Next Beauty Event

On Wednesday we were invited to attend the Next Beauty Event, something both L and I were excited about. We couldn't wait to get there and see all the new products that were coming out for Christmas and hopefully get to meet other fellow bloggers. This is a long post...tea may be needed! 
We just had a great night and wanted to share it.

Here we've just arrived in Paddington and are both wearing our new matte Kate Moss for Rimmel lipsticks which we love. We were a little early to the event so thought we'd stop and take quick photo outfits. Luckily it was a quiet street.

 L is wearing a new coat from Asda for a bargain £25, it's still in store now and it's lush. She is also wearing the disco pants from Alice and You at Debenhams which look amazing. A sheer black shirt from New Look and black heeled boots from good old M&S.

M is wearing a checked snood from next, a green jumper with cut out shoulders from Asos, Next special purchase jeggings, Next horse belt (I ended up unintentionally wearing a lot of Next stuff. I really like the clothing in there) and Clarks tan heeled boots.

As we arrived at the event we were some of the first few there. We were welcomed at the door and everyone was so friendly we felt instantly settled. The room was gorgeous and the set up of all the products was amazing. It was simple but pretty with fairy lights and flowers around the room. Straight away we could see lots that interested us. We were also offered threading and manicures. 

This is the new Gold Collection which was definitely both our favourites. L loves Gold and I love leopard print. The perfume and perfume sets for this range come in the gold metal tins you see which is a great idea as little storage boxes are always helpful. The thing that most drew me to this and is now on my Christmas list is the beautiful hairdryer. A bargain £25 found here. The best thing about the Next sets are the reasonable prices. We both loved the fragrance and for a huge 75ml bottle it's only £12. All the Gold range can be found here

Just Pink has been a staple fragrance in beauty range for a while now. I always used to use this. The bottle has now been updated and looks much more appealing and up to date. It now sits on it's side and it a sort of heart shape. It's again a reasonable price for 75ml it's only £10. Just Pink is still a fragrance I love and I really like the addition of candles. I will be picking some of these up so the flat can smell beautiful. The candle in this range is only £5 (link here)The Just Pink range was full of great girly gift sets that I'm sure lots of people would love to receive.

Something a lot of us were surprised by was the fact Next sold branded items too. L was very pleased to see her favourite perfume stocked!! (JPG MaDame!)

Along with perfume were brands such as St Tropez (of favourite of both of ours for tanning), Models Own and Burt's Bees. I wouldn't think of Next to stock these brands so it's good to know. 

The Collection was one of the new products being showcased at the event. Straight away we were drawn to the beautiful packaging. Simple with pastel shades adorned with a cute bow. What's not to love. Each fragrance represents a different fashion capital of the world. They are New York, Milan, London and Paris. We both loved Milan. Not being great at describing fragrances I'll leave it to the experts to find out the base notes and palettes of each fragrance you can read more here

As well as the four fashion capitals there are also a Christmas range, with candles, room sprays and reed diffusers. These are amazing. It smells similar to mulled apples. Just a beautiful Christmas/winter smell. The last range in this was the spa range. Full of products with a lovely fresh frangrance. The product we were most drawn to was the scrub. Not an oily base which L loved and glittery but still felt like it has a good scrub to it which I loved.

We just had to show you the food. Being basically the same person when it came to tastes we both picked the Japanese chicken. It was so tasty. All the food was served in cute little bowls. We washed it down with wine and fruit. Yum!

It was so nice to get to meet some other bloggers. 

Big group photo. All the ladies were lovely and we really enjoyed chatting the night away. Everyone was so lovely. You can find their blogs here

KelBelle

MsSarahJack

Cherries in the Snow

Charmed Charlee

Make Up Not Made Up

Glossy Boutique

An item that really interested us was the Cashmere palette. (Other Cashmere sets here) The colours looked beautiful. There was such a range of neutrals and a few accent colours in it that it just stood out. Plus there is a shade that looks like Mac Cranberry which we both currently love. Best of all though, for £6 you get 12 shades.

Another shot of our outfits for you. We both decided to do smart casual with heeled boots. This was our first event so we weren't to sure what to wear.

Make up wise L wore Studio Fix fluid foundation with Rimmel Wake me up on top to illuminate. Revlon PhotoReady cream blush. Her naked palette on the eyes with Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeliner. A great one for the water line, finished off with the new Kate Moss for Rimmel lipstick in the Shade 110.

Make up wise I used, Revlon ColorStay foundation, Sleek blush by 3, No7 blush in honey and Mac MSF on my cheeks. For the eyes I used my Naked 2 palette and the Rimmel Scandaleyes in Nude for the waterline. On my lips I wore Kate Moss for Rimmel in shade 107

Before we left we decided to have some treatments. L had her nails painted and I had my eyebrows threaded.

L went for a gorgeous winter green shade. The nail varnish was opaque in one coat which was impressive. You can buy a set of 9 mini nail varnishes for £10 here. They remind me of the Max Factor ones with the size and shape.

As we left we were lucky enough to receive a goody bag.

Inside we received the body scrub we'd wanted to try, the New York perfume, the Milan Reed Diffuser which is absolutely amazing!! It smells so good and scent really spreads around the room without being overpowering. 

There was also an eye shadow and lipgloss palette which is only £4 and comes with 4 smokey coloured eye shadows and a lipgloss. The eye shadows are beautiful colours and pigmented.

We had such a great night, smelling all the beautiful fragrances and meeting everyone. 

A huge thanks to Gemma and Next for inviting us.

Love L and M

xxx

Review: Wake Me Up Concealer

I bought this months and months ago when it first came out.

As you can probably tell from our other posts we absolutely love Rimmel and fell in love with Wake Me Up Foundation as soon as it hit the shelves, I myself am on my third bottle....

So it was only natural to buy the concealer as soon as it came out too!

Rimmel say:

'Our first full coverage concealer that visibly reawakens and illuminates under the eyes. Completely conceals spots and other blemishes. Instant anti-fatigue effect. With Peptides and a Vitamin Moisturising complex.'

I like a concealer that covers and hides blemishes, redness and also the bags under my eyes.

Initially I couldn't find which one that matched my skin, but as it was on 3 for 2 i picked up 2 colours to mix and match, so bought the Ivory and the Soft Beige.

After a few weeks I realised that the Ivory one was much more natural on my skin so now save the Soft Beige for when I put fake tan on for nights out.

This covers pretty well and also stays on for the majority of the day.

My favourite part of it though is the fact it's illuminating and so I slather it under my eyes every morning!

It covers my bags and makes me look like I've had hours of sleep even though I haven't at all.

It also has lasted me a good 6 months (ish?)

I bought it when it was first out which I'm not entirely sure when that was but it was around April time.

As I've mentioned, we're both big fans of the Wake Me Up collection, I've gone back to buy the foundation twice and have just picked up another concealer too.

I would also have picked up the Collection concealer but as Boots have their 3 for 2 deal on there was none to be seen!

Maybe next time I'll be able to pick some up as I've heard it great too.

I'd like the option of illuminating and non-illuminating for various purposes!

What's your favourite concealer? Do you like the Wake Me Up range?

L xxx

Presents from America

A few weeks ago M left me for a WHOLE WEEK!

I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself without my best friend around but luckily it was also just before my MSc dissertation hand in date so I was kept busy.....

Luckily for me she brought me back a whole load of goodies!!

Look at these for a batch of presents!

We've both already said how much we absolutely LOVE Revlon, they've really upped their game recently and there is so much I want from them!

I eventually managed to narrow it down though...

I picked Revlon Colorstay as I love it, and also the Photoready Airbrush Mousse as it has been raved about.

I also spotted the 2 compacts online and had to have them!

M was also kind enough to pick me up my very first lip butter too!

She also got me 3 Eos Spheres which are amazing and we're both very big fans of these.

She picked 1 of each Summer Fruits, Lemon Drop and also Mint.

I've tried the Summer Fruits one before but never the others so I'm looking forward to those!

Also as a present she bought me some shampoo and conditioner bars:

I have never heard or seen these before and am intrigued!

Apparently they'll last around 50 washes which would be amazing, they're going straight into my gym bag so I can start using them!

They smell gorgeous too.

Here's a close up of the Photoready Bronzer:

I haven't seen anything like this in store or online in the UK yet so was very excited when M managed to pick it up for me!

It's a gorgeous quad of bronzers that does not contain any shimmer and has a range of 4 colours.

I have a feeling this will get used a lot for nights out!

I also asked her to pick up this Photoready Sculpting Blush Palette as we've both been getting into sculpting (see our Kim Kardashian tutorial here..)

I'm hoping this will be a much easier and compact way of sculpting without using loads of products.

This is also not available in the UK yet so I can't wait to use it!

Here's the Photoready Airbrush Mousse.

I'm expecting great things from this after hearing so much about it!

And lastly my very first Lip Butter in Candy Apple.

I'm so excited to try all of these out!

What do you think of my presents? Is there anything you'd like to see more about??

I was so excited when M gave me my goodie bag!

THANK YOUUUU! :)

L xxx

Countdown to 'Class of 2012' (1)

For the past few weeks M has been completing the Bloggers Unite to Lose Weight Challenge on a Thursday so I've decided the start my own thing related to fitness on a Thursday as well.

This post is quite long so I hope you're sitting comfortably, it is worth it if you want to lose weight though!

I joined an expensive gym at the beginning of the year determined to lose weight, tone up and generally get fit. I've done a few posts related to my Gym Rat status i.e. working my ass off in the gym like a slave and attending a variety of classes.

I've really been enjoying it, and although I'm 10 times healthier and fitter than I was before, I still feel like it's not enough!

I've managed to lose 10lbs through a healthy diet and exercise since February which isn't a lot over 8 months, but I wasn't overweight to begin with, just carrying a few more pounds than I'd like.

With both me and M being taller than your average female (I'm 5ft 9, she's 5ft 10) we both find it hard to compare ourselves to others weights when everyone else is normally a lot shorter than us and therefore weighs a lot less.

So we've had to come to terms with the fact that we'll never be 9 stone, because we'd be underweight and probably look silly!

Because of this I rarely weigh myself as I don't want to get too obsessed by it, it will probably never say the number I'd associate with being 'skinny' and therefore I don't look at it much.

Luckily for me as part of my membership I can have 6 week fitness programs tailored to my needs.

I took advantage of this at the beginning of the year but haven't since as I was just enjoying going to classes and doing my own thing.

So I went for my fitness assessment on Saturday and she compared my results to my February ones and confirmed that I had indeed lost 10lbs.

I'd also reduced my fat levels and a number of other things all in the right direction - woohoo!

However, half of the weight I'd lost was muscle and not fat, which as I haven't been doing crazy amounts of weight training means that I haven't been eating enough protein.

This is bad firstly as it meant I hadn't lost as much fat as first thought, but also you never want to lose muscle.

Muscle burns calories whilst you sit there and do nothing, which means the more you have, the more calories you burn whilst doing nothing and the more fat you lose.

Image from PredatorNutrition.com

The other bad thing was that my water weight was reeeeeeeeeally low and should be huge amounts higher, and means I'm not drinking enough water.

This was a big shock to me as I drink water and tea only, with the occasional cocktail/hot chocolate/diet coke thrown in at social events (which happens once/twice a week!)

So basically even though in my opinion I live off chicken and water, I am eating/drinking nowhere near enough of either!

Image from DestinationRipped.com

She went on to explain that the easiest way to make sure you're eating enough protein is to use an app such as 'my fitness pal' which most people are already familiar with and take note of how much protein you are getting each day.

The level on mine is set to 60g of protein per day.

To calculate how much protein you need depending on your weight, use the calculations below:

• To maintain your current muscle mass you need to eat a minimum of your weight in kg, multiplied by 1.2.

So 60kg person needs 72g of protein a day.

• If you're lightly active and wish to keep your muscle tone you need to multiply your weight by 1.5.

So 60kg person needs 90g of protein a day

• Lastly, if you'd really like to increase your muscle mass (like I will be doing!) you need to multiply using 1.7.

So a 60kg person then needs 102g per day.

This is a rough guide that my trainer told me to use which I thought was pretty helpful, all of which work out higher than the 60g stated by the app.

She knows exactly what she's doing being a fitness instructor and having studied nutritional management so I'll be sticking to this for a few weeks/months to see how it goes.

She personally has been trying to put on muscle mass and has been living off protein for ages and hasn't 'bulked up' so if you're worried about getting muscly like a man I wouldn't worry!

Another way you can keep track of this is by looking at the pie chart of your day's food:

 

You can see that the general shape is that of a peace sign, with fat being the smallest segment on the right, and protein and carbs being more equal and this is what it should be like to maintain/increase your muscle mass.

I've already made huge changes to my diet:

1) I've swapped my caffeinated tea for herbal teas aside from 1/2 a day as I really do need one in the morning!

2) I drink so much water I really don't believe it, and the funny thing is the more I drink the more I need!

3) And you wouldn't believe the amount of protein I've been eating.

The day that I had my personal trainer session this was what I ate:

So much meat/fish/eggs!

The thing was though that even after all of that, I was still under my calorie allowance for the day without having added my PT session in aside from the cycling and I was so full.

Definitely worth trying.

I was thinking of putting up my gym program so that you can see the kind of fat burning exercises that I'll be doing so look out for that next week.

I always find an aim helps so I will be writing these posts over the next 8 weeks as it's when my graduation will be.

It's not like I want to lose a load of weight for it, but I'd like to tone up and look the bee's knees when I strut across that stage FINALLY completing my education.

It's been a long hard slog and I deserve my moment of glory!

What do you think about protein? Do you find it hard to eat a lot of it?

Did you find it interesting to learn about the protein levels etc?

L xxx