My Top Tips for Travelling Around Australia and South East Asia

Travelling is something I think everyone should do where they are able, in whatever form that is. Whether its 3 years getting lost in the rainforest, 2 weeks living it up in Bali or a 5day adventure in Rome, travel really can broaden your horizons and change your outlook on life.

Everyone who goes travelling will have different reasons, whether its a small case of running away, having some time to go or fulfilling a life long goal, and because of this, everyone will have different tips for travelling too. 

My tips stem from 4 months of trotting around SEA and Australia on my own, and these are the tips I would give my siblings, my friends, my school kids, anyone! So lets get into it:

1) When you arrive at a destination after a loooong flight, try to stay in a private room or with family. The reason why? Jetlag is a bitch. There is no escaping it. It sucks balls and will leave you wiped for the first week of your trip. When I flew to Australia, I purposely flew to Perth first so I could bunker down with family friends, have a safe and secure start and get over my jetlag in familiarish surroundings. When my friend came over to Thailand, we stayed in a private room so she could get over the jetlag and feel better about the culture shock (and the shock of hostels!). I would highly recommend stretching your budget if you can to cover a couple of days in a private room after a 17 hour flight, for peace of mind and not having people constantly walking in and out and disturbing your precious sleep like can happen in hostels. 

2) Trust hostel reviews. If its below an 8*, don't stay there unless you have to. This is from experience of walking into a Brisbane hostel, not being booked into the room I requested, no aircon and walking into find someone wanking in the bed underneath mine (and no, he didn't stop). I felt so uncomfortable that I rang my mom crying at 4.30am UK time and booked myself into a very expensive hotel for the night. I had the backup budget to allow this and also it was possibly the best thing I could have done for my mental health at the time. I could shower with music on, watch tv in bed and order room service! Hostelworld is where I booked all of my hostels and would highly recommend booking through them, just set the filter to 8* or above, look for places with aircon and you won't go wrong. 

3) Pack light, trust me, you won't need a bigger rucksack than 40L. I am a notorious over packer, having just packed for a family holiday to Crete for a week the same amount of gear for 4 months of travel. I find it hard to let go. Packing light will improve the quality of your trip ten fold. Why? it will be far less heavy. My Osprey Farpoint 40 (the link is to the cheapest place I found the bag) can be taken in hand luggage (which makes things far cheaper on flight baggage). You'll only buy shit that you actually like and care about. You can send things home, I sent home lots of gifts just before leaving Australia, it was expensive but worth it. Yes it's not quite so much fun when you discover Cotton On and how good Malaysian H&M is but trust me, your budget and back will thank you later. 

4) If you have periods, stock up tonnes of tampons before entering Asia. It is apparently nigh on impossible to get tampons in Asia, believe me, I tried. Wherever you're flying from to get to Asia, if they sell tampons, buy them. I was lucky that I had three people coming to visit me in Asia who could supply the goods, but if your fully riding solo, a big stash of tampons or one of those moon cup things will be a godsend, truuuust me. 

5) Get your phone unlocked before you leave. This was the best thing I did before going, taking an unlocked phone meant I could buy dirt cheap simcards everywhere and not be worried about being unconnected. Yes it might be fun being 'off the grid' to some but I go slightly crazy without Whatsapp, Google Maps and the ability to know where the fuck I'm going. If you're in the UK, all phones at Carphone Warehouse are sold unlocked, and 4g EE Max Plans let you use your data normally in Australia too, which was amazing as wifi in Aus becomes useless after Brisbane (who knew?).

6) Don't be afraid to spend a bit more for more time, comfort and safety. The thing that I was most scared of throughout my entire trip was the prospect of travelling to the Gili Islands. I freaked out alooooot about the boat over as I had visions of torrential rain and capsizing and pirates kidnapping me, how dramatic. I ended up using Gili Getaway who were great. Super clean and safe looking boats, friendly staff, not the cheapest but they came and picked me up and dropped me off for a small fee in Bali which made me feel so much safer. Also if there is ever the choice of a 1 hour flight or an 18 hour train, just take the bloody flight and save yourself some time and patience...

7) Don't book a 3 day boat trip if you know you get sea sick. This you would think would be self explanatory but I clearly didn't listen to myself and paid £450 to sit on a boat in the Whitsundays for 3 days trying not to vomit. It clearly wasn't one of my best decisions and I would only recommend a day trip to the Whitsundays, you cover everything in a day, and save your tummy alot of shit. Oh and if your trip is booked for a week after a cyclone, cancel it and wait for better weather, believe me you'll thank yourself (something I wish I had done!).

8) Tigerbalm is the best thing you can buy in 7-11. Yes the toasties in 7-11 are mega and are worth shitting yourself for (hello dairy intolerance) but nothing beats tigerbalm. Tigerbalm calms those mossie bites down pretty instantly and is great for if you manage to slide down a rock and tear your ligaments, massaged in to help with the swelling. I brought a full tub home with me because it is just the bees knees.

9) Local food is the shit and you should just eat that. Pho is like crack to me, Khao Soi in Chiang Mai will change how you see noodles, Eat your way around George Town and get all the currys down you! AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT DRINK ANY DRINK WITH ICE IN DOWN KHAO SAN ROAD. Don't repeat the same mistakes of me and my friend, you'll massively regret it when you're in a taxi to Bangkok airport and throw up outside the terminal. Stay classy. 

10) My final tip. Do not waste your time eating KFC in Australia, it is shit. What is that shit they put on their chips there? Gross. Where you want to be eating KFC is in Malaysia. The chips are ridiculously good and the meal is stupidly cheap too. 

My best tip though is make the most of it,enjoy yourself and don't do anything you're not comfortable with. You'll have the best time, meet some cracking people, develop your wordliness and confidence and come back a better version of you, hopefully with a tan. 

Lots more photos are on my insta! @livingheather

January 2018

God new year new me has never been more apt. I have loved this month. Good things have been happening and its so fantastic! Something I could never say about 2017.

I left the prawns and my gang, I was so sad to leave as I felt I was just getting started, but I was so ready to restart the teaching adventure. What a difference a nice school environment can make. I love this new school, absolutely love it. I feel freedom there, security, wanted and no one is shouting at me every five minutes. My feedback is positive with areas and suggestions to improve, theres no 'you're disappointing the children' here. Even if I don't pass because I'm not good enough, I'll cherish this time for helping me remember why I love working with kids and for giving me my confidence back.

January has been a month for me to also adjust once again to something my dad did, you might have seen my post on sober alcoholics, I've come to the conclusion over 2017 and especially now, I just can't have people in my life that drain me, and he is one of them. I will always love him but I can't abide him or like him or any of his actions anymore. I am tired of being the one to manufacture a relationship and it's up to him now. I'm out, and for my own mental health and wellbeing, I think that's for the best.

and January marks the fact that I am going on the big travel adventure next month! The 26th Feb cannot come quick enough. My plan is to do mini blog posts on the countries and big cities I visit (provided wifi is ok!) and answer some of the questions I have and can't find answers for!

Short and sweet but what a positive month, bring on February

xxx

Sober Alcoholics

It's been nearly three years since my dad decided to get plastered, attempted to drive home from his factory but instead plowed himself into a load of parked cars and got himself arrested. The day before his birthday. It marked a seismic shift in our family and our relationship with each other.

November

November has been kind to me. I have finally been given a school and a start date to go and get my teaching qualification, and I am gonna go in there and kick arse. It's a completely different school and area than I have ever lived in/ worked in before, which will be a challenge but I am so excited to go and teach somewhere completely new, somewhere with different challenges and issues. I am hoping that going back into school will make me want to go back into school; I feel that I don't want to be a teacher anymore once I qualify, which most people get since how badly I was treated in placement 2. I am really enjoying having my evenings to myself, to watch tv and hermit myself, in a good way. I'm really trying to focus on what I want to do if I don't want to teach anymore. It's really hard, I keep saying that 2017 has been the worst year of my life and it has- Jan to June were abysmal and the fact I didn't have an emotional breakdown shocks me and makes me so bloody proud of myself. This is the career I've wanted since I was 11, and that I am so traumatised towards it at the moment is making it hard to want to do it for the rest of my life. 

Onto more positive notes, I have finally found my feet in my job at work and have started making proper mates, I don't feel quite as lonely as I have done since I've moved back home which is really helpful for me and my brain. 

Travelling plans have ramped up dramatically- all of my 11 (gahhhhh) flights are booked, my aunties now coming for my two weeks in Vietnam (hiya comfy hotels!) and I've booked many of my hostels. My current plans are to write a small summary of each country as I go along, so 1) I don't forget anything and 2) so other people might stumble across some info, cos lots of bits I've been really struggling to find online, and being the control freak that I am I just need to know where that boat comes from or where I can get on that bus. When I have more elements, I'm gonna write a post about my plans so far, what shit I've taken with me too, just to see when I come back what has actually been helpful and what hasn't!

I had a week off in November too (which is rare for me) and I made the most of seeing my favourite people and doing absolutely nothing, as it's my last week off before I go travelling in Feb! I went back to Sheffield to see some pals graduate (it was really hard watching the ceremony I should have been in) and some of my best people came to visit me too, which just made me feel so much better and so much more like myself. 

I'm just feeling really quite happy in myself, which I've only ever had brief glimpses of in the past, I know I'm not as skinny as i would like (and I'm rather banking on travelling to help me out with this!) but I'm sort of ok with it currently, I'm being good with my food choices again and I'm maintaining around 11 stone, which is ok to me! Granted this might only last for a week or until tomorrow or until forever but I'm savouring it and feeling quite content. 

And the best part of November for me was seeing The Killers again. Holy shit balls. I just love them and they played my favourite song of all time which I really wasn't expecting as its an album song off Hot Fuss and I would be lying if I said I didn't cry. I was there with my family and were all mega Killers fans and it was just bootiful.

So that's me for November, here's to a very merry December!

Hev

October

Slightly early I know- we haven't quite got to the end of the month yet! But as we all know my urge to blog (and time to) comes and goes, so I thought I would make a start now.

I've had a good month. Nothing horrendous has happened! It makes quite the change to be honest with you. I'm still temping and I am still enjoying it, sometimes it is slightly stressful, but it ain't on a lev of teaching! Talking of teaching, would I be sounding dramatic if I say I think I may have mild PTSD from last year? Every. Single. Time. I think about January to June, the longest and worst six months of my life, I cry; heck, I'm doing it now. It really makes me wonder if I will actually cope going back into a classroom; I'm sure I will, I fucking love teaching kids about food, but I don't think I will be able to bear it if my momentary mentor is a cowbag this time. Placement 2 damaged me, and the reaction of my Uni, my tutors lack of giving a shit and this never ending battle to get a placement 3 is still damaging me.  

I think about dying slightly less than last month, I've started exercising a bit more again and I think that really does help my brain shut off. My brain is hardwired to cling onto anything and everything that my personality is scared or horrified by, and is rather annoyingly something I'm gonna have to battle and live with for my entire life. Dying is my biggest fear, and I am going to have to make my peace with its inevitability. 

Travelling plans have ramped up! After I write this I am going to write a big post about my plans so far, but I am feeling far more organised and less like I am going to shit myself, which is always a plus with my control freak self. I am definitely 80% fucking buzzing, 10% terrified and 10% nervous.

I do think I am in the middle of a bit of a quarter life crisis- no solid career, teaching limbo, limited pals, no sight of a nice boy, feeling very lonely quite alot of the time, but its ok, I am muddling through- I always muddle through- and I will get my arse on that plane on the 26th of February lined with vodka and excitement for the future. I keep joking that I want to go find myself, but I do, I need to find myself soon, before I go a bit insane!

Apart from the mini crisis and super mild PTSD October has been fab. Lots of fun, lots of laughter, lots of love for Jamie and Claire finding each other again in Outlander, and lots of anger about Liam leaving the bake off! (It is a fucking crime that Kate and Stacey are still in, I tell thee!)

Keemon November, stick it to me

September

September. A month that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy, I just thought it would be another month in my life where not much happened.

Bad Boy Habits

As pretty much anyone who knows me will tell you, I have the worst luck with the male species. Granted I tend to go for absolute morons (remember the person I alluded to on here a couple of years ago, well he's back *eye rolls*) and every time I know what is happening- ya gal ain't stupid- but I just can't stop myself from doing the same damn thing over and over again.

My God awful habits include not getting the hint, thinking that boys who solely message on snap chat are ok (there was a meme of this a while ago, these boys ain't ok my ladies and gents). Jumping way ahead of myself when hello Hev! They are arseholes. Thinking that- and I'm not ashamed to admit it- that a mild bit of sexting is gonna entice a boy (it will not). Oh and being someones stop gap. The person who acts as the gap filler whilst they find the real life person, which I have been for many boys *eyes do their fucking roll*.

Whilst I am acutely aware of this, I don't do anything about it. I think a tiny bit of me enjoys the pain I inflict on myself in this way (hello daddy issues!) and I have an annoying habit of trying to see he best in everybody all of the time which is not good for me or my sanity. I don't think my overwhelming broodiness and insane need to get married and have babies helps me out at all, because all I fantasise about is having a nice, normal, sane family which is probs cos I haven't had that stability myself, which is a whole nuvva story.

But last night, for the first time in 23 years and 11 months, I managed to do something different- I fought my overriding urge to reply to the attention seeking muppet on the other side of my snap chat and didn't bloody reply! I know this may seem tiny, insignificant to most probably, but for me I managed to keep strong and actually listened to the 'fucking hell leave me alone' voice and I feel overjoyed! Like someone has released something inside me and that I can conquer the world a bit. I realised today (always late to the party) after an epiphany of epic proportions that he just wants attention not you, so I didn't reply, and I feel bloody great.

So what I am trying to get at is this: I am an expert advice disher but I will not take said advice even though I know it is for the best, and I'm trying to change that. I'm trying to get out of the habit of being the poly filler, cos I don't want to waste months of my life talking to someone that doesn't give a shit about me back. I want to have less see the best for my own sake, so convos on tinder don't just get sexty and actually turn out more datey- you get me? And mainly I just want someone to manage to see actual me, the person that will do anything for anyone, occasionally funny, slightly emotionally damaged and detached but just wants to be a mom person that I am.

My Three Ultimate Eye Brushes

So I said in my last post that I wanted to write about what I feel passionate about again, and well these three beauties I am bloody well passionate about! I use them every. single. day. that I put eye shadow on, and they dun half help you create the most effortless smokey eye using the MAC babes Woodwinked, Omega and Satin Taupe (I've written about them before here) in about a minute- no joke!

The Future

I feel like I've done posts like this thousands of times but I am really feeling 'Living Heather' again. In the past I think I have struggled, trying to fit myself into different categories of blogging which just isn't me. If anyone has ever perused my blog before I have flicked between purely beauty, very deep posts about my life and general life updates. You can see that- especially during the pure beauty weeks- I wasn't really feeling it; my best blogs and ones that I feel like I actually write well are ones that I am very passionate about.

Hello

I've been thinking about blogging for a little while now, but again, life has got in the way. Placement two has ramped up 1,000 notches and I barely have time to do anything! I'm currently on half term, 4 and a half lesson plans out of 9 in and I'm bored, so here I am! I've noticed that I've become quite the cow since I started placement two, which I'm quite sure correlates to the fact I'm not really enjoying it, so for that, I am sorry xxx

Hi Blog

Oh dear. I am terrible.

My Dad.

 I don't want to go through the various decades of my life flitting between disdain, pity and hatred towards my father. I get the impression that what I want and what is going to happen are going to be two completely separate entities.

Hi

It's been a couple of weeks since I have posted on my blog. I've been on holiday and have been caught up in the shit storm that is QTS tests. I've also not really found what I want to say. Normally about once a week I have the urge to share what I'm doing, what I'm feeling and more times than not what's upset me.

I am currently watching Ab Fab in the lounge, until I am not allowed to anymore because of the fucking tennis. My two housemates love tennis and I just don't get it. It's probably one of the only traditional English sports that I've never understood, and just find really boring. The fact that I find it boring is weird when I love cricket, the stereotypical 5 day borefest. Basically I cannot wait until it is over!

I don't think I've shared with my blog that I achieved a 2:1 in my degree and got onto the PGCE course that I wanted. I'm so happy that my hard work paid off and that my future is finally set. Apart from one catch, the QTS tests. You have to pass maths and English tests to become a teacher, which is all well and good, but when you have almost blocked maths out of your brain for 7 years it gets a bit difficult. Luckily one of my friends has passed these tests and my housemate is a maths wizz, so I'm hoping with their help I can pass the tests over the next 2 weeks. Say a little prayer for me!

I have just got back from a lovely week in Rhodes. We stayed at the Aldemar Amilla Mare and travelled with Thomsons, and it was perfect. The entire holiday was beautiful. I went with my 2 sisters and had the most relaxing, unwinding trip ever. Totally recommend a trip to Rhodes, just brace yourself for the airport on the way home!

We are also on the mad search for a house. Why is it so difficult to find a nice house that is furnished, that is affordable and doesn't have damp infested ceilings? We found the dream house but it was just too much of a stretch financially. It cut deep. I don't think we will ever get over that house!

I'm giving the whole losing weight thing a go again. I am going to be much more relaxed about it this time, and actually make it a lifestyle change, instead of a why haven't I lost the extra 3 stone in a week deal. Lets hope for the best.

So there we have it, my big old life update.

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

p.s this post has been sat in my drafts for weeks, and I have now passed both English and maths and I'm so happy!

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