Zoe-Lee Skelton

Time For Tea: Win 4 Luxury Yogi Teas

June 21, 2015 by Zoe-Lee Skelton

As I’m constantly busy, I usually rely on caffeine to keep me going. But recently I’ve decided to limit my intake of caffeine substances and try to get my energy from more natural, healthier sources like water and herbal flavoured teas.

I’ve set myself a personal challenge to try to drink at least one litre of water a day and consumer more natural teas to help flush out any toxins and just restore some balance to my body. I’m terrible at keeping my fluids topped up so it’s about time that I paid my body some more respect.

I imagine that many of your are on a bit of a health-kick at the moment, what with it being “beach bod” season an all, so I’m giving away a little treat for you that’s both healthy and delicious: 4 luxury teas from Yogi, courtesy of Discount Supplements who specialise in online sports supplements.

Win 4 Luxury Yogi Teas

The four teas are:

Positive Energy Cranberry Hibiscus: described as as an uplifting stimulating tea. It contains the Organic ingredients green mate, guarana and Assam black. With Vibrant hibiscus, fruity cranberry, rose hip and lemon myrtle for a delicious flavour.

Detox with Lemon: this tea has been created to help you feel fresh and rejuvenated. It contains bitter dandelion with Sweet Liquorice and Spicy Ginger. This tea also contains fruity lemon for a delicious tangy flavour.

Women’s Tea: this tea has been specifically designed to meet the needs of the modern woman. This herbal infusion works to calm the nerves and mind, to improve the symptoms of PMT and bloating. Yogi Womens Energy Tea also helps to increase energy levels. Woman’s Energy is an effective and organic way to reduce fatigue, and restore energy. This special formula contains dong quai, the queen of Chinese herbs, which has been traditionally used to support reproductive organs and to help regulate the menstrual cycle. This powerful herb is complemented by organic nettle, used by herbalists to help restore energy, as well as dandelion root and juniper berry to help maintain proper water balance. This certainly something I’ll be incorporating into my detox challenge.

Bedtime Tea: when you want to feel calm and relaxed before bed, try a cup of Yogi Tea Bedtime. It contains herbal ingredients, such as Chamomile, Fennel and Valerian Root which are traditionally used to soothe and balance body and mind while aiding restful sleep.

To be in with a chance of winning them, simply fill out the rafflecopter below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now for the small print: UK entrants only. The competition finishes on the 28 June 2015. I will alert the winner via email on the 29th June 2015.

If you liked this competition, there are more competitions at ThePrizeFinder
Have you got any detox secrets? Let me know in the comments.

Zoe-Lee

4 Summer Essentials From Lush

June 14, 2015 by Zoe-Lee Skelton

A couple of Fridays back I was invited to Lush Luton to take a look at their summer beauty range.

I plan on going abroad for the first time in over ten years this year, and being a pale kid, I was particularly interested in their range of sun protection, and what would work for me in warmer climates.

I’ll also be attending a few outdoor festivals and hope to go camping, so I was keen to see what they had in the way of festival must-haves. You know, the kind that make you feel a little bit better about yourself after you haven’t had wash for a few days…

As usual, the lovely Lush ladies were on hand to help.

Here are my top four summer essentials from Lush.

Toothy Tabs

If you’re heading to a festival this year, these “Dirty Toothy Tabs” will save your life – or your teeth from furring up, whichever means more to you at the time.

One little white tab will clean your teeth just as well as your standard tooth paste you use at home. Simply pop a tab in your mouth, crunch is up and then take a little water from a bottle or a tap and brush your teeth as normal. Leaving less mess and eliminates the gooey toothpaste you evidently find at the bottom of your festie rucksack.

The Sunblock Bar

Sun screen or sun block? What’s the difference. Many people use the two interchangeably but they are totally different things. Sunscreen, the more commonly used type of sun protectant, filters or screens the suns UV rays — keeping most rays out, but letting some in. On the other hand, sunblock physically reflects the suns rays from the skin, blocking the rays from penetrating the skin. Lush’s sunblock comes in the form of a bar which can be applied to your skin by lathering it up in water in your morning shower and applying it to your skin like a bar of soap.

Just don’t harshly dry yourself with a towel afterwards otherwise you won’t be protected from the sun. Plus the bar is a moisturiser too so you want to let it soak into your skin.

With a high SPF of 30, it’s perfect for people who have fairer skin. And a third of the bar will protect your whole body from the sun’s rays. However it is advised that you reapply your sun protection every 2 hours.

What I like about this is that you can make protecting yourself against the sun part of your morning routine. Most of the time I apply my sun protection once I’m dressed which means I usually manage to smear it all over my clothes which doesn’t look cool.

This has also scored big points with people who have tattoos as the sun inevitably fades colours so using a sunblock is a must if you want to keep your tattoos vibrant.

It smells of sesame and rose too which is always a bonus!

Powdered Sunshine

Yes. That’s right, powder. I was a little skeptical about this but it’s pretty smart.

It’s an SPF 15 light sun powder that you sprinkle onto your skin. This new form of sun care is easy to carry around with you, and very handy for topping up your sun protection throughout the day.

This will be popular with those of you who hate the greasiness of typical sun screen lotions. The powder is enriched with calamine – which is rich in the natural sunscreen zinc oxide – sesame oil, lemon, lime and patchouli oils giving it a fresh, zingy fragrance.

This isn’t something that I would use on my face as I need something in a higher SPF in this area, but it would be perfect to apply to arms and legs during the day.

British Nanny Face Cream

This is my favourite of them all: The British Nanny SPF 30 Face Cream.

It’s thick and creamy formula spreads evenly on my skin and doesn’t immediately dry, filing me with confidence that I’m protected against the sun. Not only is it a sun care product but it’s also enriched with almond, hibiscus and plenty of vitamin C and E so it works really hard to keep those wrinkles at bay too! It means you don’t have to use your usual face cream with it either.

I like to use powder to keep my face from looking too shiny and luckily this passed the powder dusting test. Sometimes sun creams can be too thick and powder just clings to areas of your face in streaks. But not this one. Here’s what my skin looks like after I’ve applied British Nanny with powder on top.

Do you have any summer essentials? Let me know if you have any recommendations for pale skin in the comments.

The Best Bits From Art15 London

June 8, 2015 by Zoe-Lee Skelton

A couple of weekends back I made it down to Art15 at The Olympia in London.

We made early doors and benefited from a reasonably empty exhibition space, allowing us to get up close to individual works. That’s my pro tip for major art fairs; get down there as early as possible if you actually want to get to see everything at your own pace.

The global art fair’s has a commitment to showcasing emerging talent and new galleries alongside some more established artists from around the world. And I have to say, I was overwhelmed with the amount of new talent being represented.

Some have remarked that the fair is “just not high-end enough, fashionable enough, or commercial enough in terms of sales”, and is yet to find it’s identity. I think this is a positive. It means that the fair isn’t being driven by commercial gains, rather, it is providing a platform for more conceptual and controversial artists across the globe to reach international audiences.

I’ve put together some pf the best bits from my visit and tried to include artist details where possible. Where I’ve missed out any names or origin, please feel free to let me know in the comments.

Masatake Kozaki, Dillon Gallery at Art15

Desire Obtain Cherish (D.O.C.), Jonathan Paul

Overall my favourite works were a couple of photo-etchings in black ink on ivory paper by Nathalie Mba-Bikoro , which unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of on the day. You can take a look at some of his pieces here on his online portfolio.

Did you visit Art15? What did you think? Do you think it fairly represented emerging artists.

I Sunk Your Battleship Signal Beanie Review

May 29, 2015 by Zoe-Lee Skelton

Optimized-main blog image (1)

I was pretty excited when the guys over at I Sunk Your Battleship got in touch and asked me to review one of their products. I’ve always admired their old-school designs and brand values so I happily obliged.

I Sunk Your Battleship are an independent menswear brand established in 2013. Based in Newcastle, they specialise in hoodies, t-shirts, headwear and accessories. I love their quirky designs and I think I’ll be purchasing one of the new Life Love and Liberty t-shirts now that payday has (finally!) rolled around.

They may seem like they’re the new kids on the block, but they’re already making a name for themselves in the streetwear scene. Skateboarders, artists and the fash pack are hyped up about the clothing. Just search for #isyb on Instagram and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

So, you might be wondering what the brand name and the flagman mascot is all about?

Well they’re inspired by the rich naval history of the British Isles, and the flagman mascot refers to the Semaphore, which is a system that allows sailors to communicate over long distances using nothing but a pair of square flags and their own two armstrue.

Their homage to Britain and British history also stretches into their brand values; all of their apparel is designed and “built” in Britain – exactly what I like to hear, as it means they work with local craftspeople who are paid a decent wage and the items aren’t shipped hundreds of miles to our shores from a sweat shop.

They work with a large collection of musicians, artists skateboarders and other creatives who are considered “the underdog” but inspire people around them.

They’re current collaborations with designers and creators has culminated in a collection called “Gentlemen of the Sea” which will drop in Spring Summer 2016.

So whilst I haven’t been able to review a piece from their soon to be released collection, I have got my hands on the black signal beanie.

I’m a big hat wearer all year round. But usually in the summer months I opt for peaked caps. However, this black beanie is lightweight enough to wear in the warmer months. Plus, black goes with everything in my warderobe. I’ve been able to style it with pretty much every single piece of clothing I own, so I’m sold. Optimized-black crop top front (1) Optimized-hand on chin hat Optimized-stripe top movement

What would accessorise the beanie with? Let me know in the comments.

Paws for Tea Animal Charity Fundraiser 2015

May 21, 2015 by Zoe-Lee Skelton

Last Friday I held a Paws for Tea animal charity fundraiser at my place of work, Receptional.

Paws for Tea is a nationwide initiative created by the animal charity, Blue Cross, where they ask people to host a tea party in order to raise funds to help sick, injured and homeless animals.

Once I registered my interest to host a tea party, the team at Blue Cross generously supplied me with event posters, invites, cake descriptor cards, party tips and even cake recipes by some well-known celebs.

This is the first charity event I’ve ever organised and run all by myself. Although I didn’t come up with concept, I really enjoyed every aspect of it, and hope to get involved with many more.

What did we do on the day?

ATE CAKE

Well, it wouldn’t be a tea party without copious amounts of cake. I asked my co-workers if they were able to bake or donate cakes and they really came up trumps. We had a delicious variety of cupcakes, brownies and loafs. I made a blueberry and lemon loaf cake which went down a treat.

lemon and blueberry loaf cake

It was an all vegan, dairy and egg free cake recipe from Ms. Cupcake – and it was still a crowd pleaser!

In fact all of the cakes were well received. I mean, it is cake after all. Here’s a selection of some of the cakes made:

Thanks to Lisahh -Jayne for providing the middle image.

Guess the owner: who owns a pet like this?

Whilst everyone was eating their way through the cakes, we played “Guess the owner” a game invented by my colleague Lisa. The aim of the game was to show a slide of someone’s pet and we had to guess who the owner is.

It was a relatively difficult game considering that we all follow each other on social media and avidly share pictures of our pets, but the person who won managed to get 6 out of 7 correct so he won a huge box of gourmet chocolates.

How much did we raise?

My wonderful team managed to raise £67.84 in just one afternoon.

Thanks again to everybody who took part and baked/donated cakes. I’m looking forward to next year’s event!

If you would like to get involved in the Blue Cross’ Paws for Tea charity event, visit their fundraiser page and register your interest or why not make a donation?