#69 Summertime Healthiness Week 1.

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Evening bloggers!

I can't get over how hot and amazing the weather has been this week! It has just been gorgeous here in the UK, especially down in the South where it reached 26 degrees celsius! For May that is pretty impressive, lets just hope it hangs around for a few months! - yeah right!

So as you all may know if you've been keeping up with Beautiful Nellies that I'm on a bit of a healthy mission, which was in this post here. The post basically explained that I wanted to loose some extra weight which I have gained since Easter - which was only a few pounds but I want to loose those again, and a little bit more!

So here goes my weigh in!

Starting Weight: 12 stone exact.

Current Weight: 11 stone 11 pounds.

Weight lost: 3 pounds.

Woohoo! That's 3 pounds gone from my tummy, hips and legs! 3 pounds may not seem like much to some people, but to me, a person who loves to eat, it's pretty damn good as a starting point! So this is my first week broken down.

• In order to loose these 3 pounds I have been making sure I stick to my daily calorie intake of 1500 calories. I have also been making sure that what I do eat is reasonably healthy. I've cut right out the chocolate bars and McDonalds which I was eating - being at college really does make you fat! It was these two which were my main issue so I've managed to go McDonalds free this past week! However, I have had a few sneaky treats such as a small mini roll with my lunch when I'm at college and the other night I did have pudding with my boyfriend, but other than that I have been very good. When ever I've been hungry I've turned to eating two petit filous as you'd be surprised at how filling they are. I've also started having a morning snack of a Banana and as much as I hate Bananas you'll eat them if you're hungry enough - trust me!
• I've also taken to drinking a lot more water especially just before a meal as this little tip may not be so 'healthy' but it sure does work. Sometimes the body can be dehydrated and needing water, but this crave can sometimes come out in the form of hunger. Before eating always drink around a pint of water as it can also fill you up so that you eat smaller portions. I know this may not be totally ethical but it's what works for me, especially as I eat larger portions than I should anyway. I also find it helps me to drink lots of water which is starting to do wonders for my skin!
• Finally I've taken to doing 25 stomach crunches, 25 leg raises and 25 stomach curls a day in order to tone my tummy, and surprisingly along with the healthy eating I'm finding that it's working. However, I would like to have a better fitness plan without the use of a gym but am just so stuck for ideas. So if you have any please do share them! Also feel free to share any other tips and advice which you may have!

For any others out there who are doing an Operation Healthy, good luck and keep strong and determined!

#68 Taking Advantage.

Evening bloggers, and what a lovely one it is too!

The other day I took full advantage of Superdrug's 3 for 2 offer and as you all know I'm a sucker for MUA and it is also purse and bank account friendly to me at the moment till payday on Friday, which I'm beyond excited about as I want to buy so many lovely things again!

So this is just a short haul to show you the three lipsticks which I brought for an amazing £2!!

The three lipsticks which I brought were Shade 2, Shade 4 and Shade 7 which retail at £1 each. There aren't any swatches available yet as I'm currently writing up individual reviews as I've found some to be better than others, so keep your eyes peeled!

I also want to say a massive thank you for the support you've shown Katie over at Smile As Big As You Dream following my recent post on my favourite Blog Of The Week which you can find here I knew you were all lovely bloggers and supporters!

Enjoy the rest of the evening in the sun and I hope you've had a happy Monday!

#67 Blog Of The Week #1

Welcome to the first Blog Of The Week!

This weeks favourite blog goes to Katie over at Smile As Big As You Dream

'I'm Katie, sixteen & from Newcastle, England. 90% of the time I'm in my own little world dreaming of Louboutins and Michael Kors. Anything pink or sparkly I LOVE, and I'm a self confessed tan'aholic. Feel free to follow and leave comments - I read them all and HUGELY appreciate them! I check out and follow if I'm interested in your recent blogs.'

The gorgeous Katie has only just started her blog Smile As Big As You Dream this month and already it is proving to be very popular and I can see why with her regular posts! Already Katie has posted on some great topics within Beauty and Fashion, including my favourite post on her nail designs including use of nail foils and her wishlist posts! I'm almost certain that there is going to be more great thing to come.

www.smileasbigasyoudream.blogspot.co.uk

I also asked Katie a few questions on her blog, so please read them before checking out Katies blog and following - whilst finding out for yourself how great it is! 

1. Why did you start blogging?

I mainly started blogging because whenever I buy items - such as makeup, hair products etc, I like to read the reviews (geeky I know) and whenever I was looking blogs always came up. I started to read more and more of them and was really interested in what others had been buying and trying out. I'm a typical teenager who tries and buys all sorts and I wanted to share with others what I thought of different products. A couple of people I have on twitter have blogs too, so I didn't think I'd be the only one - from there I decided to create "Smile as big as you dream" :)

2. What audience is you blog for?

My blog is mainly focused on makeup, fashion and nails - the 3 main things I take interest in. However it does have a few random posts just asking for opinions and "what do yous think?" so it is quite an interactive but informative blog (I hope!!) I'd say the audience for my blog would be girls who are also interested in those; whether that being teenagers like myself, or women. 
3. What do you find to be the positives and negatives of having a blog?
There are so many positives to having a blog; the main one being it gives you a chance to read a variety of reviews on products before actually taking the splurge to buy it yourself. Another would be they are super informative, I've learnt a lot since I started blogging, whether that's just a few tips and tricks to full on information about skin and how to take care of it properly. The only negative I have to say about blogging is it makes you want to buy everything! (Surely that can't just be me??!) I've seen soo many gorgeous clothes and face products that I'd love to buy but I honestly can't afford....hopefully one day.
4. What is your one must have beauty product?
My #1 must have Beaty product would have to be Palmers Cocoa Butter. I've been using this for months and months and it's ah-mazing! The smell is fresh and it's super light weight on your skin. It gets rid of dry skin and moisturises more than any other I've tried. There's honestly nothing better than exfoliating then lathering your skin in it. I have quite sensitive skin, yet it still works miracles on me, definitely my #1 must have product. 

#66 A Taste Of Things To Come..

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Evening bloggers! Just a quick not to say that I know there hasn't been many 'usual' posts here on Beautiful Nellies - but then again what is usual? I don't think I really restrict my blog with regards to what I write about as it's my blog and I guess I'll write about things which matter to me or things which I'm interested in. I don't think you can really call me your average beauty blogger!! However, I am curious as to what it is you like about my blog!

I currently have lots of blog post ideas written down and I can't wait to share them all with you! However, I am doing a new feature which will start as of this Sunday which is 'My Favourite Blog Of The Week' and this post will be purely about my favourite blog of the week and the blogger behind the blog! I want to do this to introduce people to new blogs and give people a variety of wider reading, it also aims to introduce new bloggers into the blogging community and I'm sure you'll give them a warm welcome just like you did to me nearly a year ago!

I'm currently contacting bloggers and asking if they'd like to take part in this feature - as of course it's free advertisement, and who doesn't like a bit of that?! ;) But if you'd like to be involved leave me a comment or simply drop me an email at HannahLouise-x@live.co.uk

Keep your eyes peeled and I look forward to hearing you!

Enjoy your weekend!

#65 Operation Healthy

So it has gotten to that time of year again where everyone's on a diet and trying to get that perfect bikini body. Well everyone except me. However, it is true that I'm trying to diet and be healthy, but I'm doing this for myself as I'm not going away this year.
Recently I've noticed I've started to put on weight again compared to the last few months and I've been letting myself go what with eating all that chocolate at Easter! So from now on it's time to eat super healthy and get fit!
I'm not expecting miracles over night but over time I want to reach my goal to which I'll be perfectly content with! Every female feels self-concious of their bodies or the way they look even if you think that they are beautiful and have a drop dead figure. There are just a few girls who are lucky enough to be able to stand there, raise their arm and say 'Hell yes, I love my body and the way I look and feel.' Now I want to be one of those girls!
I know this is going to be a tough and gruelling process simply because I LOVE my food! But by keeping a weekly diary on my blog it will help me to let off some of my 'hunger stress' and maybe help others who are currently going through the same thing. It's also a great way to share help and advice with other followers to form a network of motivation for fitness! So here goes my first online weigh-in!


Age: 18
Height: 5'8
Current weight: 12stone exact.
Current size: 12
Ideal weight: 10stone

Inspiration

All images we were from weheartitcom

#64 Wednesday Smiles #3

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Why am I smiling today?! Well that's really easy!!

My boyfriend has come back from Scotland and I can't wait to see him!

Whats got you smiling today?

#63 Blackberrys Very Own Instagram

Recently there has been a lot of hype with the popular photo app Instagram. So much so it has got all us Blackberry users seething with jealousy as to why Blackberry does not yet support the Instagram app- well I know I am! I just love the way they App makes the photos look so pretty and vintage-y and lets be honest who doesn't want pretty pictures?! It's the perfect app for us bloggers when we're on the go and don't always have our cameras handy. It also got me seething with jealousy at the fact that Android also support Instagram. I mean what is going on here?! So I did a bit of research and found out that hopefully Instagram should be coming to Blackberry at the end of the year. But that's a joke!! In the mean time I have been trying to find a similar app which would give be similar effects which will cost me nothing like the Instagram app and I'd been having no joy what so ever until I stumbled across a very American looking app - for free and promising to edit photos to a similar standard. So here I present to you my new favourite Blackberry app...

MOLOME!

Now I'm still trying to figure how to work MOLOME but I'm getting the jist of the photo editing etc and I don't really care for the following thing like the Instagram, as long as I can edit my photos and upload them ready to share on my blog, twitter or facebook then I'm happy as larry. If you're looking for a similar app to Instagram then I strongly recommend this app whilst you wait, and have a play around with it. If worst comes to worse and you find that you really do not get on well with the app then just delete it! But here are a few samples of the pictures I have taken and edited with the app. For all photos I have edited them using the Vintage effect.

 Obviously the fuzzy-ness is due to the quality of the originial photo as my Blackberry Curve does have a poor camera quality! But isn't this picture of my baby Niece and her friend in the bath together adorable?!

However if you do have MOLOME then feel free to follow me or check out my photos under hannahcarberry

#62 Wednesdays Smiles #2

Image was found from WeHeartIt

The reason I'm smiling today?! I'm getting better!! Yay!
For a week now I've had this horrible illness and I'm still not sure what it is. It seemed to be your average sore throat but within 24 hours I had a temperature, constant headache, earache and all down my neck, shoulders and back were aching. So it seemed to be some sort of virus/flu thing. However the symptoms have now gone and I'm left with this painful sore throat and weird irregular cough. Which may seem like a weird reason to be smiling but at least I'm not bed ridden and can go to college or work, it just means that I have to recover after to get my energy levels back up! It also means that I can get back to blogging!
The best part of this illness is that it has been too painful to smoke and makes my throat worse. So I've practically given up and I'm going to try and keep it up because it's saving me a lot of money which I can spend on lots of lovely pretty things!
The final reason whilst I'm smiling today is that I've logged on after over a week off from blogging to see that I've reached 198 followers which I can't believe! So thank you so much to all you lovely people who read my blog!


Whats got you smiling today?!