A Smoothie a Day Keeps The Doctor Away

This is such a simple smoothie but it packs a serious punch! Admittedly I don't have the best immune system and I'm prone to colds and flu most winters. So when the boyfriend came down with a bad cold, a rare occurrence, I was pretty sure I was bound to be shot down next. In what I thought would be a fruitless preemptive attack, I tried to boost our intake of vitamins by throwing together this smoothie. 

Amazingly, it worked! The early signs of contagion I have felt were literally, yes LITERALLY, diminished the day after I skulled a bullet full of this stuff. Now, that said, although I made my boyfriend drink his share, it, as expected, did not cure his cold. However, he reported that his symptoms did not worse AND he actually didn't mind the taste of the smoothie. (The boyfriend was not crazy about being pulled onto my smoothie bandwagon at the beginning)

So no, this smoothie would be the miracle cure to all your aches and pains, but it will help to keep you from contacting all the yucky bugs lurking around this winter. I drank this daily and remained sickness free whilst looking after him and whilst working in a badly ventilated office, a breeding ground for contagions. 

What you need:

- Half a sliced banana

- 3 tablespoons blueberries 

- 2 tablespoons raspberries

- 1 heaped tablespoon Greek yogurt 

- Handful of kale

- Handful of spinach

- Coconut water

I used a magic bullet, but really any blender will do.

What to do: 

1. Throw the banana, blueberries, raspberries, yogurt, spinach and kale into the blender. 

(TIP: preferably in that order as these heavier items will help push the kale and spinach into the blender blades, making for a smoother smoothie! Obviously if your blender is reversed, then reverse the process!)

2. Pour over the coconut water to just cover the ingredients. Depending on how you like the consistency of your smoothies, alter the amount of coconut water you include. (For a thicker smoothie, use less coconut water. For a thinner consistency, use more coconut water)

3. BLEND BLEND BLEND! 

4. Pour and serve!

TIP: I keep my blueberries, banana (pre-sliced) and raspberries in the freezer so that they double as ice cubes. This way my smoothies are perfectly cold and creamy!

Let me know if you give this recipe a go!

Chanel

Anzac Weekend Haul

It's the long weekend and with a well deserved break from work comes a small well deserved haul from Mecca Cosmetica. I think I showed relatively good restraint considering my usual visits with intentions to purchase one item almost always quickly escalates into a full blown spree.  This time I stuck to my guns and resisted my wondering desires to stray from my shopping list. 

1. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder - Diffused Light 
I already have this powder in Dim Light and absolutely adore it. Diffused Light is apparently one of their best sellers in the line and I just had to give it a try! One first glance it looks pretty 'glowy' to be used as an all over setting powder, which was my intention, but I think it'll make a gorgeous highlight. 

2. NARS Pure Radiance Tinted Moisturiser - Alaska
The boyfriend and I are contemplating going on a short getaway in June/July to seek a warm climate. Although we haven't even decided on a location I'm already looking for a light weight base to use and what better than a tinted moisturiser!

3. NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer - Custard
This is my second tube of the stuff, which speaks for how much I love it!

4. Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara
I've heard so much amazing stuff about this mascara! The transformation pictures they have on the packaging are astonishing and if it really lives up to the hype I may not be able to live without this mascara!! 

Full reviews of each product will be up shortly after I use them enough to form an informative opinion! Leave a comment letting me know if you've used any of these products and what you thought!

Chanel

Working Girl: Professional Comfort

When you have to be at work five days a week, some eight hours a day, it's important that you not only look professional, but comfort is imperative. I'm not suggesting anyone show up in a corporate office in their track pants, but I think we can all happily agree if we can look the part, throw in some personal styling and still be comfortable, our work week would be much more bearable. 

I personally work in a fairly conservative corporate office environment, where Casual Fridays is not even an option within my department. Even so, I have managed to incorporate pieces here and there to amp up basic corporate attire. Obviously it is important that personal discretion is used, you should know what you will and won't get away with. 

 

Base
1. White collared shirt - ft. Cue Tucked Raglan Sleeve Shirt 
2. Black tailored high-waisted trousers - ft. Topshop 32" Stitch Cigarette Trousers 
3. Black cropped fluffy jumper - ft. Supre Kitty Cat Crop    
4. Black pointed heels - Nine West Eviee Wedges
Accessories
1. Structured black bag - Prada Saffiano Lux Tote
2. Thin black and gold belt - Portmans Metal Career Belt
3. Rose gold watch - Michael Kors Runway Watch
4. White nail polish - Sally Hansen White On

When trying to incorporate unconventional pieces into a professional outfit, I prefer to maintain a natural colour palette and a classic silhouette. The design of the shirt and trousers provides a neat and simple frame as your canvas. I particularly love the cut of this shirt from Cue because it provides structure and accents feminine definition.

The pièce de résistances, the center piece, is of course the cropped shaggy jumper. The insanely soft material will keep you warm on those early morning winter commutes to work. Ensure that you keep this piece at a fitted size and avoid sizing up too much. Whilst I'm all for cozying up with oversized fluffy jumpers, the slouchy look will take away from the professional silhouette.

Keeping the everything black and white, with peaking accents of varying shades of gold keeps the look edgy but keeps it from being tipping over to tacky.

If I'm being honest, this particular outfit has been revisited a couple of times but I say why not get the most out of a good thing!

Tossed Veggies with tomato sardines on toast

Admittedly I'm not the most health conscious eater. I'm not one for diets or placing food restrictions on myself. I have always had a very simple attitude towards food: I eat what I want, when I want without feeling guilty. In trying to be "healthier" I have adjusted this philosophy slightly to: eat what you want, just add healthier elements to your meals. 

So what exactly does that mean? Well simply put, I believe that the root cause of failure in diets is because they are inherently founded on the idea of deprivation. I don't believe in depriving myself. So, in an effort to be "healthier", I still allow myself to eat whatever I happen to be craving but I try to form "healthier" habits in addition. Besides the obvious things like "drinking more water" and "less junk food", I've been trying to make my own lunches and snacks whenever possible. To be honest the hardest part about keeping with this is coming up with new recipes, especially when you're hungry and dying for a bite! In light of this, I've decided to share any healthy meal/snack ideas here on my blog.

The first: Tossed veggies with tomato sardines on toast

Method: 

• Wholegrain bread (slice per serving)
• 1 can of sardines in tomato sauce
• Handful of cherry tomatoes 
• 2-3 yellow squash
• Handful of marinated olives
• Half a lemon
• Extra Virgin olive oil
• Himalayan pink salt & pepper to taste 

Method: 

Firstly, bring a small pot of water to the boil with a pinch of salt. Whilst you're waiting, rising and dry your vegetables.  Depending on the size of your cherry tomatoes, slice them in half and place them in a bowl. Lightly dress the tomatoes with olive oil, salt (tomatoes love salt so you can be a LITTLE bit more generous here then in the rest of the dish) and pepper. Slice the olives in half and mix them in with the tomatoes. Leave this aside for the time being. 

Next cut the squash up into bite size pieces (relatively similar to the size of your cherry tomatoes). Throw these into the boiling water for 3-4 minutes. When they are tender (but still have a bite), rinse them in some cold water to stop the cooking process. 

At this point place a couple of slices of bread in the toaster. 

Now you can mix the squash and in with the tomatoes and olives. Give the entire mix a good toss with a little more olive oil, a spritz of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. 

When the bread is toasted to your liking, drizzle a little olive oil over it before flaking over the tomatoes sauce sardines. Top this off with the vegetable salad and you've got yourself a quick, light and healthy snack! 

Sardines, although they may not sound the most appealing at first, there are many reasons to make them a regular ingredient in your diet.  

• They are an amazing source of calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, protein and potassium. 
• They're affordable. 
• They're good out of the can! 
• They are sustainably fished, which is always a plus! 

If you want a little bit more protein, my pick would be adding a soft boiled egg on top (best to do this before the squash). YUM! 

If you try this out or have any good recipe suggestions, please leave me a comment!