NOTD: Pretty Florals

This was my first attempt at nail art with an actual paintbrush. I followed a tutorial from Nailasaurus but made my roses softer and more "smudgy" to give the impression of a vintage floral print. The base colour I used was Tip Top's Melting Marshmellow. The roses were initially done with Tip Top's Sherbert Angel, and then I added swirls of Tip Top's Pot O Berries, followed by a little bit of Melting Marshmellow. (Sherbert Angel and Pot O Berries previously seen here). Once the roses were dry, I added small flicks of green polish to create the leaves.

Words of Wisdom

(image source)

Review + Giveaway with Rain!

Rain is a South African company that specializes in creating handmade bath and body products. Everything is made using local, natural ingredients, and they take great pride in producing everything ethically (that means, no animal testing, recyclable packing, ethical trading, all-natural ingredients). I absolutely love their stores - it's impossible to walk by and not be drawn in by the amazing scents and calming interior!

I was recently scent some of their products from their "Biologie" range to test, and I was delighted to do so!

100% Natural Hand & Body Wash and Lotion

First off, as I was expecting, these two products smelt AMAZING! The hand wash was lovely and gentle, not drying out my skin at all. As you can see from the ingredients, it contains extracts of honeybush, rooibos, sesame seed, rosemary and spearmint, which gives it it's sweet, herbal aroma. The hand lotion is wonderfully moisturising, but sinks into your skin quickly to give you soft hands. It's key ingredients are coconut oil (which I swear by), marula oil (which is apparently a natural tissue oil) and kigelia extract (which they claim helps improve firmness and elasticity), together with numerous plant extracts. Both the lotion and the wash also contain tocopherol (aka vitamin E) to help protect your skin. Overall, I was impressed with both products.

Manketti and Starflower Body Scrub

My current body scrub is very spicy, so this sweet, floral product made a nice change - before you even open the jar, the smell of jasmine is apparent (and who doesn't love jasmine?). The sugar scrub does a great job at smoothing skin, and then sweet almond oil, jojoba oil and mongongo oil moisturize your skin, leaving you soft and glowing! This scrub is also packed with poppy seeds, lavender flowers and tea tree leaves.  Also, I loved the frosted glass jar - it was just very pretty sitting in my bathroom!

Thanks to Rain for sending me these amazing products - I'll be popping into the store soon to fulfill my cravings for more~

You can follow Rain on Facebook or Twitter to get updates about their amazing products :)

And now for a giveaway! One lucky reader will win a hamper consisting off all three products shown here :) The only compulsory entry is to leave a comment at the end of this blog post, but you can also get extra entries as specified in the Rafflecopter widget below. (Only open to South African residents unfortunately.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Entries close next Monday. Good luck :)

Blog Every Day In May: Day 16 and 17

Day 16, Thursday: Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it
I don't really have a difficulty in my "lot in life" - I've been pretty blessed. If I had to choose something, it would have to be sexism/mild sexual harassment. Science still suffers from a very sexist attitude, and even though there are just as many excellent female scientists as male, I find that women sometimes still have to go above-and-beyond in order to be considered equal to their male coworkers. And, as is prevelent everywhere, a confident, assertive, ambitious woman gets labeled a bitch. Well, you can call me a bitch, I don't care what you think about me. I'm just out here to be the most kick-ass version of me that I can be. And I'll do it whilst looking my best. But if you make one more inappropriate comment about my body at work, I swear I will punch you.

Day 17, Friday: A favorite photo of yourself and why

For this prompt, I went for something a bit lighthearted. This photo was taken at an 80s party my friends hosted at the end of last year. I love this photo because (a) I am insanely proud at how awesome my hair turned out (my hair does not like to hold a curl, this took a can of hairspray and 6 hours of setting), and (b) because it reminds me of how amazing my friends are and how many wonderful memories we make.

Blog Every Day In May: Day 15

Day 15, Wednesday: A Day in the life (include photos from throughout your typical day - this could be "a photo an hour" if you'd like)

Here are some photos of what happened on Wednesday 15 May:

Faking my awake-face after staying up most of the night working on non-essential shit (hey look, the dip-dye hair effect is progressing nicely!)

Daily ritual of our morning lattes at häzz - essential!

Walking back to the office/lab on a chilly Autumn morning

 About to spend the morning catching up on emails, journal articles and plans

 Followed by starting to clean up from the "Magic of Chemistry" show the night before

Lunch with my supervisor and her students (yes, that burger was as amazing as it looks)  

Doing a little bit of chemistry after lunch

And then it was time to get ready to go out for dinner at a friend's flat :) Followed by another night of insomnia (which was weird, because wine normally makes me sleepy).