November Favourites
25 Days of Christmas 2016
Originally posted 4th December 2016
A Note from the Future
Hello! At this point in time I’ve had a little re-vamp of my website. In doing this there were a lot of posts which didn’t make the cut and, rather than refine and update them, I felt it was best to delete them altogether. This was a fine idea until the blogmas posts – which are of course numbered. To be clear, I did complete Blogmas 2016.
#4 | November Favourites
Keratin Smooth Tresemme Shampoo, Conditioner & Hair Mask
It took me a while to find a shampoo and conditioner that I really liked and worked well with my hair. For reference my hair is quite thick and curly. It gets knotted easily and can be weighed down easily by certain products.
I love that it makes my hair feel lighter and almost stops the frizziness that occurs, to a certain extent. I especially love the hair mask. It makes my hair feel so soft and, almost more alive. It’s definitely a product I would recommend if you have a similar hair-type.
Neal’s Yard Rose Facial Wash
Lately I’ve started getting into skincare.
Admittedly I don’t have much of a skincare routine however, I started researching different products because I would like to change that.
A product I found through my research was the Neal’s Yard Rose Facial Wash. I currently use it twice a day. Once in the mornings and then again in the evenings, and it is lovely.
I’ve always had quite sensitive skin so I’m always wary about trying new products in case they’re too harsh however, this product doesn’t make me flare up. It also smells really nice. I wouldn’t normally use scented products on my face however, the rose aroma is so lovely and soothing, and so far I haven’t had a bad reaction from using it. It really does add to the experience of using this product.
Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser
The Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser is one of two favourite ways I have to remove my makeup.
I believe this is quite a popular product and it’s easy to see why. The process feels a lot more gentle on my skin and I feel I am removing one hundred percent of the makeup I’d put on earlier during the day. I am completely in love with this product. It definitely adds to the evening skincare experience and makes everything feel that touch more luxurious.
Su-Man Rehydrating Toning Essence
I adore this product and I’m hoping to re-purchase this soon. It says it’s for all skin types. I can’t vouch for this, of course but I can say that it has worked really well with my own skin type. It makes my skin feel calmer and softer and I’ve been really enjoying using the product overall.
HydrateM8
A HydrateM8 is basically a water bottle, but honestly it has been amazing for me.
One of my worst traits is I am awful at remembering to drink water. To the point I will get a headache from dehydration. The reason I love this is that it has the time of day written up and down the sides of the bottle, in hourly increments.
Using this bottle, I’ve quickly realised that I have been drinking far too little water on a day to day basis. I love that they have various different colours and designs. I also think that the increased water intake has been helping improve my skin.
When it comes to my skin, I deal with redness and, while it hasn’t cleared completely, it has reduced a little – which is always nice to see.
Diffuser and Humidifier
For a couple of months I somehow came down with around three different illnesses. One of them was a cold and for a long time afterwards I still felt the effects from it and I really struggled with my sleep. I spoke to my colleges about this and one of them suggested getting a Humidifier, so I did. I also bought Eucalyptus oil to put in the water to diffuse throughout the air.
Not only did it make my room smell and feel fresh but it helped combat the wheezing I felt at night and allowed me to get a more restful sleep.
Cooking & Baking
Recently I’ve done a lot of cooking. My tried and true recipes are Homemade Burger and Chips and Pastitsio, but me and my sister also made a Chicken Pasta Bake. We had no recipe, and very few ingredients in the cupboard and yet it turned out so good.
Toward the end of November I also did some baking. I decided I wanted to try and make some Salted Nutella Cookies. I acquired the recipe from Tanya Bakes. let me tell you these went down so well. They were absolutely delicious. Sweet and Salted is my absolute favourite combination however, caramel gives me a headache – salted nutella cookies were the perfect thing to try and I most definitely want to make them again in the future.
Improving Your Creative Writing Course
Since September I’ve attended a Creative Writing course which I completed at the end of November. It’s been so interesting to learn about different writing techniques. How to lure someone into your story. The editing process. The pros and cons of a dramatic ending and so much more.
Each of us were tasked with creating a 2,500 word story based on two pictures. I wrote a story called Bellerose, which you can find here on nicolexenia.com.
While I have this blog and I’m working on a novel, I jumped at the chance to create a new story in an entirely different genre and POV that I hadn’t tried before. I really enjoyed using the visual aid to help me when incorporating the smaller details into my story.
It has gone a long way to confirming that writing is absolutely the thing I want to do for a living.
Book Fair
This November I went to a book fair with a friend I met and made at the writing course I attended. It was such an enjoyable experience. I had the pleasure of acquiring many new books by local authors and meeting some wonderful new, creative and talented people. Being around them was so inspiring and has really fuelled my own creativity.
Conclusion
As we might be able to tell, November has been a rather experimental month, with a bunch of new favourite things, – and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. I can’t wait to continue and hopefully experience even more new things in the upcoming months.
What new things have you tried lately? Let me know! I’d love to hear about it – and perhaps I’ll be inspired to try it myself!
