Healthy

The Mio Big Beach Countdown Box

- Vicki 4 Comments

Latest in Beauty Box

If you didn’t know, You Beauty Discovery offer Limited Edition Boxes throughout the year & they tend to have a theme. I have tried a few now & loved everyone of them. The one I am reviewing today is aimed at getting your body Summer Ready, so ideal if you’re heading off somewhere beachy on your summer holiday. These boxes are always jam packed full to the brim with products, food, and lifestyle extras such as vouchers. Its a great mix of new things to discover and inspire you. With this box You Beauty Discovery have teamed up with Mio Beauty  for the Big Beach Countdown & In this box you get,

–          Mio QuickStart (200ml)

–          Mio The A Cream (150ml)

–          Mio Fitness Band

–          Mio Exfoliating Glove (1 per box)

–          Mio Gym Bag

–          Mio voucher £10 off your first online Mio purchase

–          Bodyism Clean & Lean – 1 Day Body Brilliance Supplement Sachet (10g sachet)

–          The Chia Co. – Black Chia Pouch (150g)

–          Nuffield Health Fitness & Wellbeing – Exclusive 3-Day Gym Pass for you and a friend

–          Champneys Health Spa – Exclusive Mio Treatment voucher entitling the holder to a 55 minute treatment for just £39 (RRP £65)

Mio The A Cream

Mio is a new brand to me but once I did a little research about it I quickly discovered its a very popular and highly recommend brand. You get two Mio products in this box & they’re both really good, I have been using them in the morning & they make the perfect duo.

Mio – The A Cream 150ml – this is a firming body cream that you apply it to damp skin so I use it after I shower in the morning. I have been focusing this on my legs & bust (yes that needs firming too). Its in a very handy pump bottle & I use a few pumps for each leg & one pump everywhere else. The cream itself is quite light and absorbs quickly in to my skin leaving it feeling cool, smooth and very hydrated. Thats one thing I really noticed is that this is very moisturising and my legs have never felt as soft & smooth.

This cream has lots of skin benefits ‘The A Cream is packed with antioxidants and vitamins, organic Shea Butter, Hyaluronic Acid, organic Avocado, Sweet Almond, Coconut and Blueberry Seed Oils. Your skin will be soft, balanced, deeply moisturised and strong.’

So this cream is perfect if you need to give your body a boost of hydration whilst leaving it looking radiant and restoring skins elasticity and firmness. I’m seeing improvements and hope by the time I go on my holidays my legs are looking their best. I also noticed that Mio suggests using this as an aftersun lotion as it is naturally cooling & in this heat I have been taking full advantage of that.

mio-quick-start

Mio Quick Start Exhilarating Shower Gel 200ml – The first thing you notice about this shower gel is its spearmint scent, its minty, zingy and exhilarating and the perfect way to kick start your day. ‘This multitasking motivator cleanses, stimulates, brightens and nourishes in one healthy hit. It’s the surefire way to kickstart your day – with fresh Spearmint and Caffeine’. This is a very nice shower gel & does leave my skin feeling clean, soft and there are no nasties such a sulphates, or harsh chemicals. 

If you have been wanting to try Mio Skincare for a while then this box is a good excuse as the Mio products alone are worth more than double what you pay for the entire box & you will get all the extras too.

Healthy Chia Seeds

The Chia Co Black Chia 150g – I am no stranger to Chia Seeds & have them in my juices & often on my porridge. They’re are a rich source of Omega 3, fibre and proteins. They’re also a good source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidents. Its suggested that you eat a table spoon of Chia everyday – adding it to salads, yoghurt, porridge or whatever you desire. They have virtually no taste & are a great supplement to a healthy diet. Chia is a complete plant based protein containing all eight essential amino acids & if like me you are Vegan then this can be hard to find & Chia Seeds are an easy efficient way of getting your amino acids.

You also get a Mio Exfoliating Glove which is great to use with the Mio Shower Gel & a very good way of getting the circulation going in the morning and exfoliate away all the dead skin to keep your skin looking bright, smooth and Summer ready. They suggest that you use this on dry skin, but that just feels a little weird to me & I much prefer to use it in the shower.

Mio Fit Band – I must admit, I haven’t used this much yet, but as I said I am on the 4 week countdown to my holiday so I do plan on using it & getting a little more toned. Mio have printed suggested exercises on the band so thats very helpful. This is bright orange & would be ideal to take away with you if you wanted to exercise whilst away from home but you were limited on space. So I look forward to tightening my stomach & lifting my butt ready for my holiday.

Mio Gym Bag – This is bright orange & pink & would be great for the gym but my niece pinched it from me & is using it for her swimming kit. So she is one happy 6 year old.

Body Brilliance – The Clean & Lean 10g sachet – With high-quality, well-being and a happy life in mind, this burst of protein, fibre, minerals, greens, herbs, fruits and vegetables comes in a deceivingly delicious chocolate flavour to curb any sweet cravings, whilst injecting the body with pure goodness. Im yet to try this yet but it says it has a chocolate taste so I am sure I will enjoy it. 

Nuffield Health, Fitness & Wellbeing 3 Day Pass for you & a friend – So if you live near a Nuffield Centre then this is a great way of testing out their facilities & seeing if its somewhere you’d like to join. Nuffield offer a huge variety of classes in every one of the 65 Fitness & Wellbeing Centres across the UK. 

You also get a £10 voucher to redeem at mioskincare.co.uk

Worth over £100, the YOU Beauty Discovery Mio “Big Beach Countdown” Limited Edition Box is available to members and non-members alike for just £16.95* So be quick if you want to get your hands on one.

Mio Skincare is also available to purchase online at mioskincare.co.uk

Products that are marked with an * have either been sent to me for my consideration or I’ve received at events. I’m under no obligation to review them on my blog. However if I do, the reviews are 100% my own

Fruit and Vegetable Juice

- Vicki 1 Comment

My first juice recipe went down well, you can see that post here. I thought I would show you another one I have been making a lot recently. For this one you will need the following

Fuit and Veg

1x Grapefruit

4x Carrots

2x Apples

1/4 Cucumber

1/2 Lime

1 inch of Ginger

You need to peel the grapefruit, cut the carrots in to smaller sizes and I also core the apples and cut them in to quarters then pop it all into the juicer. This is such a refreshing juice, I always add ice and serve straight away. These are so quick to make and full of nutrients.

Also for all those who have been asking where my cup is from – I bought it in TK Maxx for £3.99, they had a range of colours.

Fresh Juice

Green Juice

- Vicki 7 Comments

After watching the brilliant documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross I started a juice reboot. Just to get a boost of nutrients and if possible to lose a couple of pounds although thats not my main goal. I urge you to watch the documentary its very good.

After making many different juices since I bought my juicer back in October 2012 I thought I’d do a few posts letting you know some of my favourite ones. Today’s juice is what I tend to have in the morning. It gives me a boost of energy and is very filling.

First up I am going to show you what I add to my Mean Green Juice <—– This recipe is by Joe Cross but I’ve adapted mine a little from his.

With all these juices you can change them to best suit your tastes. I add Spinach to mine and also a carrot or two and sometimes I even add pear. I try to put as many fruits / vegetables in as possible.

Green Juice

I have adapted my Green Juice to include –

– Half a cucumber

– 1 Carrot

– 1 Stick of celery

– 2 Apples

– 2 Pears

– Ginger

– A slice of lemon

– Large Handful of spinach

– Large Handful of kale

Wash all your fruit & veg before juicing. I always put ice cubes in my glass as I think it tastes a lot better served ice cold.

Green Juice

As I said you don’t need to follow the recipe exactly. I use whatever I have in and I like to put alot of Apples & Pears in as I like my juices to taste quite sweet. I have a few more juices to share with you so look out for those.

Do you make Green Juice? I’d love to hear what fruit / veg you add to yours.

Whole Foods

- Vicki 6 Comments

3 weeks ago I drove down from Manchester to Wiltshire for my friends wedding (I was a Bridesmaid) and we stopped off on the way at Cheltenham to visit Whole Foods. I was beyond excited to go here as I’d heard such great things about the selection of Vegan food that they stock. Not only that, it is such a lovely store to shop in, it’s bright and full of fresh, local and organic produce. I thought you might like to see some photos I took.

The security guard thought I was mental taking so many photos but I was really excited to be there (clearly I don’t get out very often).

Whole FoodsWhole Foods 3

Whole Foods 5

Whole Foods Store

Whole Foods Cheltenham

Sorry this is a little picture heavy but It was such a nice store. As I said I went to the one in Cheltenham and I know there are a few Whole Food Stores in the UK, mostly in London and one in Glasgow. They had so many lovely organic beauty products I wish I’d picked up some more things. I am planning on going to the Glasgow store when I drive up to Dundee in a couple of weeks.

Whole Foods is very different to the normal supermarkets we get in the UK. It has more of a marketplace feel, rather than the generic aisle after aisle feel of most supermarkets. the first thing that strikes you when walking into the store is just how friendly the staff are. We where greeted by a lovely man who offered us a range of freebies to taste (we instantly picked up a box of Korean spicy bites, good marketing). As soon as you enter the store you are in the fresh produce section. The fruit & vegetables are presented really nicely & it’s all so fresh.

Further into the store you have the spices & the wines. An amazing array of wines & beers and even a small bar area to fill up your own bottles (how cute) and taste some of the beers & wines. The butchery, fishmongers & cheese counters all look amazing (even if I’m on a vegan diet now). They also have separate areas for the bakery, fresh coffee & grinding & fresh juices. The rest of the shop is more like a traditional supermarket, but with a great selection of fair trade & locally sourced brands.

The staff are amazing, they pack all your shopping for you at the till into paper bags & our cashier even gave us a recipe based on the foods we had selected. Amazing.

Finally they have a cute cafe area where you can site & eat produce you have picked up in the store. We had pea & mint soup with fresh rolls & elderflower juice. So yummy.Here is some of what we bought.

Whole Foods Shopping