FASHION: HOW TO STYLE A BODYSUIT FROM DAY TO NIGHT WITH NEW LOOK


I have to say I wasn't too sure about bodysuits when I saw they were making a comeback! They are kind of like  a babygrow but for grown ups! I've been working alongside New Look to style a bodysuit *from Day to Night! 

I thought i'd show you the night outfit first, I picked out this gorgeous stripe skirt *with the split in the back which as you can see looks stunning with the bodysuit. The skirt is a lovely bodycon style which is a lovely figure-hugging style and it's just gorgeous. You could easily wear this skirt for work or for a night out, I wore it to a wedding on Friday and wore it with the bodysuit and these heels and I got some really nice compliments on my outfit. I think this is a really versatile skirt and I know i'm going to wear it loads. 

Next up for my day look I went for a much more casual outfit. I chose this dungaree dress* as they are so on trend right now and popped this over the top of the bodysuit, New Look have a gorgeous striped bodysuit which I think would look amazing with the dungaree dress. You can literally chuck the dress over any top or jumper and it looks lovely and it's just so easy to wear. I popped my trainers on today for a comfy casual look. 

To finish off both looks i've got my favourite Leather effect jacket which is also from New Look and this fringe cross over bag, i've tucked the strap away for the night look so it's more of a clutch style. 









* this post contains pr samples, these have been marked with an asterisk (*) I have not been paid for this blog post and all opinions are honest and my own.

REVIEW: PURE CHIMP SUPER CLEANSER AND SUPER SHAMPOO BAR



I thought i'd share a couple of goodies i've been trying out over the last couple of weeks. I've never heard of Pure Chimp before but I was very interested when I found out that they stock Natural products like this cleanser and shampoo bar and they kindly sent me a couple of bits to try out.

The Pure Chimp Super Cleanser is very different to my usual cleansers, I tend to go for cream cleansers or oil cleansers. This has a more solid form and you mix it with water to create a paste and then put this straight onto the skin and massage. This is a really lovely gentle product which draws out impurities. The texture of the products makes it feel like your exfoliating the skin and getting rid of that dead skin too which is great. You rinse with cool water, I tend to use a cloth to make sure i've removed it all. It smells incredible, seriously it's gorgeous. It's a lovely sweet scent, it's kind of fruity and nutty and it's just gorgeous. Really like this product and I think the jar would last a really long time as you only need a tiny pinch of product so it's a great value for money too!

Next up i've been trying the Super Shampoo Bar too, I love shampoo bars, I've tried a few from Lush in the past. This one is really easy to use and did not disappoint. I've actually been struggling with my scalp recently as it's gone very dry. This was lovely, really gentle so great for sensitive skin. You lather it up with water and it's so foamy you get some great bubbles and again a little goes a long way. It leaves the hair squeaky clean and nice and shiny. It leaves your hair smelling lovely as it contains banana extract. It's a really lovely product and again a great value for money as a little goes a long way.

If you like your natural products and want to try something new then check out the Pure Chimp website for more Natural Skincare. They also stock a selection of Matcha Green tea and 5% of their profits go to charity which is fab so i'd recommend checking them out!








MY FIRST WEEK AT SLIMMING WORLD



I'VE JOINED SLIMMING WORLD! Saturday was my first weigh in and i've lost 4LB I'm so proud of myself for sticking to plan all week and I seriously can't believe how good it is. I thought i'd share a few things i've been doing this week and what I thought of my first week and my progress.

The main thing that sold Slimming World to me is that fact that you can eat so much, your allowed to eat whatever you want. Nothing is banned on Slimming World however you have 5-15 syns per day and things like chocolate and naughty things are going to cost you syns.

You can have one Healthy Extra A a day so this is like milk  and cheese, this makes sure your getting the right amount of Calcium each day and one Healthy Extra B so this is bread, cereal or porridge and this means your getting the fibre you need.

After this it's pretty easy, you can eat whatever you like some foods are free meaning you can eat as many as you like and some of these free foods are speed foods. You should eat alot of these as they will help you loose weight faster, you should have 1/3 of each plate full of speed foods. Finally syns, you can find out syns for things by searching the Slimming World App or your book that you get at group, if you can't find something you can usually google it and find out the answer.

I've been so full all week, i've been eating lots of salad, veg and fruit which is fab. I've been cooking new and exciting meals and Clints been eating the same as me so he's really enjoying the recipes too.
Even with work i've stuck to plan and we went for an unplanned meal out the other night and I managed to pick something that only cost me a few syns.

I've decided alongside slimming world I need to make an effort to be more fit and exercise more. I don't want to be all flabby so I'm trying to tone at the same time. I have made an effort to exercise this week. I've been going for walks and doing my fitness dvd which has really motivated me.

I had my first weigh in on Saturday and i'd lost 4LB which is amazing. I'm so happy I decided to join Slimming World and I can't wait for my next weigh in! It's really exciting and everyone at my group is lovely and my consultant is fab!

If you have any questions about Slimming World feel free to leave a comment or email me and i'll try and answer for you, but as I said this is my first week. I've made a Slimming World instagram account so if you want to follow me then here's a link https://www.instagram.com/amypyt_sw/  I am sharing lots of meals and fitness photos.

I'm loving it guys and i'm so glad I decided to join! Let me know if your part of Slimming World and how much weight you've lost ?







FASHION: ALEXI MAXI CURVE NECKLACE REVIEW AND ALEXI GIVEAWAY





So today i'm talking about Alexi London which is a lovely jewellery brand who have lots of gorgeous jewellery over on their website. I was recently sent this necklace which I absolutely fell in love with on their website and it's even prettier in real life. I'm going to a wedding reception next week so this necklace is perfect, i'm not 100% sure what i'm wearing yet but this necklace will make a lovely edition to any outfit. The delicate silver chain makes it very wearable, I think you could easily wear this for an occasion or just for everyday because of it's simplicity.  The Cubic Zirconia stones are so pretty and add a sparkle to any outfit making it perfect for any occasion. I really like nice simple necklaces like this, it is also avaliable in gold. They have a really good selection of necklaces, earrings and rings aswell as bracelets over on their website.

The lovely people at Alexi London have given me a £50 Gift Card to giveaway to one of my lovely readers so be sure to follow my bloglovin and twitter as well as signing up for the Alexi London newsletter to be in with a chance to win, fill in the rafflecopter below. The competition is running for two weeks from today and will end at 12:00am on April 2nd 2016.

Head on over to the Alexi website and check out their huge range of products to choose from and don't forget to enter the giveaway below to be in with a chance to win a £50 Alexi Gift Card!
*T&C's are below.


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a Rafflecopter giveaway







* Terms and Conditions of the giveaway
The giveaway will start on 19/3/16 and end 2/4/16 at 12:00am. There will be one winner. Winner must fill in the Rafflecopter form and complete each mandatory section. I will be checking that the winner is following both bloglovin and twitter accounts and has signed up for the Alexi newsletter. 
The winner will be sent a vouchercode worth £50 which they can spend on the Alexi London website. I will pass the winners details over to Alexi London who will then provide the winner with the voucher code. This is not my responsibility and I will not be held responsible if there are any issues with the prize. 

LIFESTYLE: HOW TO BUDGET WHEN LIVING ON YOUR OWN


I'm no expert or lifestyle guru but I thought i'd share a few ways that I budget now that I live in my own place with Clint. Neither of us have lived alone before so it was all very new and we really wasn't sure if we could afford it or not.

The main thing is to be organised when you first move in you have to sort out things like reading meters and phoning the providers, council tv licence people etc so i'd put aside a few hours to sit on the phone or computer to do this. I'd right a list with the telephone numbers and your readings first before you phone up.

Once you've sorted all that out you should have a rough idea of how much your bills are going to cost, if you've been living on your own for a little while you will already know how much your bills are. It's worth writing this figure down and remembering it, so then you know how much you need to have in your bank to cover the bills.

Most of our bills come out on the first of the month which if you get paid at the end of the month like me this makes the most sense. I set up a joint account and used this for all of the bills to come out of. This way we both transfer enough money into this account and have our own bills still in our personal accounts and then any left over money is our own. We tend to take it in turns with food shopping and going out for meals and share the cost of these things.

It's good to plan your month financially so if you know you've got a birthday coming up or your cars due an MOT next month then it's worth putting a little a side for that so I'd recommend saving a month or so in advance that way you've got some money put aside for if you need it and if you don't it's up to you, put it towards your bills and have a little extra money that month or spend it, go on a day out or a nice meal. Any extra money that I put aside i'd save a put towards a holiday.

Saving Money 

There's always ways you can save money, when we moved we both cancelled our gym memberships and Clint got rid of his sky package at his parents house. This saved us about £140 a month! Although I really want to join the gym again I have found ways to work out but without it costing any money, I walk to work now which is a good 20 minutes there then 20 minutes back. I have a few fitness dvds and we got a Kinect for the Xbox which you can work out with. I'm still burning the same amount of calories I did at the gym but it's not costing me £35 a month. I would love to save up and go back but at the moment I can't really afford it.

Get loyalty cards etc, our Tesco clubcard saves us so much money, we tend to do most of our shopping at tesco and Clint occasionally gets fuel from there so our points add up and we get vouchers in the post, a few weeks ago we got £8 off our shopping and last week they sent out vouchers that give you £3/£4 off for the next 6 weeks if you spend over £30 so we can make great savings on our general food shop.
I also have a boots card which I have over £25 worth of points to spend, I sometimes use this when money is a little tight and I need essentials or need to get my eyebrows done etc.
Also use apps like Vouchercloud and Vouchercodes to find the vouchers, if your shopping or going out for food etc theres tons of vouchers which can save you money! Check out moneysupermarket too for great tips for saving money using vouchers.

I want to have a good sort out and ebay some things. Ebay or a carboot is a great way to make a little extra cash. If you know there's a new beauty release coming up and you won't be able to afford it you could sell a few things you don't use. I have a wardrobe full of things I don't wear and you can use that money for things you would use. I'd recommend keeping money in your paypal account aswell. I find I save money better when I keep it in my Paypal and then if I do want to buy something I use the money straight from my Paypal so it doesn't come out of my own money in my bank.

Going out? We didn't really go out much before but we did eat out loads, I love staying in and eating home cooked food. We still go out here and there but it's lovely to get home from work, cook dinner and chill. We easily spent £100+ a week on eating out, that pretty much covers our food shopping for two weeks!

Meal planning is a really good way to save money. If your always throwing food out then your basically throwing money away. Sit down for a few hours and plan your week. Now i'm doing slimming world I find I do this anyway but it's great to get an idea of what you need to buy when your shopping , write a list so you don't pick up things you don't need just because they are on offer for a pound! This way you reduce the amount of food you throw away and have more time to chill because you can prep and already know what your eating so no need to spend ages deciding what to have.

I hope you enjoyed this, as I said i'm no money saving guru but we have managed to live on our own for nearly 5 months now and i'm loving it. I never thought i'd be able to afford to live alone but we are and I still have a little bit of money left over each month to take a trip to Primark or go out for a Pizza Express!

BEAUTY: PRETTY IN PINK THIS SPRING



The sun has finally greated us with his presence, spring is here! I thought i'd share a few products that I think are perfect for spring. I love wearing pinks in spring and adding that glow to the skin.
One of my top picks for spring is Glow in Polished by Topshop, this is a gorgeous highlighter which you can use on the brow bone and cheekbone, aswell as any other areas you wish to highlight for a really subtle shimmer. It's such a gorgeous highlighter and so affordable. Clarins always have amazing Spring releases,  check out my blog post featuring my 2016 favourites. The Clarins Instant light lip perfectors* are such a gorgeous natural lip color perfect for the spring. They are so soft and lovely on the lips.  I absolutely love my Urban Decay Naked 3 palette when I want to use pink eyeshadow however I thought i'd share a couple of my Mac favourites, I love expensive pink, this is a gorgeous dark pink with gold shimmer. This is one of my absolute favourite eyeshadows. I picked up Mac Bouffant this time last year, I think it was a Limited Edition shade but this is a lovely light pink, it's a really light natural colour. I thought i'd pop the Nars Multiple in Undress me* in this blog post aswell, this is a gorgeous pink shimmery shade. I haven't used this much at all and would love to use it this spring. I thought i'd include the Ariana Grande perfume aswell, I've been using this loads recently, it's a nice sweet scent which is perfect for spring. I got this for Christmas and started using it a few weeks ago. I've been reaching for it everyday, it's such a lovely spring scent.





  

BEAUTY: MY FAVOURITE MAKE UP BRUSHES

from left to right: Ecotools Brush Multitasking brush , Real Techniques Bold Metals Tapered Blush,  Spectrum powder brush, spectrum blending friend, Real Techniques Bold Metals pointed crease, Real Techniques blusher brush, Real Techniques blending brush. 

I thought i'd share some of my favourite make up brushes with you, since I started using make up brushes i've noticed a huge difference in my make up and it looks so much better. I have always stuck to high street brushes and don't really use any high end make up brushes. My favourite brush for foundation is this EcoTools brush, the bristles are not really close and are really light so you get a lovely light, natural finish. You can use this brush for blusher, bronzer and powder not just foundation. I use the Bold Metals Collection by Real Techniques Tapered Blush for my concealer, and highlight. I tend to use it to blend my concealer as its a lovely buffing kind of brush and it buffs out your concealer so it's perfect. It's a little big for the inner eye but I love it for under the eye. I've just started using the Becca highlighter, you can read my review here. I've found this brush is perfect for applying highlighter to the cheekbones. The Real Techniques pointed crease brush from the Bold Metals collection is such a good little brush, amazing if you struggle with a smokey eye as it makes working product into the crease so so easy. Another eyeshadow brush that I love is the Spectrum blending brush, I love using it to blend eyeshadow out for a more subtle smokey eye.  The Real Techniques brushes are such a good value for money, i've had this eyeshadow buffing brush and Blusher brush for years. They have been washed so many times are are still my favourites and are in such good condition.

I love my brush collection, I use alot of Spectrum eyeshadow brushes and have a some more Real Technique brushes and EcoTools in my collection. I have looked into buying new brushes a few times, I like the look of Crown Brushes and Sigma brushes but now i'm happy with my trusty old high street faves.

What are your favourite make up brushes ? Have you tried any from Crown or Sigma and would you recommend?








FOOD: BANANA LOAF RECIPE DELICIOUSLY ELLA


what you will need 

Flour- I used Self Raising Flour
Baking Powder
5 Over Ripe Bananas 
1 cup of Almonds
2 cups of Pecans
1/2 cup of Maple Syrup
3 Tablespoons of Chia Seed
2 tablespoons of Cinnamon.

I recently followed a Banana Loaf recipe from the Deliciously Ella webiste, I made a few tweeks because I either didn't have something or I left out Cinnamon because I really don't like it.

preheat oven to 145c

Blend together the almonds and pecans, I didn't have any pecans so just used Almonds and this was fine, blend till it resembles a flour.
Mix this together with the flour, maple syrup, chia seed and cinnamon, as I said I left out cinnamon

Next mash up the bananas until smooth, stir them into the flour mix. This should be really nice and sticky. 

Grease a loaf tin with coconut oil, you could use normal oil or butter if you don't have coconut oil.

Bake for about an hour, until it's golden. 

I found this recipe super easy to follow and the loaf tasted amazing! 
The Chia seed made the loaf nice and crunchy.
I'd make it again, it's a great way to use up overripe bananas 







LIFESTYLE: H&M HOME PICKS


So i've been after some new homeware bits for the flat, I love love love h&m home, I visited the store in London and I really wish we had one in Birmingham but we don't. I have to say i've ordered from H&M home before and I was really pleased with everything. I have ordered a few cushion covers from the website for the flat, i've decided I want to add a pop of colour in the living room so I've gone for some yellow cushions like the ones above. I've already added a little bit of turquoise using candles and accessories but I thought a little yellow would be a nice addition. The cushions from h&m home are start from like £2.99 and are such good quality! They have a really gorgeous selection and some of the ones above come a in selection of colours not just yellow so head over to the website and check those out. I'm always on the lookout for little accessories and bits and pieces for the flat so thought i'd pop a few nice bits from the site together. I have actually ordered like 5 cushion covers so keep your eyes peeled for those coming up. I'll do a little living room update once it's all done and fresh. I want to get a mirror for the living room wall, I want a kind of Moroccan style one in a gold / silver colour so let me know if you've seen anything along those lines. 


BEAUTY: BECCA JACLYN HILL SHIMMERING SKIN PERFECTOR IN CHAMPAGNE POP



I have to say I am a sucker for a blogger hype, I heard so many people raving about this and I just needed to try it! My local Space NK were out of stock but I was sent a voucher to spend online and my £5 off reward was going to run out so I took the plunge and ordered it. I also picked up the Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel so keep an eye out for that review coming soon. At £32 it's alot more than I tend to spend on a highlighter. I have to say the box and packaging are lovely, and when you open that little compact you are not left disapointed. the product is so pretty such a gorgeous shimmery golden shade. It's very pigmented so you only need a tiny bit, I use the Real Techniques Tapered blush brush to apply it to my cheekbones. Just one swipe across the compact and onto the cheeks is the ideal amount. It's such a gorgeous colour, a really nice golden colour which will be absolutely perfect in the summer months when i've got more of a glow! It's a really beautiful highlight and is perfect for everyday or going out as it's easy to build up. I wasn't sure if this was going to be worth the price tag but it's worth every penny. I reach for it every single day and I really do love it. I'm not sure if I would purchase it again but If I had a discount/ voucher I would really consider buying it again. I have been using this for about a month now everyday and it doesn't even look like it's touched so I'm hoping a little goes a long way and it lasts a long time. 

If you want to check out the rest of the Becca range then head on over to the Space NK website 




HAPPY MOTHERS DAY



HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL YOU BEAUTIFUL MOMMAS OUT THERE

I thought i'd show you lot what i've bought my mom for Mothers Day. I absolutely love treating people and buying presents for people. My moms just got her own flat so I wanted to get her a duvet cover because I know shes only got one or two. Also she's just decorated her bedroom so I thought it would be lovely to get her a really nice new duvet cover. I got this one from Wilkinson's and I love it! Her room is very neutral, browns and cream so I thought this would add that pop of colour and brighten the room up. It's a lovely colour and print and really cosy, I know shes going to love it! 

I also picked up this lovely Cath Kidston mug, my mom loves little mugs and I thought it would be nice to get her a nice little mug of her own for her new place. I also picked her up a new Wine glass which has mum in silver sparkly writing on it and of course a bunch of flowers. I got this gorgeous bunch from Blossoming Gifts, they do lots of gorgeous bouquets and you can still order some of their Mothers Day bouquets if your not seeing your mum till tomorrow or you can get them delivered out to her at work. Use my discount code BGIFTS33 for 33% off 

I'm also taking my mom out for Lunch today and we're going to have a nice catch up as I haven't really got to see her this week as we've both been really busy. My mom loves Nando's but i'll find out tomorrow where she wants to go for lunch. 

I know sometimes it's hard to buy things for the people you love when you have bills to pay and other financial commitments, we only moved into our flat a few months ago and I have to admit organising our money and budgeting has proved difficult but we've done quite well but if you are struggling and really need that extra cash you could always check out Ocean Loans . They have lots of lending options so you can borrow some money even if you've struggled to borrow money elsewhere.  

I also picked up this really cute pop up card in Tesco, it's by Hallmark, I love it!! 











* this post is in collaboration with Ocean Loans