Beauty, Bargains and Beyond

*I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. I can't believe its nearly Christmas already. So if like me you haven't bought all your presents yet, here's a great gift idea for any kids you need to buy presents for. The *Hey Doodle Reusable Silicone Mat is a perfect gift for ages 3+ to keep them entertained without being in front of the TV (or tablets I guess is more likely in this day and age). *Hey Doodle Reusable Silicone Mat is an A3 reusable colouring mat.  Its printed on premium grade silicone and includes 9 non-toxic markers.  There are 6 different themes and activities -  Aussie Animals ,  World Countries ,  DinoRoar ,  Toot Toot Honk ,  Into The Wild  or  Sugar & Spice . It also comes with a handy carry case so you can travel with it to keep the kids occupied whatever you are doing - travelling, working from home, restaurants or waiting rooms. Best of all you can easily wipe it clean with a damp cloth so i...

*I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. I love Christmas and I love board games, so I was very happy to receive The Christmas Express Game*. This game is festive fun for the whole family. Board the Christmas Express and journey through a winter wonderland. There are hazards on the way such as snow storms, reindeers crossing and whatever you do, you need to avoid the naughty elf. Keep an eye out for Santa though as he can help you on your journey. The aim of the game is to be the first player to reach the North Pole. You can pick what character you want to play with choices including a snowman, reindeer or penguin. Depending on the cards you have in your hand you can move your character forward, move other players backwards or even make them miss turns or block them moving to the next station and if you are lucky you get the Santa card and it protects you from other players using their cards against you. This game is for 2 - 4 players, ages 6+. It comes with Chr...

*I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. I was kindly sent the Geomag Glow* set to review and having enjoyed a number of other sets from this company I was keen to try it out.  I mean who doesn't like glow in the dark items.   The Glow range is packed full of natural materials inside 100% recycled plastic. The magnetic rods are made with 100% natural glowing substances which accumulate energy when they are exposed to a light source.  Then in the dark they release this energy as natural light.   What kids (and adults!) aren't going to like this set where they can build whatever they want and then watch as it glows in the dark. It comes with an instruction book which you can refer to if needed or just use your imagination. You just connect the magnetic rods to the metal spheres and build 3D magnetic structures. This 42-piece set includes 20 spheres, 20 magnetic rods and 2 plastic bases and storage boxes. The Geomag Glow Recycled 42 Pie...

*I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. I am a big movie fan so when I received the Kikkerland Movies Trivia Game* I couldn't wait to try it out and see how good my movie knowledge really is. There are 50 trivia cards with questions about movies included in the tin and it's a chance to see how much you really know about the big screen and if your movie knowledge isn't that great then luckily the answers are multiple choice. These questions will trigger some great movie memories. The Movies Trivia Game cost £6.50 from Kikkerland . It's also a great stocking filler for that movie buff in your life and a great game to play with the family on Christmas Day.   Leigh 💜

*I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. If you are looking for a great stocking filler for the dog lover in your life then the Kikkerland Dog Birthday Kit* is perfect. The Dog Birthday Kit* is a fun gift to celebrate the birthday of your best friend in style and make him feel special. The tin includes a dog treat recipe book, a bone shaped cookie cutter, a Happy Birthday banner and a party hat. You can bake a cookie, put on the party hat and decorate the room just for your dog's birthday. It costs £10 from Kikkerland .   Leigh 💜

*I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. Now I'm sure most of you have probably heard of Goat Yoga but I had never actually watched it on YouTube for some reason (and I watch a lot of YouTube). So when I was kindly sent the Kikkerland Goat Yoga Party Game* I went straight onto YouTube to see what all the fuss is about and I have to say I can see the appeal, although sadly I don't think its going to be offered near me any time soon. That being the case the Goat Yoga Party Game is the next best thing. So what is the Goat Yoga Party Game* I hear you ask? Well it is what it says on the tin (literally). You perform real yoga poses as well as completing ridiculous challenges with the inflatable goat (did I forget to mention there was an inflatable goat with this game). There are some benefits to not using a real live animal (I will leave that to your imagination). The challenges might be to do a Yoga pose while balancing the goat on your head or bat...

*I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. If you have a budding gardener in your household then this Dantoy Bioplastic Greenhouse kit* could be the perfect Christmas gift for them. The kit contains 18 pieces, made from sugarcane which is grown in controlled, pesticide-free plantations in Brazil. The sugarcane is a 100% sustainable and recyclable raw material. The kit contains a growing frame, 3 plant pots, 3 soil slabs, an onion, 2 radishes, 3 carrots, 3 dibbles and labels. I definitely don't have green fingers so I had to look up what dibbles are and they are actually pointed hand tools for making holes in the ground for seeds and young plants (who knew! You learn something new every day). This kit is great for encouraging children to learn how to grow veggies and helps them to develop their imagination. The Dantoy Greenhouse kit* costs £37 from Smallable.com and is suitable for children 2+. Dantoy is a Danish brand that has been developing childrens toys for...

  *I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. I was kindly sent The Geomag Mechanics Challenge Strike set* to review recently. I have had the chance to try out a few sets from this company so couldn't wait to try this one out. If you like building things and knocking things down this is the game for you. Ok that's a bit simplistic for this set but true. You build it using the instructions which are pretty easy to follow, but if you get stuck there were some good tutorials on YouTube. Then you load the spheres to start the gravity motor. Basically the faster you load them the faster it goes. You need to speed up to knock down the pins that are on the board. You can play alone or challenge your friends to see who can knock the most down in the shortest amount of time. There are a number of variations you can try with the pins - Tall Pins and Short Pins, Wrecking Ball, Domino Pins and Super Pins. The set has 185 pieces and includes a storage box. It ca...

*I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. This is the the perfect time of year to get the games out, as the nights draw in and it gets colder I'm more than happy to stay inside. I was kindly gifted Brain Ache* - The Puzzling Picture Game to try out which is perfect timing to help keep the family entertained. This is a really fun game where you race to identify familiar catchphrases or words represented by perplexing pictures. There are 360 Brain Ache cards and you have to guess which sayings the pictures on the cards represent. Quickest to guess wins the card so you have to think fast and shout out the answer before anyone else.  The first player to win 10 cards wins the game. Its so much fun, but surprisingly hard especially as you have to beat other players to shout out the answer. I couldn't stop laughing at some of the answers that people came up with. This is a great game for ages 12+ and can be played with 3 or more players.   Cheatwell Game...

    *I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. Now that the nights are getting dark at around 4pm and with the first snow of the year I am staying in more and more rather than venturing out in the freezing cold so finding things to keep me busy is the name of the game.  I was kindly sent the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Board Game* which includes digital lifelines to try out which is ideal at this time of year. The game comes with a game board, answer tokens, lifeline tokens, playing tokens and over 700 questions. Its suitable for 14 years + and you need 2 or more players.  To play, you choose a player to act as the host (the host still gets to play and the role of host changes after each question). The host takes a card from the £500 deck and reads out the question and multiple choice answer options. All players including the host then place their answer tokens face down in the final answer section of the board. Once an answer is in the final an...

*I received these products for free but the opinions are my own. Can you believe its just a month to go before its Christmas Day. I need to get my act together and get the rest of my Christmas presents as it will be here before you know it. I do love the run up to Christmas Day although it can get even busier at work there is just something more relaxed once you get to December.   If you have younger children to buy for Dantoy BIOplastic Tiny Bio Stacking Play Cups * are a good option for ages 6 months+.  The eco-friendly toy includes 7 stacking cups for children to build up and knock down.  Each stacking cup is a different shape and colour and can be used in a sandbox or in the bath (2 of the cups can be used for scooping and 5 of them have holes for letting water sprinkle out of them). They are: Stackable, buildable and delightful to knock down Great bath time fun Can be used as cookie cutters in modelling clay or dough Stimulate childrens awareness of colou...

*I received these products for free but the opinions are my own. I don't know if it's my age, but I do like to receive practical gifts and these gifts are really useful items that I wouldn't mind receiving. Kikkerland Safe Slot Tech Pocket *. This universal phone pocket holds up to 3 cards and features soft touch lining, tech leather exterior and easily removable non-residue 3M adhesive. I don't know about you, but my handbag is usually crammed full of stuff, so rather than pull my purse out when I am buying things, it's usually far easier to pull out my phone and grab a card from this pocket, stuck on the back of my phone. I'm sure some people think that's crazy, when you can just use your phone to pay for things, but tech wise I am not quite there yet and prefer to use my credit card. You can buy this item here for £8.99. Kikkerland Avocado Hot/Cold Pack* . This is freezable, non-toxic and reusable. To use as a cold pack, place the pack in the freezer f...

*I received these products for free but the opinions are my own. Now Halloween is officially over its definitely time to start thinking about Christmas (if you haven't already).  Here are some more fab gift ideas for friends and family. The Mr Potato Head 3D Ceramic Mug* is a fun gift for Christmas.  There are 7 interchangeable silicone face pieces so you can have fun creating his wacky expressions and its perfect for your hot chocolate on these cold dark nights.  Please note that this is an adult novelty gift not a toy.   You can purchase this gift on Prezzybox here for £17.99. The Decision Maker* is similar to the magic 8 ball, you ask a question and swing the decision ball for the answer.  I am a very indecisive person so I love things like this.  Its a perfect stocking filler or even Secret Santa gift as it fits easily on any desk.  You can purchase this gift on Amazon  here  for £10.84. Zany Zoo Jigsaw Puzzle*  has ...

     *I received this product for free but the opinions are my own. I have to admit that I don't generally have the concentration span or the patience to do jigsaw puzzles, but what intrigued me about this Carnovsky Animals Jigsaw Puzzle* was the fact that it has three different images in 1 jigsaw and by using the red, green or blue viewers which are included, you can isolate each layer of the image, which makes for an interesting concept. You can also scan a QR code on the box to use the digital app which allows you to view the three different images through your phone. The puzzle is 50cm x 50cm and contains 500 pieces. It also comes with an artwork print of the puzzle which is a nice touch. Carnovsky are a Milan based art and design duo comprising Francesco Rugi and Silvia Quintanilla. I can definitely think of lots of family and friends who would love a gift like this and its great for both family nights or quiet nights alone as the weather turns colder.  If you w...

     *I received these products for free but the opinions are my own. Its that time of year again where we can start thinking about Christmas.  I love the run up to Christmas, but not the last minute rush for Christmas gifts so I'm starting to look at what options are out there for potential presents.  These are a couple of great gift options for kids. GEOMAG Mechanics Gravity Loops & Turns 130 PCS* - Ages 8+ The Mechanics Gravity Magnetic Track harnesses the invisible forces of magnetism and gravity through original and surprising means.  The spheres inside the circuit are set in motion by an innovative magnetic cannon that uses the force of attraction of the accelerating magnet.  Gravity is the innovative evolution of the Geomag Mechanics line.  Developed with expert players in mind, the new construction system is based on an innovative "gravity motor" that uses the weight of the Geomag spheres to kickstart the mechanisms and movements of t...

Here's a belated post of my January Sales haul this year.  It's fairly small as I am trying to cut back a bit this year but it's hard to resist buying a few things especially when most of them are half price or less. First up I bought the 9 Fragranced Bath Teas from the Next online sale, they were £4 and I think might have been £12 originally (not 100% sure on this though).  I bought these mainly because I had never seen anything like this before as a bath product so I just wanted to check them out.  They are basically fragranced tea bags that you dunk into your bath water and the essential ingredients will gently infuse the water.  Next I bought Skinny Dip Body Mist Trio for £5 and Bath Syrup Trio for £6.25.  I originally saw these in the Boots online sale but they were sold out so I popped into the local store and picked them up.  Both packs have matching fragrances which are Tropical, Sweet Raspberry and Honey. Next up were a few things from...

There are so many great box sets and palettes out for the Christmas season that I thought I would do a Christmas Wish List post. Here are the products that I have my eye on at the moment and I would be super pleased to receive any of them on Christmas day. The Benefit Cheeky Sweet Spot Box O' Blushes is top of my list.  It costs £29.50 and includes 6 of Benefits box o' powders all together.  The kit includes Dandelion, Sugarbomb, CORALista, Bella Bamba, Hoola, Rockateur & Watts Up. What's not to love. Next up is another Benefit set, this time its the  Sweet Tintations box which includes Benebalm, Lollibalm, Benetint (4ml) & Lollitint (4ml).  This box costs £19.50. The Models Own Hypergel Nail Polish Gift Set contains 10 x 10ml polishes. One 14ml bottle usually costs £5.99 and I have constantly been tempted to pick up 1 or 2 everytime I go shopping, but never got round to buying any, so this set of 10 is a no brainer really as it's a bargain...