10 Reasons Why Brits Moan About the Heat

I'd hazard a guess and say that 90% of the UK population are getting a little bit tired of this heat wave in the UK now; in fact I wouldn't even call it a heatwave anymore because a heatwave is only classed as such if it is hot for a period of 2 consecutive days. I now basically feel like I live in a tropical country; minus some of the things that many people have in that country to try and cope with the heat. I know there's 10% of the population who will say 'stop moaning about the weather, you moan when it's cold and rainy and now look - you're moaning that it's too hot. You can't have it every which way!' Well actually I am well within my rights to moan about the current UK temperature and I shall tell you for why my friend...

1. We do not live in a society where air-conditioning is common in most homes. If we want air conditioning or any kind of cool environment we would have to go and stand in the fridge/freezer aisles of Tesco. All we really have in the UK to keep us cool are fans. Fans which blow around warm air and according to something I read the other day fans also disturb the air around you which can flare up allergies and hayfever. Splendid.

2. Most 'ordinary' people do not have swimming pools in their back yard. I for one would like nothing better than to have a cool pool to jump into but instead we have to make do with tiny paddling pools which, incidentally, are now also like rocking-horse poo on the high street!

3. I don't own enough summer clothing; I basically buy enough summer clothes for a weeks holiday because that's usually as much as I wear anything like shorts but now I'm wearing clothes on a rotational basis just because my choice is so limited without spending a fortune on clothes. Not going to lie I do spend 90% of the time around the house wearing the self same pair of shorts and a vest or t-shirt but going out and about is another issue altogether.

4. Chub rub. I don't care how fat or thin you are, I bet you know what chub rub is and it ain't pretty or comfortable. If you wear anything like dresses, skirts or short shorts which leave the top parts of your legs naked then you will experience chub rub. The less said about it the better but, ergh.

5. I literally do not want to even look at a roast dinner. Roast dinners are my absolute fave and I've now not had one for a good 2/3 months because I just can't face anything gravy based in this weather. All I'm eating is something and salad - just give me some weather that makes me want to load up on ALL the Yorkshire puddings, please!!

6. Still on the subject of food, although I may have been eating mainly salad based meals I've certainly made up for that with the amount of ice cream I have eaten. Over the past 3 months it's been more than I've eaten in the past 3 years. I've never been much of an ice cream lover, truth be told, the odd McFlurry now and again but nothing compares to the cartons upon cartons that I seem to have ploughed through recently. So much so that I have managed to discover that Asda, Tesco and Morrison's mint choc chip ice cream all pretty much looks and tastes the same.

7. The warmth just makes me not want to do anything, I don't want to move but then if I don't move for too long I feel like I'm cooking on the spot... it's like a never ending vicious circle of inescapable hotness. The sun naturally makes you want to get out and about but any lengthy walks in dresses/skirts causes the aforementioned 'chub rub' situation; you just can't win.

8. We have to continue to work in this heat; now there are some employers who are rich and considerate enough to invest in air-con systems but I can safely say that many places don't fall into that bracket and from my experience earlier on this week - B&M Bargains definitely can't afford it because their Doncaster store is HOT (so hot in fact that some of their fridges have packed in - presumably from sucking in all that hot air!). We shouldn't have to do it; I'm one of the lucky ones, I have 6 weeks off but pray for everyone in a non air-conditioned office or other workplace who are sweating their boobs off day in-day-out... and if you work in a kitchen - god help you!

9. I'm just so tired because sleeping is pretty much non-existent in this weather. There is no cold side of the pillow, having your leg out of the bed only serves to leave it open to the creatures living under the bed waiting to grab your exposed limbs and then by the time you've finally found a suitable temperature you're woken up by the birds chirping through the open window and the chink of light through the side of the blackout blind ensures that your hopes of any sleep are well and truly dashed.

10. Being in close proximity to other people becomes unbearable; I mean I'm a little bit anal about my personal space at the best of times but even touching my boyfriend has become limited to holding hands from afar and maybe a 5 minute cuddle with the fan blowing in our direction! I can't imagine how you feel if you've got a baby (or you're pregnant!!) in this weather because, seriously, I question whether I could bare having another person stuck to me day in-day out.

So tell me now, are you part of the 90% who now hate this weather or the 10% who are still absolutely loving it?

Water Saving Challenge with Yorkshire Water #reasonstosave

This post is in collaboration with Yorkshire Water

Ok, I'm going to be a typical Brit right now and state the obvious about how stupidly, ridiculously warm it is right now. Showers in this weather are EVERYTHING. Ice cold water in this weather is EVERYTHING. Investing in a sprinkler to water my poor newly-laid turf is... well ok it's not everything but I would quite enjoy nice green grass like my next door neighbour has annoyingly managed to cultivate *insert side-eye emoji*

But (there's always a but). There's 2 reasons why I've got to be careful with how much water I use:

1. The heatwave has meant that as a country the UK are consuming A LOT more water than usual which will soon dry up our rivers so I feel a kind of personal responsibility not to contribute to that potential shortage which would have a huge impact on wildlife.
2. I'm all about saving money, I have a water meter which could get very expensive very quickly because I'm charged for every drop of water I use. So I'm now working with Yorkshire Water to challenge myself to reduce my water usage.

The average person uses 140 litres of water per day; Yorkshire Water want to challenge customers to reduce their water consumption to 90 litres per day by following their simple advice on saving water every day and using their free water saving pack which includes 4 simple fittings to help you save water:

• Showersave - a screw on fitting that should regulate your shower to 8 litres of hot water per minute 
• Shower timer - does what it says on the tin really, challenges you to only spend 4 minutes in the shower (!!) 
• Tap Aerator Kit - aerates and reduces the flow from your taps by up to 70%
• Save-A-Flush - Saves 1.2 litres every time you flush

If your water is provided by Yorkshire Water you can order one of these little water saving packs free of charge!

I've also got a few more tips and tricks that I'll be putting into practice over the next month to see if I can make a difference to my water consumption:

Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cleanser Review for Combination Skin

Guilty as charged. For a good 12 months I massively neglected my skin, I wet-wiped it every single day and although I'm a massive advocate of wet wipes rather than nothing I realised the importance of even a half decent skincare routine when I noticed my skin looking really dull and lack-lustre. Don't get me wrong I think tiredness and stress contributed to some of that but having spoken to an assistant in Sephora she made me realise that the fact that my skin wouldn't keep makeup looking decent probably was nothing to do with the fact that I didn't use primer (still bought one though obviously because: mini sizes strategically placed near the till!!!).

Anyway, I raised my concerns about not wanting anything too heavy and oily or at the other end of the spectrum: a cleanser that would strip my skin of all natural oils but would suit my combination skin because I've had one too many bad experiences with cleansers that have caused problems, mainly breakouts. After trying plenty of different types I finally settled on the Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cleanser and I've been using it for a little over a month now so I thought it was the perfect time to share my thoughts.

Firstly can I just say that Kiehl's packaging is the one. I love how simplistic and no-nonsense it is. This squeezy bottle has all the ingredients and directions for use on the front which makes up the packaging design itself.

When I first tried this in the Sephora sinks I thought it was foaming which is an instant no go for me because I'm a firm believer that anything foaming strips your skin way too much but it's actually not foaming in the strictest sense, it's a gel kind of formula which is actually really soothing on the skin. It can't be used on your eyes which is a slight pain in the bum but because I really like the cleansing action of this I'm willing to overlook it. As with most cleansers you wet your face first, squeeze a small amount of product onto your fingertips and massage into your face with circular motions. I then rinse off with clean, warm water and then remove any excess product with a clean flannel.

The Kiehl's no-nonsense approach also extends to the ingredients and the lack of huge amounts of perfume etc. is clear in the scent of the cleanser - it smells soapy as opposed to overpoweringly fragranced which is reassuring. The foaming agent is a sugar derived glycoside which, without sounding like I know exactly what I'm talking about where ingredients are concerned, means that it doesn't strip the skin like regular foaming agents do so although my skin feels cleansed and makeup/dirt free after using it, it doesn't feel like it's squeaky clean (because as Caroline Hirons says: you should never aim for squeaky clean anything, whether it be skin or hair). It contains soothing emollients (things which soften the skin) such as apricot kernel oil, avocado oil and vitamin E to ensure that your skin doesn't feel starved of moisture after washing.

For me this is the perfect cleanser to use both morning and night for my normal/oily skin and (not surprisingly) I've found that it gives me the perfect base for applying makeup. Using this has given me a new found confidence to actually try other products from the Kiehl's brand so the Ultra Facial Cream is looking like a promising candidate when I've finished my current moisturiser. It also comes in two sizes on the Kiehl's website: 75ml (£9.50) which is the perfect travel size or if you want to kind of try before you buy or they also do the full size 150ml for £16.50 which doesn't break the bank too much where skincare is concerned.

Wilkinson Sword Intuition FAB Razor Review

So it might not be as glam as the release of a new contour palette but let's be right, the vast majority of us use razors for one thing or another and we are of course in prime shaving time given that our legs are out more than ever in this stupendous UK heatwave so when I saw the new Wilkinson Sword Intuition FAB razor on an advert I was quite intrigued. 

As an avid user of Gillette Venus razors I did wonder whether there was something as good, if not better, on the market (I did have a brief fling with some disposables from Aldi... that didn't end well). The Intuition FAB razor claims to be revolutionary in that it shaves backwards and forwards (hence the FAB...) so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

The design of the razor handle is really comfortable to hold, it doesn't slip out of your hand because of the soft rubber and the grooved grips help to give really good control over where your shaving which is obviously essential because it moves with the contours of your body without any awkwardness. 

The razor head itself is quite substantial in size and is surrounded by a water activated gel which for me is an absolute must because I find it provides so much more comfort when shaving because it doesn't pull or graze your skin even if you don't use loads of shaving gel/foam (I actually don't use shaving gel or foam I just use foaming shower gel which works just as well with a razor like this). It has 5 blades all together which ensures that you get a smooth, close, comfortable shave.  

The 'forward and back' element of this razor does take some time to get used to because obviously the natural movement is to just move one way but once you get used to the fact that you can actually shave backwards and forwards it makes things surprisingly easier than normal razors and I seemed to get a much closer shave (presumably because it's catching the hairs both ways so even the smallest of hairs get a close shave). I find that the F.A.B razor actually made shaving quicker because you don't have to lift it from your skin until you want to wet the razor.

At £11.99 for blade refills the price point is similar if not slightly cheaper than its main competitors, the initial outlay for the razor handle plus one blade is slightly higher than Venus (£11.99). Just a quick note aswell, you need to buy the specific F.A.B handle to use the backwards and forwards blades as they don't fit any other Wilkinson Sword handles. I'd definitely recommend this razor for anyone who's looking for a slightly quicker yet still comfortable and close shave.