Something a bit different....healthy eating week!

Me and my flatmate Jess (click to go to her blog!) have decided to try 

healthy eating.... we're students living in Manchester and rarely eat fruit and veg. We drink way too many fizzy  drinks and generally eat ready meals and snack throughout the day. This isn't about losing weight as such, but just to see if we can feel better through eating healthier stuff! We have made a meal plan, covering breakfast, dinner & tea Monday to Friday (excluded weekends as we both work and it's difficult to keep up with it....)

Below are a few of the meals we've already had. We're now on day three and we're doing well! Snacks we allow ourselves are nuts and dried fruit, sunbite crisps (soooo tasty!!) and sugar free jelly/custard/rice pudding pots.





Day #2 lunch 
- Reduced fat humous (1 tablespoon)
- carrot sticks (handful)
- wholemeal pitta bread (1)
- mixed leaves, spinach, watercress, rocket (handful)
- light salad dressing (drizzle)

Washed down with some sugar free cordial!

Day #2 tea Homemade Quorn Bolognese

serves 3-4

- 200g Quorn Mince
- one white onion
- half clove of garlic
- drizzle of olive oil
- 1 red pepper
- handful of mushrooms sliced
- tin chopped tomatoes
- 5  tsp red wine vinegar (to taste)
- parmesan cheese (optional)
- linguini or spaghetti pasta


This was a  really tasty meal, and Quorn is a great substitute for mince meat as it's 75% less fat! (e.g 75g mince = 220kcal & Quorn Mince = 79kcal)





Day #3 breakfast 

- 2x small seeded bread
- honey
- peanut butter
- half ruby grapefruit (tasty!!)
- cup of tea

I guess we're trying to cut out coffee and tea as well, but there's nothing wrong with a cup of tea now and again, especially with breakfast! Nice healthy way to start the day today :)


Other breakfasts have included....
- scrambled eggs on seeded bread
- porridge with honey





Today's lunch day #3

- small soft tortilla wraps (x3)
- roast chicken slices (wafer thin)
- cous cous (tomato & garlic flavour)
- dash of salad cream (light)
- handful of mixed leaves (spinach, watercress, rocket)

after lunch snack 
- sugar free hartley's raspberry jelly pot

We seem to be doing quite well with the healthy eating and haven't had anything naughty (i.e chocolate, crisps, fizzy, red meat...) so I'll probably try and update this post with other meals we've had! It's good to find filling meals to enjoy. We've actually been looking forward to all the meals, turns out we really like healthy food, we've just not been bothered to make any of it before!

If you can think of any healthy meal ideas then please let me know! We've made a weeks worth of meal plans, but we're running out of ideas!

Thanks for reading and check back for any updates on the health kick!!

Lucy x

MAC dupe? And blusher collection

I think that the MUA blush £1 at Superdrug is a great dupe for MAC Pink Swoon, and a fraction of the price! I've only just started to take notice of this range in Superdrug but the stuff seems really good for the price! 


I know a lot of people find that you have to be careful with Pink Swoon when applying it, but I really do have to apply a lot to get a result! Also I think it's slightly too light for my pale skin, as I prefer a deeper pink (the MUA shade 2 is slightly deeper) I should also say that MUA does a lighter shade of the blush 'shade 1' which could be even more like Pink Swoon... worth trying for only £1! 

The only thing about MUA is that it's very powdery, so you have to be careful using your brush.One swipe of the brush should be enough to do one cheek, and the excess powder from the first swipe for the second cheek :) I was finding with the pink swoon that I had to run the brush around the pan for a while before getting a suitable colour.... the upside is that it's not powdery so I don't feel like I'm wasting the product!

On the right is a pic of my blush collection. Various makes and shades, and the MAC Mineralised blush and Clinique (came with two eyeshadows) are my favourite! here's a list of the blushes going clockwise from the MAC Mineralised....

- MAC mineralize blush 'conjour up'
- Accessorize baked blush '6 scandal'
- MAC Sheertone blush 'pink swoon'
- Clinique blushing blush 'iced lotus'
- Boots natural collection 'blushed cheeks'
- MUA blusher 'shade 2'
- 17 blusher 'plum puff' (love this one!!)
- No7 Natural blush '20 honey'


Really good collection of blushers I think, although I'd like to get a few more 'honey' toned ones, as I tend to go for the same sort of colours! I really want to try MAC mineralised skin finishes as an overall colour and bronzer so I'll do a review once I've tested a few of those out :) It's all about finding cheaper version too as MAC etc can be very expensive, the 17 blush is really good for every day, I've used it a lot and had it for ages!

If there's any blush you can recommend for me then please leave a message! 


Thanks for reading! Lucy xx 









                                                                                       

Max Factor Smooth Effect Foundation REVIEW

Max Factor Smooth Effect Foundation in:
'Natural 50' and Creme Puff in:
'81 truly fair'

So if you've read my posts before, you'll know that I have combination skin that can be oily, dry and is prone to blemishes. I was just browsing for a new foundation, and a powder that might stop my skin from becoming oily throughout the day. My friend (who has oily skin) swears by Max Factor 'Creme Puff' powder to keep her skin matte all day, so I thought I'd give it a try! I also picked up Max Factor 'Smooth effect foundation' I was intrigued to see the 'smooth' effect that it would apparently give me!

The first thing to say is that I LOVE the creme puff. It sets any foundation really well, and gives some coverage which other powders don't. It's good enough to use with BB cream alone, which is great for  days where I don't want full coverage. It keeps my foundation from sliding off the face, which I've been having trouble with recently, especially at work! I love it, I really can't recommend it enough and will definitely be re-purchasing! 

The foundation is good for my 'normal' areas, it really does smooth out any imperfections. It's not so good on dry areas such as my chin.... it really exaggerates the dry skin/blemishes. The only way around it is to make sure I exfoliate & use a heavy moisturiser on these areas, but I love to use my Clinique Moisturizing Gel under make up to keep the oil at bay. The creme puff and foundation are a pretty good price for max factor products, as I'd usually expect to pay anything over £10 for a foundation. I'll probably give the foundation a miss next time as it's not amazing.... but the creme puff is great!!!

Max Factor 'smooth effect' foundation available at  £7.99

Max Factor 'creme puff' £5.99

Available at Boots & Superdrug 

(click the links to go straight to the Max Factor pages!) :)

Thanks for reading! Feel free to follow my blog to keep up to date with my posts :)

Lucy xx