Birdette does Laundry: How to wash your clothes

Boring! Yes I know. Trust me, I know. But it never ceases to amaze me just how clueless the majority of people are when it comes to washing clothes, guys in particular, but yes, some girls I know, the horrors! All in one, no colour sorting, bras in the dryer, No no no no no! My god no!
So I'm going to tell you all everything I know. Barely any of it I learnt from my mother so I don't expect yours to have taught you that well either. This will also help out anyone who has just moved out from home. Do not take your laundry home for your mother to still do once you move out. Grow up, buy a machine and do it yourself, she has only been looking after you for the best part of at least two decades! In fact, go buy her some flowers, just because she's been awesome all these years.

Buying a machine:
Personally I only have one piece of advice here, get one with a central spindle, mine does not have one, and it is a bitch that likes to tangle clothes and get stuck on repeat. Will be getting a new one when I can afford it.

Washing Powder:
My best advice it to use what your mother uses, chances are she's trialled a lot of them and she knows her stuff, plus you already know you are not allergic to it.
Also use white vinegar as an end of wash softener, it neutralises soap powder and finishes your clothes nicely.
Lastly buy a woolwash for your wool and silk items, best to handwash these.

Separate your clothes:
I normally do my washing once every two to three weeks, this is enough time to get up decent load sizes so I do not waste water in the machine, it will generally take at least 40 litres of water to run the smallest load, so you're better off hand washing if you have anything less then perhaps two kg of clothes to wash, (generalising here).
The categories I break up my load into are as follows (you may need to adjust depending on your wardrobe):
Blacks
Whites (I sometimes add lights into this load as I do not wear much white)
Lights
Brights (can need to be further broken down into colours, blues, reds etc)
Dulls (Mid range colours, but not brights, think tan, olive, grey muted shades)
Darks (nearly black but not quite, navy, charcoal  a lot of denim etc)
Delicates (silks and wools)
Dry cleaning

Also worth mentioning here is that you should wash your tea towels daily, bedsheets weekly, and towels at least weekly. they can generally go in the same wash as they tend to be colourfast, but check the labels. if in doubt, separate.
Take dry cleaning to the cleaners, and save your receipts, a lot of jobs will let you claim dry cleaning as a uniform or work related clothing tax refund.

Buy some garment bags.
Best to have about half a dozen of these, some mesh, some normal, the mesh ones are best for knickers, while the other variety are best for bras, fabric belts, and other items, Have a look around, a good price for these is just a couple of bucks each, I like Ikea and department stores to find them.
Items that you'd want to put in these are (but not limited to):
Bras
Knickers
Clothing with straps and attached belts (wrap around dresses and tops)
Shoestring singlets
Hosiery
Lingerie in general
Keep like with like in the bags, and make sure you do your bra clips up when you chuck them in, they catch on everything.

What temp to use?
My rule is to always use cold water, it's too much stuffing about if you separate your clothes by temp to wash in, cold water will wash everything and use up stacks less electricity too. Only bother with hotter settings for things like bedsheets, and if you haven't mixed your loads. Apart from risking colour leaking from item to item, it can sometimes shrink your clothes.

Got a top loader? Let the machine fill up a bit without any clothes in it yet.
For top loaders, it's a good idea to stick your washing powder in and then let it mix with some water before you put your clothes in, this is a good time to sort you load and garment bag any items that need it.

Suit your wash to what you are washing:
Gentle Cycles are for dedicates and items that are recommended for hand washing (if an item says to hand wash, I stick it in a garment bag and on a gentle cycle.) Heavy duty loads are for Tradie's uniforms, incredibly messy gear, rarely washed jeans and for linens. Everything else can go on a regular cold cycle.

Dryer vs. hanging up:
Do your electricity bill and the environment a favour and hang your clothes up to dry as much as you can. Some items of clothes you simply cannot chuck in a dryer, bras,  jeans, and sports gear come to mind but check the label before you put anything in the dryer. Personally, the dryer is made for uniforms that have frequent wash and wear, linens and for extra crisp cotton shirts. Bonus tip? If you dry your cotton shirts in there, and grab them out and hang them on coat hangers IMMEDIATELY, You made not need to iron them at all.
Also if line drying in the sun, turn your clothes inside out as this will prevent the majority of colour fading in garments, who cares if it's on the side? At least you can't see peg marks on the outside!

Well I do hope that's helped some of you out at least a little, I have more so share but I'm really over typing at the moment! If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to let me know!

Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser

We all have our basics that we come back to time and time again, This is the one for me, fail proof, doesn't stir up my skin, does exactly what it says and has a great price tag on it.
Most of the time, my skin is pretty good, oily but not too many blemishes, and it's not too often that I get blemishes that are noticeable. Back before I started using this product I used to use harsh cleansers that irritated the hell out of my skin with the belief that 'the tingle means it's working!' (Get stuffed adverts! What the tingle really means your skin is crying out loud in pain.)
Red patches around my nose were a common feature, and I had no idea that they were because I was using harsh cleansers, so if this is a problem for you I'd recommend picking up a bottle of this, they also have a great mechanical scrub that is quite gentle that I use a few times a week.
The way I use it is once in the morning, and twice any time I have to take off make up, it's gentle enough to use on your eyes, (but I still couldn't recommend pouring it in them!) While it still takes off waterproof products with ease. Love it.

 Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser

Tip of the day: Keep your eyecream in the fridge

This is a great tip for summer. Keeping your eyecreams in the fridge has more the one benefit, apart from feeling delicious when you put it on, it will work even better at deminishing puffy eyes. This is especially true with rollerball style eyecreams.
In addition to that, it will also keep for longer. So even though I know it's a pain, I still do it!

Tip of the day: Applying Bronzer to sculpt

Finally a use for the heathenous duckface! You know the one I'm talking about, a certain Miley Cyrus is a fan, but there are numerous girls on the internet. the best way I can discribe it, is either extreme pouting, or smiling and pouting at the same time. Here are some examples, with eyes blacked out because even I'm not that mean:

Wow ... now that I am super turned on by all the hotness, let me give you an actually good use for this face. Yes I want you to make it, at your self in the mirror.
If you smile and pout at the same time, it will cause a concave shape under your cheekbones which will guide you in where to apply bronzer to sculpt your cheekbones. Check it out on my wonderful and willing model below. (Actually, I think Kim Kardashian may be the one person on earth who can duckface and get away with it.)

As you can see, if you apply your powder bronzer along this nook, starting from directly below where your pupil sits in your eye, and up towards your ears, you will get a lovely shaded cheek, then just dab some more bronzer on your temples, blend, and you're done. Add blush as desired.

Would you wear it? Slips as dresses

90's Style. Love it or hate it's in fashion. Men wearing cardigans, girls are getting about in crop tops, thanksfully not the levi's as well. But what I'm interested in talking about now are slip dresses, and weather they have a place outside of the house.
Slip dresses to me conjure up images of Courtney Love, and more recently the scantily clad (and underaged) Taylor Momsen of late, I'm not all together sure it's a flattering look. Can it be worn in a way that doesn't say trashy?

Taylor Momsen, rightio.

But of course.
Bring it out of the bedroom by wearing it with accessories and clothing that don't make you think bedroom at all. When it comes to items of clothing that normally scream one thing in particular (like how fedoras scream manly mafia) you need to turn it around with something that introduces it to a new genre, otherwise you can look like you've been pulled too far into one trend.
Hats do this quite well with slips, (do you wear hats in bed?) and bare legs, stockings take it back into the bedroom even if they're opaques. Chunky man style watches, Bangles, thick socks, or add a longline chunky cardigan or coat and you're done. It is a piece that realy blends in well with a kooky style of dress sense.
Another good tip is to wear a lighter coloured slip,pale pinks, nudes, whites and pastels will help it look more like a simple summer dress. I don't think this will work if you wear it in a blazing red, a black could be passable but is still in danger of slipping back into "I forgot to put my dress on top of this" territory.

You could also just take the inspiration into your wardrobe and try a dress with lingerie style detailing and features,

 

 Regatta Polka Dot Dress

So, would you wear it? What would you wear it with? Where to?