Aug 3 2014

Botanicals organic facial serum review: Mandarin & chamomile

Posted on August 3, 2014 by admin

As a skincare nut, I followed the recent National Skincare Awards 2014 with interest. I was encouraged to follow a skincare regime at a really early age thanks to a beauty-obsessed mum, and by my early teens my dressing table was littered with designer trial-sized lotions and potions she thought I’d like to try. Even for Christmas and birthdays I’d request Cinique and Clarins rather than clothes and gadgets. I’m convinced this is why, at 31 and with 2 children, I’m still often asked for ID to buy wine (it’s nothing to do with my penchant for pigtails I’m sure).

When I saw that Botanicals were scoring big with their range of organic natural products, I got in touch immediately. In truth, since having Heidi my skin has taken a bit of battering and I wanted to see if they had anything to help sort it. I’m still wrinkle-free, but hormones, this current heatwave and late nights with Heidi have stripped away some of the moisture from my skin. I’d class myself as having combination skin now (so a little oily on the t-zone, but otherwise fine) but lots of the ‘glow’ I used to have seems to have ebbed away. My eyes look sullen and a little less sparkly too.

They suggested I try their Organic Facial Serum with Mandarin & Chamomile, so I readily accepted their recommendation.

What is it?

The synergy of the precious oils contained in Botanicals facial serum has excellent revitalising effects. Rich in unsaturated fatty acids, and potassium (known as the ‘youth mineral’), the serum is non-greasy and deeply penetrating, promoting healthier, younger looking skin.

Our nourishing anti-ageing serum is also rich in avocado - known as ‘nature’s botox’. Studies have proved that avocado significantly increases the amount of collagen in the skin, helping to reduce the signs of premature ageing.

So, I was expecting something rich in natural minerals, non greasy, hydrating and firming. It sounded perfect. As a massive advocate of essentials oils and UK businesses, as all Botanicals products are handmade in rural England, it also combines two things I’m utterly passionate about. Let’s just say, I had high hopes!

Directions: Dot two to three drops evenly over your face and neck. Then lightly smooth over the skin using upward movements. Best when applied to damp skin.

Key ingredients (all certified organic): apricot kernel oil, avocado oil, grapeseed oil, rosehip oil, jojoba, evening primrose, lavender, mandarin, chamomile.

Me: Pre-trial. I appreciate there’s a filter on this, and I look a little moody, but I was trying to show what my skin looks like bare. Hopefully you can see the problem areas I refer to above.

What I thought

Serums are a seriously under-appreciated part of the skincare family. For years I’ve used Elizabeth Arden’s Good Morning Face Serum under my make-up. I hate my skin feeling greasy and have always loved how this just sinks right in. I know I’m getting the right amount of hydration and protecting my skin against any nasties in my make-up, whilst creating a great primer on which to trowel on my war-paint.

Recently however, I know my skin has changed. It’s time to move on and I need something a little more intense and richer. Botanicals hasn’t disappointed and I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone in the same boat as me.

To start, it smells AMAZING; really citrusy. This scent is long-lasting thanks to all the essential oils too. Some of the smell lingers on my bed clothes too which I find is lovely and relaxing after a tough day with my little people.

It sinks in great. Not as quickly as the Elizabeth Arden one but I actually find this reassuring given I need the extra hydration at the moment. I’m no longer using serum in the same way I did before. It’s no longer a base for my foundation in the mornings and is now a nighttime ritual instead. When I come to cleanse my face in the morning, it’s much softer than usual and I seem to have less dry spots than before.

Me: 8 days in. No filter whatsoever. Images are slightly grainy as I’ve used a camera phone so I can’t be accused of cheating!

The elasticity in my skin seems better too. Sensitive areas prone to the odd ‘bad day’ seem firmer (my neck and under-eye area). I wouldn’t want to say it’s a miracle product in terms of anti-aging given my skin is still in very good condition, and I’m only 8 days in! I can tell you I’ve ditched my old serum in favour of this one though, and I’m really pleased with it. I seem to have got that pre-children ‘glow’ back, and this is priceless to me.

At £25.95 for 30ml it’s comparable to my old serum. It’s packaged beautifully and the dropper means you can use the serum incredibly sparingly. Due to all the natural ingredients, it’s recommended you use within 6 months of opening, 30mls should see you through until you need to buy another.

If you want to discover more from the range, or try this one for yourself, you can head over to www.botanicals.co.uk or ask the experts on Facebook and Twitter.

Aug 3 2014

Review & Giveaway: Biscuit Bingo - Win a Kindle Fire HD (7″)

Posted on August 3, 2014 by admin

I love a good bingo session. Having looked after the kids all day, and worked hard on the blog, I love a bit of screen-time that doesn’t involve keeping my clients happy. I’m by no means a daily player, and I don’t spend money that I can’t afford, but I do love the excitement of a mini win.

When Biscuit Bingo recently got in touch to ask me if I’d like to trial their new site, I couldn’t resist.

First up, it’s worth pointing out their introductory offer. When you join you’ll be given £15 completely free, with no deposit necessary (£20 if you’re playing on the mobile version). This is a definite move in the right direction for bingo lovers. Often you want to have a good look around and sample the action before committing to a new site. Once you’ve got yourself an account they’ll then email through various deposit promos, monthly offers and other hot deals to take advantage of; not enough to inundate you, but certainly enough to remind you to drop in and have a quick play.

Setting up an account was easy. I really appreciated the fact that you didn’t have to submit any bank details whatsoever to register or claim your free £15. All you need is a username, password, email address, home address, DOB (of course, users must be 18 to join) and a phone number, then an activation link is sent through to your inbox. Click on this and your account is immediately credited with £15.

To play, you simply enter a hall via the lobby, select your cards, then wait for the game to start. To win, you just need to match the shape that appears in the top left-hand corner. Handily, the balls are all called audibly and checked off your scorecards automatically. I also really like how each scorecard tells you how many numbers you need to win. It’s set up to be easy-on-the-eye and allow you to join in with the live chat if you want to.

The variety of high stakes vs low entry stakes is also good. You’re not left waiting for long before each game either. Finally, there’s also a good selection of slot games too with Honeybees being a favourite for me due to ease of play. The only thing that would have perhaps made the online site better for me (as a bingo amateur) is a ‘how to play’ guide to take me through each new step.

It’s refreshing that they’ve integrated their site very well with their Facebook page. There are tons of special offers available if you keep an eye on FB with weekly and monthly bonus codes to pick up extra credit. Even better, if you add your username to the Biscuit Bingo’s Facebook Page you’ll get another free £10. It’s well worth popping over there to say hi anyway as there are regular competitions to enter - right now you can win an iPad with no purchase necessary at all.

Of course then if you do go onto deposit, there’s additional incentives. Incentives for cash deposits are clearly explained on the website in the offers section. For example, a current promotion entitles you to 300% extra on your first 3 deposits, so depositing £10 will bag you an extra £30 to spend. There’s plenty of other enticing offers weekly and monthly too.

If you prefer to play bingo on your mobile, then there’s also the opportunity to play on your mobile or tablet. There’s no download necessary and over 30 games to choose from. It’s compatible with all major smartphones including Android, Blackberry and iPhone and you still get all the main features of the online version plus unique promotional incentives.

All this equates to lots of opportunity to build your account for FREE, and lots of fantastic prizes to win too.

Speaking of chances to win…

How about winning a Kindle Fire HD 7″?

Well in celebration of Biscuit Bingo’s launch, they’ve kindly given me one to giveaway! Entry is via Rafflecopter so just follow the easy peasy steps to win.

Just in case you’re thinking there might be a catch, this prize is only available via this blog so your odds have never been better to win this awesome tablet. I have one and LOVE it.

As part of the Rafflecopter you are invited to create a username on the site - no purchase is necessary but you will receive £15 worth of bingo chips if you should want to try it out. You do NOT have to do this option and can simply like them on Facebook instead, but bear in mind you get extra chances to win if you sign up. I will re-state you do NOT need to provide any bank details whatsoever in order to set up an account. It’s win, win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T&C’s – a.k.a – the boring bit!

Only 2 options are mandatory (follow MyMillsBaby on Twitter, and Like Biscuit Bingo on Facebook) – the rest only improve your chances of winning so just complete as many as you feel like
This comp is to Win a Kindle Fire HD only - you are under no obligation at all to register on Biscuit Bingo
UK entrants only – you must be over 18 too (sorry)
The winner will be contacted by email and must respond within 1 week of having been emailed (I’ll try all known avenues to contact them) or a new winner will be drawn
When the giveaway is closed, Rafflecopter will select the winner completely at random
The winners name will be published on this site

Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

Gamble responsibly. Gambling is not a way of earning money. If you are concerned about your gambling or affected by someone else’s gambling, please contact GambleAware or GamCare for help.

Jul 29 2014

The BISSELL C3 Cyclonic Cylinder Vacuum - A.K.A The New Floor Monster

Posted on July 29, 2014 by admin

So the Dyson has died. It breathed its last breath a few weeks ago. I was so devastated I’m only just ready to talk about it.

Okay, we weren’t best friends. It was so heavy it was a real faff lugging it around the house and vacuuming the stairs was an impossibility (for the last year we’ve used a dustpan and brush instead). Because of this, Craigy assumed the role of Chief Vacuum’er, I only learnt to turn it on a few months ago when I set myself the task of helping out more around the house as part of my New Year’s Resolutions - this particular one lasted a week (Stepford Wife I am not!)

Capture

Nevertheless, I think the only person in the house celebrating the death of the Dyson was Dexter. Due to it being so noisy, we always referred to it as The Floor Monster. It’s become a bit of a running joke to threaten him with it when he’s naughty and he used to run away in fright whenever the Dyson came out of its lair (the cupboard under the stairs).

When it came to replacements, we were keen to try a different brand. The requirements His Lordship gave me were:

Bagless to save money
Nothing over £100
Lightweight
Cylinder rather than upright
Must come with accessories for skirting boards etc

So off I went, on a search for reasonably priced vacuum that would finally make vacuuming a 10 minute job rather than an hour long mission.

So now I’m introducing you to my BISSELL C3 Cyclonic Cylinder Vacuum - currently reduced by a whopping £190 and available from the BISSELL website for a bargain £59.99 (with a 5 year guarantee and free delivery). In fact, nearly all of their vacuums are currently reduced and the savings are simply amazing - it’s well worth a look if you’re on the hunt for a new Floor Monster of your own.

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What’s so great about it?

There’s a lot to shout about.

For a start it’s far less noisy than the Dyson. I can vacuum when Heidi is asleep and she won’t wake up. Dexter is equally scared of it, but that’s no bad thing - sometimes you just don’t need a pint-sized helper.

As requested by the Bloke, it’s bagless with a large 2.5L dust capacity. We tend to empty ours after every vacuum as Craig has a dust allergy and I like to transfer it into the dustbin quickly. Because of this, we’re unlikely to ever fill our dirt bin, but it still never fails to amaze me just how much is collected from one quick whizz around the house. The dirt bin is so easy to empty, I can manage it one-handed and transfer all the dust and dirt into a carrier bag to keep it away from Craigy. Simple.

The suction is really powerful with “350 air watts of high-powered cleaning to leave your floors deep down clean” - Jargon aside, all you need for me to tell you is that our floors look cleaner than ever, and there’s a notable difference in quantity of dust collected between the BISSELL and the Dyson. This might well be because our Dyson was on its last legs, but even so the improvement is so vast it would be silly of me to not attribute it, in part, to the cleaning power of the our new and improved Floor Monster.

It’s a real pleasure to push around too. At only 6.8 kg and far more compact than traditional cylinders, I’m able to go up and down the stairs with ease (damn it! This means we’re taking turns doing the vacuuming again). The head also twists and turns to get into tight spots and there’s side suction on the floor tool for edge-to-edge cleaning. I’m actually chuffed to bits with this as cornices and covings are often neglected in our house. Having the ability to do these without having to change heads is a real bonus.

Better still, the BISSELL C3 Cyclonic Cylinder Vacuum allows seamless transition from standard vacuuming, to detailed cleaning and dusting. Given that dust and dirt settles in a blanket-like fashion throughout your home, the idea is that you can achieve a full clean over every type of surface using this vacuum alone. To do this, you have a number of tools to help you achieve the perfect clean!

The upholstery tool is perfect for dusting sofas and soft furnishings
The Soft dusting brush allows you to vacuum away dust from delicate areas, such as pictures and lampshades
The Firm dusting brush is great for corners and curtains

All in all, I couldn’t be happier with my new toy. It’s already saved me from a mean-looking spider that was living on the ceiling at the top of the stairs, and Craig’s allergies have been much better since making the switch to BISSELL.

Making the big switch from upright to cylinder has also been great in terms of storage. Now there’s plenty more room in the Floor Monster’s Lair for confiscated toys! Sorry Dexter…

If you want to find out more about BISSELL’s range of products, from carpet cleaners to vacuums, then head to bisselldirect.co.uk or check out their YouTube, Facebook or Twitter for brand news and instructional videos.