Happy Halloween!

It's that time of year again, when the ghosts and ghouls come out and pumpkins become the most popular veg on the market!

In honour of Halloween I decided to give myself a fitting manicure using the Janchristie nail transfers I ordered earlier in the year (click here for my review).

1 - To create this nail look you'll need orange and black nail polishes, nail tape (or strips of masking tape) & nail transfers.

2 - Paint the base colour onto your nail, I used the orange to give a solid background for the transfers.

3 - Once the polish is dry, cut out and press on the transfer (I found using tweezers the easiest way to do this).

4 - Cover the transfers with clear polish to prevent them lifting.

5 - Stick the nail tape onto the nails without the transfers.

6 - Paint over the nail tape with the black polish.

7 - Before the polish dries dries peel off the nail tape quickly (tweezers were helpful here too!).

8 - When the black polish is dry cover all the nails again with a top coat and you're done!

Now I've got my nails all Halloweened up I'm going to spend my night watching scary films, wrapped up on the sofa, drinking hot chocolate.  Let me know what you're doing for Halloween, and who you're going as if you're dressing up this year!

Steph

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JUST DO IT! (at home)

I'm the first to admit I'm not the most sporty or active person on the plant, I've always been the one curled up with a good book or watching endless Youtube videos (oh the exciting life I lead!) 

 I have, however tried out a shed-load of home workouts, diets, fitness fads, gym classes and just about anything else you can think of, in the effort to loose that dreaded 'Freshers 15' (It's not even a 'Freshers 15' anymore, I've been carrying an extra stone for the last 3 years, I cant even blame uni anymore!)

Anyway, onto the point of this post.  I wanted to make a little collection of some of my favorite home workouts and some which haven't impressed so much (to put it nicely!)  Workout DVDs are a really good way to workout at home, granted its the same routine every time and they'll make the same jokes/comments/explanations every time, but if you mix it up and do a couple they can be a really good way to fit some exercise into your day without having to go to a class at the gym.

Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD is one of my faves.  Man can she kick some ass!  The DVD had 3 levels and to complete the shred you're supposed to do 10 days of each level, working out 6 days a week.  Each level is 30 mins long with a warm up and cool down and the 3 circuits made up of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs.

I went into this all guns blazing and managed 2 weeks of 6 day per week workouts but I felt so drained at the end of each one!  I cut down to 4-5 days a week when I started my new job so I can't vouch for what would happen if you stuck to 6 days religiously, I also didn't follow a calorie controlled diet plan when doing this DVD, I just ate sensibly.  

The levels do get easier the more you work on them and you can definitely feel them working but, unlike the box will have you believe, I didn't loose 10 lb in a month.  I know I would have lost more if I had stuck to a religious diet plan too, but honestly the workouts take it out of you and I was left feeling dizzy more than once.

Overall a really great workout, and probably something I'll do again in the future, maybe with a diet plan too to see if that makes anymore of a difference.

I recently bought Jillian's book 'Making the Cut' and am planning to follow the plan in that to see if it works better than the shred for me, I'll let you know!

Davina McCall has more workout DVDs out than you can shake a stick at (weird expression that!) but my old fave is the Davina Super Body Workout.  Davina is fab and although I couldn't do this everyday (she makes way to many little comments and jokes which I know would grate pretty quickly!) I really enjoy it when I'm feeling the need for a fun workout.

The DVD has two 40 minute workouts, Super Fit and Super Sculpt and then you can bump it up to 50 mins by adding Super Pump, Super Abs, Super Legs or Super Six Pack (killer!) onto the end.

All in all really good workouts and they make me smile when I do them, which can't be a bad thing!

On the flip side Mari Winsor's Pilates with Mari Winsor is definitely not a fave!  I picked this up a couple of years ago when I found out Miley Cyrus had been using Marie's classes to gain THOSE abs (what can I say I'm a sucker for a celeb endorsement!).   

Doing this DVD is painful, and not in the usual workout sense!  I get that the moves are probably very good for you and for toning the body but it's just so slow paced and Mari spends and age explaining every detail of the move or not explaining it at all and leaving you suuper confused and behind.

I think it's just the set up of this DVD that I find so uninspiring, along with the overly smug looking women doing the moves along with you (yes I can see that you can do the move a billion times better than me, you don't have to rub it in!)  To top it off I find some of what she says quite patronising, and there's only so many times you can listen to someone tell you your'e movements are 'beeeautiful!'

In my opinion, not worth your hard earned!

Youtube workout videos have become my latest love when exercising.  I've got two faves that I've recently subscribed to.

First up are The Lean Machines, John Chapman and Leon Bustin.  their channel has a mixture of the sciencey (real technical there!) bits behind the workout and weight loss, tips and tricks and workouts.   I really like learning the science behind the exercises as well how nutrition etc works and affects the body.  I'd reccommend giving them a watch, pluuuus they spend A LOT of time with their shirts off so y'know not exactly hard to watch haha!

www.youtube.com/user/TheLeanMachines

(You're welcome!)

I've also recently been loving JessicaSmithTV's videos, man does she make you work!  I really like her ballet based routines for beginners and she has some great ab and arm workouts too.  I love that her videos are all of different lengths so you can pick one that will fit in with your day and she runs little challenges too which is really great.

Jessica puts out a new video at least once a week so you don;t really have the time to get bored and she's got such a variety on there.  Plus her adorable dog Peanut is always on hand if you just need something to distract you while doing the hardest moves!  

www.youtube.com/jessicasmithtv

So there you have it, my favorite, and not so fave, workouts to do at home.  With so much out there there really is no excuse for not doing something a few times a week (that's what I keep telling myself anyway!).

I'm always looking for new ways to work out and change it up, so let me know if you know of any good sites or trainers who can kick me into shape!

Steph

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Paramore at Wembly!

Okay so this post is majorly late but it's an event I couldn't let go by without blogging about it.

On the 27th September I (finally!!!) got to see Paramore perform *insert fangirl scream* at the Wembley Arena in London!  If you've seen my first Influenced post all about Hayley Williams then you may have guessed that I'm a but of a Paramore fan (okay 'a bit' is a major underestimate) and have wanted to see them perform live since I was about 15 years old.

Over the years numerous reasons have popped up or conflicted with dates and meant I have never been able to go to a show until now, and it was so worth the wait!

My evening didn't start out as planned with the friend I was going with getting a mixed message from my dad, missing the train and leaving me sat at Wembley station with a dead phone, alone in the dark for over an hour, not the best.  But once we got there, scoffed a hot dog in record time so we didn't miss the start of the show (classy biatch here!) and got into the arena, all was well with the world again.

The show was insane, and over in a flash but was honestly one of the best nights of my life.  Two hours sped by as if it was 20 minutes and I spent so much time on my tip toes, out of pure excitement, (kinda like a kid when they get excited!) not because I couldn't see, that I had cramp all up the backs of my legs by the end!  But Oh My Days was it worth it!  

Paramore kill it live, they are all over the stage and bring so much energy to every single song you can't help but be drawn in.  Hayley Williams knocked the vocals out of the park, I seriously don't know how anyone can leap about that much and still manage to hit every single note and not sound out of breath!

All together one of the best nights of my life and definitely one I won't forget anytime soon.  If you're even a little fan of Paramore I would recommend you go see them live.  You'll have a blast, and maybe end up with hamstrings as tight as mine are now!

Steph

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Make A Change

Recently I've been going through some pretty major life changes (and by recently I mean for about the last 3/4 months!).  As hard as change can be (I've been through every emotion on the spectrum, trust me!) I feel as if I'm finally coming out the other side with a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders and an immense sense of freedom, and it feels pretty darn good!

Like I said change is never easy regardless of if it's something as small as changing up your hair colour (a change I am waaay to happy with!) or something huge like moving away, ending a relationship or changing career.  Change is necessary for us to survive, (it's what evolution is all about after all!) and if you don't or can't change then you're stuck in the same place, going nowhere.

Over the past few weeks and months I've been reading up a lot on how to deal with change and why it feels the way it does.  I wanted to share some of the videos, articles and quotes that have really helped me through this time and hope they might help you out too if you're going through some changes.

Frilly + Fancy's blogpost 'Change' really made me feel loads better about changing circumstances.

http://frillyandfancy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/change.html

HaiLedaBear's video 'Wish' is an old favorite and something I always go back to at unsettling times.  This video always reminds me that you have to stay true to yourself and change, although necessary needs to be for the right reasons.

Here are just a couple of quotes that've stuck in my head over the past few months and seem to make sense to me now more than at any other time.

And lastly, as vital as change is, make sure you're making the right changes for the right reasons.

Let me know in the comments if you have any more videos/blog posts/articles etc on change that you've found helpful and I'll be sure to check them out!

Steph

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Lookin' Sleek!

Aaagess ago, in a desperate bid to replace my favorite lost lipstick, I stumbled across Sleek make-up in Superdrug.  I found a perfect replacement for my old trusty (is it bad that it still bugs me that I don't know where that went?!) and thought nothing more of it.

More recently, over the summer, I rediscovered Sleek and thought I'd have a good look at their collections seeing as I love their matte lippies so much.  I picked up the i-Divine palette in au naturel (mineral eye shadows), face FORM palette in Light, 373 (contouring, highlighter and blush) and a single blush in Life's a Peach!, 922.

(No flash or filter so you can see the colours at their best :) )

I've been using them for a good couple of months now and I have to say I really really like them!  I adore the range of colours in the eye shadow, although they're all earthy tones I like the way they're almost divided into groups of four with similar shades grouped together (that might just be the way my ocd eye wants to see it!) with both matte and shimmery shades together.

I've been creating lots of smokey eyes as well as more simple, toned down, every-day looks and have found it to be so versatile.  I'm seriously considering picking up another one of these in a different tone on my next payday!

face FORM palette in Light 373

Blush in Life's a Peach! 922

Onto the blush and the face FORM palette.  Sleek has a range of blush palettes that I was really tempted by with three blushes in each but seeing as the palette I was going to get had the same blush as the face FORM palette, Life's a Peach! and a shade I wasn't too sure on, I went for this combination.

The Life's a Peach! is such a gorgeous colour, it's not too strong but you can layer it up to create a way more dramatic look, its awesome!  The blush in the face FORM palette is a little more subtle and I've been loving it for day wear.  Its slightly shimmery and is such a pretty pink colour, its adorable! 

The contour and highlight in this palette are really nice products too.  The highlight is perfect for my fair skin, it's not overly shimmery or peachy and leaves a subtle glow on the skin.  The contour is okay but considering the palette is 'Light' its sooo pigmented!  The first time I used I ended up with the dreaded brown streaks on my face!  A little bit definitely goes a looong long way here!  Saying that it may have something to do with how pale my face is,so maybe it would be a slightly better shade on someone with light skin as opposed to paper-white skin!  

Let me know if you try any of these products out and which Sleek bits and pieces you love, I'm definitely up for another trip to Superdrug!

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Influenced #1 ~ Hayley Williams

A few weeks ago I bought the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's book Influenced and have read most of it (I will get to the end of it soon, I'm just a suuuper slow reader!).  I've found it really interesting reading about the people who have had an impact on their lives in terms of fashion, art, attitude etc. and thought I'd like to make my own version as a little series on here.  I want to share with you the people who have inspired and ultimately influenced me across my 22 years, so here goes, the first of what I hope to be many!

Source - hayleywilliamsedits.tumblr.com

Thinking about people who have influenced me the first person to come to mind had to be Hayley Williams.  The the lead singer of Paramore, a band I discovered aged 14/15 and have loved ever since, her style has evolved as she, and the band, have grown up, and I feel that she has had such a lasting influence on me, and many others, as we've grown up with her over the years.

Hayley is a couple of years older than me and being able to watch her go through the transition from tomboy teenager to the style icon she has now become for many has definitely influenced the way in which I grew up and tackled the awkward teenage years.  As Julie Greenwald (Atlantic records) says 'She was never a young, fabricated artist.  She still styles herself.  She knows who she is and who she wants to be.' 

That self assurance and self belief is definitely one of the ways in which Hayley has influenced me and my style.  She made it okay to be 'that weirdo with five colours in her hair' (anyone who was a McFly fan back in the day will get that one!) or to wear what ever the hell you pleased, because it's your life and what's the point of not being yourself.

Source - hayleywilliamsedits.tumblr.com

'Baby Bangs' and bright orange hair ~ source - omghayley.tumblr.com

Hayley's hair is one of the things she is most known for.  She has been almost every colour of the rainbow and managed to suit all of them.  She does, however, always seem to come back to vibrant reds and oranges in varying shades giving her a flame like look, especially when leaping about on stage!

Hayley's ever-changing hair ~ source - welovewilliams.tumblr.com

Hayley writes many of Paramore's songs and her lyrics are always so relatable that you are able to connect with what she is saying every time.  She manages to write songs that feel as though she's singing straight to you while at the same time commanding an arena full of people.  Jeremy Davis (Paramore's bass player) puts it perfectly 'I think the reason why most people respond to Hayley is because of her lyrics.  Even though some of her songs are dark and heavy, if you listen to the words there's hope.  She writes her life stories really.'

' Last Hope' ~ source - alliwantedwasbands.tumblr.com


Hayley's fashion has ranged over the years from polo shirts and skinny jeans with distinctly tomboy touches to her looks today, tough outfits with feminine touches and punk over tones.  Her look has always just seem ed so achingly cool to me and she always always pulls off whatever she is wearing with such flare and attitude that it just works.

A little selection of Hayley's style ~ sources - tumblr tag #hayleywilliams

Hayley Williams is definitely one of my biggest style influences and icons and has been for almost 10 years now, and hopefully will be for another 10 to come!

Are you a fan of Hayley Williams' style? Let me know in the comments what you think of her looks and also who else I should feature in this series in the future.

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