Notes From a Twenty-Something

Kate Somerville Oxygen Facial

I am a big advocate of at-home beauty treatment and pamper routines (read about my at-home mani tips here), but sometimes, I like to let the experts take over and treat myself to something a little more special.

My local Mecca Cosmetica has fairly frequent make-up/skincare events and when I received an email inviting me to try out an Oxygen Facial, I was intrigued... I really didn't know what to expect but I had read in an interview recently that Miranda Kerr is an oxygen facial fan, and well, if it's good enough for Miranda, it's good enough for me!

So what exactly is an oxygen facial? I certainly didn't know. It started like any other facial, a thorough make up removal and cleanse, followed by something a little different. A cocktail of hyaluronic acid* and other skin-loving vitamins which are applied to the skin in a little air pressure machine, kind of like a mini version of a spray tan machine, or if anyone has had airbrushed make-up, that kind of thing. It felt amazing, it was really cooling and relaxing, but what really sold me was how my skin felt afterwards. It felt soft, smooth, hydrated and plump. I have always been cautious of "plumping" products as I had in my head that "plump" meant puffy, not so. My skin just felt full and firm, particularly around my eye area where I have started to see the dreaded fine lines of the mid-20s appear... My skin continued to feel amazing for over a week.

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Blogger Book Club | And The Mountains Echoed

Since I started blogging I have been lucky enough to meet some of the smartest, loveliest women. At a blogger dinner one night Megan, Vanisha, Rachi, Gemma, Louise and I decided that it might be fun to start a book club, really just a nice excuse to catch-up on a regular basis, but it's also been a good opportunity to read some things that we might not have otherwise come across.

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Our latest read, which was my choice, was And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini who also wrote The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. The story follows various characters, most who are members of an extended family, over many generations. It was written almost as a collection of short stories that are connected by a character or an event. Some of the chapters were beautiful stories, and some of them were heart breaking. Each chapter seemed to focus on a relationship within the family setting, it followed a father-son relationship, a mother-daughter relationship and, one of the ones I found the most emotional, the relationship between sisters.

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The Mid-Week Pamper | Nails

Welcome to Part One of my mini series The Mid-Week Pamper, I love using my down time to treat myself and have decided that it doesn't have to be something that takes up a lot of time and involves a lot of products. I have whittled down my pamper sessions to be something efficient that can be done on a week night to break up the work week and make me feel nice.

One of my favourite things to do on weeknights is a little at-home mani. Here is how I take care of my nails...

I start by cutting them so they are all a similar length, I prefer short, neat, almost square nails over longer ones but you can do whatever style you like. Recently more people in the beauty community have been rocking a rounded nail and it seems to be working for them. I have these straight-edged nail clippers which I love because then I just file the edges a little and am left with neat square-ish nails. There are a few different ideas about cuticle care, some people think you should cut, others think that makes your cuticles more susceptible to infection. I push mine back using this little Sally Hansen cuticle tool and then give them a good scrub using my Lush Sweet Lips lip scrub. It might seem a little strange but sugar scrubs are really good for your cuticles and I never seem to get through my lip scrubs so I thought I would give it a go to get more use out of it and it worked like a charm, plus it smells delicious!

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Read | Watch | Listen

It's safe to say that over the past few months I have been in hibernation. It's just that time of year where being snuggled up indoors is just more fun that braving the cold. Winter also coincided with me becoming a home owner which meant that walking through my front door was pretty much the highlight of my day and there were times when I would just sigh at how happy being alone in my tiny little apartment made me.

This lack of social interaction meant that I had much more time for reading and viewing some much talked about TV shows which I was very late catching on to. Girls, created by the absolutely delightful Lena Dunham, had me hooked from the beginning, I love some of the characters, I hate some of the characters, I see myself in some of the characters, more than I care to admit... I know I'm so late jumping on the bandwagon with this one, but if by chance you're even later than me, watch it! It's pretty great.

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The Tools of the Trade

I spend so much time thinking about what products suit my skin type and Googling recommendations of the best ways to care for my skin that I feel I am guilty of forgetting the universally helpful, oft-neglected stars of the show. The humble beauty tools.

Looking after my skin for the past year now has been my trusty Clarisonic. This weird little "electric toothbrush for your face" type gadget seems to have taken the beauty blogging community by storm, and it has my vote. I have the Mia which is the smaller one and I love how it makes my skin feel. Since I started using it I have noticed that my skin is clearer, I suffer less frequently from breakouts, and I feel like the products I apply after absorb into my skin much better. On nights when I can't be bothered to Clarisonic (yep, using it as a verb) I find myself reaching for my Emma Hardie cleansing cloths. If you find yourself (understandably) not wanting to shell out the $$ for a Clarisonic, I highly recommend looking into some good cleansing cloth options. These ones are one half muslin cloth, to remove traces of dirt, make up, dead skin cells, whatever else finds itself onto your face during the day... And one half microfibre, the polishing cloth for your skin, if you will. I also like that they are white as there is visible evidence that they are doing their job. I like that in a product. My tweezers made the cut to the list, not because these ones are particularly amazing, although I do like them, but because we all need to de-fuzz now and again, don't we..? I have particularly outrageous eyebrows that, if not tamed, could scare small children. I try to avoid that if possible.

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On Being Twenty-Something.

I don't think I know many bloggers who haven't put some serious thought into their blog names, it's a very tricky thing. And then once you've narrowed it down to a few that you like and think suit your blog, finding an available URL is a whole other story...

I wanted to tell you a little bit about mine and what being Twenty-Something means to me.

So far my twenties have been pretty amazing. I've graduated from uni, started a full time job, saw my sister get married, became an aunty, travelled to some amazing places, bought my first apartment, started relationships, ended relationships, started them again. It has probably been the most exciting time of my life and I still have five more years. Here are some highlights...

Family time with my two sisters

Travel- The Berlin Wall

Becoming an aunty!

Central Park, New York

Travelling with great friends! And great cider

This podcast by Meg Jay made me feel like a very empowered twenty-something (highly reccomend you watch if you haven't already!), I want to use this time to do exciting things and set myself up for the things I want to do later. I want to use this time to look after myself, get into better habits with my health, look after my skin, set myself up financially, do some more travelling and just generally enjoy my life and the people in it.

I think this has definitely been the best part of my life so far, but it's all I know, maybe my thirty-somethings will be even better, or my fourty-somethings... In the meantime, I'm going to write about being a twenty-something.

How did you come up with your blog name? Was it easy for you or did it take some time to come up with? I'd love to hear your story.

Zoe xx

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Skincare Routine | Winter 2013

For me, Winter is the most difficult time of year to keep my skin looking and feeling healthy. My skin is prone to dehydration at the best of times and the cold, in addition to being in artificial heating most days, zaps the life right out of it!

This Winter I have found some products that have really helped and I think my skin is happier than it has ever been at this time of year.

Here is what I have been using:

Eve Lom Cleansing Balm: This is the newest addition to my skincare routine and I love it. Cleansing balms are all the rage at the moment and I understand why. In the pot this is a soft solid which turns into an oil when you rub it between your hands. Applied to dry skin it melts your makeup right off, I use a muslin cloth and warm (not hot) water to remove this.

UPDATE: A few weeks after this post my skin decided that it didn't like Eve Lom as much as forst thought, I broke out, not in pimples, but in little red, dry patches on my cheeks, in an attempt to track down the culprit I cut this out and unfortunately this was the guilty product... The amazing girls at my local Mecca store exchanged it, no questions asked and I'm now trying something new... I'll give it a few more weeks just to make sure my skin is happy again and then no doubt it will feature in my Spring 2013 skincare routine.

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The First Note

Hi everyone,

Welcome to Notes from a Twenty-Something.

I've been working on this space for a little while now and have had so much fun planning it and thinking about what I wanted it to be. It's currently a work in progress so some parts are still under construction but I just couldn't wait to share it with you all!

I sought the help of my more experienced blogger friends Megan and Vanisha whose expertise was greatly appreciated, and the lovely Christina who did my design work and was very patient with me!

Have a look around and pop back and visit occasionally, there is plenty on the way...

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Zoe xx