Life lately

Life lately has flown by and here is a bit of a round up of my thoughts.

* Work has been manic. As in, really manic and I have ended up overloaded. This week I suffered an anxiety attack and very little sleep. I decided that it wasn’t worth it. I pride myself on working hard but not so much that my health will suffer. I spoke to my boss, he was great, and things are better. Moral of the story don`t struggle on.. speak out.
* I have brilliant friends who have arranged a hens party for me. I need to buy some cowboy boots.
* I am back on weight watchers. I have realised over the last few months my problem is often not eating enough which leads to me eating loads some days. I don’t think my problems with food are at all emotional. They are physiological so I just need to understand them and fix them. I am on my way. I have dropped 1kg and am pretty much back to where I was a 20kg loss last year. So really I have successfully maintained for 5 months.56
* I am loving exercise. I am thinking of doing the half marathon later this year and I have signed up for a 100km charity walk so am training for this also. I enjoy having exercise goals non weightloss related.
* Bikram is excellent. Although I am not doing it this week I am planning to do it often in the future. Especially whilst it is cold.
* Lacteeze still makes my world so much easier. Any lactose intolerants get in on it!
* I am still eating a few FOODMAPS. It is hard to avoid them when stressed. I am convinced they add to my anxiety. This week complete avoidance is my main goal.
* My MAC makeup workshop went amazingly. I bought everything. I mean everything. Wedding makeup sorted.
* I have been clearing out… more stuff landing on ebay soon.
* I am a little sad at the prospect of moving out of this little house.
* I am looking forward to the chance to save and get ahead.
* I am loving life, going out a bit, looking forwards to holidays and work.
* Despite all this loving life what I really want is to have a baby! The realisation hit me so much this week. It has been creeping up on me for a while. Now my body clock is screaming in my ear and all other things, whilst making me happy, don’t make me as happy as the thought of a bubba would. It is not the right time yet but I hope it will be soon.
* In 5 weeks I get married and have a big Holliday.

Life is pretty good. How are you travelling???

The new rules of wardrobe

I like how my wardrobe currently looks. I have a fully functioning wardrobe with just the right amount of clothes and a good spread of clothes. After a series of clean outs and being honest about what I do and don’t actually wear my new rules are one in … One out. If I want to buy something new I must first get rid of something old. It is so tempting to keep buying and then not wear all your clothes. I hope this will help me to gain a good quality, functioning wardrobe. I also hope this will enable me to not waste money on un needed items.

what’s your wardrobe policy? The more the merrier?

Image: google images

Skincare Routine

After a pretty long quest I finally feel like I have cracked my skincare routine and fallen into a regime with products that are really working for me.

If I have makeup on I start by removing it with Bioderma Crealine H2O solution. This has been reviewed everywhere but I love it. It doesn’t sting, it gets everything off and it is a great price for what you get. Most of my remaining products are Mario Badescu which I have found to be a brand of really good products that work at a very reasonable price. First I massage the Enzyme cleansing gel into my face when it is dry and splash it off, I then tone with glycolic toner and use the hylauronic face cream. The face cream has been a game changer for me because I do get some hormonal and digestive spots and other creams used to control this really stripped my skin. Now I am putting moisture back my skin is healing much quicker. At night I use Kosmea rosehip oil instead which I pat and massage into my face before bed. I think this is helping to fade scars from old spots.

Finally once a week, usually fly in night, I do a flower and tonic face mask which is great. I like this product as it has the unclogging clay type feel but also puts goodness back into your face and make it feel softer. I then wet a cotton ball and dip it in silver powder and smear this over my nose. Let it dry and you will see dirt being pulled out your pores. If you use a pore strip after this you will be amazed at how much extra dirt you get out your pores. Then onto tone and moisturise as normal.

have you found your perfect skincare? how do you look after your face?

It looks like a girl bomb has gone off in the lounge

haha the title of this post is what my other half said to me when I had my products sprinkled everywhere getting things ready. Rather than reviewing individual products I am going to start doing posts on my favourite face products of the moment. Normally I have two go to looks. One is more natural on the eyes and brighter lips the other is more on eyes and less on lips.

So without further ado here are the products I am currently loving.

I always do my base with bare minerals as mentioned in the previous post. I also love the sleek brow kit and also the sleek Glo HighlighterFor budget products both of these are fantastic.

For my minimal face I use a quick sweep of savvy mineral baked blusher in blossom. I find this a really great budget mineral blusher and a little goes a really long way. On my lids I dab on a little kitcream eyeshadow in pretty quickly. This was a freebie which I have found myself using more and more. A quick line with rimmel glam eyes and some Natio super long lash mascara and I am almost ready to go. A final slick of Revlon just bitten kisable balm stain in romantic.

For my other face I use two mineral shadows Shanga Camellia over the lid. I love this colour as it is a slightly peachy pale pink which I prefer to cooler pinks. I also use a smudge of Adorn mineral cosmetics eye create intensive eye in copper which has a nice warmth to it. I also use a line of korres eyeliner pencil in brown. Sometimes I line my water line with a second korres pencil in golden which I prefer to a harsh white water line. I think this is a litle softer but perks up my eyes just as well. Finally I use a little blush from kit in peachy keenand on the lips I use Korres liquid lipstick in number 13. These are weird as they look like a lip gloss but go on tacky then dry to a lipstick feel. The reason I like them so much is they last well.

How do you do your daily face? should I do more posts like this?

Review- Bare Minerals

I have probably been banging on about Bare Minerals before on here but have never really taken the time to do a proper review. A while ago my skin was terrible and I decided to try mineral makeup to help improve it. I think my change in skin care has also helped hugely and I will do a post on my skincare routine,as I love reading other peoples, and I really feel this is working for me at the moment. That said I do feel that bare minerals has really helped improve my face.

I used a starter kit originally, a fantastic way to trial the products, which costs $85. Mine was from kit cosmetics. Now I have all the full sized products but if you use the trial kit you also get the necessary brushes to apply it all properly.

I also have an Everyday Minerals brush which is really lovely. When you buy the products you are taught to apply them and there is also an instructional dvd, which I have never watched!

I used the illuminating primer all over my face. This is nice and this and gives the face a great glow. One pump is all you need for the whole face and it does make it feel nice and smooth.I then wait a couple of minutes and put on the mineral foundation in light. I tap a little into the lid, swirl my brush, tap brush to get rid of excess then buff it onto my skin. I use either my Everyday Minerals kabuki or a full face brush. If I have any blemishes I use the smaller brush (max coverage concealer) to put some extra product to hide them. I then use the face brush to apply warmth to my face. Warmth is a matt bronzer which you apply around the face line and under your cheek bones. I use the max concealer brush and the bare minerals in Bisque under my eyes to cover dark circles. Finally using the full face brush I have a quick dip, swirl and tap in the mineral veil and buff it on. At the moment I have the illuminating veil which , in my opinion, is a little too sparkly. I wanted a glow but think you get this better from the original without the sparkle.

I was worried , as I have dry skin , that I may look a bit dull or dry using a powder but I am definitely converted and feel that it gives me glow enough. A selection of faces are below.

Do you use mineral makeup? what is your favourite brand?

Life lately and a few thoughts

A lot of my posts lately have been scheduled ones. This is because I blog on my break and then work whilst I am away. Life lately has been a bit strange really. To be honest ever since the new year I have been a bit up and down and as I have mentioned on here I attribute this to 3 things.

First up, FODMAPS. There is no two ways about this they affect my well being. They affect my physical well being, with stomach aches, but there is so much evidence they affect my mental wellbeing also. I am worth more than this therefore I need to remove them once and for all.

Exercise also affects my physical and mental health and I have become one of those people who enjoys it and needs it. DAILY. I have some little goals now. The perth half marathon in August, a 100km charity walk in October and an entry to the London Marathon Ballot.

Diet. Oh my I slipped. Off the back of the slip I have a few things to say. Since January I have not been religious with counting points. I have attempted other more extreme diets. I have failed and sadly it has affected my well being, feelings about myself and exercise. Recently I fell into the starting tomorrow everyday thing. That has only been lately and I have the rest of the time indulged more and listened to myself. I have basically maintained with a 1.5 kg gain from the last few weeks. This attitude has also affected my tiredness and too be honest I hate it. I am now back to weighing weekly and weight watchers online. $50 per month is a small price to pay to get to my goal.

One of my main slip ups is just my lack of care for food. It is just not priority for me so I don’t eat then get starving and need to eat the nearest thing. This is part of the reason I put on weight and no longer acceptable to me. On the upsideI no longer binge, I am pretty regular with exercise despite what I said above and I am also mostly good at low FODMAPs. I also seem to be pretty ok with maintaining. So for all these reasons I am happy about how I spent the last few months.

I have learned how I like to eat and to be honest just need to tweak it up and count points again. I have done it before and I can easily do this again. I like weight watchers because I can eat healthy, low FODMAP, enough to fuel me and it works. It also doesn’t mean life has to go on hold and this is important as I have a lot of life coming up.

I am almost delighted with these break throughs and feel like although I have a weight goal, the very centre of my healthy range, it is no longer just about my physical body. I am addicted to how good a healthy lifestyle makes you feel and because of that I can no longer living life at any less.

How is your relationship with food? Have you ever had a moment like this?

cco Gel nails Review

Recently after trying a friends I order this off ebay.

I opted for an LED light as I was worried about extra UV exposure after cancer scares. I love this kit and think it is the best value. It came with everything you needed except for acetone nail polish remover and alcohol to clean the nails. Both of these are available cheaply from a chemist.

I got 6 colours and some snapshots of some are below. I chose a hot pink, peachy pink and red as toe nail colours and pale pink ( which actually has a little sparkle), dark purple/red and grey for the nails. It also has a base coat and top coat.

The process is easy.

Sort nails and cuticles as you would normally. Clean nails with alcohol wipe. Buff nails. Use base coat and pop under light for 30 secs, colour coat and under the lamp for 60 seconds, repeat, then top coat and a further 60 seconds. At this point they are done but feel sticky. A quick wipe with alcohol and it should feel fine. Off you pop.

My lamp is cheaper so has a 90 second off switch but I just use my iphone timer.

To remove either soak in acetone or place cotton wool soaked in acetone over the nails and wrap in tin foil.

These nails last an easy week and I do a manual job.

Some tips for longevity include not painting right up to the cuticles as this makes a wedge of product which you are more likely to pick at and pull off. Also, don’t pull it off as it trashes your nails underneath. I like the fact it wears well, is easy to do and probably quicker than normal polish when you remove drying time. It also makes my nails feel a little stronger with the extra layers.

Here a

nails and toes

na

Any top tips for this? Any colours I should be adding?

The winter warmer series- Steak and Ale

This is my new recipe for the week.

Steak and Ale stew
Braising steak
carrots
onions
olive oil
dried thyme
bay leaves
Ale
potatoes
Flour
tbsp sugar ( if needed)

Chop onions and soften in a pan with some olive oil. Add braising steak, and sprinkle with thyme, until sealed and transfer to the slow cooker. Add chopped veg to the slow cooker with 3 bay leaves. In the dry pan add 2 tbsp flour and mix in with oil and flavours. Slowly add the ale ( I actually used Guinness) and mix until smooth. Poor this over the slow cooker food and leave to cook all dat. I then put it on high with the lid off at the end of the day to thicken a little. Also taste and as guiness is a bit bitter I added a tbsp brown sugar at this point.

Serve in a bowl with grated cheese and home made bread.

For a second meal you will need a few of these

Line a greased pan with pastry. Add the soup using a spoon with holes in it to drain out some of the liquid. Cover with a pastry lid and brush with egg and milk.

Cook at 200 degrees for around 30-40 minutes until it looks slightly less golden than this…

Enjoy

Beauty Store Bargains!

There are some great deals out on the high street at the moment and today I blitzed them all. I did need a few things and had held off until a great deal came along and today it was there.

First up I have had very sore dry eyes and under eyes at work. I was getting a little down about my appearance at work as I felt I was looking very old. I think this is due to the dry environment and aircon. I also wanted some intensive moisturiser to use. I have a natio daily moisturiser, from a previous deal, and felt I needed something to add to this. I love my mario badescu at home but have a separate set of skin care at work. So I saw in Natio these beauties. A brightening eye cream and skin firming serum. Together they were under $40 and came with a free gift. This gift has the perfect amount of skincare and handcream for my trip home. Perfect.

Next I really wanted a new set of brushes for my wedding day makeup. I had considered the sigma set which costs around $130 for all of them. My friend recommended eco tools and I have seen positive reviews of them on twitter. I popped into priceline and they were reduced, plus if you spend $60 you get a free bag with $220 of products in it. I was keen as mustard. I got a selection of the brushes which are tucked away safely on the spare bed for the wedding day ( I have a stash of items ready for home!).

Wooo hoooo hoo look at these goodies. Although I generally choose more naturally products I love a chance like this to try new items. Included in my bag was

A pouffe
Skin wipes
A dark black/purple nail polish
a nude lippy
mascara
eyeliner
highlighting pencil
a primer
2 sets of false nails
cuticle oil
highlighter
toothpaste and a lipbutter

Needless too say I am delighted and may start reviewing in due course. However as a review of the deal it is great.

I then noticed at the till for $25 you can sign up to be a member and get perks and a free gift. So I did that too!

A models own eye liner, bag, makeup bag, mirror and lip gloss pencil.

Fabulous

I also picked up the rather good nanoblur. I tried this on the back of my hand expecting nothing but the difference was definitely visible and it was down to $19.99 in priceline so I picked it up. Applied after makeup it makes the undereyes less wrinkled and fresher. I also discovered it minimises pores. BONUS!

Gold Star Challenge- an update

Last week I blogged about starting the gold star challenge. This week I have come out of my pit and actually started getting some starts.

Stars I have earned:

Monday- ate within points ( 1star), exercised ( 1 star)
Tuesday- none! Meal plan and shop ( 5 stars)
Wednesday- exercised ( 1 star), ate within points ( 1 star), cleaned out (5 stars!)

Plus 2 new recipes ( 1 star each)

I think that I am going really well. Next week I want to focus on completely diet coke free plus no FODMAPs as I have noticed my tummy appears a lot bigger when I have even the smallest amount and It bothers me!

How is your GSC going?