Thursday, 31 July 2014

The Blogger Behind The Blog: Yours Truly!

Welcome to the first in a new series.

The first challenge in the #LetsTalkBlogChallenge was to document a day in your life, but for myself at least, I don't think it was an accurate representation of my everyday life. I'm going to write another post, as an addendum to the original post, denoting what an average day looks like for me, when I'm not coming from Dundalk or going to college.

I'm currently unemployed, and I know some of you will have seen me tweeting about work, but when I refer to work I am referencing my unpaid internship. I'm enjoying it a lot though, even despite the lack of a wage-packet!

It's me...
I sleep at the front of the house, so the sunshine wakes me, despite my best efforts and the "black out" curtains. If the sun is shining I'm awake around 8.30am and if it's not, it could be 10am. Then I tap the side of Tyrion and Valo's bowl to get them around to me, and I feed them and tell them how cute they are. Yes, I have become a crazy fish lady! Then I get up and make tea - provided there's some of my soy milk in the house. I usually have a smoothie and then follow up with some tea.

If it's a lazy day:

I have a shower and brush my teeth, and if I have no reason to go out, I put on something warm and comfortable, stuff my feet into my slippers and throw a hoodie on. I firmly believe there's no point in dirtying a whole outfit if you're not going anywhere. I'll tidy my room first, and then head down through the house to open all the curtains and windows. If the weather is nice I like to open the back doors and let extra fresh air in. When there is nobody home I let my two lovely chickens out to enjoy the yard.

If I'm Off To The Gym

I make sure I have all my gym gear in my bag and head out for a session in the gym. My sessions wouldn't be to everyone's taste, with three rounds of cardio punctuated with strength and conditioning. A typical session is: Stretching, 2km on the treadmill (alternating hard sprinting and comfortable running), a round of the leg press, Russian twists and planks, 2km on the bikes (going as hard as I can on the highest intensity I can manage that day), squats and lunges, another round of Russian twists or "orbitals" and leg extensions, then onto the ab machine, maybe some time with the seated row or hip adducter and then 15 minutes of pure hell on the cross-trainers. After that, I go back to the lockers, get changed, shower off the sweat and hit the steam room and jacuzzi for 15 minutes each.

More often than not I walk back to Enfield and my mum picks me up from there. Then I do mundane things like ironing and tidy up, hoover down something to eat and 90% of the time I wind up going off somewhere, or out to my friend Annas.

This is usually the time I put on the computer and check my various things, email, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and Pinterest. I say usually, because at this very moment my computer is all taken asunder as the internal working of it have  kicked the proverbial bucket. I have been reading a hell of a lot lately and feeling sad about not getting called to interviews... No computer means I can do nothing constructive, really.

To get back on the wagon, I'm making this post the start of a series, so I hope you will stick around and enjoy the next post! 

Amy 
xxx

Monday, 28 July 2014

The Mother of All Lip-Balms by Celtic Complexion

Recently I was sent a few lovely samples from Celtic Complexion, a small artisan skincare line run by Jennifer Devlin. Jennifer is a master esthetician and a long time sufferer of rosacea. Now, I don't have rosacea (thankfully), but I do have very sensitive, very picky skin and suffer terribly from dry lips.


Jennifer very kindly sent me a beautiful 5-pack sample bag along with a beautiful compact mirror which weighs more than I do, a testament to its quality. I was a bit over excited when the package arrived, so I don't have a picture of it all presented together, but I will include individual pictures as I go.


First up, the Peppermint and Lemongrass Lip Balm. This stuff is amazing and I can say that because I've been opting for it time and time again for the last month of my life.

So what's in it? 

The ingredients list is as follows:

  • Beeswax
  • Hempseed Oil
  • Grapeseed Oil 
  • Evening Primrose Oil
  • Calendula Oil
  • Comfrey Oil
  • Vitamin E 
  • Essential Oils
  • Rosemary Extract
  • and Cupuacu Butter

It tingles on my lips and I love that, it feels like it's really penetrating my lips and moisturising. It also smells amazing, AH MAZING!!! The packaging is simple and functional which just bolsters the fact that the product is 100% amazing and doesn't need to be in a spherical package to get you to like it - ahem, EOS!!

The finish of this lip balm isn't super glossy which means if you have long hair it wont get stuck in your lips by a passing breeze. I really thought nothing anyone put in front of me would top my EOS Balms, but boy oh boy was I wrong! Celtic Complexion came out of left field and totally knocked EOS out of the park. Not bad for a company that I knew absolutely nothing about last month.

The scent is beautiful and very unique within that. It's lemony, minty and smells slightly medicated also. I really like medically scented items because it reassures me that they are working below the surface and not just lying in your lips or skin or the like and pretending to help you. This hand-made, beautufully scented lip-balm actually works...

So there you have it; The first of my Celtic Complexion reviews. 
Be sure to check out my other reviews which will be posted in due course.
In the meantime, check out Jennifer and her amazing products HERE

xoxo
Amy