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5 In beauty/ lifestyle

The New Things I’ve Been Giving A Whirl Lately

Yep this is very much an odd time to write this kind of post.  But y’know, I’m not exactly doing well with the blogger rules at the minute so to hell with it!  Yes January is The Time For New Things but I realised I’ve actually been a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.  Me!  Early!  For once in my life!  Doesn’t happen often so let’s appreciate that little fact yeah?

assholes-a-theory-aaron-james

Non-fiction books

No I’m not taking encyclopaedias to bed or anything, but I am getting into what I call ‘real life observations’ books atm rather than novels.  For some reason I’m finding it more enjoyable to read about actual peoples’ actual lives – kind of like how I prefer vlogs to TV I guess!  And for someone who has never even considered studying psychology, I’m actually finding that kind of topic pretty fascinating.  Tell me ALL the body language cool stuff and how human minds work pls.  Because my mum knows my taste better than I do she picked out a perfect selection of these kind of books for my birthday, so I’m currently making my way through this lot!

girls-and-sex-peggy-orenstein

So far I’ve finished ‘Girls & Sex’ by Peggy Orenstein – very eye opening, and based on the statistics and info in here about American sex lives, I’m glad to live in the UK haha!  Currently making my way through Assholes – A Theory by Aaron James which is written in an academic, almost scientific style about what exactly makes an asshole… an asshole (because there sure as hell are a few of them about), and I’ve just started on ‘The Tipping Point’ by Malcolm Gladwell too.

Zero-shine skincare routine

To be honest the reason I’m not a beauty blogger is because I just don’t have anywhere near the extensive enough beauty routine to warrant it.  I see the YouTube videos where girls use 14398 products just for their skin prep – that will never be me!  For the most part I keep it pretty basic, and have used Nivea’s original moisturiser (the plain one in the big blue tin) for literally years.  It does the job on my dry skin and doesn’t give me breakouts, but it’s also insanely rich and shiny so I only use it before bed when it has hours to soak in.  Or I’d have to leave the house looking damn near radioactive, which isn’t ideal.  Recently I’ve been trying out the no-shine moisturiser from Nip & Fab though, and my shiny woes be gone!  I have really tight skin (seriously I don’t think I’d ever want a facelift – I can’t get wrinkles in my forehead even if I try!) so it’s good to find something intense enough to stop my face feeling like it’s being pulled taut without adding a ton of shine.   I am now sorted and have almost used a bottle (tube?) already.

nip-and-fab-teen-skincare

Nip & Fab kindly sent a couple more items from their new teen skin range too – I do technically have one year left as a teenager after all!  I’ve been (touch wood) lucky enough not to suffer with typical teen skin problems like acne, but I do get pretty clogged pores and occasional breakouts, around my hairline especially.  Both my 16-year-old brother and I have been trying out the breakout pads and I’ve used the spot zap treatment a few times too, and so far so good!  I usually steer clear of adding too many steps to my facial routine and keep it pretty simple but this one seems to have been worthwhile.

Light minimal makeup

Whilst we’re kind of on the beauty topic, I’ve also been trying out lighter makeup lately too.  Enough to feel more human (pale skin + no makeup + barely existent eyelashes = corpse face) but not a ‘full face’.  Just makes you feel a bit more ready for life if you look more presentable!  So the faithful Urban Decay Naked Basics palette, tinted lip balm and eyelash curlers have seen plenty of use.   I’m hardly one for piling on tons of makeup anyway but it’s nice to keep it even lighter!

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FYI I’ve written most of this laid on my back with a cat sat on my chest blocking my view of the keyboard, so if I’ve managed without typos or weirdness I’m pretty impressed with myself.

nike-trainers

More stretching and yoga(ish) in my fitness routine

Ok so this photo is a pretty useless representation of this because A) it’s not even yoga clothing and B) my trainers aren’t even new, but a snap of my post workout sweaty gym self wouldn’t cut it.  I have, however, added another element to my workouts lately, and dedicating more time to stretching out than I used to.  My body has thanked me for it!  I used to do maybe 5 minutes of stretching after weights or a cardio class, but I’ve been making sure to grab a mat and do what could only be described as ‘wriggling around on the floor’ for at least 10 mins if not longer in the past few weeks.  At points it vaguely resembles basic yoga poses and at times it resembles a cat stretching its back.  Nevertheless, it’s something new I’ve been trying lately!

Anyone else bucked the trend and tried out new bits and bobs at the end of the year?

lily kate x

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*Some items in this post have been sent to me for PR purposes but all opinions are my own*

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5 Comments

  • Reply
    Flora
    22nd December 2016 at 8:02 pm

    I’ve been reading a lot more too! And yoga, as it happens! I’m the worst for stretching (I used to do a cursory five minutes as well, but never really saw it as something worth doing in its own right), but it’s so relaxing isn’t it?! I found Yoga with Adrienne (youtube) is a great way of doing it through the week at home.

    🙂
    Merry christmas and lots of love!
    Michelle, I love this post! I chuckled when I read “custard powder (I KNOW!)” as I really was like “oh, wow! Really!? I’ll try that then!”. I’m a mega fan of Mary Berry’s recipes too – I’ve not tried making mincemeat, but I made her cranberry sauce last year and it was de-friggin-licious. Thanks for sharing the mince pie recipe – and thanks to your husband too!

    Merry Christmas!

    Flora
    http://www.theeverchanginghome.com

    • Reply
      Lily Kate France
      28th December 2016 at 10:22 am

      Great minds eh! I feel so much better after workouts when I’ve really stretched out properly, it’s nice and relaxing even if I have to then walk home in the cold haha. I’ve heard good things about Yoga with Adrienne, I should probably give it a try!
      Hope you had a merry christmas and happy new year!
      P.S. Mary Berry’s mince pie recipes sound great 😉

  • Reply
    Flora
    22nd December 2016 at 8:05 pm

    Wahhh sorry Lily, I pressed paste there and ended up copying in a comment I left for Michelle on her blog! (Disqus kept messing up so I had to copy it!). Sorry! xx

  • Reply
    Lucy
    22nd December 2016 at 11:44 pm

    Yessss to non fiction books! I love psychology ones (even if I study psychology at uni and have done for the past 5 years lol) as academic journal articles are soooo dry, even if their findings are really awesome. So it’s great to have all the research condensed down and written about in an accessible way. I’m really enjoying First Bite by Bee Wilson, it’s a psychological, historical and cultural look at how our food preferences are shaped from birth xxx
    Lucy @ La Lingua | Life, Travel, Italy

    • Reply
      Lily Kate France
      28th December 2016 at 10:24 am

      You must be quite the expert then! I think I just like reading about psychology for fun rather than studying it. I imagine these kind of books are a welcoe break from textbooks! That sounds like a really cool book – I’m the least fussy eater on the planet so would be interesting to learn about why!

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