#notes-and-coffee

This past week I travelled to Denmark and here are some of the perfect picturesque autumn photos I captured. 

This is a long one so brace yourselves. It’s a 3 in 1.

Number 5: SUNBLOCK, SUNSCREEN, SUN-WHATEVER-YOU-WANT-TO-CALL-IT IS ESSENTIAL.

If you want to get clear skin and you don’t use sunscreen, well then, just stop trying because the world doesn’t work that way. And I am the perfect living example of this. 

You always hear “always wear sunscreen, every day of the year” and if you’re anything like me, you ignored that (*shame shame shame lady from Game of Thrones in the background*). I had acne-prone skin, and still deal with that, so just the simple thought of using a sunscreen on my face made me cringe because sunscreens always broke me out and I 100% didn’t want to deal with more breakouts from using sunscreen or deal with that ugly white cast the sunscreen leaves. But what I didn’t realise before was that sun exposure was actually causing my acne as well, and making my hyperpigmentation even worse. I know, mind-blowing, but stick with me here. I learnt this from the skincare goddess Liah Yoo – if you haven’t checked out her videos yet then do it because it was life changing for me. 

Sebum oxidation is the one to blame for the pimples on your face and, yes, it can be, possibly, caused by the sun (UV rays). Once that happens, sebum can become comedogenic, clogging your pores, which can lead to more acne. Also, some acne products can cause photosensitivity so sunscreen is extremely important! Sunscreen 365/366 days of the year, whether it’s sunny, rainy, cloudy, you’re staying home or there are unicorns falling from the sky – put that sunscreen on, friends.

Now, there are 2 types of sunscreens – chemical and mineral/physical sunscreens. To be honest, I never tried a chemical sunscreen so I can’t give my opinion on those, but I do know that it adheres and gets absorbed much easier into the skin and it is the preferred sunscreen of people of colour because it doesn’t leave a white cast and it doesn’t feel heavy or even oily. But keep in mind that chemical sunscreens might break you out because of the way the sunscreen works and it might be irritating for people with sensitive skin. Do your research before committing to anything!

Mineral sunscreens or physical sunscreens, my preferred ones, don’t usually irritate your skin because unlike chemical sunscreens, this one doesn’t get absorbed into your skin and it just sits on top of your skin making the rays bounce back. Although everyone hates applying it because of the dreaded white cast that some sunscreens leave; and because the mineral sunscreen is literally sitting on your face the whole day, if you don’t wash it properly, it can clog your pores so keep in mind that you need to thoroughly cleanse your face every night.

To finish it all off: use your damn sunscreen to prevent your breakouts, worsening your hyperpigmentation, anti-ageing, preventing skin cancer, sun damage, etc. and apply it everywhere - your face, your neck, your chest and your ears (don’t neglect your poor ears). Reapply your sunscreen!!! And no, don’t worry, you won’t be vitamin D deficient, you sun worshipper.  

Number 6: make-up with SPF is not enough. Especially since people never apply enough. For it to be effective, you would have to cake your face completely. You can use it as a second layer of protection but you always need that first layer to be actual sunscreen.

Number 7: higher SPF doesn’t mean it lasts longer or it’s better. It basically has to do with the fact that most people don’t apply enough sunscreen to get to the SPF 30 or 50 that the label claims so they figured the higher they go, the higher the chances of people getting enough sun protection all over their face. Oh and if your SPF is higher than 50 then it is doing virtually nothing different from the lower ones...SPF 70/100 is gimmicky and gives you a false sense of security, making you think you can stay longer in the sun, therefore increasing the risk of damage. 

Number 3: Skincare is not JUST about your face.

Please do not ignore your neck and your cleavage, and migrate the products you use on your face to those places….share them and don’t stop at your face, keep going down. One of the things that annoy me the most is watching videos of people sharing their skincare routines and completely stopping at the jawline - have some love for your neck too. 

Some of you might not be worried about this right now but you will in a few years: your neck shows signs of ageing very quickly. I always ignored and neglected my neck until I realised that the skin on your face was becoming a lot softer and moisturised and my neck a bit dry *surprise surprise*.

And let’s be honest, ageing in a graceful way is something we all want, even if we say we don’t, so bring those products down.

I also had a course that only focused on theories so I totally feel you!! My professor would provide us with texts she wrote (unfortunately they’re all in Portuguese or else I would share them) about each theory and author and that made my life a lot easier but there is a lot of content online, I will link a few of those I saved at the time. 

I also used a book called “Global Politics” by Andrew Heywood to study (PS: this book literally has everything you need as an IR student because it talks about so many things - I used it for 90% of my classes before I graduated), the book is very straight to the point and it explains those theories in an easy way.

But I have to say that class notes are 80% of what I used to study and understand those theories, so paying attention in class really helped. Then I would get home, read the notes I took and create mind-maps (it depends on how you like to study but I find that simple mind-maps really help you understand a theory as a whole and how one thing connects to the other). AND youtube videos can be really helpful too!! People sometimes forget that youtube exists and it has so MUCH content, I bet there it a video that explains it in a way you will understand (I’ll link some videos too). 

Now the links I was talking about:

 http://www.e-ir.info/2017/01/09/international-relations-theory/

 https://www.princeton.edu/~slaughtr/Articles/722_IntlRelPrincipalTheories_Slaughter_20110509zG.pdf 

https://books.google.pt/books?hl=pt-PT&lr=&id=0fb_U9xlW2YC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=international+relations+theories&ots=Dhg0Xxqfpb&sig=EJQ58Cr8TJa9UIvUDBM-3ZBhJAM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=international%20relations%20theories&f=false

http://www.irtheory.com/know.htm

http://study.com/academy/lesson/theoretical-approaches-to-international-relations-realism-liberalism-marxism.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4bQ1rCn0sY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU0Iks1arFQ

I also have this playlist with only IR videos, not exactly only about theories but you might find it useful for other occasions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y32cFdicW1U&list=PLB5965C13F4B0B2DA   

If you need anything else, or if you need to find information for other subjects, please just message me. Since I have lots of time now, I don’t mind doing some internet research and finding new websites.

Favourite TV Shows: Skam [1/?]