Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best…Gillette Venus Snap with Embrace

How’s this for a holiday/festival essential?  A razor with a full sized head that's made compact and therefore even better to travel with.  I feel a bit silly being so impressed by this as it is a fairly straightforward idea, I just think it's really useful.  It’s not like normal razors are huge but the less space they take up in my case and the more portable they are (less worry about them snapping or ripping clothes…is that just a worry I have?) the better personally.

I also have a friend – honestly, it was a friend, it wasn't me – who had been known to shave her legs in the toilets on a night out if she’d gone out straight out from work. Why she didn’t just get up 15 minutes earlier on a morning to do it rather than hacking at her legs in a bar toilets while concerned bystanders looked on I don’t know! But this would have made that slightly odd task easier I suppose...

It's not fiddly to use at all and any Gillette head fits on it for when you need a fresh razor, which means you could just keep the handle for this in your case really. I switched to disposable razors a while ago and they were awful, I quickly jumped back to using my Gillette!

This is one holiday essential that will be coming on my honeymoon to the Maldives with me in a few weeks (SO EXCITED!!!)! Normally when things have been shrunken for travel, like shampoo and toothpaste I just worry they’ll run out really quickly but nope not worried with this!  I'll post soon about what else I'm taking away on holiday with me this year, even though I'm sure it's generally pretty similar every year, I much prefer to pack light and think c'est la vie about the stuff I've forgotten.

For more information about the Gillette Venus Snap with Embrace click here.

New NYK1 Secret Nailac Gel System Polish - Tango

You might have seen my review of the NYK1 Secrets Gel System last year, since then I've done my gel nails at home on an almost weekly basis and bought quite a few new colours - thought I'd show you the latest!  The colour I bought is called Tango and is perfect for summer (can't wait to get this on my toes but I've got a red glitter on them at the moment and I want to get my wear out of it!).

I'm still so impressed by the lasting power of these polishes and how easy they are to use.  I've got application down to about 30 minutes now so factoring in drying time for normal nail polish it's not dissimilar.  I've actually stopped wearing traditional polish now as it annoys me putting all that time and effort in just for it to chip within days - ain't nobody got time for that!

I also bought a colour called Nude which, as you may have guessed, is a plain nude colour.  I've had that one on already but I think it'll look better when my nails are a bit longer so I'll grab some pics of that one next time.  It's basically a good, everyday colour that doesn't make my hands look washed out or red.  You could even paint over the nude colour easily if you wanted to wear a colour for a night out or event (or outfit).

I don't plan on getting gel nails done in a salon again, might book in for a nice summer pedicure at some point but just get normal polish.  I actually feel like having gel polish on my nails stops them snapping and keeps them stronger  - normally my nails are quite prone to this so it's nice to have a bit of extra protection and get them growing nice and long!

There are loads more colours that I want so watch this space as I'm sure I'll be picking up more - check out their range of colours and finishes here.

For more info about the range visit the website at www.nyk1.com

My week on the Exante Diet (review)

At the moment everything is to do with my wedding which is why I haven't been posting quite as much as I'd like to - planning is literally taking up all of my free time outside work and if I'm not chasing down the co-ordinator at my venue I'm having meetings with the photographer, furiously googling where I can buy silver heart shaped sparklers or stalking guests who haven't RSVP'd to find out if they're coming or not.

With my wedding just over two months away now (eek), I want to lose some weight.  I'd been doing really well with healthy eating and the gym but I've changed jobs and have different hours/more travelling so I'm just not exercising and that's having an impact on how I feel about the way I look!  My BMI is still slightly higher than it should be. Plus I tried on my dress again recently and...well yeah, that wasn't the plan.

As it's a short term approach and I need some results, I started looking at meal replacement diets (where you have a low amount of calories but your nutrients are balanced and included) and came across the Exante diet.  It's got really positive reviews and a lot of people have said that it's much better than other similar diets.  They even do an Exante wedding diet where you get some pampering goodies which is a nice little touch.

There are 5 different approaches, which basically varies the balance between actual food and meal replacement stuff.  I've decided to try the Total Solution plan which means no food, just meal replacements for a maximum of 3 weeks to kickstart my weightloss.

Exante kindly sent me some products to review, and included a combination of 'food' and shakes. Here's what I thought:

The majority of shakes were fine - there were a couple that I personally actively avoided (pineapple and orange and hazelnut) but all of the hot food, like the 'shepherds pie' 'spaghetti carbonara' and 'mushroom soup' left me cold (see what I did there...hot...left me cold...no?).  On the plus side the vanilla cereal was a welcome interlude - really liked that.

I'm not going to lie, you will need willpower, especially at weekends or when biscuits pop out at work.  The first few days I did feel hungry but this actually wore off which I was pleased about!  At the end of the week I'd lost 2lbs, in addition to the 9lbs I'd already lost - yay!  I didn't notice any dodgy side effects or anything shocking.

So, after a week what did I think?

PROS:

• Quick and convenient - no real preparation, no having to buy loads of specialist ingredients or spend hours in the kitchen.  Each meal takes no more than 5 minutes to prepare.  It's been quite nice to have a bit of extra time and to not have to think about what I'm cooking.
• Cheap - if you buy in bulk it can work out from 63p per meal
• Lots of choice in flavours, sweet/savoury and type of food
• If you stick to the plan you will lose weight

CONS:

• Bit of an anti-social diet, especially if you're doing the total plan like me.  It's ridiculous how much of my social life revolves around eating/drinking! Skipping meals out and fun is hard when all you've got is a low calorie packet of food waiting for you at home.
• Some of the food tastes pretty synthetic/not my cup of tea but I guess that's personal taste.  You might really like it!
• You need willpower - having willpower isn't really how I ended up overweight, just in case you weren't sure

Would I do Exante again? Interesting question actually!  I'd be happy to have certain shake flavours as a meal replacement when I'm on the go or when I'm trying to lose a bit of weight but for me the Total Solution is quite restrictive - I don't want to be a shake-guzzling hermit for the rest of my life - so I might continue doing one of the other plans in the run up to my wedding.  It's totally do-able especially if you're focused on a goal and more varied that other similar diets.  I definitely want to try the cookies and cream bar!

More information about the Exante Diet here.