How To Get Fuller Lips

Lately there has been a major craze for plump fuller lips, aka the Kylie Jenner lips and not all of us are blessed to have plump lips naturally. So her are some lips to get fuller looking lips without any surgeries or shot glasses. 

• Lip Plumping Lip Gloss

Most makeup brands now have lip plumping lip glosses, that containing  cinnamon oil, ginger oil, peppermint oil, spearmint extract, menthol, capsicum extract (cayenne pepper). These ingredients irritate the skin and increases blood flow to the lips to make them plumper looking. This plumping sensation can last a few hours but after frequent use some people can get immune to the plumping ingredients. 

• Sugar Lip With Cinnamon

You can also make a homemade cinnamon sugar scrub to exfoliate the lips and bring blood flow to the lips. This is great for those who don't like wearing lip gloss and lasts for a few hours as well as leaving the lips feeling smooth and soft.

• Tooth Brush Exfoliating

Using a tooth brush to exfoliate your lips is probably the easiest process to go through to get fuller looking lips as you can do this straight after brushing your teeth.  The brushing bring blood to the lips and also leaves the skin on your lips soft and smooth.

• Over Lining Your Lips

Over lining your lips can do wonders to making your lips "look" fuller. By over lining your lips you can make an optical illusion to make your lips look fuller. Use a brown/ nude lip liner 2-3 shades darker than your natural lip colour and draw slightly over your lips. Then use a nude lipstick all over your lips slightly blending in with the lip liner. Then for that extra fullness dab a tiny bit of your concealer in the centre of your lips and blend with the lipstick. This will give your lips a 3D fuller looking lips. 

• Lip Plumping Tools

There are now plenty of tools on the market you can purchase to make your lips look fuller. They mostly involve putting your lips in an air tight vacuum  and pulling your lips to make them plumper looking. This can come at some risk and I would suggest to try this option last.

If you have any tips or tricks to fuller looking lips I would love to hear them as I am one of the people who wasn't blessed to have plump looking lips.

Rebecca

Matcha Green Tea: The Amazing Benefits

I have the one product that is the answer to all your problems; everyone’s heard the health benefits of green tea, but we’ve taken it one step further and researched the amazing benefits of Matcha green tea. One cup of Matcha green tea has the same nutritional content of 10 cups of regularly brewed green tea.

7 Amazing Facts About Matcha Green Tea

1.    Matcha tea contains a distinctive, potent class of antioxidant known as catechins, which aren’t found in other foods. In particular, the catechin EGCg (epigallocatechin gallate) provides powerful cancer-fighting properties.

2.    Consuming Matcha green tea can increase thermogenesis (the body’s own rate of burning calories) from a normal 8%-10% of daily energy outflow, to between 35% and 43% of daily energy outflow.

3.    Matcha green tea provides vitamin C, selenium, chromium, zinc and magnesium, chlorophyll and is rich in fibre.

4.    Matcha green tea detoxifies naturally and effectively, as it contains chlorophyll that absorbs heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium and aluminium.

5.    Lowers cholesterol and blood sugar. Studies show people who drink Match green tea on a regular basis have lower levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol while at the same time displaying higher levels of HDL (good) cholesterol. Men who drink Matcha green tea are about 11% less likely to develop heart disease than those who don’t drink Matcha.

6.    While all green tea naturally contains caffeine, the energy boost received from Matcha is largely due to its unique combination of other nutrients. A cup of Matcha green tea can give you an increased endurance that lasts up to 6 hours and because of the effects of L-Theanine, Matcha drinkers experience none of the usual side effects of pick-me-ups such as nervousness and hypertension.

7.    Japanese Zen Buddhist monks drink Matcha green tea to assist relaxation and meditation while remaining alert. Now we know that this higher state of consciousness is due to the amino acid L-Theanine contained in the leaves used to make Matcha. Another side effect of L-Theanine is the production of dopamine and serotonin. These two chemicals enhance your mood, improve memory, and promote better concentration.

I love starting the day of with a healthy breakfast smoothie, which keeps me going until lunch time or at least until after I finish my morning workout. Smoothies are a great way to start off your day especially if your not a fan of having breakfast or don't have time to make breakfast.

Ingredients:

• 2 heap tablespoons of greek yoghurt (is heavy strained to remove liquid whey and lactose, and is high in protein, low in carbohydrates and sodium and fills you up for a longer time)
• 2 cups of coconut milk (high in vitamins C and E as well as iron calcium potassium, magnesium and zinc. Helps control your blood sugar level, antibacterial, lowers blood pressure and reduces joint inflammation.)
• half a cup of frozen blueberries (high in antioxidants, improves memory, low in natural sugar)
• half a cup of frozen cherries (or any of favourite frozen fruit)
• 1 teaspoon of honey (contains flavonoids and antioxidants that help reduce the risk of some cancers and heart disease, soothes coughs and throat irritation as well as being a natural sweetener and reduces ulcers.)
• 1 tablespoon of chia seeds (high in fibre and protein, chia seeds absorb large amounts of water which makes your stomach feel full and therefore assisting in weight loss)

Just throw in a blender and blender for about a 1 1/2 and serve in a large glass and sprinkle on the chia seeds.

I love this recipe, if you know any other great healthy smoothie recipes please let me know, I would love to try them out. 

With love 

Rebecca

Hair Mask: Healthy Shiny Hair

Many of us use face masks for hydrate our skin so why not use a hair mask to hydrate your hair, using heat and too many chemicals on your hair can make it super dry and brittle. You can easily make a homemade hair mask from a few things in your pantry.

What you will need:

• 3 tablespoons of olive oil (contains antioxidants to promote a healthy scalp, helps prevent dandruff and head lice, reduces the production of DTH hormones which cause hair loss)

• Half an avocado (contains amino acids and omega 3 to hydrate your hair and scalp)

Put the ingredients into a small bowl and mash it up with a fork, then apply through your hair with your  fingers from your scalp to the ends of your hair (this helps blood circulation to the scalp and stimulates the hair follicle to produce thicker hair strands). Leave the mask hair in your hair for 1-2 hours then wash out and shampoo and condition as normal. 

I hope this helps anyone who has dry damaged hair and is looking for an easy natural remedy. 

With love Rebecca 

Long Hair Challenge!!!

With the new year comes new challenges, and after looking at old pictures I've noticed my hair is no long smooth, shiny and thick as it once was a few years ago. So the challenge that I've decided to take on is the long hair challenge.

This may not make much sense as I already have long hair BUT my hair is very thin, uneven lengths and are damaged. So this year I'm challenging myself to make my hair the best it can be. There are a few simple steps I'm starting off with in my hair journey:

• Using a deep conditioning mask prior to washing my hair.
• Not to use heat on my hair, that means no straighting, curling or blowdrying.
• Not to use chemicals in my hair e.g. dying my hair or any chemical treatments.
• Brushing my hair from the ends upwards.

These may change throughout my hair journey, but I will definitely stay up to date. If you have any tips or want to join this hair challenge with me comment below, I would love to know that I'm not the only one with crappy hair. 

Love Rebecca 

Review: Herbal Essences Naked Range

Herbal Essence have jumped on the band wagon with their new "Naked" line, these products do no contain any parabens, silicone or dyes. The shampoos, conditioners and hair care products come in three different formulas: moisture, volume and shine.

I got sucked into the hype and purchased the Naked Shine Shampoo and the Naked Moisture Conditioner as they were half price and just smelt amazing like all Herbal Essence products. I have to say these products are amazing for their price point and left my hair feeling sleek, super soft and clean.

The shampoo works really well for taking out the grease and any oil based products in the hair without drying it out. And the star of the show, the Naked Moisture condition leaves my hair super soft and hydrated. I personally recommend leaving your conditioner in your hair for 5-10 minutes and then rinse with luke warm water/cold water.

I would definitely buy these products again even if they are not on offer as they are still a good price for a more "natural" hair shampoo and conditioner. I can't wait to try out other products in the Naked range and hope they are as amazing as these two.

I'd give the Herbal Essence Naked range a 4/5 rating.

With Love
Rebecca

Happy New Year.. 2015!!!

Happy New Year everyone, hope you all had a great start to 2015!!!

This is going to be a short and sweet post, 2014 was a crazy year for me plenty of ups and downs but as they say whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. So this year I feel stronger than ever and I hope you all do too. This year is consisting of positivity, and I want all you to join me in this positive way of thinking.

This year I really want to achieve the goals that I've always dreamt about so I want to make a pack with everyone reading this, to promise to work towards achieving at least one goal you've always dreamt about it can be anything from getting into shape, to just living a happier life.

Lets make 2015 a year we will never forget and the beginning of a dream come true!!!

Love you all
Rebecca