1 Year On: Pilonidal Sinus Surgery

Time clearly flies whilst you're having fun. Today, whilst sat in front of the tv watching the horrific news that Jo Cox MP has been killed doing her job in Yorkshire (I have no words for the world right now), that it has been nearly a year since I had my pilonidal sinus removed. If you have no idea what one of these is, it is a sinus (looks like a boil) that tunnels into you through a hair in your bum crack basically (the nhs has a much better, far more medical description here). I managed to get one of these, they tend to be linked to HS (I am not spelling that again, click here for more info or here for my account) which is why I think I got one.

I managed to get mine removed privately via the NHS due to a massive appointment cock up where the doctors forgot to refer me *rolls eyes* and I had a great experience. Not that you would be able to tell it was a great experience from the right moody judy posts I was publishing whilst high as a kite (here, here and here). 

The whole process was bloody painful and it was a long, laborious operation. I first had a bad reaction to morphine and I was so naucious I ended up in hospital overnight (too tip, force them to give you the anti sickness before the morphine). I had 6 weeks of constantly having to get my arse packed with all that good medical stuff and it took its toll. It was painful doing almost anything for about 3 weeks until my nerves finally decided to stop being in pain and I could finally come off codeine. It was time consuming, I had to go to the hospital/ doctors everyday, having to carefully shower and remove the padding to get it freshly done. I had to have a week off work (was signed off for more time but suprisingly I was getting very restless) and should have actually had more time off. Driving was a pain, sleeping was a pain and due to the volume of codeine I was consuming trying to have a shit was nigh on impossible.

When I say I had a great experience it was because I had a great surgeon, the hospital went above and beyond to accommodate me and my arse and I had no complications and it has healed perfectly, so from that point of view it was great.

I have healed perfectly. I've had no reemergence, no more boils up my arse crack and no more trouble from there. If God forbid you have a pilonidal sinus, I would highly recommend getting it sorted as quickly as possible. I had a relatively shallow sinus (about 3cm?) but some have extreme sinuses due to not seeking medical attention.

I thought, one year on I would leave some of my top tips for anyone who has one of these:

• Anti sickness is your best friend, demand it before the morphine gets the better of you and you vom your guts up.
• Take your pain killers religiously, don't try and be the big guy by missing one because you think you can (boy I learnt that the hard way in week 2).
• Don't be alarmed if you are stitched and they split, you will still heal and probably better than with stitches.
• Don't have an argument with the nurses because they say that you have to get packed just as you're coming round from your general like I did, it's unpleasant for all (and makes you look like a prat).
• Be scrupulous with your hygeine. Wash your wound thoroughly everyday with as much power as you can tolerate. Don't put soap anywhere near there. I ended up washing my hair over the bowl separately to minimise risk. 
• Don't overdo it. I got restless and thought I could hack far more than I actually could. They sign you off work for 3 weeks for a reason. Rest up. Don't go moving out of your flat the day after, that type of thing!

I'm sure there are many more things I could say but I can't remember them now. If you think you have one of these or are about to have the op or are in recovery, please feel free to talk to me about it. I would love to help and try to ease any worries you have!

If you have one of these, get the op. It's a no brainier.

Lots of love,

Hev 

xoxox

The EU Referendum

The EU referendum is a topic I have been mulling over for months now. Up until the ballot I was completely unsure whether to remain or stay. I decided to go for my gut instinct. This might be unfavourable for some, but for me, it was the vote that I was most comfortable making.

This referendum is a place for everyone over the age of 18 to make their decision on their future. People should be given the most information from both sides as humanly possible, in order for the right decision to come to each person.

However, what I have seen over the last few weeks on social media has quite frankly made me feel sick. Both sides have acted like nothing more than petulant children having a tantrum because they aren't getting their own way. 

The way people I know in real life have acted horrendously. I am very aware people have very strong opinions on this but shoving it down everyone's throats is not going to get you anywhere, and will probably push people in the opposite direction. The amount who have turned into self proclaimed political Gods over the last few weeks has made me want to reevaluate who I associate with, due to the dickhead behaviour and outright bullying from both sides against each other.

The remain voters act like you just want to leave because you're racist and only care about immigration. Which is wrong, when most (not all) will have made up their decision based on the information presented.

The leave voters act like you're a complete sheep if you stay in, forgetting that some are quite possibly happy in the EU and don't want to rock the boat.

The complete shaming all over social media by the remainers of the youths who actually want to leave, and the remain youths shaming of the older generation who want to leave has made me so angry over the last few weeks.

What has concerned me the most about this whole referendum is how celebrities have taken to social media in their droves to actively shame voters who want to leave. I have seen so many prominent and influential celebrities on social media treading the line so close to bullying with this whole issue that I hope when reflecting on the last few weeks they hang their heads in shame.

A person makes their vote based on their own opinions and have the democratic right to do so. Absolutely NOBODY should be made to feel shameful about voting either way. Leave campaigners shouldn't harangue the remainers and the remainers shouldn't shame the leavers.

Everyone has the right to come to their own conclusions and should not be held in contempt for their vote.

Make your decision and unless you're going to remain positive and not disrespectful of other people's opinions; keep your decision to yourself.

I know how I voted and no matter how the vote goes I will be perfectly happy with it because that is the way it is meant to be. It can't be changed. But some people's behaviour can be, and I hope it is changed really fucking quickly.

Hev.

How To Remove Acrylic Nails at Home Without Damage

Following on from Tuesdays post on acrylic nails, I thought I would do a post about how to take them off at home. I used the soaking technique instead of yanking them off *shivers*.

If you want to watch a video that is far more informative and straight forward than any of my explainations then this video by Naio Nails is great and is what I based my removal on.

It's a fairly straight forward process but quite time consuming, so lets get into it!

You're gonna need: a cuticle pusher, pure acetone (I ordered mine off Amazon), a glass bowl (or shot glasses if you're being difficult like me), cotton pads, a nail file, topcoat and some kitchen roll.

Fill your glass bowl with enough acetone to cover your fingers and nail extensions. Set a timer for 10 minutes of soaking. When the timer goes off, use your cuticle pusher to start pushing the gloopy acrylic off. This will take time and a little patience, but keep pushing it off and removing it from the very tip when in little gloopy balls with the kitchen roll (also use the kitchen roll to clean your cuticle pusher, you might need to dunk your pusher in acetone first). Re-submerge your nails and set the timer for another 10 minutes. Take out when the timer goes off and repeat. If your nail has a tip, it should start to almost melt at this point and fall off with some coaxing. Keep re-submerging and pushing the acrylic off until you can feel your natural nail and the tip has been pushed off.

At this point, soak your cotton pad in fresh acetone and wipe over your nails to remove the bits from the top. Wash your hands and use your fingers to really scrub at the rest of the acrylic little bits. Go over the nail once more with the soaked cotton pad and you should have got all the acrylic off! File your nails into shape and smother in top coat!

Having used the soaking technique instead of the yanking one, you should have beautiful damage free nails. It was a very time consuming process but I'm happy with the result and loved how in control I was with my own nails.

Hope this post is helpful if you have acrylic nails!

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

Acrylic Nails: The Lowdown

As I seem to have been rattling on about on my blog for the past few weeks, I got acrylic nails. I got these for my graduation ball (see my treat yo self post for what else I got done) so that my nails would look nice in photos, and when I look back in 20years I won't be scowling at how bad they looked. I also got them for confidence, as an avid nail biter for all of my life, I've never had much to show for nails even in my periods of no biting, and I wanted that to change.

For weeks and weeks I have been watching nail videos on YouTube. They are so addictive and so mesmerising and some of the art on show is incredible. My favourite channel is Naio Nails if anyone is wondering (they are incred). Watching these videos put me at ease with acrylics. You have all heard the horror stories of your nails being left half hanging off or having no nail bed left, but that just isn't the case if you have your nails done professionally and take them off properly.

So here are some tips for anyone getting acrylics done for the first time, and are rightly scared like I was about the whole process.

NAIL TYPE
You have to make the decision on whether you want acrylic or gel, tips or no tips, and what shape you want. I went for acrylic because all the YouTube videos had put my mind at ease. In my extensive researching I also found it quite hard to find places that did gel extensions in the first place. I also had tips put on my nails as they were really short to begin with. Some salons use forms to extend your nails (and create an extension made entirely out of acrylic). I think it depends on the overall shape of your nails and what you want them to look like/ your technicians skill. For the shape I went for rounded. I know from experience that I can't stand sharp edges on my nails so that influenced my decision. There are so many shapes out there from coffin to ballerina so please do your research on what shape you want before entering the salon.

THE SALON
I researched nail salons for weeks and weeks. I started looking for salons that were on Instagram/ Facebook. As I was trying to find a salon in Sheffield I simply searched for Sheffield nails and found a few salons which looked good. I then went on their Facebook pages to see reviews/ tagged posts/ wall posts, which gave me good insight into what the salon was like. It was very easy to whittle down the good salons from the bad by using this method of research, as you can tell if people are happy by the reviews left/ how many people comment on posts asking to book. I eventually settled on the Salon I went to (Beautiful Nails all the way down Eccy Road if anyone in Sheffield is interested) as nobody seemed to have anything bad to say about them. I then messaged them, asked about prices and what acrylic they used (mainly to see if it was the powder or not) and booked in.

THE PROCESS
Our appointment was at 10am on a Thursday, and me and my housemate stupidly got very drunk the night before. This made the whole process far more scary as I was trying to not be sick. But hey ho. We arrived and were asked to wait, then sat at our counters and the technician started work. He filed my natural nail slightly using one of them drill things (such fear went through my mind at this point), cut my natural nails even shorter than normal and then glued the tip on. The tip is glued to the very end of your nails using nail glue, and then they cut the nail tip down to the length and shape you want. After this he then started applying the acrylic. The acrylic is in powder form until the liquid stuff they use is added via a brush, and then little beads of it are added to your nails, and brushed over to form a coating on your nail. This process was done about 3 times until the desired nail was achieved. The acrylic then air dries and is filed and buffed into shape. You're then asked to wash your hands to get all the dust off and then can choose your polish. The polish is a normal polish which doesn't come off your nails at all. Seriously, acrylics are magic for nail polish longevity! I was then left with beautiful looking, if not slightly weird feeling nails.

MY OPINIONS
At first, like all things in my life, I kinda hated them. They felt really alien and I just couldn't get used to them. I was tempted to buy acetone and take them off the day after graduation ball (lol joke I couldn't move out of bed the day after graduation ball) but soon I got used to them, and I loved them. I loved how elegant they made my hand look, how beautiful my hand looked and how much I just looked really girly and feminine. I didn't think I would feel that way about them but I grew to absolutely love them. Granted there are a few cons, its impossible to burst spots, get a good scratch on or press the button at the lights and typing/ scrolling is quite the nightmare, but they're good and well worth having.

REMOVAL
Well you will all be pleased to know that my next post is dedicated to their removal, I didn't want to have to go back to salon to get them removed for £10, and like the control freak I am I wanted to be left completely in charge of my nail beds destiny. I bought the acetone and a cuticle pusher and took them off myself, and they have turned out better than I could have ever hoped for! As you can see from the top image, they look pretty much perfect, they don't look or feel damaged and I have perfectly lovely natural nails again, result! Most of the damage can be caused during removal so I would strongly suggest getting them soaked off, don't mess about with yanking them off *inserts sick emoji here*. Your nails and nail beds protect you from so much shit that you don't want to ruin them out of impatience or price.

OVERALL
My opinion of acrylics is so positive, I loved them and they made me feel great. I didn't have them all that long length wise yet they sometimes monumentally got in my way, so it would be a good shout not to go crazy long unless you have the lifestyle that can accommodate it. I would definitely get acrylic nails again and would probably get them slightly shorter this time, to account for the growth of your natural nail over the weeks. My technician said they would last 2-3 weeks until they needed filling in, and the nail would last 3-4 months until it would grow out. I would highly recommend acrylic nails as long as they were done properly and removed well!

What has your experience of acrylic nails been like?

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

39p Brush Egg?

 

This is a review that I have (typical Hev) been meaning to get on with for a while now. It's on the BrushEgg, a little gadget designed to help clean your brushes which is available widely all over Amazon. If you didn't know, I am a massive Amazon whore, I just think it's the simplest and easiest website to buy anything and everything and I have no shame. I stumbled across this little egg on one of my many brush trawls and thought why not? It was 39p at the time with £1 delivery. The order came within a week and I was very impressed with the packaging etc etc.

There are two sides to this review. The Brush Egg is brilliant for eye brushes, and really quite shit for face brushes. The cactus in the pictures is tiny, which should give you a rough idea of how big the Egg is- it's tiny. the rough slats and spiky bits are great for all your small brushes like eye brushes and concealer ones, but for face brushes it is just too small. You can't get a good rub using face brushes on it because it is just too small. The Egg really struggled to clean my face brushes and it took me double the time than normal to get a good solid face brush clean out of them. The eye brushes however were cleaned rapidly and in no time at all, as the Egg's 'cleaning helpers' were of the right height and depth for these. I squidged some of my shampoo on to the Egg, swirled the brushes in it, swilled the brushes off and they were good as new.

The Egghas a slot underneath for you to slot your fingers in, which is useful if your water gets really hot like mine does.

Overall this Brush Egg is perfect for your eye brushes and definitely worth adding to your cleaning arsenal, just don't put your face brushes anywhere near it!

The BrushEggs are available all over Amazon in a variety of different colours and prices, shop around!

Have you tried this and what are your thoughts?

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

My Marble Phone Case

I feel like owning a marblesque phone case, a marblesque anything in the blogging world is massively cliché and frankly basic. I think the whole things been slightly over done. But I am one to talk. I take most of my blog photos on my sisters marble covered desk (because it has the best lighting/ background in the house) and 2 weeks ago I actively searched on Amazon for a marble phone case and here I am, talking to you about my marble bloody phone case.
I love it, its marbled tastefully and is as hard back case, with silicone sides to hug around the phone. This has made it much more durable than your average silicone case, whilst still not being completely (smash bits and pieces off the case every 5 seconds) hard and breakable. It's a happy medium. I only bought this one because it came on prime and I am so impatient and I may as well just use my student prime membership to its fullest right? and I'm really glad I did.

Here is the link for the phone case I bought on Amazon if you fancy it too, I paid £7.50 with free prime shipping because of my prime account.

Do you have any phone case loves right now?

Lot's of Love,

Hev

xoxox

YouTube Subs for Subs

God this train journey has been blog post mad, I'm on my second one!

So I've been sat here thinking, in between trying to phone my sister (thanks English countryside service real appreciate u) and eating Katsu curry- mah crack, about the whole YouTube sub for sub thing.

It irks me, like it really bloody irks me. I don't get it, I don't get where the benefit of someone subscribing to you just cos they want you to subscribe back gets you or them. They're subscribing to try and boost their own shiz, yet once you subscribe rarely do they ever watch anything in return, or do you?

When I subscribe to people, I subscribe because I really enjoy their videos, whether it is makeup or first class plane videos (don't judge they're so addictive) not because they're threatening me that they won't subscribe to me if I don't subscribe to them. 

I'm not massively arsed if one person or one million people watched my video, I would want them to be watching it because they actually wanted to. I want them to watch because they thought my shoddily edited video looked like something right up their street, not because they think they can get something out of it. I would want them to watch and subscribe to my videos because they liked what they saw during my shameless Twitter self promotion or because it came up on their YouTube suggestions and they were curious or wanted a laugh. I would want them to because they think my terrible accent is listenable and what shit I'm chatting is useful for them.

I think I would rather stay with my current 10 subscribers than 1,000,000 if that 1,000,000 weren't actually bothered on the first place.

What's your opinion on this?

Lots of love,

Hev

xoxox

Cowshed Uplifiting Body Lotion

 

I am finally getting round to using-- albeit 6 months later-- the contents of my M&S advent calendar. Today is all about the Cowshed Uplifting Body Lotion. This stuff smells like a spa. With the addition of red mandarin, bitter orange and grapefruit it really does have that tropical spa vibe. The smell really is quite dreamy, and a few hours later I can still smell it all over myself. The texture is like your average body lotion, thick and creamy, and a small amount goes a long way. My skin feels soft afterwards, but nothing out of the ordinary for a lotion.
The lotion takes a while to sink in, definitely not a lotion to use when you're in a rush. The packaging is also really frustrating. I don't know whether it is because it is a sample size or not but it takes the piss to get the lotion through the nozzle, and when you do get it through most of the time far too much has come out.
I don't think this is a lotion I would buy again, I think there are ones on the market out there that do the same think for a lot less money. However, I think this is a lotion that may come out to play on special occasions because it really does smell wonderful. If you have the money to buy a gorgeous smelling lotion then this may be one for you, but right now, it's not the one for me.

Have you tried this lotion?

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

Primark £1 Individual Lashes

 

So heres the short and snappy low down on Primarks Individual Lashes...

They're actually brilliant. You get 56 for £1 which is a complete bargain and they work just as well as more expensive brands. You get 2 rows of Mediums and 1 row each of short and long, just like other brands. I lost a few more of these lashes when putting them on than I normally would with more expensive lashes, but for the price you can't really complain. The lashes are also not the most uniform, but again for the price there is no complaints. The packaging is also a lot slinkier than some, which makes them so much easier to slip in my makeup bag.

Overall I think these lashes are completely brilliant and for the price, I don't think I will be looking anywhere else for individuals!

Have you tried these lashes?

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

The Month: May

*My makeup was by Hannah at the Makeup Studio in Dronfield if you're nearby Sheffield and fancy having your make up done!

There will be no video on Sunday, me being the eejit I am filmed it but then forgot to put the footage on my laptop, and left my camera in Sheffield like a doughnut. So instead I thought I would write about what happened to me in May, to act as a nice little reminder of all the good (and some of the bad) for this month.

I am sat writing this in the garden. The weather today is just beautiful. When the sun comes out England is just the best place to be. I'm trying to type with my acrylics on, but it's a bit difficult. I think I am going to get them removed next week, but I am scared of what my nails will look like underneath and weather I have just managed to undo all my hard nail growth work in one fail swoop (which I suspect I have).

May started with exams. 2 of them, both as evil as each other. I have never been one for doing any revision at all (which explains my grades completely) but I really did try to pull it out of my arse and I have a small feeling it may have paid off and I haven't failed my degree at the last hurdle.

After these exams I officially finished uni, never to step foot in Hallam's door again as an undergraduate; which is completely scary yet exciting at the same time. My 4 years are over.

May also marked the return of my OCD and me finally getting some help. In an update, I have an appointment for counselling and a starter appointment for CBT, which I am hoping will put me on the path for eradicating this from my brain forever. I only ended up having that 3 day bought, but I never want to feel that way again, so I am hoping this will all put a stop to it.

I went out for cocktails with some of my besties and ended up in Dempseys, I danced in the cage like my life depended on it (it was probably unbearable to witness), had one of the worst hangovers of my life (thanks body for being sick the same hour I had to get the train home) but would never change a single thing.

The end of May also brought about my Graduation Ball. I had the best time of my life. I spent the night dancing my arse off with some of the people who have helped to make the last 4 years magical. I walked away with sore feet, a huge stiletto bruise, no dignity and a 2 day hangover but I would never change it for the world.  You only get to undergraduate once.

I am hoping June will be equally as glorious, I'm off to Rhodes with my sisters at the end of June and I cannot wait for a week of all inclusive cocktails and looking like a tomato.

What were your May highlights?

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

Thing's That Have Helped Me to Improve My Blog

In the real world, I like to think of myself as quite tech savvy (unless you're giving me a sat nav and then there is no hope), but in the blogging world I feel really quite useless.

Coding and picture editing is really hard when you're a complete novice about everything like I am. There are many blog posts floating around the internet with how to's and stuff like that which will probably be way more helpful, but this is a post dedicated to the programmes and tools that even I can get my head around.

Fonts.
Until this month I had no idea you could actually download fonts to use like your regular Arial or Times New Roman. These fonts are actually really simple to install (follow the instructions on the website) and you can get a wealth of really pretty fonts for free. I downloaded all of mine from DaFont.com and they have worked really well so far. My blog header font was downloaded from there and I just love it.


Picture Editors/ Creators
For this category I use 3 different programmes. I did alot of googling and trial and error before I came to these being my faves! I use the Moldiv app on my phone for on the go editing of instagram photos. It's quite easy to use and has lots of different features. VSCO cam is similar to this. Pic Monkey I tend to use for YouTube headers and any general blog designs I need (I created my header with it). Its a simple to use programme (if I can use it you can) with lots of different customisable features. Finally, I also good old fashioned photo editor on windows. I tend to use this programme to brighten my photos if I've taken said photos on my camera and not my iPhone. You don't need to use all of these, but all of them have really solid free features to make your pictures pretty much how you want them, instead of having to fork out for programmes like Photo Shop.

Tweet Schedulers
I use Hootsuite on my phone and TweetDeck on my laptop. I like them both, they're quite simple to use and work. Tweet Scheduling is useful forgetting your content out there regularly but it can be really boring and time consuming for about 20 minutes, which means I don't tend to use them often because I can't ever be arsed. My laziness aside, they are good programmes for getting your head around scheduling with lots of options.

Free Blog Templates
If you're an amateur with no disposable income and no coding ability, free blog templates are brilliant for making your blog look classy and sassy and just how you want it to be. A simple google search of free blogger templates will bring up countless different free templates to suit your tastes. When you download them, most will come with instructions on how to add all the bits and pieces you want to make your blog your own. I have used a few over time and they have all been fairly simple to use. However, sometimes adding features (like a bloody instagram widget) can be nigh on impossible using free templates like mine now. Sigh.

Anyway, I hope this post has been useful for the complete novices out there like me!

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

New Video: Cut Crease Evening Glam GRWM

Even though this was published on Monday (after 2 days of battling both my home and Uni's wifi and then YouTube to publish the bloody thing) I have a new video up on my channel.

A couple of weeks ago I went to my end of year Trampolining Dinner and thought I would film my 'glam' (everytime I use the word glam I use it ironically because I just think it's a tad lol). It's an attempt of a cut crease and some terrible editing.

I hope you all enjoy!


Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox