Liz Earle New Botanical Essence No.9 Eau de Parfum

There are some fantastic now launches coming from Liz Earle, especially the Christmas collection, but today I have two to share with you.  Now whenever I am gifted, given or sent a product, I like to try it out before it appears on the blog, it is rare that I will just post about something. Why? Because I like to think people want to know what I thought of something when I tried it as opposed to the regurgitation of a press release.

You can never ever have too many perfumes in my humble opinion and in my lifetime I have only ever, until now, tried one from Liz Earle and that was Botanical Essence No.20 which I absolutely adored.  Now Botanical Essence No.9 has arrived and I simply adore it.  It started off that I quite liked the fragrance and now I cannot get enough of it and the description is equally divine:

"Capturing the unique energy that you feel moments after a rainstorm, as the clouds part and the sun begins to warm the forest floor. New Botanical Essence No.9 Eau de Parfum takes the wearer on a mysterious olfactive journey right to the fragrant heart of a lush and verdant lanscape, laden with the scent of ripened berries".

What I love about this scent is that it is a beautiful mixture of fresh citrus, woodiness and floral notes all come together to make what is a scent that is an all year round amazing fragrance. As soon as you spritz the fragrance you instantly get a hit of fruity zesty notes and as it settles the floral and fruity notes come to life before finally settling on the skin for the woody warm finish. The fragrance is broken down into Top, Heart and Base notes as follows:

• Top notes: blackcurrant bud, bergamot and red ginger  which give a fresh, fruity, juicy, crisp and zesty result
• Heart: Osmanthus, Damask rose and patchouli which bring to life the spicy, floral, fruity, and sensual fragrance
• Base notes: Haitian vetiver and oakmoss absolute vanilla finally settle to give a smoky, woody, warm, and rich finish

I also love that this fragrance has lastability. It is one that you can spray in a morning before leaving for work and one you can still smell on your way home. For me, the heart notes make this an amazing scent, the Damask Rose working alongside Patchouli are the scents I can detect the most.

If you are a fan of Liz Earle Eau de Parfum then you will know that they are perfect for layering and again, this is something I do all of the time.  For me No.9 works incredibly well with No.20 and they work because so many natural notes are used.  For anyone who has never tried layering perfumes, then definitely do, there is nothing quite like finding your own signature scent and who wants to smell like everyone else anyway?

Liz Earle New Botanical Essence No.9 Eau de Parfum is available nationwide from the flagship stores, Boots and John Lewis from September but if you really want to try it now, then QVC might just have it in stock!

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise

Sleek Makeup

I am a huge fan of Sleek and they appear on my blog because they are such a great brand and amazing value for money.  One thing Sleek do very very well is their palettes, blushes and lipsticks and if you have never tried them, run to Superdrug and buy everything!

Today I am sharing with you 4 new products that I got to see a while ago and I am sure like me, you will love them.

Sleek blushers are amazing and I adore both Rose Gold and Suede but Pink Peony is something new altogether because it is a creme to powder blush.  It is a lovely bright pink shade, much more pink than I would usually opt for, but once blended that bright Barbie pink settles down to give a really lovely finish. 

It is available in 5 other shades and costs just £5.99 which is such good value for money and it is comes encased inside an incredibly durable black, sleek case which is great for transporting.

i-Divine palettes are always the steal of the show with Sleek and the two I have - A New Day and All Night Long are just incredible and I have constantly used them since I got them. A New Day is suitable for all skin tones and has every shade that you need for daytime eyes. It features 12 fantastic shades which include soft nudes, subtle golds and warm peach shades all of which can be used along or together and they blend really easily.

The swatches (right to left) I have shown for this palette show Brightside, Don't Worry, Silver Lining and H-A-P-P-Y.

All Night long again features 12 shades which are all cocktail themed when it comes to their names. A mixture of rich smokey nudes, sultry beiges, eye-catching golds and shimmering bronzes this is again an amazing palette.

The swatches (right to left) I have shown for this palette are Martini, Prosecco, Spritz and Manhatten. For just £8.99 I think these palettes are just amazing value for money.

The final item is just stunning and I featured it on my Instagram and it is the Solstice Highlighting Palette. Recongisable for its gold packaging it features 4 stunning shades - Ecliptic, Hemisphere, Subsolar and Equinox of two are baked powders, one luxurious cream formula and one silky shimmer powder.  

Highly pigmented, these shades need just the smallest amount and blend with my fingertips. Ideal for use on the inner corners of the eyes, across the browbone and along the tops of cheekbones. At just £10 this palette is such great value for money and I just love how pigmented it is.

So there you have my current most used products from Sleek and I think everything is such amazing value for money.

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise

Keeping fit at your desk #OfficeYoga

It often comes as a surprise to people when they learn that blogging is not my full time job and it is infact a hobby.  Outside of the Blogger bubble, I actually have a full time role, not your average 9-5 job but a job that that is demanding, can be long odd hours but gives me the flexibility to come and go as I need to.

I work in an actual office Monday to Friday and like many office workers, I am tied to my desk for most of that day replying to emails, dealing with queries and questions and dealing with people face to face.  Recently in the news, there has been a lot of noise about office workers needing to exercise for an hour a day to avoid an early death and sitting still for 8-9 hours a day is never going to be good for you anyway.  So my colleagues and I have taken on board some of the points made from these reports and as we get a whole hour (and a bit more) for lunch, we decided to go out and explore our local surroundings for that one hour, whether that is to the local park, walking further afield for lunch or, sad as it sounds, going out catching Pokemon.  The fresh air (as fresh as it can be in London anyway) does me a world of good anyway, I always feel much better when I have been outside, especially if it is sunny.

If getting out and about during the working day is something you find hard to do because of work pressures or other issues there are still things you can do.  #OfficeYoga is a term I have heard of more than once over the last few months, a friend of mine recently started up her own business going into offices and going 20 minute slots of yoga with office workers to show them how much a difference it can make to their lives.  Whilst she hasn't yet made it across to my office because we are undergoing a few renovations, she has insisted I have a better office chair than the one I currently have which severely lacks lumber support, so ive noted that point along with remembering to get up and move about.  Feeling good on the outside is just as important as feeling good on the inside and I do try and set myself a goal of getting to the end of a piece of work and then moving around, but if I am alone in the office, which for a few days of the working week I am, then Yoga at my desk, for me, is idea and this is how easy it is:

So if you find you offer suffer with a stiff neck, sore lower back, aching legs and feet, tight hips, sore shoulders and headaches, getting it, shaking it about, moving around and stretching will help minimise the discomfort and help with stress and tension which is a viscous circle of the aches and pains. I know if I am under stress along comes a headache and then the pain radiates down, if I can stop it happening then I am in.

Please do keep a look out for @Furniture_Work's #OfficeYoga campaign video 

coming soon!

*this post is a collaboration but all words are my own.

Mypurrfectgiftbox - Dancing in the moonlight

The August edition of Mypurrfectgiftbox* has arrived and it is aptly titled 'A Day In The Park' which celebrates the end of Summer, warm nights and romance. We now look to longer evenings, shooting stars and even fireworks. Once again, this box has gifts for both you and the furballs in your life.

The First item is an exclusive for the box is fairy lights but not just any fairy lights, they are infact cat face lights and I just absolutely adore them.  Each one of the 20 cat faces appears on Mulberry Paper and has been hand painted and they are battery operated and have a retail price of £18.95 and are also from Etsy.

I am a big fan of prints, especially cat prints so I was really delighted to see this one which depicts three cats sat on the moon with a hanging star, really cute and quirky.  From Etsy designer ACatLikeCuriosity there are many prints to add to the collection.

Sticking with the cat theme still, we have a fun cat vinyl sticker with a romance theme.  It can be used to decorate anything from your iPad, car window, laptop and so on.  Again from an Etsy store and costs just £2.99 and is really cute.

If Jewellery is your thing and you love cats, then this cat bangle will tick all of those boxes. This cute cat in moon bangle is an adjustable stacker and the charms are just delightful, the C stands for Cat and the moonstone charm adds a bit of colour.

Now if the bangle wasn't cute enough, how about this amazing blingy cat ears headband? Now this I absolutely love and whilst Hector thinks it is fun to try and pull it off my head, I think it is so much fun and again quirky.

Now I have got over the excitement of gifts for the humans, there are some treats for my three boys, well Dude managed to commandeer pretty much the whole of the box by sitting on it, so this is what was inside.

The cat treats are always really popular with my three and this time we have Vet's Kitchen little hearts treats.  These have been designed to deliver specific health benefits to cats through natural active ingredients. They are hypollergenic and free from artifical colours or flavours.

When it comes to cat toys, again they are always popular with my three and this time it was Dude who was the first to get his paws on them. The first was a cute handmade wool heart and it also comes with a dried premium catnip herb centre. Priced at £4 from Paw and Gnaw.

The final item in the box is again a toy for the cats and it is a felt bird which has been handmade from an Etsy store called Clasicats.  Filled with catnip and adored with feathers to make a tail, this is one toy which has had all three cats chasing and hunting it around the house.

Once again, this is another amazing Purrfect Box and with something for everyone, we have a very happy household. If you like the look of these products, there is a shop to treat yourself or your little ball of fur right here.

If you have never come across this box before then here is a little background as to how and where the idea came from. Kim and Juan Kniveton the founders of My Purrfect Gift Box are dedicated cat lovers, so much so they moved back from the USA to the Isle of Man to set up and run their own idyllic countryside retreat for cats - Boodee Beg Boarding Cattery, something I dream of doing (if I ever win the lottery). With their onsite gift shop not doing as well as they had hoped, Kim and Juan decided to start My Purffect Box and each month they choose to focus on a different cat charity, rescue centre or shelter and highlight the work they do through their social media sites and through information that comes in each box. They then donate 5% of all our profits from that month's box to that chosen charity of the month.

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise