Taste Sensations....Kind of.

I've not done a 'food' post for a while, so here's a few things that have been taste sensations (or not so) lately!

The first is 'Cocobay' Coconut Rum from Aldi.

 With the festive season coming up and money being tight it's always nice to find cheaper alternatives to popular brands, whilst perusing the fine selection of goods in Aldi I came across the Cocobay Rum. I was a bit apprehensive to buy it at first because 1; it was £4.99 (BARGAIN) and 2; the cheap knock off coconut rum in Tesco is vile, really artificial tasting methylated spirit like stuff. Anyway, I bought it regardless and it's the best thing I've discovered in Aldi since their goats cheese pizza! It tastes IDENTICAL to Malibu and retails at a THIRD of the price. Its also the same percentage (12%) Infact I would go as far as to say it IS Malibu in a different bottle. Really pleased with it and would definitely buy more. (Not like, weekly or anything, you know, I can make a bottle last about 3 nights out haha)

Next up we have Wonka 'laffy taffy' I will tell you now.... There's is nowt laffy about it...!!

 It's watermelon flavour and me being a sucker for watermelon, green and intrigue went ahead and bought it. It was vile! It was a like a manky flavoured Wham! bar that had been chewed and regurgitated! So disappointed. It was from TK Max and cost around £2. I do love checking out the weird and wonderful foods they stock in there and hate to be disappointed like this, it also gave me a slightly sore throat haha. Overall not the best thing I've had in recent months....

& finally we have the new Crabbies Spiced Orange Alcoholic Ginger Beer.....

I'm a massive fan of all things ginger (apart from Ed Sheeran, he can do one) So obviously when I spotted this I had to try it. I usually have the Crabbies Ginger Wine with lemonade for a tipple as it tastes slightly sweeter and nicer than the bottles of Crabbies Ginger Beer, but got this for a change. It wasn't overly orange, or ginger. The flavours were really subtle and it was quite refreshing. It was good but not great. I probably wouldn't purchase it again unless it was on offer.

Marks out of ten;

Rum 9/10

Taffy 0/10

Crabbies 6/10

Boudoir Prive November

My Boudoir Privé box arrived on Saturday but due to major sickyness I only went to the post depot to collect it today! Before this I read some really negative comments on the BP Facebook Page and it was starting to irritate me slightly that everyone is so quick to complain but never so quick to say something nice about what they did like in the box! After posting a wall post on there though to ask what peoples' favourite product in the box was there was a few more positive comments flying around. The lipstick seemed to be the overall fave in this months box. I also don't get why a lot of more 'popular' bloggers seem to really slag off BP too, it's not very nice to focus on the bad things all the time, all these beauty box services are relatively new so there's going to be teething errors, has anyone been 100% satisfied with any on the market?!?! ....../rant!

Don't hate - Appreciate!

It's a 'sample' box after all.....

Anyway. As usual it came in a nice, well presented package....

 I do think the box is slightly too 'pink' for my taste but hey... it's a box..... ha.

 I'm liking how they've started to include little quotes like this on the leaflet, its a nice extra touch I think....

There were 6 items in the box this time, including 2 lots of a face mask (the one thats been causing a stir online) I've not tried it on my face yet but I have done a patch test on my arm and had no reaction, when I try it I will post on their facebook page the outcome! 

 The first product which I saw on numerous other blogs that I really wanted was this Studio Make Up Rich Hydration Lipstick in the Red shade. I was really holding out for this one! I've wanted a red lipstick for a while but feel like I can't get away with it so never splashed out and bought one, this has defo saved me the bother! The colour is really rich and nice but I'm not sure if I dare to go outside wearing it yet....

 (excuse the manky nails btw!)

 Another product I knew I'd like immediately was the Dead Sea Spa Magik body lotion, as you can never have enough moisturisers. After the disappointment of receiving the bath salts I will never use as I don't have a bath in November's Glossy Box this was a welcome product.

The Korre's 24 hour moisturiser is a nice size for a sample product, I still have several facial moisturisers from my previous boxes to get through so will hold off a bit to try this, but id it's anywhere near as good as the Korre's guava body lotion it's going to be very welcome.

 I got two lots of sample sachets for some Rahua Shampoo and Conditioner. A lot of people are saying the sachets don't have enough in to wash their hair.... Erm... Use them both? thats probably why they put two in?!?!

It was a refreshing change not to receive any perfume samples in this box! And overall I feel a lot more satisfied with this than I did Glossy Box this month. Like I have said previously, I am holding out for the December box for both to see what they pull out of the bag and then choose which box I prefer to stay subscribed too. So far Boudoir Privé is the winner for me but I feel it's catering for a slightly different audience than the Glossy Box is.... Hmmmm.....

What are your thoughts on this months box???

Twin Peaks Chic, Revisited.

So, in September 2010, I wrote this blog post all about my love for the fashion and styles in Twin Peaks.....

Now since this post, my taste hasn't changed much. I still am absolutely besotted with this woodland/heritage style. My tweed collection has grown and so has the amount of brogues/loafer type shoes I own.....

Here's my list of lust for Twin Peaks Chic this season...

• Structured Sleeveless Skater Dress
• £46 - topshop.com
• ARMANI JEANS Tweed Check Three Button Jacket
• £420 - flannelsfashion.com
• Tan tweed brogues
• £28 - dorothyperkins.com
• Cambridge Satchel Company 15" Exclusive To Asos Green Satchel
• £243 - asos.com
• Breagha Harris Tweed Bow Brooch
• £17 - hannahzakari.co.uk
• Agrigento Deer Pendant Necklace in Gold. Agrigento
• £319 - maxandchloe.com
• Urban Outfitters - Dear Prudence For Urban Outfitters Tea Mug
• £23 - urbanoutfitters.co.uk

What's in the bag? (work edition)

I always love reading 'what's in your bag' posts from bloggers, I always thought I should do one when I was at uni and was lugging saws, files and blades around all the time. It used to make me laugh, I mean imagine if I got mugged? They'd expect riches but end up with DIY equipment. Ha.

Anyway, as my bag is becoming increasingly heavy due to work, I decided to sort it out this evening and took a few snaps before I refilled it.....

Phones, Sat Nav, Magic laptop clicker for the powerpoint presentation, umbrella, diary, pen, lip balm, handcream, purse, deodorant, mittens, keys for two vehicles.....

 So as you can see, only the 'essentials'.........

 I even had to invest in a new bag to lug it all around, its a combination of work and my own stuff....

I have my own phone which is a HTC Desire (well I say my own but it's my mums because my was victim to toilet death last month! Still need to replace it!) And a Blackberry Curve for work. I personally think Blackberry's are the devil in handheld technology form. They are such bad phones! And look so grim!

 Lollia Hand Cream in a handy little bag sized tube, it smells amazing. And my Burts Bee's lipbalm, which is by far the best lip balm I have ever owned....

 Always carrying deodorant now, due to pre-presentation nerves! I discovered this Soft and Gentle Lotus and Watermelon scent in Superdrug the other day. Watermelon is one of my all time favourite smells so this is super.

 My amazing purse from Wolf and Wild. It fits literally everything in it! And the design is so cute. I had to have it when I saw it in a little shop in Manchester.

& finally the bag itself. I bought this from Tesco about two weeks ago. It's the perfect size for lugging stuff around and has short handles and an across body strap so perfect for when I need to carry loads of other stuff (projectors, laptops, projector screens!!) It ended up being pretty much free after doubling up my clubcard vouchers and only should of cost £12 anyway!

np, I work as a presenter for finance so tour the west midlands  doing presentations for 6th formers at the moment!

What's in your bag? What essentials can't you go anywhere without??

Waste not, want not.

So after being signed up for Glossy Box and Boudoir Privé for only a month and a bit, I'm already itching to re-use the boxes. Every month they come in such good quality packaging, it would just be such a shame to waste them. 

I've seen a few blogs re-using them to store nail varnish, make up and hair products in.... But my idea is to re-use them to create special little treat boxes for presents....

On a recent visit to Hobbycraft I discovered these amazing 'handmade' stickers for only a POUND per pack. 

This being such a bargain I've stocked up. I was going to use them for making cards and what not but because they're such nice quality and have a slight decoupage layering to them with a hint of glitter, I thought they would be excellent additions to the boxes I have already collected....

 Now I obviously didn't want to go getting someone's hopes up by making them think they had a lovely Glossybox/boudoir prive box, so I used the stickers to cover the logo's.....

The boudoir privé logo was slightly larger so I added some smaller flowery stickers underneath the main sticker....

 I'm not going to reveal what is in the boxes though as they're for Christmas presents for some VERY lucky people!

I think both the boxes work really well for this idea, the stickers I chose by coincidence really compliment the pink shades of both boxes. I'm fairly impressed with myself and considering I have some stickers left over and the boxes came free with the monthly subscription this is a bargain DIY.

Excuse me whilst I go and pat myself on the back a bit more.....

Glossy Box November

A lovely way to wake up on a monday morning is with a little door bell ring and the post man standing there with your Glossy Box, it's not so lovely however, that you have to get up in your pj's with your hair everywhere, glasses on with no make up to face a stranger ha.

Anyway, I got quite excited about it after seeing Etc Llymlrs posting about it and really wanted to try the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer but didn't actually receive it in my box, which is a shame because I got no hair care products at all which is a section I ticked I was interested in, nevermind though, everything in the box will be put to good use.....
As usual the lovely high quality gift box arrived......

 Really well presented and packaged....

 I do like how they include detailed descriptions of whats in the box alongside the full size pricing of the products....

 This time I received 6 samples....

 I must point out that on initial perusal of the package, not a lot appealed to me. Although the samples are good sizes, I will only use two  of these products myself. On one hand thats good for the people receiving a nice little beauty hamper off me for christmas (ssshhhh) but on the other I would really of liked to have 6 products I would at least try.....

 This is one of the two products I will definitely use. With my new job I am driving a brand new VAN all day so it really makes my feet feel horrid with the stick clutch and traffic jams.....! It smells amazing, my feet are in for a treat....

 And this is the second product I will definitely be using on a daily basis. The texture is very smooth and soft, it's the same idea as the Soap and Glory Hocus Focus but has more moisturising/age defying benefits and not as shimmery. Its a really generous size so should last ages, really impressed...

 Two little perfume samples I have quite a collection of these now! These ones are fragrances for men and women. I always find these types of fragrance very '90s' probably because I am subliminally thinking of CKone but they do smell slightly more appealing....

 I also got some Nail Wraps. I have read a lot about these but they've never appealed to me. I'm not keen on red nails or black lace. I guess they're good this month if you're a Twilight fan or something but not my bag I'm afraid. Although I doubt I would of use these regardless of the pattern on them... I must prefer playing with nail varnish, these will be put to good use in a little christmas hamper for someone nice though!...

And the final product I would love to use but I don't have a bath in my en suite bathroom! This product does sound perfect for me, especially in the winter months. And the bag itself is a generous size. I've heard some really good things about the Dead Sea Spa range, so would of preferred another product instead. Once again, some lucky bug is going to get this as part of a beauty package for Christmas!

I think these boxes can be very hit and miss. Luckily all my goodies will be put to good use with Christmas coming up and given to people who I know will appreciate them. In defence of Glossybox it must be SO hard to tailor make boxes for 1000's of complete strangers! At least I can utilise the remnants of my samples giving them to people I know will really like them.
 I will stay subscribed to both this and Boudoir Privé until January just to see what they pull out of the bag for Christmas, I'd definitely want to stay subscribed to one as each month it's great to have little luxuries delivered straight to your door!

Hair Care Bunch

Recently I have been on the search for a new miracle hair product. After not having my hair cut for a year and a half  it's really been starting to suffer. I'm refusing to go the hairdressers until it's slightly past the length I want it as every time I do they INSIST on chopping about 6 inches off, no matter where I go, it's so frustrating. The last straw was my last visit where the guy gave me a 'mushroom' do...

Just LOOK at that fringe! It took ages to grow out and finally in January this year my hair started to get somewhere....

But alas, that is the longest it has reached, it is now November and 10 MONTHS later it is still this length....

I just noticed how different I look in every picture ever. How strange!

Anyway. I realised it's not that my hair isn't growing, it's just in such bad condition it's pretty much breaking off as fast as it's growing. So I've been trying lots and lots of conditions the past month or two and here's a little review of each.

First I tried some products from the new Tressemé Split Remedy range. They were on offer in Boots a few weeks ago (3 for £10) so decided to try it. I chose the shampoo, conditioner and intensive conditioning mask. The range claims to reduce split ends and damage by 80% after the first three uses. So being ambitious I tried all three each time I was washing my hair. This didn't produce any amazing results and I wasn't really very impressed, so I started using just the shampoo and conditioner. It turns out that actually made my hair feel SO much softer and looked healthier after the first try of this, the intensive conditioner seemed to make my hair hair less conditioned somehow?! However, still not the amazing result I was expecting. I'm still using it until it runs out but doubt I will be buying this product again. The result is similar to using regular Pantene Pro-V products.....
Whilst browsing in Holland and Barratt a few weeks ago I noticed this Pure Argan Oil

It wasn't cheap at £12.99 but I thought after reading all the rave reviews about Moroccan Oils online it was going to be a wise investment. I mean, if its not going to work in its purest form, what would work?
So, I've tried it in a few ways, putting on over night, applying just before shampooing, using as a serum afterwards... I must say it's not amazing results to the appearance of my hair, but I think, it improves the overall condition over time. It smells pretty horrible to. I've been using it as an alternative to moisturiser since though and I must say on my face/skin it has been amazing. Not so much for my hair though, I'm impatient and always want immediate results!

The next product I've been trying came in this months Boudoir Privé, its called Leonor Greyl, Huile de Palme.... When I first opened this I was a bit bamboozled, it looked and smelt so 60's and like something you'd find in your nans cosmetic collection amongst Wella hairspray and 'poison' perfume....

It's a pre shampoo treatment which I always avoid as I have some kind idea in my head that they just wont work. I mean, you wash them out? How can it do anything?! But regardless, on it went. The first time I tried it I left it on for about 45minutes. (you can leave it overnight or as long as you want really) Washed it out and was amazed at the result. My hair was so shiny and manageable, it didn't feel like it had any product or residue in. I am impressed! 

The full size of this is around £24 and I've used my tiny bottle 4 times now and still have over half  of that left! A little goes a LONG way, I would definitely consider investing in this. Now when brushing my hair I notice hardly any breakages at all, it's truly amazing stuff! 

The last product I've sampled on this quest was the new Dove conditioner. 

You only leave it on for 1minute, which seems to be the new thing in conditioner Town nowadays.

 I picked up a few of these little sample sizes and they have enough for about 3 tries in one little tube...

I really didn't have high hopes for this, but it's actually SO good! It's left me hair feeling really soft and smooth and looks over all a lot healthier. I would buy this off the shelf as I'm sure it would be a massive bargain and use it in between the oil.

Overall, my quest has been rather successful, already I am seeing the results;

*Less Breakage

*Healthier Looking &

*It's starting to grow again.

I've also stopped blow drying my hair every time I wash it and only use the hairdryer if I need it drying quickly. I use my straighteners a lot less, perhaps twice a week if that and I also have started dying it a darker shade of red, as the regular dye I use lightens as well as colours and is not as good for my hair as a darker colour. To keep the red colour rich I use 'Directions' hair dye in Pillarbox Red, I love how it looks on the darker shade! 

Have you got any tips for hair care?

What's the hair product you can't live without? 

I may do a follow up post if there are any good suggestions!