Review: Joybelles Carton Hamper with Spicers of Hythe

One thing that I have always wanted to get around Christmas time is a hamper
filled with lovely food but most are really pricey! 

I came across the lovely company Spicers of Hythe who do a range of hampers
at great prices and they don't just do Christmas hampers either!
They do a range of hampers for different occasions from 
wines and chocolates to gourmet delights. 

I was told I could choose one of their Christmas hampers up to a value of £25 
and chose to go for the Joybelles Carton which retails at £23.66. 
I will admit it was really hard to choose from the amazing selection which starts at 
£17.86. 

The stunning hamper contains many Christmas favourites which are: 

- Plum pudding with port and brandy
- Mrs Bridges Christmas Marmalade
- Chocolate dipped shortbread
- 3 rich fruit mince pies
- Iced fruit cake fingers
- Luxury fruit and nut 
-  Yorkshire crisps 
and 
- Belgian Chocolate truffles


I confess that I have eaten 3 items from the selection so far and have been very impressed! 
The iced fingers were lovely and reminded me of my mum's Christmas cakes. 
The mince pies were lovely and filling and were a lovely treat,
and the crisps were to die for. 

I am really looking forward to trying out the other items in the 
hamper but we are saving them to eat throughout December. 

Have you brought a hamper  this year? Do you normally?  

Review: Magnitone Pulsar Daily Cleansing and Toning System

The Magnitone Pulsar is a NEW must have skincare gadget! 
The Magnitone Pulsar is designed with Active Electromagnetic Technology 
 to help you to achieve a noticeable younger, smoother and fresher feeling skin. 

It's different from anything else on the market as it has 4 innovative cleansing modes
that allow you to focus on areas of your face and body. 

The Four settings to choose from are: 

   - PulseLift Massage  
to stimulate the skin to improve blood circulation in stubborn areas whilst cleansing

- Exfoliate
to help with the removal of dry and dead skin cells perfect on your arms and legs
to keep them silky smooth

- Sensitive 
for delicate, damaged or irritated skin after hair removal 

and

- Deep Clean
for regular daily make-up removal and deep-pore cleansing to achieve a softer tighter and purified feeling skin. 


Here are the 10 amazing benefits you can see after using for 7 days:

- More effective deep cleansing and removal of impurities
- Can help increase collagen level in skin
- Softer, smoother and clearer looking skin tone
- Firmer, tighter feeling skin texture
- Can help diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
- Noticeable increase in blood circulation to the skin
- Helps reduce appearance of visible pores
- Gentle exfoliation of dry skin for silkier arms and legs
- Helps reduce razor rash and irritation after hair removal
- Enhanced moisture and nutrient absorption of your regular skin products (SPF, self-tan, moisturisers)




The Magnitone Pulsar is so easy to use and with a quick recharge time
that lasts up to 3 weeks I can see why its going to be a popular device. 
I love that its waterproof so can be used in the bath or shower! 
I found that after using for a few days my skin does feel so much smoother
and more refreshed making me feel more confident.
It works wonders after I have shaved my legs as I am prone to my skin
being sensitive so shaving tends to leave me with itchy skin. 


The Magnitone Pulsar retails at £129 but is currently on 
offer at £65. 
It is recommended that you replace the brush heads every 8-12 weeks 
The Active Clean and Sensitive replacement brushes retail at £15.99 (2 pack)
and the Body Cleanse brush heads (2 pack) is £11.99. 

The Magnitone Pulsar is avaible at large boots stores nationwide and online. 

A prefect beauty gift this Christmas!



Review: Slinky Links Tassel Leather Earrings

My posts have been a bit delayed as I was planning on writing up 
some posts to schedule on Friday but have come down with 
an awful cold which I still am suffering from at the minute. 
So anyway I am doing them now and am a bit behind but you'll
have some great posts to read this week! 


 SlinkyLinks is a company owned by Melodie Telliez.
Melodie set up SlinkyLinks as a way to turn scraps of leather into beautiful Christmas Gifts! 
She use to work for a shoe maker in London and found that their was left over bits
of leather that couldn't really be used for anything well that was what was thought...

 She decided to act and use the scraps to make jewellery gifts for her friends and family. 
She got such good feedback that she decided to open her little Esty shop. 

I was sent some Gold Leather Tassel Earrings, £15 to show you. 
They are made from high quality reclaimed gold leather and are rolled up
around a thin chain and secured with a jump ring allowing them to 
adjust the length of the earrings by sliding the tassels along the chain. 
For the chains and hardware Melodie uses stainless steel or 14k gold fill
to prevent allergies. 


Pros: 
- Uses up left over leather so a fab way to stop wastage
-  Chains and hardware made from metals that prevent allergies
- stylish and unique pieces
- adjustable

Cons:
None I can really think of. 

Overall:

SlinkyLinks sell a range of very unique and stylish pieces using left over material 
which are sold for a great price and makes wonderful gifts for Christmas. 

SlinkyLinks currently having 10% off over on her Esty shop  if you use the code : 10PERCENTOFF until 
31/12/2013 . 

 


Christmas 2013 Tag!

Now that Christmas is under 5 weeks away and because I have seen quite a few people doing the 2013
Christmas tag I wanted to be involved! 
This tag was made by Makeup Pixi3

If your reading this I tag you and would love to see your answers! 

1.  Do you prefer a real Christmas tree or synthetic?
We use a Synthetic tree year after year which works out much cheaper than
buying a real tree.
My parents only brought a real tree one year and I did love it! 
One day when we are living in a much bigger place I would
love to be able to buy a real tree each year!


2.  You're in a coffee shop, it's December, what do you pick?
I normally go for a Christmassy Hot Chocolate from Costa or a Gingerbread latte.
One drink I'd love to try though is Eggnog just so I can say I've tried it! 

3.  Whats your favourite colour scheme for decorating the tree?
We don't really tend to go for theme we just use whatever decorations we have which
is normally red, white, blue and silver but if we get more it doesn't tend to 
be a specific colour I love the idea of a tree which has loads of lovely colours!

4.  Giving or receiving?
Both-  Giving because I love to see the smiles on other peoples faces.
Receiving  well because who doesn't like getting a gift. 

5.  To mince pie or not to?
Yes I love mince pies I am biased though as I believe my mum's are the best! 

6.  What's your traditional sunday lunch?
The norm is Turkey, stuffing, brussels, carrots, peas, parsnips,
sausages wrapped in bacon, roast potato's and gravy. 
If we are over at my mum's she makes her lovely bread sauce 
to go with it! 
As for pudding it tends to vary but their is always Christmas pudding at Christmas time!

7.  Christmas day fashion
I use Christmas day to wear either something snug, warm and relaxed or to dress up 
a little. 

8.  What's your favourite Christmas song?
White Christmas I also love Michael Buble's Christmas album
which has his version on it as well. I do love all the traditional 
Christmas songs/carols.

9.  What's your favourite Christmas film?
There is so many good ones but am going to say elf or
the Grinch who stole Christmas. 

10.  Open presents before or after lunch?
Before when I am over at my mum's we open them first thing.
If we are going to my in laws as we in the same town we open our presents
at our place and then go over to the in laws to swap gifts before we settle down for our
lovely Christmas meal. 


Review: Bunches Christmas Cheer Bouquet

If you love flowers or know someone who loves flowers
than what better present to could you get someone than a gorgeous bouquet
from the lovely company bunches. 

Bunches sell wide range of bouquet's to suit all budgets
and  they have a lovely range of luxury Christmas bouquets 
at the moment! 

I was sent one of their best sellers to show you! 
Christmas Cheer, £18.99 including delivery. 


The Christmas Cheer is a popular bouquet to make you
in the festive mood. 

Bright and Cheerful the Christmas Cheer bouquet is long-lasting
and features green and red spray Carnations complemented with 
white and red edged Carnations.
Perfectly finished with white Alstroemeria, delicate Gypsophila and red glitter Ruscus 
which makes this a festive treat! 

The popular Christmas Cheer bouquet also comes in an XL size for £27.99 
and all flowers come with a free box of chocolates.  


Pros: 
- Long lasting flowers
- Lovely range of Christmas bouquets
- A perfect gift for a lover of flowers
- Great price 

Cons:
- you will most likely need to give the flowers as 
an early gift due to delivery.

Overall: 
Bunches Christmas bouquets are ideal gifts for someone
who loves flowers which look fab in your home and 
leaves you feeling festive.




Review: Festive Beanies Coffee

Beanies have a new limited edition range of festive coffee's
and I was sent the 3 flavours: 
- Christmas Pudding
- Mulled Spice
and
- Winter Warmer

By far my favourite flavour has to be the Christmas Pudding one and if 
like me your on Slimming World you will be happy to know 
they are free so you can enjoy a festive coffee with no syns what so ever! 

I love good mug of steaming coffee and with Christmas fast approaching
the coffee shops are bringing out their festive range!
So now I can enjoy a festive treat minus the calories and also saving
some much needed pennies.

Beanies Coffee's are full of flavour and can be made
up in an instant so you can sit back relax and sip on
your coffee whilst reading a book all in your own home! 
Pros: 
- Full of flavour
- Great festive flavours
- Much cheaper than going to a coffee shop
- Can be made in an instant

Cons:
- Not as nice as ground coffee made for using in coffee machines


Overall: 
A great range of festive flavours that will save you popping to your local coffee shop! 





Review: OXO 8 Cup French Press

If your a lover of Coffee or know someone who loves their coffee,
than this Christmas why not buy them the OXO 8 Cup French Press?!

If you are a perfectionist when it comes to having the best cup of coffee
than this is right up your street! 

The OXO 8 Cup French Press, £35 is easy to use and comes
with a innovative ladle that catches brewed coffee grounds and removes
them in one easy step! 

The French Press is made of sturdy stainless steel containing a traditional glass
carafe to ensure pure brewing. 

The handle has non slip grip to make brewing and pouring easy.
To brew, insert the silicone ladle into the carafe and then add coarsely ground coffee and hot water using convenient measurement markings for desired quantity.



Pros: 
- Easy to use
- Sturdy 
- Non Slip Grip
-  Makes fab tasty coffee
- Easy to wash 
- Is BPA free
- Convenient measuring marks


Cons: 
- Price £35 is a bit steep price 

Overall: 
The OXO French press is easy to use and is worth the money if your not really on
a tight budget. It make a lovely smooth tasting coffee and makes an ideal gift. 




Twelve Days of Christmas COMING SOON

COMING SOON 

From the 1st of  December until 12th of December 
I will be holding a range of Competitions ready for the festive period! 

So make sure you are a follower of my blog via GFC or Bloglovin
so that you will be able to see when they go live.






Review: Christmas Boutique Decorations

 The lovely people at The Christmas Boutique have sent me some of their 
lovely items to review . 

The Christmas Boutique sell a lovely range of products: 
- Decorations
- Ornaments
- Advent calendars
- Christmas lanterns 
and
- Home accessories

One of the main Christmas items that I really want to buy
for when we have children is a nativity set and they do 
a lovely range so will be certainly considering one of them in the future. 

The first of the item's I was sent was the Gold Metal Hanging star wind chime, £14.99. 
This Gold Star wind chime has a rustic feel to it and is ideal to be used both
in doors and out. 
It has 5 bells and finished with 5 small decorative stars ideal for the festive season. 



Next up is the two lots of Christmas Tree Decorations first is
the red and white knitted Santa doll, £6.99 .
They come in two different variations and are such a fab way to make
your tree a little more special. 
The next lot is the three wooden Christmas tree decorations, £2.99.
Made with Basswood the Christmas tree shaped decorations are in
traditional red, white and green. 


Moving on we have the Silver Cluster Bell heart shaped hanging, £8.99. 
Perfect for hanging on your tree or around your home.
They also make a wonderful sound so an ideal Christmas
decoration. 
Then we have the Silver Cluster Bell Christmas garland 1.5m long, £7.99.
Another fab item to be used on the tree or around the home! 

Last of all is this fabulous Large Felt Santa Gift Bag £3.99. 
A fun and exciting alternative to a Christmas Stocking!
They also do a fab tree design too. 





Pros: 
- A lovely range of Christmas Products for the home
- Excellent quality items
- Great Prices

Cons: 
- None I love this company I will certainly be buying from them in the future! 




Christmas Prep 2013

Christmas is fast approaching with under 7 weeks to go.
I say the same every year where has the time gone?! 

So here is my Christmas Prep for 2013 and on how we have managed to keep 
a budget and stick to it! 

 This year we are buying for : 
- My Mum 
- My Nan
- My Grandma
- My Sister 
- Stuart's Mum 
- Stuart's Mum's partner
- Stuart's Dad
- Our two nephews Finn and Micah 
- and the two people we were given with our families round robin
who are my Sister in Law and Stuart's Sister in Law. 
Which totals to £120 


For each other we are spending for £40 each this year rather than £50 
which makes our Christmas Budget this year 
= £200

For cards, wrapping paper, gift labels and decorations 
we have a budget of £1

We also have quite a few birthdays so close to Christmas 
- My Nan's
- My Father In Laws
- My Sisters 

How we have made it cheaper this year! 
- I have won a few items which have come in useful for gifts for my Mum and Grandma
- I received a £50 Amazon giftcard which has helped a lot
- I shopped in Primark for my Sister in law and Nan so saved £s on some lovely items
- I found a rucksack in Aldi for £5 rather than spending £12 for one on Amazon as a gift 
for my hubby.
- We've not needed to buy any labels this year but have got a pack of 50 Christmas Cards
in Card Factory for £1.99. 
- For wrapping paper we have got some from Primark for £2 for 2 roles which should last us.
- The only decorations we will probably get this year is a poinsettia for the window
sill but to be honest we may not even bother to save us a couple of £s or so. 




Review: Christmas With The Body Shop

I am sure most of you would have heard of The Body Shop. 
The Body Shop believe that beauty comes from the heart and not just a pretty face. 
All products are made with love and care and one of the big things I love
about The Body Shop is that they don't test on animals and that all of their products
are 100% Vegetarian. 

I first brought skincare and make up items from The Body Shop back in 2003 when I was 13 
and my Nan had taken me to have one of their make up classes and brought me 
a range of their make up and skincare products as my 13th birthday gift! 

I have been a huge fan of The Body Shop ever since and even more 
exciting is their Christmas range! 




The lovely PR company for The Body Shop sent me a few of their fab
Christmas products and I am very excited to show them to you! 

First up is the Ginger Manicure and Moisture Duo, £6. 
This is fab gift for your secret Santa or as a stocking filler! 
The spicy and ginger scented cream makes hands feel festive and smooth. 

Secondly I received the Festive Handcream Trio, £12.
A fab set of mini 30ml hand creams that are Cranberry, Vanilla and Ginger  
scented. A fab treat if you don't know which scent to choose from. 
  

Last of all to vamp up your look for a Christmas party, for Christmas day
or even as a gift their is this gorgeous eye palette, £15. 
The smoky eye palette is back with an all new twist of colour! 
It includes 4 all on trend eye shadows and 2 mini eye shadow brushes,
so that you can touch up on the go. 
They are limited edition sets and come in two different shades
01 Smoky Brown 
and
02 Smoky Plum. 

I was sent the lovely Smoky Brown set. 

Pros:
- A great range of Christmas Products for a range of prices. 
- Not tested on animals
- Lovely Christmassy scents

Cons: 
- Some people who are on a tight budget may find that the products are a bit too pricey

Overall: 
A great range of Christmas products that make fab gifts and stocking fillers
they would make a fab treat ! 







Review: Cuticura Hand washes and Anti-Bacterial Gels

Winter is here and its the time of year that even more nasty germs are about! 
Cuticura sent us a pack of their anti bacterial hand hygiene range of products to review that will protect
us against the spread of germs. 

It's important to wash your hands frequently as its so easy pass on nasty germs. 
I always make sure that I wash my hands after going to the toilet, before eating, before handling food, after handling animals and  after blowing my nose. 

According to a survey by Cuticura, 1 in 5 Brits don’t wash their hands after using the toilet and 1 in 10 simply rinse their fingers with water. But did you know that it actually takes 20 seconds of washing with soap to effectively clean hands? 

I am a little OCD about cleaning my hands and have always carried around 
some anti-bacterial gel in my handbag for when I'm out and about. 


I received:
Anti Bacterial Hand Gel: Passion Flower & Mango
Anti Bacterial Gel: Cucumber and Garden Mint
Anti Bacterial Hand Serum
Anti Bacterial Hand Wash: Black Pepper and Pomegranate
Anti Bacterial Hand Wash: Ginger and Manuka Honey
Anti Bacterial Hand Wash: Lime and Bamboo

The Anti-Bacterial Hand Gels have come in very handy as I had just ran out 
when they had arrived so great timing! 
I love that I was sent two different scented ones as most
hand gels I have used in the past are either not scented or just cucumber
so I think its great they have such a broad range. 

The Hand Serum is just as fab as the gels and I love that its within a pump
form so I know how much I am putting on my hands as I do with gels sometimes end up using a
bit too much! 

The Anti-Bacterial hand washes are fab too with such lovely scents which make my hands
feel fresh, clean and soft protecting me from germs at the same time. 


Pros: 
- Long lasting protection 
- Kills 99.9 % of bacteria 
 - Available in a range of scents
- Natural extracts 
- a little goes a long way 

Cons: 
- None 

Overall: 
A great range of anti-bacterial products  that has long lasting protection.

Review: BlanX Whiteshock LED ToothPaste

Right I am back, and  I am sharing with you 
a whitening toothpaste today that I hadn't heard of before.

BlanX WhiteShock LED Toothpaste! 
A toothpaste that helps to give you a whiter smile with a difference. 
BlanX White Shock, is a  new range of products with a revolutionary patented formula with
 Actilux®, the active ingredient that uses the power of light to whiten teeth.

All you have to do is fix the LED light lid onto your toothpaste tube
and then when you use the the toothpaste the LED light helps 
to kill any germs on your toothbrush and in the toothpaste 
while activating the whitening ingredient in the toothpaste.

You also have the option of shining the light onto your teeth after cleaning
to also help activate the whitening effect. 


Pros: 
- Has a lovely minty taste
- Non abrasive 
- enamel protection 
- keeps your gums healthy and hydrated 
- removes bacteria that causes plaque and cavities

Cons: 
- Price £4.99 for a 50ml tube 
- I have yet to see a noticeable difference


Overall: 
A great toothpaste but just like with most teeth whitening products you 
would have to trial the product over time to see if it actually works and with it
costing £4.99 for a 50ml tube I feel that being a thrifty person I could
leave it.