Fitness Friday: Fitness Trackers

Hi all!

Apologies for my late post today, normally I'm on the ball with scheduling for the week but I've been away with work and didn't get back until late last night. Its been a pretty poor week in terms of fitness for me; I knew working away would be hard to access a gym but I thought it would be easier to exercise in a hotel room or get out for a run around the surrounding area but it was impossible this week. My room was like a postage stamp and oddly laid out; I couldn't do any pressups/burpees like I'd planned as the room wasn't long enough at any part nor go for a run as it was really dark and on a business park so I did not feel safe at all. 

It's made me feel a bit of a hypocrite writing a fitness post this week but nevertheless I'm determined to write a Fitness Friday post each week for 2015!

This week I want to talk about fitness trackers. I've been lusting after one for a little while now and have been scouring the internet for reviews: twitter, google and geeky magazines have been my friend and I've been trying to decide which one ticks all the boxes.

Image from Fitbit Blog

There's the most talked about Fitbit which have a range of fitness trackers from basic pedometers to the all singing and dancing Surge which was released within the last month. With heart rate, sleep patterns and a screen to give you phone notifications as well as GPS I have to say it was hitting all my buttons and I was ready to part with my cash the moment it came out. But then I read a few reviews on Amazon and the unreliability changed my mind. Plus on this link here some people have had reactions to the strap and with my sensitive skin it has made me question if this is right for me (link here)

Image from Jawbone website

The second most popular is the Jawbone Up range, but the Up3 is the most recent. It also has a wide range of tracking such as sleep and heart rate but for me the bonus factor is the fact that its waterproof to 10m which not only means I don't have to worry about it in the shower but also I can swim with it too which is something I used to do weekly and now would like to get back into. However this one does not have a screen to give you regular updates and the sleep function has to be manually turned on.

I'm fully aware that there are so many more available and I've been trying to make up my mind by the time this pay day rolls around.

Do you have a fitness tracker? What would you recommend? 

The Fitbit Surge is priced at £200 and the Charge HR is £120. The Jawbone Up3 comes in the middle of the price range at £150. They're all fairly similar in price so its hard to make a decision, I don't want to buy a cheaper one and it not have everything I want and then have to buy another in future, but most expensive isn't always best!

What do you think about fitness trackers? Would you pay out for one or do you think they're a gimmick and just another way for people to make money?

Im a total geek so can't wait to get on the apps and analyse my heart rate and sleeping patterns!

L xxx 

Herbal Essences Dry Shampoo

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Only a few more days until a romantic weekend is upon us.........unless you're me and M and you're off to a Harry Potter party in place of doing anything romantic for Valentine's Day. We're too cool!

I don't know about you but dry shampoo is a big part of my life, I use it a few times a week to save me from washing my hair all the time. That way I save time and effort as well as keeping my hair looking bouncy and smelling sweet. I'm a big Batiste fan - the original is usually the best.....but after my mum bought me these Herbal Essences one for Christmas could they be replacing it?

My mum picked up the Uplifting Volume which has a Citrus fragrance and also an original Dry Shampoo with a Natural Tapioca scent.
Both me and my mum have a bit of a thing for scents - we love citrus scents and plain scents. Anything unnatural and strong is totally out of the question and I can't be going near it!

The packaging promises a 1st Day Clean feel by utilising a formula containing natural tapioca.

It works exactly as any other dry shampoo, you spray it in and work it into your roots. I like to leave it on as long as possible and if you want my number one tip.....spray it on before bed and wake up with fully revitalised hair, It works a treat and requires no brushing or the dreaded 'grey halo' effect where no amount of brushing can save you. Now that my hair is back to its natural brown/black colour this is something I am permanently scared of!

The citrus fragrance for this is perfect, it's light and not overpowering at all and I really like it. 

The natural tapioca is also a really light scent and to be honest, I find both of these better than Batiste.

These are both really great and based on this alone I would repurchase as having my hair smell like these would be awesome!

It's also great that there are no parabens or colourants - any products with less chemicals in is a winner in my books though i wonder if something else has replaced them.

The texture of this is a little weird. I feel like it does absorb a lot of oil from my hair, and therefore works well as a dry shampoo - performing the task it was designed to do. However unlike Batiste this feels like a hairspray with absorbent particles in it and so sometimes I feel like it coats my hair in unnecessary extra product and weighs it down rather than giving it 'uplifting volume'.

Overall I'm seriously impressed that Herbal Essences have created absolutely great smelling dry shampoos and I would buy them again for this alone. However when it comes to performing the task it was designed to do I feel like the extra product can end up weighing the hair down and making it look worse than it did already.

It's really a 50/50 on this one and I'd probably suggest using these if you're a gym goer like myself and can't be washing your hair every day - this product is perfect for you with a stronger scent to mask any sweat and it does absorb oil.

However for other days I would stick with Batiste where I just need the crown of my hair to look a bit less greasy to get me through another day.

Both have their place but for different reasons.

Have you tried the Herbal Essences Dry Shampoos? Which scent do you recommend?

In future when I've used these up I'm going to try out the Aussie and the CoLab dry shampoos and compare them also - dry shampoo is such a vital thing in my life for looking good that its way more than an essential now!
Are you hooked on dry shampoo for its' time saving abilities?? Do you have any other brands that you would suggest?

L xxx

Look Fantastic Haul

Hey All

Hope you've had a great week, mine has been a crazy one. I'm pretty sure they're always busy lately.

At the moment I'm in a massive hair dilemma, I don't know what to do with it at the moment. I'm so torn between grown up hair and pastel colours. Over the past few years it's taken a bashing with dye so I'm constantly getting new hair products to show it some love. I really do think it's worth investing in more expensive products. I find my hair doesn't like cheap shampoo.

When I saw a tweet about this months Look Fantastic beauty box had Moroccan oil in that was worth basically the value of the box I decided to order it. I've never ordered from Look Fantastic before but have been tempted as they sale the Sebastian range that I love (reviewed here) but never gotten around to placing an order.

The box also included a full size lip liner (mine is quite dark so I'm tempted to use this as an eye liner!), a lip balm (my lips are so dry I'm hoping this helps as nothing seems to at the moment!), a Korres body milk (I've tried this before and loved it!), a make up primer and cleansing bar.The primer seems great it's thick but feels smooth and the skin and adds a healthy glow without feeling greasy or oily.

I also couldn't resist some new shampoo and conditioner so went for the TIGI Bed Head Resurrection set. It was a bargain at £24 for 750ml bottles and came with a free hair brush. Other Bed Head stuff I've tried I've liked so fingers cross this is as good. It sounded like the perfect set for my over abused hair.

Even better when I ordered the Code MOB15 got me 15% off!

Have you ordered this months beauty box? I like that all the beauty boxes have the same stuff in so you can find out what you get before you order.

Love M

xxx

Vintage Fairs and Payday Treats

Morning!

Just over a week ago me and my mum went to the Lou Lou's Vintage fair in Cardiff. We've been once before and I loved it, so we decided to go again for their January sale. It was lots of fun and I picked up a few accessories before we also headed into Cardiff to raid a few shops there too!

I really enjoyed our trip previously and although i didn't expect to find much here again I did spot some lovely things. I love having a browse of the stands and a small rummage - I haven't quite got to the stage of rummaging through the rails of clothes yet....that's still a bit beyond me. I find it hard enough to buy clothes in shops nowadays so I don't think that vintage clothing is going to cater for my taller frame. A longer body with longer legs than the average person makes certain types of clothing hard to buy, but rest assured accessories are always available!

How beautiful are these cat eye sunglasses?! They cost only £5 and they're UV400 which is something to think about when purchasing vintage sunglasses - this means they are probably not real vintage just vintage style but nevertheless you won't be finding them in any other store. I love the marbling effect in the frame too, it makes the shape seem less harsh.

The necklace is a steampunk style - it's the insides of a watch attached to a gold chain. I loved it as soon as I saw it, I've got a bit of a thing for watch necklaces as it is (I own about 6!) with the official Harry Potter time turner necklace being one of them. This cost me £15, a little more expensive but worth it for the unique design.

The ring is a beautiful clear crystal set in a silver coloured twisted ring. The crystal is cut to be pear shaped - it's a gorgeous design and when me and M were looking at rings in a shop window the other day it was one I surprised myself by liking so when I saw it at the vintage fair I had to grab it! This was £8 so a few bargains at the fair this time as before I spent well over £100!

Next up was Primark. I don't find many clothes from Primark but their pyjamas and casual tshirts are normally something that catches my eye.

Harry Potter pyjamas are number one in my eyes; I've bought as many of them as I can get my hands on. The above navy tshirt and vest and shorts combo were ones that I couldn't leave without, I didn't get the matching navy bottoms but wish I had so I think I need to go back! You can never have enough pyjamas....

Which is why it would have been SO RUDE if I had left these Batman pyjamas behind too!
I do love the leggings and tshirt combinations and anything superhero and magic related I just cannot resist.

I would say that I don't need any pyjamas for a while now but that would be silly; I'm sure I'll be back in there soon!

I also had a browse of their workout gear and was surprised at how extensive it has got. The grey hoodie will be great for my running in the evenings and so will the armband (£2.50 by the way!). They seemed to have a few colour ranges with neon green, orange and pink being the biggest, the orange was definitely my favourite.

The gloves will also be good in future, only £3 and I love the pattern and colours!

What have you been buying recently? Are you a superhero fan like myself?

Do you like going to local vintage fairs?


L xxx