A Little Catch Up

Happy New Year! I'm so sorry for how late this post is and it seems ridiculous to say that I hope you all had a nice Christmas but hey ho it would be rude not to. The last month has been so hectic with school work, the week before Christmas I had my mock exams which stressed me out beyond belief and I've been trying to keep up with all the homework and coursework I've been given, so with all that to juggle I'm sure you can imagine it's been pretty hard for me to fit in any time for blogging.

 I've been thinking a lot about blogging at the moment and after a lot of consideration I've decided to add another element to my blog. Sport. Some of you may not be aware that I absolutely love sport, exercise and just generally anything to do with keeping fit and healthy. Most my friends and family say I'm actually obsessed, and I would love to share another one of my passions in life with you guys. The idea came to me after I made my most recent blog post 'My Health & Fitness Routine and Tips' it occurred to me how much I enjoyed writing about it. I thought it would be quite convenient to do it now because well, how many of us have set our New Years resolutions as 'I want to get fit', 'I want to lose weight' or 'I want to have a healthy diet' because I can guess that many of you reading this post probably have, and I'd like to write things that will help and encourage all of you to stick with your resolutions and not give up after 2 months or even start exercising now.

In terms of a schedule and setting myself days to put up posts, I'm not going to set one. As I'm sure all of you will appreciate this year is a really busy year for me in terms of education. But, as soon as I have any free time I can assure you I'll be sitting down and writing a blog post for you all :)
 I'll try to alternate my posts so one week will be beauty related and the next will be health and fitness so it keeps everything fresh and interesting.

I hope you'll enjoy reading my new posts as much as I will writing them, and I'm really excited to see what the new year will bring for Amor.

Amy

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Health & Fitness Routine and Tips

Nike Sports Bra - £22.00

Nike Running Shorts - £13.00 (I managed to fit myself into a kids medium)

Nike Free Runs 5.0 - £80.00

So today I thought I would talk to you about my fitness routine. I love sport, I can't stand sitting down for long periods of time I just have to be active all the time. I exercise every day whether that's at home and doing my exercise routine, at school doing PE, playing a hockey/netball/rounders match for school teams or going to boxing. I thought now was a really appropriate time of year to do this post as it's coming close to Christmas (did I really just say the 'C' word?) and the New Year, people don't really want to be piling on the pounds over Christmas, I know I don't, and some people may want to get fit as apart of their New Years Resolution. Anyway, I'll get on and tell you what I do every day to keep fit.

 My fitness regime changes all the time as I think it's important to change it around a bit so you don't get bored. At the moment I'm loving finding videos on the internet it makes it so much easier as I don't have to think about putting something together. 

In terms of aerobic exercise (this is what you need to do more of if you want to shed some weight) I use a Victoria Secrets 10 minute fat blasting workout from popsugar (link here) this is really good to get your heart pumping and ready for the rest of your workout. I used to do a lot of running in the summer but as it gets cooler I tend to lose the motivation to go outside. I'll then move onto some toning exercises which I tend to do more of and a youtuber I absolutely love for this is Cassey Ho better known as Blogilates. She has hundreds of videos all specific to different parts of the body. For abdominals I love the Victoria Secrets Model Ab workout (you can see a little theme here haha) it targets every part of your abs from obliques to transverse abdominals making them feel tighter and more toned, however this is pretty hardcore and if you don't do exercise often you may struggle completing it as I know when I first tried it I had to stop a couple of times, even though I was exercising a lot already. But PERSEVERE, maybe start off on an easier video (Blogilates for Beginners) or keep doing the same video and see how much you improve keep count of how many times you stop and try to do one less each time. If you want to achieve your body goals you must keep going. It takes at least 4 weeks for you to see a noticeable change in your body and it's so worth it. You will never regret working out and getting fit. If I'm not using exercise videos I'll make up my own routines which usually consist of things such as crunches, sit ups, bicycle crunches, planks, squats, lunges, Russian twists etc I could go on forever telling you what I do. I also like going on Pinterest and looking at the health and fitness section for inspiration they have little routines on there that you can use which are usually pretty good if you can't think of what sort of exercises to put together in your own routine.

In terms of eating, I won't lie and tell you that I eat extremely healthily because I don't, I'm the first one to grab a bar of chocolate and eat it until my stomachs content, but I eat fatty foods in moderation (or at least I try to) this means that maybe 70%-80% of the time I try to eat healthily, so eating lots of fruit and veg and wholegrain bread instead of white. The rest of the time so 20%-30% of the time I eat little bits of food that I love to eat, so chocolate sweets, pasta, pizza..need I go on. But remember you can't out exercise a bad diet, don't go overboard or all the exercise that you've worked so hard at will be a complete waste of time.

Amy's 5 Top Tips on staying Fit and Healthy:
1. Drink lots and lots of water - This is something I'm trying to do more of, to help me do this I'm bringing a water bottle round with me everywhere so it encourages me to drink more. But also if you're feeling hungry drink some water before because most of the time you think you might be feeling a little peckish your body is actually craving water.

2. Ignore the scales - I got obsessed with looking at the scales and seeing how much weight I'd lost which is obserd as I was never overweight, and I felt really down if I'd put on any weight. But as my knowledge started to build around physical activity I learnt that muscle is heavier than fat and if you're working out all the time your obviously going to build muscle and weigh a little more.

3. Eat in moderation - I've already touched on this but it's so much better than dieting as you can still eat all those yummy snacks that you love. 

4. Don't focus on one type of exercise - By this I mean don't just focus on aerobic exercise and don't just focus on toning exercises they both accompany one another and work well together to give you your dream body.

5. Don't stop - stop thinking you can't do it, and that you're never gonna feel good about yourself keep going, keep pushing yourself and I promise you'll feel so much better about yourself.

I hope you enjoyed this post, it's something a little different for me to write about but I'm as passionate about sport as I am fashion and beauty so if you enjoyed this post let me know and I'll start doing some more like this. If you'd like to follow me on pinterest then here is my link ♥

Amy

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Beauty Haul

It's been a while since I've gone out and bought loads of make-up usually its just going to my local drugstore and picking up a few staple pieces that are needed. But around 2 months ago me and my sister set a date for our beauty shopping spree in London and well, we've been saving ever since. We set off early and started off at MAC down Carnaby Street and as you can probably see that left a huge hole in my pocket. We continued on and popped into places like Selfridges, Space NK and Lush. But anyway enough rambling here's what I bought:

MAC Lipstick in Chatterbox £15
A soft fuschia pink lipstick in the finish amplified.
 
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle £22
A high frost peachy/bronze powder highlighter.
 
MAC Eyeshadow in Pink Venus £10
A shimmery rose pink eyeshadow in the finish lustre.
 
MAC Eyeshadow in Trax £10
A plum eyshadow with small hints of glitter in the finish velvet.
 
MAC Eyeshadow in Blackberry £10
A matte plum eyeshadow.
 
MAC Pro Colour 4 Compact Palette £6.50
 
Rimmel Soft Kohl Eyeliner Pencil in Sable Brown 011 £2.99
Dark brown eyeliner pencil.
 
Bourjous Healthy Mix Serum in Light Beige 53 £10.99
Gel foundation giving an instant anti-fatigue effect and revived complexion.
 
Real Techniques Setting Brush £8.99
Small finishing brush used for applying highlighters and powdering the t-zone.
 
Lush H'suan Wen Hua Hair Treatment £8.95
A hair mask that improves the entire condition of your hair and adds a gorgeous shine.

Hope you enjoyed my beauty haul!♥

 Amy

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NARS Delphes Trio Eyeshadow Palette

I can't even begin to describe my excitement and slight jealousy when my older sister, Rachel, rang me up and told me she was being invited to the NARS sample sale. For any of you who don't know what a sample sale is it's when retail businesses sell off excess merchandise for cheaper than the original selling price. I was lucky enough to have a little gift brought home for me which was this gorgeous eyeshadow palette called Delphes. It contains a light shimmery pink, a matte grey with hints of glitter and a shimmery olive green. I'm yet to try these out but, to be honest, I'll probably use the pink and grey a lot more than the green as I don't know how good it will look on me and its a little out of my comfort zone, but you never know I may feel a little adventurous one day and give it a go. I'm really impressed with the pigmentation of the colours but that comes as no surprise to me as NARS are notorious for having high quality make up. Which explains the price tag, normally this would be on sale for £33 (click here if you want this gorgeous palette) but my sister picked it up at the bargain price of £10, yes you heard right, A TENNER! So I think it's safe to say I'm a very happy girl right now! 

Have a lovely weekend!♥

Amy

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NOTD: Stud Effect Nails

 From left to right: Leighton Denny Crystal Finish Top Coat, O.P.I Matte Nail Envy, Essie Nail Varnish in Hot Coco and Leighton Denny Nail Varnish in Metallic Mink.

I am by no means a professional nail artist, don't get me wrong I love looking after my nails and making sure they are in pristine, condition but when it comes down to nail art I am a complete and utter amateur. I've always wanted to recreate the 'cute floral nail art tutorials' plastered all over the internet but I neither have the patience nor the equipment to make them look good enough, they all just seem to turn into a squiggly, smudgy mess - not good. I've seen this stud effect nail look quite a lot on things like Instagram and I thought whilst I had a little bit of spare time I would try it out and I'm pretty proud of the outcome, even if I do say so myself. It's such an easy and effortless effect but gives a little extra detail to a classic nude nail.

First off I took my O.P.I Matte Nail Envy and slid this onto my nails as a base coat. This is my hero nail product its a strengthener, base coat and matte top coat all in one, words cant even begin to describe how much I love this product and how much it has changed the appearance of my nails. Then I began to apply two coats of my Essie Nail Varnish in Hot Coco and leave them to dry for around 5 minutes. I haven't used this shade much but I think the colour looks so nice now that we're entering Autumn and the name just makes me feel all warm and cosy.

Next is the hard part, trying to create perfect little dots all of around the same size. Practice does make perfect and I did have to start a couple of my nails over again because I managed to get a whacking great big blob of glittery nail varnish over my perfectly varnished nude nails. So I got my Leighton Denny Nail Varnish in Metallic Mink and wiped any excess nail varnish on the rim of the bottle. (Remember: you can add to your little dots so the less nail varnish on the brush the better) Then using the corner of the brush I dab a little glittery dot a third of the way up my nail and repeat this for each nail. Again, leave this to dry for around five minutes and apply a top coat, I used my Leighton Denny Crystal Finish Top Coat, and hey presto, you're done.

Are you any good at Nail Art? Have you managed to 

recreate this look?

Have a lovely weekend!
♥

Amy

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Evening Skincare Essentials

 

I've always tried to take really good care of my skin so since hitting my teenage years I've consistently stuck to three main rules of maintaining healthy skin: Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise. Its taken me a while to find a routine that really clicks and works for my skin but finally I think I've found all the right products that work to leave my skin feeling refreshed and hydrated. I wanted products that weren't too strong and going to strip my skin of all the goodness and I preferred to have natural ingredients like essential oils to keep my skin looking healthy. So some of these wont be of any surprise to you as there are a few cult classics but also you'll find a few hidden gems. 

1. I didn't include this in the picture above but I always start off by removing the bulk of my make up using the Garnier Fresh Essientials Eye Make-up Remover, this just helps to make the other products work in a more effective way as there isn't as much make-up on the face that they need to tackle. 

2. Next, I fill my sink with warm water and apply my beloved Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish to my face (no more than the size of a ten pence piece) by massaging it through my lashes and leaving a creamy layer on the skin. I wet my TreSonic Facial Cleanser (Review here) and move it round the whole of my face, excluding my eyes, this just helps to lift off the rest of my make-up but also gives a much deeper cleanse to remove any dirt or oils hidden inside my pores. Once I've finished with my TreSonic I'll use a muslin cloth to remove the remaining residue and wipe over my eyes to clear away any excess mascara that my make-up remover didn't get off previously.

3. Then, I'll spray my Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic onto a cotton pad and wipe it all around my face this includes ingredients like Aloe Vera and Cucumber which help to soothe and refresh the skin. Toning is by far the most underestimated step in a skincare routine but is actually really important as it ensures that no remaining bits of dirt are left behind but also restores the skins pH level.

4. After I will put a few pumps of my Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser Combination/Oily into my hands and apply it to my skin focusing mainly on dry patches and under my eyes. I always apply my moisturiser under my eyes with my ring finger as it is the weakest finger which will prevent any stretching or scratching as the skin under the eyes is very delicate. Then I'll slide a bit of the Ultralip lip balm onto my lips, which is the best lip balm I've ever used, this is coming from a lip balm addict, it's ridiculously moisturising, I apply it at night and my lips are still smooth by the time I wake up in the morning. This will definitely cure your winter chapped lips ladies AND it has SPF 15 for the summer *round of applause for the best lip balm ever*, yes I went there.

5. Now its for the finishing touches I quickly sweep Revitabrow through the start of my brows this is a clear gel that encourages them to grow in the areas where they look a little lack lustre. This really works and I recommend it to anyone who hates their thin, sparse brows. However, don't expect to have thick Cara Delevigne-esque brows overnight, I'm still waiting, waaaah:( But you will see results within the first two weeks of use. Finally, if I find I have any blemishes on my skin I roll on a bit of Liz Earle Spot-on which is a 'rescue treatment' for blemishes, bites and cuts. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with this product but I'm currently in love and its just helping to heal and clear up my pesky blemishes a lot quicker, hooray!

What are your evening skincare essentials? ♥

Amy

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TreSonic: Facial Cleansing System

I woke up really excited this morning as I knew I would be receiving something in the post that I'd been dying to get my hands on for months. That little delight being The Facial Cleansing System from TreSonics. Very similar to the Clarisonic it uses sonic technology to loosen dirt and oil deep within your pores making your skin cleaner and a lot smoother. It comes with four interchangeable heads a bristle brush with a blue ring for sensitive skin; a bristle brush with a black ring for normal skin; a deep hydration applicator allowing you to apply moisturiser and a massaging head. I've only had the chance to try it out once, but so far so good. They recommend you use the bristle brush for sensitive skin first so I applied my Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish to my skin and started to move the TreSonic around my face (20 seconds for your forehead, 10 seconds on each cheek and 20 seconds for your chin and nose). Already I could feel a difference in my skin it was a lot smoother and looked more radiant. After I pumped my Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser for Oily skin to the deep hydration applicator and again moved the TreSonic all round my face penetrating the moisturiser through the skin. I'm really impressed with this so far and for £38.00 you can't really go wrong.

Have you tried a sonic facial cleanser? Have you got a TreSonic? 

♥

Amy

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