body confidence vs body acceptance

Hello all, today I wanted to share something very dear to my heart and that is confidence, not just confidence but body confidence and sexual confidence. I learned something this year that I thought would otherwise happen instantly. When I lost weight, I thought I'd be more confident, happier and more energetic. I lost 28 kilo's in a year, and whilst there are the health benefits to show for it, I had to learn over time to accept my new body, and how it made me feel.

Before I lost the 28 kilo's I knew who I was, and that gave me confidence, I was confidence as a person in real life, and in the bedroom. I knew how to dress, how to accentuate certain features, and how to be in my own skin.

But when my weight came off, I noticed a change, I wasn't as confident shopping, I didn't know what my true size was any more. I also lost a lot of cleavage size which had at the time given me confidence because  the "girls" had always been there. I did 't even know what bra size I was anymore and after always being an 18dd it made me feel confused.

My partner was noticing differences too, he was commenting on how much smaller my boobs were, not in a negative way but he was just noticing these things, and also how there was less to "grab onto". I've been with my partner for 9 years, and he was also learning about my body as the weight came off. He wasn't used to it and neither was I.

I had to find new ways to feel sexy and confident, so I embraced shopping and changed it up with a new look, I was able to wear things I hadn't been able to wear before, and it was new, and exciting so that gave me confidence.

I had never been able to wear a soft cup bra because I'd always need the extra support from an underwire bra, so this was a totally new concept. Being fitted properly made sure I'd feel secure and that gave me an extra bounce so to speak, which gave me confidence.

I also had to change up my makeup, losing that weight made me realize how much different my face looked. I had lost a lot of chubbiness around the eyes, and basically my whole eye shadow routine had to change with it.

So basically learning to love yourself can literally come in many sizes and forms. I learned that being skinny or losing weight does not actually mean giving yourself instant body confidence. I find though we confuse these two things such as body confidence and body acceptance.

As a woman who had lost the weight instead of feeling instantly happier I actually felt, like a wilted wallflower because I didn't have a clue what to do with my new body. But now, after time and acceptance, I'm growing to love myself again.

Have you gone through something like this before? would love to know!

hugs Jess

afterlight app review, How to take better photosgraphs on your iphone for blogging and instagram review on afterlight app

Hi all I'm writing today about something I enjoy doing a lot! instagram pictures and blogging pictures and how I edit them! I have an iphone5c however you can use any iphone and these tips will help you to create a good picture.

The tools you will need is an iphone that is capable of this app and the app is called Afterlight. Afterlight is a professional but user friendly app that can make the most mundane photo look stunning. Afterlight is not sponsoring me at all to write this, I am just in love with using this app and for its price point of $5.99 its a pretty good app!

First off lets choose our subject, I instagram a lot of coffee pics, people seem to like them a lot and its what I get the most likes off of. I love my coffee!

So this is how my coffee picture turned out this morning, I chose a spot that had really nice lighting, by my window, and as it was an overcast day it created a really nice quality of light. 

This is what I do to tweak it. 

This is what it looks like after cropping, it takes the picture noise from it and focuses on the actual picture so already much better.

I then adjust the brightness, clarify and contrast of the picture and it just creates a lovely focal point on the coffee with the shadows and light.

I add a filter, and there you go! easy as 1-2-3! afterlight is superb for transforming photos at a beginner friendly level and it even has intermediate functions. 

other examples

let me know if you have used afterlight, and what your thoughts are on it? I love how easy it is to use, how beginner friendly it is and how professional the most mundane photo can look!

hugs Jess

ulta3 illuminating foundation, cc cream and felt tip eye liner first impressions

Hello all! today I am so excited to be showing you my latest make up haul! it is from the ULTA3 make up range, I purchased their illuminating and oil free foundation in  the shade ivory, I also purchased their felt tip eye liner in blackest black, their concealer in light and colour correcting cream in light medium.

 I believe they were under $10 each, I popped into the local chemist that sold these as I was about to buy some cold medicine, I was thinking of just purchasing their foundation, but I couldn't decide and got them all!

I am actually really happy I did, the cc cream basically works like a really nice base, it can be worn by itself or with a foundation. The foundation itself I think is my new favourite! it illuminates really micely and is the perfect colour. The concealer is really creamy, but my favourite out of the lot is the felt tip eye liner!

 I love that this comes in a glass pump and it feels nice, and not cheap. The formulation is lovely, not too runny and not too thick, perfect shade for light skinned gals like me.

 I don't think I have actually used a cc cream before! and I was really surprised that it covered all my redness! The swatch is on top of the foundation, the one closest to my actual hand.

 The concealer blends out really nicely and is super creamy, I'm rather happy with it though you do need to use a fair bit of it to get a good pigmentation.

Last but not least is the new felt tip eye liner pen I got! omg though the pigmentation in it is one of the blackest I've used and its so fluid! one of the best eye liners I have used for a long time, it also didn't smudge at all after it dried on my hand.

So some good first impressions there, have you used these products at all? what did you think?

How I cover my redness and scars drugstore foundation routine

Hi guys here I have a current foundation video for you! Drugstore products that are available in Australia 

Let me know in the comments if you like these sort of posts!

hugs Jess

drugstore eye shadow palettes for the people who like strange make up, bright colours and pastel goth! alternative drugstore palettes

Hello all! after waking up to this outside my door this morning, it is after Winter in Melbourne!

I decided to wear some bright, and colourful make up today using a colour I've never used before and that is yellow! 

This yellow from Essence is amazing! a tad powdery as you can see, but it goes on the eye as it looks in the pan. Sadly when I received this in the mail one of the colours had smooshed to bits but that doesn't matter as in another palette I'll show you a similar colour. Essence Paradise collection contains six brilliant colours, the one missing is a vivid dark blue. 

It provides excellent colour pay off, with and without a primer, doesn't crease and stays all day, blends like a dream too! 

bought online for $4.99 USD. Excellent value for people who want vividly playful colours! 

This is the look I came up with using the yellow, deep pink and the peachy shade.

This palette I picked up just after Christmas at Priceline for $2, its amazingly pigmented, and it has the missing dark blue from the essence palette. 9 vivid and pigmented shades that I just love to use. Fantastic value, the packaging is a tad cheap in my opinion but its all about the eye shadows. Which for most drugstore companies don't come out with these kind of shades.

These are two of my favourite drugstore palettes that are fantastic for the make up enthusiast who wants to play with colour, or even for those who wants to play with different looks like Pastel goth, goth, and grunge looks.

Original price at Priceline was $10 AUD but I picked it up in a clearance bin for $2!!

Let me know what you think of these eye shadows or the look I came up with!
hugs Jess

my week in pictures!

Reward yourself to keep yourself motivated, living with chronic pain

So today I wanted to write to you about trying to keep up with life in general. When I try, my chronic pain kicks me in the butt, and it reminds me that I need to do things my way, not how I'd really like to have it done.

At the moment I'm struggling with school, and had to catch up on approx 8 hours worth of study as its due tomorrow. I wonder do I actually learn from my mistakes? or is it just my pain barriers in my way? sometimes its hard to actually know the difference.

But to make things easier I do things throughout the day that I enjoy, no matter how down I'm feeling or how unable to achieve things. I do one good thing, then one less good thing and it helps to keep motivated and on track.

Today for example my list of things were small but my motivation to do them was 0. I had to make the bed, clean the bathroom, clean a weeks worth of dishes, do one load of washing and bring a load in, do 4 hours worth of study, feed animals and cook dinner. Oh and I had to clean out a rabbit cage and move a rabbit into a different cage, for which he headbutted me in the chin!

It doesn't sound like that much but when motivation is down this is what I do
every half hour I take a 5 minute break. I time myself using my timer on my iphone
if I'm feeling really drained I'll have a few minutes outside in the fresh air to actually help me wake up.

these guys motivate me to get up even though my brain is saying stay in bed

I reward myself, for every hour of study that I do I get a 10 minute break of watching something on youtube or netflix.

If I did the dishes and cleaned up both sides of the sink, I can have what I'm feeling like for dinner and that's toasted cheese sandwhiches because normally I don't eat much cheese and lately I've been craving it!

Tomorrow I have an exam for legal studies and I'm rewarding myself on Saturday night some drinks as I'm getting a bottle of red wine for after.

I also stayed in jammies yesterday as I love to do that, that was my reward for doing more study!

How do you reward yourself for tasks you know are hard but still need to do them?

hugs Jess

how I contour a "fat" face (round face) fat girl fakes skinny

Hi guys thought I'd upload this video for you of my contour and highlighting routine, its a little video I have made.

Let me know in the comments if you like these kind of posts, and would like to see more videos? please subscribe too!

hugs Jess

The Awesome Kate from Face attire blog post swap! she talks Australian drugstore brands

 Good evening/morning fellow beauty lovers! I'm very privileged today to be doing a post swap with the lovely instagrama, blogger and youtuber @jessicacookbirds !

We decided we needed to talk about the great Aussie brands that go unnoticed. You can find Jessica's post on FaceAttire here: Face attire

Firstly I'd like to introduce you to a brand named after our country... Australis!  

Australis has been around for a while at places like Priceline/Big W/Kmart etc.... Next to more famous brands like Revlon, Rimmel London and L'oreal Paris most beauty goers opt for the well-known ranges.

They really are missing out as Australis is an amazing CRUELTY FREE brand that is so much more affordable!

 Next up I'd like to mention a slightly higher ended Aussie brand called Latonas.

Latonas make everything from beauty to spfx, available online or instore. The staff are always extremely friendly and helpful. As a very pale lady I can really appreciate the custom blend foundations they offer. They currently have an end of financial year sale in store that is definitely worth checking out if your nearby! 

 I too like Jessica, am a huge fan of their contour palette.

Next up I'd like to mention a slightly higher ended Aussie brand called Latonas.

Latonas make everything from beauty to spfx, available online or instore. The staff are always extremely friendly and helpful. As a very pale lady I can really appreciate the custom blend foundations they offer. They currently have an end of financial year sale in store that is definitely worth checking out if your nearby! 

 My favourite Australis product (at the moment) would have to be their Velourlips. Their bright, pigmented and come in a vast variety of colours. Not to mention they are only $9.95AUD @ Priceline

Now back to the cheaper (and I mean CHEAP!) side of cosmetics we have Kmarts OXX beauty range..

I absolutely adore the new range and can't get enough for only $2 a piece.

I'll have to end it here (I could write a book on Aussie makeup brands!). I really hope you liked my article on Aussie brands and I hope it helpes them get recognized.  Thank you very much to Jessica for doing this post swap with me!

xox

Kate

thank you so much Kate for this awesome blog post swap! let us know in the comments what your thoughts are on Australian beauty products. 

Hugs Jess 

more soaps that I think are just as good as lush! lushalikes! lush dupes soaps

Hi guys I have another post because my soap collection is growing, I have a supermarket near by that stocks the most gorgeous soaps, they are mostly organic, natural and skin loving soaps, and most don't test on animals and are super cheap.

 I got the Thursday plantation tea tree soap, the Colavita soap which is infused with olive oil, the Red seal propolis and honey soap and the lemon myrtle soap. I used today the red seal propolis and honey and the lemon myrtle soap.

 They are all under $5 each, seriously cheap and good value, I cut these in half because they are large bars.

 The lemon Myrtle one is amazing! its scent literally fills up my bathroom not only my nostrils but has left me feeling fresh and revitalised. The propolis and honey one I not only used on my face and body but I used it on my hair and I cannot believe the results.

 It's left my face feeling soft and loved, because I am very lazy at moisturising, and having dry skin I know I should. It's left my hair shiny and frizz free! basically like a hair mask without the effort!

The lemon myrtle oneis the top one, with the scrubbie bits in it, they feel gentle enough on my skin but I am used to the harder scrubs.

The honey propolis one is my favourite so far!
let me know your lush dupes?
hugs Jess

are you in a nail polish funk? notd nail makeover

Hi guys I was in such a nail polish funk lately that I haven't done my nails in two months! for someone who actually adores nail polish, this was a very long time! my nails were in such a state and I was getting sick of looking at them so I took the plunge and went with a colour I'm pretty sure I haven't used before.

Yup this is the colour, green! and I love it! its such an opaque colour that I had no trouble applying.The brand is O.P.I but I'm unsure of the actual shades name.

I adore this colour! it applied very evenly and well, no dragging or phishing. 

my application wasn't perfect as I've been away from doing this for such a long time but I love the brush that this nail polish has, neither too big nor too small.

So over all I really like this nail polish, I actually think its very similar to the Essence nail polish, 

Have you used a colour like this? I think its perfect for us fair skinned girls, I'm very pale and it compliments my skintone well. 

What did you think of this nail of the day?

hugs Jess