I'm not sure sure if I have mentioned this before but i'm a huge fan of facial oils, for both dry skin and oily skin, and it's the best cure for dehydrated skin, which I tend to get during the winter, despite the fact I've got oily skin.
This Balance me radiance face oil is an 100% natural facial oil that's made of a combo of softening and conditioning oils such as camellia and yarrow to create a facial oil that will help restore the radiance to your skin and is suitable for all skin types. As I mentioned my skin is oily and this works a treat for me, and I use it as a treat, meaning I use it once or twice a week to give my face a massage at night. It doesn't break me out used this way, but I do think if you have oily skin you should only use it a few times a week. I know the beauty world is in two mind about whether or not the hole "oil balances oil" theory is true, but this works for me as it's very emollient, yet light and has a plumping effect on the skin.
If you have dry skin this would be perfect for you, alone or worn underneath your night cream and another thing I must note is I adore the packaging of this oil, i'm a total sucker for anything with a pipette applicator (is that weird? I just find them so cute!) and the glass bottle gives it a luxe feel. At £30 per 30ml it's not cheap, but considering that fact it's all natural and a little goes a long way, it's pretty good value for money, and a lovely product.
The balance me radiance facial oil is available here.
-Thesparkleicious-
*PR Sample
Well hello there, long time no blog I know! what can I say, i'm possibly the worlds worst blogger. I think a big part of it is the fact i'm not happy with how my blog looks, but am now sure how to get it the way I want so I don't tend to think of post ideas.
But I wanted to get back on track and share with you how I've been getting on health-wise. As many of you may know I have been on a health kick for the past few months as I needed to lose some weight, and it's been going very well, i'm pretty much back to my normal weight (YAY!) and have filmed a video all about story of my weight loss that will be up later on this week. The main thing I have been enjoying is the food I have been eating. I still make sure I eat really well 6 days of the week and then one day, normally on a weekend, I eat whatever I like, of course depending on what i'm doing. On my last treat day for example I met up with a friend for coffee and had hot chocolate (with cream!) and a caramel shortbread slice.....supper yummy, and very fattening. Then for lunch I had some kettle crisps as it was about 4 (the best, but very high in fat) and for dinner I had homemade risotto (My bf makes the best!) and some ice cream for desert. Now to me it's how I would love to eat everyday, but of course I can't if I want to stay slim and healthy, but it's also important that i'm happy and ill be honest, yummy food makes me happy. But I know that healthy food is so important too, that's why I love having this kind of way of eating. During the week I still use my fitness pal and workout 5 days a week, because I want to stay slim and have to keep my eye on the ball, because I gain weight so easily.
My daily diet is something like this:
breakfast- All bran with milk
Lunch- A sandwich with salad or a bagel, some low-fat crisps (yes, not super healthy I know, but low-cal and yummy!
Snack- Fruit or 2 rice cakes, or some chopped veg. And after dinner I have a frozen low-cal chocolate mousse or a kit-kat (only 107 calories!)
Dinner- This changes, I try and not eat too many carbs but I have things like brown pasta with homemade tomato sauce, roasted veg, salad, sweet potato.
And then on a naughty day.....LOL
Honestly, I am happy with how i'm eating atm and feel like it's very easy to keep up so I don't end up having treat days everyday and ending up being over-weight again.
What are you guys up to? still on a new year health kick?
-Thesparkleicious-
Hands up if you are a little worried about your weight. Hands up if someones else's weight bothers you? now that's an interesting question....
I recently came across a post that was all about a certain beauty guru's weight gain. Someone had actually taken the time to write about the fact that she had gained weight and then all the comments were suggesting why and what she should do. Let me just make it clear that this was all about a person who did not say anything about her weight in her videos and that all these people were in fact talking about someone who they had never even met. I wanted to share this topic on here because it made me feel really angry, and somewhat confused too. Why do people care?
I understand that as soon as you put yourself on the internet, your basically opening yourself up to a hole new level of criticism, just as you would if you were a celeb. But the problem is, why do people care if a youtuber gains weight? One camp will say that they are just looking out for her, wanting her to be happy (not that she ever said she wasn't...) and the other people, well they just want to point out the negative in my opinion. All these comments were about a woman who in my eyes, is perfectly normal. Other comments were suggesting that she was simply, too lazy to lose weight. What i'm asking is since when did it become a crime to gain weight and maybe, just maybe not act upon it?
I'm sure some of you are thinking "hang on a minute there miss, your trying to lose weight?" but that's exactly my point i'm doing it because I want to, no one else.Who is anyone to feel like complete stranger, no matter how much you feel you know them because you watch their videos, should feel bad about gaining weight? I'm sure that no one needs to be told they have gained weight, people are not stupid, they can tell! and if they chose to stay like that, does it ever occur to people that maybe they are happy the way the are?
Share your thoughts with me!
-Thesparkleicious-
It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to do this every year on my blog, and who am I to argue with tradition? I love making new year resolutions, the feeling of hope they give you but yet somehow I never end up sticking to them.......oh well, that's life isn't it?
I had plenty of beauty, fashion and life related ones last year and some of the ones i'm about to mention may have been mentioned last year too if 1) I did a bad job of sticking to them or 2) they are really good ones.
1) I think this is not going to come as a shock to most of you, and it's the most boring resolution ever but here it goes: lose weight. Those of you who read my blog and watch my videos often will already know I have lost most of the weight I wanted to, but as always I have gained some after xmas and really need to get back on track, my goal is to lose another stone (or 2) in the new year, and keep it off for good.
2) Fake tan more! i'm not sure if it was just me being lazy or just embracing the plae look but during this winter I have not been tanning much, and while it looks good on my face,on my body.......not so much, My body looks so much better with a tan so ideally I would like to tan at least once a week.
3) Lay off the laptop. This may not come as a shock to many of you but i'm an internet addict, as i'm sure so many of us are these days. But I would like to cut down on the amount of time i'm on the computer so I can spend time with people properly, rather than talking to then with my head in the laptop or on my phone so i'm going to try and not use the internet in the evening.
4)Keep up the daily workout because it was really helping me feel better about my body.
5) In terms of fashion I think i'm stuck in a bit of a rut, due to the fact it's been so cold and let's not forget, my body issues I have been stuck in big jumpers, jeans and boots and while I do love the look I need to branch out a little and wear cloths that are a little more fitted, and wear more dresses and skirts!
6)Get back to daily body brushing! this is a big one because I have not been doing it for the past few weeks as im away and forgot to bring my brush and I can really see and notice a diffrence in my skin, everything just feels less firm and smooth.
7) Use a cellulite treatmeant daily, again because this makes me feel better.
8) Last but not least, be less negative. I'm a very negative all the time and it's not my best qulity, so must try and work on that!
So that's it, those are all my reslutions......what are yours? I hope you all have a fab new year's eve and wishing you all the best in 2013!
-Thesparkleicious-
Hey everyone!
Just a little reminder about my giveway on here too, do make sure you read all the details carefully first.
Good luck!
In my opinion nothing beats AHA'S to brighten and smooth out your skin, and as I have mentioned before such products can be very hard to come across on the high street, so when browsing the skin care shelves in superdrug I was intrigued by this cleanser, and the brand in general seemed very "active" if that makes sense.
The AHA active cleanser claims that AHA'S are the key for getting luminous skin as they prompt cell renewal,help sweep away dull skin, excess oil and even makeup due to the apple AHA which is a complex of glycolic,malic and lactic acids. It's also sulfate free so there is a lesser chance of causing the skin any kind of irritation, it's a thick gel cleanser that I use an night on damp skin and then remove with my clarisonic.
I had really high expectations for this cleanser because I was expecting instant results, and while it is a nice product, i'm not sure if it's right for my skin, it just seems too gentle. It's claims to reveal brighter looking skin, and while my skin does always feel very soft after using it, I have to say I don't find it as smoothing as the sop & glory peaches and clean cleanser.I do love the packaging on this cleanser, it's very simple and clinical looking and the fact it has a pump dispenser is always a plus in my books, and one and half pumps are just right for my face.
This cleanser is usually £12.99 per 150ml, which to me seems a little steep for a gel cleanser, but it has been on offer on the superdrug website for a while now, so if you do want to try it now would be the time. I have also seen this in my local TK MAXX for £5.99, so that's even better! Overall, I think this is a nice product and I do want to try more products from this brand, it's just this this was not hard core enough for me.
Available here http://www.superdrug.com/face/dr-darren-aha-active-radiance-cleanser/invt/266154/&bklist=
-Thesparkleicious-
Despite that fact I wear sunscreen daily I have somehow managed to get sun spot on my face, mainly around my cheek area and I suffer from dark patches and just general uneven skin tone. I had been looking around for the most effective products to help combat this and had seen many glowing reviews for the VICHY Idealia Pro dark spot corrector.
I have such faith in french skin care brands as I love how scientific they are. This dark spot corrector claims to be the "ideal perfector uniform complexion" and targets brown spots,sun spots,age spots, blemish marks and blotchiness. It's suitable for even sensitive skin and is paraben-free. Vichy claim you will see a visible result in 4 weeks, your skin will appear more even looking and luminous.
I had been using this daily for over 4 weeks and at first, I did notice a little change, my dark spots did look slightly lighter, but i'm pretty sure it was just an initial result as I have not seen a huge difference since then. In terms of texture, it has a light texture, somewhere between a serum and a light moisturizer and has a light fresh scent. The packaging of this product is lovely, a pale pink and silver tube that comes with a pump dispenser (one pump is enough to cover my hole face) and it sinks in to the skin very fast. I'm pretty sure it broke me out a little at first, but it could have been other things I had been testing out so I will let it off.
At £29.00 per 30ml it's not cheap, and I will continue using it, but I don't think I would repurchase as I need something a little more brightening, but if all you have a very light pigmentation this would be a good option and it's hard to come across good products for dark spots on the high street, although I have heard good things about the Garnier one...
Available here http://www.boots.com/en/Vichy-Idealia-Pro-Dark-Spot-Corrector_1277148/
-Thesparkleicious-
PR smaple
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