Self Tanning Mousse - Dark 

Before/After 

Gradual Tan 

I have had a mountain of red cabbage in my fridge that I have been trying to use up for weeks now (luckily cabbage lasts for agesss in the fridge). With the majority of it, I made pickled cabbage to keep in the fridge and batch made sauteed cabbage to freeze; Once I was done I still had at least a quarter left over that I wanted to make into something tasty, and a few people on my Instagram account mentioned coleslaw. Therefore, I decided to get together all the ingredients I had in my larder/fridge and make a really easy 'no mayo' slaw...

I have been WFH for 10 months now, so I am very used to being in my own company and finding new ways to entertain myself whilst at home. So I thought that, as more and more people are beginning to self isolate because of the Coronavirus, I would share some of my favourite things to do when staying in.

March has been a strange month so far as it seems like a lot has been changing. Not only in my own life but also for other people around me. Have you experienced the same thing?  I haven't done a life update since last year so thought it was about time...

I have been enjoying the later evenings and random bouts of sun we've been having in Stockholm for the past month. At one point I thought that spring was starting to arrive, then it snowed and we have been having snow on and off ever since. This has really added to the craziness of the past couple of months too; the weather seems to be just as uncertain about what it is doing as I am! I have still been working through my Pilates teacher training and have been enjoying this as a side project amongst other things...

Kitchen + bathroom renovation

We moved into our new flat at the beginning of this year and have been back and forth about whether we should put in a whole new kitchen or just try and update it ourselves. In the end we decided on the latter and last weekend Ted's parents came over to help us with transforming the old kitchen. I spent the majority of February painting the cabinet doors, then over the last weekend we did flooring, sideboards, a new dishwasher and tiles (hopefully a separate post on this to come). We also wanted to refresh the bathroom and have decided to just replace the old bath - the new one should be arriving this eve!

Corona + working from home 

Obviously the world has gone a bit crazy at the moment because of the Coronavirus and I've been quite uneasy not knowing what is going to happen. Ted has been off work for the past week as his office has been closed. Therefore, we are both working from home and I have had to give up my 'office' for the week.

Wedding planning

Things are gradually coming together: I have my wedding dress and the flowers, caterer and photographer are booked for the UK wedding. I have also ordered my outfit for our Greek wedding as of this week. However, I have started to slow down slightly with the planning because of the uncertainty with the Coronovirus. Fingers crossed it will still all go to plan! We still have invites to send and a few other extras to sort out within the coming couple of months.

March to-do list 

• I'm aiming to get halfway through my Pilates teacher training by the end of the month 
• Do the final finishing touches to the kitchen
• Install the new bath 
• Send out wedding invites + have dress fitting (I'm hoping these can still go ahead)
• Choose wedding rings 
• Plan new blog content 

The main reason this serum caught my eye was 1) It was a concept I had never seen before and 2) I had a love affair with St Tropez Purity Water Face Mist last year, and was loving it right up until I realised it started to leave random brown spots on my face and chest (I can only assume it started to distribute the product unevenly because the pump had dried). When they launched this new serum I ordered in the hope that I would love it as much as the face mist however, I was wrong...

This St Tropez Purity Vitamins Bronzing Water Serum (it's a mouth full) claims to:

".... this plumping and replenishing serum is laced with line-smoothing hyaluronic acid, vitamin C and D boosters to brighten and shield from external aggressors and the brand’s proprietary ‘Sunshine Complex’ ... to lend a soft, olive-toned glow. With a featherweight texture and no tell-tale smell, this sophisticated formula makes an incredible primer (apply before base, or in lieu of your usual make up), and leaves your complexion incredibly luminous."

My first impressions are that it can end up a tiny bit patchy on my face (something the mist didn't do before it stopped working) but I don't think it's something that most people would notice especially with makeup over top. Secondly, I would say it's a tiny bit more 'orange' than other face tanners I have tried not the olive tone it mentions in it's description. However, I do think this is represented in the promo model photos they have - or is that only me that thinks that?

Overall it does provide a nice light tan - I did find that if I moisturised A LOT before using it it was more even on my face and chest. Another plus was that it hasn't seemed to have broken me out in spots - which is something face tanners can sometimes do - It seems to have a nice smell that's not too fake-tanny and it doesn't seem to transfer onto fabrics. Overall, I think for the price you can get better face tanners, however, if you can get it on offer (like I did) then it's a good purchase as an everyday face tanner.

Before / After

What are your favourite face tans? I'm also looking for an oil gradual tanner if anyone has any recommendations...

There are quite few different types of intermittent fasting: 16:8, 20:4, 5:2... and the list goes on; I tried the latter for 6 weeks and this is what happened....

Obviously I'm not a nutritionist/doctor (and there are some people who shouldn't do intermittent fasting at all) so I did a lot of research before I started, a few of my fave places for information were: Eat, Fast and Live Longer (BBC Documentary), The 5:2 Diet Book, and this Ted Talk by Cynthia Thurlow.  From my research, I had learnt that the advantages of intermittent fasting are: more energy, weight loss and improved metabolism (if that's what you're after), better concentration, lower blood sugar levels and, possibly even decreased aging.

I have previously tried intermittent fasting, however until now never actually stuck to it for longer than 2 weeks before eating a takeaway on a fast day and giving up. So what is 5:2? It is basically, where you eat only 500 calories on 2 chosen days of a week and on the other 5 days you eat the 'normal' amount of calories you would usually eat (around 1800-2000 for women). I used the Lifesum App to help me keep track of my calories and I found this to be helpful for motivation (as I paid for the premium subscription 3 months in advance). I believe MyFitnessPal also have a 5:2 function, but I had used Lifesum before and knew I liked the interface. It also figures out the calories for me, which makes it less effort, and there are options based on maintaining your current weight, putting on weight and loosing weight.

WEEK 1-2

My main reasons for starting 5:2 were to help reduce my bloating and overeating. Within the first week I immediately felt less bloated and like my digestion was already better. My hunger was the worst on week one and I found it hard to not eat more the 500 calories, but knowing the day after I  would be back to eating whatever I wanted (within reason) got me through. The fast days started to get easier on the second week, but still not as easy as I had hoped. I felt like I was eating smaller potions on the non-fast days and was stopping when I was full - rather than just eating for the sake of eating. I had lost 4 pounds overall by the end of the 2 weeks.

WEEK 3-4

This was the time I started to feel my energy levels rising, I'm not sure if this was because I was actually sleeping better as I wasn't going to bed too full (like I do often) or if there was some other reason. I had also been taking multivitamins on the fast days so this might have also been a factor in my energy levels rising. By this time I had lost 6 pounds overall, however didn't see much of a difference in my physical appearance, other than loosing 1cm off my waist and having less bloating.

WEEK 5-6

I am currently on day 4 of week 5 and have now lost half a stone. I feel like my energy levels are much better and I haven't had any bloating since starting. Although, I did overeat last night as it was Ted's birthday and didn't sleep too well because I was SO full, so a fast day today has given my digestion a bit of a break. I have also started to find it easier to integrate the fast days into my week and have got into more of a routine. The negative (other than the slight hunger on fast days) was that my period was much later than usual (soz TMI) and I later found out that this is sometimes a result of intermittent fasting. I think I'm going to keep on doing it for another few weeks and see if it stays as easy to stick with.

A few things that helped me stick with it: 

• Find foods that are low calorie and help you to stay full, then keep a stock of them for the low calorie days. Mine were: low calorie soup, Alpro Soya high protein yogurts and bananas. I also take multivitamins and iron on the fast days. 
• As I said before, Lifesum helped me track calories. The app Zero is also good if you're trying other types of fasting (16:4/20:4 etc...) as it reminds you when to stop and start fasting 
• Do something to distract yourself from feeling hungry, I am on a 5:2 day today and I find blogging helps distract me - even if it is about fasting 
• Skipping breakfast seems to be the easiest way to get through the day in my opinion, as it means you can have slightly larger meals in the afternoon/evening
• On the days where I felt waaaay too hungry, I would go up to 600/700 calories - but that only happened twice whilst I was moving house 
• Which brings me to the next point... I find drinking tea/coffee throughout the day helps (decaff being better on an empty stomach for me).