Diet Diaries 2.0- Eye on the prize + Easy Chicken Recipe

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Hey Guys!

I've been meaning to write another diet diaries but with work and attending the last few lectures of my course, I had to postpone it to a quieter time to recollect my thoughts.

So since we last "spoke", I can safely say that I am being very good with my diet, eating healthily and also introduced green tea to my regime and believe me I am drinking LOADS of different flavoured green tea, more on that later.

Unfortunately my dates with myfitnesspal.com are not always consistent and regular, at the beginning, I was always updating it consistently nearly after each meal or at a particular time of the day, but for some reason, I am constantly forgetting or find it tedious... this was actually one problem I had when I went to Marika, for some reason, I always forgot or found it tedious to record every meal.

The thing is, although it may be tedious, I found that by actually documenting your meals and by reflecting on your daily eating habits, it can really help you stay on track, so I set a goal to restart documenting what I eat. Just a reminder, you can access myfitnesspal food diary by clicking this link: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/tinav2407

You will see ALOT of entries that are empty... hopefully that'll change soon!

Weight wise, my weighing scales are not budging but clothes wise, I am seeing a difference. Clothes stay on better and instead of having a bulging tummy, my bloating has reduced, making me owe a huge thank you to all the green tea I am drinking.

People have also commented that my face is looking thinner and last time Chanel and I saw some photos from the past couple of months and the difference is noticeable!

With regards to food, I am quite consistent with lunch preparations. I tend to go for salads, veg or chicken and veg depending how long my day is.

I have found it super convenient to cook chicken breasts or tenderloins and season them with a mixed pepper and lemon mill- the results are simply divine!

The Pepper and Lemon seasoning I use is by Drogheria and Alimentari and I bought this mill from Miracle Foods in St. Paul's Bay, however, I think you can find it in a number of supermarkets.

 

So how do I cook the chicken?

 

 

First I leave the chicken to thaw a few hours and after it is towed, I spray a pan or grill, however, I am tending to favour pans lately, with a low-fat oil, leaving it a few seconds to heat up.

 

I place the chicken breast and grind some seasoning on it leaving it for a few minutes.

 

When I see that the chicken is browning, I turn the chicken and season the other side, adding a bit of water in order to keep the chicken tender.

 

I repeat this step another two times.

 

I usually take the chicken with some mixed veg seasoned with the Pepper and Lemon seasoning.

 

Et Voila! A very simple recipe that doesn't take much effort and is finger-licking good! 

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this post!

 

Till next time!

 

Martina



Fabulous Events- Essence & Catrice!

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Hey Guys!

Hope you are all doing well!

Today I wanted to blog about the Essence & Catrice event I attended last week and give you a sneak peak of the products I received, especially since these products form part of the new collections that you can find on stands as we speak!

I plan to do a post which highlights the new products and also review each product, so stay tuned!

The event was held at the Hilton were we were stunned by a fabulous ballroom with an equally fabulous view! The highlight however were samples of the new make up collection paired with all the scrumptious nibbles and my favourite, a selection of Tea <3 BLISS!

At the end of the event, we received a gorgeous goodie bag filled with treats from the new collections. We were also encouraged to take any make up we sampled with us home! 

The products we received from both the Essence and the Catrice collections are photographed below:

Essence Collection

As you can see, there are quite a number of new essence goodies up for grabs at your essence stand!

From left, you can see the new lipsticks that are on stands now, from the new sought after liquid lipsticks to the new sheer and shine lipsticks.

The shades we received (and were able to take home with us) were (from left to right):
essence Liquid Lipstick- 02 Beauty Secret
essence Sheer & Shine Lipstick in 03 BFF and 07 Sparkling Miracle
essence Long Lasting Lipstick in 04 It's nude time

Just below the lipsticks is one of the new palettes available in a range of colours, I received the All about Greys eyeshadow palette which consists of a number of matt and shiny eyeshadows all in different grey hues.

On the right of the palette, are four products, three of which were samples I took home with me.
The first is the new Multi-action Volume Mascara whilst just below it you can see one of the new Mono Eyeshadows 13 Ocean Drive and Mattifying Compact Powder in shade 11. Just below you can see a sample of the new Camouflage concealer available as a duo.

Last but not least, we were given the 'Like a million miles away' perfume.

Catrice Collection

The Catrice collection also has something for everyone, from new lipsticks to palettes, I was ecstatic to learn that Catrice brought out new berry and nude shades for us to enjoy!

Starting top left, we were given the Ultimate stay lipstick, a gorgeous slim lipstick in the shade 030 Wood you love me, there is also a gorgeous berry shade which I cannot wait to get my hands on! Speaking of Berry, I absolutely love the Ultimate nail laquer in 94 It's a berry bash (which is actually my view as a type) and 98 No Coffee without Toffee.

Just underneath them you can find the Glossy lip glow, which if you recall a few years ago, is very similar to the Lip glow lipstick that changes colour depending on the PH balance of your lips, however, instead of being a lipstick, it is now in lipgloss form.. quite original don't you think?

Catrice have also launched a new mascara dubbed Lashes to Kill that give you a false lash effect without the falsies!

Last but not least, Catrice have also launched new palettes, the Deluxe Trio Eyeshadow focusing on nudes and berry colours. The eyeshadow palette shown is 010 Antique C'est Tres Chic. Just underneath, you can find the Pure shine Colour Lip Balm in 060 Go Flamingo Go!, a lip balm that I think has been already on stands since summer, assuming from the actual shade.

Hope you enjoyed reading this post! Stay tuned for reviews and more information about the new collections in the coming posts!

Martina XOXO

And so it begins... again...

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Dear Readers,

I hope you are all doing well. Yes, I am still alive and kicking but you all know me, I come and go and at times I am so unpredictable I surprise myself also.

These past few months have been quite a roller coaster ride of emotions for me, I have gone through so many changes in my life, physically and emotionally that some things had to give.

Throughout this journey I lost so much of myself that I stopped recognising myself, not only on an emotional level but also on a physical level.

I had gained back nearly all the weight I put off and due to this my self-esteem came plummeting down. One of the reasons why I also stopped doing outfit posts was for this reason, I was so ashamed of myself, having overcome my battle with my weight to lose it all again that I just went in a corner and gave up.

Slowly slowly I have started gaining back the strength I had before thanks to a great support system I have in my life and during this past month or so, I have been eating healthily once again, however, since I did try for a brief period in the past few months and failed miserably, I needed to be sure about this before restarting my journey and sharing it in the process with you.

Currently I am doing this journey on my own, not that I do not trust my nutritionist, but I felt that I need to regain control of myself and be able to point out to myself when I have cheated on my journey.

However, I do have a little tech helping me along the way plus my best friends are all on health regimes so I have very good shoulders to lean on when I see a bump coming up along the road.

The little tech friend that I have is a site that Chanel told me about called myfitnesspal.com, this is basically a site that tells you how much you consume a day and also allows you to measure if you need to eat more or less during the day.

I decided to make my profile online were anyone can access my profile and take a look at my online food diary, maybe I can give you some inspiration :)

You can access it by following this link: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/tinav2407

Today I just wanted to write down a sort of introductory post but I am thinking of posting regular updates, any recipes which I find interesting, healthy and tasty and anything which tickles my fancy.

Don't forget to follow me on my facebook and Instagram pages: HERE and HERE were I will be posting regular photos of my food choices etc.

So Let's do this once more, I would love to hear your stories as usual!

Lots of Love,

Martina

Tried & Tested- Pupa Milano Soft & Wild Limited Edition Collection

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Hi All!

Hope you are doing well!

So I know I have been away for a while but I assure you I am alive and kicking just been super busy focusing on my career and other stuff in my life, more on that in an upcoming post!

Today I would like to talk to you about some products which have been sent over to me by Pupa Milano, however, first things first, let me take a few minutes of your time to show you this gorgeous collection!

First of all this collection is called the Soft & Wild collection and is a Limited Edition collection for Autumn 2015.

 

 

This collection features a number of different products from eye shadows to lipsticks to nail products that bring out your wild side whilst maintaining your soft features.

 

As Pupa put it:

"Pupa captures the trend and presents Soft&Wild, a make-up collection created for those women who love a sophisticated and romantic look with modern “aggressive” accents. Shades of powder pink blend with the bolder ones of fuchsia, for a collection that has a soft and wild soul."

You can view more information about this collection by clicking here: CLICK ME!

 

 

 

I received the Vamp! Duo Liner & Kajal and I'm Pure Colour Lipstick- Absolute Brightness in 003.

 

So, I have been wearing these products for the past week and I an safely say that I am OBSESSED with the lipstick and absolutely love the Kajal Liner, however, I am not wearing it out during the day due to the intensity of it. That being said I did wear it today to work but that was for review purposes!

 

 



In this photo you can see the look I created were I used the lipstick and the Duo Liner and Kajal.

 

Vamp! Duo Liner & Kajal

 

 

In this look I applied the Kajal Liner on the bottom of my eyes whilst the liquid liner on top. As you can see the intensity of the Kajal is much more intense than that of the liner, in fact when I wore it out, I went over the liner with the Kajal and eyeshadow.

 

The packaging itself is really trendy and I love the shape of both the Kajal and Liner. It is very controllable but you need a bit more control with the liner. I also noted that if the kajal gets wasted you can actually pull it out of place (granted I noticed this because I was a bit of a savage with it (see my wild side was coming out ;))

 

I also tested out both the kajal and liner by swatching them and putting them under water then wiping them off with a towel... look at my results below:

 

 

The black line on top is the Liner part whilst the black line on the bottom is the kajal part.

 

 

I was quite impressed with the Kajal part it actually went after a good rub with soap, however the liner part went out quite quickly when I washed it with soap.

 

That being said I still wanted to test out the longevity. I tested it out on a very long Friday night and I did have some bleeding from the Kajal and the Liner stayed on quite well, having said that I did put the kajal for more intensity on it, however, today I tested the Liner out with no added stuff..

 

 

As you can see there was a bit of fading of the liner and bleeding from the kajal but for a morning look the fading doesn't bother me that much.

 

 

All in all I love this liner and will definitely re-buy it once it runs out!

 

I'm Pure Colour Lipstick- Absolute Brightness in 003- Wild Red





 

I am OBSESSED with this shade! It is the right amount of red to wear at night or during the day and the application is soo smooth and it leaves your lips quite moisturised!

 

If you follow me on Instagram/ Facebook you know I posted this photo recently:

 

 

The shade on my lips is none other than the I'm Pure Colour Lipstick- Absolute Brightness in 003- Wild Red! The below photo is a closer look at the shade on my lips!

 

On the day, I also decided to test out the longevity and boy did I give this lipstick a run for it's money! On the day we had spare ribs for lunch so you can imagine what torture this poor lipstick went through.

 Considering what I put my lipstick through, I was quite surprised that I had a nice tint to my lips!

To be fair, today I re-tested the lipstick this time eating normally and drinking as I normally do:

Although the lipstick is not as vibrant as before, the red is still quite prominent and is still on my lips as I sit here and type whilst sipping on my Lemon & Ginger tea!

 

This lipstick comes in four shades, two neutral shades one on beige and one which is more pinky and a fuchsia shade. 

 

I absolutely love this collection and considering their prices which are a bit on the pricier side, I think that they are good value for the money you spend!

 

Before I forget... the following are the prices of all the collection:

 

Soft & Wild I'M Pure Colour Lipstick- Absolute Brightness - €12.45

Soft & Wild Vamp! Duo Liner & Kajal - €11.80



Soft & Wild Lasting Color Gel - €6.00

Soft & Wild Animal Print Effect Top Coat - €6.00

Soft & Wild Blush - €14.40

Soft & Wild Vamp! Wet & Dry Eyeshadow - €11.70 each

 

 Hope you liked this post!

 

Don't forget to like my facebook page: HERE and follow me on instagram: @allthingsfab

 

 Martina XOXO

 

*Disclaimer- I was sent the above products for free, however, this review is of my true and honest opinion. I was not paid to write this review.