The Monday Piece - Happy Spending

This week's Monday Piece is on happy spending! With the Spring beauty sales well underway, cosmetics fans across the globe will be getting their bank cards ready for use. But what good do these purchases do us?

 

Interested in online shopping, money.co.uk conducted an emotions test among 2,560 participants to discover which online purchases bring us the most joy! They also spoke to a psychologist who explains the relationship between happiness and online shopping.

 

Highlights from the research include:

• An eyeshadow palette is the beauty product that makes people happiest, improving happiness by 62% and ranking 7th overall

• Other beauty products that rank in the top 20 include perfume, nail polish and lipstick!

• Online purchases are found to raise our positive feelings by 56%, on average

• Participants reported the biggest increase in happiness when purchasing houseplants - positive emotions soared by 67%

• Trainers and fiction books are also among the purchases raising positive emotions most

I must admit, I do enjoy some retail therapy, especially beauty and bags :)

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The Monday Piece - Most Efficient Workout Trends

This week's Monday Piece is on most efficient workout techniques! Experts at GolfSupport.com can reveal the most efficient workout trends of 2021 complete with exclusive insight from Elliot Hasoon, Founder of EH Coaching and host of The Simply Fit Podcast, who analysed the top 10 trendiest workout types of 2021 and calculated how many calories a person can lose after just 30 minutes of working out. Some of the highlights from the research include: 

Just 30 minutes of indoor cycling can burn 350 calories! Calisthenics will help you develop lean muscle/muscular endurance, whilst Muay Thai is a great way to improve stamina, muscular endurance and coordination. Alternatively, doing 30 minutes of either Muay Thai or kettlebell exercises will help burn 320 calories and dancing is a fun way to burn approximately 270 calories in 30 minutes. I am in need of some serious inspiration as being back at work in these hectic times has got me into some bad lifestyle habits. From now on I'll be speed walking everywhere, especially when the shops reopen :).

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The Monday Piece - The Worst Cocktail Hangovers

This week's Monday Piece is on the worst cocktail hangovers! This popular cocktail will leave you bedbound for 10+ hours...

• Pornstar Martinis cause the worst hangover with a 7.9 out of 10 hangover score!

• Solely Rum-based cocktails are the least likely to have lingering effects, with Mojito and Strawberry Daquiri in the bottom three

• Long Island Iced Teas score the highest in headache, dehydration, and sickness factors

• Vodka drinkers are most likely to spend all day in bed!

Recent news has given us cause for celebration and for many, a good time and a cocktail are interchangeable - the hangover is just the price we pay. So, which classic cocktail leaves us feeling the most worse for wear?

Interested in finding the cocktails that leave us the most defeated the next morning, experts at OnBuy Drinks created a Cocktail Hangover Index. The linear numeric scale scored each hangover element, such as headaches, sickness and time wasted in bed, on a scale from one to ten. With the results, OnBuy.com was able to discover which cocktail caused the worst hangover. 

The Worst Cocktails:

The winner for the most hangover-inducing cocktail is the Pornstar Martini with a hangover factor of 7.9 out of 10. This passion fruit flavoured, vodka-based cocktail, (with a side shot of prosecco) didn’t score highly in most of the factors, however, it’s high score for time wasted in bed (11hrs) pushed it to claim the title. 

Coming in at a close second, the classic vodka-based Sex On The Beach scored 6.9. This cocktail will leave you with intense cravings for greasy carbs during the hangover phase with a factor of 10. This fruity number also scored second for time wasted in bed (9hrs). 

In third, Long Island Iced Tea (LIIT) has an overall hangover factor of 6.8. It scores highly across three out of five of the factors; headache (8), dehydration (8.6) and sickness (6.4). This cocktail contains equal parts vodka, tequila, light rum, and gin. It is widely known that mixing alcohols is more likely to bring you to levels of intoxication, so arguably, it is surprising that LIIT doesn’t take the top spot.

The Best Cocktails:

Of the listed cocktails, it is the Mojito that had the least after-effect, scoring 4.6 in the hangover index. A minty mix that scored amongst the lowest for time wasted in bed, at just three hours wasted. A great drink for all of the fun and almost none of the post-drinking regret. However, it does come in as one of the highest scorers for dehydration (6.7)

Followed closely by the spiced tomato staple, the Bloody Mary, scoring 4.7, and the Strawberry Daquiri scoring 4.8. The Bloody Mary is amongst the cocktails that give you the lowest cravings for greasy carbs (3.2) and time wasted in bed, again at just three hours wasted.

Strawberry Daquiris are fruity and sweet and scored relatively low for all the hangover factors :).

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The Monday Piece - Bamboo Underwear

This week's Monday piece is on Bamboo Underwear. For the past 2 years, Bamboo been working on Bamboo Underwear: the most eco-friendly and comfortable underwear you'll ever put on.

Their underwear is made from bamboo fabrics which are 4 times softer than cotton and require 33% less water to grow. All of the products are carefully crafted and designed with high quality, premium fabrics that ensure comfort and breathability. Endorsed and loved by celebrities such as Jay Alvarrez, Stassie Baby, Olivia O'Brien, Kelsey Calemine (fatherkels), Bamboo under was created by 4 founders, friends since childhood, and has grown from 0 to $8 million/year in 2021. I adore the natural vibe of this underwear and it looks so fun for layering too :).

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The Monday Piece - Yappy Personalised Pet Shop

This week's Monday piece is on Yappy personalised pet shop! It's no secret that I'm dog mad and a big silly dog mum, so naturally, I'm always on the hunt for cute pieces and presents for Togo. Yappy is an online store specialising in dog and cat personalised gifts - you can create cartoon profiles for as many pets as you like (and their friends too) then add their picture and name to the personalised items. I even got valentine's day cards from there! Togo has been loving his little bandana and we bought his buddy Wilson a snack box. Definitely check it out if you have a furry someone in your life, or if you know someone who would love a present like this :).

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