Healthy Snacks and Recipe Ideas - Feat. Indigo Herbs*

I have recently been trying to ensure my snacks are not only healthy but they are packed with nutrition too. When I discovered Indigo Herbs I really liked the variety of health foods they had on their website. 

  Indigo Herbs supplies the finest organic natural health products of the best quality, at really great prices. I was supplied with the sports bundle which I thought was ideal for creating fun and healthy snacks that can be eaten in between gym sessions. 

The first snack recipe I came up with was some energy balls which were really easy and a great snack post gym workout as they are packed with nutrients from the Spirulina Powder and Hemp Protein Powder. 

Ingredients:

1 tsp Spirulina Powder 

1 tbsp Hemp Protein Powder 

1 tbsp Raw Cacao Powder

(available from Indigo Herbs)

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp almond butter

4 Pitted medjool dates

1/4 cup chopped almonds

Chia Seeds

Method:

Firstly set aside some chia seeds to roll the balls in at the end.

Place all the other items in a food processor until a sticky texture is formed. 

You will then need to scoop the mixture out a teaspoon at a time and roll into balls. Then roll them through the chia seeds.

Makes approx 20 small balls. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks (if they last that long without being eaten!)

These are great for a post gym snack, the Spirulina provides vitamins, minerals and amino acids and the Hemp Protein Powder is naturally rich in protein and will refuel you after a work out.

The second recipe I came up with was a take on tandoori chicken.

Ingredients:

1 tsp Beetroot Powder

(available from Indigo Herbs)

1 tsp chilli powder

1tsp garlic salt

1 tsp ginger

1tsp medium curry powder

1 tbsp natural yoghurt

Chicken

(recipe covers 2 breasts)

Method:

Mix all of the dry ingredients together so you have a powder. At this point it looks so colourful and smells great. Then add your yoghurt. When the mixture has combined, spread this onto your chicken and if you have time, leave in the fridge to marinate (overnight preferred). Bake your chicken in the oven until cooked through. This tastes absolutely delicious.

This is great for you. Not only does the chicken provide a great source of protein, the Beetroot Powder is loaded with nitrates and can provide an energy boost for endurance. It's used by athletes and the like and can support stamina and even improve your blood circulation.

I was really impressed by the range of items supplied from Indigo Herbs and how many different things they have available online.

Delivery was really fast and everything came nicely packaged. Thank you so much Indigo Herbs for giving me the opportunity to create these healthy snacks.

Let me know what recipes you can think of which incorporates all of these great super foods.

*I was sent some of these items from Indigo Herbs for the purpose of a review. All opinions are 100% honest and I was not influenced in any way, for more information please read my disclaimer.

American Apparel Review at www.buytshirtsonline.co.uk*

I was recently offered to try out a piece of clothing from the American Apparel range on www.buytshirtsonline.co.uk.

Upon browsing the website, I could see that there was a huge range of items to choose from at really great prices.

I was skeptical about how good the quality of the items would be as they're such great prices but when my two-tone hoodie arrived I was pleasantly surprised. Prices for this item start at just £17.62 and you can get great deals for buying in bulk. Delivery was fast and the item was securely packaged.

The hoodie has a fleece lining which is so soft and it's a great fit. The hoodie has been washed in these photos and as you can see the colour remains vibrant and I experienced no 'shrinkage' which I have had with other brands in the past.

The website is really easy to navigate and understand and I had no problem when picking out the item and looking through what they had available.

You can check all of the items in this range on www.buytshirtsonline.co.uk under the American Apparel section. I am sure you'll love them as much as I do.

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*I was sent this item for the purpose of a review. All opinions are 100% honest and I was not influenced in any way, for more information please read my disclaimer.

Photography by JimmyScribble

February 2015 Glossybox

I received this month's Glossybox a couple of weeks ago and couldn't wait to take photos and review the products. Unfortunately, as I was going through the card and checking out what everything was I realised I was missing an item. I emailed Glossybox customer service team and within 5 minutes I received a response to say a replacement was in the post. Really great customer service. This is the first problem I have ever encountered with Glossybox in my 3+ years of being with them but I was really impressed with the turn-around. I also REALLY liked this month's box design!

Wilkinson Sword Hydro Silk - Full Size £9.99 

A razor was not what I expected to see in my Glossybox but I can see how it relates to the love edition as some of us like to be smooth and silky. This razor is said to hydrate skin for up to 2 hours after shaving. I usually just use disposables so this was a lot nicer to use than my usual 5 for £1 razors. I may consider buying refills for this and upgrading my routine!

So Susan - Rose Quartet Lip & Cheek Palette - Full Size £8

I love the outer packaging for this it's just a shame the inside isn't as exciting and pretty. I'm not a fan of the brush that came with this set and won't be using that. I'm not the biggest fan of using crème blushers either as they make my face feel a bit sticky but I like this for the lips. The shades seem vibrant but colour pay off is subtle.

Essie Repstyle Polish - Full size £9.99

I really like these magnetic style nail polishes and own a few of the Barry M ones. Not usually a colour I would wear but I really like the scaly reptile effect of this. Oh and the love hearts were a nice touch this month.

Royal Apothic Tinties - Coral - Full Size $14

Firstly can we just appreciate how gorgeous the packaging is on this lip buter?! I used it right away. The butter is really nourishing and has a nice coral tint to it. The colour quickly wore away but my lips were left feeling smooth for a few hours after. This is almost too nice to put in my handbag and needs to be displayed on show!

MARSK Mineral Eyeshadow - Fifty Shades - Full Size £14.49

I received this a few days later as originally this was missed out of my box but Glossybox were very quick to replace it. Aptly named 'Fifty Shades' this shimmery grey eyeshadow is actually really nice. It's easy to blend on the eyelid, the only problem I had was getting it out of the pot. I wore this across the eyelid and it lasted all day which I was impressed about. Perfect with a darker colour in the crease for a grey smokey eye.
 

Bellápierre Cosmetics Super Gloss in Clementine Citrus
A bonus item, thank you Glossybox. This was sent to me with the MARSK eyeshadow replacement, I thought that was really nice and again I am really impressed with Glossybox customer service. Not only did they respond to my query within 5 minutes, my new item was sent to me literally 2 days later so I don't feel like I've missed out.

 Please let me know what you got in your boxes, I love reading other people's Glossybox reviews!

To sign up to Glossybox, click here.

Wingz* Review

As someone who has suffered with eczema on my arms for most of my life, I often find myself choosing outfits that cover my affected areas up. I own quite a few sleeveless dresses but usually I end up covering my arms with a cardigan which then hides the dress.

Then I discovered Wingz. The product I had been waiting for all these years. Wingz are sleeves which cover your arms but do not have a visible neckline. They work by sitting under your bra and to the naked eye would appear to be a part of the dress.

The first pair of Wingz I received were the White full length ones priced at just £9.00. The material is soft and gives full length coverage of the arms. I paired mine with a sleeveless dress and no one even noticed that I was only wearing sleeves as they simply look like I had a long sleeved top underneath.

 

The second pair of Wingz I received were the black viscose flare which are £15.99. These feel a lot more dressy to me and are perfect for wearing on a night out or heading out to a meal. I should have ironed them first though - oops! These cover the top of the arms which is the area I am most self conscious about so are perfect. I feel like I can wear a whole new range of dresses now that I have these Wingz in my life and I can't wait to tell my friends about these who are also self conscious about their arms for various reasons.

  

  

I feel a lot more confident wearing the Wingz with my dresses and they are perfect for the office. I love the long sleeved-version as it's usually pretty cold where I work, and offers maximum coverage.

There are all-sorts of styles, lengths and colours over on the Wingz website, so please do go and check them out.

*I was sent these Wingz for the purpose of a review. All opinions are 100% honest and I was not influenced in any way, for more information please read my disclaimer.
Photography by JimmyScribble

Love, Tanya - Tanya Burr Cookies

I recently went cookbook shopping when I spotted Tanya Burr's new book Love, Tanya half price in WHSmith. Upon reading other reviews, it seemed I might be a little bit above the target age range but I decided to flick through.

I really liked the layout of the book and it seemed like a nice book to read. The cover is very similar to the last book I reviewed by Gayle Forman don't you think?

Tanya is from Norwich, as am I and I actually remember the days when I would see her and Jim vlogging around Norwich before and she has done amazingly well in the past few years to build up her brand.

I love that there are so many different chapters in this book ranging from Tanya's favourite products, top tips and bits about her life. My favourite section has to be the baking section and as soon as I got to this part, I raided the house for baking ingredients and low and behold we had enough to make the milk and white chocolate cookies.

There are a lot of photos in the book and that's another thing I love about it. The pages are broken up nicely and there isn't walls and walls of text. The recipes were really easy to read through and follow and the photos of the finished products complimented them nicely.

I'm pretty sure the recipe said this makes 10, but I made my cookies extra chunky.

The cookies were absolutely amazing. They didn't even last the night! Tanya was right in saying to take these out even though they look like they need longer. I ate mine straight from the oven and they were crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside. Perfect!

Overall I really like this book, the design is nice and it's very interesting to read especially as Tanya is from my hometown. I almost feel a sense of pride! It's the type of book you can pick up and open at any page and find something interesting to read. It's also a nice book to read with a cup of tea snuggled up in bed.

Tanya has done a video on how to bake these cookies which you can find here if you wish to make these yourself. 

Have you bought this book? What do you think?

Top 5 MAC Lipsticks

I love MAC lipsticks and have been slowly building up a small collection over the past few years so I thought I would talk about my favourites. I love matte shades and I just find MAC lipsticks stay put for ages. I don’t have enough to do a MAC lipstick collection post but I have enough to pick my top 5 so here they are.

 

(L-R: Russian Red, Twig, Velvet Teddy, Relentlessly Red, Lady Danger)

Relentlessly Red

I bought this on a whim when I was in Los Angeles because I really liked the swatch and don’t really own a fuchsia red. I also bought Dynamo lip liner on the recommendation of the shop assistant which goes really nicely with this one. This is a long lasting retro matte colour. 

Lady Danger

Ared lipstick, however this one has more of an orange undertone. I pair this with Cherry lip liner, but I find it also works well with Brick. This lipstick is also matte and long lasting. I love to wear this in the summer as it is a slightly brighter than any other shades I own. I think this shade can be difficult to pull off and I often put it on and think it’s too much so I tend to tone down the rest of my make-up when I wear this.

Russian Red

I spent ages looking for the perfect red lipstick and tried so many different brands but found them ending half way down my face by the end of the day or completely worn away and then I found MAC’s Russian Red. The perfect deep and rich red shade and as it is matte it literally does not budge, even after eating! I don’t find this drying in the slightest and I love it. I often team it with MAC’s Brick liner and together this is the perfect combination. This lipstick is a dream to apply and my second MAC lipstick purchase so it’s been with me from the start.

Velvet Teddy

I bought this matte nude when looking for a Kylie Jenner inspired shade and I’ve talked about this in more detail here. I love this natural shade and it’s perfect for day to day wear. I am yet to find a MAC liner to go with it though so any suggestions are welcome, I am currently using Rimmel’s Tiramisu. 

Twig

This is a satin shade which is more of a neutral colour and great for wearing during the day. I got this because I heard it was another shade Kylie Jenner wears and I think it’s similar to Velvet Teddy but it’s slightly darker in colour and I think I actually prefer this one. I use Rimmel's Spice lip liner but I really want to get MAC’s Whirl but I am really struggling to get hold of it, it’s always sold out! 

I’d love to hear recommendations of other shades I could add to my collection. I’m thinking a nice pink colour? Let me know in the comments what your favourite MAC lipstick is!