12 days of Christmas day 1: Tips for having Christmas abroad

"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...a partridge in a pear tree"  This post is the start of my 12 Days Of Christmas series. This will be alternating between my blog and youtube channel and is going to take us all the way up to the big day!  This Christmas is my second living abroad. Last Christmas felt very strange and I was actually pleased when it was all over. This year I am feeling way more festive and I'm definitely going full festive cheer! I thought I would share some tips on how to have the best Christmas away from home.  1. Affordable Christmas decorations:  When you're travelling, the last thing you want to do is spend money you don't have on lots of fancy Christmas decorations but I do like to add a little bit of Christmas spirit in to my surroundings. This year I raded K Mart's Christmas section and found a few items to brighten my room on the cheap. A Christmas tree ornament, fairy lights and a festive candle and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  2. Embrace the changes:  I learnt last year that trying to recreate you're usual Christmas doesn't work and you can end up feeling a little down about the whole thing. I think the best thing to do is really experience Christmas the way the country your visiting does. This way you don't feel like your missing out an anything and you get a whole new experience. 3. Avoid Christmas specials: This doesn't necessarily apply to everyone but I remember feeling really sad last year while watching very British Christmas specials such as the Vicar of Dibley and Downton Abbey. I think I will be giving them a go again this year as I'm feeling much more settled in general but I would give them a miss if your feeling a little bit home sick.  4. Be with friends: This speaks for itself. Surround yourself with people you care about. No one wants to be alone on Christmas. If you happen to be in a new place where you don't know any people yet then what a perfect day to get mingling. Tis the season and I'm sure you will find a group of people happy to share the festivities with you. 5. Keep in touch with home (sort of):  We all want our loved ones to know we're thinking about them over Christmas and vice versa but when that turns in to 6 separate Skype chats mixed with a 13 hour time difference you can pretty much say good bye to Christmas day. I would recommend splitting them up over a few days so you can still chat with everyone without it being such a military operation. They all have plans for Christmas day too so it works out better for every body. You can send any cards and gifts you have well in advance so they still get a little something from you on Christmas day any way.  So there we have it. This may not be relevant to every one but I hope it can help some of you out. Make sure to keep following my 12 days of Christmas. I have lots of exciting things coming your way so make sure to follow along. See you over on my youtube channel tomorrow for day 2. 

Another country another update

I know I've barely blogged since my last update but as we have recently moved I thought it was time to fill you in on where we are and what we're up to.

After being in Australia for a whole year we have moved to Aukland in New Zealand. We managed to get a house share before we left Australia (there's a dog called Frieda who lives here and I love her) so we were ready to move straight in when we got here. We also have friends from Melbourne living here too so we had ready made tour guides waiting to greet us from the airport. Even though we thought we were quite organised in moving here we've actually had a little bit of a tough time getting set up here. We're both planning on working here which means we need bank accounts. As a word of warning to back packers, avoid the city banks, they are far too busy for any one on a working holiday visa and will find any reason not to help you. The suburb banks are much more helpful and I am pleased to say we have both finally set up accounts today with the help of a lovely guy who happened to be a huge Harry Potter fan who was asking us about the studio tours in London.  Steven has managed to start work, he always makes finding jobs look so easy. He's working with our friends from Melbourne and they all seem to be enjoying it. I've heard about numerous games of Pictionary and I have never, why have I never worked some where like this! I'm looking for work currently but think it could be the new year before I find anything so I am mostly filling my days with exploring the city in our car....ps. we bought a car! So far I have learnt that kiwis like to beep there horns, or they certainly like to beep them while I'm driving!  I hope this post doesn't seem negative. New Zealand seems very laid back and relaxed which is why I think we've found getting set up here a little bit more difficult but in the long term I know that can only be a good thing. We spent last weekend exploring Piha beach and plan to go to another tomorrow. That to me is what New Zealand should be about. All I've heard about is how amazingly beautiful this country is and I can't wait to get stuck in and see every thing. Be sure to keep following along with my blog and youtube videos because I think this year is going to be epic! Ps we now both have tattoos...but I'll save that story for another day ;)

Oh deer it's Halloween

Although Australia has started to rapidly heat up and I have almost forgotten about one of my favourite holidays all together, Halloween is just around the corner. I have done a few spooky make up looks over the last couple of years and have always really enjoyed them but this year I struggled. Between switching my makeup to being completely cruelty free and the fact that the weather is any thing but spooky I was lacking a little bit of inspiration...so I took to pinterest!

This look is by no means original, it has been done time and time again by the vast majority of  beauty bloggers but I still think it's very cute and a little bit more fitting to the Spring weather I'm experiencing! And I already had everything I needed to create it aaaand it's cruelty free! Winner! 
The base: -Nyx full coverage concealer -Bare minerals original in golden medium -Sleek contour kit (I used the darker shade all over my cheeks and temples)
The Eyes: -Elf brown stone palette  -Nyx eye brow cake powder -elf black mascara -elf black liquid liner
The nose: -Nyx brow cake powder -elf black liquid liner
Lips:  -Nyx butter gloss in fortune cookies 
So there we go....this was super easy to create and I think it looks quite cute! I haven't heard many people mention Halloween over here but if I get any amazing last minute plans this is what I will be doing. I will hopefully have more posts up for you soon as we're getting ready to move on soon so keep your eyes peeled. 

Fitness Friday: Back to it

I know,  I know, I'm as shocked as you are to see a Fitness Friday post. It has indeed been a while but after several months of eating whatever I like and spending far too much time sitting on my bum, I have started looking after myself again. 
I had planned on joining a gym in Melbourne but always found excuses not to so when we moved to Brisbane I knew that was something I needed to make happen. I was originally looking for yoga groups or dance classes but my boyfriend was told about Venus Women's gym from a friend so I had a little look on the site and got in touch with them. A week later I was in for my induction which just happened to be a pretty intense full body work out doing things my body had never done before. The next couple of days were painful to say the least but I knew I was definitely going to get results here. 
I've never been to an all women's gym before and whilst being in mixed gyms had never been an issue for me before, I think I do feel more comfortable this way. The actual exercise is very different too. There's not a treadmill in sight! Venus work in small group sessions in the morning and evening and they're all targeting different things. I've tried a few different ones so far and I always come away feeling like I've worked my arse off! I've been aiming for 3 sessions a week and a month after I'm already starting to feel stronger and more capable. I've never squatted so much in my life but  keep finding myself standing with my hands on my bum because it's feeling so toned haha!  
I definitely need to organise my week a little better as I've definitely been working some areas more than others but that just a case of planning which is what I am going to focus on this month. I've even been starting to look into obstacle races in Brisbane (eek) I'm not making any promises just yet but I think if I keep doing what I'm doing then I could be getting very muddy in the near future! 
The girls at Venus have been so supportive and encouraging and I already know I'm going to miss it when I move on from Brisbane. This experience has definitely taught me a lot about how I want to exercise from now on and I know that when we make the move to New Zealand in a few months that I will be looking for something very similar. 
That all being said look out for more Fitness Friday posts, I'm a women on a mission for a great bum! 

Current Cruelty Free Favourites

If you're a regular reader of TheRobynChristina then you may know that I recently made the decision to go cruelty free.  This means that I've had an excuse to try out some new products recently and thought I would share some of my new finds.  Yippee!

Original Source shower gels

I've loved these shower gels for ages and since discovering that they are vegan and don't test on animals I'm just working my way through the collection. The Pineapple and coconut one is definitely in the running to be my number one as it the perfect holiday smell but I know my boyfriend loves the mint one! They're really affordable and are really easy to find in the shops. 

Palmers Cocoa Butter Natural Bronze body lotion

I've used bits and bobs from Palmers before but since discovering that they're a cruelty free brand I've been trying a few more of there products. One that I have really been enjoying is the natural bronze body lotion which is basically a gradual tan. The scent is the classic cocoa butter which my boyfriend is definitely not a fan of, I quite like it and it stops the nasty fake tan smell so I'm happy. It leaves my skin feeling super soft and gives a nice natural tan than builds up quickly over a few days. This is definitely up there with my favourite gradual tans. 

OGX shampoo and conditioner 

I'd seen this range around before and had never really looked in to it but after running out of shampoo one day and having to quickly stock up I found these and turned out they're cruelty free so that was me sold! They have a lot of different versions and I have only tried a couple so far but I really liked the macadamia oil one a lot. I've been trying to get my hair in really good condition lately and felt that these really helped nourish it. 

Dermalogica skin perfect primer 

You may or may not know that I am a beauty therapist and I have recently been doing some training with dermalogica. Training usually involves trying out lots of products and I always end up wanting to buy everything. Some times if you're very lucky you get given some samples to try and I ended up with a few of these beauties and I'm a little bit in love. This is a tinted primer that creates the perfect base for you're makeup. If I want a lighter look I sometimes just wear this with a little bit of concealer. It has anti-ageing properties and spf 30 so is just an all round gem. I will definitely be getting a full size when my minis have ran out 

.Sleek Matte Me liquid lipstick in birthday suit

I've recently been looking for a cruelty free version of some of my favourite nude lipsticks. Luckily for me Sleek is a great brand that also happens to be cruelty free and whilst browsing there shelves I found this little beauty. Birthday suit is a gorgeous dark nude and dries completely matte. It doesn't budge once it's on. Like most liquid lipsticks it does tend to get a bit dry but popping a little bit of lip balm on top helps with that. 

Being cruelty free is still new to me and I am definitely still learning. Please let me know any recommendations you have on any other products you think I should try. I will be keeping you posted on any other great finds very soon. 

Going Cruelty Free

I've been a vegetarian for a long time now and a few years ago I decided to stop wearing leather so I don't know why it's taken me so long to realise that it's equally bad ( or worse) to use cosmetics that aren't cruelty free. I'm honestly a bit embarrassed that I didn't realise sooner. Looking on the brighter side, I am 25 years young and have the rest of my life to be cruelty free.

Making this decision hasn't been too easy for me. There's a lot more to consider than you might think and I am still in the transitional period. I had products that were already opened when I made the decision and I decided it made sense to finish those before buying animal friendly replacements. It also wasn't until I noticed cruelty free cleaning products in my house that I realised I would have to consider those as well. It's definitely a learning curve but I'm starting to get the hang of it now and for me it's definitely worth it. 

If you've read all this and are feeling frustrated because I haven't actually explained what being cruelty free means, then I apologise for my poor blogging skills, sorry. To me, being cruelty free  simply means using products that do not test on animals and that don't use animal derived products. I've started to find some good brands that match this criteria and I'll definitely be sharing some of my faves once I've found them.  All in all I'm happy with my decision and I now have an excuse to try out some new goodies! Yippee!