The Ten Year Challenge and My Face

For about 2 weeks now you'll have noticed an abundance of pictures with the hashtags #10yearchallenge and #thenandnow. I too took part and having the type of brutally honest friends and family that I have I know I always get the truth(no matter how embarrassing, oh yeah and when it comes to my appearance, 2 very honest teenagers!) So despite my own perceptions of how I've aged I braced myself for the comments

"You look the same as you did at school" "You look the same" "You look younger now" "You must have good genes" "What's your secret?" Were some of the comments I received across my social media.

I have to admit, neither of my parent's look their age so good genes could be the reason but that said for as long as I can remember my Dad has used Nivea face cream and knowing how good it has been to his skin, I myself have been a long time user of the face cream. 
More recently I started looking into Nivea's range of other skincare products and have been using them for a few months now and I have to say I have been very impressed. 

I always used to be a bit hit and miss with sticking to a skincare routine but promised myself to start making more of an effort to take care of myself and the items are so readily available and it takes literally a few minutes to make such a difference to my physical and mental well-being, there really was no excuse.

There's no getting away from the fact that I have freckles, for years I tried to hide them with make up but now I accept that they are part of my identity and embrace them but hormonal break outs I'm not so keen to embrace. Particularly as I have a tendency to pick at my spots which then lead to scarring and blemishes.

As I mentioned, along with the Nivea Creme I have been using some of the other skincare products over the last few months and boy have I seen an improvement. Every morning I have been washing my face with the Nivea Daily Essentials Gentle Exfoliating Scrub and then wiped my face using a cotton pad covered with the Daily Essentials 2 in 1 Cleanser and Toner. Once my face is dry I moisturise with the creme(I find this is also a good base for make up). Before bed I clean my face with the Nivea MicellAIR Skin Breath Micellar Water before toning again and finish off with the Daily Essentials 24HR Moisture Boost + Refresh Regenerating Night Cream.
I've stuck to this skincare routine for about 3 months now and I've noticed that my scarring and blemishes are less visible, breakouts are few and far between and my skin is looking much clearer and is so smooth to touch.

I generally find that despite the fab results Nivea products provide, they are so very reasonably priced that they are pretty much affordable for everyone. They have products aimed at oily, dry and combination skin so whatever your skin type you're pretty much guaranteed to find something suitable.

I'll continue to use these items as long as I continue to see the results I have been seeing and am now looking forward to the next 10 year challenge!

Do you have any skin care products that you swear by? How kind have the last 10 years been to you?

Emma xoxo

*This is in no way a sponsored post. I purchased all products mentioned and have just generally been really happy with the results

Social Media and Your Teen

Growing up in an age where a 'group chat' was literally a group of friends hanging out and actually chatting I never had to worry about social media, likes, followers, retweets etc but my children are growing up in an age where everything is online. 
We are encouraged to make appointments online, shop online, watch programmes online etc so is it really any wonder that younger generations are becoming more and more dependent on living life through a screen?

"It's not fair", "but my friends have one", "your so boring" were just some of the statements made by my then tween when discussing why she couldn't have a Facebook account. At the time, my daughter was just 12 and had started secondary school. Whilst many of her arguments for why she should be allowed to have an account were well thought out and very diplomatic, I was able to get her to understand why I made the decisions I did in regards to her having social media accounts. Compared to some parents I knew at the time I was not necessarily as liberal as them but I thought that children should be children and there will be plenty of time for them to be adults. Since then(which was just 4 years ago) things have changed dramatically. With children as young as 3 in possession of their own Ipads and tablets, logged into their own YouTube accounts or Netflix profiles to watch other children not much older than them on their own YouTube channels, playing with toys or unwrapping Kinder eggs (I seriously don't get it) do we have to change our thinking when it comes to children and social media?
     
Recently I've noticed quite a few adults on social media talking about how images and posts in their social media feeds is negatively impacting their mental well being and if it has that power on us as adults can you imagine the impact it must have on young, impressionable individuals. I'm not for one second saying that social media is an evil and bad invention but what I am saying is how do we manage our children and social media because let's face it, they have plenty to choose from;Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat the list goes on

Having 2 teenagers, I know that they have accounts across various platforms;, but I also have passwords to their accounts and follow them so have access and a voice in how they use it. So far, we haven't had any major issues other than the odd meme that they've re-tweeted or shared that I've felt maybe a bit inappropriate, so with that in mind I've put together some of my top tips for venturing into the world of social media with your teen.

• Ask them why they want to open an account and what they want to use it for

• Talk to them and prepare them for the negatives of social media too

• Make sure you are both fully aware about internet safety and protection

• Be clear on who they can and can't befriend and follow (people they know only and verified celeb accounts)

• Ensure that their accounts are set to private and avoid using location services

• Be mindful of what is posted (hurtful comments, personal details etc)

• Never posting inappropriate pictures and videos

• Never agreeing to meet with someone offline

• If they see something that concerns them talk to an appropriate adult

• Be clear on whether you want access to the account or if you trust them to manage it themselves

• Decide on exactly what platforms they will be using

• Agree on how long they can spend on social media (once you start scrolling it can turn into hours)

Hopefully those tips will help prepare to venture into the wold of social media with you teen.

Are your children already using social media? How do you manage it? Are you comfortable with it?

I'd love to hear your views.

Emma xoxo

Our 2019 Bucket List

I'm not a big believer in New Years resolutions, if you have goals or dreams then there's no need to wait for a new year to achieve them you should go for it, tomorrow isn't promised and all that but having said that, every year in January I like to sit down with the family and make a list of the things that we'd like to achieve over the coming year. Some are personal achievements, some are things we'd like to do as a family or couple and some things that our home would benefit from.

I find it easier to keep track of our annual Bucket list my organising it into colour coded goals

2019 Bucket List

Family            Couple          Children        Personal       Home

Picnic on the beach ~ Christmas Break ~ City Break ~ Spa Break

Theatre ~ Pedicure ~ Visit Boxhill ~ New Forest Short Break

Replace mattresses ~ New Dinner Set ~ Go Fishing

Loose at Least 2 Stone ~ Send a message in a bottle ~ Save More

Visit a trampoline park ~ Alton Towers Break ~ Visit a Waterpark

Have a Water Balloon/Gun Fight ~ Take More Pics ~ Visit a New City

Visit Virginia Water ~ Replace Wardrobes ~ New Sofa ~ Read More

Go on Holiday ~ Go to Peppa Pig World ~ Go for a Couples Massage

Go on a Steam Train ~ Hot Air Balloon Ride ~ Conquer 1 of My Fears

Replace Duvets and Pillows ~ Fit Breakfast Bar

Do you make New Years resolutions or do you have an annual bucket list? Let me know what's on yours

Emma xoxo