Born this way foundation - Too Faced

Coconut water has stole the limelight recently claiming to seriously hydrate your body, so obviously it's not surprising that it's now being incorporated into our makeup too! So does it work?

Packaging - it comes in a glass bottle with gold trim and plastic pump, hooray a pump! When you're paying for a decent foundation I don't think you should have to be paying extra for a pump so this ticked a box in my head straight away. I love the packaging from the girly embossed box to the frosted bottle, although I will say it can be extremely hard to find the correct colour on an average day let alone when the bottles are frosted! 

This claims to be a medium to full coverage foundation and I would say it's more on the medium side. In fairness I only used the one pump and when I used more it did give me a fuller coverage but it looked cakey! It drys very fast so I wouldn't hang around blending this in. I found applying with my fingers worked best although my beauty blender also worked well (a brush leaves a streakier look) I have very dry skin at the moment due to this cold weather and it did me no favours making my skin look more flakey, It also looked a little patchy so not natural looking as it claims. 

I wear Estée Lauder double wear usually and although this foundation gives me more of glowy finish which I much prefer it doesn't give me the full coverage or work well with my dry patches. Everyone's skin is different though so maybe it would suit a more oily skin type. 

 

I found it worked best with my smash box primer, a loose setting powder and my urban decay makeup spray - it did last all day. Overall I would be happy to wear this foundation during the day (once my skins a little less dry) however if I wanted to go out for the evening with the girls I don't feel like this compares to my Estée Lauder so considering the price I won't be repurchasing it a hurry! 

Have you tried this? What do you think? 

Ashley xoxo

Green energy smoothie

I hate vegetables. I hate salad. I hate healthy food in general to be honest.

I love the look of it. I love the benefits of it. I love to throw them all in my blender so I don't have to taste them! HA! 

Welcome to my four ingredient energy bursting green smoothie!

Ingredients needed;

Spinach 

Parsley 

Pinapple 

Tangerine 

You can either follow my measurements or make them up yourself there is no right or wrong and everyone's tastes buds are different, feel free to throw in extra ingredients and find out what suits you best!

I used 25g spinach, 5g parsley, 100g pinapple and one tangerine about 100g

Calories: 85

Carbs: 13g 

Sugar: 14g all natural 

Protein: 1g

Fat: 0g

Fibre: 2g

Vitamin A: 57%

Vitamin C: 49%

Calcium: 4

Iron: 8 

The above amount made a small glass seen below. This is a new recipe for me so obviously I would just up the amounts for more (feel free to make more and freeze) This however was actually enough for myself today. Be sure to chew the drink a little and swish it around your gums before swallowing, don't gulp it all down at once but instead sip it over the course of half an hour or drink half and then the other half shortly after. 

Benefits of parsley;

Rich in vital vitamins such as Vitamin C, B 12, K and A which will keep immune system strong and heal your nervous system. It will help flush out excess fluid from your body therefore helping your kidneys. 

Benefits of spinach;

Tons of vitamins including iron, vitamin C, A, E, K, B2 and B6. Loaded with flavonoids which act as antioxidants. Great source of protein, zinc, calcium and omega 3 fatty acids plus tons more! 

There are so many benefits to drinking smoothies it's the perfect way to get extra veg and water into your diet, because it's all blended it's much easier to disgest as your body is no longer working so hard to break down the food and extract the nutrients. Mixing both fruit and vegetables will make sure to keep the sugar levels balanced unlike eating fruit alone. You're getting a ton of vitamins and making them from home at a fraction of the price in the shops! 

I'm aiming for at least one a day, so feel free to give me your favourite recipes to try! 

Ashley xoxo

2016 body plans

I've fallen of the wagon... Actually fallen doesn't even cut it. I can't even blame the winter holidays. I've actually been on a seafood diet.... See food and eat it basically. No limits, everything and anything. Mainly it's consisted of at least one big box of Lindt balls a week. YES a week. Indian, Chinese, fried breakfasts, deserts galore and let's not even mention the alcohol. Those that know me will know I have a pretty quick metabolism it's fair to say I have never been overweight which is completely bizarre giving the amount of not just bad food I eat but also my actual meal sizes. I don't eat any salad because I can't stand it and minimum amounts of veg so I'm going to be trying to get my greens via smoothies! So you can be sure to see a few smoothies from me and I can ensure they won't taste like vegetables because I wouldn't drink them otherwise! 

Over the summer I was in pretty good shape and was fairly happy with how I was looking. I was at the gym 5 nights a week and eating fairly well (I always struggle with the healthy eating side) since I now live alone with my little girl work three evenings and spend one evening at a photography course it's going to be extremely hard to get back to where I was - I simply don't have that kind of time on my hands anymore. However I've decided to curb the bad eating habits, join back to the gym and share my progress, recipes and tips with you all! I had lots of friends asking me for tips and advice over the summer. May I add right now I am by NO means an expert. I'm simply sharing my progress and every body is different. 

This isn't about me losing weight. If anything I actually want to get bigger but in the right way. I need my muscle back!! I want to trim back done and then tone up again, it's not a diet. I will still eat my beloved Lindt chocolates but not in the excessive behaviour I have been. Healthy balanced lifestyle is my aim this year!

Products to help me along the way.

My beloved friend My fitness pal will be sure to help get me back on track it can be downloaded on the App Store and it's completely free. It tracks your food and exercise so you can see where you are going well/need improvement. 

My polar watch will also play a massive part. Tracking my fitness, steps, sleep! I can't go to the gym without it. Totally worth every penny, it even tells me when I've been sat still too long and to get up!! It comes with a free app so you can see your progress daily. I will do a blog post later explaining which one I have and my thoughts on it, but I can tell you now I love it! 

Current measurements: 

105.5 lbs 

Bust - 29

Waist - 25

Hips - 32

Left thigh - 18

Right thigh - 18

Left calf - 12 

Right calf - 12 

Left arm - 10 

Right arm - 10 

I will be posting tips, videos, recipes etc so watch this space. I won't go crazy as I'm still going to be posting about beauty and fashion and don't want to completely spam your feed! 

Ashley xoxo