The Detox ...

It's official. I am detoxing from all of the naughty things! I've always eaten a healthy diet purely through preference, I love anything vegetarian and would choose a plate of vegetables over any form of meat any day! I'm not a vegetarian, I do eat chicken , but I'm such a fussy eater I wouldn't really know what to class my diet as. I won't bore you with the details of what I do and don't like, as I just said, I'm extremely fussy.
 Over the past year or so I have become more inclined to order takeaways. Pizza has became my boyfriend and well, I can never say no to a night on the town! As much as the party animal within me thinks it's a great idea to down sambuka like there's no tomorrow and the greedy guts in me wants nothing but a vegi volcano pizza from Domino's, enough is enough!!
 I love exercising and I love living a healthy lifestyle, I'm lucky that it generally suits me as a person. I'm not one to squirm at the idea of salads or cry at the thought of a run; these things are of interest to me. The reason this time I'm determined to smash my weight loss/fitness goals is purely for self happiness. Whenever I stop eating junk food, drink more water, cut out the caffeine and cut out the alcohol, I feel so much more refreshed.
 The temptation to not cook, pick up the phone and order takeaway can be appealing, but I know I'd rather spend a little more time in the kitchen prepping food knowing that my body will be full of nutrients and all smiley on the inside, than to have relaxed on the sofa, put on two pounds and make my body hate me!
 Last night, my flat mate and other friend ordered a domino's pizza and asked me if I wanted to join in, this was the closest to breaking point I could ever get - pizza is my weakness! Yet i thought about it, rather than as pizza, as what it actually is; what is in the food. The fat, the salt, the calories all of the things I know my body doesn't want. I managed to sit and watch them eat their pizza's and ate my chicken and brown rice. After jumping over that hurdle I know I can stick to this, pizza lovers out there, surely you feel my struggle?!
So I've been keeping a food diary on the app My Fitness Pal, which I would highly recommend as a way to keep tabs on your calorie intake. I have been sticking to fresh foods, and have banned myself from alcohol for the foreseeable future.

What I am detoxing from:

- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Take aways
- Any naughty foods!!

What I am switching it to:

- Peppermint tea / hot lemon water
- Fresh fruit and vegetables, chicken, whole wheat products
- Alternative's to fatty foods

I'm by no means over weight and I've never exceeded a size 12 in clothing, but I'm really hoping to make a change to my body both internally and externally. If you know that you've had a few too many nights out, perhaps eating too much junk or even a smoker; why not think about what would make your body happy?

I'm leaving this blog post here and I'll update throughout my health/fitness journey!

Thanks for reading, Hayley x

Get The Look: Spring Golds And Nudes With The Naked 3 Palette

I'm always switching up my makeup look so I don't tend to have a routine which I follow every single day. However, as seasons change it's nice to have some sort of theme; within winter I love to rock the dark lips and smokey eye - and don't get me wrong, I will still do this sort of look all year round (what a rebel!).
Over the past year or so, I have been reaching for my Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. It is such a versatile and very beautiful palette which can be adapted from day to night time and you can achieve all sorts of looks.

The palette contains 12 rose toned shades that begin light and gradually get darker. You can create shimmery glittery pink eyeshadow looks or experiment with the darker shades. If you combine the two you can achieve a fantastic, sexy and sultry look. Each shade features Urban Decay's Pigment Infusion System - a proprietary blend of ingredients that gives each shade its velvety texture, rich colour, serious staying power and durability. 

The packaging of the product is a very art-school inspired tin case and adds a sense of professionalism to the product, the rose gold background and yellow gold detailed writing is such a luxuriously put together palette. This item made my heart race and my eyes popped out of head when it was released therefore just like most makeup addicts out there, I had to get it! 

I was lucky to receive this as a birthday gift last year and I still use this more days than not!

Winged liner with a blend of

• Strange
• Trick
• Nooner
• Factory
• Darkside

Closeup view

For this golden/bronze toned look I started in the inner corners of my eyes with the first shade in the palette, 'Strange'.  I swept it across the entirety of the lid but popped a little more on the inner corners. I also added a highlight shade here from a Sleek contour and highlight kit. I then took the shade 'Trick' which is a stunning bronze colour and very well pigmented shadow, I used a real techniques base brush and started from a quarter of the way into my eyelids and swept it all the way out. 

 I then wiped the base brush so that there was basically no eyeshadow on it and swept it across so that the two blended smoothly. 

 I then used 'Nooner' which is a pink toned light brown shade, on a blending brush and started from the outer corner and into the socket of my eyelids. This created a subtle shadow and gave the look some dimension. On the same brush, I used 'Factory', this time focusing much more on applying it to the outer corners and only ever such a slight blend. The reason we don't blend this shade is it has a shimmer finish, and it's only matte shades that suit  being blended into the socket for the purpose of creating dimension. 

 Finally I took the shade 'Darkside' on the base brush and focused solely on the outer corners and then with the same highlight from the Sleek highlight and contour kit, I popped a little along my brow bone to bring the look together!

Once you've finished the eyeshadow routine, to make the eyes look popping and wide awake, a black liquid liner will really make your eyes stand out. I used Collection's liquid liner pen in black, any liquid eyeliner should suffice - I would always go for a pen for better precision. 

 Start off in the inner corners, make this as thick or thin as you like and depending on your eye shape, I have quite big eyes and eyelids so I like to have quick thick eyeliner, but it's all about personal preference!

 From the inner corner, glide a straight line to the outer corner and then, just like most things in my life, I wing it! 

 I tend to opt for a winged liner everyday, again through personal preference. Some eye shapes suit much more to use just the liner and end where the eye ends. If this is new territory for you, play around with it, make up is fun and artistic and if it goes wrong you can simply wipe it off. 

 After the eyeliner, batter those fluttery lashes onto a mascara of your choose and you'll be looking like a woman who has her life together (It's great creating such a deceitful illusion!).

This eye makeup is beautiful when paired with a nude lipstick, I lined my lips with Essence lipliner in 'Nude' and I then went over with M.A.C's lipstick in 'Shy Girl'. Oh and of course the best thing any girl can wear is a smile - so don't forget to pop one of those on your pretty faces too!

The overall look is finished with a slight contour with bronzer (I used Benefit's Hoola). And there you have it! A stunning bronzed goddess style makeup look perfect for spring (or anytime really). 

Thanks for reading, Hayley, x

Marching Out ...

Three days into the fresh month of April and I'm reflecting on the previous month, my gosh, it was a whirlwind! It was filled with both stress and enjoyment, highs and lows; but most importantly, memories!

I'm going to cheat a little here by starting with the 29th February. The leap year certainly brought me some luck (hopefully I won't have to wait another four years for further luck). I managed to pass my driving test on this date which has to be one of my proudest achievements yet! Wow was I relieved to finally be able to stop having driving lessons and to actually be able to drive on my own. I passed second time (apparently all the best drivers do, so I'll take that) and I was thrilled. My 'learning to drive experience' was a very odd one. I was far from lucky. I started learning to drive in 2014, this driving instructor was a grumpy old man and I found myself cancelling lessons. I then had periods of time off from learning to drive and by periods of time I'm talking 8 months without a lesson - yes ok I slacked, my bad. I then had to find another instructor. I trusted my pal's recommendation (big mistakeooo) and the guy I then had was very touchy and weird, to say the least. So upon passing my test I was just excited to not have a creep grab my legs and stare at me intensely whilst I changed gear! (how did this dude find my ditzy attempt at driving so, appealing?)

Then within the actual month of March, my anxiety hit a high and I had to leave a job due to stupid panic attacks - yippee. 

 I'm a second year law student and I had my Public Law exam to sit, which, on reflection (touch wood) was okay, well, as okay as a three hour exam can be. Since then I've had a little bit of time off and have let myself have a great time before final semester kicks my ass! 

 My parents went away on holiday so I had various friends come stay over, went out clubbing (a lot) and I allowed myself to be happy. To me this happiness came in all sorts of flavours, some were  Jäger flavoured, some tasted of my Nanny Joan's chicken dinner - its all about balance. But all jokes aside, I really have found this last month has shown me all the little forms of happiness. 

Heres my list of five happy's this month:

1. Spending time with my grandparents

2. Sleeping in and not feeling guilty

3. Going to my best friend's house, applying face masks and fooling around

4. Getting dressed up, applying pretty makeup and going out 

5. Being offered my very first mini pupilage (this will mean nothing if you don't study law, but essentially work experience with a barrister's chambers!) 

Although there were intense and very stressful moments last month, I'm learning to not focus on these moments or allow them to push out my happy memories, but to spend time remembering the happy times. This is something I need to do much more and hopefully allow myself to lead as much of a positive life as possible. Don't allow yourself to moan about a day of rain and forget about the week of sunshine. 

As I begin the next two modules of my degree I plan to spend time being a focused, organised and positive person! How was your March? I hope April is a good month for all!!

Thank you for reading, Hayley x