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I'm Livvy, 22. I love make-up, music, film, comedy and generally loving life :) Follow my Twitter @LivCR Tweet saying you're a blogger I'll follow back :)

Wednesday 16 May 2012

'Inspired By' Make-up #3 and a Blog Sale Pondering.

Hey ladies,

You'd think I was allergic to consistency the amount of time I spend not blogging when I say I will. Frankly, I'm willing to explore that as an option for non 'I'm really just a bit crap' excuses.

I have had a right pain in the arse of a week. I'm not going to bang on about it because it could reach novel quantity. Basically, £130 has just disappeared out my bank account. And £54 of that is a hotel (The Ibis in Manchester, Charles Street - name and shame) that's decided that me paying for the hotel once just wasn't enough. Anyway, I've been busy dwelling on/trying to sort out that.

Also I've been mulling over my finances, which I'd say are now at a level of 'pooping myself'. I was thinking about doing a blog sale. Would anyone be interested in that? I've got some unloved Nars and Revlon products. I'm also planning on a foray in to the world of eBay. I'm really worried I won't be able to work it and will end up with an angry person demanding I give them loads of money. Haha.

Anyway, this post WAS supposed to be an Emma Watson 'Inspired By'. Basically, I had all the make-up I used in a pile for almost literally a week ready to be photographed. Friday came and I was going out for my friend's birthday. You may remember me mentioning before my incredible lack of forward preparation when it comes to nights out. Let's just say the neat pile covered most of my floor by the time I'd left, fifteen minutes late. I'd also lost a shoe. Let's not even go there. Naturally upon arriving home slightly tipsy, I just about got away with not breaking anything. To summarise, the make-up never got photo'd. (BAD blogger).

I thought I'd show you the finished look anyway, mainly because I straightened my hair for it and I am not going to waste heat-on-hair. ;)

As we all know Emma (I'm talking about Hermione for those who aren't familiar) has pixie short hair... And beautiful petite features which help her pull it off.




I don't. Big eyebrows, big nose, big lips, big eyes = big hair. Basically I'm not so dedicated that I hacked off my hair. Nu-uh. What I did do to recreate the look is straighten my hair so it was 00's poker straight, then slick back the front and sides with some macadamia oil and hair grips. I originally tied it up as well but also tried it in a side pony tail and down. These were my finished looks:

Hair all scraped back. Let's face it, I couldn't pull off a crop cut!


Hair in visible ponytail.

Hair down. Sexyfine bathroom pic. LOL at me! (The lighting in my bedroom was atrocious, hence the unusual relocation.)
Needless to say I look nothing like Emma, this is just using her make-up as inspiration. I'm not sure about that orangey red on my skin tone. And false eyelashes are just not my friend. Nor is liquid eyeliner. But hey, I gave it a go ;) I'm not an eyelash convert. I think my eyes are perhaps a bit too hooded and they just get lost. And they make me feel like I'm carrying a pair of pigeons on my face. I quite like the Essex lad style parting though. It looks sophisticated without being over the top. Plus I like that she went for full brows, minimal effort for me. ;)

We've come to the end of this giant pile of potatoey latice goodness (waffle ;)). Ta for reading if you have.

My aim is to try a bit of Scar Jo next. If only I could actually transform in to her. Girl crush alert. Which celebrity would you love to transform in to?  I'm going to try my absolute hardest to at least make a list of the make-up I use, but hey - don't hold your breath.

Love Livvy x

Wednesday 9 May 2012

An Ode To My Favourite (Retired) Boots

Heya, hope you're all enjoying the drizzly weather ;)

Today I wanted to do a quick post on my favourite boots. They aren't the prettiest, or the most on trend, but they are the best. Comfy, go with everything (in my mind), work the stained look with pride... These boots have reached their twilight. I've set them away to retire, unable to let them go just yet. OTT? Quite possibly. But I've worn these boots practically every day for the best part of a year. Here are the humble beauties:





These basic military(ish) style boots are from River Island. I got them in a sale for about £20 reduced form £60 I think. Bargain! I love them so much more than I thought. As I'm tall and 'curvey' more masculine styles can make me look a bit butch, sexy. Not these though. I could bang on about them for weeks. Honestly. I'm sure everyone has that one faithful item of footwear. What's yours?
They've lived through several muddy fields, torrential rain, a peice of chewing gum has stained them for at least 6 months; but that's what makes them unique. They look loved. Because they are!

Unfortunately, owing to the heel of one of the boots no longer having a close relationship with the actual boot (i.e. a massive hole), they have reached retirement. And though they can no longer be worn, I want to say thank you and farewell to my beloved boots.

;)

Livvy xo

Sunday 6 May 2012

Thighs of Thunder #3 - Yummy Treat (92 Cals)

Hey ladies, hope you're all enjoying the bank holiday.

I've just had a lovely lunch for my Dad's 65th birthday. He chose Nandos. I think he went once about ten years ago and decided it needed a revisit. Not that I minded, that mushroom and halloumi pitta ( I'm a veggie :)) is THE dog's. If only I could have had carrot cake... Sigh.

Having just finished week 7 of the Biggest Loser Online Club, and being 1st 3lb's down, I'm starting to crave a cheeky treat here and there. Not to carrot cake level quite yet, but I've been lusting. So when I was munching on my brekkie the other day, cereal I'd robbed off my brother - shhhh, I had an idea. Pauses for gasps of shock. I came up with the simplest recipe ever to get the 'yum factor' and some additional health benefits. Even for those of you not trying to lose weight, having a few beneficial ingredients in your snacks is a good thing. You can just eat two, right? ;)

This isn't a 'healthy snack', just to warn you. And (needless to say) I'm not a nutritionist. All I'm saying is it doesn't have a scale tipping quantity of calories and it's also got extra protein and fibre as a bonus :)
'Shhhhomebody Choc Me' (Little refernce from The Mask). 92 Calories per cake case.

The three ingredients in these are:
Crunchy peanut butter, Fruit 'n (not 'and' Fibre and some chocolate ;)

The recipe:

1. Melt 25g of chocolate (Dairy Milk if you know what's best, if you prefer Galaxy I'm ashamed, but go ahead ;)). I do it in the microwave on a low heat. If you aren't a pro at this you can do it in a glass bowl over simmering water on the hob. I say this because berfore I was a pro, I did infact melt chocolate and a plastic pot in to our Uni microwave. It did NOT smell good.
2. Add one teaspoon of crunchy peanut butter.
3. Add 25g of Fruit 'n Fibre to the mixture and crush it in with your spoon.
4. Spread mixture evenly in to 3 cake cases (you can double the recipe if you want to make 6 etc. etc.)
5. Lick the spoon and bowl clean (optional).
6. Allow to cool and then place in fridge to set.

And there you have it, a tastey 92 calorie treat. Or if you eat all three it's 276 calories... Don't blame yourself ;) If you're thinking 'Liv you're meant to be eating healthy, why are you making these?' - bore off ;) Haha, no. Basically, I thought as a veggie extra protein is always a win (peanut butter), fibre's good for everyone and chocolate tastes like heaven in my mouth.

Do you like recipe posts? Have they got your tastebuds tingling? Let me know if you make some! They've got a slight Snickers feel about them. If you aren't watching what you eat, add more peanut butter. I bet that tastes good! Ha.

Until next time,

Livvy xo

Saturday 5 May 2012

'Inspired By' Make-Up #2 - Adriana Lima

Hey ladies, hope you're all having a relaxing weekend.

First off let me apologise, I said I'd post this 'tomorrow' about 4 days ago. Oops. Time flies. Anyway, here it is.

I thought for my next 'inspired by' look I'd try my ultimate girl crush, why start small ;) Adriana Lima is a Victoria's Secret model, i.e. the hottest of all hotness. Basically, if someone said I could look however I liked, I'd just show them a pic of her. I chose a sultry, smokey brown eye look because I thought if it looks good it'll be amazing for a night out. I always leave myself about 3 minutes to get ready when I go out, not that I'm disorganised ;), so this post can also work as a 'go to' look for all us ladies who want to look sexyfine without having left any time to think about it. Because we can all look sexyfine, even if we aren't of VS stock. :)

This is the pic I worked from:



Oh to look like this!


As with all scientific experiments, as this clearly is, I thought I'd better show the raw materials I was working with:


An unnecessarily large picture of my face without make-up.


This is to show a) I don't sit around with a face full of make-up all day and to b) make up for the seriously pouty pictures that follow.

The products I used for my transformation were:

 
For the eyes I used Stila Twig (I got it from Cheapsmells.com, it's no longer there but some other Stila shadows are for seriously cheap. I have Illimani and it's beautiful.) and I used Virgin, Half Baked and Smog from the naked palette. Under the eye I used Twig and the golden brown 17 eye pencil which I got in a set.

I used Half Baked all over the lid, Virgin on the inner corner and Twig on the outter V and lightly on the crease. For lips I used Mac's Hue with a coating of the Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in shade 02 over the top. Oh my gosh, discovery of the century. We all know you shouldn't do heavy make-up on your eyes and lips, but this gives the perfect combination of sexy and neutral to the lips. I might have used my Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow highlighter in Iced Gold but I can't remember. Lesson to Liv, take pictures of make-up immediately after using it.

Ramble over, here's the finished look:









I've just remembered I also used a tiny bit of black eyeliner pencil. Photo in advance! Other lessons I've learnt are, do my eyebrows before close ups (I also used my elf eyebrow kit, I'm such a failure! Haha), don't let my mascars clump (I need to through away my YSL Faux Cils but I'm in denial) and fix my proper camera so I'm actually in focus ;)

However in terms of the colour combinations I'm really pleased. What are your thoughts on a brown smokey eye and peachy lip? Is there anything better than the classic? I reckon in summer with a tan and beachy hair this look will be 'da bomb'.

Who's your fav celebrity make-up inspiration? Any recommendations for me? All comments are welcome, even if it's just 'sort your eyebrows out Liv' ;) So that's this week's inspitration, me and my plucked eyebrows will see you next weekend (or variations there upon ;)).

Livvy xo



Wednesday 2 May 2012

April Empties and a Little Bit Of Liv's Life ;)

Hey gang, hope you're all... asleep actually. It's about12.30am. Lol.

After a rather ridiculous nap at 5pm I've been busy this evening doing another celebrity inspired look, so watch out for that tomorrow. I'd do that post now but I forgot to photograph what make-up I used and I'm now tucked up in bed. Oops.

So I thought I'd do a little waffley post, just some 'get to know me' shananigans. First off I thought I'd show you a quick pic of my 'April Empties'. I decided to jump on the bangwagon because I'm a serial 'never-finish-anything' girl.

Top Left (clockwise) The Body Shop Satsuma Shower Gel (250ml, £4), L'oreal Collagene Extra Volume Mascara (I think it might be discontinued, can't see it at Boots.com - Looks a LOT like L'oreal Volume Million Lashes though), Batiste Dry Shampoo - a hint of colour dark & deep brown (£3.99 from Boots) and Nivea Daily Essential Fragrance Free Facial Cleansing Wipes for all skin types (similar on sale at Superdrug for £1.52 now!)
I'd recommend all these items, bar the Batiste *shudder*, I'm not a fan of that grey-dustlike texture. The shower gel smells like citrus heaven, and used with the accompanying body butter the smell lasts on your skin. I know it's not to everybody's taste to smell like your shower gel, but personally I think if you can smell that someone's had a wash - that can't be a bad thing.

Now to jabber away aimlessly. First off I just wanted to mention that I saw Example and Wretch 32 live in Manchester at the weekend. 3hr train ride away, let's not even go there. They were SO good. I've never seen such a packed, pumped-up crowd.


A genuine ocean of people. Bet it smelt good down there.

I can't imagine them being big in the beauty blogging world, but I just thought I'd mention I thought they were immense (and I'm not all coral pinks and pouty lips ;)).

Aside from make-up, music and film are my two main passions. Anything creative really and I'm there, which leads me to my next rambling point. I've been painting a bit recently (like I said, anything creative - it's just like face make-up, but on canvas. Lol) and it's had a rather heinous side effect on my beauty regime:


I was painting about 12hrs ago and my nails still look like that, several soaps later. Cry with me. ;)

Paint usually does stain my nails, but an incident involving accidental use of oil paint left my finger tips like that for about 6hrs. I'm hoping nail varnish remover is going to get this off. I paint with a sponge and my fingers quite a bit, so I've only got myself to blame. It's ironic really because I apply almost all of my make-up with brushes.
My Mum wants me to paint her something (very specific might I add, and I'm not good with exact) for her birthday. Naturally I've been painting something completely different, because why be practical ;) I thought I'd show you all my work in progress, just for fun:




Still lots to do. I'm really enjoying it actually. It's funny how you can forget how much you love to do something. Guesses as to what it is in the comments. :)

What have you guys used up this month? And what do you like besides make-up? I'm wondering if all beauty obsessives have that creative gene too?
Have a lovely week,

Livvy x

Friday 27 April 2012

Today's Shopping - Boring Essentials and a Few Naughty Treats.

Hey ladies, I hope you're all smiling :)

Today is the whingiest of days. I'll be brief, get it out my system and then power through. First off my camera is now working, but the SD card reader in my laptop isn't. What a pile of poo. So I've used my phone for pics today. Second I've just had one of those days where you feel a bit pants and you're all clammy and clumsy all day. So pretty. And third I wanted to spend a voucher (and money I don't have) on a hydrating oil at the Clarins counter in my local John Lewis. The curt lady that worked there was just chatting rubbish about 'maybe it's discontinued'. Maybe you should learn what products you're supposed to have on your counter. Aaaaaaaaaaand I'm done ;)

So today I got a couple of sneeky make-up bits I ordered off cheapsmells.co.uk the other week. I'm just going to put it out in the open now that other beauty bloggers/Youtubers enable me like no other. If I see people giving rave reviews/lots of people love something, it's like my hand's reached in to the new Zara bag everyone has (which I think is already breaking because I over-filled it, oops) and suddenly my debit cards in my hand. As if I don't know the number off by heart. Someone get me a therapist! Haha. Anyway, I ended up getting:

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in Shade 2 - Apricot Shimmer, £12.50 and YSL Touche Eclat in 1 Luminous Radiance £21.50 (Eeeek).
Let's discuss (or justify to myself). I'm obsessed with getting the perfect pale, pinky/peachy lip. However, I've come to the realisation that my lips are quite dark naturally, so I'm going to investigate 'beigeing them out' with some Viva Glam Gaga 2 and then putting colour on. This does feel nice on the lips, but for the price I was expecting unicorns to jump out my mouth. No such luck. I'll show you my lip drawer in another post if you want, so you can feel my pain of the never-ending-search-for-a-colour-my-lips-probably-won't-go. Ha. My problem is I see something on someone else and hope it'll look the same on me. For example I saw this on Anna from ViviannaDoesMakeup.com and it just looked sooo good on her. I definitely have face envy.

I also got Touche Eclat, I'm definitely not explaining what it is. If you don't know, go back under your rock. Or Google it ;) This is THE cult product. I bought it for the pure fact I'm a beauty junkie and I wanted in. I got it in the palest shade because when I researched it it was the pinkiest. Now my skin is definitely very cool toned, but I thought it's be good to counter the blueish tone under my eyes. Then I'm planning to whack my Bobbi Brown creamy concealer over the top and hoping my face will be mistaken for a ripe peach. I'll let you know how that goes.

After the excitment of the post I had to plod along to Boots to get some essentials I've been putting off buying. I just hate spending money on non-fun things. But, needs must so I got:

2 face cloths, 99p each (i.e. the classic flannel) and some Boots own brand Simply Sensitive face wipes - on offer for £1.85, usually £2.79.


Dove Invisible Dry Stick Deodorant, £1.66 reduced from £2.50, TRESemme Instant Refresh Dry Shampoo for Normal to Oily Hair, £4.79 and Colgate Advanced Whitening (Tesco) £1.86

I imagine most of these are self-explanatory. I got the flannels because I read on beautymouth.com, she's a skincare expert extrodinaire, that they're just as good as muslin cloths and you should change the one you're using every day (also apparently the flannel is becoming redundant, save the flannel!). I'm trying to get a good skincare routine going because my skin's so dehydrated. As a general rule I've cut out face wipes, but they're so handy. When I'm away for a weekend I like to take my face products, but let's face it after a few voddy's it's either facewipes or waking up with the rocky mountains on my face. The deodorant's a handy size, the toothpaste was the only choice in our little Tesco beacuse I forgot in Boots, and I thought I'd give this dry shampoo a go because Batiste is eurghh. All I'm saying is, I had the one for dark hair and accidentally sprayed it on my face (don't ask), it looked like I'd rolled in a dust bunny. Ew.

How about you, do you find essential re-stocking a chore? Or do you secretly love any excuse to find yourself in Boots? How do you feel about facewipes? Have you made any disgustingly priced purchases you can share to make me feel better about my own? ;)

Livvy x

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Thighs of Thunder #2 - Motivation

Hey ladies, hope you're all ship shape.

I'm already off the schedule I made about a week ago. Mostly because organisation and me don't see eye to eye, but also because I know posts are really boring without pictures... But I can't think what would go with this sort of post. So, I'll be brief.
I'm having the biggest struggle motivating myself to exercise this week. Or to be more specific, I've only exercised once (half-arsedly) this week. Not good. It's just so boring! So I thought I'd do my top 5 pointers for exercise motivation - if only to give myself a kick up the bum:

1. Set realistic goals - Last week I was trying to do too much and this week I feel flat as a pancake because of it. If you can barely walk 3 days after, you've probably overdone it..
2. Be organised - Yup. My favourite word re-occuring again. However much I'm not organised, I know how necessary it is. My plan of action, which I got from the 'toneitupcom' ladies on Youtube, is to set my alarm half an hour early each day and exercise then. That way you can't put it off and you've still got the whole day, because I've also found myself resenting how much time it's taking up.
3. Reverse-chubby-chase -This is just for those actually trying to lose weight. Put up an A4 picture of yourself at your biggest where you exercise (tight clothing/massive pants, the less flattering the better), if that's at home, if not put it on your bedroom door (facing in the bedroom, you don't want your family/flatmates thinking you're fully off your rocker). This way you can pretend you're running/jogging/tap dancing away from your tubby self, whilst actually toning-up a new self :)
4. Don't beat yourself up - If you can't exercise one day, don't panic. Your body needs a day's rest each week, that's when it can re-cover and burn the fat (or something like that). Plus the world isn't going to stop if you have a 'really can't be arsed day'. Just make sure you don't also have a 'going to eat the contents of the fridge' day then too ;) And, if you don't think you can do your usual amount of exercise, do half. Some is better than none.
5. Have something to work towards - Whether it's a bikini body (never in my lifetime, unfortunately) or even just a pair of trousers you can't squeeze your money-maker in to (ding), have something you're looking to achieve. Personally, I'm going on holiday with my gang of ferociously attractive friends in the summer and I don't want to get thrown in the see by a mistaken whale trainer. I'm joking. Ish. Point 4 ;)

What are your motivation tips? Or do you have a clothes/summer goal?
Fell free to comment, it makes me happy :)

Livvy xx


*I'm not a qualified trainer or nutritionist or anything, these are all just my opinions and experiences.

Sunday 22 April 2012

First Attempt at 'Inspired By' Make-Up - Lily Collins

Hello, hope you're having a relaxing Weekend.

For anyone with a beady eye, you may have noticed today is supposed to be a 'Thighs of Thunder' post day. However being the bimbo that I am, I thought it was Saturday today and spent the morning doing my make-up, so we're rolling with it ;)

I was just Googling away the other day, as I often do to waste some time, and came across some pictures of Lily Collins (who's in the new Mirror, Mirror film - which my friend won't come with me to see because appratenly she's heard it's rubbish ;)). Anyway, I found this beautiful picture of her...


How stunning is she! P.s. This isn't my picture, Google image her if you want to find the link it's from :)

And I thought I might have a cheeky go at a similar make-up/hair look. Let's all take a moment to appreciate how beautiful Lily is and therefore not raise our expectaions for my own face. ;) I chose her because I have big eyebrows too. That is genuinely the main reason. Bless my cottons.

I started off by centre parting my hair (ew, it looks SO bad on me. as hard as I try to work it it's just never going to happen), then I pinned one side of my hair back and used my Babyliss Curling Wand to curl the other side. I need more practice with the wand. My hair ended up a sort of crimpy, wavy, curl. Then I did the make-up and...


Here's my finished look, I didn't throw on a beautiful dress because I couldn't be arsed. It is Sunday lunch time after all. Haha, anyway here we go:









So that's my attempt. Got a bit excited playing around with my camera so I thought I'd show you my nails too, which are the 2 polishes I mentioned the other day. I was actually really impressed with how the eyeshadow turned out, as I don't use it that often and I'm not a pro with blending yet. I used Virgin in the inner corners and just underneath, Sin (both from the Naked palette) all over the lid, a pale lilac in the 17 Smokey Eyes palette in the centre of my eye then Rebel from the Sleek Bad Girl palette on the outter corner and crease, mixed with a touch of Dark Horse from the Naked palette. Woah, look at me getting all technical. Can I just point out as well that I know my eyebrows are bushy, but you're going to have to trust me that they look HORRENDOUS over-plucked. Ha.

Here are the products I used:




Do you enjoy re-creating celebrity looks? Or do you prefer to make up your own? I've never done it before but I actually think it's a good idea for inspiration. Even if we can't all look like Lily. Sigh.

Livvy xo


Saturday 21 April 2012

It's All Getting a Bit Hairy - Hair Repair

Hey gang, hope you're grand.

I don't know about anyone else, but after winter my hair is officially frazzled. I hardly ever use heat on my hair but in winter it sometimes has to be done to avoid arriving home at then end of the day with the bubonic plague. Now it's Spring, or now some days the weather is hinting at Spring, I am working on damage control left by winter.

My first problem is that with all this exercise I am constanly a sweaty mess, so washing my hair more often is a must. It's a bit of a pain in the bum actually because I can literally leave my hair 5 days without it getting greasy. The pro's of massive bush hair. But now if I'm going out in the evening my hair needs a wash, so the hair dryer has come back out. So my first hair saving product is the reasonably obvious, heat protection:

Aussie Dual Personality Heat Protection + For Straightening Leave-In Spray (what a mouth full!). £3.99 from Superdrug.

I never used to be that fussed about heat protection and now I'm dealing with some seriously dry ends as a consequence. I particularly like this one because it's not sticky like some other brands. To be honest I've got no idea how these products work, so I couldn't say I definitely know it's working. However, the top 3/4 of my hair isn't dry at all, so from a non-expert stance it appears to be doing the job.

Now my new hair isn't dry, it's time to focus on the frazzled ends. I am exaggerating a bit. I don't even know if it's possible to have super shiny ends, but I'm willing to try. ;) I know if I had the bottom 2 inches of my hair cut off it'd be loads better, but I'm trying to grow it. Don't panic, I still have little bits trimmed, but I can't bare to part with lots at once. As I've practically sold my soul to beauty blogs and videos, the next product won't come as a surprise:



Macadamia Natural Oil - Healing Oil Spray. 125ml. £13.10 from Cheapsmells.com

Macadamia oil, and many other hair oils, have been all the rage in the beauty world for the past year, give or take. As a rule they're quite expensive. I got quite a sizeable sample in the one of Boudoir Prive box they did at Christmas, before becoming Jolie Box. As an avid 'bun on top of head' wearer, this stuff is great to just coat all over my ends then whack it up. It immediately makes the hair feel softer and smoother as it claims to. Plus it says it protects. I've no idea what from, but hey that's another layer of 'hair help' and I'm all for it. It is a bit more pricey than I'd like, seeing as I do smother the bottom 3 inches of my hair in it, but you get what you pay for. Plus the cheapsmells price is about half the RRP, so I can't complain too much.

Those two are the basics my hair really needs. But, it is nice to have a treat every so often; after winter my scalp is suffering as well. You've got to love the colder months for sapping all the moisture out of your body. The next product I would say is my 'hair care secret'. I've not heard it talked about and I've no idea why..:
Origins Rich Rewards Intensive Moisture Treatment - For Scalp and Hair. £14 from John Lewis.

This was a splurge. My head was in desperate need of some loving. I know Origins are sought after for facial moisturisers so I thought they'd be a safe bet. Having tried a Kerastase shampoo to treat my scalp and it making my skin itchy, I was a little hesitant to splash out again. Thank goodness I did. This literally smells of sour pears with a hint of pineapple. My mouth actually waters when I open it. You can use it as a conditioner, but for all over your hair, once a week. Or, what I do, you can rub it in your dry hair/on your dry head and leave it to sit for half an hour before you go in the shower and do your usual routine. You can feel it has worked before you even shampoo your hair. I can't rate this highly enough.

My routine is to put the Origins treatment on, bum around for half an hour, wash out my hair, towel dry, heat protectant if I'm blow drying, then Macadamia oil. And that's my hair repair tips for the Spring, so we can all have luscious hair for our Summer pics :)

What's your hair care secret? Have you tried any of these products? Let me know :)

Livvy xo







Thursday 19 April 2012

Thighs of Thunder - 1. Going Out to Eat.

Hey gang, hope you're all good.

First off let me just apologise for the most hideous crime, there won't be any pictures in this blog post. Mostly because I've only just thought about what to write about. Sorry.

I just got back from having lunch with my Dad, one of THREE meals I've arranged to have out this week. When you're trying to shift some exccess timber off your tree trunks, that many meals out can be stressful. Firstly because there's so much temptation but also because it's hard to know what's in the food - which makes calorie counting a nightmare.

We had lunch in Pizza Express and they have 'Leggera' pizza's on their menu, which they claim are all 500 calories or less. Perfect if you need a specific number and an ideal amount of calories for a main meal. I don't want to keep babbling on about calories, but for the purpose of eating out they're quite useful. A lot of larger restaurant chains now have a healthy option meal, where they indicate how many calories are in it. I know Prezzo do this and I noticed at Frankie and Benny's they have some lower calorie deserts. Although my local Frankie+Benny's is notorious for having sod all of what's actually on the menu, so you might want to have them check if your pudding is available while you're eating your main.

Salads of course are the obvious option. However be careful if you are adding a side to your meal. For example fries are a big no, and even something like garlic bread is usually drenched in the delicious saturated fat known as butter. Also, the sauces on salad's are like little hidden fat pouches in your food. I try to go for something like a balsamic dressing which is usually the lightest option, and have it on the side so it's not swimming around in it.

If you're not trying to shift the pounds, but rather trying to be healthy, just make a few simple changes. Maybe have a water instead of a coke, or don't have a starter if you're having a pudding. To drag it back to the calories, they do all add up. There's like 100 calories in one of those little glass bottles of coke. It's a pretty horrendous way to pack in energy as you'll get a sugar low and crave more sugar afterwards, plus you're effectively using food allowance for a drink. Pretty pointless.

These are just a couple of tips I've been noticing/living by recently. I've said it before I'm not a professional, these are just my opinions and experiences.

What healthy tips do you have for eating out? Let me know in the comments below :)

Livvy xo

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Spring Cleaning... Or (nail) Polishing.

These title puns are getting out of hand ;)

Hope you're all good gang. Today I'm going to be displaying my latest Spring nail polishes:
Left to right: (top) Seche Vite top coat, OPI Original Nail Envy.
(bottom) Pop Beauty Nail Glam in 'Lavender Love', Orly's 'Oh Cabana Boy' and Ciate's 'Strawberry Milkshake'.
(P.s. Sorry these pics were taken without a flash, I think my camera might be broken. Cry.)

If any of you have seen my nail polish collection post, you'll notice ALL of these are new. OOPS. But to be fair to me (or, to justify it to myself) I do change up my nail colour all the time. Plus, I had been looking for the perfect collection of nudes. Primarily for Spring and Summer, also because they can be worn all year round. By nudes I mean a selection of nudes and very pale pastels; I'm not best friends with beigey nudes, especially not on my nails. I do have a couple of Essie colours, which I love, but I like to try out new brands (All of these brands were new to me, bar OPI). And I'm glad I did:



Ciate's Strawberry Milkshake is a very decadent nail polish. I got it from beautybay.com for £8.50, which is expensive for a polish. However you're paying for quality. The packaging is beautiful. The colour is like that of a Frijj strawberry milkshake. It's a slightly brighter pale pink than is showing in the picture. I am in love with these pale pastel shades at the moment. I have some pastels from Models Own and I just find them a bit bright for everyday wear in Spring. So, in love with this colour, I was ready to bid farewell to polish shopping. But you know how it is, you're on Asos looking at the sale, you head to the beauty section and down the side the devil's advocate is flashing 'Products you may like' at you... Which leads me to:
Asos, £6.50

Pop Beauty's Lavender Love is what I imagine Essie's Lilacism to be like. A very pale lavendery lilac, verging on off white, it gives the most subtle colour to the nails without being over-powering. I am in the most pleasent depths of love with this! It is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. This and the Ciate polish are just perfection. Plus they look super cute together. It's the sort of colour a beauty addict would look at and appreciate, but your boss isn't going to ask you if you've been finger painting. Unlike with this polish:

Freshly painted to swatch, hence the Nail Envy all over my finger. Oops.

Orly's Oh Cabana Boy is a gorgeous neon, electric, hot Barbie pink. I bought it on a whim from Cheapsmells.com for £5.45. I was ordering more Macadamia hair oil and errr 'broused' a little too thoroughly. My bad. I'd heard Fleur from FleurDeForce discussing it and just pressed buy before I knew what had hit me. When I was waiting for it to come I was a bit wary of the obnoxiousness of the colour. I mean I love my brights but this is seriously 'plastic fantastic'. Low and behold, I am in love with it. It's the perfect toe colour. I haven't painted all my finger nails with it yet, I'm not sure it's hot enough at the moment, but it just makes my feet look all 'I'm-on-holiday-having-fun-relaxing-and-tanning'. Amazing.

A quick pat on the back must also go to my base and top coat of choice. I feel like these two products are seriously hyped up and pricey, but for good reason. I got the OPI Nail Envy with a voucher for my birthday. It retails for £18.65 in Boots, which makes me seriously sick in my mouth because I love it and can't face paying that much. It works as a base and nail strengthening treatment. I had a devastating moment last week when my thumb nail broke off by about an inch. It was beautiful. Sigh. But I'm sure this bad boy is stimulating growth, and for that I am ever thankful. Also the Seche Vite top coat. I was mega wary when I got it because it says 'This product is known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm'. However I read this blog post -http://lacquerglamour.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/seche-vite-and-toluene-harmless-or-harmful/
- and I felt reassured it was safe enough to use. It leaves a surprisingly glossy, high shine finish. Plus it speeds up the polish drying time (I'm excited to use it on Essie polishes because I swear they don't even dry overnight. ;)). My friend even asked the other day if I'd had my nails done. Serious swoon.

What's your favourite neutral, pastel polish for spring? Is there one I need to know about? Do you have/love any of my faves? Let me know :)

Livvy xo

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Face of Thunder and Thighs of Thunder.

The most 90's greeting just crossed my mind and I have the greatest urge to type 'Waaaazzuuuuup?'
Okay. Out my system.

Right so if anyone has read my previous posts, you'll have seen my indecision over what sort of blog I want this to be, and whether I want to blog at all.

The answer to the latter is, yes I do. I just needed a direction. So I've come up with a plan to do regular posts about my two greatest life consumers. 'Face of Thunder', the beauty and make-up obsession I am still fully in the grips of and 'Thighs of Thunder', my desperado attempt to lose weight/be healthy.

The plan of action is to do FoT posts on Saturdays and Wednesdays, because I have a WHOLE crap heap of tales to tell and products to review. That also includes FOTD's, hair tips, possibly a tiny bit of curvy girl (and I use the term curvy sparingly, lol) fashion. That should be fun because my friends and family just don't appreciate why anyone would need 50 nail polishes. Then on Sundays and Thursdays I'll still be posting from this blog, but they'll just have 'Thighs of Thunder' in the title to show it's a diet/health/exercise post. On Sundays I'll do a weekly update and on Thursday a variety of whinging/exercise tips/diet tips/whinging and sweat based whinging. ;)

What do you think? Do you like the idea of beauty and diet/health posts? I'm an expert in neither but a tryer of both ;) So hopefully I'll be able to give person opinions, rather than informed ones. :)

It's Tuesday today so I'll catch up with you tomorrow for a beauty chinwag.

Livvy xo

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Guess Who's Back? - The Slimming Shady

Yes, let's all be embarrassed for the title. I couldn't resist ;)

If anyone is actually reading this, hellooooo. I hope you're all keeping well. I realise it's been about 3 months since I last posted, but I have had a request from the lovely @VanzTheMachine on Twitter. And even though I did say I might not post again, I thought 'hey, why not?' Plus I could do with the whole group support thing, as today I'll be discussing (if you hadn't guessed from my genuinely shameful title)...

Healthy eating and exercise. YAY! Everyone's fav ;)

To quickly catch everyone up to speed, about 2/3 years ago I lost 4 stone. 'Oh' you're thinking 'we've got ourselves an expert, a veteran even'. No, no you don't. Well in terms of weightloss, yep... Wasn't so good at keeping it off though. Maybe I'll explain why one day, but today is not then.

So here I am for round 2 (and by 2 I mean 2 succesful rounds, out of about 9000 non-succesful ones). In the last 5 weeks I have lost 12lbs, which even I gave myself a little pat on the back for.

In this post I'm just going to give 5 simple tips to get you started. If it's popular, I'd love to do a whole little series on it :) And if that's popular I might re-ignite the beauty blogger in me, goodness only knows she's begging to be unleashed.

Rambling.

Sorry. Let me just quickly add that I'm not a nutritionist or health expert, these are literally just my opinions and experiences. So without further ado...

My Top 5 Healthy Weight Loss Tips:

1.
Water - I know, you've heard a trillion times how much water you should drink. Believe me, I was a squash drinker, even dabbling in the occasional diet coke. And alcohol is just a whole other level. I'm not saying completely cut them out, but they should all be rare treats. I've taken to carrying a water bottle around with me everywhere (note; don't bother taking them to concerts, you'll just end up yelling at doormen when they take it off you). Sipping water consistently throughout the day keeps you hydrated, flushes out toxins and gives you something to put in your mouth that isn't food. I won't say it fills you up, personally I think that only lasts for half an hour before you're chomping at the bit if you're actually hungry. But, it does actually make your skin clearer. I thought that was an urban myth egged on by Hollywood's crazy raw food eating, yoga ladies. Turns out it's actually true, so get yourself a bottle and start sipping.

2. Calorie Counting - I can literally feel the disgust in your faces. Calorie counting is certainly NOT essential for weight loss. I didn't do it last time and still did really well. I also hasten to add that becoming obsessed with calories makes you a massive bore and quite frankly life's too short. However, I've been doing the Biggest Loser online club (the UK version, I'm sure other countries have their own) and that's had me eating 1200 calories a day and inputting what I eat in to an online diary. It does sound a little crazy, and if you're just trying to be healthier it's probably not for you, but let me just get it out there that I LOVE IT! For education alone, it's been invaluable. For example there was me thinking, 'I'll just chuck a tablespoon of olive oil on my salad, it's good for you'. I don't doubt that it is, but now I know there's approximately 121 calories in that, I think twice. It had never crossed my mind before. So instead of calorie counting as such, which I personally think is a little soul destroying, I think calorie awareness is essential. Once you are familiar with calories you can make healthy choices without whacking your calculator out at dinner like a compulsive, mathmatically challenged weirdo.

3. Exercise - Ladies, it's time to purchase a sports bra. Get out your baggy band t-shirts and trakkie b's previously reserved for days of watching 'Man V Food' and 'Britain's Got Talent', don't even try and tell me you haven't. The fact of the matter is that weightloss is like maths, unfortunately, you have to burn off more than you intake to lose weight. Your body needs those 1200 calories to function, any less than that your body will store food when you eat again. So to shift the excess pounds you've got to shift your arses. You're going to have to trust me that a good quantity of my brain is saying 'lay down, have a Dominos', but you've got to get your inner ninja to beat that thought away. There are a LOT of forms of really great exercises, my rule is basically if you're panting and sweating then you're winning. Dvd's like 'Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred' and Davina McCall's exercise vids are immense. There's no better compromise for the lazy community than exercising in your living room, staring the sofa in the eye while sweat's pouring in to it and thinking 'this is not a food sweat'. Plus you can do some serious exercise in half an hour, you've just got to be commited. Other exercies I personally enjoy are swimming (no one likes the 'shamu walk of shame', but nobody's looking and if they are accidentally kick them as you swim past), the rowing machine, the stepper, etc. My current weapon of choice is the Davina McCall foldable exercise bike which was like £100 from Argos, folds up, is relatively quiet and parks nicely in front of the telly... 'Man V Food' won't watch itself. I've also taken to walking with my friends which leads me to points 4 and 5...

4. Do it with someone else and 5. Set yourself a challenge - Okay I'm cheating by grouping points, but I don't want Guiness in touch saying I have the record for the longest blog post ever. However, the reason I've taken to walking with friends is that we've signed up to do a 13 mile charity walk in the summer. I mentioned before I'm not good at maths, but let me assure you that is a LONG way. Half a marathon in fact. So as well as getting healthy together we're raising money. More winning ;) Also in terms of having a partner in crime, it's amazing to have someone to whinge to and who understands what you're doing. Me and my best friend have a little healthy competition. If she says she's lost a bit of weight it spurs me on to do the same. Plus if I needed any more motivation, I have a holiday booked for the summer. Nothing says 'start sweating' like the thought of having to be semi-naked on a beach near 5 of your ridiculously good looking friends.

Let me just re-iterate that I'm no expert and these are just my personal tips. If you're planning a drastic change go and see a professional so that you can't sue me. ;)

And one final thing, I'm no super-motivated robot! Post-Lent where I gave up chocolate, crisps, sweets and pizza I'm suffering a slight (cough*huge*) chocolate addicition. I've been swapping out food cals for chocolate, NOT good. Any tips anyone can give me to beat the chocolate craving? What do you guys struggle with? Let's be a team :)
Please comment if you're interested in this sort of post, not of such mammoth content of course.

Good luck if you're getting healthy too.

Til next time,

Livvy.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Blogging Hiatus

Hey gang, hope you're all doing okay :)

I just wanted to apologise for my blogging absense. Not that I have many followers, but I don't want to be rude.

I've been super busy and I've also been away which meant no computer. I think blogging is definitely something you have to make time for and I never seem to. I don't feel like at the moment I've got anything worth saying that isn't 'same shit, different blogger'.

That being said I'm not going to be posting in the near future. I might come up with a clearer direction for my blog, in which case I'll come back. If not, thank you for taking the time to read, comment and follow. I really appreciate it. :)

I'll still be reading everyone elses blogs, good luck with them.

Livvy xo

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Valentine's Day Hair + Make-Up (From the Patron of Singledom)

Hey gang, hope you've all had an immense week.

First up I would like to apologise for neglecting my blog for a whole week, however I'm not going to because I've had a brilliant week celebrating my birthday. ;) Although someone did say to me 'another year older, eh'  -way to metaphorically synge me with my candles. I am so spoilt by my friends and family and I appreciate it with all my heart :) I got lots of lovely pressies and had about 5 birthday meals (3 on the same day, diet posts need a serious re-appearence!). One stand-out gift was this bag from Mango:


It's me all over! Plus it's going to be perfect for Spring + Summer, bonus. I'm not going to do a birthday present 'haul' because I personally am not feeling watching what nice new things other people have at the moment. I'm definitely feeling poor and bitter lol!

So to the point of the post, Valentine's Day. Now I know some people will have just seen the initial 'Vale...' and practically sicked in their mouth at the thought. Trust me, I feel the gag reflex going, but a few years ago I made the decision to try not to be toooooo bitter about couples having their own day dedicated to rubbing it in singeltons faces (minimised, but still present, bitterness ;)).

Me and 2 of my single friends have decided we need to gather on the day and celebrate not being chained to someone we know we'll resent eventually (bitterness levels rising). So with the most forced desire to celebrate this day, I have come up with a couple of Valentine's Day looks; one relaxed and one more 'done-up'. Bitterness aside I do love lots of people, I don't need to be in love to share the 'Livvy Love'. Lol at myself!

Look 1 is a really chilled out, girly, day time look. It's perfect for the cinema or lunch or something, effortless (looking, I swear when I'm wearing make-up it always ends up being effort-full ;)) and cute. It's great for a first date as well because it's not really OTT (look at me talking about dates as if I know! Lol!). And of course it's perfect for chilling with your friends and not looking like you want to seduce them:

Yes, that is Queen of Bittersville wearing a heart jumper...
 In this look I've just left my hair loose. It's second day hair, slept on after being styled with my Babyliss Curling Wand. Yes the ends need a brush, but who am I trying to impress? ;) I used a Une Skin Glow Pencil in shade G02 on my waterline to brighten my eyes and a Nars Orgasm/MAC Pinch O'Peach combination on my cheeks, lightly applied for a natural glowing look. On my lips is one of my birthday presents, oh my gosh I'm in love with it. It is Bobbi Brown Lip Color in Pale Mauve 73. It looks unsuspecting in the packaging, but my lovely friend Justine who bought it for me was gas bagging away to the lady on the counter so I tested out a LOT, and this one just had to be bought. Literally, I think it climbed in my brain and insisted it had to be mine. Addict.

Moving on from that creepy statement, to look 2. This one is a lot more vampish and flirty, for an evening meal or night out. For the, 'I've made an effort for you' look:

Darker brows, liquid liner, more blush, more mascara, bright red lips (Maybeline Color Sensation in Fatal Red 530 with L'Oreal Glam Shine Sheer Grenadine 181) = Dramatic flirty look. 
This look is definitely for those who believe in 'more is more'. I 100% understand that it's a bit much, but I think for Valentine's Day attracting a bit of attention to yourself is fine. I'd wear this with more bronzer or a darker foundation if I was wearing it out, I was convinced my flash was hating on me until I remembered I'd forgotten bronzer. Wally. I think the top knot, which is a wrapped around plait, softens the look. Imgaine this with your fav black dress, pleather jacket, pretty scarf, gold jewellery and wedges... Bit of cleavage or legs out depending on who you're with. Obviously I won't be whacking my boobs out for my 'friends date', hence the imaginary scarf. I haven't done a clothes section because bar my minimalist ideas, you'd be a moron to take fashion advice from me.

In my opinion the top look is nicer for Valentine's Day because it's cute. Having said that I'd probably wear the second because I always get heavy handed with make-up, although I did actually really like this on (it looks more dragalicious on camera). Speaking of my love for OTT, I did Valentine's nails too. To be honest, I did get carried away. I blame the post-Christmas lack of glitter. All of December you're invited to play magpie then BAM, spring pastels hit the shops. Well I rebelled (too much) and bedazzled my fingers:

Barry M Bright Pink, OPI Excuse Moi! and Rimmel Disco Ball. (Dear HD, why are you showing my shoddy nail painting skills?)
Me basically just checking how close I can zoom on my camera. Such a child... Re-iterated by the epic quantity of glitter.

Yes it's a LOT, but who cares?! If a sexyfine rugby player walks up to me I'll put my hands in my pockets, until then I'm going to let nail polish make me happy.

I genuinely do hope that you all have a lovely Valentine's Day if you're celebrating, however many times I've used the word 'bitter' in this post. Lol. And if you aren't celebrating go and buy yourself a piece of make-up with the money you've saved by being single ;)

Ta for reading, please follow or comment with whatever you like (that isn't spam preferably).

Livvy xx

Sunday 29 January 2012

Birthday :)

Hey gang, hope you're marvellous

I just wanted to quickly say that it's my birthday it 40 minutes (30th Jan). Woo! So I've been busy/will be for the next few days with festivities, but I'll be back soon with lots more make-up, beauty and health posts :)

Hope you all had a lush weekend,

Livvy

Friday 27 January 2012

Chocolate and Trainers: The Battle of Lust and Necessity.

Hey gang, hope you're smashing (wondering how many words I can find for 'good', I'm up for the challenge of finding out ;))

I'm in a rush today as my birthday's on Monday and I basically don't plan on stopping celebrating from now until next Sunday... I'm definitely a Princess when it comes to my birthday, everyone has to know about it! (Hey, I'm single, let me enjoy the annual attention ;)) As I type I should be cooking dinner for my friend who's coming for stomach lining pre-drinking. I'm making risotto which is my signature dish, i.e. the one of few things I can cook without a recipe book. It's just vegetables and rice so nice and healthy, although you do get rice belly before you go out which is not too sexy fine. Off topic quite a bit there, what I meant was that I love finding lovely healthy recipes so let me know if you have any/want to know any of mine? (I'm veggie btw :))

On to the actual subject of the title... Today I had one of the daily dilemmas someone trying to be healthy struggles with. My new trainers had arrived yesterday from Reebok.

Reebok Runtone Ready. I'll give a proper review on these when I've used them a fair bit. Apologies for having walked about before photographing them, I'm still new to this blogging business ;)
I was meeting my Dad for lunch (more specifically getting the money off him for the trainers, he's obsessed with buying anything health related. He tried to buy me an exercise and it took me AND my brother to point out to him that we live in a second story flat and didn't want to fall through someone's ceiling sweating/make someone think there was an earthquake beneath them). My plan was to go for a walk after lunch (I had a tomato and avacado salad and dough balls, not saintly but by no means the pizza I had to physically restrain myself from ordering. Pizza = Number 1 weakness). However, my ankle was playing up a bit and my Dad had just given me cash for my trainers. Hideous move for a shopaholic - I ended up in Primark. I also ended up with this...

Temptation in all it's melting, sweet scented, creamy, cocoa-ey goodness. Or badness.

So suddenly I was at home, ankle hurting, trainers walked in for about an hour and eating a massive bar of chocolate. It's not like I was hungry. I think 2 things lead me here 1) Habit; if you're used to getting chocolate you'll get it. Equally if you're not used to getting it you'll only notice you don't have it when you walk up to a chocolate fountain and give it a great sniff. Really want some chocolate now, which leads me to 2) Desire; we all WANT things. People reading this who are in to beauty and make-up for example are used to WANTing things. I want Chanel nail varnish and NARS foundation, but I don't buy it because I know I can't afford it and don't need it. Everyone has a different vice. The trick is to remember it's a WANT NOT A NEED. You'll also find once you change your lifestyle about your wants change, you learn to love you Bourjois foundation and your bank account suddenly doesn't want to punch you. You learn to want to exercise because even though you pant and sweat your way through it, you feel amazing afterwards (after a shower too that is, me and my housemates at Uni used to exercise together. The last person to the shower often looked like the endorphins had warn off a little. No one likes sitting in their own sweat, however much hard work it shows).

I've just reminded myself I think, how I felt after I exercised. Maybe this blogging about a healthy lifestyle is a good plan. Hopefully you can all appreciate I'm coming at this from a genuine angle, after all I've done it before and so I CAN do it again. And if you need to healthy up a bit you can do it with me :) Next time I think I'll choose the trainers over the chocolate.

If you're not interested in health blogs don't panic, I've got a post on my criminally large mascara collection soon. If you are interested in the health side of things please let me know what sort of posts you'd like to read about; my previous experiences, exercise tips, ways to make the gym bareable, at home exercise, what foods to eat, when to eat? Etc.


Ta for reading. If you're interested in health and beauty posts please follow and comment :)
I'll be reviewing this book as soon as I've finished it...
I'm LOVING this no nonsense, motivational book!

Looks like dinner's going to be late, eek ;)

Livvy xo

Thursday 26 January 2012

Weight Loss/Gain Posts?

Hey gang, hope you're all good :)

I've been seeing a few blog posts recently about weight loss and such like. You know January fitness regimes, healthy eating resolutions etc. I mentioned yesterday that I am of the "squidgy" body type. Let's just say I need my arse safely secured on to the weight loss band wagon.

To cut to the chase, I lost 4 stone about 3 years ago, over a period of around 18 months. I was still a chubster but healthy and happy. More curvy than lardy. I still felt inadequate and massive. Anyway I put a LOT of weight on last year as I've previously mentioned it was a terrible year, again I won't go in to that here.

Me pre and post weight loss (pre-weight gain) :(


So I'm obviously just baby stepping back in to the world of health. Given my previous experience I'm hoping I've got some good tips and tricks to keep me motivated/help me be successful. I was just wondering, does anyone want to read about my journey or some good exercise/weight loss tips? Just to be clear my actual weight loss and healthy lifestyle was very successful. I just turned to food when times got rough, which is another thing that needs to be dealt with. But hey ho, 1 thing at a time :)

I just thought I'd see if anyone was interested in that sort of post because I know I love reading them. And ultimately I think being healthy is definitely in the interest of everyone interested in beauty. :)

Let me know what you think,

Livvy xo

P.s. Sorry for the short post, I'm still feeling uncomfortable talking about it all.