Hair Techniques for Spicing Up Your Look

Even the most 'natural' of us spend so much time on beautifying ourselves, why not add some excitement?

1. Add Some Colour

Mermaid Eyes

Best Suited To: Darker toned skin/olive skin (you can change the colours to pastels if you have paler skin). Make sure the colours match or contrast well with your outfit.

Products Used: Max factor 'creme puff' pressed translucent powder, Maybelline '24hr colour tattoo' (purple), Bodyshop metallics (aqua & gold). Rimmell Lash Builder mascara.

How: Prep eye area for blending and adhesion - remove excess moisture/grease with a babywipe and prep with translucent powder.Contrast metallic violet and aqua colours. Dab the violet brightly on the outer corners of the upper lids. Blend upwards to outer browbone, add a slightly pinker tone as you blend. Dab aqua under outer edge of lower lashline. Highlight browbone directly under eyebrow with a pale gold. Add black or dark mauve eyeliner to upper and lower lashlines. Add black mascara.

Contrast Eyeshadow Colours

You can add great va va voom to your look by contrasting colours. Every colour that exists has an opposite counterpart (google 'the colour star' for an image of this), but basically you can use opposite colours to create contrast. Examples could be blue and orange, or green and pink. Admittedly these combinations sound ghastly, but with some careful application (bearing in mind with this sort of technique less is more), you can achieve a look that pops! 

You can also make your eye colour pop, or stand out by contrasting it with an eyeshadow, but subtly. Dark brown eyes contrast well with deep, dark aqua colours, blue eyes contrast well with oranges or warm pinks, and green or hazel eyes contrast well with lilacs and purples generally. The colour should compliment your eyes though - it shouldn't clash nastily.

2. Elongate & Add Shape

Egyptian Eyes

Best Suited To: Any skin/eye colour or tone.

Products Used: Max factor 'creme puff' pressed translucent powder, Bourjois colour intense eyeshadow (brown), black kohl eyeliner from Natural Collections (non-waterproof), Maybelline 'Scandaleyes' cat-like mascara.

How To: Prep eye area for blending and adhesion - remove excess moisture/grease with a babywipe and prep with translucent powder.Line the inner rims of the eyes with black non-waterproof eyeliner. Use mahogany or dark brown eyeshadow to line the lower lash-lines - sweep upwards towards the outer ends of the eyebrows. With the same eye shadow, line the upper lash lines and the outer sides of the eyelid, blending and fading towards the inner eyelid. Ensure the colour does not 'half' the eye. Add a bronze eyeshadow to the inner eyelids and inner halves of lower lashlines. Blend with the brown. Add mascara, sweeping lashes up and outwards for a cat-like effect.

Grecian Eyes

Best Suited To: Larger eyes. Any skin tone, any eye colour, although with dark eyes this look can be especially intense.

Products Used: Max factor 'creme puff' pressed translucent powder, bodyshop simple black eyeshadow, black kohl eyeliner from Natural Collections (non-waterproof), Benefit mascara.

How To: Prep eye area for blending and adhesion - remove excess moisture/grease with a babywipe and prep with translucent powder. Line the inner rims of the eyes with black non-waterproof eyeliner. Add black eyeliner to the lower lash line, carrying on in a straight line after the outer corner of the eye curves upwards. Add the liner the top lashline but only to the outer side of the eyelid in a straight line, avoiding the browbone. Add bright gold eyeshadow to inner lower lash line, and from the outer corner of the eye in a straight line in the middle of the black eyeliner. (Use pencil, liquid or gel eyeliner, depending on how sharp/intense you want this look to appear. You can even use black eyeshadow with a damp brush - I have used pencil and black eyeshadow for a more blended, subtle look).

3. Contour & Highlight

Shadows and highlights can be created with any number of products such as bronzer, shimmer, blusher and various powders. If it is shiny, shimmery or lighter than your skin it will highlight an area, making it stand out and look prominent. If it is darker than you skin tone it will create a contour or 'hollow' - making the area appear further away, concaved, or 'hollowed out.'

If you're creating a contour effect don't use any product more than two shades darker than your skin tone otherwise it will look severe and artificual, even blotchy.

Highlight cheekbones: 

Smile and apply the highlighter to the 'apples of the cheeks' (the rounded areas). Blend a little and ensure the product adds lightness or shimmer to the area desired.

Product Suggestion: Benefit's 'Girl Meets Pearl' highlighter - great for adding a dewy pearlised shimmer to highlight cheekbones and other areas such as browbone.

Contour cheeks:

For a chiseled look, or to slim down the look of your face, shade the areas beneath the cheekbones slightly. Apply subtly. You may need to experiment a little. Apply only around the area underneath the cheekbones (nowhere near nose or mouth).

Shade a double chin:

To minimise a double chin you can shade it as you would for the contour effect. Use a shade darker than you skin tone and blend. Add a little highlighter to the chin bone area to further add to the effect of the 'double chin' receding into the distance/shadows.

Text and Images Copyright © Lise Griffiths, 2012

All Rights Reserved

Great Success of Black-Tie Easter Charity Ball & Auction for NACC

Recent Easter Charity Ball and Auction 

For Crohns and Colits UK!

Funds Raised so far: £1,290

The evening was a great success! The 3-Course meal was delicious and the creme brulee was huuuuuge! 

Our DJ from California Disco very kindly helped us out for free, enabling even more of the profit to go towards the charity! We had professional photographer Issi Grieg who kindly donated £2 from every photo to the charity, and the easter egg raffle was a great success, not to mention the hidden chocolates in the eggs yum yum! 

 The auction with fantastic prizes - such as afternoon tea at a 5 star hotel and a 4 star hotel stay-over for two - were an excellent success and my very own butterfly oil painting auctioned for £100!

Thank you so much to everyone who came along - your support is extremely valuable. 

Background Information:

I met my best friend Claire at college when we were both just 16. She suffered a serious illness called Crohns Disease and she had an extremely rough time at college, including having to spend over 3 months in hospital, experiencing constant severe pains and cramps, and wearing a feeding tube on her face which went through her nose and into her stomach. She still got herself the highest grade possible (with ease might I add)! 

Claire is the strongest person I know, and now - ten years on - our friendship is just the same and Claire has followed her enormously successful career as a paramedic. After we left college and followed our own paths, I met my husband Richard whilst Claire was travelling in Kenya. On our third date he told me about a condition he has which is called Ulcerative Colitis. It sounded just like Crohns so when Claire came back I was straight on the phone to her about it and she told me that it was in fact closely related to her illness. She couldn't wait to meet him, and when they were introduced they got on like a house on fire. I married him two years later. 

Claire and Richard are so strong in the face of their illnesses that I often feel like I'm the odd one out. I'm the one who is bed-ridden with a cold, or is in tears over having to have a smear test, but these two are so extremely brave I don't know what I would do without their amazing strength and courage. These are two of the most important people in my life and they go through so much every day. I needed to do something to express my appreciation for them and what they go through, so I decided to raise as much money as I can for the charity which works for people with their illnesses - NACC, or Crohns and Colitis UK.

What better way to raise money for such an amazing cause than to throw an amazing, awe-inspiring, all-out black-tie Easter ball! Tickets are £28 each and it promises to be an extremely exciting evening complete with really fabulous auction prizes not to be missed! Fill yourself up with a delicious meal, dance the night away to rockin' tunes, preserve your fantastic outfit with a professional photograph, and be in with an excellent chance of winning some amazing prizes! 

Crohns and Colitis UK aims to improve life for anyone affected by Inflammatory Bowel Disease, of which the most common diseases are Crohns and Ulcerative Colitis. These conditions affect around 250,000 people in the UK, with debilitating symptoms and life-changing disorders. The website for this charity should you wish to find out more, is: http://www.nacc.org.uk