Psychology Sunday; What is Anxiety???

I've always wanted to combine my training/day job and love of all things beauty on my blog. I came up with the idea of TheFoundationDirectory's Psychology Sunday, where I periodically write posts about mental health related issues. 

TheFoundationDirectory Psychology Sunday; What is Anxiety?

For abit of background and context I work in mental health and have done for over 11 years now, I originally qualified as a Occupational Therapist in 2004 and then went on to complete postgraduate studies in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in 2010. I will be adapting these posts as I go along, and initially they won't be weekly.

I would first like to say we all have mental health (just like we have physical health) and from time to time we require treatment and/or support to deal with difficulties with our health, be that through medication or Therapy. Part of my reason for doing this is to breakdown the stigma and encourage more people to talk about mental health and some issues they may encounter with it.





I thought I'd start with Anxiety, one of the most common mental health concerns.
 
What is Anxiety?; it's a normal phenomena that presents itself physically that we will all experience from time to time in our life. It becomes a disorder when it starts to impact on your day-to-day function or peaks to an uncontrollable level during a specific situation e.g. phobias. For some people it can mean constant and unnecessary worry about any and all aspects of daily life or future events that may or may not even occur. There are many different types of anxiety disorders; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Social Anxiety, Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Mixed Anxiety and Depression (MAD), Panic Disorder and Phobias to name a few. (I will go into detail about each one as this series evolves).

Symptoms: As I said for most the symptoms of Anxiety present themselves physically, for example shaking, breathlessness, increased heart rate, restlessness, sleep problems, upset stomach, tension, poor apetite, panic attacks, headaches and obviously constant worry etc. You may experience some or all of these, and you may worry about things that haven't happened or are unlikely to happen or no amount of planning or preparation could prevent from happening e.g. a natural disaster etc.

Treatment Options: There are many treatment options for Anxiety, and the best option for you may depend on the type of anxiety you suffer with, but CBT is effective at treating most types and is usually easy to access through a GP or self referral depending on where you live. One of the things to mindful of is 'self-medication' e.g. alcohol to calm nerves, drugs etc, these can sometimes just create dependency and do not address the issues causing the anxiety.

One of the things to note is you're not alone, like I said Anxiety is one of the most common, and even if you're not aware you probably know someone who suffers from it. If you are concerned about this or any other mental health issue, please see your GP, there is treatment out there that can help you feel better.

Please comment below and let me know what you think of this post/idea, or contact me on social media also let me know what other posts you would like to see.
Thanks

Alex

Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Powder - No50!!!

I'm sure most of you have heard about the latest release from Chanel, the healthy glow sheer powder from the Les Beiges collection, inspired by freedom and light as air make-up. I had a £10 Debenhams voucher and decided to put it towards the purchase of this £38 powder, I'm getting a litle bored of my MAC mineralise skinfinish and with these new powders on the market claiming to prevent cakey over powdered application, while mattifying and giving the skin a glow all at the same time I had to see what it was all about. I have the hourglass ambient lighting powder (review here) and absolutely love it, but due to the universal shades it offers no extra coverage when setting make-up. My skin is a little crazy at the moment, I have some horrible blemishes on my cheeks that refuse to fade, so I need something that will work towards disguising them without having to wear a full coverage foundation. Saying that the powder is incredibly sheer, so coverage is minimal, which is great if your wear little make-up and/or have great skin. I use this powder to set my foundation and concealer, it also has SPF 15, which is personally a bit low for me in the summer months, but can help to top up your SPF throughout the day (better than nothing).

The packaging is gorgeous and chic, the powder feels soft and buttery to the the touch and it comes with a large mirror and brush for touch up's on the go. I have used the elf powder brush and real techniques buffing brush to apply this, but my favourite at the moment is the elf mineral powder brush. I love the feeling and finish of this powder, it never leaves me looking over powdered or cakey, it does have a strong scent, but I don't notice this once it's been applied to my skin. I got the shade No50, but think in the winter I would need No40, however the powders are incredibly sheer so I could probably get away with either shade. The powders can also be used as a bronzer if you purchase a shade or two darker than your skintone. The shade range goes upto No70, but I'm not sure how many of these shades are available in the UK, the darkest shade the counter I purchased mine from seemed to be the No60.

Heavily swatchedSlightly blended out

It looks light initially, but blends out beautifully to give a demi-matte, sort of satin smooth finish to the skin. I believe these powders will be realeased in the USA in August, I can't wait for the cream blushes that are already avalable as part of the fall collection in America to launch here in August.

The powder with Laura Mercier's secret camouflage concealer

Do you have any chanel make-up, have you tried this new powder? Share your thoughts and any questions below.

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex

Get To Know Me:The Beauty Blogger Tag!!!

I have seen a couple of these tags and when I was reading through Beauty Broadcast's Blog, aka Emily Noel, she decided to tag everyone.  I agree with her that it'll be a great way for you to get to know a little more about me, so here goes.


1. Is your hair naturally curly or straight? I've been relaxed for many years, so it's straight. I haven't relaxed my hair since July 2012 as it's been in a weave mostly, I plan to get a brazilian blow dry very soon, so I'll let you all know how that goes.

2. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon? I haven't dyed my actual hair for a while now, but my weave I dye myself, however in the past I've done both on my actual hair.

3. Do you wear the same style everyday, or do you change it? I'm quite low maintenance when I have a weave in, hence why I have it in, it pretty much stays the same until I revisit the hairdressers.

4. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon? At present I do my own, years ago I use to have acryllics done and after that gel polish, as a treat I might go get the odd manicure now and again.

5. How often do you change your nail polish? At present I change it weekly, being a working mum it's hard to find the time and until recently I was also studying, my toes can go even longer especially in the colder months.

6. Do you polish your toes in the winter or just summer? Kinda already answered this lol!!! I polish them all year round, but less often in the colder months.

7. How long does it take to put on make-up? I think I take a fair amount of time to get ready, I'm always running late, lol!!! I have never actually timed myself, I'd say about 15 minutes in the morning, depending on how late I'm running. If I'm going out in the evening then it can take even longer, drives my husband crazy lol!!!

8. What do you do first? Face or eyes? Always tends to be face, if I remember or think about it or want to do particularly heavy eye make-up I might do eyes first, but on the whole I do my face.

9. Do you collect make-up or just buy what you need when you need it? Definately collect it lol, one of the reasons I decided to start blogging, might as well let people know how the products worked out for me and gives me even more of an excuse to buy more make-up (shhhh don't tell my hubby).

10. How often do you wear false eyelashes? As often as I can get away with lol, I don't wear them to work, but for an event I definately will. If it's a day time outing, then it just depends on where I am going, what it's for, my mood etc.

11. Do you do a full face of make-up everyday? No, some days if I'm home all day I don't wear any, if I'm just running errands I may just do something light tinted moisturiser, mascara etc.

12. Do you wear make-up when you're home alone or with family? Sometimes, I wear make-up if I'm home alone if I'm testing out a product, just feel like experimenting or the mood takes me. With family it depends on the event, my mood etc.

13. Will you leave the house without make-up? Yes, I never want to be bound by make-up, but I do really enjoy wearing it.

14. How many high-end products do you own? I have never counted, but my drugstore range definately outweighs the high-end brands, however I do have a ponchant for luxury.

15. Do you plan your outfit of the day every night or decide when you wake up? No matter how organised I try to be, I will eventually end up planning my outfit in the morning.

16. How often do you change your handbag? My work handbag pretty much stays the same, but for all other events I decide depending on my outfit.

17. What time do you wake up and go to sleep? I go to bed between 11-12pm ish and wake up at about 6.30am. I get about approximately 6 hours a night, even on weekends, my 16 month old doesn't know the meaning of a lie in.

18. How often or when do you workout? Hardly ever, people don't believe me when I say that though, I've been to the gym once since my son was born. I tried the squat challenge recently and got to day 8. *Gotta start that back up*

19. Left handed or right? Right, but for some reason I've always wished I was left handed.

20. How tall are you? 5'5

21. Do you speak any foreign language? Yoruba (from Nigeria), wish I spoke more languages.

22. How many pets do you have? None, like the idea of getting a dog, maybe one day.

23. How often are you on blogger? I read blogs on blogloving several times a day, on my own blog less, trying to post more often.

24. Do you read comments posted on blogs? Yes, not all if there are loads, on my blog all comments, I don't get that many lol!!!

25. Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts? Yes, I have a list in the notes section on my iphone, it very long lol!!!

26. How did you come up with your blog name? It's a play on my name that came about with a friend in college, couldn't think of anything else that I liked, so thought why not. It's now the same name I use on my twitter.

27. What kind of camera do you use for your photographs? Mostly my iphone, I also have a little canon, but mostly my iphone.

28. How often do yo clean your house? Feels like all the time with a husband and a 16 month old, mostly at the weekends, with general stuff during the week after work.

29. What's your favourite colour? It was purple, but I'm really falling for teal at the moment, and I think any shade of orange looks nice against my skintone.

30. Do you swear? I use to have a real potty mouth years ago, much more toned down now though.

31. What are you doing with the rest of your day? Well it's 11.12pm so I'll finish writing this post, probably peruse the internet a little more, then go to bed.

Wow!!! Thats the end of my first tag, if you read all the way to the end thank you, if you have done one of these yourself let me know and I 'll take a look. I tag everyone whi wishes to do it!!!

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex