Exciting News!

Hey everyone! Hope you are all well. I have had some great news this week regarding my blog... some that I cant broadcast just yet but one that I can share with you all is that I have been selected by More Magazine to be apart of their Hot 100 - Woohoo! I basically applied by sending an email to the magazine stating which products I like and why and out of all of the entries I have been picked out of the bloggers category! I'm so excited. I'm unsure at the moment what I will be doing but it ranges from testing out products that will be published in the mag and giving my opinion on everything beauty related. Who woulda thought after just 1 year my blog would have come this far? I'd like to thank you so much for all of your support. I love waking up in the morning and having emails from you asking how I am or advice on a certain product. It really makes my day! Keep checking back for more updates about the More's Hot 100!

A Sort of Important Message

Thank you for the messages and comments. I really truly appreciate it. I think I miss blogging already. I will see how I feel in a week or two but it is the pure act of writing and interacting with you all that I miss. Your support is sort of overwhelming so I shall say thank you once again. I have been thinking of writing a post like this for quite a long time and I think the time has come - without wanting to sound too dramatic! You may have noticed that I frequently promise to make lots of videos and write lots of blog posts but as much as I try and will myself, ultimately I don’t have the motivation - at least not at the moment. This was something I started a few years ago and I think, to some extent, I have moved on. The “fun”, hobbyist element has also dramatically fallen away and I have always told myself that if it stops becoming fun, then I stop. 

As simple as that. And that’s how I feel at the moment. The way I look at it I shouldn’t have to “make” myself do this - I should want to and to be brutally honest, I just don’t these days. And yes, I do consider the beauty community a bit of a negative place at the moment. I wanted to write this post to set any expectations that you might have about me. I won’t be updating this for a while and YouTube is not something that will be updated either. This may well be a little holiday - maybe I just need an extended break and time to become excited about things again, but in any case I want to issue a huge thank you to all of you that have supported me by writing comments and sending lovely messages over the years. I will still be tweeting - probably more than usual as it will be my main outlet - but let’s call this an extended blog holiday. Hope to see you here again soon! Take care everyone!

45p Beauty Must Have

I don't know about you but I cannot live without my face wipes. I love the feeling of taking my makeup off after a long day. For years I have been using quite expensive face wipes but I had to buy some wipes in a rush as I didn't have my regular ones with me. I popped into Tesco and spotted these Tesco Cucumber Cleansing Wipes. They were only 45p so I expected them not to be as good as my more expensive ones that I usually use... Never judge an items quality by the price tag! There are 25 wipes in a pack and they're enriched with soothing cucumber and aloe vera. They gently take off my makeup including waterproof mascara without fail. They leave my face feeling clean and refreshed. They don't contain any chemicals so they're kind to your skin and theyre suitable for all skin types. I also left the pack undone over night and they didn't dry out not even the wipe on top! For 45p my beauties this item is a must! Throw out your expensive wipes and head down to your local Tesco!

Leave It To Aussie

Lately my hair has started looking quite dry due to all the styling I put it through. I believe in changing hair products regularly as my hair gets used to a product and stops benefiting from it. So last week when I was in Boots I spotted a great offer that I couldn’t resist 2 Aussie products for £6! One of the items that I picked up was the Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance Leave in Conditioner. The leave in conditioner is for weak and distressed hair. It contains Australian Jojoba Oil which helps to detangle and protect your hair from everyday wear and tear. It smells absolutely yummy and comes in a decent sized spray bottle. 

All you have to do is spray onto towel dried clean hair and comb through then style as normal. I have used this spray each time I’ve washed my hair since purchasing it and my hairs condition is improving more and more with each use. My hair is damaged due to bleach and heated stylers so it is in need of as much conditioning as possible and this is a godsend and there’s no excuse not to buy it as its really affordable and its suitable for all hair types. This is now a hair must! On its own the conditioner costs £3.67 and you can buy this from various places such as Boots, Superdrug, Tesco and even Asda. Aussie are always offering great deals so keep your eyes peeled for offers!

Get to Know Your Body Type to Help You Lose Weight - 2

Sheldon identified three distinct body types: 1. The Mesomorphs - the genetically gifted types who are lean, muscular and naturally athletic. 2. The Endomorphs - The fat retainers. Endomorphs have a round body shape and large joints (they are “big boned”) and they often have great difficulty losing body fat. There’s a good chance that if you struggle to lose the weight, you are an endomorph or you are at least partially endomorph. 3. The Ectomorphs - the lean, skinny types. They are usually very thin and bony, with fast metabolisms and extremely low body fat. From the above information you can see that the endomorph body type is someone who is genetically prone to store fat easily due to a slow metabolism. Endomorph body types are usually, but not always, large-framed with medium to large joints.

If you’re an endomorph and you mess up on your diet, the surplus calories are almost certain to go to fat. Even when you’re in a caloric deficit, it seems like the fat goes down at a painfully slow rate. Your ability to lose weight will be impaired if you do not know what to eat to encourage weight loss. If you think you are an endomorph don’t lose heart, there are countless examples of endomorphs who were once overweight or obese and who went on to lose weight and become super lean. What they did was to simply understand their body type and adjust their nutrition and training accordingly. They understood that they couldn’t copy someone else’s diet and lose weight unless that other person had the same type of body, weight and height. Remember the secret - a very healthy life!

Get to Know Your Body Type to Help You Lose Weight

Lose weight strategies work best when you know your body type and follow good healthy eating and exercise. A balanced diet and daily exercise should always be a large part of any weight loss program. Eating recommended portions from all the food groups spaced throughout the day will not only help in you lose weight but it willhelp you feel better too. Google food guide for healthy eating suggestions. If you’re eating wrong for your body type, you may never be able to lose weight successfully. Are you an endomorph, mesomorph or ectomorph body type? If you are not sure, then this could be the reason you failed to lose weight on your last followed diet, or why your weight loss has fallen short of your expectations. To maximize the results of your diet, regardless of whether your goal is to lose weight or to gain muscle, you must adjust your diet according to your body type.

Whatever body type you have been born with most of the factors involved in losing weight are totally under your control. You can achieve fantastic results, regardless of your genetics, as long as you recognize and understand your body type and then adopt the proper nutrition and training strategies suited to your own needs. In the 1940’s, Dr. William H Sheldon, an American psychologist became fascinated by the study of human body types. Sheldon’s devoted his life to observing how body types were related to temperaments. As a part of his extensive research on the subject, Sheldon developed a three part classification system for body types known as Somatotyping. It is interesting to understand the boy types in order to have a much better understanding of why some people struggle to lose weight.

T-bone Steak

Recipe 169 - T-bone steak 

The actual name is t-bone steak with potato wedges and onion rings. As you will see, a couple of those were missing.

Weird ingredients and substitutes: Nil.

Preparation: I slightly-melted the butter in the microwave, and then mixed the Worcestershire sauce and chopped parsley with it. This mixture is then put back into the fridge.

Cooking process: Cook steaks both sides. I know Nigella talks about wrapping each one in foil and letting it rest, but really I was too impatient, and just cooked them until they were how I thought I wanted them.

End result: Served with leftover coleslaw and potato salad from the night before (non-Nigella meal). While impressive, the salads were bought from the supermarket. The meal was okay. The steak was fine with the flavoured butter, it was just that the t-bone was a pain to cut around. I know that I've said that I've enjoyed some steak meals, now I'm thinking that it's steak meals where the steak has already been cut up, rather than a whole chunk of meat in front of me. I'd prefer a better but smaller cut to this.

Repeatability: No.

Cost: I think two t-bones cost me just over $12, parsley was from the garden, so $13.

Mess: A few oil splatters when frying the steak, but nothing too major.

Special utensils: I don't have a griddle. I just used my frypan.