Start to run update #7

Good morning internet!

I am proud to let you know that, yesterday, I finished the start to run programme! I've had a bit of a delay, but I'm glad I made it.

Brand Rant: Natural Collection.

I don't see Natural Collection make-up being mentioned on beauty blogs very often. Is it because bloggers don't like it? Due to lack of advertising? I don't know, but I find that this brand deserves a bit more attention! Natural Collection is a brand owned by Boots. They also have body care products, but I'll be talking about the make-up.

Their packaging doesn't look very chic at all, but the make-up is very budget proof and the products are all fragrance free, so I think it's worth checking out their counter!  
Here are the products I currently have:

Latest obsession: TED-Ed YouTube channel.

On Saturday I stumbled upon a short and sweet video that explained how sugar affects our brain. I found it very interesting and well explained. Since the video was quite short, it's easy enough to stay focussed al the way through. And that's how I discovered the TED-Ed YouTube channel, which is filled with these animated educational videos! They cover a wide variety of topics and there are videos from talks on there too. 

What is TED-Ed?

According to their website:

TED-Ed is a free educational website for teachers and learners. We are a global and interdisciplinary initiative with a commitment to creating lessons worth sharing. Our approach to education is an extension of TED’s mission of spreading great ideas.

Within the growing TED-Ed video library, you will find carefully curated educational videos, many of which represent collaborations between talented educators and animators nominated through the TED-Ed platform. This platform also allows users to take any useful educational video, not just TED's, and easily create a customized lesson around the video. Users can distribute the lessons, publicly or privately, and track their impact on the world, a class, or an individual student.

Here's the video on how sugar affects the brain: 

I've spent quite a bit of my time watching TED-Ed videos this weekend. I haven't nearly seen all of them, but here are some favourites of the ones I did see.

DIY bedtime balm.

For this DIY I was inspired by Rituals Qi. After reading the ingredient list I figured I could make a similar thing.

Make-Up Studio Eyeshadow Lumière in Red Sparkler.

It's been three weeks ago already that E. and I went on a trip to the Hague. Whilst following a printed city tour, we felt like we needed a hot chocolate to warm up again. So we deviated from our path and when we were walking back to continue the tour again, we came across a store called Make-Up Studio. Obviously you wouldn't be reading this post if it hadn't been for us entering the store and me ending up buying myself a present!

The food hourglass.

A little while ago I told you that I was fascinated by the book the food hourglass. I wanted to tell you what I think of it after finishing the book.

Green clay mask: attempt number two.

A little while ago I wrote about the green clay powder that I'd bought and how I mad a face mask with it. That first attempt hadn't worked out well, but my second one did! I first did this with a friend and it worked great for the both of us. The photos are from the second time that I did the same thing by myself.
Here's the 'recipe':

Start to run update #6

I haven't been posting much lately for personal reasons. For those same reasons, my training schedule has been disrupted. But there's good news too!

Beautiful blouses.

Early December I went shopping with my grandma. She needed to get herself a new blouse for her son's (my uncle's) birthday party. We went to a shop which is called Charles Vögele since we'd seen a nice blouse in their weekly ads. I would not have entered this shop if it hadn't been for her, but neither my grandma nor I left empty handed.

A bit of shopping.

Last Wednesday I went shopping in Leuven with my friend J. She and I have quite different shopping styles: she will pick up every piece to see what it is, whereas I browse trough a store in a less exhaustive fashion. We visited a few stores that I usually don't enter, and I'm glad we did! 

They match quite nicely, don't they?

I got myself a jumper and a pair of jeans:

Home-made almond milk.

Since I've read the food hourglass, I've been avoiding milk a bit. Milk is said to be bad for people because it contains growth factors. This is normal since it's drank by baby cows that still need to grow! For grown up humans however, growth factors are not good. 
I haven't given up milk altogether, but I've been trying a few alternatives to substitute it with. I tried unsweetened soy milk, which tastes awful, sweetened soy milk which is okay, but I liked almond milk best. It tastes nutty - who knew! - and soft and yummy!
Since the store bought almond milk I got contained a few additives too, I wondered whether I could make my own. Turns out I can! Here's how I did it:

25 questions tag.

I wanted to do a personal tag and found this one. I got the impression that there are a few versions out there so I just picked one and answered the questions.
Here they are:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting.

I barely ever bake, but last Thursday a friend of mine and I met at her place to bake cookies and do a green clay face mask. Obviously we also ate some of the cookies and in the evening we watched Thor (and had a cookie break halfway through the film).

Here's the recipe for the cookies: 

Start to run update #5

This week I have a confession to make: I did not go jogging last Friday. Ans I didn't go last night either. On Friday, my sister and I planned on going at half seven that evening, but due to circumstances she could not be home by then. This time around I was not motivated enough to make the trip to the athletics track all by myself.

What's in my travel toiletry bag.

Last weekend I went on a trip to The Hague with a friend of mine. Whilst packing my rucksack I thought I'd make photos of the things I took with me to show you. (Notice how the sun was gloriously shining!)

Nail art for dummies #2.

Here's another super easy 'nail art' tutorial! 

Okay, paining one nail differently is not exactly nail art, but as I said: it's slightly more interesting than putting one colour on all of your nails.

PerBlan tooth powder review.

A while ago I told you about the tooth powder I'd gotten. 

As promised here's a review on it:

Chia seeds.

The first time I heard about chia seeds was a few months ago. My sister mentioned something about chia seeds being healthy. Not much later I came across a sachet of them in a store, so I decided to get them. Only after that I tried to find out more about them.