Browned Paleo Banana Coconut Cookie Recipe

 

Overly sweet tooth like me? In need for chocolate? Want to become a cookie monster without the 'unhealthy' feel?

 

Dear ones, join me.

 

I accept that my cooking skills are not perfect and that these cookies are a little over browned but doesn't mean that they taste bad at all!

 

To make these quick and easy yummies, you will need:

 

- 2 Bananas

- 1/2 Cup Ground Flax Seeds

-1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut

-1/3 Cup Hemp Seeds

-5/6 Dried Dates roughly chopped

-2 Heaped Tbs Honey

 (more or less depending on your preference; you can also sub any other sweetener)

- 4 Squares Dark Chocolate (I used Lindt 85%) Chopped

-1/2 Tsp Cinammon

-1 Tsp Nut Butter

-2 Tbs Olive Oil/ Coconut Oil

 

Method:

 

- Preheat the oven to 200 °c

 

-Line an oven tray with tin foil and spread with olive oil to prevent cookies from sticking to the foil

 

- Mash the bananas (TIP: Peel and warm the bananas for 40-50 seconds to make mashing them up easier) and mix flax and hemp seeds, coconuts, oil, cinnamon, honey and nut butter together in a large bowl.

 

-Allow to cool a little before gently stirring in the dark chocolate chips and chopped dates

 

- Place mixture on the foil and press into cookie shapes

 

-Bake in over for 6-10 minutes

 

TIP: To prevent over burning keep checking the cookies and take out of the oven before it goes too brown , pretty self  explanatory but I always seem to find the simple things in life too straight forward.

 

I ate my cookies with hot almond milk hot chocolate whilst I watched Vampire Diaries like a typical girl on a typical Friday night.

 

Let me know if you know if you liked this recipe and any variations you may have made.

 

Priyanka xx

Mac Pro Longwear Concealer

Dark spots? Scars? Acne? 

Trust me, been there done that.

 

I had been searching for a good, high coverage concealer in Boots for a long time and finally gave up hunting for something that clearly doesn't exist. A good concealer in my eyes is difficult to find, especially when you're using it for coverage purposes.

 

Mac seems to be a popular and trust worthy brand in many people's eyes, so I opted to buy Mac's Pro Longwear Concealer and I am glad I made that decision. I put 1 pump of the concealer in a small circular container (which was originally a Mac tester pot) and use my No.7 Concealer Brush dab it onto any places I want to cover up, which is mainly darker scars on my forehead. I have found that layering the product over the area is key to making it look natural, even though this takes a little extra time to do.

 

The concealer is light weight, has brilliant coverage and lasts all day so no touch ups are necessary. A little product goes a long way and I think it is perfect for camouflaging. I haven't used this under my eyes because this shade would be too dark for that purpose and I prefer slightly lighter, natural coverage for the under eye area.

 

Have you tried any other products that cover up pigmentation effectively?

 

Priyanka xx

La Roche-Posay Effaclar

During the summer months, my skin had decided to switch things up a little...and turn into a mini disaster (as least in my life).

Around my forehead, my pores had become enlarged so that blackheads and spots were forming there very easily and all the time. I tried keeping my face clean, began exfoliating with blackhead eliminating scrubs, steaming my face and trying out natural masks all to find that really I was doing things that made my skin worse or didn't help my skin's situation.

I learnt that blackheads are caused by the pores of your skin becoming clogged and dried up (by over exfoliating) so they begin produce excess oils - these appear black on the skin. Then I realised that I should probably stop using the scrubs everyday.....

I've read a lot of reviews about the La Roche-Posay's range and a local pharmacists who I spoke to recommended some products to me to try out myself. I obviously thought it was worth a try even though they are more expensive compared to products I've used before.

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo[+] :

 

After using this on my face for a good few weeks there was definitely some serious changes. Firstly, the area on my forehead looked less oily and the blemishes seemed to be improving in appearance because the product has been keeping the oils away.

 

However, when a product is recommended for blemish prone oily skin, I would now think twice about using it on my face. This is because by using the cream alone on my face as a moisturiser it left my entire face in dry patches, which overtime started to look red and damaged. This is as the acne/ blackhead prone skin was only on my forehead and therefore my whole face did not need to be treated in the same way.

 

If your whole face is prone to acne and is oily I would definitely think that this would help your situation by controlling the oils but if not then you should only use this cream on the area which needs targeting, if possible , as I've been doing for several months now and it has been doing a great job at refining the skin. 

 

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Cleansing Gel:

 

I did begin to think this cleanser joint with the cream were the products causing my skin to become overly dry but after switching from the Effaclar Duo to my usual face cream (but using the Effaclar Duo on my target area only) I have been using the cleansing gel as I would as any basic cleanser.

 

Unless, with use this with other products I don't necessarily think that it does anything special than clean the skin but it does claim to remove excess amounts of sebum.

 

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Clarifying Lotion:

 

I apply this toner like product over my t-zone after I finish cleansing. After forgetting to use this for just under a week I began to see that my apparently improved pore sizes were getting larger. I'm taking a wild guess here, but I really do think this toner has really helped with closing up my pores so that dirt is unable to get inside and develop spots!

 

Overall, I have seen a great difference to my skin, even after a little trouble with dryness.  Well, at least I  have learnt that my skin type is definitely not oily!

 

If you have tried the Effaclar range out please let me know if it worked on your skin. Have you tried any other products that have helped with blackheads?

 

Priyanka xx