My Tips for Healthier Looking Skin

Hey there! So today I thought I would have a little chat about one of my favourite topics, skincare, and my tips for looking after it in natural ways which will benefit your skin. I realise that I am in no way a "skincare expert", but when my skin isn't feeling it's best, this maybe due to stress, tiredness or "that time of the month", I follow these tips and they help it, so hopefully they will be beneficial for you too.

Tip 1: Wear make-up minimally
When you're skin isn't looking or feeling too great it's probably because it's being very sensitive, and by shoving make-up onto your face will just make matters worse. Being still in school I rarely wear make-up and when I do I still wear it very minimally. But if you're someone who wears it on a regular basis just tone down how much you're putting on, obviously this just concerns base make-up like foundation, concealer, powder etc. If you're still desperate to wear some make-up (because I know some people just like the feeling of putting it on) stick to a little bit of concealer as a base, and unless you've got problems around you're eyes probably some mascara and eyeshadow too. My favourite concealer to wear is the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer, this concealer is really great at making your under eye area look a little more awake and also hide whatever blemishes you may have, without irritating the skin. It's really good value too being a drugstore product, which is always a plus.

Tip 2: Drink lots of water and non caffeinated drinks
Water is such a good thing to drink when you're skin is not so good, it's 100% natural and detoxes your body inside and out, making you feel and look glowier, if that makes sense. I know a lot of people aren't a fan of straight up water, so a way of making your water taste a little bit better is by adding some slices of lime. By adding lime it makes your water taste a little more citrusy and interesting. Another drink I'd recommend drinking is a sort of green tea instead of your classic English Breakfast which contains lots of caffeine which just goes straight to your skin giving you spots. My favourite sort of non caffeinated tea is Peppermint tea, and in particular the Pukka Three Mint Tea, it tastes so yummy and minty, and is a great thing to drink to make your skin look a little clearer.

Tip 3: Use more natural products on your face
When it comes to face masks there is one brand I look to; Lush. Their face masks are natural, and made out of ingredients which will be sure to benefit you're skin. One of my favourite face masks from Lush is Catastrophe Cosmetic, which is calming, cleansing and moisturising for your skin. It is packed full of blueberries, calamine, chamomile, rose and almond oils, to sooth and soften your skin. It's also really amazing at just cleansing your skin and getting rid of all the bacteria in it. Another product I love using from Lush is Movis and it's lush's only facial soap. It is full of cocoa butter, wheatgerm oil, hop oil and coconut oil to soften and exfoliate your skin with a cleansing feel. In general Lush is known to make really natural products which will benefit your body, so I'd definitely recommend checking the shop out.

My Autumn Scent

Hey there! Long time no see! Today I thought inspired by the autumnal weather outside my window to share with you lovely people the scent which I've been absolutely loving so far this autumn. And the scent is fig.

To a lot of people you might think the scent from a fig might be odd but it actually smells amazing! If you're a fan of the white company you'll know they do a Fresh Fig scent, so I decided to get the shower gel and body lotion. If I'm being honest with you I did originally buy them for my mum, but I just seem to wander in her bathroom on a regular occasion and steal them. Sorry mum! Anyway it is quite a strong, slightly woody, sweet, bright scented fig smell which will be sure to wake you up in the morning. The products themselves are really luxurious and feel really softening a cleansing on the skin.

The other fig scented product which I absolutely adore is from Campagnie de Provence, which is a French brand which I hadn't actually ever heard of until I went into Indian Summer which is a shop on the Fulham Road, and I fell in love with the brand. The product which I went for was the Creme pour les mains extra pure figue, which translates into hand cream extra pure fig of provence. Again the scent is of fig, but this one is more earthy than the one from the white company. The product itself is really moisturising and feels very light when I put it on, I'd definitely recommend checking the brand out. 

Morning Pamper

Some mornings I wake up feeling like a pamper, and today I was having one of those mornings, so I thought I would share with you guys what I like to do... These mornings are my favourite as especially during school time, my mornings feel so rushed, so sometimes I just like to slow things down, keep the shower on for 5 more minutes, stay in bed for that extra hour, whatever it is I like to keep things on the down low sometimes... I apologise for the long intro so lets get into it...!

When I wake up I always feel very hungry so the first thing I do is head down to the kitchen to make some breakfast. And today I felt like a banana and blueberry smoothie. So I make that and then head back upstairs with it. After that I get in the shower and use my TRESemme Perfectly Undone Shampoo and Conditioner and then use my  Simple Moisturising Facial Wash, which cleans my face while leaving it very soft. Next I use my Body Shop Aloe Gentle Exfoliater which softens my skin without irritating. Finally I use my Zoella Soak Opera, which smells really light, girly and floral. Once out the shower I like to put on a face mask, my favourite at the moment couretsy of my friend Lucia who persuaded me to buy it is the Lush The Sacred Truth Face Mask, it brightens up the face, leaving it feeling clean, hydrated and silky soft. After waiting 10-15 mins for it to work it's magic while I read, watch Netflix etc. I massage the mask off with warm water. Then I use my Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturiser , which is so moisturising, I'd definitely recommend it.

 After this I head back to my bedroom and I light my True Grace Seashore Candle which smells very fresh and quite fruity too, and use my Soap and Glory Righteous Butter, which is the classic Soap and Glory smell, sweet, girly and not too strong. Then I put on my Lush Strawberry Feels forever Massage Bar, which is extremely softening, nourishing and smells like strawberries and cream, and I apply this to the bottom part of my arm (elbow down). Then I finish off with a spritz of my Michael Kors Glam Jasmine Perfume which is a very floral and fruity scent which I've been really loving at the moment.

I tend to leave my hair to air-dry and then I settle down to read a book, currently I'm reading All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, which is so good, and then I wrote this blog post. What do you get up to on your lazy Sunday?

Amy xx

What's on my Bedside Table?

Today I was felt like showing you what is on my bedside table, (the top layer at least, because the other levels just has my book on it which is "All the Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven) because aren't we all nosey sometimes? I know I am...

On my bedside table I like to keep all the things which I use on a regular basis, because I'm one of girls who once they're in bed just can't be bothered to move and remove her makeup which she wore that day, apply some lip balm etc. So I just keep it all on my bed side table for easy access. The actual table I believe is the Olivia Bedside from Feather & Black, and on it I have a light which is the Tommy Desk Lamp from Habitat which isn't metal it's actually pink, but they didn't have that one anymore. I also have a candle which is the Jasmine & Black Olive candle from muji which smells very floral and a little bit musty too.

As for beauty products I have a Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water in the 125ml version, if you're looking for a drugstore cleanser and product that removes makeup this is definitely up your alley. I also have some cotton pads which I actually stand up on the lid of the muji candle which I put the micellar water onto. I also have 3 pocket vacs from Bath & Body Works in the scents Fall Lakeside Breeze, this scent is really fresh and it smells quite like the ocean. I also have Cozy Vanilla Cream which smells very warming and christmasy and a lot like vanilla, the last one is Bright Autumn Day which smells like cinnamon, but still very fresh too. You can't get these in the UK but if you're based in the US I'd definitely recommend picking up some things from Bath and Body Works.

I also have 2 eos products. One of them being Honeysuckle Honeydew lip balm which is extremely moisturising and I like to put this on just before I go to bed so as to have really moisturised lips in the morning, it smells like melon and feels so nice on the lips. The other product is the Fresh Flowers Hand Lotion which is again really moisturising and smells like flowers. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. What's your favourite item on your bedside table?

Amy xx

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Hey there so today I thought I would do a food related post for you, and recently I've been thinking of different things I could have for breakfast and I came up with the options below. All three breakfasts (plus 1 drinkare quite different so hopefully there will be something which catches your eye. Bon appetite!

Avocado on Rye Bread and Iced Coffee
1 slice of rye bread
1 Avocado chopped
4 cherry tomatoes halves
half a squeezed lime
handful of coriander
Pepper to taste

Cut up the avocado into cubes and halve the tomatoes and put them onto the rye bread then take some coriander and sprinkle it over and then squeeze the lime onto it and grind some pepper on to your fancy.

for Iced Coffee
1 espresso
(the rest of the glass) milk
4 or 5 ice cubes

Put the espresso into your glass then fill up to the top with milk and put some ice cubes in to keep it cold.

Green Juice
3 long sticks of celery
1 apple
2/3 cucumber
handful of cordiand
er
handful of basil
half a lemon

Put it all into a juicer and zoosh it up, and then pour it into a glass of choice. The measurements for the different ingredients might not be right for how much juice you want/what machine you might  have as my juicer just takes out the juice of the ingredients but there's a lot of excess, so if you own a nutra-bullet (which I ordered yesterday, I'm very excited!) you'll use less ingredients because the machine doesn't leave any waste, (did that make sense!).

Nut blend and Yoghurt

for the nut blend...
almonds
marconia almonds
pistachios
pecans
dried blueberries
sliced coconut

Roast all the nuts, almonds, pistachios etc. in one layer in the oven at 200C till their roasted enough. Leave them to cool and then pulse them 8 times in a food processor, then put the mix into a container and put in the dried blueberries. While you're doing that turn off the oven and toast the sliced coconut with the rest of the heat, for however long till they're the right amount of toastiness for you and then once they're cooled put that into the rest of the mixture.

to serve...
greek yoghurt (however much to fit your bowl)
strawberries
raspberries
blueberries

Put greek yoghurt into a bowl then wash some berries and put that on top then sprinkle as much or as little of the nut blend as you want.

I really hope you enjoyed this blog post, if you enjoy it and try some of these recipes tell me in the comments below what you thought about them, and if you want me to do more recipe related posts.

Amy xx

Lush Haul - First Impressions

Hi there, how are you guys? Sorry for the absence of posts in the last couple of weeks I've just been away on holiday in Sardinia, and I didn't bring my computer so that means no blogging. And I also apologise for posting 2 lush related posts in a row I just went into the lush in Oxford Street yesterday and i thought I would show you what I bought with my first impressions. Enjoy!

The Experimenter Bath Bomb

This bath bomb smells so incredible! It is a very strong scented bath bomb so you either really love it or really don't, and I love it. It smells very spicy and the colour of it is incredible, orange, white, purple, pink and orange and I just can't wait to see the colour of my bath once it's in.

Intergalactic Bath Bomb

If you know me you'll know that I love the smell of mint, which is why I love this bath bomb so much. The bath bomb is mainly coloured turquoise and then it has 2 lines of white, pink and yellow. It's the normal bath bomb shape and the bath bomb has a little bit of sparkle in it too. 

Guardian of the Forest Bath Bomb (sorry not on the website as it's Oxford St branch, I think)

When I see this bath bomb I see a chameleon which has camouflaged into its habitat, the jungle and it looks so cool. The colours are turquoise and like bright green, which is going to make a really cool coloured bath. It also smells really good, fresh, and a bit like grass and plants, which sounds strange but it's smells amazing.

Supertramp Bubble Bar - (not on website either, sorry!)

This bubble bar looks so epic, with it being two of my favourite colours lime green and a pretty girly pink. The smell is really earthy and the product itself is massive like the size of the comforter and brightside but just £1 cheaper which is a definite plus.

The Green Bubbleroon

Hence the name bubbleroon you can be pretty sure this product looks like a macaroon, which is exactly what it looks like, a big lime coloured citrusy and fresh smelling macaroon which you just want to eat. The colour is so bright and I'm sure it's going to make a really cool coloured bath.

Rose Jam Bubbleroon

This bubble bar has the same sort of shape as the green, but just a pinker and rosier smelling macaroon, which looks even tastier. It is also slightly glittery on the top and I'm sure the colour pay off will be incredible!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and in the comments below tell me what you're favourite bath product from lush is and I'm sure to try it.

Amy xx

Products for this Summer from Lush

Hi there! So today I thought I would write and tell you guys a few of my new favourite scents from lush for this summer. I have a range of products to show you so let's get started!

Avobath bath bomb 

For me this bath bomb is an obvious favourite at this time of year, firstly it smells incredible! The scent is very citrusy, in particular of lemons, it is a very uplifting. It is also really relaxing and leaves your skin feeling really soft, this is due to the bergamot and lemongrass oils and avocado inside the product. It is also bright green which means your bath will be turned a beautiful springy, awakening green colour. 

Dirty Springwash Shower Gel

Can we just a minute to appreciate how amazing you smell after you've used this product in the shower. It is a very minty scent, which makes your skin feel so cool and refreshed. Also you can use his product in your hair as shampoo which is amazing too. It is very uplifting and the product is made up of thyme oil, spearmint oil and sea salt. It is one of the only shower gels I use at this time of year and I can't wait to take it with me when I go to Sardinia later on this week.

Shimmy Shimmy Shimmer Bar

This is a product which I think is not necessary but if you have it you use it all the time due to the amazing smell of vanilla, cocoa butter and shea butter to leave your skin feeling soft and glittery. If you're not a fan of glitter then this product is probably not for you, but for someone who is it's amazing. I tend to apply this product to my arm to make me look shimmery. It is perfect in summer time and can be used during the day or for a night out.