My Reading Routine

Ta dahh, yes I have managed to get back into the swing of blogging again! I hadn't totally forgotten my little blog but last week was... hectic! So now time for a 'tiny' life catch up...

Monday: Nothing

Tuesday: GRADUATION! I graduated at Canterbury Cathedral with a 2:1 in English Literature! 

Wednesday: Twickenham Stadium Tour with Dad

Thursday-Sunday: RECOVERING. 

Like no joke that was my week! I was so totally exhausted mentally and physically from Tuesday & Wednesday and it took the rest of the week to just get back to feeling human again. 

But I'm back and have a little post about my (no bullshit) reading routine.

STEP 1: Decide to read. Light the candle and make a cup of tea - This one is a Strawberry & Raspberry tea by M&S and it's delish. 

STEP 2: Get distracted by Twitter or Bullet Journalling for at least an hour if not two. 

STEP 3: Find that comfy reading spot. Whether it's curled up on the bed or cross-legged on a desk chair, finding a comfy spot to read is vital. However, be aware that you will be uncomfortable again in roughly 1.5 chapters. Reading life yo. 

STEP 4: The integral step, choose a book. Now whether you're like me and have a TBR for the month (Check out my September TBR here) or you just have a looming pile of unread books to get through, without a book yo can't read. I usually can't choose what book to read as I have over 60 unread on my shelves + more on the kindle, so I write all my unread books down onto individual pieces of paper, fold them up and choose at random. This helps to avoid that feeling like I'm choosing between my children. 

STEP 5: To sit and read. Quite often I will do everything else on this list and never actually get round to reading. Reading Slumps are the bain of my life. I normally can read anywhere between 50-300 pages in one sitting it just really depends on the time of day, what I've got going on and my tiredness level! I try to read at least a chapter before I go to sleep but if I'm really into a book I can quite easily read 50-100 pages before bed. 

STEP 6: Rest! You've drunk all the tea, blown out the candle and got to the end of the chapter! It's really important at this point, to rest or do something other than read. I find if I take regular small breaks from reading I'm less likely to fall into a reading slump or get a book hangover! That being said I know when I finish Empire of Storms I'm going to be suffering! 

Do you have a reading routine? I thought it would be fun to share what I do on a daily basis, I want to start injecting more of my actual life into this blog so I really hope you enjoyed this little taste! 

Tips For A Better Night Sleep

Ah, sleep. A precious commodity that is so quickly lost to the stress and strain of the world. 

Many people including myself have suffered from insomnia, in fact, it can be as many as 1 in 3 people that will suffer from insomnia at any point in their lives (citation).  

So with this shocking inevitability, it is always wise to develop coping strategies just in case that evening comes when you literally can't get to sleep. 

I've suffered from insomnia on and off for around 6 years of my life. So believe me when I say that it is painfully debilitating and can honestly ruin your life in a matter of days. 

I first experienced insomnia when I was in college. I had been suffering from depression and insomnia crept in like a monster waiting on the sidelines to pounce. Just when I yearned to sleep the most, it was taken away from me and I was left tired and unable to cope with day to day living. Desperate, I went to the doctor who recommended something called "sleep hygiene" - the idea being that you set yourself a strict routine before bedtime and don't allow yourself to do anything in bed except sleep. For me this was terrifying. For weeks I had managed to cope by gradually dozing off to the television and scraping around two- three hours of desperately needed rest. But to be told that I needed to turn the television off as it was detrimental felt like taking away my last lifeline. 

I tried sleep hygiene for around a week. It failed. 

I couldn't cope with not having a distraction and being left in a dark room with my already negative thoughts seemed to make everything worse. I was still only managing around two - three hours sleep due to sheer exhaustion and it felt pointless. 

But then as quickly as it came, it went. I was free. I could sleep. I thought I was magically cured. But that's not how insomnia works, like depression and anxiety, it's not really something that can be "cured" instead it's something that ebbs and flows like the tide. 

So needless to say a few years later it came back whilst I was at Uni. For me it seems to come whenever I'm experiencing a lot of stress, it's like a little extra punch in the gut every time I'm overworked and stressed and desperate for a good nights sleep, it doesn't come. 

So over the year's I've developed some coping strategies that I thought I would share with you, even if you've never personally had issues with insomnia, this post may help give you some handy little relaxation tips along the way for your own night-time routine. 

Step 1: Caffeine Free Tea

Something that I do to calm myself down and relax before trying to get to sleep is to drink a soothing tea. My personal favourite is this Calming Tea from M&S which contains chamomile, lime flower & lavender. This is a fairly mild tea and I find it really good at relaxing me for bed. It's naturally caffeine free and doesn't cost a fortune (I highly recommend M&S for their selection of tea!). 

Step 2: Candles

Once I get into bed with my tea, I like to light a candle. The one I'm using at the moment is a Strawberry Buttercream Yankee Sampler. I enjoy using the Yankee Candle Samplers as they tend to last a good amount of time and are considerably cheaper than buying one in a jar. My top tip is to head to ASDA for these as often you can find them for £1 or less! 

I find that lighting a candle and filling the room with a nice relaxing scent also puts me in a good mood to sleep, it really helps to have a relaxing environment. 

Step 3: Journaling

Bullet Journals have definitely hit the world by storm recently and they are certainly a love/hate phenomena. I personally love mine and I find it really helpful to jot down any thoughts or things that are bothering me before I go to sleep. These are usually in the form of tasks or events that I need to remember or complete. Therefore, by writing them into my journal, I'm able to remove them from my thoughts as I know that they are in the journal for me to tackle the following day. Not only does this help me relax but it actually really helps with my productivity and motivation in my daily life. 

Step 4: Reading

So I've got my tea, the candles been lit and is filling my room with its sweet aroma and I've cleared my mind from the daily stresses. The next thing on my list is to sit down and read. Now this is obviously my own personal preference as I'm a bookworm, but even if you are not one for reading fiction I do believe that picking up a coffee table book or even reading some blogs can really help you to switch off from the real world for half an hour or so and just let your daily stresses melt away. 

However, to be totally transparent with you, I've only just been able to get back into this routine as I've been suffering from world's worst book slump and hadn't managed to read properly for a solid 3 months. What I was doing instead was watching an episode of a random show (something I'm not too invested in) on Netflix, I watch through my kindle and have the sound and brightness at the lowest setting possible as to not overly stimulate my brain. This is not ideal but sometimes you need a little distraction to calm yourself down and be at a point where you are ready to sleep. 

That being said, if you are able to, I highly recommend picking up a book and reading a couple of chapters a night, I really find this helps to tire out my mind and my eyes and leaves me feeling really ready to sleep. 

Step 5: Tracking.

Once I'm ready to hit the hay, I like to track my sleep. Quite a few months back I was lucky enough to try out the S+ ResMed Sleep Tracker* which is the world's first non-contact sleep tracker - meaning that you don't need to wear a wristband or leave your phone under your pillow! Simply set this up and connect it to the free phone app and you are good to go. The tracker offers insightful details about your sleep, such as the amount of REM sleep you get a night, and how good your sleeping conditions are. This product is a little pricey as it retails at £129.95 at John Lewis but it does offer invaluable information about your sleeping patterns which can be a real help if you are struggling with insomnia or having issues maintaining a good quality of sleep. It also has a feature that will gradually wake you up in your lightest sleep meaning that it reduces the horrible groggy feeling we can get when we're rushed awake by that god awful iPhone alarm! 

However, if you are looking for some information on your sleep but don't have over a £100 to spend then I also recommend the app Sleep Cycle. Although it doesn't offer the same level of in-depth results and is not as advanced or accurate it does still track your sleep with relative accuracy and also has a feature to slowly wake you up when you are in your lightest sleep between two set times. 

I find sleep tracking really helps to regulate my sleep and I've found that I'm able to fall asleep earlier and wake up feeling fresher after using some form of sleep tracking for a sustained amount of time.

If you've not tried this yet then it's definitely something worth considering!  

So these are my tips for getting a better night sleep! 

I hope this has helped in some way if you are struggling with night time at the moment. It's a really shitty situation to be in and the only thing you can do is find coping mechanisms that help you deal with it. These are mine and they may not necessarily help, but on the off chance that they do I felt compelled to write this post. 

I hope you all have a wonderful night sleep! 

*This product was sent to me for consideration for review. For more information view my Disclaimer

Haircare Routine: Ombre Hair

If you follow me on twitter and insta (both @Bambisblogs get following if you don't) you will already know that over Christmas I decided to chop of my almost waist length hair and get it Ombre. I've been wanting to Ombre my hair for years but I've never had the confidence to go and get it done. I used to take a lot of comfort in my extremely long hair as it allowed me to hide behind it and was sort of like my own personal shield. But after months of neck aches and headaches I decided that enough was enough and to the surprise of both my hairdresser and my mum, I chose to get it all chopped.  

I have never been happier. But with this new hair brings a new haircare routine. I've never had blonde hair before as I've always either dyed my hair red (I'm talking vibrant red... dear god what was I thinking) or really really dark. So having the ombre is really new and exciting for me, but also brings a whole new load of unforeseen issues. 

Brassiness - If you had asked me my opinion on this before Christmas I wouldn't have had the foggiest idea. But now it is something that I try to actively avoid. My Ombre is a light caramel tone as my hair is quite dark and the bleach wouldn't take it any lighter without ruining my hair. However towards the back and underneath there are pieces of hair that are very light. So to avoid the whole lot going a nice shade of ginger (and I know my hair will be inclined to after years of dying it red) I need to use something that cancels out the brassy tones. 

For this I have been using Pro:Voke Touch of Silver Brightening Shampoo - This is a violet toned shampoo that I use once a fortnight just on the Ombre hair. I won't use this often as I don't have full on blonde hair but I just use it fortnightly to keep any ginger at bay. This stuff is seriously scary to use if you have never encountered it before though. It honestly looks like your massaging ink into your hair (I was a little paranoid it would turn my hair purple ngl.) 

Dryness - My hair has always been on the oily side (along with my skin) and so I've never had to worry too much about conditioner. I could happily wash my hair without using it and it wouldn't make much difference. However, now I have bleached hair this has all changed. I notice that without conditioner the ends of my hair feel substantially dryer and will prone to frizzing much more than I've ever been used to. 

To tackle this I've been using John Frieda Sheer Blonde Go Blonder Lightening Conditioner - I use this every time I was my hair in the hopes that not only will it slightly lighten my ombre but also that it will help to nourish my ends. Whilst I can't comment get on the Lightness I can say that the ends of my hair are feeling lovely and hydrated and there is no frizz in sight. 

Dealing with an Oily Scalp + Dry Ends - As I already mentioned my scalp is always oily. I have to wash my hair every other day in order to stop it looking like a massive ball of grease and its usually starting to look grim by the second day anyway. 

So to control this without damaging my ends I've been using The Body Shop Rainforest Balance Shampoo - This has been a long time favourite of mine and I'm loving it even more at the moment. It balances my oily roots without being too drying on my ends. It also doesn't react with my super sensitive scalp as it doesn't contain any Silicones, Sulphate, Colourants or Parabens. 

So that's my new haircare routine. 

If you've got any more recommendations for me then let me know! 

Winter Evening Skincare Routine

Evening skincare is a great love of mine. Perhaps even more so than Morning Skincare (of which you can find a post about here - Cheeky plug). Because in the evening 9/10 times I can actually be bothered to do it! Mornings are not great for me and I would be lying if I said I was religious with my morning routine. However, my Evening Routine is rigid and I can't relax without knowing that I've sorted my face out first. 

Alpha-H Balancing Cleanser With Aloe Vera -  Oft, I absolutely bloody love this stuff. I can't quite express into words just how much I love this cleanser. It's ridiculously gentle and it still manages to tear through makeup and leave your face feeling clean, nourished and fresh! I seriously can't recommend it enough.  I wrote a review of the set it came in here. (Before you think it, nope I'm not sponsored by Alpha-H nor have I been sent the items... I just seriously love it.) 

Sanctuary Spa Night Concentrate - What I love about Sanctuary Spa is that you can get a lot of their products in travel sizes which are great when you just want to test out the product. I've been using this Night Cream recently and I quite like it. I must admit though that I think once the warmer weather comes in this will be too much for my combination skin. 

La Roche-Posay Effaclar A.I - This is a targeted spot treatment that helps to reduce inflammation and heal up spots quickly. I actually really like this product. I was lucky enough to be sent it for review and I've been really impressed. It definitely helps to reduce the amount of time my spots linger on my face and it seems to help when it comes to scarring!

Alpha-H Liquid Gold - This product has cult status and it is well deserved. In case you don't know much about it, Liquid Gold is an overnight facial in a bottle. Swipe it on with a couple of cotton pads and let the Glycolic acid do its magic. You will be glowing in the morning with the freshest skin. Be warned though that this is not a nightly step. In fact I only use this roughly twice a week, and after I use it I'm sure to use a high SPF for my face (regardless of the weather!!) It's acid that you're putting on your face and although it is perfectly safe (and fab) you still need to be aware and use a good quality SPF the morning after. 

What do you use in the evenings? I'd love to know some of your go to products. 

Winter Morning Skincare Routine

As the weather gets colder, my skincare routine changes into something that works better for me. My skin is Oily/Combination and so I'm always on the look out for products that control the oil and hydrate the dry patches. Here's what has been working for me since the colder weather hit: 

Lush Herbalism - I wrote a blog post all about why I love this product here. It's a fantastic cleanser that really helps to balance my skin and clear out any pesky spots. 

La Roche-Posay Serozinc - Spray toners are my biggest love. In the summer they are super refreshing and in the winter they help to wake me up out of my duvet coma.  I just love them. But I will say that this is just a toner. Actual effects from it don't seem to be many other than I do stay oil free for about an hour longer. I think toners are more luxury products as opposed to things you have to have in your routine. 

La Roche-Posay Effaclar K - Effaclar K is the sister product to the infamous Effaclar Duo. It is a serum that  helps to balance my troublesome skin and also adds in abit of moisture to the dryer areas. 

Chanel Hydra Beauty Gel Yeux - This eye gel from Chanel was given to me as a sample when I went with my best friend to get her foundation. I do not have Chanel money and I definitely won't be repurchasing this purely based on the price tag. I wish I could tell you that it sucks but it's actually a really lovely product. If you want an affordable alternative though check out Elemis Tired Eyes Gel. I always prefer an eye gel in the morning as they help to freshen and reduce puffiness which is exactly what I'm looking for when I'm dragging myself out of bed to be productive for the day!

That's my winter skincare routine, let me know in the comments yours! 

Current Skincare Routine 2015

My Skincare Routine is always changing depending on how my skin is and at the moment it's being pretty problematic so I thought I would share my skincare routine to try and combat the spots! You will notice that it's pretty simple but I've had to scale it right back to the basics in order to sort my skin out! 

Lazy Day Morning Routine

Yeah so stress and my skin aren't best mates right now. Excuse the mahousive ugly break outs but hey that's life! I thought I would share with you guys my lazy morning routine for the days when I don't have to leave the house and I just want to look acceptable at best (Which lets be honest is more often then not at the moment whilst I'm not at Uni!) 

The Importance of Cleaning Your Brushes

Okay, so I know this isn't the most exciting topic to be starting the year off with, but it's pretty damn important. 

The Morning Skincare Routine

So last Friday I shared my Evening Skincare Routine and today I'm sharing my Morning Skincare Routine!! It is really important to properly cleanse and prepare your skin for the day ahead. You can buy the most expensive make-up but it will still look abit naff if your skin is bad! Spend your money on skincare and get that sorted before you think about make-up! 

Step 1: Cleanse that face! You've had a good nights sleep (I hope!) and throughout the night your skin has been shedding it's dead cells onto your pillow that you are laying on... (gross) plus your face will be sweaty and oily from the evening. It's not a good idea to place a layer of foundation on top of all that grime! You need to cleanse that face! I like to use a nice gel formula cleanser in the morning as I find that they leave your skin feeling fresher. I have been using Elemis Fresh Skin Purifying Face Wash £13.00* it's a great cleanser that smells like citrus and really wake you up in the morning. 

Step 2: Toning. This step is optional as it is more down to personal preference, but I love the feeling of toner after I've cleansed my skin. It's like whipped cream on a hot chocolate, it's not mandatory but it's better if you do! I'm currently using Nourish Balance Refining Toning Mist £11.00 (mainly as it was on sale!) It's a good facial mist and I like the fact its a spray as its very refreshing in the morning. However I'm not overly fond of the smell, and you can get just as good a product for half the price! 

Step 3: Eyes. I like to use a eye gel/cream in the morning. This is just another step that helps to wake me up and gives the skin around my eyes a little bit of needed TLC (puffy dark circles are the vain of my life!) I've been using the Elemis Fresh Skin Tired Eyes Soothing Eye Rescue £16* I find this really soothing in the morning but is probably a love/hate product! 

Step 4: Treatment/Moisturise. I will then use my La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo[+] £15.50 to balance my skin and help combat any spots or lurkers! This stuff is a godsend! I would recommend this to anyone that suffers with hormonal breakouts as its done mine wonders! 

Step 5: SPF! This is in my opinion the most important step of all! You need to wear SPF regardless of the weather! Even if it's cold your skin is still being exposed to the suns damaging rays! Using SPF on a daily basis is also a fantastic way to keep your skin looking younger as a common cause of ageing is sun exposure! It is really important to apply that SPF and keep yourself protected! I have been using the La Roche Posay Melt in Cream but that seems to have been discontinued, however you can find similar from La Roche Posay here for £14.50 

Once you've completed your 5 steps your ready to apply your makeup (if you wish) and face the day, knowing that your skin is clean, hydrated and protected! 

What do you do for your morning skincare? Comment below or tweet me @bambisblogs!

The Evening Skincare Routine

I thought it was about time I shared with you guys my evening routine! I absolutely love reading these type of posts so I hope you do to! 

Step 1: Remove all makeup. The most vital step in my opinion. For this I use Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water £4.99 and Cotton pads. It's really important to remove all your make-up before you go to bed to ensure you skin is able to breath and heal overnight. This also helps to prevent blemishes and gives you a brighter complexion in the long run. 

Step 2: Deep Clean. Any cream or balm cleanser will do for this step. My go to choice at the moment is the REN Rosa Centifolia Hot Cloth Cleanser £16.99 I love this in the evenings it's a rich lotion that feels so luxurious on your skin, it's the perfect pamper before bed! It also acts as a double check for any traces of makeup that may be left on your skin. To use I spread a thin layer of the lotion onto my face, then wet a flannel with hot water. The hot flannel is then placed onto my face for a few minutes to open up the pores (make sure the flannel is not too hot, you don't want to burn yourself!). Once the flannel has cooled down I then remove the lotion in circular motions making sure to remove every scrap of lotion that may be lingering. 

Step 3: Rehydrating Toner. My current toner is a tiny sample of the Clarins Toning Lotion for Combination Skin £19.00 I can't really give an opinion of this product as it's tiny and as you can see I've only just started using it. I can say that it smells pretty good and so far seems to do the job! The idea of a toner is to remove any traces of Cleanser and to aid in rebalancing the skin back to a natural PH, it should leave your skin feeling clean, rehydrated and balanced. I use two cotton pads to apply this and gently sweep them over my face focusing on my t-zone and chin.

Step 4.1: Acid Toner/Serum. I know this sounds super scary but don't worry this acid is not going to burn your skin! I use the infamous cult product Alpha-H Liquid Gold £31.50. This toner has Glycolic Acid (derived from sugar cane) which works as an overnight facial loosening the dead skin cells so that they come away with your early morning cleanse leaving your skin glowing and tighter. This stuff is a godsend! I use this every third night by pouring some onto a cotton pad and wiping it over my face. 

Step 4.2: Face Oil/ Serum. If I'm not using my Alpha-H I will use a Face Oil to hydrate my skin and leave it supple and moisturised. As a girl with Combination skin, putting an oil on my face didn't excite me too much to begin with. But after using the Caudalie Divine Oil £27.00 it no longer phases me!  I use a tiny amount of this and massage it into my skin with my fingertips before using my Facial Massager from The Body Shop £6.00 to make sure my skin thoroughly absorbs the oil and gets a nice massage out of it as well! 

Step 5: Lip Balm.  I suffer with very dry lips all of the time. To help combat this I like to use a moisturising lip balm before bed. My current favourite is the Eos Strawberry Sorbet Lip Balm $3.29 that was kindly gifted to me by a friend. An alternative that I also use (as Eos can be hard to come by in the UK) is the Vaseline Lip Therapy with Cocoa Butter £2.18 which I find just as good. 

Once you've done all of that you can sit back and relax knowing that your skin will be glowing in the morning!