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Monday 30 September 2013

Pumpkin Pie Lite

I LOVE me some pumpkin pie & with the seasons turning I have been bombarded with recipe inspiration from all corners of the Internet. However, as many of you may know, pumpkin pie is notoriously fattening. Seriously, that stuff is secretly evil. It masquerades as health food, being stuffed full of pumpkin which is crazy healthy, & then you realise that the amazing creamy filling isn't just pumpkin, it's also cream or sweetened condensed milk or something equally rich & fatty. So however much I want pumpkin pie it is off limits right?
Well I decided to test that & it seems that in actually fact pumpkin pie is fine.
I started off with the best pumpkin pie recipe known to man & trimmed it down a little, replacing the refined sugar with maple syrup & honey/agave nectar & the mascarpone with non-fat Greek yogurt.
Okay, so I had to get rid of the pastry which I was sad about, but I did replace it with a crunchy topping of oats & pecans (so SO good!) which you could probably make into a crust if you really HAD to have one. I don't know, I liked it being a crunchy topping because then I could control how much was on the pie... Whatever, this is pie a delicious alternative for when you're not willing to splurge on a standard pie. In fact I know a few people who would testify that this is even better!

Okay so the recipe for my low fat 'pie'.

Friday 27 September 2013

Review: Yves Saint Laurent Foundations

It has been quite sometime since I could get away with just a tinted moisturiser but I have struggled to find foundations that work well for me. With being ill my skin is crazy - extreme combination with a tendency towards dry patches & stress acne - so finding one foundation that copes well with both, covers well, lasts nicely & is easy to apply is a bit of a long shot.
However YSL has been my saviour in that respect, having released my two holy-grail foundations. I am no means an expert on YSL foundations, there are 5 and a half that I had never even heard of until I started writing this post (5 proper foundations & a BB cream) but these two are something special. I'm rambling....I really need to get better at writing these things. May I introduce my holy grail foundations, the YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat foundation & the YSL Youth Liberator Serum Foundation.

First off, how lovely are the bottles? They look so lovely, they are the sort of thing you want to put out with your perfume bottles so everyone can see them...

Wednesday 11 September 2013

I choose to....

Invisible illness week is the illness awareness week that I usually go for. I struggle with my diagnosis almost daily. I don't really like M.E. as a diagnosis, it feels like a diagnosis of ignorance rather than an abbreviation of what is actually wrong with me. Plus I kind of feel like all chronic illnesses are sort of tied together into this huge illness community & I really don't like the 'x illness is worse than your illness' thing that some charities do.
Anyway the theme for this year's invisible illness week is "I choose to". As I understand it the concept behind it is that none of us choose our illness but we choose how we cope with it & we choose to have hope. Or at least survive bravely.
I actually really like this theme I have had to make a lot of choices. Some that have been really hard & I wish I had never had to make. Some - like youtube & this blog - have been amazing.
So here are the things I have chosen & the stories behind them.

Big Choices


Monday 9 September 2013

The Cost of my Skin

So now my skin & I are living in a post Caroline Hirons era I have been thinking about the cost of my skincare. Of course skincare is not cheap; anyone who tells you it is probably still thinks wipes & a bar of soap constitute a skincare routine. The question is how much is too much?
What sparked off this question off for me is the new Chanel skincare with the 3 different serums for day, night & weekend which I instantly fell into lust with. However at between £60 (the day serum & the night serum) & £72 (the weekend serum) these serums seem like a significant investment, more than I would spend on anything that won't last me at least a year. So what am I willing to spend? That's the point of this post. I am going to work out the cost of everything in my routine & work out the average cost of each item & the total cost. I guess you'll have to read on to find out what the outcome is...

Photo from a model recommends

Saturday 7 September 2013

My Day in Pictures

So, I thought I'd do a day in pictures. I hadn't left the house in a week & my foster brother has been especially AWFUL recently - he's really stressed about failing his GCSEs but he's refusing to do any work for them & then taking his temper out on everyone over it..... Yeah, anyway. So I decided we needed a day out; my mum, my brother & I. A Victoria's Secret opened in the new shopping centre in Leeds & I wanted to see City of Bones (I loved the books so I wanted to see the film).
Face of the day, including my two-toned lip - Too Faced Sweet Maple & Mac Hue. Loving this combo, I am so using this again!  


Monday 2 September 2013

Inspiration...

I'm not a big inspiration type person. I've never had a wall full of inspirational quotes, I don't have any role models & I don't find inspirational movies or news stories anything more than annoying. I honestly always believed in being your own inspiration & letting your future being your motivation.
However with my chronic illness I really struggle to keep going sometimes & at those times a little inspiration is a good thing so I think I'm going to post one of these inspirational posts once in a while. Here it is.


From http://www.etsy.com/shop/livingstonandporter