iBrow transformation

  Today I went and got my brows done. I was super nervous about anyone going near my eyebrows because they "were" non existent. So I saw a new place that opened in cork called iBrow, I was seeing it all over Facebook so I took a jump of fate and booked an appointment and I am so happy I did.  

https://www.facebook.com/rach.shar.9

  The place itself is gorgeous and very well decorated with quirky lamps, pillows and flowers/plants scattered around. They even have a wall of brows, it's a wall of different pictures of fabulous eyebrows framed with quirky picture frames. So first impressions were good, I was even offered a chocolate :) so I took a seat  and waited for my iBrow expert. 

   Nerves began to kick in as I could see that I was next to the hot seat but I was quickly put at ease by the lovely Rachel who welcomed me with a smile. She straight away was on the same page as me with my measly brows, too short and too fair but claimed there was hope, I was estatic. I love bold eyebrows and she knew that straight away by looking at my style. So I was delighted. I originally only booked for a tint simply because I thought that there was no hope for waxing them as they were so small. She explained to me what she would do, tint them first and them let me look and decide about waxing. She said I would be pleasantly surprised after they were tinted. So I sat there and let her tint away. 

   Tint off and OMG I couldn't believe that I had eyebrows, as u can see in the before picture above, I've never had much brow to contend with. I was so excited and delighted that there was brow to shape, woohoo. So Rachel waved her magic iBrow wand and the end result speaks for itself, amazing! 

I have odd eyebrows naturally so she explained to me that she would work with that over the next few sessions without thinning my eyebrows. They are still slightly odd but I don't mind at all, the waxing will stimulate   a bit of growth which I never had before, which will eventually give me even,thick brows that I've always wanted. 

   To top off the experience, I thought it was a nice touch that she had concealer on  hand to cover the unsightly just waxed red skin. So I still felt confident going out the door. 

   Overall I have been seriously impressed by the girls in iBrow and would highly recommend a trip to any girl nervous about getting  there brows done. They know exactly what they are talking about and train each member of staff to there highest standards of being eyebrow artists. 

 Before the tint and shape. 

  After my tint and shape, no filling needed! I have iBrow brows. 

Like my Facebook page @ forward graduation. 

Peace and love, Sally 

https://www.facebook.com/Forwardgraduation?ref=hl

My messy curls

So at the moment I'm leaning towards a far more chilled out, trying to look natural but not natural curls haha. So this is what I use and what I do!

I use avedas pure abundance shampoo and conditioner. These are for adding volume by thickening your hair. I'm obsessed with these products! My hair is fine in texture but I've a lot, it generally falls quite flat for me but not since I've started using this range . I'm amazed by it. They have really worked, my hair has more substance and oomph :) And the best thing ever since I started using avedas hair care is that my hair doesn't get oily as fast. They have less chemicals so I only have to wash my hair every 4 days which is amazing.

I then blow dry my hair using pure abundance style prep on the root area and either kerastase elixir oil or mythic oil. I find I get better shine with the kerastase oil and more softness from the mythic oil. I alternate the two simply because I'm a product junkie. 

Blow dry your roots up, turn your head upside down... just dry them to the opposite way they will sit after.  This works amazingly for natural oomph!! 

Ta daaaa!!!! Volume and thicker looking hair. 

Wand it, half your hair from temple to temple and grab random medium and finer pieces (alternate sizes) and curl them. The longer you hold the hair on the wand, the tighter a curl you will get. Also the finer pieces will be tighter faster because there's less hair to heat. Don't get too fussed remember the end look is messy and texturised. 

One thing I will say is if you can..around the face try curl away from the face, this just makes it more wearable so your hair isn't lying across your eyes. 

Next thing after your head is curled just get your fingers into your hair and shake out the curls. To add more texture I use redkens wax blast for mess that last all day, I love this stuff.  The curls will be like foxy cliopatra first but give it a moment, do your makeup and it will chill out, as seen below. 

So ladies I hope this was informative and all that jazz. Any questions don't hesitate to ask or else mail me on my Facebook page forwardgraduation.facebook.com.

Happy styling. Peace and love

    Sally xxx

https://www.facebook.com/Forwardgraduation?ref=hl

All tied up

Today I've an outfit post for ma peeps. Went a bit daring and wore a tie today, loved it. Got a few odd looks but I think I looked pretty cool. Haha lol. 

 So the tie was the statement of my outfit and I worked everything else to complement it. The green jacket and denims (H&M)picked up on the colours in the tie (ted baker)letting the colour pop then against the crisp white shirt(river island). And as always with my style I love a weird shoe so these white ones just topped it off.  

When I can I like to have fun with clothes, wearing statement pieces that are usually a bit strange to other people. I love to have fun with clothes while I can still pull it off! (as my mom says) 

If your going to wear something weird, wear it with ur best accessory, CONFIDENCE otherwise it will wear u. 

 Love and light,

   Sally xxx 

https://www.facebook.com/Forwardgraduation?ref=hl

Guilt free chocolate cupcakes with an almond vanilla topping.

       

   So after a very unsuccessful first try of this recipe I decided I would tackle it again and change the quantities and make some additions. These have even got the seal of approval from family members who thought my healthy brownies were fairly unsatisfiying. I am very very pleased to say that it has been more of a success than I thought it would be and these are actually really quite tastey. This batch makes 8 cupcakes which is grand because when your eating better you don't need 24 cupcakes haha. 

Ingredients. 

 2 eggs

 1 banana 

 1& a half tablespoons of coconut flour

 1 tablespoon coconut sugar

 1teaspoon of organic caoco powder

 Half table spoon of coconut oil

A smidge of baking soda 

Almond milk

Frozen berries(optional but recomended cos it's amazing)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

     First put your banana, eggs and coconut oil in a bowl and blend with an electric hand blender. Then mix in the flour, sugar, caoco powder in with the blender also. The mixture will be quite stiff so this is where I mix in some almond milk bit by bit till the texture is so that some will stay on the spoon and some will flop off. A spoon able texture if that makes sense haha. 

     Line 8cupcake cases in a cupcake tin and spoon the mix into each case. If you are including the Rosen berries, spoon a small bit in places one frozen berry in the centre and spoon more mixture over it to enclose it. Chocolate and berry is an amazing combination.

     Pop the filled tray in the oven for 20mins. 

     While these are cooking make the topping,

you can use any nut you prefer, I used almonds. 

Put around 15almonds, 3teaspoons of boiling water, 1teaspoon of coconut oil, a splash of vanilla essence and a squeeze of honey into and electric blender. And blend, till you can get it to the smoothest texture possible. Mine was fairly crunchy but I like it. 

     When the twenty minutes are up take them out and let them cool before you put on the topping. 

  Hope you enjoy your baking. Eat well, live well :)

Light and love Sally xx 

 

My cold/flu/cough soothing tea.

  Sooo, I have a head cold and I'm not mad on drugging myself up unless I literally can't function so this alternative remedy is super comforting to drink, tastes good and well I just love the warmth. I'm loving it the last 3days so I said I'd share the love. The ingredients are not set in stone you can swap the lemon and ginger bag for fresh lemon and ginger, whatever is easier. You don't even need the tea bags at all, you can leave out the green tea if you want but I just like it. 

   So ingredients are... Drumroll please haha 

  

  1 ginger and lemon tea bag. lemon is high in Vitamin C. It is also full of phytochemicals. These are plant constituents that help boost the immune system. 

  1green teabag.  

 3cloves, which is a powerful antiseptic. Cloves are warming, and useful for people who are prone to colds. Cloves are also an excellent natural anti-inflammatory, when used locally on swellings it can be quite useful if you have a sore throat from coughing. 

 Half a cinnamon stick, natural antiseptic

 Squeeze of honey, honey contains a natural "ingredient", which kills the flu germs and will prevent the person from getting the flu.

Loads of info in the link below for honey and cinnamon. 

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/039963_cinnamon_honey_healing.html##ixzz2xfibYeh

So boil the kettle. Put all the ingredients into your mug and fill with water, simple. After I've finished my mug I keep the stuff unit in it and just top up the honey and water to get a second mug out of them.

 That's my easy peasy tea anyway, so sit down chill out with a pack a soft tissues for your poor nose and drink this wonderful comforting tea. Woohoo.

Enjoy, happy drinking, happy sleeping. 

Sally xx  

       

Guilt free chocolate brownies.

 Sweet potato brownies 

     These brownies are super moist and fudgey, I will admit they are not supersonically amazing but when you restricting your diet to mostly rabbit food these are pretty amazing. Plus as an alternative recipe it actually worked cos I've had some dried up disasters haha.. They are not a sweet as a full calorie, full sugar brownie but they are very chocolatey and are delisious accompanied with strawberries or raspberries and Greek yoghurt. 

                     

Ingredients. 

 2medium or 1 large sweet potato

 2eggs

 2tsp vanilla

 Half cup of olive oil

 Half cup of honey

 1tsp baking soda

 1tablespoon baking powder

 2 tablespoon cocoanut flour

 1 cups of organic sugar free coco powder

PREHEAT OVEN TO 180

 

 First grate your sweet potato, I used an electric grater. 

Whiz up your wet ingredients and mix them into your potato. 

 Add in your dry ingredients, mix well. 

Pop the mixture a tin lined with grease proof paper. Cook for 25-30 mins. When they come out after 30mins they will still seem very soft and raw looking but once they cool a bit they or find. Really fudgey. 

  

Don't forget to clean the mess 

Happy cooking, happy eating. 

Sally

Xx 

   

Braid it up!

                       

                                

  My obsession at the moment are plaits, I wear my hair up in a plait most days, dress it up, dress it down, going shopping, going to yoga, working...I'm braiding it up.  The plait I'm doing is the Dutch plait which is the same as a French plait but instead of bring your hair over,over over, your bring each section under. This lets the braid sit on top of the hair and not into the scalp like a French plait does. Whatever plait you maybe rocking even the simple plait to the side, take it really tight and when it's secured with a bobble pull each curve away from each other, spreading the width.Don't be afraid of really dishevelling it, they always look better this way. same applies for any French or Dutch plait, really get your fringes into the braid and shake it to loosen it from the head. 

    

                 My freaky doll head with a Dutch plait. 

          Plaits on the runway. 

 

Work you plaits into a bun. Give the look texture by pulling all your baby hairs out around the front hairline. 

Alexander McQueen used this very severe look.  Plait your hair tight at night and the next day have an 'after plait' look when you take them out. 

Me myself and my braids. 

 Finishing. 

To dishevel and texturise my plaits I use redken a wax blast and pop flowers in around the back that I got in h&m.