Mask Monday

Monday is the most important day of your week! You should Start the week off with a fresh mind, just as you mean to go on.

This Monday I am pampering myself in the evening with a …. Tea Tree Clay mask from the body shop costing £11. I'm also relaxing with a lush bath bomb costing £3.90

First impressions

I love the packaging it's cute and it's simple.
It Smells AMAZING, smells minty!

Apply

It's a light texture and really easy to put on, a little goes a long way. At first it tingles on my skin It dries fairly quickly, within 15 mins. It feels like it "dried thinner" and my skin feels fresh while it's drying.

Wash off
It was slightly difficult to wash off, despite the reviews saying it was easy. I chose to firstly attempt with water and then to us cotton pads. Once I used cotton pads, it was fine to get off.

After

My skin feels amazing! It feels light and refreshed! My pores feel minimised and my skin feels fresh. My skin feels moisturised and tight, but doesn't feel like it has dried it.

Recommend
It reccomend a using this product twice a week for full effect. I am defiantly going to try this as I love it so far!

4/5 ****

DL 💋

Road Trip

I love exploring! Especially after exploring Thailand, I discovered how fun it is to try new places and new things. This weekend me and My partner decided to go on a Road trip!

Friday – Reading
Friday we headed down to Reading, we have been here many times and usually is a straight run that takes less then two hours. Today being the first Friday of the summer holidays it took 3 hours and 45 mins! Night mare, we eventually got to Reading around 2pm. We drove straight to my nan and grandads for a catch up and then to my aunties were we would be staying the night. We went for dinner with my Aunties to TGI Fridays and it was lovely food! The TGI in Reading was not as busy as the one in Brighton but was still fairly busy. We then went to Beach bar, which is soooo random. It's a bar with swings and fake sand, was all fun and games until it rained and we were standing outside with our cocktails! We soon retreated to Yates for a few more drinks and I met with one of my childhood friends for a drink. Which was amazing as we haven't seen each other in years and it felt like nothing had changed. Saturday morning my auntie made us all bacon sandwiches, which I think we all needed!

Saturday – Basingstoke
Saturday lunch time, we drove to Basingstoke for shopping and lunch. We of course went to Nando's for our lunch! Shopping was great we both got loads of hits we needed! I defiantly recommend festival place for food and shopping.The car park was a little confusing.. we defiantly lost out car for twenty mins haha!

Saturday night hotel disaster
Our original hotel was booked in Hook. They called us Thursday night to tell us they where going refurbishments to the hotel and some of the rooms were not ready. The rooms we booked happened to be the ones not ready. They said they would book us in to a hotel down the Road. On Saturday, 4pm we checked into the new hotel. We walked to our room to find it hadn't been cleaned from the people that slept there before, there was dirty sheets and dirty towels in the room. After complaining, they showed us to another room but even though this room had been cleaned, it was so small, black stained carpet and was to a poor standard for £70 I had paid. We managed to get a refund and decided to stay at the Hilton in Bracknell which was a 20 min drive

Hilton bracknell
What a lovely hotel! We checked in at 6:30pm. Our room was nice and tidy, had an amazing double jet shower. It was super busy but we managed to book a table for 8pm for dinner. I felt so refreshed after a shower and got ready with a glass of bubbly. Dinner was a 3 course buffet; I had patte on toast, curry and rice and sponge cake for desert. Me and my partner for the first time in our life shared a bottle of wine ( now I know he likes it.. we can drink wine every date night! YAASS) I had a good night sleep and had a great
breakfast in the morning!

Winchester – science centre
Sunday morning we drove to Winchester to play at the science centre! Great fun for all ages from testing how high you can jump, to learning about your organs to watching a film about the galaxy!
We spend around 3 hours here!

Portsmouth pier
After playing at the science centre, we were not ready for our adventure to end yet. We made a diversion on the way home to Portsmouth pier, we played in the Arcade, had a burger from Browns, went on rides and played mini golf! I really loved Portsmouth and want to play a weekend to come back!

Home
6pm, we arrived home tired from our day of fun! Just in time to change into pjs and watch Monana ( which is now on sky yay)

DL 💋

Buy or Bye: Makeup Revolution Girl Panic Palette.

Source: Buy or Bye: Makeup Revolution Girl Panic Palette.

Lunch with myself? I can’t cancel that again!

Oh yes, I've used a Grinch quote! ( if you are wondering what the Grinch is you better say sorry to Dr Seauss)

Doing things by yourself is such an important aspect of life and mental health. It helps your confidence grow as well as giving you time to reflect and think.

Now and again I like to go for a coffee with myself. I bring along my Kindle and a note pad. I try and avoid looking at my phone as that distracts me. I order myself a nice hot drink and try find a seat by the window.

Years ago, I struggled to walk to the shop on my own and I always asked my friends to come with me. It took a while to build up my confidence to do it but I feel amazing every time I do it.

I write down my thoughts and ideas that I have reflected on. Even taking a hour out just to spend time reading really helps. I always feel great afterwards.

This has helped me become confident in going to the gym by myself. I've even started to going to fitness classes on my own.

So try it next time you have a spare hour! Book in some time to meet yourself and spend time with yourself.

DL 💋

Summer Faves💋

Their are lots of factors that effect our skin, hair and bodies. The weather is defiantly one of these factors. I love summer because my skin gets browner and my hair goes lighter. Here are my favourite products to
make it through summer.

Micellar cleansing water 💦

I love this stuff, not only does it melt my eye make up away without tugging and rubbing. It cleans my skin and soothes it. It really leaves my skin feeling fresh!

Simple Moisturiser

I personally prefer a light moisturiser to hydrate my skin. I've tried lots of different ones but have found that this one is the best. The smallest amount gives you lots of vitamins, includes Borage seed oil and it's very natural so should not upset your skin.

Defend your hair girls!

I have two favourite summer hair products; that I will use without fail. The first is this Argan oil heat defence leave in spray. Not only does it protect your hair from heat styling but it also leaves Argan oil in your hair to keeps your hair silky and smooth. I then also use VO5 Frizz free cream, literally a pea size to the end of my hair again it protects and makes my hair look healthy and glossy. It's super important to use heat products in the summer, Because if your hair is weaker from heat styling and then left to sit in the sun, you will seriously damage your hair! 😳😳

Summer fragrance

This is not a summer essential .. well actually it kind of is. I love my perfumes and my favourite summer mist is "Pure Seduction by Victoria Secrets". Even more excited that this can be purchased in Super Drug! They also do a moisturiser and other products to match.

Lip balm 💄

Do no forget to keep your lips hydrated. It can be hard when MAC makes so many amazing summer lipsticks to forget to put lip balm on your lips. I use "baby lips" by Maybelline which is not only great for my lips but is also a tinted colour. I use this on a day to day bases at work for a natural look.

DL 💋

Slay at Life

• Own a diary – A diary can be such an advantage in life. You can organise the balance of your life from work, social and personal. I also write to do lists in mine and highlight when they are complete. This will help you BOSS at life. Make sure all your work jobs are done before you go home, make a note to call someone on a certain date to look efficient. Haven't called your nan in a while? Make a note in your diary to call after work. If you don't do it, you will have to tip ex it out and you will feel guilty; therefore it's in your best interest to stick to it. I also allocated time for myself 7-8:30 – pamper time. Then on my to do list remind myself to buy face masks.

• Me, Myself and I – let me tell you, that the only person you will spend every second and every breath with is yourself. If you are not loving yourself, then you are not slaying at life. You have to make sure the relationship with yourself is healthy. like if you don't spend time with your Boyf, you feel annoyed that your relationship is crap, same kind of thing. If your not allowing time for yourself, then you feel unwanted and unloved. As I said above allocate once a week minimum to wack a face mask on, soak in the bath and read a book.

• Healthy eating – boring alert I know. However, it is scientifically proven that a healthy diet improves energy levels, sleep levels, alert levels and your mental health. Not to mentioned eating healthy can give you better skin, nails and hair. There are also long term befits which can reduce your chances of diabetes, dementia and cancer. It's a no brainer but of course, it's also good to treat yourself now and again. If your going to eat lots of ice cream one evening, make sure you have some fruit and veg in the morning.

• Relationships – This stands for everyone if you are single, dating or in a relationship. Do not revolve your life around finding a boyfriend or based on your relationship. Yes, having a boyfriend is great but it's not always a walk in the park. Sometimes you argue and it may seem like the worst thing in the world, easier said then done but switch your phone off and distract yourself with other aspects of your life. Never carry your baggage into work, leave it at the front door. If your relationship is not your world, then you won't feel like it's falling apart when something goes wrong. This stand for you single or currently dating people, don't make this your focus in life make yourself your focus, your career and what you want to achieve.

• Fitness – oh yes I said it! When we think of fitness, we mainly think of loosing weight! Which is brilliant, and great for your ego. Regular exercise can also help with improving your Stamina, strength, and flexibility. It is also proven to reduce stress, lifts moods and help you sleep better. It is also rumoured to keeping you looking and feeling younger. I used to suffer from Chronic Tension disorder and the doctors told me to excersise, at the time I could not think of anything worse then to work out when I had a throbbing headache but believe me it helps. I feel great working out in the week, helps me to feel fresh and be clear minded.
• 
• No bad vibes – I love when people say this phrase because who needs bad vibes in their life? If your "Friends" make you feel negative, then they are bad vibes and you need to cut the cord. Easier said then done, but it's something That I done last year and I feel much better for it. If you see a negative situation arising, remove yourself from it don't need to get involved. If you feel like going somewhere is dodgy or you don't get the right vibes then don't go. You will feel much more positive in life.

• Ask for help – As much as it's nice to be independent we don't know everything in the world. Not only that, but sometimes our opinions are will come from our personal experiences and emotion. A outside opinion may have other life experiences that can broaden the opinion. There is no harm in asking for advise and as much as we want to show our parents and grandparents that we can do this Adulting life, sometimes they are the wisest people for advice. Speaking to people about your problems, can also give you relief and be beneficial for your mental health.

• Keep learning – We go to school, we go to six form, you may go into university and then our given education stops. Why not learn a open university course online? Why not do a project manager course online? Why not see what your local community hall are teaching. It's important to keep your brain sharp, it can help with your interaction skills and may give you interesting things to discuss. It can also help you progress in your career.

• Eat the frog – this may be my favourite saying! If you have something bad you have to do like make a bad or uncomfortable phone call, or let someone down; the worst thing you can do is to think about it all day and keep putting it off. The saying eat the frog means stop staring at the frog worrying about it, just do it and get it over and done with. Leaving it to later will not help your case and if anything it can make it worse. Most of the time I find that people are understanding and there was no base for my original anxiety.
• 

• Do something different – do something you wouldn't normally do. Try a water sport, go for a long country walk, visit a museum. We find our self saying "I'm boring, I don't really have any hobbies", unless we try New things we won't know what excites us. The internet is your hero, search fun things to do in England and start making your list.

These small tips all add up to give you direction in life, organisational skills and positive mind. They really do make the difference and even if you try one step a week and find only a few of them help, then at least your life has still been improved.

Most importantly be you, because no one can slay the way you do, like you.

DL 💋

What to do in Brighton?

I love Brighton, I fell in love with this magical place when I moved here 8 years ago. If you live in Brighton, it's still fun to do all the tourist things and if your about to visit Brighton let me tell you all the fun things to do! 

i360

As a local residence I wasn't sure what the i360 would offer me. I didn't think I would be wowed by the views as I thought I've probably seen it from some top floor flats in Hove. The i360 was about the entire experience. The tickets looks like boarding passes, you go through security like you do on a plane and are greeted at the entrance of the pod by someone in a British airways uniform wishing you a pleasant flight. The view took my breath away, you could see the sea, the city building and the South Downs. Makes you realise how many different areas their are in brighron and how diverse there are. 

Brighton Night out

Most people come to Brighton for the Nightlife. When I worked in an office by Brighton station the hen and stag dos would start walking past on Thursdays dressed as all sorts of funny ( and some rude)  characters. If your coming to Brighton I would reccomend a visit to walkabout. They have great shot Deals, big dance floor and big smoking area. They also have a separate area for shisha. No Brighton night out would be complete without a 3am binge on either Cheeky chicken  on West Street or Buddies along the seafront.

Shopping and lunch in Brighton 

If your making a weekend of it, a little shopping trip and some lunch would be on your agenda. You can of course visit Churchill square which will have your normal retail shops. If you want to experience Brighton properly, a visit to the laines and lanes is definitely in order and there's so many unique restrains there for a pit stop! I love shopping at snoopers paradise and have lunch at either Pompokos or Street Thai.

Lucky voice 

I go here once or twice a year, again this is in the laines. You get your own private booth with your friend and you can sing, dress up in props and dance to your hearts content. You pay to higher the booth and you ring a buzzer when your ready to order your next cocktail so that you don't need to leave the booth. Great fun.

Pottery making and painting 

There are a few places that you can do this! My fave is the one in North street, called the pottery Cafe I've been here with the girls and I've been here with my mum. I usually purchase a ready made cup or plate and spend hours painting it. I longest I spent in there was 4 hours, paint my cup with elephants on. I am no way artistic but with the help of stencils, I was able to outline and colour in. You do have to wait a few hours for it to be glossed so if yours down for the weekend, maybe do it on the first day and go back and collect it.

Cocktail making

Go to Revolution - I've done cocktail making in a few different places in Brighton but vodka revolution on west street is my fave. They have an amazing range of cocktails. You get one on arrival, make and drink around 3. Yummy nibbles a private table upstairs when your ready do boogie after. I went here in June for my birthday and going again in August for Hen do.

Under cliffs in Rottingdean  

If you are here for a walk or a bike ride I would defiantly recommend going here cliffs in Rottingdean. It's very beautiful and after a paddle on the sea. There's lots of big rocks on this beach, so if you like to cash sea wildlife you will find lots here!

Walk on the Downs 

again if your here for the walks there is lots of different walks. You can walk to the devils dyke or you could go just further out of brighton and go to the seven sisters

Zip wire coming soon

it's not here yet but I'm so excited for it to arrive. It's were the old brighton wheel used to be. It will defiantly be so fun! Watch this space! I will blog about it when I've been on it!

Festivals

Festivals Wildlife, Pride and Fright festival. There are lots of festivals that happen in Brighton. My favourite if Wildlife festival which is usually in June. I've been two years running and it's great fun. A two day festival and usually has an amazing line up. I upgraded to VIP this yeah which I would defiantly recommend because their was less queues for the toilets! If that doesn't sounds amazing enough reason to upgrade… I queued for 45 mins on the other side. Also Gay Pride in August is amazing! I love going to the two day street party on st james street. I went last year and will be going this year. If you check out http://www.whatsoninbrighton.com you can see what fun event are coming up

Brighton pier

Pier wrist bands… of course your in Brighton, so a trip to the famous Brighton pier is a MUST. It's even better if you purchase an unlimited ride wrist band. It's literally so much fun! Me and my boyfriend have done this a few times. You go on all the rides and then go on them all again. Last time we did this was last year and we spend around 4-5 hours there.

Hove lagoon
Hove lagoon water sports, I haven't been since it was all updated. I have done kayaking here which was fun and I didn't capsize yay! But if your seriously into water sports they have much more to offer including the paddle boarding.

Lastly, to recover from all this fun take a trip to Brighton beach. Take a picnic of hangover food, and watch the sea or the sun go down! If you are coming to BRIGHTON have an amazing time!

DL 💋

Instagram: domlennon7
Twitter: dominiquelenno

Lists

I read a post online today about a girl that LOVES lists! And I am with you honey! 

Writting down your goals is commitment in writting that you are going to do somthing! And once you’ve achieved and ticket of highlighted it.. well what an amazing feeling!

I love a list and today I was writing a list about writing lists.

At the start of every year I usually write down my goals! This year was different because I went traveling my only goals was to see more, so more, eat more and tan more! 

Now that I am back to reality it’s time to get my list on!

So I have written a list on my phone keys things to by a super cute note pad and super cute colour gel pens!

Next I want to write lists of:

I’m hoping to add more to lists To my notepad but the ideas might not come until I choose the notepad!
Lists are great for setting your goals in writting! No going back once they are set!

What do you write lists about? Do you find them helpful? 

What to wear at the gym and why it’s inportant

Granted going to the gym is not a fashion parade but it is very important to wear the correct gym gear. In this blog I’m going to break down every part of my gym out fits and why I have choose these products.

Gym leggings 

There are so many different gym leggings from brand to style. My favourite gym leggings are Lycra one and are surprisingly from primark. The reason I like them is because the fit nicely and they are light. If you wear leggings that don’t fit properly it can effect your technique of your work out. Example I had some leggings from sports direct little mix range, they were great but slightly to small. When I did squats they would fall down a little, I was so worried about my bum hanging out I did smaller squats which means I wasn’t working to my full potential. Having a light weight material is upset inportant, as heavier materials can make you sweat more and over heat. If you over heat to early, you will feel exhausted and may struggle with your work out. When trying on gym leggings you wanna feel like you have hardly anything on ( don’t go naked though) and that you can squat and lunge to your hearts content. 

Trainers 

I bought so trainers a few years ago on sports direct. When I bought them I hated the treadmill and mainly did Matt work! I spoke to the advisors their and they choose some lovely pink nikes. Last year I started to enjoy running but found the bottoms of my legs would hurt the next day. I went to see a personal trainer to check if it was my style of running but it turned out to be my trainers. The trainers where ever meant for running. My boyfriend kindly treated us both to new addidas trainers, they are light, breathable and perfect for running. Now when I run my legs do not ache as much, they are also more bouncy which Incorages me to do more classses. 

Gym socks 

I’m all over the place when it comes to socks. I wear odd socks all the time and it annoys my boyfriend. My boyfriend actually introduced me to sport trainer socks. They are made for your feet when your excersizing. They have little holes in them that allow your feet to breath. fun fact of the day, your feet and hand retain a lot of your body heat. The same way when your cold you put fluffy socks on, it’s inportant when your hot that your feet are allowed to breath. 

Sports bra 

Okay, so who’s been on a jog and your boobs have hit you on the face because seriously it’s not cool. I don’t like spending my time excersizing worrying about my boobs. Getting a decent sports bra is worth spending the extra money on! Again primark do some nice ones and I spend around £4-£6.

Top 

I don’t want to repeat myself but a light breathable too is ideal. You want it to fit properly, if your conscious about your belly make sure it will cover you when your in all work out positions as you don’t want it to hinder your technique. I love new looks work out tops, as they have fun motivational slogans!

Hairband 

Last Friday I was doing insanity class, I picked up a old hair band were the elasity has gone. Trying to jumping jacks and press ups and my hair keeps falling out. I tried to put it up 4-5 times. I was then conscious that the instructor may have though I wasn’t paying attention! Good hear band girls, goes a long way! 

Thank 
Headphones 

I think good set of headphone is inportant to not distract you. If you have to put your phone down and your head phone because their getting in the way of your work out, then they are no good for you. I would reccomend blue tooth headphones, which I’m currently saving to buy. Don’t get big bulky ones as you don’t want your ears to sweat! 

I don’t wear make up to the gym! I do like to look good in my work out gear as their are lots of mirrors! I like to treat myself to new gym stuff as I think it helps motivate me. I bought new leggings Saturday and went to the gym Sunday morning because I couldn’t wait to test them out! 
Would love to hear your favourite work out gear! 

How I’ve lost 11 pounds in 4 weeks

Yay for my weight loss! And I can already see a difference! Although granted weight loss is not just about losing the pounds it’s also about loss of inches, because when you gym you also gain muscle which actually make you weigh more. Lucky for me I’ve lost inches on my stomach, arms, legs, knees and chest.

Food 

My personal trainer has helped me with a good plan. Limiting carbs is key and actually it’s a lots easier then I thought it would be. Maximising protien and vegetables. Fruit is good but to much has high suger. My example food diary would be as such: 

Breakfast

Veg and fruit smoothie – my fave is spinach, apple, banana, spinuala, whey dress 

Lunch 

Scrambled egg, two eggs no bread or salmon and pease 

Dinner

Egg, chorizo and tomato or chicken and veg

Eating restaurants was always my diet errors but now I’ve learnt to replace chips for vegetables or salad. I had steak the other day and replaced chips with more pees and mushrooms. 

Fitness

I’m very good at moviracing myself to go to the gym for two weeks and then I usually get bored. I have now learnt that mixing it up keeps it exciting. My week to week Fitness will include one gym session, one fitness class and one swimming session. I try and add atleast one extra fitness thing a week, I usually like to have another gym session. This keeps it fun and excersizes different muscle groups. I am also seeing my personal trainer once every two weeks and she either does a hardcore cardio or strength session 

Mind 

A lot of fitness is to do with mind. Avoiding drunken nights out is inportant for a clear mind set. Plus a night out makes you out on 3-4 pounds ah! I try to only drink twice a month as rule, granted I do not always stick to this but I do try. Setting out time for myself is key, because you need time to refuel. Take a bath, read a book have a green tea. 

I’m hoping to loose more weight as I have a wedding to attend in 6 weeks. I’m seeing my personal trainer next week and I am ready to up my plan! 

I would love to know, of anyone has further tips on weight loss?