Neal's Yard Power Berry facial mask

What: A Facial mask designed for young skin with Antioxidant ingredients including bilberry, cranberry and grape

Price: £24 for 50g 

Best for: Regular use for when you need a little deeper cleanse. Vegans or people that are conscious of ingredient lists and Fairtrade 

I found this mask at the Neal's Yard shop in St Pancras station and was intrigued- afterall I love berries!and the shop assistant was kind enough to offer me a small sample. The mask has an entirely different texture than I am used to - usually I like thick creamy masks but this one is a clear gel with tiny berry bits- more like a peel  mask. The smell was nice if a little odd- I decided it smelt like "nutri-grain" bars. It felt very nice when applied to my skin and when washing off it turns to a milky white liquid. An added extra is that the berry particles exfoliate your skin when you wash the mask off. Although an exciting (berries!) product I don't think it dramatically transformed my skin (no "instant radiance boost" as promised) however I am very impressed by it's fairtrade and vegan credentials. 

more info here:

http://www.nealsyardremedies.com/power-berry-facial-mask

Update: I have used this product more times since this review and it has really made a difference to my skin making it more radiant (as promised) I would definitely recommend this product.

I really covet the work-out clothes from sweaty betty.They are stylish and practical, unfortunately that level of quality comes at a price and I will need to either save up or wait for a sale (or both) to buy some cute gear. In the meantime there are lots of great lower-budget brands too such as karrimor, H&M and nike (my favourites)

Another great thing about sweaty betty is that they offer free in-store fitness clubs. Check out videos here: 

http://www.sweatybetty.com/sweatyClub/sweatyClub.asp?page=sBfashionshoot&title=videos

Yesterday I made these meatball wraps for myself and my boyfriend and it worked out really well! I altered some of the recipe for example: I used lamb instead of beef, fresh mint in the yoghurt instead of coriander on top and I put the wraps in the oven instead of frying...oh and I didn't use kidney beans...! Gosh! and I also added half of the onion (finely chopped) into the meatball mixture. 2 wraps are more than enough and so we both had one leftover for lunch today!

If you can't get the Mexican paste or live in a country which doesn't have Sainsbury's supermarkets it is just a paste of tomato, cumin and chilli. 

The recipe is from the Sainsbury's website which is a good resource when you have ran out of dinner ideas :)

Mexican-style meatball wraps

Spicy meaty bites served in a wheat tortilla with chilli bean sauce.... delicious!

5/5starsAv. customer rating

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 15 Minutes

Cooking time: 20 Minutes

Nutrition per serving: 450 cals, 12.9g fat, of which 5g saturated fat, 12.8g added sugar, 1.8g salt

Skip to recipe information

You will need

• 2 tablespoons Mexican style paste
• 500g lean steak mince
• 50g white breadcrumbs
• 1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced
• 1 x 400g tin Sainsbury’s red kidney beans in chilli sauce
• 1 x 198g tin sweetcorn, drained

• 1 x 6-pack be good to yourself flour tortilla wraps
• Olive oil, for brushing
• 6 tablespoons natural yogurt
• 1⁄2 x 28g pack fresh coriander,leaves only
• Paprika and lime wedges, to serve

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Method

1. In a bowl, mix together the Mexican style paste, mince and breadcrumbs and season well. Roll the mixture into 18 meatballs and chill for 5 minutes.
2. Heat a large frying pan until hot, add the meatballs and fry over a medium heat for about 10 minutes until browned all over, rotating every 1–2 minutes. Add the onion and pepper and fry for a further 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the beans and sweetcorn and continue to cook until the meatballs are cooked through.
4. Heat another frying pan until hot, brush each tortilla wrap with a little olive oil and fry. Top each wrap with three meatballs and some pepper and bean mixture, then top with yogurt and coriander leaves.
5. Sprinkle with paprika and serve with lime wedges to squeeze over.

David Kirsch Ultimate Fitness Boot Camp

What: An intense 45 minute workout with a lot of squats, lunges, push-ups and upper body exercises

What you will need: A pair of 2-3 pound dumbbells and some room to jump and kick about

Best for: Quick-fix for when you need to get into shape quickly 

After 2 weeks of doing this regime at least 4 times a week I have seen differences with my arms, stomach and legs more toned. I think it is a bit too intense to do regularly every week but I would maybe do it once a week or when I feel I need to exercise a bit more than usual. I think a down-side is that there is not enough stretching (especially the back) I would recommend doing your own stretches before the DVD begins (I did it during the introduction with Heidi Klum. I started off at a (I think) pretty good level of fitness and struggled at first to get through the whole thing. At the end of the two weeks I definitely can complete the 45 minutes more easily but it is still a challenge which I think is great. You can vary the intensity with different weights and maybe ankle weights. The shadow boxing and abs exercises are definitely my favourite parts.

In summary: this DVD is not for the faint-hearted but will definitely show results for all the hard work you put in.

sleep

                                             

I think my sleep patterns aren't bad and mostly I wake up with energy but often it takes me up to an hour to fall asleep and I wake up in the night. Soon I will be started my final year at university which means a lot of travelling and being busy from 8 (or 5)am until 10:30 pm so I want to establish a good night-time routine so that I can cope. 


I have looked up tips for improving the quality of sleep and the most frequently mentioned ones are:


Taking a hot bath before going to bed (90 mins before)
Don't exercise at least  4 hours before bedtime
Don't drink caffeine or alcohol 4-6 hours before bedtime
Have a milky beverage before going to bed (e.g. hot milk or horlicks)
Put on relaxing music 
Try not to have any naps
Try to eat dinner earlier
Try to establish a regular routine and sleep for 8 hours


I am going to try these out and see if it improves my sleep :)


Some nice products that might improve sleep

kiehl's midnight recovery concentrate

origins night health spray

silkskin eyemask (asos)

radox lavender bubble bath

Hush

I have just found this lovely website which sells cotton and cashmere loungewear, sleepwear, socks etc. Lovely!

http://www.hush-uk.com/