Not even gonna bother calling it Blogtober

Oh my poor neglected blog, it has been so long. I've been really ill past few weeks and spent most days curled up in bed feeling sorry for myself. I wish the reason I haven't blogged much was because I was out doing shit cool stuff but instead I've just been watching Dallas and YouTube videos of dogs playing with babies.

I've done some kinda cool stuff. I volunteered at a festival in Birmingham called Supersonic Festival. It's like this three day event with music, film and arty stuff. I got a free ticket for volunteering so I saw a few stuff, like this mini car race track made out of vinyl records and stuff, but the hours I was given were total shite and I missed all the cooler music and films I wanted to see. I did catch this one film though, it was called 'Black Mass Rising' and it was legit like watching an acid trip. It was about the occult and all this dark shit and I really liked it, although I have to admit I'm still quite confused about it. Outside the theatre I met the director. She was French, thin and pretty and smoking lots of cigarettes.

I'm probably going home tomorrow, I have a week off from uni so I thought I'd see the folks. Plus I super miss my dog. I will be spending Halloween in Torquay but it's ok, I doubt I would have ended up doing anything here anyway and I can spend it at home eating sweets and watching scary films (kinda like most nights of the week for me, no?)

I've had a few ideas for some blogs recently so now that I have an assignment out of the way and no deadlines for a few weeks I can crack on and do something for this blog of mine, get some readers for myself or something.

It's late now and I want to sleep but I have terrible heartburn and am dying for a wee. Until my tummy stops hurting I'll probably just browse the web, stalk people I've never met on FB and watch some porn. Night all.

Blogtober

14th October

Blankets, food, pj's and telly; I am having a duvet day. Right now I am watching episodes of Dallas from the 80's and sipping cups of tea. This is probably my favourite way to spend my time lately.

The uni work and the hard slog starts again tomorrow, but a whole day of me time is just what I want right now,

Blogtober

12th October

I have absolutely nothing at all to talk about today. But I took some photos in my house. Enjoy.

Blogtober

10th October

Once again I failed at posting everyday. Yesterday I was so tired I completely forgot. I started weightlifting with the lads. I hurt. A lot.

On a completely different note I have recently been considering veganism. As of today I will become a full vegetarian again- I have taken a stint in the past few years of eating fish due to health reasons but it is still something I don't feel right about. I do not write this to try and push my beliefs onto others and I do not have issues with other people eating meat- all of my family and the majority of my friends are meat eaters- I just want to share my thoughts on the issue. Cutting out meat has not been an issue for me and I have done so for around 5 years now. But I think not eating cheese, milk and eggs will be the real challenge. It's something I have been thinking about anyway. Until tomorrow guys.

Dead simple way to get mermaid hair

 This method is so simple it hardly needs explanation but I thought a little trick I use to get beautiful wavy mermaid hair without using heat or damaging your hair.

My hair is naturally very straight and does not style well at all. It won’t hold curls, even if I backcomb and unload a whole can of hairspray it will still be flat as Kate Moss’ tits in a couple hours time. The only way I have found my hair will ever do anything cool is if I style it when wet- and by style I mean tie it into a top-knot and leave my hair to kink and flick out when dry. 

I’ve been seeing this trend of ‘mermaid hair’ spamming my twitter and popping up all over tumblr etc so I finally caved in and decided I wanted to be like Ariel too. Decent crimpers are too expensive and I knew mini-curls just would not work. So I thought back to when I was a young-un and remembered when my mum used to put my hair in little plaits when wet before bed and I’d wake up in the morning, take them out and hair crimpled kinky locks. So last night I gave it a go after I washed out the hair dye.

The steps are crazy simple

All you will need is-

·         Comb

·         Wet hair

·         Thin strips of rag/material long enough to knot around your hair

·         An ability to plait

Comb through your hair to get rid of all the tangles. Then take sections of your hair and start plaiting. If you want bigger waves in your hair do bigger plaits, if you want smaller waves do smaller plaits. Tie the pieces of rag onto the ends of your plaits so they won’t fall out. That’s it.

Here’s what I looked like when all my hair was plaited:

And here is what I looked like in the morning after I took them out:

As I write this I am on the train back to uni and it has been about six and a half hours since I took the plaits out, and considering I didn’t use any hair spray and I got caught in the rain this morning I think it’s held up well. I’ll show you now (excuse the poor quality photo and the horrendousness of my face, I forgot I had makeup on and rubbed my eyes a minute ago!):

Now for the girl whose hair never keeps style this is quite an achievement.

I recommend this little hair experiment, let me know if you give it a go, Thanks for reading J.

Blogtober

7th October

Right now I am torturing myself by dying my hair using Live colour XXL. This stuff fucking stings and my roots feel like they're on fire. I've used this colour since I was about 13 and it's always hurt but fortunately my hair has never fallen out from it (touch wood).

I am trying to get my hair platinum blond/white from red for Halloween  I eventually want to dye my hair pastel colours but that's for later. It has been ginger/orange for just over a month now from the last time I used Live Colour XXL. It did well getting rid of the red but the ginger just wont seem to budge. I've never used real hair bleach because it's all a mystery to me and the bitch at Sally's refused to help me or give any advice (apparently if she did and if fucked up, I could sue) so I've just stayed away. If this doesn't work I'll have to leave it another month or so, then try that 'Colour B4' stuff. I don't know too much about it but I believe it is a colour stripper and it will hopefully remove the ginger colour in my hair. I don't know, I'll find out more and see if I want to give it a go.

...Right just rinsed the dye out and my hair is exactly the same except now I have ridiculous white roots. Colour B4 it is. I'll do a review on it when I do it. Fucking hate my hair. Argh.

Blogtober

6th October

Quick update, not too much to talk about today. I'm back in Torquay for the weekend which is nice, I have really missed my dog so love seeing him. Here is a photo of him:

Harry, my 10 year old golden Labrador and apple of my eye

Tonight I shall be staying in with mum and dad, eating curry and maybe watching Fight Club. Cannot believe they have never seen it, it's so epic. But anyway like I said nothing really new, just having a chilled weekend with the folks and hopefully catching up on some assignments and shit.

I leave you with one of my favourite songs ever.

Body Shop Vitamin E Facial Cleaning Bar

I like finding new little treats for my skin although like many girls I know, I struggle to actually stick to any skin care routine I devise for myself. I am terrible with my skin. I get acne breakouts, patches of severe dryness and flaking so believe me when I say I have problem skin.

For the purpose of this review I will state that this is the only product I used to clean my skin during the test. I do use acne treatment prescribed by my doctor but I hadn't used it for months. My skin has been in alright condition, few spots so I thought it was a fairly good time to do a review.

Now onto the review! Here is the product: Body Shop Vitamin E Facial Cleaning Bar

This facial bar appealed to me for several reasons. Firstly it is a Body Shop product. I am a big fan of The Body Shop; their products are not tested on animals and are suitable for vegetarians (disregarding L’Oreal). Secondly, it is a vitamin E bar. Vitamin E is an essential nutrient to keep skin healthy and nourished. Thirdly, it’s price. This gem only set me back £3.00. Generous for The Body Shop and generous for how long it will last you. I estimate this product would last up to a month and a bit, and for three quid, I don’t think that’s too bad.

I came across this product by chance really; I was in the body shop looking for some Vitamin E or Jojoba oil for my stretched ears and I came across this. It was set aside other Vitamin E facial care goods but at a fraction of the price for its siblings, I thought I might as well take a chance on this. I was in the market for some new skin products to try, as I was getting used to the usual acne/spot fighting gloop I usually pick up. The girl in the shop warned me that this product is rather drying on the face, so I picked up some Simple skincare 12 hour moisturiser to go with it.

What I will start off by saying about this product is that it smells divine! It’s hard to explain but I suppose it is a light clean floral-rose scent but nicer. Seriously trust me, the smell is lovely. It lathers up very well. Just lather it between your hands as you would a regular soap and rub onto your face, avoiding eye and mouth area, then wash off with warm water.

Immediately after using it, my skin felt very clean and fresh, but very dry. I had to apply the moisturiser because my skin had become so tight. After that though it was great and my skin felt soft, clean and fresh.

Now, I had intended to use this product for seven days before I gave a review on it but by about day three I was having problems. I have combination skin; as I said I can get terrible spots and awful dry patches, generally on my t-zone area. It was around day three that I got huge spots all over my face! Those horrid red ones that you can’t pop and really hurt appeared around my nose, chin and forehead. This is not what I wanted from a product that is supposed to take care of my skin. It has to have been the soap because my diet had not changed and I have been using the simple moisturiser for ages.

Right now I am not using the product and have gone back to my doctor prescription treatment to rid me of the spots. Now I do feel bad blaming it all on the soap bar; I haven’t used it long enough to really be having a dig at it and I have been ill recently which can give me spots.

I do want to give the product another go, and I will do once these spots have gone down. In the meantime I’ll be sat in my room, all the lights off avoiding mirrors until my face becomes more socially acceptable. Although having said that I do look rather terrifying at the moment so perhaps this can all be put towards my Halloween costume ideas!

Blogtober

4th October

Hello all, today I have the flu. Stuffy nose, sore eyes, runny nose, blocked ears, chesty cough, achy bones, fucking shitty flu. My body reacts weird when I get sick- the weirdest thing is probably when my lips get puffy and expand to 4 times their size. Suffice to say I am not a sexy bitch when I'm ill.

Trying to think up more halloween costume ideas- I think my main one this year will be inspired by Carrie from the Stephen King book but with a gothic twist- I'll have the blood soaked dress (I found a similar one in a charity shop for £1.49), but I want to have my hair dyed platinum white/silver and buy myself some white contact lenses. Pale white face but then dark eye make-up and lips. Simple idea but I think it would look really cool.

Right now I'm tucked up in bed with blankets and tissues, my housemates are having drinks etc downstairs I think. I have to go into uni tomorrow so this cold had better fuck off  by the time I wake up in the morning.

Blogtober

3rd October

Well, my blogging everyday has failed at the first hurdle. If I am honest, yesterday has been lost in a drunken haze and I am officially opting out of today. I'm hungover, ill, extremely painfully tired and miserable. My mum is coming to visit though and she is taking me out for a carvery so that should sort me out a bit. Until then I need to tidy my room so she is happy with me and will like me.

On another note, I didn't go to Aikido Monday; when I got there they were all black belts and we pussied out. Went gym instead. I was sore afterwards. I don't like the gym. Everyone has nice bodies and can workout far longer than me. It's that ironic thing where you have to already be sexy and healthy before you step foot into a gym.
So yeah, sorry for the shitty writing and shitty mood. Tomorrow will be full of happy happy times when I've slept and sorted my life out.

Blogtober

1st October

I will try and blog everyday in October in celebration of my favourite holiday of the year, Halloween. I shall call it 'Blogtober', although I'm not sure if I invented that name or it's been done before.
It will probably be difficult considering I struggle to find things to write about now and also because I lead a pretty boring life. None the less I will give it a go and if I fail then fuck it no one reads this blog anyway.

Today I am going to an Aikido class with some good friends; Aikido is a Japanese martial art which combines philosophical and spiritual elements (at leasts that's what I understand it to be). I have always wanted to try and learn some form of self defence as I am probably the weakest person on the planet and struggle against the wind at times. But also would be nice to shift the holiday weight I put on over summer and feel skinnier for Halloween. I'm looking forward to it actually, I wanted to start doing activities that will get me out the house and doing things, and this will also have practical application to my life. But I suppose you'll find out tomorrow how this goes.

DIY natural hair treatment- A wee experiment

Banana, egg and olive oil hair mask

My hair has been in the worst condition lately. I've been trying to dye it from dark red to platinum white (right now it is a light ginger blonde- before it was BRIGHT ORANGE). As I am sure many of you probably know, bleaching hair is extremely damaging and will leave you with thin, breaky and straw like strands.

***A little background on my hair- I have been dying it since I was about 9 and have had most colours. I've gone from the the whitest of white to the blackest of blacks and everything in between. I've been in the process growing it properly for about 3/4 years and it is just below waist length, but the longest it has been is below my belly button. My hair is probably the thing people most comment on about me.


So to save my poorly locks I did a bit of googling and came across a natural, cheap and nourishing concoction to put on my bonce consisting of bananas, eggs and olive oil.

My first thought was 'ewww, I don't like the idea of putting egg in my hair' but reading up on each ingredient and why it helps eventually changed my mind:

Banana- Full of potassium, iron and B vitamins that are great for your hair and will make it stronger and shinier.

Egg- The egg white is rich in protein which repairs the hair, fixes split ends and protects against damage. The egg yolk again is good for shine and smoothness.

Olive oil- I think you can use any oil, I actually used sunflower oil, but this just helps with shine.

HOW I DID IT

Step 1- Brush your hair to eliminate all knots and tangles.

Step 2- Get yourself a bowl and take your banana. Put the banana into the bowl *skin removed* and start mashing it with a fork. Do this until the mixture is as smooth as possible- you'll see why this is important in my review below.
Use common sense here; if your hair is longer or thicker then you'll probably need two bananas, if it's shorter or thinner then one should suffice.

Step 3- Break two eggs and add them to the the bowl and mix.

Step 4- Add roughly a tablespoon of olive oil to the mixture. You can add more if you want your hair to be shinier.

Step 5- Apply to hair. I would recommend doing this over the sink as it is a messy job! I just grabbed it with my hands and smeared all though my hair until it was covered.

Step 6- Wrap your hair up in a plastic bag to keep it out the way and also to allow the heat from your head to help the mixture nourish your hair further. If you want you could also wrap your head in a towel to keep it even warmer.

You can leave the mixture on for as long as you want but I'd say up to an hour will do.

To wash it off simply run under cool water (hot water might cook the egg) and then shampoo and condition as normal. Leave hair to dry naturally if possible.


WHAT I THOUGHT OF IT- REVIEW:

Now my hair has dried I can honestly say it feels a lot better than before!! It's super soft and feels really thick and healthy, before I had strands snapping off at shoulder length and my hair was uneven due to how much had snapped off. Once it had dried I tugged at it and nothing broke or fell off! The ends of my hair still looked flimsy and straggly (there were really really damaged and coarse) so I did chop them off and now my hair looks a lot healthier.

The negatives to this D.I.Y hair job is that even though I had tied a bag around my head, the mixture still dripped down onto my face and it was horrid! It is very oily and therefore very runny.Another thing about this hair mask is that the banana goes brown after about half an hour and you will smell the banana for the whole length of time you have it applied! If this isn't a problem for you then don't worry but I personally found this quite unpleasant. And finally when you come to wash it out the banana can be extremely difficult to get out! I assume this is because I didn't make it smooth enough but I had to pick chunks of brown old banana out my hair which was not nice at all.

Overall though I would definitely recommend this home-made hair mask to anyone with damaged hair or who just wants go give their locks a little treat. It's cheap, it's natural and it actually works so I will definitely be doing this again. Just next time I'll but the banana in a blender!

Thanks for reading!

Style Icons: Lydia Deetz

I want to tell you all about my fashion interests. As I expect everyone and their mother uncle on here says, fashion is a great love of mine, and I believe personal style is the best and most effective way to express who you are to other people. From how a person chooses to dress themselves you can generally get an idea of the kind of person they are and what their interests might be.
You are always going to be judged by your cover, so I say why not give the bastards something to really judge you for?

Anyway enough spiel, I will tell you all one of my most favourite ever style icons. Fictional character from Tim Burton's Beetlejuice; Lydia Deetz.


"Live people ignore the Strange and unusual; I myself am strange and unusual."- Lydia Deetz

Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice 1988, portrayed by Winona Ryder

When I was a kid and I first saw Beetlejuice, I wanted to be Lydia Deetz. I was a grungy little tomboy at the time and I thought she just looked so cool with her kooky black hair, Victorian inspired dresses and chalk white skin. Lydia was the moody gothic teenager who wore black veils in the sunlight and carried a camera around her neck at all times. I knew that when I grew up, I would want to dress like Lydia from Beetlejuice.
She was quite the enigma on the screen. Saying little at first but still commanding your attention, her style and appearance was hard to miss. Love her or hate her, you'd see her.

The reasons I like Lydia's style is because I felt it was a true expression of her. She was a kid who liked the darker side of life, even referred to herself as 'strange and unusual'. From looking at her you'd be able to tell the kind of girl she was and what her interests probably were.

Whenever I go for a long black skirt and choose to then pair it with a dark black top, it'll remind me of Lydia. As sad as this will sound it then makes me feel a bit more encouraged to wear all black and allow my skin to look as pasty white and cold as it always does, without a cheeky bit of blusher or bronzer!

"My whole life is a dark room. One big dark room."- Lydia Deetz

Mr ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-andman

They say the mind is more creative at night-time as opposed to day. So how's the old brain box gonna be working at 00:57 on a Monday morning, following 39 and a half hours without sleep?

I have had sleeping problems for as long as I can remember. When I was but a tiddly-wink I was afraid of sleep because I would suffer horrific nightmares every night, and I shamefully admit to creeping into my parents bedroom during the witching hours until a rather ridiculous age (I'm talking double figures).

I still have nightmares or extremely vivid dreams; but my nightmares now will probably involve some mortifying situation I could more than likely get myself into in my everyday life, and not a vampire walking up my bedroom walls or a killer who stole the faces of my parents to trick me. And rather than more vivid dreams being about mystical lands and mermaid cities, they tend to be so mundane and dull that I have actually asked my mum if she did pick me up those fish fingers I wanted the other day, then to find out she only promised me in a dream.

I have been known go through stages, months at a time, where I will sleep or snooze up to 16 hours in a day; only really getting up to go loo, make a sandwich or watch telly, and other periods where I will go as much as 3 days without sleeping, then kip for a mere 6 hours until the next 3 days. This happened a lot more frequently during my late adolescence.

I now strictly rely on sleeping tablets to get a good nights rest. It's terrible, I know, not to mention expensive, but it gets the job done and ensures I can lead a healthier and more human lifestyle.

Just every now and again I miss feeling sleep deprived and like I'm breaking free of the normal routine role that everyone does. I like stealing those precious hours taken up by sleep and directing them towards some space for reflection or to just to have some me time, knowing all those around me are in the land of nod; where their teeth are dropping out of their mouth or they're running to catch that last train but are moving so slow that they cannot keep up.

I can feel as though I am the only person conscious at this time, and that I am in some way more in control of life, or that I am being given a sneaky preview into the 'forbidden hours' when we must not be awake.


As lame as it sounds I try to take things like these as little blessings in life. I am a lover of the little things, because it is those I believe that make up the bigger picture...

...That and also staying up late is super rock 'n' roll and it sorta makes me a legit vampire.

Hello Earthlings

First post is always the hardest; I think I'm supposed to make you like me from what I put here (too much pressure- cannot cope)...

All I will say for now is if you want to read the macabre and bizarre thoughts of a nineteen year old journalism student from the English Rivera then stick around this may be for you... But if that's not what you are looking for I will also be posting blogs on fashion and current affairs as well as featuring some of my be own photography and articles.

So without further adieu, I welcome only the bravest souls to the mad world of Miss Sarah Jade Dyer.