Green tea

Summer is just around the corner so now is the perfect time to start experimenting with drinks. One of my favourite drinks is green tea because of all the health benefits that you get from it, so using the ... green tea I decided to try create a cool refreshing version of green tea for the summer... 

Things you'll need:

Boiling water

2 teaspoons of matcha green tea

A Handful of mint

2 table spoons of honey 

A few ice cubes 

A slice of lemon 

It's the simplest refreshing drink that I've had so far, all you do it add the green tea to your boiling water to make your green tea how you normally would. 

Then mix in your honey just to sweeten it up a little before adding your ice cubes wait until your tea cools a little (otherwise the ice is just going to melt) the add a slice of lemon.. and bish bash bosh jobs a good one and you have a nice cool refreshing drink that it packed with so many health benefits because its jam packed with antioxidants and nutrients that are so good for your body and your mind... 

This drink also went down a storm with my friends at our little BBQ..... it also tastes good with Vodka but that's only relevant if you 18+ or 21+ depending on where you're from but why not.. (If you do mix it up a little with alcohol please be careful) 

What Even Is This Weather?

Anyone who is currently in the UK or has been in the UK over the past couple of weeks will fully understand what I mean when I ask the question of what even is this weather supposed to be? are we in Spring or Summer or Winter? I mean one minute is freezing cold and there's hailstone.. but then the next the sun is shining and its absolutely beautiful. 

The massive problem I have with the weather is that I don't know how to dress for it. When I'm at Uni I tend to leave the house really early in the morning, which if you follow my Instagram account (Hayley1315_blogger) then you will already know; when I leave it tends to be on the chiller side of the day but then towards the afternoon it gets really warm so I have to plan for both extremes.








Today's outfit consists of a couple of basics out of my wardrobe, so let't start from the top shall we as that is actually the best part....

I have a cream beanie hat from BKLYN ! I simply love this hat because it's a very simple design and it helps to keep my ears warm in the cold mornings, I especially love the giant bobble on top because it's so soft and fluffy. I shall leave the links for BKLYN here in case you want to check out any of there stuff, you can find them on 
https://www.instagram.com/bklynconcepts/
https://www.facebook.com/bklynconcepts/
https://twitter.com/bklynconcepts and of course their website: http://www.bklyn.co.uk/women/fur-bobble-hats 



Next is a Jumper that I bought from Primark, I love this design on this because it's very simple without looking too plain. Also it's a really thin jumper which makes it good for this time of year because it keeps me warm but doesn't make me too hot, I can also get away with wearing a top underneath in case it gets too hot and I want to take it off. 

The jeans are one of my favourite pair of blue jeans, I have many pairs of blue jeans but these are my favourites because of the fit, and you can never go wrong with a pair of blue jeans they go with everything. This particular pair I picked up from New Look for quite a cheap price, I believe they were on sale when I got them which is always great.

If you do follow my Instagram that I've linked above you'll have seen these shoes a couple of times before, these are my low rise pumps that I bought from Primark a while back. The design of them is some what if a Scottish checked pattern, I wore them with this because the colour of them stood out with against the darker clothes. 

OSHUN White

For the past 2 weeks I've been using OSHUN White which is an all-natural teeth whitener, I was really excited to try this as teeth are really important to me and I love the idea of having white teeth, but as I have really sensitive teeth I don't really get on with a lot of the whitening products that are out there because they usually have a lot of chemicals in them. What makes this an all-natural product is that rather then it being a cocktail of different chemicals that can be really harsh and damaging, it is coconut oil which is a more natural approach to cleaning and coconut oil can be used for nearly everything else so why not for whitening teeth!



The packaging of the product is really good, as when you order in a box you get what is a 2 weeks supply of them, they come in little packets which contains enough oil for each use.  It is suggested on the little leaflet that comes in the box it works best if you use it once a day, and swirl the content around your mouth for 5- 15 minutes, before you do that it's best to warm the packet up in your hand first because it is coconut oil and when it's cool it sort of sets in a gel that feels really weird in your mouth. 

To make it even better you also get a copper tongue scrapper which makes your mouth feel even fresher as your tongue holds most of the bacteria in your mouth which causes things like bad breath. The fact that it's made of copper makes it all the better as copper is an antibacterial metal so it makes it more hygienic then others. 






Having used it for the full 2 weeks now I have to say I am really impressed with it,  it has really helped to whiten my teeth and it hasn't caused any damage or anything like that ( I had my regular check up at the dentist and he said my teeth are really good) which is what I was a little worried about when I first started using it, the use of the oil combine with the use of the tongue scrapper and my normal routine for cleaning my teeth has made my mouth feel a thousand times fresher, and to me they just look so much better and healthier then what they did before.  If you would like to check some of there products that they have to offer, then you can use this like here OSHUN white shop  which will take you straight to there shop, happy shopping. 

 

P.s. by using the link I have posted in this blog I will get a tiny amount from any sales you make, which all goes towards maintaining and create the blog/videos that I do, this has in no way effected my opinion of the product, everything I have said have been my honest thoughts and opinion. 

Esprit

With summer just around the corner (well technically started but the Yorkshire weather didn't quite get that message) it means it's time to pull out the summer clothes and all the nice bright colours. I started looking through my wardrobe to realise that I have very minimal summer things, which is not good especially when I am hoping to go on holiday. 

Not having clothes is a good reason to go shopping! as I haven't really had time to physically go shopping, and probably won't until next week, I decided to do some online browsing to see what there is to get some inspiration,
So I started browsing and did my typical thing of looking what places like New Look, and River Island had in, then I stumbled upon a hidden gem of Esprit which was one of the things that came up on my search for new places to shop. I had a look at the online shop and from a glance it seemed like it had a lot of different stuff in that suited my style. I started glancing through and found that they had nearly everything in that I was looking for and more.  

So let's break it down, Esprit sell everything you could need fashion wise. They have clothing for men, women and children, they have a variety of clothes that would work for all occasions, especially there summer wear. They have everything you would need for almost every occasion, such as going away they have the swimwear, the accessories, the bags and the shoes, what more could you possibly need! The fit and size of things that they offer is really good, as normally if you're not built in a certain way then buying clothes and things can be rather difficult.

This extends to their shoe range, they have a wide variety of shoes in a number different size they even do half size which is rare with a lot of companies, which suits me really well because I always find that a size 6 sort of fits but then a 7 can be too big at times, so half sizes benefit me really well. 

 Accessories are a girl's best friend... which is what makes Esprit a little better because they have such a wide variety of different cute accessories that you can use to change up a number of different looks.

Another cool thing about them is that as they are an online shop it means you have pay for delivery, which from most shops can be rather expensive, but they literally charge 99p to deliver to you anywhere in the world, which to me makes the idea of shopping their just a little bit sweeter...



Just in case you want to check them out for yourself or do a little online browsing I shall leave the link to their website here for you: http://www.esprit.co.uk, 

Chicken Tikka

Ingredients 

•  2 tablespoons sunflower oil
•  1 onion, finely chopped
•  2 cloves garlic, minced
•  4cm piece root ginger, finely copped
•  1 to 2 red chilli peppers, 
•  1 1/2 tablespoons tikka medium curry paste
•  900g chicken 
•  400ml vegetable stock
•  200g chopped tomatoes
•  300g plain yoghurt
• A bunch of coriander (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the slow cooker by setting to Low.

2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Stir for 3 to 4 minutes until soft then add the chopped ginger and red chilli, stirring constantly. 

3. Add the curry paste to the frying pan and stir well to mix. 

4. Add the chicken (raw) and coat thoroughly, continue to cook for 5 to 8 minutes until the chicken is still a bit pink in the middle. 

5. Add half of the stock and the chopped tomatoes and bring to a gentle simmer. Turn out the frying pan contents into the slow cooker then add the remainder of the stock, and add half the yoghurt. 

6. Cover and cook on low setting for 7 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

7. When ready to serve, stir in the remainder of the yoghurt.
8. Add a little of the coriander on top to garnish (optional)

If you want to heat it up a little more add some chilli powder. 

If the curry looks a little thin add in a couple of tea spoons of corn starch until it thickens to how you want it.

Early Mornings, I'm Still Yawning...

Early mornings aren't really all that fun, unless you have something awesome planned, even then being up early can be a drag sometimes. Also with my sleep pattern by the time I have to get up I've usually only been asleep a few hours so in the mornings I usually feel completely exhausted. On a typical day I'm usually up and out of the house by 6:30am which to me is rather early and I'm usually never fully awake. 

If like me you struggle with the mornings, here are some of the things that I've been trying lately that help...



1. Caffeine- This is one of those things that can help and does help give a little boost in the morning. I personally get caffeine in two ways, either coffee or tea, at the minute I'm really loving the Tetley Tea Green Tea Boost in the flavour berry burst. Although if you're not one for tea or coffee caffeine is in a lot of different drinks that you can try.






2. Breakfast- This is a biggie, it's a simple one that most people (myself included) forget to have, especially with early mornings as I'm usually out of the house by 6:30am at the latest on most days I don't really feel like eating at that time. To combat this I usually prepare something the night before that I can take with me and eat on my travels, my thing at the minute is just granola and yoghurt with some fruit in it.




3. Stretch- After you've been cramped up for the last however many hours you've been asleep your muscles have tightened up so just a good old fashioned stretch will help your body feel a little more awake, and comfortable when you're moving.




4. Don't Snooze- It's the hardest one yet, don't hit snooze on your alarm, rather than setting the alarm on my phone I use the sleep cycle app which you can set for a 30 minute window and it wakes you up when you are in your lightest state of sleep, so you feel more awake when you get up. 





Early mornings are still somewhat of a nightmare but an unavoidable one that sometimes you just have to deal with, but if you have any tips on how to make them that little bit easier please feel free to share down in the comments section below. 

April Favourites

Pinch punch it's the first of the month... Again... Time is really flying by now. So I'm going to cut the rambling and get straight in to my April favourites... 

Coffee- this has to be one of my biggest April favourites as bathers have been quite a lot of early mornings and I do need caffeine just to kick start them off. The coffee that I've been using at the moment is Nescafe Classico and I love it, I also find that it's a good one if you don't like strong coffee. 

Coffee travel mug- I bought this one from Primark out of there homeware section and I just really like it. It's a purple/pink glitter and the design of the cup makes it easy enough to carry do I can just put it in my bag when I've finished and it won't take up too much room 

Bourjois Paris Air Mat foundation- this has to be part of my April favourites because it's becoming one of my spring makeup favourites, I used it in one of my spring looks that I will leave the link to at the bottom. One of the reasons I've been loving this particular foundation is that when you put it on its super lightweight but you still try the coverage of a heavy foundation. Also I really like the colouring of it, as I have it in the shade... most foundations in that shade still tend to be off colour on my skin as my skin tone is really pale. 

Revlon ultra HD matte lip colour - These have to be the gem find for April as I absolutely love them, I bought these as I was going on a night out, which I did a blog post on so kill leave the link at the bottom in case you want to know more. I was amazed at how good these were and the staying power they have, I literally wore it all night and didn't feel the need to top it up because it just stayed. 

L'Orél Paris Magic Retouch- this is a favourite that I didn't personally use, my mum used this as she has black hair and hates when greys start coming through, as she mainly only gets them at her roots we decided to give it a go for a very quick touch up as she didn't have time to dye here hair as she was going somewhere. So overall it's a really good temporary fix, because it's temporary it's not as bad if you get it on your skin it comes off easily which for me is good. 

L'Oréal Paris true match concealer- if you have read any of my other makeup posts you'll have probably seen me go on and on about concealer as is my must have makeup essential because I just have horrendous dark eyes. This concealer is one of my favourites as the coverage you get is amazing, I have it in the shade ivory beige which is the lightest shade they have, so it really helps give my eyes more of an awake look. 

Floral dress- if you follow my Instagram you may have seen this dress if you don't I'll leave the link I case you want to. I just thought the design of the dress was good for spring, the material is nice and think which means it doesn't crease. Also the fit in the dress is amazing and it's so comfortable to wear, I wore it on a night out in Newcastle which I have done a post on that I will link at the bottom.

This month's favourites were a bit of a mix which hopefully you like, or do you prefer just beauty favourites? Let me know what you think and if you've tried any of these products how did you find them? 



Links
Spring Look-http://hayley1315.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/spring-look.html
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/hayley1315_blogger/
Newcastle- http://hayley1315.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/a-night-on-town.html