My Cleansing Routine: Makeup, Brushes and Skin

As you know, cleansing your skin is important, but what a lot of people don't realise is that's important to keep your makeup and brushed clean and hygienic too. Recently I've been using The Pro Hygiene Collection from 25o, who sell everything from skincare to makeup. The set contains: Makeup Antibacterial Spray, Makeup Brush Cleaner, Hand Sanitising Gel, Makeup Brush & Sponge Sanitising Wash and “Melt Away” All In One Makeup Remover.

First is my favourite bottle out of the pack: the makeup remover. I love this as a replacement for makeup wipes. It's quick, easy and removes even waterproof makeup. I wear quite a lot of mascara so using wipes is difficult as it doesn't remove it all and is quite painful. But, this remover takes it all off pain-free which is amazing. I like to use this every night before bed.

To clean my brushes, I firstly use the makeup brush cleaner. It removes even super pigmented makeup off my brushes and leaves them clean and sanitised. The cleaner is quick drying also, so it's so useful if you're in a rush. I also like to use the sanitising wash on my brushes and sponges to remove any bacteria before using them again. This is so handy if you have spots, like myself, and don't want them to spread over your face through your brushes.

Until now, I've never cleansed my makeup but it's so important to keep it clean since it's going on your face! Hopefully now my spots will be reduced since it removes 99.9% of bacteria and it inhabits the regrowth of bacteria between uses.

Finally is the hand sanitising gel which I like to just carry around in my bag and use from time to time to keep my hands refreshed and clean without having to take a trip to the bathroom to wash my hands.

You can get the set over here and it comes in a fab travel case. It also makes a great gift! 

Jordan x 

5 NYE Dresses To Start The Year In Style

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's almost Christmas already. But today, I'm writing about New Year's Eve which is also pretty close. New Year's Eve is probably my favourite time of the year because you can get totally dressed up and have an amazing time entering the New Year. I don't know about anyone else, but me and my friends love to go all out on this one day a year. So, if you do too, here's my top 5 picks for NYE dresses:

Misguided £30

Pretty Little Thing £30

Topshop £36

ASOS £66.50 (ON SALE!)

Miss Selfridge £25 (ON SALE!)

What are you wearing on NYE? Leave a comment below!

Jordan x 

Anorexia Recovery: 2 Years Later

If you didn't already know, this week is Mental Health Awareness Week so I felt as if I should do my part to contributing to awareness and prevention of mental illnesses such as anorexia. So many people feel alone when they have a mental illness, but you're not and I hope this post can give you some hope that it really does get better.

If you're a reader of my blog, then you'd know over a year ago I'd posted my recovery story: 1 year later (read it here) but that was a year ago and since then there's been so many changes. A year ago, 2 months after I wrote the post, I dropped to my lowest ever weight and became very unwell physically. This was due to stress and anxiety through change as I'd just started a new college. Between Summer 2014 and the beginning of 2015 was the worst spell of my physical illness and I was very weak.

However, mentally I was doing so much better and it was all thanks to going on holiday (pictured above). During this time, I learned to stop being obsessive over macros, I stopped counting calories and I didn't feel the need to exercise 24/7. During this time, I learned to become normal again. Summer was such a happy time for me because I felt myself going back to the old Jordan. The Jordan who could enjoy time with her friends, the one who didn't panic around food. It was amazing to feel like that again.

New Year's Eve 2014

From that day, I never counted calories again (well not as thoroughly anyways). I deleted My Fitness Pal, the app which controlled my life, and stopped using my private Instagram which fuelled my eating disorder. It was a hard time to just stop the routine but I felt so free. The voices in my head got quieter and I didn't feel so drawn in. Honestly, I think going on holiday was the most major thing in my recovery. Even though it was just a week, it pushed me to where I needed to be. 

August 2015

So, in a year, since my last post, so much has changed. I'm so much better and happier, both physically and mentally. I've gained quite a bit of weight, but overall I feel better. It's nice to having to worry about low blood pressure, low heart rate or even wondering if you'll ever be able to have kids or not (yep this is the reality of eating disorders guys, it's not pretty!!). I'll save that for another post maybe though. Some days, I still struggle, but I have amazing support and it lasts about an hour before I'm back to eating chips and chocolate oops! 

So, if you've managed to read all this then you get extra brownie points. I am living, breathing proof that recovery is possible. I'm not fully recovered, no one really ever is, but I can cope 98% of the time and difficulties are rare to come by in regards to food. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me via my 'contact me' page and I'll be super happy to respond. 

Thanks for reading,

Jordan x 

The Handbag Clinic

Last week, I got the chance to attend the opening of the new Handbag Clinic in Newcastle. Basically, the Handbag Clinic is a place to get your handbags fixed but they also had amazing selection of second hand bags available to buy (including an amazing Céline bag which I fell in love with). They also provide other services such as recolouring the soles of Louboutin's - which I didn't even know existed! Here's some pictures from the event:

Visit The Handbag Clinic on 44 Mosley Street, Newcastle.

Jordan