After a great month of stats and social media growth, plus after finishing my summer internship and going back to having more free time to write, I figured it was about time I ran a giveaway! I gathered a few of my fave products, along with some products I've been eyeing up for a while. All you have to do is check out my giveaway tweet HERE, retweet it and give my profile a follow! If you want a second chance of winning, just follow my Instagram profile HERE and reply to the giveaway tweet with a link to your profile! For now, I can only afford UK shipping so this giveaway is UK only!

Prize List

• Revolution Reloaded Iconic Fever Palette
• I <3 Revolution Chocolate Elixir Glow Highlight Palette
• 3x Garnier SkinActive face masks
• Moisture Bomb Super-Hydrating Soothing Mask
• Moisture Bomb Super-Hydrating Re-Balancing Mask
• Pure Charcoal Purifying & Hydrating Pore-Tightening Mask
• Little Black Book by Otegha Uwagba
• Hempz Triple Moisture Herbal Whipped Creme Body Wash 
• (Gifted for this giveaway)
• Lush Deep Sleep Shower Jelly
• Revolution Crushed Pearl Pigments in Kinky
• 3x Primark Nails
• Squareletto Cashmere
• Almond Obsessed
• Almond Silk Grey
• Candy Kittens sweets in Wild Strawberry (Vegan)

 Have you joined the giveaway?x

Let's talk about self care again! Keeping on top of your mental health is incredibly important and it should be incorporated into your day-to-day routines. Even if we don't think about the implications for our mental health, a lot of the activities we already do in the name of self care have really good effects on our mental wellbeing! Here are a few suggestions of ways in which we can take care of our minds on a daily basis!

Body Care + Skincare

Taking the time to take care of yourself physically can work wonders when your mental health is not up to scratch. Just slowing down and doing something that has no purpose other than to make you feel good. This can be done a little everyday, with nice smelling body wash or a really nice cleanser. Something that feels a little pampering in your daily routine. Your nighttime skincare routine is an ample opportunity for this! You can also go out every so often! Do a face mask or hair mask, slather on a lovely body butter or give yourself a hand massage and cuticle pamper!


Sleep Hygiene

We all know that getting enough sleep is incredibly important, but we are almost all guilty of finding several excuses nightly to put it off! Whether it's late night studying, a Netflix session or a really good book, there always seem to be so many excuses for late nights and foggy mornings after too little sleep! Perhaps we can improve our sleep by being a little stricter with ourselves. I could take for hours about the importance of sleep, especially as a psychology student with a massive interest in it, but let's keep it simple! If we don't get enough sleep, we may wake up cranky and this is not the best way to go about our day! By waking up feeling more rested, rejuvenated and ready for the day, we could have a great kick start and go about our days in a better mental space. Set up a nighttime routine to get your body ready for a good rest and to wind down after the day. Take more baths to get into that cosy feeling! Have less screen time in the evening and grab a magazine or a book. Listen to your favourite chilled out music. Get on some ambient lighting. Whatever you do to wind down, make it a solid routine and stick with it. You'll be thanking yourself in the mornings!

Journaling

This is said time and time again, but i'm going to say it again because it's true. Getting your feelings down on paper can be such a good release. While you are writing down what is bothering you or what is happening around you, you are processing it all. You have to think through it purposefully in order to get the words down. I find that when I am journaling, I begin to really look through my issues in a constructive way and I start to come up with solutions or alternative ways of thinking. I then write them down and highlight them so that when I look back at my pages and look through what has been going on, I am immediately drawn to the solutions I have come up with and it reminds me that I can change my thinking.


Date Yourself

Sounds weird but hear me out. Take yourself to nice places. Go and have a solitary coffee somewhere or take a nice walk somewhere pretty. You don't need others to enjoy your time and learning to spend time with yourself and growing to enjoy it can be really mentally strengthening. I am living alone over summer and I genuinely hate my own company, but learning to make plans to go out and do stuff without having someone to meet has been a really nice exercise in self discipline. I have the opportunity to cancel my plans and stay at home in bed without really letting anyone down, but I push myself out of my flat and I end up really enjoying this time out alone. I have been discovering places which I have been waiting to visit with other people and now that I have been, introducing others to these places will be even better because I can show them all my favourite parts of the places!

Breaking Habits

Perhaps one of the best ways to take care of yourself mentally is to break those bad habits of yours. If you think less about breaking habits and more about getting into healthy habits, this will help you to fixate less on the bad habit which you are trying to fix. For example, instead of focusing on breaking my bad eating habits, I have set a goal of cooking proper meals every night and learning to enjoy cooking and learning new recipes. I focus less on getting rid of the bad foods, and more about getting into the habit of cooking good tasting proper meals. It makes it a lot more enjoyable! Here are some of the habits which I am looking to break, and the subsequent habits which I am hoping to build.

• Less screen time
• Get back into reading. Find a new favourite author and work at reading all of their works.
• Less drinking
• Invite friends over for games and food more (as opposed to just inviting people over to drink). You can cook for them whenever you find a really nice new recipe and enjoy the food with them.
• Stop staying up too late and oversleeping
• Fix your bedtime routine and find more nice relaxing hobbies to do before bed. Update your nighttime playlist.

My hair is in the best condition it has been in years and I wanted to do a post all about what I did to improve my hair quality and what products I use every week to keep it in good condition! Expect a rant about how darn good everything smells too! I love a good-smelling hair product!

In the shower!

So, years of using the same cheap shampoo had stripped my hair of all its oils and goodness and made it look super dull and lifeless! I don't know why it took me so long to switch up my shampoo and conditioner, maybe I was just in a solid routine of buying the same thing without wondering whether or not it worked for me! It clearly didn't. I replaced my shampoo, conditioner and daily heat protector spray with the Garnier Ultimate Blends Delicate Oat range and it has transformed my hair! Using the shampoo and conditioner is lovely because they smell so good and the shampoo lathers up like a dream! This is how shampoo is supposed to feel! Even after switching the products for the first time, I could clearly see that they were nourishing my hair way more than my old hair products!


As for the heat protector spray, it has the same wonderful smell and feels great and lightweight in the hair! I have been trying not to blow-dry my hair or put any heat on it at all lately since the weather has been warm and my hair dries pretty quickly on its own. Instead, I spray sea salt spray onto my hair while it's still wet and it helps to give it some more texture when it dries. I used to use the Fudge Salt Spray (nothing beats the smell of this) but lately, I was a bit more broke than usual and I picked up a Primark Salt Spray for £2, which does the job!


Yes, I dye my hair!

I decided to finally pay attention to my neglected roots and dye my hair again for the first time in months! I used the L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss, as I always have ever since I was about fourteen years old! It always leaves my hair looking super healthy and smelling wonderful! I used the colour 'darkest brown' and it looks so natural and glossy! Most importantly, my hair looks way healthier and so many people agreed when they first saw it! Casting Creme Gloss is only semi-permanent so it requires quite a bit of upkeep but it's also gentle on the hair and makes it feel so healthy and smooth!


Hair masks and pampering!

One thing I have begun to do is to pamper my hair and not just my skin! I discovered the magic of hair masks and I wonder how I never thought to try them before! There are two that I use regularly and they make my hair feel so SOFT! My favourite hair mask is H'suan Wen Hua from Lush. It is INCREDIBLE! I personally love the spicy deep smell, although I know some despise it, and I love the consistency, which isn't too thin or too thick so it spreads through the hair super well! The other hair mask which I love to use is the Garnier Ultimate Blends Hair Mask, which is a good budget alternative to the Lush mask!


So that's about it! Switching up my hair products and finding what works well for me has completely transformed the condition of my hair and I'm super pleased with how my hair looks and feels now! What are your hair holy grails? x

The lovely people at Simply Soaps sent me some products to sample and I must say that I love them! They use 100% natural and organic ingredients and they take care to make sure that their ingredients are sustainably and ethically sourced. Their website is a treasure trove of information on how they keep their company as environmentally friendly as possible and it is lovely to see! They clearly take great care to ensure their business has as little negative impact on the environment as possible!

As for the products I got to try out, here are my thoughts...

Hedgerow Herbals Rosa Passionata Moisturising Facial Serum

I'm not gonna lie, I was sceptical. I am very picky when it comes to skincare and I have a strict routine when it comes to serums. However, I am so glad that this serum was sent to me because I absolutely love it! Due to the fact that my face is a literal oil slick, I tend to use a good serum before bed and that is what I did with this. I was struck by how nicely it absorbed into my skin and how soft and smooth my face felt in the morning! It worked wonders and I will definitely incorporate it into my usual nighttime skincare routine, as I tend to alternate between a few serums with different effects.


According to the Simply Soaps website, this serum has anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory properties. They give a great amount of information on the different active ingredients, telling you exactly what each ingredient does to the skin!

Geranium Rose Balancing Soap

This lovely soap has quickly become one of my daily essentials! I use this all over my body in the shower and I am struck by how healthy and soft my skin feels! Especially on my arms, which have always been quite dry and bumpy! In the shower, this bar lathers up beautifully and goes onto the skin nicely! I have found with soap bars that they can be too solid and hard, but this soap is lovely and soft! The smell that wafts into the steam of the shower is wonderful and soothing, it feels like a fully aromatherapeutic experience!


I am mentally making a list of what to order from the Simply Soaps website after trying and loving their products! I am also putting together a little gift basket for an upcoming birthday and I definitely think that a couple of these handmade soaps would be perfect for this!

What do you like the look of from this lovely brand? x

So, who says that cheap skincare is not great? Superdrug own-brand skincare is super cheap and SO good! They have loads of different skincare ranges so there are products for every skin-type and an almost overwhelming amount of choice! I have a few products from the Calm Skin, Vitamin E and Naturally Radiant ranges and none have disappointed! I'm organising this post by range because they vary in skin-type and aim between the ranges.

Calm Skin

The Calm Skin range is a fairly new (I think) addition to the Superdrug skincare family and I was super excited to find it in my local shop. This range aims to soothe the skin and get rid of the visible signs of stress on the skin. I have only picked up a couple items from this range but I am thoroughly impressed and want to pick up more!


Calm Skin Soothing Facial Wash

This facial wash is only £2.99 and it's amazing, plus you get a good amount for your money! The cleanser is quite thick and lathers onto the face nicely. After removing it with a washcloth my skin feels so soft and clean and I love it!


Calm Skin Balancing Facial Oil

This facial oil is lovely! I was super hesitant to use an oil on my face, thinking that it'll tip the scales on my combination skin and turn me into a permanent oil slick. However, it settles into the skin wonderfully and definitely helps to balance my complexion and banish red patches on my face! Plus, it's only £2.99 too!


Vitamin E

The Vitamin E range is marketed as rich in antioxidants and is supposed to protect the skin from pollution and environmental damage. As a girl with sensitive skin who lives in the city, preventing pollution from messing with my skin is super important to me, which is why I was keen to give this range a go!

Vitamin E Refreshing Toning Mist

This was the first product I picked up from the Vitamin E range, looking for an alternative to the Mario Badescu spray. Lo-and-behold, this stuff is lovely!! It smells delightful (reminds me a bit of sunscreen) and sinks into the skin wonderfully! It's £2.99 and, in my opinion, is as good as facial sprays which are more than double the price!