Lemon Pea Lifestyle etc.

Friday, 9 September 2016

SKINSTITUT First Impressions

My skin has tendency to be quite reactive, therefore I'm quite wary of adding new products into my regime. When I do it can lead to an annoying rampage of random breakouts and the waste of an expensive product that I'd been excited to try - although my mum probably doesn't mind too much.

That is why I love it when a brand offers a skin profiler. You tell it a little bit about your skin and it's concerns and a few moments later you have a rough idea of what products would be best for you from their range.

The Skinstitut profiler does exactly that. You tell it your age, your gender and your main skin concern before completing a few simple statements before voila, 5 products that suit your skin type. Obviously, these products are just a suggestion and you'r advised upon completing the profiler to talk to a Skinstitut therapist to help you further in choosing the perfect products.

Skinstitut products fall under 5 categories - hydrating, anti-ageing, brightening, calming and clearing. Due to my skin being prone to break outs, congestion and blotchiness I was suggested to try products from the clearing range. You can mix them across the categories or stick to one in particular, it depends on you and your skin.

You can buy Skinstitut products from Recreate Yourself, Australia's largest online hair care and beauty store. Soon you will also be able to use the Skinstiut profiler on their website so make sure to check them out.

My products arrived from RY a week ago and I've been using them daily ever since so I thought I'd share my first impressions with you.

L-Lactic Cleanser
This cleanser is fine for all skin types but particularly if your skin is dehydrated. The formula really hydrates the skin while the L-Lactic helps to strengthen and reduce sensitivity in the skin.
I really like this cleanser. I've found that it leaves my skin feeling really clean and fresh after I've used it. I use it in the morning on it's own but in the evening as a second cleanse after I've removed my make-up with a cream cleanser. It smells lovely but isn't over powering or chemically and it doesn't leave a horrible sticky residue on you skin which I've found some gel formulas have done.

Enzymatic Micro Peel
This is basically a super gentle way of exfoliating. It's designed to smooth your skin so that overtime your complexion looks brighter and healthier.
This product is so gentle. Even my temperamental skin hasn't had an issue with it and I was really worried it would. It leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturised and gets rid of any flaky, dead skin that's hanging around so my skin looks glowy and feels really clean. I've been using this every other day and so far am loving the results.

Even Blend Serum
This serum is perfect if you've got any unwanted pigmentation on your skin at all. The serum helps to fade scars, sun spots, all sort and also brighten the overall complexion as welling as helping to prevent future damage. It also helps heal breakouts which is perfect for me.
This is the first serum I've tried so I can't really compare it but it feels lovely and light on the skin and absorbs really well. It doesn't smell amazing but that goes once you've applied it. I've been using this morning and evening before moisturising and am excited to see if it does what it says on the tin
.

Moisture Defence - Oily
This is a light weight, oil free moisturiser that doesn't clog pores but hydrates and smooths as any good moisturiser should.
This is the only product out of the five I'm not completely sold on. For me it's not hydrating enough. All though I do get oily patches, particularly in my T-Zone, it's not horrendous and I think this product is designed for people who suffer with real over production of oil which I think is why it isn't right for me. It is a really lovely, light moisturiser so I've been using in the morning with the serum before the SPF but at the moment I'm not sure it's one I'd go back to.

Age Defence SPF 50+
This is a broad sprctrum, light, hydrating SPF that protects agains UVA, UVB and premature aging. What more can you really ask out of an SPF?
SPF is such a crucial part of a skincare routine and part that most people forget. Forget anti-aging products if you're young and aren't yet showing signs of aging you need an SPF and that is all. Once you've got your SPF sorted and in check, think about a retinol. This one is lovely and light and isn't sticky like some SPF's can be despite it's thick consistency. It's a high SPF (higher than necessary for everyday but can you really use an SPF that's too high?) so is only doing good things for you skin in the long run.

I'm really enjoying trying out these new products and will check back in a month or so to let you know what I think of them and if they'r going to be sticking around in my skin care routine or if I'll be giving them the boot. At the moment, apart from the moisturiser, they're all doing pretty well.

I'd definitely recommend heading over to the Recreate Yourself website to check out the full Skinstitut range and also the profiler. They've got heaps of other skin care ranges on there as well so if you're looking for something new it's a great place to check out what's out there.

Until next time,

Wednesday, 7 September 2016

The healthy cookies you NEED to try

Overripe bananas are a menace to everyone's kitchen. They look disgusting, they gett a bit smelly and no one will touch them so they sit they're getting more and more off putting until someone eventually throws them away. Unless you're a kitchen god and have mastered banana bread - something I am still yet to accomplish. How do you get that rise?

Anyway, faced with a bunch of overripe bananas recently I decided I'd try something else out. Something a little easier and a little quicker than can be rustled up when you get home from work.

You will need

150g crunchy peanut butter

7 tbsp honey

3 ripe bananas

100g almond flakes

50g rolled oats

1 tsp ginger powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

50g good quality dark chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180C/356F/Gas Mark 4.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Blitz the almonds and oats in a food processor until they form a powder. Put the blitzed oats and almonds in a bowl. Do the same with the bananas until they a lump free and add to the oats and almonds. Give it all a big mix until it's well combined.

Melt the peanut butter and honey in a pan over a low heat until it is a runny consistency. Add the mixture to the banana, oats and almond mixture and stir together.

Add the ginger powder, cinnamon powder and chocolate chips to the mixture and fold it all through until the chocolate chips are evenly distributed.

Use a tablespoon to put dollops of the mixture onto the baking parchment and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon.

Once you have used all the mixture put the cookies in the oven to bake for 10-15 minutes until they are a lovely golden brown.

And that's it. Lovely and simple and super delicious. These are great as a healthy morning snack or for a pre-workout energy boost. Or whenever you fancy a snack really.

I hope you enjoy them if you make them.

Until next time,

Monday, 5 September 2016

Thought of the week #28

Motivational Monday The best is yet to come

When things aren't going exactly to plan it's easy to find yourself in a negative head space. When you're stressed, not enjoying something anymore, or just generally having a bad time, it can be hard to see the positive side of things and look for the good in situations. Although it's hard, it's best to remember it hasn't always been that way and therefore it won't continue to be that way forever. Life can be shitty sometimes but if you keep in mind good things are just around the corner you'll see things start to feel better.

Until next time,

Friday, 2 September 2016

Hello September

Autumn is officially here and it is, as it seems with everyone, my favourite month. There's something about the in-between seasons of Autumn and Spring that I just love. It feels a lot like the calm before the storm, the build up to the excitement before Christmas and Summer.

Having said that, it doesn't feel like Autumn is here yet in the UK. We're still being graced with lovely sunny, toasty warm days and I've worn sandals for a whole week now, which is a long time for the UK. It's nice to have a few days of sun though, hopefully it will hold out as Jack and I are thinking of taking another camping break at the end of the month. Though this one won't be followed by a month long hiatus.

I am sorry about that. I don't really like taking blogging breaks because I love blogging and more to the point, I like my blog to feature consistent and well put together posts. That was half the problem in itself. The blog posts weren't the high quality, planned and polished posts I like to feature.

As soon as I'd taken the first week off from blogging three times a week I realised I need longer than a week. I felt the most stressed and the most anxious I've ever felt. It came from nowhere and it felt pretty uncontrollable. August felt a lot like a long tumble down a mostly downwards hill with a couple of points where I could stand up and enjoy the sun for a little whole before I'd start rolling down the hill again.

That all sounds overly dramatic but at the time that's how it felt.

I don't know how or why but something at some point shouted 'STOP'. And slowly but surely, in the last 7-10 days of August I did. I looked for positivity in everything I could, I enjoyed the company, love and laughter of friends and family and I looked for inspiration and motivation actively rather than waiting for it to suddenly appear on my door stop again.

There were lots of contributing factors as to why I felt so down, some of them still ongoing which maybe I'll talk about another time. But there are only a few factors that made me feel better again and it made me realise it doesn't take much to feel happy and inspired. Enjoying life, seeing the positivity in it all and being grateful for all the wonderful things you have around you is almost all it takes.

I'm not shunning depression or anxiety and saying all you need to do is look at the positive and all your problems will disappear because that's clearly not the case and it's different for everyone. But for me, those things and few other (which again I might talk about another time - probably will) really helped.

This month I want to keep focusing on that. Everyone has down days that's part of human life. But this month I don't want to dwell on them and be consumed by them and let them go on and on all month long. Instead accept them, realise the anxiety is there and accept that but look at the positive and focus on that and focus on all the good, happy things around me.

I hope you all had an absolutely fantastic August and have a brilliant September ahead,

Until next time,

Friday, 29 July 2016

Time to take a break

Credit

As you're reading this I'm somewhere in the Woolacombe area of Devon.

Jack and I haven't had a proper relaxing trip since we've been back from Australia and we thought it was about time we had one.

We've both been quite tried and stressed recently and I've had a bad time with anxiety and panic attacks so we decided it was the right time to have a break away from everything for a few days.

I've decided that means a blogging break as well. Just a couple of weeks away, a mini blogging holiday, to re-inspire and get some blog ideas down on paper because with everything else that's been on my mind blogging has taken bit of a back seat and I'd rather step away for a little while and get some inspiration and motivation to blog something actually worth reading than to just post something rubbish that no one wants to read.

I'll be back soon. I hope you understand. Until next time.

Wednesday, 27 July 2016

Me Before You | Review

I finished me before you on the bus to work this morning and it hasn't quite left my mind yet. I loved it so much, it was by far the best book I've read in a long time. I felt so connected to it and I can tell already that it will be one that will stick with me and I will genuinely miss reading the characters that Jojo Moyes created here.

When Louisa Clarke looses her job at The Buttered Bun, the only cafe in her small town, she'll do anything to ensure she can continue to help support her family. After a few failed attempts at finding a job she reluctantly goes for a job as a carer. Will Traynor doesn't see the point in life following a motorbike accident that left him paralysed from the torso down meaning he needs constant care and can no longer lead the high flying adventurous life he was used to. He hates not being in control of his life and is ready to end it all. When Louisa discovers this she makes it her mission to change Will's mind and make him see that life is still worth living. As their relationship develops both their lives take a course that neither of them had anticipated.

It sounds like chick lit right? Girl meets boy, they fall in love, there's some miracle and then a happy ever after. That's where you'd be wrong. This is so much more than that. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me so many emotions and the overarching question of does someone have the right to end their own life was dealt with sensitively but without reservation.

Jojo Moyes has created wonderful characters in Me Before You. Every character within the book has a valid role to play and they're all perfectly rounded. However, in Louisa and Will, Moyes has created characters that I am sure I will go back to in a few years time. They are both so loveable, even Will with his cynical view and sarcastic, sometimes mean, comments. Louisa is beautifully charming, quirky, bright and funny but without direction.

The romance that is played up in promotion for this book (and it's movie adaptation) is actually quite minimal in this book. Although there is a love story what really pushes through is the freedom to make your own choices and live your own life and how that can be effected, or not, by who we meet.

Everything felt so real in this book and it comes down to the normalcy of Moyes' storytelling. There's no lofty language or over fictionalisation of anything. The conversations are normal, the setting is normal and it all works to make the book poignant and moving. It's a reminder that real people are going through what Will is going through and others have the same anxieties and concerns as Louisa.

When I finished this book all I wanted to do was go back to page one and start again. I wanted to devour Will and Louisa's story again and again. It's a must read, definitely before the movie is released on DVD.

Until next time,

Monday, 25 July 2016

Thought of the week #27

It can often feel like you're not getting anywhere with things. It feels like you've been at it for ages and you're not much further than where you started, right? Wrong. For every second you put into whatever it is you want to achieve, you're getting somewhere. You're a step closer than you were yesterday, a might be a big step it might be a small one, but it's a step. That's what you should focus on.