I think the main goals of these 'glow up' or 'transformation' videos is to become that Insta Baddie image that everyone seemingly craves but I'm not too fussed by that idea. I browsed around and found some different interpretations of the 'glow up' trend and dissected a couple to create my own little version. For me the main goal of my 'glow up' is to just feel good about myself. With Uni coming to an end I've been working non-stop to finish all my work and hand everything in on time so I haven't had much opportunity to show myself some love and I thought I may as well write about it, you know, killing two birds with one stone.
So, after scouring the internet I have curated a list of the vital 'glow up' steps.
My first step is to bathe and wash my hair and body. Before starting my little glow up I wanted to create a clean canvas for lack of a better term, I exfoliated my body using the Body Shop peach exfoliator and then, after deciding against waxing my legs, shaved my body. I washed my hair as usual and to add a little something extra, used a Palmers cocoa butter hair mask. Whilst my hair mask was on I ran a super hot bath and used one of my Lush bath bombs, I chose Strawberries and cream as this one makes my skin feel so soft and moisturised. To be honest with you, I didn't stay in the bath very long as I got too hot and even though I was loving the self care I did get bored sitting there doing nothing.
This is where my super budget beauty hacks come into play. After using an exfoliator to clean my skin I steamed my face to open up my pores and to do this I created my own face steamer. To create this at home steaming treatment all you have to do is lean over a washing up bowl full of boiling water and place a towel over your head and the bowl. The steam from the boiling water will open your pores and help bring out any toxins and things of the like from your skin. Once I had steamed my face for around 10 minutes I washed off my sweat (lovely) using warm water and then gently patted my face dry. Now my skin is clean I shave my face, I do this maybe once every three weeks as I find it makes my foundation sit a lot better on my skin, it's also a really quick way to clean up your brows. It's not necessary but I like it so why not do it? I shave my face with a single razor very, very gently by holding the skin tight and moving the razor slowly and with small motions, always wash your face using water to get all the stray hairs off your face afterwards. The brand of razor I use is wonderfully called 'Tinkle'.
Now the fun pampering things come in! I have a selection of face masks but I chose to use The body Shop's Japanese Matcha Pollution Clearing Mask, I have used this mask a lot since moving to a city where I can literally see the pollution. We live near such busy streets and the light pollution from the city centre is visible for miles, so using a product that can help remove the damage of that from my skin makes me feel a little more relaxed. I do like to use sheet masks but I am straying away from them as they don't tend to be made from bio-degradable or recyclable materials and I do want to be conscious of the amount of waste that I create. I wanted to try teeth whitening but all the products I found were a little too pricey but I do use whitening toothpaste and mouthwash so maybe, eventually my teeth will be a little brighter.
Before I did any skin care I tried dying my eyebrows. As someone who has dyed hair a little darker than my natural colour, my eyebrows don't match at all and it gets on my nerves. You can buy eyebrow dying kits but these come in tiny packets and are too expensive for my liking, so instead I bought a mens beard dye. I didn't know this existed before going into the store but the dye came in a huge bottle and was pretty cheap considering how many times you could use it to dye your brows. I used an old eyebrow brush to run this through my brows and even used it to try and create more of an arch shape to my brow, the dye worked great and I left it on for about 8-10 minuets. I plucked under my arch to try and lift my brow up a tad but I don't have many brow hairs anyway so I didn't push it too far. After the dye was off I did my skin care as usual which I have a separate blog post about if you would like to read!
By this time my hair was pretty dry so I ran some leave in conditioner through it and then used a texturising gel through the lengths and ends of my hair. I like to use a hairdryer and brush to dry my hair straight rather than using a hair straightener on top of heat dried hair, I do have to straighten my fringe on a low heat as it never wants to sit properly. The leave in conditioner gives my hair a really pretty shine and leaves it feeling and looking so healthy while the gel gives my ends some thickness and volume. I've really been considering growing my hair out recently, I want to have super long hair but then I also love the low maintenance of my short hair so it's a bit of a battle. I did purchase some super cheap synthetic hair extensions which I absolutely love the look of but I just need to work up the confidence to wear them outside now, I would like to buy some better quality extensions but I didn't realise how much they cost! There's a picture up on my instagram (linked at the top of my blog) with me wearing the hair extensions if you want to look and if anyone has any recommendations to comment that would be really helpful!
One of the easiest money savers in my 'glow up' is doing my own nails. I buy my own fake nails often from Primark, but websites like Etsy and Depop feature loads of beautiful nails that have been hand painted for less then a tenner. I bought these nails from Boots and I think they're adorable, I love having super girly nails as I don't tend to wear girly outfits at all but it makes me feel a bit more put together I guess. I know it probably sounds disgusting but if one of my nails falls off I do just stick it back on and I keep doing the until I get bored of the nails, I wash them and remove the glue before re-placing it don't worry. It saves you so much money, these elegant touch nails were £7 and will last me maybe 3 weeks.
If this was a proper 'glow up' I would do some next level make up look and outfit now but I am not very good at make up and I'm a little lazy. While planning this post I did want to do some make up but I didn't think I could do much of a good job. I would love to do some make up content but I don't wear make up very often and when I do it tends to be the same look, very simple and mostly focused on my face than my eyes, I also hate lipstick. I never wear eyeshadow and the most out there look I have done is wear red eyeliner instead of black. It could be cool if I could get someone who could do some amazing make up look for me but alas that is not possible for me currently.
I love self love. It's so important to look after yourself even in little ways, just drinking enough water is a good start. Sometimes being a little selfish and taking care of yourself is just what you need to stop worrying about everyone else. After doing all of these self love steps I just went to bed and drank tea while I watched Princess Diaries, I didn't try and make myself look all nice for anyone else but me and I felt amazing.
I don't know if this almost Youtube-y content is boring to read about? I really enjoy writing posts like this but it's so much easier for someone to just watch a video and get a better idea of what is happening. Let me know if this is actually interesting or if i'm just messing about too much. I have a lot of ideas for blog posts at the moment but I want to write things people will enjoy reading, I really enjoyed writing some lifestyle pieces and am thinking about adding some beauty content regularly. I would also love to incorporate little videos and such into my writing to keep things interesting but I want to make sure everything is done right and learning how to use video is very confusing for me but hopefully soon I can create some more really cool stuff.
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