MAC Eyeshadow x9 - Amber Times Nine

See, beauty isn’t gone completely! I'm a sucker for MAC palettes, I'm slowly building my main collection but without being able to get to a counter, I can't always test out colours I want first to see if they suit me. When the email advertising the X9 palettes the Amber x9 caught my eye and just happened to fall into my basket then it appeared at my front door!! 

Amber x9 has a mixture of neutral colours to create a natural look with mini versions of everyone’s favourite. There's a nice mixture of matte and shimmer colours all in a handy size, perfect for travelling this summer - it's so much easier to carry around then my larger palettes.

Colours are:

- Cozy Grey, Kitties, Georgia Peach

- Rice Paper, Creative Copper, Cork

- Don't Tell, Aromatic, Pepper Please

For £30, I don't think it’s too bad a price for the little collection - I've been wearing it all week for work and have had lots of compliments on my makeup - who doesn't like compliments?!

What do you think of the palette?

Recipe - Sweet Potato Falafel

I've been trying to find healthier lunch options, I'm so sick of salad and soups, all I want is bread and cheese and packets of crisps! So I decided to make something which I could throw in with my salads to give me a bit more taste and flavour, or I use these as part of a pitta or a wrap with some salad and ham.

These were so easy to make and lasted ages! You will need:

2 Medium Sweet Potato

1 Tin Chickpeas

Spices or seasoning of your choice

- Pre-heat the oven to around 200oC, heat up 2tbs of Coconut Oil

- Peel and cube the sweet potato, roast in a tin for about 20mins, seasoning with a little mixed herbs

- Once the potato is cooked and started to cool, put in a bowl and add 1 tin of chickpeas, mash up using a potato masher

- Split into balls or patties and place in the oven for about 20mins until golden on the outside

- Take them out to cool.

These are so easy to make and last all week, perfect for lunch or as a little snack. Next time I think I'm going to mix in some spices and give me a bit more heat! 

Let me know if you make these!

Health & Fitness - Setting Goals

So after a brief return I took more time off, it seems that blogging about beauty isn't what I love to write about any more - I can see this being more of a lifestyle blog, somewhere for me to track my life rather than review the shed loads of nail polish and make up that I own. As I've written about before, fitness is something I've been enjoying more and more, I love feeling active and the aches after leave me feeling brilliant as I grow stronger and more toned.

This post is about setting goals - I've got 12 weeks until I start my new job, 8 weeks until I see my friend get married and 7 weeks until the summer holidays, all of those I want to enjoy rather than feeling fat and uncomfortable. I know I'm not massive, so it’s harder for me to lose significant amounts of weight but I think it’s important to still track the changes.

My Goals:

- Drink more water - an easy one to start with but one I need to do more as I often forget and get home feeling awful, using my water bobble really helps and tracking my water on my Fitbit app keeps me accountable.

- Eat Clean 80% of the time - I struggle with this 100% but using a few new cook books I've been picking cleaner recipes as well as cooking from scratch more, I've got a few recipe posts coming up so keep a look out.

- Track using Myfitness Pal and a tape measure instead of the scales - The scales have been hidden away and will only be brought out once a month to weigh in, I need to use the tape measure more and how my clothes feel as well as take progress pictures. 

My workout for this week looks like this currently; it might change with work etc.:

Monday - Bodycombat

Tuesday - Bodypump

Wednesday - Barre Pilates

Thursday - BodyJam

Friday - Rest Day (maybe Youtube Yoga)

Saturday - Metafit & Dog Walk

Sunday - Dog Walk

It looks like a lot but I love to keep busy and throw on my gym gear, so comfy!! Plus it's only an hour so not a great deal of time out of my day. If I get my butt in gear and get my eating on point, hopefully I can get myself a bit fitter, more toned and in a month’s time hopefully a bit healthier!

What are your goals for this month?