Bowery Mural

Keepin' It Fresh

Saturday 29 November 2014



Since returning from New York I'd been dying to find a stockist of Fresh products here in the UK. For the time time ever I've almost finished a lip balm. That's the Fresh Sugar original lip balm. It has SPF15 and smells just like the old fashioned sweeties, Kola Kubes, which I LOVE (pre-brace!). Delicious.


Anyway, I thought my luck was out until I tweeted asking @FreshBeauty and they kindly replied with details of how I could order from the London shop and they'd deliver. So that's just what i did last week. And the little box of delights arrived within one day, all neatly wrapped with a nice hand written note from Aimee, the assistant manager, whom I'd emailed with my order. Lovely.




What I got were: the Fresh Ruby lip treatment balm and the Fresh Petal lip treatment balm (a newish shade I think) (£18 each). I also got a little Christmas set called Sugar Wishes (£23) with the original Fresh Sugar lip balm and lip scrub. Happy Christmas to me. And finally I got a bottle of Fresh lemon sugar body lotion.


The lip treatment balms are a tried and tested formula for me. Not sticky, really moisturising and they smell amazing. The petal shade is kinda my lips but better and the ruby shade is my lips but a little pinker, brighter and much better - a nice Christmas shade if you're not into lipsticks. They look really pigmented in the tube but once on the lips it's like a tint of colour that you can easily build up for more colour wash. Perfect for me really since I have a drawer full of neglected lipsticks.

I've not opened the Christmas set as my original Fresh Sugar lip balm is still going and I won't crack open a new one until that is finished. I'm looking forward to trying the lip scrub though as winter is here I know my lips will be dry and flaky real soon.


The main event though is the body lotion (£18). Now, I don't like body lotions that are too strong (Pond's cocoa butter), or that don't sink into the skin and sit on top of it making you feel a little slimy (La Roche Posey iso urea lotion) but i do like to keep moisturised (Kiehl's Creme De Corps) as my skin can look almost snake-like if I haven't used lotion for a few days. And with the Kiehl's being a little on the expensive side for a small bottle, I thought I'd try a Fresh one. I opted for the Lemon Sugar scent as I thought it must be zingy scented and, well, fresh. And that it is. It's a lighter lotion than the Kiehl's. It rubs in perfectly and leaves a scent but not an overly strong scent. Just enough after a warming shower. It's lemony, sugary and wakes you up. The consistency means it sinks into your skin like a dream and doesn't leave that slimy film at all. My legs are especially dry but on leaving work and going to the gym afterwards they still felt hydrated from the morning. Perfect.

I wish Fresh Beauty was more easily available here in the UK. When Sephora started shipping to the UK I thought my troubles had ended but Fresh is one of the brands they don't ship the UK. We need to rectify that, Sephora and Fresh Beauty, please?!

Angela x

Been Busy

Saturday 22 November 2014


Wow, it's been ages since I've posted here. Sorry!

There are only a few reasons why. Mostly because life has taken over and I've started having much needed early nights so by the time work is over and the gym has been ticked off my daily list. It's dinner and then pretty much bed time. Phew. But I'm going to try to really put the time in and get this blog up and running again.

So, what's been happening? Well, as sure as night turns to day it's only four and a bit weeks until Christmas. Where has 2014 gone?! I mean, wow, it's flown by. It's been quite a year. I finally started Christmas shopping last weekend. Got the nephews some stuff. Then I picked up loads of stuff from the Boots 3 for 2 shelves and then promptly put them all back when I decided they weren't what I wanted to buy. I was thinking, there's too much choice in there. Does anyone else get that feeling in Boots?

View from the gym at 7.30am


The Gym... has pretty much been my life for the past month or so. I've upped my fitness game and am there 7 days a week. My exercise classes change everyday but this week i even started running again (and we all know how much i am so not a runner!). I've not gone crazy though, 10-15 minutes on the treadmill, some weights, some rolling and stretching... It all adds up. Classes are mostly metafit; Shockfit circuits and strength training; and spin classes. Almost two weeks ago I got this heart rate monitor device called a MyZone that they sell in the gym. I mostly got it because I was curious to see how hard i am working and how many calories are being burnt off with each bead of sweat that drips off my pink face. I was surprised. In a good way! I seem to be working pretty hard. I mean I kinda knew that anyway, I can't really give anything more by the end of a workout, but the heart rate thing appears to be saying I work in the 'red zone' pretty regularly during a workout. (The red zone being 90-100% of your max HR). A few people have said it's not working properly - cheeky things(!), but after a week it's settled down and I think it's bang on. How dare they say I'm not working that hard. I know I am. The good thing about this Myzone belt is that you can set challenges up with groups of friends or other people at the gym, you can push each other on and get motivated. I'm currently 3rd in our little Christmas challenge. I plan on being at least 2nd (the guy in 1st place is wearing his all day every day i think!). We'll see how i get on in the next few weeks.



Work has been really busy and really crazy just now. There's loads going on and my workload is doubling. I seem to be at too many meetings for my liking plus I've got a full days' training next week that couldn't have come at a worse time. On the upside I got a new computer last week and it's great. Quite fast and I can still listen to my music during the day. Being busy is good but sometimes it's a bit overwhelming. I'm learning just to take a few moments out to have a cup of tea a put things into perspective. There's only so many hours in the working day and there's only so much one person can do. My mantra.

Anyway, they are by no means excuses but just some of the reasons this blog has taken a little back seat for a few weeks.

I'll be back...

Angela x