Lauren Victoria | Beauty & Lifestyle Blog

The Hair Tools I Use Regularly

beauty 09:00

I never talk enough about hair over on my blog, so I thought I would shine some light on the hair tools I use regularly. Some tools I obviously use every single day, whilst others are used once a week in my routine. These hair tools help me so much in both taking care and styling my hair.

One tool that I could not be without now is my trusty Tangle Teezer. I got one of these over a year ago now and I've not looked back. If you're after something that easily detangles both wet and dry hair, then the Tangle Teezer is perfect for you. It really helps to to prevent breakages and also helps to smoothen the hair when styling. The Tangle Teezer is so quick and easy to use. The shape can almost throw you off at first, but it's really easy to hold and it makes things very quick. I use my Tangle Teezer every single day and sometimes multiple times a day. It's also very travel friendly and easy to use when on the go.

Whilst I get lots of use out of my Tangle Teezer when mainly caring for my hair, I find that I prefer to use a different style of brush for blow drying my hair. I like to use a Denman brush instead. These brushes are great at straightening and smoothing the hair. They're very easy to hold and use. I also find the Denman brush beneficial when I want to focus on drying the ends of my hair as I can get closer with the bristles. It's also a really nice brush to use when brushing out your hair.

Taking a look at more of the technical tools I use to style and care for my hair, during the colder months of the year I always try to blow dry my hair at least once a week. I don't particularly like air drying my hair in the winter unlike in the summer when as it makes me feel cold and damp. Instead I blow dry my hair with the Nicky Clarke Diamond Shine Hair Dryer. I find this hairdryer to be really powerful and quick at drying my hair, which does make up for the only negative being it is quite a heavy dryer. But I guess that's what makes it so powerful.

I love that it doesn't get too hot and doesn't overheat when I'm drying my hair. It always remains a nice warm temperature. Once my hair is dry, it leaves it looking so smooth and silky. I never find it to go frizzy either which is a major bonus. I also love the mixture of white and gold in the packaging. It looks a lot more luxe than it is.

Also from the same range is the Nicky Clarke Diamond Straighteners that I also use regularly. Even though I have naturally straight hair, I like to use straighteners to smooth and control my natural hair that has the tendency to flick out in the ends. As I prefer a much sleekier finish, the Nicky Clarke Diamond Straighteners are amazing at helping me achieve this. I love that they have a different heat setting depending on your hair type. They're so lightweight and easy to use. The straighteners glide so effortlessly over my hair and never pull on it. They also have a locking feature so you can easily store them. Another great thing is that they automatically turn off after an hour if you accidently leave them on. I love using these!

When I'm not straightening my hair, I like to sometimes curl my hair and bring waves to my naturally straight locks. I've been using my Babyliss Curling Wand for absolutely years. I've been using them so long that they're not actually available anymore, but this one is very similiar and in a gorgeous copper colour. The reason why I've used my curling wand for so long is because it's so easy and quick to use. I find it easier to handle than a curling tong because all I need to do is wrap each strand around the wand and then release. It leaves me with a gorgeous natural looking wave. I never find the wand to damage my hair at all and it has different temperature settings to choose from according to your hair type. The curls always last a good few days in my hair also, so it saves me having to do my hair every single day.

What hair tool do you get lots of use out of?

Lauren x

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4 Things Wrong With Diet Culture

lifestyle 08:00

It's that time of the year again when everyone is talking about their bodies, fitness and the food they consumed over the Christmas period. January is a well known time for diet companies and fitness brands to continuously promote weight loss programmes and to guilt shame you into checking out their products, giving you the hope that you can shift any weight you may or may not have put on at Christmas.

This desire that we must workout come January and start to eat healthy food to get rid of any weight we might have put on during the festive period is one that I dread every single year. It's something as a society we have become obsessed with doing and every single year it happens. We have created a society that focuses on and values weight, shape and size over things like our health and wellbeing.

This is more commonly known as Diet Culture.

Even just reading that makes me feel sick.

No one should be made to feel like their weight or their size is more important than their health or happiness. It's disgusting to think that us as a society has created this reality. We millennial's have become obsessed with our bodies and the way we look, driven by the likes of social media and living our lives online. Everywhere we go there is pressure to look a certain way or to be #bodygoals. This type of goal focusing has become the main focus in all of our lives at least once.

We are disguising diet culture with eating patterns that are supposed to be in the name of health, but the reality could not be further from this. It has become so focused on weight, shape or size. Skinny is deemed good and fat is deemed bad. Our bodies are constantly being forced to change through behaviours, ideas and customs with no thought going to our happiness or well-being beforehand.

Both celebrities and every day people like you and me are guilty of being sucked into this sad reality. We've become fascinated with losing weight and trying to be a particular body type because we have it brain washed into us that if we're 'thinner' then we're going to be happier, more attractive, healthier and more successful.

The truth behind this is no matter how much you believe losing weight will make you feel better all around it doesn't. Sure being a healthy weight and living a healthy lifestyle is good for our overall health, but being a certain weight isn't going to bring us instant happiness, success or change our attractiveness.

4 Things Wrong With Diet Culture Weight Measuring

Being accepting and loving the body you already have will be the only way you will be able to achieve these things. If you can love the body you already have and take good care of it, then you're already ensuring yourself so much happiness, health and success. When you are confident in your body, you already are attracting success by believing in yourself. And remember confidence is very attractive.

These things will be bring more happiness than following the rules that diet culture puts out.

I could go on all day about the things that are wrong with diet culture, but for the sake of this post, I thought I would touch on the main things that are wrong with diet culture and also how we as a society can promote body positivity:

1. Diet culture does not support the value of all body types:

When growing up all I can remember seeing is girls plastered on every women's magazine with one main body type. They were all tall and skinny. No one was ever curvy or bigger. This was and still is a body type that sadly is promoted everywhere. The obsession with trying to be #bodygoals has got out of control. Why aren't we taught to love our bodies for what they are? Our bodies are more than just are weight or our shape. They help to keep us alive and keep us going every single day. Our bodies have enabled us to experience feelings and help us to do things we wouldn't be able to do without them. So why is everyone so quick to put them down?

This may come as a surprise to you, but not all healthy bodies are those that are slim and slender. Healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes. There is not just one body type that is the healthiest. There is so much diversity in healthy bodies. It's also good to know that weight isn't always an indicator to a persons overall health or fitness. You could have someone who weighs a lot more, but eats a more balanced diet and works out more times than say someone who weighs less.

The weight of someone should not matter. Instead it takes away the person behind the body we are not supporting. You do not need to be a certain weight or size to be a good person. You cannot determine who is a good person on the way they look. People are more than their bodies. They are worth more than what diet culture labels them as.

2. Diet culture contributes to low self esteem and body images issues:

We are all aware of the dramatic rise in mental health conditions such as eating disorders and body dysmorphia, diet culture is a huge contributing factor to these illnesses. Diet Culture influences low self esteem and body image issues. It makes more and more of us insecure in the bodies we have and puts us down for not looking a particular way. This #bodygoals fascination that I keep banging on about is very talked about in the world right now. It is driving bad self esteem and the pressure to be a particular way. It is based on unattainable goals that only works for the individual who is being desired. Your body should not be made to look like someone else. Your body is yours and it is yours only. Be your own body goals and work towards a better you without the pressure.

Diet culture doesn't just stop there though. There's also the ways in which diet culture makes us feel bad for the foods we are. It decides for us what foods are good and bad. When we eat these so called 'bad' foods and we don't get enough of the 'good' foods, we are then made to feel guilt and shame. This can then lead on to disordered eating as we then restrict ourselves or change our eating habits to compensate for these feelings. By doing this, diet culture is telling us that we must feel ashamed when we eat a particular food and it completely gets rid of the pleasure that comes from eating the foods we enjoy.

4 Things Wrong With Diet Culture Work Out Fitness

Eating disorders can steal lives. No one should have their life taken away by something that has been driven by diet culture. We should not be made to feel like failures if we eat a particular food and have to go to lengths of restricting ourselves. If you feel like you are struggling right now with an eating disorder, then please visit Beat (the UK's eating disorder charity) for more help and support. You deserve to live your life to the full without this illness stealing it from you.

3. Diet culture clarifies the good and the bad food:

As I just previously mentioned, diet culture is very good at categorising foods into what is good and what is bad. The guilt and shame that follows after consuming the bad is not healthy. It is what drives our bad self esteem and body issues. It has to stop. These so called 'bad' foods should not be made to feel us guilty. They are not a sin or a cheat. The conversations we have about food can lead to us having to justify why we are eating a particular food in fear of judgement or shame. Everyone has to stop being so judgemental about what foods others eat.

If you eat everything in moderation and have a good balanced diet of all the different food groups, then you are living more of a healthier life than if you were restricting yourself. Eating the foods you enjoy whether they are labelled as good or bad is a brilliant way of practising self love and care. This will bring you more happiness than trying to look like that girl on Instagram or only eating salads every day. The pleasure you will get from doing this is far greater than having to follow a certain set of rules diet culture tries to get you to follow.

4. Diet culture contributes to body shaming:

Society has a cruel way of body shaming individuals for the way they look. Body shaming involves someone humiliating or mocking someone with harsh comments regarding their body shape or size. It doesn't just happen to someone who is bigger, it can also happen to those who are smaller then average. Society does not discriminate who it aims its comments at, but it is always about their body. It isn't just people you meet on the streets or those hiding behind their computer screens, its also diet companies, magazines and newspapers, on TV and in the movies. Its everywhere and it is also a very dangerous form of verbal bullying.

People body shame to try make you feel guilty for the way you look. It takes away that value of the person and only treats them in how the mocker sees their body. It can contribute to people getting mental health illnesses and may even cause people to take their own lives. Instead of being brutal and harsh, we should be promoting self love and acceptance of own bodies, as well as other peoples. Tearing someone else down for their size isn't going to make you anymore attractive. But diet culture teaches us that size and shape do matter, not our wellbeing. It is best to challenge this and be the better person. Don't shame someone for how they look. Would you want someone to do the same to you?

Ways in which we can promote body positivity and get rid of diet culture:

Change your relationship towards food. Food is food. It is good. It is not the enemy. It provides wonderful value and can bring a lot of enjoyment.
Love your body for what it is and what it does for you e.g it keeps you alive.
Healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes.
Unfollow those who make you feel bad for the way you look.
Talk less about why you're eating a particular food and more about how amazing it is.
Delete diet and fitness apps.
Aim for a balanced diet with no group restrictions.
Be less judgemental on ourselves and others for their bodies. Think about the person first.
Accept and praise your body.
Get rid of negative self talk. It won't help you.
Promote body positivity and encourage others to be more kind to themselves and others.

Disclaimer: I just want to say that by no means am I encouraging people to be unhealthy and to put themselves at risk healthwise by not taking care of themselves. But I am hopefully highlighting that by being kinder to ourselves and eating a mixture of different foods in moderation, we're giving ourselves more love and happiness than dieting and trying to be a particular body type ever will. Instead of allowing people to decide what we should and shouldn't be eating, we need to look inside and see what our body needs. We need to ask ourselves 'What do I fancy?' By doing this, we're creating that happy relationship with food that we all want to have without the shame and guilt hanging over us for doing something we love.

Do you notice diet culture?

Lauren x

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Styling Flatlay Photos - A Step by Step Guide

blogging 08:00

If you're a blogger or a photographer, then you're probably familiar with the term 'flatlay'. A flatlay is essentially a photography style that consists of you shooting your photos from above and the items you are taking photos of are usually laid out onto a flat surface. It sounds simple to do, right? And it can be, but there are some important things to consider when taking your flat lay photos. The styling is probably the more time consuming stage yet also the most fun and creative. But it can be hard to know where to start and how to get that perfect shot that will attract readers to your blog or get your Instagram followers to hit that like button.

Today's post I want to show you exactly how you can style your flat lay photos in my step by step guide. So get your photography thinking caps on and follow below to learn how you can style some amazing flatlay photos:

Decide on your theme

For every different photo you plan on shooting, you're going to want to firstly decide on a theme. This theme will help you know exactly what you hope to achieve with your shots and also give you a good idea on how you intend on styling your flatlays. For example, if you plan on shooting a flatlay for a future blog post on quick and easy vegan snack ideas, then you're going to want your theme to be based around this. To get started, it will be beneficial to gather some inspiration, especially if you've never shot a flatlay before. Heading over to Instagram or Pinterest is your best place to get inspired. You can make some quick notes on any ideas you come up with.

Styling Flatlay Photos - A Step by Step Guide Inspiration Theme

When it comes to figuring out your theme, the main goal is to focus on telling a story within your flatlay. Sticking to my example, if I was to think of a flatlay based around some vegan snack ideas, I'd want my story to be focused around preparing and consuming food. This helps relate back to the theme of your photos. Another example could be if you were shooting photo of some skincare products you might opt to focus your story on where you apply your skincare in a bathroom or near a dressing room table. You want to make it look as realistic and real life as possible to give your audience the chance to relate to what you're taking a photo of.

It's also a good idea to think about the kind of props you want to use to add more life to your photos, the type of lighting you want to go for whether you want your shots to look cold and crisp, bright and airy or warm and cosy. There's also things like the angles and the colour theme you need take into consideration too.

Styling Flatlay Photos - A Step by Step Guide Backgrounds

Things to consider when choosing a background

Now you've gathered some ideas and inspiration for what your theme is going to be for your photos, you're going to want to choose a background to shoot your photos on. When choosing a background you need to pick one that compliments what you're photographing well. A plain white background is a great go to option because it makes whatever you're photographing stand out and in particular those makeup products. You want to pick something that isn't too distracting or over the top as this can spoil your photos. Your background also needs to match the props and the theme you're aiming for.

If you're really stuck on what background to go for then take a few photos with the background options you have and see which one you like the best. If you really cannot decide, show someone else and see what they think about each other. This feedback can really help you reach decisions. There's no harm doing a little trial and error between each background shot. It will be worth it.

Some quick and easy ideas aside from a plain white background could be marble (a beauty lovers go to), wooden floor boards (for a rustic cosy vibe), a thick blanket (extra warmth and cosiness) or a desired coloured card (for a pop of colour). Be as experimental and creative as you want.

Styling Flatlay Photos - A Step by Step Guide Prop Ideas

The low down on props

Props are really what bring your photos to life and can really make your photos look amazing! There are so many different things you can use for props in your photos. It can be so much fun to experiment with props and build a collection of props you can use time and time again. Props help you to visually express and set the mood of your photos. You can get as creative as you like and really think outside of the box. Like the background, you need to relate your props to the theme and your chosen colour palette.

Some good go to prop ideas include flowers as they add a freshness and natural feel to photos, books because they can work well in lifestyle themed photos, blankets if not used as the background add a cosy and warm vibe to your photos, drinks or food add a realness to your photos, ribbon can be good to cover up corners and confetti can be good to add a touch of something else to your pictures. Remember that it doesn't have to just be objects that you can use as props. Your own hands are a great way to add a realistic relatable touch to your photos and also help showcase what it is your photographing.

Props are one of the main things you experiment with. This also means that you will be moving them around, swapping them in and out between different shots, as well as continuing to add to your collection over time if this is something you intend to do.

Styling Flatlay Photos - A Step by Step Guide Styling Texture Depth

Once your ready to shoot, gather everything together to start to style your photos:

Now your ready to start shooting through careful planning and bringing everything you need together, this is the stage where you need to experiment and test a few things out. Put everything together starting with laying down your background near where you want to shoot in terms of lighting and space for you to do so.

Next you want to move onto putting your props into place and moving them around accordingly until you settle on something you feel looks and feels good to you. You want to ensure you're giving each prop space between each one. Some of course for photo effective might want to touch, such as a pile of books or a mug resting on top of a blanket. This will help to make your photos look clean and spacious. Remember you don't want things to look over the top or distracting. It needs to look like it flows well.

Next thing to think about is the way your props sit on the background. Are you they straight or are they all over the place? Well put together and effortless looking props are best when they have straight lines to them. This can also work well if your props are symmetrical with each other and follow the same lines down and across the photo. Again this creates a clean looking series of photos.

There's also this photography term called 'rule of thirds' that comes into play when styling your photos and wanting them to look clean. Rule of thirds basically involves you imagining your photos divided into three rows and three even columns making a grid of nine boxes in total. This grid helps you with positioning your products e.g your props or what you're shooting. The idea is that you place these products along the lines and in particular on where the lines meet. Doing this can really attract your audience in. This grid can be found on your camera or phone. Have a look in settings. Here is an example of it on the Iphone camera:

Styling Flatlay Photos - A Step by Step Guide Rule Of Thirds

Now you've got your set up and finished styling, you can now start shooting your photos. The best position to get in to shoot your photos is from above. This is what the flatlay photo is all about. All your products should be laying flat and you need to get above your set up. You can get taller by standing on a stool or something that is taller than where your flatlay is set up. If it's on the floor, then great your height will work fine. But if it's on a surface, you need to add to your already height to get more above the shot.

It's important to also note how you're holding your camera above the shot from your birds eye view. If you end up holding the camera too far down or too far up then this can look uncomfortable to whoever is viewing the photo. You need to ideally hold it straight without titling it either up or down.

If the set up you have styled isn't working for you after taking several photos, then this is where you can switch things up and style things in a different way. Sometimes I either switch props in or out or I just completely start again with how things are positioned if things really aren't going to plan. This is where you can experiment and have fun by being creative. The more you test different things out, the more you begin to figure out what works best and how you could style photos in the future. Every minute of practice you do builds on your skills.

Everything will it take several attempts for you to achieve the perfect shot and ones that you can walk away from shooting happy with. It still takes me multiple times to get shots that I am a 100% happy with, so don't beat yourself up too much if it takes you awhile to get what you want. When I'm shooting for Instagram, I can take up to a 100 shots but only use 5 of them. It sounds crazy I know, but the more photos you take and have to choose from, then the easier things will be come the editing stages.

What's your favourite part of flatlay photography?

Lauren x

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