How to

Friday 22 September 2017

HOW TO IMPROVE BLOG PHOTOGRAPHY - USING FREE SOFTWARE & PROPS


I think I have googled this question about a million times since starting my blog back in 2013 and have only recently improved my photography skills by far. I usually use a professional camera to take my blog pictures, but you can easily take amazing photographs using your phone if the camera has 8+ megapixels. For example, I currently own an iPhone 5s which has an 8-megapixel back camera which is more than enough to take good quality pictures for my blog or Instagram account. On the other hand, the camera that I use is the Sony DSCH400 20.1 Megapixel Digital Camera which is amazing for taking high-quality photos but unfortunately, it's not as good for filming videos.


As you can see in the collage above, the top picture looks a bit washed out and not quite professional for someone who is trying to introduce different products to their audience. However, the image below it is very bright and colourful which would catch anyone's eye from a distance as well as make an Instagram feed stand out.


To create Instagrammable photos, I use a light background like this one from Wilkos, and a few props to add a bit of your personality and unique style to the pictures. In this picture, I laid out a few different products and tried to make them look organised however if you prefer a more messy flat-lay then go ahead and do so as it might make the pictures look more interesting.
My favourite software to edit my pictures on my computer is Fotor which you can download for free here. The little routine that I like to follow to brightening my pictures is:

Brightness: 28
Exposure: 25
Contrast: -9
Vibrance: 12
Temperature: -23


This is the effect that I like to go for, which is bright yet colourful at the same time. Another software that I like to use is the VSCO app (you can upgrade it for more effects & filters) which is fantastic to use on the go when you've taken a nice picture and want to upload it straight away. If I want to create a collage or add text etc. to my photos then I turn to PhotoScape X, which is a fantastic free program but it can get a little bit difficult to use.

What software do you use to edit your images? Do you use the ones I mentioned above?

Lots of love,
Maya xo

Monday 14 August 2017

HOW TO RESTORE SEVERELY DAMAGED SHORT HAIR - MY STORY OF LOW SELF-ESTEEM DUE TO HAIR LOSS AND OVERUSING HEAT



Oh dear, my hair journey... ha! Where to begin? Let's start from the first time I dyed my hair - I was a very self-conscious 13-year-old who felt the need to do everything to not look like 'me'.
I was in a very bad place at the time because of bullying and trying to settle in my new school, but now I wish I never touched my hair.

I had beautiful golden blonde hair which was long and healthy, it wasn't very thick but it was definitely thicker than it is now. I begged my mum for months to let me dye my hair and she finally did which made me very happy. I kept bleaching my hair until the age of 15 when I decided I wanted to have brown hair?! - If you're thinking about dying your hair brown but you're a natural blonde, make sure you speak to a professional beforehand, because me going brunette was the worst decision ever. After a couple of weeks, I got bored of my dark hair and wanted my blonde hair back. Oh, boy was it hard to go back to blonde then! I bleached and bleached and bleached my hair until it went a horrible bright orangey-yellow colour and very bad condition.

For my prom, I wanted to have long and curly hair but did I f**k... The hairdresser I went to BURNT MY HAIR OFF!!! She burnt my hair off the DAY of my prom.... The condition of it was so bad that all was left for me to do is have it cut really short and re-grow it. When I say short I don't mean Pixie-cut short, I mean above shoulder-bob-length which I hated. Thinking back now, I should have sued the woman! She was so rude as well, not helpful when it came to me picking out a hairstyle at all... and the fact that she did not dry my hair properly and using styling irons which weren't suitable for wet hair on me made me so angry. But, you live and you learn...

After 5 years of trying to grow my hair out and dye it less, I can say that I'm finally happy with the condition of it due to this routine and these products:



My current hair care routine consists of scrubbing my scalp every time I wash my hair - 2-3 times a week, depending on my plans. Once I've scrubbed my scalp and got rid of all the dry skin, excess product etc. I then move onto shampooing and conditioning my hair as normal, I have recently been using the whole Lee Stafford Hair Growth range and I've noticed a massive difference in the quality and length of my hair already. Once a week I will use a hair mask to nourish my hair, I love this one from Lush and any of the Lee Stafford ones.

I used to wash and straighten my hair every day for at least a year, so I have cut down a lot on using heated tools. When I was regrowing my hair properly I refused to use any heated tools and just let my hair dry naturally and put it up using scrunchies or invisibobbles.
Now, I blow dry my hair every time I wash it because now that I'm older I take care of my appearances more than I used to, and from time to time I'll either curl or straighten my hair too. I have been really enjoying using Lee Staffords' Coco Loco Heat Protecting Mist as it smells bloody amazing, and works wonders for my hair too! Jeez, this sounds like a sponsored post but it really isn't! I paid for all these products with my own money and I only buy hair care products when they're on offer anyway.
Another issue which bugs me is that my hair falls out so much every time I brush it... I know it's normal to have up to 100 strands of hair to fall out but my hair is thin enough as it is!! Would you recommend any hair products or how to reduce hair fall out?

Have you ever been through something similar? What are your holy grail hair products?

Lots of love,
Maya xo

Thursday 20 April 2017

REVIEW || S+ BY RESMED - HOW TO GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP (AD)


So, I bet you're all wondering 'How can I get a good nights' sleep?' well, listen up folks because I think I found a solution!

I was recently sent a monitoring advice called S+ by ResMed which has been designed to detect your breathing and monitor your sleep cycle.

I couldn't wait to try my S+ out and when it finally came I opened it up straight away. I went through the instructions with Kieran as we both suffer from sleep deprivation (his is much worse than mine so I thought it'd be best for him to try it out and see if it made any changes).

We set the monitor up next to our bed pointing towards Kieran's chest so it can monitor his breathing and movement. It has two charger ports so you can charge your tracking device (you have to download the app to see results) as well as turning on the S+ by ResMed.




It didn't come packaged quite like this, but I do try to keep it in the box as it is a valuable product to both myself and Kieran. The cable is long but I feel like it would benefit from being slightly longer as I do have to use an extension lead to place it comfortably near our bed (sucks not having closer plug sockets).


This is what the app looks like when you open it up. I have already registered and got Kieran to answer a short(ish) quiz about his sleeping habits, such as if he sleeps with the light on or if he watches the telly before bed.

As you can see, the S+ is a small monitoring device which (to me) is quite stylish. I would easily keep it out the box and store it on my bedside table but with my OCD I prefer to keep it in the box ha ha.



Here you can see one of the nights when we used the product and Kieran's sleep score was quite high, bearing in mind he only slept for 6.5 hours. The recommended amount of sleep a person our age should get is 8-9 hours so you can only imagine how tired he felt when he got up that morning!


Here you can see the tracking of Kieran's sleep. It's hard to get a good nights' sleep being a student and living in a noisy accommodation!


The quality of your sleep also depends on your mental health, so if you suffer from anxiety then it's likely your sleep won't be as good as it should be. If you do suffer from anxiety and find it hard to sleep then I suggest listening to calming music/sounds or meditating before bed.


Here you can see that my details are included on the app which I had done to protect Kieran's privacy however, he filled out the survey and information (such as weight etc).

Overall, I think this device is great for monitoring sleep cycles and try to overcome insomnia as well as learn to get better sleep. It's very handy and doesn't take up too much room. Kieran has mentioned that he feels slightly better about his sleep knowing what it is that wakes him up throughout the night and how to improve, therefore we both think that S+ by ResMed is a great investment to those who suffer with sleep deprivation.
The only issues I have with this is that you need to use wifi overnight which drains battery (it is suggested you charge the device your app is installed on using the same port the S+ is connected to), and also it would have been useful if it monitored both of our sleep cycles rather than just one person's at a time.

You can buy the S+ by ResMed here.

*This post includes PR samples.

Do you struggle with sleep? Have you got any helpful tips on how to get better quality sleep?

Lots of love,
Maya xo

Thursday 7 April 2016

How I Clean My Make-up Brushes

Hi Everyone!

Who else finds washing their makeup brushes a chore? It takes sooo long to do and should be done more often than any of us wishes to admit. I personally clean my brushes at least once a month - yes I know it's not good enough but I never seem to find the time to clean them all! However I do switch up between brushes after one gets too dirty.



I usually clean them using MAC's Brush Cleanser which you can find here for £12. I've been using this for over a year now and I use up around 20ml each time for all of my brushes - and I do own around 50.


Firstly, I like to get organised and grab all the tools I will be needing before I get started. I usually get a small dish to put the cleanser in, and paper towels to rub the makeup off onto them.



So as you can see, I grab a dirty brush and soak it in the solution. I try to do this sparingly as too much solution will make the bristles become too coarse and sometimes it can get inside the handle and cause the glue to stop working resulting in the brush to come apart. And that is not what you want to happen, especially to expensive brushes!




After I dipped the brush in the solution, I swirl the brush onto the paper towel in circular motions until the brush has no product left in the bristles.


Ta-dah! Yes, it's that easy! However, if you don't feel like spending lots of money on special cleansers you can easily substitute it for a bit of washing up liquid or shampoo and then rinse it out under a running tap without allowing the water to soak up the whole brush.


I hope this helped! How do you wash your brushes?

Lots of love,
Maya xo

Sunday 3 May 2015

How to get grey/silver hair

Hey dolls!
Who doesn't love to change their hair colour better stop reading this now, because this post is all about my journey to getting grey hair. As most of you probably already know, grey hair is one of the biggest trends at the moment since Kylie Jenner introduced her grey ombre to us. I don't particularly follow her trend but when I saw other girls post pictures of their grey/silver hair I started to miss mine...
The first time I had silver hair was two years ago in the summer holidays and I absolutely loved it but it was so hard to maintain the colour that I had dyed it back to blonde not long after. This time I went a bit darker and chose the shade 'pigeon's dust' from my local Polish shop and absolutely love the results.
So this is the hair dye I bought. It includes the colour cream and the oxidizer at 9% and of course a pair of gloves.I have also used a mixing bowl and brush for easier application. What I would recommend is to mix half of the oxidiser with a bit of water so the colour comes out darker rather than lighter as the higher percentage of the oxidiser the lighter the hair will come out. It'll loo best mixed with 6% and a bit of silver shampoo in the mixture. Firstly, I applied the dye to my roots (btw it has a leaflet inside the box and it has the instructions in English) and kept it on for about 15 minutes and then applied the rest of the product on the length of my hair and kept it on for yet another 15-20 minutes. Because I added a hint of silver shampoo it gave the dye a purpley effect so now my hair looks grey with a hint of purple which makes it that slightly bit more unique in my opinion.

If you have any further questions about how I got my hair to be this gorgeous colour then don't hesitate and leave a comment below or email me at m.a.salkiewicz@gmail.com :)

Lots of love,
Maya xo
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