Category: reviews

fun stuff, happy mail, jewellery, lifestyle boxes, reviews, stationery

Happy Flair

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Happy Flair is a new subscription box from the team behind Punky Pins – a box full of accessories and stationery curated around a theme. Last month’s was Alice in Wonderland and this month’s is cult favourite Clueless, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. 

I had to explain what Clueless is to the Mr, who has never seen it. Hopefully I don’t have to do that here. If you haven’t seen it – it’s on Netflix. 

Each box is designed to fit through the letterbox and packed full of brightly coloured flair. Brooches, badges, a necklace, postcards and more. Here’s some snaps. 

Cher’s unique style of plaid suits features too – the clothes in the film were pretty fantastic. 

These boxes are great fun and would make fab gifts for someone else or yourself. 

beauty, fun stuff, lifestyle boxes, reviews

Moi-Meme – 

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Moi-Meme is a new quarterly subscription box that costs a little bit more than some others (£45) but is filled with beautiful, hand selected, personalised items for you and your home. It’s perfect if you like a bit of luxury and feels like a gift to yourself. 

My first box arrived on Saturday morning and was a lot bigger than I expected. As it’s an entirely new box, there weren’t any spoilers or previous boxes reviewed online so I had no real idea what to expect. 

More luxurious boxes seem to be becoming quite popular, from Look Incredible’s Deluxe box to the pretty much permanently sold out Cohorted box or the rather too expensive for me Cult Beauty Box, the make up world has plenty but I don’t think there are that many luxury boxes with more of a lifestyle bent, which is where Moi-Meme seems to have spotted a gap in the market. 

You can give the boxes as gift subscriptions and you’ll need to fill out their questionnaire when you subscribe so they can get things personalised. But interestingly, for some of the items, you can exchange them for a different size or colour.

This is a new idea and one I think is quite useful. Sometimes the box companies get it wrong, and a lot of the complaints about other subscription boxes seem to revolve around the fact that often the items seem to be completely off the wall when it comes to the profile you filled out. 

So, what did I get in my first Moi-Meme box you ask? Well, let’s dive in. 

Firstly the box itself is personalised, with a sticker, so I know this box is mine. I like this little touch. 

The box is themed too, this is The Adventure Box and just rather lovely. 

From designer Lisa Angel there is a gorgeous scarf (3 designs available) I have the very pretty peacock feather design. I love scarves as accessories and add them to outfits and bags all the time so this will certainly be making its debut soon. 

There is also a really pretty bracelet of silver beads on a delicate blue cord. It looks rather chic on my wrist and will go nicely with most summer (and other seasonal) outfits. 

I don’t know how they knew at Moi-Meme but I love notebooks, I have hundreds and I’m always picking them up. Most get used, some get lost, but this one is mine. 

My passport is not as well used as I’d like, mostly because it’s pretty new and you don’t get stamps for travelling in Europe (yet). But this Laurige France passport holder is very smart and soft. I think my burgundy British passport will look rather swish tucked into this. Now to plan a holiday! 

Now, frequent fliers will know I love beauty treats, and these Evolve Organic Beauty tubs of body polish and butter are right up my street. 

The polish is a sugar based scrub with no soap but lots of skin friendly natural oils to remove dead skin and leave you all fresh. Then you apply its friend, the shea butter based moisturiser. Again full of skin loving natural ingredients, it smells delicious and goes on like a dream. 

All in all, I love this box. It’s gorgeous. 

I am also impressed with their customer service offers – if you want to exchange certain items (scarf, bracelet, passport holder) for different designs/sizes you can. Or you can pop onto their online shop and buy more goodies for you or as gifts. The booklet has all the details. 

Did you subscribe to Moi-Meme or are you tempted? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. 

books, feminism, reviews

Book Review – Animal by Sara Pascoe

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Whenever I pick up a book by a comedian I hope for humour – Pamela Stephenson’s biographies of her husband Billy Connelly spring to mind – so funny I was snorting (attractive) on a bus. 

But Sara Pascoe’s Animal is only sort-of funny. Subtitled The Autobiography of a Female Body, it intersperses moments in Pascoe’s life with scientific information about female anatomy and evolution. Bit heavy for a Friday morning commute. 

It is however a fascinating read, covering aspects of female sexuality and history with a wry tone. Pascoe looks at love, sex, reproduction and more, from the perspective of a lay person, not an expert, so it’s not a textbook but you may want to read it with a notebook at hand to jot down things to look into further. 

adventures in post, fun stuff, lifestyle boxes, reviews, stationery

Boxcitement 

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Another fun subscription box on the market at the moment is Boxcitement, a themed monthly box full of goodies. 

Inside July’s Wanderlust box there are travel goodies and pretty little treats. 

Tin of travel mints, a mirror keyring, scented soap bar, wooden luggage tag, cloud brooch, earrings, Aloha card. 

World map wrapping paper, travel liquids bag. 

Travel journal, Paris card. 

Everything is beautifully put together and decorated, the earrings are very pretty too. It really makes me wish I was whizzing off on holiday, but a girl can dream, and plan for next summer! 

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

Blogger Beauty Box 

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As always this box is a great mix of items curated by bloggers for bloggers (it’s £10 too – hello bargain!)

There are five items in this month’s box, three are full size. 

I love to smell nice, and a fruity shower gel certainly gets me ready for the day. This little bottle of I Love…Mango & Papaya Bubble Bath & Shower Gel is right up my street. 

One of the things that frustrates me the most is my lack of volume – in my hair, I’m certainly loud enough! So hopefully this Nanogen Root Boost Hair Thickening Spray does exactly what it says on the bottle. 

One of the more unusual items is the tub of Derma Babies Full of Hope Heavenly Mummy Nipple Cream. Now, I am not currently a nursing mother so you might think I’d have no use for this but because it’s designed for sensitive, damaged skin, it’s actually incredibly useful if you have dry skin, or even ezcema like me. Plus this is full of skin loving ingredients including aloe vera and olive oil. 

The next is a useful addition to your handbag – fab little bag is a clever and discreet way of disposing of used sanitary products. It’s designed to be opened with one hand, made from biodegradable materials and provides a better way of disposing of tampons than flushing. 

Finally there’s a lipstick from new US brand 4U2 Cosmetics, weirdly the shade I have isn’t listed as one of their Lipaholoc shades. They’ve just launched in the UK with their range of PETA certified cruelty free make up. 

 
Really quite happy with this box, should get a use out of each, unlike some other boxes. 

fun stuff, happy mail, lifestyle boxes, mental health, mindfulness, reviews

Buddy Box – Summer Sun

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The Buddy Box from The Blurt Foundation is designed to help people dealing with mental health issues like depression and anxiety. It’s basically a hug in a box. And this month’s comes with a little summer sun. 🌞

Fruit seems to be the theme too, with pineapples and watermelon popping up on the box itself and inside. 

Inside are some bright, sunny treats to help you get through July even when inside your brain it’s more like November (that may just be me). 

There is a very cute notebook with a fox on it, I love notebooks and own about a gazillion of them, so this is welcome. 

A pineapple scented air freshener. I don’t have a car but my wardrobe/beauty cupboard will look very snazzy (and smell sweet) with this. 
Fruit Fix Pomegranate & Blueberry face mask. I love a good face mask, deep cleaning all the crap out of my skin so I will  be slapping this on for a Netflix session. 

#365 Days of Selfcare challenge card and post-its. Which you can join in with. #365daysofselfcare on Twitter and Instagram.  
Personal note from the Blurt team on a fun card, which I will be adding to my inspiration wall. 

Finally, I saved the most fun till last. As you may already know, I am a stationery nerd. And I love quirky pens and pencils. This pencil is a superhero. This pencil has a cape. 

While the crappy winter weather definitely batters on my hatches, summer can be just as hard. When the sun’s shining and fun is being planned, we need to still be looking after our mental health. It’s hard to be “on” all the time and it can feel impossible to tell people you’re feeling bad when the sun’s out and you’re supposed to be jolly. 

The Blurt team know that and I am telling you, self-care, whatever form it takes, isn’t selfish. If you need to stay in, wearing your pjs, eating Nutella croissants or a pile of toast or a bowl of mashed potatoes, or whatever your go-to is, watching crappy tv, an old film, reading a good book or even just taking a nap. That’s A-OK. 

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

Little Known Box – Summer Starts Here

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Five products, three fullsize plus one bonus treat – June’s Little Known Box is crammed with great beauty products to get your summer going. 

Oxynergy Paris Power Infuse Cushion Foam cleanser from France, a country that loves great skincare. Wash your face with this lightly scented foaming cleanser containing amino acids, copper, zinc, calcium and magnesium. 

Manna Kadar is a cruelty and paraben free brand from the US. Fantasy 3-in-1 is a powder blush, highlighter and eyeshadow in a nude blush pink suitable for all skin types. 

PHB’s Anti-aging Serum with Rose & Sea Buckthorn is vegan, cruelty free and Halal as well as being suitable for all skin types. It smells pretty good too. 

Lucy Annabella travel sized treatment oil for skin, face and hair. This has Orange and Marjoram oils for a restful mood. 

In the Buff Mineral Highlighter in Sunshine Glitz is a golden hued 100% natural ingredients and vegan glow.

Bonus: Creme of Nature 100% Pure Argan Oil & Leave in Conditioner samples.  

beauty, make up, reviews

Product Review: Make Up Revolution’s Fortune Favours the Brave Palette

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Designed in collaboration with Jane aka British Beauty Blogger, this palette was almost impossible to get hold of. It was available from Superdrug and Make Up Revolution’s website, occasionally.

However, I was browsing palettes recently in Superdrug and it now seems to be readily available.

I’d admired the other Make Up Revolution palettes for a while, especially the Mermaids one but since I am really lazy about remembering to use them, I rarely buy palettes.

Having seen this gorgeous palette all over social media I decided to splash out (it’s a very affordable £10) and treat myself to it.

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The gold embossed packaging is very nice, and as with other Make Up Revolution packaging, it looks more expensive than it was, making it a nice addition to any make up shelf or countertop.

Let’s have a look at the colours within.

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I like the marble glitters, and the range of 30 shades is great, I can definitely see some that’ll get a lot of use.

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Swatch selection

The brush isn’t the best ever, but palette brushes rarely are so I’ll be using my trusty eyeshadow brushes, currently these ones.

The swatches don’t really do the colours justice and while some of the colours aren’t really me, this is a solid collection and worth the investment.

beauty, make up, reviews

Make Up Menu – Revlon Ultra HD Matte Liquid Lipstick

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I like a bold matte lip, gloss just sticks my hair to my mouth and recently I swatched the new Revlon liquid lipsticks (a product I love btw, much easier to apply and slides on easy).

Revlon seems to be reformatting a lot of their products and streamlining their range and I think these beauties are here to stay.

Despite being blonde with very pale skin, I don’t really go for pale lip colours, preferring a bold purple or red, so I made a beeline for the purple hued one, sadly Superdrug were out of stock, but I will return for it.

Instead I went for the deep pink of Obsession (one of my personal bugbears – the terrible names given to make up shades), which, while it could be punchier, is great for every day wear.

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Devotion (top), Obsession (bottom)

In my Glamour Summer Edit from Latest in Beauty there was the nude/pink shade Devotion – which they reckon is the perfect shade for anyone, which I’m not 100% sure about as different skin tones suit different shades, even before you take personality and taste into consideration.

To be honest I don’t think you need to build up the colour as they’re quite pigmented, perhaps if you were using the paler shades you might want to.

It lasted fairly well, although I’m not the best judge as I have a terrible habit of licking and chewing on my bottom lip, having to reapply lip balm all the time, so I probably eat more lip products than anything else. 

If you prefer a glossy lip, slick a clear gloss over the top for added shimmer.

Have you tried Revlon’s new liquid lipsticks? Thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

books, reviews

Book Review: The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson

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I don’t believe in ghosts, in things that go bump in the night, I grew up in a house that’s the best part of 200 years old and felt perfectly happy, I wandered around Hampton Court Palace and didn’t notice a single cold spot or headless Ann Boleyn.

I think ghost hunters and stories work best if you’re susceptible to them, and that’s certainly what happens when Eleanor is invited to spend a summer in the supposedly sinister Hill House by Dr Montague.

There are strange noises, cold spots, singing coming from empty rooms and blood dripping down the walls. As Eleanor, Theodora, Luke and the Doctor spend their nights trapped in Hill House, they all start to go a bit odd.

They become suspicious of one another, listening at doors and watching each other. Their paranoia knows no bounds. When Dr Montague’s wife and her ‘friend’ arrive to test the house’s manifestations, the whole thing begins to boil over.

The claustrophobia of the house, combined with the sinister layout and the apparent religious fervour of its builder, create a heady atmosphere for people, like Eleanor and Theodora (picked by the Dr for their supposed psychic sensitivity), and drives things to a tragic conclusion.

Jackson is a wonderful writer, her work is atmospheric and sinister, I loved We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which played out like an extended locked room mystery with its cast of characters self-imposed prisoners in one big, slightly creepy house, and here she presents another.

I wasn’t scared, but intrigued by the premise, is the house sinister because the Dr has told them it is, or is there truly something there? You decide.

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