Look and feel cool this summer with the right clothes

Tags

animal prints, beach, bikini bottoms, black capri pants, black dress, blanket, Body con dresses, breathe, cami, capsule wardrobe, chic, classic, classy, comfort, cotton shirts, crisp, day time dress, denim, dresses, exfoliate, fantastic outfits, feel, fitted t-shirts, floaty, florals, foundation, gold accessories, good quality sunscreen, heat, hot pants, jeans, kaftans, leg-lengthening wedges, light jacket, lightweight, limbs, look, lose, love, midi dresses, monochrome mixes, navy city shorts, navy vest, office, oversize shirt, pale, party, party dresses, patchy, pins, relaxed, rule of thumb, sharp, shave, shorts, smart look, statement necklace, style, summer, super short denim cut-offs, tailored shorts, tee, tube, wardrobe staple, wax, weather, weekend, white, work

While we love the sunshine, as the temperatures rise, it can be tricky to know what to wear so you look, and feel, cool wherever you are.

Pretty dresses and crop tops are great for keeping the heat at bay, but while they work at the weekend, they might not do the job in the boardroom. The general rule of thumb is that if it works for the beach, it probably won’t be right for the office.

We have had a look at how you can look and feel cool this summer whatever you are doing, wherever you are doing it.

Cut down on denim
We know that denim is a wardrobe staple, but standard jeans, dresses and even skirts can make you feel as if you are wrapped in a blanket and your limbs will struggle to breathe. If you like the comfort of denim but not the heaviness, go for a lightweight, pale option that you can match with a navy vest and pretty pumps and you’ll have an effortlessly chic, cool look in moments.

Make shorts work for you
Let’s get this out of the way – hot pants, super short denim cut-offs and bikini bottoms are great for the beach and pool, but when it comes to going to work or the shops, we would suggest a slightly longer length. If you want a sharp, smart look, the answer is tailored shorts with a signature tee tucked in and leg-lengthening wedges.

Trash the tights
Yes, some people hate their legs so much that they will still wear tights in summer. You don’t need to! OK, they might be pale and patchy but if you exfoliate, shave or wax and apply a gentle tanning product, you will soon love your pins.

Create a capsule wardrobe
This sounds a little structured, but if you get the basics right you are on the way to winning when it comes to the cool stakes. We all have our own style but crisp, cotton shirts, fitted t-shirts, midi dresses, decent underwear, shorts and flat sandals are a good starting point. You can then add a light jacket, statement necklace and bold bag and dress things up and down to match the weather and occasion.

Keep it lose
Body con dresses look might be on trend, but if you are on the tube or in the bank queue, you are going to feel hot and sticky. Yes, wear those fantastic outfits when you party, but for the day time you might want to go for something that is more relaxed and floaty as this can keep you cool and save those embarrassing underarm marks.

Think about neutrals
You might think that when summer comes you need to ditch everything else and only wear white, but this isn’t the case. A classic black dress and gold accessories, navy city shorts and a fresh white tee, or black capri pants and a fitted short-sleeved shirt, all look fantastic, classic and classy and will show off your tan perfectly.

Grab a kaftan
Kaftans aren’t just for the beach; they can actually work well as a day time dress or oversized shirt. We would suggest you go for monochrome mixes, animal prints or florals but one word of warning – if they are see-through wear a cami to save blushes.

Add in sunscreen
Even if there are clouds in the sky, the sun’s rays can still get through and burn your skin. Whatever else you wear, please make sure you apply a good quality sunscreen before you go out in the sun. It’s it key to also use a facial sunscreen and if you don’t want to overdo the foundation, try a tinted moisturiser instead for the summer months.

Team Pure-Beauty

A quick guide to mindfulness for a happier life

Tags

adrenaline, apps, attention, bath, be at one, benefits, books, breath, breathing, brushing your teeth, calling, Calming, dinner, easier, easy, eat, enjoy, evening, experience, feel happier, feelings, focus, heart rate, here and now, improve, lunchtime, media, medite, mental wellbeing, mind, mind and body, mindful, people, present moment, progress, reconnect, regular basis, Relax, sensations, simply tips, sit down, sitting, sleeping patterns, slow, slowly, smell, sound, space, stop, stresses, take, taste, ten minutes, thoughts, train, tube, understand, walk to work, wanders, weekend, win, world, worries

Mindfulness is being talked about in the media today more than ever, but what’s it all about?

Quite simply, mindfulness is an awareness of ourselves as well as the world around us and it can improve our mental wellbeing, calming the mind and allowing us to focus on the here and now.

If we are more aware of the present moment, it can help us enjoy the world around us more and understand ourselves better. If this happens, we can experience and enjoy the people and things we have been taking for granted, and leave behind the stresses we don’t need.

What does it involve?
Just taking notice of your thoughts, feelings, sensations and the world around you is the first step towards mindfulness.
There are books, apps, and courses that give you a structured way to bring mindfulness into your life, but at the heart of it, what you are doing is stopping for a while and focusing on your breathing. You will then notice that your heart rate slows down, adrenaline production is reduced and you feel more relaxed. With practice you can develop greater focus, better sleeping patterns and start to feel happier as well.

It is true that some of us find the idea of sitting with our thoughts when we are stressed or unhappy, quite difficult, so we have some simple tips that could help you get to grips with mindfulness.

Mindfulness isn’t easy to learn at first, so you can start by reading up about it some more, taking a course, joining a group or using an app like Calm.

It is thought that just ten minutes of mindfulness meditation a day can bring massive benefits when it is done on a regular basis. If you can, do it at the same time each day – maybe when you are on the tube, at lunchtime or before you have a bath in the evening, and it’s at this time when you can really be at one with yourself and leave behind your worries and fears. Clear this space each day, stop everything else and practise your mindful meditation.

Start with short bursts of three, five or ten minutes – you can even do it on the train.

When you sit down to meditate, take a few moments to get comfortable. Notice the sounds around you and how you’re feeling. This will help your mind and body reconnect, so when you do start focusing on your breath, it’s a little easier.

When you are practicing mindfulness and meditating, all you need to do is notice your breath and when your attention wanders, which it will as you wonder what to eat for dinner or where to go at the weekend, let go of it and bring your focus back to your breath. Each time you do that, it’s a win and it gets easier.

When you progress and start to bring mindfulness to your daily life, our advice is to start slowly. We suggest that in week one, you are mindful when you are brushing your teeth – be aware of the sound, the smell, the taste, and the movement as you clean. Then build up slowly, adding a new thing each week, such as being mindful on your walk to work, or while stacking the dishwasher.

Mindfulness isn’t for everyone, but why not give it a try and in time we hope it can become a part of your life and one that will make things easier and happier for you.

Team Pure Beauty

Get active the easy way

Tags

a swim, active, app, bad moods, bike ride, body, boosts your cardiovascular fitness, breakfast, breath, burnout, burns calories, busy, chore, circuits, community, daily step count, email, energy, everyday schedule, exercise, fitness kit, gather your thoughts, get up, go shopping, gym, health, healthier, home, intense workout, internal mail, interval training, legs, letters, level head, life, lift, local pool, lunch, meetings, moving, online workout, Pilates class, post box, run in the park, shop, shower, sit, snooze button, sofa, stairs, stand, stress, stronger, surprised, talk, tennis, time, tone, trim and tone your legs, tube, veg out, walking, washing, water, yoga class

No time to get to the gym?

End up doing the washing rather than playing tennis?

Got a to do list that takes you away from your Pilates class week after week?

We get it, life is busy but if you want to avoid bad moods, stress and burnout, you need to make time for you and your health.

Exercise is a key part to keeping a level head so we have had a look at how you can fit it into your everyday schedule.

We aren’t saying do ALL of these, but simply pick one or two and you will soon find you are feeling stronger and healthier and will have more energy than ever.

Exercise before breakfast
If you get up just twenty minutes earlier than usual, you will have time to have a drink of water, do a 10-minute intense workout and shower before anyone else has even hit the snooze button. Simply find an online workout or app that incorporates interval training, circuits or a weights session, and if there is a community you can be part of too, even better.

Walk to work
Any extra walking during the day will contribute to your daily step count. Walking burns calories, boosts your cardiovascular fitness, and helps to tone your legs too, so even if you park a mile away from work or get off the tube a couple of stops early, it all adds up and you will see a difference.

Get away from your desk
Meetings and extra projects can hamper your best efforts to exercise more but we all need a lunch break so use yours wisely. Whether you go for a run in the park, a swim in the local pool or a bike ride make sure you move away from your desk and take time out for you.

Get on your feet at work
If you use every opportunity you can to be more active during your day, you will be surprised at how much better you will feel. Stand rather than sit, go and talk to someone rather than sending an email, go up the stairs rather than taking the lift, take letters to the post box rather than using the internal mail, basically do anything you can to get your body moving.

Go home via the gym
Once you get home and change out of your day clothes, going out again might seem a chore. Take the temptation to veg out on the sofa away, and hit the gym, pool or a yoga class on your way home and you will feel so much better for doing so.

Shop until you drop
Yes, you heard us, go shopping! Even if you don’t buy anything, a walk around town (minus visiting the burger bar) can be a good workout and it could tempt you to buy some new fitness kit and do even more exercise.

Mow the grass
You can either see mowing the grass as another job on your list or as a quick workout that will help trim and tone your legs! Put on your music, get a good rhythm going and you will soon be in the swing of things.

Walk after dinner
Rather than slumping front of the TV or checking your emails, go for a walk after dinner. You can use this time to chat with the kids or your partner, or if you are walking solo, simply gather your thoughts and breath as you let go of the stress of the day. Stretch the walk by one minute every evening and you will soon be going places.

Got a tip for easy ways to exercise, let us know, we would love to hear it.

Team Pure-Beauty

There’s an app for that

Tags

1Password, 24 hours, access, adore, agility, app, balance, bed, calm, camera, carpets, class, clean, control, cook, easy to use, exercise, flexibility, focus, food discovery app, free, friends, Handpick, hangout, hangover, healthy habits, Houseparty, inspiring, inspiring recipes, jot, journaling, live, love, meditation and mindfulness, mess, mobility, mood, Moodnotes, online banking, own pace, password, physical and mental, question, recipes, relaxation, safe, schedule, screens, secrets, secure, self-aware, shop, Smartphone, snow, socialise, sofa, stickers, strength, tasty meals, teaches, technology, tidy, trending, trending dishes, tube, video app, video messaging app, web, well being, work, work surfaces, world, yoga, Yoga 15

Ever noticed how often you ask someone a question and they tell you ‘there’s an app for that’?

Increasingly people are turning to technology in all parts of their lives and while having some downtime away from screens is a good thing, apps can actually really help with the way you live, work, exercise and socialise.

We’ve had a look at some of our favourite apps that we think you might like too.

If you love journaling, you will adore Moodnotes. This cool app lets you jot down your mood and thoughts in an online journal that is easy to use and look cute. As well as tracking how you are feeling, with this on your phone you can learn healthy habits when it comes to thinking patterns and overtime, you can use it to help feel upbeat, more self-aware and it can be a way of taking control of your well-being.

Ever tried to get into your online banking or order your weekly shop and forgotten your password? Well, there’s an app for that. 1Password is free, easy to use and remembers all your passwords and keeps them safe and secure. All you need to remember is that one password and you’ll never be left scratching your head again.

If you struggle to come up with tasty meals, you need the Handpick app. By putting this ‘food discovery app’ on your phone, you will have access to a tonne of trending dishes and inspiring recipes that have been sourced from around the world, and web, that will change the way you cook forever.

Love yoga but never quite make it to your class, then you need Yoga 15 in your life. As well as a great website, the brilliant app teaches agility, balance, flexibility, focus, mobility, strength and relaxation. The easy to follow videos let you take things at your own pace and each one enhances your physical and mental well-being and means you can check out of your schedule for just a little while.

If you like your carpets to be clean and your work surfaces tidy but still want to hangout with your friends, you need Houseparty in your life and one your phone. This handy app opens in your smartphone’s camera and allows up to seven friends to join you, hang out and party on your own terms but without the mess or hangover.

Want to be down with the kids? Well then you need to download SNOW. This is a creative video messaging app that’s already been snapped up by over 100 million users around the world. You can use this app to send stickers and funny vid’s with live face effects to your friends during calls. You can send notes while chatting and invite friends to a group chat so you can catch up and share your secrets, well for 24 hours at least.

Nothing new about this one but we love the Calm app. Thousands of people around the world are benefitting from meditation and mindfulness thanks to this easy to use app. Listen in bed, on the sofa, even on the tube and learn how to bring your breath into the moment and how to keep a handle on your stressful thoughts.

Got an app you love? Let us know what it is.

Team Pure-Beauty