Frump to Fab - 2025

sukeyboo

Just a quick post to ask if any of you lovely ladies have tried journaling as a way of habit tracking and to improve your physical and mental health? I have watched a few YouTube videos and used Pinterest to get some ideas as I want to do this the old fashioned way with pen and paper rather than spending more time on my iPad.

Floss

chanie said:

...  i mix my foundation with bobbi brown face base, which is an amazing face primer and i sometimes wear it by itself and i think this gives a great glowy look.  Primark has a dupe of this which is a good MSE alternative, if anyone is interested.  

I'm always up for a dupe, could you tell me what I'm looking for in Primark?

chanie

@sukeyboo i did a version of bullet journaling - more of a glorified to do list than habit changing., i didn’t use a fancy notepad, but bought coloured pens, stamps and stickers to make it look pretty, as im not creative.  

i’d recommend using a notepad with squares as it helps to stay neat, but get a note pad with light squares or dots, so the focus is on your writing and not the harsh lines. 


@floss its called prep and perfect and is about £4.  primark on the right and bobbi brown on the left.

 

Floss

Thanks @chanie

sukeyboo

Thanks for the advice @chanie

helensbiggestfan

Good Morning Lovely Ladies.  

Sorry I have been awol but tbh life has been a bit blah this last few weeks,  a lot of aches and pains, mild anxiety, feeling shattered and drained.  Never mind,  we have kissed January goodbye - always my worst month so hopefully things should start looking up.  

Today I saw my gynaecologist. I have been struggling a bit with some minor issues and was worried I might need surgery.  Thankfully nothing invasive is needed, just some lotions and potions.lol.  She also noticed my very dry skin on my hands and legs and prescribed cetraban.  I might just use it as an emergency to get things under control but I don't really want to use it long term. I really need to start making my own body oils again.  Creams and lotions just aren't enough for my post menopausal skin and tbh most of them contain sodium laurel sulphate which just dries my skin out even more.  I am much better off with natural oils, although they are a bit messy, needing a bit of time to sink in before I can get dressed.  

Today would have been my 42nd wedding anniversary. Hey ho. I shall raise a glass tonight and indulge in some chocolate.  

Chanie .....thanks for the info on the prep and perfect dupe.  I love a good dupe.  Apparently Aldi ,currently have some good perfume dupes at the moment so I shall investigate those.  

Sukey ...yes I journal on a fairly regular basis. I have tried and failed at meditation but I do find journalling helpful, especially at times when I'm feeling anxious.  It helps clear my brain of all the nonsense....lol.

right time for coffee.....

💕💕.  

Ps solicitor says we are "nearly there". Wahoo.💃
  

helensbiggestfan

Good Morning lovely ladies.  

Well last night I had the best nights sleep I have had in aeons, 7.5 hours straight. What a difference a decent nights sleep makes.  I woke up without that awful feeling of anxiety in the pit of my stomach and actually feeling a bit more refreshed instead of feeling drained and exhausted. I think the possibility of needing gynae surgery must have been buried in my subconscious making me feel stressed and sabotaging my sleep.  I have been managing on about 4 hours a night for weeks now and it's just not enough.  So hopefully I can put all that behind me and shift my focus on to more pleasant things.  

Currently being very lazy, coffee in bed.  Looking out of my bedroom window I can see blue sky and sunshine. 🌞. A welcome sight.  So I shall get out and about and make the most of it.

I am going to have another crack at trying to lose some weight. I have been a bit silly with my food choices recently and sad to say I am the heaviest I have ever been. Time to get a grip, so today I'm going to go through my kitchen cupboards and get rid of all the temptation. I want to get in better shape and have more energy for my holiday. I've got 8 weeks so I am going to try and lose 10lbs.  

No more procrastination!!!!!   

OpalGirl

Nothing like a good night's sleep to make you feel better.
Good luck with the weight loss, I'm sure you can achieve it. I've lost almost 9 pounds since the middle of January - still have a lot more to lose but very pleased with progress so far.

2Scratters

Still working on using up the bottom half of my lip conditioner using a lip brush. Finally got my backside to the barber shop and with my cash my bill was 8.50. Just needs a top up of colour and I'm good to go. Not really going anywhere 
I have started to use up some makeup - again (I know some people panic about this but I don't) as I won't ever be buying anymore the intention is to make the best of me with what I have. I do use moisturiser daily. I did actually throw out my most recent purchase of mascara as it had dried up and was a bit miffed as it was brown and not black which is hard to come by. I may succumb to replacing it. 

Need to reduce the amount of sugar that gets into my diet. I do have a sweet tooth and a meal needs completing with a pudding/desert of some kind. We always had that growing up along with the obvious bread and butter as our portion sizes were not massive for a family of 6 bellies needed filling. 

I have been concentrating on my wardrobe and looking more at mixing and matching. I had the opportunity the other day to wear a blouse I bought back in the middle 90's really really expensive and I simply covered it with a "tank top" sleeveless jumper as it was a long length blouse it looked great. 

2 Scratters xx

SandyShores

Just wondering if anyone has tried block mascara recently.  My mum used to use it eons ago - I remember her having it when I was a little girl.  I've found a couple on line - this Bain and Savon one is only £8.50 plus delivery and lasts up to six months.  I use mascara so rarely and am fed up of using it a couple of times then being dried up or lumpy by the time I need it again.  I might give it a go.  @2scratters they do a brown version too.

@helensbiggestfan I'm glad you're okay. I'm joining you on the weight loss journey.  My holiday is in 20 weeks but I've decided to overhaul my diet, eat healthily and lose weight steadily.  I listened to Dr William Li on the Mel Robbins podcast and his advice really made sense to me - it was more about antioxidants/eating healthily but I'm watching my calories too.  Got to say I feel a lot better after 3 weeks and I've lost 2.5lbs.  Some of the advice is very simple like having five a day and restricting eating to between 8 to 8.  I'm not sure why I've fallen off the wagon diet-wise before but I'm planning to make this my last weight lost ever even if I have to keep eating this way forever