how my acrylic box is organised

Last year, I did a blog post for Ryman's about preparing for a new academic year with new additions and one of the things I did was to try and have a tidier work area. To do this, I've utilised a clear acrylic box and today, I want to share its contents which definitely need some re-organisation. :)

I'm a huge fan of acrylic boxes as I do think they look minimalistic and chic at the same time. They add that little something without being over the top and they are also very useful for those who have a lot of stationery they need nearby.

As the drawers are by my desk, I try and fill them with things I will use on a regular basis. The clear acrylic material means that I can see exactly what each drawer's contents are but it also means I can't just stuff it full with no regard for how it looks.

In the top drawer, I have some Avery note tabs, Post-it sticky flags, Rilakkuma sticky flags, some A6 note pages, Martha Stewart x Avery x Staples post-it notes and a few Iconic double-ended pens.

The middle drawer holds some more sticky notes and sticky flags, a pocket highlighter, a seemingly dirty cable tie and a few pens (a Uni-ball rollerball, Pilot Frixion Clicker and a pen for my transparent sticky notes).

Finally, the bottom drawer holds some more sticky flags and sticky notes, a roller tip-ex, an eraser and some Midori duck paper clips.

The contents in each drawer do seem quite random and I'm in the process of trying to organise them in a better way, whilst still fitting everything in so that it doesn't look too messy. It's almost like a real-life jigsaw puzzle!

an updated morning and evening beauty routine

Last year, I talked about my beauty routine and over the past year, I've spent some time tweaking it and it now looks like this...

Morning

Because I think I cleanse pretty thoroughly the night before (I may be wrong and I'm willing to be corrected on this one!), I try and do as little as possible in the morning. I don't wear make-up unless you count mascara so I don't need to worry about having the right base for foundation or whatever.

So, I start by exfoliating gently with a warm, damp towel which is then followed by a swipe of the Garner Micellar water. After this, I either apply a thin layer of La Roche-Posay Effaclar K or a thin layer of Eucerin's DermoPurifuer Active Concentrate. Personally, I think Effaclar K is more effective if I'm going through those few days a month where my skin has broken out more than usual (you know, those few days). Moisturiser is then applied in the form of Eucerin's DermoPurifyer Hydrating Care and then I apply Clinique's Anti-Blemish solution to any blemishes that need urgent treatment. I'm quite naughty in that I don't use a moisturiser with SPF but I'm going to be rectifying this soon.

Evening

In the evening, I apply a thin layer of Ren's Clearcalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser and rub it in as thoroughly as I can. This is swiped off using a warm, damp cotton cloth before I tone with a Boots' Botanics Cleansing Toner (which will be replaced with Pixi Glow Tonic once this bottle is done). Avene's TriAcneal is applied and then Avene's Cicalfate cream is also dotted on and rubbed in to any blemishes that need an extra hand with the healing process.

Once a week, I also use an Avene Cleanance mask before this whole routine - I love how this mask smells and the small coarse bits in it really give me the impression that it's working hard to scrub out the gunk from my pores and whatnot (sorry, that was a bit of a graphic end to a nice sentence).

Like I said, I'm still trying to find the perfect routine but I think I'm well on my way in the right direction. Although I have read that you should try and stick to one skincare brand, I do think that benefits their pockets more than it will benefit my face.

What does your morning and evening routine consist of? Should I be making any changes? I'm still quite the newbie when it comes to skincare so any help would be appreciated :)

my week #155

My second week (of five) on surgery and I've managed to tire myself out - so much so that I'm grateful I have a four day weekend due to Easter break! I've been in every morning at 7:30am for handover (I know I've written 8am in my diary but it's actually 7:30am!) and running around the hospital in search of patients to clerk is tiring. It doesn't help that there isn't a set ward for my surgical specialty.

Anyway, enough of that moaning! This weekend, I'm just catching up on some light work (nothing too heavy as I've been revising quite solidly lately) and life admin. I've kind of lost touch with my social life recently and need to sort that out once exams are over...

How has your week been?

how I prevent blogger's block

Last year, I managed to post pretty consistently - one or two blog posts a week with 'my week' every Sunday, I thought I did pretty well. However, I did go through phases of blogger's block but I also had bouts where I wanted to do nothing but blog; with ideas swimming about in my head to an extent that I had to sit down and write them all down before they all evaporated into thin air!

Because of all these ideas, I often have ideas that mean I have blog posts planned for the next three or four months and so, I don't feel as pressured to have to keep forcefully churning out posts. This, in turn, ensures that I enjoy running this blog :) If I feel like blogging about something spontaneously, I can rearrange these scheduled posts so that my current one can go live sooner.

So, this is how I do it. Firstly, I write down ideas at the back of my planner. I have a few ideas that are generic - i.e. 'top five' which made me write the 'five underrated pens' blog post and Pen Addict came up with an amazing variant of this (I take no credit for it, by the way!). There are also other blog post ideas which are not so generic but I think would fit in well with my blog - hence why they are blurred out. It is hard to come up with original post ideas but just by looking around you and your environment, anything is possible. If you work in an office environment for example, you could talk about jazzing up your desk at work or even your commute in and how you make it productive. Genuinely, ideas are everywhere, you just have to open your eyes to it. However, remember to bear in mind that not all ideas will make it onto your blog as maybe they don't make the cut, take way too much effort than they are worth or are just rubbish - and that's okay!

These ideas are then transferred to my weekly planning pages and are marked clearly by the prefix 'blog:'. I don't always get them written in a timely manner but again, going back to what I said earlier in that I have ideas scheduled for three to four months in advance (yes, I really am that anal about the organisation of this blog), it doesn't matter too much.

And finally, if I'm on a break (in the below picture, it was my Christmas and New Year holiday break), I can schedule in one or two days which are solely dedicated to this blog. This can mean writing posts, taking pictures or even sorting out some of the behind the scenes stuff!

I really do enjoy blogging and although it looks like I take it to an extreme here, it is necessary for me to fit it in with my lifestyle. My life is a student can get pretty hectic at times and not having to worry about my blog from time to time is a really nice feeling because this blog really is my baby! Plus, I just really like sharing some parts of my life that, I hope, you find interesting :)

Finally, one other thing I've stopped caring about are numbers. If you write with the sole purpose of getting one million followers, then I think it's quite probable that you'll lose interest in blogging quite quickly. Although this blog is still very little, it's always nice to read comments from readers and connecting with them - I do try and reply to as many as I can but sometimes, medschool takes over and I can't reply as often as I'd like and I do apologise for this! Through this blog, I've connected with such lovely people through Twitter and Instagram and that's the reason why I carry on blogging.