Keeping Your Summer Glow

September is upon us and with that comes colder weather and the end of the sunshine (not that we had any of that). I'm trying to hang on to the summer feeling for a little longer.

In order to keep that feel good feeling I've been making an effort with what I'm eating. Eating the right foods can really help keep the glow going. Since making the full time change to veggie I've been eating lots of fresh veg and have noticed a great change in my skin. To snack on I'm trying to eat less processed foods and more healthy snacks. Aloha do a great range of snacks that look super tasty!

Microdermabrasion at The Summer House

I was really kindly invited by Amy to have a microdermabrasion facial at The Summer House. The Summer House, is exactly that, a cute little summer house in a gorgeous garden in Bourne End. This is a little location specific compared to some of my posts, but you'll just have to make the trip.

I'd heard of microdermabrasion from late night QVC watching with my Dad, but I'd never experienced it myself. I wasn't sure what it would be like to have it done. It looked like it might hurt. I can confirm, that is doesn't.

Where have I been?

So, hi. It's been a while...sorry about that. Life got in the way.

Since I last wrote, I've been away, twice, I got a job and a crashed my car (I'm ok, it's ok £300 excess later). But I'm back now, hopefully a little more regularly!

I've been here

 And I saw these

And I had the best time. I'll write a big post about Shetland and the Folk Festival soon with some more photos. 

I work in social media and I spend a lot of time on my computer and Twitter, so it's hard to want to do that in my spare time as well. But now I've settled into it a bit more hopefully I'll get more done!

So thanks for sticking around. There's some beauty related posts to come too, so let's get back into the swing of things. 

KIKO Haul

As part of my on-going leave the house more campaign I went to the Reading Oracle shopping centre. I was excited to discover that there was a KIKO store there. I did some Googling and I believe that KIKO is cruelty free. I hope I'm not wrong about that!

Wishlist Wednesday: ASOS

I love trawling through ASOS, it's up there as one of my favourite pastimes. You can pick up fairly inexpensive clothes when the season changes. Coupled with the fact that I want to change most of my current wardrobe. Here's some things I'm lusting after right now.

The Vegan Kind #TVK18

I've never signed up for a monthly box subscription, I've been tempted but there's never been one that grabbed me, especially since going cruelty free. I wanted to be able to guarantee that nothing would be tested on animals.

I came across The Vegan Kind on a Google search, but didn't take the plunge until there was a code on instagram. I ordered my box on the 1st April at about 10:30am (cut off for subscriptions is 12 noon) and it arrived on Saturday (11th). Not bad at all! I missed it because I was out but picked it up this morning. Here's what was inside:

I ripped my address labels off, hence the damage

*Spoiler Alert*

Week In: Easter!

Quick post to wish everyone a Happy Easter! X

Things I learnt from going vegan

On Tuesday my month of veganism came to an end, and it certainly was an eye opener. I thought I'd hate every second and spend the whole month fighting temptation, but that didn't happen. Although I did break it on Wednesday, Karl and I took a bite of a fish finger and a chicken goujon respectively at the same time so neither of us was the first to break it.

Image from www.vegansociety.com/

I reckon I'll go back to it, not full time, at least not yet. But I'm definitely going to be having more vegan meals and sweet treats.

Wishlist Wednesday: April Edition

Pinch, punch, the first of the month! Happy April Fool's Day everyone, hope you didn't fall for too many.

Here's a quick summary of all the things I want to get my hands on this month.

First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads - £22.00

My skin has been looking a bit dull and flaky recently, so I could do with some radiance in my life!

The H&M Jumper

Last week I told you about the Dorothy Perkins jeans I was loving, this week it's an H&M jumper. I have two of these jumpers now. One grey one and this purple one. I use the grey one as a pyjama top and Karl got me the purple one so I had one I could wear out of the house as well.

I have the grey one in a Small so it works well as a pyjama top because it's a little oversized. This one is an Extra Small so you can get an idea of sizing.

Everyone should have one these jumpers, I plan on collecting all of the colours! It's so comfortable.

H&M Sweatshirt - £5.99 (Hopefully it'll be back in stock online soon)

Review: GOSH Make Up

I have been researching cruelty foundations and while I'd found some luxury options, I was struggling to find much on the high street. I've previously ruled out B. and this time I went for another Superdrug-sold brand, GOSH.

At home takeaway: Vegan Curry

I love a good takeaway. Karl and I get them once a fortnight or so and just relax about cooking for a night. Since the start of vegan month though we haven't had a single one. I really wanted a curry but didn't want to spend the time making it from scratch so we popped off to Waitrose to see what we could find.

We went for the Patak's Masala Chicken curry sauce and mini poppadoms to add to some Waitrose bhajis and samosas.

11 reasons to join the National Trust

When I was younger I used to get taken to a lot of National Trust properties. I always pretended not to like them but secretly I was hoping I'd get swept off my feet by the heir to the place and get to live in a stately home forever. 99% of the time I'd discover the house hadn't been lived in for 60 years or the heir was 35 with no children. I told Karl this the other day and he looked at me like I'd completely lost it, so maybe that was just me and my over-active imagination.

Image from their website

Now I'm older I realise that living in a mansion would be expensive and not very practical but I still enjoy looking at them. I feel as if the National Trust is thought of as being made up of retirees and history loving parents. So here's why you should join the National Trust when you're under the age of 25.

Wishlist Wednesday: Sweaty Betty

As will probably become apparent on here over the next few weeks and months I'm on something of a fitness journey. I hated P.E at school. I was bad at all sports and vividly remember crying in one of my primary school classes because I couldn't do a forward roll and everyone laughed at me.

However, now I'm older and wiser I know that forward rolls aren't the be all and end all of being athletic. I have previously considered running but never had the motivation to get out there. Being an anxious person scared of going outside and being sick doesn't help matters either. In January I told myself I would complete the Yoga with Adriene 30 Days of Yoga and I did it without missing a single day. I fell in love with yoga and now try do to it at least once a week.

I have also fallen in love with workout gear, so this week's wishlist is what I want from Sweaty Betty.

The Dorothy Perkins Jeans

For someone who lives in jeans, it seemed strange to me that I only had two pairs that I would actually wear on a regular basis. So I went on the hunt for a third pair.

I love Topshop Joni jeans, that what my other two pairs are and I would definitely get a third pair of them, but currently I don't have the budget for £36 on jeans.

I opted for Dorothy Perkins and spent slightly too long looking at all the different styles online. After a lot of deliberation I went for the Petite Harper Jeans.

Cruelty Free Beauty Struggles and Triumphs

I announced at the beginning of the year that I intended to only buy make-up that hadn't been tested on animals. I don't believe that make-up needs to be put on animals for any reason. I stand by this decision and will keep to it until the laws change across the world.

Photo from leap bunny.org

Week In: Song Lyrics

Another new series as part of the blog's new look. I've never really known what to do with weekends, I'm not very good at Instagram so a week in Instagram posts wouldn't really work. So I've decided to do a "Week In:..." so it could be a week in inspirational Pinterest quotes, yoga poses, jokes, etc.

This week it's the song that inspired me to make the change to the blog. I've put the lyrics over my view of Friday's eclipse. A plan that the weather scuppered.

George Ezra's Listen to Man is the song in question. It reminds me to take the plunge, and to listen to Karl more often because he's always right.

Vegan Cookies

Food Fridays will be a thing now. Hopefully this will encourage me to have more exciting things for lunch. Being woefully unprepared this week I'm afraid I don't have very good pictures.

We didn't do Vegan-ary but we're doing Vegan-arch (so to speak). This means we've been experimenting a bit more with our meals. I really missed having sweet things so did a bit of digging and found this recipe from This Rawsome Vegan Life.

They were pretty easy to make and taste like normal chocolate cookies. Not many things will be sticking around once the month is up but I'd definitely make this again. I would say you need to spread the blobs of mixture out a lot or they'll stick together like this.

What other vegan desserts should I try?

Walking back to happiness

Thursdays are going to be set aside for rambling, life updates, reviews of non-beauty things. Today it's about how I'm battling my mental health issues. You can get my life story here and what exactly I'm dealing with in life.

I'm currently have counselling with a therapist Anxiety UK put me in touch with and she's great. Treats me like a grown up and lets me babble on about what I've done recently and helps me to be proud of my achievements, no matter how small.

Wednesday Wishlist: Charlotte Tilbury

As past of my new look I've got a new schedule, including the ever-so-ordinal Wednesday Wishlist. Sometimes this might be a really long wishlist, other times it might only have one thing on it.

This weeks it's all about Charlotte Tilbury. A firm favourite of my cousins and legions of beauty bloggers it's been a brand that's been on my radar for a while. I recently found out that they're all cruelty free too, so not only can I lust after them, I can buy them too!

Times are changing

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed some changes going happening on my little blog. I've been having a complete make-over! So may I present to you all.....

Yes, I've changed the name and everything!!

I was feeling uninspired by my previous blog incarnation, I didn't like the colours as much any more, I had run clean out of ideas and felt I couldn't do being a beauty blogger justice anymore. I'm not getting rid of beauty, but giving myself more room to write about other things without feeling like I am betraying my blog name. Now alongside beauty I'm going to be talking about lifestyle, fashion, food, fitness, random things. I'm also going to be charting my recovery from anxiety and its related issues. Maybe I'll even start vlogging.

I'm sad to be saying goodbye to Ellie Mae's Beauty Blog, but it was time to move on. All my old posts will remain and I'm still Ellie Mae on social media. So it's not really gone. (Genuinely a little emotional writing this).

The name was born out of a conversation with Mum. I didn't know what to do and she asked me what I looked forward to in life and made me happy and I said "five past five" because that's when my boyfriend gets home from work. So here it is - five past five: the things that make me tick.

Review: B. Concealers

I hauled these concealers just over a month ago and now I shall be reviewing them for you. I actually got them mid-January so I've given them a good run through.

The concealers in question are the B. Flawless Long Lasting Concealer and the B. Radiant BB Under Eye Concealer. I said in the haul that I wasn't sure and after all this time I'm still left unconvinced. B. is such a good idea, cruelty free makeup at a low price point and easily accessible, but I just haven't tried any base products from them and enjoyed them.

Pink Hair, Don't Care

I dyed my hair pink, on a whim, to cheer myself up from a depressive funk a couple of weeks ago. It worked so I decided to do it again but this time I'd photograph proceedings. I used a mixture of Bleach London's Rose and Awkward Peach. I put Awkward Peach on my under layers and Rose on top. I put it on dry hair and left it for two hours before washing it out in lukewarm water. Fairly simple steps really.

Finally Cleaning My Brushes

My brushes have been way over due a wash (a bit like this blog post should have been written a long time ago) and so with some new soap and time to kill I did them this afternoon.

I'd been using baby shampoo but that ran out and I didn't feel my normal shampoo was good enough. I felt a bit odd putting a brush washed in that near my eyes. To solve this I got some Dr Bronner's Magic Soap from Holland and Barrett. I went for the unscented one as I didn't fancy brushes smelling like peppermint. This has 18 uses and can even be used as toothpaste!

#TimeToTalk

I'm not talking about beauty today, today I want to talk about mental health. Today marks Time to Change's #TimeToTalk Day. They want people to spend just five minutes talking about mental health to end the stigma faced by those who suffer with mental health issues.

Superdrug and Lush Haul

Apologies for the accidental extended break. A few weeks ago I took a trip to a big shopping centre near by (I know, I lead a terribly exciting life) to pick some new goodies from Superdrug and then I got distracted by Lush. Always the way.

Clearing the Stash

I'm slightly of the opinion that the people who tell you when you should throw your make-up out are often the ones who are telling you to buy their new product. The only rule I 100% agree with is mascara. That should be chucked every 6 months or you risk spreading bacteria around. However, I looked at my collection and realised there were products that I simply didn't use anymore. Hopefully now I'll get more use out of the pieces that are left.

Cruelty Free Wishlist

I posted at the start of the week about my intentions to be cruelty free only in my new purchases of beauty products and I thought I'd show you some of the things I have my eye on. If some of these aren't cruelty free please tell me and I'll take them off (and not buy them).

As I won't be able to replace a majority of my lip products when they run out the search is on for alternatives. First up OCC Lip Tars, number one for me is NSFW which is matte. I mean just look, it's a stunning colour and I need it pronto. Followed by Anime (a bright pink).

Picture from occmakeup.com

Sticking with lipsticks, I've wanted an Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick for a while and I've read that they're cruelty free so it's one thing that can stay on the list. With OCC covering the brights, I quite fancy Muse which looks to be a dusky pink.

Picture from Space.NK

Onto eyes and my brand of the moment Neal's Yard Remedies has some great colours, but I have my eye on Bluebell, a fabulous navy and my favourite flower. I've played around some testers and they look to be great quality.

Picture from Neal's Yard Remedies

Palette wise I so want TheBalm's Meet Matt(e) Nude, although I am unsure about the yellow. I'm about 90% sure they're cruelty free but information is hard to find. I've been seeking a matte eyeshadow palette since last year. This one has great colours for liners and shadows.

Picture from feelunique.com

One of the things I was most worried about was base products. I'm very pale and struggle to find foundations that match up when looking at the whole market, let alone a small portion. However, it looks like Lush have come to my rescue with their Jackie Oates foundation. I'm excited to run out of my current stuff now so I can try it.

Picture from Lush

In terms of concealer, I struggled in my first look but Green People do a pencil concealer that, if it's a skin tone match, looks like it would be good to cover everything foundation doesn't.

Picture from Green People

What other products should I add to my wishlist?

So it's 2015, what now?

Time's a funny thing. You think you have all the time in the world to achieve your goals and suddenly another year has gone past without realising. It's important to look back and reflect on times gone past. Last year I wrote a 10,000 word dissertation and didn't send a rude email to my lecturer when I didn't get the mark I wanted (it's the little things). I also graduated surrounded by great friends and family with a grade I was so proud of. I flew by myself and began the long journey of healing and recovery from mental illness. I moved in with my boyfriend and spent two weeks working at the local paper. Opportunities and experiences I couldn't have guessed at this time last year. Particularly, as my Mum reminded me the other day, I hadn't started my dissertation this time last year.

2015 will be a continuation of many of those things. Especially the recovery one. Beating a problem that has consumed your life since you were 15 takes time. I'm also training to be a journalist and that will continue this year too with exams somewhere on the horizon.

I want to be so much more organised this year and have invested into two planners to achieve this. Every day possible will be productive, and I'm even going to try and cut down on the number of naps I have (ha!).

I've spoken about one of my beauty plans here but as well as that I'm going to be taking better care of my skin, and using face masks regularly. (Sense of deja-vu here). More fresh air and water should also help here.

Even the weather's rubbish sometimes!

I also have plans of spending less and saving more (double ha!) with the aim of improving my technology and getting a mortgage in the next 40 years. I'm going to have some no buy months to help that. This does mean that things might take a deviation away from beauty while I have no money to buy new products but I'll be updating with content weekly and hopefully daily by the end of the year.

What are your plans for 2015?

Going Cruelty Free

This is something that has been on my mind for a while and the start of the New Year seems like as good a time as any to put it into practice.

So I would like to announce that from today any beauty product I buy will be cruelty free and not have been tested on animals, or be from a company whose parent company tests on animals.

Animal testing in the beauty world is so unnecessary. You don't need to be putting eyeliner on rabbits. It's something that has begun to sit uncomfortably with me and something that needs greater exposure in the wider beauty community. I know there are some great cruelty free bloggers out there (let me know your recommendations) but a vast majority of the "large" beauty bloggers and vloggers don't mention it.

The way that this will work is simple, anything I buy from now on will be cruelty free to the very very best of knowledge. I'm going to do a lot more research but I can't promise to always be 100% right, it's a murky area and lots of places say they are but aren't always. It's easy to be duped. But there's some great lists out there that I will be making good use of, as well as a wealth of experienced people. I won't be getting rid of things already in my collection, that would be a waste of money and I can't afford to replace it all right now. But I won't be linking to them when I've used it and will try and find cruelty free alternatives. For now, I won't be focusing on vegan or vegetarian products. It seems a little hypocritical when I'm still eating meat but I will be making careful choices. I'm also going to be spreading the change within the home too. That means no cleaning products that have been tested on animals. Does anyone know any great bleach mould sprays we can use?

What are some of your favourite cruelty brands and where's the best place to go to find them?

Here is a picture of my cat to finish. He doesn't need make-up, no animal does.