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Blog Action Day 2010: Water

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Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Today is the fourth annual Blog Action Day. Each year on 0ctober 15th, bloggers from all over the internet post about the same issue, to raise awareness and promote discussion. I have been subscribed to the e-mail newsletter for a few years now, but this is the first time I have been organised enough to participate.

The issue this year is water. As I’m sure most people reading this will know, over 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, and that human bodies are at least 55% water.  Water is absolutely essential for life. Not only do we use it for drinking, cooking, and cleaning, but massive quantities are used to produce some of the things we use in everyday life.

If we just think about our clothes, cotton requires an awful lot of water to grow – about 1,514 litres per t-shirt, and over 7000 for a pair of jeans. Meanwhile, freshwater supplies are decreasing. Nearly one billion people are without access to clean water. Clean water was declared a human right earlier this year by the United Nations General Assembly, but we still have a long way to go. Almost 38,000 children under the age of 5 die every week because they don’t have access to safe drinking water.

There are some small actions that you can take to conserve water, that I’m sure you will have heard about before. Buying new less often, turning off the tap whilst you brush your teeth, taking showers instead of baths when you can, collecting rain water to water plants rather than filling a can from the tap. There are numerous charities that work to build wells and install sanitation facilities for people in need, here is the Blog Action Day fundraising page, if you feel moved to donate. Improving access to water for people everywhere is a political issue, however. Please sign the petition for an International Water Treaty.

Statistics thanks to various links on the Blog Action Day homepage. If you would like to participate in Blog Action Day 2010, here is a list of suggested post ideas.

What To Buy From The Aromaleigh Closing Down Sale (If You Can)

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Click for glorious glittering close-up. You can also see that I didn’t brush my eyebrows or comb my eyelashes before taking the photo. Shadows are: Aromaleigh Sylph (iridescent glittery white) on inner corners, Urban Decay Flash (bright purple) in middle of lids, Sleek Sunset palette black on outer corner/crease. Aromaleigh Aqua Nightmare went over the top in the crease and Aromaleigh Plush Romantic in the outer corner.

Aromaleigh is no longer accepting international orders for the closing down sale, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t live vicariously through my US readers! Unfortunately but not surprisingly, my two absolute favourite Aromaleigh shadows, Aqua Nightmare and Sylph, are sold out. However, you can still get some of my other top recommendations.

From the main site:

Plush Romantic, a blue-grey with aqua and green sparkles. Goes on most wonderfully I think over a black base, but lovely on its own as well. Clara looks like a muddly blue-grey with slight lilac shimmer in the packet or on the brush, but does this colour changing thing when you apply it over a sticky base to become a gorgeous lilac with a little aqua thrown in to spice it up. Heart and Soul is a fabulous bright pink with sparkles, which can easily be applied as a wash to tone it down or with a sticky base to be rather more wild.

Any of the bright colours in the Les Papillions collection, they are all so fabulous.

From the vault sales, on the Aromaleigh blog:

I recommend you invest in anything from the Holiday Blast collection. I cannot for the life of me imagine why these haven’t sold out already. They’re just completely amazing sparkly party shades and I love them! Party Dress and Tangled Tinsel are gold and silver shadows, pretty simple but Party Dress is the first gold eyeshadow that I tried and liked. Tangled Tinsel just adds sparkle to anything. Almost Midnight is the purple of my dreams, bright and sparkly with some aqua thrown in too. Not So Silent Night is a thunderstorm with stars – grey-black with blue and silver glitter. I consider it the darker equivalent of Plush Romantic. Twinkling Lights is the first non-blackened green eyeshadow that I tried which actually suited me. It’s a cool-green with gold and pink sparkles, and I think it looks best applied to the lower lid.

I really would have liked to have tried:

Everything, to be honest, but most especially the Victoria’s Revenge collection because it was originally intended as a collaboration with Emilie Autumn, the rest of the Gothic Lolita collection – I only got to try three samples, the Bete Noire eyeshadows, and the Drama Queen eyeliners. I never got to try any Rocks! either, because I was holding out for the relaunch. So if you can, indulge, and make me more jealous.