Yarn review - Fat Bubba by Melanie Porter

Following on from my review of Melanie Porter's book 'Big Needle Knits' the other week I was having a lovely chat with the lady herself over on Twitter and she offered to send me a sample ball of her amazing Fat Bubba wool to have a play with.


Fat Bubba was born when Melanie tried unsuccessfully to source top quality super bulky British wool for her chunky knit projects so she decided to create her own!

Fat Bubba is hand spun and lightly felted and so unbelievably soft it just begs to be knitted up into beautifully squishy accessories or blankets. It is available in a small range of contemporary colours. Mini fat bubbas (250g /approx 36m) are perfect for a hat or cowl whilst the larger 500g balls would knit up a longer scarf or a cushion. A blanket may require 2 or 3 large balls -  which at £50 each makes for quite an expensive project but it would certainly introduce a touch of luxurious style to your home.

Fat Bubba weighs in at approximately 15m per 100g. It doesn't sound like a lot of yardage but when combined with extra large needles a little goes a long way!



My sample ball was approx 20m - and was the most glorious egg yolk yellow colour! Using 25mm needles I cast on 4 stitches and knit 30 rows which left me just enough yarn to lace the two ends of my knitting together to form a tube. One super snuggly cowl in 15 minutes! If quick knits are your thing you can't get much quicker than that!!

Fat Bubba yarn by Melanie Porter is available to order through her website or Etsy shop where you can also buy custom made super chunky needles to knit it up with.
 If you fancy having a go at making your own fat wool Melanie includes full instructions on how to do so in her latest book 'Big Needle Knits'


*disclaimer - Melanie sent me some Fat Bubba to try because she is just a lovely person, I decided to review it here because it is fab!

New Designer homewares at George Home at Asda

George at Asda have teamed up with The Prince's Trust to create a brand new designer range for your home.
Two designers - Dimitria Jordan and Amanda Bradley, both of whom were helped by the Prince's Trust to launch their own businesses - were selected to create an exclusive range of home wares for George Home with 10% of the profits going back to The Prince's Trust to help more young people get the help they need to realise their dreams.

Grab a Make Away from The Makery

When The Makery - home of amazing craft workshops and lush habdash in the city of Bath - contacted me and asked if I would like to try one of their fab Make Away kits I jumped at the chance!

Christmas dream toys - Vtech Innotab3s review

If you have children you will not have failed to notice that Christmas is very nearly upon us.

Letters to Santa are being written and excited shouts during the ad breaks of 'Mummy, look, this is what I would really really like!' call me from the kitchen while I am trying to make tea...

One thing Roo has been very unsubtly hinting at wanting is the brand new VTech Innotab3s - it's one of this year's Dream Toys here at Argos. He has, and loves, the VTech Kidizoom camera so when we got an opportunity to try out an Innotab3s naturally we jumped at the chance!

excerpt from e-book

"RAWSOME" was his first reaction - I think that's good...

Being quite tech savvy for five, he wasted no time setting up his own profile including a taking a picture of himself with the in-built 2mp camera and was swiftly drawn straight to the pre-loaded ebook which kept him occupied and amused for a good 20 mins - no mean feat for a boy with a butterfly attention span!


Once he had explored the various games and apps for an hour or so it was my turn to investigate and install the 'Learning Lodge' onto my own laptop to monitor his progress and as a portal for downloading other apps from the Vtech website.

The installation went fine BUT the Learning Lodge screen was too big for my net book display and I couldn't work out how to either reduce the display size or scroll down so I had to install it onto the home pc as well - slightly annoying but not the end of the world...
Once the Learning Lodge  was installed I was able to explore the Vtech website and the various apps/games/ebooks available to purchase and download.

I have heard a few mums grumble at the prices of the downloads and I was particularly surprised to see that the physical cartridges that you can buy from shops are also available as direct downloads but seem to be more expensive to purchase that way!  Most of the educational games and ebooks are priced between £2.99 and £4.99 which may seem like a lot (and it certainly would cost a fair bit to fill up the Innotab in one hit!) but with most kids comics costing around £3 these days I don't think they are that over-priced.

just tricky enough to keep 5yo busy

Once you have registered your Innotab3s you are entitled to one free download so I let Roo go through the options and he picked a maths game called 'Escape the Dungeon'. Downloading and installing onto the Innotab3s whilst connected to the pc was pretty simple and straightforward. The first level of the game which involves simple adding and subtracting was easy enough for him to get through so he didn't lose interest.

Innotab art...

Roo has been utterly captivated by the Innotab 3s - he is drawing, taking photographs, playing games, reading, listening to some of his favourite tunes that we easily transferred from the pc, using the calculator app and even marking important dates on the calender.  He loves the pre-loaded Magic Beanstalk game that helps kids learn about time management and responsibility. The TV has been ignored as has the Xbox for most part - that's a result in my book!


The one major difference between the Innotab 3s and it's earlier incarnations is the addition of Wifi technology - this means your child can access the internet via their tablet. There are a number of Vtech approved websites already added (and parents can deny access to any they don't feel are appropriate and easily add others). We have only briefly looked at the internet options - it is very slow to load up and does not run any Flash based games or videos - this means that it is effectively unable to cope with most of Roo's favourite websites such as cbeebies and you are also unable to watch iPlayer or YouTube videos which is mostly what Roo likes to do on line. There are cartoons available to download from the Vtech website (including DANGERMOUSE!!!) but you do have to pay for them obviously.
The Innotab3s can also send and receive messages to pre-approved iPhones or Android phones - as we don't have either (yes really!) I haven't been able to investigate this feature properly

The Good Stuff

The Innotab3s was easy to set up, comes with rechargeable batteries and a selection of pre-loaded games and apps than can be added to easily via the Learning Lodge. Parental controls are easy to set up and monitor.  The tablet is easy to use, and an attractive child friendly design that appeals to younger children and will also withstand a certain amount abuse that it is likely to receive at the hands of your average 5yo! The quality of the games and ebooks we have seen so far is good and the sound quality is excellent.

The Bad Stuff

The web browser was incredibly slow to load and, due to the lack of Flash player, the majority of the things Roo likes to do online were not available to him through the Innotab3s. Which means he will still be hassling me for my net book...  
The library of down loadable apps/cartoons/ebooks is not huge (although it is growing) and neither are they that cheap!
Not being able to use the Learning Lodge on my net book because of display sizes is annoying!



Overall the Innotab3s seemed to live up to all of Roo's expectations. He has been playing with it at any given opportunity and particularly likes that he can take it with him to play with on the go. I am happy with the educational content of the games and the fact that it keeps him occupied and happy so I can get on with making the tea!

The post was produced in association with Argos.

Ecover Zero Review - New Fragrance Free range

Late last year I received a lovely pack of goodies from Ecover - a selection from their new 'Zero' range.

Ecover Zero washing powder, fabric softener and washing up liquid and a lovely waffle tea towel too!  You spoil me!

I have been a fan of Ecover products for a long time, particularly their washing up liquid which I find to be just as good as that well known brand but without the chemical nasties, so I was excited to give the new 'Zero' range a try. All the products in this range are dermatologically tested, suitable for those with sensitive skin, approved by Allergy UK and completely fragrance free.

Zero Washing Powder claims to be "tough on stains, even at 30℃" , dermatologically tested and suitable for sensitive skins. I found it to be perfectly acceptable for my regular washing although I would say that "tough" stains would need a little extra help - if you are bothered by visible marks - and I'm not sure how it would have coped with the piles of dirty nappies I used to wash on a daily basis! 

Zero Fabric Softener left my clothes beautifully soft and smelling like they'd been line dried - fresh and clean without that over powering perfume that most softeners add to the wash. Like the powder it is suitable for those with sensitive skin and I would definitely recommend it for a baby clothes wash!

Zero Washing Up Liquid was just as effective as my favourite Ecover Marigold and Chamomile washing up liquid. As with all their washing up liquids it doesn't produce quite as much foam as other brands - but trust me, that is a good thing! It left my dishes lovely and clean and, as a washer-upper who can't stand wearing rubber gloves, I was please to note it left my hands in great condition too! I will probably stick to my fragranced favourite but I would certainly recommend it to anyone with extra sensitive skin.

Unfortunately Ecover Zero products aren't yet available in supermarkets but some independent health food stores (like my local, Wyedean Wholefoods) now have them in stock. Alternatively you can shop the range online through EcoverDirect

Hello Canvas Review

I recently became a aware of a company called HelloCanvas. Set up in 2004 and now the largest web based company of it's kind in the UK, HelloCanvas specialise in turning your favourite photographs into beautiful works of art for your walls.  You just send them your digital image and they will print your photo on canvas and deliver it to you in super quick time. They can also scan a real photograph for you and print that onto canvas too so you can even transform your pre-digital memories!

A short while ago I received an email from Mark of HelloCanvas. 'Send us your best photo - one you think we can not match the quality' he wrote.

So I did . . .

The picture I chose was one from the series I took on our little stroll around Newent Lake the other week. I adore the autumn colours on this image and was keen to see how the process would cope with that level of colour. The picture was actually taken on my mobile phone (5MP camera) rather than my regular camera so it was interesting to see how well the image would cope with being blown up to 50cm x 70cm.

I couldn't be more pleased with the result!

This photo really doesn't do it justice - it looks stunning! So far the comments have ranged from 'Just...Wow!'  to 'Can I have one?'  but everyone agrees that the quality of the print is brilliant, as is the price (a canvas print this size will cost you £37 with no hidden postage and packing costs ).

The canvases are of the highest quality and printed with UV-protected inks so you know your canvas will look as good as the day the picture was taken for years to come.

But don't just take my word for it, why not try them out for yourselves? Here is an exclusive code for my lovely readers - that's you! - for an extra 5% off their already excellent prices. Just add the code LBMAR2012  at the check out.  

You can follow HelloCanvas on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with new products, competitions and special offers.

*disclosure - I received my photo canvas for free in return for this review but all words, pictures and opinions are my own!

Nano Speed Super Vert Crash Set Review

Little Man has been eyeing up the Nano Speed cars for a while so when the Nano Speed Super Vert Playset turned up at Mount Pleasant for him us to review . . .  well I think his face says it all!

The teeny Nano Speed cars work by a simple pull-back mechanism and boast an "insane power to weight ratio . . . capable of defying gravity and pulling off stunts never done before"  What this means basically is that they are *very* small and *very* fast. Frustratingly we found, more often than not, that they flipped over when released but when they DID work properly, they really went for it!


Setting the play set up was easy enough - all the track pieces are numbered and the instructions are simple diagrams that are easy to follow. The set requires 2 'D' size batteries (BIG chunky round ones) which we didn't have in the house but that didn't stop the Little Man enjoying himself immensely, customising his set by plastering it with the cool graffiti stickers provided.

Once the battery situation was sorted and the motorised launcher was working we were able to see the play set in action. The super charger/launcher is annoyingly noisy but the effect is quite stunning and the Little Man actually squealed with delight as the Nano Cars shot round the track at turbo speed ( apparently as fast as 1500mph scaled speed *oh really?* )

It's a shame the cars didn't actually stay on the track for more than a couple of circuits and we have yet to get two going simultaneously and therefore get the 'crash' effect but maybe I am just being picky!

Little Man soon discovered that disconnecting the track and using the speed launcher to fire the Nano cars across the room was MUCH more fun!

Little Man says - "It was fun. I liked putting the stickers on.

 I like the tiny little cars and they go very fast. It was cool.

 I didn't like them falling off all the time"

Overall the Nano Speed Super Vert Playset was great fun to play with - although maybe better suited to an older child. The cars can be bought separately (which is good as they really are small and will probably be lost/stood on fairly quickly . . . ) and are intended to be 'collected'. I feel that, at £34.99 (rrp) the playset is a little expensive but, let's be honest, if you can't find it cheaper you really aren't trying hard enough!

Fancy some meats?

A couple of weeks ago I got an email with 'Fancy some meats?' in the subject line. I confess I nearly hit delete. But my curiosity got the better of me and boy am I glad it did...

One Stop Pamper Shop - scented candles

Maryann at One Stop Pamper Shop was one of the first 'crafters' I met online back in 2010 when I first dipped my toes tentatively into the world of online craft sales and one of my first Twitter friends.

Before long she tempted me to try her lovely scented candles and bath products - to be fair I don't need much arm twisting when it comes to little treats like this. My ultimate indulgence is an hour locked away in the bathroom, bath filled with scented bubbles, candles flickering (even when it's not actually dark outside) and a good book/magazine to read. It's the only real 'me time' I get - enveloped in beautiful smells, warm water and gentle light...

Welch's Grape Juice - Review

A while back I had a email inviting me to the launch of Welch's new Rose Grape Juice. Unfortunately it was the same week we were off on holiday and besides, as much as I love grape juice, London is an awful long way to go to just for a slurp of the stuff. 'No problem' says my lovely pr contact, 'I'll send you some...'

The Gentle Art of Knitting...

Today I wanted to go out in the garden and tidy up a bit but even though the sun was shining the wind was bitter so I thought better of it... Besides which it's *that* time of the month and, to be honest the thought of doing anything other than curl up in a ball and drink tea quite frankly made me feel ill. The Other Half was camped on the sofa with British Superbikes on the TV (6 hours of it no less...) and the Little Man was alternating between running about like a loon and using me as a climbing frame.

But instead of feeling sorry for myself I decided to snuggle up in bed...

With a good book, of course.

Coconut Ice is nice...

A few weeks back I allowed myself to be talked into running a cake and treats stall at The Shambles Easter Fayre in Newent. (Unfortunately, thanks to the fabulous Easter weekend weather, it was a bit of a washout - as you can read here)

I love baking, especially sweet treats, so it's not really a hardship.  I thought I would use the opportunity to try something new...

Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom - Talking Ben Elf toy Review

Little Man has new best friend. His name is Ben. And he is an Elf.

"Squeeze Ben's hand to hear him say five fun phrases, including 'Elves are very good at finding things!'. Made from soft and cuddly fabrics, he is ideal to hug and hold."

Well, our Ben Elf preferred to have his tummy squeezed and the five phrases are just what you'd expect Ben Elf to say "Hello, my name is Ben and I am an Elf!". Little Man was a little disappointed that he couldn't have an actual conversation after the introductions were done but once he got over that he has happily allowed Ben Elf to tag along on all his adventures and made a space in his new bed between Bagwuss and green rabbit for Ben to snuggle down at night which is about as good a recommendation as you can get! Talking Ben Elf would make a smashing stocking pressie for any budding Elf!

A whole range of Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom toys, including the Talking Ben Elf Toy (rrp £12.99) are available from all good retailers.

If you (or your little people) love Ben & Holly as much as Little Man why not visit their fab new website and dedicated facebook page for news, reviews, fun and games.

Thank you to Entertainment One who kindly sent Little Man a Talking Ben Elf to review.

Hotel Chocolat - Christmas Chocolate Giveaway

Recently Hotel Chocolat put a call out for bloggers to review chocolates from their Christmas Gifts and Stocking Fillers ranges. Naturally, I replied. I mean, who wouldn't?
When I got an email saying I had been picked I may have danced around the room a little bit....

As a former Chocolate Tasting Club member, I have already experienced their extremely special, artisan created chocolates first hand. Beautiful to look at, almost orgasmic to eat (yes, they are that good!) I eagerly looked forward to my monthly selection box. These days I have to settle for the 'Best of the Best' yearly selection. But it's a little treat well worth waiting for....

I was sent the fab Christmas H box selection to munch...*cough* review and wasted no time getting to work!

Thirteen individual chocolates, bringing together the flavours of Christmas - cinnamon and spice, gingerbread, and mulled wine all get a nod (Happily there was no sign of brussel sprouts anywhere! ) . Creamy truffles, smooth pralines and silky caramel all feature.
A handy 'menu' is included to tell you a little about each chocolate and help you decide which one to go for first...

House Praline

First up for me was the House Praline - a lovely thick milk chocolate shell with the HC logo stamped on the top filled with super smooth, mellow praline. Would go down a treat a cup of proper coffee...

That was followed swiftly by the Gingerbread Truffle (scrummy smooth truffle centre with ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Quite intense flavour - smokey, almost bitter... I LOVED it!),  Star Anise (white truffle with the consistency of soft caramel. Distinctive liquorice flavour with just a hint of alcohol) and one of my all time favourites - Salted Soft Caramel (I would, quite honestly, be happy with just a box full of those...)

Sea Salt & Caramel Bauble

There are several chocolates in the selection containing alcohol (which gives you a really good excuse to keep this selection well away from the kiddiwinks!) You can almost taste the bubbles in the Champagne Truffle (which, incidentally, is definitely my preferred way of ingesting the bubbly stuff!) but for a real kick the Rum Truffle - generously laced with premium Saint Lucian golden rum - will blow your socks off. Or make you sit back and smile for a bit at the very least...

My favourite? One chocolate in the box that really encapsulated the whole flavour of Christmas for me is named, simply,  Mulled Wine. All those traditional Christmas flavours - cinnamon, orange and clove with a generous measure of ruby red port all wrapped up in a milk chocolate shell.... mmmmmmm Christmas Chocolate Heaven.

There really is something for everyone in this selection.

But, trust me, you won't want to share!

Now I bet you are all drooling... so here's the best bit. Hotel Chocolat are giving away a Christmas H Box to one of you lucky readers!

To enter all you have to do is tell me what your ultimate Christmas chocolate would be. Do you go nuts for praline? Or crazy for caramel? Love a bit of alcohol or just a simple truffle?   Just leave me a comment below, along with a means of getting in touch (Twitter ID or register your email address when commenting).

For an extra chance at winning you can do one (or all) of the following:

• Follow this blog using GFC and comment to say you have done so
• Like the Tales from Mount Pleasant Facebook page and comment to say you have done so
• Tweet 'I want to WINscrummy Christmas chocolate from @HotelChocolat and @ForestFlower23 http://bit.ly/tKusZo  '

This giveaway runs until midnight on Saturday 19th November. Any entries received after that will not be counted. Winner will be drawn at random and announced on this blog, Twitter and Facebook. If the winner has not got in touch with their details within 7 days the prize will be redrawn.
Competition open to UK residents only.

Don't forget, if you want to keep up to date with news and offers, you can follow @HotelChocolat on Twitter and like their Facebook page


Good Luck x

Update 22/11/11 This competition is now closed! 

Congratulations to the winner.....

Lorraine Cooper (aka @meedja)

Thanks to everyone for taking part and revealing your ultimate Christmas chocolate!

Moshi Monsters Clay Buddies review

Just in time for the half-term holidays, Emax have released the uber-collectible Moshi Monster Clay Buddies. Combining traditional arts-and-crafts creative play with the super-cool Moshi Monster characters, the pocket-money priced Clay Buddies foil packs contain everything you need to create your very own Moshling figurine:- colourful plasticine, Moshi features cards and adoption book with information about your Moshling and instructions on how to put it together.

 

Little Man couldn't wait to get stuck in...

We were sent two Clay Buddies packs - some are more complicated to make than others so the Little Man made the Luvli....

The plasticine supplied was really soft and it was easy to mix the colours together as required.

Making the base.

Adding the pre-cut cardboard features was easy, using the little velcro tabs supplied... 

...although Little Man got a bit carried away with customising his Moshling!

Rather chuffed with my Diavlo (I am just a big kid at heart!)

but Little Man decided to pull his apart and have another go! 

 

Moshi Monsters Clay Buddies are great fun to play with and kept Little Man amused for a good while. I can see how slightly older kids would have great fun making them and building up a collection!

Moshi Monsters Clay Buddies are available from ToysRUs, The Entertainer, Smyths, Next and Hobbycraft with an RRP of £2.99 each. A special Moshi Monsters Clay Buddies box set with materials to make 4 Moshlings and a cardboard backdrop for imaginative play is also available (RRP £5.99)

A website is due to be launched for you to upload images of your creations and they have their own Facebook page too!

We were sent 2 Moshi Monster Clay Buddies play with (review) but recieved no payment for this post.

All words and pictures are my own.

Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom DVD Review & Giveaway

"Somewhere hidden amongst thorny brambles is a Little Kingdom of elves and fairies. Everyone who lives here is very, very small..."


The Little Man loves Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom (although he insists on calling Holly, 'Horny' which was funny at first...) and watches this BAFTA award winning show regularly on Milkshake (Channel 5) and Nick Jr, so he was pretty excited to get stuck into this DVD when it arrived.

Ben Elf and Princess Holly get up to all sorts of adventures in the ten episodes featured here - including a trip to Santa's workshop (The Elf Factory), a search underground as everything goes missing (The Ant Hill) and on a treasure hunt with a real pirate (Redbeard the Elf Pirate)!

If your child regularly watches Ben & Holly then, sadly, there is nothing here they haven't already seen. There are no extras on the DVD although you can use the 'Magic Shuffle' option that plays the episodes in a different order (keeps 'em on their toes!) However it does run to nearly 2 hours which represents pretty good value and I find these DVD's are particularly good to take away on holiday where regular TV may not be available.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom : The Tooth Fairy was released to buy on October 3rd 2011 (cert U, Entertainment One RRP £12.99) but Entertainment One have very kindly supplied one copy for me to give away to one of my lucky readers!

All you have to do is tell me the name of the Pirate that features in the 'Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom: The Tooth Fairy' DVD.

For an extra entry 'Like' the Tales from Mount Pleasant Facebook page and leave a comment to tell me so!

Or if you are a tweeter tweet "I'd like to win a little magic! Ben & Holly DVD giveaway from @forestflower23" with a link to this post.

This competition is open to UK residents only and finishes at 9pm on Monday 17th October.

Good Luck everyone!

**This giveaway is now closed**

There are more Ben & Holly activites over on the Nick Jr website and they even have their own website LittleKingdom.co.uk with games, stories, clips to watch and things for your little ones to do.

Thomas the Tank Engine - Day of the Diesels Review & Giveaway

As you may remember the Little Man is a bit of a Thomas the Tank Engine nut so the opportunity to review a copy of the brand new movie 'Day of the Diesels' before it is released to the general public was one not to be missed!

 Percy is feeling a little left out as Thomas spends more time with two new engines Belle and Flynn the Fire Engine. When the devious Diesel suggests to Percy that he knows someone who would love to be his friend Percy makes the decision to puff to the diesel works and meet this new friend for himself...

Olive the Ostrich

A new show with a difference premiered on Nick Jr this week.

Olive is a lovable little ostrich who lives with her mum and dad in the outback.. Whenever Olive buries her head in the sand she goes on a fantastical adventure. Who knows where she will pop up this time! On the moon? On a theatre stage? In a science lab? Wherever she ends up, she just loves to help!

The episodes are short and sweet (perfect for a three year old attention span!) and each one sees Olive use her friendly enthusiasm to solve problems and help out in her own, unique way.
The series is narrated by Rolf Harris and the theme tune has his distinctive 'wobble board' sound. I don't know about you but I love Rolf (I met him once and sat on his knee - but that's another story...) and grew up looking forward to Rolf's cartoon time on Bank Holiday weekends! I am so pleased that now my Little Man can enjoy his warm voice and enthusiastic story telling too! 

Olive the Ostrich was created in partnership with The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts, through a series of workshops, hosted by selected schools across the country, aiming to inspire creativity and develop story telling skills and give pupils an insight into the animation and film making process. The result is a wonderful, quirky set of five minute episodes that burst with life and colour with backgrounds, props and characters drawn by the children themselves. It makes Olive just a little bit different and we love it :)

Olive the Ostrich is shown at 8.15am and 6.30pm weekdays on Nick Jr
Watch a clip or get creative with Olive on the NickJr website

We were not paid for this review. NickJr sent us a DVD containing 2 episodes to watch (although we had already been watching them on TV ) and a poster for the Little Man to put up in his room. All opinions are our own :)

The Garnier Ultralift 14 Day Challenge

Let me start by saying that I am a girl who has NO beauty regime. I rarely wear make up. Cleansing is usually little more than soap and water. I will occasionally slap on a bit of Johnson's Baby moisturising cream if I am having a dry day! And that's about it...

But I am not getting any younger and the youthful complexion I have been blessed with is going to need a helping hand sooner or later! So when I was offered a chance to join in the Garnier Ultralift 14 day challenge, I thought 'Why not?' and agreed to put Garnier's Ultralift day cream to the test for two weeks to see if it had the promised wrinkle reducing effect!

The pack I received contained 14 sachets of Ultralift Day cream - a total of 21mls which is nearly half a jar!
First I had to grade my crows feet with the unique 'Wrinkle reader' included in the pack.
I was quite pleased to note that I measured somewhere between a 1 and 2 - not bad for a busy mum in her late 30's! - then apply one sachet of cream around my eyes and the rest of my face for the next 14 days, before comparing results. The sachets were generous with enough cream to apply to my face and neck. I would recommend you go easy around the eye area though, as I found my eyes watered a little if I used too much!

So does it do what it says on the tin (pot/sachet)?

Well I will let you see for yourselves...

Well I must say I don't think the pictures do it justice (do you have any idea how difficult it is to take pictures of your own eyes by the way?) and the difference IS noticeable - a couple of people have commented on how much less tired I look, which is always a bonus!

Garnier launched the Ultralift 14 day challenge a few weeks back, were inundated with requests for challenge packs and have no more left. However, if you really want to give the 14 day challenge a go, I have one extra pack to give away to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment on this post and a way of contacting you if you win (Twitter id/email address).
Open to UK readers only. Competition closes at 9pm Tuesday 19th July. Winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

B Record Plus Review

You may remember a couple of weeks back I mentioned that I had been given the opportunity to trial a new energy supplement called BRecord Plus (Give me back my energy please!)


BRecord Plus is a liquid food supplement made up of a unique blend of four key amino acids and the Vitamin B-12 to boost energy, overcome fatigue and improve concentration and improve intellectual performance. Unlike many caffeine-based energy supplements that provide a quick buzz, the micro-nutrients in BRecord Plus works with your body metabolically to produce sustained energy.