teapigs Matcha May!

Hi all! I know I've not done a post in well over a month, I've been crazy busy, but now I think I actually am freeing up time, I'll be able to catch up on my blogging once again, huzzah! So as the title suggests, another tea post from me, what else?  This time is a little different though, I'm talking about the mother of all teas here, teapigs Matcha Green Tea! 

So we've well and truly established that I'm a self confessed tea addict, so you can imagine my delight when teapigs said they were going to send over some of their award winning organic Matcha green tea for me to try, just in time for Matcha May!

(Image via teapigs)

If you're wondering what matcha tea is, it is a fine ground powder made from organic and natural tea leaves, and it's sort of creating a bit of a craze in the UK and US, one of which I'm definitely joining in with. It's huge within the clean eating diet too, because of the crazy amount of antioxidants that it packs, in fact, matcha's antioxidant levels are higher than Goji berries, Acai berries, Pomegranates, Spinach, you name it! It actually has 137 times the amount of antioxidants than your usual cup of green tea, and that's still pretty darn good for you. Matcha's also known to aid weight loss, (hallelujah!) green tea aids fat burning, so imagine what super concentrated matcha will do.This really appeals to me, I'm forever trying to shift the stubborn weight, knowing that teapigs matcha tea won a best slimming product award, is quite reassuring! Not to mention it's a great little energy boost, so well worth having a cheeky little matcha shot before a work out! (If this hasn't filled you in, there is a handy little matcha guide on the teapigs site!)

teapigs are currently launching their Matcha May campaign (#matchamay hashtag hiya!) so they're so lovingly offering my readers a nice little 15% off their entire site (not including their already super generous offers), which means, cheap matcha green tea for all! Just have to pop in the code 'BLOGGERS12' at the checkout on the teapigs website, and et viola, cheap healthy, clean goodness on its way to you! 

So for Matcha May, I've created a few little drink ideas to create with teapigs matcha tea, super simple recipes, pretty darn yum and guilt free, what more could you want?! Let me know if you give these a go, or have any other little matcha recipes!

Matcha Smoothie

Handful of diced strawberries

1 small banana

1 tsp of teapigs matcha green tea

1 tsp of chia seeds

1 cup of apple juice (I use coldpress Pink Lady apple juice!)

Pop all of the above in a blender, and give it a whizz, super healthy, eat clean smoothie!

Matcha Green Tea

So self explanatory  pop 1 tsp of teapigs matcha green tea into a mug, add hot water and stir! (Don't add boiling water, you can burn the antioxidants out of the tea! Boil the kettle and leave it to sit for 2 minutes before using), then drink! Alternatively, don't drink, leave to cool, add some ice cubes, then you have a teapigs matcha iced tea!

Matcha Tea Breakfast Juice

Another self explanitary one, mix in 1 tsp of teapigs matcha green tea, with a glass of fresh juice, for this one I used Coldpress Tropical juice, and whisk with a little latte whisk, and et viola, the perfect morning pick me up! This would be perfect pre-workout!

Matcha Cocktail!

For you're almost healthy cocktail ;) you will need:

1 standard measure of gin (or more, if it's been a long day!)

1 standard measure of apple juice (coldpress pink lady works a treat!)

1 standard measure of slimline tonic water, or soda water

1 standard measure of simple syrup (sub for agave if you're really watching your sugar intake)

The juice of half a lime

1 tsp of teapigs matcha green tea

Mix the matcha powder with the fresh lime juice and apple juice in a shaker, then add your simple syrup and shake again. Add your gin, and throw in some ice, shake once more, then strain over a martini glass. Top up with your tonic or soda water, and et viola, matcha martini ;)

Matcha Shot!

So decieving, this is just half a tsp of teapigs matcha powder, with the tiniest squeeze of lime juice and water. Down this half an hour before your work out for a little energy booster and something to get the fat burning!

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Glitter Tea on Bloglovin'

Just as everyone else is doing before Google Reader disappears, I thought I'd let you know how you can keep up with GlitterTea.me! Everyone is moving over to Bloglovin' so come follow GlitterTea.me there! 

Alternatively, you can find me on HelloCotton, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. So there is a million way's to keep up with GlitterTea.me, and my clean eating challenge, or my many beauty/high street hauls.

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Benefit 'Fake Up' Event Brighton

Last Thursday, I was kindly invited along to Benefit's Brighton launch event for their new product Fake Up. It was so nice to see an event being held in places other than central London, and Benefit have been going all over the country doing more local events to showcase their new concealer 'Fake Up'! In fact,myself and all of the lovely bloggers I met over the evening couldn't stop praising Benefit for breaking the mould and taking their products out of London, and they chose an amazing, quirky place to do so! 

The Benefit Brighton Fake Up event was held at the Mesmerist, down the laines and close to the seafront, who officially do the best cocktail I have ever tasted! Unfortunately for me, one was the limit, as I stupidly chose to drive. It was such a lovely evening, meeting all the other local bloggers, the food and cocktails were amazing  and  of course getting a little sneak peak at the brand new hydrating concealer, Fake Up. This was as well as getting to learn about the products already unleashed to the world, like Hello Flawless, and They're Real, which turns out to be the UK's number 1 selling premium beauty product, above any Chanel or MAC product, which has moved it to the top of my 'to buy' list come payday!

Benefit's 'Boi ing' concealer was one my first premium beauty product purchases way back when, it never let me down, and even at the event, we were talking about the timeless-ness and diversity of the brand, it truely applies to all ages! I love Cha Cha tint, my mum is a fan of the 'Realness of Concealness' mini kit, and my sister is keen to often help herself to these! But on to Fake Up!

So Fake Up is Benefit's new hydrating, crease control concealer, and comes in 3 shades, light, medium and dark. Lisa, benefit's head make up artist and brow expert (pretty sure the real job title was longer!), explained how to actually place it in a V shape under your eye, rather than just going along under, to brighten up more of the under eye area. Since I've been doing that, I do look a lot more fresh faced and alert, hiding those big grey bags under the eyes! Lisa also demonstrated on the lovely Rachel, that the medium or dark shades, could actually also be used for contouring! I'm usually stuck solid on the Sleek Contour Palette, but Fake Up is such a lightweight, and silky concealer, it seems more blendable to me! Fake Up contains a heap load of Vitamin E, which refreshes your skin and apparently prevents aging, and also contains apple seed extract, which helps give you that dewy, bright look, perking up dull under eyes. Lisa even said, you can use it all over, perfect for a bad face day, or disguising a hangover!  Fake Up is proven to keep your skin hydrated for up to 6 hours as well, so little reapplying, which is a big thumbs up from me!

I'm pretty convinced that Fake Up will stay my concealer of choice when it comes to covering those dark circles under my eyes. People often say I look tired - I usually am! But I've definitely noticed a more fresh looking, dewy face since using this, big success!  I was worried that it would completely clash with my already quite oily skin, but so far so good, I've been using it for about 5 days now, and I don't know how I've done without it! Fake Up is due for release at the end of March (31st) so not long to wait at all, and will cost £18.50. Benefit kindly also gave us a Hello Flawless!custom powder compact to celebrate the One year anniversary of Hello Flawless! Personally colour matched as well! I'm not usually a lover of powders, but this one can be as sheer or as buildable if you want it, and with the essential SPF, with all this err, lovely weather we're having... ehem. But I am loving Hello Flawless! Powder .Big love to Benefit for hosting the event in Brighton, lets hope more brands follow and see that bloggers exist outside of London, I know all the lovely girls I met that evening appreciated it as much as I did! 

Products provided as PR samples

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Eat Clean Goji Granola

If you follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr or saw my 'Eat Clean, Feel Good post' you'll be aware that I'm on this Eat Clean hype at the moment. There seem to be a bit of confusion and uproar about what clean eating even means. In my opinion, it's all about eating good, natural foods, no junk or unnecessary added extras. I'm not always great at sticking to this, I'm sure I'm just making excuses when I say I'm always too busy to prep food or I just need to grab food on the go when I'm driving all over the south coast, but this week I've been on a bit of a eat clean food prep mission. I've started this one, with an all natural, antioxidant packed homemade goji granola! Store bought granolas, despite the healthy image they give off, are usually full of sugars and additives, so why not make your own, and fill it with superfoods like goji berries?! Here is my little recipe to get you started.

I don't know if I should call this a recipe, it's more of a guide, because once you've got the base done, you can add as much or as little fruits or whatever else takes your fancy! I also do most of my recipes in Cups - mainly because it's quicker than weighing it all out, and I have the cutest cup measures! 

Homemade Eat Clean Granola Recipe

3 cups of rolled oats

1/2 cup of organic, unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 to 1/2 a cup of honey (depends on your sweet preference!)

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup of flaked almonds (or other nuts of your choice)

1/4 cup of seed mix (I used a bag with pumpkin,sunflower, hemp and linseeds)

1 cup seedless raisins

1/2 cup dried goji berries

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Pre-heat your oven to about 190 degrees (fan assisted should be 170)

Place the oats, almonds, quarter of the raisins and seeds into one large mixing bowl, and in another, mix the apple sauce, honey and cinnamon in another until completely combined and pour into dry ingredients. mix well until it's all coated. Spread this over a a baking tray lined with baking paper and pop into the oven for about 45 minutes, but turn over the mix every 10 minutes or so, just turn lightly with a fork so it doesn't burn. It'll be dry and golden brown in colour when it's done, but remember it's hot! 

Leave to cool and then stir in the remaining raisins, goji berries and cranberries. Jar up, or eat up! Amazing with all natural yoghurt and fresh fruit, or just with milk in the morning!

You can add pretty much anything to granola mixes, and if you want to go extra healthy, try swapping the honey for agave syrup or manuka honey, and the oats, for a mix of wheat grains. Pretty much all these ingredients are beneficial one way or another, oats are a great source of fibre, and cinnamon is known for speeding up your metabolism, and goji berries are thought to help in weight loss as well as giving you a crazy amount of antioxidants! So jar up and get making granola!

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e-Boutique Wishlist!

Hide your debit cards now! This is procrastination to the maximum! Whilst trying to construct a really important piece of work, I got sidetracked as per usual, and stumbled across a number of independent online shops, or e-boutiques if you will, stocking some of the most beautiful things I have seen so far this year! It's a mix of homeware and accessories mostly, and I'm planning on adding these to my birthday wishlist! I love buying from independent online shops, the items are more unique, and you know a lot of hard work has gone into these usually handmade or home produced items! 

from top left to bottom right

1.DARWIN PORTFOLIO CLUTCH BAG - RIANNAPHILLIPS.COM

This is love. I saw this on Rianna's instagram feed, and was just in awe of this digital print clutch bag. I'm not usually much of a pink lover, but this bag is a beaut, broken up with the deep blue and whites.  Everyone loves a bit of geo mirror print! I've had a good long browse on her site, and her digital print designs are so beautifully detailed! 

2. SPIRIT FINE SKULL 9CT ROSE GOLD RING - BABYANYTHING.COM.AU

I am pretty much in love with all of BabyAnything's designs. BabyAnything is run by Lucie, an independent jewellery maker in Austrailia, and I now think I want pretty much everything that is on her site! This ring is a beaut, I love the contrast of the edgy skull detail on such a dainty little band. And it's rose gold! Perfection!

3.SACRED SKULL PORCELAIN SILVER CHROME ORNAMENT - BABYANYTHING.COM.AU

Another beautiful item again from BabyAnything. They've actually sold out of the silver chrome skull, which breaks my heart a little, but it's so beautiful! All the skull ornaments I've seen are too aggressive or look like they belong in a dressing room at a heavy metal gig. This is a beaut, I love the chrome finish on it. The only downside for me is that, shipping from Aus to the UK would cost around £40. I think this could definitely be worth it though!

4.AMYTHYST CRYSTAL POINT NECKLACE - EMPTYCASKET.CO.UK

Another independent online seller super popular with bloggers everywhere! Empty casket products are a little edgier then anything you might find on the high street, and I can imagine that products with crystals like this amethyst necklace in are each unique! Not many cuts of crystal are the same! Adds a little mystical vibe, I love this!

So these are all going on my birthday wishlist, not far off of 21 now, fingers crossed! I'd love to hear about any other independent accessories or homeware shops or boutiques, if you know of any!

Also! GlitterTea.me now has tumblr! happy days! It's a work in progress, but there is (or will be!) a lot of clean eating and my own eat clean recipes up on there! You can find it at OhGlitterTea.tumblr.com

x

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