#blbinspire

BLOGGERCONF 2016-An Honest Review

I have been to my fair share of conventions over the years, Cosplay Con, Comic Con, Craic Con to name but a few. Wait, has anyone else notice how much conventions seem to like alliteration? Anyway, I took the arduous journey to Dublin for Bloggerconf, well not really arduous, it’s an 8 hour long trip and I slept for most of it!

It starts off with a typical registration process, you give your…

Straight Up For What?

I have been trying to keep the condition of my hair, well, not crappy, as I spent most of my youth destroying my hair with box dye, bleach and quite a bit of overzealous straightening. I have very fine hair, which also falls into the categories of frizzy, curly and OH MY GOD, IT’S THE HUMIDITY!!!

Which means that my hair has suffered greatly over the years, because who hasn’t burned off half their hair in an unfortunate candle accident? (Looooong story)

Adding to the scenario, I’m currently pregnant, and as a result, I haven’t dyed/trimmed/given menacing looks to my hair since I found out. However, I plan to bleach and dye my hair like pastel rainbow unicorn poop once I have the fresh human, and I need to make sure that my hair can handle this!

So, between leave-in conditioners, hot oils, hair masks and more coconut oil than you can shake a stick at, I have cut down my hair washes to once a week. In addition to this, if I style using heat, which is rare atm, I only allow myself to do this once a week also.  This is how I got on with one week, one wash, with straight hair.

Monday

I decided to live life on the edge this week by straightening my hair. Whoo, go me! I did have to spend most of Sunday combing my wet hair to cull the frizz a bit. (Oh and I rubbed a small bit of argan oil through my damp hair to tame the beast) Monday morning, when the tiny terror was at Nursery, I straightened my hair on a low heat, gave it a comb through, and that was that. I like to straighten my hair just enough, so that it’s a sleek, but not quite frazzled plastic wig hair.

Tuesday

Tuesday’s hair was still relatively smooth, but today was a full toddler day, which meant keeping it out of my face, AND the munchkin’s grasp. So I went for the ever popular 90’s low double ponytails/not quite buns look. That way I didn’t add to many kinks to it. By the end of the day though I had it up in a basic low pony, because my uber fine hair kept slipping through the hair ties.

Wednesday

Ah yes, the failed top knot attempt. For some reason, I struggle immensely with these “effortless” styles. Most girls try a messy top knot and look like Zoella, whereas I seem to resemble Miss Trunchbull from Matilda. On the plus side, it kept the hair out of my face, and away from the infant, who had made the grand decision that my body existed solely for him to wipe his snotty nose on.

Thursday

Hospital time! It was the check up with my consultant, so I needed fuss-free hair and there was the possibility that I might need to walk home, in windy/rainy Irish weather, so containment was the aim of the game. Enter, my favourite plaits ever, the fishtail braids! I love these, they’re so handy, I find them much easier than doing normal plaits, aaand the receptionist complimented them. She even asked me how to do them, to which my response is the same to any question, Youtube. Honestly if you don’t know how to do something, you will more than likely find a Youtube tutorial on it.

Friday

So I may have sort of, kind of, a little bit, slept in my braids (I did, I definitely did) which left some mini waves in my hair, and I decided to roll with it. I did my best attempt at a waterfall braid. I try and pin my hair away from my hair as much as possible, otherwise I grease it up by running my fingers through it 501 times. At this point, it was getting a little bit greasy around the nape of the neck, which was fun.

Saturday

Saturday was a busy day, a snuffly toddler, a tween stepdaughter, the in-laws were visiting, and I’m waddling around from room to room, like a constipated duck in need of a hip replacement. The hair was starting to feel a bit grimey now. So the best idea was to pin it, pin it up and back, and out of the way. The front of my hair has a waterfall braid, leading into another waterfall braid, leading to the back on one side. The other side has a simple French braid leading to the back. The back of the hair consists of three fishtail braids, fluffed up and folded over each other, with the ends pinned under. The pinned up braid is one of my go to no-nonsense styles, because it is just so handy.

Sunday

Today’s the day that I wash my hair. I have pinned my hair up, using two mini hair donuts to create teeny tiny double buns, because I’m just too adorable dammit! Later on I’ll be washing my hair with a shampoo bar from Lush, I can’t remember the name, and it’s just listed as “shampoo bar” on the site. But it has cinnamon and clove bud in it, so it’s very refreshing, and tingly. Still deciding on what conditioning option to go for, but I’m thinking that this week might be a basically braided week, as I am far to lazy to set my hair today. I guess we’ll find out.

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I don’t know about you, but I have a terrible habit of putting off buying something that I want, only to have it disappear whenever I finally do decide to get my arse in gear. So when I saw this cactus cushion in Penneys, I knew that I had to have it, and have it I did. I love it so much! This time of year I gravitate towards things with melons, pineapples or cacti. Especially if there is some kind of pun involved.

It just brightens up the room, doesn’t it!?

Being so very extremely pregnant, I am carrying a lot of extra weight. I’m also running about after a toddler, so I am on my feet most of the time. Plus, reaching my feet can even be a bit of a struggle at this point. Anyway, I’ve been using one of my favourite products ever to help soothe the old tootsies, and show them the soft skin care that they need. Heel Genius by Soap & Glory converts my hobbit feet back to tip top condition!

Who needs a pedicure when you have this baby!?

In addition to my poor feet, I’ve also been dealing with the heat, oh my the heat! That’s the thing.  When you’re quite pregnant and it’s actually warm in Ireland, which granted, is rare, you tend to overheat. I bought a Magicool cooling mist spray from Boots, yes Boots again. Oh this thing is amazing. I have one in my labour bag, I have one in my handbag, I keep them everywhere! Even my toddler loves getting misted!

Magi, magicooooooooool

You know what, bitches go craycray for FroYo, yo! I discovered that there is not one, but two places that do frozen yoghurt in my town. This is a place that doesn’t have a late night coffee bar. I took the little man in for some FroYo, because we deserved it dammit! Also it was extremely hot. I had no idea how much I needed mango frozen yoghurt in my life. Oh wow guys, just wow. He may have enjoyed it too, just a wee bit…

Loving some FroYo and fruit

Get that Summer feeling with Penneys! Well, I did. I picked up some ice pop silicone moulds, an insulated drinks cup and some lovely colour coordinated paisley napkins. Now I know that I don’t need paisley printed paper napkins, but they are just so pretty! The drinks cup with the integrated straw is so handy, I had so much ice tea over the second half of May, this cup was perfect!

So a little game came out this month, you may have heard of it… Overwatch by Blizzard, I love everything about this game. I haven’t had the chance to play much, but I really enjoyed what I could play, being the Nooby Boob that I am. I’ve even got quite into watching Michael play it. Which he does, and often. We time share the Xbox, so we don’t get as much time as we’d like to play everything. I love everything about this game, from the lore to the video shorts. I also got the recruit kit which came with a bloody LP, an Lp!!

I like to flitter flutter my eyelashes and frankly I think they can really make you go from drab to glam in well, a blink of an eye. I tried out the Superdrug individual lashes. I much prefer them to strip lashes, I haven’t really been feeling the strip lashes as of late. They tend to look a bit clunky and false, maybe it’s just that I’m really bad at applying them. However, the individual lashes I think are a lot more forgiving, especially if you make a mistake. The first pic is just the lashes with no make up, and you can see how they just brighten the face.

Well that’s all folks for May’s favourites. As far as I’m aware this is my first Favourites blog! Oh this is exciting. Next month may all be baby related as my tiny human is due here in two days! haha. Let me know if you any of my favourites, were you’re favourites, or if you think I’m way off base. Anyhoo, I’ll catch you next time. Although if there is any radio silence, assume I’m in the hospital. You can always follow me on snapchat on Catwoodishere to keep up with me. Always ready to chat!! xx