Random Beauty by Hollie: Miscellaneous

When Age is Catching Up With You: How to Deal with Wrinkles

10:09:00 PM

When younger, you probably never take time to think about your skin and general health, but these are issues to address even before you notice any age-related changes. When you hit the 50s and 60s, you'll probably start losing hair, having wrinkles, and losing muscles.

If you are wondering if there's anything you can do to reduce the appearance of wrinkles on your face and other parts of your body, the answer is yes. One way to quickly restore youthful looks and smoother, fuller facial features is having Botox injections. You can learn about Botox here. Other than Botox, here are more tips to help fight wrinkles when age starts catching up with you.

Hydrate More Often

Hydration is essential for a healthy body and youthful-looking skin, so drink plenty of water every day. To make sure you drink enough water, have a portable water bottle with you. Ensure you refill it several times during the day and note down the amount of water you consume. Aim to drink at least two liters of water every day.

Pay Attention to Your Skin

Take care of your skin by using a gentle cleanser and moisturizer or serum before bed. Never go to bed before cleaning the face and applying a protective and hydrating serum. During the day, use a cream with sunscreen to protect your skin from the sun's rays. Essential to note, understand your skin type, and test the product on a less sensitive part of your body before using it on the face.

Eat Healthier Foods

Eat more fruits and vegetables because they provide you with many antioxidants that help fight free radicals keeping your body healthy. The foods will also keep your skin looking youthful and wrinkle-free.

Foods like blueberries, kale, spinach, oranges, and dark chocolate are excellent sources of antioxidants that fight wrinkles and slow down the aging process.

Exfoliate More Often

Exfoliating regularly can help remove dead skin cells that may cause your face to look dull and old and make it more difficult for wrinkles to form. These are the top three ways you should exfoliate:

Use a salt scrub once or twice per week by mixing one cup of coarse sea salt with two parts of water. After that, gently scrub the face to remove dead skin cells.

Apply a fruit enzyme mask once or twice per week by mixing one cup of peeled, chopped papaya with two parts water. Leave the mixture on your face for about fifteen minutes before rinsing off and patting dry.

Use an oatmeal scrub once or twice per week to gently exfoliate your face and give it a healthy glow. Alternatively, apply a honey mask once or twice per week by mixing one cup of liquid raw honey with two parts of water and gently massaging the mixture into the skin for about fifteen minutes. After that, rinse with warm water. It will leave your face feeling smooth and hydrated.

Exercising more often can also help with wrinkles and a more youthful appearance. You'll build muscles, preventing sagging skin and wrinkles. You'll also be reducing the chances of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

Cheerios!

***Hollie***

Miscellaneous

4 Huge Benefits To Eating Seafood

12:43:00 PM

Many people enjoy eating seafood, and there is no doubt that it is one of the most delicious kinds of food on the planet. It is varied, and you can get many different kinds of tastes out of it, and yet it can be used in a lot of the same kinds of meals. But did you know that many items of seafood are also good for your health? In this post, we are going to take a look at some of the really significant benefits to eating seafood which you might be able to enjoy for yourself. All of this should help encourage you to eat more of it in future.

Better Joints

Your joints are clearly very important. When they are not working as they should, this can make for a much more painful movement around the body, and the better you keep them in check the longer they will work without fuss as you age. The good news here is that eating fish and seafood can make for better joints. That’s because the omega-3 found in fish and other seafood items helps to lubricate the joints naturally, ensuring that they do not break down over time too much.

Essential Nutrients

What’s more, you can find all of life’s essential nutrients if you eat seafood, and this is something that is going to provide you with a huge amount of benefit in so many ways. If you just make this salmon salad once a week, you are going to be getting all of that amazing omega-3, of course, which is good for your brain and joints as we have seen, but also magnesium, zine, potassium and iron, and so much more. To get all of your nutrients, you really only need to eat seafood every week.

Improved Circulation

Looking after your circulation is a good idea for your general wellbeing. When your circulation is good, it means that your heart is able to function as it should and that you are getting oxygen around to every corner of the body without fail. That helps your overall health in so many ways, and it’s the kind of thing you really don’t want to go wrong. Well, as it happens, eating seafood helps to improve circulation, so you are going to have a healthier heart too if you eat plenty of it. What better reason could there be to eat seafood?

Mental Health

There is even evidence to suggest that eating seafood can work to help prevent depression and anxiety. Whether you particularly struggle with mental health issues or not, this is going to be good news either way. Just having a couple of portions of seafood a week could help you to improve your mental health considerably, and that in turn helps your physical health, so it’s vital to look into.

As you can see, seafood is very good for you. With these benefits and many more besides, there is no excuse not to eat seafood in your main diet.

Until next time.

Cheerios!

***Hollie***

Miscellaneous

How to Afford an Expensive Hobby

3:59:00 PM

Many hobbies start off cheap, but can get expensive as you start to take them more seriously. Common costs in the long run may include equipment, training or travel. Funding these expenses can be difficult, however you shouldn’t have to give up your hobby just because you can’t afford it. Below are just a few tips for affording an expensive hobby.

Set a budget for your hobby

It could be worth setting a budget for your hobby so that you don’t go too crazy. Make sure that basic living expenses are prioritised and then working out how much of your disposable income you’re able to pour into your hobby.

It could be worth starting some savings for your hobby each month for big expenses. For instance, if you want to take a ski trip abroad or want a better amp for your guitar, you can start saving up a little each month.

Hire, share and buy used equipment

When it comes to acquiring equipment, buying new equipment may not always be necessary. Consider whether you can hire or rent equipment - when getting into a sport, this is often an option. You may also be able to share equipment with fellow hobbyists - if you’ve bought a classic car to restore, you may be able to borrow tools from a fellow car enthusiast rather than buying your own.

Finally, there could be the option of buying used equipment - this may not be as high quality as new equipment but could be all you need in some cases (for instance, a used sewing machine could be all you need for basic sewing).

Make the right investments

Occasionally, it may be worth paying a lot of money upfront in order to save you money in the long run. If you’re playing golf every weekend and hiring clubs each time - it could start to add up. Buying your own clubs could be a better investment. Similarly, there may be annual memberships or season tickets for events that are cheaper than paying for individual tickets every week or month.

Develop a side hustle

To help fund your hobby, you could consider developing a side hustle. Any money earnt from this can be put towards your hobby. There are lots of part-time freelance jobs that you can take up to earn more money. You could become a freelance writer getting paid to write reviews or web copy. Alternatively, you could start trying to bid on loads to haul and make some extra money as a delivery driver. There could even be simpler ways to make extra money such as selling clutter or answering paid surveys.

Find a way to make money from your hobby

By finding a way to make money from your hobby, you could make your hobby pay for itself. This could include selling home-made crafts, becoming a diving instructor or playing live music to make money. You’ll likely have to have reached a certain level of competency to start making money and there may be other investment required to get there such as completing a course or buying extra equipment - work out whether these investments are worthwhile.

Until next time.

Cheerios!

***Hollie***

Miscellaneous

Feel Good About Yourself With These Top Tips

7:27:00 AM

It’s easy to get down. It might be about the way you look, or about your work life, or even your lovelife. Sometimes it goes even further beyond that into the realms of depression, but usually there are ways out. Sometimes, it’s just about learning to feel good about yourself. To see yourself as others see you. To not be so hard on yourself all of the time. It can be completely draining to live your life like this day in and day out, and it’ll sap you of your self esteem and your confidence which might of course in turn affect other areas of your life negatively potentially sending you into a downward spiral. It’s easier for some to see themselves in a better light than others.

Everyone is different at the end of the day so what might work for someone else may never work for you. This is why you need to try everything that you possibly can to ensure that you can feel good about yourself and that you get the right care you need. It’s a mental block, and mental health varies hugely from one to the other. These tips can help you get started on your journey to self betterment with the caveat that if you think there’s something seriously wrong with your mental health, the best thing you can do is tell someone and get some help.

Feel Good About Your Face

There are so many things you can do to just feel that little bit better. For a start, you need to realise that you don’t have to go out with a face full of makeup every day, but from time to time, especially if you don’t wear it often, putting on some lipstick or eye make up can leave you feeling that much better about yourself. Sometimes it’s not about the make up, but the skin. Too much makeup can make the skin bad and this can start the loop of wearing makeup to cover the skin. Try to get into a skin care routine. This means taking the plunge and not wearing makeup at all.

Night cream and day creams can help you. You can get different ones for different ages and for different things. These don’t have to be expensive either, you can get some really good deals out there. Once you’re in the right routine you’ll soon start feeling better about yourself. If you’re really in the need for some TLC think about going to a spa and getting that facial. This may be hard with Covid at the moment but getting your brows shaped, a wax and a face massage can really boost your self esteem and leave you feeling better about your face. It all starts with you taking the steps towards your own happiness and if you don’t feel good about it, there are things you can do.

Weight

Weight is a contentious topic out there at the moment. Some people find it harder to lose weight than others. Some think this is because people have a base weight, which means going beyond it is extremely hard. However, where there is a will there’s certainly a way and weight can be lost if one is so inclined. The benefits are huge. To your self perception, confidence and image of course, but also to your physical health and indeed your mental health. There are different approaches to take towards losing weight. Some might diet, others may exercise while for the most powerful results you might combine to two. It’s really hard to start off but when you get into a routine. It'll quite quickly become a bit easier for you.

You can start simple, by going out for a walk and graduate up to going for a run. Try and join a gym, or do something you might find a little more fun like cycling or playing team sports. You can also sign up to a step challenge, or maybe if you’re really serious about it get a personal trainer. Diet helps too. Whether you go for a fad diet or you try to stick under your calorie count. It’s hard to work out what’s best for you and even then you may not see results right away but simply taking the step in the right direction is enough.

Feel Good About Your Work Life

Feeling good about yourself stems from a lot of different places. One of which is certainly your work life. It's the thing which takes most of your time from day to day so it’s something which you need to be happy with. If you aren’t, it’ll infect everything else. You won’t be happy out of work because you’ll be thinking about life in work. This stems from quite a few different places. It might be that you don’t like your career, you might have a bad relationship with your team or you might just hate your boss.

The issue about where you work doesn’t matter. It could be in marketing, or a supermarket. Some people might love what you do, others will hate it. You need to address the issue. Don’t like a coworker? See if you can sit elsewhere. Hate your job? Apply yourself and try to either get a promotion or a new job. You might even want to look for a new career. Happy people are usually proactive. Don’t just wait for something to happen in hope, get out there and take what you want. Be active in your pursuits.

Cultivate Those Relationships

Everyone has those special people who make them feel better about themselves. They usually come in the form of best friends or long term acquaintances. Either way, it’s incredibly important that you cultivate these relationships. You need to put effort into them. Arrange the odd meeting from time to time, or just think about what new things you can do together. It has to be half and half. If they’re always chasing you trying to arrange nights out or things to do they’ll stop at some point. Don’t lose those key relationships because you’ll regret it years down the line. Of course as it goes two ways you need to realise when you’re getting nothing back.

If this is the case, stop trying yourself and put the effort into someone who reciprocates, not someone who simply takes non stop. These can be friendships or work relationships, the same applies to any and all, even to those in your own family. It’s been harder this year with Covid ravaging the world but at the same time most have found ways to stay in touch with those they care about. Think about Zoom calls, meeting outside for a walk or going for a quick coffee. The rules are ever changing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep in touch.

Self Improvement Helps A Lot

Self validation comes from knowing that you’ve done something great. This can be passing an exam, getting a new certificate or successfully launching a business. You’ll feel much better about yourself if you pass those exams because you’ll believe in yourself far more. So, study something that you enjoy. Or something that will increase your chances of having a productive career. You might be fond of languages and want to push for the studying of one, or you might want to start studying towards a degree or even a postgraduate degree.

It could be something less intense like looking for some cooking classes or learning paint. If you’re someone who responds well to self improvement then this can be a key to feeling far better about yourself. You don’t have to pay for this either. It can simply be buying a book so that you can teach yourself, or in the watching of youtube videos around the subject you enjoy. It will of course take some investment of time, but it’ll be worth it in the end when you feel proud of yourself and what you have achieved.

Attack Your Hobby

This centers around the ability to really make some time for yourself. Making time for yourself is incredibly important, more so it’s important that you fill that time with things you enjoy, so hobbies which make you smile and you like engaging with. Some of these might cross over with exercise like running or cycling, or it can include team sports with your friends hence you’re socializing. Or it can be something just for you. Like reading a book, or gaming for a while.

You need to make time for yourself and any hobbies that you have to properly get that disconnect from work and your wider life. If you feel like you don’t have a hobby then now is the time to find one. There are so many things out there that you can try and interact with, whether on your own or with friends. There are some great ideas online too, but essentially you just need to explore the areas you enjoy and go from there.

Until next time..

Cheerios!

***Hollie***