4 Ways To Fix a Bad Day

I've been there. Where your body is slouching in meh-ness & you even know if it's a possibility for your day to get any better.

Having a few bad days in my time, i have been remembering some ways to perk myself up and turn that bad day around, i think these tips could help you too!

Step 1... Wash the day away

This can be at any time of the day... 11am, 5pm even 3am if you so wish; get in the shower/bath. Wash away all of the day that has been weighing your body down. Hot water can make you almost feel your emotions melting away with the heat. Wether you can quick refresh in the shower or a relaxing soak, relish in the fresh feeling your body gets from being washed as this will only help to wash away the negative vibes from the day and almost feels like you can start again. 

Step 2.. Vent

Call or see your family and friends and have a good ol natter. You could call them up, even face time them. Speaking to somebody can instantly change your mood around. This can especially happen if they are having a particularly good day themselves, as their positivity will on pass onto yourself naturally. With their permission to have a little vent, as you don't want to dampen their mood without them being warned of it first, get it all out. Sometimes just sharing your feeling with someone can be everything you need to clear your mind and leave way for your day to be turned into a good one. This way you are sharing your feelings and thoughts rather than letting them build up and chances are that your friends and family will help you, give you some advice and encouragement and throw in something to make you giggle here and there. 

Step 3... Treat Yo'self

If your day is feeling so crappy and you just want comfort which is exactly what i want on days like this, then treat yourself.

Don't feel like cooking? Order yourself a takeaway. If your budget isn't so kind this evening for a cheeky Chinese then grab a can of soup, hot crusty bread slathered in butter (oh hey carbs) for a budget friendly easy meal. 

Step 4... Immerse yourself. 

Send yourself off into a good film or book. 

Take your off into a a film on Netflix or raid your DVD collection for a classic. Blow the dust off a book you've been wanting to read for ages and soak up what your watching/reading to quieten down your mind and take it off the days events. My particular thing to do is watch an episode of a series i'm currently watching. I almost feel productive at the same time as i'm ticking another ep of the list.

The most important thing to remember when your having a bad day, is knowing that it shall pass. Tomorrow will soon be round again, where you can have a fresh start.

I hope my steps have helped your current/future bad day and i shall see you soon on my next post...

Chat Soon, 

Emilie x

Covering my grey hair with Garnier Express Retouch - Review

* FOR A QUICK LOW DOWN, SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM *

I'm coming at you today with a grey covering tool from Garnier. I wanted to share another review in what seems to becoming a wee little series on blog, to cover grey hair.

If you didn't know, i started getting greys at the age of 15. Yikes! I know right?!

One turned into five then five turned into fifteen and now look...

10 years later my roots are full on grey. yay.

I must say i'm not the biggest fan of it believe it or not, so regularly i use a box dye to banish them for a week or so. In between that though as lets face it, dying you hair not only costs money but time to do it so sometimes i walk around town with my greys baring to all. 

 As of late, i have been looking into root/grey hair covering products, you can see my last reviewed product here from Batiste. 

Today we have something from Garnier, that is sold online, in most drugstores and some supermarkets. In boots it is currently on sale for £9.99... worth it? I'll let you know later in the post. 

Soo let's get down to business and look at the details. 

Garnier markets this product as a root concealer for grey hair, has precise application and has anti transfer technology, hmm.

In it's 10ml of product, it is enriched with mineral clay and pearl pigments to help achieve a natural look and give 30 applications (estimation when only used on the parting)

It comes in 5 different shades including... Light Brown, Dark Brown, Light Blonde, Dark Blonde and Black. Today i'll be sharing my thoughts on the Dark Brown shade. 

Inside the box is a very sleek compact bottle containing the product and applicator. 

The applicator is a sponge to absorb the product that is placed at the bottom of the bottle in a loose liquid form. Upon first opening it seemed to only disperse a small amount of product on the applicator, but opening the next time, after rolling around in my beauty desk for a couple days, the sponge was SOAKED and the product quite clearly had spilt out of its area and soaked the applicator. 

The instructions are marked in diagrams as you can see above. Quite clear and easy to follow which is exactly what i am about to show you now...

My hair was washed the previous day, so not at it's freshest but not at its greasiest either. I did have to scrape quite a lot of product of the sponge back into the bottle as it would have just been to much to put onto my hair. I started my pulling the one side of my hair torte and started to dab the product onto my greys. 

On the left side if where i applied the product. 

As you can see it has covered them and the shade sooooort of blends into my hair colour and admittedly looks a lot better than the right side. 

Heres both sides with the product on. It definetly covers the greys with not a lot of bother at all really. The good thing about the sponge being rather soaked with product is i didn't have a faff of going back into getting some more. I continued with pulling my hair flat against my head to get a good base to dab onto which seems to work well. 

I went over my first layer to make sure all stray greys got covered.

My issues. I don't like how it looks on my hear or how it feels. You can for sure tell it contains clay as it feels thick and hard like. It also leaves a greasy look to my roots which doesn't look attractive at all. You do have to wait for the product to dry for around 5 minutes before the wet look goes away but you then are left with a dry paint look on your roots. 

It also made my head tingle a little, maybe just me, but something to look out for.

After the product dried, i followed the instructions and brush my hair.
Results? Yes it has covered my greys, BUT my hair now looks greasy and feels full of product. 

And as for the anti-transfer technology?

 Gosh oh darnit, it's not that non transferable Garnier babes...

This is after running my fingers through my hair as i'm just most of us to during the day to shift it out the way and along feeling a thick gel like texture, it leaves your finger tips looking rather cocoa coated.

So, my over all opinion? Would I recommend? Is it worth the money?

Yes, it is an express product and covers your greys rather quickly but...

I wouldn't repurchase it, i would much rather go for a powder when it doesn't have leave a stiff texture and make my hair look greasy. 

For a wet, greasy looking formula i wouldn't pay £10. My hair just felt dirty after using it and felt like it needed a good wash.

I hope you enjoyed my grey root covering review of the Maybelline Express Retouch, let me know if you have used this and think differently or the same, i'd love to know.

Thank you so so much for reading, chat soon..

Emilie xx

 THE LOW DOWN

Small & Compact

Good colour selection

Fast Application

Leaves hair feeling & looking greasy

DOES transfer onto fingers

Does cover greys with enough product to cover

Leaves hair feeling in need of a good wash after applying

How to be a Morning Person

*yaaaaaaawn*

Oh hello... Sorry, let me just wipe the dribble from my chin and rinse my eyes of sleep.

Waking up at the crack of dawn is an art, a skill. Something one has to master overtime and can take weeks to learn. If you are a natural born early bird then wow, you possess a magical ability most of us would love to have.

But! I now know your secrets ;)

Doing some research and using testing out theories over time and gradually building myself a steady routine, i know am able to share what truly works to be at one with the chirping birds and become a morning person. 

STEP 1... SLEEP

You neeeeeed to have a good night sleep. It's crucial. It's the groundwork for your success in starting the day off bright and early.

So before trying to start any routine of waking up early, start it the night before. Get yourself into a routine of going to bed 5-10 minutes early each night. If your already going to bed at 9pm i think your safe to stick with that... but if you night owls are more like 11-12am then get those minutes rolling back hun. 

Too much sleep though can sometimes cause grogginess and often make think your still tired. 

If your plan is to wake up at 6am, going to bed at 9-10pm is going to give you an average sleep of 8-9 hours. Which is perfect to set yourself up for success. 

STEP 2... THINK WHY YOUR DOING IT

You need to remind yourself of why you wanting to wake up early. Is it because your finding yourself late for work or school? Having a too longer lie in that you are feeling like your wasting the day? Or you could just want to wake up earlier to have more time in the morning to get more things done in your day, to have more you time in the morning before starting your daily routines.

Reminders of why your wanting to turn yourself into a morning person is a huge way to succeed. If you don't give your self a prompt every known again, you might lose passion and therefore not put your all into cultivating the early morning life.

STEP 3... PREPARE

If you getting to work later because you are finding you are rushing around in the morning, preparation the night before is another key factor to achieving your goal. The evening before you could prepare your breakfast. I'm sure you will have heard about over night oats and all of their glory. They are so easy to prepare and you can customise them to your likings. Prepare you lunch for the following day. While your getting the kitchen messy with that nights dinner, grab a few more ingredients to make your lunch so it's ready to grab and go without faffing about making it in the morning. 

Lay all of your beauty products/makeup out. Instead of having it all in a makeup makeup bag jumbled up, line all of you makeup in order of application, including brushes, so when your showered and ready to get your slap on, it's all there ready in order and can save a few precious minutes that soon add up. 

Lay your clothes out. Not knowing what to wear the morning if your day can be a stressful and time consuming task, ponder over your outfit the night before so you know exactly what to chuck on in the morning and hey! you might even be able to grab an accessory too to jazz up an outfit with all that time you've saved. 

STEP 4... POSITIVE MIND

Think of the positives waking up early will bring. Here's a few to consider if your ready this the night before your 5am alarm and struggling to come up with some...

It feels like your awake before everyone & have a head start before the rest of the world.

More productivity.

Everything is still and quiet, perfect for some morning peace/meditation.

You can fit tasks in that you couldn't normally fit in. 

STEP 5... TO DO LIST'S

Grab and notebook the night before, this is especially good to do just before getting to sleep to give your eyes a rest from the tv or phone. Jot down everything you have plans for in the morning/next day. Doing this will help clear your mind from whizzing around with tasks for your tomorrow self that can stop you relaxing and getting your allotted hours of sleep in. 

Also, when you wake up in the morning you have saved yourself sometime writing your list and means you can get straight on with you jobs to do. 

There are 5 steps to help you on your way to becoming a morning person. Just remember your zzz's and preparation and you'll be a morning pro before you know it!

Thank you so much for reading, chat soon...

Emilie xx

SLIMMING WORLD RECIPE: HARIBO INSPIRED HEART SWEETS!

I don't know about you, but when picking a bag of Haribo's, i look for the one that has the most heart sweets inside, they are just the best. Not to mention they last a little longer than the others because not gonna lie, i make them last longer by biting the foam off first, little hack you might not have thought of when scoffing a sweet or two ;)

As I am on a weightloss/healthier lifestyle journey, i am always on the hunt for alternatives to the naughty things i have loved in the past.

I came across this recipe on Chloe's instagram who does slimming world herself and thought it would be a great idea to film an experimental video of me making them, which you can watch here if you like....

I wanted to jot down the recipe on my blog so you can refer back to this if you are wanting to make some for yourself. This recipe is in no way my own as i do believe slimming world themselves came up with this corker of a mixture. So let's get on with what you will need and how to do it. 

Ingredients: 

2x 11.5g Sachets of Hartley's Sugar Free Jelly in powder form. 

(i got mine in strawberry but you can pick any flavour you wish) 

1.5 syns per sachet. 

1 Muller Light Yoghurt

(i used vanilla but again again flavour you fancy)

1 syn

2 sachets of 12g Gelatine in powder form

Free from syns

Utensils:

Jug

Mixing spoon

Table spoon

Moulds

(i got my heart mould from amazon which you can also get HERE & i also used a plastic box & 2 ice cube trays) 

Method:

• Boil 280ml of water, pour into a jug and add 1x 11.5g jelly sachet and 1 sachet of gelatine and mix together until everything is dissolved.
• Pour this mixture two thirds full into your moulds (this can get a little messy pouring straight from the jug, so you could grab a spoon and do it instead) then place them into the fridge for 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes get your moulds out of the fridge, set aside and make your 2nd mixture but this time with a little twist...
• Boil 140ml of water then pour into your jug. Add your remaining 11.5g sachet of jelly & another packet of gelatine and again mix until everything is dissolved. Let this cool down in the fridge for 5 minutes.
• Once your 2nd mixture is cool, add in your yoghurt and mix again.
• Once combined, pour this mixture onto your already set jelly in the moulds, be careful as this can get even messier with a jug, so i used a spoon to do this step.
• Pop your moulds back into the fridge for an or longer (mine took around an hour and 20) to completely set.
• Once they have set you can now take your sweets out of their moulds. The silicone mixture, was a little tricky as they did split in half but with delicate movement they should come out whole, if not they simply just place back together on a plate. If your using a hard mould, you might find it a little tricky to get your sweets out as a they don't just slip and sliiiiiide. So, i grabbed the other end of a teaspoon and gently scoop them out & all was well. With a plastic tub, you can just go right ahead a chomp you way through a nice big slab or you can chop it into whatever shape floats your boat. 

And there we have it, super easy, super simply.

The only difference to haribo heart sweets is the texture really, just not as chewy but just as tasty!! 

Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed and chat soon!

Emilie xoxo

P.S Did i mention for the whole lot of sweets it's just 4 syns!! 

My Winter Skincare Essentials

I love co-ordinating in most aspects of life but matching ourselves to winter effects is not a choice i would quickly take.

Dry hair, chapped lips, dry and tight skin, lacklustre complexion is something that these products keep me successfully battling against in winter months.

I wanted to share with you my essentials for doing just so, with products that don't break the bank, but do break winter threats to our skin.

Hair

My hair and winter are far from BFFs. Before finding products to help my hair lacked so much lustre, softness, healthiness and ended up looking like a dry knotty mess that needs a good brush. 

I quickly came to realise that it all need to start from the beginning. In the shower. A good conditioning shampoo and conditioner that would seep it's goodness into each strand and something that would get it back to looking shiny and luxurious. The only problem with having those things is GREASE. A deep moisturising shampoo and conditioner almost is asking for a heavy thick, greasy enticing product to be popped through your locks. 

Here's some shamps and condishes that i use over the winter that add all the gleam and cream i need without turning my head into an oil slick...

Schwarzkopf Gliss Liquid Silk. 

I buy mine from the poundland. Hello bargain. 

Dry shampoo is always a good one to have in, on those freezing days that you don't even want to think getting out of the shower with wet hair. You can put off the battle of the grooling task of drying it and opt for a spritz of dry shampoo to freshen up for one more day. 

If your locks are need of a pamper, grab your coconut oil and slather it on girl. Coconut oil is SO moisturising and strengthen for your hair that it will combat the stresses the cold wether has on our bonnets. 

Face

Nivea Creme Care Cleansing Cream wash is a statement piece in my facial skincare regime. It is SO affordable and available at most drugstores and supermarkets, so easy to get your hands on. It's a creamy delight to use in winter and it just feels like your applying a moisturiser. It's super effective at taking off make-up including mascara (also doesn't sting our precious eyeballs while doing so). It keeps my skin so soft and supple and after cleansing leaves my skin soothed and calm. You know some cleansers leave you with such a shrivelled prune like tightness that you just want to slather up in face cream? Well this gem doesn't do that, the absolute opposite. It keeps the winter dryness at bay and feels a treat to use both morning and night.

I know the sun doesn't seem likes its baring it's warmth at all to us but trust me when i say it still has an effect on my skin. We should wear spf all year round to combat the harshness from the brightest star in the sky. I loveee this one from Hawaiian Tropics, it's spf 30, glides on and smells like a holiday by a pool and is a great base for your makeup. 

 Body

I have got no time to be standing shivering in my shower naked lathering up in a body butter for 10 minutes. Nur hur *clicks fingers & walks away*. I need something that is quick and easy to apply and something that doesn't take 84 years to absorb. Here's when i discovered spray moisturisers. My fave is from vaseline. A tad pricey but when you can get it on offer, it's a fab little investment (still drugstore price). 

Vaseline Spray and Go Cocoa Radiant. 

Nails

YACK to brittle nails. I have had such a journey with my nails and finding something that works for them. I am soon to be getting a UV gel machine to keep my nails looking tip top and put together but before then, the winter gets its paws on my paws and does my nails some damage, poor things.

The little regime i have to combat the harsh wether conditions threatening my nails to dry, flakey and brittleness, works a treat.

I use a clear base coat polish from Loreal, again i got this from the poundland but you can find this online too. Slather a layer onto my nails which dries in about a minute so hassle free. Then a couple of nights a week slather by cuticles in oil, again for Loreal from poundland. The cuticle oil keep my fingers looking flake free and bite-tempting skin at bay. The nail hardener creates a barrier between my nails and winter to help keep them healthy and strong. 

Lips

We don't want your luscious lips looking dry and flakey now do we. So I always remember to slap on a bit of lip balm throughout the day. But i cannot be doing with a thick ass butter like texture! But finding a lip balm to battle dryness and fight against even more chapping is hard to find. Or so i thought. Nivea have amazing affordable lip balms that are light to wear but heavy in moisturising. The aloe vera version also has your daily spf in too, to protect those puckers. 

I hope you enjoyed a little insight into my winter beauty essentials. Do let me know if you have any faves to combat the conditions winter can throw at us, i would love to know!

See you on my next post, chat soon...

Emilie xx

January Loves

Hello lovely, welcome to my January Loves post where i'm going to be sharing with you some of my faves throughout the month.

I hope you enjoy having a gander x

I've had these 4 beauty products stand out from the crowd throughout January and each one having different reasons to shine.

Mua Primer - Has been a fantastic base for my makeup as it evens out my skin texture and helps to blur away my pores. It does have silicone formula which i have been enjoying just over my t-zone to keep my makeup in place.

Tarte Blush in Paaarty - I got this as a sample for spending an obscene about in Sephora a few years ago and it has been my go to blush for MONTHS now. It's the perfect shade to add just a touch of colour but one that could be built up too. The shade is exactly what the packaging looks like, in between a pink and mauve shade. Being part of the 12 hour amazonian clay collection, it lasts all day which is such a bonus.

Revolution Conceal & Define - This has quickly if not instantly become my favourite concealer. It covers any blemishes i wish to hide as it can be built up to get the fullest coverage. At the same time diminishing the appearance of dark circles but not leaving a heavy feeling, cakey looking texture under the eyes. It is so comfortable and long wearing and blends away seamlessly. 

P.S... Lash Contour Mascara - I have a full blog post that you can read here on this mascara as it is such a gem from Primark with an incredible price tag. If your looking for a cheaper alternative to Lash Sensational from Maybelline, that gives curl, volume and length too the lashes then you need to check this mascara out! 

Throughout december i have been loving a beachy wavy hairstyle that looks natural and takes no effort at all (blog post coming soon for you me darlin) and with that look brings me into talking about a beachy mermaid hair must have from VO5.

VO5 Plump it up backcombing spray gives my desired omph without leaving a tacky residue like others i have tried. It keeps my hair voluminised and gives a gorgeous waft of just been to the salon scent to my locks. 

Garnier Strength Restorer Serum has been my split end remedy to seal all of the breaking ends. It glosses over the dryness to leave it looking and feeling soft and sealed while leaving my hair smelling gorgeously of sweet honey.

My wonderful Mom had been brought a Christmas gift from my brother and his family, to take herself and another for an afternoon tea at Valerie Patisserie. It was wonderful, after having to loop around again on the bus after missing my stop me and mom were so ready to delve into some treats. We had a selection of sandwiches with the most DELICIOUS warm quiches (i could have ate 5), plain and raisin scones, with an array of cakes to choose from. We cut in half the cakes so we could both take and try a piece each. We had refillable drinks so the tea flowed and a mocha or two and then were both shocked we were told we could choose a cake each from the shelves! If you have never seen Valerie Patisserie cakes before, i would describe them as something you would see in a Parisian cake window display. Mom and I both chose the same, which was a raspberry tart with a gloss shining on the top which was insanely good (my husband would agree who shared a half with me hehe)

There's a few little things I have loved among many others in January. If you would like to see what else i have been favouriting like music and youtubers, then make sure to check out my January Favourties video down below. 

Thank you so much for reading & chat soon,

From, Emilie x