| My NYC Sephora Beauty Haul |

photo credit:http://www.aptnewyork.com/blog/sephora-new-york-explore-make-up-perfumes-and-more/

My trip to New York wouldn’t have been complete without a trip to Sephora. When I was in Krakow in Poland last month I hadn’t known they also had a Sephora store so when I saw it on the day we were leaving I was absolutely kicking myself! I also didn’t know that one of my favourite beauty brands Inglot was actually made in Poland and was only a fraction of the price compared to the UK/Ireland. So any of you make up enthusiast’s heading to Krakow anytime soon please take note and learn from my mistakes haha. 

So, needless to say I had a lot of missed opportunities to ‘make up’ for (see what I done there!). This was my first ever time visiting a Sephora store so before I left I done my research and had a list as long as my arm of all the things I wanted to get while I was there. It is quite overwhelming when you first walk into the store so having a list is a good idea and ensures you stick to your budget!

I was only really interested in picking up brands and products that we can’t get here in the UK or Ireland as I figured there was no point getting anything that we could get here easily on the high street. Defeats the purpose really! So literally on my first morning in NYC I headed straight to the Sephora store before I had a chance to spend my dollars on anything else J

 Below I’ve listed everything I picked up. I hope you enjoy this beauty haul and let me know in the comments if you have tried any of the products - I’d love to hear your reviews!
Also if you would like to read my full in depth travel blog to NYC including what we got up to and all my top tips then just click here.

    1.                 | Anastasia Beverly Hills ‘Brow Wiz | 
    As soon as I walked through the door of Sephora I was immediately drawn to the Anastasia Beverly Hills counter. This amazing brand literally floods my Instagram newsfeed every day and the highly raved about ‘Brow Wiz’ was number 1 on my list to buy. And let me tell you, it was worth the wait! It’s an amazing little pencil. It makes the tedious job of filling in your eyebrows so effortless, it’s buildable and is perfect for creating those natural hair-like strokes. A must have! I got this in the shade ‘ Dark Brown’

     2.                | Anastasia Beverly Hills ‘Dipbrow Pomade |
   This is another of the eyebrow products that’s highly raved about. I usually only ever use a brow gel on my own brows (until I used the brow wiz of course). I have yet to try this one but I couldn’t leave without it and if it’s anything like the brow wiz then it will be just as amazing. I also got this in the shade ‘Dark Brown’.

     3.                 | Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Lipstick |

The Anastasia brand has a huge selection of liquid lipsticks and glosses. I have been dying to try the matte liquid lipsticks so I picked up two in the shades ‘lovely’ which is a beautiful pinky-rose colour and ‘Dusty Rose’ which is a deeper shade of pinky-rose. I’m always drawn to those sorts of colours. I’ve only swatched these lipsticks but the colour pay-off is amazing and they dry really quickly. 

     4.              | Make Up Forever ‘Ultra HD Foundation |

I have yet to come across a Make Up Forever counter here in the UK and this Ultra HD Foundation has been on my wishlist literally FOREVER. (I’m the queen of the pun tonight). I’ve only worn it the once but I got a really good match from the girl in the store and it felt lovely on my skin. Really good coverage too without looking cakey.

     5.       | Kat Von D ‘Ink Liner |

Kat Von D is another brand we can’t get here in the UK and the liners are supposed to be THE best thing since sliced pan. I had a tough decision picking between this one and the coveted ‘tatoo liner’ which has a thicker application but is just as good. I ended up going for the ‘Ink Liner’ as I like to build up my liner slowly and the smaller applicator is perfect for this.

     6.   | Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder |

This stuff is pure magic and lives up to every expectation! If you haven’t heard about this product then you’ve obviously been living under a rock. It’s the most amazing setting powder I have ever used.

     7.                  | Becca Cosmetics ‘Under-eye Colour Corrector’ |

This is a brand I’ve heard a lot about from watching my favourite beauty you-tubers. While I was doing my research this product popped up a few times so I chalked it down and decided I’d give it go. We actually tried this on my boyfriend Shane in the shop because I didn’t want to wipe off my make up haha but it does what it says on the tin. It comes in a variety of colour correcting shades depending on what you want to conceal but I chose the under eye corrector which is a peachy colour best for  neutralising dark spots and hyperpigmentation i.e eye bags! Still trying this one out.

     8.   | Benefit ‘Porefessional |

This is a re-purchase of mine and something I always have in my make up bag. I had literally just ran out before heading to New York so I had to pick it up while I was there. Amazing primer.

     9.                | Boscia Luminizing Black Mask |

Next on my list was this face mask/peel which I have only just recently heard about. As far as I know this brand does a few different varieties of face mask but this one is particular is meant to be brilliant for removing blackheads and impurities from your pores and reducing excess oil. It’s also got Vitamin C which is the best for brightening up the skin and helps to reduce the look of fine lines. However, It’s also meant to be really painful to peel off. It could probably be compared to peeling off dried tar off your face (there are a few videos on you-tube check them out for a giggle lol).

     10.                | Huda Beauty Faux Mink Lashes ‘Jade’ |

These lashes are life! I am obsessed with Huda beauty on Instagram. They are faux mink, so so fluffy and really easy to apply. I got mine in the style #13 ‘Jade’

     11.                | Stila HUGE Extreme Lash Mascara |

This was actually given to me as a free gift at the till when I signed up for the Sephora store card. I have heard loads about the Stila products, in particular, the Stila One Step Correct Concealer, the duel lip and cheek cream and the Stila eyeshadows. This mascara is also one of their top sellers so I’m excited to try it out.

     12.                | Marc Jacobs ‘Highliner Gel Crayon’ & Lipstick |

Last on the list was this Marc Jacobs gel crayon eyeliner and lipstick which was another freebie I got at the till after I signed up for the store card for my Birthday! (which isn’t until March btw) lol howya Marc! I used the lipstick on my first night and it’s a beautiful darky pink colour in the shade ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Le Marc’. Absolutely divine!

     13.                | MAC Soar Liner & Creme Cup Lipstick |

Sephora don’t stock MAC but while I was there I also popped into the MAC store and re-purchased my absolute fave lip combo ever ‘Soar’ Lip Liner and ‘Crème Cup’ Lippy. I use this combo to death and needed to restock these in my makeup bag.

And that’s it guys. Super happy with everything I picked up. As promised I will be back with my full NYC travel blog which I hope to get done this weekend. I don’t plan on doing a tap this weekend only hit the gym and finish this blogpost. I can’t wait to share everything with you guys! NYC is AMAZING! Next week we’re off jet setting again, this time to Iceland! Busy busy bee.

Big Love

Aileen

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| The Body Coach | 90 Day SSS Plan | Cycle 3 | The Results |

 Hey guys!

So here I am at the end of my 90 days journey with the Body Coach!

The time just flew by. The past couple of weeks have been manic with work and getting myself ready for my holidays to New York this Wednesday (eeeeppp) but I did promise you all I would have this blogpost up before I headed away so I’ve kept to my word J😉

If you’d like to read my Cycle 1 blogpost you can click here and for results click here. You can also read my Cycle 2 blogpost and results here.

Meals

So for Cycle 3 it was back to Cycle 1 principles; 3 meals a day + 2 snacks of which two of those meals were from the general menu which were low-carb and then 1 from the post workout menu which would obviously be consumed after a workout and high in carbs. After the carb-up of Cycle 2 I couldn’t wait to get back to having low-carb meals again, but, in saying that, I also missed all the carbs. Such a contradiction I know lol but as much as I hated the bloating that I got from eating all the carbs in cycle 2 I still loved them and missed having them! I was still given the freedom and flexibility to create my own meals using the pick ‘n’ mix principle from Cycle 2 but there were also a whole new variety of recipes in this cycle which I could choose from also.  To be honest, I didn’t experiment with the recipes all that much. In fact for the final 2 weeks of the plan I didn’t really do any food prep at all just because I have been incredibly busy lately. Bar my dinners in the evening, I ate mostly from the canteen at work but kept it clean and on plan by having a two egg omelette with chicken, peppers, onions and a huge side salad twice a day every day. So they were my low carb meals during the day and after I trained in the evenings I would re-carb with meals like chicken and rice with veg, tuna melt toasties, poached eggs with toast and veggies and stir fry’s with rice. For snacks I stuck to having nuts either cashew or almonds, natural/unsalted, and protein shakes (no fruit allowedL). I also occasionally had a quest protein bar to curb cravings! Supplements were the same as they were for all cycles.  I didn’t take absolutely everything recommended but I did have BCAA’s Pre + Post workout, a protein shake post workout and dissolvable vitamin C and multi-vitamin tablets from Lidl in my water every day.

Sample Breakfast Options

Sample Lunch Options

Sample Dinner Option

Sample Snacks

Workouts

The workouts were ramped up in this cycle, similarly to the other cycles, the body coach’s signature HIIT workouts were combined with a new style of weight training called ‘Pyramid Resistance’ training.

It would be so much easier to actually show  what this is rather than tell you as it’s a little tricky to explain without getting totally confused lol but I’ll give it a go! Basically this method of weight training involves high repetitions just like the VRT training in cycle 2 but rather than lifting the same weight with every set you start by doing low reps with heavy weight but gradually decrease the weight and increase the reps on each set. This is done on the first exercise and then you also do it vice versa on the second exercise. So you would start with low weights and high reps and gradually increase the weight and decrease the repetitions with every set - don’t worry, I will give an example below lol

So the structure of the cycle 3 workouts is split into 4 parts. (same as cycle 2)

  Ø  START: Exercise 1 - Pyramid Sets

  Ø  X1 round of HIIT (8mins)

  Ø  Exercise 2 – Pyramid Sets

  Ø  FINISH: X1 round of HIIT (8mins)

Each training day is then split up into 4 different options per week.

      ·        Back & Chest

      ·        Biceps & Triceps

      ·        Legs & Abs

      ·        Shoulders

Each option was not to repeated more than once in one week. Rest day’s had to be taken 3 times a week and if training for 2 days consecutively a rest day must be taken before training again.  

 Sample Leg Day Workout

      1.   Leg extensions

Ø  Set 1:  x50 reps (low weight)

Ø  Weighted Ab crunches x50

        REST 30SECS

Ø  Set 2: x40 reps (increase weight)

Ø  Weighted Ab crunches x40

       REST 45SECS

Ø  Set 3: x30 reps (increase weight)

Ø  Weighted Ab Crunches x30

      REST 60SECS

Ø  Set 4: x20 reps (increase weight)

Ø  Weighted Ab Crunches x20

      REST 90SECS

Ø  Set 5:  x10 reps (heaviest you can do)

     2.   HIIT (8MINS) Stationary Bike

30secs high intensity followed by 45secs steady x 8mins

     3.   Dumbbell Lunges

Ø  Set : x10 reps each leg (heaviest weight)

Ø  Planks (hold until failure)

      REST 90SECS

Ø  Set 2: x20 reps each leg (decrease weight)

Ø  Planks (hold until failure)

     REST 60SECS

Ø  Set 3: x30 reps each leg (decrease weight)

Ø  Planks (hold until failure)

     REST 45SECS

Ø  Set 4: x40 reps each leg (decrease weight)

Ø  Planks (hold until failure)

                    REST 30SECS

Ø  Set 5: x50 reps each leg (decrease weight)

     4.   HIIT (8MINS) Stationary Bike

30secs high intensity followed by 45secs steady x 8mins

Not gonna lie – the workouts were serious burners!! Especially leg day, dear god all those repetitions were killer. You really feel the lactic acid building up in your muscles. It was tough and not one bit enjoyable haha but none the less I got them done. Each workout took that little bit longer this time around but I managed to get each workout out done in approximately an hour.

My Results

Now for the part you’ve all been waiting for!! J The RESULTS!!

So, I was very nervous about sharing my before and after photos. I was afraid there wouldn’t be that much of a difference. I saw a huge drop in all my measurements and weight after cycle 1 but after the gain in cycle 2 I was worried that I would just be back to square one after Cycle 3. I was wrong J. I am still waiting for my graduation report to arrive from my Body Coach Support Hero however I can still reveal to you my results.

Overall, I have lost a total of 7 inches from my entire body.

·        3.5 inches from my waist

·        2 inches from my hips

·        0.5 inches from my chest

·        0.5 inches from each leg

·        0 inches from my arms

Weight wise I dropped 4kg after Cycle 1, gained 3.5 kg after Cycle 2, and dropped 0.5 kg after Cycle 3. So in total I dropped a mahoooosive 1kg LOL but I’m not hung up on the weight. Any amount of factors can affect the numbers on the scales. What matters is I feel good. The results could have been better yes, but they are still results at the end of the day. I had 3 holidays during this plan where unfortunately I did booze and I did binge but I enjoyed myself and I got straight back on plan afterwards.

So, it may have taken me a tad bit longer than 90 days due to adding on a few weeks in cycle 1 and cycle 2 plus the lay-by time in between cycles but it absolutely flew. I did say I would be 100% committed to it but truth to be told I had plenty of hiccups throughout this plan! Nonetheless I completed it and I did see good results – not amazing but I’m happy I done it. I have learned a lot about food in regards macro-nutrient timing, the best times for the consumption of certain foods and portion control. With regards the workouts, I won’t lie; I’m looking forward to getting back to some heavy lifting again. I lost a lot of strength during this plan. I loved the HIIT training though which I will be incorporating into my workouts in the future as well as some occasional steady state, but come the New Year I will be going IN on the weight training again. In hindsight, I wish I had stuck to my own training plan and just followed the diet (which was an option in the beginning). So that being said I would advise anyone thinking of doing this plan who regularly weight trains to bare this is mind when signing up. But for anyone who is looking to kick-start a healthier lifestyle, learn loads about food and nutrition and overall get leaner, healthier and gain some body confidence I would 100% recommend this plan to you.

And there you have it guys. I hope you have all enjoyed my posts. T minus 1 day until we hit New York City!! Oh the excitement! The food, the sites, the shopping I could literally burst with excitement. If any of you have any tips for me before I go please hit me up.

And as always if you have any questions on my 90 day SSS plan journey you can catch me on any of my social media platforms:

Facebook: The Aileen Crowe Show

Instagram: @missaileencrowe

Snapchat: missaileencrowe

Big Love guys

Aileen

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Facebook: The Aileen Crowe Show
Instagram: @theaileencroweshow_blog

Snapchat: missaileencrowe