Sandal Ready Feet

Today I am tackling the subject of a certain body part that most people do not like to talk about, feet. Before you click off this instantly after hearing the word "feet", I promise you there will be no foot close ups or I will not be letting you know the full extent of my foot neglect. I just want to show you guys the little routine that I put into action when it's time to ditch the heavy socks and boots and bring out the sandals.

Firstly, I soak my feet in a dish full of warm water. Most of the time it's more like hot water because I find that softens them the best. I then go in with generous amount of Soap & Glory's Scrub Of Your Life, I mostly use this on my heels. I would also suggest buying a foot file and using it after you wash off the scrub to really get your heels nice and soft. After that, I soak them again, in clean hot water. All that's left do then is to pat your feet dry and apply a generous amount of moisturiser. I use Boots Extracts Cocoa Butter Body Butter all over my feet and I then go in with Soap & Glory's Heel Genius on just my heels. I would suggest putting on a big pair of fluffy socks until all the moisturiser has been absorbed.

My favourite kind of polish to apply on my toes is Rimmel's Salon Pro Nail Varnish. The one pictures here is in the colour, Jazz Funk. I find Gel Effect nail varnish's look best on the toes. They last a super long time and they look really good and shiny for quite awhile. Minimal touch ups required!

Anyone else guilty of neglecting their feet?

Sunday Soup: Carrot, Orange & Lentils

So, my blog has been somewhat lacking in posts this week and I must apologise for that. I really haven't felt myself at all this week and I started my new job yesterday. After breaking my camera and realising that the quality of my photos was going to be awful (and has been for a few posts) it really got me down. I know photos aren't the most important thing about the blog, but in my opinion they are something that needs to be of good quality. So now I am stuck as to what to do next. I'm thinking of buying a compact canon camera that will do me until Christmas when I've saved up some money for a DSLR. I hate uploading a post with really bad quality photos, it doesn't look good and I know people will notice. I'm hoping to get organised on my few days off before working the end of the week & weekend. I really enjoy blogging and I always feel bad when I don't post regularly!

However, earlier this week I started experimenting with soups and although I am well aware of how hot it is, I still can' help myself. I am praying for Winter. I made this wonderful carrot, orange and red spilt lentil soup. The orange makes it quite zest-y and the lentils are a great source of protein. The potato is optional depending if you would like to thicken the soup up or not. It's been tried and tested by myself and my brother this week and it is a hit. So I knew I had to share it with you guys!

600g carrots
1 small onion

2 tbsp butter
1 medium potato (optional)
200g lentils
1 zest & juice of orange
2 vegetable stock cubes
800ml boiled water

1. Place the butter in the pan, along with the onions. Simmer on a low heat for five minutes.

2. Add the chopped carrots and potato, simmer for a further five minutes. 

3. Mix together the boiled water and stock cubes, add this to the vegetables. As well as adding the juice and zest of the orange then also add the lentils.

4. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the carrots begin to soften. 

5. Remove from heat and leave to cool before liquidizing with a hand blender. 

6. This recipe makes four big servings and I kept it it in air tight containers in the fridge and freezer!

FOTD // A Casual Wednesday

At the moment, I can't do an "Everyday Make Up" routine because I don't wear make up everyday. I think this will be changing soon those as I think I would probably scare everyone at work coming in with a bare face. For now, I thought I would show you the products I throw on my face when I'm just running errands.

As a base, I used the Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation and dotted some of the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer under my eyes and onto any spots. I then used the Mavala Transparent Pressed Powder anywhere on my face that my get oily throughout the day. To add a bit of colour to my cheeks, I used the Natural Collection Blush in Peach Melba.
For the eyes, I kept things pretty simple and used two shades from the Make Up Revolution's Iconic 3 palette. I lined my tight-line with Rimmel Soft Khol Kajal Eye Pencil and added a coat of Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Express Mascara to my lashes.

I apologise for the poor photo of this look. I am awful at taking pictures of myself and taking pictures of make up looks is totally new to me, so hopefully I will improve. 

Leave a comment below letting me know if you liked the format of this post & if you would like to see more of them! 

REVIEW: Boots Extracts Body Butter & Sugar Scrub

Boots Extracts Cocoa Butter Body Butter:  I'm sure we can all agree that moisturising isn't top on any of our lists of things to do. The only time I really moisturise is when I've just shaved my legs or I'm having a pamper evening. Neither of which happen too often. However, this body butter makes me want to make more of an effort. It smells amazing and leaves my skin feeling super silky soft. The smell also lingers on your skin, which I really like. It't not extremely greasy and doesn't take too long to dry in. I would call it a dupe for the body shop's body butter and at half the price you can't really go wrong!

Boots Extracts Cocoa Butter Sugar Scrub: This is my favourite scrub to use before shaving my legs. It's the perfect consistency, really easy to scrub in, almost melts into the skin. It's not extremely abrasive, so if that's what you're looking for I would try a salt scrub. However, for me and my sensitive skin, this is perfect. Again, it smells amazing and leaves you feeling moisturised before you even use the body butter.

This is my first ever review, so I'd love some feedback. I would highly recommend these products, let me know if you've tried them or anything else from the Boots Extracts range!

A Sunday Chat

Good morning and happy Sunday to you all! I'm taking a break from "Seven Happy Things" this Sunday and just sitting down to have a chat with you guys. This week has been crazy for me. I feel slightly disconnected with my blog this week and I didn't get the chance to get involved with blogger chats last week.  Exciting things have been having in my life this week though so I thought I'd share them with you.

I finally managed to find a job. This has been an ongoing task for way too long now, which has proved to be very difficult and often just plain upsetting and disheartening. However, I am happy to report that it has happened and I could not be happier. I don't think it'll be something that I will be mentioning on my blog again, as it probably won't be relevant, but as a life event for me, it is huge. I'm hoping that my blog won't suffer massively because of it. I'm excited to see how I'm going to organise everything, I'm sure I will get into the swing of scheduling posts. I feel like a lot more than that has actually happened this week, but it's just such a huge thing that has included a lot of little steps along the way.

My confidence has taken a massive hit in the past two years. I became a lot more shy and reclusive, I had trouble talking to people, online and in real life. I didn't feel like myself and I didn't feel worthy of being around other people. Within the past few months, that has all changed and it is mostly down to this blog and it's readers. It has given me something to focus on and something to be proud of. I'm not as afraid to talk to people, in fact I really enjoy interacting with everyone. So I would just like to say a massive thank you to everyone that reads, comments, follows me on twitter and all that jazz. So I took my new found belief in myself and wandered off into the real world, I would like to think it helped me secure my place in college and my new job. I am so happy I started this blog and I am so thankful to everyone that supports me.

I am extremely excited for all the positive changes that are happening in my life and I hope you guys will stick around to see things out with me. I can see a Boots Haul in the not so distant future, people underestimate how hard it is to be a beauty blogger when you're broke. I have a list as long as my arm of things I am lusting after, you have been warned.

So thank you again and I hope you all have had a wonderful week. Leave a comment below telling me the positive things that have been happening in your lives lately!