Weekend Makes & Bakes

Another weekend with a little time to spend doing a wee bit of baking. The Raspberry Upside Down Cake was a recipe in the December issue of Good Housekeeping.

I made cookies again. Some have chocolate chunks in & others have fudge chunks. Lastly the fairy cakes that are always a huge hit with the youngsters! 

Christmas Gifts For The Green Fingered

More Christmas Present Ideas. This time I thought I would cover the gifts for the gardeners out there. The internet is a wash with ideas but I have picked out just a few for you to see at a glance. There is definitely something here for keen gardeners of all ages. 

* Please note that prices quoted here were correct at time of posting.

 

1 - Recycled Leather Garden Belt Pouch | £19.95

2 - Shrawley Cream Effect Clock & Weather Station | £17.49

3 - Gardening Trug Set | £22

4 - Thoughtful Gardener Wooden Bird House | £20

5 - Unwins Kitchen garden Herb Kit | £5.49

6 - Marie Curie Daffodil Wellies | £19.99

7 - Grow Your Own Vegetable Patch | £9.99

8 - Paisley Rose Gardening Set | £6.95

9 - English Heritage Joint Senior Membership | £49

10 - Name & Grow A Rose Kit | £19.95

11 - RHS Gift Membership | £47

Coming up next week I am planning a Stocking Fillers post & I also thought I may do a 2nd post of advent calenders too. 

Thanks once again for reading. 

Amanda x

Clinique Haul

Did a small Clinique haul this weekend as I wanted to get myself some All About Eyes cream as not sure when I will be getting to my nearest stockist.

As well as the eye cream I bought the Superbalm Lip Treatment. I have not tried this one before so thought I would see how I go ( plus it was little cheaper than the all about lips I had previously.)

The rest is all samples sent to me. I have a tube & a sachet of the moisture surge over night mask, a small tube of the 7 day scrub ( have tried this before , it was OK ) & a sachet of firming cream. I am not sure what 1 little sachet is meant to say to you because this is probably only a couple of uses worth & usually most items take a couple of weeks to have any effect. Still this is why it is a free sample & so thus I will use it anyway. 

Thanks as always for reading.

Back tomorrow with a post of Christmas gifts under £10. 

Amanda x

My 1st Graze Box

I have been wanting to try the Graze Box for a long time. I am sure mainly it is because I feel like I am missing out on something. Rob thinks they look a total waste of money. However when I was given the ticket for a free one by WH Smith last weekend I finally decided the time was right to try it out. After all you can cancel at any time & as this one was free to try I have not actually lost anything other than a small amount of time registering online.

Today it turned up & I was pleasantly surprised. I will definitely eat 3 out of the 4. I suspect Rob will enjoy the 4th one anyway if I decide he can have it though!! I shall probably keep it going for a couple of weeks now anyway ( I get the 5th one free too) & if I am not so impressed stop it I will.

Thanks for reading

Amanda x

Garden Centre Haul (Yes! Another One!)

Another weekend & another visit to another garden centre. We had a 50% off voucher for this particular one so wanted to try & get our Christmas village scene from them. I love this Santa Workshop. It has lots of things moving on it & the music can be on or off. Finley loves this. We got it out when we got home to check it over ( sorry I didn't think to take that photo) & he would not let us put it away again! 

This particular garden centre (Garden Pride at Ditchling in East Sussex) always have amazing decorations. I could seriously spend a fortune there.

I did buy a small Yankee Candle in Cherries on Ice ( which I have burning as I type) but didn't take a photo of that either. I am a terrible blogger!

Thank you for reading

Amanda xxx

Product Empties #3 | Part 3 | Make-Up

The last installment of this round of empties. Make-up takes a turn this time.

Most of these have been in previous empties as well. I would buy all these products again & have already done s in all cases. The primers are some of the best I have tried. The powder is my ultimate go to right now as well. I sometimes struggle to buy my shade so I generally try to stay 1 compact a head & buy when I see it even if I have only just opened a new one.

RIMMEL EXAGGERATE UNDERCOVER SHADOW PRIMER
RIMMEL FIX & PERFECT PRO PRIMER
BOURJOIS HEALTHY BALANCE POWDER (x2) in 55 (DARK BEIGE)

Product Empties #3 | Part 2 | Skincare

Part 2 of my current empties. This time it is the turn of skincare. I think the reason for so many this month is due to having a few sample sized items to use up.

Beginning with Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Facial Wash. This was lovely. Really cleansed my skin for me nicely & the scent of it was nice & subtle. I would buy this again when I have used up all my back ups of other brands. 

Clinique All About Lips. Loved this. Sad to have finished it. Really kept my lips conditioned really nicely. On the list for a repurchase one day!

Boots Essentials Cucumber Eye Gel. I quite liked this. I always adore the cucumber scent of their range. I know it was only a 15ml tube but I still felt like there wasn't much product in the tube as I used it very quickly. I would possibly buy it again but not at this time.

Clarins One-Step Facial Cleanser with Orange Extract. I got this 10ml sample with a recent order & omg I love it. I have already bought the larger bottle because I thought it did a great job. 

Clinique All About Eyes. Another sample size pot & an item that we know I love too. I have no completely run out of all the sample pots I had of this. I am quite sad about it too. Added to my list along with the lip treatment though.

Harmony Moisturizing creme balm with Aloe Vera butter. Got in a GlossyBox ages ago. Honestly the jury is totally out on this. Scent was OKish but I found it quite a thick cream which sometimes too a while to sink in. I would not buy this even if I could actually find it for sale somewhere as I don't think it was that good.

Lastly - Clarins Eye Contour Gel. I liked this but as it was only a smaple size there wasn't many uses from it. I would buy it again when the time is right as I thought it did a good job. 

Thank you for reading

Amanda xxx