October Empties
REVIEW: W7 Nail Polish Red Dazzle
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.
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.
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!
REVIEW: Fluffy Puff Puffs Marshmallows
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.
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.
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!
STEAMCREAM
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.
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?
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.
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?
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!
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 fiancé; 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!
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!
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 fiancé; 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!
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.
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 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!
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.
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 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!
Lush Love Lettuce Fresh Face Mask
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!
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.
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
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!
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.
Disclosure: I was sent Sranrom Radiant Blooms Body Wash for free for review purposes, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own.
My fiancé 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.
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!
Food Friday
My fiancé 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.
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!
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
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.
I left out the cashews because I’m allergic to them and my fiancé 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!
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.
I left out the cashews because I’m allergic to them and my fiancé 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!
Here’s what I got through in September:
September Empties
Here’s what I got through in September:
