Monday 13 May 2019

PSA: A friendly reminder to check your breasts.

As someone with a pretty heavy family history of breast cancer, I'm hyper-aware of the need for early detection. This honestly saves lives.

So every month on the 13th, I'll post this same blog post to remind all of my beautiful readers to have a check (your gender is not important here, every human is at risk for breast cancer), including the entire chest area and under your arms.
If you find something out of the ordinary, it'll be terrifying, but go to your doctor to have it checked ASAP. Don't put it off and hope it'll go away.

As a bonus, for my readers with testicles....give them a bit of a check too.

Sunday 5 May 2019

Skin care for people who love the outdoors

O. Nidiformis, glowing "Ghost Mushroom"
Most of you may not be aware of the reason I missed last week's blog post, and haven't done a pamper Wednesday either. It's pretty simple, really. I'm very much a lover of the outdoors, an avid photographer, who specializes in Australian Flora and Fauna.
 Ghost Mushroom season is upon us, so I'm spending a lot of time outside at night taking suuuuuper long exposures of mushrooms to capture their eerie green glow (pictured here, taken 28 April, 2019). There are also still Aussie native orchids out, which I love to capture often.The short story is that I'm busier than usual.

I was thinking about it, and I really should share with you guys, my skincare (and haircare) needs have changed a little bit with all the activity out in the cold evening air, and early morning briskness. It's a much harsher environment for the skin, purely in terms of weather, but when you add in the extra things I'm needing to apply, like mosquito repellant (this is what absolutely destroys my hair), it's a bit of an assault on my epidermis.
The rare and endangered Caleana Major "Flying duck orchid"

So... what steps am I taking to make sure my skin doesn't start flaking off and getting out of control.
I should start by adding that I have a chronic illness (end-stage Hashimoto's Disease - I essentially don't have a thyroid, but still have the autoimmune symptoms the disease caused when it was destroying it for me) which makes me very dry in some areas. I'm needing a lot more moisture in general when it comes to my skin.
I'm also quite uneven in my skintone these days, which is partly age and partly health. I've chosen the following product range based on those 2 factors.

Every day, in the shower, I'm using Olay's Regenerist Luminous Brightening Cream Cleanser. It was part of a gift pack that I bought with the other 2 Olay products that I'll mention here, and included a really cute toiletries bag.
It's a scrub without having a scrub. Very gentle exfoliation and cleansing designed to target dark spots and uneven skintone. It's been a bit of a lifesaver really, because I was finding other exfoliants were really upsetting my skin, which is now quite sensitive. It's not offensively perfumed, and it's in a tube, which is nice and easy to use. Part of my illness is pain in my arm joints and fingers, so jars can sometimes be difficult.

After the shower, while I'm plopping my hair, I apply the Tone Perfecting Treatment from the same range. It's essentially a serum, which also has those properties for evening up skintone, and starting to get a bit of moisture into your skin. I really like this packaging because it doses the dropper for you as you twist off the lid. You really don't need any more than the standard dose, as it goes a long way. I'm really enjoying this. Again, not offensively or excessively fragranced, and the packaging is mostly disability-friendly and easy to use.

Once the serum has had a minute to soak in, I go straight over it with Tone Perfecting Cream. It's doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to moisturising my skin, and it's doing a really good job. It's a fantastic day cream, which keeps me hydrated and comfortable all day long and I'm finding even on the chilly evenings, I'm not getting that dried-out skin feeling when I'm out and about.
Same deal as the others, it's not offensive to the nose, and the packaging, even though it's a jar that I need to screw the lid off, it's a soft-close packaging, which makes it easy to open and close.
 

Last, but not least, the big guns. I will admit that I don't use this every night, mostly because I forget, or I'm so tired that I just fall asleep before I get a chance to use it. Manuka Doctor Restoring Night Cream is expensive. It's worth every single cent. It's been a staple in my skin care routine for about 5 years now, and I won't be without it. You only need a tiny bit to get that "slathered in luxury night cream" feeling, and when you wake up in the morning after the first time you use it, your life will never be the same. This is my holy grail, absolutely must-have-it product of all time.

I'm going to just let the results speak for themselves. This photo doesn't have a filter on it, I'm wearing mascara but literally nothing else (as evidenced by my complete lack of eyebrows) and I'm an almost-40-year-old woman who is so, so happy with her skin. Yes, I'll admit that it's partly amazing genes, and partly that I carry extra weight, but there's a good part of it that's taking care of my skin. I absolutely encourage all of you to do the same. We only get one epidermis. Treat it nicely and it will reward you.

You can find Manuka Doctor at Chemist Warehouse and Priceline. I think it's around the $50 mark for a jar that will last you months and months.
Olay can be found at leading mass stores and pharmacy outlets (I know chemist warehouse for sure) and the pack I bought was around $40 for all 3 products and the bag.

This post is not sponsored, nor was I gifted the products for review. I believe in honesty and open disclosure and trust that my readers appreciate both of those things.

If you'd like to follow my photography adventures, they are over at Katy Lylak Photography