Foodie Friday - What I Ate Today

I thought I'd do a what I ate today post for today's Foodie Friday post - if it's gone in my mouth today I've photographed it especially for you :)

Breakfast

One massive mug of tea in my favourite Disney Store Piglet mug, which keeps the tea hot for ages :) I take my tea with milk and no sugar :) - The milk here is skimmed :) I also had a bowl of Easi Yo Lemon Yoghurt - I'm going to do a full post on the Easi Yo yoghurt system in the next few weeks :) 

Lunch 

I have to say I'm not big on lunch and on most days I don't really bother. I only have lunch if I'm doing the SlimFast diet or if I'm going out then I'll have lunch instead of dinner. Today I had an orange, carrot and ginger juice that I made with my juicer 

Dinner

For my main meal, aka my dinner, I had leftover home made, veggie, baked bean soya mince chilli, with gluten free pasta, and some grated cheddar cheese.

Drinks

I am a huge drinker not alcohol you naughty people, but fluid in general, today I had quite a few glasses of sparkling water and Robinsons No Added Sugar Summer Fruit Squash, I also had another cup of tea.

Snacks

I had a couple of sneaky sweet treats today including a very naughty McVitie's Gold Bar, which I shouldn't really have on my gluten and wheat free diet. but I love the Caramac type coating (not pictured). I also had a Lazy Day Foods Free From Ginger Truffle Slice - these are so nice but they so expensive and so tiny!

So that was today's food and drink intake, what did you eat today leave me a comment and let me know xx

Acquisitions In Augusts - Next, Ebay, Bargains And Gifts

This month's been another stressful month in LouLouLand for obvious reasons so you can rightly assume that this is going to be a bit of a full and picture heavy post. I've made one rather large purchase this month whoops

Yes I've finally joined the digital age and bought myself a Kindle. Devoted as I am to traditional paper and print, books take up sooooo much space so I've decided to trim down my books and join the e-reader generation. I haven't included my Kindle in my August purchases because I got from a catalogue so needless to say I'm not paying for it all in one go - I did buy a lovely case for it though from this seller on ebay - it was just £4.99 which is a lot cheaper than cases and skins on Amazon and elsewhere - the only problem is the free screen protector I got with it isn't designed for the Kindle Touch but never mind I've been using it with a stylus so I'm not getting grubby fingermarks all over the screen anyways. It's taking a bit of getting used to reading from. it but I think it's going to be a good purchase, my hands and arms don't ache as much as they do holding a normal book and I can increase the text size or turn on the speech function when I'm feeling super tired.

My mum kindly bought me a few books to get me started - can you guess what I chose? - look carefully and you will see - maybe something to do with shades of grey ;) I really need to see what the hype was about ;) Other than that I'm wading through the discount and free books to see what I can find - I'm going to limit myself to one full price download a month so if you can recommend any free or budget titles on any topic, fiction or non-fiction leave me a comment and let me know x

I also made another technology purchase this month, I bought a new phone case for my Blackberry.from this seller on ebay for just  - my cousins daughter has the pink one and I think it's so cute - I love penguins :)

As per usual I made a few ebay purchases this month including some more jewellery first up these earrings - I've borrowed the sellers picture because I just couldn't capture them myself

You get a set of four different earrings a butterfly, a flower, a faux pearl, and a stud covered in different coloured crystals from just £1.00 including postage from this seller. I think I'm a bit old for the mismatch earring trend so I actually bought two sets so I could have four different pairs for just £2.00 :)

I also received this bracelet from ebay this month - it matches the necklace I got last month perfectly :)

Again it was a bargain purchase and was just £1.65 from this ebay seller x You can also get a necklace with the single four leaf clover and the matching earrings too which are both on my saved searches :)

And I got yet another bracelet from ebay - I'm loving bracelets at the moment - this one is silver tone and turquoise - I paid £1.88 from this seller - you might see the same bracelet in their shop for £51.06 don't buy anything from them at that price. They put the price up to something ridiculous then put it back down to a couple of quid about a week later - I wonder how many people have paid completely over the odds for something gone back and its 99p -very sneaky!

and yes I got another bracelet from ebay - this one is a bit more structured and actually feels more like a bangle- again it's in silver tone and turquoise - I love the hearts and flower details :) This one was £1.70 including postage from this seller.

The only trouble with me at the moment though is that I find necklace and bracelet clasps so fiddly to fasten so I made another ebay purchase - these magnetic fasteners

You attach one section to each end of the necklace or bracelet and instead of fiddling with the clasps the magnets just join together these are so useful if you have problems fastening things - I paid 99p with 89p postage  from this seller for 5 gold tone clasps and I also got a set of silver tone clasps from the same seller for a slightly more expensive £2.48 :)

As well as ebay I also did a bit of bargain shopping in the wonderful place that is Poundworld :) For just £2.00 I got a new Ped Egg style foot exfoliator  and a pack of 4 nail buffer blocks - bargain!

I also bought a couple of bits from Home Bargains including this cute floral storage box for £1.99

and this nail polish remover pot which was just 85p - I've read a lot about this on various blogs so I thought for the price it was worth a try - I'll pop a review up once I've had the chance to give it a proper go.

My other main purchases this month came from Next and more specifically from the sale order that I placed last month x - first up this green dip hem detail shirt, this is a lot darker green than is appearing here, the fabric is sooo soft and I know I'.ll wear this lots - It was £12

I also got this sequin, bead and button detail Union Jack heart design t-shirt which was £8 :)

If you read last months haul post you probably saw this top in ivory and black , and this month I received the turquoise and caramel version which was £6.00 - I love this combo and I've already worn the other colour way a couple of times so I know that this will be a good purchase x

One of my greatest loves clothing wise is nightwear - I love buying new nightwear and I bought this cute floral PJ set in the sale for £10.00 I also got some matching undies for £6.00 but I'm not showing you them ;)

My final Next sale purchase was this tankini set, I'm not going away this year for obvious reasons but I loved the colour and the uneven dots, so it was worth picking up - the top was £6.00, and the pants were £4.00.

My last purchases of the month were magazines - I'm really trying to stop buying as many magazines, and I only bought two this month - First up Elle which this month came with a free full sized Jemma Kidd Make Up School I-Glamour Define Eyeliner - I think there were 3 colours to choose from and the one I went for was 02 Copper

Copper is a coppery brown shade with a little bit of copper sparkle in it. It's not quite as soft as I'd hoped but it's a nice colour and supposedly worth £13.99 which isn't bad for just £3.90.

The other magazine I bought was Marie Claire which came with a 45ml tube of Murad Essential C Cleanser, worth £10

I haven't had a chance to try this yet but it smells gorgeous really orangey and zingy :) Again well worth it for a £3.70 magazine x

Apart from a few Kindle books the amazing Mummy Lou has also bought me a few bits this month - I've been pretty down about things and she's done her level best to cheer me up :) - first she got me a few bits from Ikea including Skurar Plant Pot - I've seen this on a few blogs and I love it - I'm going to use it to store my eye and lip pencils and the mascaras that I'm currently using :) It was £2.00

She also got me this Liksidig Napkin Holder which was £3.00 - I'm going to be using this for palette storage

On a recent visit to Lidl she also got me this nail polish remover that I've wanted to try for sometime

I'll do a review of this in due course, but so far so good.

We also had a little Primark trip this month which to be honest was long overdue - I haven't been to Primark since May and I was having serious withdrawal symptoms - they had some really nice things in but it was a real struggle to find anything above a size 12 - I guess they've been stocking for the tween market with the kids being off school - nevermind my mum picked up a few bits for herself and she got me a few bits including some nightwear and some undies which I'm not going to show you for obvious reasons ;) The major thing she got me was this copy of the Zara bag, I'd been stalking one on ebay but I went for this one instead which was only £12

The amazing Momma Lou also bought me this cute silver tone cross charm necklace which was only £1.50

and this cute blue patent purse which was reduced to £1.00 :)

The final thing that she got me this month was this metallic nail polish set which was £2.50, I saw this on a blog I'm so sorry I can't remember which one. You get 4 amazing metallic duo chrome type shades which I can't wait to try

So that was August's yes there were a lot of gift purchases there but I still bought quite a few bits of my own accord eek - I can promise you now Septembers haul will DEFINITELY be smaller - LOL - If you have any questions on anything I've bought please let me know, and I also love to know what goodies you bought this month let me know in the comments and leave me a link if you've done a recent haul post I love nosey posts ;)

Tackling Those Dry Bits With Yes To Carrots - A Review For My Pure x

Over the last few months I've been really getting into the Yes To range of products. I've tried products from all of the brand lines apart from Yes To Blueberries and I have to say I've generally been pretty impressed, so it's no surprise that I decided to try out another product this month as part of my regular My Pure reviews.

Yes To Carrots Nourishing Daily Softening Hand and Elbow Cream, is designed to soothe and moisturise the hands, arms and elbows. It contains lots of skin softening ingredients including beta-carotene, Shea butter, jojoba, sweet almond oil and dead sea minerals.

It comes packaged in a huge 200ml squeezy tube, which is really easy to use especially when your hands are damp or greasy.

The cream  is white in colour and has the same soft smell that I've come to associate with the Yes To Carrots range. The product has quite a thick and creamy texture.

You would think based on appearance that this product would be hard to rub in and slow to absorb, but you'd be wrong. The creaminess of the products makes it really easy to massage into the hands and arms, and you only need a small amount - a little goes a long way with this product. Although this product takes longer to absorb than say a hand lotion, it still only took a minute or so for the product to disappear and for my hands and arms to be left smooth but not sticky or tacky.

I have to say I really liked this cream, my hands and elbows aren't anywhere near as dry as they used to be since I started using this. Because of the texture I've been using this at night as an overnight treatment on my hands, arms, elbows and dare I say my feet and I think it's done a great job. It's left my skin feeling much softer, and more moisturised than it was before. I also love the fact that this is such an economical product you need such a small amount the 200ml tube will last for ages. If you want a quick intensive moisturising for your hands and elsewhere on your body I would definitely recommend this product x Yes To Carrots Nourishing Daily Softening Hand and Elbow Cream retails at £9.99 for 200ml from My Pure x If you have any questions please leave me a comment I love reading what you have to say x

(Yes To Carrots Nourishing Daily Softening Hand and Elbow Cream 200ml Was Provided By My Pure For Review Purposes)

Budget Beauty Series - MUA Make Up Academy Professional - Face

When I first started drafting this post the MUA Make Up Academy Professional range only had a few face products - the range was very much all about the eyes but since then they've added new products to the range on a pretty regular basis. The pro face range now includes new bronzing products, a face primer, BB creams and several concealers. Way back in the the day though when the range first came out and when I could still buy make up I bought a couple of the original MUA Pro face products to try out - the matte foundation and a mosaic blush

MUA Make Up Academy Professional Matte Foundation 

To date this is the only true foundation in the entire MUA range. It comes packaged in a simple yet effective matte black squeezy tube, it's not the most exciting of packaging but it does the job, it does get a little bit dirty though so I do make sure I give it a wipe down every so often ;)

The Matte Foundation comes in 3 shades and the one I went for was the lightest shade - Shade 1 Soft Sand., which is actually a pretty good much to my skin for most of the year.

It has no identifiable smell, and it has quite a thick creamy texture

Because of the texture I found it best to apply this foundation with my fingers, and then to smooth it over with a foundation sponge. Based on the texture you would expect this to be quite a full coverage foundation, but I would probably say that it's actually more of a medium coverage. It is pretty buildable but the key thing not to use to much at once as it makes it harder to blend - how about some scary befores and afters

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

As you can probably see the coverage is pretty decent without being too heavy or cakey. I personally needed to use a concealer alongside this product on stubborn blemishes but on good skin days it really didn't need it. If you look for a completely matte foundation this isn't it - the finish it left on my skin wasn't flat matte by any means, MUA describe it as a "velvet matte" finish  and my skin was left with more of a natural finish and glow, so I still needed to use a bit of face powder on my t-zone which can get pretty shiny.

I have to say I actually really liked this foundation - it's a tiny bit light for me at the moment because I've been fake tanning (more on that to come later this week ;) but this is a pretty decent colour match for my skin. This texture was good, creamy but not heavy, and the finish was nice without being cakey or too flat. Better still this foundation retails at just £2.00 for 30ml! It's definitely something I would consider purchasing again in the future, it just shows that you needn't spend a fortune to find something you like :) 

MUA Make Up Academy Professional Mosaic Blush

There are a lot of products like this on the market if I'm being honest, I know NYC do something similar and blushers and bronzers with multiple shades are nothing new, but I have to say that this one is pretty special. The MUA range currently comprises of 2 bronzers - Sunkissed Glow and Natural Glow and 1 blusher in the mosaic design - the blusher - Shade 3 English Rose has rapidly became one of my most reached for products when I'm in a rush and can't be bothered with the full blush, contour, highlight routine.

Mosaic Blush in English Rose comprises of 5 different shades of pressed powder in one compact, ranging from a lilac, to a peach, to nude, to a dark rose pink, all in a shimmery finish

I guess you could pick out the shades with a smaller brush, to use on your eyes and maybe even you cheeks but to be honest I just swirl a brush over the whole palette, which produces a lovely rose pink shade. Apologies that the swatch pictures were taken in slightly different lighting but I hope you can get the idea.

and you for good measure here it is on my cheeks :)

I really, really love this product - it gives a lovely hint of blusher and highlight in one swoop, it's really easy to use and it's not so pigmented that you can over do it. My one issue is the compact, it is so hard to open, I've broke more than one nail whilst trying to get into it, so what I do now is stick a coin or the end of a pair of tweezers into the gap and twist it. I can live with that though, this is super pretty and retails at an amazing £2.50 for 8.9g of product - bargain!

I hope you guys have found that useful, I'd love to know what MUA Professional Face products you've tried, so please let me know in the comments, and as per usual if you have any questions please leave me a comment too I love reading what you have to say xx The next post in my Budget Beauty Series will be another post on the fabulous MUA range and in particular the Pretty Pastels eye palette, so please keep  checking back and don't forget to follow x Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon x