One Month of a Healthy Lifestyle and 5 Tips That Worked For Me

About a month ago I wanted to start taking care of my body and get a healthier lifestyle. It wasn't about loosing weight, it was more about getting more energy and feel better about myself because I was feeling sluggish all the time and knew it was time to make a change.

After a month it hasn't gone to badly. I've had bad time and good times. The good times make me feel so good and productive and the bad time make me feel rubbish and sleepy all the time. Now I know how good I can feel its motivating me a little bit more but its still a bit hard sometimes. 

As I've had good and bad times, I have noticed a lots how food and exercise effects me. My skin clears up so much when I am being healthier and when I have a bad weekend I breakout like crazy. It gives me so much more energy and and less tired so I want to exercise more and get so much more done in the day. Doing at home workouts have increased my fitness so much.

I took pictures at the beginning and I've just taken pictures now and I have to say, I was a little disappointed that I haven't seen any changes. I think I was disappointed because this weekend I ate so badly so made me feel that I'd failed. I think this is the problem most people must feel when they don't get instant results. I've now realised that I'm not going to look amazing straight away and this isn't going to be the easiest thing but the benefits feel so worth it.

Here are 5 tips that have worked for me recently -

Cooking in bulk - spend a day a week cooking lots of food. Then its easier to eat healthy in the week because you already have meals ready and not tempted to grab something easy and unhealthy

Youtube videos - I found this really worked for me. Its so much easier to follow along a routine and see what to do that making it up yourself of doing a routine in a magazine or something. I found I pushed myself a lot more. My favourite channel is  Lucy Wyndham-read. Perfect for girls who want quick workouts.

Writing all exercise down - I don't know why this worked but seeing what I had done in the week (or hadn't done) really motivated me. I wrote down everything from walking the dog to an hours workout. I feel bad if I haven't written anything down for the day so feel more motivated to make up for it the next day.

Green tea - I noticed a big difference in my bloated belly when I fell in love with green tea. I drink a lot of water anyway but my problem was when I got bored of it I would drink juice or fizzy drinks. I started drinking tea in the morning and before bed and this stopped me going for the unhealthy drinks in the day. I noticed such a difference after a couple of weeks and it felt great because I wasn't even trying to do it.

Waterlogged App - This is just an app where you log all the water that you drink in the day to make sure your drinking enough. I rarely use this anymore, but it was great when I didn't drink enough water because it encouraged me to drink more. I now drink so much more than before so thats why I don't really need to use it anymore. If you don't drink enough I would recommend this a lot. 

Let me no what your biggest tip is?

Heathy Recipes: Banana Pancakes

One of my september goals was to post a recipe on my blog once a week and so far that has failed. Mainly because I can't make food look good enough for photos. But I have made these banana pancakes a couple of times now and they are so easy and taste great. I wanted to share them with you.

All you need is;

A Banana
An Egg
Baking Powder

All you need to do is whisk these all together. You can add vanilla extract or chocolate chips or anything to add some extra flavour. Then you put a couple of spoonfuls of the mixture into a pan and flip over after a couple of minutes until both sides are golden brown.

This recipe is perfect for breakfast because its heathy, quick to make and you only need 3 ingredients. I no That my picture doesn't look that great but they taste great :)

Whats your favourite breakfast?

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Review

Over the last month or so I have been loving the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet liquid lipstick. I brought the nude one first after hearing about it on youtube and I loved it so much I had to grab a second one. They have some really lovely colours and different finishes.

They are really creamy and apply really easily. I find that the brush picks up quite a lot of product though so I find it easier to apply after I've scrapped some off. They dry quite quick and leave a matte finish. They don't exactly moisturise your lips but its so worth it with how well they last. They are my go to for a night out now as I will only need to reapply once maybe twice throughout the night.

I can't wait to go shopping again so I can pick up another one. Definitively going to be my next purchase. If you like a matte finish I would recommend these a lot. I haven't tried any other finishes so might give them ago next.

Have you tried these lipsticks? what did you think?

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WOMF: Bingo

This was a couple of weeks ago now, but I went out to my local pub to play Bingo with some of my family and friends. Now I no I went a little overboard on the makeup but I was so excited to put it on as I has gone without for a few days before because my skin was breaking out. These are my favourite posts todo so I thought it was about time to show you another one of my makeup looks :)

Primer

The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Reviver 

Rimmel London Fix and Perfect Primer 

Benefit Porefessional Licence to Blot

Base

Collection Lasting Profection Foundation 

Rimmel London Wake Me Up Concealer

Benefit Highbeam Highlighter

Powders

Rimmel London Stay Matte Powder

Tart Blusher in Sweet

Benefit Hoola Bronzer

Eyeshadow and Brows

Sleek I-Divine Eyeshadow Pallet in Au Natural

Collection Work the Colour Eyebrow Kit

Eyes

Urban Decay Eyeshawdow Primer Potion

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara

MAC Black Eyeliner (The writing has all smudged so can't read the name) :(

Lips

MAC Lip pencil in Cherry

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet, No 12

I hope you have enjoyed this post. I know theres quite a lot of products, but I normally only go this far when I feel like it and am going out.

 Let me know what your favourite going out makeup look is?

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September Birch Box

Was once again very excited to receive my Birchbox this weekend :) Its there 5 birthday and all of the products are from America. I thought the box was so cute. being a illustration student I love that its more illustrative than graphic this month.  I think I get more excited to see the box that whats actually in it :)

Benefit The POREfessonal: License to blot - £15.50


When I first saw this I was a little confused with it because I didn't have a clue what it was meant to do or how to apply it. I haven't tried it properly yet but I am excited to give it ago.

Laura Mercier Facial Polish - £26

My skin hated this. It made it really dry and breakout :/ I thought it was quite a thick and harsh exfoliator. I don't even have sensitive skin so I would hate to see what would happen if I did.

John Masters Organics Citrus Neroli Detangler - £16

This smells really nice which sticks really well once you've dried and styled your hair. Other than that I didn't notice it did anything else for my hair. Not a product for me.

Beauty Protector Beauty wash - £8

This smelled good and lathered nicely. I wouldn't buy it in full size though as its quite expensive for shower gel.

Laqa & co Cheeky Lip Pencil in Cray Cray - £17

I tried this on my lips which I wasn't a fan of as its not really my colour. I then tried it on my cheeks and after a couple of uses its really grown on me. It blends really well and very pigmented. I wasn't sure of the colour on me but I've grown to love it. It's quite a summery colour though so will probably put it away until next year.

The Birchbrush £5.99

This is a nice size brush great for putting in my bag. Its really gentle on brushing out my tangled hair and I love the colour.

I was excited to try out all the products this month but nothing really impressed me that much. I like the hair brush and the Lip pencil would have been perfect another colour. This wasn't my favourite month but I'm still excited to keep getting these every month and trying new products :) 

Did you get this months box? what did you think?

Origins Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask Review

I have recently brought the Origins Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask and have been loving it so much recently I thought I would do a little review for you all today.

I thought it was quite a light, creamy consistency which made it easy to apply an even thin layer without getting the product everywhere.

It takes about 10-15 minutes to dry, depending on the amount you apply. I just leave it on until it all dried and then rise it off with water. It rinsed off really easily with just my hands and water. Its also really comfortable to wear in the bath (hope that doesnt sound weird).

After taking it off you can see and feel a difference. My skin felt like it could breath and is really soft. I also noticed my pores were smaller and my spots had dramatically reduced.

I love using this mask so much and really want to get the other Origins ones. Have you tried anything from Origins? let me know what you think of there products?

NEW YORK

So I've just come back from spending a few days in New York and had the best time. My family took me for an early 21st birthday present and I had never been before so we tried to cram in as much as possible in the 5 days we were there. And we did get so much done :) I thought I'd share some of my favourite photos with you all (there are quite a few actually).

Also I have just filmed my first ever youtube video which is a haul of the things I brought while I was here.  Will hopefully be up at the end of the week so keep an eye out :)

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September Goals

I've been trying to get fit and healthy since forever and I am determined to actually get a bit better at it. So I have decided set some monthly goals to help get better and there is also a couple of random ones thats aren't fitness related but I know will make me feel a lot better when I do them. I'm hoping writing them down will motivate me more and if it works I might do it more regularly. I've got 5 goals I'm working on this month. Wish me luck :)

1. cook at least one new healthy recipe a week - I am getting bored of eating the very few heathy recipes that I can cook which normally means I want to go to the freezer instead and cook a pizza. I plan on putting up one recipe a week on my blog this month to motivate me.

2. start meal planning - When I rarely do this, it does help me cook properly and healthier. At the start of each week I have going to plan some meals I want to cook and then go food shopping. Hopefully it will be cheaper than going to tescos every other day as well. 

3. Document workouts and exercise - I'm not going to tell myself to exercise so many times a week yet because I no thats unrealistic and not going to happen. I've just started writing down the exercise that I do and I find it really helpful and motivational to see how much or little I have done. I'm going to carry this on this month and hopefully it gets me some where.

4. Declutter - I have so much crap in my cupboard from when I started this at the begging of the summer and its time to finish it off and find a way of getting rid of it. Theres still areas of my room that I need to go though as well. I seem to have a never ending supply of stuff and I just done need or want it all anymore.

5. Make a big decision - I know this is a bit vague and I'm not going to go to much into it. I'll save it for another post in a few weeks. But theres some decisions I need to make about university that need to be made this month.

Let me no what your goals are this month? :)

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