How to make a 'Cat's Special Smoothie'

After tweeting a photo of a smoothie I had made for breakfast yesterday I had looooads of requests to blog the 'recipe' so here you go!

Step 1: pick your weapon of choice. Mine is a £7 blender from asda. Classy.

Step 2: put some fruit juice in it, whatever your favourite kind is :)



Step 3: chop up a banana, stick it in!



Step 4: get some ice cubes and some form of frozen fruit, mine is 'summer fruits' from asda. £1.97. Yum!



Step 5: stick them in!!



Step 6: blend the shit out of it.



Step 7: choose your second weapon of choice. Mine is a £3.50 protein shake cup from tesco. Because I'm a meathead.



Step 8: put it in the cup, like a pro.



Step 9: put the cup in the fridge ready for the morning!


And that's it! These are yummy, healthy and filling and save you time in the morning because you can make them the night before :)

The real beauty of them is you can use whatever fruit juice, and fresh or frozen fruit you want! You can add protein powder, flax, fibre powder, spinach, granola and a whole bunch of other ingredients to make it 'your own' and make your perfect breakfast smoothie! :D

All that's left is to pop it in your car or carry it to work/school/Uni or on the bus or just wherever you want however you want!

If you happen to make a particularly delicious smoothie PLEASE share the recipe with me in the comments! Hope that was useful for you all :)

Thanks for reading! xo

Operation: Save my skin!!

Bonjour bloggettes! I hope you're all having a fantastic week so far :)

A short while ago I blogged here about how dreadful my skin had been since spending all of it's time sat in an air-conditioned office. Lot's of you took the time to comment, tweet and email me with some skin recommendations so I thought I would blog this evening and tell you all what I've been doing to get my skin back to it's normal state...

First up, I've been drinking a crapload of water. I've pretty much stopped drinking tea completely at work and I'm just having big glasses of water from the water cooler in the office.

I've also been eating lots of fruit and veg, although this comes with my weight watchers plan really so I suppose that's not a change... I've just kept it up!

Myself and my boss have been keeping our office windows open and the air-conditioning off in an attempt to get some fresh air into the room.

Finally, I've tried and tested a bunch of products and thankfully managed to find some that have sorted me right out!

First up, my trusty Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish



This is my absolute Holy Grail cleanser. I'm on my fifth bottle (so far!) and I'm not intending on stopping using it any time soon! There's a million reviews all over the internet and I've written about it before so I don't think I need to fully review it again! It's amazing ♥

For the particularly large breakouts/zits I use Sudocrem:


Again this is something lots of bloggers have written about and it really does work to dry out spots and reduce redness. I use it overnight normally but if I've got a particularly bad mountain on my face I dab it on first thing in the morning before I apply my make-up... For the few pounds it costs it's fabulous!

For the first time ever, I've been using an eye cream. Not just any eye cream - Liz Earle Daily Eye Repair:



I had noticed lots of dry skin around and under my eyes so decided to branch out and use my first ever eye cream. I didn't think I needed one at the 'fresh' age of 21 but I was very, very mistaken! This is really cooling and soothing and has genuinely really helped to get rid of the pesky dark circles under my eyes. Added to that it plumps up the skin and has SPF10 in it so it's an all rounder really! I'd 110% recommend this no matter what age you are, it feels lovely on the skin and means you don't need as much concealer under your eyes as well as all of the things I've rambled about above! ♥

For any spots/breakouts that aren't quite horrific enough to warrant the use of Sudocrem, I use this:



I've been using the Clean&Clear Dual Action moisturiser since I was about 15 whenever I've had spots or breakouts and it literally does exactly what it says on the tube. Moisturises and helps prevent spots and blemishes. Kelly has also used this for years and years and she often writes little snippets about it on her blog. Proof that Clean&Clear isn't just for teens!

I've absolutely cracked out the big guns:


Liz Earle SuperSkin Concentrate:


Holy Macaroni. This is genuinely one of the most amazing and addictive products in the world. It smells gorgeous (like all Liz Earle products!) and warms your skin ever so slightly when you apply it. You can use this absolutely anywhere on your body at night time for a really intensive treatment and I would recommend you slap it on all over, lay back, relax and thoroughly enjoy the scent and feeling of your skin being pampered and nourished. The 28ml bottle costs £28.75 but if that is out of your budget you can buy a little roller ball version for £19 or a dinky 2ml bottle for £5.50. I know it's expensive but it's an absolute miracle worker and has absolutely banished the dry skin from my face. I wouldn't recommend using it in the day time (and neither do Liz Earle) as it can be a bit greasy if you use too much! I know for a fact that this is going to be yet another Liz earle product that I go and pick up regularly from John Lewis!

Bio-Oil:


I'll be writing a much more in-depth review of this in a couple of weeks but I've found that it's really helped my uneven skin tone and has reaaaaaally hydrated my skin :)

Body wise I've been using my Elemis body oil, reviewed here and my Liz Earle SuperSkin body cream reviewed here.

I've also taken a leaf out of Victoria Beckham's book and started using these little bad boys:



These are cotton rich gloves and socks! HOW CUTE ARE THEY!

I slap my SuperSkin body cream onto my feet then pop on the socks, then cover my hands in it and pop on the gloves! After all that, I lie back.....and go to sleep! My hands and feet are super soft and moisturised when I wake up and it eliminates the faffing and messing about when you're trying to let moisturiser soak into your hands and feet so you just have to lay on the bed for ages and do nothing! Lot's of other brands do these but I'd recommend the Liz ones, just for the colour if nothing else! ♥

So! That was really long but thank you all so much for your hints, tips and tricks! It's only fair to share the knowledge so I really hope you enjoyed this post :) Do let me know if you've tried or want to try any of these amazing products in the comments! I love to read them :)

Until next time! xo

My new favourite...

Way to wear my hair!



Its ridiculously simple, you just twist the sides of your hair, tie it into a ponytail then flip the ponytail over! Love it so much :) if you struggle with the 'flip' part then claires accessories still sell those little loop things that do it for you, they're about £4! I had one when I was little... It's weird how trends/styles come back round after a few years isn't it?!

Thanks for reading! xo

Get ready with me video - Saturday morning ♥

Hey everyone! Thought I'd do something a bit different today and upload a video for you all, it was originally recorded to show my friend Chloe how I do my make up but I thought you guys might like it too?



If you do like it then please let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more of these!

xoxo

The Hair Series: Scruples! ♥

Bonjour Bloggettes!

As you all know, at the moment I'm trying to put 110% into my skincare and haircare regime's and I'm taking you lot along with me as I try out new products and attempt to improve the condition of my skin and hair :)

I'm coupling this with improving my diet and fitness; following the Weight Watchers Pro Points plan and walking and jogging on my treadmill every day! So far I've lost 13.5lb (almost a stone!) and my skin and hair are starting to really improve now I'm making a much bigger effort with them!

Today I'm going to chat to you all about Scruples haircare. Scruples is a family owned group of hair salons that has been running for over 26 years now.. Alongside providing professional salon services, they also have a range of hair care and styling products.

I've been trying out a variety of Scruples products, including the moisture bath replenishing shampoo, the emergency repair conditioner, the smooth out straightening gel and the soothing polish conditioning serum.



One of the things I like most about the range is the colour co-ordination! I think the packaging is really sleek and stylish and the colour co-ordination makes it stand out in your bathroom.



Moisture Bath Replenishing Shampoo:


This is really moisturising and leaves my hair super duper soft! Unlike most other shampoo's this doesn't leave my hair knotty/tangled and it smells amazing. This does exactly what it says on the tin; cleanses and restores moisture to excessively dry, brittle hair :)

Emergency Repair Conditioner:


Like the shampoo, this does exactly what it says on the tin. It really penetrates your hair leaving it repaires, moisturised and a lot stronger, it also seems to make my hair less prone to breakage which is lovely! It smells great and you only need a tiny little amount (even on my hair which is getting quite long now!). I really love this and I 100% feel that it's made my hair a lot stronger since I've been using it ♥



Smooth Out Straightening Gel:


This is a heat activated gel designed to smooth and condition hair whilst making it shiney and controlling any natural curly-ness of wavy-ness. To use this I just pump one pump into my hand and apply it to my hair, focusing mostly on the mid-lengths then I blow dry it in sections with a round brush. The result is smooth and sleek hair that feels well conditioned and looks mega shiny! My only slight issue with this is that if you use too much it is like, sticky-hair-central. Start off with a tiny amount and then gradually tailor the amount you need to what is best for your hair :)

Soothing Polish Conditioning Serum:


This is a thick, white, creamy serum designed to detangle, add shine, and keep your hair looking healthy and gorgeous. I personally use this on my hair when it's dry instead of when it's damp because I use the straightening gel when my hair is damp! I just squeexe a 5-10p sized blob into my hands then rub that gently through the ends and mid-lengths of my hair. I then smooth any product that is left on my hands over my roots to 'stick down' any flyaways.

I mentioned in a previous haircare blog that I don't often dabble in professionbal haircare because I often find that you can achieve the same results with 'drugstore' products. However, the Scruples range is in a league of its own and has really changed the condition of my hair. My boss even asked me if I'd had it cut on Tuesday! (I didn't tell her I haven't had it cut for about 10 weeks!! eeeek!)

The shampoo and conditioner retail at £4.99 each, the soothing polish conditioning serum is £3.99 and the straightening gel is £8.50. All of the product are available on Beauty Bay. I think the prices are absolutely amazing considering the quality of the products! Cheaper than smoe 'drugstore' brands (John Frieda I'm looking at you!). Scruples also do a "Menz" range that is also available on Beauty Bay! The perfect gift for a sexy haired fella in my opinion :)

Have you ever tried any Scruples products or been to a Scruples salon? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Lots of love,
xoxo

Lil-Lets solve all of your little problems! ♥

Tampons and Sanitary towels. Let's face it ladies, we all use one/both of those products every month. And, let's face it again, they're NEVER 'Happy Periods' (You'd think the Always marketing people would be a bit more clued up?) They're hardly the nicest of things and can be a right pain in the bum (or other areas! haha!) sometimes when you're trying to be discrete.

I personally keep all of my 'personal items' in a basket in the bathroom and put a folded hand towel (neatly disguised as a 'spare towel') on the top to hide them!



Recently Lil-Lets have bought out two new products aimed at solving some of these problems for you... because it's the little things that matter isn't it :) I've never seen these 'features' on Feminine Hygiene products before and to be honest they're problems that I've personally had over the years so I wantd to tell you all about them!

Let's talk about them shall we? I know, I know, you'd rather just ignore their existance but I'm pretty 'into' these... well as much as I can be considering what they are of course!

First up, the new Lil-Lets Silk Comfort compact applicator tampons:



Obviously the first thing you notice about these is that they're in a tub, not a box! Even better than that, the sleeve comes off meaning noone will know what's in there if they're in your bathroom! Obviously there is still the small 'lil-lets' logo on the front but you can turn the tub around to hide that!



Also, Lil-Lets have put the items into soft grey 'whisper wrappers'! HOORAY! no more embarrassing rustling and all sorts when you're in a public loo! They come in packs of 16 (lite and regular), 15 (super) and 14 (super plus) and all of the packs are the same price.

Packaging and price aside, these have extreme anti-leak protection (for peace of mind) and an extra grip cord. Always good!

These are available from Boot's, Sainsbury's, Superdrug, Tesco and lots of other major retailers for £2.39.

Next up, the new FreshLOCK Ultra towels:



Although these aren't my 'preferred feminine hygiene product' (as in, I don't use pads very often!!) I actually think I prefer the packaging of these to that of the tampons! These come in a mega cute little bag that has ribbon drawstrings and again, the sleeve can be removed to make them a bit more discrete.



like the tampons, the towels come in grey 'whisper wrappers' which is actually my favourite feature of these products. I'm not embarrassed about buying tampons or pads but I really hate all the noise and rustling and plastic-ey noises! When I was still at school I used to rip my always pads open before I went then stick the little tab back down so it wouldn't make noise in the school toilets haha! Too much info? sorry ;) So yeah, although they grey whisper wrappers aren't the prettiest thing I've ever seen, they're function over looks in my book!

These are available in packs of 4 (normal), 12 (long) and 10 (night) and all of the packs cost £1.89!

So there's that done. Period talk on my blog ;) all LOLZ aside, these are genuinely fabulous products, both in terms of their 'performance' and the thought and care that has gone into the design of both the products, the immediate packaging of them and the storage packaging. I wish these had come out when I was younger because they would have saved me a hell of a lot of worry and embarrassment!

Thanks for reading everyone!

xo

ps - i know this isn't overly 'technical' in terms of a review but there is only so technical i can be without showing you 'in action' images and NONE of us want that!!

Skincare Series: Herbalife NouriFusion ♥

Aloha!
As you all know I've been focusing a lot on my skin recently, not only because of my air conditioned office at work, but also because i'm going to be 22 next April and I'm terrified of wrinkles/any form of ageing!

Although I'm a complete Liz Earle addict i'm quite cautious of my skin 'getting used' to products and therefore the products being less effective so every now and then I change up my skincare routine.

Most recently I've been using NouriFusion products from Herbalife.

The NouriFusion products are gentle and contain Vitamins A, C and E for healthy, glowing, satisfied skin :)

I have the Cleanser for normal to dry skin, Toner for normal to dry skin and Moisturiser for normal to dry skin.




Cleanser:


The cleanser is a white cream with hardly any scent to it. You pump out a few blobs of this from the bottle and massage it onto wet skin, you can then either rinse it off with hot water or polish it off with a muslin cloth. Both techniques result in clean, fresh skin that isn't dried out or irritated. This removes every single scrap of make-up, even on 'loads of eyeliner and waterproof mascara; days! The thing I like most about it is the pump bottle. It's so convenient and easy to use, it also minimalises product waste and mess :)

Toner:


The toner is a pale pink liquid that also has very little scent to it. I sprinkle a few drops of this onto a cotton pad and wipe it over my face and neck. It's really cooling and soothing and unlike most toners I've tried, doesn't make my skin feel tight or dry. I also really like the fact its a pinky coloured liquid ;)

Moisturiser:


The moisturiser is a white cream that you squeeze out of the little tube, I actually find this really rich and often use it at night time as an intensive treatment although recently as my skin has been dried out from the air con at work I've been using it twice a day! It's really lovely and intensively moisturising and doesn't leave a residue on my face or anything1 I love it :)

i've been religiously using these morning and night since I started having skin problems recently and they've made such a difference! Before that I was just using them sporadically - cleansing, toning and moisturising in the morning then just using face wipes in the evenings and although my skin looked lovely, I did have a few breakouts. Since I've been religiously using this little routine my breakouts have pretty much disappeared and although my skin still feels dried out when I get home from work, as soon as I use this 3 step system my skin feels nourished and really well moisturised. It's really relaxing and relieving actually in the evenings after my skin has been through hell throughout the day!

NouriFusion products can be bought here and are the following prices:

Cleanser - £15.65
Toner - £15.65
Moisturiser - £20.20

A little bit more expensive that the 'drugstore' but you get what you pay for and these are most definitely worth the money!

xo

Little mouse ears ♥

Hi everyone :)
Recently Sarah from The OPI Junkie emailed me and asked if I'd like to review some earrings she makes. I always try to support smaller/handmade brands and other bloggers so I jumped at the chance!

Sarah has started an Etsy shop called Little Mouse Ears (cutest name ever!)and wanted to promote it a bit so she sent me some earrings to test out :)

Here are the three pairs of earrings Sarah was lovely enough to send me!







And some close ups!







How cute and beautiful and sparkly are they!

I think these are absolutely beautiful and I haven't stopped wearing the purple and turquoise ones since I received them in the post! They're heavy enough to feel expensive and well made but not so heavy that they hurt your ears :) I'm wearing the pale pink and turquoise ones right now!!

Semi-precious stones are so in right now and these give your outfit that little bit of glam whilst not being over the top. I've had loads of comments on them at work and lots of the ladies at work have asked where they're from so I've pointed them in the direction of Sarah's shop!

The pale pink and turquoise and purple and turquoise danglies are 'one off' pairs but I'm sure if you email Sarah at littlemouseears[at]gmail.com and refer to my blog post she will be happy to make you a custom pair to order!

'Star Crossed Lovers' are available on Sarah's etsy shop for £4.22. I also really, really love Sarah's Supernatural collection they're so pretty :)

What do you think? If you order a pair be sure to tweet me a pic or link me to any blogs you write about them :) They're so lovely!

Thanks for reading! xo

Recent-ness!!

Hi everyone, as you read this I'm laying on my bed actually crying because I'm in so much pain!

Why am I in so much pain you ask?

Well, yesterday I went for a run and did 3k but I've been having issues with shin splints for a while... I was pretty sore all night and all day today... Then I came home from work today to find this:



Yup! A motorised V-Fit treadmill! I had emailed a man about it when I saw the ad on Gumtree last night and Stew went and bought it and collected it for me as a surprise today! I'm SO stoked to finally own one! It's only entry level and only goes up to 8kph but it's so special to me and I absolutely love it!

Anyway being the idiot I am I was so excited to have it I went and got changed and immediately did 40 mins of interval training (jog, walk, jog, walk) on it! I'm in so much pain now but I've rubbed 'joint mud' all over my shins and ankles and it seems to be helping a little! the only problem is I can't really walk so I'm not sure how I'm going to get to work tomorrow, hopefully the pain will have subsided by then!

Here are some other things that have happened recently:


I made bubble hats in the bath


Gave some pennies to breast cancer


Wore a moustache


Worked a lot


Wore my make up exactly the same every day (boring :( but I think it looks ok?)


Wore my slippers for the first time all year (hello winter!)


Ate a banana (how AWESOME is that photo considering I took it on my iPhone!)


Had homemade cookies and a glass of cold milk for supper one night...

...And lots lots more! My skin has almost cleared up completely now so I'll be blogging very soon to share with you all which products have performed miracles for me :)

Hope you're all ok!

Thanks for reading! xo