Burpees | Bites | Beauty

It’s in your toothpaste, your facemask, even in your soap! What is the big deal about Charcoal? Back in 2015 was when we first started hearing about the powers of charcoal. Since then it has spread from beauty products to our household items to our food. Everywhere we look there seems to be a hue of grey. If you’re like me, you might have gotten caught up in the trend without intending to and now somehow you have been partaking in some benefits that you have no idea what they are. I’m here to inform you how charcoal can help you in the many different forms of products we see it in today. We’ll start at the very beginning, the birth of the charcoal trend, the toothpaste. It was hard to go on social media without seeing someone with seriously black teeth that somehow turned their teeth whiter. How does it work? According to Trust Dental Care these toothpastes are made from a form of charcoal called Activated Charcoal. Activated Charcoal has natural adhesive qualities...

Not yet a trend but likely to be in the future. The Guerlain lipstick is customized for you. Something that has likely not shown up yet on your social media feed caught my attention the other day when a friend showed me her lipstick. The tube was an unusual shape, almost looked like a large bullet. When I asked her about it she told me that it was by the company Guerlain and she customized the tube in the store. I knew I had to check it out more. On the Guerlain website you can choose between 30 different shades and 15 different cases of the Rouge G De Guerlain, also known as “The Bullet”. All cases have a double mirror that allows for easy application anywhere. The lipstick itself is made up of plant-based polymers and silver microcrystals that create a luminous, long-lasting color. The lipstick will not dry out your lips thanks to the jojoba, a southwestern North American nut, and mango butt er that nourish your lips throughout the day. The first of it’s kind, th...

While working out is always on trend, lately what you do before and after your workout has become even more popular. There are many ways that people have been taking care of their bodies outside of working out but lately there are two ways that have been trending over Instagram. First, Cryofeul located in TriBeca on Colby street. Cryotherapy chambers rapidly cool the body, accelerating muscle recovery and skin rejuvenation. Cryogenically chilled air reduces inflammation and stimulates collagen production. The reduction of inflammation helps to accelerate injury recovery. Collagen helps reduce signs of aging and cellulite. You can see these chambers on the Instagrams of super models such as Karlie Kloss and GiGi Hadid who calls it her beauty “secret weapon” according to NYC & PT. Cryo Skin 2.0 is a new form of Cryotherapy that naturally destroys fat cells, remove cellulite, and reduce signs of aging. CryoSkin 2.o is $350 per session and full body Cryotherapy is $75 p...

By: Jillian Gallagher Don't worry ladies and gents, there are still 66 days until summer officially starts and if it's anything like how this spring has been going, you'll have a few more days before you can break out the mini skirts and shorts. Where do you go to work on your summer body? Why not the places that some of the best models are known to frequent? Here is a list of five different workouts that are visited by some of the top models in the business: 1.       Body By Simone Simone de la Rue opened her first studio in 2011, where she helped people dance their way into better shape. Now she has six studios, including one in midtown west right by the water.  BBS has five signature classes; Dance Cardio, Full Body, ABC (Arms, Back and Core), HTB (Hips, Thighs, and Buns) and Trampoline Cardio. Each class costs around $35 for a drop in class and $160 for a package of five classes. Since each cl...

  Y3 teams up with basketball player James Harden to create a line that the ladies and gents can love. There have been many celebrity collaborations over the years of fashion; Rosie H-W for Paige, GiGi Hadid for Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria Beckham for Target and many more. Last Friday, a new contender hit the shelves at the self proclaimed, sport style pioneers, Y3. According to GQ, this isn't your average collaberation. Y3 brand designer, Yohji Yamamoto, not only worked with Harden while creating his newest line, he inspired Yamamoto. The collection, which includes an oversized bomber jacket, socks, tailored shirt, cropped pants, and sneakers is mostly stark black with a bright pink flower seen throughout. There is also a t-shirt and a tank top that come in a navy and white pattern, which stick out from the rest of the collection. Known as "The King of Flowers", the Botan flower symbolizes honor, respect, good fortune, bravery and nobility in Japanese culture. The h...

As I'm sure not many of you know, I am in two long distance relationships. Two of my favorite people live in Baltimore, Maryland. One is my boyfriend who plays basketball for Loyola Maryland and the other is my longtime manager. Due to these long distance relationships I have been able to experience a lot of the Baltimore cuisine. One of my favorite places that I have been to with both of these lovely people is R House . R House began with 10 different chefs coming together and launching their restaurants in a warehouse-like building. A large seating area is surrounded by nine more pernimate restaurants and one popup restaurant that is always changing around. Their vendors include Ground & Griddled, a breakfast sandwich and coffee shop. Amano Taco offers tacos and taco bowls. Be.bim which is Korean BBQ. Arba is a mediterranean street food restaurant. BRD offers fried chicken sandwiches and wings. White Envelope offers venezuelan arepas, which if you're like me and have no i...

This was honestly one of the hardest workouts I have ever done. Aerospace's areojump class is one that is hard to beat. It was (almost) a full class of jump roping (the silent killer of cardio) coupled with a few toning exercises.  Aerospace is know for training many of the Victoria's Secret models including Adriana Lima. Located in the heart of Chelsea, it is easy to get to from almost anywhere in Manhattan. They offer eight different classes along with a "Training Camp". Their classes include ThinkFast, AeroBox, Aero3, AeroBarre, AeroJump (the one I took), AreoImpact, AeroPower and AeroFly. Aerospace's website descrbes it's training camp as,"Every muscle in the body battles against gravity in this ultimate fitness class designed to enhance endurance, speed, stamina, power, coordination, recall, tone and muscle strength." Sounds like my next Aerospace workout will be taking this training camp challenge!

One of my new favorite snacks to make at home are chickpeas. Yes, I know, you don’t “make” chickpeas but the way I have them you do.   Trust me once you give them a try you’re going to be making them all the time! All you need is a can of chickpeas, a baking pan and whatever seasonings you’d like. First, you want to get the chickpeas as dry as possible. Lay them out on a paper towel until you feel that they are pretty dry. Next, spread them out onto a baking pan. Then add whatever seasonings you are in the mood for! I usually use salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and cumin. If you don’t feel like you put the spices on evenly throughout the pan, mix them together with a spoon but make sure you spread them out again before putting them in the oven.   For the first 15 mins, set the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Then turn it down to 250 and let them sit for about 2 hours or until crunchy. Then just take them out of the oven and let them cool. Let m...

This past weekend I had the pleasure to celebrate my roommates birthday with her. We started the night as a restaurant that I thought would be a great start to getting back into the blogosphere. As you might have guessed, the restaurant is called Café Clover. Main dining room (photo taken from website) My roommate is friends with one of the co-owners of restaurant, so while sitting at dinner I was able to pick his brain. This is his first time in the restaurant game. He started his career in fitness and came up with the idea for Café Clover while talking to a friend. The two agreed that there weren't many restaurants in NYC that were healthy, not the extent of veganism, that had atmospheres that would still be great for a date night. Being in fitness he had a pretty good background on the healthy foods that people would be looking for. The menu seems perfect for someone on the paleo diet and the best thing about it is that all the food is locally sourced. Now, what did I or...

Many people have heard about Body by Simone. Most likely through Khloe Kardashians show on E! called Revenge Body. I really loved dance when I was a kid and the people that I see coming in and out of the studio seem fit. So, I gave it a try. Lucky me the studio is right in my neighborhood on 26th Street by the water on the West Side. BBS has five signature classes; Dance Cardio, Full Body, ABC (Arms, Back and Core), HTB (Hips, Thighs, and Buns) and Trampoline Cardio. I took a Dance Cardio Class. Oh boy did I sweat! I re-learned how to memorize choreography and it took me a little to get back into the swing of a dance class. However, with everyone around me enjoying themselves and trying their best, it made messing up easy to laugh at. The class started with a warm-up song. Then we learned 2-3 songs worth of choreography and put them all together to end the dance portion. It was honestly so much fun. As a kid I was more of a ballet girl rather than jaz or hip-hop but I loved this...

Time for some fun! We talked about how your mindset can cause a huge difference is feeling like your best self. One of the best ways to do that is to join in activities that make you happy. Whether that be a walk in the park, joining a sports team, or anything that makes you smile, do it! Something fun that I did recently was indoor sky diving! I did this at the iFly facility back home in King Of Prussia, PA. There is a facility in Yonkers and I suggest you go! This was one of the most fun things I have ever done. Once you get there and get dressed in your jumpsuit, they sit you down for the instructional video. Next think you know, you're flying through the air, an instructor at your side. Sky diving is something that I have always wanted to experience and this was a good warm up to the real thing. So go out, do something fun for you today! Enjoy your Monday for a change.

This is one of the best facials I have ever had! I met Ashley Witte, the owner, through a mutual friend and she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She is genuine and has a great head on her shoulders. I was a little nervous about this treatment because I was getting it right before a big meeting with my agency. Ashely assured me that she wouldn't do anything that would cause my skin to get red. After the treatment, my skin looked amazing and I went into my meeting feeling confident. Ashley has the top facial technologies and she does a great job describing what each machine does for your skin. Her website says it all, "Dedicated to the transformation of skin through organic elements, gentile touch and non-invasive technology." She is located in a very convenient location on 5th Ave and 32nd St and her space is calming and cozy. It's a new and personal experience every time I go in. I can't wait to go back.

Anya was created by Courtney Bauer who spent years in he role as a toga, pilates and meditation teacher. As it says on the Anya website  her goal was to "create a fitness formula to strengthen the body, rest the mind and heal the soul." The Anya studio was very relaxing. The smell of aroma therapy wafted throughout the room as I walked in. There were soft curtains separating the different studios and as you can see in the photo, natural light flooded the room as plants grew by the windowsill.  The class I took as Aerial yoga for beginners. I was a little nervous taking this class because I had recently dislocated my shoulder and I didn't want to put too much pressure on it. The class was very relaxing but I did work up a sweat during the abs section. Trust me, you will feel those abs tomorrow. I really enjoyed this class. It had the relaxation I needed to get from the yoga portion but still gave me a good workout. I would go back to Anya again.

As I was getting ready this morning, I thought I'd do a little "how to" on how I get ready for my castings everyday. Wash hair using OGX Brazilian Keratin Therapy shampoo and conditioner Use OGX Argan Oil of Morocco voluminous mousse Blow dry your hair by flipping your hair upside down (take a break when you get hot) Use Neutrogena eye liner just on the top Use concealer on the under eyes (if you'd like) run from the outer edge to the inner edge Apply as much mascara as you'd like. I only use it on the top lashes but you can use it on the lower lashes as well A little bit on lip stick or gloss And you're ready to go! I hope you guys found this interesting and let me know if you like the video so that I can make more. Hope this helps everyone feel ready to take on their day.

This month marks two years since I've moved to New York. From the beginning, I have lived with a model named Madlena Kalinova. She has helped me out immensely, giving me advice and recommendations about anything and everything. Originally I wanted to interview Madlena to show what the typical modeling lifestyle is, but after reading her answers I realized that there is no one way to be fit. Since both of us are models, we are required to be healthy and fit. The focus of this post is to show that there is not one way to be healthy.I decided to do a little bit of a comparison because even though we are similar in a lot of ways, we live our lives differently.  I interviewed Madlena about her modeling career, favorite foods, fitness regimens and beauty tips and then I answered the same questions. Here were her answers: How long have you been modeling? I got into modeling 15 years ago. How did you first get into modeling? I was discovered shopping with my mom on a local str...

Ignore the unhappy look on my face, it's just because I couldn't breathe. Barry's Bootcamp is about as hard as it gets. I workout on a daily basis and this place kicked my butt. I have taken their arms and abs as well as their butt and legs class. I left both of these classes with my shirt see through I was sweating so much. They assign you a treadmill or floor space and you either start you off on the floor or the treadmill. I liked starting on the treadmill better because it's a good warm up and when you are done you end on the floor which is better for stretching. You don't get to necessarily choose though. They do two rounds. You are on the treadmill twice and on the floor twice doing multiple exercises on the floor. I wasn't necessarily sore the next day but I was exhausted at the end. If you want to be tired and sweaty, then go to Barry's.

So here is the second part, as promised, to my collaboration with my trainer Mike Castle. I sat down with Mike after one of our workout sessions and asked him a few questions that I thought might be interesting to all of you. I thought that his answers were interesting and I hope you do as well. How did you become a personal trainer? This is the short version: I never wanted to become a personal trainer. I always wanted to be a police officer.  I almost didn't have a choice in becoming a personal trainer.  When I was a kid I weighed 315 lbs.  I thought that I could get into some sort of shape by joining a kung fu school, but they told me no, they told me to try the boxing school up the block. In about 6 months I lost over 100 lbs and dropped down to 198 lbs.  All of my friends saw the dramatic change and started to bombard me with questions like “What did you do and how?” and “Can you show me?” And I did.  And I learned...

Bari Studio, located in Tribeca is a great workout that includes a combination of dance, bounce and tone. They are inspired by sports and dance training, making your workout high energy while working mind and body. They offer five different types of classes along with personal training. "Barione" is a 20 minute mix of everything Bari has to offer. "Dance" is a high cardio, fully body workout. "Micro" is the full body conditioning class. I would say it is almost equivalent to a barre class with the use of resistance bands, "bari balls" and skimmers.  I took Baris' "Bounce" class. The class I took was a half an hour of dance based bouncing on the trampoline and finishing with an ab workout. I really enjoyed this class however don't expect to be perfect at it the first time you try. Even with my 13 years of dance experience in my pocket, I still struggled keeping to the beat at certain points. I was sweating but not as much ...

While in the process of becoming our best selves, many of us forget the importance of relaxation. Stress is often a major cause of weight gain and can lead to many other health problems. Relaxation of the mind and body helps to ease your way to healthy weight loss and a healthy life style.  Whenever I am taking a break from the city and have a weekend at home, I almost always take an epsom salt bath. Epsom salt is extremely high in magnesium, which is an element that most people are deficient in but it is very important to the body. Magnesium helps with many of the main bodily functions, like controlling muscles, energy production, and the elimination of harmful toxins. Magnesium deficiency as led to heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and many stress related illnesses. You can get epsom salt almost anywhere, from your local supermarket to CVS. It is very easy to find and not expensive. Some packages say to take a bath 2-3 times a week but I just do it as needed. Occasiona...

Since I have talked about Gotham Gym so much, I partnered up with my trainer Mike and asked him to help me out with a few posts! One is an interview with him about some of his best workout tips and the other (this one!) is a look into one of our workouts! So here we go: As a warm-up, I will just for three minutes on the treadmill at a 6.0 mph speed. Next, I will do three minutes on a machine called the Versa Climber. If you, or your gym does not have one a good equivalent could be doing mountain climbers for three minutes. Up next, is a round of boxing! This is my favorite part of the workout. Not only do I feel like I'm kicking butt, I also am working up a sweat. A round of boxing is about three minutes (I'm sure you're sensing a theme by now) and we do a round intermittently throughout the hour.  Next we move on to abs: If you are thinking, "I don't have a wheel or a bungie cord at my house! How am I supposed to so this?" Have no fear! There are...