Summer Make Up Woes | How to Hayfever Proof your make up

You guys know if you've been here long enough that I am a hardcore hayfever sufferer. Eyes, nose, throat, even my hair follicles can feel when pollen is in  the air. Fortunately for me I thought I had escaped it this year... unfortunately I was kidding myself and I was once again struck down by the summer sickness literally on the first official day of summer. Now please, before you leave your seemingly helpful comments on how to rid yourself of the dreaded disease go and read THIS post which I wrote last year, really guys I HAVE tried everything. But today I wanted to do a shout out and a bit of a helpful post for all of you fellow hayfever sufferers, I'm looking at you with the streamy eyes, runny noses and red raw faces, on how to best smudge, sneeze and hayfever proof your make up.

Go hypo-allergenic wherever possible
Now no this won't prevent your nose itching or eyes streaming but it will give your immune system more of a fighting chance and gives you less to react to should anything accidentally happen to fall into your eyes. Vichy provide a good range for sensitve skin and all sorts of coverage options.

Wear waterproofs
Nope don't start donning those jackets and wellies just yet we just need to opt for a waterproof mascara. Ideally apply this in the morning after washing your face so you're not getting pesky pollen particles on the wand thereby compromising the integrity of your formula (how posh was that?) The mascara will stay on even if your eyes are water buckets that day.

Invest in a cooling eye gel

Whenever I walk to work in the summer I find when I arrive my eyes are a hot, puffy mess. So my solution is to keep a cooling eye gel in the fridge at work and apply it when you arrive, you can opt for a tinted one like the garnier roller ball or a clear one such as the Body Shops elderflower eye gel. You'll get a lovely cooling sensation and you'll look a lot more human which is always a plus, but if you're in a pinch you could always use the back of a teaspoon to de-puff those peepers. 

Shower at night before going to bed and wash your face in the morning
Excessive as it might seem for many, if you go to bed with pollen particles all over your face and body you'll simply sleep in them all night, get a terrible sleep, wake with sore puffy eyes and runny noses, you'll probably even just not go in to work and lose your job...Just kidding! But you'll feel rotten, make sure you're going into a clean, pollen free pit at night and wash your face in the morning just to make doubly sure.

Conceal that blotchyness
Sometimes my face resembles a slice of corned beef in summer. You guys know how it gets when you've been rubbing, wiping and rubbing all day and suddenly you look as if you've been crying for a thousand years. Grab yourself a colour correcting palette and cover those red patches with a pale green concealer. Make up lovers will know that green combats the appearance of redness, blend that in with a damp beauty blender and cover with regular concealer and foundation as usual. Be gone blotches!

I can't tell you this will magically make you look 100% human again but it's a start, hang in there fellow hayfever-ites and hayfever-ettes Autumn will be here before you know it and we'll get through this together.

What are your top hayfever / summer make up survival tips? Be sure to leave all of your tips and comments in the section below, come tell me how to stop my eyes watering on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook you name it! 

Until next time folks, ugggghhhh (the universal sound of hayfever sufferers!) 

H.Elizabeth x

Granite City Style | Bon Accord Summer Style 2016

Useless. Utterly useless. When it comes to style in summer that's really the only way you can describe a former goth kid like myself. Instead of integrating with everyone else into floral patterns, brights and tanning at the first sight of sun I'm still sat clutching my winter wares, destined for a life in dark knits, greys, varied shades of black and a summer of melting in general! So, any help, as you can imagine, is greatly appreciated, and when I saw an invitation to Aberdeen's Bon Accord Centre for their summer style showcase of 2016 I was pretty intrigued. 

Showcasing all of the hottest summer trends for this year all of my favourite brands were out in full force, everyone from Benefit and Warehouse to newbies such as Jigsaw and scotch favourite Ness, everyone had something unique to offer us for the evening. Focusing on dewy, summer skin, the beauty brands were out in force with new tanning solutions (not my cuppa), highlighters in all shades of the unicorn rainbow and of course glosses, glosses galore which I was only too happy to sample!

The fashion brands gave us such great pointers for how to combine the hottest prints and textures of the season with colour pop bags by Coach which helped me leave with oodles of fashion inspiration and a shopping list as long as my arm. I was glad to see that the brands didn't just throw the top summer trends from the magazines at us, as I feel they so often miss the mark when it comes to weather. Bon Accord were great in that they displayed coats, jackets, handbags that weren't ridiculously tiny and all of it wearable!

Overall I was pleased to find that a lot of this summers trends are pretty up my street, and hey I may even add a pop of colour if I'm feeling super daring, what are your top summer picks? Be sure to leave your summer staples in the comments below, come share them with me on Twitter, or if you just can't get enough you can catch me on Bloglovin, Instagram and Facebook! 

 H.Elizabeth x

Hayfever Heroism with Kleenex | PR done right

Today I just wanted to share a little bit of summer awesome and a little bit of a win, which if you've been following me on Twitter recently you'll know I desperately needed, and though many of you will think this post is a little sad or sponsored (I can assure you it is not) really I just want you to think of this little bit of kindness in the wider context of the world wide web and applaud this specific company for listening to their Target market in a way companies just don't seem to anymore!

From the title you'll have guessed that said company in question are Kleenex and their #HayfeverHeroism campaign they have been branching across social media platforms with, specifically Twitter and targeting (obviously) hayfever sufferers, which if you read my recent post / rant here you'll know I am, with the view to provide the nation with a Hayfever summer survival kit, which after incessant whining, moaning and general complaints about my current state I was lucky enough to receive.

Incase you missed it my tweet went a little something like this and was in no way shape or form directed at Kleenex looking for free tissues if anything this was just a general musing and a 'why god why!' observation of my life, '@GCityGirl: Sick, sick, sick today hayever 1  Hannah 0 #hayfeverproblems #sickday' to which Kleenex responded, they would like to help and send me one of their sensitive care packs designed specifically with hayfever sufferers in mind. After a couple of emails I sent the company my home address and honestly and much to my own shame forgot all about it until of course the blessed day my nose was saved, hallelujah!

The pack itself has a cute little certificate that comes alongside your care pack, a large multipack of handy travel tissues and of course a coffee table box for when I'm hold up in my house hiding from pollinated air! And really instead of doing a review of the tissues and pack - which in all honesty would bore you to tears, I really just wanted to share this campaign with you all and how amazing a thing I think it is for a company in this day and age just to do something for their consumers for the sake of being nice (and of course getting brand recognition such as this) but really how often can you really say you get something for nothing and in such a lovely way? I thought the certificate was a particularly nice touch as the handwritten tweet goes to show it isn't just boxed and sent out to your address with no personal recognition.

And so to end today's post I really just want to say a big thank you and well done to Kleenex for bringing this campaign to tweeters and social media platforms across the UK and for of course keeping in mind we seasonal sufferers who really do go through a helluva lot of tissues in the summer (preach!) I'd love to hear if you have had any experience with companies like this and what your favourite social media campaign by a large corporation has been because I'll bet we're all hard pressed to think of anything this similar! Be sure to leave your comments below, come share your experiences with me on Twitter or of course if you'd like to continue to see me share the love come follow Granite City Girl on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, blowing with sensitive care!

H.Elizabeth x

#Hayfever Problems | Things people with hayfever are sick of hearing

In case you hadn't guessed from the title of this post, I am a hayfever sufferer, and I stress the word suffer with great emphasis and general pain, because I honestly don't think this is stressed ENOUGH throughout summer! Every year, without fail, ever since I was seventeen years old I have been foiled by the countless television adverts and magazine articles on the build up of summer, how amazing it's going to be, how warm, how stylish and oh so disney-esque and wonderful, but when it does come, it feels like the firey, itchy inferno where dreams of carefree summers go to die as I'm struck down with the plight of my hayfever yet again!

So in light of how depressing and generally sniffly, itchy and painful my summers are I thought why not share this joy with you lovely people on the blogosphere and keep you safe out there, safe not from pollen, oh no, safe from those you are potentially, in fact, if you don't suffer with hayfever, really I mean safe from those you will undoubtedly anger from the following phrases they really don't want to hear right now:

#1 Have you tried Benadryl?
What you really should be asking seasonal sufferers is if there is anything they haven't tried, trust me this disease is so irritating we've tried everything, eye-drops, nasal sprays, plug ins for the house, showering twice (sometimes thrice daily) so by asking if we have tried the most common hayfever relief on the market, all you're really asking for is a swift kick in the nads.

#2 Try eating local honey
This does not work. Trust me I've tried all of the tricks, and I don't even like honey, so really I subjected myself to months of spoons of warm honey and lemon water, honey in cereal and even honey on toast for naught!

#3 It's because you don't eat the right kinds of foods
Diet has a great deal to answer for, somehow all of the 'health blogs' of the world have it in their heads diet is the cure for all of your ailments, well let me tell you this honey, my diet is A - OKAY - I eat healthily, barely ever drink and still I sneeze.

#4 It's because you don't exercise enough
See above and apply to exercise.

#5 Just stop itching

Really its the only very naive who think this is helpful, and all I can really do is tilt my head and say 'really?!'

#6 Why don't you go to the doctors?
Have you ever tried walking in to your doctors office with a case of hayfever? I have, thrice! The outcome is always the same, a new tablet that does little to nothing to help me but is somehow 'as strong as you get' every time, or sometimes you're practically laughed out and told to come back with a 'real illness'

#7 Why don't you get rid of your outdoor cat or just keep her inside?
Perhaps the most infuriating and narrow minded of all - yes, in fact why don't I just live inside a bubble and wait out the summer!? Better yet I'll seal myself off from all human contact because believe it or not pollen grains don't just cling to fur it's all over yo face!

#8 My hayfever is so much worse
Great, let me blow your nose and itch your eyes since you have it so much worse. I don't care!

#9 You look awful
What's next comments about my weight and shape? No matter the time of the year, how swollen, puffy and red my face gets it's never an invitation to comment on my appearance, least of all when I KNOW how I look, not only does it look terrible, it feels terrible.

#10 Hayfever isn't that bad
Ignorance truly is bliss and if this statement doesn't sum it up for all you seasonal sufferers, then I don't know what will. Pass judgement on things you know, like being a douche!

Alas the hunt continues, today I can merely dream of a day where outdoor BBQ's don't bed me for days, a day where I can open my windows freely in summer with only the fear of bees coming in to launch an all out war in my home, and a day where I can cuddle my hairy baby freely without sneezing, itching, oozing and wheezing. So now that you guys have that lovely mental picture I'll bid you farewell - off to my icy tower of concealment where pollen goes to die. Be sure to leave your (helpful hayfever) comments below, come share your thoughts with me on Twitter, or if you'd like to keep up with the latests be sure to follow me on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, I'm off where summer dreams go to die!

H.Elizabeth

Aberdeen Events | Colour Me Rad 5K

Hello everyone, I'm back with another Aberdeen event announcement that I am pleased to report I will be attending and taking part in with one of my nearest and dearests and that is the Colour Me Rad 5K Run.
 

As I understnad Colour Me Rad have been around for quite a while now, taking their events all over the UK and inspiring similar events all over the world but we have never had one take place in Aberdeen until this year and I am super excited to be a part of it (although due to popular demand I almost wasn't!) The basic premise behind the run is a celebration of colour, positivity and fitness, unlike other 5K runs, Colour Me Rad fire off blazes of colour canons, colour bombs and mortar at intervals throughout, decorating your city (as well as your clothes, hair, face and everything else) with all the colours of the rainbow.

 

Registration cost £20 and with that you get a tshirt, a pair of 'rad' sunglasses, a temporary tattoo and a colour bomb (received at the end of the run) to throw at your friends and family to spread some colour and joy (although if someone cuts me off or is rude they may get this in the fizog) A portion of the proceeds go to a local charity in each location and in Aberdeen's case this is Northsound's Cash For Kids. This years race takes part on the 6th of June at the Beach Boulevard, and if this sounds like something you're interested in attending be sure to book your place ASAP as spaces are selling fast!

 

In the past I have taken part  in many runs, races and 10K runs but none like this, and I am really looking forward to it on the day if it isn't raining of course then it's just like that sad bit in Mary Poppin's where Bert's chalk drawings wash away! For more information and dates for Colour Me Rad visit their website.
 

Until next time folks, colouring myself rad!
 

H.Elizabeth x