Top 10 Favourite Lip Products

Hello!

I thought I would do a quick blogpost on my 10 favourite lip products.

I really like the more neutral/pinky tones an I think this shows up in my choices ;)

My other favourite lip product is Papaw Ointment, but I am pretty sure most aussie girls would know about this and probably have a tube or tub in their handbag.

If you dont know, its an ointment made of Papaw and it goes on clear and moisturises chapped/dry lips. It is great for putting on at night or putting on to prep lips for lipgloss. I usually wear it everyday, even when I'm not wearing makeup.

Top 10 Lip Products (in no particular order):

Lipsticks

Maybelline - Warm Me Up

This is similar to MAC Hug Me (& cheaper) it's just a little more pink toned. It's a really beautiful flattering everyday colour though, and has a lovely creamy consistency and a pleasant smell. I usually grab for this when I want to take my simple everyday makeup look up a notch.

MAC - Angel

This is the newest out of my collection but I am loving it so far. It's not as creamy as some of the others but is a lovely light pink colour perfect for summer!

MAC - Hug Me

This is my go-to lipstick when I do bridal makeup because it's just so flattering on everyone without drawing heaps of attention to the lips. Looks lovely with Florabundance lipgloss on top. Perfect my-lips-but-better shade.

Revlon - Lip butter in Plum Fairy

This is another new one but I really like it as a nice plummy wintery colour. Very, very creamy as it is a  lip butter.

Lipglosses

Napoleon - In The Flesh

Beautiful nude-y pink with subtle shimmer. A little bit too sticky, but does stay on well.

Bare Minerals - Cupcake

Beautiful shimmery rich berry pink colour. 

Becca - Colada

Super gold shimmer in this pinky gloss. Another sticky one. Dupe for MAC Nymphette which almost made it to this list (I couldn't find it haha)

MAC - Florabundance

Light nudey pink shade. Can settle a little into lines on lips but is great over a nude/light pink lipstick.

Nars - Bad Education

Sheer berry red shade, super glossy, a great everyday red or fun night out red. I bought this after researching and finding out this was the main lipgloss Leighton Meester wears on Gossip girl.

Lipbalm

Lucas' - Papaw Ointment

What are your go-to lip products? Please let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading & have a great weekend.

Liv x

First Challenge – November - Clean Eating Challenge

I recently lost almost 15 kilos on the Michelle Bridges 12WBT program. Here are some before and after photos that show my progress. 

January 2013

June 2013 - I am the same weight now as in this photo

However, I seem to have reached a point where I am unable to lose anymore weight.  This could have something to do with the fact that I indulge in lots of naughty treats like chippies and chocolates just about every night. Hmm…maybe.

I know how to eat well; I just don’t always do it. I am a Taurean you know. Those that know Taureans will understand.

So the challenge for November (and hopefully for life) is to eat clean 80 % of the time. Simple right? This isn't just about losing the last 5 kilos, it's also about setting myself up to eat for health. 

The Plan

• Eat clean for 4 days and have 1 treat day

•  Plan treat days around events (dinners, parties)

• Don’t go mental on your treat day and go downtown on junk food – it just means you can treat yourself to a few un-clean things on those days (for me this will likely be a pub meal out or some Kettle chips or Sushi Train)

• You can still have little treat foods every day, they just need to be clean treat foods  

So what exactly is clean?

There are a lot of people out there on the inter web that will explain this a lot better than me. One blog I found particularly interesting is The Gracious Pantry. I have put links below to the pages on clean eating that were the most useful to me.

What is clean eating

How To Convert Your Pantry To Clean Eating 

Tips for getting started now

After reading several clean eating blogs, here is what I understand clean eating to mean. 

• Loads of vegetables and fruits. 

• Unprocessed Meats from the butcher (chicken breast, unmarinated chops and steaks etc.) – organic and free range if possible.

•  Eggs.

•  Whole foods like quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice, and millet.

•  Legumes like kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils (although not sure how these will go with my IBS).

•  Nuts, avocadoes and healthy oils like olive oil, coconut oil and macadamia oil. Also nut spreads with no added sugar or salt.

•  Fresh herbs and spices.

•  Almond milk.

Which foods do I avoid?

• Junk/fast food (obviously)

• Foods high in refined sugars – cakes, chocolates, biscuits, lollies

• Foods high in salt – chips/crisps, salted nuts

• White bread, white pasta, white rice, white sugar

• Gravies and most seasoning mixes (probably these contain gluten also)

• Dairy – this is a personal choice as I have IBS, however I still will have a bit of cow’s milk (lactose free) in my tea.

• Gluten and Wheat – same reason as the dairy. This one is quite hard for me to cut out, I have been trying the past couple of weeks, so I am going to try and cut this out as much as possible.

• Caffeine and Alcohol – I already have cut these from my diet so this will be easy peasy

Preparation

I think that it will be real important for me to plan the week ahead and then on shopping day I will be able to prep a lot of my meals and snacks.

I plan on keeping a diary and using it to record/schedule my red flag days (days I have something on - my treat days) and a meal plan for the week.

I will roughly be sticking to 1200-1400 calories per day because this is what my experience with 12WBT taught me and it helps control my serving sizes which can creep if I don’t monitor them.

As an extra incentive, I have decided to reward my efforts at the end of the month.

So can I reward myself with chocolate? I don’t think so! I was actually thinking I would reward myself with something that can be used for the next months challenge.

The December challenge will be Meditation so I was thinking of a special meditation candle. I will burn it only when I am meditating.

This is the one I have in mind.

Glasshouse Sistine Chapel Candle RRP $39.95

In case you are wondering what challenges I have thought up for the coming months, this is roughly what I have worked out.

December – Meditation challenge

January – Yoga challenge

February – Early morning walks before work challenge

March – Daily affirmations challenge

April – Pinterest challenge

Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted with how I go.

Liv x

Overwhelming desire to be good challenge

Happy Halloween!

We don't really celebrate halloween in Australia but I have got my lollies ready for any potential trick or treaters that may happen by my house. Problem is I keep eating all the lollies...there wont be any left for them soon! 

But onto the real reason for this post.

 Does anybody else out there in Internet land ever feel overwhelmed by blogs, Instagram and Pinterest to be the most perfect, happy, domestic, healthy, fit and beautiful version of ourselves at all times?

Don’t get me wrong, I love all of the social medias, it’s just sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed by all the things I “need to do” in order to be happy.

·      I need to meditate twice a day, each day to remain calm and work on my mindfulness.

·      I need to do yoga every morning to keep my muscles toned and flexible.

·      I need to eat whole foods and cut out sugar.

·      I need to embrace super foods like chia seeds, coconut oil and weirdly named berries.

·      I need to create my own moss paint (check my Pinterest).

·      I need to drink fancy green juices out of mason jars with pretty straws.

·      Make my own spiced almond milk.

·      I need to make ten different types of chocolate vegan protein balls.

·      I need to print my own chevron cushions and dip-dye my dog.

Image Source here: Peaches Geldof's dog

OK, so that last one was clearly a joke (although I do have a white cat…hmmm).

But seriously, out of all the crafty/DIY pins that I have on my pinterest board, I have attempted a big fat zero. I would dearly love to, but where would I start? There are far too many. Probably easier just to keep pinning more craft projects. 

I am guessing I am not alone? Please guys, tell me I’m not alone!

Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t a preachy blog post about how you can find yourself without doing any of these things.

I still very much want to do all of the things!

So the challenge I am setting myself is to focus on one thing at a time, and for added incentive, reward myself with coveted items (because I’m worth it). Feel free to join in if you want and choose your own challenges and rewards.

The rules are simple.

One. Thing. At. A. Time.

&

Keep. It. Simple.

Watch this space guys, I will be kicking off on the 1^st of November with a new Monthly Challenge!

Liv x