Exploring Paris & French Skincare with La Roche-Posay | Advertorial

 

It wasn't until I developed adult acne, did I learn to appreciate good skincare. I'd always had relatively good skin, even throughout my teens and seemed to avoid that 'life ending' puberty led onslaught of acne. Of course I had the odd blemish here and there, but never anything too extreme.

Growing up with a single mother who didn't care much for makeup, skincare or beauty products, I learnt through trial and error, and women's magazines which skincare products to use. Needless to say, I picked up a few terrible beauty care tips... (Does anyone else shudder with horror at the thought of putting toothpaste on  breakouts and baby powder in their hair now?)

Hello Again...

Hello... It's me.

I was wondering if after all this time - you'd like to read...

So here we are, It's March 2016 and I'm not even going to pretend that sitting in front of a blank page and trying to find the right words to type is easy, because I'm so out of touch it's certainly far from it.

I never intended for this blog to become a long lost beauty graveyard, but over the past year, somehow that's the way it seems to have turned out.

Top 5 Instagram Feeds - March Edition

Okay, I have a problem. I've totally gotten into Instagram over the past few months and I just can't stop scrolling. I got my very first iPhone last year, and for the first 6months or so, I kept forgetting Instagram existed... but over the past few months i've become obsessed. I wanted to share the love, and today I'm bringing you my Top 5 people to follow on Instagram this month!

Last Minute Mothers Day Inspiration!

So there's 48hrs to go until Mothering Sunday (or Mothers Day) here in the UK and if you haven't picked a gift out just yet, there's no need to panic. I wanted to share a quick gift idea with you that I know my mum would love and maybe yours will too.

I remember when the Marc Jacobs Daisy perfumes first were released, I was obsessed, and I did my best to convert everyone into loving it too. There have been numerous versions since, and with every release the scents are both classy and sophisticated whilst being suitable for women of all ages, which is no easy task.

The Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream Set from House of Fraser* is just pure perfection from the moment you open the box. The cool powder blue tones of the bottle really did make me squeal the moment I saw it the first time! I'm so obsessed with this gorgeous shade of blue, and with the daisy embellishment, it just makes the bottle to die for. 

I'm absolutely shocking at describing scents, but I'd say it had a fruity sweet smell that isn't overpowering and it reminds me of smelling fresh flowers at a florists. 

At £54.00 it's a respectable amount for a 50ml bottle of perfume, shower gel and body lotion. Or £39.00 gets you the perfume alone leaving enough cash left over for a bunch of flowers to go with it!

I'd love to hear what your favourite perfume is! Let me know in the comments!

Em xxx

*denotes a PR sample or gifted item. I was not paid for this post.

An Evening Of Pampering At The #LFWRetreat

Earlier this week I headed to the Red Bull Studios in London for a little bit of Pre-Fashion Week pampering. After a mad dash and some awful traffic, I finally made it and indulged in a few treatments designed to relax and get me feeling in tip top condition for London Fashion Week.

First up I headed to the Pixi by Petra Make Up Stations where I had some a gorgeous make over by the lovely Amanda. Who is one of the most sweetest people I think I've met at an event. Amanda has this way that just makes you feel at ease and is such a great listener.

It was my first time using the Pixi products, and as I'd heard so much about them online, I was pleased to see that they lived up to the hype. My skin was left looking dewy and glowy all whilst still looking incredibly natural - which is hard to do when I'm suffering with Acne. 

I will say that the concealers did take a fair amount of layers to cover up some of the redness, and break out areas, but with a bit of patience, it worked.  If you have great skin, I would recommend checking out their base products as they're just so flawless and incredibly easy to wear.

After my make up session and more naterring with the Pixi girls, I headed  over to the Spa and Massage corner for a quick 'Stress Busting' massage. I'd never had a chair massage before, and y'know I can't say it was the most relaxing experience because I spent most of it thinking I was going to fall off the chair and I didn't really have a chance to 'let go'. I think the main reason, is that having never been to spa for treatments before... *gulp* I just didn't really know how to relax and get into it. 

I had so much fun at the Red Bull Studios and even picked up a few new products to try! 

I'd love to hear your top tips on how you relax and get ready for a big event! Let me know in the comments.

Em xxx

Why you should get involved with #FrugalFebruary

February is here, and with it being the shortest month of the year... it's the perfect time to try something new, or even take up a challenge. So here's where Frugal February comes in...

Being a 'millennial' (ugh did I seriously just use that word?) comes at a price. There's always a new bit of technology released that you just damn well need, or a new restaurant that's opened up to incredible reviews. There are Instagram accounts dedicated to making us feel envious of other people's lives and no matter what time of day or night I check my social media feeds, there is always something that catches my eye and makes me want to spend money.

So lets' put a stop to it and go back to basics - for an entire month. Grated, unless you're a child, it's likely you'll need to spend some money this month - those bills sadly aren't going to pay themselves, and you'll need somewhere to live, so don't forget about your mortgage or rent... but everything else? Now that - we can work on!

So how do you get involved, I hear you ask? Well let me give you a couple of examples to get you in the mood and think about how you can live frugally this month.

Beauty

First things first, aside from absolute essential purchases (e.g running out of something completely), it's time to cut back on beauty this month. If you're usually familiar with the layout of the high end beauty hall, why not try a month with only budget buys? Instead of a Space NK haul, try and just buy drugstore instead. If you already do buy drugstore, take it on step further and maybe try a pound shop beauty hall, or even a no buy!

Fashion

So you're a die hard Fshionista, who just loves keeping up with the trends... welcome to your challenge month. Instead of shopping in Topshop, try the charity shop! Instead of ASOS, head straight to ebay and set yourself a limit of £5-6.00 per item (inc. Postage)! I once managed to buy a perfect Topshop coat for £0.99 on ebay and years later, it's possibly the best online purchase i've ever made! If you really want a challenge this month, why not set yourself a challenge of selling X amount of clothes on ebay or Depop and using the funds you make to buy new clothes. 

Food

I don't know about you, but I have a particular bad habit of buying overpriced food. Wholefoods is one of my favourite places to shop, and it's a place where a half full basket can set you back over £100 a week! It's by no means cheap, so this month i'm setting myself a challenge to spend less on food, and become more creative, resourceful and inventive. Instead of going out for dinner at my favourite raw food restaurant, I'm going to challenge myself in the kitchen, and come up with a few recipes to use at home. Instead of grocery shopping, I'm going to try and use up as much as I can from the pantry, and bulk make meals to live frugally. 

Life

The best things in life are apparently free....so why not see what those things actually are this month. Grab your comfy shoes, and let's get exploring. If you live in London, then this will be a piece of cake! There are so many places to see and things to do without spending a penny! Why not plan a walking tour, or research online and set out on an adventure. Don't forget your packed lunch! 

So those are just a few examples on how you can save money and live frugally this month. To me, being frugal doesn't mean constantly living on a no buy, but instead really thinking about your spending decisions, and working out if there's a more economical alternative. It's not about buying the cheapest option, but the best option.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, will you be getting involved? Let me know in the comments!

Em xxx

Celebrating One Year of My Pale Skin!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but today is the day that My Pale Skin turns one year old. When I started this blog a year ago, I had no idea it would receive the support it has. I didn't have a clue how big the beauty blogging world was, nor did I ever begin to imagine how it would change my life - or that I'd manage to hold onto a hobby for an entire year!

Before I started this blog, I wasn't really in a good place in my life. I had huge confidence issues due to some traumatic experiences I'd faced in the years previously. I also had a lot of spare time, and nothing to fill it with which meant that I felt like I was sort of just coasting through life. My general life pattern was work, internet, eat, sleep, repeat. My social and friendship circle was non existent - I didn't really have any friends, as i'd developed a coping mechanism of  shutting people out to help me deal with a lot of the personal issues I was facing.

My Pale Skin has taught me so much, in such a short amount of time and that's all thanks to you. I can't even begin to express how much it fills me with joy to see that people actually read, comment and even watch what I have to say.  But, here we are - one year and almost 300,000 page views later! I want to say thank you, to all of you, for clicking, tweeting, reading and joining me on my blogging adventure. 

I'm so thankful for all of you for helping me grow, not only as a blogger, but as a person, and a friend. This blog means so much to me, and I can't wait to see where we are, or what we've overcome  this time next year.

I've got some exciting things lined up to help celebrate this occasion, and that includes a full blog makeover! So expect to see some changes happen to the way My Pale Skin looks pretty soon! I'm also hoping to have a content upgrade and produce some more exciting content for you, which is where you come in. I'd love to hear what you'd like to see more of on this blog, what posts you like to read and which you're not too keen on - so do let me know in the comments.

Once again, Thank You. Thank you for reading, sharing and welcoming me into the blogging community. Thank you for helping me reach my first blog anniversary, and thank you for helping me let the light into my life.

Em xxx

The Bloggers Guide To Camera Lenses - Part One.

One aspect of blogging I get asked about the most, by email or twitter is Photography. I love taking blog photos, it's something I enjoy the most about blogging. Although at times it can be frustrating, and take forever to arrange items in a composition you're happy with - when you get it 'right' and can look back at a photo with pride and admiration it's one of the most rewarding feelings. 

You can read The introduction to this series here. 

So i've found myself staring at the screen for the past hour or so, wondering where to begin in this series, when I hit a brain wave. This photography series is specifically tailored towards blogging, and to help you figure out which lens is best for you. I can talk about the pro's and con's of each lens all day long - but it's not very good if you can't see how they all compare to each other. Can you picture the difference between a 10mm lens and a 200mm lens? Or how about a the difference between a 50mm prime lens and 55mm on your camera kit lens?  

If you can anwer yes to all of the above questions, then likely you're a better photographer than me... because I found that I learnt a hell of a lot more than I thought, just by writing this post!

Disclaimer

This post or series is in no way meant to be a brag about my camera kit, or how much any of it costs. I just want to say that I am in no means a photography expert, or tutor, and I'm sure that there are many more qualified people in the blogging world who could write these posts, I wanted to give back and share what I've learnt over the past year. Only half of these lenses belong to me, some of them belong to my work and as a perk of my job I'm able to use them outside of work for my own use

.  

Okay, So in order to facilitate a fair test... we have to set up the environment. The image below details my set up for every photograph in this post. I'm using two different lights to control the light in the room and a tripod to ensure the camera doesn't move from it's spot. Just FYI, I'm using a Canon 600d for the photos. For the background, I'm using the bloggers favourite - fairy lights, and my product is stuck down in postition. I will say that the only exception to this rule is that I couldn't use the tripod for the images with the last lens, as the Ring light would not fit over the lens on the tripod, so I had to hold it instead.

Now that we know what we're getting ourseleves into... let's get started! I will say that I'm not going to explain exactly how your camera works inside out - as there are so many amazing blogs out there that understand that stuff more than me! But to clarify before we begin, the basic premise of the focal length of your lens, is that it determines how 'zoomed in' or 'far away' your photos appear.

• For the purpose of this post, If a lens is a zoom lens, I'll show you the two opposite extremes of the lens. 
•  I will be shooting on the lowest f Stop possible to get the 'blurriest' backgound I can. 
• This post will also be tailored towards blog product photography shots.

Got that? Good! Now here are some examples.

Sigma 10-20mm lens

The 10-20mm Lens is the widest lens of the lot. At 10mm it's verging on Fish Eye, and you can certainly see the majority of the room, which may be useful if you're an estate agent.... but as we're trying to take a picture of a moisturiser, it's certainly less than ideal. You can certainly see the difference between the 10mm and 20mm focal length. 

We have barely any 'blur' from the background, and the majority of the photo is taken up by table.

Marks out of ten as a lens to use for Product photography = 0. 

Canon 18-55mm LENS

The Canon 18-55mm lens is one which comes with the camera. It's the kit lens, and with that, you can't expect miracles or too much greatness. 

At 18mm, It's far too wide to photograph our little tub of cream, but when zoomed into 55mm we're getting closer to the action. With a little brightness and contrast, I'd say we have ourselves a useable image for product photography.

The downside with this lens, is that your limited on the f Stop which means your background won't be totally blurred, and that may become frustrating.

Marks out of ten as a lens to use for Product photography = 6.

Tamron 24-70mm Lens

Where do I begin, this Tamron 24-70mm lens is a dream to use. At 24mm the shot is too wide for our single shot of cream, but would be great if you have lots of products to photograph in one image. Also check out the blur on the fairy lights! You can see a massive difference between the 18-55mm and the 24-70mm on that one aspect alone.

Let's just take a moment to appreciate how beautifully easy the 70mm setting on the Tamron 24-70mm lens makes it to take photographs. Everything about this image is just working perfectly for me. The background is blurry, the product is the right size in frame, leaving just enough space around it, and the edges of the moisturiser are just starting to soften.

Marks out of ten as a lens to use for Product photography = 10. (OH YES!)

Canon 40mm lens (pancake)

The Canon 40mm Lens is one which I previously used almost every time I took photographs,until I received my 24-70mm Lens for Christmas. Although slightly too wide for our product shot from our tripod set up, the background has a good level of blur. I do have to mention though that this lens is Macro, which means you can get super close up (0.3m away!) and get the small print on the product in focus. If you're looking for a cheaper alterntive to the 24-70mm lens, and don't mind moving around to get the shot - get this. 

Marks out of ten as a lens to use for Product photography = 8.

Canon 50mm f/1.4 Lens

The f/1.4 50mm Lens is the mid-range 50mm Lens - There is a cheaper f/1.8 version available, and a more expensive f/1.2. 

This lens in particular, has an f/stop of 1.4 meaning that it offers 'the blurriest background' of all the lenses I'm talking about today. 

At 50mm, it's the perfect focal length mounted from our tripod, but be warned, you can't get much closer to the products, or else it won't focus at all. 

Also, dare I say it... at f/1.4 - the background is, gulp, possibly too blurry! The majority of the moisturiser is out of focus, which in this case may not be a good thing.

Marks out of ten as a lens to use for Product photography = 8.

Canon 70-200mm Lens f/2.8 L

I don't even know where to begin.... let's just say, you don't ever want to use the Canon 70-200mm lens to try and take product shots, whilst mounted to a tripod, in your bedroom... This is not the lens for you.

Marks out of ten as a lens to use for Product photography = 0. 

Conclusion

So that's it for part one. So what did we learn today? We learnt that you certainly don't want to use a 10mm lens or a 200mm lens to photograph a moisturiser, and the ideal focal length falls between 40mm-70mm. In particular, the  three lenses which performed the best were:

1. Tamron 24-70mm
2. Canon 40mm
3. Canon 50mm

I really hope this post was useful. If i've missed anything out, or I haven't explained something well enough, please do let me know! As I said, I'm not a photography expert, so If there are any mistakes, i'm only human! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this post! Let me know in the comments.

Em xxx

Dinner With.... 'Hello April'

'Dinner With...' is a series I've been looking forward to starting since I first shared the idea with you all a couple of weeks ago. I love going out for dinner and talking all things food, life and internet related. One of my goals for 2015, was to get out more, meet new people and have more fun. I'm hoping to post one 'Dinner With...' every month, where I'm planning on meeting up and hanging out with the writers behind the blogs I love. 

I decided to invite April to my first ever 'Dinner With...' as April was one of the first friends I made in the blogging world. We live seconds away from each other in Central London and often meet up and attend events together.  As I'm currently on a plant based diet- having swapped processed foods for fresh, organic foods. Chocolate for Cacao and caramel for Medjool dates... there was only one place I had in mind to go out to Dinner - Vantra Vitao. In case you didn't know, Vantra is a healthy plant based Vegan restaurant that caters to not only those with mainstream dietary requirements but also those lesser known allergies and intolerance's.

However, on arrival... it seemed Vantra didn't get the memo, and were sadly closed upon our arrival - without any mention of this happening on their website or social media channels. After a lot of expletives, we popped across the road to Primark to indulge in a little retail therapy. I picked up the 'Central Perk' friends Tee which you can see me wearing in my most recent video as well as a e candles from the home section. I was hoping to grab a few pairs of casual flat shoes, but wasn't feeling anything in the range available.

We decided to head to Mildreds (Vegetarian Restaurant) in Soho, and after a ten minute walk, we discovered that it was so busy - you couldn't even get through the door. Perhaps they all found out Vantra was closed too? 

At this point we were starving, so had a 'Screw it' moment and walked a few doors down to Wagamamas - where we discovered their fabulous 'catwalk' entrance walk way.

It may have taken 3 restaurants, and a lot longer than I expected to actually eat something that wasn't going to hurt me (Food Intolerance's), but I eventually settled on the (Yasai Cha Han) brown rice bowl minus a couple of foods I can't eat.

If golden beige food is what you're after... then this is the meal for you. I don't consider myself a picky eater, but I did struggle to find something on the menu that was suitable for my dietary requirements and had I read the menu before heading in there - I likely wouldn't have chosen it as a restaurant. The Edamame beans on the other hand... were amazing. 

I'll admit, at this point in the evening, and being at our third restaurant - any thought of blogging questions went out the window... Instead, we focused just on enjoying ourselves, and having fun. We had a chance to talk about thing we want to improve on our blogs, things we hope to achieve and generally finding happiness with our blogs.  For instance, April found happiness when her Chili Chicken Ramen arrived. (Don't kill me April)

Not forgetting that an evening out with another blogger isn't complete without a bathroom selfie, we made sure we headed to the mirror to grab one. Although the evening didn't quite go as planned, which means that I didn't get a chance to ask April any of the 'Dinner With...' questions, we still had a great evening. Sometimes you need to go 'off piste' every so often to remind you what it is that you want to focus on and although the evening didn't technically go as planned, I feel like we both took a lot away from it. 

Em xxx