Life Lately

Evening All

Hope you've all had a great weekend. Mine was spent at home with my family. This past month due to one thing or another I've been home lots. It's going to be hard for me as I'm now not going home for about 2 months which is going to feel ages. I love weekends at home. They always speed by too quickly.

My past week has been a bit of a quiet one.My Saturday last week was busy seeing the guy I'm seeing before he went to Egypt and I did something I never thought I'd do. I did some promo work. I was so nervous but it was such good fun. It was in local gay bars promoting a new drink. It felt like being on a night out but getting paid to be there. I'm really hoping I can do more as it's a great way for extra cash!

I also ended up out with my housemate last Sunday and we went to the pub for a drink (that's such a lethal saying for me. Popping to the pub for one never ends in one!). After proper cider and at least 4 large glasses of wine it's safe to say my week started off very badly. My Monday was spent in a horrible hung over mess!!

As I knew it was going to be a busy weekend I kept last week pretty few. Dangerous for me. Way too many of my evenings were spent browsing ebay. Especially after doing my Superdry wishlist last week and now these are mine and there are lots more in my wishlist!

My brother is getting married in Cyprus in June so I've been eyeing up dresses for ages. I finally found the perfect one a month ago and it finally came into stock last week. It's perfect for me. I love the unusual lime green colour and back detail!

I'm a huge graze box fan. I only have it once a fortnight due to price. I love getting post and getting food from the post is even better!! I have had the robin since Christmas and he now has a fox friend!

My Saturday was spent with my niece's. I love them to bits but they are hard work. Someone please tell me it's easier when it's your own children. I took them to the park swimming and then did their hair. I love playing with their hair and how girly my oldest niece is. She is like a mini me! 

Yesterday I got to go and see my grandad that I've not seen for over two years due to family issues. It was amazing to get to see him again and catch up with him. It's hard to see my grandparents age though!

I've been a bit moody and stressed lately and have struggled with things getting on top of me. My mum has really started to notice so today treated me to a spa day. It was lush to spend the day with her. We had a nice healthy lunch, a gym session, sauna and then went for a lush facial. I was so relaxed I almost fell asleep. As I've really been struggling with my skin my mum also treated me to an Elemis cleanser. I can't wait to put it to the test.

Now it's back to the real world for me and a day in work tomorrow before a day off and a visit to Kamigata for more pink hair!! Whooo!!

Tomorrow night I get to see Deaf Havana and I can't wait!

Hope you all have amazing weeks. Bring on the long weekend!

Love M

xxx

Benefit Moisturising Triple Performing Facial Emulsion

Morning All

Hope you're having a great weekend. I'm visiting the family this weekend so it's been a busy one. I'm currently sat waiting to go for a run and catching up on revenge a bit.

Benefit is a brand we both love but it isn't a brand I instantly think about for skincare. I tend to associate brands more with skincare or make up and not both. When I went for a wax at the boutique in Swansea last year I saw the 6 piece mini skincare gift set. It retails for £14.50 and is a great way to try out products.

I absolutely love It's Potent and I'm sure we'll be sharing that with you soon too.

The triple performing facial emulsion is oil free and has an SPF of 15. I love it when products have SPF in as it's not a product I have separately and don't want to have to add an extra product to my skincare routine.

Lately although I have oily skin it has been feeling dehydrated. This has been great to put on under moisturiser to give my skin an extra boost at night time and perfect for during the day. It sits really well under make up as it just sinks into the skin quickly leaving skin well moisturised and not greasy.

One thing I especially love about the benefit skincare range is the gorgeous packaging. I absolutely love the vintage look to the bottles and the blue and cream colour. These would look pretty on any dressing table. So far I've only had three of the mini version but once I've worked myself through my stash of moisturisers the full size will be mine.

I can't wait to get more of the full size products as so far all of the skincare range I loved. Have you tried any of the benefit skincare?

Love M

xxx

Hi all!

I picked up the Triple Performing Facial Emulsion just before Christmas when I bought one of Benefits much sought after Christmas tins which had a range of products in them. in an ideal world i would have picked up all of them but funds sadly restricted that plan! Instead I had to choose wisely and as I'd never tried Benefit's skincare range i picked the Love Me B.right set which contained this product along with It's Potent eye cream, Total Moisture facial cream and a mini Porefessional.

I was lucky that this was a full size product for me but it looks exactly the same as the miniature....just bigger! I love that they even kept the mini versions in the same design as they look great on a dressing table and will be really cute as a travel set.

I have been using this most mornings for the last few weeks and have been really liking the effects; its not oily at all, absorbs into my skin without leaving a greasy layer and provides a really good base for applying make up onto. Lately my skin has needed a lot more hydration but I need to keep control of the oily t-zone that I have, so this has been perfect for me.

I hadn't thought of using it as a base moisturiser for evening but that would be a really good idea before applying a thicker night moisturiser for an extra boost of hydration so I will definitely be trying it out!

I'm actually really surprised that I've liked the Triple Performing Facial Emulsion as much as i have, and the skincare set as a whole. I would never think of Benefit to have a skincare range that was any good so i have been proved completely wrong and i am happy to admit it!

Have you tried Benefit's skincare range? Which is your favourite product?

This retails for £21.50 for the 50ml bottle.


L xxx

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Double Ended Pencil in Naked Basics

Hello there!

It's taken me some time to get this written today as I'm in a post gym coma. Followed by lunch I'm in a whole world of ache and warmth so my typing is rather slow!

Being a massive fan of Urban Decay and their impressive range of palettes it was no surprise to me when they came out with matching eye pencils. I mean, eyeshadow and eye liner go hand in hand together. There's one for every Naked palette including the newest one Naked 3. Obviously I want them all, but I picked up Naked Basics for a starter.

The 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencils are very much a popular product, they released a set last year called the Vault which had all 40 of the new eye pencils in the new range and it retailed for a good few hundred dollars although allegedly only 50 were made. Quite a disappointing amount as I imagine there were many who didn't get the chance to snap it up!

The 24/7 pencils are super creamy and highly pigmented, containing Vitamin E and jojoba oil they also don't drag on the skin which is a must when your eyes are concerned.

Crave and Venus are not part of the full collection as they are specific to Naked Basics. Crave matches the dark brown/black colour in the palette as does Venus, a creamy off white with a slight shimmer.

Clearly I would, in an ideal world, love to own all of the colours but this is a great way to get your make up bag full of basics without breaking the bank. At £12 each for the double ended pencils, for the most part you are getting 2 really great and useable colours for just £6 each and considering how good the quality is it's a pretty good price.

I like the design of the products too, you can clearly see the Naked Basics label in the centre so you can tell which palette it is designed to match. If you look on the internet at the other pencils (I use either Debenhams, Beauty Bay or Look Fantastic) you can see that 5 of the shades used in the 4 pencils are exclusive and only 3 are part of the original range (Zero, Perversion and Whiskey).

I think if I were to buy another it would by the one to match Naked 2 which although i don't own Naked 2 I think I would use these colours most as the matte black of Perversion and grey brown of Pistol I could wear every day with products I already own.

So how does it look on?

I've blended the pencil along the bottom of my eyes and also along the waterline. Crave is on the outer of my eye and Venus is in the inside corner.
The eyeshadow I have on in this picture is from Naked 3 and was one of the first times i used it. I can see it getting a lot of use!



I really like this look and it was so easy to blend the liners together even though they are quite opposite in their shades. I used the 24/7 blending brush from UD (review coming soon!) and as long as you do it fairly soon after application you should have no trouble. Once it sets and dries however you can be assured that they do not budge for the day! I was amazing how well they stayed on and didn't smudge or disappear.

I would definitely recommend this pencil as a starter for your make up and generally on the whole everyone needs it! Venus is great for brightening up the inside corner of the eye and Crave is great for a more dramatic look or even day wear depending on how much you apply.

For £12 you cannot go wrong and I'm sure I'll be picking up more in future. I'd love to be able to justify collecting the entire range but with 40 pencils at £15 that calculates to a quite unaffordable £600 if my maths is correct which is terrifying!

A girl can dream eh?

Which of the pencils would you snap up? Would you go for a double ended one of one from the original range?

L xxx

   

Fitness Fridays: Protein Pancake Mix

Afternoon!

I mentioned in a previous post that my brother had picked up a bag of Go Nutrition's Protein Pancake Mix. I know I've posted about other products from GN but I promise I'm on no commission! We made a huge order of products to try as they have such a wide range of protein and fitness related foods so there might be more in future too.

The protein pancake mix comes in a bag like this:

It's the typical style of GN as all of their powdered products come in bags with zip lock tops to them. This makes it a lot easier to store for longer periods and know that it will still be as fresh as it was when you first opened it.

The bag contains 1kg of product and is unflavoured. I've never tried an unflavoured protein product before so I knew this was going to be interesting! As each serving is 50g and the bag is 1kg, this will give you 20 servings. That's not bad for the £8.99 price tag. It works out at 45p per serving and you can add any kind of topping you like!

Here's the info on the back of the pack; you can see the ingredients are pretty simple.

GN say:

Protein Pancake Mix is a fantastic healthy snack suitable to support all training goals. For those that train and compete on a regular basis a diet high in protein is essential for muscle growth, repair and recovery and our Protein Pancake Mix can really help you increase your daily protein intake. Furthermore, our Protein Pancake Mix provides 10g of low GI carbohydrates from oats to slowly release energy, making them ideal any time of day. Each serving of Protein Pancake Mix also provides 2.5g of medium chain triglyceride (MCT) health fats and 1g of flax seed which is high in Omega-3 Linolenic Acid.

They recommend you use their Organic Coconut Oil to cook them in to ensure the maximum benefits from the meal.

They are super easy to make, all you need is two scoops of powder with 100ml of milk or water. Shake them together, they suggest you use a protein shaker but I've also used a jug and fork and achieved a pretty consistent batter.

This will create two pancakes, so all you need to do is add half the batter to a frying pan and bake it for 60-90 seconds each side and hey presto you're done!

I have made these a number of times and each one has been consistently good. I've added bananas and maple syrup, greek yogurt and fruit, and obviously slapped some peanut butter and nutella on them for a good old treat!

You can see my pictures of some of them below:

These were bought by my brother on a whim but I can honestly say that when they've run out I'll be buying them again, they're so easy for a nutritious, filling and fun breakfast on weekends.

You can buy this protein pancake mix in a maple syrup flavour as well as unflavoured, though I think I'd prefer to add my own separately and change it every time!

What do you think of the protein pancake mix? Would you try it?

L xxx