Hello my lovelies,

It has been ages since I've blogged and if you follow me on twitter you'll have seen me tweeting how sorry I am for being so absent on here recently.

Basically I started a new career, and so I've been getting myself settled in, so I do really apologise for having to put blogging on hold for a while.

I am hoping to really get back into it because I love this little blog so much and I love all of you who read it. I've missed blogging so much but I've just had no energy!

So, I thought I'd just write this little post to let you all know that I am still here, and that A Little Bit Of Laura will continue.

I've been obsessed with LUSH recently and I actually have a little package arriving this week with some new Lush products so I am hoping to do a little Autumn Lush post for you all.

I also cannot believe that its mid November already and that before we know it it'll be Christmas. I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet and I'm starting to panic because I don't get much time to go shopping anymore. It was so much easier when I was at uni and had so much time on my hands!

Anyway this was just a little update post, but I didn't want to leave you with nothing so I thought I write about my five favourite things about Autumn.

1.) Matching clothes to the autumn leaves- maroon, purples, orange, mmm. I don't usually get too fussed with Autumn, however with my new job I get really excited about wearing nice Autumn coloured clothes. Today I bought a maroon jumper dress to wear tomorrow!

2.) It cold enough to get out your trusty winter coat and get cosy.

3.) You can come home after work and put your pjs on and it feels acceptable!

4.) Dark coloured lipsticks look cracking! My favourite at the moment is from the Velvet Kiss range by Collection.

5.) The clocks changing mean darker nights, which in turn mean cosier evenings, candles, blankets and movies.

Questions for you

What are your five favourite things about Autumn?

What is your Autumn staple?

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

If you could get just one gift this Christmas, what would it be?

Speak soon loves

Sometimes working out takes a lot of motivation, especially when there are such delicious foods around. All we feel like doing is kicking back, watching Netflix and eating chocolate after a long day. But since I've incorporated running into my daily regime there have been so many improvements to my life. I'm about to share five of them with you now...

1.) You get to go out and see the world. Whether you're running just around the block or taking on higher extremes, you feel great for having taken yourself away from your laptop screen or mobile to be at one with the world around you. Enjoy it, take it all in and if you see something beautiful, don't hesitate to stop and have a look or take a picture (if you have a phone with you for using apps like Strava).


2.) It works wonders with your legs. Okay so not everyone wants to have really muscly legs, and I think that is what worries some. But honestly it'll only tone them as well as giving your bum a lift. Since running 5/6 days a week for the past month or so, I've managed to slim my legs down. I was squeezing into a size 12 at the beginning of summer and today I slipped back into a size 8 (even if they were a stretchy trouser!)

3.) You feel less guilty about treating yourself to a bit of chocolate. Because you workout and get fresh air everyday, you don't feel quite so bad having that little sweet treat once in a while. So don't stress yourself out by trying to force yourself to do any of these silly diets.

4.) It releases endorphins. As previously discussed in my last post, getting exercise is a great way to feel happier in yourself. The release of endorphins will make you feel brighter and more energised and awake- you can take on anything!

5.) It's a great way to get fit without the need of fancy equipment of an expensive gym membership. Running is free, so go out and do it. There are no excuses!

Do it for you. Come up with some reasons why you want to start running or be fit, and tell yourself them everyday when you wake. Remind yourself that you want to become the best version of yourself. So put your trainers on and get out and enjoy what the world has to offer. And getting fit whilst doing so? Yes please!

Today I want to talk to you all about skin care. Without good looking skin, our make-up doesn't look half as good as it could. What's more important is keeping our skin healthy, that way we'll have less of a need to wear make-up (not that any of us should ever feel like we NEED to wear make-up). Here are five useful tips to help your skin become healthier!

1.) Drink water
This may seem very obvious but it's one of the easiest things you can do to get better skin. Water will keep your skin hydrated and will help keep it clean which should prevent your skin from blotching and getting spots! Water has so many health benefits, it'd be silly not to follow this step!

2.) Wear less make-up
Okay so sometimes we want to wear make-up and that's fine. But if you are having a homey day or aren't going anywhere important, treat your skin to a make-up free day. Doing this whenever you can will give your skin a break from clogged pores and dirt and it'll feel much more revitalised.

3.) Apply Suncream
We sometimes don't realise how big of an impact the sun can have on our skin, especially in the cooler months. We tend to slap a bit of suncream on in the summer and then leave it to get exposed throughout the remainder of the year. However the sun is always there, so make sure you buy a foundation that has a suncream built in. Or incorporate an oil free suncream into your beauty regime and make-up prep. Skin that is protected from the sun all year round will look younger and healthier.

4.) Find out which products work for you
There is no point spending your money on products that have no effect or even make your skin worse. Find out what skin type you have, whether it's oily or dry or sensitive and find products that suit that. Don't be afraid to ask in store for help and find out what they can offer you.

5.) Get out in the fresh air and enjoy life
Getting out in the fresh air, whether it be for a day of shopping, or a run around the park will increase your chances of having better skin. It also will release endorphins which will lower your stress levels and lead to being happier in yourself. When we are happier with ourselves and the world around us, we begin to feel better in our skin, and our skin feels better with us. Nature is a very powerful resource that will benefit you in more ways than one.

Hopefully these simple tips will encourage more of you to be kind to your skin, and hopefully your skin will be kind to you too.

Make a list of reasons

Hey guys, so if you've read my blog over the past couple of months, you'll know that in June I travelled to Disneyland Paris and wrote a couple of posts full of tips for going there yourself. Now, I promised you about 3 segments, and although it's taken me a while to upload this post, here it is.

Disneyland Paris Parks

If you've ever been to Disneyland before you'll know what I mean when I say that it feels as though you are stepping into a bubble, an alternate world where your cares and worries of reality simply slip away. It truly does feel amazing and for anyone who thinks that Disneyland is for children, you are completely wrong. If anything I've appreciated it more and more the older I've become.

I went for 4 nights and 5 days, which was an extra day longer than I've ever been before. This was great because we felt like we didn't have to rush to do anything, we could take our time and thoroughly enjoy ourselves without feeling like we had to abide by a strict schedule.

We arrived in the park at about 1pm on our first day, which was a Monday. It really wasn't busy at all compared to how it is in school holiday, which meant that we managed to walk on all the rides we wanted. The longest queue we had was about a 5 minute wait for the Buzz Lightyear ride... not long at all. After this we felt even more relaxed because on our first afternoon we'd already done so much, which left us with so much time to appreciate everything else.
During our trip we were able to enjoy perusing the shops and taking in the atmosphere and pretty buildings.

A tip for the best times to go on rides in my opinion would be during parades (if you aren't fussed about seeing parades!)  because so many people gather down mainstreet for the parades meaning queues become much shorter. Also waiting until later in the evening when some people have either gone back to hotels or gone for dinner. Or even when people start to gather for Disney dreams!

Before when I've gone to Disneyland I've spent maybe one day in Walt Disney Studios. This time however, and especially because we had an extra day, we felt we were able to share our time more. Also, me and my boyfriend found we enjoyed the rides so much in the studios that in the end we shared our time between both parks equally.

Our favourite rides in Disneyland:
Pirates of the Caribbean
Thunder Mountain- this was closed for our trip unfortunately but it's one of my faves
Space Mountain- we went on this a little too much though I think and our brains hurt a fair bit after.
Indiana Jones- again, like Space Mountain, it does rattle your head around a bit too much.

Our favourite rides in Studios:
Tower of Terror
Crush's Coaster
RC Racer
Ratatouille


Best rides for people who like tame rides:
Small World
Buzz Lightyear
Peter Pan's Flight
Pirates of the Caribbean- there are a few drops but nothing too bad
Dumbo or Aladdin

Disneyland Paris has been so amazing, every time I've been it's been an incredible experience. I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my trip there and I hope that the next time I go I'll have more tales to tell, I may even vlog some of it!

I booked my holidays through Disney Holidays and Holidays Disneyland Paris
I booked my Eurostar through Eurostar

Speak soon

Hello lovelies

I have lined up some splendid beauty reviews for you, starting with a review of this product by St Tropez.

Now this product is relatively new, coming out last year I believe. I'd wanted to get my hands on it for a while, but to be honest St Tropez is far too pricey for me and so I never bought it. However this product was on offer in Tesco and although it was still expensive at about £9- £10, I thought it was worth it-as I would be saving about a fiver.

I'd heard mixed reviews on this products but it has been spoken off very highly by many and by magazines and so I was very excited to try it.  To be able to get a tan, in the shower, and have no 'fake tan' smell is brilliant, I thought, and how this was possible, I was unsure, but nevertheless I was keen to achieve what promised to be the most effortless tan EVER!!!

Unfortunately... despite how it has been bragged about, it isn't all it's cracked up to be.

First of all, the smell is better and doesn't smell of fake tan when you take a whiff from the bottle. It smells quite strong but in no way unpleasant, so at least there is one pro.

The process, although described as easy, I actually found a bit of a nuisance. It basically says to wash yourself first in the shower and then turn the shower off, and then apply the tan generously over the body, it then tells you to wash your hands after use. But doing this meant I of course had to turn the shower back on, which meant getting my body splashed a bit and when rinsing my hands, the water would run down my arms, so I found it easier to just not rinse my hands afterwards. Doing this I was expecting to face the orange hands consequence. However I didn't, like, at all. This was my first sign that this tan wasn't really doing anything, because usually you'd at least expect to see a faint tan right?
Anyway, you have to stand there with this lotion on your body for three minutes, which is slimy from the water and feels more wet in some places, like legs where it runs off with the remnants of water, and more creamy on your top half where you may apply last. After three minutes of standing and feeling slimy and helpless you have to turn the shower off and rinse your body with only water.

Luckily, St Tropez were correct in saying that there would be no fake tan smell. But perhaps this is because there is no fake tan in the bottle to begin with. I say this because I really didn't notice much difference to my skin tone AT ALL. Once I thought perhaps I had a hint of a glow, but I put that down to trick of the light. I knew it'o only a gradual tanner however and so I continued to use it for about four showers afterwards, and I still didn't really see any tan expect perhaps a faint and I mean faint, glow.

Overall this tan was disappointing. I will however attempt to use it again and see if maybe my application was what hindered it before, and perhaps I will come back and let you know how it went. However for £15, this did not seem worth it- sorry St Tropez.

Speak soon

Hey guys!

So, better late than never. I know, I know, my 7 Day Diet ended on Sunday and it's now Tuesday but I'm actually on holiday so I've been out and abouts. However I thought it a little rude not to finish off my updates from my 7 Day Diet so let's take another look through my goals and see if I achieved them.

To be honest, not much has changed since Day 4 & Day 5. I was a bit more naughty towards the end of the week due to the motivation wearing off and going on holiday. However I did try to keep to my goals as best as I could.

Goals:

• Eat a light, healthy breakfast
• Cut out carbs completely (ha let's see how that goes!)
• Drink mostly water
• Exercise most days
• I read somewhere that drinking a cup of coffee an hour before a workout, results in more energy and burns more calories, so let's see if that works shall we?
• Smaller portions- don't over eat
• Only eat healthy snacks
• Get a good night's sleep and wake up at reasonable times
• No alcohol 

On Sunday I did have a heavier breakfast of cereals and toast, but that's because I knew I'd be doing lots of walking on my holiday. However on Day 6 I stuck to just a small bowl of cereal with fruit.
Cutting out carbs as I discussed in my last post has been the hardest part of this diet. And I think unless it is your only goal, it is pretty hard. When combined with all my other goals I think I took on too much, there was too much for me to change for all my goals to stick. I think I've cut out quite a few of my carbs however and have tried to only eat more essential carbs.
I have drank a bit more wine and squash on my holiday, but that's because it's a holiday. But I'm pretty proud to say I stuck to water for the majority of the week!
I think I've had smaller portions but I'd like to carry this goal over and continue to do it.
I've definitely had healthier snacks. I've had more fruit and seeds and just the odd cube of cheese rather than reaching for a chocolate bar or biscuits.
I've had better night's sleep the past few day which I have felt better for.


So how has the diet gone?
Well I think for it to have a better effect it needs to go on for longer. You hear about these week long detoxes but I assume they are much more extreme, whereas what I was doing was just balancing and altering to make a healthier lifestyle.

Is it worth doing?
Yes, but like I said, these goals are good long term so why not try and introduce some of these goals to your normal routine? Take a bottle of water with you to work rather than opting for a vending machine pop. Little changes like that can make a huge difference.

What do I want for the future?
I'm definitely going to continue drinking more water and getting more exercise  and having smaller portions. I believe doing just these three things can make a difference. I also want to snack less, however if I do snack I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I am only human.

Speak soon

Hey guys, so I know I failed to upload Day 4 yesterday, and I don't really have a good enough excuse. To be honest I was busy... busy watching The Devil Wears Prada with my mum... oops!
So today I'll catch you up with day 4 as well as day 5.

It's not been easy. I've found day 4 and 5 the hardest I think because the novelty and motivation has begun to wear off. I didn't get to go for a jog yesterday. I was going to go in the evening but couldn't in the end as was waiting for a call and had some work to do. And today I haven't jogged either as again I've been working. However I did go food shopping with my mum so maybe that counts as exercise. I am again busy tonight, but if I finish not too late then I'll go out for a run... fingers crossed.

So here were my goals:

• Eat a light, healthy breakfast
• Cut out carbs completely (ha let's see how that goes!)
• Drink mostly water
• Exercise most days
• I read somewhere that drinking a cup of coffee an hour before a workout, results in more energy and burns more calories, so let's see if that works shall we?
• Smaller portions- don't over eat
• Only eat healthy snacks
• Get a good night's sleep and wake up at reasonable times
• No alcohol 

How they've gone:

1. I have eaten a light breakfast each day. I've tried to have something different each day so I don't get bored. Sometimes I've eaten fruit other days egg and yesterday I had a small bowl of cereal with berries on top.
2. Look, this was never going to be easy. Quitting carbs cold turkey is honestly so much harder than it sounds. And have I achieved it? Well, no. I've cut out a lot though. I don't eat crisps, or biscuits. I've had the odd slither of cake, and the odd piece of bread, but that has always been accompanied by veg or salad. As much as we assume carbs are the unhealthy part of our diet, we don't realise that for a balanced diet we need carbs. Carbs are just as important as other foods and cutting them out completely probably isn't natural. I have felt less bloated when I've not eaten carbs which is a great benefit, however cutting out carbs is so much harder when you live at home as you can't always dictate what food is cooked etc. I feel as though I've done really well with this goal though to be honest, because it is really hard and I've made a lot of alternative choices for carbs in meals.
3. I think I've done really well. I have only drunk water for the whole week, except for one cider at the pub and one teeny glass of red wine. Other than that, I've stuck to water. 
4. I tried the cup of coffee one hour before a workout thing, but personally I didn't think it made much difference. I think just sticking to a protein breakfast and water will do just as good.
5. I have made sure to have smaller portions for dinner and I have never over eaten, and I am yet to feel too full after a meal this week. That for me is one of my biggest issues. I always graze, snack and eat too much which causes bloating, nausea and most of all it's just greedy. It's calories that I don't need.
6. Healthy snacks? I think I've done this really well during the day. In fact I haven't really snacked or had much urge to. I have however had the odd piece of chocolate in the evening. Naughty I know, but... well I have no excuses other than, I wanted some chocolate.
7. I think getting a good night's sleep is not something you can always control. I've been going to bed at an alright time and I haven't been having huge lie ins, nor have I been waking up super early. Due to the heat it has been difficult to get a good nights sleep consistently, so whether this has had an effect on my diet I am unsure.
8. No alcohol? Well as I've said, I have had 2 drinks this week. I think that is good considering I usually have about 2 glasses of wine a night. So that's 2 drinks instead of 10. When you say it like that it sounds great. Think of what those extra 8 glasses does to your body. My body is 8 glasses of wine healthier this week!!

Okay so there have been good points and bad points. I was semi on this diet last week as well ( I just chose to write about it for this week) and in the two weeks I have just about lost 4 pounds. Of course this alters during the day due to water weight and food etc. But I have managed to shed 4 pounds- just from living a healthier more balanced diet and lifestyle! Result!!

Speak soon