Life Update

Happy Saturday morning to you all!

I would be ridiculously glad that its the weekend...but instead I have to work Saturday this week as well so I've decided to flash a few photos of my life over the last few weeks instead of a beauty post.

First up? This beauty. Apologies for the shadowed photo, lighting isn't my priority when dealing with my fave LKB and I was so excited that my mum had bought me this!
One of my Christmas presents had to go back as it didn't fit me so instead she bought me this beautiful black patent make up bag. I was very impressed with the quality and how beautiful and shiny it was anyway, (magpie anyone?) but it even came in a dust bag! I've never owned anything posh enough to warrant a dust bag before. Day. Made.

Next up is this beauty, a snap I took whilst stuck in my car on the way to work. What should have been a 45 minute journey ended up taking me 3.5 hours and I even missed a meeting at work...oops.

Nice to see some snow in amongst all the endless rain though!



Me and M had a lush night out the other week with a uni friend who came down for the rugby and then we went out afterwards. I wore a black crepe shift dress with leather panels on from M&S Limited Collection that I bought a few years ago. I've only worn it once before when I first bought it as its quite a tight dress due to the fabric and can even be hard to walk in but I decided there's no point it living in my wardrobe all year round!





Here's the three of us all glammed up and ready for the night!

I also picked up these shoes for the night out as my previous VERY trusty pair of shoes (the usual peep toe black shoe boot style) have finally given up with all the wear and tear!
I decided to replace them with these beautiful cut out shoes boots also from New Look which felt quite comfortable initially....they don't rub which is a relief but just general foot ache!



After that I've spent a lot of time eating the last few weeks. Not all that badly ( I do gym 5 times a week to combat it!) but nevertheless there has been a lot of food. For example:

 

Afternoon tea with M at a spa day we went to, not over the top amount of cakes and some decent sandwiches, yum.

The second picture shows my mums homemade 'sticky chicken' which is 1 or 2 syns on slimming world and honestly makes every problem go away. I promise to write a post about this in future as to be perfectly honest everyone needs this recipe in their lives! Perfect for chicken and salmon, for lunch or tea, for yourself or for a meal with friends its just AMAZING.




Another meal with M was at Nando's. M can get discount and so we often get the platter with the chicken and 2 sides with 2 drinks for a really good price. We do tend to stuff ourselves and however much we want to get salad we always end up getting chips to share too! Oh well.



Aside from all the amazing food I've been trying to get back into the gym. Although i go regularly my running has been suffering considerably because of the weather and persistent traffic I keep getting stuck in. I'm trying to keep it up on weekends but now I've lost my running partner to a dodgy ankle I'm flagging a bit!

I think a few quiet weeks with workouts, good food and a few good books are what I need to recover myself and my bank balance.

I've been having a hard time at work lately and sometimes find it hard to think about anything other than that and my constant lack of money. but I'm trying to be more positive about things and quotes like this one (from my beloved HP!) can help to put a smile on my face.

What have you been up to lately? Do you like my dress that I wore out?
How have you been coping with the awful weather we've been having?

L xxx

Fitness Fridays: Smoothies!

Good afternoon lovelies!

A few weeks ago I posted about the Hip and Healthy box from Latest in Beauty which is now sadly sold out (though not surprising!). It was a lovely box  and contained not only a few beauty products but also some healthy snacks including granola, Bounce ball and a few powdered sachets.

It was the powdered sachets and the coconut water that inspired me to make my own smoothie. I rarely get to make them at the moment due to work and such a busy lifestyle at weekends but I do love getting a pile of fruit and yogurt and whizzing it all up; its such a tasty and easy way to get towards your 5 a day.

On a recent week off I got stuck into the Hip and Healthy box and decided to make myself a smoothie with the ingredients.

First of all I put the blueberries and a banana into the blender cup. I never measure these things, its always a few handfuls of this and that. If you make it too thick you can always add in some extra water or almond milk to thin it back out and if it's too thin you can add some oats to thicken it back up. 

I just find it so much more fun to throw it all in and see what happens!

Next up I added the powders. The Organic Super Blends powder that I received was an Omega 3 one, great for your heart and blood system as well brain function.

There are lots of other blends available from their website and you should check them out!

I love that the sachets stated exactly what was inside; only 6 ingredients and free from so many things!
This would be a great addition to your smoothies or cereal every day as your body can only get essential fatty acids like Omega 3 from your diet as it can't product them itself.

The second powder in the box was Aduna's Baobab, a powder made from the Baobab fruit which is super rich in fibre, antioxidants and vitamins great for your metabolism, immune system and fatigue.

After adding these I poured in some of the coconut water and whizzed away!

I've got a handheld blender; the one below is my mum's Braun one which just has one speed but i also have my own which has 2. Both of them are quite old so I wouldn't be surprised if there are some on the market with all the gadgets on! But these have been great and we use them regularly for soups and all sorts.

And low and behold one super easy, healthy, vitamin packed and low calorie smoothie.

I believe this comes in at less than 200 calories as I'm unsure of the calorie content of the powders so I rounded up. It's a great snack in the morning to keep you going until lunch or a breakfast if you can stomach a liquid one! I couldn't survive on a smoothie as its 5 hours from breakfast until my break and normally involves me running around, but on weekends I do often have them for breakfast as its a great change.

What do you think of my smoothie? Do you add additional powders for extra health benefits?

What's your favourite smoothie recipe?

L xxx

NOTD: Essie Luxeffects

Good morning!

I'm sure you probably saw these beauties a long while ago but I couldn't resist posting now that I've had a proper chance to use them.
Essie are one of my favorite brands for nail polish and I'm sure I'll continue buying them for a long time to come, especially with their limited edition sets and individual polishes that get the 'blogger hype' thing going on!

The following polishes are from the Luxeffects set that was brought out before Christmas. I am a huge fan of the light pink glitter polish and have posted and mentioned my very first one which was China Glaze's Dolls House many times. As it was running low and this one was brand new I snapped this up instead, along with a double whammy of a set with the silver glitter and midnight blue colour inside.

This set is called Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and it is easy to see why. With a silver that's so sparkly and bright it's almost white and a dark inky blue you can create your own magical night sky on your finger tips.

Bobbing for Baubles and Set in Stones can be used separately and together to create a myriad of looks, but I think how they've put these two together is the simplest look.

I love how deep and inky the colour is, it's so dark and mysterious and looks great are short chic nails.

Set in Stones can be applied on top of one nail for an accent nail or on every nail as below for a subtle bit of sparkle. I believe this was 2 coats of glitter, though I wouldn't be surprised if afterwards I added a whole lot more, you've got to love the glitter!




When I picked these up the pink glitter, A Cut Above, was also available in a duo set with Fiji. As I already have Fiji I just picked up the glitter polish on its own but otherwise I would have snapped it up as Fiji is one of my favourite all round polishes.

In light of the set that was available I decided to paint my nails using Fiji and applied A Cut Above on top of it in the same was as I used the other set.

I love Fiji for an every day nail and with this applied its a lovely girly change for me, especially for day time and in work. I had lots of compliments on how girly it was for me (!) and its great for a Saturday night too.

There are plenty of polishes in the Luxeffects range, 6 in total including a gorgeous multicoloured polish and more metallics. They're still available on their website and in most boots stores if you wanted to pick them up. They're not just a Christmas party product they're very much a Saturday night and a long summer holiday product too!

Did you try any of the Luxeffects? Which was your favourite?

L xxx

Origins Best Brighteners

Hi all!

I'm sure everyone knows by now but Origins are one of our favourite brands here at CSI and normally when purchasing something from them you can get a few sample size products to try.

Over Christmas when I bought a few things from John Lewis they were giving away miniature sets and so I chose the Best Brighteners set. There were a few on offer but I hadn't used the products in this set so I chose the brighteners.

I love all of the sets that Origins do but the packaging is always really cute and this one is no exception.

This set contains Dr Andrew Weil for Origins Mega Bright Skin Illuminating Cleanser, Skin Tone Correcting Serum and GinZing Eye Cream.

I've got so much love for their serums, they are so absorbent into my skin and leave it feeling so much more hydrated without overloading it at all.
I'd never tried this particular one before but it was really lovely and I would happily buy it in full size if it wasn't so expensive. That's my only problem with the serums from Origins, they're so pricey and although they do really work I just cannot justify it at the moment.

I can't really comment on its skin tone correcting properties due to it only being a 7ml sample but it was super hydrating and was a joy to use.

The cleanser was also a really lovely treat and it has now been moved to my gym bag so that I have a really nice cleanser for whenever I've done a good workout!
It's a thick white cleanser that feels really hydrating on your skin. It doesn't foam but turns to a white milk kind of consistency that make up then dissolves in. It feels really thick and luxurious and worked really well at getting my make up off. I can't say that it was particularly illuminating but my skin felt really clean and was a little brighter after use. I'd definitely buy this in the future as it felt so much of a treat.

The GinZing eye cream is a favourite product of mine and I have previously written about it here.

In short its hydrating, luminating and depuffing which is everything you could want in an eye cream really!

I love getting the opportunity to try products like this, this set was free with some purchases and it has been a great way to try products that I might not have bought otherwise. I now know that the serum is something I would love to purchase in the future (when I'm not poor!)

What's your favourite Origins product? Have you found a new favourite by trialling something that was free?

L xxx