August Birchbag - Dive In!

I haven’t done a Birchbox review for a few months, mainly because I haven’t had a huge amount of time or energy. But this month I managed to get some photos taken, so thought I would talk you through what arrived in my August Birchbox.

This month, Birchbox became Birchbag, with an exclusive scuba bag available in four colours. The main part of the bag stays grey, but the zip came in four cool neon colours – Coral Reef (which I received), Blue Fin, Yellow Tail and Pink Pufferfish. Unfortunately we couldn’t choose the colour (I think I would have chosen pink!) but I’m not unhappy with the Coral Reef and the bag will come in very useful. The theme for this month was ‘Dive In’ and the bag contained a selection of samples along this idea.

For anyone that hasn’t heard of Birchbox before, it’s a monthly beauty subscription service. Each box usually consists of five beauty treats from a range of both well-known and emerging brands, and occasionally there is a lifestyle item thrown in too. As well as the monthly beauty box, the website also consists of a shop where you can purchase all the brands that have been featured in their boxes. Every time you shop, you earn 10% of your final total back in Birchbox points, and when you have 100 points; you’ve got £10 to spend! Subscribers also get free delivery on orders over £35, or when you buy any of that month’s beauty treats in full-size.

English Laundry Signature For Her EDP Spray – Full size RRP £60

I’m going to start with a little extra that Birchbox included this month – a perfume sample from a brand I can’t say I’ve heard of before. According to the website, English Laundry tap into the very essence of an English country garden with this fresh fragrance. It contains top notes of rose geranium and creamy white flowers set against a backdrop of woody spicy and musky notes. I quite like receiving perfume samples and am always sniffing those ones that come in magazines. It gives me a chance to discover new scents that I may not have tried otherwise.

Merci Handy Love & Hand Cleansing Gel - Full size RRP £2.90

This is another brand I hadn’t heard of before finding this product in my Birchbag. I’m excited to give it a try though, as I like to carry a hand gel around with me, just in case I need some and especially as I have to self-catheterise. I received the scent ‘New Wave’ but it also comes in Black Vanilla, Cherie Cherry, Flower Power and Lollipop, all of which I would love to try! These hand sanitisers are enriched with emollient beads and vitamin E to hydrate and nourish your skin while fighting bacteria.

Philip Kingsley One More Day Dry Shampoo – Full size RRP £14.50

The next product in my bag was this dry shampoo from Philip Kingsley, a brand I believe I’ve received in a subscription box before. I must admit I’ve never actually tried dry shampoo before. I keep meaning to, but I worry that with my dark hair it might show. But receiving this will give me an excuse to try it out, perhaps on a day I’m not going out, just in case my hair does turn white! Birchbox say that this lightweight spray absorbs natural oils and grease without leaving any pesky white residue. Sounds good so far! It’s a gentle formula packed with soothing ingredients like zinc PCA and allantoin, which effectively cleanses the scalp while helping to keep flakes and irritation at bay.

Marcelle Waterproof Eyeliner – Full size RRP £10.50

I used to wear eyeliner all the time as a teenager, and for some reason have stopped recently. So I will have to give this waterproof one a try to see if I can get my eyeliner mojo back! I received this in the gorgeous colour mulberry, but it is also available in charcoal, expresso, indigo and black. Marcelle’s blendable waterproof eyeliner goes on smoothly and stays put, which is always good in the middle of summer when all you want to do is jump in the pool.

Balance Me Radiance Face Mask – Full size RRP £18

I’m a really big fan of Balance Me products and have tried quite a few different ones so far. I love how simple yet effective they are and how nice they feel on my skin. This facemask has a tripe action cleansing, exfoliating and brightening formula. Ground walnut shells gently slough away dead skin cells and encourage cell renewal, purifying kaolin clay helps eliminate impurities and the brand’s fruit acid complex works on restoring the skin’s natural radiance. It even includes Balance Me’s signature blend of rosemary, palma rosa, lavender and Roman chamomile oils to help soften, calm and cleanse.

Anatomicals The Buff Stuff Citrus Body Scrub - Full size RRP £3.99

Anatomicals is a brand I have wanted to try for ages, so I was really excited to see this inside my bag. This hard-working exfoliator sloughs away dead skin cells leaving skin invigorated, smooth and delicately scented with energising grapefruit. I can’t wait to try it!

Overall I think this is one of the better ‘boxes’ I’ve received from Birchbox. I’m looking forward to using the majority of the products, but especially the body scrub and facemask. I would say there are a good range of products including skincare, hair care and one make-up item, and I really like the summery theme. I think I prefer it to come in a box, but hopefully I can make use of the scuba bag for make-up.

Are you a Birchbox subscriber, and if so what do you think of it? Or are there other subscription boxes that you’d recommend? I’m always interested to try new ones, beauty or otherwise.

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Making myself High Street Happy in collaboration with Quidco*

You may remember my post last month, which I did in collaboration with Quidco, talking about the things that make me High Street Happy (you can find it here). Well, they very kindly gave me £50 to go and make myself high street happy with, in one of their affiliated retailers, and asked me to chat to you about what I bought.

In case you didn’t catch my last post and aren’t quite sure what I’m talking about, let me explain. I’ve been using Quidco for a few years now, but always assumed it was purely an online thing. But I was wrong! Quidco High Street is a cashback scheme, which allows you to earn money back on your shopping in more than 5300 retailers nationwide, with over 40 different brands. If you don’t have a Quidco account already, head over to the Quidco website (here), click ‘Join Quidco now’ and follow the instructions. Through this link, you can also earn £10 bonus cash back!

Once you’ve signed up, all you need to do is register your card on the website, then when you shop at one of their retailers, Quidco tracks your purchase and pays you cashback as a percentage of your purchase. Once the retailer has confirmed your purchase, the cashback will be deposited automatically. From there, you can transfer it to your bank or PayPal account or ask to have it paid as an Amazon gift voucher. There are a huge variety of retailers on the list, from Argos to Debenhams and Mothercare to JD Sports. You can find the full list on the Quidco website.

So, what’s the catch? Well, there isn’t one! There are no hidden costs. Quidco makes money from a combination of the fees from Quidco Premium accounts and the commission that retailers pay them for directing traffic to their sites. I’ve found the online version so useful, and often use my cashback to either treat myself to something nice, or save it for Christmas to help me buy presents for friends and family. So I’m really excited that I can now use Quidco on the high street too!

I was very excited to do some shopping, so went into town with my Mum last weekend, in the hope of being able to treat myself to something special. I always pride myself in being honest on my blog, so I think it’s important that I tell you the whole story, good and bad, rather than sugar-coating everything. Unfortunately, I found the experience a little more stressful than I’d hoped. Before we went out, I had a look on the Quidco website to make sure I knew which retailers were taking part in the cash back scheme. I identified a few of my favourite shops to check out, including River Island, Debenhams, Hotel Chocolat and JD Sports.

We started in River Island, who are currently offering 5% cash back if you pay with Visa. After browsing the rails and finding one pair of trousers to try on, which ended up looking awful, I left the store feeling pretty disappointed. ‘Never mind’ I thought; I still have other shops to look round. So we made our way over to Debenhams and started looking round. I wanted to check what the cash back rate was in Debenhams (2% plus one gold coin if you’re interested), so had a quick peek at the Quidco app on my phone. I noticed there were some terms and conditions underneath, so thought I’d better just see what they were. One of them says, “In-store cash back will not be paid for purchases made in concession stores e.g. department stores,” so I was a little confused about what this meant. After tweeting Quidco, who were very helpful, I found out that you only get cash back for items bought from a Debenhams branded counter. So, things from beauty counters and clothing concessions like Oasis, Ted Baker and so on don’t count. I thought it was important to make this clear, as I’ll be totally honest and admit I don’t always read terms and conditions (and know a lot of people don’t!) so it’s something you could easily miss.

Trying to find something in Debenhams that wasn’t a concession was pretty tricky, but in the end I decided to treat myself to a new perfume, as they are paid for at a Debenhams counter. After spending more time than I care to admit smelling all the different scents, I went for a bottle of Prada Candy Florale which came in at £42. It smells so beautiful and delicate, and will be perfect for the summer months. With Quidco in-store cash back for Debenhams at 2%, I’m set to get back 84p. It may not seem like much, but imagine using your registered card every time you shop in an affiliated retailer – it will soon add up!

As I hadn’t quite spent my £50, I decided to head over to Hotel Chocolat to see what could tempt me. I’d seen on the app that they were offering 4% cash back if you paid with a Visa card, and luckily enough, that’s the card I use! I was actually very good, and instead of buying something else for myself, I picked up a delicious looking box of chocolates to give to my Dad on Father’s Day. You know you’re on to a winner with Hotel Chocolat – I’ve tried a lot of their goodies, and am yet to be let down. I’m hoping my Dad won’t mind if I pinch one or two chocolates from his box! I paid £22.50 for the chocolates, which means I will get 90p cash back. Again, not a huge amount (although surely better than nothing!) but it will soon add up.

Despite it being a little stressful trying to work out what I could actually get cash back for in Debenhams, overall I think the concept is a good one. There are plenty more high street stores offering cash back with Quidco, including some of the following:

·      Caffé Nero (1%)

·      H. Samuel (5%)

·      Blue Inc (6%)

·      Officers Club (8%)

·      Cotswold Outdoor (8%)

·      Vodafone (3%)

·      Joy The Store (5%)

·      Thomas Cook (£15 if you pay with Visa)

·      Liberty London (5%)

I’m hoping that as the scheme grows, more and more high street stores will sign up to be part of it. But even now, there is still a good selection with some great cash back offers, and who can refuse getting a bit of extra money with no catch?! It’s incredibly easy to sign up to both Quidco online and to register your card for high street cash back, and is something I couldn’t recommend enough.

I think, especially at the moment, it’s really important to support our local high streets. It’s very easy and convenient to buy things online, and believe me; I’m guilty of turning to the Internet over going out shopping. But with more and more high street stores closing, I do worry that we are gradually losing something that’s at the heart of a lot of communities. Although I doubt I’ll ever turn away completely from online shopping, I’m hoping now I know about Quidco High Street, I will make more of my local high street stores.

*This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Quidco, but all opinions are my own

Do you use Quidco already, or does Quidco High Street sound good to you? I’d love to hear what you think about shopping on the high street!

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Jo Malone Peony and Blush Suede

I’m a big lover of perfume. It started in my teens with bottles of Impulse or So…? Body spray, and as I got older I moved onto more ‘grown up’ products like Vera Wang Princess and Britney Spears Fantasy scents. I love to go into department stores and spend ages in the perfume department smelling various fragrances, finding favourites to add to my ever-growing wish list. When I started blogging a few years ago, I started to see posts talking about Jo Malone and was bowled over by the simple but sleek packaging.

After having a browse of their website, I decided I really couldn’t justify spending that amount of money on a fragrance that I hadn’t smelt first. So I resigned myself to the fact I would probably never lay my hands on one of their beautiful bags. A year or so later, I started having to go up to London to see one of my doctors. Sitting in the bus on our way back from Whitechapel to Waterloo, we pulled up near Bank and decided to get out and find somewhere for lunch. I was already excited because the bus pulled up right outside Laudrée, the most perfect macaron shop ever! As we headed towards the Royal Exchange, we passed so many beautiful high-end stores – I felt like I was in heaven (quite literally, as I could never afford anything there!) However, one store that immediately caught my eye was Jo Malone. I was so excited that I had to drag my Dad in, even if it was a bit of a challenge getting my wheelchair up the step!

The store was even better than I imagined it would be. The two ladies working there were incredibly helpful and welcoming, and helped me to choose my favourite scent, Peony and Blush Suede. The next problem was trying to decide what to treat myself to. There were the classic fragrances, but then they also have candles, bath oils, reed diffusers, hand creams…the list goes on. In the end, I decided to go for the cologne, as I thought I would probably get the most use from it. I really wanted to buy the larger bottle (100ml for £85), but had to put my sensible hat on and stuck with the smaller one instead (30ml for £42).

I’m terrible when it comes to describing scents I’m afraid, so I’ll refer to their website for some guidance! It is classed as a floral scent, with a heart note of peony. According to Jo Malone:

 “Peonies in voluptuous bloom, exquisitely fragile. Flirtatious with the juicy bite of a red apple and the opulence of jasmine, rose and gillyflower. Mingling with the sensuality of soft, blush suede. Luxurious and seductive.”

All I can say is, it smells amazing! It’s incredibly girly, delicate and light. In my opinion it’s more of a summery scent, but to be honest it’s that good that I’ve been wearing it all year round.

It looks perfect alongside some of my other perfumes and makes me feel really grown up! The bottle is incredibly sleek and minimal, so looks great in any room. This little bottle is also brilliant for popping in your handbag or suitcase if you’re travelling, as it’s really dinky so doesn’t take up much room at all. This fragrance has definitely given me a taste for the high life, and now I’m desperate to add to my collection with more of their scents.

Are you a fan of Jo Malone? Or do you have a different favourite perfume? I would love to hear about fragrances you like, as I’m always looking for new ones to try!

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