L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Clay Review

Hey Everyone! Sorry I didn’t blog last week, I’ve been ill and feeling quite sorry for myself.

However, while I’ve been laid up ill indoors, it was a great excuse for me to try out the L’Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Clay products.  I’ve always struggled with dry ends, but have to be careful using too many moisture inducing products as I’m also very prone to greasy roots, as I’m a serial hair twiddler, so just had to give this a try when I saw it on sale in Boots.

In the set you get a shampoo, conditioner and the clay masque for your roots (this is the wonder product!).

I must admit that when I first opened the clay I thought there was no chance in me spreading a load of grey gloop all over my roots, but I'll try anything once and I'm so glad I did.  To apply the clay masque, you have to put it on to dry roots (I'd advise to do this with no-one around as you start to look every part the crazy cat lady!) and massage it into your roots to basically cover your scalp.  There's not a particular time frame as to how long this should be on for, but I just left it on whilst getting all my bits together for a shower. It does take a bit of work to rinse out as mine started to dry on my hair (maybe best to not leave it quite as long next time!).

I won't bore you with the details of washing and conditioning your hair as I'm pretty sure we all know how that works, however obviously if you would like a full blow by blow of my washing routine I'd be happy to send you the details for some light reading material :)

I noticed the difference as soon as I started blow drying it, I'm normally quite frizzy on the ends but this made it feel as though I'd had a full on conditioning treatment at a salon. It just left my hair feeling so silky and soft that I couldn't believe it was mine. I normally have to towel dry my hair, blow dry straight and then straighten, but this went perfect with just a blow dry. You know when you see those girls and just think Urgh! why can't my hair look like that ... that's what it does!

As I've said before, I'm by no means a professional but I would definitely recommend this as I think that if this can sort out my lion's mane I'd love to see what it can do to yours! 

Let me know if you've tried this and what you thought, or alternatively if there are any other products you think I should try.

Love Sara

Lent is about more than Chocolate

As lent officially starts today, I thought I’d share with you some of the things I’ll be giving up/changing up for lent.

I must admit that I’m not particularly religious, but always try to involve myself in lent and most years I give out the usual ‘No chocolate for lent’, ‘No sweets for lent’, ‘No alcohol..’ etc. etc., and I don’t know about you but to me 40 days is a little outside of my willpower range to be starving myself of skittles!

So, this year I’m going to be looking in a bit of a different direction for some things to abstain from. Don’t get me wrong I’ll still be hoping to shape up a little (and hoping that letting you guys know about it will stop me from falling off the wagon!), but I won’t be taking it to the extreme and instead treating this 40 day period as a bit of a teaser as to things I would like to change about myself but not sure how I’d get on with them full time. Think of it as a bit of a try before you buy! 

1. Healthier & Fitter Me

Like many of you (hopefully!), on January 1^st I gave out some pretty extreme claims about losing 2 stone blah, blah, blah, and then as soon as I realised Christmas was definitely gone for another year and winter was here to stay for a while, those chocolates soon found me again. Therefore, before I find myself over-indulging on all those irresistible little huge chocolate eggs in a few weeks’ time, I thought I’d treat my body to a little refresh and detox.  I always seem to find detox a much easier word to swallow than diet as it doesn’t seem quite so final and you know you know there is light at the end of the tunnel!  So, I’ve recently purchased a few items to help me with this process.  The first is a little gem that I’ve found in the soft drinks aisle of Asda; the Aspire Health Drink in the flavour Apple & Acai – which makes it taste a little like non-alcoholic cider bonus!  It promises a reduction in body fat, which I’m yet to discover but it has no calories, sugar or fat so at least it’s better for you than a can of coke and it even contains green tea so gives you a little boost!

To coincide with my attempt at lowering calories, I’ve also purchased the Davina McCall Fit in 15 DVD.  She has bought out a newer one for this year, but as this was quite cheap and I’m not sure how long I’ll be keeping it up, I decided to start with this one then progress if possible.  I’ve tried so many different things to keep fit in the past, and I’ve wasted so many gym memberships that I was beginning to lose hope. But, this DVD is made up of four 15 minute workouts each focusing on a different part of your body and they even advise you to start with one workout at a time then slowly build up from there.  Now for someone as unfit as me, 15 minutes is a perfect little boost to make me feel good, increase endorphins and then moan about how hard I’ve worked for the next few hours days.

2. Happiness is Key

As I said above, I always find January, February and March the hardest time of the year as Christmas has gone, but we're still sitting around waiting for Winter to leave and Spring to appear.  So, as lent falls right in the centre of this difficult time of year, what better time to focus on making yourself happier. I've also been dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety recently, so will be focusing on basically making more time for me.  I'm a serial non-respondent when it comes to text messages and phone calls etc. so want to make sure I surround myself with everyone that I love and see all my friends more often.  One of my girlies is getting married in April (Eek!) so I can't wait to start wedding planning and lots of girly nights in DIY-ing all of the decorations.

I've also been on a big beauty haul recently (Beauty, Fashion & Lush Haul) so will be trying them all out, and treating myself to a few, more than a few, pamper nights.

3. Re-energising

Once the new year starts and we've all over-indulged on food, cocktails (in my case) and late nights, you can quite easily start to feel a bit lethargic and run down, especially with darker mornings making it a little harder to get up.  Therefore, one of my main plans for lent is to have a little re-fresh to build up my energy.  

I must admit I'm a bit of an old maid when it comes to bedtime.  Of a weekend, if I don't have plans I can quite usually be found in my PJs and fluffy slippers by 6pm.  However, although I'm usually in bed by 9.30pm on a weeknight - don't judge! - I find myself being unable to sleep until around midnight.  I know that it's due to me being on my phone of an evening, but find it so hard to switch off and just lay and relax.  Although, the last few nights I've been leaving my phone on the other side of the room and curling up with Cosmopolitan or Glamour instead and found it so much easier to drop-off. I've also invested in a range of herbal teas and am trying to swap them for normal tea, not as easy as it sounds by the way!

I'll be keeping you updated with my attempts. Let me know what you're planning to/attempt to give up for lent!

Love Sara

Beauty, Fashion & Lush Haul

Hi Everyone!

If you caught my recent post about my holiday to New York, you'll know that I promised to do a haul of the goodies I treated myself to while I was away, but instead I thought I'd do a haul of everything I've bought recently.

My first holiday purchase was a Kate Spade Felix Satchel and matching purse.  I've always been a handbag girl as opposed to shoes (mainly as I'm a size 9 so don't tend to have much choice), but have never been able to justify spending £1000 on a mulberry - ouch! - so tend to stick to my next and Ted Baker bags. However, when I found out about the Kate Spade outlet at Woodbury Common I knew I wouldn't be able to resist. As this is my first designer bag I'm just a little completely obsessed with it! I love the fact that the bag has both shorter handles and also a long strap so you can wear it as a cross-body bag, which I find so much more wearable day-to-day.

The next thing I picked up is this Rouge in Love Lancome lipstick in the shade 277N Violine Lamee. I'm usually quite shy when it comes to lipsticks and tend to stick to my nudes and rosy pink tones, but decided to leave myself in the hands of the assistant in Macy's and fell in LOVE with this shade! It's a bit strong for me as a daytime/work colour, but can't wait to wear it on an evening out I have coming up. Unlike some other dark lipsticks I've tried it's very pigmented but doesn't dry out my lips like matte colours, which is very helpful at this time of year!
Lancome

(Apologies for the quality of this photo - I'm still learning!) My next stop was to the Mac counter - where I've now discovered I have little to none in the way of self-control! - and picked up the Studio Waterweight SPF 30 Foundation in the shade NW25. The packaging of this product is quite simple but I immediately fell in love with the pipette dropper, which makes it last so long! As the name suggests it is lightweight, which has been really good for me recently as I've been breaking out quite a lot, but as well as having a light coverage it is also very build-able so you can choose to add a little more if you, like me, tend to be a little rosy-cheeked at this time of year.

To go with the Lancome lipstick, I picked up the Mac Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Bespoken For.  I haven't tried this yet but as you can see from the swatch on my hand above, the pencil is really pigmented and gives a really nice silky finish.  

The next thing I picked up was the Mac Fluidline Eye-liner gel in Blacktrack (I've only just noticed that this is currently out of stock so sorry to give you a sort of 'what you could have won' moment here!).  I've always been more of a liquid liner person - majorly as I'm a creature of habit and find it hard to put my trust in new products - but as the assistant was giving me a bit of makeover, I had to comment on the precision of her eyeliner and she said it was this gel liner.  I bought it and gave it a try, and can now definitely say that my loyalties have changed! I do think it takes a bit of practise for everyone (and it's not just me that gets the jitters every time something goes anywhere near my lashline!) but once you get the hang of it, the precision and lasting power of this liner means that I can wear it to simply emphasize my lash line a bit during the day at work and then top it up and go for a full on feline flick in the evening without it smudging/disappearing.

Now I know I may get lynched for admitting to this, but I've never actually owned a Lush product in my adult life! So when I was out for a quick all day shopping spree with my friend and made this quite shocking admission, I was dragged straight to that shop that seems to smell like every ingredient known to man.  This is one of the reasons that I think I've never owned any of their products before as there are so many that I found it quite overwhelming!  However, thanks to one of the very sweet shop attendants I walked out with a few little goodies.  

The first thing that caught my eye was the Prince Charming shower cream.  It's smell of pomegranate, vanilla and marshmallow - yes, marshmallow! - is gorgeous but kind of makes you want to eat it rather than wash in! Also, due to the strong colouring of the cream, you actually end up a bright pink colour all over, and who doesn't want to be turned into a giant pink marshmallow??  

Once I'd got my first item that was it, I had to carry on.  My friend recommended the Whoosh Shower Jelly. I can't lie, at first I found it quite difficult to get used to as it kept flying around the bathroom! However, the smell was gorgeous and it was extremely good value for money as you only need to use around the size of your finger nail and it lathers up enough to cover your whole body. I'd definitely recommend this and will be purchasing the other scents.

My last purchase was this L'oreal Elvive Extraordinary Clay shampoo. This is the second stage to L'oreal's Extraordinary Clay treatment, which claims to balance hair that's prone to greasy roots and dry ends - which is unfortunately a group I fall into. I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but it's promising some good results so I'll be posting some updates with a full review of this and the rest of the products in the line soon! 

If there's any products you think I should try let me know!

Love Sara

Holiday in NYC Heaven

Earlier on this year I was lucky enough to spend a week shopping, sightseeing and walking (sooooo much walking!) in the Big Apple! I’ve always had a long- distance love affair with New York and dreamt of visiting, so when my wonderful Mummykins turned 50 last year, I couldn’t think of anywhere better to take her for her birthday celebrations. When we first came out of the airport, I was so excited and thrown in to full-5-year-old mode, taking photos of the taxis and throwing my arms out trying to hale one of the many already lined-up traditional yellow cabs (I never pretend to be normal!). We’d booked a room on the 24th floor of the Row NYC hotel overlooking the huge crowds and fascinating lights of Times Square. The hotels newly renovated décor definitely satisfied that urge to find the perfect ‘I’m in New York!’ feeling.

On our first day in the big city, we went on a traditional NYC shopping trip (sorry Mr Bank Balance!) to Woodbury Common, where the outlets are to die for and outlet prices mixed with post-holiday sales (aka January Sales) meant having to try – and fail on many occasions – to limit ourselves. I’m not going to talk about my purchases too much, as I’ll be giving them their own private haul post (inc. Macy’s, Bloomingdales & Tiffany’s) in the next few days!

Before leaving home I had had just one request from my best friend ‘You have to go to Carlos Bakery!!’. We’re both massive fans of the programme at home (Cake Boss for any of you that haven’t yet been introduced to his genius!) and I just had to try one of his world famous cannolis. We’d left it quite late to pop in, but at 10pm I kid you not the queue was around the corner! However, the final product was most definitely worth it. Although I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with skittles (I love them, my hips hate them!), I'm not really a cake fanatic, but, albeit a little rich, the cannolis we had were delicious!

We spent the remainder of our trip going to the traditional touristy sights like Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station and Empire State Building (however, this was after a few cosmopolitans on my part so the photos are a little fuzzy!).  However, the most beautiful part of New York – which was really more one of my mummykins’ bucket-list-items than mine – was Central Park. Without sounding rude I was expecting a basic park with a few trees and could never really understand the hype, however, walking along 5^th avenue, through the full hustle and bustle of the shoppers and commuters, to then be presented with 843 acres (according to our tour guide!) of serenity literally stopped me in my tracks.  I think it may be one of those things that you don’t really understand the hype of fully until you’re inside it, but I’d say it’s most definitely worth a visit for anyone heading to NYC.

I’m not much of a foodie blogger, but I do have to give a mention to ‘Sarabeth’s’ restaurant.  I think there are a few different branches, but the one I visited was just on the outside of Central Park.  During our visit to the park I’d asked someone for any tips on places to go for lunch and was immediately aimed in the direction of Sarabeths.  They are well known in Manhattan for their brunch menu and on a Sunday the line is known to reach right out the door, so quite obviously I had to – at least attempt! – to be a ‘lady who brunches’ and try out their famous Eggs Benedict. Without sounding too much like a brochure, the quality of the food and size of the portions for the price was a little shocking due to the reputation it has.  All of the staff were very polite and attentive and we barely had to wait at all, although this may be due to there only being me and mum. 

I am sorry as I know I’ve gabbed on quite a lot on this post, but I wanted to make sure that I shared as many details as possible about this trip. I’ll also be posting a haul of all the goodies I treated myself to in a couple of days, so please keep an eye out!

Love Sara

A Little Bit of Me

Hey Everyone!

To start off my blogging story, I wanted to give you a little bit more info about me.  To do this I've decided to answer a list of questions that delve a little deeper into my personality, but if there's anything else you'd like to know feel free to ask :)

1. Are you a spender or a saver? I’ve always had major trouble shopping – I literally couldn’t go one week without treating myself to a new outfit – but since I’ve started planning to move out with my Mr, I’m quite surprised at my saving abilities

2. What’s your worst makeup/ hair habit? I'm a natural redhead but have dyed my hair a variety of weird and wonderful colours over the years, so have had a bit of trouble with split ends and hair breakages.  Although I do a weekly conditioning treatment to try to repair my ends, I have a terrible habit of twisting my hair when anxious so I'm always fighting a losing battle.

3. One quote that you wish the world would live by? I know its corny, but as Thumper says ‘If you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all’ (bit of a Disney geek!). Manners cost nothing and white lies hurt nobody!

4. How long do you spend getting ready everyday? It depends; on a weekday I can be up and out the door in 45 minutes to ensure I get a little extra time with my duvet, but on a weekend I prefer to take a little longer and can easily spend up to two hours making myself feel right.

5. A youtuber that you watch who deserves more views/ subscribers than they have? Icovetthee. I like her video styling and she has a lot of the same opinions as me.

6.One thing your excited about in the upcoming year? Moving house with my Mr. It’s been a long time coming and I can’t wait to be in our own little den!

7. What's the bravest thing you've done? This isn't particularly brave but for my 21st birthday a friend of mine bought me a bungee jump.  It was the highest jump in the UK and although it was terrifying on the way up, I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie so the jump itself was amazing and I'd definitely recommend it!

8. Heels or flats? At 6ft tall, heels tend to be a no-go for me.  I've tried many times but as I'm not used to them, even with kitten heels I'm usually barefoot within a few hours!

9. Tea or Coffee? I'm most definitely a tea girl.  I've tried so many times to enjoy coffee as the fancy frothy coffees always look nice in Starbucks, and I always feel like a little girl with my cream-topped hot chocolates, but just can't manage the taste.

10. TV or Music?  Although I'm a bit of a movie buff, I've always preferred to have music on as I always think music can transport you back to where you were when you first heard that song, and certain music can instantly change my mood.

11. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?  My dream holiday destination has always been New York, and at the beginning of this month I was very lucky to go for a week with my Mummykins (I'll be uploading a more extensive post about my trip soon!).  However, as I've been there now, I suppose another dream destination for me would be Rome.  I'd love to go and hoping to go for my anniversary with the Mr in a few years' time.

12. What's your favourite drink? As I said earlier, I cannot go one day without having a cup of tea and can be known to have two or three before even leaving the house.  However, if I'm on a night out I tend to head more for cocktails than anything else, and my signature is always a Cosmopolitan. When I was younger my best friend and I were obsessed with SATC (Sex and the City) and having a Cosmopolitan in NYC earlier this month was definitely something off of my bucket list!