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Monday 12 January 2015

The Fragrance Shop's Discovery Box

It's been 2 years since The Fragrance Shop first started producing their Discovery Boxes giving the gift of Perfume Samples and Money Off Vouchers since 2012.

These remarkable little boxes are lovely and I have gone on to purchase a few perfumes, one being Vera Wang's Lovestruck which I fell in love with as soon as I smelt it. That was back when the box only really catered to women's fragrances and now it not only has increased the amount of fragrances but now includes men's scents too.



Every box is always lovely and this box is no exception and with it being a Birthday Box, it included a very special little surprise - A Miniature Bottle of Estée Lauder's Modern Muse.

There are 10 Samples in this quarter's Birthday Box as well as the mini Modern Muse, so 11 smells in total. And it's only £5 per quarter..BARGAIN!

1. Jimmy Choo - Jimmy Choo Eau De Parfum

This scent is nice, it's very florally and citrusy. In my opinion it is more of a perfume for the mature lady. It just seems very grown up. I would wear this to a posh party.

2. Nina Ricci - Nina Eau De Toilette

This is absolutely up my street. It's sweet and fresh makes me think of summer and I think this would be perfect for a summer day, it's definitely a day to day perfume.

3. Lacoste - Touch of Pink Eau De Toilette

I can tell you I don't like this perfume. I didn't like it when it came out, it's just something about Lacoste scents that just don't seem to mingle well with my sense of smell. I know plenty of girls who do love it though.

4. Jean Paul Gaultier - Classique Eau De Parfum

This is definitely a confident scent. It's a classic and timeless perfume. Whenever I think of this perfume I think about the message it holds behind it - it's strong and sensual (am I allowed to say that?) I would wear this if I wanted to make an impression like to a job interview or a date. I think so many people can relate to this smell.

5. Givenchy - Very Irresistible Eau do Toilette

This is beautiful! I love Givenchy and this is no exception for that. This is a floral smell and it's mix of rose and peony smells makes it the perfect scent for spring! I would wear this out to lunch and sitting in the beer garden.

6. Thierry Mugler - Angel Eau de Toilette

This is a perfume my sister adored years ago. It adapts to your own natural scent and it can do one of two things. It will either be something that you'll wear and wear and wear because the scent it develops is perfect or it doesn't haha!! Thierry Mugler's Alien is more my speed.

7. Paco Rabanne - Lady Million Eau My Gold!

Paco Rabanne is on the money with this one. It's so fruity and fresh but it does feel more of a night time fragrance, I'd probably wear this for dinner out with the girls.

Now on to the Men's Fragrances

8. Paco Rabanne - Invictus Eau de Toilette

Oohh now this is lovely. I love Paco Rabanne Fragrances for men, they are gorgeous. This is definitely a Saturday Night smell for men for a night on the town driving the girls wild.

9. Hugo Boss - Bottled Eau de Toilette

This is endorsed by Ryan Reynolds - 'nuff said! This is a pretty lovely smell, I'm not going gaga over it but think this is a great day to day fragrance for men.

10. Issey Miyake - L'eau D'Issey Pour Homme

My dad wears this and it's really nice. It reminds me so much of him. It's a very sophisticated scent which I think is perfect for the older male! This is definitely a night with the wife/partner scent.

BONUS - Estée Lauder - Modern Muse Eau de Parfum

This is a fragrance I would probably give to my older sister or mother in law which are connoisseurs of fine fragrances. It's a little too overpowering for me but it is very alluring fragrance which screams confidence and sensation!

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Evolution of the Eyebrow

Now if you know me from my previous blog, you'll know how much I love my brows! The people over at Transform sent me this to look at and I loved it so I thought I would share it with my readers. My favourite part of this little timeline is the "What Your Eyebrows Say About You..." topic right at the end which tells me I like to spend time with my friends and family and that is so true.



Transform are a company which offer a range of treatments and surgeries which, if you choose to, can make people with certain gripes about themselves feel amazing. Some of the testimonials for Transform are amazing. They don't endorse change, they endorse happiness. For more information on Transform please visit their website.

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A Book Review: Girl Online

Now this book has recently caused some controversy as of late. The muchly anticipated book by Vlogger Zoe Sugg AKA Zoella was released at the end of November, it was Zoe's first novel. It later came out that the vlogger did not write the book but it was ghost written. I stand by Zoella for this book. It may have not been written fully by her but you can completely feel her input, ideas and personality shine through in the words of this very "teeny bopper" book!

The book is very much aimed towards pre-teens. It took me back to being about 12/13 reading Jaqueline Wilson's Girls in Love. I did enjoy it but wouldn't be recommending it to any of my friends to read but will definitely be telling my younger family members about it.



The story is about a girl called Penny who lives in Brighton, she's a budding photographer and works part time in her parents wedding business "To Have and To Hold". Penny writes anonymously under the pseudonym "Girl Online" she writes about her life and mishaps, the only person who knows the truth is her best friend Elliot, who has his own gripes with his own family not accepting his sexuality. Her blog starts attracting more attention when Penny starts addressing the reason why she keeps having funny moments and blacking out, she has anxiety which was brought on by an accident she had when she was younger. Her readers explain in comments that it's not as uncommon as Penny thinks.

When Penny has an incident in school just before the Christmas break so her parents (who own the wedding business) have been invited to New York to plan a wedding in the World Famous Waldorf Astoria and Penny and Elliot are coming along for the journey. Penny has anxiety about travelling to New York being terrified of travelling, Elliot gives her some great coping mechanisms to help her relax on the flight.

When they arrive they are completely in awe of the place. Penny is asked to assist with the wedding and take some candid pictures. Whilst exploring the hotel Penny stumbles across Noah, a mysterious boy who Penny immediately takes a liking to. Noah is the grandson of the caterer for the wedding. Penny is asked to run an errand for her mother and Noah is more that happy to accompany her. Penny instantly takes a shine to this boy. Could this be the start of something wonderful or can a secret that Noah is keeping from Penny ruin her for the worst and put her greatest trust and relationship on the line?

You'll need to read it to find out.

Overall I did like this book, it was a good story. It was a bit predictable but that's only because I'm not in the demographic the book is reaching out to. I would happily recommend this to the parents of 10-15 year old girls. I know all Zoella's fans will be reading this book and I commend anyone who stands by Zoe for purchasing and reading her wonderful story told through the words of someone else.

Girl Online can be purchased from most major supermarkets, bookstores and online for £5 at Amazon for the bargain price of £5.

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Thursday 1 January 2015

Silver Jewellery Cleaning

Now I own quite a lot of jewellery by Thomas Sabo and it's really important to take care of it. I have quite a lot so I only get a chance to do it every so often. So when I do it, it's important I take my time to make them sparkle.

The way I do this is use Goddard's Silver Dip. I've used this to clean my silver for years and years. One down point though, it properly stinks! I didn't want to say this word but it's kind of farty but my gosh does it work amazingly! I would recommend this for anyone with solid sterling silver jewellery because even if the silver is going black (which it does when it's been exposed to heat and direct light for too long) it cuts straight through tarnish which is well worth enduring the smell. Now I know some people say they have "home-made cleaners", tried 'em, they are no use! Goddard's is about £2.50 in most major supermarkets and the jar lasts me well over a year.



The tools you need to clean is a small glass, a spoon, some kitchen roll and if you have one - a tiny eyeshadow sponge (I used to have one of these but it's gone missing but it's perfect for cleaning silver which also has enamel on it..I'll get to that in a bit.) and some handwash for after all this has been done.

First off I detached my charms from my bracelets as each charm has a different amount of cleaning needed so I'll usually do the ones that need less cleaning first and the ones that need more attention to the last.



I pour a small amount of the dip in the small glass as the jar is quite large so it's harder to fish the charms out so I put it in the glass and then just chuck the charms in and then the bracelets and necklace (which I fish out last). The solid silver ones usually take less than a minute. Whilst in the dip I give it a little swish and then I fish them out using the spoon and rinse them off and dry them with a piece of kitchen roll to absorb any excess dip.




With my enamel charms I dip some of the kitchen roll into the Silver Dip and carefully dab round the enamel to clean the silver. This is important as the Silver Dip can remove the enamel. It is a lot easier if you've got a eye shadow sponge applicator as it can get the trickier parts of the charms.


There you have it, after attaching all my charms back, I then use my Thomas Sabo Jewellery Box to keep them safe. I used to always have a bad habit of leaving my bracelets on the table and in front of the telly which is bad so this box keeps my bracelets and charms away from anything that may make them rotten.



Do you have any tips for cleaning and storing your jewellery? I would really love to know how to keep White Gold clean as I have a ring I always wear which is looking quite dull. 

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