Life Hacks for a bad day

I've finally finished all my year 12 exams and the relief I feel is incredible! You don't quite realise how much pressure you are under until it goes away! I am so looking forward to long holidays and the time to get back to blogging.

Today I wanted to do a post about bad days because I had quite a few of them over the past year and found a couple of tricks that really helped me to get through them. I suffer from depression so when I have a bad day, it can easily extend to weeks and weeks if I'm not careful. These are some of the tricks I use to make them that little bit more tolerable.

Create a digital wardrobe
On a good day when you chuck on an outfit and admire yourself in the mirror, take a picture and save it on your phone. When it comes to a bad day you are standing there in the mirror feeling horrible, it can be too overwhelming to choose an outfit, especially when you feel ugly and gross in everything. By having some of your killer outfits saved on your phone, you can flick through and pick one that you know looks amazing, even if you might not feel that way at the time. Though it may sound a bit silly that a bad outfit could ruin your day, when you're feeling dreadful, clothes you're unhappy with and feel horrid in can honestly make everything ten times worse.

Cry!
I think in our society it really isn't accepted that people cry, which I find silly because sometimes a good cry is exactly what you need to let all the yuckiness out. Of course, it's not ideal to be sobbing all the time out at the shops or out to dinner, but don't feel that you have to hold it all in because it can just make you feel worse.

Go for a short walk
Despite the fact that exercise is the absolute last thing I feel like doing when I am feeling sad, a short walk can do wonders. When I walk I find it clears my thoughts, removes from the immediate situation I am in and puts in perspective a little. It's also good to get your blood pumping when you're feeling a little down.

Find a puppy to cuddle
If you have pets, this is the very time to get out there with them and spend some quality time. If you aren't in a talking mood, they are the greatest because they give cuddles and there is no expectation for you to reveal your innermost soul. Animals just seem to have this therapeutic feel about them and it is pretty difficult to feel sad after hanging out with a dog.

Talk, talk, talk
This is a bit of an obvious one, especially for women, but talking is so.freaking.useful. Sometimes I feel guilty for what I feel is 'dragging others down with me' but we all know that's what friends are for, to be there for you in the good and bad, and another person's perspective can usually help. Friends are also just magical at cheering you up, or at the very least providing the chocolate fix desperately needed.

Chuck on that killer lipstick
It's hardly a solution to big problems, but if you just wake up feeling a bit flat, chuck on that lipstick that you know is stunning and it will brighten your day just a little bit.

Save up your compliments
When someone says something really lovely about you, make a mental note of it for the tough times when you're feeling a little unloved. It is at these times that past compliments are of their greatest worth.

Go back to that book
Being a bookworm, I have an ample collection of books that I turn to for different occasions whether I'm feeling lonely, lost or just sad all round. There is nothing better than revisiting one of my favourites and finding the characters I once fell in love with. Not only can a book transform you from your world, you can learn sooooo much about life in them!

I hope some of these help you out and I would love to know what you guys do on a bad day.

Health How To: Drink more water everyday

This blog has always been a beauty blog through and through, but just lately I have felt the need for a wider variety of posts, namely some health and lifestyle related ones. Having blogged for a couple of years now I have realised that, the purpose of a blog is to post what you enjoy, so I shall do that! I hope you enjoy these lifestyle based posts too.

Drinking more water was a New Years Resolution of mine, and in order to actually achieve it as opposed to saying it and never following through, I came up with some strategies that would help get that water in me! I know this is a common goal for others to improve too, so maybe it might help you!

Boredom is a blessing
Funnily enough, I have found that the times when I am most bored (like when I am studying for a test, sitting in a maths class or attending a boring lunch time school meeting) are the times where I drink the most. This is because I am literally so bored that I have nothing else to do and play around with my water bottle to pass the time. If you carry a bottle around with you, when boredom strikes you will drink a whole heap and you won't even be aware that you are doing it.

Play with flavour
I never really thought about adding flavours to your water, but there are so many blog posts out there discussing healthy additions that you can make to your water to make them taste a little more exciting. From cucumber and mint to berries and lemons, there are so many cool things you can use to change an otherwise boring drink into something more exciting.

Take advantage of strange novelty bottles and cups
I'm not going to lie, it's a bit sad that this is actually an effective technique that makes me drink more water, but if I'm drinking out of an interesting and usually shaped water bottle or a pretty cup then I am more likely to drink more water. This is mainly because I want to use that cool container and the only way to do so is to, well, actually use it. My favourite is this ridiculous cup and curly straw that my Grandparents brought back from a cruise they went on. Whenever I use it I drink so much more because it is just so fun!

Drink with every meal
This is probably the easiest way to drink water, and that is by simply having a drink with every one of your meals. It is an easy and natural kind of habit to establish that really increases your water intake.

Set goals
This sounds a little strange, but at the start of the day I set goals about how much I want to drink by allocated times. This gets me thinking about drinking water and makes me remember to actually drink. At school I'll often aim to drink 750ml (the entire bottle) every two lessons because this gives me an opportunity to go to the toilet during the breaks as opposed to in class time.

So there are my water drinking tips. I actually find these really effective, and so far I've managed not to fail my New Years Resolution just yet, a definite improvement compared to what happens in other years! I hope you find them helpful too!

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway here.

Fake glasses - I'm not trying to insult you

So recently I purchased a pair of glasses. Contrary to, uh, logical reasoning, I don't have vision problems. These glasses contain no fancy lens but rather do nothing to enhance my already adequate eyesight in any way. They're not the oversized, thick-framed hipster glasses commonly viewed in a negative light, but rather petite little square shaped frames that don't even try to make a statement. So why on Earth did I hand over the cash (which actually wasn't very much I might add) for an essentially useless item? The same reason that I own more than one T-shirt and shoes in more than three different colours. Because I like how it looks.

You may be thinking that I am painfully vain. Maybe that is so, but at the end of the day we all have to wear clothes and I would assume that at least 50% of the female population (a statistic based on no reliable evidence whatsoever, just the inner workings of my estimation making brain) in the Western world enjoy a bit of unnecessary accessorising with jewellery, scarves, bags etc,etc. To wear a pair of glasses when I in fact do not rely on them in any way is to me, simply another way of completing an outfit. Why should the vision impaired ladies get to have all the fun?

Well apparently not everyone agrees. After having made the spontaneous purchase I started to doubt my actions. A little web surfing scientific research produced a whole other side to the argument whereby those who actually needed glasses for medical reasons were a little extremely irate, finding it to be a huge insult. It seems that when it comes to the fake glasses trend, you can't sit on the fence about it - you either love it and embrace it with all your heart or you hate it with a deep loathing from the bottom of your soul. Why so extreme?

I do appreciate the haters' point of view to a small extent. It must be frustrating seeing someone frolicking about with a pair of glasses they don't need when they themselves have no choice but to wear the frames they were assigned to upon discovering that they couldn't actually see anything.

Maybe short ladies feel the same way when they see a tall lady wearing sky scraper heels. I mean, tall ladies shouldn't be allowed to wear heels because they've been blessed with the long leg gene. It's simply preposterous that they indulge in a bit of shoe shopping in the heels section of the store when short ladies aren't even given a choice whether they want to wear flats! Similarly those with blonde hair should not be allowed to dye it brown, nor should straight haired ladies curl their hair because....because...I find it insulting.

See how ridiculous it is?! Of course tall ladies can wear heels, and in the same way those blessed with 20/20 vision should be allowed to play around with 'useless' (but oh-so pretty) glasses. It's not meant to be an insult, and we really do sympathise with those who don't have a choice, but when it comes down to it we're not really doing all that much harm are we? We always want what we don't have when it comes to the superfluous world of fashion, and in this case we feel like we are missing out.

Take it as a compliment. So many people are opting for 'fake' glasses these days that surely you're getting the message...glasses are attractive. You heard me, your glasses look great and to be honest they look so great I'm jealous and have decided to buy my own. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, isn't that right?

Basically, I've bought my fake glasses and I like how they look. I will admit, I do feel a bit silly wearing them around people who know my vision is fine, but around the house or around people I don't know, I love to wear them. I'm not wearing them to offend you, I'm not wearing them to impress you, I'm wearing them because I like them and there's nothing more to it.

I would love to know how you feel about the fake glasses trend, even if you are extremely against my opinion!

Also, if you've not entered my giveaway yet be sure to check it out here.

My most impressionable books

"I use Grammarly's plagarism checker because originality is the new black."

So every now and again I dabble into the world of books here on YouReview, but it's really not a common occurrence. Though I love all kinds of beauty related chatter, this year I hope to expand my blog a little further to incorporate lifestyle based posts too, including perhaps my greatest love of all...books.

I had this post sitting in my drafts for a very long time, unsure as to whether I should take the plunge and post it. I took it as a sign when I received an email from Grammarly who wanted to sponsor this post, so here it is, some of the most impressionable books I have read to date... the books that have stuck with me in some way or another.

Unwind by Neil Schusterman
This was a 2013 discovery that I was so captured by that I requested the entire series as a Christmas gift! In a world when 'unwinding' is legal, teenagers between the age of 13 and 18 can be sent off in accordance with their parent's wishes to be 'harvested' - cut up and used as spare body 'parts' for the general (adult) public to use as required. Yes, it is as horrible as it sounds and a novel that really questions morals and ethics in every way. It is so cleverly written that you are almost, at times, manipulated into supporting the cause! I recommend this very much!

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Of course, To Kill a Mockingbird's (TKAM) influential nature was at its peak when it was first published in 1960 yet I feel that all these years down the track it still has its place in our society. Whether you feel that the racism addressed by Lee is still relevant or not, TKAM makes a statement about the complexities of the adult world and the prejudices people form based on no logical reasoning at all. Dear little Scout, the central character in the novel, sees the world so very clearly in either black or white, and though we as readers appreciate that it is just not that simple, this texts begs the question "Does it really have to be so complicated?"

Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Perfume is one of its kind, there is no doubt about it. Who would have thought that an entire novel could be centered completely around the sense of smell, the plot driven by an individual's drive to obtain the most desirable scent in the world. For anyone who has ever attempted to describe a perfume you would appreciate the sheer difficulty of such, but what about bringing to life a brass doorknob or the smell of a baby? Suskind is literally a genius, I have no doubt about that, and this heart-wrenching tale of a man with an unnaturally heightened sense of smell was impressionable in many, many ways. Just a little warning, this is a novel unsuitable for younger readers.


We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Another novel targeted at older readers, this is a sorrowful tale of a mother who, contrary to what she perceived to be instinctual, is unable to feel love for her child. This child then grows up to be a teenage killer who murders his teacher and classmates. Eva writes harrowing letters to her estranged husband that cleverly evolve to reveal just how Kevin grew up to be so very unlike the other children. I imagine that when I read this again as a mother it will mean even more to me, but even as an older teenager I felt such despair for this mother and was hooked in completely by the text.

Source

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Perhaps you may have read this one at school, but for good reason! Two friends, George and Lenny are bound together by Lenny's intellectual disability and George's unending loyalty as they fight to survive and dream of a better life they know will never happen. It's a beautiful story of friendship at its best, and of course the ending tears your heart out. It messes with your head which loves George and his strength, but your heart that empathises with dear Lenny.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
What? How did this make it on to the list? I know, I know, the Hunger Games Trilogy is hardly on par with the great classics...or is it? Thousands and thousands love the series, particularly within the young adult sector and therefore doesn't that allow it to qualify as an impressionable text? When you think about it, Hunger Games really does make a statement about society. It's hardly a new take on the way of the world, but it's definitely there and still makes you uncomfortable when you realise you yourself are essentially a member of the Capitol, those citizens that you just loved to loathe.

I'm always on the look out for new books to read. I would love to hear what books stood out and made an impact on you.

*Please note that being sponsored by Grammarly for this post has in no way influenced my review. As I mentioned, this was already written and in my drafts prior to them contacting me. I support what they do and stand for, hence why I accepted their offer.*

2013's Most Loved part 2

The second installment of 2013's most loved includes all my non-beauty favourites. There are quite a few, and as was the case with almost all my beauty favourites, it was remarkably difficult trying to narrow it down to just one or two items!

My favourites for 2013 were...

Music: Florence & the Machine, Of Monsters and Men and Red Hot Chili Peppers
Anyone who knows me is so very tired of hearing me play songs by Florence and the Machine on repeat, everyday, all day. I can't help it, I'm obsessed! Of Monsters and Men was another favourite of mine in the middle of the year, and I re-discovered the Red Hot Chili Peppers which was my Mum's favourite when I was really young and therefore has sentimental value from my younger years!

Books: Looking for Alaska by John Green and Unwind by Neil Schusterman
I read many of my old favourites over and over this year but didn't include them because they've been my favourites long before 2013! Instead I've included two standouts that I only discovered this year, Looking for Alaska and Unwind. I loved the characters in Looking for Alaska, and the concept of the novel in Unwind.

Food: Homemade Pizzas
This was actually the easiest category to determine as I practically inhaled homemade pizzas in 2013. You can purchase little bases from the supermarket and then I simply topped them with tomato paste, ham and cheese and grilled them in no time. I ate so many of these it's really unhealthy but my god they are good!

Activity: Blogging and Learning to drive
Blogging was without a doubt my most favourite activity this year. It was a much needed break from hectic school work and I loved reading everyone else's blogs too. Learning to drive was another favourite, though a challenging one at that!

Blog post: EOTD: Olive Garden
Why on Earth was this my favourite post? It certainly wasn't my most popular one, nor was it the most humorous or well written. The reason I like it is because I was so scared to do it and the photographs turned out so well. It took me such a long time to create and I put in so much effort, so that is why it is my favourite for 2013.

School subject: Biology
It was a close call between Biology and English but in the end I had to go with Bio because it never fails to capture my attention and feed my hunger for learning about science and the human body.

Travel: Mission trip to Cambodia
This was the highlight of my year, and easily the most important and life changing thing I've ever worked towards in my life. I was so blessed to travel to Cambodia to build houses for underprivileged families in remote communities and it is an experience that I know will never leave me.

Celebrity: Emma Watson and Florence Welch
I don't read up on celebrities or follow their lives, but I think Emma and Florence are just about the most beautiful and admirable celebrities out there in a world that is full of craziness (*ahem Miley Cyrus*).

TV Show: The Big Bang Theory and Call the Midwife
When I could afford a moment from study, it was Big Bang Theory and Call the Midwife that I dedicated my time to. For lots of laughing and a good science fix, who could go past the most wonderful show on earth, Big Bang. For a little more seriousness, I tuned into ABC's Call the Midwife. I can't wait for the new seasons for both shows in 2014.

Drink: Hot Chocolate
Another easy choice, Hot Chocolate always accompanied me in my maths test revision and Engligh essay writing. I don't know what I would have done without it.

Fashion Item: Black Skater Skirt and Maroon Jeans
2013 was the year of the Skater Skirt for many, myself included. I also grabbed a pair of maroon jeans (having never worn coloured jeans in my life) when they were on sale and fell in love with them.

Jewellery: Rings
Considering the amount of jewellery that I own, I really don't wear a lot of it, however I could always be found wearing a pretty ring in 2013. My favourite ring, you ask? Well I could never choose just one...

Accessories: Scarves
I love scarves and I wish that they weren't so limited to the cooler weather because I would wear them everyday if I could. I typically wore black and white scarves in every style with every outfit.

Shoes: Rubi Shoes Black Bow Flats
I mentioned these in many posts, but if you go through about three or four pairs of the exact same shoe you know it's a winner.

Bargain: $8 dress from the Op Shop that I saw on a website for $250
I don't believe I spoke about this bargain of the century, but I was Op-shopping (as always) and found an unusual kind of dress for $8. I tried it on and quite liked it, purchased it and went home content. I was then browsing formal dresses on various websites and, in the most amazing coincidence ever, saw my Op-shop dress for $250. Heck yeah!

Candle: Skittles Candle from Cheap as Chips!
Another bargain, my favourite candle was a $3 skittle flavoured candle that smelled like green skittles (although always made me hungry when I burned it!). Along with a Hot Chocolate it helped me survive my maths revision time and time again!

Movie: No movies stand out to me that I watched in 2013
Next is my favourite movie...of which I could not decide. I rarely watch movies to be honest and therefore I just don't recall a movie that stood out to me. Maybe in 2014 I'll find one.

Photograph: 2 from Cambodia
I just simply could not narrow my favourite photograph that I took in 2013 down to 1...maybe you could help me decide!

So there it is, 2013 in a nutshell. To those of you who have written similar posts, I have loved reading about what captured your heart in the year that just passed and I look forward to what 2014 will bring.