This is good bye...for now!

I have been MIA for a few months now and I am finally letting you in the loop as to what has been happening.

Being in the blogging industry for two years, has constantly reminded me that this thing we bloggers do...its not for sissies. It takes motivation, creativity and, the thing we're always chasing, TIME! Most bloggers have full time jobs, houses to run and even kids to sort after. You can imagine how difficult it is to fit blogging and events into an already jam packed schedule. 

Now, I don't have to deal with all of the above obstacles, my point is that life catches up to you whether you like to admit it or not and the next thing you see (in my case), you haven't posted any new content in a few weeks. I have come up with a solution to stop that from happening because no matter how busy or tired I am, I LOVE BLOGGING!

So this is what's up...I am launching a new blog!

I have been working on my new blog for the past 6 months. Everything from name idea's, look and feel, photo shoots, categories, blog niches and what you will enjoy reading the most...that is what has been keeping me busy. Oh boy! I am so frikin excited!

This decision came about once I knew that I wanted to share more than beauty reviews. I want to explore all the wonderful topics there are to blog about. Food, decor, travel and, life! 

Howse Life is an adventurous concept very close to my heart. I will be sharing almost every aspect of my life with the incredible World Wide Web and the trolls that prowl there, not to be attention seeking or for ulterior motives but simply because I feel that my words need to last forever and I want to share my story. What better way than to share it as it happens.

This new blog will be run mainly by myself with appearances from my boyfriend, Malcolm. He will add a really fun guy edge and hopefully help with some DIY advice.

I could really carry on forever. Lets just leave it at that and I'll see you next year for the new, amazing awesome, fun blog.

www.howselife.co.za

Xoxo

Essence Trend: Class of 2013

 I really love Essence products. They are original, trendy and really affordable. Definitely one of my have-to-have brands and I always go to the Essence stand first when I walk into Dis-Chem or Clicks! 

Image from Google

If you go to your nearest Essence stand you may still be able to catch the last of the "Class of 2013" Trend Edition. I was sent a few products to share with you. Here is what I received!

Class of 2013 nail polish in 03 "Ready for rush week?"

 This polish is a beautiful deep red boarding on burgundy. Try one coat to acheive a lighter coat and two layers to get the colour seen on the bottle. The formula dried relatively fast and did not streak or bleed. I paired it with the next polish.

Class of 2013 nail polish in 01 "Collage herd"

Glitter polish is very versatile especially when its silver. This nail polish pair really suits one another. The glitter may be a bit "flashy" for a day time look so I suggest wearing the red at work (lets be realistic, this trend was only made for the American tween market. We wear uniforms here) and then put the silver glitterati top coat on before your night out on the town.

Which ever you decide, these two nail polishes are stunning. Only R39.95 each.

Class of 2013 eye shadow in 01 "Want to be my freshman"

This is my favourite of the three products. Its a beautiful creamy eye shadow stick. You can use it as a liner or smudge it out and blend it with the rest of your makeup. This is a great product for highlighting the inner corner of your eye or even blended under your bottom lashes. I'm not sure about how much this goes for but it shouldn't be more than R35.

Tweens, you might be able to get away with wearing this at school but only use a tiny bit. I really wished we had casual wear as our uniforms back in high school. I would have had a lot more boyfriends if I was allowed to wear make up. We'll save that pity party for another time.

Thanks so much to Essence for these cute back to school themed products!

You can find Essence stands and their trends at Clicks and Dis-Chem stores (FYI: Dis-Chem has a much bigger range of the nail care products and nail polishes than Clicks).

Mavala's new top and base coat on steroids!

Mavala SA was kind enough to send me two newly launched products recently which have been added to their amazing range of polishes. These two products are Mavala 002 base coat and Colorfix top coat.

I did a quick mani to test these two products. Here's what I used:

Mavala 002 Base Coat, Chanel 565 Beige and Mavala's Colorfix Top Coat

Step one? Base coat of course!

I always like to emphasize the importance of a base coat, even if I seem repetitive. It helps prevent yellow nails effected by nail polish pigments and it prevents staining of bright coloured polishes such as red and blue. A base coat is also handy as it "fixes" nails polish to your nails. It usually has a tacky or sticky consistency which helps your next layer adhere to your nail plate better.

The Mavala 002 base coat did it's job really well. It wasn't too thick so it dried reasonably fast. The brush was also soft but firm enough to apply without things turning into a nail polish murder scene.

The colour I applied for this mani is Chanel's "le Vernis" in 565 Beige. The reason I chose this polish was because I had problems in the past with chipping, from day 1, so I though it would be a great candidate to put these two Mavala products to the test. It is also a fresh colour for Spring.

Immediately, I hope you notice the shine this base coat gives your mani (compare the two pictures above). It is really sparkly and you may even notice it brings the pink shimmer of the Chantel polish.

The durability of this "polish sandwich" was pretty impressive. I left my mani on for 6 days before taking it off. This is what it looked like...

...so maybe I could have taken it off a little sooner but seeing as it's such a light colour I got away with the chips that are noticeable in the image above. 

The point to all of this is that these two Mavala products are pretty potent. Since doing this mani I have found myself reaching for the Mavala 002 base coat and Colorfix top coat more often, which definitely says something.

Thanks again to Mavala SA for sending me these Mavala goodies. The press package was put together extremely well. I had a such a ball testing the products out and bragging to my friends, family and blog readers about how great they really are.

Peeps, feel free to follow Mavala SA on Twitter and Facebook. You can also get these fab products at Dis-Chem and selected pharmacies. 

Before moving on, pop over to my review of Mavla's Via Veneto nail polish.

Something Big Is Coming Your Way!

Hi there everyone. 

Once again I am MIA. Trust me when I say I hate not being a consistent blogger. The reason for the lack of posts is because I am working on something pretty mind blowing which will be launching at the end of the year. As with all things awesome, they take time to plan and we all know time is scarce. 

Juggling a full time job, a full time boyfriend and still working on my new project has taken it's time and toll on Miss Claira-Bella. Please stick with me as you'll see that it'll be worth it. Oh and there's a giveaway happening soon!!

Miss you all!

Xoxo

Miss Claira-Bella

Live Healthy: Update #10

My tenth update and finally Spring time. Cannot believe it!

These past two week have gone fantastically well. I have been sticking to a strict, healthy diet and going to gym regularly. I am really feeling good about my progress and what better timing than at the beginning of a new season!

Here are some snaps from the past two weeks.

From top: Carrot, pineapple and pecan nut salad (recipe coming soon). Lemon water. Spring rolls. Weetbix. Butternut and onion soup.

Green Tea

From top: Orange wedges. Green salad with egg and avocado. Egg mayo provita snacks.

YAY!! I was able to do 10,000 steps in one day with my pedometer!!

The reason for my sudden high in determination is because there is a "Biggest loser" competition at work which will stretch over the next 10 weeks. The winner will get a R3000.00 cash prize which in all honesty, I am in dire need of. I don't quite qualify for "biggest loser" but luckily they choose the winner on BMI and fat percentage lost! 

Wish me luck!

New to Edgars: Greenland - Treating your senses naturally

The second new and exciting brand to hit Edgars and Red Square stores soon is Greenland. This brand's focus is mainly on bath and body ranges and comes all the way from Holland thanks to its founder Jan-Willem Van Kempen who has been growing the brand since 1990.

Read my post on King and Queens here which is also a new brand to hit your Edgars shelves.

I received two Greenland products in my goodie bag which, after testing, I handed to my sister to enjoy. She was over the moon!

The first is a lip balm from their "Balm and Butter" range. 

Greenland's Pomegranate Lip Balm

I received the delicious pomegranate fruity scent lip balm which smells pretty good. This is an all natural product using only the best organic ingredients. It contains no parabens, no artificial colorants, just natural butters (Shea and Cocoa butter) and essential oils!

The one thing about I am not crazy about when it comes to natural butters is that is it very temperature reliant. In winter the lip balm will be as hard as a rock and you will have to run the balm across your lips a few times before any product transfers onto your skin. The other extreme is if it's hot, the whole thing melts in your hand bag. (this is me being very picky though)

Otherwise, this lip balm felt good on my lips and did its job pretty well.

"The pomegranate is a bomb of nutrition. It contains vitamin B, C, potassium to regulate your heart rate and blood pressure, and antioxidants. Pomegranate has proved to have an antibacterial effect and it also aids digestion." - Source

The second product I received to test out is the Papaya-Lemon hand cream from Greenland's "Fruit Emotions" range.

This hand cream was a dream to apply. It has a slight water-like texture to it which makes it ideal for the warmer months to come our way, where you would prefer not sweating under a thick layer of lotion.

I also love the odd fragrance combinations that they have in their range. This Papaya and Lemon scent was strange but refreshing. The other combinations they have in this range are Grapefruit-Ginger, Mint-Lavender, Coconut-Tangerine and Lime-Vanilla. Their boldness to try scents that could potentially fail terribly, shows that Greenland takes risks to be different and offer a unique product to their consumers.

Downside, their packaging is a little sensitive. I dropped it by accident and it made an awful dent on the side, as if I had just dropped a bowling ball on top of it. If you purchase their products as a gift, please handle with care and wrap them with extra reinforcements.

 Greenland has three more ranges other than the two I mentioned above.

Pure and White

"All pure and White items are natural and organic and contain more than 98% ingredients from their origin". Their unitque scent combinations are Bulgarian Rose & Patchouli, Italian Lime & Vanilla, French Lavendar & Rosemary and Cotton Flower & White Lotus.

Milky

"Milky offers natural body care with the benefit of creamy, soft and silky "milks". these milky combinations are Almond milk-Lotus, Coconut Milk-Lime, Yogurt-Cucumber and Rice Milk-Vanilla.

Fruit Exracts

"Greenland Fruit Extracts offers fabulous natural body care with the added pleasure of 100% natural fruit extracts". The fruits available in this range are Apple, Raspberry, Mango and Papaya.

If you think this is a brand worth trying out (which it is) view more by visiting Greenland's website and Facebook page.

Cherry nail art inspired by Batiste!

So last week I received a bottle of Batiste dry shampoo to review for Miss Claira-Bella. (Read the review here to see what I had to say about the actual product). The first thing that I thought was "Hey, cute packaging. That would make for a kick-ass nail art design" so of course I had to!

This is what I came up with!

 A base is always a good place to start. For my base I used OPI's "Top to Finish Base and Top" coat as well as Tip Top's "Cha Cha Cha" which has been one of my favourite polish's this year!

After the base I added some little red dots for the beginning of the cherries. I used two different reds to add depth. The first was Catrice's "Star of the show" and on top of those dots I did a smaller dot of Bobbi Brown's "Valentine Red". I used my dotting tool for this. Make two small dots which are touching each other.

After the base and dots, I took a striping brush (a toothpick will also work) and some green acrylic paint (you can also use green polish) and drew the cherry stems which join each other at the top. 

To finish it off I added some white dots with my Essence pen to add animation although after this step they turned out to be more like mushrooms. Oops! But its still pretty cute.

And the final design with the original muse:

I really love it when brands come up with cute designs for their packaging. Don't forget to read my review of the Dry Shampoo!

Do you like the design? Comment below :)

Batiste Dry Shampoo Review

The Batiste brand was not news to my ears when I received an invite to review their dry shampoo. It is the most loved dry shampoo and I am constantly hearing great things on Facebook and Twitter about it. The lovely Danielle (follow her uber cute doggies on Instagram here) sent me a bottle of Batiste dry shampoo to test out and let you ladies know how I enjoyed using it.

My Bottle of Batiste Dry Shampoo in "fruity and cheeky cherry". Oh and yes, that is matching nail art ;)

Let me just say that my past experiences with dry shampoo have been horrific! I once tried to spruce up my hair for my boyfriend's graduation ceremony, with a can of Lee Stafford dry shampoo and it was disastrous. White patches of powder on my black dress which made me look like I had just changed a homeless baby's nappy on the side of the street. So embarrassing.

This put a huge mental block in my mind and fueled my reluctancy to purchase and use dry shampoo in the future. Seeing as the Batiste brand was so highly spoken of I decided to give it a try. 

She's looking quite sassy in number 3!

If you aren't too sure what a dry shampoo is, it's pretty much a powdered formula in a aerosol can that you spray onto your roots to soak up oil and provide a boost of body to otherwise "lifeless" hair. I know in the olden days they took baby powder which gave a similar effect but that goodness for technological advances because that just sounds messy.

My experience with Batiste? Pretty frikin painless and rather enjoyable!

The instructions were easy to follow there was zero white powder residue (unlike the other brands I have tested) and it really did give my hair a boost of freshness and tons of body. The scent wasn't quite like cherries but it did smell nice. I am also crazy about the design of each can. So much so that I did a matching nail art design which I will be posting in a different post.

I am so happy that this brand has changed my mind about dry shampoo's because they are incredibly handy to have. Please note that dry shampoo's are a temporary fix and you should still wash your hair regularly. 

Thanks once again to Danielle for this fantastic product! Please also keep an eye out for my nail art design inspired by this can which I will post to my blog soon!

Live Healthy: Update #9

I'm back! Read my last update here.

Since my last update, I purchased a pedometer. It's a small device you clip onto your pants or belt and it counts every single step you take throughout the day. It's quite a trivial device but if you are like me, and you aren't a gigantic fan of gymming, it keeps you in check. Since getting the pedometer, I have found myself parking further away from where I shop, going outside more often and of course, window-shopping in big malls where your feet start to ache from walking too much.

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My initial motivation for getting the pedometer is that I get points for my medical aid if I do 10 000 steps or more every day because walking whilst doing every day tasks will effect your fitness level and your general health. It has a neat little USB in it so you plug it into your PC and upload your information. Ten thousand steps is really difficult to get to. So far my best is 6734 steps in one day and my worst is 999 steps *major couch potato*. I am hoping to get those numbers up on the treadmill this week.

Gym visits have been non existent lately as I have been away but I have an urge to catch up by the end of August. I also have been reminding myself that the Spar woman's race is on the 31st of August and I need to put in some extra km's on the treadmill before then.

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I do want to admit that I am disappointed in my promise to upload recipes and more on what I eat daily. The main reason I haven't done this is because my eating habits have not been anything to brag about. I have never been on a " diet" before which is really difficult for me but from now I am really going to try put effort into strict meals and share them with you. 

That's it for now. Keep living healthy and remember...

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*Images from Google.

New to Edgars: Kings and Queens

A few weeks ago I attended the mind blowing multi brand launch of six new brands making their debut on SA soil in Edgars stores. Besides being ecstatic about another Edcon event because they are always fantastically organised and the guest list does not disappoint, I was nervous about what was being presented to us seeing as the invite only said "Your Truly Exclusive invitation from Edgars: New Cosmetic Brands Launch". Of course, once I heard the words "six new international brands" I adjusted my mood accordingly and I was pleasantly surprised with the six names revealed that night.

One of the six is a bath and body brand from Greece called Kings and Queens.  

The Kings and Queens section at the multi brand launch for Redsquare Beauty.

"A brand which is built around the intriguing myths which surround countless royals and their obsessions with the healing powers of herbs and spices, Kings & Queens believes in every day royalty." - Edgars press release

I was privileged enough to receive a few Kings and Queens products in my goodie bag that night which I would love to share with you.

First is Emperor Akbar's Mango Body Butter which, for me, redefined the meaning of "body butter".

 Thick, rich, creamy and easily absorbed are a few of the qualities you will find when using this body butter. Ladies who don't like heavy creams but love the super hydrating benefits of a thicker lotion, this is for you. 

It has the perfect balance of heavy and light...if that makes sense. It really feels like you are applying a thick body butter but once rubbed in, it is light and does not leave a greasy film. Perfect!

There was one downside. The mango scent wasn't very "mango-ey". After passing the body butter between girlfriends and family, my sister also picked up that the scent was a bit artificial. It does smell nice but it is nothing compared to The Body Shop's striking scent-quality. If I were blind folded and had to identify the scent of this body butter, I wouldn't be able to...but maybe that's the point?

Final comments on the Emperor Akbar Mango Body Butter? It is amazingly hydrating and is the perfect blend between thick but not suffocating. The scent was nice but definitely foreign to my senses. The packaging is very appealing and makes me yearn for a themed bathroom with rich oranges, brown and golds.

"The Emperor Akbar Mango range was inspired by a 16th century Mogul Emperor who was known for his love of mangoes. It is said that he once planted 100 000 mangoes of superior quality in the Lakh Dagh orchard." - Edgars press release

Next up is the Aztec king Vanilla Pear Candle. Right off the bat I think the packaging looks like that Genkem shoe glue you get at hardware stores. It makes me all nostalgic and stuff (its the small things). 

So there's not much to a candle so I'll chat about what I noticed when burning the candle. 

First, after burning the candle for about 2 hours, I noticed some tunneling starting to form. That's when the candle's circumference is bigger than what the flame's strength can melt. What eventually happens is a tunnel starts to form and every time you burn it, it will only melt to a certain point, leaving a huge hole in the center of your candle. This isn't too much of an issue but if you're too lazy to reheat the wax and pour it back into the container, you're wasting quote a lot of reusable wax.

Secondly, I have been so spoilt with my Spa-Valous massage candle, that I was really sad when I realized that I couldn't use the wax on my skin because it's not soy (first world problems). Also, the scent was nothing compared to the Spa-Valous massage candle. You really have to be sitting right next to the candle before you smell anything. Again, this is not a major problem because it still adds ambiance to a room.

Final comments on this candle? The packaging is really pretty and it is believable that the candle can burn for 40 hours but tunneling forms in the candle and it doesn't really make an entire room smell like vanilla pear.

"The myth behind the Aztec King Vanilla Pear range is as exotic as its name. Vanilla, which was considered to be a potent aphrodisiac in pre-Columbian Mexico, was consumed in the bucket-loads by the ancient Aztec kings and their wives." Edgars press release

Thank you so much for the lovely organizers of the multi brand launch for Edgars (especially Sarann). The entire Kings and Queens range is on the shelves right now. There are more than just the two products I reviewed, in the Kings and Queens range such as shower gels, body milks, shimmering body milks, eau de toilette, deodorants, soaps and body scrubs.

This really is a unique gift to give someone. Everyone knows that bath and body products are the easiest gifts to give but seriously...be original and get them something special like products from the Kings and Queens range!

Comment below for price enquiries.

Paula's Choice Breakfast

Paula’s Choice Breakfast

I hardly ever watch TV so it won’t come as a surprise that I had no idea who Paula Begoun until I received an invite to the breakfast she was hosting for media and fans. After playing on the Google machine I found out a little more about the lady and came to the conclusion that she is a pretty big deal in the International cosmetic industry.

She has a whopping 18 books including “don’t go to the cosmetics counter without me” which is one of her many best sellers. She is quite a big consumer advocate and is best known for her name “the cosmetics cop”. She has so much knowledge on cosmetic ingredients, choosing the right products for your skin as well as her own skincare range, that her expertise has granted her some serious name dropping rights.

She has appeared on infamous talk shows such as CNN, Oprah and the DR. OZ show (just to name a few). I just had to accept the invite even if it meant I had to bunk work for it. So what was the event like? It was exceptionally eye opening.

Her presentation mainly focused on cosmetic myths out there in the industry and how we are so easily convinced to buy products that aren’t very effective and essentially waste our money. Here are some of those myths:

1. You don’t need an eye cream. There is no research or study that shows you need to have different ingredients to treat your eye area. The skin around your eye need the exact same treatment as your forehead or cheeks. You may use your regular face cream (containing proper ingredients) and it will care for the skin around your eye area just like the rest of your skin. That’s it!

2. Don’t buy products in a jar! Fantastic ingredients such as Retinol, detest air. As soon as these ingredients are exposed to air they deteriorate and do not last. Just imagine you spend R300 on a small jar of moisturiser and as soon as you open it loses 80% of its effectiveness. According to Paula, that’s exactly what happens!

3. Natural does not mean better and synthetic does not mean bad. Paula used this example; green tea is good right? But if you just drank green tea your whole life, you would simply die because your body needs other sources of nutrients not found in “the good stuff”. Your skin is exactly the same. Natural ingredients are also somewhat difficult to keep stable in skincare products. This is where the labs usually get involved to extract only the necessary components your skin needs. They may add a few catalyst ingredients to maintain stability. The more stable the better. So the elements in your moisturiser may not be 100% natural but it has been formulated to provide the best for your skin.

4. Aging is not really aging. It’s sun damage! This definitely struck home for me as I have been more aware of fine lines and the beginning effects of aging since the beginning of the year. Paula explained that sun damage is the root of most aging issues. There is no study that shows otherwise. The best way to fight the horrid wrinkles and sagging skin is to apply a high SPF sunscreen every day. Paula could stress the fact enough that you need two core ingredients in a sunscreen. Zinc Oxide and Titanium Oxide.

5. Scrubs are actually horrible for your skin. Would you use one of your home sugar scrubs on a new born baby? No! (Well I hope you wouldn’t) This is how you should see your skin, a delicate surface that needs to be cared for every second of the day. Most scrubs are far too harsh on your skin. They rip and tear at your skin, breaking collagen and causing horrible irritation even though you may not feel the pain. Paula suggests using less destructive methods to exfoliate your skin like a washcloth with an ordinary body wash and maybe only doing deep exfoliation once every 2 months or so.

All of this information was fantastic to hear but even better news, all the above and more are in her latest book called don’t go to the cosmetics counter without me. I feel that this book will help many woman with skin concerns and even though I haven’t read the book yet, I know it will be like having her in your head, giving useful advise.

Paula has a fantastic skincare range called Paula's choice which is only available on the SA online store right now. Go check it out. I was given one of the fab products to test out so look out for my review soon!

Mint Mani for Talia Joy

If you don't know who Talia is then hop onto Google and get informed. I'll give you a quick summary. She was a very strong and inspiring 13 year old who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma 6 years ago which is a type of cancer. She unfortunately lost her long battle and passed away last week. Even though she was only 13, shes left a huge legacy behind her and many people are inspired by her story.

She became famous in the beauty industry by posting awesome makeup tutorials and inspiring videos on youtube. She gained many followers who became her reason to fight with all she had and make-up was her wig.

Anyway, this post is to share my mint mani for Talia Joy which is the hashtag going around in her honor ( #mintmanisfortaliajoy). This is my design;

As seen on Instagram

I am really sad that such a beautiful soul is gone and I hope she is resting in peace. I hope her mom is doing well after losing her little girl! So sad!

"Old" fashioned shopping

I wanted to share a little snippet of my thoughts with all of my supportive readers. It dawned on me that if you have been reading my posts for the past year, you must like what I say about and how I say it. (Warning, this post contains useless rant)

This online shopping fiasco ticks me off a little bit. For people like me, who aren’t 100% confident in the system, especially in SA, and don’t feel like giving some else the chance to mess their order up, I prefer shopping at the actual store where you can feel, sniff, lick, cuddle and test the actual product/s.

Since online stores have firmly been put in place, I am finding most often than I’d like, that there is scarcely anything on the shelves these days. After browsing through categories, finding what I like, driving to the store with cold hard cash to purchase it, I get unbearably irritated when it’s not there and the assistants say “but you get it online”. Do you honestly think that after going to all that effort, I’ll leave the store a happier person because I now have to wait 3 days for the bloody thing to be sent to me!? No…just no!

There is a point to all of this.

I was window shopping at The Grove Mall in Pretoria and popped into the Edgars store. I knew exactly what I wanted. Gosh’s Matte top coat. I saw it on Edgars’ new online store but didn’t feel like paying shipping fees for one small bottle of polish (this is also how online stores catch you out). I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the polish in the cosmetics section. I grabbed it and walked quite briskly to the payment counter, clenching the bottle tightly in my hands (I was picturing one of those black Friday scenes when there’s only 3 products but 20 ladies want it. Dramatic I know). I paid and left. It was such a quick and painless experience.

This made my day and restored my faith in stores in general. High five to Edgars! I really hope they continue to stock products in Malls etc. and don’t rely on online sales too much. I can picture sharing stories with my great grandchildren about the times we used to use actual money and shop at actual stores. Savor the days of old fashioned shopping, they seem to becoming scarce.

Live Healthy: Update #8

I have been feeling rather motivated these past two weeks. It must be because my birthday and spring is near. 

Gym-ming throughout winter has given me some extra confidence. I’d love to be wearing a bikini this December. Although the exercising has toned some muscle and provided me with a good base to continue, I feel the “flab” and extra fatty tissue is covering everything and hiding all my hard work. I am planning to focus on what I am currently eating and make sure I only give my body what it needs. No more winter comfort foods and unnecessary sugars (that is my weakness).

I have also been concentrating on keeping my muscles engaged when doing exercises. This means keeping them tight at all times, getting the most out of each movement. If you try this, you will feel your muscles burn a lot sooner in your rep count than if you were just going with the flow like usual.

I have also been focussing on keeping my posture accurate to prevent injuries. Ballet dancers make me so envious but I admire the strong posture they carry. I can only try get to 10% of their grace and poise.

Drinking an adequate amount of water is still an issue for me at the moment. I prefer my cup of coffee (with two sugars, eek!) although lately, with all the gym visits, my body has been nagging for more liquids. I have obediently complied with its demands.

There are only 5 months left of this year and I am feeling a bit panicky. I honestly thought I would be further in my Live Healthy quest but as they say, there’s no time like the present, so I am not afraid to play a little game of catch up and work my butt off.

Here’s some inspiration that has kept me going.

Follow my Workout pinspiration board here

Are you excited that Spring is just a month and a half away?

My life on Instagram

Here are some recent snaps from my life on Instagram.

Follow me on Instagram by clicking here.

Water marble magic!

I thought I would share my "Manicure Monday" nail art design using the water marbling technique (as seen on Instagram and Facebook).

I found that using two very different colours, gives a very original design. I have used an opaque/milky blue (Tip Top's 'Cha cha cha') and a deep maroon/grape (Tip Top's 'funfair madness'). This gave a distinct line between the colours and the effect was magical. I really love how it turned out!

If you are new to the water marbling idea, visit my tutorial on how I do my designs.

As always, it is important to start off with a base coat and seal with a top coat. I have used Mavala's range of base and top coats (to be reviewed soon).

Tweet me your designs!