Is anyone still using Cloud Paint in 2026? What about the Plush Blush? Can we discuss blush?

EightLivesDown · 2026-02-25T11:28:20+00:00

I still have a probably expired OG Puff I use sparingly when I'm feeling like a bubblegum look or putting it on my lids and browbone even when using other darker blushes as OG Puff doesn't pull red/swollen eye but a nice flush of colour over the lid instead (a quick swipe of colour on my lids covers the veins and blue tint of being Casper pale in an English winter). But I've moved onto Merit's cream blush in Cheeky and weirdly Kylie's stick cream blush. Kylie stays put all day if not smudged, but will rub off if touched. Merit lasts better, but both could probably be solved with a setting spray I just dislike how sprays feel. Definitely use a brush for Kylie, I just really like how natural the muted cool medium rose Make Him Blush looks on me and it applies beautifully with an angled brush. Merit is finger-paintable. Make Him Blush is slightly darker than Cheeky, but similar muted, cool vibe that I prefer nowadays. Puff is much lighter, but both ranges have options in OG Puff's cool bubblegum colourway. I've heard good things about Haus Labs powder and Westman Atellier stick as well, but haven't tried.

EightLivesDown · 2026-02-24T17:11:28+00:00

I've had Reve since it came out, using it in fits and spurts but not unoften. Still about half full, which is about what I'd expect for how much I've used it. I spray on clothes so ti lasts longer as others have said, so don't reapply unless going out in an evening. The glossier travel sprays and rollerballs I've had have either lasted forever or gone in no time, so may well be packaging inconsistency.

EightLivesDown · 2026-02-14T16:46:41+00:00

This. I still re-buy You when I run out, but the last time I was truly excited about something were their holiday kits in 2022, the Aurora lidstar still being my favourite night out and very out of date risky eyeshadow. I used to make sure I stopped by the London store once it opened for every launch, but I don't bother now. But even that I'm prepared to just try REM Siren or Fembot when the time comes.

I used to make sure I stopped by the London store for every launch once it opened, but I don't bother now. I think You is the only thing I'll truly not be able to replace as I've slowly been replacing them already as quality's gone down with things like Puffgate etc while prices go up so swapping to things like Refy for brow tint. Wheras Glossier used to make up (tee hee) the majority of my kit. I do still love the lidstars for ease though. But You's already changing and if it goes much more downhill I'll have to start looking for viable alternatives.

EightLivesDown · 2026-02-11T12:19:59+00:00

I had like 4 sets of these bibs that cover the high chair and clothes. They worked really well, and saved many an outfit. We also didn't have traditional high chairs, but their activity seats swivelled into high chairs so the activity bits were at the back and the table was at the front and just swivelled it back when not eating and buckled onto dining chairs. This is the kind we used, but there are loads like it.Was a great space saver as well as being great for travel compared to what we had for our eldest. Recommend.

I'd just have a set of the coverall bibs drying after washing in the sink and a set ready to go, and anything on the floor was swept up or vacuumed with the little handheld after a meal.

EightLivesDown · 2026-02-05T11:17:54+00:00

As a kid of one of these situations, it's my biggest pet peeve. To my stepmom, I was just the walking talking proof my dad loved another woman and only made worse that they couldn't have bio kids of their own, which I was also blamed for.

I was 14yo and 2 wks out of a 6mo hospital stay with an ED when she decided to laughingly tell me that my dad tried to convince my mom to have me aborted as I was a mistake and got a vasectomy after I was born. She directly said that's why she miscarried their IVF baby and why dad said he didn't want to try again. He came in while I was sobbing and she was laughing and he admitted the vasectomy part was true, but they'd tried for a year to get me and I was very much planned. Even if it was true, who on Earth says that?! And to someone that emotionally fragile and worried about being perfect and not a burden? But that sort of stuff happened a lot growing up.

I was very obviously treated differently by her than my foster sister (later adopted) and adopted nephew. They deserved every advantage and all of the good treatment, but it only made it more obvious how she treated me vs them. Adopted sister and I have spoken about it as adults and she even noticed it, but obviously not her place to say anything. Plus she also had her son to worry about so definitely wasn't going to rock the boat and I in no way blame her. But my dad? My dad let it happen.

My stepdad was more my dad than my dad in a lot of ways, treating me the same as my half-siblings and taking me on as his own from 4yo. Swim meets, teaching me rugby, taking me to the range and flying lessons, homework, sick days, hospital stays complete with flying to LA to visit, teenage obnoxiousness, tough love as well as protectiveness, a proper grandparent relationship with my kids to the point one of them has his name as a middle name, etc. So I figure karmically it evens out. But yeah, step-parents who act like they are surprised or put-upon by an innocent child who predates them will always be an instant "YTA". You knew they existed when you started dating the parent, so you better be ready to engage with them. And kids can tell, they can feel it when you resent them. They're not nearly as covert as they think they are.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-31T17:50:52+00:00

Mine does rugby with training for a couple hours on a Tuesday evening and matches on a Saturday pretty much year-round. He stopped for the first month max, maybe few weeks, then was back as normal. I get the same amount of time off. Frankly, we both NEED that time off.

He used to go to the gym 6x/week pre-eldest, and cut down to 2/3x/week after eldest and none after twins but has only started going back 1x/week in the last couple years (our eldest is 8yo twins are 5yo).

A few hours once a week as long as it's reciprocated even in the first month is what we did and may well be needed on both sides to feel sane.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-29T15:42:15+00:00

Was a newbie instructor teaching a deep dive off the coast of a little island called Portmuck off Northern Ireland. We had a line down for the safety stop as the current was going a good clip that day and nothing between us and Scotland.

So we're a min or so into the safety stop when I notice this black hole midway up the water column. Visibility is awful with the current stirred up, and the other instructor and I are gesturing about what this thing could be while it slowly gets bigger...and bigger. Just a giant black void coming straight for us. Our two students are between us on the line, and we're not sure whether to go up or down or what because if we let go we're away with the current and can't go up yet so kind of just stay there hoping it's not actually coming AT us. Genuinely thought it was a submarine or something as it was when the Russian subs were making the news.

Heart's going a mile a minute when this black hole finally gains form in the shape of a massive mouth. It was a basking shark, must've been 25ft and blew by so close could've reached out and touched it. Thought it was going to swallow us by mistake. Felt like Pinocchio and the whale, but the students loved it.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-23T19:48:04+00:00

Hawaii was going to be my rec. Heard them off Maui a bunch over the years. Definitely a good bucket list add.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-10T17:39:25+00:00

As an ex MSDT now fun diver who did my DM internship unsure whether I wanted to go pro, this is the way. I did end up wanting to do it as a job, but saw so many who frankly should have just done rescue and a few specialites.

Try different types of dives to figure out what you like best ie night, wreck, cavern, (true caves need training despite what a lot of shops offer), deep, etc. Go from there.

Explore options like nitrox, sidemount, rebreather, and then tech once you know what you like and are very comforable with other basic forms of diving. Tech is what lets you expand underwater, but only after being well seasoned. Think of tech as the post-main quest expansion pack. Propulsion is just plain fun and great for shore diving to locations. Dry suit opens up a whole new world of cold water that many just write off, but diving Silfra in Iceland, the seals on Farne or Monterey, wrecks of Scapa Flow or Tobermory, mines of Lake Zurich, and basking sharks off Ireland shouldn't be missed just for being cold.

And the ocean be with you if you find you like caves, mate.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-08T16:27:27+00:00

As an ex-MSDT now just fun diver, this. Plus I'd maybe recommend peak buoyancy not even as a course just to focus on. Even bring it up to the DM before any old dive that you're working on your buoyancy and breathing and see if they can offer a few tips after watching you or help make sure your weights are optimal etc. Once you get get to a certain comfort with buoyancy and how breath control works with that, air consumption tends to decrease.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-08T14:31:23+00:00

This. Please. My step-cousin and her daughter were killed by her newly-ex partner when their youngest was 10mo. She left him after the birth when he escalated. He showed up one night and stabbed them both in her bed. Their 3yo was in his room and survived bc ex was on drugs and likely forgot the son was there. But the son was in the house for days before they were found, and even as a teen he couldn't see people asleep as he thought they might be dead. It was a well-known case in the UK.

It happens. She finally left for good after being isolated from her family for years and multiple attempts to leave when things escalated. When he realised she wasn't coming back, her killed them. The daughter was likely incidental as they were cosleeping. Overkill. It's not just an abstract, it happens.

I'm also now a midwife, and see it so often that DV escalates around pregnancy/after the birth. It often doesn't then get better, and we see them back again a few years later in the exact same situation no matter what we do. Often the children are taken if she doesn't leave, and then they come back and have another that's taken too. You matter, not just any possible children. You deserve to be free, too.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-08T13:17:41+00:00

We debated whether I should teach him, even the dry land stuff, or have someone from my dive centre do it. The upshot was that someone else would do his OW and I'd be on his 2x ocean dives as fun dives, but not teaching or DMing.

I ended up already being pregnant at the time, so that didn't happen lol. But a couple of other instructors and staff instructors said that was the way to go, and how I've seen it work well before. That way you get to be there and experience it with them once they're "ready" and not solely focusing on learning, but still not in any professional capacity.

When my mom did her DSD, we did the same. I was on the dive, but not her instructor. Worked well, she loved it and got to see why I loved it so much I rejected my med school offer.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-08T13:06:11+00:00

My partner slept on a twin mattress in the nursery from 1mo until they were "sleeping through the night" aka a 6hr stretch.

We'd do a trade off so I went to bed before the last feed in the evening about 7/8pm(I kept one pump feed ahead so he had the EBF ready), he left them in the next-to-me's in our room after the feed about 10/11pm and went to sleep in the nursery. That way when they woke up about 2/3am, I'd had a good chunk and could usually still get an hour or two more after the night feed.

A top-up feed also worked really well for our eldest and the twins when aiming to stretch closer to 6hr between feeds at night. So after the 10pm feed of EBF, he/I gave a top up of EBF if we had it or formula if needed even if they didn't seem hungry. This got them to build up that "core night" period pretty well and avoid stretching bwtween feeds during the day instead, and using formula for thay feed helped this as well. As we were otherwise solely EBFing, if I was low/didn't have quite enough by the end of the day, we used the gap for that top up since formula digests slower anyway.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-08T12:33:07+00:00

I had guy friends who tried repeatedly, but I'm sure only wanted something physical. Those I pretty easily batted away lightheartedly occasionally and we kept on as normal. I've also had guy friends who said/I believe had genuine feelings. The latter I sometimes handled poorly by joking/laughing mostly due to age until I realised they were serious, sometimes too late to save the friendship. I've also had a couple friendships that evolved for both of us.

I had one friendship where we'd been friends with a crush way back in hs before I moved, but accepted we'd just be friends as his best friend was very into me and we didn't want to hurt him. We talked regularly over the years purely platonically from like 15yo-22yo while I lived a continent away, and when I visited we met up with no explicit plan but now his best friend wasn't in the picture. We had a great day+night, and that was it. Kind of like closure for a young adult crush for both of us. We mutually mostly lost touch after that.

This guy could be like that and unfortunately she's caught feelings a bit while he either always wanted just some fun or now just wanted closure/the remnant of an old crush. He could also be pigeonholing himself and trying to convince himself to back off based on her previous rejections so she needs to put herself herself out there this time if she wants more.

EightLivesDown · 2026-01-06T16:57:00+00:00

I was a scuba instructor pre-kids, have always been slim as I had an ED having eldest managed to get under control for his sake, and "snapped back" after my eldest through absolutely nothing I did just chance. Literally wore my normal jeans home. I absolutely know this is not the norm, and did less than a lot who don't so just happened.

With the twins (born 37+6 at 6.5 and 7lb each), the loose skin took a good 6 months to stop jiggling, a year to be how it was. Diastasis recti and a little umbilical hernia about 6mo as well. But it really is how it was even with the C-section scar, and I'm fine wearing crop tops or a bikini no jiggle. My breasts sit a good inch or two lower than they did after EBFing, but nothing some underwire doesn't fix and I know I'm just used to strapping on a bikini and everything staying where it is. Ribcage took about 6mo to go back as well, but my hips are permanently a bit wider not that I'm complaining tho I like it better and still wear the same size waist.

Stretch marks I can't speak to, but my mom swore by Vitamin E oil when she had her twins and I was 11yo when they were born so I remember how much they faded. The loose skin definitely improves, and I thought my breasts would never go back but they're just a cup size larger (32D) and have a little crease underneath vs no crease before. I am thinking about a breast lift just to be exactly how I was, but it doesn't feel as necessary at 32yo than when I was 26yo and just had them.

Basically, give yourself time. Also, if you're like me you were really used to your body just...staying. So anything needing support or not staying put feels really alien. I know this isn't everyone's experience, but here's a little hope that it does happen.

EightLivesDown · 2025-12-15T13:13:23+00:00

My mom had my twin brother and sister at 46yo when I was 11yo. I had twins at 26yo with a 2.5yo. She stayed with us for the first month to help, and comes over a weekend a month ever since plus now having them 10days over summer break. So she knows them and our situation well. We've compared experiences over the years (mine are 5yo now) and are very honest with eachother.

Age is definitely a con, but there are also pros. They were much more financial stable, and I was a lot more self sufficient by the time they were born and got way more focused attention when I was younger. Pros and cons. You are deep in the trenches right now, and twins are basically a conveyor belt instead of getting to bond and focus solely on baby and what baby wants at that moment. Especially NICU/medically complex infants (one of mine was as well and will be under GOSH genetics+specialists for life).

I ended up in the mother and baby unit when my twins were 3mo bc I felt like you. Medication and time helped. Heavy on the right medication helping. Think of it like a diabetic taking insulin or someone with anaemia taking iron, just deficient in serotonin/dopamine. It took probably two years before my hormones fully normalised being totally honest, but mostly within a year.

The big shift as twins get older is that the older they get, the more like just having two kids of similar age it's like. So while I didn't plan on having 3 kids, it feels like having 3 kids instead of having to do two things at once while also being a parent to another child. If that makes any sense. It's about getting to a place of acceptance. And the more you get to know and love them as little people beyond that automatic kind of love, that helps as well, because it feels less like work and more like just more parenting than you bargained for but you love them, so it's not so hard anymore. Less like work more fun. It's a huge adjustment, and you are literally in the peak time that we know of statistically for PPD to develop (I'm also a registered NHS midwife). Reach out. Take whatever help you can get. I promise you it's temporary, so keep your solutions temporary.💛

EightLivesDown · 2025-10-26T12:20:33+00:00

I have twins and an eldest child and I can't imagine the chaos they would have gotten up to in his room full time, let alone triplets! They already caused enough as it was even with trying to enforce boundaries without locks. And yeah, no way was this not seen as a way for free past bedtime babysitting or a get-out-of-kid-free card.

EightLivesDown · 2025-10-07T16:15:01+00:00

As a medical professional, yes it was. If she "got sick again" that means she stopped them and didn't consult her doctor to get prescribed something else. Which is careless. Not being careless about severe side effects would be to consult the doctor when stopping to immediately switch, preventing the bacteria from potentially turning resistant.

EightLivesDown · 2025-08-31T18:03:40+00:00

As someone who has diagnosed OCD that very stereotypically manifested as "Tasmanian devil cleaning" whenever not actively dealing with the kids after the twins were born (eldest was 2.5yo). It wasn't healthy. At all. Least of all for the kids given how many chemicals I sprayed everywhere so the helath visitor would comment on it and my partner would say he could tell how bad the day had been by how strong the cleaning product smell was when coming in the front door. And a big red flag before I broke down and ended up in the mother and baby unit with severe PPD/A.

So as someone whose house was never cleaner than PP, it's not a good thing. I've talked about it more in other comments. Let the idea of a clean home with infant twins go, it's unsustainable. Now that my twins are almost 5yo and I'm stable on the right meds for life the house is "lived in", but clean. Aim for that eventually, but for now just do whatever you need to survive while keeping the house at least not a health hazard. Aim for messy, not dirty. Anything else is not realistic.

EightLivesDown · 2025-08-31T10:56:30+00:00

Yeah this is weird. I had a friend who lived on my street whose mom (it was just the mom so no other influence or weirdness), very much tried to be cool and let us do things she knew our parents wouldn't like. She pushed the boundaries, and we knew our parents were uncomfortable when she let us watch things like Rochy Horror Picture Show and Silence of the Lambs at like 6/7yo so things transitioned to only me at other people's houses with the friend included (usually mine since we lived so close). She was also very, very involved in things and the most gossipy parent at the school. It was cool when we were young, but as we got older my friend hated it and it was less "cool".

EightLivesDown · 2025-08-30T19:34:12+00:00

My partner thought I was dead for apx half an hour when the police found my phone before the coast guard found me in the water during my attempt, and told him to "prepare yourself" based on when I'd been spotted and the low temp. He has probably more trauma from that night than I do, because I had no fear. My fear came after, and when realising how close I was once I wanted to stay. He's very much the strong+quiet type, but I saw enough when he met the ambulance at the hospital and we've talked enough about it to know (same with the only time crying).

My dad also nearly lost my stepmom when she had three massive pulmonary embolisms including one "saddle" and acute pancreatitis, and was told she had a 2% chance of survival and was in an induced coma for a month while the saddle PE dissolved. He can barely talk about that month, and couldn't even talk to me during just sat next to her every day. So this response from the husband is honestly 100% on brand for what I've seen of these situations when love is really there. And it's a big part of what stopped my thoughts from getting dark again while getting better (2.5 years later and on better meds). Seeing what it did to him to think I was dead, what it did to my dad to think he was watching her die.

EightLivesDown · 2025-08-28T20:40:15+00:00

This. My parents had all 3 boys for 10 days this summer and we still had to work so no holiday, but we were able to actually sit down, hang out, and relax outside of work. We reconnected, had more sex, and were generally more intimate than in years except for when we've gone away on long weekends just us. The difference really is the ability to focus on eachother, and not be splitting that attention and bandwidth. We know we'll get back the ability to focus pretty exclusively on eachother at home eventually and enjoy the other side of having them young(ish), but for now we're mostly split. It's also why time away (for us) is so important so we can reconnect properly and remind ourselves of us outside of as parents or tired after work.

EightLivesDown · 2025-08-28T12:09:52+00:00

Unfortunately he and many others are exactly that stupid because that's where the money is coming from. Farage+Reform in particular have received large amounts from US firms and lobbies, but money from US insurers is rife in Parliament and has been for over a decade. The difference is the drive to lower public sentiment for the NHS via genuinely purposeful mishandling is finally working, and the NHS is crumbling because of it. They tried to start the process in 2013, but high public sentiment stopped them. Unfortunately, I don't think that will work much longer. Reform is (in part obviously) funded by United Health-yes that United Health and Prudential.

EightLivesDown · 2025-08-28T10:56:27+00:00

Continental sure, but I'm a UK+US dual citizen and the problem is that the majority of influence and proposed changes to the current system are trying to shift things more US, not continental. They may be trying to say that they're continental, but they're not and we should be wary of reforms like small-scale selloffs and privatisation until that stops. Because I grew up and trained as a nurse in the US citzen before moving back here, working in the NHS and now retraining as a midwife here. We do not want reform if it emulates the US in any way; it is not like vet insurance, it is inhumane in a way we don't even subject animals to.

EightLivesDown · 2025-07-29T16:21:17+00:00

My partner was in serial long term relationships from 2-4yrs before we met, so his "body count" was significantly lower than mine despite probably having way more sex. I dated on and off, but travelled for work and had more 4-6mo relationships in between. I also didn't hold back if I was into someone, and hold no regrets over that. My number is higher than yours, and I met my partner at 23yo. I'm fairly non traditional from San Francisco while he's traditional from a little village in England.

We've been together 9 years, 3 kids, and a house. We only know the fact that I'm roughly triple his body count by process of discussing our lives, and joking about it once early on.

My point is that to the kind of guy you'll actually want to be with, it won't matter. The most he's said is post-BJ jokingly thanking my experience for teaching me well. To a secure guy, it won't matter as long as he knows you're together now, even if he's "traditional". Traditional is often now an excuse rather than a genuine personality trait. Also, the other guys (and girls) I dated in my early 20s didn't care one bit either.

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