It's flab fight time... and my little weight loss trick

Not sure where I'm going with this?

Stick with me and I'll explain....

I have a naturally slim build, but I really do enjoy eating. Don't get me wrong, I don't have those unfortunate associations with food that a lot of people who struggle with their weight do. I don't use food for comfort, I don't use it to replace love, and I don't binge and purge. 

I do however love to eat. Food is good! Masterchef is my porn; those perfectly balanced little plates of goodness smiling up at you. Cookery books are my fashion magazines, tempting me with exciting ideas. Baking is stress relief. It is always clear when things are getting me down, as the kitchen table is groaning under perfectly positioned cooling racks full of tasty treats.

My kitchen table also demonstrates a love of food. I don't have a large house, but what I do have is a six seater kitchen table which I insist that my children, husband, and I sit down at for a proper home cooked meal every evening. It is six seater because I also enjoy cooking for friends.

 Due to my love of... well... dinner... my naturally slim frame is always on the slightly stretched side. I am a UK size 12 and I do my best to maintain that. I'm still carrying a little baby fat from when I was pregnant with my one year old son so I'm a slightly chunkier than I want to be size 12 right now. I like to keep slim partly through health reasons, but mostly through vanity and the fact that I like to stay fitting in my clothes.

This means that unfortunately, it's time to start the flab fight again. I fully admit that I don't really relish exercise, but what I do know is that I love food more than I hate the gym. However, there are only so many hours in the day and whilst my twice a week gym sessions maintain my fat girl lifestyle, they certainly aren't enough on their own to reduce the surplus.

As discussed, I am not prepared to reduce my calories too dramatically (even just for two days a week). So what I am going to do is this:

1) cut out the snacks that aren't part of the daily plan
2) monitor my calorie in-take and out-take with My Fitness Pal
3) exercise 5:2 (as in five days a week I will do 30mins exercise, and rest two days)

And my little weight loss trick?

Rubbing a little vanilla on your pulse points stops you craving sweet food (such as sweets and chocolate and cakes) so much.

For me, this works very well. Whether it is a placebo effect or has genuine scientific value I can't say, but I do know that when I smell like vanilla I go through the day with less fat girl snacking.

However, I'm not too fussed about smelling like neat vanilla. Instead, I use Demeter's cake-y fragrances. Graham Cracker is my absolute favourite and because I associate it with the saltiness of Graham Crackers and the chocolatey goodness of OMGs it keeps me away from crisps and chocolate. You can't say much fairer than that?




If you are in flab fighting mode, I would love some support and advice along the way! Feel free to friend my on My Fitness Pal and follow my daily progress!

are *YOU* signing up to the new monthly beauty box?

Today, the new YOU magazine beauty discovery box launches

It's a crowded marketplace, with many casualties along the way (do you remember the excellence that was Carmine? Or the eagerly awaited yet sadly disappointing She Said Beauty?) but it's undoubtably a popular concept.

This isn't YOU's first foray into the beauty box scene, they have partnered with Latest in Beauty several times in the past, most notably for the (overpriced) Advent Calendar in December 2012.

One of the delights of Glossybox and Birchbox is that you don't know what you are getting each month. However, this is also what worries people about subscribing every month, and with a plethora of 'good boxes' and 'bad boxes', you can see their point. The solution? Tell your buyers what they expect to get before they buy. Latest in Beauty, and the Selfridges boxes have got this down to a fine art now. I don't know though... something about the surprise element of Glossybox just keeps me coming back.

So how does YOU beauty work? Like this:

 
Interesting. You have two choices (out of 6 - 10) and then some extras. This time round I have chosen the Mama Mio tummy oil (I'm still carrying a few stretch marks and wrinkles around my belly from when I was pregnant with my one year old son), and the Decleor BB cream. The BB cream sample is a tiny one, but really it's something I want to try to decide on whether or not I want to buy the full size. After all, that is what these beauty boxes are all about!

It will be interesting to see how the YOU box is received by the fickle beauty buying community. I think the £6.95 price tag (including postage) is very good, and really it's about what these boxes are for - marketing. The more people you can get to talk about your product, the more people you are going to get buying it.

I'm not overly excited by the prospect that it is associated with the Daily Mail, I'll be honest. I don't like the bigotted, sensationalist, right wing, small minded attitudes I associate with the Daily Mail so I'm feeling a little bit torn giving the company money. However, the fact that they are associated with such a giant means that they already have all of the contacts they need to bring us the very best products.

Are you going to sign up? Be quick! The email I received this morning said that September will only see 5,000 boxes available.

Review: Sans Soucis Mascara

Mascara is one of those pieces of make up that you really need to get right. How many of us have looked someone in the eye only to be distracted by stuck together clumpy lashes? Just me? I didn't think so! As a blonde, I need mascara to avoid that blonde eyelashed look favoured by Jon Bon Jovi and errr... piglets. Sadly, I also have incredibly sensitive eyes so am limited in my choices.

Sans Soucis is a German brand who uses thermal spring water from Baden Baden. Their skincare is absolutely amazing, I highly recommend. I have also tried some of their eyeshadows and they are good, sturdy products; not in the same league as their skincare, but certainly worth the pennies paid.

Today, however, I'm reviewing the mascara. My first impression is that the brush (above) is a very unusual shape and you can see from the photo that the mascara is stringy and wet. I found it difficult to work with the brush and the consistency, especially when trying to coat the lashes right down into the base.

I found it really tricky as well to get the brush into the inner corners and due to that I gave up on the lower lashes. The colour is very good, a proper rich black, sadly this only seemed to highlight where I'd missed lots of the lash. I also found the mascara to go on clumpy.

  

(before)                               (after)

You'd be forgiven for thinking that there isn't a great deal of difference between the before and after photographs. In fact, the after photograph is possibly slightly more unflattering as the mascara is heavy and it is pulling down the lash. This mascara did not suit me at all. I think that I could make it work however if I used it with false lashes or if I discarded the oddly shaped brush and used a disposable brush so that I could work it through the lash properly. In it's favour, I can also report that it lasted all day and didn't smudge at all. 

I would be really interested in hearing from others who have tried this mascara, and also any of the other Sans Soucis make up. 

Big feet, little feet, Gel-y foot spa goodness!

Fancy dunking your feet in jelly at the end of a long day?

Well today, thanks to the beauty crowd, I had the pleasure of doing just that! Gelify Spa Luxury Foot Soak is a foot bath product that turns the water into jelly. And it's not just for feet - Gelify also make a bath version so you can dunk your whole body into jelly.

The concept is not a new one, but as far as I'm aware it's been designed more with children in mind rather than a nice relaxation bath for adults. Now why should the kids have all the fun, hey? Having said that, when I came to test this, I asked my husband whether he wanted to try it with me. He declined. I made jokes about lime jelly naked twister and his interest peaked a little, but I figured I was fighting a losing battle and enlisted the help of my five year old daughter who was very excited by the concept.

Within the box you get three foot bathes, each consisting of two steps. 

You have a step one, which turns the water into jelly, and a step two which turns the jelly back into water. The step two is just Sodium Chloride (in other words salt). Fill your foot bath and sprinkle in step one. Give it a swish.

The water then turns into jelly. My daughter was very excited, but I have to admit that I had hoped for a lot thicker jelly. I think mine didn't work exactly as I'd hoped for several reasons. The first is that I used too much water. The second is that I live in a hard water area and therefore I'm thinking that the salt and mineral levels in the water mean that I should have used less water or more product. Gelicity comes from North Wales where the water is possibly a lot softer (I'm assuming this because when I lived in West Wales the water was very soft - it saved me a fortune in shampoo!)

 Looking at the video advertising the bath gel, it's clear that the water turns into a thin gel, very similar to mine. It also talks about little balls of gel which then can be used for massage. My water certainly turned to little balls. Little balls of nuisance at times as they rolled out and accidentily got onto the floor.

When you've finished paddling in gel, you use the antidote (salt) and turn the gel back into water. It took a few moments to work and there were still a few rogue balls dancing around. I was really pleased when my feet came out of the water to find that they were really lovely and soft. Now I've used a lot of foot masks and foot bathes and I'm used to soft toes as a result, but I'd say that this left my feet really soft. It has also left my hands nice and soft too. Result!

Although it wasn't quite what I expected, I'd say Gelify have a good product going on there. I'm a little dubious about the amount of mess a whole bath of little jelly balls could make, but a foot bath is just about the right amount of gel I'd say (although I have to admit to wanting all of my skin to feel that lovely and soft). I'm not sure whether I would buy it again, and I think this might be something that Gelify find. It will be easy to tempt people to try it, but will it be something that people will purchase regularly?

Are you tempted? If you are you'll be pleased to know that Gelify are advertising on their website for reviewers. Will you be contacting them?

Lovely Betty is in fact pretty lovely!

Yee-ha! I'm quite outspoken when it comes to how much I love Oriflame perfumes. I don't know what it is about them that so captivates me, but they just seem to have such depth to them.

Lovely Betty is an Eau de Toilette rather than an Eau de Parfum, but despite the strength it lasts well. The blurb from the Oriflame rep leaflet suggested that it smells of toasted marshmellow and neroli. It's certainly an interesting and unusual combination. I very rarely order perfumes without smelling them first, but the description of this one intrigued me. A friend had received their Oriflame order before I'd put mine in and they had some of the sample vials and assured me that it was worth the money.

Fortunately, when it arrived, I realised that she wasn't wrong, and rather than being lovely, it was in fact wonderful. On first spray, the marshmellow and neroli are equal partners and are surprisingly good bedfellows. This first whiff continues for the next hour or so on my skin and it reminds me of some of the stronger Bond No. 9 perfumes (although not quite so strong and pungent as it is a toilette rather than a parfum... and a small fraction of the cost)

It changes slightly on my skin throughout the day, with the marshmellow note fading and the neroli becoming far more musky and spicy. It's a really interesting fragrance, so much so that I find myself smelling it during the day and trying to identify the different notes. It's not just me who is intrigued, I've worn it today and been asked by two different people what my perfume is. I'm hoping it is because they liked it...

Barefoot Venus bath time!

Natural, luxurious bath products are my idea of heaven. I really enjoy those extra long, extra hot baths where you can completely relax. With two children, a job, and various writing projects it's not often in a day that I have time to think!

Barefoot Venus are a Canadian bath and body company with a range of indulgent and natural treats. Again, I was lucky enough to be sent these as part of an international beauty products swap.

 

Opening the body lotion and taking an exploratory sniff, I was pleased to find a fresh, clean smell with a hint of flower. The fragrance is very subtle on all of the products I tried. I much prefer a more subtle smell as I don't like my body lotion to fight with my perfume, but I can see that it could easily not be strong enough for many people's taste.

One of the main ingredients of the bath dust is Shea Butter, and although this is evident from the swirling whiteness it creates through the bathtub, it lacks the greasisness that a lot of heavily butter based products have. Whilst I agree that the oiliness gives you plenty of softness in your skin, I find that if you wash your hair in the same bath it will also be oilier. I was very pleased to see that this was not the case with the Barefoot Venus bath.

Canmake Stay On Balm Rouge

Canmake is a Japanese cosmetics brand whose make up range is what I typically think of when I think of Japan. They are cute with floral and cartoon like packaging, and a lot of candy colours. I find that the Japanese love of porcelein skin and rosy cheeks and lips really suits my English rose colouring and therefore the Japanese pastel and candy colours are a very fortunate match for me.

When my friend NeNe from Bunny and Spice asked me if I wanted to try the Canmake lip balm stain (think Revlon Just Kissable or Clinique Chubby Stick but without the pencil tip) I jumped at the chance! 

 As you can see, it differs from the other balm stains by applying like a lipbalm with a flat rounded end rather than the usual pencil type finish. Although this is slightly more difficult to apply and doesn't look as appealing as the chunky pencils, I think it is just as easy to use. It's also a lot easier to see just how much you have left.

NeNe chose a very flattering strawberry red colour for m, and as you can see from the swatch opposite, it applies as a gentle sheer 'just been kissed' colour. When the gloss fades through the day, the 'just been kissed' stain continues.  

 On the lips the gloss is evident, but only in the way that it gives the lips a healthy, soft shine rather than a sticky, glossy look. It is pretty durable and I found that it also works well with a stronger red lipstick on top. This suits me well for days when I know I won't have access to my bag to be reapplying every few hours. I can start the day with drama-rama red, but know that I'll end the day still with a soft definition to my lips.

I have to say that I have found the trend for balm stains really refreshing. I've never been a gloss fan, but I do like my lips to look soft and healthy and I naturally have dry lips.I do wonder how long the trend for balm stains will last. Will they be a flash in the pan and over by Easter 2014? Or will they be a style that runs and runs?