Knowing your nudes.

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Do you know when nude isn’t nude? When it comes to lips. You can have peachy nude, pinky nude, and true nude. Who knewd?! (eek!)

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I’ve always fancied that gorgeous barely there but still polished look that comes from a perfect nude lip. I tried lots of versions and realised that because my lips are quite pigmented, the right nude is the like the perfect pair of jeans, bloody hard work!

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Here’s what I ended up with, A No.7 lipliner, as recommended by Lisa Eldridge, a Mac lipstick in Patisserie and a Maybelline gloss. The Mac lipstick has a bit of subtle glitter through it, which I didn’t think I’d like but it does add another dimension, and makes it look less flat.

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From the top: No. 7 Precision Lips Pencil in Nude
Middle: Mac’s Patisserie
Bottom: Maybelline Colour Sensation in 622 Nude Pearl

Dinner Winners

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As I tend to go running on Mondays and Wednesdays and do TRX and kettlebell training on Thursdays eating for fuel is the name of the game, on those days.

Before exercising  I’ll eat something small. Banana and organic natural yoghurt with honey and cinnamon, an avocado on crackers or the like. When I return, I usually eat something like an omelette with lots of veg or a stirfry. I’m not a big meat-eater anyway, so veg and fish make up most of my diet.

However, If I’m at home for the evening or at the weekends, I really enjoy thinking about food, researching new ideas and giving them a go. I find Pinterest is a fantastic source for things I’d never thought of, roasted cauliflower is the stuff of dreams, I tell ya!

 

Hake with toasted almonds, asparagus with parmesan shavings and steam sugarsnap peas.

 

Lean steak, mashed sweet potato, chickpeas, chorizo, blackpudding and feta.

On the topic of cauliflower (one thing I didn’t think I’d be mentioning on my fashion and beauty blog!), here’s a link to the most lovely cauliflower-based pizza. http://carolanneskitchen.com/2012/08/23/cauliflower-crust-pizza/

Wheat free and tastes so good.

Cauliflower based pizza, no really!

One more thing I’ve realised in my quest for filling my belly healthily is that you’ve got to open your mind. By that, I mean not always reaching for a bottle of sauce to season, try using herbs and lemons, limes and spices instead. It means you know what’s going into your food and save lots of cash!

Lemon and coriander seasoned prawn stirfry

 

I hope that helpful, not too preachy and somewhat enjoyable. Next up, snacks!

 

Healthy Habits: Lunch Lovelies

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Ok, so you’ve started well with breakfast, tús maith leath na hoibre and all that so next up is lunch.

I bring my lunch to work as much of the food, even the ‘healthy’ stuff ain’t so healthy. Leftovers of the previous night’s dinner makes up most of it, with supplementary veg, usually. My best tips are:

1.Experiment and to keep an open mind when it comes to healthy ideas. I didn’t think it’d be easy to find so much really lovely tasting non-wheat no-sugar lunch.

2. Be prepared. You’ll not get very far with an empty fridge. Shopping at the start of the week and having a few ideas is the only way to go. I find Pinterest is brilliant for inventive ways to eat healthily.

3. Do some research. A lot of what we think is healthy isn’t. Read packets and start embracing your local fruit and veg shop. Good quality ingredients make a huge difference

It also saves me lots of cash which means more money for clothes! Win win, I say.

Here are a few of my recent favourites:

Quinoa, almonds, chilli, lemon roasted cauliflower, feta and rosemary.. and a pile of spinach!

Chickpeas, tomatoes, rocket and sunflower seeds. Oh and basil pesto dressing.

Quinoa, roast curried cauliflower, feta cheese and grated carrot.

Balsamic roasted parnsips, sugarsnap peas, tomatoes and chickpeas

Soups are also welcome and convenient and cheap ways to stay healthy. My favourites are curried parsnip (roast the parsnips for extra sweetness), spinach or broccoli with toasted flaked almonds. It’s worth making a good-sized batch but I find I can’t eat the same thing for more than two days (fickle like that!) so I usually dream something else up.

I hope that was of some help. Next up, dinner!

Healthy Habits: Breakfast

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Like your favourite biscuits, blogs can become stale. To keep things fresh around here I thought I’d delve into the myriad of healthy living. Food is one of my great passions, along with a good dose leopardprint of course!

I’ve absolutely no qualifications in the area but my interest in food and health has been enriched by partaking in the amazing Jett’s detox (which I’ll blog about) and some reading. I’ve been trying to go sugar-free and wheat free since discovering its benefits, and I’ve never been much of a meat-eater either. I’m certainly not into the holier than thou approach but rather hoping my ideas will might make lunch or dinner a little easier!

First up is breakfast, my very favourite meal. I tend to stick to porridge and mix up what I add to it. It fills me up, and it’s easy to make too. Despite trying to move away from dairy, porridge on low-fat milk is unbeatable.

Raspberries, blueberries and honey.

Chopped apple, sultanas and cinnamon

Strawberry and dessicated coconut

If I fancy a break from the norm, I make my own granola, it’s based on a cooking queen’s recipe which I then edit considering what ever is in my press.

A pot of yumminess!

It’s definitely not as healthy as stirabout but it’s a lovely change. I usually serve like this…

Homemade granola, blueberry compote and Glenisk natural yoghurt

Or Cathal goes a little crazy and my breakfast looks more like a cocktail, which is always welcome!

So, there you have it! My usual breakfast feasts. Hope you liked, if not, I’ll go back to nailpolish and handbags…