5 things that change because of the weather

I know. I've been a bit pants at keeping this up to date over the last month. I have started posts, but not quite got round to publishing them. I plan to be better at it. Starting now.

The last few weeks have been a bit crazy weather-wise. It seems as though once the clocks went back someone decided it was Winter & - click - the weather changed. We, in the South of Wales, have been "lucky" I suppose, in that we haven't had the snow the rest of the UK have had to deal with. I say "lucky" because I wouldn't mind seing just a little bit....

The change in weather has meant a fair change in my lifestyle - what I eat, my skincare, the clothes I wear, my shoes, my homecare routines, spending...ok, I admit the last one is more time of year related than weather, but they do go hand in hand.

I wanted to write a bit about the changes I've noticed and to see if anyone else has some tips to share.

1. What To Eat
Snow, rain, the cold all tend to lead to one pot dishes - stew, casserole, pot roast. Food that is warming, comforting & filling. And what I've found more than anything - full of veg! If I am making a stew I know that I am going to get most of my 5 portions of veg in that one meal. It surely is not a coincidence that all the root veg is also in season right now - potatoes, carrots, swede, turnips, parsnips, celery, leeks - stick them all in a stew or under a joint of meat for a pot roast and it's guaranteed to taste great.


2. Update your Skincare Routine
Now, I know I am not an authority, all I can do is share my experience with you. My winter routine generally has 3 main difference.

First, I have a different moisturisers (face & hand) for winter as I do find my skin needs more moisture this time of year.

Second I have different foundations. A slightly different shade to make up for the lack of tan (ha!) and I am currently experiementing with different types - powder, mineral, cream - to find something that works better with my winter moisturiser. Which will probably be covered in another post!

Finally, lipcare. I suffer terribly with chapped lips every and it is only last year that I managed to get through relatively unscathed! My lips get very dry and it often expands over my lip line making me look like I have gone a bit mental with a lip liner - and not in a good way. I have tried everything, the Vaseline Lip Therapy Rosy Lips is currently my favourite.

3. What to Wear
I am one of those people that always feel the cold. I work in an office where I need to look smart & professional - which can be difficult in Ugg boots - not to mention I really don't like wearing heels when it's icy! But how do you look smart & stay warm in 4 layers of clothes? Not sure I've particularly cracked it, but I've found that smart jumper dresses (over a t-shirt)  are great with leggings and knee high boots (that will also fit an extra pair of socks). Still experimenting, so any advice would be great! :)

Edit (1st Dec)
Handy Link on how to wear your dresses in winter, all ready for Dressember.

4. Home Routines

I'm going to run through this quickly as it may turn into a rant, but briefly this is how my routine has changed (so far):
- Getting up earlier to de-ice the car to get to work.
- Finding places to dry washing as it can't go out on the line.

Alright - not as bad as I thought....but I'm sure I'll think of more.....

5. Spending
Bills go up because you're heating is on. Petrol costs go up because it's just far too cold to walk anywhere. Christmas is coming so you start buying presents. You buy new gloves, scarves, ear muffs, jumpers because you can't find the ones you bought last year. You need your new moisturisers & foundations (see point 1).

So, what's changed for you? How does the weather affect your rotuines? Got some tips to share? Please post your advice below and I promise I'll keep writing. :)

Skincare and Make Up Routine

This is only day 2 of my new found skincare routines, but I figure it's as good a time as any to write them down so here goes.

Morning Routine
- Splash face with luke warm water (assuming I removed make-up the night before!)
- Dab on eye cream
- Moisturise face & neck with day cream
- Light layer of foundation
- Dusting of sparkly all-over-face powder or bronzer on cheek bones
- Cover eyelids with light base eye shadow
- Add a slightly darker shade on top
- Dab a bit of even darker eyeshdow to outside corner of eye
- Mascara
- Vaseline on lips, sometimes a dab of lipstick
- Liberal spray of perfume

Evening Routine
- Remove make up with eye-make remover
- Use 2-in-1 toner & cleanser
- Moisturise face & neck with night cream
- Moisturise hands with hand cream

This is highly likely to change over the coming weeks, but its a start, and I have managed to stick to it so far!

Feel free to comment below or link to a blog post with details of your routine or where you think I may be going wrong. :)

New Start

I tend to get quite stuck into things once I start them, so the first thing I wanted to do was go through all my make up, cosmetic and skin care products and sort them out. The photo above is everything I could find in a quick 5 minute dash around my house. I probably use one tenth of it on a regular basis - if that!

A bit of background before I carry on - I have been following Lottie's Finishing School Workshop the A-Z of how to become Feminine and Fabulous. This included sorting out my wardrobe (still in progress) and the latest post challenged us to wear mascara for a week. Although I do tend to wear make up, it's not something I do religously and I don't maintain a skin care routine. So I mentioned on Twitter that it was time to start using eye cream and apparently I should have been using it for a while. :) And that is what inspired this blog.

So, back to my make up. I grabbed everything I could find, I threw away everything that had gone a bit strange, was old or that I don't use. Then I selected the products that would become a part of my daily routine (including eye cream).

From left to right I have 2-in-1 cleanser & toner, lotion & eye perfector cream on top of my am/pm 'complete balance' moisturiser and eye make up remover. I'm sure I'll go into more detail on individual products at a later date. These are now in a box next to my bed ready for my before bed routine tonight.

I also separated out the make up that I tend to wear to work so that I don't have to go searching through all the rest of my make up in the morning and don't have any excuse to not wear it:

Again, I'll describe each product in a later post. But it gives you the general idea.

Then I sorted out an 'emergency' make up kit for my bag.

The main idea being that I don't have ay excuse to not wear make up. To not look nice. To not make an effort.

My plan for tonight was to give myself a bit of a manicure...but it's late now and I have no plans for tomorrow night, so it's something to look forward to on a Friday night in.

Good night. Time for my bedtime routine I guess! :)