Pretty In Bronze

This is a bit different for me in terms of reviews, but one of my 2020 internet goals is to transition this blog to include more lifestyle posts, rather than focusing on makeup and skincare since I haven't been purchasing as much as I used to. Lifestyle makes more sense for me because it's... my life. I really appreciate when the influencers I watch talk about real life, so when Samantha Ravndahl and Raw Beauty Kristi reviewed period cups, I was very intrigued after hearing about them for years. Both specifically raved about the Saalt Soft Menstrual Cup.



It seemed like the Saalt Soft cup was the most comfortable period cup and had the highest reviews, so I finally caved and ordered it. I hate pads and tampons for many reasons. First and foremost, they make it a lot easier for me to get a UTI because I'm SUPER prone to them and every UTI I've ever gotten that wasn't condom related has conveniently been right after finishing my period. Pads are super annoying for that reason and because I have to wear bulkier underwear to feel comfortable in them. Tampons are just very uncomfortable for me. I don't have a heavy flow, so they're really annoying to put in and take out. I'm talking the full eight hours of wear and then it's still dry and let me tell you... taking out a dry tampon is NOT a nice feeling. They're also not good for your body in general and on top of that, disposable period products are very expensive! Only a few years ago we still had to pay tax on them in Canada. Another thing that finally pushed me towards buying a period cup is how wasteful pads and tampons can be.

I've always been a reuse type of person (I save all the gift bags and wrapping I can for when I'm giving presents to others). I never really thought about the environment and how bad period products were for it until people started mentioning it online. I have had a period since I was only eleven years old. I'm 24 now. That's 169 periods so far. My period is normally the full seven days, so at minimum I've used 1183 pads and tampons. Realistically, I've used about 1300 since it's not only one a day when it comes to tampons. That's a lot of waste for one person who is still pretty young. Period cups are reusable and the Saalt one says it can be used for up to ten years with proper care, so that's a lot less waste and for me the amount of money I spend on period products in one to two years (about $50 because I have a light flow) can potentially cover ten years with one period cup.


Saalt Soft Menstrual Cup Claims & Features

- Reusable up to ten years if you take good care of it and store it properly
- Comes with a pretty storage bag
- You only need to change it twice a day
- The soft version is more flexible
- No toxins, hypoallergenic and it's chemical free unlike many period products out there
- It's made with medical-grade silicone
- Made in the USA
- Vegan!
- They donate money from every purchase to HER International.

The cup comes with a lot of instructions (and their website is super helpful as well) to make it easy to understand how to use the cup and how to take care of it. They have a lot of information on their website so I recommend doing some research into the sizing because everyone's vagina is unique, but I personally went for the small size because according to their size guide it would work best. I'm under thirty years old and I've never given birth. The small size fits three tampons worth of blood while the regular fits four. Given the fact that when I did wear tampons I went for the tiny ones due to comfort and such a light flow, I knew the small would be the best fit for me. Their cervix positioning explanation made me feel even more confident because I have a tilted cervix, and they include that in their information.

I know there are now a ton of video reviews of the cup, but I wanted to to a day-by-day review of using this cup for the first time. Perhaps in a few months I'll do a video to update you on it, but the following is my first week using the Saalt cup!


Day 1: Light flow (Medium for me)

I did the C fold method when I woke up and it was almost too easy to the point where I was convinced I must have inserted the cup wrong. I followed the instructions to check that it had suctioned properly by using my finger to check and it was definitely secure! I didn't push it in deep enough so I did feel it a little bit when walking. but when I went to the washroom at work, I pushed it slightly and then I couldn't feel it at all anymore. I did wear a panty liner just to be safe.

Going to the washroom (both #1 and #2) didn't make the cup fall out at all. I was definitely aware of it, but didn't feel like it was coming out or losing suction at all. I was also happy that there was no leakage so I knew I'd be safe without a panty liner.

When I got home I emptied the cup and was surprised at how little blood there actually was in comparison to what a pad or tampon looked like. I was a little scared at first when going to take it out because the cup sucked in further, but I used my muscles to push it out (very easy) and pinched the cup to make it lose suction before easily pulling it out. It wasn't messy on the outside so it was easy to spill out and go to the sink. I washed the cup out and made sure the little air holes were clear and cleaned the area to make sure no blood would get out and put the cup back in using the other folding method, the punch-down fold.

I then went to the gym, couldn't feel it at all when working out (mainly cardio, but also squats) so I was pretty stoked. I kept it in for my shower since I had cleaned the area beforehand and changed the cup right before going to bed.

Overnight was perfect as well. I couldn't feel it and slept comfortably and confidently that there wouldn't be any leaks and there weren't the next morning!

Day 2: Medium Flow (Heavy for me)

DISASTER. The cup went in fine to my knowledge, but when I went to the washroom much later in the day (six hours in) my underwear was completely stained with blood. I don't know what I did wrong, but I suspect I forgot to twist the cup to create a strong suction. I did the finger trick to make sure the cup wasn't still folded anywhere, but I guess that isn't enough. I'm annoyed that this happened on the second day after the first day was so perfect, but I guess I was too confident.

I showered as soon as I got home with the cup out, cleared all of the blood out and put the cup in again, making sure I twisted it after checking that it wasn't folded. This time I put a pantyliner back in my underwear just to be safe. I think I'll keep doing that until I can go at least two days without any leaks. I'm not concerned because there was no leaking at all on day one, so I know it's not the cups fault, but just user error.

Day 3: Medium Flow

I ended up putting the cup in correctly the night before so I woke up without any leaks, walked the dog  and then worked out all before 6 in the morning. I took it out to shower, washed it out and put it back in and to be safe I put a panty-liner in my underwear. Before leaving for work I needed to use the washroom and it turns out I didn't put it in far enough. I had no leaking, but it did pop out a little bit so I had to put it back in and do the twist method to try and re-secure it. After several hours and a few washroom visits, I wasn't leaking. After getting home and taking the dogs on a walk, I emptied the cup and all was good. There was a bit of blood on the outside rim, but I think that got there while removing the cup. It was pretty difficult for me to get it to suction properly when putting it back in, despite trying to get all of the air out though. It's very strange that some times it's really easy and sometimes I struggle, but I'm just happy I didn't have any leaks today and I have hope that I'll get to the point where I always get it right and no longer have to use liners.

Day 4: Light Flow

No leaks in the morning! As long as you get the suction right at the start, leaks won't happen. I have realized that I've been waking up with more urgency to pee, so I think the cup is making my bladder a bit more sensitive. Several hours later and we were at the mall where I was trying on pants. I had one tiny dot of blood in my pantyliner so that wasn't from leaking, but likely blood that was leftover on the sides.

Days 5–7: Basically non-existent

Some months I have a very light flow on the last few days on my periods, and others, like this month, I basically have nothing except for discharge. I never know if I'll randomly have blood again after a day of nothing, so I wore the cup for the last three days regardless. I had no issues at all with it and figured out a schedule that worked well for me to only change the cup once every 12 hours. It collected the discharge without a problem and continued to be easy to wash out so I was really pleased! At the end, I washed the cup out well and left it to air dry in my ventilated bathroom before putting it back in the cloth pouch that came with the Saalt cup, having it ready for my next period.


Final Thoughts

I'm very impressed with this! I definitely recommend trying to make the switch to a cup for all the reasons at the beginning of this blog post and more.

I thought for sure I'd have more than one day of leaking on my first ever week of using a period cup, but I'm pleasantly surprised that I adjusted quickly. The FAQ section of the Saalt website and video instructions makes it really easy to learn. I felt a million times more comfortable using the cup than I do when I've used tampons in the past. It's also way more comfortable than wearing a pad and I didn't at any point feel like I'd be getting a UTI, which is even nicer. Working out is much easier with the cup and I can wear nicer underwear that doesn't give me intense panty lines, which just helps me dress and feel a bit better during my period.

The only downsides I felt was that I definitely had to pee more often with the cup in, and I felt slightly more cramping than usual. I know most people haven't experienced the cramping with the cup, but I'm just sensitive in general so I wanted to mention it. For reference, tampons made me cramp pretty badly on the rare occasions that I would wear one, and pads would just give me a weird dull throbbing down there that wasn't pleasant at all and thankfully the cup doesn't do that to me.

I hope this review was helpful to anyone considering trying a period cup! I'll see you soon with some beauty/bodycare content!

Chrissy's Knee High Socks have sent over two pairs of their famous long socks for me to try out and review in exchange for this blog post, which they have sponsored! The website has THOUSANDS of different colours and styles, but the obvious takeaway from the name of the site is that their socks are all long.

The website offers free shipping on orders over $50 USD  (in the USA) and they usually ship the socks within 24 hours, which is great for the holiday season! These socks are very affordable considering they're really great quality and made in the USA. The socks feel like they'd be more expensive and didn't sag on me while wearing them, which is great since I normally find myself pulling my socks up at least a few times a day. Compared to the other cute socks I own, these are definitely higher quality and not as thin, so I don't see these wearing out after only a few months of use.

What really caught my eye when looking through the website is that they don't only have knee-high socks, but also thigh high socks, which I've never tried before. I have a huge love for cute socks, especially in the Autumn and Winter since I want to be extra cozy. I'm also obsessed with pink things, so of course I chose two pairs that were pink.

I picked the white/light pink tube socks for my knee high pair (they're on sale at the time this post is going up for only $7.99!) because the combination of white and pink is my favourite as you'll be able to tell from the pictures below.


I find knee high socks easy to style because most of my boots end lower than them, so I can always have the tops peaking out. They add so much to what otherwise appears as a boring outfit in the winter. I live in leggings when I'm not at work, so these are great since you can put them on top. I especially like wearing them with my Uggs for an extra cozy outfit.

For my thigh high socks I picked the Solid Baby Pink Thigh Highs, which are also on sale ($9.99 USD!) specifically to wear with my over-the-knee black boots that I've owned for two years now. I didn't really know how to style them before and because it gets really cold here in Canada, I avoided them in the winter. Now that I have socks long enough to keep me warm underneath these boots I can wear dresses or skirts with them and have them peak out for a nice pop of colour.  Basically, I can wear cuter outfits without freezing to death.


Another really cool thing about the long socks on the website is that they have styles for every occasion! If you're looking for great socking stuffers, check out the Christmas socks they have available! It's already passed this year, but their selection of Halloween socks is great from witchy socks to rainbow socks to candy-themed pairs! I included a picture from the website to show you an example of a cute pair of socks that remind me of candy corn you could wear in the Autumn/Fall or on Halloween.


Overall I'm very impressed with the quality of the Chrissy's Long Socks and can see myself purchasing them for myself and others in the future whenever I want cute socks for holidays or themed outfits. You can never go wrong with gifting socks so if you live in the USA I highly recommend picking up a bunch if your'e interested so you can take advantage of free shipping and include them in all of your loved-ones stockings this holiday season!
Thank you again to Chrissy's Long Socks for sponsoring this blog post and sending over the socks for review. I love them and will definitely keep wearing them all year round :)

See you soon!

Hello!


I struggle with Anxiety, specifically Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I also have chronic joint pain all over my body, but the worst places are my right hip and my left knee. The only thing that these two things have in common other than existing for the bigger portion of my life is that they affect my sleep—specifically making it difficult for me to fall asleep at night.

I was at the point where I was going to make a visit to the clinic to be prescribed CBD that was THC free since none of the dispensaries (legal, because Canada) seem to carry anything with 0% THC. I also wanted to get CBD formulated for dogs because Chewy also suffers from anxiety and some joint pain (Like mother like son, am I right?) so I was very surprised when I received an email from the founder of Calm By Wellness, talking to me about their CBD products.

After a lovely video call (which is rare when dealing with companies I work with) all my questions had been answered about Help CBD Sleep Oil Tincture and I agreed to test the products out for a few weeks and providing a completely honest review. They threw in dog CBD treats for free, as well as a few surprise CBD gummies. I received the products on September 27th and have been using the Tincture every day since! I'm posting this review the same day that I finish it off to make sure I don't miss anything.

I kept track of everything on my period app (you can track everything, including key words) so I specifically looked at if I was having trouble falling asleep, having intense nightmares, waking up with joint pain, anxiety attacks, or anything new. The tincture contains several ingredients like lavender that are proven to improve sleep, so I wasn't surprised that I was falling asleep much quicker. For the first few nights, I was still waking up once or twice from my vivid dreams, but I was definitely having way less nightmares.

I also noticed that I wasn't waking up from joint pain, even though the weather has been all over the place. On the first week it literally jumped from 16 celcius on the Monday, to feeling like 36 on Tuesday, back to 12 on Wednesday. Weather changes always cause my pain to flare up so this was a big deal for me. The biggest thing I noted overall is that I wasn't waking up with strong heart palpitations.

Because the gummies came in a sample size packet (with three inside) I can't give a full review. What I will say from my experience is that I felt a bit less anxious while out in public and at lunch with family. I'm very picky about food and tastes and did not like it, but if I could guarantee that it would always keep me calm when I go to busy places (especially in crowds) I can 100% look past the taste. I think I'm more of an oil/tincture girl though.

Chewy is in love with his CBD treats so I'm pretty stoked about that. He's pretty much fully stopped trying to bite his dew claws off (a habit that his vet confirmed he's developed due to his anxiety)so I know they work for him. If you have a dog who might benefit, please talk to your vet and if they say it's ok, I HIGHLY recommend trying these ones because Chewy loves how they taste and they've really been helping him.

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A post shared by Chewy (@chewythegriffonshire) on Oct 9, 2019 at 6:06pm PDT

I did try the tincture this (Friday October 11) morning, the same day I'm posting this review to see how it would work during the day, since it's specifically formulated to take before bed. Surprisingly, it didn't make me feel drowsy. It also didn't make me feel more awake, which makes sense since it's meant to help you relax. I'm sure some people may feel drowsy with it because it has a blend meant to help with sleep. I definitely felt more relaxed, but it's hard to tell based on today alone since I still have a cold (you can hear it in my voice in the video below) and it's the day before the long weekend so everyone seems more chill.

That's it for this review! These have definitely been working for me to help me sleep better so if you're interested I recommend trying the products out. If you really love them, you can save some money by picking the subscription option when checking a product out. Here's the video I filmed a few days ago providing a review (and showing how I take the tincture).



See you soon and if you're in Canada have a great long weekend!

Hello!

The non monthly or weekly pages are pretty similar with a few design changes. I won't show all of the pages because there are probably hundreds of other blog posts on this planner, but I will show a few.




Now the important part. The colours for the months have changed—some slightly and some drastically. I don't know if I like it yet or not, but it is going to force me to make quite a few changes to my stickers up on my etsy shop. While change is nice, it's a hassle and I do feel like a lot of people who make or use stickers will be upset at this, especially if they have a lot of colour coordinated stickers left over.














Besides the colour change, there are minor changes on the monthly layouts. The header is a bit taller, which once again will force several people to change their stickers (not me since I have yet to make this particular type of sticker) and the side bar looks a bit different, but nothing crazy.



Now onto the weekly spreads. The biggest change besides the colours being different is that there is no secondary colour. I actually really like this as it will make the sticker process easier and more customizable for me. The header now has a watercolour effect, which I love because mine always looked so bland when nothing was there. This header effect is also really cool because when months change, the colours transition instead of changing harshly.




Here is the colour fade at the header of the weekly layouts.



The stickers at the back of the planner are similar, but the colours are different again.  The biggest change is that now several stickers are cut out in a flag style instead of the regular rectangular shape (but those are included as well).



There is still a perpetual calendar included, but I won't be using it unless I lose my 2016 one considering all of the important dates won't change. This one does look a lot cuter as well as the little pouches.



The pouch is now removable! This is a huge feature for me because it always made my 2016 planner SO heavy! On a day to day when I'm using it at school, the pouch does not matter to me as I'm not putting down stickers. I only really do this at home, where the pouch is needed. Thankfully, inside of the pouch there is a 3m coil clip so I can still stick the pouch in my planner securely, but I can just as easily take it out. I also love that there's a little zipper slider thing (no idea what it's called) instead of requiring us to pry the pouch open manually (which caused mine to rip at one of the sides).



Now for the little extras. Just like last year, I received a few stickers, but this time instead of little event dots I got those plus a few really cool stickers (that make me sad that I didn't order a full sticker book... but as Kathleen Lights would say "das expensive." Other freebies include a big sticker, a few compliment cards and two 20% off coupon codes that I can share. I won't be sharing those in this post, but fear not! I have an affiliate link that will save you 10% off your first order with Erin Condren and it's right here:  https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/amysousa1012






Overall I'm really excited! I knew I wanted to completely redesign my colour-coordinated monthly spreads so I welcome the new colours (but hopefully I can find the colour codes somewhere really soon).  I definitely recommend this planner if you're like me and need to write absolutely everything down to remember it! It's also a really fun hobby, though it can get very pricy.

Please feel free to ask any questions and I will try my very best to answer them :)

See you soon!

Amy