Sabina McIvor, Editor of ESVIE & Professional Makeup Artist

FINALLY! A Pay As U Gym system that allows you to workout at the gym without the huge crippling joining fees and monthly charges.

Perfect for those with a busy lifestyle, this Pay As U Gym programme allows your to purchase either Day Passes or 30 Day Passes for a participating gym near you. This means that you are no longer paying a monthly fee when lifes at it’s busiest and you just don’t have time to go, therefore, feeling like it’s an expense down the drain.

Pick yourself up and go as it suits you. If you don’t go, you don’t pay. It’s as simple as that.

With so many huge fitness clubs participating, you’re bound to find one near you! I live in Bedfordshire (‘where?’ I hear you say), exactly! And there is one just down the road from me!

With day passes starting from as little as £2.50 (going up depending on the level of fitness club or spa you attend) there really is NO excuse not to shift those mince pies you tucked away over the festive period! Bye bye bulge. Hello body!

How it works

To use payasUgym.com you simply create a FREE account online, top up your account with credit (just like topping up a pay-as-you-go phone) and then use your credit to purchase gym passes which are sent as a code to your phone via SMS. You then simply present this SMS at gym reception to gain access. Easy.

Sara Coppola, Fashion & Lifestyle Writer

Avoiding stress is a self-teaching attitude that can greatly improve our lifestyle. Life can be much better by just caring more about one own self and dedicate time to our bodies and mental needs.

With increasingly busier lives: work, house, kids, fiancés, family, friends (and the list could go on and on) most of us find ourselves overwhelmed and stressed, a lethal combination that seems to negatively affect our mental and physical health! How to manage and overcome all this? I think in life, are the small things that make the difference and help us feeling better. Regardless of all the responsibilities we are put or we put ourselves in charge of, it is very important to love ourselves and make sure to give time and to take care of our own person.

Here are my personal suggestions to tackle daily stress; they are small footsteps that usually help me through the most intense and stressful weeks. Taking care of one own self helps feeling better and more rested resulting in a better mood and more energy.

Manage your Time

Unfortunately there are only a certain number of hours in a day, and most of the time it is not possible to accomplish everything. Balancing work and private life is probably one of the hardest things to do, but remember to take some time for yourself, to rest and enjoy life. If you can´t manage to rest during the week, make sure to leave space for some relax during the weekend, do not stuff up your agenda with social events; rediscover the pleasure of spending in bed an entire Sunday or just chilling around the house. Make room for something that is just for yourself!

1.       You NEED to Sleep

A regular sleeping pattern is what regenerates hour energy level. Contrary to believes, if you don´t sleep for a week, your body will not “make up” for it if the next night you sleep more; in a way, the body does not “storage” sleep. You need to get a good 7-8 hour sleep every night!

Sleeping helps concentration and therefore outputs; it has a big impact on our mood and gives us energy to be happier and accomplish more things.

2.       Sleeping Environment

To achieve a better sleeping pattern, it is also of outmost importance to ditch all non-bedroom related things. Sleeping with your phone next to you or watching movies in bed keeps your body in “alert” mood, preventing from good sleep and real rest. Make sure your bedroom is solely the place where you sleep and not an extension of your living room or office. Lights and noise unconsciously awake your brain.

3.       Exercises

Even small exercise can do you a great good. To stay healthy you don´t need to work out 7 days a week and become a ´gym-aholic´. If you are more of a lethargic type (then I´ll feel in good company), easy things like: taking the stairs instead of the elevator, biking to work, getting off one metro stop before yours and just walking the remaining distance, can help you keep fit and feeling more energetic!

4.       Healthy Eating

Apparently exercising regularly contributes to your body health only for a 30 per cent. The remaining 70 per cent of effort lies in what you eat! So it would not make much sense to be a hard core gym-aholic if then you stuff yourself with chocolate and fried juicy food! A good diet is what matter most of all; I do not mean starvation or bird-size dishes, but simply remember to eat a bit of everything, natural non-process food and in “normal” dish-size. Most of all, if you are full, STOP eating! And if you are stressed, do not indulge, go take a walk, it would help you more than you can imagine!

5.       Sun & Vitamins

Exposition to sun is very important for the human body. With the winter season at the doors and less daylight available, it is important to assume the right intake of Vitamin D that we would usually get from the sun. Vitamin D can be found in pills, but also in some types of food such as eggs, milk, grapes ‘skin, many type of fish (sword fish, tuna, smoked salmon), cereals, orange juice and many other.

6.       Smile

Feeling tired and stressed has a huge impact on hour daily life and mood. The worse thing is that it triggers a negative chain of negativity and unhealthy feeling. Luckily, just smiling during our day and trying to have positive thoughts can greatly impact all this. Constructive optimistic thoughts can go a long way by themselves; in the end, one´s self-influence is the most powerful weapon we have on our own well-being.

ABOUT AUTHOR: 

Sara Coppola is a creative content writer within the fashion clothing industry and is now lunching herself into freelance writing. When not writing Sara loves to travel, take pictures and keep up with the latest fashion trends.

Sara Coppola, Fashion & Lifestyle Writer

Discover your body shape and ways to dress that with emphasise your best bits….

There tend to be a few main body shape categories that women fall into: Hourglass, Apple, Pear, Rectangle and Diamond – there are also some increasingly random ones Strawberry, Rectangle, Oval, banana, spoon, Chilli and Brick (!) to name but a few. Confused? Yes, me too let’s look at what they all mean.

Well, clothes shopping is one thing but looking and feeling good in them is another. A few helpful tips will help you on your way and no… I haven’t made 12 categories of shape to confuse you. Keeping it simple, here is a brief synopsis of the four main shapes.

Pear

You have the classic shape. If you are not a fan of your bottom half, draw attention to your top half with collars or bejewelled necklines, wear clothes that skim your bottom half and steer clear of skinny jeans, a bootleg is a much more flattering cut and will help balance out your symmetry.

Apple

You need something that defines your waist. You can’t go wrong with a tailored look to elongate the body. Go for a V-shaped neckline as the areas you want to highlight are your bust and legs. Show off your legs in straight cut (not baggy) trousers. What you’re aiming for are clothes that create less of the apple and more apple core!

Hour Glass

Emphasise those curves! Anything with a nipped in waist will show off your true figure. Wearing fitted clothes will emphasise your curves, but not too tight or they will pull and that is not a flattering look!

Rectangle

This is for all you athletic looking types! You can pretty much wear anything (you lucky things) but your figure needs clothing that creates volume and gives the illusion of curves. Look for cowl necks, peplums, draped dresses and fitted jackets will all suit your frame.

Author Bio

Sara Coppola is a fashion and lifestyle writer for in the fashion industry, regularly blogging at Passion for Fashion. After researching this article, she thinks she may be an apple shaped pear with a hint of chilli.

-          Image Credit: Flickr.com Commons

Sometimes it is just there. Sometimes it feels like an unreachable feeling: Happiness!

There are people who know exactly what to do when they feel down and in a bad mood. They maybe just pocket some discount vouchers, go on a shopping spree and come home absolutely happy afterwards. These people are often envied (rightly).

And there exists that other species that has some problems when detecting their needs and what they really want for their lives – for them searching on Groupon and going away with some shopping vouchers would be only a part of a big plan of making themselves happy.

There are indeed a couple of steps you can do to see your life in a positive light instead of letting yourself go in times of sadness:

• Follow your Intuition. You should never feel like having to make a decision for your life just because it is the most reasonable. Whenever there are different possibilities of choices, chose the one which feels right and afterwards do not look back and go with it.
• Optimistic Thinking. Everyone has a certain baseline level when it comes to happiness – some higher, some lower than others. This can be due to your thinking – so it is really proven: the more positive you think, the more positive will be your view on every part of life
• Have a Goal in Life. When waking up in the morning, you should have something to stand up for – just a little motivation to get out of the bed and go to work every day. As soon as you start doubting your life, you will have the big problem of questioning every little step.
• Friends and Family. The relationship to our loved ones would always make us more happy than having more money. That is a fact. So whenever you have the chance to choose between moving to earn more money and being closer to them – it would be the better decision to stay with the people who know and support you whenever you need them.
• Conversations. Small talk at every corner? This is not fulfilling. Having real talks about the things that bother you and sharing some thoughts will give you a feeling of relief, while small talk is nothing more than an uncompleted conversation leading to nowhere. Do not be afraid to listen to other people’s stories.
• Being able to Forgive. To forgive can really help your heart – it just heals cardiovascular problems since your stress level will be reduced.

So whatever you do – do it with this knowledge on your mind. Try to listen to yourself. Nothing else matters.

The busy, hectic and chaotic lifestyles we lead today are without a doubt having a negative effect of our health and well being. Whatever happened to taking the time to stop and smell the roses?

Taking care of your mind, body and spirit is the easiest way to reduce stress and lead a healthier lifestyle. Small changes each day, ensuring you devote time to yourself and your well being, will help you to more easily take on lives daily challenges and keep them under control.

Psychologist and author of High Octane Women, Dr Sherrie Bourg Carter Psy.D, suggests that taking time to unwind is not important, but critical for us psychologically and physically; “A person, even one with seemingly superhuman stamina and passion for what they do, has to unwind to give their minds and bodies a chance to reboot. If they don’t do it, their bodies and minds will ultimately do it for them. They will have a burn out.”

Depending on the situation, destressing can be as simple as taking a few moments to yourself and counting to 10, however there are many ways in which you can ensure you day runs smoothly and you maintain a stress free state of mind. Here’s a few of our simple top tips to a stress free day.

Make time for breakfast

Eating a sensible, healthy breakfast will without a doubt give you the energy to get ready for the day ahead. By not concentrating on your rumbling stomach till lunch time, you will be more focused and productive allowing you to get more done and prevent being overwhelmed later in the afternoon.

Plan your day ahead

Creating a simple to-do list for the day, assembles the tasks for the day and organises them, eliminating the chance that you later get the feeling of forgetting something important. By prioritising the days duties and noting them down you get a sense of achievement as you tick them off. Then when you do need time to relax you can be safe in the knowledge that your trusty to-do list will keep you on track.

Boost your antioxidants

Anti-oxidants help in keeping your body cells youthful and healthy. They help to keep your body strong and in turn will help to relieve stress. You can so easily boost your daily anti-oxidants by simply drinking more green tea. Its powerful antioxidant content looks after your insides and keeps them stress free meaning being stress free on the outside will come easier.

Soak up the Sun

Take advantage of the coming summer weather and get outdoors. Stress can be one of the major causes of vitamin deficiency and just a short daily stroll in the sun can help increase your vitamin d levels, which will in turn enhance your immune systems efficiency. A breath of fresh air can be great when you need to moment to unwind.

Exercise

Love it or hate it, physical exercise can really help to destress. Depending on your mood, change up your work out. In those high stress moments, why not vent out your frustration through a high-energy work out such as boxing or running and when you want to relax take yourself to a zen-like state with a little yoga or stretching.

A rested mind is a happy mind

For those who get deeply engrossed in their work, a 20 minute power nap can refresh, revitalise and refuel without the need for an artificial boost. Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison are all said to have been power nappers. You snooze, you gain it appears.

Laughter

“I don’t know of anyone who gets stressed out by laughter. It is one of the best overall stress-relievers I know of, and the best thing is that it’s free and available to everyone at any time. Hanging around with positive people as opposed to negative people also doesn’t hurt.” Dr Sherrie Bourg Carter Psy.D.

Snack attack – With busier lifestyles, it is now even more important to make sure that we are maintaining a healthy diet. With meal times often being unpredictable and unset, snacking is a great way to take some time out and refuel. Choosing sensible, health conscious snacks such as fruit can give you the boost you need to get you through the day and avoid that afternoon slump.

Skip the afternoon caffeine

The addictive caffeine hit may help you get through the day but the unnatural stimulant is doing nothing for your stress levels. The daily caffeine fix may give you a kick to get through your afternoon, but inevitably you will end up in a worse state of mind once it has worn off. You have been warned.

Meet friends

Having a stressful day? Don’t let things build up. Meet with friends or get on the phone for a chit chat. Talking it out will unload what you have been carrying around all day and often hearing another persons opinion can be reassuring and helpful. That’s what friends are for.

Have some healthy comfort food

Getting home after a long, stressful day and filling yourself up with stodgy food only leads to a bloated, couch potato night. Traditional comfort foods such as pizza, macaroni cheese and ice cream are what we all want to brighten our night, though unfortunately they will only lead to you feeling more lethargic and less likely to handle stress efficiently.

Listen to your favourite music

Soft music can set the mood for a relaxing, stress free night or alternatively turning up the volume of some of your favourite songs is a sure fire way to improve your mood and make you smile. Music can instantly have a calming effect.

Bubble Bath

Light some candles and incorporate you favourite bath oils or bubble bath. Then just sit back and relax. Need we say more?

Do something Lo-Tech

Emails, Facebook, Twitter and constant internet access has become part of most of our daily lifestyles. Before you settle down for the night why not go try a Lo-Tech activity and read before bed? Opening a book can allow you to enter another world and escape from a stressful day. It is also a great way to let your body relax and ease any muscle tension before a good nights sleep.

Have an early night

Now that your day has been organised and you’ve ticked off your to do list, make an effort to ensure you get your average 8 hours sleep for the night. For everyone a good sleep is absolutely essential to your health and well being and while stress can be a huge factor in lack of sleep, once you have destressed your day you will be well on your way to a sound nights sleep.

Just relax!

Dr Sherrie Bourg Carter Psy.D, strongly believes that the best de-stressing solutions are very much self defined and dependent on each of our individual personalities.

“While I believe it is vital for everyone to find ways to unwind and refuel their engines, I also think it vital that they find a fuel that works for them.”

“Many women feel that they simply cannot find solutions to relieve stress when infact the key is to think outside the box and find unique solutions that work for their unique personalities.”

Jennifer Lilley, Fashion and Beauty Writer
Sometimes there can be nothing more stressful than trying on outfit after outfit in store fitting rooms. Bad lighting, poorly positioned mirrors, intrusive people knocking on the door are just a few of the things that take the pleasure out of my shopping experience.
Have a flashback to the nineties, when hit teen comedy Clueless first graced our cinema screens. Wouldn’t we all love to have Cher’s virtual closet? That computer programme that allows her to try on her entire wardrobe to decide what to wear. Letting you mix and match to your hearts content, without all the stress of zipping, buttoning and pulling off garment after garment? Fast forward 17 years and technology has finally gotten us there!

 The Trafford Centre in Manchester have introduced the first ‘Magic Mirror’ in the UK, which allows you to superimpose different outfits from a range of stores at the Trafford Centre over your body. It brings a whole new meaning to try before you buy and really brings the shopping experience into the 21^st Century.

The Magic Mirror saves time eliminates the hassle of rummaging through all the stores and with the wave of a hand lets you change style and sizes to suit your frame.

 The virtual changing room goes on display at the Trafford Centre today!

 http://tv.traffordcentre.co.uk/video/the-magic-mirror

The moment I realised I had the most fantastic of friends was the moment Big left Carrie on their wedding day. Not a great time for Miss Bradshaw but a defining one for me. Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte swooped in dealt with the situation just as it needed to be dealt with – kindly and efficiently with the perfect amount of sensitivity and I knew, if I was ever in the same situation, my best friends would do exactly the same for me. As I would for them. I found such pleasure and reassurance in a devastatingly sad situation that it occurred to me how genuinely lucky I am.

Friends fight. They bitch. And they don’t always agree. But they tell you the truth and they’ve got your back even in times when it seems they can’t possibly. The journalist and author Edna Buchanan once said:

“Friends are family we chose for ourselves”

which leads me to believe there is and can be genuine love between companions. They don’t have to stick around due to family ties, they stick around because they want to for reasons that could go on forever.

We make mistakes, say things we shouldn’t that can’t be taken back and sometimes we’re the worst person in the world. But by surrounding ourselves with the finest of like minded people we’re forgiven even though we don’t deserve it. They make us who we are. Without each friend of mine I would be both a different girl and a worse off one. We can tell to our soul mates things we wouldn’t dare speak of to our biological family all the while safe in the knowledge we won’t be judged (too much) and realistic help and advice on its way.

Despite the sex, the city, (the couture and the money) those four beauties have what we all want and what we all need to live a full and deserving life; a deep rooted friendship, respect and love for one another, encouragement and support in abundance. And lots and lots of hot, hotter and the hottest of men.

Running your life in the twenty-first century requires access to credit and we use credit far more often than many of us realise. We pay for our utilities on the basis of what gas, electricity and phone services we have used, opening providers to the risk that we won’t pay the bill for something they’ve already delivered. Mortgages can carry a risk to a lender for 25 years or more. We buy our major household purchases on long-term deals, often with fingers crossed that our earnings will continue throughout the repayment period.

Clearly, if lenders are to remain in business offering credit to people, they need to be able to limit their exposure to people defaulting on the agreements they make and they do this primarily by consulting all the information that gives an insight into their potential customers and how they have handled loans and borrowings in the past. They consult your credit report.

If you’ve ever successfully taken out credit in the UK, the major credit reference agencies will have a personal credit report in your name. Credit reference agencies collect public and credit data to produce credit reports and credit scores or ratings. Responsible lenders use these to make decisions about whether to give someone credit but you also have the right to access your personal credit report. It is important to know what’s in your credit report.

Your credit report contains both personal and financial information:

* Your name, date of birth, current and previous addresses from information provided by you and from other sources; personal information isn’t used in calculating credit scores or ratings
* Details of your accounts and of credit agreements opened in your name, including your payment history
* Any legal judgements or awards against you

With confidential online access to your credit report, you can verify the information held about you to ensure that all factors have a proper bearing on your credit score and your access to credit. At last, a report worth reading.

But whichever way you look at it, most of us rely on credit to fund all of our largest purchases, including our homes. The ease with which we can get the credit we need – and the rates we have to pay for the credit we take – effectively influence the quality of our lives and our ability to do the things that really matter to each of us. That’s why your credit rating matters. We each have a personal credit rating and it is this rating that in large part determines our ability to get good credit at the most competitive rates.

Your credit rating may be displayed as a three-figure number or as a star-rating but we all have one and lenders will check it before agreeing to any finance deal or new credit card. Your credit rating is derived from your credit report, which is produced by one of the UK’s leading credit reference agencies.

Your credit report includes many items but always shows your:

* Name and address information
* Bank accounts, credit cards, store cards and direct debits
* Up-to-date payments record on bills and loans

It is little exaggeration to say that your credit report is one of the most important documents about you – it can have a major effect on your quality of life. Reviewing your credit report regularly will help you understand the factors that support your credit rating.

Your credit report can also help as a personal financial management tool by enabling you to see if attempts have been made to steal your identity with, for example, applications for loans, credit cards or financial accounts that you know nothing of. Understanding your credit report will help you to understand your credit rating – and that’s the key to successful borrowing on the best terms.

Body:

There comes a time in every woman’s life when she needs a little bit of pampering, this could be for a special occasion, or it could just be because she deserves to get a little to be fussed over for a while. Whatever the reason for going to a spa for beauty treatments, the whole experience is great fun, so if you want to find a spa near you, here are some tips to help you find the right one.

How do I find a spa?

We’re all busy these days, so sometimes the biggest obstacle to finding good 
beauty spas near you is simply time, or the lack of it, after all, who wants to trek around town looking for a spa on one of their days off? So the answer, ladies, is of course, the internet, because there are lots of spas out there, and most of them have their own website.

That doesn’t help much…

Yes it does! While navigating the world wide web can seem a little daunting, it’s all about where you look for spa deals and what kind of treatments you’re looking for. Try searching for these treatments, like ‘Brazilian blow dry’, ‘Hollywood bikini wax’ or ‘Hot Stone massage’, followed by the area you live in and see what results you get.

Aren’t spas expensive?

Yes and no, the short answer is it depends where you go, as some spas are more exclusive and high end than others. But don’t let this put you off booking spa breaks as there are many city-based spas that provide fantastic treatments at a price that will suit any budget. Many spas also offer spa deals to their customers, so keep an eye out for special promotions.