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Writing Update #19

Remember when I said in the last writing update that everything's settled down?

lol no.

Writing

• I've been working with TenEighty a lot - I've been with them for nine months now and I finally met the team in real life in August at Summer in the City (they're really lovely people!). I was a panel reporter at the YouTube convention and had such a good time. I talked more about it here. I was moved from news to Pulse, which produces lighthearted and fun articles. Soon, I'll be off to features which involves writing longer, more investigative think pieces - really looking forward to that.
• My short story for the Dragonfly Tea competition got shortlisted! We've been invited to the Henley Literary Festival where they'll announce the winners there. Super happy about that, really looking forward to the day!

Real Life and Other Nonsense

• I was part of a 72-hour gaming livestream for charity, helping to live-tweet the event and assist with the publicity side of things. We were raising money for Special Effect, a charity that aims to help people with physical disabilities play video games by providing technology ranging from modified joypads to eye-control, bringing families and friends together. We ended up raising £2700 which is incredible - big well done to the team and thank you to everyone who donated, watched and shared the livestream!
• I have been job hunting, or trying to, and it's not easy. Urgh. 

Music

A few months ago at a BedBoat magazine evening, Sam aka Samantics got on stage and began to perform. He uses a loop pedal, and made a track live with his voice, beatboxing, guitar and ukulele. Then, he sung and rapped over the top.

HE IS INCREDIBLE.  

Check out my video for a little snippet - he's so good, definitely check him out!

I'm going to try and make these updates at the end of every month, rather than fortnightly as I think that's more manageable and I'll have more to talk about. Hope you're all well, have a good day!

Garnier's Fresh Refining Toner "Shine Be Gone" Review

I've been using this toner for around three months now and it's one of my favourites beauty products.

I'm generally skeptical about toner - I prefer to just cleanse and moisturise. Toner is used after cleansing to tighten pores, further clean your skin and add extra beneficial ingredients to your skin. I never believe anything that says it'll tighten your pores - that's not how skin works. Pore size is genetic, all you can do is keep them clean as when they're clogged they'll look bigger than they actually are. However, you can't actually reduce their natural size.

Anyway, this toner by Garnier is for combination to oily skin (still okay for sensitive skin) and claims to be enriched with green tea and moringa extracts to cleanse and purify your skin. It does contain alcohol, so if your skin is super sensitive I would avoid this.

However, I've been needing something stronger to help clean out my skin, especially around my nose where the pores get clogged up easily. It doesn't sting but leaves a gentle tingle and feels very light and refreshing. I add a little onto a cotton pad and swipe it over my t-zone - when I look at the pad afterwards, it's picked up the oil and you can see the discolouration on the cotton. When I don't use it, my skin breaks out more easily so I've been using this at least once a day, everyday.

Anyone else tried this toner? Got any other recommendations for me? Let me know in the comments!

Lush Bath Bomb 'Honey Bee' Review

I went up to London recently and of course I had to pop into the Oxford street store - it is the world's largest Lush store after all. I've never had a bath bomb before but I'd been walking around London all day and wanted to a nice way to unwind when I got home.

I found the 'Honey Bee' bath bomb and took a sniff - this is the bath bomb version of the 'Honey I Washed My Hair' shampoo, which is my favourite scent from Lush.

Throwing it into the bath at home, it doesn't have an overpowering scent but still smells so gorgeous. It's got a wonderful sweet caramel smell without getting sickly. The bath bomb contains honey, aloe vera and a special type of clay called rhassoul mud. The mud is supposed to be cleansing but it felt quite grainy as it's hard for it to break up properly and it left little flakes at the bottom of my bath when I drained it. Also, the water turns into this very unattractive yellow colour.

Still, I really enjoyed this bath bomb and I'd love to get another one!

Price: £3.50
Cruelty free? Yes

Webcomic Recommendations!

I've been creating my own webcomics for over a month now. It's called 'My Mind and Me' and it follows those two characters - the mind is the darker shaded character who pops up at inopportune moments and me is the blue character.

It's a little comic that illustrates what goes on in my head, little scenarios in my life, and I occasionally discuss mental health issues with this comic. It's been super fun and I'm really enjoying creating these comics.

I made a video recently about my favourite webcomics, so if you want some recommendations, you're in the right place!

Recommendation Roundup

• Sarah Andersen: very funny, relatable comics.
• Wirrow: beautiful, dreamy, wonderful artwork.
• Tune: immensely funny and fantastic comic.
• The Abominable Charles Christopher: heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure.
• Griefer Belt: queer criminals in a dark underworld.
• They Can Talk: there's animals. They can talk.
• Liz Climo: more adorable animal comics.
• Sheldon the Tiny Dinosaur Who Thinks He's a Turtle: no further explanation is needed. 

Hope you enjoy these recommendations, and let me know if you have any suggestions!