March 2018 Favourites

I have nothing cutesie to say so let's jump in!:

Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer:

This is an OG Beaty Guru favourite. We got most of their products and last year I saw a distrubutor sneak peeking it. No lies ES ESSPENSIVE at R220 for 11 grams BUT compared to Benefit Hoola mini of 4 grams at R215 and R400 and what for 8 grams full size it is a great price. 

It's a great neutral Bronzer That blends like a dream. They have launched 3 additional shades in the US and I am sure we will get them eventually as most of the Dischems are SOLD OUT. If you want it and see it, get yourself one because they go quickly.

DIY Colour booster Shampoo and Conditioner:

I while ago I coloured my hair pink again. I was scared of the fade because I had an events and a lot of social things happening. So I mixed up some of the colour (ReNew Perfect Colour in Pink Passion) with Shampoo and conditioner. A while ago I had issues with discoloured blond hair and toned it with the Sapphire Blue and conditioner.

Pick n Pay Real Clothing Track Suit:

Last winter I was looking for a nice Tracksuit and this year PnP is coming through for me. They come in Dark Grey, Light Grey, White, Black, Pink and Olive. Because of my hair colour (Pink doesn't really go with Olive and Pink on Pink is too Pink) I got a Black and Light Grey set. Tops and bottoms sold separate.

R50 Woolworths Stir Fry:

In my local Woolworths I found a bundle deal on egg noodles, julienne stir fry mix and Sweet and Sour sauce for R50. All I need to buy is what ever protein. Quick to make, healthy and delicious.

DIY Vitamin C Booster:

As per the previous post you can see I am having a Woolies moment. A few times I picked up an orange juice vitamin C booster. R16 for 100 ml started to get too bouj for me. I hacked it with Sir Juice, Nature's Choice Turmeric and Cayenne pepper. For 500ml I added 2 teaspoons of each. Though next time I will add less Cayenne because I'm not strong enough.

This it what I drink to shake the after lunch slump.

Candy Crush Saga:

Wow did you know your favourite Facebook procrastination game still is around? You know other than Farmville. (RIP Chocolate Milk Cows and your corn and tomato plants) I'm not hawking this app because not #spons. I have been enjoying it again. It doesn't consume my time as I always remember it doing. I'm at level 539. they designed some levels to be 'Super Hard' but I still enjoy it. I always remember some being 'Super Annoying'. Bonus points if you send invites to people who post that they don't want to be sent invites because they don't play games.

Used my creative SkIlLZz:

I found myself in different social settings this month. Usually as a social introvert it made me anxious. I dealt with it with my creative skills. Now I will not compete with Project Runway or audition for Master Chef or Bake Off but I can get by. It helps me manage with social interaction. THE WoRsT, rIgHt! Because I have things already (ingredients/ Pattern and fabric) I just add to use my skill to put it together. FREE.

Finally that's my things for Feb now go use your skillzzz!

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April 2017 Favourites

The fourth month has passed so here is the good ish:

Silicone Make Up Applicator:

I am not calling it a sponge because it's not. I love this thing. The only advise I have is don't use too much BB/ CC/ Foundation because it will take forever to blend. I bought mine on Takealot. (Search Silicone Sponge *eye roll* in Health & Beauty)

Renew Perfect Colour in Passion Pink (NOT SO light pink)

That stuff is so bright.

After 5 washes it started to look almost like on the box. I got a super lot of compliments then EVEN from high end hair studio stylist to people who work the tills.

Saved fashion:

I washed and without thinking through a non-tumbledryable dress into the dryer and is was suddenly so short. After consulting the internet and several Pinterest pins, I put some hair conditioner in a bucket with warm water, then added the dress. It soaked for about an hour. I put it on spin cycle and hung it to dry. BOOM saved my dress.

Stepped away from posting on Social Media:

I didn't take a hard break but there is pressure as I like to always like to show the good side. Many people mistake that for my life EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. They think all I do is drink coffee, paint my nails and serve looks. (I had people in my real life mock me over my Insta feed. You do the awkward laugh but all I wanted to say in STFU) I was just free to do stuff and even have A LOT of make up free days.

Pioneer Woman's Coconut Curry Shrimp:

Or as we call they in ZA Prawns. I modified the recipe for Meatless Monday by using Fry's Battered Prawn Style Pieces instead of shrimp.

Here and here for Sriracha. I bought mine at Fruit and Veg Foodlover's Market in the Asian section (where you buy the sushi rice you never use :o)

Sleepo:

I use this app for relaxing before bed, colouring in and even when I need to concentrate. You can make your own mix of ocean, rain, city and the wide outdoors sounds. It also has 3 white noise sounds.

Freeze bread:

What the what?! Yes I started hoarding bread. Then it started to go bad so I started freezing it. I have an assortment of loafs, rolls and sandwich bread. For a full sandwich loaf, I just defrost over night and its fine. I toast it if I just want a few slices. For a full loaf of rolls, preheat your oven to 180ºC, then bake it for 8 minutes. As fresh as new.

That's my that!

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January 2017 Favourites

And that was it for the first month of the year. Here are my favourites of the month of #Saltbae:

Essence Brow Designer in DarkBrown:

I have a bit of a sparser brow these days. I used the Blond for a while and as I changed my hair I changed the pencil.

This is available at Clicks, Dischem, Red Square and some Pick 'n Pays For R29.95.

Renew Perfect Colour in Passion Pink, Royal Sapphire, Purple Fantasy and Ocean Burst:

This purchase came from over watching Guy Tang. My Little Pony galaxy hair was calling me. Now there are unfavourable reviews on Instagram and their Facebook ads' comments but hair colour is actually chemistry and especially with fashion colours it's a gamble if you don't know. Personally the only problem I had with this kit is my own limitation. I loved it. It's a good product for a great price.

In my temp kits I got the powder and developer to pre-lighten. (I am a person who peroxides monthly and this stuff is boss)

100ml of colour cream. (A bonus, as the other brand that does fashion colours only have 50 for double the price)

2 conditioning treatments (Bonus tip: as my colour was fading in toned it with a bit of colour cream I had left mixed with a conditioning treatment)

Gloves, leaflet and mixing brush

AND a bottle of shine serum. (I LOVE that stuff. I'm glad I have 3 extra bottles so I can use it FOREVER)

Now I did this on my own in my guest bathroom . . . okay, my husband help with the back of my head. I went to my stylist and she was impressed with the results. She lifted part of the colour and there were real opal hair vibes. I will be buying the Ash Blond and taking it to her so we can mix a blue grey.

Woolworths Mens jeans:

WHAT! MENS JEANS!

Yes, I bought man pants. I wish to live in a world where men and women’s wear are created equally. Why are women's wear so expensive? An plain T for men: R39. Plain T for women: R80- R100. Why does a size 14 (38) in women’s come to my thigh and a men’s 38 (14) fit well? Why is one shop's 14 over size and another I can just pull up just past my knee?

I guess those are mysteries we will never solve. (Please don't come here with your 'men are bigger' stories. 38 is the inch measurement of the waist and 14 is another sizing unit for 38.) Also men’s jeans are made out of more robust material.

Potatoes:

I did not jump on the January diet wagon as I am already cutting back on bread, pasta and the starch section of the food groups but I can't leave potatoes. Baked, mashed or fried. I've scaled down the amount but I will never stop eating the potatoes. I'd rather have less than stop.

Went for an Eye Test:

For a new part of my Favourites series I thought I would add a health item instead of more food. So last month I went for an eye test and got two pairs of new glasses. On most medical aids eye tests are 100% covered.

I made an appointment at Torga optical. They have an option of buy one frame and get another free. They have a range of all kinds of glasses. That is actually why I went to them. The test was quick. I went in on a Wednesday and Saturday I could already go and collect my glasses. I had to pay in an amount but I got 2 pairs of fully functioning glasses.

Meitu

Recently there has been an influx of this app's popularity. This is my go to app for filters and editing.

The new Hand drawn feature will make you look dreamy A.F.

Window Shopping:

In real life and online. You can look and take in all these beautiful things and your bank balance stays the same. From furniture stores to just swatching my arms full of make up. Cost: R0. I especially looking at clothes that are nice but I'll never wear. Same with some lip sticks. My Takealot wish list also grew to almost a 100 items 3 quarters of it is things I will eventually buy, later.

I recommend that this can only be done with certain people or by yourself. I had experiences that involved a super judgemental people who just shops for themselves (immediate anxiety trigger) and I'm one of those people who loves pieces and colours even if it's not for me.

That's my that.

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Flower arranging

When I started this blog I want to teach you cheap, easy life tricks some make impossible or make it seem like you need a life time of knowledge to perfect. Decor, style, cooking, make up and other nitty gritty things people are afraid of because there are professionals in the field. I'm not saying you should learn how to rewire your house or bend and weld your car a new exhaust. Some stuff needs a pro.

Flower arranging is one of those things I feel that, if using your logical human brain, is easy. Here is my way of arranging a bunch of flowers:

My supplies are

Flowers

A Vase

Scissors

Bleach

Sugar

You can use any flowers in this arrangement I used roses. In the other picture I used a mixture of flowers in a standard bouquet. Now I know a lot of things like doing a minor service on my car and how to work my complicated tumble drier (I physically had to read how to use it. And friends who also bought one also told me how they battled) but I don't in general know flower names. I know like roses and lilies and stuff but I go for colours I like or what fits the room. Mostly the colour I like. You also don't necessarily have to use flowers. Some stems with leaves or even herbs can look fresh and chic.

Now vase sounds fancy. Like you should spend R200 on a container to arrange your flowers. I don't have money or time for that. Really? Like for real? I use a simple washed mayonnaise bottle. Ina Garten doesn't have time for that. She uses drinking glasses (See easy tips #50). Put that R200 or more back into your pocket.

To stretch the life of the flowers you can add one teaspoon bleach and 2 teaspoons of sugar to about 1 litre (4 cups) water. I mix it in with a chop stick.

Measure your flowers to your container. Remove all leaves from the stem that would be under the water line

Cut the stem to an angle for more surface area to absorb water. 

To arrange just use your natural mind of symmetry. We all have that. It works on the concept of 'If it looks right, it is right'. Use what looks right to your eye. With the height and colour. If the colour and size of the bloom does not look right, like if there is too much yellow or what, just move it until it looks right. Use what your eye tells you because it's a thing your mind does naturally everyday. Probably without you even noticing.

Place and Instagram that shit.

É tips:

• Check water regularly. The purple roses lasted a good week and a half so I had to refill the water a bit
• Buy yourself flowers. Fo' real. On a budget? There are some bunches for R35. You don't have to buy every week/ day or even month. But just do it.
• Don't stress too much about the arrangement or knowing the names. We use lipstick for blush. Blankets for throws. Linens for table cloths. Martini glasses for pudding bowls and bananas for eggs baking a cake.
• If you have extra leaves from a standard bouquet, layer it around the edge of the flowers.
• Remember to remove all leaves that would be under the water line. They could rot and become all weird and slimy in the water

Hope this let's you start having more flowers in your living areas. What's your favorite flowers?

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MacGyver Manicure

Now I know some readers may not know who Macgyver is (My spell check want it to be Maguire tsk tsk tsk). He is in the league of Chuck Norris and David Hasselhoff's Michael Knight. He would be hand cuffed to a rail, locked up in a steel cupboard falling from a plane plummeting into the ocean. He escapes and stops the bad guy with a bobby pin, toilet roll, an empty egg carton and a battery. All kinds of bad assery.

Here is my way of making my nails last:

Clean off previous polish push back your cuticles and file your nails. I choose to use nail polish remover for acrylic or gel nails as it doesn't dry out your nails. Wipe down the nail instead of trying to make fire wiping up and down and left and right. I also recently started using a glass nail file. It's much gentler than normal nail boards. I choose also NOT to buff my nails. They are already so thin I don't want to thin them out even more. Most base coats act as ridge fillers.

Start with a nail primer. This removes the oils from the nail for better polish adherence. Now we don't have Sephora with their Formula X here in South Africa. (Why? Is it because we are African?) So I tested a few DIYs like lemon juice and apple cider vinegar but the best so far is vodka. I bought a few nail polish bottles from Westpack, filled one with vodka and it just works. Paint it on and let it dry.

Next paint your base coat. Not clear polish. A base coat. I know some brands sell clear polish as base and that's just not good enough for me. I know Essence has the type I wanted. It's milky and when you paint it on the texture is a bit rough. But due to the stores I go to, don't really like to restock. WTF. So I resorted to make my own plan. I used Pink Armour “Nail Gel”(Yes I will put that in inverted commas as it's just normal clear nail polish tinted pink) and added some Maizena (Corn Starch) until it became milky. (Storing is tricky as the corn starch settles at the bottom over time. Before using I mix it up a little with a toothpick)

Paint your colour then base again. Then colour again. It's best to set aside at least an hour for nail painting. Make sure to leave proper time to dry. The more layers you add the longer it takes to dry. The best I can explain is that as you paint the next layer it 'fuses' with the previous layer it wets the layer making it fragile for squishing and smudging. 

Cool tip: Use Prestik to hold the polish bottle. 

Do your nail art. I enjoy Regular Show. As ain't nobody has time for intricate character designs I did the title screen background with sponging.

Even if you did not do a design, paint on a top coat. It gives it that extra shine and make the polish last that bit longer and seals in the design. With sponging it's like the blends better.

Clean up the edges with nail polish remover and either a q tip or a brush. Last step is the difference between a salon manicure and a DIY. Oil. You could go all fancy and buy a cuticle oil. I'm too cheap for that. I bought lip gloss roller bottles from wespack and filled it with extra virgin olive oil. You can also use coconut oil, sweet almond oil or a mixture. You can buy small bottles of each at clicks and dischem that are for medicinal use (Usually by the calamine lotion and caster oil.)

Smear it on each nail and rub it in to your skin. We've spent all this time removing oil and that dries the nail bed and cuticle out. The real trick is to cuticle oil every time you wash your hands. Just because I write it here doesn't mean I do it. I ain't gonna lie. I try to every night before bed.

You also have to top coat every night but by the time my nails chip or flake off (depending on the quality of the polish) I'm bored of my nail design anyway.

That is my Magyver way of doing my nails. What is you unusual trick to make polish last longer?

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July Favourites 2014

My post have been slow as I have this wedding thing now. Here are some of my favourite things for July.

Beauty favourites:

Good stuff In Good Hands 2in1 Rooibos, Lemon grass & Ginger.

As the name states. . . it's good stuff. My sister got Raspberry body cream from them that absorbed so quickly. I immediately thought of them when I wanted to buy hand cream. I like Nivea's little blue tubs BUT hate the greasy, wet feeling on the palms of my hands. This stuff is just not the same.

Bonus: It's antiseptic. Perfect for germy work

Not so cool: That I forgot it at work and a co-worker decided she help her self to my hand cream . . . :-(

Get it at: I got mine at Pick'nPay but they have a section at Dischem as well.

Dove Intensive Repair Shampoo:

I bought the conditioner as well but the 'poo it what immensely impressed me. I have washed my hair since I was six. My fave 'poo's are TRESemmé Breakage Defence, Hands On B Blonde Silver Shampoo and when I now and then have my dry scalp moments I grab some good old Head and Shoulders from my sister.

This shampoo is next level. Have you every washed your hair with shampoo that you could put your hand through you hair JUST after you shampooed with NO conditioner? . . .

App Favourites:

My Fitness Pal:

It's a calorie counter but also measures your water intake and takes into account work outs. You can make yourself sick and beat yourself up and develop a mental illness with this app but I'm using it to make healthier food choices. It even calculates vitamin, fat, mineral and protein intake.

I upped my water intake and made better food choices and already lost 2 kgs in two weeks.

*PLEASE NOTE: I may have lost 2kg in two weeks but I've been using this app for 4 weeks. The first week I was awful. The second week I starved myself that also didn't work. I changed up my snacks and this week really started drinking water.

Download here

Battery Doctor:

Fitness Pal robbed my battery. Battery doctor kills apps. Problem solved.

Download here

Food favourites:

Slow cooked chicken:

Rotisserie chicken ain’t got nothing on this. My recipe is one whole chicken, Salt and pepper. Set oven to 100ºC. Salt an pepper the inside and outside of the chicken. Put in the oven and forget about is for 5 to 6 hours. Take it out of the oven. Enjoy.

Himalayan Pink Salt:

When you eat salt this is apparently the salt to have. It's has antioxidants. I used it on the chicken above. It has a little sweetness. And it's PINK.

Bought this at Checkers.

Living favourites:

Woolies Memory foam slippers:

Fuzzy and comfy. I always use to do the socks and slop thing for slippers (NOT OUTSIDE THE HOUSE tho') but my feet were never really warm. But these are amazing. It's got a short term memory or my feet are a shape they don’t want to forget.

Drinking more water:

Read what sweet Lauren has to say here and this woman's awesome experience here
Water bottle: BPA FREE Pure and Go Water bottle

Bonus: It awesome for your health

Not Cool: Peeing so much in the winter.


What's your secret to peeing in winter?

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Haulling like a trucker

My hauling has become slower because of my wedding issues. I don’t twit as much either but when I did this is what I tweeted :

Full on Queen bedding from Mr Price Home.
 

I’ll be for reals with you. I don’t what I’m doing but I have inspiration and a Pinterest Board with a name : For the Home. I don’t have a house nor an idea what it looks like inside but I had to have 5 star hotel white bedding. It’s neutral and I can add any pop of colour. I also see it’s Aloe “infused” (there were anti bacterial ones too)


 Silk pillow case:

Everywhere I read about growing hair they recommend silk pillow cases. I bought this one also at Mr Price home for R39.95. (That awkward moment it’s the same material as your My Little Pony’s princess dress . . .)

Dischem add buys:

Dquip Facial cleaner: I enjoy YouTubing BubzBeauty and she raved about Clarisonic. I can’t throw my money at them because I enjoy eating and mascara. I picked up this at Dischem with my gran’s Christmas voucher (Last year’s was a NYX pallet). What a cool machine. My skin texture already feels different. I actually buffed out my one zit. It started getting red and ‘hatching’ but that thing just washed it out before it became an issue. Buy two AA batteries.

Basics heated eyelash curler: 15 years ago there were annoying infomercials with a heated eye lash curler. I bought this one. When it’s heats up, the rubber pads turn white. Don’t worry, it won’t fry your eye balls. I’m still out if I like this concept. I’m use to seeing through the curler so it feels awkward.

Compact mirror: Because Leopard print.

Gingerbon

Something about this sweet makes me feel super healthy. Maybe it’s the ginger, maybe it because I can actually understand what the ingredients are.

Have you tried any of the above products?

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