Damn you Bus Eireann and Psoralen! Warning foot photos and a rant ahead!

As a lot of you know, I have psoriasis.  I've had it since I was 5 years old and I'm nearly 33 now.  A couple of years ago I had some phototherapy aka PUVA aka light treatment in St Vincents Hospital.  It took 16 sessions to clear my skin and I was really happy with the results.  When my sister in law asked me to be her bridesmaid for her wedding in August my first thought was to get back to my dermatologist so I could have the light treatment again and look swishy in  my dress.  I had my appointment in April and had a phone call soon after from the nurses to book me in for Tuesday 4th June, which would give me 9 weeks before the wedding.  Last Tuesday I went up by bus for my test run.  You lie in the bath of Psoralen (which makes you absorb the UV rays a lot more that you would normally) for ten minutes then the nurses tape a template with 8 windows to your back and expose the skin for different amount of times, starting at 12 seconds or so, going up to almost 2 minutes, and this will be your starting point for the PUVA as it shows how quickly your skin burns during exposure. You have the treatment twice a week and after the bath you have your UVA exposure which looks just like a stand up sunbed.  I was given a small tube of factor 50 in case I got caught in the sun and was told that my chest area would be most delicate and to make sure I didn't get burnt there.

After my treatment, I walked out to catch the bus around the corner but my heart sank when I saw the bus pulling away.  That meant the next bus wasn't for an hour AND didn't stop at St Vincents so I had to walk down to UCD for the next one.  I put the factor 50 cream on my face and neck/chest and that was all I had to put on.  I was wearing 3/4 length leggings and some light summer shoes from Penneys.  I was in the shade all along Nutley Lane but the sun hit me as soon as I turned the corner and started walking to UCD.  I covered my arms with my cardigan and it took me about ten minutes of walking before I got to the bus stop. Thankfully the bus stop was all shaded from the sun and I sat and waited for the bus.  I was looking  forward to starting my treatment and having nice clear skin and a tan for the wedding.

Taken Wednesday, covered in after sun and no blisters.

On Wednesday afternoon I noticed that my feet looked a bit red up as far as where my leggings had ended.  It wasn't painful but I started to pile on the after sun and aloe vera gel to try and clear it up before my Friday session.  By Thursday it was even redder but still wasn't sore or anything.  I kept my skin covered up when I was outside as I didn't want to aggravate it any more.  Friday morning when I woke up my feet were painful and I put on some ankle socks with my runners and some long leggings.  I phoned the hospital to tell them about it and I was told to come up so they could look at my back anyway to see how my skin had responded to the light.  I painfully limped down from UCD to the hospital and explained the situation to the nurses.  Of course I couldn't have my treatment, I knew that much already.  I was asked several times if I had been out in the sun and I said that I wasn't, apart from walking to the bus stop after my treatment on the Tuesday.  When I got home from the hospital I took my runners and socks off and when I tried to put on a pair of flip flops in the house I couldn't as it just hurt too much to have anything touching my feet!

Saturday morning my feet looked to have started blistering up along my instep.  They felt really hot, a dark purple colour and really painful to try bend my feet when walking up stairs etc.  It got too much to bear  by the afternoon and I phoned the chemists, who asked me to come down so they could have a look at them.  I half put a pair of flip flops on and my hubby drove me down to the chemist, luckily they have a car park right at the back door so I didn't have far to hobble.  I was given gauze and told to wrap them up for a couple of days but after 24 hours they felt even hotter and more painful so I took the bandages off.  I phoned the hospital this morning but was told just to let them heal naturally and again was asked several times if I had been out in the sun. My PUVA treatment is now on hold until my skin has cleared up and I'm so nervous that I'm not going to be clear before the wedding! I'm also terrified that my feet are going to scar and I can't even walk down to the doctors to have them checked!

Taken Sunday when I removed the gauze and bandages, you can see the blisters and the darker purple bits where it's all bumpy

I'm cursing Bus Eireann for taking the St Vincents stop from their timetable apart from a poxy couple of buses every day and I'm just so annoyed that my feet would burn this badly after just a few minutes in the sun.  I HAD to walk to the bus stop, how else was I meant to get home?  I know that the Psoralen bath makes you absorb the sun but surely if it's that dangerous you should be plastered in factor 50 after every hospital visit!  I feel like crying, my feet are so painful and I haven't been able to wear any shoes or have a blanket or anything on my feet for 4 days now.

Taken this morning (Monday), you can see where my feet are swollen and blistered.

If anybody has any advice on what I could do/use I would be very grateful! I'm eager to start my treatment and need to get my feet sorted out ASAP!

I apologise for the feet photos, I don't like my feet at the best of times but I just wanted to show how bad they have gone over the last 6 days!

FOTD: Club Tropicana

I actually like my makeup today, that's not something I say very often but today it's true!  After dumping the Catrice shadow yesterday I had a gander through my train case and plucked out this beauty by Collection 2000 (or Collection as they are now known).  I really love the colour and I'm always a sucker for shimmery eyeshadow! So, meet Sugarplum!

Apologies for the horrible sellotape on the container but don't let that distract you from it's beauty!  Now, onto today's face!  It's a beautiful summers day and I wanted to create something to reflect that.  I don't know about you lot but my mood is always much better when the sun is shining! 

I know my eyeliner still isn't the mae west and I'm not sure if it ever will be but I will just keep on trying til I get it right!  I hope you've enjoyed this post because I'm feeling good about myself today and that's not something that happens regularly for me lately so any feedback would be good!

Adios Gilbert's Grapefruit!

This morning I sat down to do my makeup and I decided to do a look that was fairly neutral.  As soon as I took the Gilbert's Grapefuit Catrice eyeshadow out and started to apply it, there was glittery bits everywhere!!!!! It really went all over the place and I suddenly remembered why it had been relegated to my train case.  I used it seeing as I had it out then I lobbed it into the bin so I can't make the same mistake again!  I'm going to root out another eyeshadow to replace the Catrice one and hopefully it won't make as much of a mess!

So here's a look at my face today, the photos were taken on my mobile because my camera battery (which lasts forever) died on me yesterday and of course I forgot to charge it!

I mixed my Barry M white foundation with my Catrice photo finish to lighten it and match it to my ultra pale skin.  Then I applied some Mac Painterly paintpot as a base and put on the offending shadow, then added some of the dark brown Barry M dazzle dust on the outer corners and blended it in.  I (badly) applied some Essence liquid liner, filled in my eyebrows with a brown Inglot eyeshadow, put on some NYC mascara, used Avon Flash eyeliner on my waterline and finally blended some NYC cream blush into my cheeks!

You'll have to excuse my puffy eyes in this photo, we had a sick kiddo last night so there wasn't much sleep to be had!

Close up of my eyes and badly applied eyeliner!!

I have an appointment this evening in the dental clinic to see if I can be referred by the HSE to have my wisdom teeth out under general anaesthetic so I'm fairly nervous about it as I don't like going to the dentist at ALL!

It's my sister in law's hen night in just over 3 weeks time so I'm flat out organising everything as I'm Chief Bridesmaid!  The wedding is in 10 weeks time and I'm really looking forward to it but also really nervous as I've never been a bridesmaid before!

Thanks for reading!

X

Changing it up again!

Well, for the past month or so I've been using my Urban Decay eyeshadow palette and my Mac Hello Kitty palette but I feel like it's time for a change!  This morning I opened up my train case and had a look at my stash.  I almost reached for my trusty Inglot palette stack but I restrained myself and instead I picked up some of my loose eyeshadows, which have been really neglected lately! I picked out my 3 Mac pigments, Violet, Mutiny and Blonde's Gold, as well as my Lancome eyeshadow, Fil D'Argent, which I won before Christmas, a rose gold Catrice called Gilbert's Grapefruit and lastly a Barry M Dazzle Dust in shade number 53, a lovely dark brown shimmery shadow which I can't even remember using before! I also took out one of my 2 Mac lipsticks, a lovely neutral shade called Hug Me.  Hopefully I'll get some nice looks using all these and actually remember to take a photo or two!

Today's makeup, excuse the frizzy hair, it's really gone back the way it used to be now and I never thought I'd be glad to see my frizzy bits again!

FOTD with Step by Step photos!

Well, I know I said I was going to go bright and bold but to be honest, I'm still not wearing eyeshadow most days! When Aaron is in school I have one hour in which to get everyone up, dressed, fed and ready to go by 9am as well as getting lunches etc done so on most days I've just been putting on foundation, my eyebrows, mascara and some blusher.  I had stopped wearing black eyeliner for a good while but it was only when I put it on at the weekend that I realised how much I had missed it!  A lot of people lately have been telling me how pale I look but it's just because I've been lightening my foundation to the correct shade for my face!  Even the lightest shade in most foundation ranges is too dark for me and I'm hoping to try out something new when I go to Dublin next week!

So, onto today's face!  I took some step by step photos and showed which products I used! Yes, I am wearing my dressing gown because it's a miserable day out and I don't feel like getting dressed yet! First of all I used my Garnier moisturiser.  I have psoriasis so my skin can be very dry and I always like to use a moisturiser under my foundation....

Then I put a small amount of my Barry M white foundation into a small container...

 Then I add some Catrice Photo Finish foundation...

Mix well using a small clean brush...

Apply dots all over face.... I forgot to take a photo of my Real Techniques Stippling Brush which I always use to apply my foundation!

Next I used my Catrice eyeshadow and Real Techniques eyeshadow brush to fill in my eyebrows.  My eyebrows are very sparse due to both chemo and years of using creams for psoriasis but I always like to fill them in and get so many comments from people on them!

Next, I used my Mac Painterly paint pot as a base for my eyeshadow...

The, I applied UD Scratch to my eyelids using the RT base shadow brush...

I applied the shade Underground to the outer eyelid and blended with the lighter colour...

Then I applied a thin line of Mac Blacktrack Fluidline using my RT pixel-point eyeliner brush...

I then applied a small amount of the painterly under my eyes and using my RT accent brush I drew a thin line of the shade Peace under my lower lashline...

Then, I applied some NYC Sky Rise mascara, I've become a big fan of NYC lately!

Next up was NYC blusher applied to the apples of the cheeks and blended with my fingers...

Lastly was some Essence lipgloss and you're done!

Can you tell that I love my Real Techniques brushes???  I do, I do, I do!

I hope you've enjoyed this post and maybe I'll get a bit more adventurous in my next post, I might change up my palettes and use something even brighter!

I've just realised that I forgot to add some powder to my forehead but I'll remember that next time!

Please let me know if you've enjoyed this post or if you'd like to see something different!

Quick FOTD using Urban Decay!

Well, in my last post I said that I was trying to change it up a bit and use brighter shadows now and again so I'm just here to show you what I'm wearing today! I didn't go too wild with the colours as I'm just easing myself back into it again so fingers crossed I'm getting my mojo back!  I've missed wearing bright eyeshadow, people used to always compliment me on it and I haven't been bothered about wearing eyeshadow for MONTHS now!

I used Peace and Underground from the Urban Decay palette and also a bit of the black shade Zero on the outer corners.  You can see everything else I used in the photo so if you have any questions please let me know!

I'm definitely going to try and blog more often, I am going to make time for it and just DO IT!  I do need a new camera though so I may sweet talk my lovely hubby into buying me one as an early birthday present!