New Discoveries – Migrastick

I haven’t shared with you any of my new discoveries in a while… this is not because I have forgotten but simply because I haven’t discovered anything particularly amazing… until now.

A few weeks ago I was introduced to Migrastick – a tiny roll-on device which helps to relieve the pain caused by headaches and migraines.

I don’t know how you are dealing with a headache but for me it is a nightmare. I hate taking pills, so when the pain comes my first consideration is not take the painkillers, which most of the time leads to even more pain, consequently my stress levels go through the roof and I end up having no choice but to eat some pills. This in itself makes my uneasy, grumpy and simply unhappy.

Migrastick works from the outside; it gives a lovely cold, almost freezing sensation to your temples. It smells like peppermint chewing gum and best of all it works.

Migrastick contains NO preservatives, parabens, colourings or alcohol. It is made from 100% pure and natural essential oils; it contains: peppermint essential oil (Mentha piperita), lavender essential oil (Lavandula angustifolia); Isopropyl myristate (a fatty acid of vegetable origin).

So how does it work?

You simply apply it to your temples and it will ease your pain. The cold feeling and the aroma from the oils work on your senses soothing them and then taking the pain away.

I don’t get migraines, I get just headaches, though some can be quite bad so I am not able to tell you if it works for migraines but it for sure works on headaches.

As I have very dry skin I was a bit worried at the beginning that the menthol component will irritate my skin and make it even more dry, but to my surprise this is not the case. Not sure why… maybe because these are actual oils inside the stick.

This is a really fabulous product and well worth sharing.

I only wish it had a slightly different style of packaging so you could actually see inside of it. As it is now, I have no idea how much I still have left, so I find myself wondering “is it time to buy a new one yet?”

If you want to read in more details about Migrastick please visit their website  and if you want to buy some you can purchase it from Healthy2u.

Do you think Migrstick is a good idea?

Or do you prefer a traditional painkiller?

MyPure Choice – Naturtint – Permanent Hair Colorant

To be honest I have never thought about environmentally “green” hair colorant before. For some reason I was under the impression that they simply didn’t exist. Naturtint Permanent Hair Colorant is the closest you can get to having natural hair colorant. The Naturtint Permanent Hair Dyes contain no parabens, phthalates, ammonia or resorcinol. The only chemical present in the mix is the minimum amount of ppd (p-phenylenediamine) necessary to make them work well and cover grey hair permanently. So you can have a permanent hair colorant with a minimum of ppd or if you prefer none at all you can pick the Naturtint Semi-permanent Hair Dyes.

I went with the permanent option. The Naturtint Permanent Hair Colorant comes in a selection of 30 shades. I picked Fireland and Fire Red. The first shade to be tested was Fire Red 🙂

Let’s start with what’s in the box:

• – Naturtint Colorant
• – Naturtint Nutrideep, which is a conditioner
• – Naturtint Shampoo
• – Colour Developer
• – Protective gloves
• – Instruction leaflet

So basically you get, more or less, the same things as what most other hair colorants offer. The shampoo was a first for me as I’ve never had a hair colorant with a shampoo before, so one difference from my usual. There was also something else I liked about the contents – the active colorant comes in an actual bottle and not in a tube like every other hair dye I’ve used before. This is a huge plus for me – it makes the mixing process much easier and you don’t have to worry about getting every last drop out of the tube, which is on most occasions virtually impossible.

In use thoughts:

The first thing which you may notice (after you mixed everything and shaken it) is the lack of smell. You actually have to want to smell it and stick the product under your nose in order to do so; otherwise weirdly the smell seems not to be there. If you get a brief “whiff” of it, it smells very herbal, almost medicinal like, but you actually have to want to smell it. The consistency of the mixture is jelly jam like – it is quite thick but still spreads with ease. I actually made much less mess using it then I normally do. My hair is quite long at the moment (at least for me) as they are just past shoulder in length and I had no problem with the amount of mixture – it was more then enough to cover all my hair.

Once the time was up and I started rinsing it my hair felt quite nice. The use of the provided shampoo made them worse, meaning they felt really rough and lifeless, but once the conditioner went on everything changed. Even during putting the conditioner on you can feel your hair getting smoother and softer; after two minutes, this feeling just gets stronger and stronger. After rinsing my hair for the final time I was left with smooth and silky feeling hair.

So what about the colour itself?

I don’t know you tell me… do you like it?

Naturtint Permanent Hair Colorant is priced at £9.99 (currently you can buy it at £8.99), which is actually only a few pounds more than most superstore brands. For these extra few pounds you get a natural product (or at least as close to natural as possible) which is cruelty free and can be used by both vegetarians and vegans. I would rate it 5 out of 5. It is rare for me to find a product which I actually like completely, most of the time I can always pick something to change or that bugs me, but this time I didn’t, not a single thing.

Did you ever try Naturtint?

What’s your favourite hair colorant?

* Products featured in this post were provided for free by MyPure for review purpose.

Review – Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1 – for all your leathers

Today leather can be found everywhere – we have leather clothes and shoes, we sit on leather sofas and chairs, we have leather upholstery in our cars and let’s not forget about our handbags or briefcases…

Over time when untreated, leather will lose its natural oils and moisture. We can prevent it by using a specialist cleaning product and conditioners, just like Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1.
Leather products, most of the time, come with a high price tag so it is important to look after them in order to enjoy their beauty for years to come.

When I heard that Chamberlain’s are looking for bloggers to put their conditioner to test I couldn’t resist. I had two main things in mind – our sofa and Marks bike leathers – which I really wanted to test it on. As it ended up I was prohibited from touching Marks leathers… apparently clean and shiny bike gear is a big NO, NO! He doesn’t want to look like someone who just left a show room so the bike leathers were out…

I was left with our beloved sofa as a test subject…

When we bought it we didn’t have dogs… or cats for that matter so we didn’t really consider how hard or easy it would be to keep clean. For a normal family environment it is not that hard, you wipe it clean every now and then and it will usually, barring accidents, stay clean till next time… all you have to worry about is dust settling on top of it. For us it is a bit different… We have Bunk… he gloops everywhere, he goes for a drink and then has the overwhelming need for a major head shake in the middle of our front room just next to the sofa… so you see… our sofa gets abused a lot, therefore it requires a special care plan.

I was wondering, if I treat it with Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1, will it help to reduce the settling of new gloop… It does, but most of all it gives some much needed moisture back into our leather sofa. As we clean it much more than you would usually expect too, it is drying out much faster… Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1 brings back the moisture level for us and gives it that soft, luxurious feel once again.

Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1 is a water based leather conditioner. It comes in an 8Fl.oz / 237 ml bottle, which has a very interesting shape. It is tall but slim, which makes it very easy to handle and pour from. You will also receive a pad, which is 13 cm in diameter round sponge, with a towel like feel, external finish.

It is important to remember that Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1 is NOT a cleaner. If your leather is dirty, you will have to clean it before applying any conditioner.

As our sofa gets a clean on a regular basis all I used was a damp cloth and then a dry cloth, to remove any new “surprises” left on it by Bunk.

My full cleaning / conditioning kit

So how did the process work for me?

Easy, to be honest… all I did was…

• Inspect the sofa and find all dirty spots
• Clean it with dump cloth
• Dry it
• Apply conditioner
• Buff the spot
• Admire the final effect

Supplying Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1 with an application pad is a nice touch. The pad is the perfect size and it is easy to use… yes it gets dirty but you can wash it within seconds. All you need to do is pour some running water over it and all the dirt will go away, than squeeze the remaining water out and dry… once dry you are ready to go again.

Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1 comes in a black bottle so you cannot really see how much of it is left, but after doing the whole sofa, I didn’t notice a big difference in the weight of the bottle, so I believe it to be very efficient.

Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1 is 100% natural and contains no harsh chemicals. And it smells amazing. Can you imagine 100s of crushed almonds in your room – this is what it smells like! Really lovely and natural but gentle, it is not overwhelming or too powerful.

For this moment in the UK, Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1 can be purchased only via the Amazon website and is priced at £16.95. Seems a lot but when you consider how much your leather items are worth, the number is not so scary anymore.

If you are wondering about other product from this brand, the whole leather selection includes:

1. Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No.1 – water based leather conditioner – leather care liniment
2. Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No.2 – straight cleaner
3. Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No.3 – water protectant
4. Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No.4 – water based leather conditioner for the car
5. Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No.5 – water based leather conditioner for furniture treatment

So does the Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No. 1 work?

Yes, it does. It helps to restore your leathers to their full glory. It is easy to use and it smells great 😉

I would highly recommend it.

Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No.1 for all your leathers

* I received a one bottle of Chamberlain’s Leather Milk No.1 for free for review purpose. All opinions about the products are honest and my own.

How to get paid for your opinions

In this modern age a lot of people are very interested not only in what we think but also in why we think what we do. They want to know why our train of thoughts go in this way and not the opposite direction, so this gives rise to a lot of opportunities to earn some extra money for our opinions. I know and use some companies which are happy to “listen” to me and reward me for my time spent answering the questions.

Opinium Research

This is one of the companies which do paid surveys.  You register, fill out some initial questionnaires and you are ready to start. Yes, they do not pay much, as you will get only 50p or £1 or maybe £1.50 for a single study but the money adds up fast if you stick with it and you have some spare time on your hands in which to do it.

Tickbox

Tickbox have changed the way they work in the last year or so. Now they offer reward points, which you can swap for goodies. Every survey you make for them gives you X amount of points. Once you have collected the desired amount of points, you can simply swap them for your choice of item.

Join The Dots

This is one of the market research companies who offer a wide selection of activities for which you will be awarded a money incentive. I took part in the focus group regarding one of the national newspapers and I received £150 for 2 hours of my time. On another occasion I took part in a weeklong project and shared with them what I shared with my friends or family via the net, or what they shared with me… this gave me £50 (I think).

Clicks Research

This one offers product for reviews, I am not sure if you can get paid in cash… if you do I have never taken part in a project like this for them. Yet again, the idea is simple… create an account, fill out the questionnaire and wait for a project invite to land in your mail box… but remember, you have to be fast with your reply as some project fill up within minutes of the invites going out.

BzzAgent

With BzzAgent, same as with Click Research you are not going to be paid in cash, but you will receive products for free, for testing. In exchange your role is to spread your honest opinion about the product and share it with your friends and family. On the website each campaign has activities you should complete – share on Facebook or Twitter, write a short review, write a conversation report revealing who you talked to about the product and what was their reaction etc… I love BzzAgent because it gives me the opportunity to try out products, which in some cases I wouldn’t necessary buy… also I like talking about my new discoveries 🙂  Also if I receive a project invite I know I am in as I was already pre-selected, there is no more waiting with anticipation.

Super Savvy Me

It works on the same principles as BzzAgent. Once you have an account, and once a new project is up you will receive an email. The difference is, not every campaign email equals a spot in it – you will have to apply for it and wait to see if you are selected.

Come Round

Come Round is different model to BzzAgent or Super Savvy Me. Basically you are signing up to host a party for your friends, which will reflect the theme of a current campaign. Last year I was very lucky to be picked as a host for some fantastic projects, I hosted #MadTeaParty, #PhilipsBeauty Party, #PhilipsPerfectCare party and I took part in #stylechallenge with French Connection. Come Round will provide you with everything you need in order to make the party happen and you are going to get to keep the goodies afterwards 🙂 So yet again, not a cash reward per say but some of the party packs are really worth a lot of money, so if you are a party animal and the topic suits you, it is worth a try.

Revooly

Revooly is a new website dedicated to price comparisons for household items and gadgets as well as honest reviews made by users. There is a Wish List on the website with products which need to be reviewed. No, you will not get the product but you will get paid for writing a review if you already own the product. Price per review is based on a % of the current lowest price for this product on the market. I registered an interest for reviewing a Morphy Richard 44038 Toaster – it was priced at 50% of market value, which gave me almost £20 for my review, which if you want you can read here – it is review 2 🙂

So, how does it work?

Go to Revooly website and create an account. Have a browse through their Wish List and pick a product you own and fancy writing about. Once that step is completed, book your slot. You will receive an email confirming your product and review price; it will also be logged on your account. You will have 14 days to write your review and upload it onto their system. Three days before your deadline you will receive a reminder, this is the only reminder which will come and if you miss the stated time frame then the job goes back onto the Wish List and someone else will be eligible to sign up for it. There are 2 ways of making your review – written review + at least 3 pictures of the product or a video review. Worth remembering is that once you upload your review onto their website you are losing all rights to the content of it; Revooly will own your review from this point in time. They do pay via Paypal and I received my payment within 24h after my review was proofread and published.

I like the idea of this service a lot. As long as you own a product and want to share your thoughts about it, you have a chance to make some money.

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I know that there are other companies out there but so far I have not been able to find or try any of them.

If you worked with someone else, please do share!

I would love to explore some new opportunities out there.

Review – Hi-Tec Harmony Lite Mid Waterproof Boots

My Choice, My boots, My Hi-Tec Harmony Lite Mid Waterproof

For the last month I have had the pleasure to “test drive” a pair of  Hi-Tec Harmony Lite Mid Waterproof Boots. With 2 dogs which we walk at least twice a day a good pair of walking shoes or boots is a must. My first impression of the boots was very positive and after using them for a while now my opinion has not changed. I am very happy with the choice I made regarding this model.

Features of Hi-Tec Harmony Lite Mid Waterproof Boots:

• Waterproof suede leather and high performance mesh uppers
• Waterproof bootie construction
• Ghilly and rust proof hardwear lacing system
• Moisture-wicking lining keeps the foot dry
• Bespoke Italian designed webbing, gives a sophisticated edge
• Ortholite sockliner
• Vibram rubber outsole
• Harmony Lite Mid WP

The boots are extremely comfortable and well made. I especially liked the lacing system and the tongue, which is well padded. It allows me to fasten my boots tightly without hurting my ankles.

I have worn my Hi-Tec Harmony Lite Mid Waterproof Boots in both dry hot weather and on cold rainy days. They performed well in both situations.

On a hot day even after a 1hour+ walk, my feet were still dry and sweat didn’t pour from them like I had expected, which can only mean that my boots have some sort of breathing capabilities, and what a wonderful capability that is.

During the wet walk my feet were lovely and dry, which is something absolutely required taking into consideration our typical English weather and seemingly endless rain fall.

I have not had a need to clean my boots as yet, but looking at them closely I believe that it shouldn’t be a problem. The Nubuck leather uppers will be easily cleared with a sponge or a small brush. I did however spray them with leather protector, just in case… I want them to stay as pretty and new looking for as long as possible 🙂

To sum it up I am very happy with my new boots. They are great looking, and present fantastic value for money, especially now as you can save £25 of the recommended retails price making them only £49.99.

If you are looking for a new walking boots check Hi-Tec boots selection for women or man and I am sure you will be able to find something you like.

 

* Product was provided by Hi-Tec free of charge for review purposes. The opinions expressed in this review are honest and my own .