Life Update January 2017 - Broken Boilers, Christmas, Loch Migdale and Moving House

OK, well Happy New Year I guess...

Light box from New Look, Makeup Brushes from eBay, Necklace from Punkypins and the lipsticks are from Kiko Milano's Christmas 2016 collection.

I feel like it's been a very long time since I last wrote anything so bear with me for a second. 

What's been going on? Where to start?

At the start of November last year I began a Use Up 17 by 2017 project, and as you can see from my November 2061 Empties I went at it all guns blazing for a good month and got through a fair few. 

At the end of  November, my landlord told me he was selling the flat I was living in. No drama, the other half and I had already been talking about moving in together so we agreed I'd just live there till it was sold and then move in with him. Two days later the boiler in that flat died. The flat had individual electric radiators in each room so I wasn't without heating in winter but I was having to travel to my boyfriends to have a shower. I didn't want to be carting hundreds of half empty bottles to work, then on the bus, then home again. So I had to shelve that project. 

At the start of December I started Blogmas, and I managed a steady 19 days which I felt was quite good. The broken boiler hampered me a bit and I might have lasted longer if it was working. I lost on average an hour a day traveling either to or from my boyfriends and I couldn't review any of the Lush Christmas items I had bought specifically to for that purpose during Blogmas. Most of what I posted was reviews that were partially pre-written so that saved a lot of time, however I'm not sure I'd do that again.

After that it was Birthday, Christmas and New Year Celebrations. 

When I was at my parents over Christmas, I managed to get some cracking winter photos of Loch Migdale. (I grew up in the Highlands and my family still live there).  There's a lot so I wont be offended if you want to scroll past them. 

Not bad for an old HTC phone, right?

The Boiler eventually got fixed in the second week of January. Not totally my landlords fault, the first trades person he arranged couldn't fix it, the second two did show up at all and then I was gone for Christmas. A few days after that he told me the flat was in the final stages of being sold.

Let the chaotic packing begin. I'd expected to have a bit more time than I ended up having. Luckily I'm fairly good at de-cluttering and like to have a massive clear out about twice a year so I didn't have tonnes and tonnes of stuff needing packed. So for the past couple of weeks I've just been moving and sorting, moving and sorting. My furniture came across on Saturday so I've been able to start getting unpacked. I hand my keys back in for that flat on Monday (that might be today depending on when I post this).

If anyone follows me on Instagram you would have seen the photo of my new dressing area below. I love it, but trust me its the only part of the house that looks that sorted.

I'm hoping normal service will resume in the next two weeks, and my aim is to post twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) and maybe a third post some Saturdays. I really don't want to commit to more than I can handle then end up stressing out over it. I have a backlog of reviews I need to write for products I tried over the past two months as well. I think there's a bit of everything in the mix, but if there's something you really want to see, like perfume or eyeshadow palettes then let me know and I can prioritise those.

XOXO Scruffy

Boots Ingredients Super Hyaluronic Sheet Mask Review - Moisturising and Nourishing, Cruelty Free Skincare

Two days before using this, I tried the 7th Heaven Argan Oil Mask for combination skin, and my poor face still hadn't recovered. I woke up the morning after it to a painful cluster of small spots and some nice peeling dry skin across the bridge of my nose. Normally I would just leave me skin to right itself however its hadn't been knocked this badly in a long time. Its was so bad I had to stop using my usual face wash and swap to the one I use for horrendously bad breakouts. 

48 hours and I wasn't seeing the slightest signs of improvement so I decided to intervene. I had good results with Boots sheet masks so far so I felt it was time to crack out the moisturising one and give that a go.

So according to the packaging and Boots website "This specially formulated sheet mask is enriched with Super Hyaluron to help leave your skin moisturised and nourished. Leaves skin feeling moisturised for up to 12 hours." Just what my face needs right now, I think.

I'm not going to go into how you use it because its just a sheet mask. What I will say is its the same fabric and clear gel combo as the Charcoal Mask which I now think I prefer to the milky fluid of the Tiger lily one. That might be because I know what to expect, as when I wrote that one I thought I preferred the milky fluid and not the gel. I just feel like it holds together better on the face and doesn't dry out anywhere near as quickly. It doesn't really have a smell.

When it comes to applying the mask to the face its a bit trickier than the other two I have mentioned. Its wetter, the gel is thinner and there seems to be far more of it than with the other two masks, so even just un-peeling it to slap it on is like a workout for your fine motor skills. 

Once I managed to get it stuck to my face it tingled the same way the others did, but again, not as intensely as the charcoal one. It quickly settled to a pleasant cooling feeling that lasted until I took the mask of 20 minutes later. I massaged the remaining serum into my skin, dabbing one of the wet bits from the sheet (it had dried out a lot since I applied it) on one of the driest areas of my face, grabbed a glass of water and went and had a look at the results in the mirror.

I was really impressed with the results, my skin looked healthier, less dry and a bit calmer than before, even the patch of red, inflamed, flaky broken out skin on my cheek looked less dry and angry. None of my face stung or hurt at all which was a big bonus. I actually went back to empty foil packet and rubbed some of the excess mask fluid (like I said, its very wet) on the areas of dry skin either side of my nose. These are always there and I don't know what causes them. I've wondered if it might be something to do with me wearing glasses most of the day. Its a mystery. 

The next morning my skin felt nice and soft, however it wasn't anything ground breaking or special, much like the Tiger Lily Mask. The areas along my cheeks were less flaky and angry and the overall condition of my skin was a bit better. 

I probably would get this again, its getting incredibly cold outside and my skin will dry out more as the winter stretches on. 

Have you tried any of these masks, let me know what you thought?

Thats all for now duckies.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com