St Moriz Body Lotion Dark | AimeeBellMua

(After Tan & washed off guide colour. Not sure how well the difference comes out)

(Before Tan)

So as promised here is my review on my fave self-tanner of all time, ST MORIZ. I keep buying all sorts of different tanners to try, but always end up coming back to this one!

I absolutely love the ST Moriz range, they have Medium/Dark products depending on how dark you want to go and you can get it in a lotion/mouse & spray. Personally I love the lotion a bit better as it really holds the moisture in your skin and I don’t find it goes patchy as fast as the others.

The dark version is VERY VERY dark which I love, but you can’t apply it in the morning to give yourself a bit of colour like the medium as you look like you’ve been rolling around in the dirt! If I apply the dark I do it before bed (making sure im in dark pj’s and dark bed sheets otherwise the transfer isn’t nice to wake up to!)

The medium is my preferred colour as it’s not too dark and you can build up the colour until you are satisfied & use a moisturiser over the top to keep it lasting as long as possible.

If I forget to apply the medium tanner for an occasion, the good thing about it is I can apply it in the morning and it gives a natural colour to your skin (just keep away from water as the guide colour will run and make you look like a spotty Dalmatian ha!)

Application:

I apply this tanner about 2-3 times a week depending on if im going anywhere on the weekend or what im doing.

At the end of the week I give myself a proper good scrub using an exfoliating mitt and some exfoliating scrub in the shower to remove any dead skin cells and any leftover tan. I find that this tan is easy to remove without having to scrub yourself red like some self-tanners.

Every time Im in the shower during my week, I use the exfoliating scrub lightly over my skin to remove any skin that may be lifting to keep my colour looking even. (Concentrate on ankles, knees, elbows, wrists)

I also shave during this time too to make sure the application will be even.

Once out of the shower (I don’t moisturise like some people advise, as I find the tan doesn’t stick to the skin and develop as well. Plus by using the lotion I find this really moisturising in itself. If you do happen to have some dry skin then to avoid the colour gathering around this area apply some tanner to moisturiser and rub in to dilute the mixture a bit.

I apply the tanner using a mitt (you can use gloves or bare hands but remember to WASH those pandys afterwards!) The guide colour is dark so you can see exactly where you are applying it to avoid streaks.

Then it’s time to let it develop! So put on some loose pj’s, make a brew & relax! I normally do this before bed so  can let it develop overnight and wash off the guide colour in the morning.

And voila! You should be a bronzed goddess! All in all I rate this product 5 out of 5 because for me this product works. (Remember some products work for some and not for others, it’s a trial and error process).

Another great factor of this tan is its only between £2.99 & 5.99 depending where you purchase! You can now pick this up almost anywhere!

Hope you like this post! Do you guys love/hate this tanner? Are there any other products you love? Let me know and I will be more than welcome to review these too!

Love A x

Advice: Headache At Work | AimeeBellMua

(Picture courtesy of Pinterest)

Like all of us we have very stressful lives and jobs which can result in very uncomfortable and painful tension headaches. I am a big sufferer of this, sat at a desk for 8 hours a day and then wanting to spend additional hours on my laptop blogging! 

So I thought I would share with you a few tips I have picked up to try and aid the headache and to try and prevent them in future.

1.    I guess the most obvious is posture… There are a few checks that you can try for this to see if posture is the reason you could be suffering. (This is definitely my biggest problem)

Support your back – Ensure that your chair is properly supporting your back so that you can sit up straight and your knees are level with your hips. You may need to ask your employer for a foot stool for this.

Adjust your chair height – Make sure your chair is at a level where you can use the keyboard with your wrists and forearms straight and level to the floor. Your elbow joint should be at an L shape.

Place your screen at eye level – Your monitor should be around an arm’s length away, with the top of the screen roughly at eye level.

2.    I have started wearing glasses due to looking at the PC screen all day as you should try to make your screen as glare-free as possible. The glare from the lights to the screen have caused me to get horrendous headaches, so a trip to the opticians could really help you. I have had something called Blue Lens put on them as this helps to stop the glare hurting my eyes & has really helped.

3.    Make sure you are keeping yourself hydrated. It can be very easy to forget to drink and even eat sometimes when we are busy at work but it’s very important to just take a few minutes to grab a glass of water. Drinking a glass of water can eliminate the headache without having to use additional remedies like medication.

4.    Try doing some neck stretches at your desk to relieve some tension . The one which I tend to find eases it slightly is tilt your head to the left, resting your left hand on the right side of your neck and you should feel a nice release. Repeat on the other side.

5.    Try eating almonds as a snack during your day. These contain something called salicin which is a pain reliever similar to those found in aspirin.

6.    And if all else fails then resort to taking a form of pain relief such as Paracetamol/Ibuprofen (please read the instructions of use before taking, to ensure you are okay to take them) I find that the Nurofen Plus/Express work the best for me!

Have you guys got any tips for aiding painful tension/stress headaches? Comment below!

Love A

Beauty Tips: 10 Things You Should Be Doing Before Bed | AimeeBellMua

(Picture courtesy of Pinterest)

Sleep is where your body can really relax and wind down after a long day. It helps to make you feel refreshed in the morning, boosts your energy and helps to heal the body. So why not try some of these treatments to help you wake up looking refreshed and naturally gorgeous!

Remove your makeup – All of it! – This is a big must to help you wake up looking fresh to let your skin breath and will help oily/spot prone skin. Take off all clumpy mascara from your lashes, lip colour, eyebrows (if you fill them in) you will feel a lot better when you wake up!

Add an extra pillow – Propping your head up on 2 pillows helps your eyes to not be as puffy in the morning. The gravity prevents your lymph & blood flow so fluids wont accumulate around your eyes and in your face. (Bye bye puffy eyes!). This should also help with neck/back pain if you suffer from that.

Apply a face mask – Okay maybe this step shouldn’t happen every night, maybe a couple of times a week to target acne/pimples/oily skin. The longer you leave the mask on the better results you will see so you could maybe leave it on overnight on the weekend and wash off in the morning.

Invest in a humidifier – A humidifier in the bedroom can help give you hydrated plump skin which will also make you more resistant to allergens in the air.

Hand Cream – Drench your hands in some nice thick hand cream to keep your hands and finger nails soft and hydrated and looking awesome in the morning. Through the spring weather going from cold weather to warm rooms can really dry out your hands so this could really help keep them hydrated.

Get your silk on – Invest in some silk bedding (I really don’t like silk bedding as I feel like I slide around like bambi on ice) however silk pillow cases can help your hairs overall health. Cotton pillows can contain fibres in them which can be rough to your hair cuticles causing further hair damage if you have split ends.

Pin your locks back – If you are one of the lucky girlys who are like Rapunzel pin your hair back when you go to sleep. Braid your hair or pin it up in a bun to keep the hair off your face. Your hair contains oils & dirt which can transfer to your face/pillow case and cause breakouts & oily skin.

Get enough sleep – This may seem like a pretty obvious one as a good nights sleep can really affect the way you look helping to reduce dark circles around the eyes and make your skin appear brighter.

Try a leave on scrub – When you sleep your skin is working hard to repair itself as said previously, so it’s the best time to apply a leave on exfoliator to absorb and correct any damage cause to the skin from UV/Environmental exposure.

Get your peepers creamed up – Eye cream is important to use as well as a great moisturiser so that when your skin will be plump and hydrated when the morning comes around!

Give these tips a try and let me know how you get on! I am definitely digging out a second pillow tonight and trying it! Have you got any other overnight beauty tips to share? Drop a comment below!

Love A xx

Beauty Haul: St Moriz, Nice & Easy, Maybelline | AimeeBellMua

Okay, so I went to Morribobs on my dinner break at work just to pick up a couple of things and then this happened.. I saw the beauty/makeup aisle and couldn’t resist.

1.    The first thing I picked up was the Nice N Easy Permanent hair dye in colour: 5C which was formally 117D in the old packaging. This is in colour: Natural Medium Cool Brown. I have decided it’s time to have a bit of a change in hair colour now that its coming up to spring so decided to go back to being a luscious brunette.

Ive picked a cool brown to help counteract the redness in my hair from previous colour as I find if you try to cover with ‘golden’ tones this only enhances the red tinge!

I absolutely love the Nice N Easy Range I always go back to this for more. This was £6 from Morrison’s & I picked up 2 boxes as I will need to colour my extensions to match. As I will be colouring my hair tonight I will do a more in depth review with colour picture results.

You can pick up this colour here: http://www.superdrug.com/Save-%C2%A31-on-selected-Nice-N-Easy/Nice%27N-Easy-Hair-Colour-Medium-Cool-Brown-117D/p/211832#.VP6ym3ysUsk

2.    The second thing I picked up was some more of my favourite St Moriz tan in the Medium Lotion which was £3.99. I love this product as it gives a really nice golden/olive tan, you can apply it in the morning and it doesn’t give you that really dirty appearance like other tanners & leaves skin feeling moisturised. Again, I will do a before/after review on this. You can pick this up here on amazon for £2.99!:http://www.amazon.co.uk/St-Moriz-Instant-Tanning-Lotion/dp/B005C9YAOG

3.    I originally headed to the beauty section as I was in dier need of some new foundation & mascara.

I picked up the Maybelline Fit Me foundation in colour 125 nude beige for around £8. I love this foundation. The colour matches my skin tone perfectly, even when I have tan on it blends really well. I’d say it’s a medium coverage and feels very light on your skin. I will again do a full review on this at a later date. You can pick this up here: http://www.superdrug.com/Maybelline/Maybelline-Fit-Me-Foundation-Nude-Beige-125/p/498850#.VP63YXysUsk

4.    I also carried on the Maybelline theme and got the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in colour 10. Its taken me a while to find a concealer which gives me the coverage I like but also doesn’t look cakey. I think I have finally found it!! This was £6 you can pick this up here:http://www.superdrug.com/Maybelline/Maybelline-Fit-Me-Concealer-Light-10/p/498658#.VP63vnysUsk I will do a duet review on this with the foundation.

5.    Finally I picked up the Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara in black. I have read some very good reviews about this product so I am excited to try it. So far this morning is the first try out and it seems to be living up to the reviews. I will give my opinion on this soon. I think this was around the £8 mark also. You can pick this up here: http://www.superdrug.com/Make-Up/Eyes/Mascara/Maybelline-Lash-Sensational-Mascara-Very-Black-1/p/348705#.VP64G3ysUsk

Have you guys tried these products? What do you think? Are there any of the Maybelline products you would recommend for me to try? Leave a comment below J!! Hope you liked this Haul Post! There will be millions more of these coming soon!

Love A xx

5 Steps To Being More Positive | AimeeBellMua

Every now & then we all hit that rut in life thinking that nothings ever going to get better or you’ve had a bad run in with the old ‘Bad Luck’ bug. But the best thing about all that negative thinking is that you can change this yourself!

Whether you feel tired & sluggish or you hate your job you can make the right decisions/changes to your life and have a more positive/happy outlook!

1.    If you believe that happiness is a choice made by yourself then you will find this will be the best thing you have ever done for yourself.

If you find yourself in a bad situation tell yourself that it’s up to you to be happy regardless if what is happening around you and stop blaming everything and anything for why you are feeling sad.

If you see that everything happens for a reason & it’s up to you to choose how you want to feel about it because you and in control of your happiness level and no one can take it away from you.

2.    This may seem like the most obvious tip but, get rid of the negativity in your life! If you want a positive & happy life you cannot be surrounded by negative people or reminders who aren’t helping your happiness. If you are a negative person, then the only people you will attract are fellow negative people & you will find yourself stuck in a black hole.

3.    Change – To most people this is a very very very scary thought but change can be the best thing that you could ever do. Whether its something small like changing your hair colour, changing your eating habbits or something more dramatic like moving house or getting a new job, if you are happier in yourself & surround yourself with a happy environment, your happiness levels will go through the roof. Don’t be scared of change and how it may affect the people around you, as long as you feel it will make you happy then go for it!!

4.    Reinforce the positivity in yourself – You have to train yourself into thinking more positively and your behaviour so that it sticks. It’s like getting yourself into a new routine but for your mind. The easiest way to do this is to give yourself compliments. Tell yourself you are awesome, you look good, love and accept yourself & most importantly be honest with yourself. Don’t focus on the negative as there is always a lesson to be learnt from it to prevent it from happening again.

5.    Share your positivity with friends/family around you ­– The easiest way to do this is to be nice! Give them compliments, be there for them when they are having a negative day & do your best to share your knowledge & advice in a way that they can also turn there negative into a positive. By doing this you will be surrounding yourself with more positive people which will give you a boost of confidence too!

So what do you have to lose!? Try these simple steps and take care of yourself! Let me know how you get on and share more positive thoughts and advice below!!

Love A xx

Top 5 Favourite Bloggers | AimeeBellMua

I thought I would do a bit of a post on my fave bloggers at the moment who I love reading about & go back to time and time again... See below for 5 of my top Favourite & where to find them!!!!!! 

   

I absolutely love this blogger. She does a lot of lifestyle posts along with the usual beauty/fashion posts too. I originally came across her when I joined Blog Lovin (Follow me here: https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/a-i-m-e-e-b-e-l-l-m-u-a-13784363 ) I fell in love with her Sausage dog too (hoping to get one eventually!) So has really fuelled my obsession!

Go check out her blog here: http://milkbubbletea.blogspot.co.uk/

    

Lily Melrose has been one of my favourite You Tuber’s/bloggers for a very long time now. I started watching her videos when she just started out & watched her bloom!

I love her style posts, she gives me the confidence to just wear what I want to wear and tbqh ‘fuck society’ and what I ‘should’ wear. You can find her blog here: http://www.llymlrs.com/

         

I found Zoe London on Instagram on my hunt for Pink/Red hair and temporary hair dyes! I love how quirky and different she is and how she can pull off absolutely any hair colour!

Her blog has loads of interesting articles on and I mean just look how fab her hair is! You can find her blog here:http://www.zoelondon.me/

     

Lydia Elise Millen is definitely one of my inspirations! I Also came across her on Instagram through some fitness/workout/fitspiration posts! She is absolutely gorgeous & has a fab body!

Shes a great blog to follow if you are wanting some health/fitness tips & she has now started to do some YouTube Videos too! You can find her blog here: http://lydiaelisemillen.com/

        

And finally another of my fave blogs is In The Frow. I also found Victoria on Instagram looking at hair ideas again! Her pink/purple hair is absolutely gorgeous and is really good for fashion/outfit posts. She also has a Youtube channel & many other things to find her on.  You can find her blog here! http://www.inthefrow.com/

Who are your favourite bloggers? Post them below & I will check them out! Don’t forget to follow me on Bloglovin to keep up to date with all my new posts! (https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/a-i-m-e-e-b-e-l-l-m-u-a-13784363)

Love A x

7 Workout App | AimeeBellMua

(Images taken from App Store)

Workout, health, body's, effects smoking and alcohol have on us, is constantly drilled into our brains on a daily basis. Foods we should eat, foods we shouldn't eat, eating in moderation, foods which can stop us ageing, stop us from getting cancer etc! All this information fed into us can get a bit overwhelming and we choose to ignore it and carry on with our day to day lives regardless.

I for one, are one of the biggest culprits of this, I always manage to find an excuse not to exercise, I'm too tired, i cant be bothered, maybe tomorrow! But I came across this nifty little app on the App Store the other day which intrigued me.

Its called: 7 minute workout ' Seven' with high interval training challenge. Its a free app with in app purchases if you want to purchase more workouts before you unlock them.

With this giving you a 7 minute workout, you really cant find the excuses not to do it. I mean we all have 7 minutes spare. Obviously you can do the workout as many times or as little as you want.

Each workout is designed for a 7 minute high intensity cardio session for you and each workout has a countdown timer on and a 'personal trainer' voice-over.

I have been doing this in a morning when I get up to get me started for the day. It gives you challenges and after each time you do the workout it gives you a voucher/app/log in for something which you can use to treat yourself for doing your workout. Similar to the sticker system when your a child.

After 2/3 months you unlock the next workout and there are 8 workouts to unlock over the 7 month challenge which it gives you.

It records all your achievements, tracks your weightless etc in sync with the 'health' app on your iPhone.

I would really recommend this for people with busy lives just to get a bit of exercise in each day and before you know it you wont even think about it as a chore it will just be something of habit.

Try it for a week and let me know how you get on!!

Download it here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/7-minute-workout-seven-high/id650276551?mt=8

I'm guessing it will be on android too, just search in google play store :) 

Love A xx

Kiko Nail Varnish | AimeeBellMua

Kiko Cosmetics Makeup Milano are my current fave makeup/beauty brand! 

They have amazing products across the whole of their range and the prices are very reasonable for such high quality products. In Leeds we have a KIKO store but if you aren't lucky enough to have one you can purchase online at http://www.kikocosmetics.co.uk/make-up/hands/nail-polishes.html

(Nail varnish page just because thats the topic of this post) 

As some of you may know, my day job I am a IT Service Desk Analyst for an IT company so I am constantly using a keyboard all day and have found that my nails chip alot faster than they would if I was working off a computer. Ive tried numerous brands such as Rimmel/Maybelline etc, but they all seem to chip in no time and have a dull appearance unless using a high shine top coat. But with these you can apply this with no top coat and still get high shine and the colour seems to last at least a week even with hardcore typing! 

The nail varnishes range from £1.50 up to £4.50 depending on what type you want to go for.

Above you can see I had a bit of a splurge so I could try the majority of the range. 

1. The Quick Dry Lacquer. This charcoal colour is what I have been wearing alot recently & quick drying it really is. After 2 coats you have a nice thick deep colour which lasts. I believe this one was £3.50ish

2. The 3 in 1 shine is amazing! You can use it as a base coat and top coat and leaves your nails feeling strong and shiny. This was around the £3.50-4.50 mark. 

3. The Magnetic Nail Lacquer, this looks really cool when used with the magnet which you can get with it and it gives you an awesome pattern to your nails. Although I prefer this just on its own as its a lovely nude brown colour, really in keeping with the nude trend at the moment & looks great with tanned skin. I picked this up in the sale for an amazing £1.50!! 

4. Finally I picked up the Fancy Top coat nail lacquers in 3 different glitter shades which were each just £1 in the sale. These look gorgeous over almost any colour. I have been wearing the blue glitter over the grey quick dry nail polish. The combo looks fab & the glitter really stands out and gives off a glossy shine to the nails. Some glitter polishes I fine very very hard to remove with nail varnish remover and Im very hesitant to wear it but with these products you can remove them in no time. 

Overall I am very very very impressed with these nail polishes and will pick some more up in the future and get some more colours. 

Visit the Kiko Website for more products! 

Comment below if you have tried any kiko products and let me know your opinions on them!! 

Love A x

New Blog Layout | AimeeBellMua

So this last year has been the rockiest roller coaster of years ever and I have been very MIA on my blog/youtube etc. I just havent been in the right frame of mind at all to talk to you guys or even my friends and people closest to me. 

As I have decided to close the door on the past now and have a proper new start I thought I would do that by updating and changing my blog style/layout/name etc and really give this a go again. 

I know you all would love me to do some YouTube videos again, which I hope to start these again in the future but at the moment I want to get back into the swing of things just on my blog posts.

This time around I will be doing alot more lifestyle, thought & advice posts, as I have learnt a lot in the last year and want to share my experiences with you guys to try help you through it too. 

Of course I will be doing makeup/hair tutorials/hauls/ootd's/reviews etc. If there are any posts you guys would like me to do please let me know in the comments below. 

This weekend I am going to be doing a lot of posts for you all including: 

Where Ive Been...

Growing out a pixie post...

Whats in my makeup bag...

FOTD's 

Some instagram posts...

How to cope with anxiety issues 

& Many More exciting things I want to post about. 

Hope you guys all love my new blog. Follow me on blog lovin to get my newest posts as soon as they are posted! 

Love A x