Saturday 13 February 2016

I have no idea what I am doing: Nail Art.



Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all fine, well and having a fantastic week!
Welcome to the first in the "I have no idea what I'm doing" the series where I do activities or hobbies that I have never done before and see how it goes.
In this video I decided to do nail art, I usually go to a professional (if I ever, which I rarely ever do) however, I figured after being inspired by my sister that I should perhaps turn my terrible nail art skills into the first instalment of this series (also inspired by my little sister) Why go pro when you go straight to no?!
I hope you enjoy this video, if so and you want to see more of me doing things I've never done before then give it a like.
Thank you for watching xoxox

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Natiee_blogs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Natiee92blogs/

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free "Cute"

Camera and Editing.
Canon D600 with 18mm-55mm lens.
Final Cut Pro edited by me.


Friday 12 February 2016

Book of the Month (March 2016)


Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all well! I have a love and admiration for books, so much so that I've decided to start a "Book of the month" series.
This month's choice was a 1983 novel by Terry Pratchett called "The Colour of Magic" I hope you enjoy it.

February 2016 Book of the month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nNzKCeoxuk
STDNT Blogs: https://stdntlife.uk/

About:
“Twoflower was a tourist, the first ever seen on the Discworld. Tourist, Rincewind decided, meant idiot. Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place which might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. It plays by different rules. Certainly it refuses to succumb to the quaint notion that universes are ruled by pure logic and the harmony of numbers. But just because the Disc is different doesn’t mean that some things don’t stay the same. Its very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the arrival of the first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. But if the person charged with maintaining that survival in the face of robbers, mercenaries and, well, Death is a spectacularly inept wizard, a little logic might turn out to be a very good idea…”
-Terry Pratchett Books.com
Purchase: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Colour-Of...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Natiee_blogs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Natiee92blogs/

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free "Cute"

Camera and Editing.
Canon D600 with 18mm-55mm lens.
Final Cut Pro edited by me.

Tuesday 9 February 2016

Preparing for Mindfulness.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all fine, well and having a fantastic week so far.
Recently, I published a rather long video about my desire to begin a month of Mindfulness to share with you lovelies, before we begin this month and practice I must disclose a few things with you.
Firstly, I am not a psychologist, counsellor, therapist or mindfulness mentor, I am a person who has taken up mindfulness to try to resolve the mental challenges I am facing myself.
Secondly, I advise that if you wish to take part in mindfulness, however, life is on the hectic side right now that you wait until the situation is a lot calmer, the mind has a tendency to wonder in the best of circumstances and in those circumstances, you will find this practice a lot more beneficial as oppose.

Mindfulness is of Buddhist origin and teaches those who practice this lifestyle how to be in tune with their current situation, body and how to control their emotions and thoughts, offering their mind an alter gear known as "just being."
It has been proven to not only have mental benefits but in addition, physical benefits as well such as helping to treat heart disease, lowering blood pressure, reducing chronic pain, improving sleep and relieving stress. In terms of mental health, the practice of mindfulness meditation can decrease depression, anxiety, help control emotions, couples' conflicts, obsessive compulsive disorder and even been known to assist with substance abuse. So why aren't more people doing mindfulness? Time is the main factor as to why people often feel like they can't participate in such a practice, not many people know that mindfulness can be practiced whilst doing mundane tasks such as eating, walking to work etc. and make a massive improvement in their mood or attitude about the day ahead. Furthermore, the actual meditations themselves simply ask for 40 minutes-1 hour maximum of 6 out of 7 days a week, whilst you may think that is a lot, well one episode of Game of Thrones is one hour, why not give mindfulness a try too?

For the mindfulness practice that I will be demonstrating you will need:

  • Yourselves-you are the most important factor in this and you need to be committed to yourself in order to complete this. 
  • A support network of people that you trust, who understand and encourage you to continue with your practice. 
  • A CD player and a mindfulness meditation guided CD (or a laptop with access to youtube videos of mindfulness meditation)
  • A diary or camera-something which you can log your progress in and make notes on your timetable or plans to ensure you stick to your designated meditation time. 
  • a meditation pillow such as these (http://bluebanyan.co.uk/meditation-cushions.html) (optional) 
  • Meditation mat (optional) 
  • a Mindfulness book (Please see my YouTube Video for some examples) (optional as you can use me as your book if you wish, but if you want to practice without my videos or instruction, I advise a book) 
I hope this helps and encourages you all! Have a fantastic week and I will see you all soon xoxo 

Sunday 7 February 2016

In order to improve the content on my blog, please take the time to complete this survey.

Hello Everybody,

I hope you are all fine and well. I have taken the time to create a survey to gain your feedback on my blog and YouTube content, your opinions are very important to me in order to ensure that I'm producing content which you enjoy and therefore, it would mean a lot to me if you could take the time to complete this survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RGJN6W6

Much Love
Natalie Blogs xoxox

Operation: Mindfulness Month



Hello my lovelies,

I hope you are all fine and well, I hope you've had a fantastic week. This video is a little bit different in comparison to my other videos so far and it is the start of a month vlog series. This is to go along with my regular two videos a week, but from 7th February to 30th March 2016 I will be doing a whole month (try to keep to it anyways) of mindfulness techniques, which we will hopefully make into habits and our lifestyle choice.
"Mindfulness Month" will be a month of mindfulness techniques to help myself, but to also help you guys as well, if you're finding yourselves having mental distress or anything that is making you feel anxious, depressed or any discomfort at all, mindfulness is from Buddhist origins which those who practice it can learn how to control their emotions, live in the present moment and to be completely calm as well as relaxed. It's been known to have a lot of positive effects on physical well-being just as much as emotional and mental.
I AM NOT A PSYCHOLOGIST, THERAPIST OR MINDFULNESS TUTOR, I am a practicing just like yourselves. :) We will do this!
I hope this helps you and I wish you all the best luck, see you throughout this month. Thanks for watching.
xoxo

Time to Change: http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/
Mind: http://www.mind.org.uk/
Rethink Mental Health: https://www.rethink.org/

Some Helpful Numbers can be found through the NHS website right here: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/mental-health-helplines.aspx

List of courses available in Devon 
Devon Recovery Learning Community (courses in Devon)

What is mindfulness?
 - 11th February 2016, Alex Road, Resource Centre, 19C Alexandra Road, Barnstaple, EX32 8BA.

Basic Mindfulness Practice
-Friday for 3 weeks 19th February - 4th March
12:30pm-2:30pm, Alex Road Resource Centre, Barnstaple EX32 8BA.

Promoting Our Well-Being and Emotional Regulation (POWER) Part 1 
-Tuesday 22nd March 10am-3pm
Paignton Library, Paignton, TQ4 5AG
And Tuesday 24th May 10am-3pm

Promoting Well-being and Emotional Regulation (POWER) Part 2 (only open to those who have completed POWER Part 1) 
Friday 26th February 1pm-3pm AND Friday 22nd April 1pm-3pm
Daybreak Day Centre, Paignton, TQ4 5LE.

List of Books: 
The Mindfulness Journal by Corinne Sweet (2014)
Purchase: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-mindfulness-journal/corinne-sweet/marcia-mihotich/9780752265605

Calm (2015) by Michael Acton Smith
Purchase: https://www.waterstones.com/book/calm/michael-acton-smith/9780241201954

Mindfulness: a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world. (2011) by Mark Williams and Danny Penman.
Purchase: https://www.waterstones.com/book/mindfulness/j-mark-g-williams/dr-danny-penman/9780749953089

The Mindful way Workbook (2014) 
Purchase: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindful-Way-Workbook-Depression-Emotional/dp/1462508146/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454805149&sr=8-1&keywords=The+mindful+way+workbook

Where to find me. 
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi5ZGYmNuMzgf4Qt-gokIpw
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Natiee_blogs
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Natiee92blogs/
INSTAGRAM: natiee_blogs. 
Camera:
Canon D600 with an 18mm-55mm lens.
Edited on Final Cut Pro by Myself.

Saturday 6 February 2016

Sorry for the lack of beauty related posts

Hello my lovelies,

I hope you are all fine and well, having a fantastic weekend as always!
I thought I would publically apologise for the lack of beauty posts recently, I am currently waiting to start my part-time work so I have some income to put into this blog and purchase some more beauty or fashion goods to review.

Many thanks for your patience!

Wednesday 3 February 2016

Lotions and potions and skincare oh my! Skincare Review - February 2016.



Hello Everybody,

I hope you are all fine, well and having a lovely week so far. I am sorry this video is super late, I felt really unmotivated over the last few days and have sort of only just got round to recording. Today's video is a skincare review, all of the products are to the best of my knowledge, Vegan and Vegetarian-friendly, I will list them below if you wish to purchase any of them yourself. I hope you really enjoy it and if you do, please give it a thumbs up so I'll so more review videos I am sorry for how long this video is. Until Sunday or Monday my lovelies, I will look forward to seeing you then, stay fabulous!
xoxo Thanks for watching.

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi5ZGYmNuMzgf4Qt-gokIpw
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Natiee_blogs
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Natiee92blogs/
INSTAGRAM: natiee_blogs.

Products reviewed. 

"Angels on bare skin" - Lush.
Purchase: https://uk.lush.com/products/cleansers/angels-bare-skin

Superdrug "Vitamin E Toner"
Purchase: http://www.superdrug.com/Skincare-Offers/Superdrug-Vitamin-E-Toning-Facial-Mist-150ml/p/297412

Superdrug Intense moisturiser.
Purchase: http://www.superdrug.com/Superdrug/Superdrug-Vitamin-E-Intense-Moisture-Cream-100ml/p/282703

Sanctuary Spa Brightening Eye gel *DISCONTINUED*  (actually £10+ sorry got it on offer)
Next closest thing: http://www.boots.com/en/Sanctuary-Spa-Wake-Up-Wonder-Eye_1711775/

Nefertari moisturiser.
Purchase: http://www.nefertaribodycare.com/shop/index.php/creams-and-lotions/face-and-body-cream-with-essential-oil-of-oranges.html

Camera:
Canon 600D with 18mm-55mm lens.

Edited:
Final Cut Pro by me.

Monday 1 February 2016

Reading list of 2016.

Hello my Lovelies,

I apologise I know I haven't posted in a while, I've started taking some mood stabilising tablets and just felt very unmotivated but I am back and we will power through, thank you for your patience;
I hope you are all well and having a lovely few weeks so far.

Today I'm bringing you a blog post about what books you can expect me to review over this upcoming year, this is my reading list for 2016 and some of these will be featured in the "Book of the month" videos, if there is any from this reading list that you would be really interested in reading yourselves and you want me to read it first to give you a review, do not hesitate to comment on this post or on the book of the month video I have already posted, I'll leave the video attached to this post. I want to leave some of them as a bit of a surprise so I will list them all but I will give you the synopsis for the first five books, sound like a deal?

1) The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett. 


The Colour of magic is a 1983 novel by the one and only, Terry Pratchett (may he rest in peace) and the first novel in his infamous and almost never ending, Discworld series.
The Discworld is a lot like Earth except it's disc-shaped, safely stands upon four rather large elephants which are safely travelling through space on a giant tortoise, whose sex remains unknown; not to mention, it's home to many magical creatures such as wizards, trolls, magical luggage bags with legs etc. and it follows it's own rules, the Discworld is somewhere between reality and thought.
Synopsis: The Colour of magic follows the tale of the first tourist in the Discworld and possibly the very last, for the survival of the Disc's peace and prosperity lies on Twoflower's shoulders. However, when he's being protected by Rincewind, a wizard who never graduated from wizarding university and who at present is being chased by Death, not to mention the robberies and mercenaries on the way, it doesn't look all too promising.


2) The Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. 


Night watch is the twenty-ninth book in the Discworld series. The beautiful part about these books is you do not need to read them in any particular order though the books make references to other books within the series there is no key chronological order like there is for example with the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter series.
Terry writes with a comedic and refreshing style, which personally through my reading of The Colour of magic so far, I have really enjoyed so I am stoked to read this novel and the next one lined up on my reading list. Unfortunately, I did get into Pratchett just after he passed and I wish I had read his beautiful work before now. The Discworld series is actually intended for adults with "Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents" (book 28 in Discworld series) being the first children's book within it.
Synopsis: Night watch (published in 2002) follows protagonist Sam Vimes, commander of the police force, through the times of a serial murderer, who is killing off coppers and during a revolution as well (just to put more stress on this guys plate). This is actually the first book of Pratchett's I picked up and I still have yet to read it, but the storyline really intrigued me, the commander of the police force within the novel is whilst dealing with these murders and a revolution, also dealing with his past issues; he's almost reliving it all.


3) Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. 


A recommendation from my mother and it was nominated for "World book night" in 2012 at the local Library, "Good omens" yet another Terry Pratchett novel except this time he has teamed up with a fellow author, Neil Gaiman, to bring us one hell of a story (pardon the pun). This novel has received many positive reviews and just from reading the blurb, I can tell that I am in for an incredible read with it's funny sense of humour, interesting storyline and some extraordinary characters, so I am really looking forward to reading this one.
I am on a little bit of a Pratchett rampage because I haven't found many novels, which make me laugh aside from his and I've only just begun reading his work, but his happy and comedic, adventurous style is thoroughly enjoyable throughout his books.
Synopsis: The world being sentenced to end on a Saturday, "next Saturday to be exact. Just after dinner" a misplaced anti-christ, frogs falling and chaos striking, everything seems to be going according to gods plan with this whole rapture of the world. The one thing that he didn't anticipate was the fallen angel and the demon falling in love with the lifestyle and kind of being upset about the end of the world.

4) Flesh and blood by Patricia Cornwell. 


Patricia Cornwell has made a name for herself as a crime-thriller author, in particular, her Kay Scarpetta series being her most well known, coming as no surprise seeing as there are currently twenty-three books in the series, Flesh and Blood (published 2014) being twenty-second.
Synopsis: About to leave with her FBI profiler husband, Benton Weasley, for a vacation to Miami to celebrate her birthday, Kay Scarpetta finds these plans to be sadly and suddenly changed when she receives a call declaring a high school music teacher was found dead after being shot with uncanny precision, whilst he was unloading groceries from the car. A serial sniper on the loose with nothing in common between the victims, no clues or patterns as to where they will strike next and the shootings taking place from Massachusetts, New Jersey and then the depths of South Florida coasts, Scarpetta begins to analyze and investigate a shipwreck near this coastline, looking for answers only to discover those answers might be a little bit closer to home than she would like.


5) Silent Scream by Angela Marsons.

I am into my crime-fiction thriller novels at the moment because I have an idea for my own book, which fits into that genre and I'm trying to get some inspiration as to what style or tone I would like to take with it, how to keep the enigma and mystery or slowly unravel the case etc. so this is another crime fiction thriller novel to the list, I've broken it up into reading the books of Pratchett's so it's not too intense.
I am super excited about reading this one because it is actually set in the hometown I grew up in the West Midlands, known as "the Black Country" and the reason it has that name is because it was so heavily polluted with smoke and fog, it used to repulse Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens as well as many other artists because of all the black, heavy smoke. Angela Marsons is a new British author with a total of five books published, three of these following the story and cases of D.I Kim Stone, which this novel "Silent Scream" also belongs to and is the third novel in the series. What I also love about Kay Scarpetta and D.I Kim Stone I think will be the way you can pick these up, without reading the other novels first so there is no pressure to read anything in order.
Synopsis: A headmistress is found brutally strangled, the first of many gruesome murders which shook the Black Country. When human remains are found at a former children's home, there are many disturbing and twisted secrets also unearthed. In order to prevent the body count from rising, Kim must face the demons of her past and catch the killer before it is too late.

Other Books on the reading list:

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
American Psycho by Brett Easton.
Harry potter (Re-read) series.
Insomnia by Stephen King.
Prime Suspect by Lynda La Plante.
Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams.
One flew over the Cuckoo nest by Ken Kesey.
I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou.
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

I am 100% sure this list will get longer, I am very excited to take this year to reading, can not wait to get my head in some of these novels. If there are any you would recommend I would love to hear it. :)) thank you all.