Fitness Friday: Instagram Inspiration 2

Happy Friday!

So two weeks ago I wrote a post on my favourite fitness related Instagram accounts, you can read that here. I follow a whole lot more than those so here are a few more!

This one is pretty self explanatory - beautiful female six packs.

I must admit sometimes it feels a little weird scrolling through my Instagram feed and seeing lots of half naked women on there, but it does also stop me from chomping my way through whatever I'm snacking on at the time - there's motivation all over this page!

Fitness Page For All  - this is a general fit body page, there are beautiful men to drool over, fit women to motivate you and also some funny quotes to give you a kick up the bum when you need it!

Female Physique - very similar to Female6pack, lots of beautiful bodies and more quotes to keep you motivated, even some from the wonderful Liam Neeson and strange Spongebob.

Healthy Food Advice - a great account showing all sorts of healthy recipes and drool worthy food, there are LOTS of food alternatives on this page, think healthy versions of cinnamon rolls and peanut butter cookies, along side copious meals with vegetables and lean meats. I really want to try out the two below, along with eggs baked in portobello mushrooms and zucchini parmesan crisps!

FastEasyRecipes is another very similar account to the one above, so many pancake recipes and amazing dishes like the wedges one below. They even have sushi recipes and I definitely cannot wait to scroll through them all and make a list of new things to try out!
Everything looks so colourful and enticing, it's hard to not want to eat healthy when you have dishes like this in front of you!

Lastly another girl crush, the Balanced Blonde. Not strictly always a fitness or healthy recipe poster, but she does eat a lot of beautiful food, as seen above with the fruit platter and her own homemade super food salad below looks gorgeous!
She seems to just always be having fun and living life, with a cold pressed juice in hand!

What fitness and healthy food accounts do you follow? Have you got any more suggestions for me as I am always looking for additional motivation!

Do you like the look of the recipes above? Do you follow any of the accounts already?

Let me know!

L xxx

Aussie Miracle Moist Leave In Conditioner

Good morning lovelies!

After tweeting recently to vent my despair at my dry hair the lovely Sasha from Ramblings of a Beauty Bird suggested I try the Lightweight Conditioning Spray from Aussie. Aussie is one of my favourite hair product brands as I'm totally obsessed with the 3 minute miracle conditioner.

I went to Boots asap and picked it up in a 3 for £10 deal!

They have a few products in the range of conditioning sprays, there are five in total including Miracle Recharge Shine, Miracle Recharge Colour, Miracle Recharge Luscious Long, Miracle Recharge Take The Heat, and lastly Miracle Recharge Moisture.

I chose the Moisture version as my hair has been so dry, although I have long hair I thought dowsing it in a leave-in conditioner with extra moisture would be a good start.

The spray is 250ml and contains Australian Macadamia Nut Oil which I assume helps to hydrate your hair, though it isn't very clear what it does. It also contains Panthenol (nicknamed the beauty vitamin) and helps to make your hair more manageable.





I've been using this for a few weeks now and my hair does feel better than usual when I use it. The spray is more of a spritz than a fine mist, but it doesn't dispense product into your hair in a dollop, it is fairly well spread.
This is something I'm always aware of, having dark hair means that it can look greasy really easily if you put too much product on even though you have just washed it, massively annoying!

I recently also posted about the Bumble and bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Protective Primer and although normally I am happier to go with the high street range - most expensive products do nothing for my hair - this time the Bumble and bumble product wins when my hair really needs help.

The Aussie Leave in conditioner sprays costs £4.99 each and normally they are on off at 3 for £10 and so very worth it! I use these most times I wash my hair, but on the odd occasion my hair is feeling like straw nothing will help it apart from the Bumble and bumble spray, so I still stand by that one being the best, but I save it for emergency situations!

Do you use Aussie products? Have you tried their Leave In Conditioners?
What would you recommend for an alternative?

L xxx

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation

Hey All

This is a product we both picked up in the Cosmetics Company Outlet in Swindon. Double Wear is such a cult product and seems to be either a love or hate.

We both used to love Relvon Colourstay (review here) which many dubbed to be a dupe (I need to get that back out and try it as it's been a while since I used it. I tend to forget about foundations I love!). It took us both a while to pick it up.

It comes in a blue and gold box which fits the brand. Estee Lauder I find is quite a classic brand. It also comes with SPF so is great for everyday where to help protect the skin. It does give a little flashback due to this in photos but nothing too bad and sometimes this can help to make your skin more flawless!

By picking this up at CCO we managed to save £9.25 off the normal RRP which is great for us, it means another potential lipstick in future!

Make up in a glass bottle always feels more expensive and luxurious and though it's not great to travel with isn't something that would put me off a product. Annoyingly though it is a product that doesn't come with a pump and is quite a flowing liquid so it can come out a bit quick onto the hand. I think you can buy a separate pump just like you can in MAC but I wasn't offered this at the time of purchase.

So far I've found it's a product you need to learn how it works for you. When you find how it works best I think it's one you love but I do find it to be trial and error with mositurisers, primers and powders.

For M it best applies over a hydrating primer like Laura Mercier. She also finds it works best with a dense brush such as the expert face brush. With the buffing brush it's almost too soft to work into the skin. It is one that sets quickly so it's best to do one section at a time. Also she's found that when set with powder straight away it can clump. It lasts well without powder so she only tends to powder towards the end of the day if needed.

L found that using the buffing brush or expert face brush was fine, but that she needed a lot more product than she normally uses with foundations such as Laura Mercier Silk Creme or Vichy Dermablend. They tend to provide a veil over the skin whereas this needed more product and provided a full coverage, something that I've been needing lately!
I still powder my nose but apart from that I don't need any other products throughout the day and it stays fixed all day. After figuring out how this foundation works for me I've been really impressed with the finish and the lasting effect.

Do you use double wear? How do you find it works for you?

Do you have any other favourite Estee Lauder products?

My mum's a fan of Bronze Goddess bronzer so I will have to try it out soon!


Love L and M

xxx

Life Lately

Hey All

A bit of a late post from me. This week has been an up and down for me. Last weekend saw a sore throat turn into a painful chest and cough to stop me sleeping and finally into an ear infection on Thursday which despite antibiotics is still persisting. I've not felt so wiped out in ages (the late post is due to me falling asleep on the sofa)

It has been a good week workwise. I'm now off to London on Friday for an LTG meeting and my boss has recommeded me for membership which I'm really excited about and I'm finally getting the support I need to complete my portfolio of competence.

I've also been sorting and organising my make up. I had a bit of a make up sort out and got rid of some of the old stuff I knew I wouldn't use. Some of it I was holding onto even though I didn't like it or it didn't suit me colourwise. It feels so much more productive to have a tidy make up area! I also got my hair done. It's finally back light and is now an icy white with darker routes so hopefully I won't have to dye it for a while. I love new hair it always makes me feel so much better!

The most exciting part of my week was finally getting my other half back after 45 days, despite feeling ill the excitement to see him takes over! After flight delays due to strikes and other problems with him getting back I ended up jumping on a train to meet him and catch up with his parents. If you're with someone who works away nothing beats that first hug! He even came armed with macarons!! With the dude being back we also tucked into a lot of chocolate and hot cross buns. My easter kinda waited until he was home.

OMG!!! These were the best one's I've tasted yet. You definitely taste the difference between cheap ones! They were perfectly crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle!

This weekend we spent it at my parents them at a friends wedding. I actually did the bride and bridesmaids hair and make up which was a terrifying responsibility but the brides appreciation made it all worth the stress of the morning and she looked beautiful. It was such a great fun wedding with a tea party, pig roast and tower of cheese!! Hello perfection.

After I persuaded the bride's niece to draw on him he proceeded to rub his face into mine! Which resulted in me having a blue face!

For a wedding present we got them some pots from a local ceramicist who was at the Cardiff Christmas Markets, It was great to chat some a local seller and hear about it and it definitly makes me want to shop local more! His name is Dean Bolt if you're from South Wales and after some great bits! I love the colours he uses!

So that's a little life update from me. I'm really hoping this week I can finally kick this illness!!

Love M

xxx