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I've been shopping....

Well, spring was definitely in the air today and if there is one thing a bit of ever so slightly warmer weather does to me it's bring out my need to shop!  I didn't want to go too mad as I am saving that for when I get to my target weight but I did pick up a couple of goodies!

First up, the bubblegum lip scrub from Lush.  I have seen this raved about on so many blogs and I was so pleased to finally get my sticky mitts on it

Unfortunately, I really am not very impressed by this.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but for £5 I think I was just expecting a bit more than pink sugar.  I lost loads of it trying to get enough out and just keeping it on my lips long enough seemed a struggle.  Is it just me?  If you have this and love it the please tell me how you use it as I really want to understand the hype!

The next item is something I actually bought yesterday but I used it for the first time today. so thought I would include it.

Sorry for the bad photo but I could not find anywhere that didn't cause the light to bounce of it.  This is the  MUA Undress Me Too eye palette - £4 from Superdrug.  I love this, love love LOVE this!  I have always fancied the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette and this is the complete dupe.  Whoop!  MUA really excel when it comes to their eyeshadows and this is my favourite palette yet.  The Heaven and Earth was good, the Undressed palette was great and this is even better.  I'll do a proper review of this soon but if you spy this in Superdrug you should definitely buy it!

My last few items are all shoes.  Ooooh shoes....they are my thing!  There's a very shallow piece of Lisa that can't help but think my life would be more rosy if I was walking around in  pair of patent black, uber high Louboutin's.  Those red soles do funny things to me.  One day Lisa, one day!  Today was a more practical shoe day.  In Primarni I picked up a couple of pairs of ballerina flats for work...

Firstly some go with everything black ones, couldn't resist these with their mustache  they remind me of the ones Zara had a while back.

These little twirly ended lovelies were £8 and worth every penny to help brighten up my tootsies on a glum Monday morning.

I couldn't resist this next pair as they were such a billy bargain..£2!  For shoes!  Both the same size and colour and everything, look, look.....

These were reduced from £12 and I think they are bootiful!  I think they will look good peeping out the bottom of my black work trousers and I also have a couple of dresses that these will look good with.  

And finally, my favourite purchase, courtesy of my husband's bank card!  I have wanted some of these for aaaaages and today hubs said I could have them as my mother's day present from my two little monster's.  Knowing the size of the moths that have taken up residence in his wallet, I was in Office before you could say 'dodgy bunch of flowers from the petrol station'

Yey! I finally own a pair of Converse!  As all of my jeans are skinny I don't think normal trainers look right on me but I can't wear Uggs all year round.  I did buy some Nike blazers at Christmas but hubs told me I was too old for them (cheek) so I took them back.  I can't wait to wear these, yahoo!

So, that's all my bits and pieces.  I haven't quite tamed the shopping beast yet...I'm hoping to get to Boots tomorrow or one night after work so there may well be another shopping post coming up soon!

Have a lovely day everyone!!

Back to blogging...Where I have been!

So, there is a wee bit of a gap in my blog.  I have been so caught up that  have barely read a beauty blog and just have not been in the right place to write one.  Why you ask?  Well, it's all because of my diet!  I have been faffing around trying to get to my target weight since my daughter was born....and that was 3.5 years ago!  I could finally cope with my extra tyres no more, and with 1 stone 12 pounds needing to be shifted to get to where I wanted to be, I ordered a months supply of Exante.

If you haven't heard of Exante, it is a food replacement diet where you replace meals with their products.  Similar to Lighter Life or Cambridge and a bit like Celebrity Slim or Slim Fast.  There are various options you can follow, some allow food as well and the Total Solution does not.  The total solution (a very low calorie diet or VLCD) states that you can lose around a stone a month so this is the option I have gone for.  You have 3 Exante packs a day, totalling about 600 calories, drink loads and loads of water and that is pretty much it. I won't go into the science of how it works (ketosis) but there is loads of info on the Exante website if you are interested.

Here is a little picture from the Exante website to show what I have been eating every day for the last 3 weeks:

It's been really tough (though made so much easier due to my friend on Twitter, the lovely @t_toperula doing it with me) but so far I have managed to shift 1 stone 4 pounds!  Not bad huh?

I must stress here that although you order this diet over the internet, Exante do state that you must have a BMI of over 25 to order.

Now the bulk of my excess weight has gone I feel ready to get back in the swing of blogging again and I definitely feel that I deserve a little treat to celebrate, especially as I can no longer have a cup of tea and a Double Decker!

I think blogging will be an important tool in maintaining my weight loss as I am going to need something to keep me busy and away from the fridge!

I do have one beauty tip for you...drink more water!  You hear it all the time but how many of us actually drink enough?  I certainly didn't!  On this diet I have been drinking around 3 litres a day and it has done wonders for my skin, better than any moisturiser I have ever used.  My skin is less dry, less spot prone and just looks loads fresher.  I will definitely be making more of an effort to drink more water in future!

Now I just need to work out what my little treat to myself will be...time for some blog reading I think!!

My MUA collection...

Just a quick post.  I always go on about how I love the super affordable makeup brand MUA so thought I should show you exactly how much.  Here is a picture of my current collection.  It will soon expand even more as I have my eye on a load of their new items and their brushes which I couldn't get in their recent sale...

I apologise for my grotty bedroom, it's currently being ripped apart so we can finally make it look nice and cosy!!
The great thing about MUA is just how cheap things are.  Their lipsticks, single eye shadows and powder blushes for instance are £1 each.  Perfect if you want to try out a new colour but don't want to spend lots of money just to find it doesn't suit you.  The quality also goes way beyond the price.  I haven't even been tempted to buy any MAC or UD shadows since I discovered MUA.
When the pro line came out everyone got really excited as MUA had really upped their game even more.  Over the last few months they have gone all out...they have too many must try items to list but a few stand outs are:
Undressed palette (UD Naked dupe) £4
Brow kit £3.50
Matte Perfect powder £2.30
Eye primer £2.50

Go on, have a try, you won't be disappointed!

MUA Intense Kisses lip gloss swatches and review

Hello!!  Firstly, I know it has been forever since I posted.  My kids were poorly then I was poorly and time for doing me things has been pretty minimal.

Anyway, I'm back and I really wanted to share these lovely lip glosses with you.

I am a massive MUA fan, I have raved about them before and the more items they bring out, the more I love them.  I cannot wait to order their new UD Naked 2 dupe called Undress Me Too...everyone seems to love it more than the original Undressed palette so I am itching to get my mitts on it!

I have loads of new things that I got in their 50% off sale last month but I thought I would start with these beauties.  There is a lot of hype around lip gloss stains at the mo and the normal lip gloss has been a little bit neglected.  I want to rekindle the love with the lip gloss as I really like these affordable lip lovelies!

L-R the names are: Lips Are Sealed, Quick Kiss, Stolen Kisses, Smooch, Sweet Nothings, Kiss and Tell, Kiss and Make Up, Sealed with a Kiss

Here are a couple of swatches, both in natural light but in different parts of my bedroom.  Please ignore the background, we are currently decorating (which I am very excited about as we have been in our house for over 6 years and it's the only room we haven't done)

As you can see these glosses are wonderfully pigmented.  The staying power is as you would expect for a gloss...if I am not eating or drinking too much then I need to reapply after a few hours.

My favourites are, Quick Kiss (the second one) as it is a beautiful watermelon shade that seems to go with everything.  If I am doing a heavy eye then Sealed With A Kiss (the last one) is my go to gloss staple.  It works perfectly with lots of different nude lipsticks or if I am in a hurry on my way to work I will wear this on its own.

The best part about these glosses is they are only £2 each! You can get them from Superdrug or online at muastore.co.uk  plus there are often loads of offers (3 for 2 in Superdrug etc) meaning you can get them even cheaper!

Have you tried any of these glosses?  Which is your favourite?

Favourite Perfumes...

One of my very favourite beauty items has to be perfume.  I remember years (and years) ago getting a bottle of CK One and from then on, Body Shop perfumes (white musk anyone?) just didn't cut it anymore.

I have 5 perfumes that I am using at the moment. Throughout 2012 I was only using 2 but I fancied a change so here is what is usually sat on my dressing table at the minute...

L-R: Twilight Woods, La Petite Robe Noire, Coco Mademoiselle, Pineapple, Alien.

First up is the most recent addition to my collection, Bath and Body Works 75ml EDT 'Twilight Woods'

Since hubs brought me back a load of B&BW goodies from Dubai a couple of weeks ago (see my B&BW haul post) I knew I had to get this perfume.  Unfortunately there was no one off to the UAE at the mo so I ordered from the Bath and Body Shop and paid £23.99 for it.

On the box it is described as a blend of apricot nectar, mimosa petals and Tuscan cypress.  It's kind of fruity but musky.  It's  lovely warm scent, perfect for this weather.  t's not too heavy so I like to layer it up using my shower gel and body lotion along with the perfume.  Yummy!  I love this!!

Next is a perfume I got for Christmas, La Petite Robe Noire by Guerlain. 30ml EDP.

For Chrimbo someone usually gets me some perfume and I fancied something a bit different this year.  I had been wearing the same perfume for about 2 years and wanted something that was completely different.  When I first smelt this I loved it but knew it was a bit of a marmite scent...you will either love this or hate it.  I ummed and ahhed but in the end thought that I love it and that is all the counts.

The description I found online for this (from fragrantica.com) describes it like this:

Inspired by the elegance and eternity of a little black dress, the perfume exudes Parisian chic and gracefulness. It opens with playful and sparkling aromas of black cherry, bergamot, red berries and almond. Bulgarian and Turkish roses rule the heart, further developing with notes of licorice and smoked black tea. Aniseed, tonka bean, vanilla, iris and patchouli form the base.

This is a very fruity scent, it smells so familiar but I just can't put my finger on why.  It reminds me of sweets and is a really fun daytime scent.  I have already purchased a back up bottle of this as Boots had 50% of their Christmas gift sets so another 30ml EDP and the matching body lotion only cost me £21 of Boots points!

Next up is my all time favourite, Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle 100ml EDP.

I have been using the fragrance pretty much non stop for the last 2 years.  It's such a classic fragrance and it makes me feel sophisticated and grown up when I wear it!  Fragrantica says:

Top notes are orange, mandarin orange, orange blossom and bergamot; middle notes are mimose, jasmine, turkish rose and ylang-ylang; base notes are tonka bean, patchouli, opoponax, vanilla, vetiver and white musk.

Well, I can pick out the musk but that is pretty much where it ends.  It is beautiful though and something I am sure I will always have in my collection.  

A bit of a strange one next, a mega cheap 50 ml EDT fragrance by Pineapple that I got in a gift set for about £3 in the Boots 75% off sale.

I've included this as it is something that I use when I'm on the school run or taking the dog for a walk.  I still want to smell nice but know that I'll be showering as soon as I get in so don't want to waste any of my expensive perfumes.  This is a mega sweet, almost sherbet like scent.  It's got a hint of Juicy Couture fragrance about it so for the money I thought it was quite good value.

Last but by no means least is another amazing fragrance, 15ml refillable EDP, 'Alien' by Thierry Mugler.

If you want a scent that lasts then you need to try this out.  I use this as my going out fragrance and I can always smell it on me and my clothes the next day.  I have never had this with a fragrance before.  Fragrantica say:

The creators of Alien based the composition on three main lines: warm white amber in the base, woodsy notes in the heart, and sunny Indian jasmine in the top.

 This no way describes how amazing this fragrance is.  It's strong, but not in an overpowering or sickly way and the smell is just something else.  I really don't like Angel and so I didn't think I was going to like this but I just couldn't stop smelling it. For me it is not a daytime fragrance as it is a bit strong but  know they do a lighter version now so I may well have to try that out. It is definitely warm and woody but has this burst of something fabulous in the middle.  If you haven't ever smelt this then you really must.  The bottle is beautiful, purple is my favourite colour and the unusual design makes it stand out on my dressing table.

So, there are all my favourite perfumes.  Have you tried any of these?  Are there any others you think I may like?  What is your 'pong du jour' at the moment?

Bath and Body Works Haul

Another haul for you today!  My husband went to Dubai last week on business (very jealous, I'd love to go but I know I never will) and I decided to have a look at the shops that were nearby to him.  My jaw hit the floor when I saw the store list for the Dubai Mall....I would be in heaven, it is massive and has EVERYTHING.  When I saw there was a Bath and Body Works I just had to ask him to pick me up a few bits.  There aren't any B&BW stores in the UK so it's ether ebay or the website called bathandbodyshop.co.uk which isn't too badly priced but obviously is higher than instore prices as they have to get people to bring products over.

There is a massive sale on at B&BW at the mo so I wrote my husband a massive email with loads of pictures of all the things that I would like and told him to pick a couple of bits off the list.

Hubs came home last night and well, boy did good!  Apparently he showed my email to the SA who went round and picked out a load of stuff (hubs assures me he didn't get off lightly and was pulled round the shop to sniff everything - ha ha)

Hubs ended up sepnding loads, about 400 AED (about £68) but as there was a massive sale on he got lots for his money!

Ooooh goodies!!

I haven't had chance to look at everything properly yet but I will be sure to review my favourites.

As a quick overview of what I have got:

Owl scentportable holder (for your car, wardrobe etc)

'Leaves' scentportable fragrance refill

Medium candles in 'Vanilla Bean Noel', 'Tiki Beach' and 'Sea Island Cotton'

Large candle in 'Autumn'

Pluggable home fragrance diffuser

Diffuser refills in 'Drenched Apple Flower', 'Sunrise Lagoon' and 'Seaside Escape'

Body Lotion in 'Malibu Heat'

Shower gels in 'Sea Island Cotton', 'Sweet Pea', 'Secret Wonderland', 'Midnight Pomegranate' and 'Cherry Blossom'

A set in 'Twilight Woods' that includes shower gel, body lotion, body butter and fragrance mist

I have tried out some of the Twilight Woods items and oh my! It smells amazing!  This will definitely be the first on my to review list as it is totally my kind of smell...not too fruity, not too spicy, quite grown up but not too heavy!

Have you tried and B&BW things?  What is yor favourite scent?

Boots 75% Off Sale Haul

So..today was the day.  Probably one of the biggest shopping days in any toiletries lover's calendar!

If you hadn't already guessed, today all of the Boots Christmas 342 stock was reduced to 75% off.

My mum had the kids, I wangled a late start at work so I was all systems go!  I turned up at Boots 20 minutes before opening and bagged spot 5 in the queue.  I had a great time chatting to the ladies in front of me (they were all quite impressed that I had gone in store last night to do a bit of a rec, see what was available and where lol)  One of the sales assistants came out and filmed the queue before opening time as it was soooooo looooong!  I tried to start an American style whoop when they opened the doors but we settled for a crazy OMG style run to the sale aisles!!

WHAT DID YOU BUY??? I hear you cry!  Just a few little goodies to keep me stocked up....

I bought:

• 2 of the big Soap and Glory sets (£60 each reduced to £15 each.)  I have never seen S&G make it to the 75% sale before so I was really excited to get these.  My Mum and I have been using this brand for years and I was running low on most things so I picked one up for each of us.

A quick close up of the S&G goodies

• Small Sanctuary set (£16 reduced to £4)- for my pressie stash
• Starbucks mug and coffee (£10 reduced to £2.50) - I can't wait to take this to work so I don't have to use the paper cups anymore!
• A pair of Jimmi Jamms pyjamas (£24 reduce to £6) - I live in pyjamas at home during the winter.  There is nothing better than getting home from work and putting on a nice comfy pair so these are a welcome addition to the ones I got for Christmas.
• A small French Connection gift cube (£10 reduced to £2.50) - another item for the pressie stash
• Botanics Rebalance Pamper Kit (£10 reduced to £2.50) - I may keep this as I haven't tried any of this range before
• Betty and Walter hand wash and lotion set (£10 reduced to £2.50) - I'll keep this for when the S&G version I got for Christmas runs out
• Pineapple perfume set (£13 reduced to £3.25) - I will probably use this for those times when I don't want to use up my expensive perfumes
• Beauty Hut cherry shower set (£10 reduced to £2.50) - this was going to be for my pressie stash but I don't think I can resist cherry goodies!
• Hello Kitty Liberty shower and shine set (£12 reduced to £3) - another item initially bought for the stash but will probably end up being used by me...it has the cutest Hello Kitty shower cap in it!!!

It might look like a lot of stuff but I was very restrained compared to some people.  Luckily Boots implemented a bulk buying policy this year, limiting the amount of each item you could buy to 6.  Still lots you may think but in previous years there have been people teaming up, blocking the aisles and sweeping each shelf clear so they could put it all on ebay.

I had a really good time, I'm really pleased with all my goodies and I can't wait to try some of the new things that I got!  

Did you go to the Boots sale today?  What did you buy??

Fitbit One review...

Happy Thursday!

Today I wanted to give you a review of without a doubt, the best thing I got for Christmas, the Fitbit One.
If you saw my Christmas Wishlist post then you will know that I was really hoping Santa was going to bring this for me and obviously I was a very good girl last year as he told my mum and she bought it for me!
The Fitbit One is the latest pedometer to be released by Fitbit.com/uk and costs 79.99

In the box you get the pedometer, a clip to attach it to your clothes, a usb dongle to sync it with your pc, a usb charger and a wristband to wear in bed (more on that later)

You may be wondering why you would want to spend £80 on a pedometer when you can get them for just a few pounds in Argos.  Well, this is sooooo much more than a pedometer!
It tracks your steps, flights of stairs climbed, calories burned, sleep patterns (by wearing it in the wristband in bed) and all syncs up wirelessly to your computer and via Bluetooth to your iPhone 4s/5 (and Android soon I believe) with their free app.

I've tried my best to include a screen grab of the dashboard (your log on the pc of all your stats), I am sorry it's a bit small but it is showing you all the items it is tracking, how much you have done, what % of your daily goal you have completed and also your daily and overall badges you have.

One of my favourite things is the badges that you get.  Every time you reach a certain goal you get a new badge on your dashboard.  There are daily badges and lifetime achievement badges.  The other day I couldn't get out after work to walk the dog so I decided to go for my next stairs badge.  I had to do 50 flights in a day to get this but the lure of the next badge on my dashboard really spurred me on.

You can also link the Fitbit up to other apps, such as My Fitness Pal....I haven't looked into this properly yet as doing Slimming World means I don't really need to track my calories but I am sure this will be good for lots of people.

I am totally in love with my Fitbit and I am definitely more active since getting it.  I really enjoy seeing how many steps I have done and I really want to go out for walks or do extra flights of stairs to reach and go past my targets.  I really hate the gym so is perfect for me.  I really can't rave about this enough.  As well as being more active since getting it I am also getting more sleep.  It's silly, I always knew that I didn't get enough (about 5.5 hours a night) but for some reason, seeing my sleep pattern every day on my app/pc dashboard has brought it home to me and made me do something about it.

I have also joined forces with a few of my friends on twitter to make a #pedometerposse.  We are all checking in every day to see how many steps we have all done, spurring each other on to get more active.  Hello to @t_toperula, @polkadot26, @Tinkally, @kookiethekat, @dexstreme and @jonesey1975!! 

My only gripe at the mo is that the sync between my Fitbit and my iPhone app is not great.  I'm not sure if it's my phone, or something else but I have sent Fitbit an email and I am sure they will be able to help me.  When I first got my Fitbit it seemed to be tracking too many steps but all I had to do was send them an email and they got back to me really quickly with  a few things I needed to do (like set my stride length) and now it tracks perfectly! 

If you are thinking about a pedometer to get more active in 2013 then I would definitely check out Fitbit.com  I know that they have also started selling their pedometers in John Lewis and @t_toperula noticed the One on Groupon yesterday with a 20% discount!  Fitbit also has their own bracelet style pedometer coming out soon, a bit like the Nike Fuelband.  

My next item to get is their Aria scales, their wifi smart scales.  I will definitely have to save up for these though as they are about £100 (but look so great)

Here's to a happy and healthier 2013!!

Slimmer soup....

In my attempt to fight the flab I am trying to address my diet danger zones (I'm full of these little sayings lol)
Snacking is a particular weak spot for me so I decided to make some soup that I could keep in the fridge to heat up when I get peckish. Normally my veggie soup creations can be a bit samey but this turned out really well so I thought I would share it incase anyone wants to try it.
You will need:
2 big onions
3 celery sticks
1 big carrot
Garlic (I used two teaspoons of lazy garlic)
1 head of cabbage
1 tin of baked beans
1 tin of 3 bean salad
1 carton of passata
2 chicken stock cubes
Pinch of mustard powder
Water to cover
Fry light

Method:
I chopped the onions and celery and added them to a big saucepan sprayed with fry light and softened for a couple of mins. I then added the garlic and carrot and continued cooking until the onions started to colour.
I then chopped the cabbage and bunged that and everything else into the pan and cooked until the carrots were nice and soft (about 20 mins)
Once it was cooked I used a hand blender and whizzed it slightly. I wanted the soup to be chunky but whizzing it slightly thickened it up.
It really was sooo tasty. I know there is no specific recipe for veggie soup and you can just bung in what you have but this was definitely the nicest I have made.

If anyone has any other good slimming suitable recipes then let me know!