Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com

Photo by Anastasiya Lobanovskaya on Pexels.com

Recently my interest for colours was reignited when I was looking through some of the articles and video blogs about how having the correct colours, be it makeup, clothes & bags can help bring out the best in your overall appearance, and in the process help radiates a more confident you.

Many years ago, I came across this website called ‘Colour Me Beautiful’ (https://www.colormebeautiful.com/seasons/findyourseason.html), and had read the book as well. The book was rated an all-time New York Times paperback best seller until 1995. The book is an interesting read, as it helps define what colour season type you are in, based on cool or warm definition of your skin tone plus other testings, and recommend colours that will complement your skin, hair and eye colours, and enable you to achieve your full beauty potential.

If you find this interesting, you can read up the book, as it gives more insights for your better understanding. For some of the people, it might not be that straight forward as they could be in a neutral type situation, where they are not cool or warm, but exhibit characteristics of both. Nevertheless, it’s good to know more, and you can start matching against your current clothes and makeup to see if you have been using the right colours. Who knows, you may be using the wrong colours all along!

There are a few testings you can do to see if you are a cool or warm colour type:

1. Green or Blue veins – green veins mean you are a warm colour; blue veins mean you are a cool colour. I have both, so I guess that makes me a neutral.
2. Gold or Silver accessories – Silver accessories work well with cool tone while gold accessories suit warm tone better.
3. Use a white cloth/towel – tie back your hair, revealing your full face and neck area. Hold up the white towel against your neck and shoulders, and see if your skin reflect more towards yellowish (warm) or blue-ish tone (cool).See below articles if you are keen to know more:

https://stylecaster.com/cool-warm-skin-undertones/
http://www.schwarzkopf.ca/en/haircolour/colorconsultation/color-type.html

We can beautify ourselves if we know how to apply the correct colours.
Have fun doing the experiments, you can perhaps donate away those clothes that aren’t your colours.

Climate change is an ongoing topic, and will be for years to come. We all need to understand what causes climate change and the effect it will have on the planetary Earth. With the knowledge, we can then make a conscious effort to ensure our decision made today will impact favourably to the future world.

There are several reasons for climate change, and the common ones known are burning of fossil fuels such as coal, and gas, as well as deforestation.

Burning fossil fuels

When we burn fossil fuels like coal, and gas to create electricity or power our cars, we release CO₂ pollution into the atmosphere. Industrialisation is also another cause of greenhouse gas pollution.

What is carbon dioxide (CO₂)? It is released through human activities such as deforestation, land use changes, and burning fossil fuels. It’s the major cause of climate change.

Deforestation

Plants play an important role in regulating the climate because they absorb carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen back into it. Forests and bushland act as carbon sinks and are a valuable means of keeping global warming to 1.5°C.

Due to human activities such as clearing vast areas of vegetation around the world for agricultural, urban and infrastructure development or to sell tree products such as timber, the stored carbon is released back into the atmosphere as CO₂, when the vegetation is removed or burnt, contributing to global warming. According to article, up to one-fifth of global greenhouse gas pollution comes from deforestation and forest degradation.

Results

• Higher temperatures result in Earth become warmer. Heat waves are increasing resulting in loss of lives.

• A stronger greenhouse effect will warm the oceans and partially melt glaciers and other ice, increasing sea level. This affect coastal cities, impacting the human population resulting in displacement. Melting of the glaciers that causes increased sea level also affects the whole river and plant ecosystem and the animals’ survival (eg polar bear).
• Spread of infectious diseases around the globe. Rising temperatures can increase the spread of infectious diseases by allowing pests to conquer new parts of the world, as well as by creating ideal conditions for reproduction and virus replication.

What can we do to reduce global warming?

1. Reducing the amount of electricity generated from coal and gas, and increasing the amount of electricity from clean, renewable energy sources like solar and wind, means less carbon pollution is emitted. For car buyers, if getting a car is a necessity, go for electric car option. Otherwise, opt for public transport, which can help to reduce carbon emissions.
2. Plastics emit the greenhouse gases methane and ethylene when they are exposed to sunlight and degrade. It’s another source leading to global warming.

   – Use recyclable bag for grocery shopping.
   – Purchase steel straw which can be reused, instead of plastic drinking straws.
   – Bring own food container instead of using vendor’s plastic container.

3. Opt for e-bill instead of paper bill. Go green, save trees, reduce wastage.

I’m sure there are many other ways for us to help fight climate change.

So let us take a step, be it small or big, towards protecting our Mother Earth, and work towards developing a sustainable lifestyle which meets the needs of the present without compromising the well-being of future generations.

Here are some articles for your reading pleasure:

https://thepeakmagazine.com.sg/lifestyle/here-are-4-singapore-stores-leading-the-eco-conscious-green-wave/

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/08/sustainability-entrepreneur-helps-asia-business-combat-climate-change.html

I agree it’s hard to get something started, so let’s motivate each other to make it work!

I believe all of us know the benefits of exercising, but we like to procrastinate and ‘no time lah’ is the most common excuse.

I have listed down some of the benefits here:

Exercising:

a) Keeps us fit and healthy

b) Releases endorphins that makes us feel great and energised throughout the day

c) Helps reduce stress, which may contribute to acne outbreaks. When we exercise, increased blood circulation sends more oxygen to our skin cells, slows down aging and gives us muscle. Not to mention better sleep.

d) Enhances our skin, as it rev up the skin’s collagen production, making our skin brighter and lesser wrinkles!

e) Aids to alleviate anxiety levels, improve mood by making us feels better after exercising.

f) Improves our immune system, which no amount of supplements or medications can replace.

Since exercising provides so many apparent benefits, and leads to a healthier, energetic, radiant (youthful) and a more efficient us, let’s TRY to fight against ‘procrastination’ and get something started, right way!

For those who do not like to go gym to exercise, we can start with simple exercises in the comfort of our home, and below are some of the exercises that we can do easily.

a) Rope Skipping

Skipping trains our whole body in general, can start with 2 times a week. If we cannot skip for 30mins every time, we can start off with 1000 skips first, and increase the duration slowly. The important thing is, start slow and steady. I luv skipping, so pick those that you like to do, which can make it easier to start off.

b) I have found some useful in-door exercises from magazines. Not much time required, can be as little as 10mins every day. Since I started, I have only done once a week, which is not enough. I will endeavour to increase to 4 times a week.

e

c) I chanced upon this article on Watson’s blog, which I find it useful too!

https://www.watsons.com.sg/blog/health-wellbeing/exercise-home-burn-fat-six-ways/

The food that we eat daily matters as well, try to pick those that are high in antioxidants, such as leafy greens eg spinach; lean meats; fruits such as berries and grapes & etc, which help to generate overall wellness too.

So, let’s get started, slowly and steadily, and see our results in a few months’ time. 🙂