Advent on the blog

Evening lovelies, hope your well and have enjoyed your day.


Some exciting news for December, I'm going to be posting a new post daily, lots of gorgeous different products, gift ideas and treats for everyone.


That's not all, there will also be quite a few changes to win some of the products that I review, including nail polish and make up pieces that I have loved!! who ever wins will receive these wrapped up as a present from me to say thank you for reading and supporting my little blog! 

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So keep your eyes peeled for my Advent blog posts throughout December!!

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Weight Watchers - Butternut Squash Soup

Morning Lovelies, hope your well and looking forward to your week.


Today I'm making such a concious effort to improve what I eat for lunch at work as I seem to be living off crackers so I have been searching the Weight Watchers site to find some inspiration and this recipe caught my eye!

This was actually so easy to make!

You will need:

1 Medium Butternut Squash

1 Large Onion

2 Vegetable Stock Cubes

4 Small Carrots

Salt and Pepper

Plain Flour

Pre-heat the oven to 200oC or Gas Mark 7. 

Peel and dice the Butternut Squash into cubes of about 1cm. Put in a baking tray with the onion and carrots all chopped up

Bake in the oven for about 30mins or until the squash is tender

Make up 2litres of Veg stock in a sauce pan and then add the Butternut Squash and other bits. Bring the mixture to the boil and then turn the heat down and simmer for 15mins.

Let cool before you blitz it, you can either use a handheld processor or a food processor. This is the point you can add plain flour if you would like it a bit thicker, and then blitz to how you want it - I've done mine completely smooth but some people might want it a bit chunkier

And there you have it, a yummy soup that has a wonderful 0 points value on Weight Watchers!!!

I'm thinking this was so easy that I will be making some more! Have you got any recipes that you recommend?!

Thanks for reading xx 

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Christmas Weight Loss Challenge -Week 2

Evening lovelies, hope your well and have had a good start to your weekend.


Can you believe it's only 4 weeks until Xmas, this week has been really slow as I've been full of cold and it has really knocked me and my eating as I have just filled up on fresh orange juice and bread.


This weeks challenge was to eat a filling breakfast everyday and I managed to do this with the help of my wonderful boyfriend making it for me everyday!


So here it is, my week in breakfast:
Monday - One slice of toast with honey
Tuesday - One slice of toast with low fat peanut butter
Wednesday - One slice of toast and butter
Thursday - 30g of Rice Krispies with Semi-Skimmed milk
Friday - Boiled egg and toast
Saturday - 30g Cocopops with Semi-Skimmed Milk 


Eating breakfast has made me feel a lot better and kept me going until lunch which in turn stops me binging later in the day. As for weightloss I have managed to maintain this week which is fine as I've felt incredibly ill and only just starting to get better.


So this weeks challenge is all about protein. Having protein in your diet will help you keep fuller for longer which is something I need!


Great sources of protein are:
Eggs
Lean meats
Nuts
Peanut Butter


So this week I'm going to up my protein intake and reduce the carbs and hopefully will get back on track! 


How have you got on this week? I'd love to know what you've eaten and how you've done! Has it helped?


Thanks for reading xx

Christmas Weight loss Challenge - Week one

Morning Lovelies, hope your well and enjoying the weekend .

So 5 weeks until the big event, time is going far too fast! The challenge last week was to record or take a photo if your healthy lunches! I failed in taking pictures, but I did record so here goes:

Monday - Cracker breads with low fat Brussels pate, apple, petit filous

Tuesday - Weight watchers Baguette with ham, salad and salad cream, banana, shortbread biscuit

Wednesday - School dinner , roast chicken, veg, small amount of potato and a pot of jelly

Thursday - Weight Watchers baguette with chicken and salad, banana and a mini blueberry muffin

Friday - Homemade potato and onion soup, small ham roll, banana.


So there you have it, my week at work. Not a bad week as far as lunches go, just need to stop snacking at work.

This weeks challenge is to have breakfast every day, just something small as it really is the most important meal of the day! Post your breakfasts in next weeks posts.

So how well did you do, did you have lots of different lunches? Would you like me to put up some lunch recipe ideas? Post your week of lunches in the comments below and how you got on!


Thanks for reading xxx

Glamour and Nails Inc

Morning ladies!


I'm sure everyone has seen the amazing freebies that Glamour have for us this month, I know that I had to hunt across Watford for just these two colours!


For the December issue, Glamour have treated us to a choice of 4 different Nails Inc colours

• Basil Street - Soft Toffee Beige
• Victoria - Dark Cherry Red
• Picadilly Circus - Dark Pink
• Tate - Warm Red

I managed to track down two of the colours, however I do own Basil street. I managed to get Victoria and Picadilly Circus.

Victoria

Ok so I am incredibly sorry for the state of this manicure but this colour was a serious nightmare! This is two coats without a base coat of a gorgeous cherry red that is dark and Vampy, great for this time of year! As gorgeous as this polish is, I hated applying it. It was clear from the first coat that this wasn't going to go on easily, with some bits darker then others due to the thin formula! Even when try this still creased and marked and it showed tip wear after 18hours, not great when all I did in that time is sleep and go to the gym! I need to try this with a base coat to truly see how gorgeous this polish is.
  


Piccadiily Circus

Not my usual choice of colour but I think its love. This one applied better then Victoria, giving even coverage in two coats. Under a flash it is a gorgeous pink, and  in natural light or at night its a pinky toned purple. This held up better then Victoria as well, not marking or creasing, however there was some tip wear very early on which I'm disappointed by.

I am ashamed to admit that I have never bought a Nails Inc polish, instead recieving them as gifts or as freebies, I just can't justify the price tag as I've had some really bad experiances with Nails Inc before and its down to one of their manicurists that I have never had someone else do my nails since I was 11!

So there you go, two lovely polishes for the cost of £2 each - if you can find them then go and get some but I fear they are already sold out!!

What do you think?

Thanks for reading xx

FOTD - Simple songs about simple things

Morning lovelies, mid week so the count down is on to the weekend! 


This week I've been wearing really paired back make up for work as it gives me more time in the morning! 

 Face:
Soap and Glory Glow Job
Benefit Georgia
Benefit Coralista

Eyes


Sleek Palette - gold shimmer colour
Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in Moray
Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express Mascara
HD Brow Kit


So there it is, a very simple, almost naked face for work, but my skins needed it, and I've enjoyed the extra sleep!


Are there any bits from this look that you want to see a review on, let me know!


Thanks for reading xx 

A Little bit of Lush

Morning ladies, Tuesday is upon us and so far this week is going well, that could all change as we are in the middle of testing week for the kids! 


Last weekend I popped into town and had a browse around Lush for Christmas range. It was a battle but I was able to walk out with only two products which is good for me but the boyfriend was being harassed by one of the sales girls (when did they become so pushy!)

Candy Mountain

How cute is this! A gorgeous swirl of pink and white loveliness. You can smell a mix of Vanilla and Candy floss, something I love as it reminds me of Snow Fairy. This is quite a large bubble bar and I think it should give me 2 or 3 baths if I break it up. This cost me £2.35 which is very reasonable and I think I need to buy a few more.


Christmas Eve

38 days until Christmas Eve!!!! Ok so I'm a bit excited, but then who isn't! This smells really strongly of something very musky which I have now found out is the Irish Moss Powder that we all know about (nope, me neither!) Underneath that you can smell Jasmine which I love. Lush recommend using this bubble bar before bed to help relax you, and I think I might just do this towards the end of term when Christmas at school really kicks in! For £2.95 this should break up into 2 baths and I can't wait to try! 




So there you have it, the start of the Christmas season at Lush and I'm sure that there will be many more now that I've started! 


So what do you think, what else should I try?


Thanks for reading xx

Soap and Glory Clean on Me

Morning lovelies, its Monday which means one week closer to Christmas, eekk!!


As its getting closer to the Xmas season I'm looking forward to the box of goodies that Soap and Glory bring out every year at Boots. I've had the box sets for that last two years and couldn't believe how much they were selling for on Ebay last year! 


This year their bringing out their biggest set yet and I am incredibly excited about this!


One of the products in the Big Splendour set is their huge bottle of Clean on Me cream shower gel.

You get a whopping 500ml of creamy shower gel with the distinctive Soap and Glory smell. This bottle has lasted for ages, literally 5months with two of us using it (yes even the boyfriend loves it!)


A really gentle shower gel that lathers up really well, leaving the skin clean and ready for moisturiser. And your skin doesnt have to wait long for moisturiser as it comes with a body lotion built in, leaving you clean and moisturised in one easy move!


For those of us who like an extra 5minutes in bed in the morning this is the ideal product.


You can get the 500ml product from Boots of £5.11 and its also currently part of the 3 for 2. Or you can get it as part of the Big Splendour kit which is currently £60 on the Boots website but I'm sure they will soon be offering it as a star product!


What do you think, have you tried and loved this product like me?


Thanks for reading xx

Giveaway over on Lucy Writes

Afternoon lovelies, just a quick post from me.


The lovely Lucy over at http://lucyywrites01.blogspot.com is having an incredibly generous give away and the fact that it is a massive box of Lush makes it even better! 


So why not pop over and have a look and enter, you could be in for a chance of winning, I know I've got my fingers crossed that I win! 


I'm also thinking of doing a give away as well, thinking of starting it from the 1st December! It would be my first ever give away! 


Thanks for reading and good luck! 
xx

NOTD - China Glaze Trendsetter

Afternoon lovelies, hope your enjoying the weekend, can't believe how dark its getting!


Today I bring you another polish from the Metro Collection, Trendsetter .

With Flash

Without Flash in Artificial light

Trendsetter is a yellow toned gold with very faint traces of gold glitter in it. It's one of those not quite gold but not quite a yellow coloured polish, great for the in between season at the moment!


As with most China Glaze, the formula was nice and thick, which meant I was able to get a good coverage in two coats. Tip wear is a real issue for China Glaze polishes but a quick coat of Seche Vite soon sorts this out!


Removal was great, really easy with no staining which is a god send at the moment as I have run out of my base coat, need to pop and get some more!!


I really love China Glaze, I think their colour choices are spot on for the season, and I can't wait to show you the colours for winter!


What do you think, an interesting colour? What are your views in China Glaze?


Thanks for reading xxx

Christmas Weightloss Challenge

Morning lovelies, hope your enjoying your weekend.


Can you believe that it is going to be Christmas in 6 weeks, this year is whizzing away! 


Since I went back to work in September I've been on a serious health kick, and managed to lose just over a stone. Recently this has slowed down a lot and I find that I'm slipping into old habits again of being really good all day and then binging on crisps when I get home from work!


So, I've set myself the challenge. With an average weight loss of 2lbs a week that is 12lbs by Xmas which would take me down two stone this year!


Talking to a few people of Twitter they could also use the motivation so I'm going to try and post some challenges for myself as well as you guys to follow and hope that you post back each week to help keep me motivated!


So here it is, challenge one:
Take a picture of your lunch every day for a week - often we fail diets due to boredom of only eating 'healthy' food so try and mix it up!


I will post mine,as well as sharing some of my favourite lunches to help and inspire you!


So there is it, a challenge to shift 12lb by Xmas! Left me know your joining in by commenting below!




Thanks for reading! xx

Friday Fitness - Hot Pants Two Week Challenge

Morning lovelies, hope you're well. Today is just a Friday Fitness to let you know I'm doing the HotPants two week challenge over on Facebook. I'm already half way through it and loving it! 


For those who don't know HotPants are a pair of shorts that claim to help reduce the appearance of cellulite as well as help weight and inch lose of the lower body through wearing them over a long period of time.


So I've weighed myself and taken my waist, hip and thigh measurement and will report back in in two weeks time to let you know how I got on and if they are worth it!


Any questions then let me know or pop over to Where Are My Knees?  blog where they have a full review by the lovely Sarah!


Thanks for reading xx

Sitting...Waiting...Wishing...Make Up!

Morning lovelies, hope your well - its now Wednesday! This week is a bit of a tough one as I have had to leave my precious class to take on the very challenging Year 6 who are all over the place due to having no solid teacher for weeks! 


I decided on Monday that if I make it through this week alive then I will treat myself to some MAC when I next head into London, or shall order on line before that!


So here are what I really want!!

Viva Glam Melt Your Heart Lip Bag - £29.50

First on my list are two lipsticks that I have had my eye on for a while but not thought about buying. Until now...Coming in this gorgeous red bag with a glitter handle, this would make a great present for someone (or for yourself!) This is top of what I want and think I will be ordering it if I survive!

 Glitter and Ice Collection - Unconditionally Fabulous - £10.00

If this doesn't scream 'Buy Me, Buy Me!!' then I don't know what does! A gorgeously glittery polish which in the picture looks like it has red,pink,blue and silver glitter in it! This one is well worth a look! 

Glitter and Ice Lipstick in -Whirls and Twirls - £14.00

Not my usual colouring choice but one I quite fancy. I really like the white packaging of this collection, very sleek! I think I will have to visit a shop before I get this one as I'm not 100%

 Pro-Palette Eyeshadow x 15 - £11.50

OK I know I'm not a big blogger but even I do not own a Mac eye-shadow palette, nor do I own any of their eye-shadows (smack on hand) so my plan is to start building my collection and what better way to start then with the palette!

Paint Pot in Painterly - £13.50

So on Monday I asked the question on Twitter of what I should get and thank you to all the lovely enablers who suggested this! I've read lots of blogs and seen lots of videos where Painterly is a key product so I think it's time to invest!

Thank you for all your suggestions, hopefully I will live until Friday and can then hit the shops for real or virtually and get some things so look out for a future haul!

Thanks for reading xx

Woohoo 100th Post!!!

Afternoon lovelies! 

This post is really exciting as its my 100th post! 

It isnt a big milestone compared to some of my favourite blogs but to me this is!


So thank you if you are reading this, and pass it on, I would love to reach 100 followers at some point! 


Thanks for reading 


Sarah xx

NOTD Models Own Deep Purple and Nyla Nude

Morning lovelies, hope your Monday morning is not too bad!


Today I bring you some polishes that I bought during the Models Own 50% sale and just haven't used yet!
Models Own Deep Purple and Nyla Nude:

I decided to use these two together as I wanted a contrasting colour on my ring finger. 


Deep purple is a blackened purple which transforms under different lighting. It can look almost navy and even black in some places.


Nyla nude really is what it says, a butterscotch nude. For me this is too dark for my skin tone and I found it quite boring! 


The Deep Purple has a smooth metallic finish to it which needed 2 coats to become opaque. Nyla nude was a thicker crème polish which was a struggle to get right, even on one nail! It bubbled and streaked no matter what I did! 


The wear on these havent been great, there was a lot of tip wear after two days and on day three the purple just gave up and started to peel off my thumbs, but this might be as my base coat is getting a bit old now! 


Really Deep purple is a better polish for me and I think I will be parting ways with Nyla Nude at some point :(


What do you think, have you tried these colours?


Thanks for reading xx

FOTD - Firework display

Afternoon all, hope your well and enjoying your Sunday. As you read this I will be on my way to a spinning class to burn off last nights food binge!


Today I have a face of the day for you from last night when I went to a fireworks display!

Face
Mac Face and Body foundation in C3
Benefit Georgia ( I'm gutted this is being discontinued :( )
Benefit Coralista Blush
Benefit Erase paste in 1 Fair


Eyes

Sleek storm Palette using the gold all over and then the dark blue in the corner (not that you can tell)
HD Brow palette for my eyebrows and the black to line top and bottom
Boots 17 Falsifeye mascara


And that's it, not a lot of product as I only did it quickly but it was fun to have a play with my makeup for once!


Also I've dyed my hair red again (not that you can really tell in these pictures!) what do you think? Let me know




Thanks for reading xx

Soap and Glory Some Like it Hot Thermal Scrub

Afternoon lovelies, I hope your all safe and warm ready to watch some fireworks!


Like most girls I have a lot of different products in my bathroom, i haven't bought any new shower gel since last Christmas!


Going through my stash I found my tube of Soap and Glory
Thermal body scrub called Some Like It Hot. I like the idea that for winter I can have a scrub that heats up on my skin so I know it's really working!

You have to shake the bottle as the mixture does separate, but what you get is a baby pink cream with blue exfoliating particles. It's quite a chunky scrub, and so best to not use it every day as it can be quite sharp!

The moment you put onto your skin you can feel it heat up, this let's you know that the product is working! When the product starts to cool,most of the exfoliating particles have gone and you are left with a nice moisturiser!


This is the first thermal scrub I've tried but it's nice to use on a cold evening! The smell is a gorgeous vanilla, which is quite a light fragrance that just lingers for a few hours!


So here it is, Some Like it Hot Thermal Body Scrub, it's lovely! For £7.92 you get 200ml, and a little goes a long way. Currently on 3 for 2 at Boots.


What do you think, have you tried this before?


Thanks for reading xx










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Friday Fitness - Zumba Fitness for the Wii

Evening lovelies, hope your well and planning a great weekend! I cant believe how fast this week has gone, its been quite stressful at work with a lot of staff off sick!


I've been really lazy this week, think its the cold weather but I've been cancelling a lot of my classes and staying at home. To counteract this and the extra amount of food there is to tempt me, I had a rummage around through my Wii games and re-discovered Zumba Fitness!

Zumba fitness is a great interactive game which brings Zumba into your room, with no fuss or need for a large open space. For a very reasonable price of £22.99 you get the game as well as the Zumba branded remote belt. The belt is what makes this great as you put the remote into your belt, put the belt on and then wear the belt and it tracks your movements more accurately! 

The game is really dynamic and let you chose if you want to just dance or follow a work out routine! All the routines include a warm up which is really important so you don't get hurt! I had my set up to do a 30 minute routine 4 times a week which was great fun!


It offers you the option to vary what songs you pick, as well as the level of difficulty which I know is great for the days I can't be bothered!


But what about weight loss? Well, I used it routinely 3 times a week for 30mins for 4 weeks and a lost a grand total of 6lbs, how much this was down to the Zumba I don't know but I really enjoyed it and boy did my legs hurt after! 


So there you go, another Wii fit game which would make a great Christmas present for someone, or as a gift to yourself to get you ready for the party season! 


What do you think, have you tried this or any other Wii workouts?


Thanks for reading xx

Styling SOS

Morning lovelies, hope your well and enjoying whatever Thursday is throwing at you!

Today I have a bit of an SOS for you. I bought this skirt back in the summer, got it home and hung it straight up in my wardrobe and promptly forgot about it ( come on, we've all done it before!)

With Flash

With brightness turned up

The problem is I want to wear it now but I don't know what tops to put with it. I'm thinking I will wear it with some black boots, probably my Allegras ( which my wonderful boyfriend picked up from Topshop for me :D ) 

The question is what colours and styles do I put on top! Leave comments and links below if you can help me! 

Thank you xx

NOTD - Leighton Denny in Hanky Panky

Evening all, hope your well. It's half way through the week and I am so tired, plan to have a bath and a relax as soon as this is done! 

Today I have a nail post for you from a brand that I have never used before, more because of the price of the brand then because of the product. I give you Leighton Denny's Hanky Panky.


I received this polish in my October Glossybox and sadly I must say I am disappointed. I don't think that there is anything wrong with the product, its more about me!


The colour is a bright orange with a shimmery finish, with a nice smooth application, a good brush and a nice looking bottle. The problem lies in the finish of the product! I was expecting it to have a similar finish to OPI, however this one was streaky and bubbly and took ages to dry! 


For me the colour is not one I would normally pick, having seen other peoples posts I wish I had got one of the other ones :(


Leighton Denny polishes retail for £11.00 and from my very limited experiencing it would not have been worth the money had I bought it.


So there you go, another NOTD from a polish that didn't blow me away.


Thanks for reading xx