Archive for the 'Body' Category
January 18 2010: Use Packing Tape To Prevent Blisters
Filed under Body & Style with 17 Comments
You know how there’s a myriad of frugal beauty tips and tricks out there?
- Use toothpaste to dry out pimples.
- Use olive oil as a hair styling product.
- Use lemon juice to naturally lighten your hair.
- Use Vaseline for pretty much anything.
Well I’ve just come up with another one. Use packing tape to prevent blisters.
The above photo obviously isn’t the best example, but imagine it with clear packing tape (about 6cm wide) instead of brown packing tape. The back of the shoe simply rubs up against the plastic instead of your skin – there’s no discomfort, and once you’re at home, you can just peel off the tape without any pain at all!
At about $2AUD for twenty metres worth (enough to last you a year, or even longer!), it’s a million times cheaper than using bandaids, or even buying those gel cushions you can stick inside shoes ($8AUD last time I saw them – ripoff!).
January 13 2010: QOTW: Professional Photos
Filed under Body & Q.O.T.W. with 5 Comments
Recent increases in positive body image and self-confidence has resulted in a few things. First, that I’ve become increasingly arrogant in my Facebook statuses with the below two as examples:
- Amanda is going through a good period where she can look in the mirror early in the morning with bedhead and sleep in her eyes and still be able to legitimately say “Hey, you sexy thing you!”
- Amanda is already hot enough without the added complications of 40+ degree heat.
Second, I’m now contemplating getting a few professional photos done. I’ve never felt better about my body and my looks, and I think it would be a good idea to preserve this particular moment in time with a few really well shot photos, so I can look back in decades to come and think: “Damn, I was one hot chicky”. An old friend and I have been discussing potential shots – he’s a professional photographer and is keen to expand his portfolio of portraiture. I’m keen to be a guinea pig.
We have a few staged shots in mind already (yeah, some of them will be not-so-clothed), but I’d like to get some ideas from others – especially blog readers as I’ve been more honest with all of you for a longer time than I have with anyone else in my life. Most of you probably know me, the real me, better than most of my RL friends. I really have only a single requirement for the shots: I don’t want anything too staged or fake. I want the shots to look relatively natural, like they’ve just captured me at a random point of my day.
Question of the Week: What particular things (personality traits, objects, events, places, etc.) do you associate with me? If you think of me getting professional photos done, what kind of shot do you envision?
December 13 2009: Hygiene And Beauty Products
Filed under Body & Money with 18 Comments
For someone who’s as conscious of self presentation as I am, I don’t use that many beauty products. Certainly more than those who genuinely don’t care about their appearance one way or another, but by no means as much as those who spend half an hour in front of the mirror every day. I’m a ten minute girl (at most) and use:
- For my hair: shampoo, conditioner, hair styling product
- For my body: body wash, body moisturiser, deodorant, sunscreen, Goodbye Cellulite (which doesn’t work!)
- For my face: clay masks, cleanser, toner, moisturiser
- Makeup: foundation, powder, bronzer, mascara, lip balm
I’d estimate that I’d spend about $20AUD-$30AUD a month on beauty and hygiene products – sometimes more as I do stock up when items are on sale, sometimes less as I can keep using items I’ve stockpiled. It helps that I use very basic products that generally don’t cost more than $8AUD-$10AUD a bottle – I don’t buy ‘designer’ makeup for example, and instead of paying $20AUD for a 250ml bottle of organic shampoo, I’ll pay $8AUD for a one litre bottle of normal shampoo.
I have a similar collection (though fragrance-free) at Dylan’s house as I spend almost half the week there – it saves me hauling items back and forth between our places. I do have a few more makeup items (mainly lip gloss and eyeliner, etc.) but as I don’t use those more than once a fortnight, I didn’t bother listing them.
By far the more astounding thing is that I use each and every single one of my products before I start using something new. I hate waste – and the logical conclusion is to use everything up before trialling something different. My housemate is the complete opposite – at any time, she’ll have five different shampoos and conditioners going, or ten face cleansers and toners. Our bathroom is cluttered with half-used bottles of one product or another. She’ll buy and start using a new product (“I just want to try it!”) before she’s through using the five products she’s already using.
I realise that my views towards clothing, products, and organisation versus hoarding are extreme, and probably more minimalist than most people, so you’ll have to enlighten me: Is this normal? Do people normally use a million different products concurrently, rather than using up a product before starting a new one?
Question of the Week: What are you like with beauty and hygienic products? How many do you use and how many different products with the same purpose are you using concurrently?