Life Update

Hi there!

It has been a little while since I did a life update as things have been so busy. I recently started a new job and things have been crazy, but I've been up to lots! Here's my pictures:

Having seen lots of pictures on twitter of everyone's Harry Potter t shirts I couldn't resist picking up the same as they were all from Primark and perfect for mine and M's upcoming Harry Potter party!
I got the Gryffindor tshirt (above) and the Hogwarts pyjamas.

I've been having a bit of a chocolate fest recently; it's been a long time since I've eaten it but with my Amelia Rope goodies (see post from yesterday) I've been given the taste for it again. I've made a nutella and banana smoothie, and my aunty made a massive white chocolate cheesecake for a family meal, it was HUGE!

 

That said, I've also been back at the gym a lot. My new job is based on shifts so I've been on earlies this week, meaning 4.30am starts which hasn't been too fun! However I've finished at 2 so this meant I could go to the gym straight from work and avoid the rush hour or go home and go back later for classes. I've been really enjoying being able to go to body pump again and building my weights back up, and hopefully seeing some results!

Both me and M went to an event recently for Neal's Yard Remedies and were kindly given the Wild Rose Beauty Balm. I honestly cannot describe how amazing this multi functional product is and it's become my go to for every skin problem. Come back tomorrow for a full review, even the packaging is just so beautiful!

With all of the NATO summit going on in Cardiff it was hard not to get frustrated with public transport and laugh at the ridiculous 'ring of steel' you can just about see on the corner of the picture above.
Me and my parents went down to Cardiff Bay to see the warships there, this is HMS Duncan one of the billion pound ships commissioned by the UK government. It was quite impressive to see it considering it's not something I'm interested in and the whole place was packed.

It was good to see so many policemen (and women!) from so many areas and they even grouped together for their own selfies in front of the ships!

I've also been on a bit of a spending spree (slaps the back of my hand). I managed to buy the Benefit items and Rimmel brow product with my points, the new eye liner was free when you swapped an old liner, the Mac lipstick (Coral Bliss) was a Back to Mac purchase and I also had money to spend on my Debenhams Beauty Card which was the rest of the Urban Decay products.

I was super lucky to have all of this as I've been saving them up for a splurge for a while! I've still got Boots points so I'm looking for my next Benefit buy! Here's a picture with the Pulp Fiction palette, Perversion liquid liner, Perversion mascara, Coral Bliss lipstick and Coralista:

I also had my hair dyed back darker finally! I've been waiting to do it for ages but wanted to wait until the summer months were over. Here's how light my hair was to begin with and how dark it was after dying it:

I loved it but unfortunately it's going to take a few goes to cover it all permanently as some of the colour has washed off already. I think when I go back to see my hairdresser next I will ask her to do it darker again too, as my natural colour is almost black.

I was planning on being good and not buying any more products now that I'm working again and can do overtime and hopefully pay my parents back whilst working my way through my stash.

That idea was totally thrown out the window when Space NK had their deal where you spend £150 and get a fabulous goodie bag, this time with 28 products in. I thought I was going to miss out but then I luckily sold some textbooks on amazon which helped towards the cost! Here's what I bought and am super excited to start playing with:

Up until this week I didn't own a Nars product....oops! Hourglass is a brand I've recently been reading about and their blush was too good to refuse, and I'm already a fan of Laura Mercier.

Here's a quick snap of the goodies in the Beauty Anthology bag:

Some products are only sachets or 5ml which is a bit disappointing as it doesn't give you much chance to use them but others are 30 and 50ml and I can't wait to try out all of them.

Do you see any of your favourite products in the goodie bag?? Have you been eating and exercising to make up for it like me? What do you think of my purchases?

I need to reel in my spending that's for sure!


L xxx

Bounce Energy Balls

Happy Friday!

I've double posted today as I normally do a Fitness Friday post, but this is related. Bounce balls are something that I've previously mentioned in posts where I've detailed my snacks that I have in between meals.

If you haven't heard of them they're great for a pick me up and are really quite filling.

A few weeks ago i tweeted at them because where i buy them in Waitrose, they've recently gone up in price by 30p per ball which is quite a lot when they were already £1.79 each which is quite expensive for one snack. I tended to buy them as a treat anyway unless they were on offer which was rare but that was ridiculous!

Bounce Energy Balls were shocked at the price increase as they hadn't been made aware they would increase that much and kindly sent me a variety box to apologise and thank me for making them aware of it. It was a really nice touch and shows that a great customer service can change everything!

I was really excited to try some of them out as I hadn't tried the purple ones, the Fudge and Walnut.

The flavours have a great range, Coconut and Macadamia is a great sweet treat and seems to curb my cravings for cake. The Cacao Mint Protein Bomb is perfect for the chocolate cravings and the Peanut Protein Blast is ideal for when you are really hungry or have a heavy gym session coming up.

All contain whey protein, are 100% natural and are GM free, gluten free and free from artificial preservatives.

The Almond Protein Hit is similar to the Peanut ball in which is protein heavy and great for those hungry days. Spirulina and Ginseng was very interesting in the first bite, it's a green/black colour and a little off putting on appearance but tastes great and really serves as a Defence Boost as the name suggests. The Fudgie Walnut Brain Storm energy ball was the only one I hadn't managed to get my hands on.

Here was the note that came with the variety box, so lovely of them to send me a box an although the snacks are expensive I won't be as put off as I was before!

I really enjoy Bounce Energy Balls in my morning break to stop me from eating cake in the staff room. Some such as the almond and peanut balls are quite chewy and dense meaning they fill you up a lot easier than the others and they've been very handy! I also tend to have one sometimes on my way to the gym straight from work if I'm feeling low on energy; the coconut and macadamia or cacao mint balls are a lovely sweet treat for times like these and I've tricked myself into thinking that they're just like chocolate or cake for me!

Have you tried a Bounce Energy Ball? Which one is your favourite?
Have you experienced good customer service recently?

I always think its lovely to share when companies go the extra mile.

L xxx

Amelia Rope Handmade Chocolate

Happy weekend everyone!

I've got a review of an indulgent treat today, perfect timing for the weekend. I was given these as a gift a few weeks ago, and having never heard of Amelia Rope before I had to investigate.

Look how pretty the bars are! The colours are gorgeous and specific to each type of chocolate that they produce. Having not bought a chocolate bar in about 2/3 years it was a bit of an indulgent thing to have four whole bars made available to me!

These retail on the Amelia Rope website for around £5.60 a bar so this is the most expensive bar of chocolate that I have ever eaten. If I had known this before I'd eaten it all (along with my family, I'm not that much of a pig!) I would have been horrified but quite honestly......it was worth every bite and crumb that I could get my hands on.

The White Edition chocolate with Pistachio Nut and Sea Salt was the best chocolate I've ever tasted in my life. The white chocolate is the smoothest creamiest mix and this is what you taste first; the pistachio nuts follow and taste really lovely with the chocolate; lastly you get a hit of sea salt and its the most perfect combination of sweet and salt. 

 I would never have imagined these flavours working but its quite honestly, phenomenal.

On the packaging the ingredients are listed and are a relatively short list, its great that there are minimal additional preservatives and chemicals.

Also I do love brown paper packaging and so this appeals to me greatly!

Just look at the arrangement of pistachios on the chocolate, yum!

The next bar was the Pale Rose edition with 39% cocoa from Ecuador. The chocolate in this was really nice but unfortunately I couldn't get my head around the Rose flavours; my parents absolutely loved it though and were the willing recipients!

They likened it to eating Turkish Delight flavoured chocolate so if this is your thing, you'll love it.

The third bar was the Pale Edition with 40% cocoa from Ecuador and was divine, just like a darker milk chocolate. The consistency was really smooth and it just melted in your mouth.

The Dark Edition was 75% cocoa from Tanzania and this was my second favourite. I hadn't realised I liked dark chocolate as much as I did this, I couldn't stop eating it!

It perfectly curbed any sweet cravings I had and I would fully recommend it to anyone.

Have you tried chocolate from Amelia Rope?

Apart from the website you can also buy from places like Liberty, Wholefoods, and Selfridges, sadly there aren't any place that you can buy from in Wales yet.

Do you like 'posh' chocolate like I do? Have you tried and weird and wonderful chocolate creations like these? What would you recommend?

L xxx

Beauty Rehab

Hi there!

I'm slowly and painfully working my way through my stash, it has been a long process and if you'd like to catch up on my series you can do so by following this link (lots of empties!)

I thought I was getting somewhere recently but an influx of shopping, weak moments, presents etc has meant that actually, I'm barely better off. I really do need to grow some balls and just get over the fact that i have no space and no money for any more!

Batiste Dry Shampoo - always the best, always repurchase. Especially now I need to preserve my hair colour as long as possible!

Aussie Shampoo - loved Aussie but having heard that they animal test I'm rethinking all of my products and its unlikely that i will be repurchasing.

Anatomicals Shower Gel - this has fun packaging and a citrusy awakening scent but i wouldn't repurchase as it came in a set.

Antipodes Juliet cleanser - liked this, think my skin needs more from a cleanser though so will have to try another of theirs!

S&G Clean Girls body wash - had this in my gym bag for ages, lasts forever!

Evian moisturiser - do they still even produce this?? Who knows! Wouldn't repurchase.

Dr Organic coconut oil night cream - Far too thick and heavy for my skin, wouldn't repurchase but loved the smell
Argan oil day cream - too greasy for my skin, wouldn't repurchase this either but love most things from Dr Organic

Origins Eye Doctor - already repurchased! Sadly have found out they also test on animals so am on the look out for a replacement.

Next Spa scrub - lovely texture and it really glitters, part of their seasonal range so cannot repurchase

Pores No More - not a fan, not quite sure what this was for really!

EOS Sphere - love these and always have a spare, didn't really like the yellow one though it was very hard and dried quickly

Collection concealer - always repurchase for the price

Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes mascara - loved this, will wait for the Christmas sets to possibly repurchase as they are very good for the money.

Murad Skin Perfecting Primer - wouldn't repurchase currently as i have a stash to get through, may do in future tho as it lasts a while.

Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder - gutted I dropped my handbag! Lucky it didn't spill everywhere though. I had a back up already...

I'm halfway through another bag of empties already and I'm hoping next time I write a Beauty Rehab post I will be really checking myself into rehab and will be downsizing as opposed to replacing, one in one out is not going to work for me!

How are you working your way through your stash? I find bath products a lot easier than make up, project 10 pan or something similar would just take me forever and it doesn't take up the bulk of my collection.

What have you been using recently?

L xxx