Using green tea for WHAT?

If you follow me on Twitter (@katygilroyblog) then you may have seen me tweet about green tea a few times, and specifically about how much I hate it. I suffer from acne, which you're probably sick of me mentioning by now if you're a regular reader, soz. My mum decided that 2015 would be the year where I would tackle my acne in every way possible, and out she went to buy me some green tea.

I've never been a lover of hot drinks, not even hot chocolate, but I was determined to drink the green tea regardless. Sadly it wasn't meant to be, and I literally couldn't stomach it. My mum was disappointed and kept trying to get me to drink it, but I reaaaalllly didn't like it so we gave up in the end. But in the interest of 'waste not, want not' I decided to make use of it in another way: as a facial toner!

Skincare is one of my favourite things about the beauty world, so when I discover something like this I always get a bit excited. I've recently been trialling the Anti-Blemish 3 step system from Clinique (blog post coming soon...) but I found the toner to be really harsh on my skin. I've been replacing it with green tea and it's working so well for me.

All I do is boil the kettle and make a mug of green tea as usual, then leave it to cool while I'm doing the rest of my skincare routine and brushing my teeth. I then dip a cotton wool pad in and swipe it over my face, then voila! I usually keep the same mug for about two days and then chuck it away and make a new one. Is that gross???

I've definitely seen an improvement in my skin since I've started using green tea as a toner, and I'm glad that the stuff isn't going to waste. It does absolutely STINK though, but I just grit my teeth and rub it all over my face.

Do you have any amazing skin care tips? If so PLEASE let me know in the comments below or over on Twitter: @katygilroyblog

The Virtual Student Cook Book // An Introduction

As a student, I found it hard during my first year to make quick and easy meals that are both healthy and don't break the bank; by the end of the year I'd almost mastered it, so I'm going into second year with confidence and hopefully a better diet than literally living off Pot Noodles and chicken nuggets. And the occasional takeaway.

In my first year I lived in a house of 18 people, with one big kitchen. Even though it had 3 ovens, this made meal times difficult; but that's an extraordinary situation, and most typical "halls" have kitchens suited for 3-6 people. This makes it a lot easier to get things done. You could make a cooking rota in pairs, where one of you cooks while the other does dishes, taking it in turns to swap roles. Chipping in for a big weekly shop if you all like the same things would be a good idea too.

There are some basic things you need to know about cooking as a student:

1 // Freezer Space - If you're lucky enough to have a lot of freezer space, USE IT. Things like frozen veg are amazing, especially the mixed bags, because they last forever and don't go off. You can also buy things like ready-cooked frozen chicken breasts which are so easy to make a meal with. Not all frozen food is unhealthy!

2 // Sell By Dates - It's so boring but you've got to check sell by dates when you're shopping, because if you buy bread and it goes off the next day, especially when it's only you who's using it, then that's a lot of wasted bread. Same goes for things like cheese and sandwich meats.

3 // Planning Ahead - Try not to buy things if you're not sure whether it'll be eaten or not; as I said above, wasting food just isn't an option when you're on a budget - plus I always feel bad throwing food away!

Those are just a few things I learnt while I was in my first year, and I'm going to try and put out weekly recipes throughout the year. Hopefully I'll keep this up, as I've grown to love cooking for myself (and my boyfriend, most of the time!), and I know how hard it can be. Be warned; there'll be a lot of Aldi products featured here...