April/March Degustabox | First Impressions

I know I know, I still have posts to get up from last month's Degustabox! I am slowly getting round to it but I couldn't just let this one sit there without shouting about it! Sit tight for last month's posts but for now here is April/March's. Again, I never know what month to go with, I get the box at the end of the month but use it the following. What do you all think?

The box looks fantastic this month! More snack based than last month but I'm not complaining about that. I love a good snack! If you read yesterday's post though, I will be rationing the 'naughty snacks' and as always sharing them with Muj.

Starting top left and working clockwise we have Crabbie's ginger beer in the flavour Scottish raspberry, nice touch Degustabox! Really looking forward to trying this out as I absolutely love Crabbies! There were some recipes included for trying this out but I will probably just be drinking it from the bottle. I'll keep the recipes though as Muj and I really need to have another cocktail party soon!  (£2.19)

Next up is Mornflake Superfast which I'd never heard of before. It's a breakfast pot that you add cold water to and it 'magically' turns into milk (it's sprinkled with powdered milk, but maaaagic). These sound absolutely fab and I'll definitely be trying them out on days when I've hit the snooze button too many times and need to run to make my bus!  I got the fruit & nut muesli and raisin, honey & almond granola. There's even a wee spoon inside the lid so you don't have to worry about taking one of your own. (£1.20 each)

Item number 3 is from a brand again that I'd never heard of. Keogh's hand cooked crisps in the flavour Atlantic sea salt and irish cider vinegar sound absolutely delicious. In fact, I might just open them up and eat them now while writing this up! They are made in Ireland with natural flavours from local farms and they are gluten free. We all know I don't have an intolerance to gluten but I always love finding foods that everyone can try and I know plenty people that do have an intolerance so being able to show them things like this is always good! (£1)

Over half this box is from brands I've never heard of and Cawston Press is the next. This is a sparkling apple and rhubarb soft drink which I'm a bit dubious about trying as I'm not that keen on rhubarb but of course I'll give it a go! As you can maybe tell from their name, they only use pressed juice not from concentrate, there are no artificial sweetners, no colourings and no preservatives so I'm hoping it's a can of tasty goodness! (£1)

McVitie's Jaffa Cake Mini Rolls have been in my life a long time but the two flavours I received in the box are two that I've never tried; berry burst and tropical. There are 6 in each packet so 12 all together but I'm rationing myself to one every couple of days. Apparently they are 'brrrilliant frozen' so I'll definitely be trying that out! (£1.30 each)

I've seen so many adverts about Dr. Oetker products and I'm always salivating by the end of them so receiving these was an utter delight! It's cooking chocolate as well so hello cereal cakes! One bar is milk and the other is dark (which is my favourite kind of chocolate) so there will be a little bit of variety with the cereal cakes, well as much variety as you can have with cereal cakes! (£1.69 each)

Sticking with the chocolate theme, Lindt is my absolute favourite chocolate brand ever! It's so indulgent, so delicious, just amazing! There were three in the box so I've given one to Muj, sharing is caring and all that. The other two will be put away in the 'treat' cupboard and I will not eat them both in one sitting. If I start to think about it, I'll send a tweet out and you all have to shout at me! (80p each)

Second last product and again I've never heard of them! Clearspring are an authentic and organic fine foods company that have been going since 1993 and it's all Japanese foods. Apart from shop bought sushi, I haven't tried any Japanese foods so I'll definitely be looking more into this company! I was sent two sachets of miso soup which I've been told is delicious and I've actually been meaning to try it so this is perfect timing. (£1.29 each)

Last product and again, from a company I've never heard of Go Splash. Funnily enough though I have a post coming up in a few days on the exact same product just a different company! Now I have some variety. This is a blackcurrant sugar free water flavouring. You simply pour yourself a glass of water or buy a bottle if you're out and about, squirt some of this go splash into it and hey presto you have juice! (£2.45)

So this month's box is rather good I'd say, what do you think? 15 items this month totalling a cost of £20 which is fab considering it's only £12.99 a month for a Degustabox and that's including postage, however, I have a nifty wee code that will get you £3 off so free delivery and you only pay £9.99 for your box! Just enter the code "IV399" when prompted and you're welcome!

What is your favourite item out of this month's box? I don't think I can actually choose one!

As always you can find out more about Degustabox on their website, Twitter and Facebook. 

Alana x

March/April Degusta Box | First Impressions

I never know what month to put these as because I get the box at the end of the month then use it the following month. Anyway, I have returned from my stupidly long hiatus and what better post to officially come back with than Degustabox! 

If you haven't read my previous posts about Degustabox, they are a monthly food box subscription service. Much like Graze boxes but on a larger scale. You receive 10-15 surprise products some of which are brand new to the market, you eat them and if you're like me, you blog about it! Of course you don't have to, but it's nice to share right? For more information you can visit their website here.

So before I jump into what I got I just have to say that Degustabox have actually changed who they send out your boxes with and this has also come with some fancy new packaging inside the box, which I absolutely love! I know right, getting excited about packaging... It's like giant bubblewrap!

And here are the goodies! I love that there is always such a mix of ready to eat foods and what I like to call recipe foods. It's like a gentle nudge every month to remind me to try out some cooking.

 How cute do these wee flavoured milks look?! I'm not the hugest fan of milk so I'm looking forward to trying these out. There were a couple coupons in the box as well to get a free 3 pack and a bottle from their 'adult' range that I'll be putting to good use next time I'm in Tesco!

 As some of you may know, I am awful at having breakfast! I can't have cereal every day as I know I'd get bored far too easily and some days I just can't face eating/cooking anything! I can't stand raisins so I'll be giving the bottom pot to Muj but I'll definitely be giving the plain pot a go! 

 I can't wait to try these two out, all I have to do is add mince and some vegetables and I've got a meal! I've got so many packets of pasta and jars of sauce in the cupboard that I really should use but these products from Organico will be getting used first!

 If you remember the last Degustabox I wrote about, I received some Maggi products that I absolutely loved. Anything to make cooking easier and more Alana friendly! These look like the could fall into the same category. I'm especially looking forward to trying the tagliatelle ones.

 My biggest vice, crispy and savoury snacks! Muj and I have already discussed covering the nachos in cheese and sauce and banging them in the oven so I can see that happening soon. I didn't know Tyrells did popcorn so that'll be a new on for me.

I've never tried any Chai products so I really have no idea what to expect when I try this out. It's chocolate flavour though so that's always a bonus! I love tea and I love lattes so I'm hoping that I'll enjoy them combined, we'll find out!

So overall, I am loving this month's box! I'll only be giving away one thing I don't like which is better than last month's box. Speaking of last months box, I received it when I had fallen out of love with blogging so I didn't write about it, if you're interested in what I got though, I'll gladly do a post about it, just let me know!

Rimmel & Revlon | Poundland Finds

Alana went to Poundland again? What a surprise! Let's be honest, no one is surprised. Poundland is my first port of call when buying makeup, especially nail polish. The past wee while I don't think I've gone into Poundland without leaving with at least 1 new polish. Got quite the wee collection going now. (I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should construct some shelves for them all, seen some great diys on Pinterst!)

Anyway, on to the goodies! First up, the nail polishes!

It's Sally Hansen's I've been buying most of, I just can't resist the great deal of getting Sally Hansen polish for £1 when it's £5 and up in all the other shops, so I've built up a fair wee collection of them. I was quite pleased when I went in that there were more Revlon polishes this time. As much as I love SH, I love Revlon just as much and possibly a little bit more!

I'll just be showing you what the shades look like below but over the coming weeks, I'll get some NOTD posts with them so you can see them on.

Spice It Up is a great looking shimmer polish. In the bottle it looks quite coppery with some red and orange tones. This looks really build-able and I'm hoping that after a couple coats it's quite opaque but with a nice glittery shine. I thought it would be a great Autumn colour and would work quite well with my skin tone (paley mcpaleface).

Popular is a really pale pink with two different kinds of glitter in it, really small silver bits almost like Spice It Up and then slightly larger white hexagonal bits. I wasn't too sure on this shade if I'm honest, not the biggest fan of nudes and pale colours but I'm making more of an effort to try them out. 

Emerald isn't quite emerald coloured (in my opinion). I think it looks more grassy coloured. The only green polish I can think that I have in my wee collection is a bright lime green so I thought I'd branch out and try a few more shades.

I've not tried any texturised nail polishes so when I saw this Velvet Polish, I thought I'd give it a go before venturing out into brands. I know this might not be fantastic but I'm up for giving it a go!

When I saw this in the shop I was a bit dubious to get it as I've tried the Wake Me Up foundation and it is wayyy too dark for me, (even the lightest shade) but in the spirit of trying things out, I picked it up anyway! It's called Shimmer Touch and what with the shade I picked up being called Radiant Rose I assumed it would be a nice cheek colour. I hope I'm right as this is the only place I'd wear it! A little really does go a long long way with this product as you can see above. I'll have to make sure when I do use it that I use the tiniest amount possible to avoid looking like a clown!

I always like trying out new concealers so when I saw this, I knew I had to try it! I was quite surprised when I opened it as it had the concealer to cover blemishes then the little inner core that treats the blemishes. I thought this was a great idea and not too dissimilar to Fake Up although I'm not sure what came out first. (Still heavy lusting after Fake Up!). I had to giggle as the shade is 010 Ivory, my old blog was called Ivorysmoke and every time I get foundation, powder, concealer, anything like that, the lightest shade that matches me usually has the word Ivory in it.

Last but by no means least is the Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in 850 Rouge. I am a sucker for a red lippy and no matter how many different (or similar) shades I have, I always like to pick up another! The only thing I need to work on is applying it properly. Some people can fill in their lips and look great, others go a little over their natural lip line and look great (some look really silly though). I always feel like if I go over my lip line that I'll look like a clown but my lips are so teeny tiny that I need to. Catch 22!

What have you found recently in your local Poundland?

First Impressions | Pearl Drops Ultimate Whitening

I enter so many competitions on twitter, facebook and blogs that sometimes I forget. It's always a pleasant surprise when the post arrives though! I very vaguely remember playing some kind of pearl based game for this but can't remember the details.

I've always had issues with toothpaste and toothbrushes, my mother can attest to that! It makes me feel sick and sometimes actually be sick! As you can imagine, I don't particularly enjoy vomitting so it's always made me a bit hesitant with toothpastes. I've not taken the best care of my teeth because of it and I really need to get into a good routine!

I'm really going to try with this Pearl Drops Ultimate Whitening polish. God knows my teeth could do with a bit of a whitening! (I've been entering Gemma's Blanx giveaway every day and crossing everything that I win one of them!) I've been told not to expect fantastic results but something is better than nothing!

I like that you get this wee comparison strip so you can see how well your teeth are doing using the product.

The actual toothpaste reminds me of Spearmint Polos! I used to spend so much money on those little minty donuts! I'll keep you posted on how I get on with this unless I win the Blanx competition or somehow get my hands on the 2 hour Crest strips! ;)