Yesterday I ate a Sausage Roll. And a Chicken sandwich. I managed to go meat free for a whole two weeks but honestly I couldn't hack it anymore. I've seen more veggie burgers in the last two weeks than anyone should ever have to witness in their life and I'm not doing it anymore.
The first week went really well. I scoffed down several veggie burgers, tried my hand at a meat free spaghetti bolognese and even ate my first vegetable curry but by week two I was running out of ideas and money to spend on expensive meat substitutes.
What did I miss? - One of the hardest parts of the challenge was eating out. I eat in restaurants pretty regularly and watching everyone else munch down on their meaty meals while I could only eat veggies was pretty hard. Although I really enjoyed my Vegetable Biryani ( had it twice btw ) it just didn't beat my regular dish of Chicken Pakora. I also really missed eating burgers as its probably the thing me and Sean eat the most while dining out. We did make a trip to Gourmet Burger Kitchen in the week but despite my Veggie Burger being full of flavour I easily could have ripped Sean's Classic Beef Burger out of his hands and wolfed it down in seconds.
What did I enjoy? - Me and my family go for a Carvery almost weekly and as I normally eat Turkey I thought I would be a bit stuck on what to pick instead. I didn't want just a meat free Carvery so I was delighted to see they had quite a selection of vegetarian alternatives! I opted for the Spiced Carrot and Chickpea Wellington which was actually full of flavour and even a little hot. The other thing I thoroughly enjoyed was my homemade meat free Spaghetti Bolognese. I replaced mince meat with vegetarian sausages and it actually tasted quite nice, even Sean enjoyed it and he's a big meat lover!
What is something I'm keen to try out? - Even though I'm quitting the veggie diet I'd still like to reduce my meat consumption and I'm quite interested in trying out more of the Quorn meat free range. I cooked a couple of Quorn escalopes last week and I was pretty amazed at how much they taste and even felt like chicken! I've already got a packet of 'chicken nuggets' to try out and I'd like to give some of their other products a go!
Did I eat healthier during the challenge? - One of the things I hoped to pick up from this challenge was a healthier diet. I wanted to cut out Mcdonalds, Chip Shop kebabs and other greasy fatty meals from my diet. Although I didn't visit Mcdonalds and I don't plan to any time soon, and I didn't grab a dirty Kebab from my local chippy I don't think I ate much healthier. I found myself snacking on more bags of crisps and cheese instead of sausage rolls and I even ordered a few vegetable based take aways. My diet does need changing but I don't think cutting out meat would really be the way to do it. The healthiest thing I ate in the last two weeks would probably be my vegetable stew which I cook anyway.
All in a I don't think the vegetarian life is for me. I do want to carry on eating less meat but cutting it out completely left me with very few options apart from pricey meat substitutes and pizza. My one month challenge was cut short but I'm happy I at least gave this lifestyle a good go!
Have you ever tried anything like this before?
Thanks for reading!
xxx
A few weeks back I was invited to the Miss Patisserie Event in Cardiff. I bought myself quite a few goodies while I was there, one of which was a pack of gorgeously scented Rose Bath Shards. I actually received a pack in the event goodie bag as well so I decided to chuck the lot in my bath and have a nice relax.
The first thing I noticed when I opened the packet was just how strong the scent was. I have Lush bath products quite regularly and honestly nothing I've used yet was as noticeable as this. Once I started to crumble pieces into my bath the warm water further exaggerated the beautiful rose scent.
I found it hard to mix the crumbled pieces into the bath water so I decided to run them under the water instead which made the bath shards melt much easier. My bath water soon started to turn a murky purple/ grey colour which alone wouldn't have looked very appealing but paired with the rose petals it started to look quite inviting.
The consistency of the shards once melted was very similar to the Lush bath oils. Everything settled on the surface with the different shades of purple swirling around the create pretty patterns. As it was so oily I did find that it clung to my skin quite considerably and even after I got out of the bath a lather of purple slime was left on my skin. This wasn't a problem as I always shower after a bubble bath anyway however this was harder to get off than anything else I've ever bathed in before. It also really stuck the sides of my bath and took a hell of a lot of scrubbing to clean off!
One positive with this product was that I found it perfect for sensitive skin. As you might know I suffer with bad eczema all over my body and sometimes using strong bath products makes this flair up. Although it won't necessarily be good for sensitive skin I didn't have any flair ups after using the Bath Shards.
Overall I did enjoy bathing with the Bath Shards however I wouldn't repurchase as they just made too much mess.
Have you ever tried anything like this before?
Thanks for reading!
xxx
As you might remember wayyyyy back in April I went to Barcelona for a few days. Well I finally got around to writing up the second half of my travel diary and here it is late as always! If you missed the first part of my travel diary you can find it here. So this is what I got up to...
Day 3 - We got up really really early and headed over to La Sagrada Familia, something we were all keen to see. Unfortunately we made the same mistake as the previous day and didn't book our tickets in advance so we couldn't get in. We booked up for the next day and decided to go to the Picasso Museum instead. On the way there we bought friendship bracelets, passed the Cateral De Barcelona and popped into the Lomography shop. The Picasso Museum is free for students and well worth a visit! After stopping for lunch we headed back to Park Guell as we booked tickets the day before. The park was gorgeous as usual and the view was just amazing. Although it was literally packed with tourists this still didn't take away its beauty and I would definitely go back there if I'm ever in Barcelona again. I don't really have many pictures from this day as the Picasso Museum didn't allow photography and my camera ran out of battery just before we got to Park Guell which is a bit of a bugger.
Day 4 - We finally managed to see the amazing La Sagrada Familia! It was such a magical experience, even for someone who's not religious. I'm not really into religion, I feel like it causes more problems than it solves but to be in this incredible building that had so much thought and work go into it really was fantastic. It's probably one of the pricier things to do in Barcelona, especially if you pay to go up the towers like we did, but it's worth every penny. After wandering around for a few hours we headed back into central Barca to do a bit more shopping and finally track down the illusive Paella which was fab by the way! After tea we went back to the hotel to get ready for our only proper night out. One thing we were all excited to do was go to the IceBarcelona, a bar with a temperature of -12 degrees inside. I'd been to the Amsterdam Ice Bar with Sean last year and we could only manage to stay for around 20 minutes before getting too cold and calling it quits. We all decided we need to beat my previous record and with a few drinks and a bit of dancing somehow managed to stay in for a whole hour! We stayed around this area for a little while, drinking and speaking to people from all over the world before deciding we were probably too drunk and headed home.
Day 5 - This was our final day and the only day I didn't take my proper camera out with me. After lugging it around all week I decided to give my back the day off and just take my compact and instax out. We headed down to the water front to do some more bloody shopping at Port Vell. As much as I love shopping it was starting to get a bit boring so me and two others headed out on a short boat trip around the harbour! After this we headed down to the beach as we hadn't been on it all week. By the time we found it we only really had 20 minutes to take some photos and paddle as we wanted to see the magic fountain show which started at 9. We got a taxi back to the hotel which was surprisingly cheap, picked up our proper cameras then got the subway to watch the Magic Fountain show. Although my photographs don't do it justice ( low lighting and no tripod oops) the show was incredible and well worth seeing! Its on every night for around an hour and it completely free! Its a good idea to arrive early if you want to get a good spot though as it gets super busy.
I absolutely loved my week in Barcelona and I'm sure I'll be back again in the future! Have any of you guys been to Barca? Where were your favourite places?
Thanks for reading!
xxx
So I want to start by thanking the gorgeous Amanda over at xamandajayne.blogspot.co.uk for tagging me to do this! I absolutely love doing tags and its been ages since I'd been tagged to do anything!
So here are the sins:
Wrath - What product do you have a love/hate relationship with? This is a tricky one but I think it would probably have to be my Benefit Roller Lash Mascara. When I open a new tube I love it, everything about it is perfect but I feel that it dries out a lot quicker than my other mascaras. Once it starts to dry out my eyelashes look all crumbly and I might as well be using any budget mascara.
Gluttony - What brand takes up the most of your make-up collection? - At the moment it has to be MAC. Although I have a lot of cheaper brands in my collection, I use MAC the most on a daily basis. Not everything I've bought from MAC has been worth the hype but the majority has and I doubt my love affair with the brand will stop anytime soon!
Sloth - Which product do you neglect due to laziness? - This is going to have to be my Alice Palette again. I love it but I think some of the colours are quite out there and honestly I don't have the time or effort to work out what I can get away with!
Pride - Which product gives you the most self confidence? - Easy, my Velvet Teddy Lipstick! I know everyone and their mother has this lipstick but its such a bloody good product. I have quite thin lips an this lippy really gives the illusion of fuller lips!
Lust - What item is at the top of your beauty wishlist? - Right now it would have to be DIOR Diorshow Mono Eyeshadow in 'Pulse' which is a gorgeous shimmery gold. I fell in love with it a few days ago in Debenhams but I honestly can't justify the £24.50 price tag for ONE SINGLE EYESHADOW!
Envy - Which makeup look looks great on other people but not on you? - Over drawing lips. Honestly I don't know how people do it! If I try to over draw my lips it is super obvious and I look like a bad drag queen. I've even considered lip fillers so I could get that Kylie Jenner look!
Thanks for reading!
xxx
I've never really been a huge meat fan. I like Chicken, Beef (in Burger form) and the occasional bit of Sausage or Bacon but that's about it. So this got me thinking, could I live without meat for a whole month?
I've heard time and time again that we should bring our meat consumption down, not only because of the health benefits but because of the impact it has on the environment. Now I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about being vegetarian and I'm definitely not going to pretend I know a massive amount about how the meat industry affects the environment, but this is something I really want to try out.
So as of tomorrow (10.7.16) I'm going meat free for a whole month, or at least I'm going to try. I'll be doing a little weekly post of how that week went, what I struggled with, what I enjoyed and maybe even a few recipes I've tried out. I'm not sure how easy this will be for me. I think the hardest part will be eating out on holiday, I mean how am I going to turn down a succulent Hard Rock Cafe Burger? Well I'm going to give it a damn good go!
I'd love to hear what you guys think about doing something like this, have you ever tried anything similar before?
If anyone wants to take part in this challenge with me, let me know in the comments or on Twitter!
Thanks for reading!
xxx
I've been meaning to try this face mask out for so long now, I got it in a BirchBox literally months ago. I'd never heard of When before but I was really excited to test out a luxury face mask as I've been living off the £1 Montagne Jeunesse ones for years. Well I finally tried it out on Thursday and to say I was disappointed was a complete understatement.
When is a Korean brand who specialise in Bio-cellulose sheet face masks. In the UK their masks are sold in Topshop and Selfridges at a cost of £25 for a set of 4. The mask I got to try out is their Travelmate Face Mask which can be used to help the skin to recover from sun, wind and dry air. It is in theory the perfect holiday face mask.
As I've just returned from two pretty sunny breaks I thought this would be the perfect time to put it to the test. The first thing I want to mention is what a pain this thing is to put on. I'm used to standard creamy face masks that I can apply bit by bit, this is nothing like that. The sheet is more of a very wet gooey plastic that honestly feels like putting a cold used condom on your face. I don't even care how gross that sounds because thats exactly how it felt. As I was trying to apply the sheet to my face it kept getting stuck to itself (imagine cling film) and even once it was on it was a nightmare to smooth out.
After the ordeal of putting the mask on my face I was pretty annoyed at how huge it was. I mean I know its meant to be one size fits all but the holes cut out for my eyes, nose and mouth were ridiculous. The sheet didn't cover the sides of my nose and a lot of my chin was left without any product on it until I repositioned it. After positioning the mask to cover as much as my face as possibly it became ruffled in places and I couldn't get it to lie flat against my face so my skin wasn't benefitting in those areas either.
Once I'd got used to the shock of the cold mask (honestly warm it up before you use it) I actually started enjoy the feeling of it on my face. I could almost feel my skin sucking in all the goodness and it was quite a nice soothing feeling. I removed the mask after the recommend half an hour and it did leave my skin feeling refreshed and soft.
Overall I don't think this face mask is worth the money and I won't be running out to buy any other sheet masks in the future as they probably wouldn't fit right either. Although the mask did what it said on the tin, I can get the same soft nourishing feeling from most facial moisturisers that don't take forever to apply.
Have you ever tried any of the When Face Masks? I'd love to know if you guys had a better experience with them than I did!
Thanks for reading!
xxx
A little while back I was sent a sample kit of Arbonne Skincare products to test out. Arbonne are a Swiss brand who's products are vegan, hypoallergenic, dermatologically tested, gluten free and also cruelty free. After determining my skin type I was given the FC5 Complextion Revitalising sample set which is formulated for normal/dry skin. The sample set contained 1 Nurturing Day Lotion, 1 Moisturising Night Creme, 1 Hydrating Eye Creme and 1 Hydrating Cleanser.
Nurturing Day Lotion - The first product I want to talk about is the gorgeously scented Day Lotion. This is the first product I ran out of as I couldn't get enough of it. Its a little bit thicker than my usual moisturiser but I didn't feel like it was too heavy on my face. The product also didn't go as far as I would have expected but I do like to really lather it on, so that explains that. Overall I really liked it. The product made my face feel really hydrated and I would still be using it now had I not ran out.
Moisturising Night Creme - This product again came with the same beautiful scent as the day lotion. It was also just as think however it was very quickly absorbed into my skin and didn't feel greasy at all.
Hydrating Eye Creme - Up until I started using these products I had just used bog standard facial moisturisers around my eyes and that was good enough for me. Although I will probably go back to that routine after I've finished this product I did really enjoy using it as I felt it was incredibly gentle on that sensitive area. I also felt that this product went incredibly far and I didn't need to use much at all, hence why I still have some left.
Hydrating Cleanser + Freshener - This was probably the product I was most impressed with. I've tried several cleansers in the past and I've never found anything that has come remotely close to my beloved Peaches & Clean from Soap & Glory. This little beauty however comes in very close. It leaves my skin feeling very fresh and even removes my stubborn eye makeup!
Makeup Primer - The lovely people at Arbonne had also included a makeup primer in with my samples for me to try out so I thought I might as well write about that here too! Although I haven't used this as a base for my foundation I have tried it out as an eyeshadow primer and I was quite impressed. It kept my eyeshadow from creasing and kept it looking fresh for a good few hours.
You can pick up any of the products mentioned here.
Have you ever tried anything from the Arbonne range?
Thanks for reading!
x
This post contains PR samples however all opinions are my own
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
