Sophie La Girafe Cosmetics

I think regardless of whether or not you have children, you will have heard of Sophie the Giraffe, the giraffe shaped teether which every child I know owns and this is unsurprising when an estimated 50million have been sold. Well alongside said teether is an entire skincare range which is just too cute and actually rather good!

Sophie la Girafe skincare is Ecocert-certified natural and organic skincare range for babies and is said to be tolerated by those who have sensitive skin. Within the range there are 6 different products - Hair & Body Wash, Body Oil, Face Cream, Bubble Bath, Protection Cream and a Body Lotion. Each Bottle or tube features Sophie la Girafe and can be found in places such as Harrods and Boots.

I was kindly sent the Hair & Body wash which I wasn't too sure about to begin with but it grew on my very quickly. It has a mild Lavender scent which I really like and find quite soothing and once it comes into contact with water, it forms a gentle. On the skin it is so gentle and after washing my skin felt so soft and smooth and incredibly moisturised. There are four main ingredients which are:

• Oat Milk to gently cleanse the skin and hair. This mild ingredient is well tolerated, even by babies with sensitive, allergy-prone skin.
• Cotton which moisturizes and conditions the hair, as well as helping untangle knots.
• White Tea which protects the skin during washing – it provides antioxidant protection to the skin and hair
• Lavender Water to provide gentle cleansing of even sensitive and allergy-prone skin

As you might expect, being Ecocert-Certified you won't find any of the following within any products from the range - GMO (Genetically modified organisms), nano-particles, synthetic perfumes or dyes, animal components, lanolin, phthalates, parabens, chlorine, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), MIT, triclosan, propylene glycol, benzobarbital, phenoxiethenol or petrochemicals.  Even I am pretty impressed with all of this and more so for a product which smells absolutely amazing and leaves the skin so soft and smooth with no irritations, no stinging, no pinkness and no drying.

So for those of you who want eco friendly skincare for you baby or even yourself, Sophie la Girafe has it covered.


Have you seen the Sophie La Girafe range?

Buzzoole: An Influencer Marketing Platform

There is a new website on the block called Buzzoole, an Influencer Marketing Platform which you might have seen sneaking its way into and onto social media. It sells itself as an ideal tool for anyone who is a social media addict that wants to improve both their presence and their popularity across them. Okay, so I am usually found pinning on Pinterest, posting on Instagram, sometimes on Facebook and Tweeting on Twitter, so I am guessing that makes me slightly addicted.

What Buzzoole does is use its own algorithm, based on your social network sites, to work out how popular and influential you are in certain categories, it then sorts them into this rather scary looking polygon to work out where you stand and mine looks something like this currently. I was surprised to see some topics have a bigger percentage than others and would love a breakdown as to what is covered under each area.

By using this graph, the aim is to help you become more influential with your online presence as well as teach you how to optimize your skills and in doing all of this. As Buzzoole is a completely automatic tool, the matching process is completely automated. A user can be selected when he/she’ll be deemed suitable for one or more campaigns in the platform, this is what Buzzoole say:

"Buzzoole is an influencer marketing platform that allows brands to identify social influencers and brand advocates within any social media channel. Through our platform, you can engage influencers in a fully automated way by providing them special offers or inviting them to exclusive events, thus stimulating the buzz around your products and services".

I signed up within a matter of minutes, linked my active social media accounts and voila, I am a member.  If you are thinking of signing up, then you can do so right here - link. Once you have signed up, there will be opportunities to join campaigns to earn yourself some credits, those credits do vary depending on the brand/company and what it is you are being asked to do, though please be aware that you will not be able to participate in every campaign, this is all determined by your polygon and how influential you are in certain areas.

The credits that you earn, for each campaign you do can be exchanged for an Amazon giftcard and your credit page, which is updated twice a month, will lead you to something like is.

Alongside campaigns, there is a chance to earn credits by referring people to join, completing your profile, taking an introductory survey, sharing your polygon graph and downloading the app onto your phone to name a few.  You can also earn badges, which are shown on your profile. Every badge that you achieve represents your influence and engagement in a particular category: Social, Campaign related, or Referral badges.  So essentially, you are being rewarded for the amount of time and effort you put into helping to and making yourself become more noticeable.

The one addition I would love to see on Buzzoole is that of Pinterest.  I am obsessed with it as a social media tool and spend a good few hours a day randomly pinning pictures to my boards, in doing so it drives quite a lot of traffic to my blog. The same can be said for both Periscope and Snapchat, two sites I also use and again have a growing following on, infact I spend more time on Periscope watching other people than I do on Facebook and youtube.

So, if you think Buzzoole is a site worth trying, then here is a little video that they have made to give you more of an idea as to how Buzzoole works, here it is explained for you.

**This is a collaborative post, but is an honest review of the site as I have experienced it.

L'Occitane Advent Calendar 2015

I am a huge fan of L'Occitane and I cannot wait to see what 2016 has in store for this amazing brand. When I was kindly gifted an Advent Calendar I was ecstatic because I had tried to get one in store to no avail, no sooner were they in stock, they sold out. It cost just £39 which is an absolute bargain to be had.

I adore how this advent calendar has been put together, for me it very much represents the brand I have come to know and love and I love the design and graphics.  As you can imagine, behind the 24 allotted doors is a product or surprise inclusion and again I have shared all of them on my Instagram feed.

Opening like a big A3 book, this advent calendar is really well made and this is what I found:

Day One - Ultra Rich Face Cream with Shea Butter

Day Two - Shampoo containing 5 essential oils

Day Three  -Cute Gift Tags

Day Four - Extra Gentle Milk Soap

Day Five - Rose Scented Hand Cream

Day Six - Almond Shower Gel

Day Seven - A Red Bow to hand on your tree

Day Eight - Pivoine Flora Handcream

Day Nine -  Hair Conditoner containing 5 essential oils

Day Ten - Cherry Blossom Hand Cream

Day Eleven - Festive Nail File

Day twelve - Jasmine Scented Soap

Day Thirteen - Ultra Rich Body Lotion

Day Fourteen - Foot Cream for Dry Skin

Day Fifteen - Verbena Body Lotion

Day Sixteen - Christmas Table Place Cards

Day Seventeen - Almond Hand Cream

Day Eighteen - Star Shaped Cookie Cutter

Day Nineteen - Moisturizing Lip Balm

Day Twenty - Verena Shower Gel

Day Twenty One - Ten Christmas Stickers

Day Twenty Two - Hand Cream for Dry Hands

Day Twenty Three - A bag of gold stars

Day Twenty Four - Pivoine Flora Eau de Toilette

Now that is an amazing haul of products from one calendar and it contains some of my absolute favourite products such as the Jasmine Scented Soap, Almond Shower Gel and the Cherry Blossom Hand Cream.  There are some products which are also new to me and I cannot wait to give them a try.

What do you think to this offering from L'Occitane?

Marks and Spencer Advent Calendar 2015

If you follow me on Instagram then you might have seen my daily posts from my L'Occitane and Marks and Spencer Advent Calendars.  If you didn't then you are in for a treat because I am going to share all of the contents of the 

Marks and Spencer Advent Calendar with you now and then L'Occitane in its own post too.

There had been quite a lot of excitement surrounding the Marks and Spencer Advent Calendar and I was one of the lucky one to get it for £25 as I had re-ordered some Philip Kingsley shampoo and conditioner. I was surprised at how heavy the advent calendar was but it is made so well, that my intention is to keep the box and make my own advent calendar for someone in 2016.  

Inside the box are 24 individual numbered boxes and then inside each box was a product that can be found on sale in Marks and Spencer, naturally it is all beauty and there is a wide variety of items to be found.

So as you can see there are some really good products here and this is what I found and when:

Day One - Philip Kingsley Geranium and Neroli Elasticizer 

Day Two - Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

Day Three - Cowshed Grumpy Cow Uplifting Body Lotion

Day Four - Pur Minerals Volume Vixen Mascara

Day Five - Leighton Denny Renovate nail repair cream

Day Six - Rosie for Autograph Nuit Perfume

Day Seven - Rituals Organic Rice Milk and Cherry Blossom Shower Gel

Day Eight - Pure Super Grape Day Cream

Day Nine - Filorga Time Filler Absolute Wrinkle correction cream

Day Ten - Neal's Yard Frankincense Nourishing Cream

Day Eleven - Josh Wood Full Bodied Shampoo

Day Twelve - Diego Dalla Palma Lipstick in shade 46 Antique Rose

Day Thirteen - Mio Skincare Liquid Yoga Restorative Bath Soak

Day Fourteen - Percy and Reed Volumising No Oil, Oil

Day Fifteen - Roger & Gallet Fleur de Figuier Hand and Nail Cream

Day Sixteen - Rodial Dragon's Blood Sculpting Gel

Day Seventeen - Swell Hair Ultimate Volume Mask

Day Eighteen - Crabtree & Evelyn La Source Bar of Soap

Day Nineteen - Autograph Lip Crayon in Nude

Day Twenty - L'Occitane Verbena Shower Gel

Day Twenty One - Pixi Glow Tonic

Day Twenty Two - Ren skincae Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial

Day Twenty Three - Stila Lip Glaze in shade Sugar Plum

Day Twenty Four - Morgan Taylor Nail Polish in shade Pretty Woman

For a very first advent calendar, I actually think Marks and Spencer have smashed it.  Not only was it such great value for money, but there are so many amazing brands and products inside making it well worth the £25 it cost and one to hope for in 2016.

What do you think to this Advent Calendar?