How I Lost 40 Pounds! Tips and Tricks!

Hey Everyone! :)

Today, I thought I would do a post that I've been wanting to do for a while now. Recently, I've been noticing a lot of blog posts and videos about how to stay healthy and fit for the summer and I thought I would add in my little tips. I have struggled with my weight for my whole life, last year I just got sick of being overweight and unhappy with how I was feeling. So, I started to exercise and eat healthy and since then I have lost 40 pounds and have maintained it! This post is going to outline my tips for you, but if you would like me to do a post on what I eat specifically and what I do to exercise then comment below and let me know! :)

1. Drink LOTS of water. This sounds simple and it shouldn't be a 'tip' but drinking water is SO healthy guys! It helps your metabolism, it keeps your skin fresh and makes you feel WAY better! I remember before I switched over to a healthy lifestyle, I barely used to drink water and it definitely affected my body and skin. I drink about 7 glasses a day and what I recommend is to drink between meals and snacks!
2. Eat smaller portions more often! This is basically the biggest reason for why I lost weight. Before, I used to skip breakfast, eat a normal lunch and then a HUGE dinner but that is SO wrong. Ideally, you should be eating bigger portions/unhealthier foods at the beginning of your day so your body can maximize that time that it has to burn fat! Anyways, I usually eat about 4-5 meals a day and I love it because I'm always eating and I don't feel gross after like I would if I ate a huge meal.
3. Eat fresh food! Eating fresh vegetables and fruit is so important for your body guys, I can't stress this enough! Not only are fruits and veggies delicious, but they fill you up and help your skin, hair and overall body look and feel its best!
4. Avoid packaged food! This is linked to my last tip, but processed food is filled with unnecessary sugar and fats and can make you feel lethargic after eating them. I'm not saying to never eat a bag of chips, or an ice-cream sandwich again-but try to eat them in moderation!
5. Exercise! This is obviously a key part of losing weight but you have to be careful in deciding what you want to do in terms of exercise. The problem with walking or going on the treadmill everyday is that your body gets used to it and soon it doesn't make a difference at all! I switch up my exercise regimen all the time and always do a different number of reps for strength exercises just to keep my body guessing! Mostly though, I enjoy yoga, core exercises, and cardio like biking/jogging!

These are some of the things I did to lose weight and I hope this helps you guys! Just remember that you have to have balance in your life, so don't deprive yourself of junk food for a long time and then eat a ton of it later! It's all about eating in moderation! If I eat particularly unhealthy food items during the day, I will balance it out by eating fresh, healthy foods for the rest of the day! 

I also want to say that when I was changing my lifestyle, I wasn't doing it for the weight-loss, I was doing it to feel better! The weight-loss came with it. But please remember that your weight has nothing to do with your beauty and if you are trying to lose weight then do it for yourself and no one else! Since last year, I've noticed that you can never please anyone and that someone is always going to be critical about you but you have to ignore all of that! 

Since I lost weight, people have asked me whether I'm anorexic, bulimic or if I took diet pills even though none of that is true! I've had people tell me that I was ugly when I was 'fat' and that I'm pretty now that I'm 'skinny'. When I was younger I always thought that I would be happy when I was 'skinny' but that is not true AT ALL. Happiness comes from within and your beauty isn't determined by how you look on the outside! 

I'm not perfect at all, and by giving you guys these tips I'm not trying to say I'm a professional but I hope you guys found this helpful! Comment below and let me know if you try any of these tips!

xoxo,

N

Above image is from here.

My Current Obsession!

Hey Everyone!

I know that this is the third post that I'm posting in like an hour, but I saw these pictures in my phone and I had to show you guys! I recently went to Aeropostale-I don't normally shop there, but I have a younger sister who does! I saw these sandals, and I honestly feel like the light of the heavens was shining on them! I know these aren't to everyone's taste, but I LOVE them. The neon is perfect for the summer, these add a great amount of height to my body, and they are totally comfortable to walk in because of the fact that they are wedges AND they have straps! I've bought wedges before, but they were pretty hard to walk in because there wasn't anything wrapped around my feet :P. I just wanted to show you guys these in case you wanted to buy them too, since I got them at $30.00 (50% off!)

Comment below letting me know how you like them! :)

xoxo,
N

Review: Grease Lighting VS Clinique Acne Spot Treatment

Hey Everyone!

Since I slacked on doing posts last week, I thought I would do another post before the day ends :)
As you can see from the title, I'm going to be doing a review on 2 different acne/spot treatments and tell you guys why I love using them and what the benefits are!

Lush: Grease Lightning, $13.95

I bought this about 2 weeks ago, because I know that so many people rave about this but I just didn't have a chance to go to my mall that has a Lush store. Grease Lightning is a gel treatment that has ingredients like tea tree oil, which is 'nature's antibiotic'. Tea tree oil treatments are supposed to be amazing for red, acne-prone skin because it soothes your skin. The Body Shop also sells tea tree oil, in case you were looking for an alternative! Anyways, you are supposed to apply a layer of this to affected areas and I've found that this is GREAT in helping my skin heal! My skin has not been in the greatest condition and literally after two days of putting this on my skin, my scars started to blur a little and become lighter. I am so happy with this product and how it is helping in healing and removing my acne scars! I recently got a pimple, and I applied this on it but it didn't make a difference. TIP: this feels amazing on your skin if you keep it in the fridge!

I would recommend this for those who have had acne and want to help in healing their skin.

Clinique: Acne Solutions Spot Treatment, $17.00

I actually bought the Clinique Acne Solutions System last year along with this product and to be honest this is the only thing I liked. I kind of forgot about it until recently, so I brought it out and decided to try it on a recent breakout. I know this is going to sound kind of gross..but my pimple was large, red and very tight to the touch. However, after applying this Clinique product, I woke up the next morning to find that my pimple was much smaller and almost flat! This is also a gel type of treatment and it has salicylic acid in it.

I would recommend this for those who are having trouble with break outs and need a quick treatment to reduce swelling and pain!

All in all, these are both great products and I would recommend them to everyone who has troublesome skin (read acne problems!)

Hope you all had a great day! :)

xoxo,
N

Collective Haul! Brandy Melville, Forever 21, American Eagle!

Hey Everyone!!

Hope you all are doing well :) I know it's been about a week since I last posted,  but I've been really busy and I just haven't found the time to do any posts :( As you can guess from the title, I'm going to be showing you guys what I've bought recently and this haul is especially exciting for me because I got to go to Brandy Melville! :D I think I mentioned that I wanted to go there in a previous post, but guys...my obsession with going to Brandy Melville got serious! As far as I know, there are only 2 stores that are remotely near me and the other one is on the other side of Canada! So, I had to ask my parents to give me a ride to the mall since it was a bit far away. I've been lusting over Brandy Melville pieces and the store was pretty amazing! I also got a few pieces from other stores, I hope you enjoy this haul!

Forever 21: 
Floral Front-Tie Shirt, $21.80

American Eagle: (Everything was 30-40% off!)

Peplum Shirt: $17.47

Tribal Tee: $14.97

Brandy Melville:

LA Bones Beanie: $12.00

Moon Phase Muscle Tank: $21.00

Sadie Vintage Camera Tank: $23.00

Stressed... Tank: $23.00

Drugstore:
Nivea Waterproof Eye Make-Up Remover, $6.99
(Not loving this, might do review soon!)

Batiste Dry Shampoo, $5.00
(Love this!)

Lush:

Grease Lightning, $13.95

(LOVE this!)

I hope you all enjoyed this! 

xoxo,

N

My Favourite You-Tuber's-Part 2!

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all had a great weekend! I was actually planning on doing a post about my weekend at the cottage, however when I uploaded the pictures they didn't look that great! It's such a shame, because the place I went to was beautiful, but the beauty wasn't captured properly in the pictures :( Anyways, I am back today with another post about who I love to watch on YouTube! Funnily enough, everyone that I am going to mention in this post is from England! I totally didn't mean for it to happen...but it did! I hoep you guys enjoy this! And comment below letting me know who you love to watch on Youtube :)

1. EssieButton

So basically, I have been obsessed with watching essiebutton this month. There are just so many things I love about her, but I think the biggest thing is that she's Canadian (living in England) ! This may sound weird, and maybe it's just me...but I feel like there aren't many Canadian You-Tubers out there and its just nice to hear her mention things that happen here in Canada and talk about stores that she loves from here. Essiebutton is also amazing because her videos are really informative, I love her reviews (they're really thorough), she's hilarious and she just seems like a person who is genuinely down to earth. I recently came across her, but I know I will watch her videos for a LONG time!

2. FleurdeForce

I've been watching Fleur for a few months now, and I've been loving her videos! I came across channel, because she is one of MissGlamorazzi (or Ingrid's) best friends and I thought she seemed cool. I love watching Fleur because she has amazing tips when it comes to applying make-up, she also has great reviews of products and I feel like Fleur has a similar sort of style to mine! She's absolutely gorgeous and her vlog channel is so cute as well, Fleur and her fiancée are perfect for each other!

3. BeautyCrush

Sammi is another person that I've enjoyed watching recently. I remember I watched one of her video's a few years ago but I didn't like it that much, so I didn't subscribe to her. But I watched her videos again a while ago and I really liked them! Sammi has such a cool, edgy style and I love that she's not afraid to wear anything. It seems like she can literally pull off anything she wants! I feel like Sammi inspires me to be a little different and dress out of the box! She also has good product reviews and I love love lover her lipstick collection!

4. Zoella280390
If I had to describe Zoella in one word, it would be CUTE! She is honestly the cutest person I have ever seen and she is just stunning! She's also amazing when it comes to reviewing products, I love her hauls (although they make me insanely jealous!) and her personality just seems wonderful. I feel like Zoella is one of those absolutely gorgeous girls, but doesn't know it (if that makes sense). She's so modest and humble and she is always talking about problems that she has dealt with, which makes me relate to her a lot! I just love her, you guys should definitely check her out!

5. Tanya Burr

Last, but not least is Tanya Burr! I enjoy watching her videos, because her make-up tutorials are insane! She does amazing make-up, which is celebrity inspired and since she has worked in make-up she has some great tips! Tanya also does a lot of reviews of high-end products, so if I'm thinking of purchasing something I like to see if she's done a review on it because she has tried out soo many high-end things! She also has an adorable fiancée!

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! A lot of my past posts have been about OOTD's, but I'm feeling more inspired in terms of beauty so I am going to do a haul and review of some products very soon! Have a great day!

xoxo,
N

My Weekly Hair Treatment!

Hey Everyone!

If you didn't already know this, I ombre'd my hair last weekend and I was doing my weekly hair treatment when I thought that I should do a post on it! It's super easy, the ingredients are not hard to find at all and they're very affordable. My hair has been kind of dry and brittle at the ends (because my hair went from jet black to a light brown/blonde) and so I made sure that I didn't slack off on doing my treatment this week!

I had the idea of doing this post after I washed my hair, so I don't have pictures of my own to show. But, I'm going to list the ingredients, tell you what I do and show pictures of the ingredients!

Ingredients:

Olive Oil



Almond Oil




Coconut Oil



Steps: (The amount of each ingredient will vary depending on the thickness, amount of hair you have!)

1. Pour 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil in a small bowl
2. Pour 1 Tablespoon of Almond Oil into the same bowl
3. Lastly, add one teaspoon of coconut oil
4. Mix all ingredients
5. Warm in the microwave for about 20 seconds
6. Massage on to scalp

The reason I love this treatment is that its super hydrating, I don't have to run to the store to buy this and its all natural. This seriously makes your hair really soft, shiny and manageable! I warm this mixture because I read online somewhere that you should warm oil before you massage it in to your scalp.  I'm not exactly sure why you're supposed to do this, but my best guess is that it warms up the product in the same way that a product gets warmed up when you rub it in your hands.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post, let me know if you try it and how you liked it! This will probably be the last post for this week, I will resume blogging when I come back! Hope you guys have a great weekend :)

xoxo,

N

Picture Sources:

Olive Oil

Almond Oil

Coconut Oil

3 Outdoor-sy Inspired Outfits!

Hey Everyone!

I'm so sorry I barely blogged this week! I'm actually going to a cottage this weekend from Friday morning until Monday afternoon and I've been so busy with packing and buying materials with my mom that I barely had a chance to sit down and do a post! Today, I'm going to be showing you guys three outfits that I would wear on a trip to the cottage, or even a camping trip! I wasn't feeling too well so I took pictures of my sister wearing these outfits and I kind of like doing my OOTD's this way too, let me know how you feel as well!

1. Mad for Plaid!

So, In my opinion there are a few places where it is pretty much a must for me to wear plaid. Going camping/to the cottage is one of those places! Plaid gives a relaxed, yet preppy vibe at the same time and it literally looks good with everything, which is why I love it so much. I've been into graphic tees a lot, so I paired this shirt with a quote from Shakespeare, which is: 'Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none'. I styled this with blue jeans, which is also a must-have for me and lastly I had to include my combat boots!

Plaid Shirt: $21.80, Forever 21

Tank: $12.80, Forever 21

Jeans: $40.00, American Eagle Outfitters

Necklace: Gift

Boots: $60.00, Costa Blanca

2. A Taste for Tribal

So, I've included this tribal open cardigan in a few of my posts because I love it so much and it's so versatile! It's perfect for the summertime and wintertime, because it's not too thick or thin. I love throwing this over a simple shirt and jeans and of course I included my combat boots in this outfit as well!

Cardigan: $29.80, Forever 21

T-Shirt: $14.00, Joe Fresh

Jeans: $40.00, American Eagle Outfitters

Necklace: $5.00, Garage

Combat Boots: $60.00, Costa Blanca

3. Patriotic Love

I have worn this outfit so many times that I've lost count! Since I'm originally from England, I'm obsessed with anything that has a Union Jack sign on it and I love this tank because it has a paisley pattern in it as well. I've already talked about this jean shirt soo much, so I'll spare you guys today! I paired this outfit with a pair of red Converse shoes, because I thought the red shoes brought out the red in the shirt and added some colour!

Jean Shirt: $18.00, American Eagle Outfitters

Tank: $11.80 (I think!), Forever 21

Jeggings: $40.00, American Eagle

Ring: $10.00, Jewelry Stand

Converse Shoes: $45.00, Converse

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! I kept the jewelry to a minimum, just because I don't like to wear my favourite pieces when I know I'm going to be outdoors for a long period of time! I will probably pack some of these clothing pieces tonight and I'll make sure I take a lot of pictures and do a post on my weekend when I return! Hope you guys had a good day! :)

xoxo,

N