Beauty: Summer Prep for Skin and Soul

As summer time is hitting most shelves as well as some of your out there are planing a beach holiday; I thought its a great idea to share my personal tips of how I prep myself as well as my skin for the summer time.

1. Exfoliate

Oh god you havent heard that one before right? :) I know its an old school one but it is really the first thing that will make a difference. Rouch eges, dry skin; it gets rid of all and makes it super soft.

2. Moisturise

Next Step for myself is to moisturise, currently with the graduate tan lotion by St.Tropez; its very effective for hydrating my skin as well; super skintone included. 

3. Shopping

Yeah, you will need to get out of your boots eventually my dear. Enough of socks; hello sandals. I bought white Birkenstocks a few days back, which I am total awe with; super comfy and currently trendy as well.

4. Fitness

I think esp. during the summer months; people are more active, are out and about all weekend and enjoy the sun. You dont usually endulge as much as during winter, I think. I personally like salad and fruits anyway; so I only have more reasons to eat those. But try to maybe have a few more walks; dance or do yoga. Just be active; I am sure you will feel a lot more refreshed and active in the summer heat.

5. Just relax

Yeah thats the soul part I was talking about. We often tend to stress around little things, worry about work about how we look and how others see us; at least I do; but hey I am only human. I relax a lot during a coffee break on the weekend or while doing yoga at home.Try to find something that calms you down; that excites you and makes you have fun. You will see; this helps a lot to make you look a lot healthier as well.

6. Water

Yup; I wont leave this one out. Drink Up!!! Hydration esp. in the summer is very important; it helps your organs do the work; keeps you healty and lets you shine from within. Who wouldnt want that right?

I hope you found some of those useful for yourself and can enjoy the summer with great friends, nice weather and great skin :)

Lots of love, happy days

B

Fitness: Yoga Challenge/ Yoga with Adriene

I realized I havent updated you guys on my fitness routine or health habbits for a while so I am trying to make up for it with a bit of yoga. Recently I have the feeling it is everywhere; everyone is doing Yoga; at home or at the gym; either hot or well during normal environments. A few years back I first started doing yoga at home following little attemps with a book and later on with youtube videos; book because I thought thats just how you start learning yoga; yeah right :) 

Now after figuring out that there are many ways to practise, I now follow one girl only. Adriene; I am sure you heard of her videos on other blog pages as well but she is just the cutest. It is usually a 20-30 Min clip of her stretching around the mat and me trying to follow. And you know what? I think I got "pretty" good at it. Meaning that I really enjoy trying to relax and being more mindful with my thoughts and movements. Its not about who is going to finish first, who runs firster or can lift more weights. Its all about you, finding what is good (lol, steeling this one from Adriene)

The challenge because I never done yoga for 31 days straight; challenge in itself as life can get busy and tiring, and I can tell you it wasnt easy doing this either before work or after, but I managed. 

Below you can see the link to her page as well as some tips from my side.

1: Allow yourself to laugh

Yes, I am not joking. I am quite a regular runner, I enjoy how my mind can relax and focus. But yoga is a complete different thing, and I honeslty started to laught out loud when I realised I had zero balance to begin with. So allow yourself to laugh, you will get better.

2: Take your time

The challenge itself is not going down to the mat and quickly passing those 30 Min`s a day; it is more finding the time for it and really appreciating that you take those 30 Min for yourself, each day. So appreciate it, go girl!

3: Breathe

Yeah, I think that sounds quite easy, but honeslty, during some movements, it is really hard to focus on air as well when you try to set your left toe right, your knee strait, your head down, I think you get the point yeah?

I hope you found this a little helpful, maybe you want to only begin your journey when it comes to regulary excersising maybe you are fit as hell and just want to give it a go; just go for it and I am sure you find what feels good yourself.

Yoga with Adriene Page

B

Fitness: Sweaty Betty Summer Collection

Sweaty Betty Summer Highlights by followlittlesecret featuring Sweaty Betty

I am currently trying to make my fitness routine back to where it was about two years ago; I dont know why I set my mind that far back; but back then I used to run everyday sometimes twice; I had one cheat that and thats it. I felt great, I slept better and was less worried with everything. Sounds perfect right. Thats why I want to go back, but honestly I struggle; like everyone who wasnt born with a six back does. 

Usually a new gadget or some new workout clothes help me along the way, to feel better while exercising and wanting me to wear the gear as well. Wish me luck peps!

I will keep you dated with how I get along, you can also follow me on Instagram thats where I usually share my fitness routine ;)

B

Lifestyle: Instagram

First post in June. Thats worth a woooohhhooooo ? Right. Ok now without getting weird..

Happy June. I try to think of something special that I can start or bring back in my life in June. Summer hits us here mostly with wind and clouds, to be honest :) I did a little shopping on Friday and Saturday well and Sunday, but I was looking for birthday presents to be fair; then just bought something for myself as well. I will do a little haul for this on Thursday. Hope you like my little collection of pictures.

 Trying to find new inspiration; and kicking my ass :)

 Cork Market

 Shopping COS. OMG I love this brand

Lots of love b

lets start this week right

Lifestyle: Instagram

 Yoga time.. sadly I am not that taned, thanks to Instagram I look it though

 KFC Time before Mad Max

So last week was a short one, with one Bank Holiday mid week I could enjoy a day doing nothing. I seem to make a habit out of it through the weekend as well; all I did was watching Pitch Perfect 2; Mad Max and rewatching Vampire Diaires; and it says a lot if I tell you I am already at Season two right/

So over the weekend I also cleaned out my flat or unneded things like old magazines, did some reading and had massive amounts of coffee as always, I am not lying; I spent so much on coffee I serisoulsy need to watch it

Please tell me if you are sick of seeing my feet :) I am still doing the 30DayYoga with Adriene and I love it; two days ago I did abs; and I still feel it. But all that counts to it right.

Hope you had a great weekend and have a great week ahead of you 

B

Lifestyle: Hemsley Hemsley and such...

After my Detox Program of 15 Days I decided its time to change things up a bit in the kitchen as well. I have been halfway in the cooking game ever since I moved around between Cork and Munich ever since. But I thought it is def. worth my time and money to cook for myself more often, even if its just for work. Its better, healthier food and I really just want to put my mindset right again.

I recently bought three cook books. Below you can see what I think of them so far.

1: Hemsley Hemsley

I think its a great start into a healthy eating lifestyle. The book covers important topics as such. Sugar intake, meat and fish related fats, all you need to think about when you want to change something to the better. The recepies on itself are easy to understand and follow as well as well written. They cover a great deal of daily treats or simple healthy food. I really cant wait to start cooking some of those in the next few weeks myself.

2: Deliciously Ella

A different story and a more personal one that made this book so great. I would say this book is half teaching you to cook/half teaching you to eat better and make different and healthier decicions.

Woodward explains very well what certain food do to your body as well as the great benefits in those who you should eat more of.

The recepies are more simple and minimalistic, then others I have tried. But have a great look and taste on them

Again very happy to join her on her incredible journey.

3: A Lighter Way to Bake

And last but not least, as I am a more confident baker than cooker, I thought I also try Lorraine Pascale`s book.

Its so colorful and has a very great look. The book itself is more a baking/recipe book as I used to know them. Simple but very effective and delicious recipes. Cant wait for the sun to come out to get some of those delicous muffins and cakes on my plate.

Lifestyle: 15 Day Reboot with Joe Cross *Day 1-5

I bet you saw this one coming right? After my now third post about, juicing, detox or a cleansing tea, I thought it was time to go above and beyond.

One of my friends, successed that we could try the Reboot Program of Joe Cross, where you cleanse yourself of sugar and all those bad habits, as well as toxics. 

I was very happy to be part of that, believe me, I was almost to happy about it. 

The evening began with actually buying the needed foods. Hereby we had great help with the actual meal plan. Detailed on how much of those veg you actually need. I am glad Cork has a great Organic shop in city centre, as we tried to stay as organic as possible through out. Now of course Tesco was a great source for things like cucumbers, I am not paying 2.40 per piece; like really? If I need more then 10 of those. 

I think I now begin to split my experience into different parts:

1: Money

Do I save money with this? Will it be as expensive as they say? Mm. So I would say, yes you will spent money, as you need to buy a juicer if you dont already have one, and no, a blender wont do the job. So try to find a good quality juicer, I would say around 100-150 Euro is where you should look at. Now to the cost of the actual food. Try to think where else you could buy certain foods in bigger packages as well as cheaper, it doesnt all need to be organic.

Did I save money with juicing instead of buying real food? I dont think so, I would say, if you leave dinners out, you would end up spending the same amount. Also, my friend shared her juicer with me, so that saves the cost on my side.

2: What side effects will I have? Is it worth it?

Side Effects. A well known topic when it comes to juicing and dieting. Side effects can be different per person of course, I am not a doctor either, so I cant say what will happen. But, I am sure you will experience some sort of headache throughout -you can bet that I did- as well as being a bit more moody -after all, you will eat less, your body is missing all that sugar and coffee after all - 

After three days, things should lighten up for you, you will hopefully feel more fresh and feel the energie coming back.

3: Should I work during this juice?

I think that depends where you work. I never imagined taking 15 Days off just for a cleanse. I talked to my friend about it as well and we both agree then it should be someplace nice, where people make the juice for us, just as a little side joke.

I believe though its better to start during the weekend, so you have the worst three days done before you go back to work -hopefully you dont work on the weekend-

4: Motivation? Does it help?

I think the greatest motivation is not doing it alone. Being two people on this journey helps me a lot, its much easier to cook together -and yes, it takes ages to prepare, so be realistic about it-

and its also a great support.

The motivation day in and day out to do this for me is to finish it, to not quiet and see what the end results are. 

5: Time

Yes, time. You will need a lot. I dont know if you are working full time as me and if you are lucky you are home by 6pm or if you are working from home. But it will take up time, i remember the first few days where it took us 4 hours min. to get the juices and the food prepped for the next day, a lot of cutting, cleaning and mixing I can tell ya. 

So be prepered, your social life will def. suffer with this.

To follow my onward journey for the next week and the rest of this week, follow me on twitter and instagram :)

Much love,

B

Lifestyle: Detox with Mark&Spencer Juices

By now you must think what freak is she? Trying out weird brands with tea or now Mark&Spencers Juice. But I can calm you, I am not on a weird Juice/Detox thing, I really just want to try a few new things and see what I would like to get out of it, if that makes sense.
I can`t say I have always had a healthy mind, not in my young years for certain, but I think I adapted to it by now. Knowing that I never will be perfect, yet I will try my best and this should be enough. Wow wise words :)

But enough of this, more Juice !!!
Really had a great time trying this. I did the cleanse/juice day on Wednesday last week. Some of you might have seen it on my Twitter/Instagram.
Both of the juices I wanted to try were really fresh, less disgusting then I thought and also more sweet. The sweet is the only thing that worried me, was it really juice? Or is it all sugar. I couldnt find anything online about it, so sorry about that one. But maybe the apple and the berries made them more likely for me to like them. 

Simple enough, I would buy them again, as they were great and I felt amazing during the day. Fresh, not sleepy and just not hungry at all too. I can imagine myself doing the juices at home as well, just need the machine (someone buy it for meeee) 

Hope you have a great start in the week, Lots of love

B

Lifestyle: Detox SMT Challenge: Results and Thoughts

By now I believe everyone has gone through a detox or cleanse as some might say. So I thought I give it a try as well. As you remember two weeks ago, I started drinking the SkinnyMeTea by an australian company (linked shared)

as I have heard many good things about them, mostly about how energised all the consumers felt.

I talk you through the experience:

Day 1: Let`s get into this !

Happy to start and excited to see how that Green Tea pack actually tastes like. It`s meant to get your metabolism a bit of a peek, so you drink it in the morning. For me as a constant tea drinker, the taste was fine. I actually enjoyed it most when the tea was still hot and not mid warm.

The only annoying bit was the little bits that fell through my infuser, but I easliy drink them.

Still on Day 1, but now the night tea comes into the game. Supposed to relax and calm the stomach, as well as cleanse it. I was honesly a bit worried about that one. I am working all day, is there something about to happen?

Oh yes, I have read most of the consumers had no problems with it, but with me? I went many more times to the toilet then usual (excuse the expression) So it depends from person to person how your stomach/bowel reacts to it.

Afterwards you obv. feel lighter and I would also say cleaner, more energetic as such.

Day 5: I keep going

Now after almost a week through. I feel great. The morning tea as much as the evening tea are part of my daily routine. The evening tea is only every second day (reccomended, and I would agree with it as well) so I kept having the cleanse every second night.

Day 14: I am feeling fresh !

I cant believe how two weeks went by that fast. But I must say, this was a great trial run. I am sure to order a second pack, maybe this time also try different products from them. 

I feel fresh and calmer with the tea, but I also like the ritual that came with it to be honest. So I can imagine maybe going to another brand and try this one as well. I keep you dated on that one. But I can honesly say, this is worth a try !

*This post was not sponsored in any kind.

Have you tried a cleanse yourself/ 

B

Fitness: SMT Detox Challenge

I finally did it. Promising myself many times before I should just try a detox, I have followed my own words. I am honeslty really excited to try each tea, either breakfast or evening. As recommened, I will follow a clean diet, eliminating coffee, sugar , diary or any to fatty food. Which I need to say can be sometimes harder then I believe myself. I am currently trying to get back on track, never really happy with how much effort I put into myself, but thats a different story. So as I have started to eat more food with good nutrients, like eggs, beet root and such, things I like but eat way to little.

After looking around online in more detail, I found a brand called SMT(SkinnyMeTea)in Australia (lolz) and I thought why not try it.

So weeks after, the packages arrived. Yay me !!! 

I will update you guys daily on Twitter or my Instagram, to let you know what my thouhts are. I also found a great Juicer Company, called PureGreen so I will try them as second step, followed by making juices on my own -if I do gain to like them. Have you tried a detox yourself? If so, I am happy to hear how it went and what brand you used?

I wish you all a great start in the weekend, B

Fitness: Inspiration #2 : Shake that booody

If you follow my instagram you might have seen my feet on the street one to many times. But I seem to have a thing for it. 
Ever since I started running, puhh about 4-5 years ago, maybe longer. I never thought I would like it as much now. I started running for obvious reasons, loosing weight. I just wanted to drop pounds and be a healthier me, stop eating pizza and enjoy my evening salads. Back then, I started to change drasticly, I only ate salad for three months and drunk only water. That combined with running did it for me. Looking back to it, its crazy for me to imagine what I ate back then, but then its great to see how much I have changed.

I remember me running in big and wide clothes, just so I dont get any looks, it didnt even stop me in the summer, horrible idea as you can imagine.
Until I figured, I would enjoy running even more, if I wear nice clothes, who would care about the sweat than :)

So below is a history of current workout clothes(links below )
that get me out running.

What`s your motivation? Would you like to have a honest-twitter-Q&A about that?


1. Stella McCartney
Do I adore her sense of fashion. I am ot sure how many times she worked with Adidas aleady, but this seems to be my favorite. Just amazing colors, def. makes me want to get out on the road more.

2. Reebok
Currently has amazing new things I love. Especially for jackets. Sadly, thats exactly what I am currently missing, a new running jacket ... what is life

3. Jogha
I need to thanks ViviannaDoesMakeUp for that one. I saw her blogpost a few weeks back and I cant`wait to get my order from Jogha -I obviously already bought some nice pieces :) - but as one of my friends once said, you cant buy enough sport equipment.

1.1 Sport Bra
1.2 L. Tights
1.3 Sport Bra (blue)

I try to make a haul about it, as soon as I get my package -which will be happy times for me ...

Hope you have as much fun recently with sport and workout related clothes as me ...

B

*Not sponsored

Fitness : Inspiration 1# Workouts I follow

One big part of my life is working out, or trying to kick my ass to work out , to be honest. I am one of those people who has weeks where I follow a strict regime, healthy food, no sugar, only water and lots of lots workout. But then I get either demotivated, distracted so I stop. 
This has been going on for about two years, ups and downs, but then hey, I am only human.
I am not sure how much advise I can give you in this matter, I think the key for me is :limitation. Or everyting "bad" in little bits. I try to eat healty at home and get more cooking done but when I am out, I like to enjoy the burger I eat and the fries that come with it :) 

So below you can see a quick selection of home workouts I like to do when I dont go to the gym.

Yoga: 
Those clips are really helpfull if you try to get into yoga or are already doing so. If you follow the side, it`s really relaxing, but also easy to follow.

Toning your body :
I also love the clips, sometimes longer or shorter by Katrina and Karena. They just make it look less hard and fun. And its really easy to get those workouts in. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgBTevPW8fsH4pQNrLufOsQ

Jillian Michaels:
Well what to say about that woman, she is just amazing. I think she is the only one that I allow to scream at me, sadly not live but through videos online.
I have periods during the year where I get back into 30 Day Shred. It`s a semi hard workout routine, that in early stages used to make me catch a breath way to often. But I still love it !

So if you currently lack the motivation to workout or just want a little inspiartion, have a look.
This was part of of a series I would like to do. Next Up is the clothes that come with it, as in favorite brands, current workout clothes and so on.

Next Workout Post: 06/01/15

Hope you have fun, B

Fitness: The Daily Greatness 12 Week Plan

So after seeing it on ViviannaDoesMakeUp, I thought I give it a try. What you should know is that I was running quite a lot, joined a gym and all that. But as I cant get enough sometimes, I hurt my ankle, all that was last year, I wasnt allowed for three months which then let me slack my exercise routine. (back then I was running 7 times a week, sometimes twice a day) all a little to much for my feet :) So patience is now my plan. I thought this 12 Week Plan/Book would get be back on track. I am currently in week two -I know nothing - but I do enjoy in very much, its easy to keep track and really motivating as well, esp. the sections with "What are you grateful for today" or "What would you change ?" it gets you thinking you know?

So I highly can recommend it if you want to start doing exercise or any kind of sport. I put the link below , you also get a discount if you follow through it as well :)
Let me know if you tried it already and if you would like a little inside note on my routine :)

Get 5% off with this Discount

The Book itself with beautiful pictures 

B
*not sponsored