Hmm

For the last couple of days I've been going to bed after midnight. The result is that I keep waking up later and later.

Which really isn't good for someone like me who is very prone to oversleeping.

So, from now on I think I need to be in bed ready to sleep before midnight on workdays.

Also I'm hoping to get internet in my apartment soon. I thought I'd be ok with just phone internet but turns out I miss the convenience of a computer too much.

In Japan

I've been in Japan for 12 days now! Every day has been so busy though - and for the first week I didn't have internet access on my own computer - that I haven't been able to write yet, even though there's been some hilarious/interesting things I really wanted to talk about.

Sadly I can't remember what a lot of them are now...

Training for my job finished last night so we all have a couple of days before going to our schools. Today we're doing hanami, cherry blossom viewing, since we arrived in the right season for it!

I'm not sure I have the battery for my camera with me though...

Well, I'm hoping to get back into writing at least something every day, so, fingers crossed I have time/energy/things to write about~

Very slow day at work

It's actually my last day of work too! Yup, on Monday it's off to Japan... my supervisor treated me and a colleague to a nice casual lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant - I'm so full now!

I've been struggling with my attention all day, because tonight is my leaving party and we're going to two new places so I'm very excited to see what they're like cause I've heard good things about them~

I just have to get through 2.5 more hours of work...

So sleepy that I...

...left my phone on my desk yesterday when I left work...

Sleepy...

Been extremely tired the last few days. I slept a lot at the weekend because I could, took a sleeping pill on Sunday night so I could get rested for work on Monday, and accidentally slept too long today and was a bit late for work.

I've also started sneezing, sniffing and having itchy eyes again so I'm wondering if hayfever has suddenly come upon me, although I always thought my hayfever was around April/May, not March... unless it's cat allergies again.

I'm sat at my desk trying really hard to stay awake, though I wonder if that's "food sleeps" - the other younger colleagues and myself went out for burgers and fries - and I got a milkshake to sip casually this afternoon, which I just finished after near 2 hours of casual sipping - as a sort of goodbye lunch. The food was fantastic but now I'm so sleepy...

My friend put it a good way - red meat, carbs and dairy must be good insomnia busters. I should bear that in mind.

Last night I managed to get some nude coloured bras which I desperately needed for my new work gear. I actually got two nude and one black, and another Uniqlo Airism vest top in white (have two nude and one black already). I had to stop myself from buying pretty tights while I was there, even though I really want some.

I ended up going to Marks and Spencers since I wanted practical bras that wouldn't break the bank, and my friends have raved about M&S's comfort levels.

But I have to say that on the whole their bras aren't for me. Out of the 5 I tried on, only 2 fit properly, and there were only 5 in the whole store that I could wear as work bras. The rest didn't particularly tickle my fancy either, so I'm back to wondering why people rave about them so much. I suppose two pluses for them/raving about them are their 2-packs and the fact that they go up to very large cup sizes...

My allowance has come in so I am a bit tempted to go to Victoria's Secret, since it'll be at least a year before I can go there again... Although, something I have noticed with their bras is that the back strap and shoulder straps stretch very easily, so much so I now have to wear them on tighter settings. This normally happens with bras as they wear out and the elastic stretches, but I think my VS bras win the award for it happening the quickest.

Procrastinating

My brain really doesn't seem to want to be at work any more. I guess it's just like when you're at school or university and the exams are over but you still have to go to class, even though you know you'll be out of there so soon so you can't make yourself concentrate.

Right now at work, except for the odd task from my supervisor, I'm just writing out my handover notes and tidying everything up.

Actually as of half an hour ago my notes were all finished and I'm just reading them over now in case I've forgotten anything or something doesn't make sense.

But mostly I'm wasting time on the internet and thinking about all the things I need to do before I leave one week today.

That's so soon! And I'm not completely ready yet! What should I do? I feel like I have no time at all! And I'm trying to fit in seeing a lot of different people after work and I think all of a sudden all my evenings are full up... which means I don't have an evening to go back to London Bridge to my parents' apartment for the last of my things :/ I guess there's always the weekend for that...

So much to do, so little time/concentration! Doesn't help that this weekend I felt the urge to sleep a ridiculous amount so I did...

Lush: Product Review no.2 - Ultrabland

After the flu, I had a problem with red blotchy skin which was getting me kinda down, so, remembering how good their Cosmetic Warrior was for getting rid of my acne, I wandered down to Lush again to ask for their advice.

The salesgirl recommended two products to me: Ultrabland and one I can't even remember the name of. All I can remember is that it reeked of lavender, and the smell of lavender gives me an intense headache.

Ultrabland's key point is that it is a very bland concoction for problematic skin. It's oil-based, so it can't be removed just with water, so you have two options, and I tried them both.

The first one is to use a damp muslin cloth. I thought, well, since this is how I'd been washing my face with Liz Earle (and since I removed my Cosmetic Warrior with a damp cloth just because I find it easier to remove masks that way), I decided I would do that. It kind of works. But, something I didn't notice, was that it was leaving a ring of dirty oil clumps in the sink after draining the water (I filled the sink with water and would soak and wring it out between wipes). Good news is that it ate clean through my make up at the end of the day, something that Liz Earle couldn't always do.

Coincidentally, I noticed the grime it was leaving in the sink around the same time I sprained my ankles, so I decided to go with option two, which is to remove it with toner. I had run out of Liz Earle and wasn't so sure I wanted to use an expensive (Benefit) toner to remove it, so I had bought one of Lush's aromatherapy sprays, especially as the salesgirl said that could only help with my blotchiness.

Removing it in this way requires a lot of cotton and a lot of toner, since Ultrabland really is quite oily (mind you, it doesn't feel bad because it's natural oil and not like... I don't know... pizza grease being rubbed all over your face. After removing it with toner, it still felt oily, so I then followed it up per usual with regular toner and then moisturiser.

This way is fairly effective, and - best of all for little old me with sprained ankles - it doesn't require water so I could do it from the comfort of my own bed.

But all in all, near the end of the pot, I got a bit sick of the oiliness. So I really had to push myself to finish it. It was also about a week past its expiry date by the time I finished it, but it hadn't gone mouldy or started to smell so I figured there was no harm in continuing to use it.

Summary:

• Oil-based and eats through make up
• Quite a nice almondy smell
• Smooth and unoffensive to the skin
• Bit annoying to remove
• Lasts a while, and about a week after its expiry date it's still ok

Score: 6/10. Would I recommend? Yes, particularly to people with dry skin or don't have time to moisturise etc in the morning. I ended up using this product at night and during the next day my skin still felt soft and neither dry nor oily.

Will I go back to it? Only as a make-up remover or if I have blotchiness again.