I had my nails done on Tuesday. I haven’t had gels in ages but since it’s Christmas I just had to treat myself, especially as my friend Jo owns a salon just seconds from my flat. She is the most talented nail technician ever and is very highly sought after by celebrities and magazines as her work is AMAZING. Follow her on Twitter to see some of her fantastic work: twitter.com/joannawebbnails and check out the salon here.

I decided to buck the trend of snowflakes and instead went for a juicy shimmery dark red (Artistic Colour Gloss – Spoiled) with a little white heart topped with silver glitter on each ring finger. Can you believe that teeny tiny heart has been painted on by hand!

Artistic Colour Gloss Spoiled

What do you think of my Christmas nails and what look have you gone for this year?

signature

NOTD: Christmas Nails

I had my nails done on Tuesday. I haven’t had gels in ages but since it’s Christmas I just had to treat myself, especially as my friend Jo owns a salon just seconds from my flat. She is the most talented nail technician ever and is very highly sought after by celebrities and magazines as her work is AMAZING. Follow her on Twitter to see some of her fantastic work: twitter.com/joannawebbnails and check out the salon here.

I decided to buck the trend of snowflakes and instead went for a juicy shimmery dark red (Artistic Colour Gloss – Spoiled) with a little white heart topped with silver glitter on each ring finger. Can you believe that teeny tiny heart has been painted on by hand!

Artistic Colour Gloss Spoiled

What do you think of my Christmas nails and what look have you gone for this year?

signature

The December beauty box from Joliebox arrived yesterday and it’s much better than last month’s box. I am a happy Joliebox subscriber once again!

Joliebox December Beauty Box
Joliebox December Beauty Box 1
Joliebox Beauty Box 2
Joliebox December Beauty Box contents

The December Joliebox beauty box has a Party theme – although I think the theme should have been Spain, you’ll understand why in a minute. This month the design of both the box and the little drawstring bag has changed; it has a white and gold design instead of the usual black. The Menu card tells you what’s in your box and this month’s issue of Joliemag features Fiona Leahy.

There are seven products (or eight if you count the duplicates separately) in this month’s box, plus some bonus Lindt chocolates, yummy!

Color Club “Put A Pin In It” Nail Polish – This is one of two shades that were exclusively designed for Joliebox/Birchbox members. Put A Pin In It is a frosty rose gold shade and looks very pretty.

Natural Honey Body Milk – I’ve never heard of this brand before, the language on the bottle is Spanish so that’ll explain why! It smells nice, like shea butter, and I get through body lotions like there’s no tomorrow so I’'ll make good use of this.

Bella Pierre Shimmer Powder “Antiqa” – This is a dark purple-brown shade and is super shimmery. I think it will work really well with my green eyes and will create quite a dramatic look.

I Love… Cosmetics Shimmer and Shine Lipgloss – There’s always one product in a beauty box that doesn’t impress and this is it. Pale pink and smelling of sweets, I’ll probably give this to my 3 year old step-daughter.

Olay Regenerist Skin Cream -  I did think this is a bit random as Olay is such a well-known brand, why do they need to put their product in a beauty box?! And it appears to be a Spanish version. I don’t mind, I like moisturisers!

Doctor Duve Hand and Decollete Cream -  You get two sachets of this cream; one for your hands and one for your decollete perhaps? With the freezing cold weather these are perfect for my poor dry chapped hands.

Agua de Colonia Concentrada Alvarez Gomez – More Spanish stuff! It’s a really sweet, citrus fragrance. I quite like it, though not as a perfume. I might sprinkle it on my duvet to make my bedroom smell sweet.

I think it’s quite a good mix this month and (almost) back to Joliebox’s usual standards. I’m really pleased with the Bella Pierre Shimmer Powder and the Color Club Nail Polish.

Joliebox costs £10.00 per month plus shipping and they have now introduced a referral scheme so if you fancy trying it out please feel free to use my referal link http://joliebox.co.uk/?raf=674

What do you think of this month’s box?

signature

Joliebox – December Beauty Box

The December beauty box from Joliebox arrived yesterday and it’s much better than last month’s box. I am a happy Joliebox subscriber once again!

Joliebox December Beauty Box
Joliebox December Beauty Box 1
Joliebox Beauty Box 2
Joliebox December Beauty Box contents

The December Joliebox beauty box has a Party theme – although I think the theme should have been Spain, you’ll understand why in a minute. This month the design of both the box and the little drawstring bag has changed; it has a white and gold design instead of the usual black. The Menu card tells you what’s in your box and this month’s issue of Joliemag features Fiona Leahy.

There are seven products (or eight if you count the duplicates separately) in this month’s box, plus some bonus Lindt chocolates, yummy!

Color Club “Put A Pin In It” Nail Polish – This is one of two shades that were exclusively designed for Joliebox/Birchbox members. Put A Pin In It is a frosty rose gold shade and looks very pretty.

Natural Honey Body Milk – I’ve never heard of this brand before, the language on the bottle is Spanish so that’ll explain why! It smells nice, like shea butter, and I get through body lotions like there’s no tomorrow so I’'ll make good use of this.

Bella Pierre Shimmer Powder “Antiqa” – This is a dark purple-brown shade and is super shimmery. I think it will work really well with my green eyes and will create quite a dramatic look.

I Love… Cosmetics Shimmer and Shine Lipgloss – There’s always one product in a beauty box that doesn’t impress and this is it. Pale pink and smelling of sweets, I’ll probably give this to my 3 year old step-daughter.

Olay Regenerist Skin Cream -  I did think this is a bit random as Olay is such a well-known brand, why do they need to put their product in a beauty box?! And it appears to be a Spanish version. I don’t mind, I like moisturisers!

Doctor Duve Hand and Decollete Cream -  You get two sachets of this cream; one for your hands and one for your decollete perhaps? With the freezing cold weather these are perfect for my poor dry chapped hands.

Agua de Colonia Concentrada Alvarez Gomez – More Spanish stuff! It’s a really sweet, citrus fragrance. I quite like it, though not as a perfume. I might sprinkle it on my duvet to make my bedroom smell sweet.

I think it’s quite a good mix this month and (almost) back to Joliebox’s usual standards. I’m really pleased with the Bella Pierre Shimmer Powder and the Color Club Nail Polish.

Joliebox costs £10.00 per month plus shipping and they have now introduced a referral scheme so if you fancy trying it out please feel free to use my referal link http://joliebox.co.uk/?raf=674

What do you think of this month’s box?

signature

My contractions started at about 7.00pm on Friday and my waters broke at about 10.30pm the same night. Ian was at work so at about midnight when he got home we went to hospital where a midwife confirmed that my waters had broken (there was no doubt that they had as it felt like someone had thrown a bucket of warm water at me!) but I wasn’t yet in established labour, so I was sent home. The midwife said I should be in established labour by morning but I was booked in for an induction the following evening just in case, as there is a risk of infection if your waters have been broken for longer than 24 hours. So off home we went, where I spent the night breathing through my contractions and timing them; the midwife said that once I was having 3-4 in every 10 minutes I would be classed as in established labour. I fell asleep at around 5.30am…



My First Birth Story: Emergency C-Section

My contractions started at about 7.00pm on Friday and my waters broke at about 10.30pm the same night. Ian was at work so at about midnight when he got home we went to hospital where a midwife confirmed that my waters had broken (there was no doubt that they had as it felt like someone had thrown a bucket of warm water at me!) but I wasn’t yet in established labour, so I was sent home. The midwife said I should be in established labour by morning but I was booked in for an induction the following evening just in case, as there is a risk of infection if your waters have been broken for longer than 24 hours. So off home we went, where I spent the night breathing through my contractions and timing them; the midwife said that once I was having 3-4 in every 10 minutes I would be classed as in established labour. I fell asleep at around 5.30am…



A couple of days ago my November Beauty Box from Joliebox was delivered and to be honest I’m a little ‘meh’ about it.

November Joliebox Beauty Box
November Joliebox Beauty Box menu
November Joliebox Beauty Box contents

The theme of November’s Joliebox is Beauty in the City, dedicated to busy city girls. I’m not a busy city girl but whatevs. The contents of the box come in a little black drawstring bag which is inside the black Joliebox itself. You get a Menu card detailing what’s in your box and an issue of Joliemag, which this month features Millie Chen, the Editorial Director of Birchbox (who’ve recently acquired Joliebox).

There are six samples in this month’s box – here’s what I got:

Vertumne a Venus Manucure Absolue – Moisturizing & Regenerating Hand Cream – This 2ml sachet of hand cream is made with all-natural ingredients. It’s described as a rich cream but I found it more of a lotion and it left my hands feeling really greasy. I’m not terribly keen on the smell, it’s quite tangy and spicy. Joliebox sell the full-size 50ml bottle for £30.90 so this sachet is worth about £1.24.

Jane Iredale Glow Time BB Cream – Another 2ml sachet, this is a full coverage mineral-based BB cream. I’m not a huge fan of BB creams, I think they’re a bit overrated but I will give it a go. Feelunique sell the full-size 50ml bottle for £39.95 so this sachet is worth about £1.60.

Topicrem Body Glitter 3D Effect – Okay so we’ve gone back to the year 2000 with some body glitter. This isn’t a product I’d ever seek out. A full-size 200ml tube retails for roughly £10 so this 15ml tube is worth about 75p.

Marvis Classic Strong Mint Toothpaste – Thank goodness I got Classic Strong Mint, on the Menu it says there is also Amerelli Liquorice Mint and Cinnamon Mint! As far as toothpastes go this actually smells and tastes quite nice and is my favourite sample out of this month’s Joliebox. A full-size 75ml tube retails for about £5 so it’s quite an expensive toothpaste; the sample tube is 10ml so worth about 67p.

Dead Sea Spa Magik Gentle Cleansing Facial Wash – This brand pops up in beauty boxes quite often. It’s a mild foaming cleanser so I will use in the shower for my AM cleanse. Feelunique sell the 150ml tube for £8.80 so this 25ml sample tube is worth about £1.47.

Yardley Royal Diamond Eau de Toilette – my hands are so greasy from the hand cream that I can’t get the vial open to have a sniff! The description of the perfume sounds pretty nice though, floral and woody. Boots sell a 50ml bottle for £9.99 so this 1ml sample is worth a whopping 20p.

It’s not the value of the products, which total £5.93, that have made me feel so ‘meh’ about this month’s box. It’s not even the tiny sizes. It’s just that I don’t find any of them, apart from the toothpaste, that exciting. I can see this box being left in my bathroom for a while before I get round to using the products.

Joliebox costs £10.00 per month plus shipping and they have now introduced a referral scheme so if you fancy trying it out (hopefully next month they will be back to their usual standard!) please feel free to use my referal link http://joliebox.co.uk/?raf=674

What do you think of this month’s box?

signature

Joliebox – November Beauty Box

A couple of days ago my November Beauty Box from Joliebox was delivered and to be honest I’m a little ‘meh’ about it.

November Joliebox Beauty Box
November Joliebox Beauty Box menu
November Joliebox Beauty Box contents

The theme of November’s Joliebox is Beauty in the City, dedicated to busy city girls. I’m not a busy city girl but whatevs. The contents of the box come in a little black drawstring bag which is inside the black Joliebox itself. You get a Menu card detailing what’s in your box and an issue of Joliemag, which this month features Millie Chen, the Editorial Director of Birchbox (who’ve recently acquired Joliebox).

There are six samples in this month’s box – here’s what I got:

Vertumne a Venus Manucure Absolue – Moisturizing & Regenerating Hand Cream – This 2ml sachet of hand cream is made with all-natural ingredients. It’s described as a rich cream but I found it more of a lotion and it left my hands feeling really greasy. I’m not terribly keen on the smell, it’s quite tangy and spicy. Joliebox sell the full-size 50ml bottle for £30.90 so this sachet is worth about £1.24.

Jane Iredale Glow Time BB Cream – Another 2ml sachet, this is a full coverage mineral-based BB cream. I’m not a huge fan of BB creams, I think they’re a bit overrated but I will give it a go. Feelunique sell the full-size 50ml bottle for £39.95 so this sachet is worth about £1.60.

Topicrem Body Glitter 3D Effect – Okay so we’ve gone back to the year 2000 with some body glitter. This isn’t a product I’d ever seek out. A full-size 200ml tube retails for roughly £10 so this 15ml tube is worth about 75p.

Marvis Classic Strong Mint Toothpaste – Thank goodness I got Classic Strong Mint, on the Menu it says there is also Amerelli Liquorice Mint and Cinnamon Mint! As far as toothpastes go this actually smells and tastes quite nice and is my favourite sample out of this month’s Joliebox. A full-size 75ml tube retails for about £5 so it’s quite an expensive toothpaste; the sample tube is 10ml so worth about 67p.

Dead Sea Spa Magik Gentle Cleansing Facial Wash – This brand pops up in beauty boxes quite often. It’s a mild foaming cleanser so I will use in the shower for my AM cleanse. Feelunique sell the 150ml tube for £8.80 so this 25ml sample tube is worth about £1.47.

Yardley Royal Diamond Eau de Toilette – my hands are so greasy from the hand cream that I can’t get the vial open to have a sniff! The description of the perfume sounds pretty nice though, floral and woody. Boots sell a 50ml bottle for £9.99 so this 1ml sample is worth a whopping 20p.

It’s not the value of the products, which total £5.93, that have made me feel so ‘meh’ about this month’s box. It’s not even the tiny sizes. It’s just that I don’t find any of them, apart from the toothpaste, that exciting. I can see this box being left in my bathroom for a while before I get round to using the products.

Joliebox costs £10.00 per month plus shipping and they have now introduced a referral scheme so if you fancy trying it out (hopefully next month they will be back to their usual standard!) please feel free to use my referal link http://joliebox.co.uk/?raf=674

What do you think of this month’s box?

signature
Last week I showed you an amazing red glitter polish from W7, this week I’ve been wearing the gold version that I was also sent to try. W7 Gold Dazzle is a clear polish with absolutely loads of tiny gold glitter particles. 

I’ve applied just two coats of this polish to get these look and this time I haven’t applied a top coat. I got distracted before applying the topcoat and then decided that, actually, I rather like the texture this time! The first photo is in natural daylight and the second is under artificial light so you can see how it really sparkles. I’ve been wearing this all week and love it, I’ve had so many compliments on my nails as it’s so eye-catching. Pretty!

W7 Gold Dazzle nail polish
W7 Gold Dazzle polish nail

I found the consistency of this polish much easier than the Red Dazzle, both coats applied easily and dried quickly. Of course if you don’t like the gritty texture you can apply a topcoat as I did with the Red Dazzle. Also, because the glitter is suspended in clear polish, you could use a coloured polish first then just use one coat of this to add a little sparkle. Though for me, as we head into the party season I am thinking full-on glitter is the way to go!


Disclosure: I was sent this W7 Nail Polish for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 

REVIEW: W7 Nail Polish Gold Dazzle

Last week I showed you an amazing red glitter polish from W7, this week I’ve been wearing the gold version that I was also sent to try. W7 Gold Dazzle is a clear polish with absolutely loads of tiny gold glitter particles. 

I’ve applied just two coats of this polish to get these look and this time I haven’t applied a top coat. I got distracted before applying the topcoat and then decided that, actually, I rather like the texture this time! The first photo is in natural daylight and the second is under artificial light so you can see how it really sparkles. I’ve been wearing this all week and love it, I’ve had so many compliments on my nails as it’s so eye-catching. Pretty!

W7 Gold Dazzle nail polish
W7 Gold Dazzle polish nail

I found the consistency of this polish much easier than the Red Dazzle, both coats applied easily and dried quickly. Of course if you don’t like the gritty texture you can apply a topcoat as I did with the Red Dazzle. Also, because the glitter is suspended in clear polish, you could use a coloured polish first then just use one coat of this to add a little sparkle. Though for me, as we head into the party season I am thinking full-on glitter is the way to go!


Disclosure: I was sent this W7 Nail Polish for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 
I was recently offered the chance to try a new beauty box from All About Beauty – a monthly beauty box where you receive five full-sized products each month for £15.00 plus £2.95 P&P. As a subscriber if you like the products you can go on to purchase them with a 25% discount which is pretty good! All About Beauty source products from around the world and this month’s box features products from two Italian brands: Dr Lauranne and Kipos.
All About Beauty October Box Kopis
All About Beauty October Box Dr Lauranne
All About Beauty October Box Let's Bake
All About Beauty October Box Gift
Three of the products are from Kipos: a Cleansing Milk, Tonic Lotion and Regenerative Anti-Aging Face Cream. I think it’s quite good to receive a complete skincare system from one particular brand and I’m looking forward to trying it out.
The fourth product is from Dr Lauranne: Moonlife Beauty Eye Contour Eye Gel which is used at night. From looking at the leaflet it seems that Moonlife is Dr Lauranne’s hyaluronic acid line so I’m very interested trying this out as I’ve been reading great things about hyaluronic acid.
The fifth product, I assume, is an issue of Let’s Bake Magazine. I do enjoy baking so this will be handy for me. The reason I assume this is the fifth product is because the oil burner is mentioned as being a gift in the letter that came in the box. I think the oil burner is cute, I’m very much a fan of candles and scented oils so it’s ideal for me.
What do you think of this beauty box from All About Beauty? If you’re interested you can find out more at www.allaboutbeauty.co.uk



Disclosure: I was sent an All About Beauty box for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. With thanks to All About Beauty for my sample.

|REVIEW: All About Beauty – October Beauty Box

I was recently offered the chance to try a new beauty box from All About Beauty – a monthly beauty box where you receive five full-sized products each month for £15.00 plus £2.95 P&P. As a subscriber if you like the products you can go on to purchase them with a 25% discount which is pretty good! All About Beauty source products from around the world and this month’s box features products from two Italian brands: Dr Lauranne and Kipos.
All About Beauty October Box Kopis
All About Beauty October Box Dr Lauranne
All About Beauty October Box Let's Bake
All About Beauty October Box Gift
Three of the products are from Kipos: a Cleansing Milk, Tonic Lotion and Regenerative Anti-Aging Face Cream. I think it’s quite good to receive a complete skincare system from one particular brand and I’m looking forward to trying it out.
The fourth product is from Dr Lauranne: Moonlife Beauty Eye Contour Eye Gel which is used at night. From looking at the leaflet it seems that Moonlife is Dr Lauranne’s hyaluronic acid line so I’m very interested trying this out as I’ve been reading great things about hyaluronic acid.
The fifth product, I assume, is an issue of Let’s Bake Magazine. I do enjoy baking so this will be handy for me. The reason I assume this is the fifth product is because the oil burner is mentioned as being a gift in the letter that came in the box. I think the oil burner is cute, I’m very much a fan of candles and scented oils so it’s ideal for me.
What do you think of this beauty box from All About Beauty? If you’re interested you can find out more at www.allaboutbeauty.co.uk



Disclosure: I was sent an All About Beauty box for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. With thanks to All About Beauty for my sample.
Another month has flown by and once again I’ve amazed myself with how many products I’ve managed to finish!

October Empties

Shu Uemura Classic High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil: I got this little bottle in my Selfridges Advent Calendar last year but only just got round to using it. I know lots of people are like “this stuff is amazing” and yes I agree it does a good job at getting every last scrap of make-up off BUT take look at the ingredients. Paraffinum liquidum. Mineral oil. For what you pay for a bottle of this cleansing oil they can afford to use decent stuff in it, not a petrol by-product.

Clarins Tonic Body Treatment Oil: I started using this when I got to seven months pregnant, prior to that I was using Nivea Q10 Plus Firming Oil and Derma Mum. I almost ended up using Bio Oil until Caroline pointed out that Bio Oil is mineral oil and recommended the Clarins instead. It’s not cheap, Feel Unique sell it for £33.30 for 100ml, but the bottle only ran out two weeks ago and I’ve got to term with not one single stretch mark. I would wholeheartedly recommend this to any pregnant women or anyone wanting to prevent stretch marks.

Lush Vanilla Dee-Lite: I LOVE this stuff. I’ve written about it here, it was also in my August Empties, I was even featured in Prima Baby magazine raving about it. It is just the most perfect body lotion for me, not too heavy, absorbs well, sorts my poorly skin out and smells yummy. I can’t see myself ever falling out of love with it!

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer: This product does wonders for my hair. It’s a pre-shampoo treatment, you leave it on your barnet for 20 minutes and then just shampoo and condition as normal. My hair always feels amazing after I’ve used it. It’s quite an expensive product so I don’t buy it often, but whenever I do I always end up wishing I was just a little bit richer so I could afford to buy it more often.

STEAMCREAM: I posted about this the other day, you can read more here. I love this moisturiser and will be buying a full-size tin once I finish getting through the rest of my moisturiser stash!

The Body Shop Carrot Moisture Cream: This was a nice enough moisturiser, but I didn’t feel like it did anything special for my skin so won’t be buying it.

The Body Shop Shea Body Butter: I’ve had this in my cupboard since Christmas but only just got round to using it. It’s a super rich body butter, it leaves your skin feeling super soft and moisturised but it’s just so heavy! It takes an age to absorb so don’t put this on if you are in a rush to go out. Especially if you plan to wear skinny jeans. You won’t be able to pull them up!

Palmers Cocoa Butter Massage Lotion for Stretch Marks: This was a sample I got through the post, you get all sorts when you’re pregnant! This felt quite nice and absorbed well but obviously being such a small sample I’d have no idea how good it would be against stretch marks.

Palmers Cocoa Butter Tummy Butter for Stretch Marks: Another pregnancy sample received in the post! I quite liked the way this felt on my skin and it smelt so good, not the traditional cocoa butter smell but a little more floral. Again I’m not sure how effective it would be against stretch marks as it was only a tiny sample.

Imperial Leather Skinkind Hydrate Shower Gel: I’ve trying to use up all my sample sachets and came across these three sachets of shower gel. They smelt quite lovely and were gentle on my skin so I’d probably buy a full-size bottle.

Yardley Peony Luxury Body Wash: I got this in the March beauty box from Joliebox. It’s a lovely smelling body wash – it smells of peonies funnily enough! – but it’s quite a big bottle and to be honest I was glad when it ran out as the fragrance started to become too much for me.

Vinies Luminous Skin Mask: I think this came in a Boudoir Prive box so that shows how I long I’ve had it! It’s an all-natural face mask which exfoliates and brightens your skin. Whilst I love the results, I don’t like the smell which seems to linger on your skin for a few days after. Shame.

Superdrug Dry Shampoo: I don’t really see the point of all this different fragrances in dry shampoos as ultimately they all have that same dusty smell! I don’t get through as much dry shampoo since I’ve been on maternity leave as I have more time in the mornings now, but I still do have the odd lazy day! I really rate Superdrug dry shampoos, they work really well and sometimes they are on that crazy “buy 1, get 2 free” offer so worth looking out for.

bareMinerals Purifying Facial Cleanser and bareMinerals Purely Nourishing Moisturiser: I got these sachets a few months ago and typically of me it got lost with all my other sachets. I wasn’t really impressed with the cleanser to be honest as I didn’t feel like my skin was left thoroughly clean. The moisturiser wasn’t hydrating enough for my skin, I ended up having to apply a second layer. This is the good thing about samples; you can find out what works and what doesn’t without potentially wasting money on full-size products.

Let me know if you’ve used any of the products here or if you’ve got an Empties post for me to read!

October Empties

Another month has flown by and once again I’ve amazed myself with how many products I’ve managed to finish!

October Empties

Shu Uemura Classic High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil: I got this little bottle in my Selfridges Advent Calendar last year but only just got round to using it. I know lots of people are like “this stuff is amazing” and yes I agree it does a good job at getting every last scrap of make-up off BUT take look at the ingredients. Paraffinum liquidum. Mineral oil. For what you pay for a bottle of this cleansing oil they can afford to use decent stuff in it, not a petrol by-product.

Clarins Tonic Body Treatment Oil: I started using this when I got to seven months pregnant, prior to that I was using Nivea Q10 Plus Firming Oil and Derma Mum. I almost ended up using Bio Oil until Caroline pointed out that Bio Oil is mineral oil and recommended the Clarins instead. It’s not cheap, Feel Unique sell it for £33.30 for 100ml, but the bottle only ran out two weeks ago and I’ve got to term with not one single stretch mark. I would wholeheartedly recommend this to any pregnant women or anyone wanting to prevent stretch marks.

Lush Vanilla Dee-Lite: I LOVE this stuff. I’ve written about it here, it was also in my August Empties, I was even featured in Prima Baby magazine raving about it. It is just the most perfect body lotion for me, not too heavy, absorbs well, sorts my poorly skin out and smells yummy. I can’t see myself ever falling out of love with it!

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer: This product does wonders for my hair. It’s a pre-shampoo treatment, you leave it on your barnet for 20 minutes and then just shampoo and condition as normal. My hair always feels amazing after I’ve used it. It’s quite an expensive product so I don’t buy it often, but whenever I do I always end up wishing I was just a little bit richer so I could afford to buy it more often.

STEAMCREAM: I posted about this the other day, you can read more here. I love this moisturiser and will be buying a full-size tin once I finish getting through the rest of my moisturiser stash!

The Body Shop Carrot Moisture Cream: This was a nice enough moisturiser, but I didn’t feel like it did anything special for my skin so won’t be buying it.

The Body Shop Shea Body Butter: I’ve had this in my cupboard since Christmas but only just got round to using it. It’s a super rich body butter, it leaves your skin feeling super soft and moisturised but it’s just so heavy! It takes an age to absorb so don’t put this on if you are in a rush to go out. Especially if you plan to wear skinny jeans. You won’t be able to pull them up!

Palmers Cocoa Butter Massage Lotion for Stretch Marks: This was a sample I got through the post, you get all sorts when you’re pregnant! This felt quite nice and absorbed well but obviously being such a small sample I’d have no idea how good it would be against stretch marks.

Palmers Cocoa Butter Tummy Butter for Stretch Marks: Another pregnancy sample received in the post! I quite liked the way this felt on my skin and it smelt so good, not the traditional cocoa butter smell but a little more floral. Again I’m not sure how effective it would be against stretch marks as it was only a tiny sample.

Imperial Leather Skinkind Hydrate Shower Gel: I’ve trying to use up all my sample sachets and came across these three sachets of shower gel. They smelt quite lovely and were gentle on my skin so I’d probably buy a full-size bottle.

Yardley Peony Luxury Body Wash: I got this in the March beauty box from Joliebox. It’s a lovely smelling body wash – it smells of peonies funnily enough! – but it’s quite a big bottle and to be honest I was glad when it ran out as the fragrance started to become too much for me.

Vinies Luminous Skin Mask: I think this came in a Boudoir Prive box so that shows how I long I’ve had it! It’s an all-natural face mask which exfoliates and brightens your skin. Whilst I love the results, I don’t like the smell which seems to linger on your skin for a few days after. Shame.

Superdrug Dry Shampoo: I don’t really see the point of all this different fragrances in dry shampoos as ultimately they all have that same dusty smell! I don’t get through as much dry shampoo since I’ve been on maternity leave as I have more time in the mornings now, but I still do have the odd lazy day! I really rate Superdrug dry shampoos, they work really well and sometimes they are on that crazy “buy 1, get 2 free” offer so worth looking out for.

bareMinerals Purifying Facial Cleanser and bareMinerals Purely Nourishing Moisturiser: I got these sachets a few months ago and typically of me it got lost with all my other sachets. I wasn’t really impressed with the cleanser to be honest as I didn’t feel like my skin was left thoroughly clean. The moisturiser wasn’t hydrating enough for my skin, I ended up having to apply a second layer. This is the good thing about samples; you can find out what works and what doesn’t without potentially wasting money on full-size products.

Let me know if you’ve used any of the products here or if you’ve got an Empties post for me to read!

I’ve turned into a bit of a glitter monster lately, I’m loving glitter on my nails! I was sent some cosmetic products from W7 last week and one of them was this nail polish in Red Dazzle.
It’s a red polish packed to the brim with loads of tiny red glitter particles. The finished look is pretty impressive and makes me think of Christmas baubles or Dorothy’s ruby slippers. It’s even more sparkly under artificial light so perfect for statement nails on a night out.
W7 Cosmetics Red Dazzle
W7 Red Dazzle
The consistency of this polish was a little annoying at first as it’s quite thin and starts to dry really quickly so you have to work fast, but the second coat applies much better. You’ll want to use a topcoat for sure as the texture is quite gritty from all the glitter, though it doesn’t spoil how pretty the polish looks.
I really love this look, I keep catching myself looking at my nails as they’re just so pretty! It’s a strong contender to be my polish of choice on Christmas day as it’s so festive! Maybe this with a green ring finger and a little gold glitter on top? Hey it’s not too early to be thinking of these things, there are only 9 weeks to go!

Disclosure: I was sent a W7 Nail Polish for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 

REVIEW: W7 Nail Polish Red Dazzle

I’ve turned into a bit of a glitter monster lately, I’m loving glitter on my nails! I was sent some cosmetic products from W7 last week and one of them was this nail polish in Red Dazzle.
It’s a red polish packed to the brim with loads of tiny red glitter particles. The finished look is pretty impressive and makes me think of Christmas baubles or Dorothy’s ruby slippers. It’s even more sparkly under artificial light so perfect for statement nails on a night out.
W7 Cosmetics Red Dazzle
W7 Red Dazzle
The consistency of this polish was a little annoying at first as it’s quite thin and starts to dry really quickly so you have to work fast, but the second coat applies much better. You’ll want to use a topcoat for sure as the texture is quite gritty from all the glitter, though it doesn’t spoil how pretty the polish looks.
I really love this look, I keep catching myself looking at my nails as they’re just so pretty! It’s a strong contender to be my polish of choice on Christmas day as it’s so festive! Maybe this with a green ring finger and a little gold glitter on top? Hey it’s not too early to be thinking of these things, there are only 9 weeks to go!

Disclosure: I was sent a W7 Nail Polish for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 
This week I have been absolutely loving these jumbo, gourmet, hand-made marshmallows that I was sent to try by Fluffy Puff Puffs. Fluffy Puff Puffs create the most amazing looking marshmallows with insanely mouth-watering flavours and I got to try their Vanilla Bean, Strawberry Burst and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Drizzle marshmallows.

Fluffy Puff Puffs marsh mallows

I’ve never tried hand-made or gourmet marshmallows before, my marshmallow experience is limited to those pink and white things you can get in the supermarkets. Fluffy Puff Puffs marshmallows are nothing like those, for a start look at the size of them. They are almost a handful each! It takes a good four bites to eat one of these bad boys.

Other than the immense size, one of the first things I noticed is that they feel really good. I know that seems like an odd thing to say but they are soft yet firm, fluffy yet dense, all at once. When my fiancĂ© had a look even he said “ooh, these feel really nice,” so it isn’t just me being weird!

Fluffy Puff Puffs Vanilla Bean Marshmallow
Fluffy Puffpuffs marshmallows

The Vanilla Bean marshmallows are made with hand-scraped Indian vanilla beans to give them a lovely, authentic flavour. You can see the tiny little vanilla beans running through the marshmallows. For me these are the classic marshmallow taste, these are the ones to enjoy with a big mug of hot chocolate.

The Strawberry Burst marshmallows are made with real strawberries which have been dried out in an oven for three hours. I think it looks like there is a little strawberry kiss on my marshmallow! That would be totally apt as all Fluffy Puff Puffs marshmallows have been lovingly hand-made. This marshmallow had such a sweet, juicy taste. Totally scrummy!

The Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Drizzle marshmallows are the ones that you’d want to bring out when you’ve got your friends over as they look so good. The topping is made with Belgian dark chocolate mixed with roasted peanut butter and skilfully drizzled over Vanilla Bean marshmallows. My fiancĂ© had this one all to himself; he said the peanut butter taste really comes through, so peanut lovers will adore these.

Fluffy Puff Puffs Vanilla Bean Strawberry Burst Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Brittle

I think these marshmallows would be perfect for gifts, hampers or for occasions like baby showers and birthday parties. They’re so unique and make a cute change from the cupcake/macaroon trend. Of course you could just buy them for yourself!


Disclosure: I was sent Fluffy Puff Puffs marshmallows for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 

REVIEW: Fluffy Puff Puffs Marshmallows

This week I have been absolutely loving these jumbo, gourmet, hand-made marshmallows that I was sent to try by Fluffy Puff Puffs. Fluffy Puff Puffs create the most amazing looking marshmallows with insanely mouth-watering flavours and I got to try their Vanilla Bean, Strawberry Burst and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Drizzle marshmallows.

Fluffy Puff Puffs marsh mallows

I’ve never tried hand-made or gourmet marshmallows before, my marshmallow experience is limited to those pink and white things you can get in the supermarkets. Fluffy Puff Puffs marshmallows are nothing like those, for a start look at the size of them. They are almost a handful each! It takes a good four bites to eat one of these bad boys.

Other than the immense size, one of the first things I noticed is that they feel really good. I know that seems like an odd thing to say but they are soft yet firm, fluffy yet dense, all at once. When my fiancĂ© had a look even he said “ooh, these feel really nice,” so it isn’t just me being weird!

Fluffy Puff Puffs Vanilla Bean Marshmallow
Fluffy Puffpuffs marshmallows

The Vanilla Bean marshmallows are made with hand-scraped Indian vanilla beans to give them a lovely, authentic flavour. You can see the tiny little vanilla beans running through the marshmallows. For me these are the classic marshmallow taste, these are the ones to enjoy with a big mug of hot chocolate.

The Strawberry Burst marshmallows are made with real strawberries which have been dried out in an oven for three hours. I think it looks like there is a little strawberry kiss on my marshmallow! That would be totally apt as all Fluffy Puff Puffs marshmallows have been lovingly hand-made. This marshmallow had such a sweet, juicy taste. Totally scrummy!

The Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Drizzle marshmallows are the ones that you’d want to bring out when you’ve got your friends over as they look so good. The topping is made with Belgian dark chocolate mixed with roasted peanut butter and skilfully drizzled over Vanilla Bean marshmallows. My fiancĂ© had this one all to himself; he said the peanut butter taste really comes through, so peanut lovers will adore these.

Fluffy Puff Puffs Vanilla Bean Strawberry Burst Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Brittle

I think these marshmallows would be perfect for gifts, hampers or for occasions like baby showers and birthday parties. They’re so unique and make a cute change from the cupcake/macaroon trend. Of course you could just buy them for yourself!


Disclosure: I was sent Fluffy Puff Puffs marshmallows for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 
I’m on a mission lately to use up my HUGE stash of skincare products before buying anything new. As a result I’ve discovered a few little gems that I didn’t even realise I had, in particular STEAMCREAM.

Steam Cream

I’ve known about STEAMCREAM for a while but have never tried it. I liked the idea of natural ingredients fused together with a shot of steam. I liked the idea of a fresh, handmade moisturiser. I liked the idea of those funky little reusable tins. But I wasn’t sure about the idea of this “one size fits all” approach. I didn’t want to buy some only to find it really didn’t suit me. Whilst £12.95 for 75g isn’t a huge amount of money for a moisturiser, it is if it doesn’t work for you!

On my mission to use up my massive stash, I discovered a sachet of STEAMCREAM lurking in the bottom of my cupboard. I finally got round to using it this week. This little 2g sachet amazingly gave three days worth of applications. I loved it from the first use!

Steam Cream ingredients

First of all, it smells beautiful. I am always going on about how I love beautiful smelling products and this is made with some of my favourite ingredients: neroli, lavender and rose. Have you ever tried the Gorgeous moisturiser from Lush? It smells just like that, only it’s way cheaper.

Surprisingly, it’s super light and absorbs so quickly! I don’t know why, but I had imagined that STEAMCREAM would be a thick, heavy cream but it isn’t. It’s not a cream-gel, but it feels like one as it’s so light, yet it has left my skin feeling so nourished and soft. I have combination skin which can be tricky to deal with; a lot of moisturisers can be too heavy for the oilier areas or too light for the drier areas. This just works, my skin loves it.

I’m actually now really annoyed at myself for not trying this sooner. The only thing making me think “hmm” is that it’s not selling itself as a whizzy, fancy, anti-aging cream. It’s just a simple moisturiser. I’ve been using anti-aging creams since my early twenties and I don’t have any wrinkles yet. Part of me worries that if I stop, I might suddenly get them! I think will buy myself a tin of STEAMCREAM (once I get through the rest of my stash of moisturisers so that’ll probably be after Christmas!) and just up the ante on my night-time routine.

Have you tried STEAMCREAM or found any little gems lurking in your cupboards? Let me know!
signature

STEAMCREAM

I’m on a mission lately to use up my HUGE stash of skincare products before buying anything new. As a result I’ve discovered a few little gems that I didn’t even realise I had, in particular STEAMCREAM.

Steam Cream

I’ve known about STEAMCREAM for a while but have never tried it. I liked the idea of natural ingredients fused together with a shot of steam. I liked the idea of a fresh, handmade moisturiser. I liked the idea of those funky little reusable tins. But I wasn’t sure about the idea of this “one size fits all” approach. I didn’t want to buy some only to find it really didn’t suit me. Whilst £12.95 for 75g isn’t a huge amount of money for a moisturiser, it is if it doesn’t work for you!

On my mission to use up my massive stash, I discovered a sachet of STEAMCREAM lurking in the bottom of my cupboard. I finally got round to using it this week. This little 2g sachet amazingly gave three days worth of applications. I loved it from the first use!

Steam Cream ingredients

First of all, it smells beautiful. I am always going on about how I love beautiful smelling products and this is made with some of my favourite ingredients: neroli, lavender and rose. Have you ever tried the Gorgeous moisturiser from Lush? It smells just like that, only it’s way cheaper.

Surprisingly, it’s super light and absorbs so quickly! I don’t know why, but I had imagined that STEAMCREAM would be a thick, heavy cream but it isn’t. It’s not a cream-gel, but it feels like one as it’s so light, yet it has left my skin feeling so nourished and soft. I have combination skin which can be tricky to deal with; a lot of moisturisers can be too heavy for the oilier areas or too light for the drier areas. This just works, my skin loves it.

I’m actually now really annoyed at myself for not trying this sooner. The only thing making me think “hmm” is that it’s not selling itself as a whizzy, fancy, anti-aging cream. It’s just a simple moisturiser. I’ve been using anti-aging creams since my early twenties and I don’t have any wrinkles yet. Part of me worries that if I stop, I might suddenly get them! I think will buy myself a tin of STEAMCREAM (once I get through the rest of my stash of moisturisers so that’ll probably be after Christmas!) and just up the ante on my night-time routine.

Have you tried STEAMCREAM or found any little gems lurking in your cupboards? Let me know!
signature

On Thursday I was feeling really down and needed cheering up so I popped into Boots for a little treat. I usually prefer quite an understated nail look so maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones getting to me but I really took a liking to a few of the Barry M Jewel Glitter Nail Paints! I bought NP355 ‘Gold Mine’, NP354 ‘Amethyst’ and NP150 ‘Red Glitter’. This is Gold Mine.

Barry M Jewel Glitter Nail Paints Gold Mine NP355

Barry M Jewel Glitter Nail Paints NP355 Gold Mine

I’ve never bought Barry M Nail Paints before but they were only £2.99 each so I thought they were worth a try. I was actually really impressed with the application and coverage. I used two coats of the nail paint; the first looked quite sheer but it was even and left a decent amount of glitter and as soon as the second coat went on I was absolutely loving the look. It’s actually not quite as “in your face” as you’d think, I had my antenatal class on Thursday night and didn’t feel like it was over the top at all!

Who would have thought I’d be wearing black nail polish with glitter on every nail!? Do you like it?

signature

NOTD: Barry M Nail Paint – Gold Mine

On Thursday I was feeling really down and needed cheering up so I popped into Boots for a little treat. I usually prefer quite an understated nail look so maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones getting to me but I really took a liking to a few of the Barry M Jewel Glitter Nail Paints! I bought NP355 ‘Gold Mine’, NP354 ‘Amethyst’ and NP150 ‘Red Glitter’. This is Gold Mine.

Barry M Jewel Glitter Nail Paints Gold Mine NP355

Barry M Jewel Glitter Nail Paints NP355 Gold Mine

I’ve never bought Barry M Nail Paints before but they were only £2.99 each so I thought they were worth a try. I was actually really impressed with the application and coverage. I used two coats of the nail paint; the first looked quite sheer but it was even and left a decent amount of glitter and as soon as the second coat went on I was absolutely loving the look. It’s actually not quite as “in your face” as you’d think, I had my antenatal class on Thursday night and didn’t feel like it was over the top at all!

Who would have thought I’d be wearing black nail polish with glitter on every nail!? Do you like it?

signature

I’ve just had a surprise knock at the door – it was a courier bearing the October beauty box from Joliebox! The reason it’s a surprise is because as far as I knew they were only shipping them today, so I wasn’t expecting it until next week. So it’s very much a pleasant surprise!

October Joliebox Beauty Box

October Joliebox Beauty Box Menu

October Joliebox Beauty Box contents

This month the boxes are back to the standard black with the beauty box contents held inside a little black drawstring bag – I have found so many uses for these little bags: Kindle cover, make up storage, I’ve even currently got one packed with little toiletries in my hospital bag ready for little’s man’s arrival.

This month’s issue of Joliemag features Fleur from fleurdeforce, you get the Menu card telling you a little about each of the products inside the box and there is a card from Lov Organic (one of the featured products) with a code for a free gift and free shipping if you place an order.

The theme of the October beauty box is Pure and Natural; the products have been chosen to help combat whatever Autumn has to throw at you. In this month’s box there are two full-sized products and three sample-sized products. Here’s what I got:

Ritessens Velvet Cleansing Milk – I’ve never heard of this brand before but I’m really looking forward to trying this out. It contains a blend of plant extracts and Moroccan Argan Oil. It smells really good, I’m a sucker for a lovely smelling product! This is one of the full-sized products and is a 125ml tube. I have no idea how much it would normally cost as Google isn’t being very helpful but with 98.7% natural ingredients I can’t imagine it being cheap!

Lov Organic Lov is Beautiful Organic Herbal Tea – I’m a big tea drinker and so is my fiancĂ©; I tend to prefer black teas but he is quite partial to herbal teas. This is a blend of white tea, green tea, green rooibos, mango, pineapple and apricot. The teabags are really cute, they’re made of muslin and there are 6 of them in the box. They smell really yummy! It normally costs £9.45 for 20 teabags so these 6 are worth £2.83.

Balance Me Balancing Face Moisturiser -  I love this brand, I know some people are a little bored of seeing it everywhere as it’s been in a lot of beauty boxes and as cover gifts with magazines recently but for me the more the better! It’s a 10ml tube which normally costs £6.00 and the moisturiser is suitable for normal to combination skin. On the Menu card there is a code to get £5 off the full-size (50ml) product which is a nice bonus.

Moa The Green Balm – another new brand for me to try! This is a multi-purpose balm for chapped, dehydrated skin, perfect timing with the colder weather starting to play havoc with my skin. At a guess I’d say there was no more than 5ml in this dinky little tub making it worth about 99p – full-size is 50ml and costs £9.99. The Menu card has a 20% discount code for this brand too.

JASON Bee Healthier Lip Balm Stick – this is a brand I have heard of through other blogs but not tried for myself. When I first saw the lip balm I thought it was a Burt’s Bees one! It’s packed full of natural ingredients, which are 70% organic, to soothe and protect your lips. This is a full-size 4.5g stick which normally costs £1.99.

I think Joliebox have done well with this month’s box, it’s a good variety of fab products and I’m happy with all of them. I’m particularly pleased with the tea bags, I think it’s nice to get something a little different from make-up or skin care every so often. Joliebox costs £10.00 per month plus shipping. Let me know your thoughts!

signature

Joliebox – October Beauty Box

I’ve just had a surprise knock at the door – it was a courier bearing the October beauty box from Joliebox! The reason it’s a surprise is because as far as I knew they were only shipping them today, so I wasn’t expecting it until next week. So it’s very much a pleasant surprise!

October Joliebox Beauty Box

October Joliebox Beauty Box Menu

October Joliebox Beauty Box contents

This month the boxes are back to the standard black with the beauty box contents held inside a little black drawstring bag – I have found so many uses for these little bags: Kindle cover, make up storage, I’ve even currently got one packed with little toiletries in my hospital bag ready for little’s man’s arrival.

This month’s issue of Joliemag features Fleur from fleurdeforce, you get the Menu card telling you a little about each of the products inside the box and there is a card from Lov Organic (one of the featured products) with a code for a free gift and free shipping if you place an order.

The theme of the October beauty box is Pure and Natural; the products have been chosen to help combat whatever Autumn has to throw at you. In this month’s box there are two full-sized products and three sample-sized products. Here’s what I got:

Ritessens Velvet Cleansing Milk – I’ve never heard of this brand before but I’m really looking forward to trying this out. It contains a blend of plant extracts and Moroccan Argan Oil. It smells really good, I’m a sucker for a lovely smelling product! This is one of the full-sized products and is a 125ml tube. I have no idea how much it would normally cost as Google isn’t being very helpful but with 98.7% natural ingredients I can’t imagine it being cheap!

Lov Organic Lov is Beautiful Organic Herbal Tea – I’m a big tea drinker and so is my fiancĂ©; I tend to prefer black teas but he is quite partial to herbal teas. This is a blend of white tea, green tea, green rooibos, mango, pineapple and apricot. The teabags are really cute, they’re made of muslin and there are 6 of them in the box. They smell really yummy! It normally costs £9.45 for 20 teabags so these 6 are worth £2.83.

Balance Me Balancing Face Moisturiser -  I love this brand, I know some people are a little bored of seeing it everywhere as it’s been in a lot of beauty boxes and as cover gifts with magazines recently but for me the more the better! It’s a 10ml tube which normally costs £6.00 and the moisturiser is suitable for normal to combination skin. On the Menu card there is a code to get £5 off the full-size (50ml) product which is a nice bonus.

Moa The Green Balm – another new brand for me to try! This is a multi-purpose balm for chapped, dehydrated skin, perfect timing with the colder weather starting to play havoc with my skin. At a guess I’d say there was no more than 5ml in this dinky little tub making it worth about 99p – full-size is 50ml and costs £9.99. The Menu card has a 20% discount code for this brand too.

JASON Bee Healthier Lip Balm Stick – this is a brand I have heard of through other blogs but not tried for myself. When I first saw the lip balm I thought it was a Burt’s Bees one! It’s packed full of natural ingredients, which are 70% organic, to soothe and protect your lips. This is a full-size 4.5g stick which normally costs £1.99.

I think Joliebox have done well with this month’s box, it’s a good variety of fab products and I’m happy with all of them. I’m particularly pleased with the tea bags, I think it’s nice to get something a little different from make-up or skin care every so often. Joliebox costs £10.00 per month plus shipping. Let me know your thoughts!

signature

I love getting boxes of stuff in the post: beauty boxes, food boxes - now coffee boxes! Last month I came across a company on twitter called eightpointnine who put together a personalised blend of 150g of fresh Fairtrade coffee and post it out to you for a very reasonable £5.89.

eightpointnine coffee box

If you know what you like you can design your own blend and give it a cool name, or if like me you get bamboozled by choice you can choose their grandCRU service and let them choose for you. You get a note with your bag of coffee explaining exactly what’s in your blend, who made it, when it was blended, some “tasting notes” and directions on how to make the perfect coffee.

Here are the blends I’ve had so far from the eighpointnine grandCRU service:

eightpointnine perk-u-later

eightpointnine Bean There Done That

eightpointnine Blend It Like Beckham

eightpointnine send an email to let me know when each box has been dispatched, but even if they didn’t I would know the second that I step into the hallway that my box is here because the smell is just amazing! Once you find a blend you love you can choose to have that sent to you every time, but I’m enjoying mixing it up and getting a different one each time so for now I’ll carry on that way.

eightpointnine also have referral codes so friends can try a free box for themselves. If you’d like to try a free box of eightpointnine coffee head over to www.eightpointnine.com and enter code 7PCRZYL.

Enjoy!

signature

Food Friday – and a Freebie!

I love getting boxes of stuff in the post: beauty boxes, food boxes - now coffee boxes! Last month I came across a company on twitter called eightpointnine who put together a personalised blend of 150g of fresh Fairtrade coffee and post it out to you for a very reasonable £5.89.

eightpointnine coffee box

If you know what you like you can design your own blend and give it a cool name, or if like me you get bamboozled by choice you can choose their grandCRU service and let them choose for you. You get a note with your bag of coffee explaining exactly what’s in your blend, who made it, when it was blended, some “tasting notes” and directions on how to make the perfect coffee.

Here are the blends I’ve had so far from the eighpointnine grandCRU service:

eightpointnine perk-u-later

eightpointnine Bean There Done That

eightpointnine Blend It Like Beckham

eightpointnine send an email to let me know when each box has been dispatched, but even if they didn’t I would know the second that I step into the hallway that my box is here because the smell is just amazing! Once you find a blend you love you can choose to have that sent to you every time, but I’m enjoying mixing it up and getting a different one each time so for now I’ll carry on that way.

eightpointnine also have referral codes so friends can try a free box for themselves. If you’d like to try a free box of eightpointnine coffee head over to www.eightpointnine.com and enter code 7PCRZYL.

Enjoy!

signature

When it comes to face masks, Lush’s range of Fresh Face Masks are up there in my favourites. Out of their range, The Sacred Truth has been my face mask of choice for quite some time now but after I finished my last pot I decided to go back to one I’ve not used in years – Love Lettuce.

Lush Love Lettuce Fresh Face Mask

When you go to a Lush store you’ll usually see a table in the middle with metal pots of gloop sitting in ice – this is where you’ll find the face masks! They’re on ice to keep them cool as they’re made with 100% natural fresh ingredients and no preservatives, when you take them home you need to keep them refrigerated. They have a use-by date, but if your fridge is cold enough they’ll usually stay good beyond that date. I’ve only ever had one pot go mouldy on me and that was because I forgot about it!

Love Lettuce is the grey-green, gritty-looking mask. It contains: kaolin and fullers earth to deeply cleanse and absorb oil; seaweed, honey, glycerine and almond oil to soften and moisturise; lavender oil to balance oil production (and make it smell nice); and ground almonds and ground almond shell to gently exfoliate. Perhaps the formula has changed since I last tried this mask, or maybe my memory is just not as sharp as I think, but this mask seems a lot more gritty and the lavender is much stronger than I remember!

Lush Love Lettuce Fresh Face Mask 2

I use this mask by massaging it onto my cleansed face so that my skin is exfoliated before the ingredients get to work, I leave it on for about 15 minutes (the label says 5-10 minutes but I like to leave masks on for longer), then I massage it off again with warm water, giving my skin a second round of exfoliation. It’s so gentle that my skin can totally handle - in fact, loves - this double whammy of exfoliation, but you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Love Lettuce is really effective at leaving your skin feeling super clean and fresh; my skin loves pretty much all of the Lush Fresh Face Masks but this one and The Sacred Truth perform really, REALLY well.

Lush Love Lettuce costs £5.95 for 75g and I tend to get about six applications from one pot, depending on how thickly I apply it. That works out at less than £1 per application which is such good value for money, especially for a product that does actually deliver results. You can also do what I do which is save five of your empty pots and take them back to a Lush store to swap for a free mask.

Let me know if you Love Lettuce – see what I did there! (sigh)

signature

Lush Love Lettuce Fresh Face Mask

When it comes to face masks, Lush’s range of Fresh Face Masks are up there in my favourites. Out of their range, The Sacred Truth has been my face mask of choice for quite some time now but after I finished my last pot I decided to go back to one I’ve not used in years – Love Lettuce.

Lush Love Lettuce Fresh Face Mask

When you go to a Lush store you’ll usually see a table in the middle with metal pots of gloop sitting in ice – this is where you’ll find the face masks! They’re on ice to keep them cool as they’re made with 100% natural fresh ingredients and no preservatives, when you take them home you need to keep them refrigerated. They have a use-by date, but if your fridge is cold enough they’ll usually stay good beyond that date. I’ve only ever had one pot go mouldy on me and that was because I forgot about it!

Love Lettuce is the grey-green, gritty-looking mask. It contains: kaolin and fullers earth to deeply cleanse and absorb oil; seaweed, honey, glycerine and almond oil to soften and moisturise; lavender oil to balance oil production (and make it smell nice); and ground almonds and ground almond shell to gently exfoliate. Perhaps the formula has changed since I last tried this mask, or maybe my memory is just not as sharp as I think, but this mask seems a lot more gritty and the lavender is much stronger than I remember!

Lush Love Lettuce Fresh Face Mask 2

I use this mask by massaging it onto my cleansed face so that my skin is exfoliated before the ingredients get to work, I leave it on for about 15 minutes (the label says 5-10 minutes but I like to leave masks on for longer), then I massage it off again with warm water, giving my skin a second round of exfoliation. It’s so gentle that my skin can totally handle - in fact, loves - this double whammy of exfoliation, but you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Love Lettuce is really effective at leaving your skin feeling super clean and fresh; my skin loves pretty much all of the Lush Fresh Face Masks but this one and The Sacred Truth perform really, REALLY well.

Lush Love Lettuce costs £5.95 for 75g and I tend to get about six applications from one pot, depending on how thickly I apply it. That works out at less than £1 per application which is such good value for money, especially for a product that does actually deliver results. You can also do what I do which is save five of your empty pots and take them back to a Lush store to swap for a free mask.

Let me know if you Love Lettuce – see what I did there! (sigh)

signature
Sranrom is a Thai luxury skincare brand with a range of natural, plant-based products to promote a sense of calm and well-being in our fast-paced, urban lifestyles. I recently reviewed the Sleep Tight Body Cream from the Urban Wellness range, you can read that review here.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to try out and review a product from Sranrom’s Harmony range, a range that is inspired by the different parts of plants. There are four collections in the Harmony range: Renewed Energy which is from the roots, Awakening Vitality which is from the leaves, Radiant Blooms which is from the flowers, and Youthful Zest which is from the fruits. The product I was sent to review is the Radiant Blooms Body Wash.

Sranrom Harmony  Radiant Blooms Body Wash

The Radiant Blooms collection has blend of five pollen extracts and a mix of essential oils to create an absolutely beautiful scent. I was initially drawn to this collection because I knew that one of the main scents was jasmine, one of my most favourite fragrances ever. What I didn’t know is that jasmine, along with lotus, one of the other flower extracts, is nourishing and soothing to the skin. The key essential oils of tangerine, peppermint, cedarwood and orange work to calm the mind. Overall, the fragrance is just incredible, it’s so heady and intoxicating, I just want to bottle it up and wear it as a perfume!

Sranrom Harmony Radiant Blooms Body Wash 1

For me, showers are simply a practical exercise each day whereas baths are a bit of a indulgence, a chance to have a bit of “me” time and pamper myself. This body wash has made those 15 minutes in the morning a bit more enjoyable and really helped set me up in a good mood for the rest of the day. I love beautiful scents and like to have layers of scent by combining shower products, body lotions, body sprays and perfumes, so this is perfect for me.

Sranrom Radiant Blooms Body Wash comes in a 200ml bottle and costs £12.00 from the Sranrom websitewww.sranrom.co.uk. It contains approximately 99.5% naturally derived ingredients, is formulated without parabens, propylene glycol, petroleum derivatives, silicone, synthetic colours and fragrances or animal ingredients, and the brand is cruelty free.

As with the body cream, the price really makes this a treat rather than an every day product but like with the body cream it has the same pretty packaging that I’m sure anyone would be proud to have on show in their bathroom. I will definitely be looking at Sranrom products for future gift ideas, or perhaps just to treat myself!

signature
Disclosure: I was sent Sranrom Radiant Blooms Body Wash for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 

REVIEW: Sranrom Radiant Blooms Body Wash

Sranrom is a Thai luxury skincare brand with a range of natural, plant-based products to promote a sense of calm and well-being in our fast-paced, urban lifestyles. I recently reviewed the Sleep Tight Body Cream from the Urban Wellness range, you can read that review here.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to try out and review a product from Sranrom’s Harmony range, a range that is inspired by the different parts of plants. There are four collections in the Harmony range: Renewed Energy which is from the roots, Awakening Vitality which is from the leaves, Radiant Blooms which is from the flowers, and Youthful Zest which is from the fruits. The product I was sent to review is the Radiant Blooms Body Wash.

Sranrom Harmony  Radiant Blooms Body Wash

The Radiant Blooms collection has blend of five pollen extracts and a mix of essential oils to create an absolutely beautiful scent. I was initially drawn to this collection because I knew that one of the main scents was jasmine, one of my most favourite fragrances ever. What I didn’t know is that jasmine, along with lotus, one of the other flower extracts, is nourishing and soothing to the skin. The key essential oils of tangerine, peppermint, cedarwood and orange work to calm the mind. Overall, the fragrance is just incredible, it’s so heady and intoxicating, I just want to bottle it up and wear it as a perfume!

Sranrom Harmony Radiant Blooms Body Wash 1

For me, showers are simply a practical exercise each day whereas baths are a bit of a indulgence, a chance to have a bit of “me” time and pamper myself. This body wash has made those 15 minutes in the morning a bit more enjoyable and really helped set me up in a good mood for the rest of the day. I love beautiful scents and like to have layers of scent by combining shower products, body lotions, body sprays and perfumes, so this is perfect for me.

Sranrom Radiant Blooms Body Wash comes in a 200ml bottle and costs £12.00 from the Sranrom websitewww.sranrom.co.uk. It contains approximately 99.5% naturally derived ingredients, is formulated without parabens, propylene glycol, petroleum derivatives, silicone, synthetic colours and fragrances or animal ingredients, and the brand is cruelty free.

As with the body cream, the price really makes this a treat rather than an every day product but like with the body cream it has the same pretty packaging that I’m sure anyone would be proud to have on show in their bathroom. I will definitely be looking at Sranrom products for future gift ideas, or perhaps just to treat myself!

signature
Disclosure: I was sent Sranrom Radiant Blooms Body Wash for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 

My fiancĂ© has decided to jump on the Hello Fresh bandwagon, but he outdid me by getting the 5 meal box for 2 people which costs £49.00 including delivery. All the ingredients plus recipe cards to make 5 delicious meals for 2 people. Guess who ended up cooking most of them! I don’t mind though; I enjoy it and it means I get to share the results with you.

We had a go at cooking the XO Chinese Chicken with Pan-Fried Sweetheart Cabbage. I’ve never attempted cooking Chinese food before as it always looks so complicated or has long list of ingredients, but this was really easy, plus you get every little ingredient already measured out for you.

Hello Fresh XO Chinese Chicken with Stir-Fried Sweetheart Cabbage ingredients

Hello Fresh XO Chinese Chicken with Stir-Fried Sweetheart Cabbage

The recipe tells you to chop up as much of the chilli as you dare, so typical me used the whole thing AND the seeds. My mouth was on fire, but the Mister loved it! I think I’d halve the amount of chilli next time, otherwise it was fab.

If you’d like to try a box for yourself you can use my referral code to get yourself a massive £20 discount: C4MJSY. Just head over to www.hellofresh.co.uk to get started!

signature

Food Friday

My fiancĂ© has decided to jump on the Hello Fresh bandwagon, but he outdid me by getting the 5 meal box for 2 people which costs £49.00 including delivery. All the ingredients plus recipe cards to make 5 delicious meals for 2 people. Guess who ended up cooking most of them! I don’t mind though; I enjoy it and it means I get to share the results with you.

We had a go at cooking the XO Chinese Chicken with Pan-Fried Sweetheart Cabbage. I’ve never attempted cooking Chinese food before as it always looks so complicated or has long list of ingredients, but this was really easy, plus you get every little ingredient already measured out for you.

Hello Fresh XO Chinese Chicken with Stir-Fried Sweetheart Cabbage ingredients

Hello Fresh XO Chinese Chicken with Stir-Fried Sweetheart Cabbage

The recipe tells you to chop up as much of the chilli as you dare, so typical me used the whole thing AND the seeds. My mouth was on fire, but the Mister loved it! I think I’d halve the amount of chilli next time, otherwise it was fab.

If you’d like to try a box for yourself you can use my referral code to get yourself a massive £20 discount: C4MJSY. Just head over to www.hellofresh.co.uk to get started!

signature

Sranrom is a Thai luxury skincare brand with a range of natural, plant-based products to promote a sense of calm and well-being in our fast-paced, urban lifestyles. The Urban Wellness range has five collections: Calm Down, Clear Mind, Sleep Tight, Get Lively and Feel Good. As you can tell from the names, each collection has been created to help specific issues associated with modern living. I was lucky enough to have the chance to try out and review Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream.
Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream
I’ve suffered with insomnia, a condition where sufferers have difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep, for as long as I can remember and over the years have learnt that being calm and relaxed before bed can really help. Sranrom’s Sleep Tight collection uses aromatherapy to soothe and ease tension and anxiety. The key essential oils in this collection are white champaca and ylang ylang which are known for their calming and relaxing qualities. The other key ingredients are spearmint, bergamot, litsea and lavender, which is well-known for its use in aiding sleep.
Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream ingredients
The idea is that you massage this rich body cream into your skin after a bath or shower and breathe in the calming scent as you do so. I have been using this body cream each night before going to bed for the last week. It’s very thick but is easily absorbed and not at all greasy. Only a little is needed to leave your skin feeling supple and moisturised.
The first scent I notice is lavender but as the body cream settles a more warm, spicy, earthy fragrance comes through – champaca, ylang ylang and a hint of ginger. Think of incense sticks! I find this scent incredibly relaxing as it immediately reminds me of a spa that I used to visit that uses Thai-inspired products and techniques, and being more relaxed leads to better sleep.
Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream comes in a 200g tube and costs £14.00 from the Sranrom website www.sranrom.co.uk. It contains approximately 98.5% naturally derived ingredients, is formulated without parabens, propylene glycol, petroleum derivatives, silicone, synthetic colours and fragrances or animal ingredients, and the brand is cruelty free.
To me the price means this is most definitely more of a treat than an every day product and one that would make a lovely gift for someone as the packaging is so pretty.  I’m really enjoying using this body cream and, as only a little is needed at a time, I am sure this tube will help me get many more decent nights of sleep!
Have you tried anything from Sranrom’s Urban Wellness range?



Disclosure: I was sent Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 

REVIEW: Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream

Sranrom is a Thai luxury skincare brand with a range of natural, plant-based products to promote a sense of calm and well-being in our fast-paced, urban lifestyles. The Urban Wellness range has five collections: Calm Down, Clear Mind, Sleep Tight, Get Lively and Feel Good. As you can tell from the names, each collection has been created to help specific issues associated with modern living. I was lucky enough to have the chance to try out and review Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream.
Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream
I’ve suffered with insomnia, a condition where sufferers have difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep, for as long as I can remember and over the years have learnt that being calm and relaxed before bed can really help. Sranrom’s Sleep Tight collection uses aromatherapy to soothe and ease tension and anxiety. The key essential oils in this collection are white champaca and ylang ylang which are known for their calming and relaxing qualities. The other key ingredients are spearmint, bergamot, litsea and lavender, which is well-known for its use in aiding sleep.
Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream ingredients
The idea is that you massage this rich body cream into your skin after a bath or shower and breathe in the calming scent as you do so. I have been using this body cream each night before going to bed for the last week. It’s very thick but is easily absorbed and not at all greasy. Only a little is needed to leave your skin feeling supple and moisturised.
The first scent I notice is lavender but as the body cream settles a more warm, spicy, earthy fragrance comes through – champaca, ylang ylang and a hint of ginger. Think of incense sticks! I find this scent incredibly relaxing as it immediately reminds me of a spa that I used to visit that uses Thai-inspired products and techniques, and being more relaxed leads to better sleep.
Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream comes in a 200g tube and costs £14.00 from the Sranrom website www.sranrom.co.uk. It contains approximately 98.5% naturally derived ingredients, is formulated without parabens, propylene glycol, petroleum derivatives, silicone, synthetic colours and fragrances or animal ingredients, and the brand is cruelty free.
To me the price means this is most definitely more of a treat than an every day product and one that would make a lovely gift for someone as the packaging is so pretty.  I’m really enjoying using this body cream and, as only a little is needed at a time, I am sure this tube will help me get many more decent nights of sleep!
Have you tried anything from Sranrom’s Urban Wellness range?



Disclosure: I was sent Sranrom Sleep Tight Body Cream for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own. 

The final meal that I made from my last Hello Fresh delivery was The King’s Massaman Curry with Toasted Cashews and Sweet Potato. The other two meals in the box were Fearless Sesame Crusted Salmon with Couscous and Cherry Tomato Salsa and Pork Chops with Leek and Potato Mash and Onion Gravy. The box cost £39 and included all the ingredients needed to make these meals for two.

Hello Fresh King Massaman Curry ingredients

Hello Fresh King Massaman Curry

I left out the cashews because I’m allergic to them and my fiancĂ© doesn't like nuts, but my step-daughter loves them so they didn’t go to waste! I don’t think this made too much difference to the finished dish though, it was still really aromatic and full of flavour! Definitely one to make again.

If you’d like to try a box for yourself you can use my referral code to get yourself a massive £20 discount: C4MJSY. Just head over to www.hellofresh.co.uk to get started!

signature

Food Friday

The final meal that I made from my last Hello Fresh delivery was The King’s Massaman Curry with Toasted Cashews and Sweet Potato. The other two meals in the box were Fearless Sesame Crusted Salmon with Couscous and Cherry Tomato Salsa and Pork Chops with Leek and Potato Mash and Onion Gravy. The box cost £39 and included all the ingredients needed to make these meals for two.

Hello Fresh King Massaman Curry ingredients

Hello Fresh King Massaman Curry

I left out the cashews because I’m allergic to them and my fiancĂ© doesn't like nuts, but my step-daughter loves them so they didn’t go to waste! I don’t think this made too much difference to the finished dish though, it was still really aromatic and full of flavour! Definitely one to make again.

If you’d like to try a box for yourself you can use my referral code to get yourself a massive £20 discount: C4MJSY. Just head over to www.hellofresh.co.uk to get started!

signature

© Quite Frankly She Said. Design by Fearne.