I was seduced by Commercial Toner

So earlier this year I wrote a blog about my homemade skincare products and shared my experiences about why I made the switch from store bought to natural. Whilst I’m not entirely natural, I do have a exfoliator I use that is store bought, I do use a homemade cleanser, toner and moisturiser. However my mum was given a little sample of two store bought toners as a gift with purchase. I liked the pretty little bottles and thought that it had been at least four, possibly five months since I had used a store bought toner. So I thought I’d give these a go.

My first impressions of them were great, my skin felt so clean, like it tingled because it was so clean. I used them once, occasionally twice a day for about a week and boy did I start seeing results. Not good results, but results none the less. My skin started breaking out. Now I do get spots at least once, if not twice a month, but using this store bought cleanser my skin got three times the amount of spots I had experienced from the past couple of months. Nothing else had changed to my routine, I didn’t put on more makeup than normal. Just changed the toner.

Needless to say I am back to homemade toner and after about a two weeks my skin was back to normal and is currently spot free. I’ve learnt my lesson to stick to my homemade stuff…no matter how alluring the pretty packaging looks.

Duolingo on completion

On Sunday (14th February) I completed Duolingo, which is no easy task. I guess I have been doing it for about two years, but I have restarted the course maybe 3 times during that period…but on Sunday it was the first time I completed it. So I thought it would be a great opportunity to review more fully now.

I think Duolingo is a great tool for helping to learn a language, I love the competitive element and seeing how your friends are doing. Often trying to beat my friends score keeps more doing Duolingo.

I like the game style element, with the trial and error format. I think it is a great way to learn a language. However I do not think it is the only way to learn a language. I think to use it within different ways to learn a language is the most successful way to use Duolingo. I think you need to read, speak to native speakers, watch films, listen to music, and attend a regular class.

I love that Duolingo has little notes that explain each section and the rules of grammar. However whilst these are good towards the beginning of the tree, some of the lessons towards the end, which need explanation do not have as much (or any) information to them. Which is why I think you need someone, such as a native or a teacher, to help you understand more.

That being said, if you want to learn the basics of a language and be able to get by in a country where the language is different – I think you can very easily do that with Duolingo. Natives have told me they can understand me, even if I do not get the sentence right perfectly.

What happens once you finish Duolingo? Well I have just started getting involved with the Immersion/Translating section of Duolingo. So this is a great way to develop your language skills even further. I also took a Duolingo test and scored 3.48/5.00. So I am not fully comfortable with all of the Duolingo lessons yet and I knew I wouldn’t be. So I will continue to practise words until I am fully comfortable with them alongside translating documents.

If you fancy brushing up or learning a new language I really recommend giving Duolingo a try!

Dad’s Army (1 1/2 Stars)

I wasn’t overly looking forward to this film, something told me it just wasn’t going to be all that great. I suppose it was because I was never really a huge fan of the television series, whilst it was funny and there was the odd laugh, it just seemed all a bit too silly – I mean no one could be that stupid and incompetent really?

Well the film is much like the TV series and I don’t think you have to be a fan of the TV show to appreciate this film. I just felt that despite a great cast that has some of Britain’s finest actors in it: Bill Nighly, Toby Jones, Michael Gambon, Bill Paterson, Sarah Lancashire, Mark Gatiss and Alison Steadman, I just wasn’t that inspired.

Throughout the film it almost seemed like copyright prevented some catchphrases and the theme music being used but perhaps the sustained cloak and dagger references to the tv show were just there to entertain those who were a fan.

As for the storyline, I just felt that it was worthy of a 30 minute TV episode but it had been dragged out to make a feature film, and it was painfully too long.

Whilst I did enjoy the moderate nostalgia trip, it did make for an incredibly dull two hours at the cinema.

 

Deadpool (4 Stars)

Now this is a film that doesn’t take itself seriously. I find it very reminiscent of Scream and it is almost of is Marvel are mocking their traditional Superhero film franchise with this film and it works. Ryan Reynolds, an unlikely role, at least I think so given I usually associate him with the Proposal, one of the view Chic Flicks I have seen. It’s great that he can adapt and change out of a genre.

The generally script of this film is formulaic in terms of a traditional Superhero storyline, yet it is made refreshingly different with Ryan Reynolds personification of a witty script and writer’s ability to have some fun with this film. I particularly like the sustained references to this being a superhero movie and Reynold’s charm as the rather loveable Anti-hero Hero. This film is more closely linked to the Happy upbeat Vibe of Guardians of the Galaxy and a welcome departure from the more tedious and getting old Iron Man 3 saga of the Franchise.

I actually really look forward to seeing a sequel of this Superhero.

Photography tips for organiser fans

I know that pictures of different organisers are always popular and I know people love sharing pictures of their latest set up or new purchases.

I’ve been a keen photographer for a number of years and since I started blogging on Philofaxy I’ve been trying to improve my own techniques to take better pictures of my organisers.   So here are some tips on how to take better pictures.

Firstly Filofax organisers aren’t the easiest subjects to take photographs of, sure they stay still when you tell them to, but they are relatively small, so in normal circumstances you will be quite close to your subject.

So my first tip, try to use natural light were possible, either next to a sunny window or like I often do, on a table outside. What ever camera you use the more natural the light, then there will be quite an improvement in your pictures. With indoor lighting or with flash your camera has to try to make up for the lack of light and so on digital pictures they will look noisy and also they will look quite flat and lack sharpness.

Try to use a plain background, it doesn’t have to be anything expensive, a coloured bed sheet or cushion is fine or may be a cork notice board or similar. Something that isn’t going to clash colour wise with the subject or distract the reader. I use a variety of things this one is stood on a spare floor tile to provide a reflection.

Try to take pictures from different angles, or zoom in on a particular feature or part of the design like I did with this shot:

I often crop my photos afterwards on the computer, but I don’t change many settings just crop and save with most of them. It gets rid of wasted space in the photograph and concentrate on the Filofax not the surroundings.

If your camera lens can take filters, try fitting a polarising filter to your lens, I’ve found this can reduce the ‘glare’ you get off the shiny surface of the leather organiser and it then brings out the natural colour of the leather.

When you are taking photographs of the interior of your Filofax to show off your inserts, try to show them with some content on the pages, even if you have to create some ‘dummy’ entries, which I will hold my hand up to doing before now!!

Even if you only need two or three pictures for your blog post, take plenty of pictures, it’s far easier to discard them at a later date after you have written your post than to have to set it all up again, like I had to do once. I took a series of pictures, took all the organisers inside and then noticed another one sat on the table…. ‘Doh’ back outside again start again!

The more pictures you take the better your technique becomes anyway, so try varying the camera position and angle, stand back a little and zoom in. Small changes can make quite a difference some times.

In full sunlight be careful where you stand as you don’t cast a shadow across the subject.

Sometimes you have to do some quite clever techniques, like joining several photos together.

So here is the set up for my ‘Collection’ photo, as you can see the background doesn’t reach around the full width.

So I take a couple of photos at different positions, then as the camera turns I moved the background around. Then I stitch the 4 or 5 photos together and here is the result. I need to do an update, that one was taken in 2014!

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will get back to you.

So it is now time to take the lens cap off and try taking some more pictures… enjoy.

Steve Morton http://philofaxy.com and http://travellersnotebooktimes.com

Letter Writing Etiquette: How to write your first letter

Quite a while ago now I wrote about my old school hobby of letter writing. As modern technology takes over our lives it can be quite challenging to pick up an old school hobby, particularly when modern life doesn’t necessary engage with some skills needed for letter writing. Today I am going to share my advice for perhaps the most difficult challenge associated with letter writing. Writing the first letter.

So if you read my last post and were quite interested you’ve probably found some new people and you’ve exchanged a couple of instant messages and got a few addresses and now you’ve sat down and you have no idea what to do, you’ve filled with excitement to stop but you have writer’s blog. Well follow my step by step guide and you should be well on your way to writing a successful first letter.

Step:

1. Start by writing your first name and surname and your address neatly. This could be either in the top left or right corner, traditionally it’s done on the right but it really doesn’t matter. The important thing is to make sure it is neat. The reason for doing this is so you can get a reply. You may have exchanged details in the past but they get lost etc. So just write it clearly on your first letter, then you know that your new penpal has your address.
2. Date your letter. This is optional, I know some people do not do it because they don’t when they wrote the letter in case it took them a very long time to post it. It’s very rare for me to write a letter in one go, I often come back over a day or a week to do it. So I like to date each day I write something to the letter. I think it’s nice and it can also be helpful when a letter gets lost in the post (yes it happens). Once it took over a month for a letter to arrive to me, so it was great to see the date. It also helps when you say in your letter, next tuesday I am…then your penpal can follow up if they know the event has now past.
3. Optional: You can put the time you wrote the letter or maybe the weather which I think is a nice touch, but again it’s optional.
4. Start with your greeting, if you don’t want to be too old fashioned and use Dear, you can start with Hi, Hello, etc. Whatever you prefer.
5. Main body:

Paragraph 1:

Now it’s time to start your letter. I also make sure I ask how my penpal is at the start of a letter, it think it’s polite and it is also one of the most important questions I want my penpal to answer. I would like to know how they have been in between letters. Now for the more interesting part, actually starting the letter. You have to remember that you are as much of a stranger to your penpal as your penpal is to you. So start with an introductory paragraph. Say your name, if you are an Elizabeth but no one except your Grandmother calls you that give your nickname. Tell your penpal when your birthday is, ask them for theirs. Then you can exchange birthday cards. You can state where you were born too…not anything too detailed just the city. If you no longer live in that city, say why you currently live in that city.

Paragraph 2:

Once you’ve got through that you need to start to begin to build a relationship with your penpal. If you want to get replies you need to make sure your letters are interesting. If you followed my advice on my last email you may have placed an ad for a penpal or you replied to one your penpal wrote. It’s good to check that advert and expand on those a little more. For the purpose of this post I am going to use my penpal Dennis for an example of things to write. I read this advert and firstly emailed Dennis before getting his address. His advert was:

I’m a man and I was born April 23, 1987.
My name is Dennis; I live in Freiburg, which is a city situated in the far southwest of Germany.
Some of my hobbies are reading, travelling, sports, photography and music. I have many interests so there should be always plenty of stuff to write about.
I would like to know about your country, its culture, about different things of life and so on. Snail Mail is such an interesting way to meet new people and to share our thoughts that it would be really great to find somebody preferably from Canada, France, Australia/New Zealand and Brazil. But people from other countries are of course welcome too; also from Germany itself.
The languages I know are German (native speaker) English (fluently) and French (basics).
I have to say, please only contact me if you are interested in a long lasting friendship, otherwise it would not make any sense in my opinion.
I am looking forward to your messages,
Dennis

It’s a nice advert, but it’s not very detailed. For instance, from this advert I don’t know what sports Dennis plays or his favourite music or books. There should be some things you have in common on the list.

So firstly you could maybe pick a topic that you would like to find out about Dennis, for me I am quite interested in German culture, so I wanted to know a little bit about where Dennis lived. So I could explain a little bit about where I live, my city, some of the things that are interesting to see in my city, maybe one or two fun facts, or something it is famous for. Places you like to eat etc. In return you could pose some questions to Dennis asking what his city/town/village is like, if they have any strange traditions or so on. I explained a little bit about my own city of Birmingham and that we have a regional dish called a Balti. In return, Dennis told me about a regional dish of his Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, if your German is good you’ll be able to know that that is Black Forest Gateau. I think Dennis was quite shocked to know that I knew it well (and also that I hate cherries!). This in time can lead to some exciting things, currently we are exchanging histories of our cities with photographs.

Paragraph 3:

Move on to another topic and repeat the same process as in the above paragraph, remember to write a little of your opinion but also to exchange with your penpal and ask questions. Some topics might be:

• Your job/education
• Family
• Pets
• Your past week
• Your hobbies
• Your religion
• Some quirky facts, you may be Vegetarian or you won a competition when you were younger. Anything.
• If you like films, maybe you can write about the last film you watched and whether you would recommend it. Don’t give too much away about the plot line though.

You don’t have to write forever, I usually aim for 2 sides of a4 paper, or an equivalent (4 sides of a5 paper). You don’t want to spend ages writing tons of things and make the letter massive, that can be quite daunting to read. You also don’t want to make it so short that your penpal has nothing to work with when replying. So a healthy dose of questions (nothing too invasive) and an equal measure of sharing about yourself (again nothing too personal) is a great start.

Now there are some golden rules we should address, let’s go through some dos and don’ts.

Do

• Write neatly. your penpal may not have english as a second language but even if they do it is important to write clearly. There nothing worse than having to spend ages trying to figure out what people are writing. I have had badly written letters in English and German, and they just aren’t fun to read or reply back to. It’s a sure fire way to not get a reply back.
• Spell things correctly, again, same reason as the first. I know spelling can be difficult to some people so if you worry about it. Write your letter first on a computer, then write it out.
• Keep it to a reason length. Not too short or too long. You need to write enough to engage but not too much that your penpal will find it intimidating to reply back to. If success, you will have a lifetime to find out about each other.
• Be patient. Letters are slow. Once you’ve sent off your letter if could take a week to get there, depending where you are, a week for them to write the letter back (sometimes longer) and a week to get the letter sent to you. So that’s three weeks minimum. This is a slow method. So if you write 5 letters in your first week, if could be a while before you see letters come back to you. Just keep it simple. One or two penpals and build it up. It can be quite daunting when you begin but over time letters start to spread out. I usually get one a week to reply too. At the beginning it could be like 6 in a week – which is quite a lot and it takes time. Start small and build your friendships.
• Maybe you are arty and like to draw things. Why not make your own stationary. Some pretty envelopes or some nice paper to write with. These can be great but please read my last point in the dont’s…
• Write your envelopes in waterproof ink. Fountain pens are lovely to write with perhaps not the best option to write an envelope with, especially as they can get caught in the rain. So maybe stick to a Biro or something that won’t smudge.

Don’t

• Don’t be too personal. Remember this is still a complete stranger. If you are sitting at a bus stop and engage causally to someone sitting next to you…would you divulge every little secret or everything bad that has ever happened to you? No you wouldn’t so don’t do it in your introductory letter.
• Don’t moan. Yes your husband/boyfriend/family member may have pissed you off just before you started writing or you had a bad day. Constantly being down in the dumps or moaning makes for a letter that is not really fun to read, so it’s not going to be enjoyable to your penpal. Over time, once you’ve established a friendship you can add these things, but for now; be upbeat.
• Don’t ask for stuff. By stuff I mean gifts. There are people and penpals out there who exchange small things, like note paper, or sticky notes, small items. Tea is a very popular one. These are great, but leave it a couple of letters before you exchange things and ask if it is ok to exchange small things like tea bags. For me, I don’t drink tea, so getting tea in the post makes me feel obliged to go out and get tea to send back to them – when I don’t drink it. So maybe you can find something that you would be interested in swapping, but wait until you have found that your penpal is a good match. The last thing you need is to spend money organising a gift swap that your penpal you do not know very well has no intention to replying too.
• Don’t go crazy with design. When I first started, I had no idea of designing letters. I wrote on boring plain white paper, because I was just interested in writing letters. I have since received some very beautiful letters on great stationary. They look fantastic. I have also received some ones that are not so nice. I have had some ones that have random stickers on them that don’t match a theme of the letter paper and they have bad handwriting, the envelopes are decorated too. To put it bluntly it looks like a five year old did them. I don’t mean to be rude but they can be quite of an eye sore. I am not much of  a decorator but I will show some nice ways to decorate some letters in upcoming posts.

Do you penpal? Or you new and need some advice? Perhaps you are a pro letter writer and want to share some feedback or great introductory letters you had or

Ida (5 Stars)

Poland 1962, Anna is a young Catholic orphan about to enter her vows to become a Nun with the convert who has looked after her since she was a small child. However, before she takes her vows Anna’s Mother Superior forces Anna to meet her Aunt, Wanda, Anna’s only surviving relative. In a first strained meeting Anna is shocked to learn that she was not born a Catholic, but was born Jewish and her real name Ida Lebenstein. Ida/Anna and her Aunt return to Ida’s parents village to discover what happened to them during the Second World War.

This film has not really got much of an international acclaim to it, mostly because the film is Polish. I think it’s a pity that some great films filmed in non-English get so little attention in Hollywood on the international spotlight because they are not in English.

It’s shot completely in black and white in gives it a now very uncommon and old-fashioned screen ratio of 4:3. This set up in a way helps to make the film feel more like a fly on the wall documentary about a real Ida actually in search of her family’s history during the Holocaust. It is also interesting that the Holocaust is never once mentioned throughout this film but is built into the whole fabric of the film. Everyone where is empty, everyone is living a life half lived, everyone is coming through the motions but the whole atmosphere is thick, heavy and dense with loss.

My only gripe with this film is the subtitles. The film tends to shoot scenes lower down, with a lot of shoulder and head shots and a lot of scenery space filling the top half of the screen – a real 1960s vibe – however as I do not speak Polish, I need the subtitles. Sadly these subtitle are kept at the bottom, when really they should have been moved to the top to allow the actors to be more visible. I wish this attention to detail had been continued to the same degree as the director’s rigour for the rest of the film.

It truely is a work of art and very much deserved it’s Oscar and Bafta awards. It’s just a shame it doesn’t get as much attention and acclaim as it rightly should.

Far From the Madding Crowd (4 Stars)

A great cast of talented actors appear in this breathtaking film. I loved it. I was not familiar with the actual storyline, so for once I was excited to watch a film and not know the outcome of it. I enjoyed going through the highs and the lows, the hoping and wishing for Bathsheba (Carey Mulligan) to pick the right one of her three suitors (Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge) and her despair when she didn’t.

Each portrayal of the characters was brilliant – particularly the horrible Sergeant Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge), who you hate, but also feel incredibly sorry for – Sturridge manges to place his character perfectly between the realm of just enough to hate him but not too much that you cannot pity his tragic circumstance. I am really beginning to rate Matthias Schoenaerts as an actor, 2015 was a very good year for him, with three great films under his belt. I look forward to seeing his future work, he is a pleasure to watch.

Creed (2 1/2 Stars)

Ever had Film deja vu? Well you’ll experience it with this one. Creed is a spin off of the Rocky series franchise, which began in 1976. Obviously this film is a little different because instead of Rocky being the lead Boxer in this film, Adonis Johnson takes the lead. Adnois is the son of one of Rocky’s greatest opponent and best friend, Apollo Creed. Rocky instead after reluctance becomes Johnson’s manager and trainer. Together the two overcome challenges in each other’s lives as they head to the biggest fight of Johnson’s career.

The film goes through the same Rocky formula, there are set backs, let downs, challenges and drama but you know that in the end no matter what has gone on in the film a victory will occur.

Whilst I found the film entertaining and there is just something about the steps and the music that gets you really motivated to enjoy this film, it isn’t anything new.

Filofax: To Daily or not to Daily?!

I have talked before about my weekly layout with a square grid sheet of paper which is my current setup. Since writing my blog about my perfect layout I have seen this layout more and more and it is even for sale now – something that I didn’t see before I decided to make it.

However, for the past month since I have been doing my Page-Per-Day journalling challenge and I have been really drawn to the Franklin Covey Daytimer inserts, particularly the seasonal ones. They are really pretty and I really like the look of them.

Yet, I do have some reservations about them. Firstly they are American dated, so will have all the American holidays on them. I guess this isn’t too much of a big deal, but I would prefer it to be free of holidays.

Next, they are slightly bigger than filofax inserts, which means with dividers on them they stick out in a filofax, meaning the dividers will get bent, again not really too much of a big deal but I don’t know if it would annoy me.

I am also left handed, which is why I have my graph on the left hand side. This allows me to use the most use page, my graph paper, on a side where I am not leaning on or battling with rings. Ideally, if I was using these inserts I would like my writing side to be on the left. I could take them out and write and them put them back in afterwards, but would that just be obstacle to getting me to jot down quick quotes or something I like?! I feature I do love about the day on two pages is the bullet journal style margin where you can mark things with a code.

Finally, would I actually use a day or two pages?! I mean sure I would use the writing section, or a least hope to use it and this year would give me lots of practise to focus on writing everyday, so by next year when I buy them I will at least be using that side. Would I use the other half of the page though? I mean after all I only use a week on one page which does me fine. Would I just be carrying around a load of paper I won’t be using efficiently?

Perhaps, if I started using them I would find them even better than the week on one page I have now and would end up using the section to time journal my day. I could also really track more things and could even maybe use the time section to see how I am using my time and whether I could train myself to use me time more efficiently.

I suppose the solution to all of this would be to make inserts that are like the Frankin Covey inserts, but are tailored to exactly how I want them, but then there is the added hassle of having to print out seven times the volume of what I printed out before, which I guess if I am organised and do a bit each week in preparation for the new year would not be too difficult.

Decisions are hard!