Friday 20 December 2013

♡ FITSPIRATION: The Band-Wagon Story ♡

Uh oh... Guess what happened. 

I fell off the exercise bandwagon. Yup. It's bad.

Today I plucked up the courage to go out and go for a run around the beach with my friend at about noon, and maybe only fifteen minutes into the run was I spluttering and panting and going crazy and that's when it hit me that I hadn't done any consistent exercise for a good two...(maybe two and a half) months (I told you it was bad), and only the odd set of push ups every other night as an alibi. 



Pleease don't judge me, we've all been there!

As of today, I'm going to re-boot my system, detox of all the feeling sorry and guilty about myself, and start over. 

Maybe the reason why I fell off the band wagon was merely because I had fallen into the habit of doing precisely what I'm about to show you...

     ♡ EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES
It's a universal truth that making up an excuse is always sososososo much easier than actually doing something, and I hands-down guarantee that I've done this before. Procrastinating is one of my talents.

However, like most problems in life, there are always hidden solutions, and exercise is just one of those. 
- Don't have time? Wake up earlier, go to bed earlier. Hard? Hell yes. Worth it? Hell yes.
- Don't have a gym? Unless you live in a plane or under the sea, I'm sure that outside of that front door, there is an explorable mass of land of which you can run for kilometers. If there's not, then where do you live?
- Don't know how to start? You don't know until you try, AND you don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. Throw out all the junk food, smaller plates means smaller portion sizes, easy youtube tutorials and workshops and books. 


     ♡ FEELING SORRY FOR ONE'S SELF DOESN'T DO ANYTHING
It's natural. Really. I promise. But does it get us anywhere.......hardly....

Dust off your crown, Princess, sh!t happens and we just need to get over it! Refresh with the sun coming up tomorrow. Promise yourself. Make sticky notes of encouragement as stick them somewhere you can see them and start off slow...which leads to my next point...

Need motivation?

- Check out Lorna Jane's Move Nourish Believe blog. It's fabulous. 
- I've been reading Lauren Conrad's blog and it covers pretty much every aspect of girly life, including a specific segment directly related to fitness. It's also fabulous

     ♡ THE "I'm going to wake up tomorrow at five and do a spin-class" MOTTO
I think it's fair to say we've all made this mistake.

Pretty much the number one rule of exercise and fitness to start off slow and then build up to it. Rome wasn't built in a day, honey, and believe me, you won't be doing yourself any favours by going all out on the first day.

If anything, there's maybe an 80% chance that this won't play the way you want it to, and only puts your body and mind under stress.

Not only does this lead to physical problems such as shin splints (you know that nasty ligament pain on the outer side of your calf that you can't stretch), Achilles rips (just above the back of your heel) and other bodily pains such as knees, respiratory and back, but over-exercising also leads to negative psychological consequences such as "that was awful, I'm never doing that again" which will only discourage you further.



♡ ♡                                          
                                         Luxe

Saturday 14 December 2013

♡ The Perfect Manicure DIY ♡



It's no secret that a good manicure can make or break an outfit. 

While indulging in a professional manicure is always the best way to spend a Friday afternoon, being a full time student, I don't have a lot of time on my hands, nor a readily available abundance of money to splash out on perfect nails, however, giving yourself a professional standard DIY manicure can also be a difficult and messy practise without the proper techniques.

By observing what my technician was doing in the salon today, I was able to pick up these tips and tricks and hopefully achieve the perfect DIY manicure:



STEP ONE: Always start off with clean nails. Enough said. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap gets rid of any grubbiness and yuck that may be lurking on the surface or nail beds. 

STEP TWO: Remove dead polish. While it may seem like the "easy way out", painting over already half-chipped nails is a big no-no. It ruins the nail surface, not to mention that it looks really cheap and careless. For shellac, you must use pure acetone on a little cotton ball and then wrap the finger in aluminium foil for ten minutes. After that, you can use an orange stick to scrub off any excess. 

STEP THREE: Clip. Please. Talons are for eagles - not humans. 
File the nail down so that it is smooth. I always attempt to file my nails in an oblong or "squoval" shape. The "squoval" shape is strong enough to stop any chips from occurring in contrast to an oval or square which are prone to this.
Buff the surface of the nail which an orange stick. This is important as it gets rid of any tiny bumps on the surface of the nail.

STEP FOUR: I then pamper my hands with a moisturising lotion. Right now, I'm using Soap and Glory's Hand Food.  I highly recommend this. Not only does it moisturise to the max, it smells divine, dries quickly, and unlike a lot of moisturisers, it doesn't leave my hands all greasy for the rest of the day. Bonus :)

STEP FIVE: Go ahead and apply a clear base coat. This establishes a smooth surface for the colour to go on.

STEP SIX: Depending on the pigmentation of the polish, apply two coats - maybe three if it's semiopaque

STEP SEVEN: My secret tip...or maybe not so secret ...get a Q-tip or swissper or whatever they call them, dip it in some nailpolish remover and just lightly wipe away any imperfections such as polish on fingers or whatever. You're welcome :)

♡♡♡QUICK REVIEW ♡♡♡

For my DIY manicure, I used Sinful Colours in the shade Snow Me White - a product I received in my November Bellabox. I'd never used a Sinful Colors polish before as I haven't seen them in the shops in Australia yet. 

♡ 100% pigmentation with two coats
♡ Quick dry
♡ Smooth to apply
♡ Long lasting

The only negative was that the first coat was slightly streaky but with a second coat, that was all fine. 


♡♡♡
Luxe

Tuesday 10 December 2013

❀ ♡ Hello Aussie Summer ♡ ❀


❀ Time to detox from the winter ❀
and start
❀ again ❀



Mood: Smiley and bubbly
Colour: Pastel pink and cream
Scent: Victoria's Secret "Such a Flirt" body mist, Marc Jacob's "Honey" perfume
Music: Sensitivity by Alex Goot 



Colour of fingernails: Can't find my Czechbook by OPI 
Motto: Don't take life too seriously...no one gets out alive anyway