The Skin Regime, Boot Camp For Beautiful Skin + Give Away

Reading the intro to The Skin Regime Boot Camp Fo Beautiful Skin you are told to have a look at the picture of the author, Dana Ramos, on the back, so I did. She isn’t wearing any make up and is looking lovely and fresh faced, I would definitely like to have skin like that, then I read on a bit and see that she is 49. 49! I was genuinely so shocked, I don’t think the looks any older than 36. The Skin Regime instantly got my attention if I could get skin like that.

The Skin Regime is all about stripping back skin care and getting your skin into shape by going through the ‘bootcamp’ and which has seen some great results.

The book itself is split into different sections, first off Dana talks about the problems with a lot of skin care products on the market today. A lot of the stuff she said is very striaghtfoward and basic, it definitely made me think about how often I get caught up in the hype of products.

She then goes on to introduce her skin care regime, and then you enter the bootcamp section, which is all about retraining your skin to get the results you want.
The bootcamp section uses Glycolic Acid, a product I really like in masks and she talks about how this ingredient can be used differently in products, as well as giving you plenty of recommendations of products she approves of.

After completeing the boot camp there is the maintenance section of the book. Once again this is a great and interesting read, it really strips back the skin care routine and has definitely made me think about my routine and products I don’t actually need. A word of warning about this section though, this book is American and a few of the products she mentioned you can only get on prescription, not always the easiest thing to get over here.

                       Before Photo                                                                                   After Photo

The last section of the book addresses other parts of the body, like hair, nails and even has a nice little section on how to compliment your lovely new skin with some make up tips.

If you follow me on twitter, you may know that when I was in Florida I suffered a allergic reaction, and my skin hasn’t been quite right since so I have not been able to try out any of the recommended products. My mum however, who is a self proclaimed skin care junkie tried out one of the peels and loved the results. I will warn you though that she said her skin was tingling, so this may not be suited for those of you with sensitive skin. My mum actually loved this book and has taken it for herself and is currently hunting down more of the recommended products so if she keeps it up I will let you know how that goes!

Overall I found this a very interesting and informative read. As Dana says, this regime is not suitable for you if you are pregnant or have overly sensitive skin, so I won’t be able to try it out, but having seen the results on other people I have to say I am very impressed and think this book is definitely worth a read, even if it is just to remind yourself to stay a bit more grounded when buying skin care.

If you fancy having a read of the book, then you are in luck! Dana has actually given me a copy of the book plus one of the peels used in the bootcamp, so if you fancy your chances enter the competition below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check out The Skin Regime website for product recommendations and more before and after photos.

Yurbuds Review

Yurbuds are ear buds designed specifically for the athletic market and with their unique twist lock method, they claim to ‘never fall out’ which is a pretty bold statement to make.
I have quite large ears (thanks dad) so find that most headphones fall out on me even if I am just sitting, so trying to find a pair of headphones for running was a nightmare, I used to have to use overhead ones for working out which are horrible and make you sweat, until I got myself a pair of Yurbuds!

I went for the pink (obviously) Inspire for Women model. They also do the inspire range for men, as well as some behind the ear models, but I find them quite uncomfortable.

I have been using my pair for about a month now and thought I should share with you what I think because I have been so impressed.
So do they never fall out? Well yes and no. On my right ear it works amazingly well, but I will admit on my left ear it does fall out. This is down to the fact that I have a rook piercing which when I run moves around and knocks out the ear bud, very annoying. If I take my piercing out though it works fine, I just thought it would be worthwhile to share that with you in case you have any piercings too. On my right ear I have a tragus piercing and it isn’t irritated at all by the ear bud.

The sound, to my unprofessional ears, is of great quality, and yurbuds have been designed so that you can still hear environmental noises around you. This is great for me and any other runner who runs outside to still be able to hear any traffic, or as I run in the forest, if my dog is trying to call for me.

The headphones are also sweat and water resistant, another huge plus for anyone who is using them to work out. They are definitely a lot more comfortable then any other ear buds I have tried and I really like my yurbuds. If you are a very active person you should definitely check these out, best of all, they come in a great variety of colours too.

Nescafé Café Menu Review

I have never been a huge hot beverages drinker, mainly because they don’t agree with me, but also because I’m not too fond of the taste. However, this has changed in recent years and I am finding I can have hot drinks in small quantities (I’m talking once a week, at the weekend when I’m at home just to be safe!) and that I am really starting to enjoy the taste.

I had started treating myself to a small flavoured skinny latte (3 Weight Watchers points) from Costa on a Saturday when doing my weekly food shop, but as you all know, Costa is not the cheapest habbit to have.

Then one day my mum bought these home, so I decided to try them out to see if they could become my weekly treat drink.

At just 73 calories for the vanilla flavour and 66 calories for the caramel flavour these make a great low calorie indulgent coffee (the amount of calories in a large starbucks with cream is quite terrifying) and these only come in at 2 Weight Watchers points each, which in my eyes is a massive bonus.

All you do is pour the contents of the satchet into a mug, add boiled water and stir. The satchet contains all the coffee, flavouring and milk so there is no need to add anything extra. These even get a thin layer of foam on the top like a coffee from Costa would making it look really authentic!

As with most things you prepare at home, these do not taste as good as something you could get in the shop, but they definitely make a nice alternative.

The caramel one smells a bit like crème brulle, and the taste of coffee is stronger in this one, it tastes how it says on the box, coffee with a shot of caramel.

The vanilla one is a bit more on the mellow side, the coffee taste is less strong in this one and the drink tastes a bit creamier. Surprisingly this one to me tastes the sweeter out of the two.

Both drinks are great and I really recommend them as a cheaper alternative to getting a latte in a coffee shop. My personal favourite is the vanilla one, but they both do a good job.

Has anyone got any good hot drink recommendations for me? I’ve gone a bit crazy in trying all the varities since finding out I can start drinking them again!

Shipping Wars!

I love the History channel.

To be honest, I don’t even know why it’s called the History channel because it doesn’t show too many history programmes, but what it does show, Pawn Stars, American Restoration, American pickers etc are brilliant programmes, with Storage Wars being my favourite.

Storage Wars and Pawn Stars have been very successful, which has led to quite a few copies of the show, Storage Hunter, Storage Wars Texas and Cajun Pawn Stars just to name a few, but none of them come close to being as good as the original, which is why, when I saw the advert for Shipping Wars, I was very sceptical that it was just another average programme cashing in on the success of previous shows.

Despite my initial worries, I decide to check out the show, and I’m so glad I did!

Shipping Wars is brilliant. It follows a similar format to Storage Wars, as in there is the auction then you follow the people on the show to see how much they make or loose, but the subject of the show is different enough to make it a unique show.

They use a bidding site, a bit like eBay, to bid on different objects that need to be delivered, the objects can be anything from a camel to a massive prop from Little Shop of Horrors.

Another factor they have to consider is where is the object going, it may just need delivering to a neighbouring state, or it might have to go halfway across America. All of this they have to bear in mind as they try and put in the lowest bid to win the job, but still make themselves some profit from doing the job.

After the auction is over, the winner has to go and collect whatever has to be delivered, and this is where things can start to go wrong.

In the episode I watched, a guy was trying to load a very heavy cast iron phone box into his truck. He arrived to no help or equipment so he had to build a trolley to be able to get it on the truck, only to be shut down because he didn’t have the correct insurance paper.

Once they have actually managed to get the load on the truck, they then have to do the actual transporting part, which once again to lead to problems.

 One of the problems that came up in the episode is that the guy had run out of fuel, because the load he was carrying was heavier than they were told, which obviously uses up the fuel quicker.

After spotting another truck driver, he agreed to let him take some fuel from the truck to use, but after some equipment malfunctions the guy ended up trying to siphon the fuel by sucking on a pipe, he ended up with so much of it in his mouth it made me feel really sick.

Once they get to the other end, surprise surprise there can be more issues, normally with getting the person to cough up the cash, or sorting out a final price if they have arrived late, or in the case of the fuel man, figuring out how much extra he was owed because of the extra weight of the freight.

It just makes for quite a entertaining and very interesting show. It sounds weird calling a show about deliveries interesting, but you find out so much stuff that you didn’t know, and of course all the drama of things going wrong adds to the appeal, not to mention the competition between the drivers to get the lowest bid whilst still being able to make money off it.

I’m looking forward to the next episode, which will be on the History Channel, Monday at 9pm.

Urban Decay - Glinda Palette

When I saw that Urban Decay, who I love, had made some palettes for the upcoming Oz film, I knew I had to have one.

It was a tough choice between the Glinda palette and Theodora palette (which should totally have been called Elphaba!) but Glinda stood out to me the most because Theodora has a lot of browns in it, and I don't really need more browns! The Glinda palette also was a bit more romantic and ethereal looking. It also reminded me slightly of Once Upon a Time, which I have been obsessively watching!

So here are a million and one pictures of the palette, what it comes with and some swatches:

Tornado - Lovely buttery deep purple shade. Acts just like all good Urban decay shadows do.

Aura - A duo eyeshadow. Quite light and I was pleasantly surprised by this duo. I expected it to be slightly chalky, but it was another lovely smooth eyeshadow, and the colours are almost duo chrome, they are very pretty!

Magic - Slightly disappointing. It's a lovely pink, and the slight purple tone in it stops eyes from looking sore when worn, however it is slightly chalky and needed a bit of layering for the colour to show up.

Illusion - Once again a lovely smooth shade, very light and fleshy in colour though so doesn't show up too much. Good transitioning colour.

Oz - The second duo eyeshadow. They both turn out gorgeous and look a bit like molten metal, however I found the gold shade has that chunky glitter that Urban Decay is known for, and there was a bit of fallout on some of the chunks, I didn't have this issue as much with the silver shade.

South - Once again another gorgeous good Urban Decay shade. Can't find anything wrong with this one!

Rockstar 24/7 eyeliner - Great purple eyeliner. Nice and smooth and creamy too. Stays put well, it took me a while to scrub it off with make up remover!

Glinda Super Saturated Lip Pencil - Gorgeous shade and very flattering, one of those my lips but better colours. Reminds me a bit of Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stain in Honey. Looks 

slightly glossy without being too sticky.

And here is my attempt at recreating the look that comes with the palette: 

          

I'm quite happy with how the look turned out, it's very girly and pretty, although it could be considered slightly evil too if I go too heavy on the purple eyeliner!

The shades in the palette also seem to really make my eyes look bluer, which I love.

Overall I would say this is a great palette, and definitely worth the money.

You get a eyeliner, 6 shadows (technically 8 with the duos) and a super saturated lip colour for £35, which I don't think is bad at all!

The palette is available from Debenhams. 

Will you be picking either of the Oz palettes up? Glinda or Theodora? And Theodora should be called Elpheba right?!

Schwarzkopf LIVE XXL Shake It Up Colour Foam Demo/Review

So I dyed my hair red and made the whole above video about it!

Here are the before and after comparison pictures:

          

This is the colour in artificial light (my bedroom). 

            

And here is the colour in natural light.

Unfortuantly I took the natural light photo at 4pm which is when it has started getting dark here in the UK, but hopefully you can see that there is a fair difference in colour.

I like the end results, although as I said it is not as red as I want it to be, so I will just keep on dyeing until I receive the results I want!