Shower Essentials

Origins Modern Friction
My favourite exfoliator, guaranteed to remove any dead skin cells & leave me fresh faced without feeling like I've been rubbing sandpaper over my skin.
Aussie 3 Minute Miracle
An amazing hair mask that you can use as often as your normal conditioner without any build-up. This one is the frizz remedy formula & leaves my tresses suitably moisturised & repaired without being fluffy. Summer must have.
REN Neroli & Grapefruit Bodywash
My 2nd bottle of this fresh citrusy bodywash, it feels really light & summery on my skin & the bottle lasts ages. Being REN it obviously has no parabens or nasties which is an added bonus.
LUSH Fairtrade Honey Shampoo
Leaves my hair smelling like turkish delight, nice & cleansing- full review here!
L'Occitane Delicious Almond Soap
My favourite L'Occitane range, I can't get enough of the sweet almond smell. Technically a hand soap this is great for giving my whole body an exfoliating wash with all the moisturising properties of the cult almond oil!

Isobel x

June

I began the month that officially marks the start of summer  in Sardinia with friends.
I couldn't ask for a better start to summer!

Sardinia has the clearest blue sea water. So beautiful.

 I took a trip up to Camden with my friend Chris...

And this happened.

I fell in love with beach hair, my hair hasn't seen a hairdryer in weeks.

A lovely man met me with flowers after work.

I am obsessed with this drink! If you haven't tried it yet (& like coffee & coconuts)- get yourself down to Wholefoods!

I can't stop buying summer clothes. This was a little H&M haul that was decidedly festival themed, with Glastonbury kicking off this week it must be on my brain.

I decided to take my diet & lifestyle back to how I prefer it, active, working out & eating clean wholesome foods.

I've been on holiday mode ever since Sardinia, drinking more than I'm used to and pretty much eating whatever I want.

With this in mind this week I started a new Instagram account- @heathyliftrun which will be my visual food diary to help motivate me & keep me on track.

I actually love eating healthily, cooking my own food & of course how my body feels when I put good stuff in it.

One of my favourite meals so far.

For the past week I've been dreaming of my up-coming road trip to Devon with my friend Simona, where we will be embracing our hippy sides with a week of camping & surfing.

I literally can't wait to be in the waves. 

Get a tan & buy lots of beachy jewellery.

I hope you've had a wonderful month!

Harriet x

Easy Pasta the Healthy Way

Not so much a recipe, more of an idea on how to put a few simple fresh ingredients together for a quick healthy meal.

At the core of this meal are the ingredients for a 'Caprese' salad, one of the simplest Italian dishes & also one of my favourites. You can't beat some perfectly ripe tomatoes, creamy buffalo mozzarella & a handful of fresh fragrant basil.

Simply chop the tomatoes, mozzarella & basil up. Put some oil (I use coconut oil) in a pan and lightly fry a couple of crushed cloves of garlic for a few minutes. Meanwhile get some water boiling for the pasta, I chose to use wholewheat linguine but I also love this with spelt pasta & angel hair spaghetti. When the garlic is golden add the chopped tomatoes and cook on a very low heat until the pasta is ready.
To add some protein to this dish I included a couple of eggs which is just about the easiest thing to do. When the pasta has about 5 minutes cooking time remaining just pop your eggs into the simmering water. You'll be left with cooked pasta & perfectly boiled eggs still soft in the middle (just add them a bit later if you prefer a runny yolk).

Season your sauce with the chopped basil & any other herbs/ seasoning you like. I went for some chopped red chilli, cracked black pepper & a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Add the pasta to the pan your sauce was cooking in, add the chopped mozzarella & mix all the tomatoey cheesy goodness together. Peel and slice the boiled eggs & place on top of the pasta with some more fresh tomato & basil.
This will feed 2 people easily, 15mins total prep & cooking time & hardly any washing up. The perfect lazy meal to whip up without compromising nutrition!

Slow release carbs, veg, protein & good fats. A balanced colourful meal. If you give it a go or variation that suits you let me know on twitter/ instagram I'd love to see your pictures!

Harriet x

Sunday OOTD

Jumper: Gap

T-Shirt: Topshop

Scarf: Zara

Trousers: Miss Selfridge

Shoes: Nike via Size

Ring: Spitalfields Market

Nails: Ciate Caviar nails "Pearl" beads & "Cookies & Cream" Polish

This is my go-to comfy yet stylish outfit at the moment. The weather in old Blighty has been a bit miserable this week so baggy jumpers and lightweight scarves have been a must. I absolutely live in these leather look jeans from Miss Selfridge at the moment. They are really wearable and a bit more fancy than normal denim. Also feeling uber cool in my new(ish) all black Nike Air Max 90s. I like to think they add a bit of Hip-Hop into my otherwise quite plain outfit. The photo didn't come out too well but I tried out the Caviar nails by Ciate for the first time. I just did one nail on each hand with the beads quite understated and they're growing on me but be warned they do scare off children!  

Have a lovely evening!

Isobel x

Post-Holiday Skin & Haircare

A couple of weeks ago I spent 5 gloriously sunny days on a beach in Sardinia with friends. It was absolutely amazing, Sardinia is one of my favourite places in Europe & the little seaside town we keep going back to really has something a bit special about it.

Although I took good care of my skin and hair whilst subjecting it to the sun, sea & sand (SPF50 on my face, SPF30 on my body & heaps of Moroccan oil on my hair) by the time I landed back in London I was feeling rather sunkissed but dehydrated. My hair hard to tame at the best of times had descended into full on beachy waves that needed to be smoothed & straightened into submission for work the next day & my skin was feeling a bit sensitive dry & in need of some TLC.

These are the products I have been turning to to put the moisture back into my skin & hair and keep my tan lasting & looking fresh- no peeling in sight.

 Body & Face

Evian Brumisateur- I've been spraying this over my whole face & body after a shower before applying aftersun/ moisturiser. The fine mist is very cooling & calming and makes a nice addition to my summer skincare routine. This would have been lovely to take on holiday too but unfortunately it's way over the 100ml cabin allowance!
Piz Buin Aftersun- I love this aftersun and repurchase it every year. Light in texture it's moisturising, cooling and absorbs straight away. It smells fantastic and instantly makes me think of summer. It claims to be tan intensifying- I'm not entirely sure about this but it certainly keeps my tan lasting weeks after returning home & stops any peeling or flaking.
Clarins Aftersun Replenishing Moisture Care for Face and Décolleté- As expected from Clarins a lovely facial aftersun lotion that soothes and hydrates without being greasy.
Mama Mio OMega Body Oil- I have been applying this to any extra-dry areas on my body, usually my legs and arms. This oil has won lots of beauty awards and I can see why, the skin on my legs has never looked better, really even and ultra moisturised.

 Such a nice cooling moisturising combination for sunkissed skin.

Hair

Charles Worthington Rough & Tousled Salt Spray- After I've spent 30mins combing conditioner laboriously through my tresses and returning it to a calmer state I find myself missing the texture and perfect waves that come with salty beachy hair. My solution to this has been to spray a bit of this through just washed wet hair (after applying moroccan oil) and I get the best of both worlds non frizzy beach babe hair but healthier & hydrated with no unruly knots!
Phyto Phytojoba Intense Hydrating Shampoo- This is lovely, smells of coconuts and packs a serious hydrating punch.
Morrocanoil Oil Treatment- All time fave, I'm never without this. The only thing that stopped my hair becoming drier than the Sahara when after a few cocktails I joined in with the blondies & squeezed lemon juice over my hair. Sun + seawater + lemon juice does not make for happy hair!
Mark Hill Sunset Smoother Aftersun Conditioner- This was a last minute travel size purchase I picked up in the airport, I really like it & will probably repurchase. Super soft hair and no frizz. Not really any kind of scent which you might expect for a holiday designed product but really can't complain at the price it is!

I'll leave you with a few holiday snaps from Instagram. If you want to see more or stay updated with me or Izzy check us out @twoloveslondon 

Harriet x