My five favourite pampering rituals

I'm not very good at making time to look after myself, and I'm trying really hard to change that.

I often run around saying 'I'm so busy, I haven't got time to do anything!' which means I tend to neglect the simplest of my favourite pampering rituals during a particularly difficult time. However, when I'm scrolling through Instagram on a Tuesday evening and realise that I'm absent-mindedly looking at photos of my friend's auntie's neighbour's daughter's hamster, I often regret not using my time more wisely.

As a result, I'm making a conscious effort to make more time to pamper myself. Self-care definitely enhances my mood, and I need these simple rituals to work their magic even more right now. Best of all, some of them only take five minutes and most of them require minimal effort.

Read on to find out what I'm trying to do more of...

1. Painting my nails 

It's amazing how much better I feel with freshly painted nails. I usually paint my nails around once every week but I'm going to aim to do it at least twice per week from now on. I feel so irritated when my nail varnish is all chipped and I've got a massive collection of nail polishes, so I've got no excuses here! 

2. Having a bath

I very often tell myself that I haven't got time for a bath so I'll have a shower instead, but I'm slowly learning that taking the time to have a bath is so worth it. I throw in a couple of Lush products and take my Kindle with me, and I genuinely try to relax! I might not always succeed, but at least it's healthier than sitting around stewing on my negative thoughts (or stalking strangers on Instagram). 

3. Moisturising and cleansing 

I own loads of lovely moisturising products but I'm very guilty of thinking 'I haven't got time for that tonight' and skipping the moisturising step altogether. However, I feel so much better when I spare five minutes to moisturise after my bath or shower so it's really worth pushing away that pesky 'I haven't got time' thought. I also make sure I cleanse my face every night before going to bed, which I blogged about here. 

4. Making an effort with my hair and make up

When I wake up feeling particularly down in the dumps, I'll make minimal effort with my hair and make up which then makes me feel even worse. I've learnt that it makes a positive difference to my mood in the long run, even if it's just by a tiny margin, if I take the time to straighten my hair properly and put on a bit more make up. By 'a bit more make up', I mostly mean mascara, blusher and eyebrow pencil... any more than that is approaching night out territory for me!

5. Going to the gym 

This might seem like a strange one if you're not a fan of exercising, but going to the gym honestly works wonders for me. I sometimes get into a vicious cycle of feeling rubbish about my appearance then skipping the gym (and comfort eating) because I feel so rubbish, which then makes me hate my appearance even more. On those days when I'm feeling awful but drag myself to the gym, the payback is so worth it.

I might start playing 'pamper bingo' to see how many of these activities I can fit into one day. 

What are your favourite pampering rituals? Let me know if you have any recommendations for me! 

Wedding countdown

You might have noticed that my blog updates have become less frequent in the last few weeks. This one word explains everything:

WEDDING

Yes, my wedding is creeping ever closer and I've got a never ending list of things to sort out every night. This means I've had to neglect my blog as it's impossible to fit everything in, but hopefully I'll be able to make up for the lack of posts after we come back from honeymoon and things are a bit more relaxed. 

Anyway, as frantic wedding preparations have been stealing me away from my blog and causing quite a lot of stress this week, I thought I'd write a quick blog post on what I'm looking forward to most about the day. It's important to remember that it's supposed to be an exciting and happy day and that no one else will care about the little details as much as I do! More importantly, no one else will even notice if the little things don't go quite right on the day.

And even more importantly... it's so crucial to try to remember that it's my day (and Neil's)!

1. Getting ready
I'm really looking forward to putting my wedding dress on once my hair and make up have been done and I'm wearing all my lovely jewellery and accessories for the occasion. Obviously I've worn the dress quite a few times now for various fittings, but I can't wait to see what it looks like once everything else has been perfected. I'm so glad I decided to ask someone to do my hair and make up for me rather than doing it all myself as it'll take a lot of the stress away on the actual morning of the wedding. I'm not sure why I even considered doing it myself... I'm not even very good at applying my 'everyday' make up and my hair is constantly in a ponytail! 

2. Walking down the aisle

Although I'm an introvert and the shy part of me is dreading having to stand in front of lots of people on my wedding day, I'm genuinely looking forward to walking down the aisle with my dad and seeing everyone's faces as I come in to the church. There's a strong possibility that I'll cry and spoil all my make up... I well up every time I think about it!  

3. Being driven away in a fancy car 

I don't even know what make or model our wedding car is as I know nothing about cars, but I do know that it's beautiful. We also get champagne on our way to the hotel so I'm excited about this... first drink together as a married couple! This might also be one of our only chances to be alone together and to have a quiet chat all day, so I definitely want to make the most of it. 

4. Having all the people I love in one room

This NEVER happens, so I can't wait to have all my family, my uni friends,school friends, other friends, Neil's family and Neil's friends all in the same room. It'll take me a while to get around everyone but it'll be totally worth it. Surely this is the best thing about every wedding?

5. The food 

I don't think anyone will be surprised to see this item on the list. If you are surprised, you must be very new to my blog. I'm on a strict diet at the moment and will probably practically starve myself the week before the wedding, so naturally I can't wait to be able to eat whatever I want! We've got lots of lovely food planned for guests and I intend to eat more than my fair share.


So these are the five things I'm mostly looking forward to about the big day... does anyone have anything to add that I've forgotten about? Please feel free to give me more things to look forward to!

The joys of being a red head

My hair causes me no end of grief. First of all, it's super curly and takes ages to straighten and de frizz. Secondly, it's orange. I refuse to use the 'g*nger word to describe it... those of you who have the same colour hair will understand why. Years of having that one word shouted/chanted at you in a derogative manner kind of puts you off it, funnily enough.

My natural colour (ish). I dye it every two months so have forgotten what 

my actual natural colour is! Definitely more orange than this...

Anyway... when I was about 20, I decided to start dyeing my hair. I used to dye it a dark brown at first, which didn't suit me because I'm very fair skinned and it made me look like a ghost. I then decided to just dye my hair bright red, in order to get rid of the 'orangeness' of it. I was happy with the finished effect, and have been dyeing my hair red ever since. I use Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL, and have never had any issues with it. Orange hair is notoriously difficult to dye so my hair never turns out as it looks on the box, but I'd probably have to bleach my hair in order to get that effect. And that's just not happening.

I always find this picture slightly freaky. Why would you want exactly the same

hair colour as your partner?

So, I decided last week that my roots were getting horrendous so it was time to get the dye out again. I always make a huge mess when dyeing my hair, even though I should have mastered the process by now. Red dye seems to be extra difficult to remove too, especially from your face, so I usually have light red patches on my face for a few days after the process. Delightful. 

Here's the finished result:

Excuse the flyaway bits, I desperately need a hair cut

I'm always very pleased with the final colour as it's vibrant, and definitely more red than orange. Result! It does still make me a red head though, but I'm attempting to embrace it. Can anyone recommend any other hair dyes, specifically for people of the orange haired variety?