Mermaid's Makeup

This may seem like a bit of an odd post, you get in the shower, wash your body and hair and you're done? But there are some extra things that I do which make the showering process easier and more beneficial. They're all really easy things that you can incorporate into your shower routine with little hassle and money too!

Use Your Face Scrub on Your Chest
After speaking to a few people I know I realised that the little spot/bumps I was getting on my chest was something quite common. I'm not really sure how they develop but they're really annoying! I wouldn't really call them spots as such because they're so small and don't have a head or anything. I don't get them all the time and when I do it's usually only a couple dotted around. I know I said that they're tiny but when you want to wear a top or dress that shows off the top of your chest they can be a pest as they're red and stand out. I've started to use my face scrub on my chest to exfoliate the area whilst I wash my face and it seems to be working quite well and it doesn't really add any time to your usual shower routine.

Clip Up Your Conditioned Hair
Similarly to the chest bumps, occasionally I'll get spots on my back and sometimes they're even painful. I know I can't see them and I doubt anyone else will either, but they're still a nuisance that I'd like to avoid if possible. Again, I don't know what causes them exactly but I've found that if I clip up my hair whilst it has conditioner in it that I don't get them as much. It makes sense that when you have long hair your pores will become clogged with conditioner if it's left on your skin. I usually just wind my hair up into a bun on top of my head then continue with my shower to let the conditioner sink in and am careful not to let it fall down. Alternatively it might be easier to just use a clip to keep it in place. This technique also means that the conditioner isn't dripping down your face and clogging your pores there either.

Shaving with Conditioner
Staying on the conditioner theme, I prefer to use it when shaving as opposed to a shaving cream/foam. Firstly, it's cheap and something you probably already have, secondly, it's easy to use and not as messy as a shaving foam, and thirdly, it leaves your legs incredibly smooth and silky after! If you'd prefer not to use the conditioner you use in your hair if it's on the expensive side, then a cheap £1 brand will do just as well and is still cheaper than having to buy a separate shaving foam.

Get a Loofah Back Strap
 I got this a little while ago to combat the bacne I was talking about before. You can get them at pretty much any drugstore and they're very cheap. I put a small amount of my shower gel on it and lather it up on the loofah. The handles make it easy to use and it's not too abrasive but will make the area a little red for a while so I wouldn't do this if you're going out with your back exposed soon after your shower. Try and avoid leaving it in a heap once you're done because it's likely to get mouldy and stay damp. I wring mine out as much as I possibly can and then leave it to air dry around the shower head.

Turn Your Shower to Cold
Now this may seem like a form of torture but I promise it's not as bad as it sounds and is actually quite refreshing. I do this at the very end of my shower just before I get out. I like to have fairly hot showers which will dry out my hair and opens up my pores a considerable amount. Dousing myself in cold water makes my hair less dry and also closes my pores up after I've washed and scrubbed the dirt out of them. I don't want them to be open when I'm applying my makeup as this will clog them straight back up.

Pat Yourself Dry
Instead of rubbing my towel vigorously on my body to try and dry myself I pat myself dry. This is especially good for your face as it's less harsh and won't promote early wrinkles like rubbing can do. I find that if I rub the towel on my legs especially, it makes them more dry and leaves the dead cells on top of the skin. If I've just had a shower and washed all the dirt off then I don't want to be getting out with dead skin on me! I also use this technique with my hair. I usually leave my hair resting on my towel over my shoulders for a little while and then before I go to dry it I gently pat the ends to get ride of excess water dripping from it. If you rub your hair with your towel you're much more likely to cause it to break and split.
I find that I actually dry quicker this way as I'm allowing the water to absorb into the towel from the surface of my skin instead of just spreading it around.

Hope you found this random post somewhat interesting and let me know if you do any of these things already or try them out.

Talk soon,
Mercedes

I'd generally describe my skin as normal/combination; it's not usually dry or oily, apart from the slight sheen that's to be expected after working a 12.5 hour day at the hospital and wearing my make up for over 14 hours! I do tend to get breakouts, I've only just recently managed to get my skin to settle after what I assume to be hormonal spots. I still have the odd small spot and some redness left behind from them, but it's nothing compared to the extremely sore and stubborn under-the-skin spots I was suffering from a few months ago! I made the mistake of touching and picking at the blemishes which left me with horrible redness and scars covering most of my face which was almost worse than the spots themselves. I know it's easier said than done but DO NO TOUCH YOUR SPOTS!! They will disappear far easier and quicker if you don't try and pop them. Do as I say and not as I do! If I had a picture of what my skin was like I would put it in this post because I'm sure the shock and horror of seeing the mess that was my face would encourage you to take the advice I need to take myself.

After those disastrous months trying to sooth the angry skin and annoying scars I have become better at embracing my zits and just helping them along by using drying products targeted at the problem areas. I am much happier with how my skin is looking at the moment, and after stripping my skincare routine to the very basics, a simple soap and scrub every few days, I have slowly added in some more products and my skin seems to be tolerating the combination quite well for now. When I have bad skin it makes me feel so self-conscious, even when I have make up covering the worst of it so it's been nice to wake up and not feel instantly rubbish about my skin for the past few weeks. Admittedly there's still improvements to be made until I get that perfect, glowing skin that Emily Canham and Aspyn Ovard seem to achieve so effortlessly, but a girl can dream!!

Just to be awkward and a bit backwards, I thought I'd start from what I do before bed.
For as long as I can remember I've used the Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes. I know they're a bit on the pricier side compared to some other ones you can get, retailing at around £2-£3 (they're almost always on offer for less than this though), but whenever I've tried others that are cheaper I find they burn my eyes slightly when I take off my eye make up. The Simple ones are so gentle on the skin but are amazing at taking off make up too. They even manage to get my Benefit They're Real Push Up Eyeliner off which a lot of people have issues with.

This is a product I used for a short period of time a long time ago and I'm not entirely sure why I ever stopped using it? I mean I can't say I notice a huge difference whether I use this or not but everyone goes on about how you should have a toner in your skincare routine, and although this is labelled as a cleanser, I would classify it as a toner. With some other toners I've tried in the past that have come in my Birchbox, I've had minor breakouts, but I don't get this with the Clean and Clear Blackhead Clearing Cleanser. I add a generous amount onto a cotton pad and sweep it across my face and neck to remove any remnants of makeup my wipes may have missed. It does have an alcohol scent to it but I haven't noticed any obvious drying of my skin since using it. The blackheads I have around my nose and chin area have improved, but I'm not sure if it's down to this product, another one that's my holy grail and will talk about later, or a combination of the two, but I'll certainly continue to use this at least until I finish the bottle and then I may see how I go without it before repurchasing.

Next, I like to wash my face with this gentle cleanser from Biotherm. I haven't tried any other products from this brand but I fell in love with this cleanser as soon as I started using it a few years ago. It is pricier than what I would usually pay for a skincare product but it's so gentle and deep cleansing that I can't stop using it. It's not that easily accessible in the UK but I have found a site that sells the Biosource Fresh Foam Hydra-Toning Cleanser for normal/combination skin  for £15.95 (free P+P over £15) and the delivery is very reliable and fairly quick. I prefer to wash my face just once a day and night time makes more sense to me than in the morning as I like to make sure my pores are thoroughly clear of all make up when I go to sleep, but each to their own, this is just what I have found works best for me at the moment.

The Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Daily Cleansing Pads are definitely my holy grail skincare product if there ever was one! I've never used a product before which had such immediate results, I woke up the morning after using one before bed and my skin was smoother and felt so hydrated, I was honestly amazed. I first heard of these when I was searching the internet for something to help reduce redness, which was my main problem once the spots themselves had finally gone. I saw a lot of sites recommending glycolic peels and facials but they can cost quite a bit. That's when I came across these and after reading a few reviews and realising that they were on offer at the drugstore, I had to go and buy them straight away. Nip+Fab is fast becoming a well known skincare brand boasting luxurious products with excellent results, minus the hefty price tag of more higher end brands. Their products are still on the higher side of the usual drugstore price range, but at around £12 for 60 pads (which will last 2 months if used once daily) I think they're a bargain considering the results I've seen in the few weeks since I started using them. As I said, the smoothing effect they claim to have was something I noticed straight away, I had some small bumps around my temples that I wouldn't call breakouts as they were so tiny with no visible head, more like clogged pores, and the next day they were all virtually gone! As I continued using them I realised my redness was in fact fading and I became more confident in my skin. I use one after cleansing my skin and rub it in circular motions all around my face and then down my neck and across my decolletage, I take my time doing this as the motion promotes blood flow and circulation to the face which helps with cell renewal. They smell lovely too, slightly citrus but floral at the same time. I would definitely recommend these to anyone but I would say if you have sensitive skin be careful as I know glycolic acid can be harsh on some skin types.

This Derma V10 Deep Wrinkle Collagen Filler is a product I don't necessarily think I'd go out of my way to buy again or can say I've noticed has reduced the little fine lines I have below my lower lash line. However, I picked it up one day after my Dad so lovingly pointed out said fine lines and I got paranoid! I have since realised that everyone has them and I'm not actually bothered by them at all but have continued to use this cream that I picked up from my local bargain shop as I figured there's no harm in finishing it if I've paid for it. It was very cheap, around £2 or so and just moisturises my eye area. It's not something I will buy again but I'm on the lookout for an inexpensive eye cream because even though I'm still relatively young) coming to the end of my 20th year of life) I imagine that using something that is anti-ageing around my eye area can only help prevent further wrinkles.


I always apply lashings of lip balm before bed to ensure I wake up with lovely moisturised lips. I have never suffered from dry lips until about a month ago and I can't seem to shift it. I'm not sure what's caused it; I've continued to use my lip balm before bed, when I wake up and throughout the day, haven't been anywhere overly cold or hot, so it's a bit of a mystery. Almost my entire lips are peeling and flaking away and it's not a good look at all! They're not sore yet but I imagine it's only a short time until they do start to cause me some pain if they don't get better. I use a lip balm I received in a Glossybox a long time ago by Naked Lips and it's their Superfruits one. It smells delicious, is 97% organic and 100% natural and has blueberry, acai, goji, baobab and pomegranate in it. Since my dry lip situation started I've been alternating between this and my trusty Blistex Relief Cream. I used to get sore lips in the winter time where the corners would get small cracks in them and this product would fix them overnight. So far it hasn't helped with my current problem, but I'm going to be persistent and hope that it is resolved soon. Have you got any recommendations that could help me?

If I have any red scarring from recent spots I like to add some Germolene onto the area and it seems to help speed up the healing process somewhat. I do this at night because I don't completely rub it in, I leave it in a sort of blob on the area even though this means I wake up with it on my pillow! It just helps the dark red/purple mark fade quicker and it's easier to cover with concealer too.

I went into The Body Shop when the redness was at its worst and asked the sales assistant to advise me as to what she thought would best help. She suggested I try the Vitamin E Overnight Serum-In-Oil and although it was fairly expensive at £15 for 28ml, I was willing to try anything at this point. I did use it for a couple of days before bed, you wouldn't be able to use it during the day as it is quite oily, but stopped once I noticed my usually normal skin to be very oily half way through the day. If I had seen major reductions in redness I may have persevered and just lived with the fact that I would have to regularly visit the ladies room to blot my face, but this wasn't the case and I didn't feel it was worth having oily skin for. Considering the price of it I was quite disappointed but it hasn't completely gone to waste as I apply it to a burn I got on my arm when curling my hair a few months ago and it is slowly fading the mark. If you have dry skin or don't mind the oil issue then this probably would work for you. The Body Shop are quite generous in that they will give you a little sample pot of whatever you want to try with no commitments to buying the product or anything else and you can definitely get around a week's use out of the size they provide. The oil also has a rose scent to it which smells delicious!

Another product I briefly used a while ago and have returned to is the Clearasil Rapid Action Seal-To-Clear Gel. It does reduce the size of spots overnight by drying them out, because of this I would advise only applying it to the actual spot and avoid the surrounding areas. I find that it's best to use it as soon as you feel a spot developing to prevent it growing bigger. It's relatively cheap at around £5 and if you only apply it to spots then it will last you quite a long time. I don't like to use it before I apply make up in the day because I find that where it is a gel formula, if you rub the area you applied it to once it has dried, it will flake off a bit and leave white blobs on your face.
In the morning I just splash water on my face to rinse off the remnants of any creams or gels I may have applied the night before. Some people like to use their daily cleanser here as well as or in place of using it at night but I found that when I was washing my face with a cleanser twice a day it was too much for my skin to handle. Believe it or not there is such a thing as over cleansing and it just depends on your skin type as to what "over cleansing" is for you.

As I said, I don't use the Clearasil gel in the day but I do like to use something under my make up on any blemishes I may have to try and get rid of them as soon as possible. To do this I use Tea Tree Oil. I take a clean cotton bud which fits perfectly in the snout of the bottle (you can use your fingers as long as they are clean but you'll have to wash them after as it will burn if you get it in your eyes and is apparently extremely dangerous if ingested. Read the linked article for more information about this as well as the many other uses) and soak it in oil. Any brand will do, I tend to get 100% tea tree and this is just the brand that I have found is sold cheaply at a local shop. I then dab the cotton bud directly onto any spots which can sting for a second or so depending on the type of spot. Tea tree oil has antibacterial properties which will kill off any bacteria in your pores and dry the spot out and it also soothes to reduce the size and redness of angry blemishes. It is extremely drying so try and stick to only applying it to the actual spot. It does have a strong smell when you apply it but don't be put off, it doesn't linger on your skin at all. You may also be worried that it is an oil but I wouldn't say it is oily in the literal sense and so does not leave your skin shiny (I'm not too sure how that works to be honest but just go with it)!


Whilst I let the tea tree oil sink in for a few minutes I will again apply some lip balm.
I'm someone who is bad at moisturising! I know you're meant to do it regardless of your skin type but I just don't find that I need it regularly and if I use it often I get clogged pores no matter what brand or formulation I use. When I do use it though, I reach for the Garnier Dark Spot Corrector Daily Illuminating Moisturiser once again, to help reduce my red scars. This sinks in very quickly and has a lovely smell as it contains Vitamin C. It doesn't leave my skin oily or shiny at all and although I get small bumps if I use it too much, it doesn't break me out and that issue is not due to the moisturiser itself but my annoying skin!
During the summer months I heard a lot of people talking about the Garnier Moisture Match range and I thought I'd give the Protect and Glow formula a go. I was drawn to this one over others in the range as it has SPF20 and is called a "light illuminating lotion" as it gives your skin a subtle glow. Again, I don't use this very regularly as it did make my skin shinier quicker in the day, not anything too obvious or overly oily but more than usual and so I use it for particularly sunny days (not that we get many of those in gloomy Britain)! It has a gorgeous scent to it that I won't even begin to try and describe because I can't put my finger on any one smell, if you sniff a tester in the shop or have it already you'll hopefully know what I mean. Although I said it makes me slightly shiny, the cream itself is very light. It takes a bit longer to sink in than the dark spot corrector but as it has SPF in it this can only be expected. It only takes a couple of minutes to fully absorb into your skin and you're left with radiant looking skin that's protected from the sun too.

Around about the same time I began noticing my eye wrinkles I also noticed how puffy and dark my under eyes were. I'm not sure if they had been like this for a while and I was just hyper-aware of my eye area at this time or if it was because of my sleeping pattern/sleep quality at the time but it was noticeable enough that I had to do something about it. I know there are a lot of products out there designed to help with these problems but I wasn't prepared to pay the astronomical prices of some of the ones raved about online. Instead, I went into my nearest Boots store and had a browse of what they had to offer. After looking around and comparing prices and reviews on my phone, I decided to get the Botanics All Bright Refreshing Eye Roll-On which is a brand specific to Boots. It is a bit pricey at £8.99 but this is fairly cheap these days for a product like this. The roll-on ball is metal which is lovely and cooling on the eye area in the morning and the product comes out with a gentle squeeze as you roll it. Similarly to the blackhead cleanser, I'm not sure if I'm noticing a great deal of difference as I don't know whether this was a problem specific to that time I noticed it or if it has actually improved something I had for a while. I'm nearly finished with the tube and so will see how I get on without it before deciding whether I want to buy it again or not.

Whilst I don't regularly use my Biotherm cleanser more than once a day, I always wash my face in the shower when I wash my hair and so if I happen to shower in the morning I will end up using it twice - once in the shower and then again at the end of the day as usual.
After using the cleanser, I go in with a facial scrub. I used to think that the more I scrubbed my face the more dirt I'd get out but I soon noticed that it was in fact doing the opposite of what I was trying to avoid and giving me more blemishes. I only exfoliate my face when I wash my hair which is usually every other day and I like to use the Clearasil Ultra Blemish+Marks Scrub. I used to use the normal Clearasil Rapid Action 12hour Scrub which worked fine for me but when I had all the redness I thought that one specifically for reducing blemishes and marks might be even better. I always get a bit nervous when I change a product, not because my skin is overly sensitive or reactive to new products, luckily, but because like most products on most people, when you try something new you often have to let things get worse before they get better as the product begins to draw out impurities. I wasn't overly worried with changing to this as it was by a brand I trusted and it has actually made a difference. It is quite a bit different to the scrub I previously used in that it has a more gel-like texture to it with small beads as opposed to the larger beads of the other one and it also has a smell to it that I happen to like. It has helped me keep my spots at bay, for now and my redness and dark marks have improved greatly and have almost completely gone (except for one or two more recent marks). I then go ahead and apply my make up as usual.

Phew! That was an essay and a half! Although it may seem like a lot written out like this, it is fairly simple and it's a routine that seems to be working for my skin right now. I like to wake up as late as possible so my skincare has no choice but to be fuss-free and easy, not to mention cheap because unfortunately student loans and bursaries aren't overly generous. I like my food too much to sacrifice it for overly expensive skin care products when I can get great results with these affordable items, most of which can be found at your local drugstore.

Of course good skin has a lot to do with what you're putting on the inside as well as the outside which is why I'm desperately trying to up my daily water intake, even if it does mean I'm going to the toilet every 30 minutes! I am yet to become dedicated to buying more veggies though. It's not because I don't like them but more due to the fact that I just can't find the time to cook them all, the storage to keep them on my lone shelf in the shared fridge and I can never use them all up quick enough resulting in a lot of wastage as I am only cooking for one. It's a bit of a dilemma really! If you have any suggestions on how to combat this then please do share.

Talk soon,
Mercedes

*Starts post with humongous picture of self*
I'm definitely not vain or anything...
But seriously, seem as this post is about the NuMe Curl Jam Curling Set I thought it would be quite useful if you could clearly see my hair!

I bought the curling set about a year or so ago after being persuaded by a YouTuber who had a coupon code. Well done, you got some money out of me there! Joking aside and dismissing the mention of YouTubers advertising on their channels to avoid an argument because I know how divided/outraged/cheated/disappointed people feel about them doing this, I was initially drawn in by the wonderfully edited video of a famous YT'er (I'm not avoiding saying their name or anything I just can't remember who it was as it was so long ago) but I absolutely love this set regardless of how I came to buy it.


The set includes a straightener and a curling wand with three different sized barrels: 19mm, 25mm and 32mm. The site describes the set as having "crushed gemstone tourmaline...with powerful negative ions to dramatically smooth each lock of hair, crafting curls and straight styles to perfection" I don't really know anything about the technology of "crushed gemstone tourmaline" or anything but I do know that it produces lovely looking curls and waves that last. The carrying case it comes with is very handy and makes the 5 separate parts of the set nice and compact making storing them easy as well as travel friendly if you want to take them away with you. It also has a heat protecting glove which I thought I was too good for until I recently burnt myself not once but twice in the same curling session. As the tools get so hot I would strongly advise wearing the glove to avoid having a horrible scar on your arm like me (luckily the one on my face faded within a couple of days).

I am yet to use the straighteners as I have a pair that I have loved for a long time and so don't feel the need to use these as yet but I'm sure one day I will have a go with them. For now though, although this review is technically about the whole set I will only be talking about the curling wand and barrels.

The wand heats up so quickly and is extremely easy to use. You just wind your hair around the barrel and hold it there for about 10-15 seconds (I'm sure you've all seen the video of the girl who burnt a chunk of her hair off whilst curling it so I wouldn't hold it on there for too much longer than this). My hair isn't currently layered and is very fine. Although it is quite long, almost down to my belly button, I can curl all of my hair in 15 minutes if not less! If you have layered hair I think it would be best to separate the layers and work your way from the bottom layer to the top. For me though, this does not work as I found out this time. I thought I would try it this way as everyone else seems to do it like this, forgetting that most people need to as they have volume unlike my flat hair. It ended up being very funny looking near the crown of my head where I'd curled it right to the root on my bottom layers and I just had a big kink here! It wasn't my best look I have to admit. Thankfully it was something I was able to fix with a quick run of my straighteners at the top.

So if, like me, you also have very flat and unlayered hair then I would recommend you use some heat protection spray and then just separate your day old hair in half on either side and then split it again on each side so it's in 4 sections, two on each side. Then I work my way from the back of my head to the front curling it in pieces that are about an inch or so thick. It's always a good idea to curl away from your face and if you don't like it when your curls mix together then alternate each strand making sure the front bit is wrapped away from you otherwise it will just cover your face! As I said I generally hold each strand on the wand for 15 seconds and shorter if it's a very small piece. Making sure you get as much of the hair wrapped around the barrel means you won't be left with straight ends that flick out (unless that's the look you're going for).


Once I've completed one side I run my fingers through the curls to loosen them up a bit to make them more natural looking and so each strand is blended with the next. Then I repeat the same on the other side until all of my hair is curled. I tend not to use hair spray after I've curled it as my thin hair gets weighed down by it and actually makes the curls fall out a lot quicker, defeating the purpose of using the hairspray in the first place. If hairspray helps your curls stay for longer though then give it a quick spritz when you're done.

I generally use the 25mm barrel (I used this one in the pictures) as it gives you nice defined curls the day you do it that are still natural looking but that will also last a couple of days. If I use dry shampoo I can easily get away with having my hair curled for three days. If I curl freshly washed hair it won't hold the curls as well and so I always wash my hair the night before curling. The second day the curls will drop slightly, leaving you with nice bouncy, beachy waves. On the third day I put in a little dry shampoo to encourage some volume at the top as it would have dropped a bit in this area and also to absorb the grease as my hair has a 2 day limit. My hair will literally start to turn greasy as soon as it hits the 48 hour mark. If I wash my hair on Monday at 10am then on Wednesday at 10am it will be yucky, if I wash it at 10pm then all of Wednesday it will be fine until it hits 10pm, it's very odd! Does anyone else get this or is it another weird thing that only happens to me?! Anyway, on day 3 it's nothing a bit of dry shampoo can't solve and the waves are very lose but have that effortlessly messy look to them.

The smaller barrel holds the curls for a similar amount of time but I don't always fancy the tight curls it produces as much as I like the curls the 25mm gives you. The bigger barrel gives you waves similar to the second day curls I described, meaning the waves are almost completely gone by the next day. If I'm going to go to the effort of spending longer than the usual 2 seconds I spend brushing my bed head then I want them to stay for more than a day. But that's just me because I'm lazy! If you're not looking for the curls to last more than a day and want to have beach type waves from the outset then using the 32mm size is the right one for you.

I would recommend this set and the company itself as I had a good customer service experience with them and relatively speedy shipping of a couple of weeks considering it was coming to the UK from America and I was too cheap to upgrade to the faster shipping and stuck to the free shipping option instead! They are a bit pricey but there are a lot of coupon codes on the internet, especially on YouTube, and if you're not fussed about having a whole set, you can buy one wand size fairly cheaply. They have a lot of different combinations of barrel sizes and types on their website so go check it out!
(One more because I rarely make an effort with my hair so had to take a few pictures to mark the occasion and thought I'd share them all)!

Talk soon,
Mercedes