A few of my much needed things!

It's that all important time of the month - the restock ! It helps that they were all on sale, the golden rule of the restock, hold out till Priceline has reduced it by at least 20%.

I've tried a lot of different products over the years. My skin - pale, pores, multi-tonal and combination..! So keeping it clean and oil free is a priority and I find Neutrogena does the best job.

Any of their "make up" removing products actually remove make up - can you believe it? A product that does what it says. Neutrogena is at the more expensive end of the pharmacy sold cosmetics, but I definitely think they are far superior in a lot of way; their products never seem to dry out my skin and Neutrogena moisturisers actually dry matte!

I use Neutrogena make up wipes every morning before I apply my moisturiser and primer to cleanse my skin and when I'm too lazy to use my face wash - these Neutrogena Make Up Wipes even remove mascara without too much hassle. RRP $7.99 for a pack of 25.

I also use Neutrogena make up remover face wash from their naturals range, again this actually removes mascara! RRP $14.99 for 177ml.

Recently I changed primers (to L'Oreal Paris Base Magique Primer), I used pay $50+ for Napoleon Perdis' primer (which whilst it is great, I prefer primers with a silicon base, not everyone does but I really like feeling a thick buffer between my skin and my foundation. Also the fact that its sale price is about $20 really helps). I was keen to try their Matte Primer Base but Priceline was all out of stock - Sad panda! This Base Magique Primer is a light pink in colour but drys clear and feels like a silky cream. This primer does glide onto your skin, but first it needs to be warmed between your fingers, much the same as you would any lanolin products.

I also picked up Maybelline's newish Master Precise Liner in Blackest Black RRP $14.95. I haven't had a chance to try this out yet but the black is black not grey-ish and seems to glide over foundation well so I'm hoping it will be a new favourite!

Its time to eat!

Planned photos are hard! Beauty is definitely not in the moment. As a designer you can spend hours repositioning, reshooting and retouching!

I love nothing more than spending my days aligning and balancing my work - it brings great peace to my soul. But during my down time, planned moments can stifle creativity, life is messy and moments are precious. Often the best tips and snippets of life are captured in blurry, poorly lit images. It's the greatest of all internal fights "this isn't Instagram worth, but I really want to share it", traditionally your inner judge normally wins over and hits 'delete' instead of 'post'! Sadly you'll never quite get that moment back if you try to make it look perfect.

So here is a poorly cropped, out of balance photo of my lunch! I do have some exciting things to share though other than the fact that it was delicious and that I am in love with my country road dinner set!

I am really trying to cut out extra preservatives and processed foods from our diet, we've been feeling really flat and yucky lately, so I'm attempting to get back to the basics! To me this is the perfect "easy summer meal"!

Side salad took a while 4 minutes to make!
1 x 2 serve pack of Tilda Basmati Rice (I really love any of the quinoa and wild rice mixes)
Sprinkle x pine nuts (I like to roast these for a few minutes)
1x spinach and rocket mix
2x peaches (which I threw on the BBQ with the chops for about 10-15)

Cook the rice & pine nuts and mix all together!

The pork chops were even easier, I made a super simple marinade:
- crushed garlic
- sesame oil
- sweet soy sauce (ok, I know this one has a few baddies but every thing is fine in moderation right?)
- water

Mix to the consistency and the taste of your preference, let sit for about 15-30 minutes (overnight if you would prefer a stronger taste).

We recently just brought a BBQ (yay, on clearance for $229 - thanks Bunnings), so we put them on the grill for about 20 minutes on a low heat. We also used these AMAZING hot plate liner less than $10 and you get over 100 reuses. My hot plate looks unused and brand new!! It was also super easy to clean - big thumbs up.

So all in all I would say, 15 min prep time, 20 min well organised cook time.

Bon Appetit!