Maybelline Lash Sensational VS Maybelline Great Lash

Hello Everyone!
Today's post is going to be a little bit different. We are going to have our very own Maybelline mascara battle! I also have an exciting proposition for you that I will reveal at the end of the post! So, may the odds be ever in your favour!

Maybelline Lash Sensational 

 Now I bought this mascara last summer for my holidays as I needed a waterproof one and I had seen quite a few youtubers use it. It has a plastic and curved applicator so it can really get to all of your lashes however small they may be. I really like how much this curls my eyelashes but also the length it gives them! My only downside to this mascara is that it makes my eyelashes look quite clumpy and also makes them stick together. This does however have very god staying power, but, this may just be because it is waterproof. I prefer my lashes to look quite natural and spaced out, but I find that when I wear this, my lashes just tend to stick together :( 

Maybelline Great Lash

Now I must admit that I haven't owned this mascara for too long, but so far I have loved it! The applicator is really small rather than being clumpy like the Lash Sensational one and really spaces out your lashes. I find that the effect given is very natural and perfect for an everyday make-up look. I wouldn't say that this is a volumizing mascara as it doesn't really thicken your lashes, but I would definitely say that this is an amazing lengthening mascara! This I find doesn't have the staying power of the Lash Sensational Mascara but that may just be because it isn't waterproof?

Overall, I do love both the mascaras, but my overall favourite is the GREAT LASH mascara as I love the natural and lengthening effect it gives my lashes!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post. Now, EXCITING NEWS! We would like one of you to do a guest post for our blog! It will be going up on Sunday, and for your post to have the chance to go up, all you need to do is:

• Be a subscriber
• Send us an e-mail with the post katandelle15@gmail.com
• Comment down below once you have sent the e-mail 

 We will allow up to 2 post to go up on Sunday so we hope you send us your wonderful posts!

See you soon,
Elle xxx

What I Eat in a Day

Hello Everyone!

It's Kat here. First things first, I would like to let you all know that we have now started an Instagram account. Our account is called Kat&Elle and we will try and post frequently about our day to day lifestyle and events. Hopefully this will help you to see a little bit more of our lives and keep you updated on out Blog Posts!

Today's post will be a what I eat in a day post. I don't eat the same meals every day, but it will give you an idea of the kind of things I eat as main meals. I do not have a lot of dairy as I don't really like it, so mainly my diet is made up of fruit and vegetables with meat for dinner most of the time. I thought that it would be a good idea to do this post now, because it is the start of the year, our diets are changing after a Christmas of cookies, gingerbread and hot chocolates, and I am trying maintain a more healthy lifestyle. Hopefully this post will give you some ideas on what to have for your main meals.

Breakfast

If you have been reading this Blog for a while, you will know how much I hate eating breakfast! But I know how important it is for you, so I have been eating breakfast every day this year. Normally I will have porridge with fruit and berries, or a smoothie. Something else that I have been loving so much is my homemade coconut granola, but I am planning on doing a post on it soon so I wont go into too much detail on it!

Lunch

My typical, everyday lunch would be either soup, vegetables and quinoa, or salad. Something that I have had a lot recently is scrambled egg with salad. This scrambled egg is so delicious and is super quick to make. First fill the base of a pan with water and a handful or two of curly kale. Turn the heat up until it is boiling and then leave it to simmer for 5-10 minutes until most of the water has evaporated. Then drain the excess water. Adding butter to the kale at this point will make it taste amazing and buttery but I skipped this step because I wanted a more healthy lunch. Then whisk 4 eggs in a bowl with a splash of milk, and a small amount of salt and pepper. I added dried basil, parsley, oregano and coriander to my egg. Put 1 tbsp of olive oil into the pan with the kale, then add the egg and continue to stir and "scramble" the egg until it is cooked. I like my egg to be brown and crispy in some parts.
I then eat the egg with lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes and it tastes amazing! This recipe provides enough egg for 2-3 people.

Snacks

I have tons of ideas for healthy snacks, and will do a post on some of my ideas soon. In this photo there are rice cakes with almond butter and peanut butter and natural yoghurt topped with fruit. I don't snack a lot in a normal day, but if I do I will try to go for something healthy.

Dinner

I cook a lot at home, and I love doing it. One of my favourite things to cook (and to eat) are sweet potato wedges. Sweet potato is so good for you and tastes amazing. I like to chop 4 of them up into circles or wedges. (I know 4 sounds like a lot but they shrink when you cook then) I then mix 1/2 tsp garlic salt, 1/2 tsp cajun, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp garamasala and some ordinary salt. I like to coat the chips in olive oil and then sprinkle the spices on top. A fun and easy way to coat the chips in the spices is to put the chips in a large bowl, put a plate on top to act as a lid and shake it! It really does work better than sprinkling. 

I then spread the chips out on an oven proof tray lined with grease proof paper. I put these in the oven at 190 degrees (gas mark 5) and leave them until they are soft and crispy. You can turn them if you want, but I find that it doesn't make a huge amount of difference with sweet potato. I then put these in a bowl with kitchen roll at the bottom to absorb the excess oil.

I usually have this with salad or steamed vegetables and some form of protein. In this picture we'd had guests round the day before and had a roast chicken, so we used the leftovers and I always call dibs on the wing!

I hope you enjoyed reading this. I really recommend that you try the sweet potato chips and the scrambled egg, if you don't then you are seriously missing out!

See you next time,

Kat xxx

Beauty Blogger Tag

Hello Everyone! 

It's both Kat and Elle here today! You may wonder why we are writing a joint post, but we are doing the Beaty Blogger Award tag. We were nominated to do this tag by Ruby's Cadence. We hope you enjoy this tag and feel free to try it out!

The rules for this tag are:

1) Tag the Blogger who nominated you

2) Answer the questions you were given

3) Nominate 10 bloggers whose blog is about Beauty/fashion/lifestyle

4) Come up with 10 questions for your nominees

5) Inform the Bloggers you chose that you nominated them

Let's begin by answering the questions we were given by Ruby:

Peach|Kat

Purple|Elle

What is you favourite social media?

Instagram

Snapchat

Do you remove your makeup when you get home or before you go to bed?

It depends on what mood I'm in / who's home

Before I go to bed

If someone took away all your makeup items, which ones would you immediately replace?

Concealer, eyebrow pencil, eyelash curler
Tinted moisturiser, mascara, lip balm

What is a staple item in your wardrobe?

Blouses
Topshop Joni Jeans

What is your favourite smell?

Fresh, summery and fruity (Zoella Let's Spritz)
Issey Miyake L'Eau D'Issey

Worst beauty fail ever?

My first ever attempt of filling in my eyebrows!
The first time I tried a smoky eye!

Do you like to read magazines?

It depends on the magazine, but most of the time, yes!
Yes!

Why did you start blogging?

To gain confidence and start a new hobby
To be able to express my thoughts online

Favourite pair of shoes?

Either my Chelsea Boots or my Ugg Boots!
My Nike Free Runs (So comfy!)

What hair, makeup and clothes are you wearing right now?

Comfy pyjamas and my dressing gown. Also currently wearing a facemask!
My Joni jeans and my baggiest Next jumper! Also wearing a facemask!

The people we are nominating are:

1. Bella
2. Bonjour May
3. Erica Aube
4. Julia Walker
5. Anke N
6. Michaela Keen
7. Nicole Marie
8. May Fisher
9. Adalias C
10. Claire McPartland 

Our questions for you are:

1. Favourite drugstore beauty brand?
2. Favourite high end beauty brand?
3. If you could buy any clothes store, which one would you buy?
4. Clothes shopping or makeup shopping?
5. If you could only wear one makeup item for the rest of your life, what would it be?
6. Lush or Bath and Body works?
7. Reading blogs or watching YouTube?
8. Netflix or YouTube?
9. What is your favourite type of hat?
10. Harry Potter or the Hunger Games?

If you feel uncomfortable, or are unable to answer any of the questions, just put N/A. 

We you enjoy answering these questions, and we hope that you have enjoyed reading ours! 

See you soon,
Kat&Elle xxx

Surviving Winter Mornings

Hello Everyone,
It's Elle here. Now as we all know, Winter mornings always make us feel cold, groggy and tired. I much prefer Summer mornings but when it is so horrible outside, it is always best to try and make yourself feel better! I would just like to make a quick disclaimer and say that we currently do not have a follow button! We are trying to work out how to make it appear on the page, but we will keep updating you until we have one!

Now my mornings usually look all rainy like the picture above or if it is not raining, it is grey and cold so I want to wake myself up straight away. How I do this some days is going out for a quick run in the mornings around where I live, just to wake me up and let my skin feel the fresh air. It is usually quite early when I go out for a run so I don't do anything besides getting into my running clothes and tying my hair up. I just find that it helps to open my pores but to also make me feel more awake than I usually do. My run last about half an hour depending on how hungry I am, but I make sure that I have at least worked up a bit of a sweat. Then if I am really tired I will walk home slowing sipping my water wondering why I even run!

So after that I head into the shower and use the ZOELLA FOAM SWEET FOAM SHOWER GEL. The scent of this was my Summer scent, but I love using it to wake me up as it smells so fresh! If it is a day where I wash my hair, I tend to use the TRESEMME NATURALS SHAMPOO and CONDITIONER. This leaves my hair feeling really soft and clean as wel
l as smelling amazing!

Once I am out of the shower and dressed, I will wash my face but if you would like to know my morning skin care routine, I will link it here as I did a whole other post on it! I then have breakfast which is usually porridge with golden syrup. So many people complain about porridge and say that it is disgusting but I really have to disagree! Porridge gives you slow release energy that will leave you full until lunchtime as well as give you lots of energy for the rest of the day. I also add golden syrup to it because... Why not?

After I have finished my breakfast, I go upstairs to the bathroom to clean my teeth. I'm sure you don't need an in depth explanation of this but the toothpaste I use is the Oral-B 3D white

I then do my make up but again, I have a post about that coming next week for all you lovely people! Once my make up is all done, I am ready to start the day!

I hope you enjoyed this post and I will see you with a new post soon!

See you soon,
Elle xxx

Some of my New Year's Resolutions | Kat

Hello Everyone!

It's Kat Here. Elle already did a post on her 2016 New Year's Resolutions. Some of our resolutions are quite similar, but I thought I would share a few of mine with you guys. You may not have made any Resolutions this year, but don't think that just because it's already 2 weeks in to the year that you can't set any now. You still have 52 weeks, that's loads of time! So if you are stuck on how to push yourself and set achievable goals for the end of the year, this post should hopefully help to motivate you and give you a few ideas on how you can improve your lifestyle for 2016!

1) Be more confident in myself

I have always been an extremely shy and very insecure person. I have found it extremely hard to talk to people and step outside my comfort zone. I always felt as though I stood out for all the wrong reasons and became paranoid about what people thought of me. As I have got older, I have tried so hard to blend in with the crowd. I tried to hang out with all the cool people in school and put on this huge confident front like all the other cool people had, which really wasn't me. I went from being the super quiet geek girl to the overly confident, laid back girl. I became really upset because it was becoming increasingly hard to be myself and I was fed up of people not really knowing who I was because I never revealed my true personality.

This is why one of my goals for 2016 was to become more confident in myself. This includes being comfortable in my own skin and accepting who I am, sticking up for myself, and most importantly: stop caring what other people think! I'm not going to pretend not to care about mean comments any more - I'm really not going to care! This will be a challenge for me, but I am determined, and confident that I will be able to achieve it! x

2) Try to be more positive!

My next New Year's Resolution is to try and be more positive. This includes having a more positive outlook on life and looking on the bright side of things, pushing myself to do things that I wouldn't normally do, and stress less! I'm a huge stresser - (is that even a word?!). I stress about work, what I wear, and things being perfect, but this year I need to sit back, take a deep breath and think 'things aren't really that bad!'. Similar to the first resolution, I just need to care less about what people think and just relax more!

3) Drink 1 1/2L water a day

Drinking water is so important and has so many benefits. Elle mentioned all of the reasons why you should drink lots of water in her New Year's resolutions Post. Some of the benefits include:

1. It fights infections

2. It boots your energy and your concentration

3. It's good for your skin- reducing wrinkles, spots, and under-eye circles

4. Reduces water weight and bloating

5. Makes you appear more awake and fresh inside and out!

4) Have breakfast every morning

  

I myself am extremely guilty of going out the door without breakfast. This is either because I am running late, or generally because I hate eating in the morning and it makes me feel sick. In fact I used to go months with no breakfast and just eating more for lunch and dinner. This is so, so bad for you. Breakfast is so important and as you probably already know, is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast provides you with energy and nutrients to improve your concentration and maintain a healthy body weight. The act of chewing food alone in the morning send signals to your brain that starts your digestive system moving. Without this you can become bloated. I have eaten breakfast almost everyday so far this year, and I intend to be eating a healthy breakfast every day by the end of the year!

5) NO CHOCOLATE!

This year I decided to give up on chocolate. This may sound like a super scary thing to do, but believe me, it isn't as hard as you think! I am (or was) a huge chocaholic, and was almost addicted. Practically 80% of my sugar intake (unnatural sugars) was just from chocolate, and I feel like I need to cut that out of my diet. I remember when I was little, my Mum told me that she gave up chocolate for her new years resolution, and didn't eat it for 4 years! At the time I would never have thought of doing it myself, but I feel like I am ready to be strict with myself. This is going to be by far, my hardest new years resolution, and I am determined to prove to myself, and the people around me that I can do it.

Chocolate is bad for you for lots of reasons. The obvious reason is the amount of sugar, and also caffeine in chocolate. It is also very high in oxalate content, this can cause kidney stones. Something I also read from several places is that 50% of all chocolate is farmed by slaves, some of them being children. If you do eat chocolate, make sure to by fair-trade chocolate only, because it's really sad and also shocking to think about just how much chocolate is eaten in the world, and 50% of that being farmed by slaves is still a huge amount.

Although all this may put you off eating chocolate, chocolate can also lower your blood pressure, it is good for your bones, and it can boost levels of cancer protection. This is why I have decided that every 2 weeks or so, I will still treat myself to fair-trade, raw cacao powder because this is the healthiest form of chocolate and is even healthier than raw cocoa powder, plus it is fair-trade.

6) Do at least 15 minutes of exercise every day

Exercise can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer by up to 50% and lower your risk of early death by up to 30%. It also helps you to keep fit and slim, and reduce bloating. Exercise can also improve your memory, your posture, boost your confidence, de-stress you, help you sleep, give you more energy, decrease your chances of getting sick, make you live longer... and if those weren't enough reasons, exercise also makes you feel happy by releasing endorphins! 

Thank you so much for reading! I know this was a long post but I thing that setting goals for yourself is really important and I was so excited to share mine with you, and I really hope that they have helped you or given you a few ideas! Please let me know what some of your New Year's Resolutions are in the comments x

See you next time,

Kat xxx

Some of my New Year's Resolutions | Elle

Hello Everyone,
Elle here. Today I would just like to share some of my 2016 resolutions and would love to see some of yours in the comments too!

My first resolution is to drink at least 1 1/2 litres of water a day!
 

Water can benefit your body so much, not just making a big difference on the outside, but on the inside too:

• It can help you to lose weight
• Fights infections
• Helps you get rid of body toxins 
• Helps to keep our heart healthy
• Boosts your energy
• Helps to prevent arthritis and joint pain
• Prevents constipation
• Reduces risk of cancer
• Improves Productivity

 All those things can be improved by drinking water, but that is all for the inside of your body. Here is improvements that you can see happening:

• Reduces wrinkles
• Reduces age spots
• Reduces darkness of dark under eye circles.
• Makes you less bloated
• Reduces your chances of having a breakout.
• Reduces acne
• Reduces water weight
• Makes you look more awake and fresh. 

All these benefits add up to help you look and feel a lot better and fresher. I usually don't drink a lot of water during the day so this will be a challenge for me, but the more you drink, the better you will feel.

My second resolution is to have fruit with my breakfast everyday!

 Now the government has come out with a new policy saying that instead of having five portions of fruit and veg a day, we should be having seven! Now I barely even have one portion a day so this is a very important resolution to get me eating a lot healthier. The benefits of fruit include:

• Between the hours of seven and eleven in the morning the body is doing to heaviest detoxification, so eating fruit (especially during this time) ensures healing energy is used for detoxification rather than wasting it on digesting unhealthy fatty food.
• Fruit for breakfast is the perfect way to "break the overnight fast" as it gently wakes the digestive system and metabolism up from a semi-slumber, all without the harsh adrenal of coffee or a fatty meal.
• If you have fruit for breakfast, you will not need coffee to keep your mind awake as the natural sugars in fruit give your brain quick burst of energy.
• People who eat fruit with their breakfast have been show to be leaner, healthier and more productive.

My last resolution is to do a half an hour conditioning circuit everyday!

 I am a gymnast and it is very important for a gymnast to be strong in order to get new moves. I am very much a flexible gymnast so building my strength is very important, especially my leg and core strength.
A quick tip is to do a workout routine to a playlist or follow an online video depending on which part of your body you want to work on.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

See you soon,
Elle xxx

Updated Winter Morning Skincare Routine

Hello Everyone,
Elle here. I know what you are thinking, WHERE ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN? Well let me start by explaining. When Kat and I started blogging, we thought we should go straight into BLOGMAS. Bad idea. We are still new to the whole blogging idea and launching straight into 24 consecutive days of Christmassy blog posts was not a good idea seeing as you are posting something for the whole world to see and are not sure what to do or whether or not people will like what they read. We were feeling very overwhelmed posting something everyday, especially as we were worried about the content. One of the main rules of blogging all over the Internet is don't post because you feel that you have to, only post when you have good content. We would like to give you good content rather than endless rubbish! 
So now that that is over, lets get into the post!

Morning Skincare 

1.) Cleanser

In the mornings, I like my skin to feel really fresh and awake rather than tight and tired so I like to switch between the Yes to Tomatoes Combination Skin Clarifying Cleanser and the Origins Cheeks and Balance Frothy Face Wash. The Yes to Tomatoes cleanser gives my face no scent but gives it quite a shiny appearance after use which I don't really get with the Origins cleanser. I know that you get shiny looks with all cleansers but I find that this makes my skin look and feel really oily whereas the Origins one gives my skin a natural shine whilst still making my skin feel really fresh rather than tight. I do tend to not use these at night as when I want to remove my eye make-up, even if it is just some mascara, both of these cleansers really irritate my eyes and make them sting a lot.

2.) Toner

 After I have cleansed my face, I always like to use a toner just to purify my skin and get rid of any traces of dirt from in the night that my cleanser didn't remove. I use the Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic morning and night as it has become a staple skincare item for me. To use it, I just put it on a cotton pad and sweep it all over my face and neck for a really refreshed feeling sinking into my pores. I do find that this can be a really important step because throughout the day, your pores are going to get filled with dirt and grime during the day, so making sure that they are cleansed helps to prevent them being blocked. 

3.)Daytime Treatment

 Now I must confess that this has been in the back of my bathroom cabinet for a while and I have only just started using it recently. I haven't noticed a massive difference in my skin, especially seeing as I have been breaking out a lot recently but I guess the more I use it the more it will help. This product is the Clear Start Breakout Clearing Daytime Treatment. I cannot really review this item because I have only started using it, but I use this item all over my face just like a moisturiser but I use a lot less as if I was using a serum.

4.) Moisturiser

 My morning moisturiser is the Simple Kind to Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser.
I really like this moisturiser as it is very hydrating especially when your skin can feel a lot dryer and tighter during the Winter months. It is exceptionally cheap for the quality and after I use this it makes my skin feel really fresh and healthy :) To use this product you simply (if you pardon the pun) massage it into your face and neck to get that lovely fresh feeling. I find that in the mornings, my skin gets really tight and tired and dehydrate especially, but when I put this on, it wakes me up completely!


Thank you for reading and I will see you soon with a new post!

See you soon,
Elle xxx  

Blogmas Day 19 - Winter Morning Routine

Hello Everyone!

Kat here! Today I wanted to share with you my winter morning routine. Getting up in the winter can be a challenge, as it is dark outside, and cold and you want to stay snuggled in bed. I am the worst person in the world at getting out of bed in the morning, and I would like to share with you my tips and routine that make getting up in winter just that little bit easier.

1) Set your alarm the night before to your favourite Christmas Songs. Waking up to Christmas music really helps and motivates me to get out of bed, as oppose to the annoying, loud beeping that you are used to hearing first thing in the morning. Try to switch around the songs day to day, because hearing the same sound every morning will not only become annoying and make it twice as easy to press the snooze button, but it will also ruin a perfectly good Christmas song! Keep playing music throughout your morning routine to keep you in a happy and festive mood!

2) Have an advent calendar in sight at the other side of your room. If I wake up staring at my advent calendar, I will always feel excited and want to open it. Putting it on the other side of the room will motivate you to get out of bed so that you can go and open it. Try to make it eye-catching so that you don't miss it. You can do this by putting fairy lights or tinsel around it. 

3) Cleanse your face and brush your teeth. I like to cleanse my face first thing in the morning, before my shower, because this really helps to make me feel awake and fresh and ensures that I won't fall asleep again! Brushing my teeth also helps to ensure that I feel awake and fresh, but if you drink coffee or tea when you wake up like me, it is better to do that a bit later on.

4) Drink coffee or a hot drink. Drinking coffee, a hot chocolate or tea in the morning is a great way to start the day and also helps me to get myself down the stairs instead of being tempted to go back to bed. As it is winter, you want something more exciting than your normal coffee or tea. I suggest making a Christmas Drink the night before and just reheat it in the morning to save time. What I like to do, is make a big container of my favourite Christmas drink at the beginning of the week, store it in the fridge, and heat up 1 cup every day. If you are a tea lover like me, but still want to drink something festive, something I have been loving is T2 Ginger Spice. Although the box says that it you are supposed to have it on its own, I find that this tea tastes great with a splash of milk and a drop of honey.

5) Lay EVERYTHING out the night before! The next step is to get showered and dressed. But lay out every item of clothing you are going to wear so that you don't waste time picking out your outfit or looking for a certain item of clothing in the morning. Something that I love to do is lay out all the products I am going to use the night before. This makes it sort of exciting to get in the shower and work your way through all the lovely products that are laid out (especially if you use Christmas scented shower gels/body scrubs). I also lay out products such as moisturisers, body butters, body sprays and perfumes the night before. This makes it seem like I am making less of an effort in the morning and helps me to be more efficient when getting ready. 

6) Plan make-up and hair the night before. I like to put all the products I am using for my hair and my face into a basket the night before, so I don't have to worry about choosing a make-up and hair look on the spot, and I don't have to go looking for other products.

7) Breakfast. I personally hate eating breakfast because it makes me feel sick, but I know that I wont survive the day without it. I like to eat breakfast last so that I am more awake and have more of an appetite. For breakfast I normally have 1 of 2 things. The first thing is a orange iced berry smoothie. This is perfect for people like me who hate breakfast because is makes you feel like you aren't eating breakfast as it is a liquid. I have a nutri-bullet at home so that I can make the smoothie quickly and drink it straight from the container. To make this smoothie use 1 cup of fresh orange juice, 1 cup of frozen mixed berries and 1 teaspoon of flaxseed. This is super healthy because it contains both fruit and fibre. My second breakfast is natural yoghurt with chopped bananas/apples and honey. This is a slightly sweet but still healthy breakfast and you can eat it very quickly.

8) Clean your teeth once more, put your coat and shoes on and go!

Top Tip - My top tip for getting ready in the morning is to write a schedule. I like to print out a list of things that I need to remember to do in the morning and attach a load of sheets to a clipboard. On each sheet I write a list of my routine and put tick boxes on the end of each thing. Ticking these things off as I go really helps to ensure that I get ready on time and don't forget to do anything in the morning.

Thank you for reading! I hope you found this post helpful.

See you on the 21st

Kat xxx