LOTD Quote/Fact

Louise has chosen a Fact or Quote for Friday's LOTD, please click here to see her original post!


I have also pinched mine from my Pinterest board.  The image shows a girl working out but actually the message can be applied to anything you want to do/achieve, not just fitness!  I think it is a good message to remember when you are feeling like something is out of your reach!

Here is a link to my pinterest if you would like a snoop :) 

As usual I am looking forward to seeing all the other entries today! x

GOSH Primer and cream blush

For as long as I can remember I have had a line running across my forward, even when I was a child, must have been a frowny baby!  As I am getting older the crease seems to be getting deeper, eek, so I was thrilled when I first discovered the polyfiller of the make up world, primers!

My current favourite is the GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer and I opted for the anti-wrinkle version, because who doesn't want extra help there!  I got mine in Superdrug and they are around £13/14.

They aren't lying when they say this has a velvet touch, it is so soft and well, velvety!  I apply this all over my face and put on an extra bit in my one forehead line and it definitely helps to smooth out the area, as well as around the eyes etc.  I then like to wait 5 minutes or so if I have time before I add my foundation.  This product includes Matrixyl 3000, a face firming peptide, in its ingredients, and the bottle say this helps boost collagen , even out skin tone and restore clarity. All sounds good to me! It is also unperfumed which I like because sometimes make up smells can be a bit bleugh!   Simply put I like this product a lot, I feel it makes my skin look nicer and it feels good too!

The second product that I love from GOSH is the Natural Touch Cream Blusher and the shade I use is 001 Peachy Rush.  I have been using this product for about 18 months and it has been a repeat purchase for me. I love the way it looks on naked skin if I am in a rush, or over BB cream for a dewy finish or over full foundation and powder, it works well over it all!  I love the colour, a deep peachy coral, which I feel suits my yellow toned skin really well! I also love the way it is very build-able, so you can go for a subtle look or a much more bold cheek!  I do play around a lot with different cheek colours but 99.9% of the time this one will be a base under any other, if I am not using it on its own.  This I also get from Superdrug and is about £7.  The pot lasts for ages and I think in all the time I have used it I have had to replace my only twice!

Which primer and blushers are your favourites? x

LOTD Ebay

So today's LOTD is ebay and here is Louise's pick of the day! sprinkleofglitter

I have chosen these STUDS to share with all.  I actually bought these in January and the plan was (and still is) to find some denim shorts and customise them a bit, but I haven't been able to find the perfect shorts yet, which is a shame as I have 3 ideas so I will need to hunt out 3 pairs! Ho hum, hopefully by the time we see some sunshine I will have found them!
None the less I have the studs ready and waiting!  The item arrived to me quickly which is great and if you search through their shop there are all sorts of customising treasures to be found as well as hair accessories etc!
I feel this may be another dangerous post though, as I am bound to find lots of items I want by looking through your responses to Louise! x

LOTD Book

Phew, I am just sitting down after a hectic day so I have only just had a look to see what the LOTD is today! This one, being 'Books' is a little bit trickier for me, I do read every night before I go to sleep but I have to confess that I don't often remember the author or sometimes even the title of the books!
Click here to check out Louise's post, I have to say I like the look of her book choice so that one will be going onto my list of books to read!

So I will choose this book which is Just After Sunset by Stephen King.  I recently read the majority of this on holiday, it is 13 short stories and we were taking Thomas back to our room after lunch to keep him out of the sun at the hottest parts of the day so I used the time to read basically one short story a day.  I did find some of the stories a bit frustrating because they didn't seem to have an outcome as such, but then that is the idea of them I suppose!  I did find that they were gripping though and I actually wanted to stay and read the whole story rather than being desperate to get back out to the sunshine, so that is saying something!

I am looking forward to seeing your responses and finding a few more books to add to my list of books to read! I know I am extremely behind but I am alternating a Harry Potter in at every other book at the moment! x

Birthday Goodies!

I am not sure why but this post was in my draft section!  So I actually wrote this in late January, but since I went to the effort I thought I may as well put it out there now!  I have worn all of these items endlessly so they were good buys, but I still need a couple more tops to go with the lilac jeans! I also have the same pair in mint now so I think perhaps a few cream tops may be in order! Any other ideas for colours to wear with pastel jeans would be much appreciated!

Its not my birthday until February but my husband and I don't get many days off together so we went shopping today, yay!
I love to get as much for my money as I can and I think I managed to get a few good bargains.
Firstly I found this top in H&M and I absolutely love it! It was £12.99 which I think is a brilliant price and I plan to wear this with a gray pencil skirt and also my American Apparel Disco Pants!

I also got a few bits and pieces in New Look.  Vests are always useful and I like the spaghetti strap type the best, I have also needed a plain black one to go under a loose draped dress for months but it has been impossible to find one, so I was very happy to pick these two vests up for only £2.49 each! I was going to go back and get more colours but I forgot, opps!

 I also picked up these two pairs of skinny jeans, after having Thomas last February I am now back to my pre-baby weight, however I found that I am a different shape, so I got rid of most of my jeans! Over the winter I picked up a black pair, an indigo denim pair and an olive green pair, so I fancied some more spring/summer friendly colours and got a lilac pair for £16.99 and the stonewash pair for £20.00.  I really like New Look jeans and find that they are one of the best shops to get jeans for my body shape.  I then picked up this cropped mint lace t-shirt, which I will wear over the vest tops.  This top was £14.99 and I think this will be such a cute little day top.
I hope you like all my items, I am going to try and wait until my birthday before I wear any of them!

LOTD- Blog Post

Today lovely Louise's LOTD is Blog Post Click here to see who Louise has been inspire by this week! sprinkleofglitter


I have chosen a recent post by aprilathena7 which went up last Wednesday and the reason is because I have been wondering whether to read the 50 Shades of Grey books and after reading her post I have decided to give them a whirl!  I have seen and heard so much hype about this books so feel like I should read them but I was put off because, in honesty, I think they may make me blush and cringe a bit!  I have heard that they are very explicit...
AprilAthena7 was one of the first blogs that I properly started to follow and I love everything on her blog, from the cookery to the fashion and the tutorials, plus the way her and her husband interact is great to watch too!
I am looking forward to finding more great blogs by reading through the comments on Louise's original page! x

7lbs in 7 days!

No, this isn't a challenge to myself or some super diet, it is infact how much weight I managed to put on whilst on holiday. Yes you read that right 7lbs! In 7 days!  After eating chips, ice cream and drinking wine every day for a week I can't say I was actually surprised, just a bit disappointed!  Ho hum, the food was goooood and definitely worth it!   Here I am on the first night (on the left) with my sister in law before the mega consumption happened!

Anyway we had a great time and enjoyed every sip and mouthful, but now it is time to get back to normal!  As I write this post we have been back for 10 days, 3 whole days longer than we were away for and alas, I am not 7lbs lighter as yet!  I have however managed to shed 4lbs so we are not doing too badly!

I want to get back to my normal weight as soon as is sensibly possible, I am not one for fad or extreme diets, not least because I just love to eat!  

I have reverted back to eating as I normally would, which consists of lots of fruit for breakfast, maybe with yogurt or swapped for wholemeal toast or porridge on occasion.  I like sticking to fruit for breakfast because if I do eat cereal or toast then I find I am hungry by 10am, but with fruit I feel like I can keep eating an apple here and a handful of grapes there all throughout the morning and it feels like I have still had only one breakfast!  Then at lunchtime I will typically have tomato soup or cous cous with sweetcorn, which does sound really boring but I love it!!  I do tend to then have a yogurt and maybe more fruit!  Between 3 and 4pm is usually my weak time of day and if I am going to have something naughty then it will be then! I try to keep something like branflakes or Special K in to have,  because by this point I have had enough fruit, but I will admit that 9 times out of 10 I end up with a packet of crisps or some banana chips, which are a little addiction of mine!!   Then for dinner we have lots of pasta dishes, lots of curries and chilli, and we also make a lot of meals from a Weightwatcher recipe book which I got after I had Thomas. We always make our meals from scratch, no matter how busy we are, I have saved so many calories on meals by doing this, not to mention cutting down on salt and fats whilst increasing our fresh veg intake which is surely all good stuff!  I also always have brown bread, pasta, rice and couscous, this is for 2 reasons, the 1st and main one being that is is better for you nutritionally speaking and the 2nd is that I find it more filling and therefore have a smaller portion saving on calories bonus!  Did you know that the milling process to make brown foods white destroys a huge % of the vitamins!

So overall my diet I think is not too bad right?  Opps, did I forget to mention the odd meal out and choccy bar...

I also try to do a bit of exercise every day as well and I know that if you do the same thing over and over for more than 6 weeks your body tends to plateau so I try to mix it up if possible.  My various activities include hula hooping, walking, my crosstrainer and treadmill as well as crunches, arm exercises and bum exercises!  Sometimes this can be as simple as walking with Thomas for 30 minutes to the park, making sure I am walking briskly, and sometimes it can be a good hour work out! It all depends on what we are up to that day! I am also due to start a Pilates class this Thursday and I am excited for that!  I was also doing ice skating once a week before I had Thomas and recently tried to start up my lessons again, but the nearest rink is a 40 minute drive away and after I had Thomas I found it was too far away too late at night. Maybe next year!  Anyway I find that variety really helps to keep me motivated and keep going! I love to be active and running around after Thomas surely helps too! 


What tips and tricks do you have for keeping healthy?  Is there any exercise that you do for fun as much as the health benefits? I would love to hear of any healthy but yummy recipes you may have too!
x

Sprinkle of Glitter LOTD - Clothes

Ahh, Sprinkle of Glitter, how I do love your blog! Louise (from Sprinkle of Glitter fame) has started a new feature on her blog, entitled LOTD or Love of the Day.  Here is the link to her post all about this feature sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk


On Mondays she will be posting about an item of clothing that she has found and fallen in love with and has invited her followers to join in.  As a lover of clothes and of Sprinkle of Glitter how could I not??

I probably have far too many dresses in my wardrobe, but whenever I look at clothes websites dresses are what I gravitate to first, every single time.  This week I have actually seen 2 that I could not decide between to link to this blog post.  I love Missguided and have quite a fair few of their dresses in my collection already and I like the fact that the put the model's height on the information page.  Both of these dresses have models that are taller than me (I am 5"6) and unfortunately both dresses look like they might sit at the wrong point of my legs.  None the less I think both are really pretty and girly and would be great for both day and night.
polkadotdress
strappybackdress

Which dress is your favorite? Are you coveting any clothes this week? x

Coconut Oil

I am still trying to grow my hair and feel like I am getting there with it now, it sits just at the top of my bra strap so another 2/3 inches and I will be winning! Hoorah!

In my quest to keep my hair as healthy and shiny as possible and to try and stretch out the time between cuts I have been using Coconut oil on my hair a couple of times week.  I coat the ends in the oil overnight every 2/3 days, basically the night before I am planning to wash my hair, then in an attempt to save my pillows I tend to put my hair into a plait and put on a spray tan cap, although most nights this comes off!!  I find that by doing this my hair is much shinier and who doesn't want shiny hair?! Plus my hair feels softer and the ends don't split as easily, all things I like for my hair!  I got my Coconut oil in Holland and Barrett and it was around the £15 mark, a couple for days after I bought it they had their buy one item get one for a penny deal on and I kicked myself for forgetting they do that, so next time the deal is on I will definitely be stocking up!
I have had this pot for 3 months and am about a third of the way through so far which I think is excellent as it will take me a long time to use up the whole tub!  The science behind this is that is reduces protein loss in the hair and it can also be used as a general body moisturiser, I did try this out but I like to use body butters and I found it too greasy (or oily obvs!) but if you like to use baby oil then this may be a good alternative for you.

For the last six weeks I have also been using the Tresemme Split Remedy products on my hair, which includes the serum, leave in treatment and more recently the shampoo and conditioner.  As I mentioned I wash my hair every 2/3 days if possible and during the first 3/4 uses of the shampoo and conditioner I was finding that my hair looked quite lank after the first day however after persevering with the products (I wasn't going to waste nearly full bottles) my hair seems to have gotten used to the change and is back to being a bit more bouncy! I am still looking forward to trying a full size of the L'oreal shampoo and conditioner as mentioned in an earlier post.http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7015115107633302800#editor/target=post;postID=6662383814408629110 


 Now the serum and leave in treatment I absolutely love!  I use these products daily either on wet hair just after I have washed it or on dry ends.  When you first apply the products you can see it on the hair but after about 10 minutes it has totally soaked in.  I use one pump of each and concentrate as much on the very ends as possible and I have definitely noticed an improvement to the ends of my hair, which gain, I am hoping will result in longer periods between cuts and hopefully a bit of extra length as a result!

Have you tried any split end treatments that really work?  What are your favourite products for soft and shiny hair?

x

Charity shop finds!

 Thomas and I went to spend the day with my parents and whilst we were there Mum wanted to pop to the Co-op.  In the village center there are a few shops including a Marie Curie charity shop which we like to have a look in whenever we go to the shops there!  I have been on the look out for some jeans to customise into shorts as I can't seem to find any with a high enough waist that are not the 'high waisted' style! I just want some easy to wear denim ones that I can tuck casual tshirts into for every day wear, if we ever get the weather!

I didn't find any clothes for us this time but in the toy section I found these lovely book ends!  These were only £2.50 so I was really pleased with the find and also picked up 4 books for Thomas at 25p each!

Have you had any good charity shop finds recently?

OOTN

I went out for a pub dinner last night with my friend and this was what I wore:

The shoes are from Primark and I believe they were £7.  I got the jeans in February from New Look for £22.  The tshirt is a recent purchase in H&M this week and was £7.99 and I love this as it is comfortable and casual for every day and I really like the lace detail at the neckline.  My bomber jacket was from Zara about a month or so ago and was £29.99 and I have worn this sooo many times since I got it.  I got the cute bag from ebay, I can't find the exact seller but loads come up when you type in 'Fox Bag' I saw this first on SprinkleofGlitter (link to post http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/fox-bags-feeling-foxy.html )and wanted one right away, I think it adds such a cute edge to my outfits!   For jewelry I just had on my wedding and engagement rings, my flower pendant and usual watch but you can't see an of them in the pics!  You may be able to tell the pictures were taken just as I was about to run out of the door!

Here I am again with a little cutie sneaking into shot! xx

Naomi's Nails

My sister Naomi came to stay over the weekend and wanted me to do her nails whilst she was here.  As a mobile beautician I use Gellux and she usually manages to keep it on her feet for about 6 weeks between visits.  She was having a hard time deciding which colour to choose and said she always opts for the safe pink or red nail polish shades so I suggested she have a different colour on each toe, which she decided to go for after a little bit of persuading!

                                                                          Who would have thought that a girl with cupcake tattoos on her feet would be concerned about choosing a nail polish colour that was too 'out there' haha! 

What do you think of this pretty rainbow look? I think we matched the colours in her tattoos to the gels well!

PS The little toe is peach, it just doesn't show up in the pics!!

How to make use of a day at home!

Thomas and I are not very good at staying in all day, so whilst I was excited to be getting a new phone yesterday there was a bit of standing at the door, screaming and trying to get out going on, and that was just me...
To try and keep us entertained & not too miffed about missing the nice weather (no garden at the flat) and at the same time not waste the day watching TV I decided to combine lots of playing with some round the flat chores that I had been putting off.

After the usual washing up, clothes washing and ironing whilst Thomas has his breakfast start to the day I rolled up the rug and got out Thomas' painting things.  This might sound like I am a mean Mummy but as we don't tend to spend much time at home and painting can be quite a messy affair I try to keep this as a treat, so Thomas had a great time, mainly painting himself!  This was also a good opportunity to sweep under the rug!  

 We then moved into Thomas' room so that he could play with the toys in there at the same time as I sorted through his clothes.  He is only 16 months but some of his 12-18 months clothes are looking a bit tight and some just a bit too stained and we have a stock of the next size up waiting so this was a job that did need doing.  We then went into my bedroom where I straightened out my wardrobe.  I managed to pick out a few things for the charity shop however I have so many things that I never seem to wear but don't want to get rid of, so I decided to try AThriftyMrs' coat hanger tip and have given myself until Christmas, anything that is still on a coat hanger that is hanging 'the wrong way' will be out!  As you may be able to see I already hang my clothes in colour order so this type of thing really appeals to me!  Here is the link to athriftymrs blog post.  http://www.athriftymrs.com/2011/11/organising-wardrobe.html

Then Thomas had a nap so I decided to tackle my oven.  This is a job that I have been putting off for far too long to tell the truth and I am not really sure where I got the oopmh to do it from, but I am glad I did! It took me a looooong time and I think we will be having microwave dinners for a week now to avoid it getting dirty again!

Finally, we had a packet of cress seeds which Thomas got as a freebie in his children's activity pack at the Slug and Lettuce so we planted those in a little pot.  I was really excited by this freebie even though Thomas has no idea what they are!  I love having pot plants in the flat and have a chilli plant in the kitchen from which we do use the chillis in our meals so hopefully we can have egg and cress sarnies in a few weeks too!

So all in all maybe not a mega exciting day, but I feel like we made good use of the time we had in the flat and good use of things we had around for activities!  What do you do to make good use of time waiting for deliveries etc?  Have you had any good freebies recently?

Superdrug BB Cream

I have just returned from a fabulous week in Corfu, which was actually our son's first holiday abroad and experience of flying!  Wow, what a difference being on holiday with a small child makes, we knew he would be hectic but I don't think we realised just how much! Desite the lack of relaxation we had a great time and Thomas had a whale of a time running round with all the other children!

Anyhoo, on to the reason for this post, Superdrug's BB Cream.  I have read many reviews on BB Creams and thought it would be the perfect answer to a base make up on holiday, my tan can look a bit patchy, especially around my forehead so I like to put on something in the evenings but I usually feel like a full on foundation is way too much in the heat.  I saw both the Superdrug and Mabelline versions and lumped for Suerdrug's own purely because it was on a £2 off deal and you got more product (20ml is my memory serves me correctly!)

Here are my 'before and after use pics', these were taken before we went on holiday but as we tried to keep out of the sun with Thomas we didn't get super tanned anyway!

As you can see Thomas loves to 'say cheese' and sneaked into my make up free picture!  The 2nd picture shows me with just the BB Cream and no other product on, as these creams claim to include a moisturiser, primer and concealer I wanted to try it for the week without the use of any of these other products, although I did moisturise as well while on holiday as we had been in the heat sweating all day!  My first imressions of this cream were good, okay my eyes my still be a little bit dark around the edges and it certainly isn't full coverage so blemishes were toned down rather than hidden but I think it does enough of a cover up for me to feel confident about the way my skin looks.  I also like the way it gives a dewy and almost glowing look to my skin, which is especially nice on holiday with bronzer!

 And here I am with a all my other make up over the top! 

I choose the shade light as I thought the medium looked too orange for me and it was a good choice, there are only 3 shades (also dark, obvs) to choose from and the product is adaptive as it worked just as well over my (slight) tan!  I found this blended nicely and I was able to build it up lightly on my chin, which decided to have a little breakout whilst we were away!  I do tend to always have a few spots and red blemishes and I still found that this cream worked well for me and at £6.99 I am really impressed, I will definitely repurchase even at the £8.99 full price, I would also be interested to try the Mabelline version which is £7.99 and have seen an MUA cream for £4 on the Superdrug website which may be worth a bash, the have some more that are a bit more expensive so maybe if I am feeling flush I will try those too!  If you are looking to cover every dark circle and red mark this probably isn't for you but if you are happy with lighter coverage, maybe for the daytime, then I would definitely recommend that you give this product a go!  I consider myself a fan!

Freebies with Instyle Magazine!

I was planning to get myself a magazine or 2 to take on holiday in the vain hope that Thomas may let me read one by the pool for 1/2 each day and had seen on AThriftymrs that there are lots of freebies on magazines this month, yay!  So I headed out to Tescos and had a look to see which one took my fancy and went for Instyle, which has a Bodyshop mascara included, (you can also pick one up that has two eyeliner pencils, in black and French Navy).  I was pretty happy with this as I needed a new mascara and I gave it a whirl yesterday with these results, shame about the odd angle I managed to take the photo in!! I have only worn this once and think that as a freebie it is fab, if I am being picky I would say that it makes my eyelashes more spiky looking than my usual mascara which is the Maxfactor False Lash Effect but overall this mascara coats well and didn't smudge under my eye and I had it on from 10am till about 12pm!  So I was impressed with that!

However the most exciting thing for me was the shampoo sample also in the magazine!  I had somehow managed to stockpile so much shampoo and conditioner that in January I decided that I was not going to buy any more until it was all gone and I am just now on the last bottles, which actually don't match, the shampoo being Herbal Essences and the conditioner Supersoft, but they seemed to be working just fine and I have been using different ones all year anyway.  The samples are of  L'oreal Hair Expertise Everpure and the bottle looks like it is a light pink with a darker pink cap.  I decided to use the samples yesterday because I don't like to have stuff lying around and it was soooo nice! The was the shampoo lathered up felt so luxurious and the bubbles felt really thick so I was instantly impressed!  The conditioner felt nice, nothing out of the ordinary whilst it was going on to be honest but lovely all the same and the scent of both was lovely.  When I dried my hair I was again so impressed, it feels so silky and looks really shiny plus although there are no claims on the packaging that say it helps split ends I feel like the ends look a lot healthier!  The blurb on the pack of both packets is the same and says: ' Colour Care System with botanical oils.  Respects the hair fibre.  Non sulphate cleansing system.  Specially designed to leave coloured, weakened hair looking shin and nourished.'  and I have to say that from the one wash I think it does what it says on the tin for sure!  I will definitely by purchasing these products in full size and look forward to seeing if it continues to do such a great job!

Have you had any great samples or freebies recently?  Make sure you check out www.athriftymrs.com, it is a fab blog!