Roll up, Roll up, It's the annual Countdown to Christmas "look after yourself" thread

[Helgathehairy]

It's 120 days to Christmas Eve!

Now that I've got your attention.

Call it what you will - Princessing, amazoning, Operation Renovation - the ideas behind the threads are the same. We want to look good for all those Christmas parties, get togethers and critical family members and we want to start building small habits into our days NOW so we're not trying to find something to wear when we should have left 5 minutes ago.

This will be the third Christmas thread but I can't take too much credit. I basically took most of the ideas from this thread.

The idea, in a nutshell, you make a list, it can be as long or as short as you like of small habits that will help make you feel better, look better, feel more in control, more prepared for Christmas.

The original princess thread had one list that everyone worked off of. I think it's better to personalise your own list but I'll post that list here for inspirtation.

1. 8 glasses of water a day
   
2. Exfoliating
   
3. Using some kind of teeth whitener
   
4. Using some kind of regenerative face cream
   
5. Intensive nail care (feet and hands)
   
6. Some kind of eyelash growth serum
   
7. The Shred / other intensive exercise
   
8. At least 2 extra fruit & veg
   
9. Healthy breakfast daily.
   

10. Hair oil (moroccan hair oil for eg, or kerastase etc)
11. No alcohol during the week
12. Daily vitamins
13. Body brushing
14. At least 2 servings of salmon or other fatty fish per week.
15. One early night once a week. Suggest 9PM.
16. Regular hair removal
17. Give up one naughty favourite item e.g. chocolate/crisps
18. No more fizzy drinks
19. DAILY body moisturising.
20. Warm water with lemon first thing in the a.m.

This is the shout out I did to see if anyone was interested the first year and there are a lot of list ideas in there.

As I said before (I think, this is getting long now) not everything on your list has to be style and beauty related. Other incarnations of this thread have included things like sorting clothes and decluttering in general. On my list I have an item to meal plan and make sure 2 days a week I'm prepared for the 5:2 diet. I'm also going to try and follow Organized Christmas so I'm not flapping at the last minute (although I have it easy, very small house and we go to the PIL for Christmas Day)

I'm going to include a few links now that are helpful. I'll get my list up soon, at the moment I just have it written in a notebook, and the notebook is in the same room as a sleeping baby so I'm not risking going in there!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/1771443-Fuck-I-look-like-a-middle-aged-frump
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/1406737-How-to-be-groomed

I thought I had more links than that but can't seem to find them right now! Not a bad start though. Will be back later with my list.

[Playthegameout]

Should've RTFT!

[Playthegameout]

Please can I join? I have always wanted to do better with myself, and I do do little bursts of effort, but then I give up and feel worse about myself than ever! Slightly restricted at the moment as we are skint, but so far I've got;

1. drink more water
   
2. start couch to 5 k
   
3. clear out wardrobe as it is bursting with stuff I'm too fat for!
   
4. paint/keep nails neat nails twice a week.
   
   I will definitely have more. Whilst I'm here could I ask any of you for tips on how to manage my awful skin? It's very spotty and greasy. I do have a cleansing routine that I stick to (using spot products) but it makes zero difference. It's been bad since my teens, so over the years I've tried a lot of stuff. I wear make up to cover it but feel this is exacerbating things, any budget friendly suggestions would be really gratefully received

[OneDayWhenIGrowUp]

Ha that'll teach me to rtft

[OneDayWhenIGrowUp]

Good morning ladies... just place marking this morning but I want to join in please. I started my own princessing about 3 weeks ago, and was feeling great, lost 5lb! but then last week stinking cold put paid to the diet, injury has put paid to exercise for a few weeks...feel rubbish and want to make sure ill get back to it when I'm able. Previous threads have been inspiring but I never joined in before. Anyway will come back later to join in properly

[Helgathehairy]

New thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/2173183-Its-the-Countdown-to-Christmas

Please post on the new thread only.

[waitingforgodot]

day 1-good luck everyone! Am having a glass of water with my black coffee. Will have fruit and yogurt once school preparation is out the way. Painted my nails a lovely nude colour last night which stops me biting them!

[BigFairy]

I start properly tomorrow. To prepare I have booked a dentist's appt for a check up and clean to get rid of stains. I also treated myself to a couple of nice products - body lotion etc to get me in the mood! My list is:

1. Cleanse, tone & moisturise (inc. serum and eye cream) morning & evening
   
2. At home DIY facial once a week
   
3. Dry body brush, body lotion & foot cream daily
   
4. Body scrub & foot scrub twice a week
   
5. Hair mask once a week
   
6. Do nails once a week
   
7. Drink more water
   
8. No alcohol 4 days per week at least
   
9. Cut down on sugar
   

10. Have at least 5 portions of fruit and veg per day
11. Cut out gluten
12. No snacking (or at least healthy snacks)
13. Exercise 5 times per week
14. More sleep - in bed by 11.30pm
Now I just have to stick to it!

[Helgathehairy]

smiles tomorrow is the official start of the Countdown to Christmas. We start with 115 days to go.

[wickedfairy]

I'm in!!!

I am on Day1 of no alcohol - I have been drinking too much and it is no good.

I am getting back on the bandwagon with beauty regimes (cleansing, doing nails, body moisturising, etc) and drinking lots more water.

I will make a concerted effort to eat cleaner and take multi vits

We should all be looking fab soon

[Smilesandpiles]

What's happening tomorrow?

[Helgathehairy]

Are we all ready for tomorrow?!

I'll start a new countdown thread and post the link here.

[MatronLloyd]

newbie I'm wary of damaging my teeth and gums so I just use the whitening version of my normal toothpaste and to be extra sure I alternate that with a non-whitening one! Paranoid much?

[newbiebaby]

What teeth whitener does everyone use?

[MatronLloyd]

Well done those of you who have made a start!

70 does your Soap & Glory pink water work well as eye makeup remover then? I use coconut oil as a cleanser but find I need to take off my mascara separately.

As for my targets, so far I've laid off the crisps, drunk more water and continued to meal plan. I need to get on with the rest of it though!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I bought some Soap&Glory Drama Clean Micellar Water (I was a bit hmmm because it looks like, well, pink water but I love it. I was getting no joy from my BodyShop eyemakeup remover, still had panda eyes the next day)

Dyeing hair today

Used up the rest of some scrub (getting rid of bathroom clutter and soft skin)

Ordered a pedometer

Back at work tomorrow but the roads will still be quiet as the DC don't go back till later this week.

[WowWowSauce]

Helga I'll let you know how I get on. I'm starting it tomorrow (after I've eaten all the rubbish in the house today). I think the hardest bit will be not having milk in my coffee. I got an espresso maker as that's the only type of coffee I can stand black - so now I need to stop adding sugar to it! And will drink rooibos or water through the day instead of all the coffee.

Godot - I read something aloud to myself before I start meditation, it helps me relax and remember what I'm doing. But mostly I focus on the breath.

[WaxyBean]

I'm in - I've let myself go this year and need to get back on track. I'm also trying to cut out all processed foods and alcohol and up the exercise. I'm probably 2 stone off my fighting weight and would like to lose at least one before xmas. I'm trying not to worry too much about my wardrobe until I've lost at least some weight.

I'll try and write myself some goals over the weekend.

[specialsubject]

using teeth whitener either doesn't work or damages teeth.
no adult in normal health who isn't pregnant needs vitamins.
no face cream 'regenerates'
body brushing does nothing.

so one thing on the list is damaging and two others are wastes of money and or time.

there you go, money saved for sparkly tat! :-)

[Helgathehairy]

wowwow I'm really interested in the Whole 30. Been looking into it (and paleo and "real food") but not quite ready to take the plunge.

[Smilesandpiles]

Primark is either, Primarni or Primanki here.

[Octopus37]

I reach the big 40 in early January, have had a bit of a tough year, am going to do the following:

1. Continue with my skin care routine
   
2. Try and moisterise my feet every night
   
3. Try and run or do zumba (on youtube) at least twice a week, once youngest DS is full time at school in a couple of weeks
   
4. I need to lose a about 8 pounds, really want to be back at 8st for my 40th, cannot diet properly as I panic, get hungry and fail. Therefore just tying to cut down a bit and be more mindful about my eating. Have given up crisps but could not give up chocolate
   
5. Drink more water
   
6. Sort out my wardrobe
   
7. Try and polish my nails more
   
8. Get my hair cut and dyed.

[Helgathehairy]

Penny's = Primark. It's called Penny's here in Ireland.

[Helgathehairy]

Well I did a bit of shopping yesterday to get ready. Now have vitamins, eye cream and footner.

Penny's have started getting their a/w stuff in so I indulged a bit. I got a grey comfy cardigan with toggles, 2 long sleeve thermal tops (I had one last year and it was a great base layer) and navy fake ugg type short boots. I wear them as slippers but they have a sole that you can run outside in.

Today I've done an hours walk on the beach with my dog but I got a large coffee from mcdonalds drive through on the way home.

[waitingforgodot]

For those doing meditation, can you recommend any links/websites/downloads-pref like headspace but free (and Headspace kept crashing on me during my free trial so puts me off a bit).

[WowWowSauce]

I'm in.

1. Whole 30 (I have coeliac and am getting fat and need to sort out diet and a few lifestyle things)
   2)This will involve a lot more cooking, preparation and organisation so I always have food with me. Make sure I have breakfast and lunch with me in the mornings.
   3)To this end, I have arranged a weekly veg box and can go to the butcher/fish shop most days.
   4)And less coffee/no dairy. One espresso per day and then water/rooibos
   5)Curate wardrobe. Fill gaps (boots/shoes!) and get rid of horrible black baggy horrors that I got to hide the coeliac bloating.
   
2. I also need to organise outfits not just grab the nearest thing.
   7)Yoga. I've signed up for a term near my house, and will sign up for another on my way home on Fridays.
   
3. meditation, at least six days a week. I'm already doing this but it's a new habit; I need to make sure it sticks.
   
4. Cleanse and moisturise daily. I have decent (and cheap, hooray) things and need to make it more of a routine.
   
5. Make up daily, just the minimum.
   
6. Waxing too. Found somewhere decent and affordable so get on with it. It's only ever 4-6 weeks ffs!
   
   I'm also trying to find a new hobby, not just take care of my appearance, though I think that will help a lot.
   
   I'm surprised I have so much. I thought would only get up to five things!
   
   On the plus side, I'm already having regular haircuts from a decent hairdresser, have been improving my eating habits, and have been buying decent clothes in colours that suit me. I know how to cook and how to eat clean too. So it's all pretty do-able.