Moments

I think we forget what it is like to just sit and do nothing. When I say nothing, I mean nothing. No phone or laptop or any online device or music or magazine. But just to sit and be surrounded by silence and our own thoughts. That I believe, is scary to most of us.

In a world where everything is so fast and everything happens immediately, I feel myself getting pulled into this chaos where my equilibrium is off kilter. Whether that is watching the TV and being on my phone or being in a queue and not quite knowing what to do with myself, I feel a bit lost.

Looking around, I see people sucked into their devices, which may seem hyperbolic as I am writing this on a laptop. However I have been doing more observing in real life, more listening to me and less scrolling, less time wasting.

I have been  reading a book called 'Everything that Remains' about two Minimalists and their story. It has been so refreshing and wonderful to read, I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
From reading this I realised I have been a bit lost in a world of complete buzz, being sucked into the word "successful". It made me re-evalute how I spent my time - I may be challenging myself this year, with things like no phone for a week etc. I feel genuinely excited by all this that its lovely!
While currently being a complete minimalist isn't what I want or can manage currently, taking little pieces from the lifestyle is the best way for me to stay real.

You know that feeling when you're with friends and family and you think "I am going to remember this moment forever", and you truly experienced it? You just were enveloped with that warm gooey feeling? That is my mission this year. To have more Moments like that. To create Moments and I suppose to share Moments.

This is very unlike my usual posts but this is a bit of a random patchwork type blog anyway!
Here is to more Moments (and more sharing moments on my blog!!)!

An Ode to THE Shoes.

There have been certain shoes this season which I have been reaching for over and over again. I have definitely been branching out from my usual plain shoes 'that go with anything' and have surprised myself by opting for the more funky of shoes.
I have to say these three shoes are from ASOS- who doesn't love ASOS? They really have been upping their game recently!

The first pair are some ASOS Embellished Mischa Brogues, link below.

http://www.asos.com/asos/asos-mischa-embellished-brogues/prd/7177848?iid=7177848&clr=Silver&SearchQuery=mister%20embellished%20brogues&SearchRedirect=true

 Pretty much an everyday sort of shoes. They still have that subtlety which means they are versatile but they also have the funk which you want!

The next are a pair of embroidered ASOS ballet Flats, which I have been wearing to work non stop these past few weeks- hence the scruffiness of them.
I pair them which anything- even my more bold of patterned dresses and on a particular day paired them with my embroidered jeans - for that extra kick of embroidery!

 The final pair are from New Look and an embroidered heel boot for the more dressier of outfits!

So these are my top shoes that have been my saviour on the terrible outfit days! What are yours?

What I ate today - Spain

 I love these posts as they give me huge inspiration for my meals in a day. I thought I would do a 'what I ate today' holiday edition. In Spain finding any vegan/vegetarian options is very hard - especially as they have isles upon isles or meat 😔. However once you have scoured the supermarket, you find a good few basic items. It really makes me realise how lucky we are in England to have such a wide variety of health foods.

For breakfast- I had a huge plate of fruit, full of water melon, peaches, grapes and a huge banana. Following that I had some basic cereal with soy milk and a blueberry soy yogurt. It was all pretty delicious and I felt very satisfied afterwards 😀!

For lunch I had 4 rice cakes topped with hummus, spinach and rocket. They are really quick and easy to make, while ofcourse being delicious. I had lunch quite late, around 3pm! In Spain they tend to eat everything later which means lots of lie ins! With my lunch I also had a peach which I bought from the market a few hours earlier.

I did exclude water in this post as I didn't class it as 'what I ate' as such. But I usually drink a minimum of 2 litres per day. Usually I drink more but it all depends on the layout of the day.

For dinner we had fajitas!! While the rest of my family had chicken on theirs, I opted for red beans and pan 'fried' peppers in mine fajitas. This was an amazing meal which I devoured quickly :). I also served a salad with the fajitas which went down a treat. In Spain we alternate between staying in or going out, this night we happened to stay in and cook our own meal.

After dinner I had a few squares of my 100% dark chocolate, my absolute favourite!

I hope you enjoyed this post and it gave you a few ideas as I loved writing it! 

Becoming Vegetarian

For even uttering the words in the title, many of my family members have argued with me multiple times. I have also been told by strangers that no one will want to come to my house ever! Since when did our society think eating mainly fruit and vegetables is a bad thing and no one will like you?! It is unbelievable craziness.

So I have decided to become vegetarian. It is not as easy as one thinks. As before I was planning my meals around one piece of meat but now I have to completely rethink my whole meal plan as you can imagine. With the help of two lifesaving books - 'A modern way to eat' By Anna Jones and 'Deliciously Ella' by Ella Woodward, It has made my journey a hell of a lot easier.

Anna's book really does have FABULOUS recipes that are filled to the brim with flavour. Even my die hard carnivore family really love her recipes. Ella brings alternative easy recipes, which are a godsend.

Now you may be wondering... 'well why become vegetarian?'. Well I am huge believer in animal rights and can't support an industry which kills so many innocent beautiful animals on daily basis, that is just my opinion. I also think that eating mainly fruit and vegetables is the best thing possible to live a healthy life and keeps you energized. I am a bit of a hippy at heart and my main goal is to become Vegan but I am getting ahead of myself. Finally I actually don't like meat, so it didn't make sense to me to keep eating it.

For those of you who are also thinking of doing the same or even doing something similar- 

Buy some recipe books and really plan your meals- as it is a misconception that vegetarians only eat pasta.

Think about why you want to do it and is it something you can do long term.

Overall I have never felt better and I have found a new passion for cooking. As without meat you are a lot more involved with the cooking process.

Sitges, Spain

This summer is absolutely packed full of adventure and the first of my travels was to Sitges, a town half an hour away from the famous Barcelona (anyone else hearing the George Ezra song in their head now?). I went with one of my closest friends and we had a blast! There were lovely beaches that stretched for about 2 kilometres. It was also a lovely walk to get your steps in on holiday. I mean who wants to be a couch potato all the time, right?? So behold some of the pictures I took on my fab new camera. 

We stayed in my family's apartment there which is close to the buzzing centre where there are lots of bars and caberet shows going on. Sadly we did miss the pride by a couple days but rainbow flags were still placed around in all their glory. It was a lovely sight to see people so accepting. Almost a refreshing view to the hate sometimes we see in our normal everyday lives.

Delicious Vegan Pancakes

For me, Sundays usually consist of relaxing and unwinding. Breakfast on a Sunday are usually something different to my normal breakfasts, as it starts the day off fabulously! 

This week i made Vegan Pancakes! Sadly, i am not all vegan as my situation at the moment doesn't allow me to be. However i do like to add bits of veganism to my life where i can.

These were the most delicious pancakes i have ever made, and they taste very healthy (bonus!).

These were my ingredients:

260g whole wheat flour

Flax 'egg' (2tbsp Flax Seed + 5tbsp Water)

2 tbsp groundnut oil

2tbsp Acacia Honey (or any honey)

1 tsp Bicarb of soda

2 tsp Baking powder

pinch of sea salt

480 ml + 2tbsp almond milk

4 tbsp rolled oats

1) Make your 'Flax egg' and leave for a couple minutes for it to do its magic.

2) Add your honey, Bicarb of soda, baking powder and groundnut oil. Then whisk!

3) Add your almond milk!

4) Add your flour and whisk to combine. Add your salt here.

5) This is completely optional but i added some dried cranberries as it adds a little more sweetness and variation. Also look at the colour of those amazing dried cranberries!

6) Pop the batter in a pan and enjoy!

If you try this recipe please let me know at:

@SkinnyLipstick

Bloglovin

New Year Resolutions

I make New Year’s resolutions every year, along with billions of others.

I think they give you an opportunity to reflect and improve on your life, a fresh start. A new year is always exciting as after Christmas there is a bit of a ‘slump’ because the main event is over. However to lift up our dampened spirits are the New Year parties, fireworks etc… It comes at exactly the right time.

Sadly my new year will be quite dull as I have tons of work to power through before returning to normal life. But that doesn’t stop me from making my resolutions:

1)      Become healthier. Yes this is pretty much the generic New Year’s resolution, but I mean healthy in an overall way. Mentally and Physically. When you’re in the midst of busy lives and work, you forget how important mental and physical health actually is. I have decided some days I can allocate to ‘me’ days as I don’t really have many on them! Also I want to get some of the muscle back I lost of the Christmas period of too much food consuming!

2)      Work Harder. Especially this year, as it is my GCSE year I want to really aim high here. I just need to put my head down and not get distracted as much. Should actually be doing work now…oops!

3)      Say ‘Yes’ more. This may seem a bit weird but apparently saying yes to more things can make you an overall happier person. I mean you obviously have to say no to something’s, saying yes to everything could be potentially dangerous (that went downhill quickly haha). What I mean is, saying yes more to the things you know are going to benefit you.

4)      Being Grateful. Sometimes I feel like I just continue on through life without really looking round and realising how lucky I actually am. So this is my final resolution, to be grateful for everything that happens in life, as some people literally have nothing. To take in all the beautiful moments that we take for granted, like seeing my family or doing something small but fun.

I know I haven’t been very active recently on my blog but life just gets in the way. Hopefully 2015 will be the start of something great for this blog, however I won’t be committing myself as sadly revision comes first!

What are your New Year Resolutions?

By my Bedside

When i come home after an absolutely exhausting day all i want to do is curl up in bed and read a fabulous book. My 2 favourite all time books are The Shock of The fall by Nathan Filer and You're the one that i want by Giovanna Fletcher. Both of these are absolutely amazing book- a must read!

However i will always have my kindle on hand with a new book to read, because I always need new books to get me to sleep at night. As you many notice there is one book i have not mentioned yet- a dog book! If you have read my Meet Percy post you will know i have a new dog!

I also have Body Butter in Strawberry for my hands and feet- to keep them moisturised and soft.

Halo hygenic wipes- because you can never be too careful.

Vaseline is an obvious bedside staple all across the world, i mean who needs dry lips?

Finally tissues as it's winter soon (shudders)!

What do you keep by your bedside?

Meet Percy!

Today I have some extremely exciting news to share!!

Well for the past couple of weeks I have been preparing for a new arrival….a puppy (I have mentioned this on twitter- @SkinnyLipstick)!

With this post I officially welcome Percy into the blog-family. Percy is a pug, duhhhh as you can see.

Pugs are rather controversial (a bit like marmite!) you either love them or hate them. I am totally all for them, if I could I would be holding up banners stating my love.

For years I have imagined myself tottering round in glamourous heels with my pug in tow. Well that dream has certainly become a reality, however I wont be walking

Percy through muddy fields with heels on, don’t worry!
The picture above is myself with Percy (Top from forever 21)

Maybe there will be regular appearances of little Percy! Who knows…?

Do you have dogs? Do you want them?

Clinique Facial Soap

Summer has officially ended in England *looks sadly out the window*, yet i still want my skin to glow!

This facial soap was basically a impulse purchase ( I mean what don't I buy on an impulse?) for £11.50,and I have come to believe that if you keep your skincare routine simple and not too fussy your skin will find its natural glow.

I use this morning and night, at night when I take my makeup off. I love it. I am not a regular user of Clinique but I have great things about the brand.

This my friends, is da bomb. Seriously I mean not many people think of using something so simple, I barely see any soaps in skincare routines, there needs to be more.

This has most definitely found a firm place in my beauty drawer.

Xox

Being Healthy on Holiday!

'Healthy & Holiday'. Now those are two words which are not often put together.

I realise that being on holiday means you eat one too many ice creams and maybe have a few too many margaritas!

However one must think of their bodies in this process! Now I am not going to go all preachy on

you don't worry but I am going to give you my tips that I have learnt being healthy on holiday!

1. Stop eating when your full. This seems just blatantly obvious but it took me a very long time to actually do this. You have to listen to you body and don't over eat- which is so easy to do.

2. Set a drinking time. What I mean by this is say to yourself you can have alcohol after 7pm only. 

3. Drink as much water as possible. In the day try and opt for water rather than unhealthy drinks and you could really help your skin!

4. Cook your own meals. If this isn't possible, obviously you can't do it. However if your renting an apartment or such like then for some of you stay you can cook your own meals. When we go away we always do this, it can also save a lot of money.

5. Skip the bread. We all know when you get lovely warm bread at restaurants how tempting it can be. Believe me I am guilt of this numerous times. If your going to eat a big meal skip the bread, your hunger can wait that little bit longer!

6. Use your common sense. This is the best advice I was ever given. My attitude towards food has not always been a healthy one ( another story for another time!) however when i got out that stage I had to re-evaluate. I was told to use my common sense when eating, eat when your hungry and stop when your full.

7. Eat when your hungry and stop when your full. This follows on from my last point, no diet ever works, it's proven! So it's really simple when it boils down to it.

8. Get your butt moving. Take your trainers on holiday or join a morning yoga class! Basically put down that book for at least an hour and get your but moving!

Ok so those are all my points,  I definitely got a bit off track on my last couple of points but I hope you got the general idea anyway!

xoxo

Night Before Flight Routine.

Before I go on any holiday I always have my 'evening before ritual'. In attempt to be 'bikini ready'!

I have been doing this for years, however some products have been switched out or added due to new discoveries!

After a long day I come in and immediately take off my makeup (thanks to the persistent advice from Caroline Hirons!)

Then I have a nice long shower/bath and wash my hair with Liz Earler Botanical shine shampoo & conditioner, they are very gentle and perfect for damaged hair. Then the obvious one - shaving my rather neglected hairy legs, no one wants hairy gorilla legs on holiday, with an everyday cheap razor. I mean I do wonder how people don't get utterly exhausted from shaving your legs every single day without fail.

Post-Shower I moisturize from head-to-toe with a nice thick cream, to rid of my scales. Recently I have been using Aqueous Cream from Superdrug, it literally has worked wonders on my skin.

Face-wise I cleanse with Liz Earle Hot Cloth cleanser and tone with Liz Earle Tonic (not pictured), moisturizing with Pro-activ Repairing treatment no 3 ( been using this for a very long time, it is one of my skin staples).

A new addition to my ritual is Boots eye gel, it moisturises and relaxes my eyes, the thing that surprised me was that I noticed a difference using it. 

If I have any spots I will use Antiac Activ spot treatment, I usually always have this in the back of my cupboard in some form.

Finally I will paint my nails and bury myself into a good book, this holiday I painted them Barry M Gelly varnish 'Prickly pear' - a lovely lilac colour which works with multiple outfits. 

Do you have any before holiday rituals? Please share!

Holiday Haul!

Well I certainly have not posted for a while. To be honest, I have had a slump. A complete blogging slump! I think I have found my interests again, so to kick start my blog again - I have a haul for you!

*sorry for the bad picture quality, took these pictures on my iPad!*

So firstly I bought Garnier Express 2 in 1 eye make up remover, the thing that attracted me to it was that it claims to protect your eyelashes. As many make up removers are harsh on your eyes and then result in many eyelashes falling out. No one wants bare eyes!

Then I bought Clearasil Blemish + Marks scrub, I bought this because I have had some spot issues round my nose and need to combat them now.

I also bought a Boots Essentials Eye gel. Oddly enough I have never owned an eye cream/gel before this. So I thought I should try a cheap one and see how it works.

Make-up wise I bought, Loreal nude magique CC cream ( the anti redness one) and Rimmel wake me up concealer. No particular reason why I bought these just wanted to try them!

Expect reviews of these products soon!

Wimbledon!

Bryan twins on the left.

Henman Hill + a tiny bit of the big screen.

*drool* strawberries and cream

Last Wednesday myself and a few of my friends decided to take a trip down to Wimbledon. Many trains and tubes later we arrived in the scorching heat- it was the hottest day of the year by far. However we stormed on and found our court, we booked tickets for court 2, it was such fun as we were able to watch the Bryan twins play! Over our courts claps and cheers we heard a tremendous thunder from the centre court, as Andy Murray was play and consequently lost... much to our disappointment.

For part of the day we also decided to push our way through the crowds on Henman Hill and find a tiny place which was just enough for us to sit down. All around us were people of different ages (mostly drinking ngl) which is what i love about huge events like Wimbledon, it attracts everyone!

To finish off our fabulous day at Wimbledon i bought some strawberries and cream, there is no way i could go to Wimbledon without getting strawberries and cream!

Mark Hill Dry Shampoo

Dry shampoo has become a staple in so many of our bathroom cupboards, whether it's because we can't be bothered to wash our hair or if we want to give our hair a bit of a uplift. Batiste has become the prominent product for dry shampoos, however i am not a fan of Batiste's smell. So consequently i bought this dry shampoo from Mark Hill for £5.49, more expensive than your average dry shampoo.

I am just going to say now, i was utterly disappointed. The product itself was good and smelt fantastic but it ran out extremely fast! It ran out after 2 uses! 

I later realised that many people also had this problem and it was because the can leaked! If only it didn't leak this could be a fabulous product....

'if only, if only'

Summer Walks

Not gonna lie to you, i am really embracing summer here in England, are you?

Anyway I believe that exercise should be a part of your everyday routine, your never going be in the best physical shape you can be without exercise. To keep up your appearance i think you have to do some form of exercise 3 hours per week. So why not go on a beautiful walk?

I hope these pictures of my beautiful sunny walk will inspire you to reach your weight goals!

Mac Lipstick Angel

As we are in the midst of our summer, now is the time when we whip out our 'pretty in pink' lipsticks and blushes. Recently this lipstick- Angel, has been my absolute staple.

It is in the classic Mac bullet packaging, which is a personal favourite of mine and costs £15.

It is the perfect balance of a soft pink and a subtle nude, as you can tell when it is on your lips but it is not too bold. It glides over the bumbs of your lips making them look seamless.

Mac has yet to fail me! If your looking for the perfect summer lipstick look no further.