Tips To Help Overcome Blogger's Block

It may come as no surprise when I say I'm not a very consistent blogger! Like many others I sometimes find it really hard to motivate myself to pick up my camera and take some photos or open my laptop and write a post. In the past I have taken a couple of lengthy breaks from blogging as I had a case of "Blogger's Block", but in both cases I have come back to blogging as I honestly missed it so much.

I started my blog back in June 2012 (almost 4 years ago - jeepers!) and back then things were very different, both in the blogging world and my life. I had just finished Sixth Form and had the whole Summer free to do what I wanted. I could easily post everyday and as I was new to blogging, I had so many new ideas popping into my head all the time. Even after I started college the following September to study beauty therapy I still always found time to post whenever I wanted, plus as I was in the beauty field, I was always interested in talking about makeup! I also think I was super lucky when I started blogging as I received so much support in the beginning and my blog really took off. All those factors together really helped me stay in the blogging frame of mind and I don't think I ever missed a week of posting!

Move forward a few years and I am now in a full time job and a very different situation. My first break from blogging was due to a family problem which in turn lead to me moving house and being constantly busy. During this time I honestly had no interest in blogging as I was so focused on my personal life. I felt like I had a lot more responsibility so when I did have a day off, I'd much rather just chill in bed with food and Netflix! However, I really started to miss the whole blogging process; the creativity, the interaction and the fun of it all. So a couple months ago I gave myself a bit of a kick up the bum and decided to come back to blogging. I thought that I would share some tips with you today that I use to help motivate me and get me back into the mind set of blogging!

 

Let's go shopping

This was actually one of the first steps that made me really want to come back to blogging. As I'd been out of the blogging loop, I wasn't quite sure what kind of new products were out there. So one day I decided to do a bit of makeup shopping and ended up swatching everything and anything! Stumbling across products I hadn't seen really intrigued me and inspired me to want to try them out and write blog posts about them! If you're in need of inspiration then maybe take a trip to Boots and just see what products are out there, swatch lipsticks to your heart's content and possibly treat yourself to a couple new products. That way you can always haul and review them, a great way to ease yourself back into blogging!

Read and comment on other blogger's posts

When I need inspiration I just turn to my Blogger or Bloglovin' feed and just see what everyone else is up to! Finding a post that really interests you is a great way to get your brain whirling for some new post ideas. I also think it's great to leave genuine comments on the posts that interest you as interacting with other bloggers is good to boost your confidence with writing again. A similar place to look is Instagram - if I need photography inspiration then this is an amazing place to find it!

Pretty stationary

It's definitely a "blogger" thing to love cute stationary. I for one have countless notebooks, novelty pens and other bits and bobs I like to use for writing endless lists and notes. It's always a great idea just to keep a little note pad in your handbag for when you want to jot down post ideas you randomly get during the day. I feel like if my stationary looks pretty then I'll more likely use it regularly and hopefully help my blogger's block! My personal favourite places for pieces like this are Paperchase, Tiger and places like TK Maxx or The Range!

Get ready for the day

This is definitely one of the best tips to help motivate myself for the day. Let's be honest, even though it's great to sit around in PJs all day with no makeup and bed hair, I always feel like I'm not "ready" and could easily slip back into bed. If I'm feeling tired but need to blog, then I'll get up a bit early and have a shower, do my makeup and hair and put on some proper clothes - typically jeans as I don't find them too comfy haha! Then because I feel ready for the day, I feel more motivated to write and get my post done.

Blog for you and do what makes you happy!

My final tip is to literally write and blog for you. Write what ever makes you happy and what ever it is you want to share with the world. Don't think "oh, but that might not get as many views as this other post" - do what you want to do! This is one that kind of got to me a few months ago, I would put off writing posts that I personally wanted to share and instead wrote ones I thought readers would rather see. Blogging is all about passion and if you're not passionate about what you're writing then it makes the whole experience not as enjoyable. I recommend just writing what you want and have fun along the way - don't worry about what other people think!

I'm sorry that this turned into such a lengthy posts, I honestly didn't mean for it to haha! I hope you enjoyed reading my tips and tricks for beating Blogger's Block. I would love to hear what other tips you guys have so let me know in the comments!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I'll speak to you again next week!

What are your tips for overcoming Blogger's Block?

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Review | Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid

Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan (With Professional Mitt)* | £19.95

Hello everyone I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Now that it's coming up to Summer time I love having glowing and tanned skin, but living in England means the Sun is pretty hard to come by! I usually resort to fake tan but I've never found a product that delivers a completely streak free and even finish. I was recently asked by TanLand whether I would like to try the Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid and I have to say, I was very excited to test it out. I've heard so many great things about Fake Bake and seen brilliant results with girls coming out with golden and glowing skin after using it! Now, I am a very paled skinned girl, so I much prefer fake tans that give a natural looking glow to my skin rather than going a deep tan colour; I just don't think it suits me! So I was very interested to see how well this worked with my skin tone.

| About Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid |
Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan is a weekly tanning solution that delivers a streak free, flawless looking tan that's meant to suit all skin tones and types. Fake Bake's "show ehere it goes" guide colour means that the product is a very dark brown shade - almost scary looking against my pale skin! However, once it's buffed into your skin it turns into a golden colour which is your guideline to show where you have applied the fake tan. I love the idea of a tan actually showing you where you've applied as it allows you to see the areas you've missed and helps give you a more even finish. As with most high end fake tans Fake bake's formula of active ingredients are blended to minimise the chances of an orange looking tan and instead give a sun kissed glow to your skin. One final thing about the Fake Bake tan is that instead of smelling like standard fake tan, it's actually scented with black coconut which makes it smell amazing! It seriously reminds me of sitting on the beach sipping Pina Coladas and I absolutely love it! However, I'm pretty sure this scent won't be to everyone's taste as it can be a bit strong, but I personally think it smells 100 times better than normal fake tan.

| What products come with Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid? |
As you can see, the Flawless Self Tan Liquid actually comes as a mini kit and has a mitt and gloves included. I think this is very helpful, especially if you haven't got either of these to hand. The mitt is very soft and buffs out the fake tan beautifully. The gloves are pretty standard and are there just to stop the fake tan seeping through the mitt and staining your palms. The actual bottle of tan is very nice and I've had no problems in terms with it leaking! It's a small bottle which makes it easy to hold whilst you are applying the tan, something that I think is important. The spray nozzle comes separately from the actual bottle, I think this is just so it can't leak if you're travelling with it. I was a little bit worried about using a spray bottle as I've only used aerosols before and I thought that it may make my tan come out a bit patchy! However I found it just as easy to apply with, the tan sprayed out as an even mist and then blended out just as well as other instant tans I've used before. Finally you also get a small instructions sheet that gives you direction and tips about how to apply the tan. It's straight to the point, easy to read and I found it very helpful for applying the tan!

| How I applied Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid |
1. To prep my skin for the fake tan, I exfoliated with Soap & Glory's Sugar Crush Scrub in the shower. Once out the shower, I went over any drier areas with an exfoliating mitt and I then applied Soap & Glory's Smoothie Star body lotion. Exfoliating and moisturising before fake tanning is essential if you want to achieve an even and natural looking tan as it will remove any dead and dry skin.

2. I left my body lotion to sink in for about an hour and then started to apply the Fake Bake tan. Starting with my arms I applied 4 - 6 pumps of tan on to the mitt and then started to buff into my skin. I then repeated this until I was happy with the guideline colour. I found applying tan this way creates a more natural looking glow instead of instantly going a golden brown colour. For my legs, I applied around 6 - 8 pumps to the mitt and repeated the same process. Finally for my face, I simply wiped the tanning mitt across my face just for a gentle hint of colour. To tan my whole body it only took around 20 minutes, so was very quick and easy to do. Once I had buffed the tan into my skin, I found that it dried quickly and left my skin feeling very soft. Even though this fake tan only takes 4 - 6 hours to develop, I left it on over night to ensure it was fully developed.
I repeated this process for the second application.

3. For the third application, I wanted to see how this tan worked if I sprayed it directly on to my skin and then buffed it in. I found this way I needed the same amount of product yet it was much more effective at making my skin darker. It was just as easy to blend into my skin and it didn't leave me looking patchy or uneven. Again, I left it to develop over night and in the morning I was left with evenly tanned and glowing skin.

| Overall thoughts on Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid |

As you can see from the photos my skin looks a lot more tanned and glowing, especially on my arms (they always seem to take to fake tan better than my legs). The finish was also very even and natural looking so definitely lives up to it's "flawless looking" claims! I'm very happy with the results from this fake tan and think the colour I achieved from the 3 applications is great. After the third application, I left my tan to see how well it faded over the week. After a few days I definitely noticed that the tan was fading but wasn't as patchy as I expected, just a couple darker spots near my wrists! Other tans I've tried before have left huge patches on my forearms, so this is one of the best that I've tried.
The only issue I had with this tan is that when I applied it in the evening, I found that it transferred on my my bed sheets and clothes, even after waiting a good hour for it to dry! I think I will have to stick to using this during the day rather than just before bed, which is a shame as I like how easy it is to apply at night and simply wash off in the morning.

Overall Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid is a really nice product and I can see it working for any skin tone as you can control the amount of tan you apply. It is definitely one of the best fake tans I've used and I think it just beats my St Moriz tan as the finish is a lot more even and flawless looking!

You can buy Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid from TanLand.co.uk for just £19.95 with free UK delivery!

Have you tried Fake Bake tan before? What's your favourite fake tan?

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Nails Of The Day | Stars & Glitter

Left to right: Essie 'To Buy Or Not To Buy' | Revlon 'Star' | Barry M 'Silver Glitter' | Barry M 'Hologram'

Hey everyone!

So today I have another nails of the day post! I'm going out tonight and because I can't have my nails painted very much (blame college!), I wanted to make my nails have an extra 'something' than usual.

This look is a glitter ring finger and nail tips than would be perfect for winter because of all the cool colours.

I started with a base coat from The Nail Doctor Strengthening kit (review coming soon) to prep my nails for all the polish. I then applied 2 coats of Essie's 'To Buy Or Not To Buy' which is a cool, lilac colour with blue shimmer. Then over my ring finger, I applied about 3 coats of Revlon 'Star' which is a mixture of navy and silver glitters. I then left this over night to make sure it was completely dry for the next steps. 

The next day I applied about 2 coats Barry M's 'Silver Glitter' to the ring fingers. Whilst it was still wet, I use the pointy end of an orange wood stick to pick up some of the chunkier glitters in Barry M's 'Hologram'. This makes the nail more interesting as it has different sized glitters on.

For the tips, I used Nailene Perfect Tips strips (as I am not a neat painter) and applied a coat of 'Star' and 'Silver Glitter'. I then waited for about 40 minutes and peeled the strips off. If you do it any earlier, the glitter will just peel off too. Finally I used the top coat from The Nail Doctor kit! So much nail polish haha!

I love how it turned out considering I rarely do tip colour/ glitter to my nails.

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Amie ♥

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My Skin Saviours

Skin type: dry/ sensitive

I have always suffered with problematic skin that used to affect my self-confidence as a young teenager. I didn’t tend to think a lot about a skin care routine because I never knew there were products that could actually help. Now, I have found that in my current skin care routine there are certain products that benefit my skin a lot and I cannot live with out them!

♥St Ives Sensitive Skin Apricot Scrub LINK

This gentle apricot scrub can be used daily to fight dry skin and blemishes. This product is amazing and I found started to visibly benefit my skin within a week. It also makes my skin very soft afterwards and remains so throughout the day. I recommend using an exfoliator in the shower so that your pores are more open and the product can do its job fully.

♥Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Cream Wash LINK

After a year of trying the skin care line Avène, I never actually noticed a massive improvement to my skin. My mum randomly purchased the Neutrogena cream wash and I thought, as I didn’t have anything to lose, I’d give it a try. Best decision. Ever. Within a few days I noticed my skin wasn’t as red and fewer spots were forming. I was amazed by this product but annoyed I hadn’t got my hands on it earlier! It has a lovely grapefruit scent which makes you face feel fresh. I would also recommend using your cleanser in the shower for the same reason as before!

♥Freederm Spot Treatment Gel LINK

A great spot treatment gel that doesn’t dry your skin out which is a bonus for my skin type! As you only need a thin layer, a small tube will last a good few months. I think it’s much better at preventing spots than actually treating them so you may have to wait a while to see a big improvement.

♥Body Shop Tea Tree Face Mask LINK

I don’t use this product as a weekly face mask as it is intended, but nightly and directly on to any blemishes and oilier areas of skin. It has tea tree oil in it (a natural blemish healer) and I find that as a mask it is not as concentrated as the oil you can buy (which ruined my skin) so doesn’t dry out my skin.

If I am having a bad skin day I will use this as an all over the face mask. I find like this it tightens pores as well as fighting spots. I am on my second pot of this and have been using it daily for 2 years, so is great value for money.

Some things to remember if you’re suffering with problematic skin:

♥If you’re trying out a new face wash, for example, don’t expect miracles over night. A skin expert at Boots told me to wait 6 weeks and if you do not see a good enough improvement, move on to another product. However, if a product is damaging your skin further, don’t sit it out and think it’ll get better because it probably wont as your skin is telling you it doesn’t like the product.

♥Your diet will also affect your skin. I found drinking more bottles of water instead of fizzy drinks made my skin much healthier and glowy. Also increase the amount of fruit and veg as they have anti oxidants and vitamins in that can help improve your skin. I also take vitamin tablets daily so that I make sure I have them in my body.

I am by no means a dermatologist or am saying every product and tip will work for/ in the same way for your skin! This is what works for me and is my opinion that made my skin better! 

I know what it's like to have bad skin and trust me it will get better. I hope this helped some people who are looking for new ways to help their skin!

What is your best product/ tip for healthy and clear skin?

Amie ♥