Sunday 27 April 2014

All Change!

As I mentioned in my last post (Empties #16) that I had some news to share with you but I would do a separate post on it, so here we go!

The Co-Op sent me this to help with the move, so cute!
I've been job hunting fairly seriously since about December looking for entry level jobs in Merchandising but I didn't get very far.  The furthest I got was at the end of last year: a phone interview with House of Fraser which I passed and got to the next level which was a workshop at their head office in London.  However I ended up turning it down because I would need to move to London and the salary was definitely not high enough for me to be able to support myself, and they weren't going to cover my travel costs for the interview either.

I applied for a few more and had a few calls from agencies with jobs for me to apply for but they were always in London!  I tried contacting numerous Scottish retail head offices to see if they could give me any sort of work experience but with no luck, so I decided to widen my search to include northern England.

Long story short:  At the start of April I finally managed to get a job, yayy!!  However it is in Greater Manchester so in less than a week I will be moving down south...

It's slightly terrifying but I'm so excited and can't wait to start my new life down there.  I've got a flat sorted but I've only seen it once and the next time I see it will be when I'm moving in which is making life a bit stressful trying to get everything organised for furnishing it...  I'm looking forward to moving into my own place because I'm still living at home so it will be so good having my own space and choosing my interiors etc!

Are any of you working in retail head offices or in Merchandising?  I've no idea what to expect!

<3

Sunday 20 April 2014

Empties #16


I have got some super exciting news to share with you all (although if you follow me on Twitter you probably know!) but I will do a separate more personal/life themed post so you can read it if you are interested :) Anyway, onto this next bunch of empties!



John Frieda Full Repair Deep Conditioner
Thoughts: I received this to try out along with other John Frieda products.  I wasn't particularly impressed by the others but I really liked this deep conditioner.  I used it just as a normal conditioner but sometimes I would leave it on for longer as a hydrating mask.  £6.99/150ml here via Boots.
Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Yes.


REN Hydra-Calm Cleansing Milk
Thoughts: I got this as sample with an order from LoveLula and I really like it!  It leaves my skin feeling so clean and soft.  The Hydra-Calm range have been rebranded as Evercalm now but as far as I'm aware they're just the same.  £16/150ml here
Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Yes.


Liz Earle Sheer Skin Tint in Light
Thoughts: LOVE this product!  This is now my everyday tinted moisturiser - I only wear foundation on special occasions haha!  I like to mix it with a highlighter such as Soap & Glory Hocus Focus to give it a nice and glowy finish.  £21/40ml here.
Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Already have!


Bourjois Fan-Tastic Volume Mascara
Thoughts: This mascara was fine, I quite liked the shape of the wand.  As the name implies, it was in a one sided fan shape which was quite good for coating the lashes and giving them a bit of curl.  £9.99/9ml here via Boots.
Cruelty-free?: I thought so but there's a bit of confusion with them at the moment as they've been seen selling in China.  I have emailed them asking so we shall find out soon hopefully!
Repurchase?: Probably not.


Lush So White Bath Bomb (not pictured)
Thoughts: So White is a Christmas bath bomb which smells like apples!  I love apple scented products and this was no exception.  Fizzes nicely with some white foam and it even changes colour on the inside which was a nice surprise! 
Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Yes.



Tuesday 15 April 2014

REN Rosa Centifolia & Vita Mineral Special Purchase Kit


Just a quick post this evening to share this with you! LoveLula are doing a deal on this REN Skincare kit which includes: 50ml Vita Mineral Daily Supplement Cream (full size), 50ml Rosa Centifolia 3 in 1 Cleansing Water, 25ml Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Gel, 10ml Vita Mineral Omega 3 Face Oil and 3ml Vita Mineral Active 7 Eye Gel all for only £23! Link here.

Unfortunately it's now sold out and I'm so annoyed that I didn't get it yesterday when I got the email!  However, it does have a 'notify me' when it's back in stock where you can add your email which is what I've done.  I'm not even sure if it's a limited edition thing or what, but it's worth adding your email if it's something you think you'd like to try.

Fingers crossed!

<3


Thursday 10 April 2014

Current Favourite Eye Make Up Remover

I've been trialling several eye make up removers over the past few months after my favourite one ended up not being cruelty free (it was Boots Botanics, but apparently they reformulated it and made it crap so that makes me feel better!).


After going though various different brands I've finally settled on The Body Shop Camomile Gentle Eye Make Up Remover and am now on my second bottle.  

Generally I prefer oil based products but I've yet to find one which is cruelty free actually - if you can think of one please let me know! - so I've just been using water based ones recently.  I think this one works really well at removing eye (and lip) make up quickly and effectively.  Although Caroline Hirons says that you shouldn't need a separate eye make up remover, your cleanser should do the job, I definitely prefer taking it off before cleansing, especially if the make up's quite heavy!  Most of my cleansers would be fine at taking off eye make up but I rarely use them for that, I also feel a bit worried about rubbing round my eye area with a muslin cloth or flannel!

The ingredients for this product are on the website - here.  It contains SLES which I'm not a big fan of and prefer to avoid but it's not a main ingredient thankfully.

Honestly, it's not amazing but it's definitely the best one I have used which is cruelty free, I am quite happy with how it does the job.  My only complaint would be that if you have too much on the cotton ball/pad then it can sting the eyes a bit but to counteract this I use it on my eyebrows first to remove excess liquid.

It is £8 for 250ml but I only buy from The Body Shop when they have offers on, which is pretty much all the time!  If you keep an eye out you will rarely pay full price for any of their products online.

I see that they also do a waterproof eye and lip make up remover, has anyone tried this one?  What's your favourite eye make up remover?

<3

Wednesday 2 April 2014

Homemade Veggie Nandos


Nando's seems to be a bit of a love or hate thing, some people are obsessed and others think it's rubbish and overrated.  I am part of the 'love it' category which probably sounds crazy to some people seeing as Nandos is a chicken restaurant and I don't eat chicken...  But if you actually look at the menu, yes there's loads of chicken, but there's also loads of veggie options!  For example, for the main meals you have bean burger, veggie burger or portobello mushroom and halloumi...  The one I always get is the latter, usually in a burger with chips and spicy rice.

However one night I was lying in bed and had this sudden amazing idea - to make a homemade Nando's using Quorn?!  So the next night my boyfriend and I were cooking dinner so we decided to have a go at this and see how it would turn out.

We went to Asda and picked up the following ingredients:


Quorn 6 Chicken Fillets
Nando's Peri-Peri rub in Medium
Nando's Garlic Peri-Peri Sauce
Nando's Chip Salt
Asda Seasoned French Fries
Shredded iceberg lettuce
Pitta bread (we got the giant ones)
  1. We started by turning on the oven for the chips and rolling 4 chicken pieces in the spice rub.
  2. Put some chips on a tray and sprinkle some chip salt over them.
  3. Heat olive oil in a griddle or frying pan then place in the 4 chicken pieces.
  4. Fry the Quorn on both sides until cooked through, adding in more of the spice mix if desired.
  5. Toast the pitta bread in toaster or under the grill to heat them up.
  6. Assemble everything on the plate - 2 pieces of Quorn, lettuce and sauce in the pitta, then chips at the side with more chip salt over the top.
It was sooo good!  Far too spicy though, when we made it the second time we used the Lemon & Herb Peri-Peri rub and it was so much better, didn't burn my tongue off!  My boyfriend hadn't tried Quorn before and he said he really enjoyed it and couldn't tell it wasn't real meat.

Have you got any good meat substitute recipes?  The Nandos products are also suitable for vegans so it could quite easily be adjusted for a vegan diet too.

<3
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...