Lost your glow? Detox dull post-Christmas skin in just five steps

Jan 2, 2016

If you’ve noticed you’re feeling sluggish and worn out after the busy festive period, your skin has probably suffered too.

Over-indulging, stress and lack of sleep can all wreak havoc with your skin’s natural glow.

Get back to your best self with these simple tips…

1. Adjust your beauty routine
Looking after your skin properly is key if it’s been through the wringer over the last few weeks. Make a simple routine and stick to it – a daily cleansing, toning, exfoliation and moisturising process is faster and more convenient than you’d think. You’ll soon notice your skin is brighter and clearer!

2. Don’t clog your skin
While caking on a ton of make-up might seem like the best solution when your skin is dull and breaking out, you need to give it room to breathe too. If you don’t have plans for the evening, why not take your make-up off as soon as you get home from work rather than waiting for bedtime? Whenever you can, go make-up free.

3. Stay hydrated
Drinking enough water is key to maintaining a healthy glow. Try to fit in around two litres a day – once you start the habit of drinking water regularly, you’ll find it gets easier and easier.

4. Get enough sleep
Nothing distresses your skin more than a lack of sleep. Eight hours is considered the norm but you may need less or more – whatever it takes for you to wake up feeling refreshed.

5. Cut out sugar when you can
Processed, high-sugar foods only serve to cause inflammation and break-outs. Cut down on refined and added sugar where you can by only eating fresh, unprocessed food.

New couple alert! Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin are dating for REAL

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

Over the last year, ladies' man Justin Bieber has been linked to Kendall Jenner, his ex Selena Gomez and various others, but one name has popped up time and time again – Hailey Baldwin.

After months of are-they-aren't-they speculation, it seems the young stars are indeed an item. Or at the very least, they're loving hooking up in public.

According to TMZ, Justin and Hailey didn't hold back on the PDA while celebrating New Year's Eve in St. Barths on Wednesday. In fact, they were reportedly spotting kissing at the bar various times, in full view of 200 other revellers.

With things heating up between Selena and One Direction's Niall Horan, it's no surprise that Justin wanted to make it publicly clear that he's got other things on his mind than his ex, thank you very much.

But given his long-term (and very flirtatious) friendship with Hailey, we're wondering if these two could actually be the real deal.

After all, they already have the 'cute couple photos' down – just look at this one, posted by Hailey yesterday:

Oh, and this one, shared by Justin a few days ago:

Young love, eh?

Flying Ryanair soon? Prepare for one VERY exciting new change

News

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

Ryanair is most definitely the king of budget airlines – how else could you get across Europe for under a tenner? – but it does come with its downsides.

Over the last twelve months though, the airline has pledged to improve customer experience in a big way, and today they revealed the most recent change for passengers.

Passengers travelling on the new Boeing 737-800 planes, which will join the fleet in January, will no longer be blinded by those awful bright yellow seats. Phew.

Above is a peek at the interior of Ryanair's new plane cabins, featuring bigger windows, slimmer seats for more leg room, redesigned overhead lockers and a blue colour scheme that's far easier on the eye.

Judging by the image, which was posted to Ryanair's Twitter today, those early-morning flights should be a LOT easier to handle for hungover stag and hen party groups.

Plus, staff are set to get new uniforms and there'll be a new in-flight menu too.

The changes come after Ryanair updated its website last year to make it more user-friendly, and also did away with the oh-so annoying "on time" trumpet noise that plays at the end of every flight.

It's not gone for good though, sadly, but its been replaced by something that's slightly more pleasant to listen to:

Happy days,

Caroline reveals why she was ‘in tears’ after first X Factor live show

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

Caroline Flack admitted this week that her 2015 "started off the saddest and ended up the happiest."

It's certainly been twelve months of heightened emotions for the presenter, who broke up with music mogul Jack Street this time last year, and later scored her first major primetime hosting gig on The X Factor.

Speaking candidly to The Daily Mirror this week, Caroline admitted that she'd had a pretty rough year behind-the-scenes, but tried her best not to let it affect her public persona.

"I can have the worst day ever but I’ll post the happiest picture of myself. My life is like a sad film.

"You can think social media is real life but you have to remember it’s not."

Olly Murs' co-host said her self-confidence took a big knock this year, as viewers of The X Factor took to Twitter and Instagram to mouth off about her appearance.

"I cried after the first live Sunday night.

"The reaction was quite overwhelming because I didn’t think people would be talking about how I look, how I stand, how I walk, or how I laugh."

It's very easy to take a shot at someone online. The vile comments about my weight and just all round look tonight are quite shocking ….

— caroline flack (@carolineflack1) November 22, 2015

Despite the ongoing negativity, Caroline says she's not going to give up on her chosen career path

"I’ve been in this industry for 12 years, and you get used to the criticism. I know how the game works.

"I put myself out there and can’t moan. I have a really good job, and a really good life. The good bits outweigh the bad by a mile.

"I don’t ever want to feel ungrateful. If I couldn’t handle any more, I would go home and get out of the media industry."

The EastEnders cast getting down to Hotline Bling will make your day

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

Dean Wicks finally got what he deserved on EastEnders yesterday, but fans of the show will find this latest clip far more entertaining.

The cast of the long-running soap put down their scripts for a few minutes to focus on something else entirely – Drake's Hotline Bling.

Danny Dyer, Luisa Bradshaw-White, Dominic Treadwell-Collins, Shona McGarty, Linda Henry, Jonny Libey, Matt Di Angelo, Kellie Bright all got involved for the behind-the-scenes shoot, showing off their best Drake impressions for the cameras.

Attention all hashtaggers, likers, re-tweeters, trendsetters and key influencers: #EastEnders do the Hotline Bling! https://t.co/NGXME6SkLT

— BBC EastEnders (@bbceastenders) January 1, 2016

Everyone gives it a solid effort – but Danny Dyer most definitely wins in the 'cringey dancing' stakes. Sorry, Danny.

Grandma Swift! Taylor’s latest internet TWIN is, um, a bit older…

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

We'd all like to think we're a dead ringer for T-Swift when we're lashing on the red lippie, but sadly for most people it's simply not the case.

Except for this grandma, who actually IS a total Taylor doppelganger. Or at least she was a few decades ago.

Reddit user ChristmasPencil posted an old family snap to Imgur earlier this week, captioning it, "When your Grandma looks like Taylor Swift and your Grandpa looks like Hugh Hefner's brother."

Just look at her eyes… Uncanny.

Many commenters were quick to point out that the woman's teeth are most definitely not a match for Tay-Tay, but she definitely struck gold with all of her other features.

Of course, Taylor has a few lookalikes closer to her own age, too – like Morgan Jensen, who got a taste of internet fame last year when the singer commented on one of her selfies.

"LOL I thought that was me," Taylor wrote, no doubt making Morgan's entire year.

http://taylorswift.tumblr.com/post/114384646645/nevergooutofstyle-when-your-best-friend-looks

Wonder if she'll feel the same about her more mature twin?

Dublin house goes up for sale with a full-on PUB in the back garden

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

In the market for a new house? How about this one, in Portmarnock Co. Dublin.

Here's the outside, nothing to see here:

And the back garden looks fairly standard too – but is that a shed we spy?

Oh… not a shed, then.

As you can see, the three-bed family house – currently up for sale and advertised on MyHome.ie – comes equipped with a fully-furnished Irish-style pub in the back garden.

Slate floors, polished wooden bar – you'd be hard pressed to find better décor down in your local. It's not specified whether the furniture comes with the house, but as long as we can pull a pint or two we'd be happy.

The only catch? There's an asking price of €535,000… just over half a million euro.

Sounds like we may have to build our own back-garden pub instead.

This colour-changing cake has just about blown the internet’s mind

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

If you're still feeling a bit hungover and headachey from New Year's celebrations, you might want to wait a while before watching this.

Some wily baker in the US has made a total mind-bender of a cake – one that changes colour completely as it is turned around.

It starts off as yellow, orange and pink, as seen above, but when spun around on its plate it becomes purple blue and yellow.

WHAAAT.

You can watch the video in full here, shared by YouTube baker Charlotte Sometimes.

While Charlotte has yet to offer any explanation as to how the head-melting cake came out, some commenters have stepped in to spoil the illusion. It seems the cake has simply been sprayed with different colours of dye from opposite angles.

"Make the edging design you want, then take one side of the cake and spray from a straight angle on the cake, so that the colour ends up on one side of the ridges alone," wrote one commenter.

"Spray the colours you want, then spin the cake around and do the same on the opposite side. You are working with the ridges so that you get one colour on one side of the ridge and another on the other side."

However another commenter added that the edible spray paint used can sometimes "smell terrible"… so maybe it's best to stick with that Chocolate Swiss Roll for now.

‘I ran into a pole’: Britney Spears starts her 2016 with a (literal) bang

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

Britney Spears started off the New Year by getting into a fight with a pole… and losing.

The singer took to Instagram last night to ring in the next twelve months with her first selfie of 2016 – featuring an oval-shaped bruise on her forehead.

"Good morning 2016! Don't mind the little bruise on my forehead… Ran into a pole," she said of her appearance. Ouch.

If you're wondering how on earth poor Brit ended up with the unlikely injury, it's worth noting that she's currently back in Las Vegas for the 2016 session of her residency at Planet Hollywood… and has most likely been rehearsing non-stop.

Of course, that forehead bruise is minor compared to the leg brace the singer ended up in back in April, after a knee injury on stage in Vegas.

"I actually wasn't doing anything that hard – I was just kind of bopping around," Britney told Ellen DeGeneres of the "embarrassing" injury, which saw her turn on her ankle and take a tumble in front of the audience.

"Plenty of shows and I've never actually fell on stage so it was really kind of embarrassing."

Bruces and leg braces… hopefully that'll be the last of it for poor Britney.

Lamar Odom poses for FIRST social media snap since hospitalisation

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

Lamar Odom gave the Kardashian clan a run for their money in the selfie stakes last night when he posed for his first public snap since being taken into hospital.

The former NBA player has been in intense recovery after he was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel in mid-October after a drug overdose.

Yesterday his son, Lamar Jr, posted the first photo of the basketball star since the incident, a father-and-kids selfie which also featured Lamar's 17-year-old daughter Destiny.

"Christmas with my pops," Lamar's teen son captioned the family photo. "Here’s to 2016. Blessed."

Within 48 hours of Lamar's hospitalisation, his high-profile ex Khloé Kardashian had not only rushed to be by his bedside, but had also called off all divorce proceedings so that she could be his main medical decision-maker.

The pair, who originally split in 2013, are still legally married.

Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres back in November, Khloé admitted that her ex had a long road ahead in terms of leading a normal life again, but added that he had been extremely lucky to even survive.

"He is off all the machines that help his organs but he has such a long way to go," she explained.

"He's really confused a lot, we have to remind him. Every day is different.

"Sometimes he knows who the president is, and his birthday, and other times he thinks he's 26, and I say, 'I bet you wish you were 26, so do I.'"

Khloé admitted that Lamar's family have been reluctant to tell him how exactly he ended up in hospital in case it "sets him back" in his recovery.

"I can't tell him. We tell him he had a brain injury, I can't tell him how that brain injury was caused."

Here's hoping for positive strides in Lamar's health in 2016.

A fresh start? Kick off your 2016 with a seven-day clean eating detox

Jan 2, 2016

by Amber Saunders

After the indulgence of Christmas, your body (and your bank balance) are no doubt worn out.

If you're feeling sluggish, low in energy or just feel your metabolism needs a kickstart, why not try a short-term detox in the New Year?

Rather than going on a crazily restrictive fad diet, a clean-eating detox simply involves eating more of certain foods and less of others. It may be hard to beat certain cravings, but keep in mind that this is only for a week.

Here are our guidelines on how to get started, what to eat and what to cut out.

If you have any health concerns regarding diet changes, please do consult your GP or a diet professional.

The guidelines

1. Keep things simple: Don't leave yourself in danger of getting overwhelmed with ingredients lists and buying a cheeky oven pizza at the last minute. Each meal should include a portion of whole grains, lean protein and healthy fats – keep that in mind and you'll be good to go.

2. Check your calendar: If you have an event or party to attend, it might be worth re-scheduling your detox week. While in theory it might seem like no problem for you to avoid the buffet or only eat a light salad while out with friends, when faced with the temptation it's a lot harder to resist. Choose a quiet week with no big indulgent events.

3. Avoid snacking: Plan three meals each day that you'll really look forward to eating, and steer away from mindless snacking in between. If you know you're a stress-eater, keep some healthy snacks to hand like raw almonds or cut veggies.

4. Don't panic: Nobody is made of stone and we all get cravings from time to time. Don't punish yourself for falling off the wagon – it's no big deal. If you do find yourself at the end of a family size bag of crisps, just dust those crumbs off, readjust your meal plan for the day and move on.

What to include this week

Non-dairy milks like rice or almond milk
Egg whites
Non-gluten grains like brown rice, quinoa or buckwheat
Fruit and vegetables: Go for non processed, non-sweetened produce. Eat your fruit fresh or blended into smoothies, and eat veg raw, steamed, sauteed lightly, juiced or roasted.
Protein sources like fish, lean chicken, lean turkey, lamb, lentils, beans, chickpeas, green peas and edemame
Nuts and seeds like walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and flaxseeds
Liquids like water, decaf herbal teas or soda water
Non-sugar sweeteners such as stevia or agave nectar
Oils and condiments like olive oil, coconut oil, flax oil, canola oil, vinegar, herbs and spices.

What to avoid this week

All dairy and egg yolks
Grains such as wheat, corn, cous-cous and barley
Fatty spreads and sauces like butter and mayo
Fattier sources of protein like pork, beef, shellfish and soy products such as tofu.
Peanuts and peanut butter
Alcohol, coffee, tea, soft drinks and other caffeinated beverages
High-sugar sweeteners like white/brown sugar, honey and maple syrup
Sugary sauces and glazes like BBQ, teriyaki, ketchup, relish and chutney
Salty and sugary snacks such as crisps, biscuits, chips, chocolate, sweets and cakes