#xameliax

[boots]

Get the red lip look with xameliax and Rimmel!

[kaylaitsinesblogreview]

.Healthy Chicken Salad.

Back on the good food wagon with this scrumptious Summer Chicken Salad i featured on my food blog last week...it's fab for lunch boxes!

Check out the recipe HERE!

xax

[xameliax]

Weekend In Photos and Some Very Exciting News

This weekend has been four whole days of amazingness and I’ve been really looking forward to sharing it with you all! 

Friday I was invited down to London by Marc Jacobs to be the Celebrity Blogger for their Pop-up Tweet Shop in Covent Garden! I pootled down on the train and spent the day chatting to you lovely lot and giving out Marc Jacobs goodies for the best photos and vine videos which was so much fun! It was a real honour to be asked to do this and I loved every single second of it – days like that really make me appreciate being a blogger and all the adventures I’ve been lucky enough to have through it. 

On Saturday it was mine and Joe’s one year anniversary so we headed off to our favourite hotel to celebrate being together for a whole year! When I walked into our hotel room Joe had arranged for a stunning bouquet of my favourite flowers, a bottle of chilled champagne and rose petals all over the bed and I was so surprised!!! It was incredibly romantic and I’m not ashamed to say I squealed a little and ran around the room in excitement like a total girl! We went down for lunch and enjoyed our champagne before returning to the room where I drew myself a deep bath with the sumptuous Malmaison bath oils and sank in for a good hour with another glass of fizz and my kindle. 

In the evening we were booked in for dinner at the Brasserie but before we went we exchanged our anniversary presents. I’d made Joe a calendar with all our adventures from the past year and bought presents for each of the important months -  Whiskey for Edinburgh, Sunglasses for our holidays, A luxury man-toiletry bag for all our weekends away and more! When it was time for Joe’s presents to me I had no idea what I was opening. He’d treated me to my favourite Benefit Bronzer, some clothes, a beautiful framed photo with all our special adventures on and then came two little extra packages…inside was an adorable little Pandora charm in the shape of a house and a shiny new key! 

When I opened these Joe asked me to move in with him and I said YES!!!

Once I’d managed to stop the happy tears from ruining my night-time makeup we headed down for dinner, cocktails and celebrated into the night. I’d never felt so excited and I couldn’t stop smiling – he couldn’t have done it all in a better way and i’m an incredibly lucky girl! Sunday we headed back to ‘our house’ to get ready for one of Joe’s friend’s wedding and the sun definitely had it's hat on ready for their big day! We spent the day drinking, eating and celebrating with the happy couple and it was lovely. Yesterday was spent having a well-deserved lie in, enjoyed each other’s company and planning the big move next weekend!

I’m already daydreaming about trips to IKEA and lazy Sunday afternoons in bed – here’s to a new adventure and many more years together!

  xax

[xameliax]

Hello Summer Moments | The Costa Coffee Challenge

Last week Costa sent me this adorable wicker hamper filled to the brim with summer goodies...AND CAKE, ready to take on their Hello Summer Moments Challenge! I've had 5 days of fun sampling the delights of Costa's new Summer menu one new cake and cooler at a time - and here are my Summer Moments:

- My Hamper | Bursting with the sweetest items from Costa's Summer Menu; A Raspberry Ripple Fancy, A Mint Chocolate Chip Fancy, A Mini Victoria Sponge, A Lemon Drizzle Slice and A Pecan and White Chocolate Blondie! I couldn't eat them all myself so i took my hamper into the office and sliced each cake into 6 pieces so everyone in my team could try a slice of everything! Every person liked a different cake the best so we didn't have an overall winner, or a loser depending on how you look at it!

- Day One |  I'd heard so much about Costa's Green Tea Mint & Lime Cooler i knew exactly what i was going for first and i certainly wasn't disappointed! It tastes like a non-alcoholic mojito and i instantly fell in love...i even had to take a selfie with it to cement our new romance! If you can only try one new drink from the new menu then make sure it's this one! 

- Day 2 |  My second day was a nail art design dedicated to my favourite cake form the menu - The Raspberry Ripple Fancy! Deliciously light sponge covered in White Chocolate with a devilish raspberry ripple mousse fondant in the top and a Chocolate Flake...what's not to love?! Costa sent through three lovely Essie Polishes to help me on my manicure mission and i managed to squeeze all three colours in there - can you spot them?

- Day 3 | Joe was so upset he'd missed out on hamper cake testing i took him out for his very own Lemon Drizzle Slice and a Hazelenut Latte! Sadly it was far too rainy and cold for an iced drink but i'm happy to report that the new Lemon Drizzle Slice is a hit with both office dwelling ladies and men with beards - well done costa!

- Day 4 | The sun was shining today so i headed out at lunchtime in search of the perfect Costa accessory for my summer outfit! As i was wearing pink and green it was their new Strawberry & Lime Cooler to the rescue! Just as good as the Green Tea masterpiece from Day 1 and a little bit sweeter - this one tastes like strawberry starburst and is PERFECT for a hot day whether you're sitting in or out on the go like me!

- Day 5 | For my last day of the challenge i took a seat with my kindle, an Earl Grey Tea (Costa's not just for coffee ya'll) and one of their new Chorizo and Red Pepper Paninnis. It was absolutely delicious and i was lost in my own little world for an hour - the perfect way to spend your lunch break and a great way to round off a fun five days with Costa!

So there you have it, my Hello Summer Moments Challenge! Costa's Summer menu is in full swing so head on down to your nearest branch and get stuck in! 

Make sure you tweet us and tell us your favourite item @xameliax @costacoffee and take a Summer selfie using the #HelloSummerMoments!

Thanks for having me for a few days Costa, it's been so much fun and very, very tasty! 

...now where did i put that frisbee... .

xax

[kaylaitsinesblogreview]

.Week 4 | Bring It On.

Last week was a bit of a bummer for me and my Kayla programme went slightly AWOL, but on Friday i made a conscious effort to let it go and get back on that metaphorical fitness horse.

I had a fairly chilled weekend with a few naughty bites at a BBQ on Saturday and a couple of beers (Bud 66 bottles are only 85 kcals girls, so get chugging!) but overall i ate well and managed to get in some LISS exercise too. Today is the start of a new week, week 4 of my bikini body guide and i'm raring to go - not only because this weekend coming is going to be a bit of a naughty one food and fizz wise!

Let's see out the end of our first month in style!

xax

[xameliax]

.The JCB Mud Run 2014.

Those of you who follow on instagram (@xameliax) will know that last weekend myself and my kicboxing team (+Joe as we had a drop out!) took part in the JCB Mud Run to raise some serious money for 8 amazing charities!

5 miles, 30 obstacles and one hell of a lot of mud!!!

We trained hard and on the day we laughed even harder, it was the most fun i'd had in ages! The course was a bit tougher than i'd anticipated with impossible slippy climbs, ab-sailing down banks using just a rope, crawling through tiny concrete tunnels and sinking swamps that if you weren't careful would have you up to your neck but we all pulled together and made it through in 1 hour 35 minutes! 

The mud run entry fees went to the NSPCC and with over 2,700 entrants this year the event raised an incredible £51,000 for the children's charity! As a group we each decided to fundraise for different charities including Breast Cancer Care, The Alzheimers Society, Motor-Neurone Disease and others and between us on the day our team had raised a whopping £1,000 which has continued to rise since!

We had so much fun and really feel as though we've made a major difference to our chosen charities that we will certainly be back next year to beat our time and raise even more money!

If you want to take a look at us getting covered in mud you can watch my muddy vlog right here!

After posting my photos on instagram loads of you wonderful people donated a couple of quid to my Just Giving page which is simply incredible. It's one thing to support a friend, but to donate your hard earned pennies to a stranger is just amazing, so i wanted to say a HUGE thank you again to:

@Beck220174

@misscharl 

@muminthemadhouse

@charllouise_ox

@livelovewearit

@tello84 

@lennyloveslifeblog

@britnails 

@glowing_wild

...and everyone else who sneakily donated anonymously, go give these guys some love for their generosity! Apologies if i've missed anyone - if you have donated or you do then drop me a tweet @xameliax and let me know so i can add you to the list!

If you enjoyed looking through these piccies or if my vlog made you smile then please donate just £1 to my Just Giving page which is still open! If everyone who sees this donates a few pennies then we can make a serious difference to Breast Cancer Care (a charity very close to my heart) and show the world the power of social media! 

You can DONATE £1 HERE if you're feeling like a super special human today!

I can't wait until next year...even if it did take me an hour to wash the dirt out of my hair!

xax

(A huge thank you also to Paul, Barry and Karl Jones for some of our footage and photos!)

[xameliax]

.June Favourites 2014 | xameliax.

My favourite products from the month of June!

Don't forget to like, comment, share and SUBSCRIBE!

xax

[xameliax]

.Deep Pore Cleansing | Clarisonic Deep Pore Decongesting Kit. 

A few weeks back I wrote about my Clarisonic experience and now that I have the right balance of products I’m well away and still loving my Mia. I don’t use it every day as my skin is extremely sensitive so dropping down to every other day works perfectly for me but sometimes (usually after the weekend) I like to give my skin a deeper cleanse with their Deep Pore Cleansing Kit*. 

Clarisonic recommend you use the mask inside this kit once a week and the deep pore cleanser daily but for me once is enough for both products including the deep pore cleanser. The mask feels lovely on your skin, smoothly applied and left for 10 minutes before being removed gently with the deep pore brush head slightly wet. Clarisonic claim that pore size can be reduced by up to 25% after just one use and I have to say that even the large pores on my cheeks were clean as a daisy after using the mask and there was no redness or irritation afterwards either. They certainly looked smaller and my whole face felt incredibly clean – one happy customer over here. I find that the deep pore cleanser leaves my skin feeling super clean too but is a bit too harsh for me to use on a daily basis so I tend to just use it once between my face masks to keep that deep pore feeling. The products in this kit are all sold separately with the mask and cleanser coming in at around £22 each making it pretty good value to buy together. 

This is a fab kit for every Clarisonic user to have in their beauty box and the perfect step to add to your pamper regime, be that recovering from the weekend just gone or prepping for the weekend ahead! 

You can find the Clarisonic Deep Pore Cleansing Kit on their website HERE for £55. 

Do you own a Clarisonic? Would you consider treating yourself to this kit or any of the products inside? 

Tweet me @xameliax and tell me what you use with your Clarisonic #deepporekit

 xax