Astrid's Friday Confessional

Today we have the gorgeous Astrid of Skin Deep Beauty Blogger confessing her beauty sins. Astrid is such a polite, lovely lady. They say it's always the quiet ones, don't they?

Confession is good for the soul, go ahead and unburden yourself! I promise I won’t judge.

I know top tips always state that you should drink copious amounts of water for beauty benefits but I rarely do. I’ve managed to cut down on caffeine since the new year (sooo bad for cellulite!) but I still love nothing more than a can of ice-cold Coca Cola. I get through an embarrassing amount of the fizzy stuff.

I don't think I've ever heard them mention cellulite whilst the man takes his top off...

The vicious caffeine cycle is no doubt linked to my lack of sleep, another curse of modern day life which is bad for beauty. I can find it incredibly difficult to switch off although this has peaked my interest in aromatherapy and the results have spoken for themselves.

I’m positively religious in my approach to wearing SPF on a daily basis now but I admit that as a teenager, I went through the baby oil stage, something I still regret.

There, don’t you feel better now?

Yes, thank you Modesty Brown!

Aunty Brown has a few more questions though; it’s true that I’m the nosy type.

When was the last time you visited the hairdresser?

Last weekend! I used to be terrible at caring for my hair and following a fainting incident at the salon when I was younger, had my hair cut approx. once a year. It was in terrible condition. I’ve finally found a stylist who I absolutely adore- it’s taken me two years but following her advice (a good shampoo is the most important product!) and being strict with my haircare regime, I’m happy with the condition and style of my hair. I’ve been growing my hair for some time now so at the moment, I’m having my hair cut every 7-8 weeks and really look forward to my appointments. In between my salon visits, I treat my hair to a conditioning mask about once every 3 weeks and I’ve definitely found that taking vitamins helps.

Astrid - from hairdresser phobe to beautifully glossy locks

You have a choice: bad hair or bad nails?

Ideally neither but at a push, I’d go with bad nails purely because it’s taken me so long to get my hair back on track. Strangely, I’ve recently had to make a similar choice in “real life”. My hairdresser advised that I ought to switch from anti-perspirant to deodorant to improve the condition of my hair. Apparently, using anti-perspirant blocks the underarms and because your body still needs to eliminate sweat, etc.., it does so through the scalp. On paper, it sounds like hippy mumbo-jumbo but my scalp does get incredibly hot and I sometimes suffer some dryness as a result so it actually makes sense to me. I just need to find a natural deodorant which is enjoyable to use...

What is the oldest item of make up in your collection?

I still have my original Chanel Rouge Noir nail polish. It’s so old but not at all gloopy and remains one of my favourite shades. I’m pretty strict with myself in terms of clearing out products which go off or breed bacteria such as eye make-up.

I adore everything about fragrance and keep all my old, empty perfume bottles as ornaments under a bell jar on my dressing table, something which my other half finds truly perplexing!

Which trend still makes you cringe?

I’m pretty open minded about make-up looks- it’s not a tattoo and I do believe experimentation is a good thing. I think that’s one of the reasons why I really admire what Illamasqua are doing- encouraging people to challenge the expectations of makeup.

Asymmetrical haircuts, mullets and block highlights are big no-nos. Oh and bleached hair with dark eyebrows. Hmm, I never realised how fussy I was about hair!

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Thank you for sharing Astrid. I'm a fellow Coca-cola addict, I dare not confess how many points I have on Coke Zone! I need to know more about that fainting incident too. That makes my fear of hairdresser feel much more normal.

If you would like to take a turn and unburden yourself in the Friday Confessional you can email me at modestybrown@googlemail.com. It's open to everyone: if you have something to confess, I'm happy to hear it!

Diet Coke image from www.studentstuff.com