I GOT A JUICER!! Partyyy timeeee! I am probably the last person on earth to jump on the juicing bandwagon, but the important thing is I am here now! Juice all day every day! (Can you tell I’m excited?? Haha)

So now. What is juicing and why do you need to do it?

Juicing is essentially a process that removes insoluble fiber from fruits and vegetables. According to Joe Cross (aka the juicing king,) “removing the insoluble fiber allows for increased absorption of specific health promoting phytonutrients including enzymes, while the soluble fiber persists into the juice.”

SCIENCE. So what this means is when you are juicing your favourite fruits and veggies, you are getting highly concentrated vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that you would otherwise have to eat an obscene amount of food to get. And whyyyy you ask, do you need to do this? Well 95% of the vitamins and enzymes your body needs are found in the juice of raw fruits & veggies!

Juicing is also a great way to get in your fruits and veggies, especially if you don’t particularly like eating them raw. (But you should totally be eating fruits and veggies on the regular because they are awesome… just saying.)

So I am a totally juicing noob, but I did my research. Here’s the skinny on how to maximize the benefit of your juicing:

• Drink your juice first thing in the morning. Do it before you have eaten anything, to make sure your stomach is empty. This will increase the amount of nutrients that are absorbed into your body!
• You must drink your juice within 3 days of making it! As soon as it hits the air and begins to oxidize, it loses some of its nutritional value. Some people (the really h-core ones) say to drink it within 24 hours, but realistically the oxidization process is so slow that you will never notice a difference.
• Store your juice in the fridge in a tightly sealed container… keeps it delicious and fresh for longer!
• Do NOT go crazy on juicing the fruit! Juicing only fruits makes a super high calorie drink. My goal is to always juice as many veggies as possible, and hide the taste (ahem..) with as few fruits as possible. That being said, fruity juices are fun treat too sometimes. 🙂

Have I blabbed your ear off enough? Well, I am not done quite yet. Drinking fresh juice also facilitates weight loss (!!!), increases energy levels, strengthens your immunity, and gives you a gorgeous glowing complexion. I WANT ALL THOSE THINGS!! Now, who is with me?!

On my first juicing quest I took my tips from a famous juicing book called “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.” It’s good, you should check it out. The juice I made today is called the “Mean Green Juice.” (<– sooo into that name.)

What’s in it:

• ½ cucumber
• 3 stalks of kale
• 2 pink lady apples
• ½ lemon
• large chunk ginger (I like mine extra gingery so use your judgement!)
• 2 celery stalks

Start by washing all your fruits and veggies well. Get all those nasty pesticides off! Now, core your apples and remove the skin from your lemon. Once you have put your apple core and lemon peel in the garbage, throw all your ingredients into your juicer!! And you have juice!!! 

You can bet your beautiful selves that you will have some custom Skinny Belle juicing recipes coming your way soon! For now, I thought I would share with you the wonders of juicing, and why you need to invest in a juicer. Breville tends to make great juicers, check them out here and here.

Can’t wait to start juicing with you guys!! <3

 x,

Let’s start off by talking about why I love ponchos so much. Think about it… they are basically a socially acceptable version of a blanket that you can wear all day long. I mean come on!! I can wear a blanket and not be publicly shamed? That sounds like a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Needless to say, ponchos for the win.

I got this grey and camel beauty from Lord & Taylor. If you want to see another one of my fave ponchos, check out this post. My gorg speckled sweater that I am wearing underneath is from Oak + Fort. Totally love their look, I find that it fits great with my style. These two pieces together made such a cozy outfit!

Now, here’s a tip for you. If you want to make your legs look longer, try pairing tall black boots with black jeans. It totally elongates the look of your legs and makes those babies look like they go on foreverrrr. Kind of like I do when I start blabbing on about something….. 😛 Kidding!! Kind of…

Anyways, I hope you guys love this casual outfit as much as I do! Have a great Wednesday <3

x,

Having a clean and simple 5-minute makeup look is a total necessity for me. If you are running late for work, school, or just life in general (it happens to the best of us,) this is a great way to look polished and put together in only a few minutes.

Before we dive on into things here, I feel the need to share my “daytime makeup philosophy” with you. LESS. IS. MORE. (<– bold anddd italicized because it is THAT important!) I am all about keeping my makeup as natural and simple as possible during the daytime. That way you can show off your natural beauty, and pretend like you don’t wear makeup at all. (AKA the lies we tell men all the time haha! I still maintain a strong front to my boyfriend that I never wear makeup 😉 )

Makeup is supposed to enhance your natural beauty, not cover it all up. Soooo, to look your most gorgeous during the daytime, be sure your makeup is bringing out your best features and not hiding them!

For my first makeup tutorial I will start with this super simple makeup look that is literally done in less than 5 minutes. This is important for efficiency queens like ourselves, because we obviously have important things to do and people to see! 😉

Here’s the skinny on how to get my 5-minute makeup look:

1) Start by applying a light powder to your whole face. Get it alllll over! Your eyelids and everything.

2) Next, contour your face by adding your bronzer. Go heavier on the bronzer on the frame of your face and just below your cheekbones to get a more defined look. My fave bronzer is Chanel’s “Healthy Glow Sheer.”

3) Eye shadow time! All you do here is take a light matte color, and put it in your inner eye lid and just below the arch of your eyebrow. This will open up your eye and make it look brighter. The Naked Basics palette (featured in the photos above) is my go-to shadow set for the day. As you can see I use the “W.O.S” shade every day haha.

4) Now take a slightly darker color (neutral and matte as well) and carefully blend it in to the crease of your eyelid to make those big beautiful eyes pop! I used “Naked 2” from my Naked Basics palette. 

5) Last step!! (See? I told you this was ridiculously easy) Mascara!!! This is the holy grail of makeup. For me, it is the most important step of all. I could skip all the rest and still be happy with just mascara haha. So apply your mascara evenly right from the base of your lashes all the way up. It is super important to get the mascara right down the base of your lashes, especially if you have light coloured hair. This way you wont have any awkward blonde lashes peeking out at the roots. I have used the same mascara since forever, and it is…. * drum roll * Lancome Hypnose!! It is seriously the best. Just go buy it now, and you won’t regret it… promise!

And you are done!! This look is really simple, and is a super quick fix for anyone who is in a rush. Nobody will know that you spent less than 5 minutes getting ready, and you can get along with ruling the world, like I know you do 😉

Give this quick look a try, and tell me what you think in the comments below!

x,

Fajitas are my go-to dinner choice. If anyone ever asks what we should make for dinner, it takes me less than a second to respond “FAJITAS!!!!!!” They are just so freaking awesome. I don’t know if I will ever get over them. We are in a long-term relationship and have celebrated many happy anniversaries together. 😛

Not only are these fajitas super tasty, but they are a skinny meal as well. You get protein, good fats (a few bad ones but we don’t talk about those 😉 ), and lots of nutrients. I am always so satisfied after eating these, and love the process of making my own fajita. It seems silly, but getting to put together your own little fajita is so much fun.

What’s in it:

• Whole wheat tortillas
• Avocado
• Fresh salsa (tomatos, cilantro, purple onion, salt, pepper)
• Shredded marble cheese (not so skinny, just don’t think about it haha)
• Sour cream (also just pretend this has no calories)
• Chicken breasts
• Cajun spices
• Purple onion
• Peppers (red & yellow)

Alrighty. Let’s do this.

Start by making your salsa. I always like to make my own because it is SO delicious and literally takes 2 minutes. Just chop up the tomatos, cilantro, and purple onion and mix em all together like a happy little family. Yes, a happy little family of salsa. Finish the salsa by squeezing some lime on top, and mixing in a little salt and pepper.

Next, prep your chicken by covering it in extra virgin olive oil, cajun spices, and salt/pepper. Veggie prep time! Slice up those peppers and purple onion and put a little bit of olive oil and salt/pepper on them. Heat up two frying pans, and cook your meat and your veggies separately. Make sure the chicken is cooked well, because raw chicken is just plain nasty. Confession: I am a major stickler for properly cooked chicken. I literally can’t stand it when chicken isn’t done well enough haha. So pleaseee just cook the chicken well and don’t get sick!

Once your veggies and chicken are cooked, you are ready to roll! Slice up the grilled chicken and set out all your other ingredients so you can make your own custom fajitas. If you like this kind of “make-your-own” meal, check out these Fish Tacos as well. 

This recipe is a great meal to make any night of the week, and leftovers are always tasty to have for lunch the next day. 🙂

Give this a go and let me know what you think!

x,

Happy New Years everyone! It is officially 2015, how crazy is that?! Just wanted to say a quick hello, and share these pics we snapped last night before we went out. I am so beyond stoked for 2015, and am confident that it will be even better than 2014! In the words of Walt Disney, “if you can dream it, you can do it.”

Hope you all have a great first day of 2015! Lots of love 🙂

x,