My Personal Beauty Wish List

As a blogger from time to time I get to try something nice… and all is good in the world but then comes the time when I want to try a bit more… or maybe try them all… or even try a slightly different variation…

Last week as it was Black Friday I was browsing various websites in search of the perfect “something” for myself and thus I bookmarked a few things that I would really love to try.

So with no further delay, in no particular order, this is my very own Personal Beauty Wish List!

This might be considered a little bit greedy but I would as I said really love them all! I was lucky once enough to try some Botanicals Balm and I totally loved it… now I am hooked and want them all. So lucky for me, they have a special Christmas gift selection, which I think actually represents good value for money; especially with their current special offer of “Purchase any two gift collections and get a facial collection for free”.

To make the offer complete there is also the Footcare Trio and Handcare Essentials set 🙂

Next on my list is a Madara set. In the past I’ve tried a few face cleansers from this brand and I was very pleased with them. I would really like to try the whole dry skin range; I wonder if I used all the products together if it will make a major difference.

Natural perfumes? I’ve never tried any, so I am intrigued and would love to give them a go. I like the patchouli scent so Pure Patchouli from Acorelle seems to me like a good starting point for a journey into natural perfumes.

Lately I have been having some problems with my sleep pattern… again… I have had some Deep Sleep Dream Cream before and I really liked it, so the whole collection of therapeutic products, designed to enhance a peaceful sleep sounds perfect to me right now.

Finally…I need something for my hair. They are still dry and I am still looking for the perfect “something”. Until last Friday I didn’t even know that a company like Rahua existed, but I really liked the description and now would love to try it. 100%, free from gluten, synthetics, parabens and sulphates – sounds perfect on paper.

Have you tried any of these products?

What’s on your beauty wish list?

One thing ticked off the wish list – Dyson DC41Mk2 Animal

A few weeks ago a huge lovely parcel arrived on my door step – it was a Dyson DC41Mk2 Animal. I have wanted one of these vacuum cleaners for years but there was always something else far more urgent that needed to be bought first…

Anyway, it was finally here!

My own, personal Dyson DC41Mk2 Animal.

I had huge plans for it. On the one hand I wanted to open it right now, the moment that the courier brought it to me, but then on the other hand I had a video idea which required me to stay put and keep my brand new Dyson, well “brand new”…

I really wanted to film me cleaning with my Dyson, and the money shot, after cleaning with my old vacuum and then see if there was any difference… I thought that this might be an interesting thing to do but the days were passing by, life was manic and I was nowhere closer to my video project being started… when I did actually have a moment either the weather was very bad which meant no natural light for actually shooting the video indoors or the weather was fine but there was no one around to actually help me, like all of us I am cursed with being born with only two hands… I didn’t even want to attempt vacuuming with 2 different machines and filming it at the same time… this would be quite insane, even for me…

So, the days were passing by and still no video…

The days kept passing by and every day I looked and my shiny new Dyson still in its box…

Then some more days passed by and then I finally broke!

Yesterday after yet another discussion with my trusty old Henry about his aging status and resulting lack of abilities to include actually cleaning effectively I broke! I ripped the box open and decided that enough is enough; I just had to try my new friend.

Within 5 minutes the Dyson DC41Mk2 Animal was put all together and I was off…

OMG what a difference!

OMG it was a pure pleasure!

The 1m x 1.5m rug by the front door, which normally would take me around 15 minutes to clean (usually with me on my knees), was totally clean and dog / cat hair free within 1 minute maybe 2 at most… not only was it fast, there was no need for getting down on my knees anymore and cleaning with a precision brush – Dyson just ate it all like a pro!

I am over the moon!

30 minutes and 9 containers full of hairs and dust later my house was totally clean! Yes, 9 bins… the amount of stuff he can suck up is just unreal… I really didn’t have an idea my house was SO dirty!

And you know what… I now have some totally new ideas for my video and I think that it will be much better than my original plan… so stay tuned as a full review of my new friend – Dyson DC41Mk2 Animal is coming to a blog near you soon 🙂

* Picture courtesy of Dyson.
I received a Dyson DC41Mk2 Animal vacuum cleaner for a review purpose.

Currys PC World Blogger Gift Guide Challenge #bloggergiftguide

Less than a week to go! That is all and then Christmas Day will be here!… and with it hopefully comes tons of gifts, festive foods and an abundance of love.

Most of us struggle every year with the choice of gift for our loved ones. Some of us have it easier than others but we all face the same problem –

what to buy?

where to buy it from?

and

how to pay for it?

There is a lot of gift guides out there and they can really help us with our selection or if nothing else inspire ideas and options you may not have thought about before. This year Mark and I have decided that we will drop personal gifts on account of getting something bigger for the house that all of us can enjoy. Our choice wasn’t easy as we want a lot – TV for the kids room, so we don’t have to spend hours starring at kiddie movies, new oven for the kitchen as the existing one is falling to pieces, so cooking can be a pleasure again, new coffee machine which will allow us to enjoy a perfect cup of coffee every morning, tablet, as everyone seems to have one except us… and the list can go on and on… But as we are not millionaires and funds are limited at present, we had to narrow it down to a few things, things which we will make the most use of or something we really need opposed to wanting. We cut our loooong list down to 3 main items; we need to get for ourselves.

So here it is – My Dream Wish List for Christmas 2013 (in no particular order)

Our Dream New Laptop

Currently we have a work PC and an old XP based laptop. We have no tablet (I wish we had, don’t know why but I am sure I need one) and sometimes we struggle. Too often, too many household members want or need to do something on the net. With me occupying the main PC almost 24/7 (work, you know :-)) there is only 1 laptop to go around. In light of this we really need a new one. Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite looks perfect. It ticks all the boxes of what we were looking for.

Our Dream New Mixer

As you all know Mark cooks and bakes a lot. We have a mixer but it is 10 years old now and it simply cannot handle what Mark wants it to do, “Not fit for purpose” he mumbles a lot.  You might think that this choice will be more a gift for Mark, but … not really. If he doesn’t bake lovely bread, delicious cookies, make us donuts, cakes, cheesecakes or any of the other yummy stuff we will have nothing nice to eat… so you see, it is in the best interest for all of us to get Mark a new mixer, he’s happy and therefore we are happy. We did a lot of research and the KitchenAid seems to be the one to get, Mark is forever pointing them out on the TV on cook shows. We are going for a red one, so it can match our other kitchen accessories like the kettle, toaster and microwave oven.

Our Dream – PS4

Yes, you might think this is just an extravagance to want a PS4 when we have PS3 and for example need a new oven but… we are cave people… so we really need it. A lot of our entertainment is home based. We have all consoles out there (except for new PS4 and Xbox One), gaming PC and 100s of DVD – this is the way we spend our free time. We don’t do “going out” so often. We invest in our home entertainment and a PS4 seems to be next logical step.

So here you go… this is what we want to find under Christmas tree this year.

What about you?

What is on top of your Christmas Wish List?

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This post is my entry into Currys PC World Blogger Gift Guide Challenge #bloggergiftguide. If you wish to take part please hurry as it ends on Friday 20 December 2013 at 11:59pm.

Review – IWOOT – Big Head Memo Pad by j-me

IWOOT – Big Head Memo Pad by j-me

With Christmas just around the corner we all face the same problem – what to buy for our loved ones. Sometimes if luck shines on us we are provided with a lengthy wish list and our selection is so much easier, but sometimes we have no help at all, so it is up to us to get it right. I find that some of my friends cause me the biggest headache, especially the one which I don’t have the most regular of contact with to know their current passion yet they still feature on my Christmas Gift List. I want to buy something for them to show my “love” and to make them smile this festive season. Most of the time this will probably be a lower value gift with a budget of maybe up to £20 or so… something which will say “Enjoy” have a great time and yes I am still thinking of you.

“I Want One Of Those” offer a great selection of gifts like this. They stock some awesome gadgets which are fun, quirky yet still very usable. I was offered a pick from a selection of their gifts for review… after spending over an hour thinking about which one to pick as my choice which really wasn’t easy… I’ve selected The Big Head Memo Pad.

My thinking was – it looks great, it will be very useful and it will go perfectly with the red details in our (though Mark has declared it as his) kitchen. Once it arrived I was extremely pleased with my final choice.

The Big Head Memo Pad is exactly as described and exactly as I imagined it would be. No more small pieces of paper flying around with important notes on, no more missed appointments or phone numbers which I wrote down somewhere and now they are nowhere to be found, hiding with all the other things I can’t find, you know in that safe place.

I totally adore my Big Head Memo Pad.

Sometimes gadgets like this do not live up to our expectation, but The Big Head Memo Pad in my opinion is perfect and there is nothing I would change to improve it. It is solid and doesn’t feel flimsy. It supports itself with no problems despite its giant head :-). The pen, which comes with it, includes a dry wipe sponge end so cleaning the pad couldn’t be any easier…

Dry Wipe Pen

write…flip…wipe…

… but most of all it looks fantastic. It is stylish, well made and it will brighten up any room you put it into. The memo pad itself measures 7” across, which is big enough for most notes, messages or even a full shopping list if you write with a regular letter size.

Browsing around IWOOT I come across The Big Head Memo Pads “brother” – The Big Head Coin Dish… and I just must have it! I need one more little fellow to help resolve the problem of loose change and maybe another for keys… which most morning are nowhere to be found, which drives me mad because I know I definitely put them somewhere safe the night before, just please don’t be the safe place never to be found again.

Looking gooood 🙂

The Big Head Memo Pad can be purchased at this moment for £13.99 (7% off standard price). That’s it. No extra cost and no delivery charges (IWOOT offers free standard UK and European delivery on orders over £10, some restriction apply so please check website for details).

So, what do you think about The Big Head Memo Pad?

Would you find it useful?

Do you like the look of it?

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