Category Archives: review

Currently Loving- makeup edit

15th August 2014
I keep meaning to do posts about the hair and beauty products I’m loving right now but never seem to actually get round to it. I’m by no means a beauty blogger and mostly not even very good at makeup but I do like to try new products and have a go at making myself look presentable to the general public. I’ve picked up a few new bits and pieces lately which I’ve been really impressed with, all of them super cheap too- I don’t think any of them cost over £5 each!
First product I’m loving right now is the MUA Matte Perfect loose powder which I can’t find on the Superdrug website, but I believe it cost £2.50. I picked this up as a replacement for my usual CLinique translucent powder as I can’t justify £20+ on makeup at the moment and I wasn’t really convinced I’d love this. Actually it’s really good and keeps my makeup in place and my skin shine free all day. You get loads of product in the pot as well so it’s a complete bargain and something I’d really recommend.
I’m forever on the quest for perfect eyebrows so when I saw Rimmel’s new brow gel I made an instant purchase of the mid brown shade. This was on offer at £2.99 when I bought it and I’ve since picked up another tube as I love it so much. It has a subtle effect but keeps brows neat and in place whilst filling in any sparse bits.
I’ve been on a bit of a lip product binge recently too, picking up the three pictured above among others. I’ll list them in the order I’ve swatched them on my hand so you can get a vague idea of what they look like (see, I’m not a beauty blogger!). First up is a lipstick from essence at Wilko that I picked up as part of a 3 for 2 offer the other weekend. This is the rosy pink colour of my dreams and for £2 is of super quality. I was already familiar with essence having picked up a few bits in Spain last year so I was super excited to see them available over here! I’ll be picking up more of these for sure! Next up is one of the new Maybelline Baby Lips (electro pink shock). It’s also the product I’m wearing on my lips in the photos, although only a very light coat. I’ve seen mixed reviews of these and of Baby Lips in general but for me they are a staple. I love the subtle neon pop of colour these give and how soft and smooth they leave my lips. I have my eye on a couple of the other colours but ought to show a little bit of restraint! Last but not least on the lip product front is one of the new lip crayons from Beauty UK at Superdrug (in the shade would I lilac to you? ). I’ve been wearing this pretty much daily and just adore the beautiful pastel shade. Mum’s a fan of these too and picked up a pink one as part of a two for £5 offer at the same time.
Usually I’m all about the eyeshadows so it’s a surprise to me that I’ve been less than inspired by what I’ve seen around lately. I have only picked up one eyeshadow in recent months and that came from the huge selection by essence, again as part of the 3 for 2 deal (I also picked up another eyeshadow for Mum). Their basic colours are only £1.60 each and SO impressive. The colour lasts all day and this has become my every day base colour for work- I think this is shade 78. If you’re looking for high quality and highly pigmented colour then you really can’t go far wrong. I’ll be stocking up on some more “trendy” colours too at that price!
What products are you loving right now? Are there any more bargains I should be seeking out? Let me know below, especially if you’ve tried any of those I’ve mentioned- I’d love to hear what you thought.

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Posted in beauty, review

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July Degustabox and discount

13th August 2014
I wasn’t expecting a Degustabox last month so I was super excited when one turned up (it’s the little things in life!). For July things were done a little bit differently, with two boxes going out; one containing alcohol and the other without alcohol. For the purpose of review I was sent a box containing the combined contents of the two boxes. I think it’s a really good idea to have two different options as not every one is a drinker although at present this isn’t something that is going to be on offer every month so there are no guarantees of an alcohol free box.
As ever the box contained a fabulous array of goodies far exceeding the £12.99 cost of the box (inc. delivery). New customers can get even more of a bargain by claiming £3.00 discount when registering using the code HCQRG

The first product I pulled out of the box was three bags of popcorn by Portlebay. I’m a HUGE popcorn fan and have seen these popping up in my local Tesco (rrp 79p per bag). The flavours are a little bit odd, but in spirit of adveture I got stuck in and really enjoyed the crispy bacon and maple syrup one…I’m going to pass on the chilli and lime though, it’s just not my thing.

Next out of the box was some more snack fuel in the form of chocolate! I’m not usually a lover of lemon flavoured things but Green & Black’s lemon bar is a winner (rrp £2.99) and the contrast between the dark chocolate and zingy citrus was divine. In the non-alcoholic box there was also a blueberry snack bar from Frank (rrp 85p). I’ve heard of these but never actually managed to track them down to try, blueberry isn’t my favourite flavour, I would have preferred something like orange but it was still a tasty snack and as an added bonus contained no gluten, nuts (yay!), dairy or refined sugar. The bars are also vegan friendly.

My baking cupboard is stuffed with Dr. Oetker goodies at the moment, although there are no complaints here as I really do need to get back in to baking. Watch this space for what I create with the Violet Crystals (£1.29) and Eton Mess (£1.99).

On to the drinks- I’ll preface by saying I haven’t tried most of these, I’m not a drinks kind of girl, preferring diet coke or tea/coffee over anything else so I’ve put them in the fridge for other people to enjoy. I do appreciate the look and flavours of the drinks though and think all of them are brilliant, just not something I personally would enjoy- you can’t please every one though! The Zeo drinks (£1.29 each or £4.29 for a four pack) look so sophisticated in their tall, narrow bottles. The flavours are perfect for Summer- peach and grapefruit BURST, citrus CRUSH and lime ZEST…I think Mum has her eye on these! Dad on the other hand has his eye on the Hornsby’s blueberry cider which came in the alcoholic box (£1.25 each). A sin for a west-country girl but I don’t actually like cider so he’s free to enjoy it- I have too many memories of downing pints of home brewed scrumpy in my youth! For the no alcohol box the drink addition was something I loved- tea from The Berry Company (£1.49). I had a somewhat battered carton of black tea with elder flower and it was just gorgeous, something I’ll be seeking out when I am next at Waitrose or Holland and Barrett.

Last but by no means least was six sachets from Maggi with a value of between £5.44 and £5.54 depending on which selection you got. I love sachets like this as it makes home cooking a breeze- I don’t have the time of patience for creating complicated and fancy dishes when I still struggle with my relationship with food at times. These are just great for creating something quick and easy that doesn’t come straight from the freeze r and actually tastes good! The Oriental Soy & Garlic chicken pack is going straight on my cupboard staples list.

Any one else have as much love for Degustabox as I do? I’m addicted to the surprise contents and chance to try new things. To find out a bit more you can follow them on twitter or find them on facebook. Leave your thoughts below…

Posted in food, review

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Summer reading: “it” by Alexa Chung

05th August 2014
Summer is the perfect time to sit down outside with a book and lose yourself in another world. I don’t get an awful lot of time to indulge in this, which saddens me because it’s one of my favourite past times and on holidays I get through almost a book a day! I did manage to get a few hours last week to sit down with a nice little read, “it” by Alexa Chung comes out in paperback in just a few days time (August 8th) and to celebrate I was sent a copy to have a browse through.
I resisted the hype around this book when it first came out. I’m not really one to follow celebrities, or have famous style icons- but if I did have to choose one it would of course be Alexa Chung. I knew several of my favourite bloggers had really enjoyed this book but I still managed to hold off…clearly book fate has intervened as I now own a copy, and as much as part of me didn’t want to be lured in or love it I couldn’t help but devour it whole, hooked.
Taking you through all aspects of Alexa’s world, from her style icons to her beauty regime this book was written in a chatty, friendly manner. I confess I do not know much about Alexa, other than that she dresses very well and is exceptionally pretty but at times I found myself thinking “I could have written that” or nodding in agreement.
Despite my reservations I seriously enjoyed this book and I’m pleased a copy came my way else I would have missed out on something that has actually inspired me, the usually un-inspirable. If you don’t already own the hard back version you can pre-order the paper back for £6.99 from Amazon, I strongly suggest you do as this makes for the perfect hand luggage holiday read- or for having by your side in the back garden.
Have you read “it” yet? What other books have you enjoyed lately?

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Posted in books, inspiration, review

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Fossil

03rd August 2014
And once again another set of outfit photos gets partially photo-bombed by Mae, and of course as soon as I try and get a nicer photo of the two of us she gets distracted by a fly/moth/frog and buggers off in to the distance.

Dress: Brat and Suzie Vintage | Shoes: Shelleys Bracelet c/o Accessories Online

Brat and Suzie has long been a favourite brand of mine and has featured often on the blog. The other week I noticed on twitter that they have added a vintage section to the website. Having tweeted them my approval they kindly offered to loan me one of the pieces to style up. I let Brat and Suzie choose what they sent out as I love a surprise. I almost didn’t want to open the fabulous polka dotted package but I’m glad I did because I love this dress, so much so I really didn’t want to send it back. A vintage frock from Next, this claims to be a size 8 but I beg to differ…but still, I really liked how it looked oversized and I swished around feeling very retro chic.
There are so many awesome pieces on the vintage section of the site, and really reasonable prices too. I’ll be browsing regularly to see what new stock they have, and of course checking out the main collections that we all know and love too!
Another favourite of mine is Accessories Online, an online jewellery emporium who I’ve been purchasing from for years. They recently sent me this gorgeous friendship bracelet from the new range of Fossil Jewellery (another brand I hold great affection for) and I thought it was the perfect wrist adornment to wear with this dress, although to be fair I’ve barely taken it off since it arrived so it’s getting teamed with everything ever.
I return to Accessories Online time after time when buying jewellery either for myself or as a gift. I love how fast and free their delivery is, how beautifully packaged it comes and how they have awesome sales and discounts frequently throughout the year. Keep on keeping on guys, you’re doing great!
So it seems we have a post full of my favourites so I think it’s only right you share some favourites with me in the comments; a favourite brand/shop/place/thing, I don’t mind…just share some love!

Posted in jewellery, life stuff, outfits, review, shoes

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JewelCandle- the perfect gift idea!

02nd August 2014
I love buying gifts for other people, but I do find myself getting a bit stressed out trying to find the perfect item. For this reason I am forever grateful when people introduce me to new ideas and great products, so when an e-mail popped in from the folks at JewelCandle offering me the chance to test out their idea I was game.

JewelCandle is, as the name would suggest, a candle with a jewel inside. You can choose from either a ring or an earring and each piece is valued at between £10 and £250 (you don’t know until you melt your candle what you got.

I have a lot of friends with their own homes now and I think candles make a lovely gift, especially when there are amazing scents involved. The fact these have a ring embedded inside seals the deal for me, making them the ideal quirky present that isn’t “just a candle”. I chose the Cookies and Cream ring candle for the purpose of my review.

The candle arrived beautifully packaged, which won it some instant brownie points as I’m a sucker for packaging. You get a lot of candle for your money and it smelt every bit as good as I had hoped. You can actually see where your jewel is embedded in to the wax through the side of the jar- it isn’t right at the bottom as I had expected, rather about two inches down meaning you don’t have to wait too long to get your treasure (I think I burnt my candle for around five hours before being able to retrieve my ring).

You can see from the pictures that I got a lovely double heart ring in my little foil package. You can also see my hands are on the larger side and it only fits on my pinky finger which I’m a little disappointed about, but most of my friends have far smaller digits than I do so I wouldn’t let this put me off purchasing for someone else and you can opt for earrings if you were buying for someone and weren’t sure about taking a risk.

My only other gripe, which really is quite minor is that melted wax gets everywhere when unwrapping your jewel, I should have anticipated it really and it’s not a major issue, just something to be aware of!

For the most part I think this is a bloody brilliant idea and really innovative. I will be buying these for people in the future as at £24.99 for a classic candle and lower prices for some of the other styles or with earrings you are getting fabulous value for money. A nice candle and decent ring along would probably cost you more and there is the excitement of getting a big value prize! You can check out the facebook page to learn a bit more and see what people have found in their candles.

If you want to treat yourself or stock up on gifts for people JewelCandle are offering readers of my blog a generous 20% off your order until August 31st with the code daisy20. With a huge range of scents to choose from I’m really tempted to get another for myself, I’m thinking pink cherry next!

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