Soulmate Food Juice Master Cleanse

If you've followed my blog for a while you'll know that I've always struggled with my weight. When I was 13 I used to weigh 13 stone. I got down to 9 stone through healthy diet & exercise but pregnancy put me back to square one. Since having my daughter I've managed to get down to 9 & a half stone but I no longer have access to a gym & tend to sit around eating too much chocolate & finishing Chloe's leftovers. The only exercise I get a chance to do these days is power walking with the pram & various Wii exercise games. Whilst I now fit into all my old clothes, I still look on the heavy side. God knows how many pictures I have to take for my outfit posts to avoid exposing my double chin! I don't really have much of a problem with my body anymore, not even my wobbly mummy tummy - its just my huge bloody face! I've decided its time to get serious about ditching those last 7lbs. I've tried a couple of quick fixes in the past including Capsiplex pills & Rodial's Skinny Beach sticks, neither of which did anything at all. This past week I've tried yet another quick fix in the form of Soulmate Food's Juice Master Cleanse.

I've toyed with the idea of ordering from a diet food delivery service before. I really wanted to give Diet Chef a go because its the cheapest service out there. They sent me a sample of one of their meals in the form of a microwavable pack of macaroni cheese. It was disgusting. I was willing to look past that if it meant I would lose the weight but to pay such a large amount of money for food that I wouldn't enjoy and would have to supply the vegetable portions of the meal for seemed stupid to me. Then I saw on Groupon that there was an offer for this juice cleanse which would normally set you back £200. The cleanse intends to increase metabolic performance & energy output. It will rid the body of toxins, aid digestion & it claims to help you lose up to 6lbs in five days. A quick look on the Soulmate Food website shows that the food they offer is delicious and nutritious. They even offer a fitness service to help you with exercising properly. If I had a few grand lying about I would definitely order one of their food delivery packages. It appears that lots of celebrities use their services including Cheryl Cole.



I went for it and on Monday I had two huge packages delivered in the middle of the night. In these I recieved 30 bottles of freshly prepared juice. For the next five days I drank six bottles of juice and six glasses of water every day. You have to drink one of each juice each day in number order, having the first the juice when you wake up and then one every two hours. Apparently the six juices add up to an average of 1200 calories per day. These are the juices I was sent:



Juice 1 - Detox Breakfast: Carrot, Orange, Ginger & Superfoods
Juice 2 - Vitality: Pineapple, Banana & Coconut
Juice 3 - Berry Active: Antioxidant Blend, Cherries & Mixed Berries
Juice 4 - Earth: Apple, Beetroot & Blackcurrant
Juice 5 - Tropical: Orange, Mango & Passion Fruit
Juice 6 - Nutrilicious: Strawberry, Banana, Grape & Orange

All of them were delicious, the only one that tasted a little odd was the Earth one because of the strong beetroot flavour. Surprisingly I found that these filled me up very well and I never felt like snacking or cheating throughout the day. I had one macaron when my friend came over but that was it.



The only downside to having all these juices sent to me at once was how much room they took up in our tiny fridge! I suppose they think if you have the money to order one of these food delivery programmes, you'll have the money to buy a huge fridge too. I felt a little headachey on the first day and couldn't wait for the time to drink my next juice. By the second day I felt absolutely fine, really energetic & happy. After the fifth day I am very happy to say that I have lost 5lbs. I have also lost 2 inches from my waist & 1 inch from my hips. The programme was expensive but I would say that its worth it if you're looking to kickstart your weight loss in a dramatic way or need to look your best for a special event. A much cheaper way of doing this would be to buy a juicer and just make the juices yourself, which I think might be what I'll do in future. I know that most people will probably dismiss this kind of weight loss as only temporary but I think that doing this has retrained my attitude to food. Its such an obvious thing but I feel like I don't have to eat so much to become full now. Its made me realise that you can survive on small healthy portions of food and be perfectly happy. I'm sure people will also think I'm mad for doing this over Christmas but I tend not to eat much over Christmas anyway. And whilst everyone else is gaining a few pounds I've lost a few, which makes me feel even better about it haha.

Illamasqua Leeds Store Launch

A couple of weeks ago Illamasqua launched their latest standalone store in the Victoria Quarter in Leeds. Illamasqua are one my favourite makeup brands. The first time I visited their London Selfridges counter I left with the perfect red lipstick & lipliner combo and a bright magenta blusher. Then Alex Box, Illamasqua's creative director, told me she liked my newly pinkified hair & the MUA serving me told me that Courtney Love had visited the counter the day before and bought a ton of stuff. I was completely sold. I instantly felt an affinity with the brand as I've always been drawn to dramatic makeup & expressing who you are through your image. I longed for them to open a counter nearer to me. I haven't visited the one in Meadowhall yet but otherwise the trip to the Trafford Centre in Manchester was way too long for my liking. Thats why I was over the moon when I got sent an invite to preview their Leeds store.

I met up with some of my fave bloggers including Ray, Tor, Laura, Sinead, Danielle & Nicoletta and we all got to explore the new store together. The shop itself is really beautiful. It fits perfectly into the boutique stores of the Victoria Quarter. I loved the second floor with its glittery walls & black vanity tables with mirrors. If I ever get the chance to redecorate my own room, I would probably go for something similar. It was brilliant getting to have a good play with all of the products & we all had the chance to get mini-makeovers. I really wanted to recreate the blusher from this Theatre Of The Nameless look but they didn't have any of the shimmer blushers in stock yet. It still looked really nice but I don't have any pics because I collapsed in a drunken mess as soon as I got home. Thats what I get for drinking whole bottles of cider & not having anything to eat all day!





At the end of the night we were all gifted with a wonderful goodie bag. Sinead, Ray, Laura & I also went to a late night Topshop event where we got this photobooth pic of us pulling our best duckfaces. Love these girlies! In my goodie bag I received a pair of false eyelashes, a bottle of Illumine Oil in Pulse, the Bronzing Duo in Glint/Writhe & an Intense Lipgloss in Femme.




I also purchased two items - a Cream Pigment in Hollow and a Pure Pigment in Breathe. Hollow is a toffee coloured matt finish cream which is, hands down, the best contour product I have ever tried. I've tried the Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel, MAC's Harmony blusher, Sleek's Contour Kit & the Bourjois Delice De Poudre, none of which come anywhere close to how amazing this pigment is. I literally take one swipe of this on my finger and run a line underneath my cheekbones & jawbone. It blends out so easily and looks so natural, like a shadow on your face which is exactly how a contour should look. Can't recommend this enough for anyone looking for a really easy way to contour your face. Breathe is a white pearl shimmer loose pigment which I think is really wonderful for highlighting with. I dip my Sigma F35 Tapered Highlighter brush into the little hole at the top of the packaging and then blend it over the tops of my cheekbones, under my eyebrows, down my nose & on the top of my cupid's bow. If you couldn't tell, I like to use a lot of highlighter haha.



This is how I did my makeup using some of these products. Ignore the mental face, totally failed at taking any flattering pictures today!

Makeup - Bobbi Brown Light Bisque Corrector, Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation 02, Collection 2000 Fair Lasting Perfection Concealer, MAC Pearl Cream Colour Base, Illamasqua Hollow Cream Pigment, Illamasqua Thrust Blusher, Illamasqua Breathe Pure Pigment, MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural Light, MAC Brow Shader Browning/Porcelaine, MAC Clear Brow Set, Lancome Doll Eyes Mascara, L'Oreal Carbon Gloss Super Liner, Illamasqua Femme Intense Lipgloss



To top it all off Hayley, who invited me to the event, sent me this gorgeous Christmas card through the post. I can't thank her enough for everything. The whole Illamasqua team are just lovely & so are their products. They've even got a sale on their website right now where you can buy some of their best products for a ridiculously low amount of money. If you've not checked out the brand yet you really should. Everything I've tried has been amazing & I can't possibly express how much I love Illamasqua!

Mii Cosmetics

Mii Cosmetics are a fairly new makeup brand within the UK. They have a huge range of products inspired by the wants and wishes of thousands of beauty spa and salon devotees, as well as a team of beauty experts. I was offered the chance to try out a couple of their products. I chose their Moisturising Lip Lover lipstick in Whisper and Uplifting Cheek Colour blush in Kissed.

The cardboard packaging of the products has a really nice aesthetic. Its the kind of thing I would do for a makeup brand as a graphic designer. The spot gloss on the Mii logo makes it stand out and the script font is elegant yet readable. The packaging of the actual cosmetics is just as lovely. The high shine plastic feels expensive and durable.

The lipstick really does live up to its name. It contains ingredients that supposedly increase the softness & condition of your lips each time you wear it. I can't vouch for that yet but it does glide perfectly onto my lips and leaves them feeling silky smooth. I love how it makes my lips look. The colour isn't anything exceptional, its just a shimmery midtone pink but the shimmer & moisturising ingredients do help to make my lips look healthier & fuller. The lipstick is available in 12 different shades for £14.95 a piece. For the amount of product you get it works out to be around the same price as a MAC lipstick. The moisturising aspect is the definitely main selling point here as the colour range isn't brilliant.

The blusher is ridiculously pigmented. The colour payoff is certainly within the same league as the Illamasqua blushes. This also glides onto your skin so its easy to go a bit blush mad like I normally do. I found it hard to control how much I applied and had to blend it in with some powder to stop myself from looking like a clown. I suppose thats a good thing because you'll only need a tiny amount so it would last you a long time. The colour of this blush is really gorgeous, its such a lovely bright candy pink that would look good on most skintones. I feel like it really brightens up my face. The Uplifting Cheek Colour costs £16.50 for 7g of product making it cheaper than a MAC blush but pretty much the same quality.