How not to lose your virginity

1) With a stranger

No, no! Don't do it! Trust me from experience, it's not fun, it's not pretty the next morning, and it's never a good story to tell your future boyfriend when he questions how you lost your v card. 

As corny as it sounds, wouldn't you rather have sex with someone you're comfortable?

2) With some douchebag/play/BNOC (big name on campus)

You will expect great sex but it will be mediocre at best. He does not care about you, he merely wants to add to his sex-count, and he will probably have no idea what he is doing. Because BNOC's generally have no problem getting laid, therefore it is not about pleasing you, it is about pleasing him.

3) Drunk

When you feel dizzy and slightly nauseous, it's not the best idea to lose your virginity. Being sick on someone during intercourse sure is memorable but not in all the right ways. Not remembering who the guy was that you lost your virginity to isn't a great idea either. 

4) With the LAD

Or more specifically, someone so very keen to be a lad, and tries awfully hard to be one as well. You will notice this specimen through the following traits: a desire to prove their masculinity to other males, a vague smell of insecurity in their manhood, and of course the constant repetition of the word, lad.

"Terry is such a lad cause he downed that pint."
"Ben slept with that slut from last night, what a lad!"
"I can't believe you flipped her off mate, you're such a lad."

Unless of course this is your type of guy.

To each their own. Chacun à son goût.

The Body Shop's Vitamin E Sink in Moisture Mask Review

Salut tout le monde!

It's the return of FACE MASK FRIDAY Y'ALL!! FMF was brutally put to a stop when I sadly could not remember to buy face masks in time, and because I was on a semester abroad in Maastricht. Mais c'est la vie!

(Beautiful Maastricht church)

Maintaining the on-and-off, not-really glorious tradition of smothering face masks and then telling you about them on Fridays was unfortunately a long lost pastime. UNTIL TODAY.

This week I turned to The Body Shop's Vitamin E sink in moisture mask to make me feel fabulousssss (well more so than already).

If you have read my previous review on The Body Shop's Honey and Oat Mask, you will know that I was quite impressed the Body Shop's face masks. Hence I went out to my local TBS store and got myself a sample of the Vitamin E sink in moisture mask.

TBS had always gotten good reviews from me because their products are so lush and smell like my idea of heaven. Fact. My daily choice of spray in fact is from TBS, and they've recently started giving students free Body Shop (discount) cards which has made my life.

Back to business, the serious shit, the hit product: the moisture mask!

In substance, the Vitamin E mask was a pale pink soft cream-like product. It had a light subtle yet sweet fragrance that reminded me of baby cream (in a good way). I was feeling very positive about this product because I have sensitive skin and this looked ideal for me.

So I scooped up a bit of this fluffy mask and started spreading it in a thin layer around my face. There was a big difference between this mask and the Honey and Oat one, or in fact any mask I had yet reviewed. The Vitamin E mask was very smooth and I could hardly feel it as I waited for the recommended 10 minutes. I kept it on for a little longer (20 minutes) because I had been told that some women left this mask on over night.

Unlike other face masks my face did not feel irritated or tingly, just very cool.

I'm a real abider of the rules (despite the amount of times I have failed my driving test), so I took off the mask using a tissue as recommended on the instructions. My skin looked shinier but it also felt a little sticky and there was a slight irritation on one of my cheekbones.

I had a distinct feeling of uncleanliness so I washed off the mask, any my skin did look a bit cleaner and felt slightly softer for the next couple of days.

Overall, the Vitamin E Sink in Moisture Mask didn't really excite me because it felt more like an overnight cream than it did a face mask. It smelt nice but not as nice as the Honey and Oat scrub mask. I would recommend this to those who want to tackle the lines on their face or signs of aging because of the Vitamin E.

Due to it not giving out as good of a result as I thought it would, and because a price of £13.00 per 100ml is just simply too high for me, I would have to give this product a mediocre 3/5.

It sure does the job, but it does the job of a moisturizing cream, not an ideal face mask.

Cheap travel

When you're in your late teens and early twenties, there has never been a better time to go out there and explore the world. You're at university or school, things aren't quite that serious with life, you're not held back by much at this point in your life.

Even as a young graduate you're not weighed down by other priorities such as children, or family commitments, or a promotion that you have to get. In other words, why not pack a bag, book a flight, and spend a month or two having the time of your life?

After spending four heavenly months in Maastricht on an exchange programme I visited: 6 cities, a handful of towns and villages, and 4 countries. All whilst studying full time and paying rent for my room at my home university as well as my room in Maastricht. I was worse off than almost everyone I knew which meant I had to be very careful about any costs. Yet I managed to do all of this. So if I can do it on such a tight budget whilst paying rent in two places I'm sure you can as well!

Here is my advice to you buttercup! I hope it helps you and does not seem excessively obvious.

This might not count as a tip for you, but it shall be mentioned anyway. Make sure you have a little bit of money saved. For Europe I would say have about 600 euros saved up (for a month of travelling), more if you are planning on living in a city. 

Secondly, and I cannot stress this enough, choose a city or town to stay in for a month which is close to a lot of borders! It can be your hub for the next month, or couple of weeks. Maastricht was ideal, because it was close to the borders of Germany and Belgium, and of course it was a beautiful town. You could have spent a week happily exploring Maastricht and had a good time. Anyway, choose a town that you will quite like, make it your hub for as long as you want, and use the transport links there to make trips to other cities.

It is better to live in a city or town for a month and travel every couple of days because you will get a sense of the place. Buying an interrailing pass can be a little too hectic because you would be spending a few days in different cities for a month but not really appreciating the true feel of a city. You do not get to discover a hidden little bar, a great view, or a nice restaurant. 

My next tip, use a site like this to find a place to stay. 

It is cheaper than staying in a hotel, and if you look hard enough it can be nicer than staying in a hostel. Although be careful and always make sure you are being safe when renting online.

Try and find somewhere self-catered as you will save a lot of money from not eating out as many tourists do. Try to buy food for lunch from supermarkets rather than eating in a restaurant.

Alrighty, my next website is skyscanner.net. It's great because you can load up a chart where it tells you which days are the cheapest for you to fly in or out of your chosen airport. 

Now if you're in a country like the Netherlands, as a holiday activity you can rent out bikes fairly cheap and spend the day exploring! It'd be a great day and it wouldn't cost you very much at all. 

This post is long enough already so maybe more tips another time, fellow travel enthusiast. Feel free to leave a comment for any questions and I will try my best to help you. Happy adventures!

How to get over someone

Hey there broken-hearted babes,

Well, I kind of assume that it'd mostly be those who have just gotten out of a relationship reading this because truth be told it was what I spent hours googling the day after I ended things with a guy. On a side-note, how very odd that in this generation we turn to the internet for advice about nearly everything?

Even though in my heart of hearts I knew it was for the best that things stopped, I still found it a little hard to not call him and tell him I changed my mind and wanted him back.

Maybe my situation is a little different and complicated but I still thought I'd write something to help if I can.

Here's the scoop, you might not stop wanting to get back together for a while but give it time and you'll realize that everyday you want him/her less. You've just got to convince yourself how this was the right decision! Things ended for a reason and if you go back there things will be different. You probably will never be able to go back to how you were before and that's a fact.

Only time heals all wounds. Maybe not physically but mentally.

 Do not under any circumstances follow the saying that to get over somebody you need to get under somebody else because you'll know when you're ready! Right now all you want to do is talk about how things went wrong and you just want someone to tell you that things will be alright. Do not mistake this need for a need for a new boy/girl.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

Remember: stay strong, don't go back there unless you really think it can work out! There'll be other men/women, but until then you've got a cornershop that sells ice cream nearby haven't you?

Revolutions, helplessness and other antics

I don't what it is about today but I just feel angry and sad and a little bit violent. Kind of sounds like the symptoms of depression. Don't worry, my job hasn't made me lose the will to live just yet. I'll see about that in a couple more weeks. 

I just feel like things aren't right. I feel so helpless and unable to do anything in relation to the topics I care about. Let me give you a few examples: 

- The current Syrian situation and how Britain can even contemplate going into Syria. Has history taught you nothing Cameron? Maybe the saying is true, that history does repeat itself because fools do not notice the patterns. 

- The continuous disrespect of the humanities in today's society. Because science clearly outweighs the humanities in importance. I am sick of hearing about things like new technology that can enable you to control someone else's actions through your thoughts. It's only a matter of time until that technology is going to be misused and no one else seems to care enough about this. I understand the importance of science. I know, being a History student, the fundamental role that Chemistry has in our lives from the materials around us to the sub-shells in an atom that allows it to have its functions. But why is it that History has become a dying art? History sculpts your mind in the best of ways, allowing you to think in unique way. 

But it's much more than just those two things. It's anger over poverty, the impacts of consumerism, greed, lack of morality and all these other matters. I guess it's just one of those days right? 

I just want to start a revolution on days like this. I want to join a march for something that counts, I want to stand up for what I believe in.

Alas, so lost am I in my thoughts I forget the coward that I am and the metaphorical cage that I trap myself in. I come up with excuses as to why I am helpless to do anything. I think of my bank balance, which is currently at a great big 0. 

And I come to the conclusion that maybe I am unable to do anything. Maybe it's not time yet. Maybe this just isn't my role in the world.

I imagine this is how all potential revolutionists die inside a young person.

Here I am, complaining, letting my inner revolutionist wither, as I think oh well, I feel like having a piece of red velvet cake. 

Belief

Oddly enough I've been thinking about a higher power of some sort a lot recently; odd because this is never a topic I like to dwell into a lot. It leads to a nasty spiral in my twisted mind where I go from belief to the meaning of life to inevitably ending up at a point where I begin to wonder about my existence on earth and how indescribably insignificant the impact of my existence has been. Although may I add, not in a suicidal way, just in a 'losing all hope, why am I even doing anything when I will amount to doing nothing in the eyes of the world' manner. We all have our moments.

Whilst I am a follower of the Jain way of life, I find that religion makes me feel guilty. Religion makes a lot of people feel guilty. Maybe that's the ultimate role of religion and even the idea of a higher existence...to make you feel conscious about your actions and thoughts. Don't get me wrong, that's not a bad in any way because more often than not I have recently been feeling that I need to be reminded about my morals. Morals keep me grounded, and personally my morals are the strongest when I am around my parents who often remind me of right and wrong.

Here is what I have concluded over my summer of being mostly isolated of all decent company (no, my parents and little brother do not count). The thing is about being so withdrawn is that you begin to think a lot more. People's thoughts affect you a lot less and frankly after my numerous incidences in the past year, which I shall not get into, it is just what I need.

Sorry, I've just gone off topic. I believe. That is what I have concluded. I think everyone needs a bit of belief in their life. Everyone needs a higher power to look up to when life does not turn out how you expect it to. Belief in that higher power, whether it is science or God, is what keeps us going in our times of hardship. Even thought you do not realize it, religion becomes a part of you.

It is good that religion makes you feel conscious of your actions. Of course I am not referring to extremism, or supporting homophobia. I am talking about how a higher power can make you a better person because you want to do more good. And I hate it when people are so adamantly against religion because surely anything that often provokes a person to change for the better and do good in the world is something to support. A higher power is something which I cannot avoid. There must be something greater than the human race out there which controls the fate of our actions. A puppeteer to the puppets would be a cynical way to look at this. But you get what I mean. I don't know if it is Allah, or God or simply an invisible force which has no consciousness. I just know that the universe is big and ever expanding, and there has to be something out there.

I think that belief in anything is brilliant. My crisis now is what I believe in. 

Apivita express beauty with orange review

Oh look it's the return of Face Mask Fridays! I know, exciting times.

So this week I popped into the huge Marble Arch M&S near work and saw face masks on offer for £2.40 so obviously I couldn't resist myself. It was a double wammy, face masks on sale hit me hard. 

As I've probably said before my skin is normal, it never gets very oily nor dry unless it's winter or I've used a bad face wash. That's why I find it so hard to pick face masks because there are so many for oily skin. Because I'm such a little dare devil I went with orange, it's been a while and I've never seen a face mask with orange oil before.

As per usual, here's a picture:

I was expecting good things from this packet mostly because it looked fancy and it was from the one and only Marks and Spencers. It also said that it was paraben free at the back and I've found that products without parabens/SLSs have a better affect on my skin and hair than other products.

It all started out well as I applied the face mask because it smelt really fresh and refreshing. In an odd way it reminded me of the refreshers sweets in a good way. The minute the mixture hit my skin I could feel the tingling. Personally I love it when I can feel something because it shows that the face mask is actually doing something to my face.

I quote, the orange essential oil is supposed to 'tone and moisturise leaving skin with a natural glow and radiance'. After about ten minutes I started washing off the mask. This was an aspect I absolutely hated because the face mask was so hard to wash off due to its oiliness.

Eventually when I took off the mask I could see that the effect was not what I hoped it would be. The mask made bumps on skin more prominent and my skin felt a lot skin drier after washing it off. I expected this face mask to make my skin softer and clearer but it did not achieve that.

Therefore this FMF will be given a 1.5/5.

Good thing it smelt so nice and I'm easily won over like that.

Just give me something that smells good and tastes nice and I'm yours. Seriously. If you ever want to woo me, all you have to do as you see me busting a move on the dance floor of a club is come up to me and say these exact words:

"Want to grab a pizza and maybe a slice of cake?"

I swear I will look at you like you are Ryan Gosling and worship you for your wise words. 

There we go, a FMF that was on time and tips on how to get me to fall into your arms.

Until the next time sports fans. 

Garnier Pure Sauna Self-Heating Mask Review

Hello there,

Yes, it is in fact a Sunday, but let's go ahead with the Face Mask Friday thing. Because it's catchier than Face Mask Sunday right? And I'm all about the alliteration. I should make that a theme too, "All About Alliterations" and start posting up cool alliterations. Except no one will read it. Moving on, my apologies for making this two days late. I was preparing for an interview and dragged to Oxford Street with my mother only to spend three hours in Marks and Spencer wondering what my life had come to.

The mocking, sorry reviewing, of today's product is based around Ganier's Self-Heating mask. All jokes aside, I will refrain from mocking, and try to 'tell it as it is' - after all how many other ways are there of telling 'it'? Go on, give us a ball park figure politicians (like they'd be reading this blog, I mean look at their pores).

I picked up the face mask at Boots, mostly because it was £0.85 for two 6ml sachets which was the cheapest face mask I had brought yet. Considering this was produced from quite a known brand it seemed like excellent value for money. For all you animal lovers, unlike The Body Shop or Superdrug Tea Tree products it had no guarantee against animal testing. It also looked highly professional and because I could never in the next three years afford to go to the spa I very much liked the sauna aspect. Now to make my room steamy and get someone with a Russian accent doing my face mask. At least that's how I imagine spas work.

Before I spread this face mask onto my face the smell hit me. It smelt like a Garnier face wash I had tried out a couple of years ago. It isn't a bad smell, more of a raw but fresh cosmetics smell. However I am concerned that what if all the Garnier products have the same signature smell? Let me just give you a piece of advice if you're starting a cosmetics company: if you want your products to have the same notable smell, do not make it smell like Garnier's face mask. I want the products that I apply to my body smelling nice, hence why I spend a fortune at The Body Shop. Nevertheless I applied to concoction to my face, and surprisingly enough as I massaged it around my face I could actually feel it heating up my skin. I then removed it after five minutes (despite the packaging saying three minutes). It hadn't hardened or anything but was still in it's liquid form.

My skin felt drier after the ordeal and two days later and my skin no longer felt fresh like it did on the day of the face mask despite a promise for skin to feel purified "for up to 7 days". Luckily it also didn't feel as dry either. I guess you can't get it all huh?

It'll be a 1.5/5.

Marks deducted for the smell, how the effect wore off, the dryness, and how there wasn't as much of an effect as I thought there would be. It didn't make my face as clearer as some of the other products I've tried but good affordability and definitely for those with oily skin.

Anyway that is all the juice I can give you on face masks this week. Next week I'll try out the Honey and Oat Scrub Mask from The Body Shop. I've been wanting to try this out for a long time but the £10 price tag attached to it scared the poor student inside me. I happened be in a luck and met a lovely lovely lady from a store in London who gave me free samples of two face masks so I could figure out whether I liked them or not.

I'll mix it up a little next week and try to post about something that is not about face masks, as well as continuing with Face Mask Fridays (yes, really, it will be on a Friday this time, Sunday shall be used as God intended it to, for rest, video games and eating fatty food without regrets).

À bientôt.  

Body Shop's Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask Review

Salut,

Well look at that, Face Mask Fridays is so a thing. I mean if you've done something twice it's a thing isn't it? At least that's how it works in my world. Which is probably why I consider myself an expert at yoga from having been to ten lessons or so in the space of a year.

Moving on from my lack of yoga skills, I was browsing in my local branch of The Body Shop this week (they're having a sale so it's only understandable why I was won over). Then I saw the sachet version of Body Shop's Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask on the counter. The original pot packaging looks something like this:

The pot is £12 for 100ml and my sachet was £1.50 for 6ml. I know, The Body Shop wins again for its brilliant affordability factor. Okay yes go on all you Body Shop fanatics, throw a rant at me about how this is because The Body Shop goes out of its way to avoid animal testing but may I just point out that my Tea Tree face peel from Superdrugs (refer to last weeks post) was more than a third cheaper and for more product too, as well as the fact that it stated at the back that it did not test this product on animals. 

The question is, was this face mask worth it? I applied the clay like mixture onto my face, so well done Body Shop for really sticking to the title there. The face mask smelt lovely, really fresh and clean which made it bearable to sit around improving my yoga until I realized my face was so stiff I could only mumble. It was time to see the results. I washed off the stiff bits of mask and in that aspect Superdrug's Tea Tree mask was more fun because I could easily peel it off. Well life is not fair, so I continued in my struggle to remove the concoction from my face.

Now the result was pretty non-existent. In all fairness this face pack is for oily skin which I do not have but it seemed like a bit of a fluff product to me. Body Shop describes it to "draw out impurities" be "clarifying" and "refreshing". Refreshing it was. I really enjoyed how fresh my face felt but it still left my blackheads as they were and my skin looked a little clearer. But that could have just been a bit of the clay mixture left over. 

I'll give it a 2/5. Lovely smell, felt fresh after but made no difference to me really, could have achieved the same by washing my face in cool water and I would have saved myself a good bit of money too. 

That's all on Face Mask Fridays.

À bientôt.  

Is marriage a form of prostitution?

So today I want to talk about marriage.

Not high on my set of goals in life, but then again being a 19 year old university student miserably failing her French modules probably really affects my opinion.

Nevertheless, it's a matter that's been on my mind since a cousin of mine recently got engaged, the feminist lecture I sat in on last month and then hearing the phrase "marriage is a form of prostitution". So let me get out my thoughts on this wonderful blog of mine and avoid learning French conjugation eh?

The definition of prostitution according to oxforddictionaries.com is "the unworthy or corrupt use of one's talents for personal or financial gain". It can apply to marriage in many ways, for example if you have no sustainable income of your own, maybe your husband is just a tool used for financial forms and your relationship consists of using your talents as a housewife, or cook to keep your husband happy and have access to his funds. But in my opinion it's all about mental respect. If your husband/wife respects you and treats you as their equal there isn't anything "unworthy or corrupt" about your talents. And surely you aren't gaining anything out of it either because marriage should not be about financial gains but it can often come down to it.

I'm confusing myself a little here. What I'm saying is that a form of prostitution in marriage can only exist if you allow yourself to be unequal to your partner regardless of if you're male or female. To a certain point I agree with this statement, because everywhere around me all I see is marriage as a dead end without and escape route. People are stuck in it because of financial reasons, or because of emotional ones (i.e. children). I guess I just have to see more successful marriages built on love that seems to last (that last bit made my insides cringe a little), on mutual agreements and respect.

Maybe after thinking about this I'm not all opposed to marriage. Marriages shouldn't have a hierarchy but that often tends to be the case and sadly it often seems to work out. I guess a marriage is really what you make of it. I am the quietly stubborn kind of person who wouldn't be satisfied if I didn't get the respect I deserved and be infuriated if I wasn't an equal in any sort of personal relationship. So if marriage really is a "form of prostitution" it isn't for me and all those other individuals who have the same views as me.

Just some thoughts from a hesitant borderline feminist. Feel free to agree/disagree in the comments section (if I've got one!)

À bientôt.