Boots 3 for 2 Spree!

As usual my alter ego got the better of me when I went shopping the other day.

My aim in Boots was to pick up the Real Techniques brushes whilst they were still on 3 for 2 ( we both got the stippling brush and I also got the blush brush too)

However my evil alter ego dragged me over for 'just a quick look' at the nail varnishes and make up.

Yeah sure.

I spotted the elusive Max Factor Fantasy Fire nail varnish and to be honest I previously thought it wasn't all that. But of course my evil twin loved it, and so did I when I tested it out!

Cue me being head over heels for the mini bottles and I suddenly had 3 in my basket. Naughty.

Fantasy Fire / Pretty in Pink / Silver

The Pretty in Pink is a replacement for a Natural Collection peach colour that I loved but it dried up.

It's a gorgeous pastel colour that will be perfect for spring and summer ahead.

Fantasy Fire was a splurge buy but I'm in love already, got a whole post of this ready to go already!

Silver is a jelly like polish that has a silver effect but is a dirty silver, if you understand me!

I absolutely love 'dirty metallics' as I like to call them.

Perfect for day, night and any occasion in between.

I'm sure there will be posts on all of these soon!

As if my evil alter ego hadn't already distracted me enough, I suddenly found myself with 3 Rimmel items in my basket too!

The Wake Me Up concealer was first in, me and M both loved the Wake Me Up foundation (review here) so the concealer was definitely high on my priority list.

After the amazing Inika blush was given to me by CutECOsmetics in a competition (review here) I've been looking for the perfect orangey lipstick or balm to match.

Coral Queen from Rimmel seems to fit the bill and I'm hoping that it will be a hit in my make up bag!

Lastly I picked up a 1000 Kisses Lip Tint in Perpetual Plum.

I've always been put off by the hype surrounding these and the Revlon Lip Butters etc, but actually the consistency of the tint coming out of the pen at one end and the balm at the other was pretty good in my books.

I was impressed that the tint could be built up, and the balm felt pretty good and moisturising too.

Hopefully another hand bag staple, good job I've bought a new one ;)

Hope you enjoyed the post!

Do you have an evil alter ego who throws things in your basket when you're not looking?? Ha!

L xxx

Cocktail Hour!

To be perfectly honest, I should have started off the whole Cocktail Hour series with this one.

This is mine and M's absolute favourite cocktail of all time and whenever we go out its the number 1 that we start off with!

It is off course the wonderfully pink and world famous Cosmopolitan.

Vodka, cointreau and cranberry juice shaken up with ice and a slice of orange peel lit on the side to give it an amazing orange smell.

The main reason this one is so popular is largely due to the girls in Sex and the City bringing it back to the forefront of cocktail menus across the world, but I'm sure I would have tracked it down somehow!

It is quite frankly amazing, super sweet, largely alcoholic and obviously very pink!

Absolute lifetime favourite, I could quite easily drink this at every meal time, including breakfast, for the rest of my life ;)

(I am currently completing my alcohol free month for my 101 in 1001 days, as this is my favourite cocktail it's been a little testing to write without drooling over the pictures ha!)

Do you like Cosmo's?? Did you watch SATC when they were drinking it too?

L xxx

April Freebies!

Just a quick post in case you haven't noticed yet...

Red Magazine have a free gift with their May edition (out now!)

It is the one and only Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish!

You can buy the same size sample online for £5.50 and you'd still have to pay the postage...

How about instead you pop to your local newsagents and pick up the magazine instead (for £3.90), save yourself the postage costs and burn off a few calories (hopefully in the sunshine!) whilst you do it!

Well worth the trip!

We will let you know how we get on with ours...we've been wanting this for ages.

It even comes with an instruction card and a full ingredients list for all skincare products, nice touch!

Working through our collections we've been putting it off, but as it's free it would be rude not to really!

Ready, set, go!

L xxx

Gym Rat Part 2: Help!

I previously wrote a post called Gym Rat where I explained my goals for the gym and what I was doing, eating etc.

And after a long hard slog of almost 4 months, my efforts have still made minimal difference.

I am still the same weight as the last post (having lost 5 lbs from when I first started in January) and I'm still eating as healthily as is humanly possible, attending the gym 3/4 times a week and generally having a more active lifestyle.

My previous goals were:

1. Concentrate my cardio time to the cross trainer and swimming as I enjoy these and they burn the most amount of calories
2. Increase the type of arm weights and number of reps for each type
3. Complete as many crunches as humanly possible! (this is no easy feat for me!)
4. Try out new classes so I don't get bored. First up is Body Combat, an aerobics based class with lots of punching and kicking movements.

I completed tasks 1, 2 and 4, with 3 being the most complicated for me and therefore the one I admittedly slacked off on.

However, having upped my cardio a hideous amount (my body hates me!) to burn off more calories, finding myself working along all of the fixed weights in the gym a few times and attempting new classes such as Body Combat and Abs and Stretch i would have thought this would have made a difference.

I found a list of measurements that I took of myself last March (2011), and compared them to now, and in all honesty I was GUTTED.

I was exactly the same everywhere....apart from my hips and stomach which I was BIGGER on.

Bearing in mind I can't eat bread and dairy foods too much as I'm intolerant, giving me a diet of porridge, salad and a healthy evening meal, you would have thought this amount of exercise would have made a difference wouldn't you??

I've also been walking the dog once a day in addition to what I was doing during the last post.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh!

So looking forward from this and trying to be optimistic...My previous aim was my birthday which has been and gone, so my new aim is my last minute admission onto a university course in the USA during the summer term.

This means i have a reason to wear a bikini that i previously did not....yikes!

The time frame I have is 6 weeks....not an ideal amount of time but I just have to work with it.

I'm going to simplify my aims this time so that i will actually do all of them (hopefully?!)

1. Up the number of repetitions and types of arm weights, arms are out all the time so anything I can do to tone them up at this late stage would be awesome
2. Crunch, plank, side plank, twist etc etc etc my way into having some sort of toned midriff. I'm going to try every damn stomach exercise I can to tighten it up, as anything is better than the current state!

I want to look like this!

Quite simply: Curves and muscle.

Do you have any tips for me? Do you have a similar problem with not being able to lose weight/fat?

Any stomach or arm exercises or weights that you love doing and know work?

It's not that I'm too bothered by the number on the scales...but I'd like to be smaller than I am whether that reduces it or not.

This is my cry for help! Seriously if you're reading this and possibly have a tip, suggestion or even a passing thought....WRITE IT BELOW!!!!

Thanks :)

L xxx