Monday 19 January 2015

Diet Schmiet. I'm making a lifestyle change!

So I'm attempting to start the new year off well by watching my weight, drinking more water and just generally eating well. My brother's wedding has now been confirmed as next January and I'm thrilled to have been asked to be bridesmaid! However this does mean the weight loss really does need to start today... unfortunately.

Now I'm not saying I'm obese, but I have about a stone to shift and I need to work hard to tone up as well and just generally eat more good stuff. I'm a big supporter of the strong not skinny movement (thank you Millie Mack) and really believe that females bodies look amazing when they've been sculpted and nurtured through eating well and a bit of hard work. Saying that, those who know me well will know that most of the time I'm all talk and no action - every year I say I'm going to lose weight and every year I seem to put on just a few more pounds. But I've finally got my act together thanks to my granddad. I was having dinner with him and he told me I was 'cuddly'. Well, thanks Granddad. Thanks a lot.

I'm now part of a diet club at work and we have all put in £5. The person who loses the most weight (based on % lost from the beginning weight) after six weeks takes home the cash, which is £40 in total. This is a great incentive and has definitely helped to spur me on.

The only diet that has ever worked for me is the Dukan diet. This is where there are different phases where you cut out quite a lot of food and slowly introduce it back into your diet through different phases. I like this diet as a short-term quick fix diet, but personally I don't think it is sustainable. Last time I did the Dukan I lost around 7 pounds in just under two weeks before I went to Ibiza. You literally just eat lean meat, cottage cheese, eggs and natural yoghurt. It's pretty dull and yes, I did cry into my 5th omelette of the week, but it does work if you need to lose weight quick.

When you look at weight loss simply you just need to eat less and move more. It sounds simple doesn't it. So why is it so hard?! I think the key is getting your brain in on the plan - it can be your worst enemy. I've saved images of the body I want to achieve so I remember when I'm not feeling motivated that I want to look like this... Thanks Sam Faiers for the motivation!



I have decided that instead of calling my weight loss a diet, I'm calling it a lifestyle change! I know the way my brain works and if I call it a diet I will just be constantly waiting for my diet to end, whereas a lifestyle change is forever more and incorporates exercise and drinking more water.

I've researched lots of different 'lifestyle changes' and the one I'm going for is the popular 5:2. A friend at work did it for over a year to lose weight for her wedding and she looks immense. I've read lots about this and it makes sense to me in how it works and I can still have my little luxuries that I enjoy (bread, crisps, pizza, strawberry and lime cider, need I go on...).

I have been doing this for just over a week now and have so far lost 3 pounds. I've bought a 2 litre bottle of water that I fill up each day at work because water is known to aid weight loss and is obviously amazing for your skin and internal organs.I've also been more conscious about what I'm eating thanks to a new book, Eat Pretty by Jolene Hart, which is teaching me what to eat for a glowing complexion. I might do a little cheat sheet on here for you guys so look out for that.

I will continue to update you on my progress and I'd love to hear of your weight loss successes!






Thursday 8 January 2015

Best products and top tips for managing Eczema

Trust me when I say, I know what you are going through. I have had Eczema since I was a baby and unfortunately still suffer today, despite doctors telling my mum it was something I would 'grow out of''.

When I was younger it was really severe and I even spent three separate weeks in hospital because the doctors didn't know what else to do - I couldn't walk because it was all over my joints and if I stood up straight it would all crack and weep and put simply it was excruciating. And yet, that desire to scratch was still there. That horrible, irritating, constant desire to literally rip your skin to shreds.

As a naive child, my time in hospital was awesome! I didn't feel unwell I just couldn't walk properly so I just saw it as a chance for some time off school! But looking back I realise how incredibly sad it actually was because a lot of the time I was the only person on my ward and I spent a lot of time on my own, I think I was only about 7/8. I do remember one time there was a little girl who came into the hospital and she used to ask me to eat all her cheese sandwiches, which I had absolutely no problem with! However now I'm older I piece everything else about her together and think she must have had an eating disorder and I was her enabler by eating all her food for her! So please accept this as my apology if you're reading.

Every morning, noon and night the nurses would make me have a bath in potassium and something else (can't remember all the sciencey terms) and then I would be wet-wrapped from head to toe, I was literally a mummy. Wet wrapping is where you moisturise the skin thoroughly and use steroid creams where necessary and then using tubigrip you put one wet layer on and then put another layer of dry tubigrip over the top. This is the only thing that has ever rid my Eczema. If you have young children with Eczema I highly advise you try this as you physically cannot scratch the skin.

My poor mum and dad used to spend so much time wet wrapping my skin before school and before bed. My mum used to take me to countless doctors and try every single cream, even Homeopathy and reflexology to try and get rid and I really couldn't be more grateful for their efforts.

Unfortunately I still very much have Eczema and it hasn't got any better as I get older which is a shame but it's just something that I accept now and get on with. Of course it doesn't stop me from getting embarrassed if someone asks me about my rash on my hands, or when people ask if they can catch it (No dear, you can't).  I currently have it on my legs, hands, arms and now annoyingly my stomach.


One thing I have learnt is how to manage my eczema better, I accept that my skin will be bad in the winter and so I try and look for nice winter outfits that cover my skin. In the summer I know the sun does wonders for my skin so I brave it and I get out my legs for the fresh air and sunshine. In my head I think everyone is staring at my legs, and yes there probably are a few glares but I try to ignore the comments in my head as they are probably my worst critic. Hey, Kim Kardashian has Psoriasis and rocks it, so we can too!

One thing I struggle with is the constant feeling of irritation. I have never really thought about it until recently but I'm constantly feeling uptight and frustrated because I always have a distressing feeling of itchiness somewhere on my body - If anyone has a way to overcome this constant irritation that isn't drink or drugs related please do let me know!

I've literally used all the prescribed creams and steroid creams known to man and have never really found any of them to be fantastic. But I have found some high street options that I have found to keep my skin moisturised and keep my Eczema manageable. I'm not saying they've cleared my Eczema, unfortunately no cream has but they definitely help make it more comfortable. I will link to where to pick them up online.

First up is the cream I'm using at the moment is Aveeno Skin Relief Lotion from Boots. It is formulated with Shea Butter and a unique Triple Oat Complex, I'm not sure what that means but it must be good because it definitely keeps my skin feeling moisturised and soothes my eczema instantly. Normally at this point in the year my Eczema is unbearable and quite painful to walk, but this year it is not too bad (see picture above, taken this morning) and I put it down to this cream. I am starting a new job in February so I assume that it will flare up then as stress is a major factor for my Eczema but I'm hoping that if I keep this cream by my side it won't get too horrendous. I've just re-read this and now I'm thinking you probably think my legs look gross in the picture and the cream doesn't work at all,but trust me it gets MUCH worse, this cream has definitely helped. http://www.boots.com/en/Aveeno-Skin-Relief-Lotion-200ml_983786/

Another thing I use all the time which I think is a total godsend is the Avene Water Spray. I spritz this on any parts of my body that are itching at the time (usually all of it) and then  count to ten in my head. I usually find that this soothes the itch and my little head count calms me down so I don't feel the need to start hacking at my skin. http://www.boots.com/en/Eau-Thermal-Avene-Water-Spray-150ml_1586/

This is another one from Avene, it's the cold cream body lotion which has all the soothing properties of the water but in a lotion form. It really helped to keep my Eczema at bay even during a really stressful time in my life. I would highly recommend this lotion, especially for kids because it's so gentle on the skin. I've seen that Avene has brought out another cream for Eczema, XeraCalm, but I haven't had a chance to try that just yet. If anyone has please let me know what you thought. http://www.boots.com/en/Eau-Thermale-Avene-Cold-Cream-Body-Lotion-400ml_1250059/

My final product is the coconut body butter from the Body Shop. I always think this shouldn't work because it's got fragrance in it but it just does. I wouldn't say it's the best of the bunch but it's certainly a runner-up. Plus, it smells delicious. http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/bath-body-care/best-sellers/coconut-body-butter.aspx

These creams have helped me but that's not to say they're for everyone. Perhaps you could contact the company and ask for samples before you buy. Or sometimes brands like to do research on their products so why not follow them on Facebook / Twitter and look out for opportunities to test any new products for Eczema.

Something else that I find helps is to wear cuffed pyjamas to bed - it makes it harder to get to your Eczema when you're asleep, which tends to be the worst time for scratching for me. You can pick up some really cheap ones from Primark and it definitely helps to minimise the scratching. I also used to have some little blue cotton gloves that my mum used to make me wear to bed - I used to feel like a little magician going to bed and of course would never wear them on sleepover (oh the horror!) but they definitely helped. Sometimes if I'm really going for it at night and I wake myself up scratching I just put socks on my hands and this seems to work. I know I sound like a lunatic but these little things do make a bit of a difference - every little helps, right?

I remember watching an episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians when Kim Kardashian discovered she had Psoriasis and she had a camomile bath - I've tried this and it is soothing on the skin. Plus, having a bath is relaxing which calms your stress, which calms the itching I find.

I hope this post has helped, even if it helps just one person then I'll feel good because I really do know exactly what you're going through. Eczema is a total bitch and I hate it so I'm urging you all to share your top tips with me and others so we can all manage it better! Please do comment below or send me a message on Twitter.

Thank you xx



Wednesday 7 January 2015

What I got for Christmas...

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas break and had a sparkling NYE! I sympathise and am with you all getting back into the slog of the daily grind, waking up at the early hours of the morning, hair stood on end and in a state of constant confusion and delirium until about 11am once the caffeine has kicked in. Eugh. January. 

On a more positive note, this is my first beauty blog post of 2015 #yay. I'm super excited to write this post as I thought I would share with you all what I got for Christmas and relive the happy memories of chilling at home in my PJs. 

As I get older I get more and more used to the fact that my gift quantity (not quality) should dwindle. Which I'm fine with by the way! Opening presents is no longer the extravagant event that it was when you were eight, when all you can think about is that new Barbie you asked for! Anyway I digress, as I get older I feel like I am just really happy spending time with the people I love and making sure that the children in my family are having the BEST DAY EVER. 

That being said I got thoroughly spoilt this year so I wanted to share with you the goodies I got! My boyfriend and I set a £30 limit as we are hoping to do things to our house this year so we thought we should be sensible. The boy did good. He bought me the Sali Hughes book Pretty Honest, Real Techniques makeup sponge, a gorgeous leather notepad, a Dior lip balm and lots of other pretty little bits. I really have a keeper. 

My mum and dad also spoilt me and bought me a lovely bag (looks like a cream Cambridge satchel) and a Topshop gift voucher. My brother and his FiancĂ©e gave me the Lena Dunham book, hair bits and a hot-to-trot top from Topshop. And my littlest brother gave me some lovely slippers. 

But it didn't stop there. Every year my boyfriend and I spend half the day at my parent's house and then the other half at his parent's house. Yes, we have two Christmas dinners. When we got to his parent's house we had two big bags waiting for us filled with lovely gifts, including jumbo argan oil Shampoo and Conditioner, some lovely nail varnishes, a little sign for my house saying 'Please remove your Jimmy Choos' which I love! And best of all, they bought me some Converse!

As the boy has quite a big family we do Secret Santa with his sisters and their husbands to save the pennies. Usually we have a limit of £20 per person but this year me and the boy did extremely well as his family had all clubbed together and bought us tickets to see Ed Sheeran! I honestly can't believe how lucky I have been this year! Very spoilt indeed and I am so grateful for everything I have received and very grateful that all my friends and family have started 2015 happy and healthy. 

I hope you were all just as lucky as I was and I hope 2015 has been amazing for you so far. 
Happy New Year! X

HNY love me and Sam x


Friday 5 December 2014

Feeling blue… #nails

Just wanted to share with you guys my blue nails for the weekend! It's not normally a colour I go for on my nails but I love it! 

Blue confetti nails for le weekend <3

I'm wearing Barry M's Cyan Blue with Barry M's Confetti Effect in Sour Apple over the top. Enjoy your weekend and let me know what you're wearing on your nails this weekend

It's Fri-YAY! xx

Thursday 4 December 2014

Estee Lauder Beauty Haul

I count myself very lucky because my work has a deal with Estee Lauder and we get the exclusive white tickets each month. For those who don't know, the white tickets give you access to the factory and basically really good discounts (for example I got the A-mazing Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair for £49 instead of £69!). Now, I know I have an irrepressible passion for beauty and every bone in my body wants me to go to the factory every single month, but my bank balance won't allow it so this year I've only been about four times. Which, believe it or not, is really good for me.

This year I went with the hope of picking up some really lovely Christmas presents, but as expected my budget was blown on myself. Oops. So I just thought I'd share with you the little treats I bought for myself and how I'm getting on with them.

I went in knowing that I wanted Advanced Night Repair so I was super happy when I saw that smiling at me from the Estee Lauder shelf. When I use this product I swear I wake up and my skin just looks and feels so much better than when I don't use it - an absolute beauty hero in my book. I also indulged myself in the Estee Lauder Advanced Eye Repair - which I'm loving.

On the packaging it says you can use this lightweight serum over or under your normal eye cream but I've been using it alone and it's just lovely. It leaves my under eyes feeling really silky, which at this time of the year is a miracle. I'm not bragging when I say this but I didn't have very deep set wrinkles anyway so I can't say I've seen a huge difference in lines around my eyes but hey - prevention is key, folks.

I also treated myself to some Creme De La Mer beauty goodies. No, don't worry not the full size stuff - I haven't won the lottery. They had these really cute little bags with teeny tiny versions of 'the cleansing lotion', 'the treatment lotion', 'the radiance infusion' and 'the hydrating infusion' for £25. I've been using all these products and I'm hooked. Considering re-mortgaging to get my next fix...

I put my thumb in the pic so you can see how small the bottles are!
I've never really bought into the hype of Creme De La Mer just because I know I can never really afford the products, but when I saw Alessandra Steinherr (Glamour's Beauty Director) post a pic on Instagram of some Creme De La Mer products, followed by her gorgeously glowing skin, make-up free I add, I quickly changed my mind. Seriously, take a look at her beautiful skin on Instagram (http://instagram.com/alexsteinherr).

Anyway, I digress, I really am impressed with the quality of these products. The cleansing lotion leaves my skin feeling well, cleansed, but not only that it leaves it feeling plump and moisturised. The treatment lotion is almost like a serum that you pat into your skin before a moisturiser and I feel like I can really see a difference when I've used this because it leaves my skin looking quite perky. I haven't used the other products a great deal because the bottles are so tiny I don't want them to run out but what I have experienced so far I've liked a lot. Oh dear. Finances are going to take a hit.

The last thing I bought was from Origins, their Age Defence Treatment Lotion with White Tea. I have to admit I purely bought this product for the packaging and haven't even used it once yet! But, I will be sure to update you all once I've used it. It certainly smells delicious - just like pink lemonade. Let me know if you've used this and what you think.

Have you had a beauty haul recently? Let me know what you've been buying in the comments below.

xx

Thursday 20 November 2014

November - I'm loving...

As I'm a bit of a beauty harlot, I get seduced by a multitude of beauty products on a weekly basis, so I thought in order to try and put some method into this beauty madness I would share with you all my mid-month beauty favourites of what I'm loving that particular month. Seems so fickle doesn't it! But I wouldn't say I'm particularly loyal to any brand, obviously there are certain brands that I adore, however I wouldn't continue using their products if I found something better just because I love the brand - I really am a beauty sl*t, I get around.

So first on my list of what I'm loving this chilly November is an amazing eye rollerball from Trilogy - CoQ10 eye recovery concentrate. This is one of those things that if I'm totally honest about I had forgotten I had. I reached for it at the beginning of the month to trial a new eye cream and was reminded all over again just how amazing this product is. I suffer from pretty bad dark circles under my eyes so I am constantly hunting for the latest and best eye products to conceal and brighten my under eyes, but this product I can honestly say is the best one I've used for dark circles. The effect is immediate, my eyes just looked brighter and more hydrated - even my boyfriend could tell which eye I had put it on to test it and that never happens! I would defo recommend this product to anyone wanting a fresher, brighter look under the eyes. You can pick it up online and it's on sale at the moment on Feelunique, here: http://www.feelunique.com/p/Trilogy-Age-Proof-CoQ10-Eye-Recovery-Concentrate-7-5ml

My next product for my November favourites is the classic Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream - this is a must-have for the colder months as it's a total all-rounder that you can use for pretty much everything, from burns to chapped lips it works for all. I particularly love lavishing my lips with it to keep them supple through their daily battle with air con. It's also really soothing for my eczema that I tend to get on my hands when it starts getting colder. I just have it by my desk and smother it on throughout the day to keep my eczema moisturised. You can this from most drug stores like Superdrug and Boots, or online, here: http://www.boots.com/en/Elizabeth-Arden-Eight-Hour-Cream-Skin-Protectant-50ml_9783/

I'm feeling pretty pasty right now so a product I like using is James Read Sleep Mask Tan, it basically gives your face a gorgeous glow while you sleep. It's a perfect mix of Aloe Vera, Cucumber, Hyaluronic Acid and Red Algae so it moisturises and soothes the skin overnight while gently tanning the face so you wake up with a gorgeous glow. Or if you're going out for some drinks you can slap some of this on for 2 hours before you go out and wash it off for a subtle glow. This is around £25 and is totally worth it! http://www.jamesreadtan.com/Shop/sleep-mask-tan-face-50ml




I think I'm going to leave it there for my November favourites otherwise I could go on for hours. Let me know your favourite products this month and also keep an eye on my Instagram page for the latest products I'm using and what I'm loving!

Sunday 9 November 2014

My Beauty Heroes - Part Two

Here is the second helping to my post from Thursday about my beauty favourites, check it out if you haven't read the first post. I was swept up in the beauty awards I've been reading about and decided to share which products would get a gold star from me!

Thursday's post focused on skincare and hair, and this one will be looking at my favourite body care and cosmetic products. I'm sure I've probably forgotten loads so if there's something you think I've missed then please comment. 

All these products mentioned are my favourite products EVER, and I'd love to hear yours. Please be sure to tag me in any of your blog posts or Instapics (@pennyw28)

Body care
Moisturiser - Body Shop Coconut Body Butter (great for eczema sufferers)
Self-tanner - Rodial Brazilian Tan
Exfoliator - This may be controversial but my favourite exfoliation is from using my little gloves that I got from Primark!
Hand Cream - Aveeno Hand Cream
Body Oil - Bio-oil

Make-up
Foundation - Mac Mineralize Satinfinish
Primer - Clarins Beauty Flash Balm
Under eye concealer - YSL Touche Eclat
Concealer - Mac Studio Finish
Blusher - Charlotte Tilbury Beach Sticks
Bronzer - Benefit Hoola Bronzing Powder
Eyeshadow - Revlon Colourstay pallet in Addictive
Mascara - Benefit They're Real
Lipgloss - Clarins Instant Lip Perfecter

Do you agree with any of my winners? I'd love to hear what you think. Also, I'm thinking of doing a giveaway soon, so please be sure to follow me and stay tuned for an update!