My first Graze box!

Experience

Sadly this post won't include any proper photos, due to my camera/Blackberry is having a bad day and has decided not to work with me.
However, I will explain what I received in my first box and my experience with the company.

I decided to grab at the chance of getting my first Graze box for free, as usually I only hear about amazing deals at the last minute. However this time I heard the deal was still in action and jumped at the chance.

Placing my order couldn't of been simpler! Just popping into your details and then rating when you would like your box to arrive. Then you its the fun part, going through all of the kinds of food you can choose from.

My first order arrived today (Wednesday) and I placed my order 2 days ago, Monday night. It came unbelievably quickly and I was updated on when my order was dispatched and when it should arrived.

Now onto the yummy foods I received...

The Products

Fiery Cashews

These were ok, a bit hot (however my mouth cooled after a quick drink so all was well) but I wouldn't order these again. Not my kind of taste, I'm more of a sour/sweet kind of girl.

4/10

Great Fire Dragons

These were a lot nicer than the fiery cashews. The jumbo chilli maize had the same texture and crunch as pork scratchings, my inner fatty adored this. I wouldn't say these had any chilli in the ingredients what so ever, as they tasted slightly salty, but no where near spicy, more of a bland taste.

3/10

Cheddar, red onion & chutney focaccia

I was slightly annoyed when I recieved this in my Graze box, as I thought I 'binned' all of the foods containing or topped with any kind of onion (I despise it, urgh!) and this turned up topped with onion, yuck yuck yuck. I had no idea whatsoever what 'focaccia' was until I tried it and it turns out to be a posh word for nice bread. I would of loved this if it didn't have the onion on. So I'm going to rate it as if it didn't contain any (however after a taste test it tastes alright in small nibbles)

5/10

yin & yang

This tasted so good! The dark chocolate buttons were quite big and chunky and yummy! The almonds were perfect, slightly crunchy, just the way I love them. The jumbo raisins and cherries were so sweet and lovely, I'm usually not too keen on dried fruit, however I think I may of been converted! Perfect for people with a sweet tooth.

10/10


After my first box, I am definitely going to make a regular subscription!

Sophee xo

P.s. All pictures were taken from the official Graze Website.

Changing always changing

This isn't a post dedicated to anything but me constantly changing my mind on my life/future/career.
For about a year and a half now I was stuck in the thought of being in a dead in job for the rest of my life due to not being able to go to University, as it was too expensive and I didn't have a hope in hell of getting a place.
HOWEVER!
I've finally figured out what I wish to do!
The history & english BA Hons degree, either at Newcastle University or Leeds.
(my parents are hoping Newcastle as I'm the baby and they want me closer, urgh!)
Anyway, I'd LOVE some advice about the entire Uni thing, as I'm so nervous its ridiculous, and whats better, such as moving away from home or staying etc.
Anyone who could maybe give me an idea, give me an email please; sopheehanah@hotmail.co.uk

I'd really appreciate it!

Sophee xo

New Name!

I've decided to change my blog url to match my twitter :) so it'll be easier to find in the future :)
On another note...

HELP HELP HELP!

I'm considering buying some ugg like boots for winter, and I'm stuck between Uggs, Emus and 'Whoogas'

If anyone could give me any good advice on what is the most long lasting (sole wise) and the best quality for money I will be extremely grateful!

Also whatever brand I will be buying I will be purchasing their mini boots/demi boots, as they are my favourites :)

Sopheehanahxo

Liptick, Nail Polish & Palette Swatches From Haul

As you may have seen in my most recent post of my extravagent shopping spree I bought a few cosmetics.

My favourite purchase from my little spree was free, I was in Boots sometime last week and they had an offer availible to any customers of their 17 range, if you buy 2 items you will receive a free 'All About Nude' palette, and after a quick look at what colours it contained I was sold and bought 2 of their nail polishes just for the palette. Obviously the colours I chose I loved, however one nail polish is my ultimate fave!

Its their shade 'Sweet Kisses' which is a lovely lilac/pink kind of colour, a colour I haven't seen before :)

The Packaging it very minimalistic and pretty pale pink shade :)

The eyeshadows are very pigmented and both have a slight gold shimmer to them, the pink shade is called Funfair and the gold is Walnut Pearl. There is also a cream blusher which doesn't have a name and a lipstick in Belle which is part of their permanent lipstick collection.

Swatches from the Palette!

Nail Polishes!

No7's Stay Perfect Nail Polish in the shade Minty Fresh
This colour was achieved after around 3 coats of the nail polish, it is a watery formula but it remains chip-free for up to 4 days of heavy wear.

Chanel's Nail Colour in the shade 507 Tendresse.
This colour is a very sheer colour, its best to be used (in my opinion) as a bottom coat for any bright nail polishes or to dull down a colour that is too strong.
I only really got a decent colour when I applied 5 coats on my nail, then it became a pretty ballerina pink, but this can only be achieved if you have 30 minutes free to apply a silly amount of nail polish. Its also a pain in the backside formula that will peel off within 12 hours of application. I'm not sure if this is all Chanel nail polish's or just this particular one, anyway my first impressions of Chanel as a cosmetics brand was bruised thanks to this.

Lipsticks!

Viva Glam Cyndi

Mac's Viva Glam Cyndi Lipstick from the limited edition Viva Glam Collection.

Shy Girl

The popular Shy Girl lipstick, which if I'm 100% honest will not receive half the amount of hype it has received from other bloggers. My least favourite colour in the entire spectrum is orange and Shy Girl in my opinion is exactly that. However I do adore the smell, Vanilla is my favourite smell ever and I smell the lipstick (weird I know) whenever I sit in my bedroom.

Divine

Last & definitely last is my No7 lipstick in Divine, which I regret buying quite a lot. When I was in Boots I asked for a nude with a tiny hint of pink to avoid the foundation lipstick fiasco and this is what was chosen for me. Now once I've given it a proper go, it seems to be an awful mauve, ew ew ew. However the formula is quite nice, a very silky velvet feeling that stays put for quite a while.

And a picture of swatches of all 3 lipsticks :)

Sopheehanah xo

Recent Purchases

Over the last 2 months (since I've neglected my blog) I've been buying quite a few bits, which I am now going unveil now! Dun Da Da Dummmm

Most of my purchases are cosmetics, and I new Most Haunted Dvd every now and then (Fact: I'm a nerd). Also I finally made my first MAC purchases! I finally got brave people!
Enough of my ramblings, I'll show you my latest purchases...

L-R (17 nail polishes in Sweet Kisses & Fairy Cake, Soap & Glory Hocus Focus lotion, MAC Viva Glam Cyndi Lipstick, No7 Lipstick in Divine, MAC lipstick in Shy Girl, 17 All About Nude palette, No7 Nail polish in Minty Fresh, No7 Beautifully Matte in 03 Porcelain, Chanel Nail polish in 507 Tendresse, MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation in NW43

And a naughty purchase of another bag, I shall have to introduce you all to my infamous bag collection one day ;)

Primark £8

Reviews to come!

Sopheehanah xo

No7 Hot Cloth Cleanser Review

Sorry I haven't been posting, I've been awfully busy attempting to find a new job and getting ready to go back to college. I know I'm going to sound ungrateful but I've been applying for almost every retail job going to get out of working in McDonald's anymore, don't get me wrong they pay well and all of my colleagues are friendly, I just don't have any passion for the job and it's getting to me. I'm hoping I will be in a retail clothing store within the next month or so, so fingers crossed!

Anyway to the topic of this post, I have recently bought No7's Hot Cloth Cleanser with my £5 off voucher that everyone and their cat knows about. I wanted to give this cleanser a go due to the fact of my skin being in a combination state, where I have dry patches and an awful oily T-zone. Using my usual daily facial scrubs are sometimes too harsh and I am looking for something more calming.

I've used it around 5 times, and it never really seems to clean my face as well as I'd like, I never seem to get that squeaky clean feeling, only a feeling as if I've just put on some moisturiser and then my T-zone begins to play up yet again.

Overall it is a lovely cleanser, but I'd only really use it when my face feels a little dirty, definitely not when I have a full face of slap on either.

Overall rating: 7/10

Also a picture of the muslin cloth after my first usage, how orange is my foundation? yikes!

Sopheehanah xo

if I were rich...

I'd buy everything in this collection.

18th birthday outfit?

Ebay

Topshop (£46)

My birthday is in November, but I'm getting excited already. Its the big 1-8! Hopefully it will be a lovely day and its one to remember for good reasons :)

A/W 11 wishlist

Topshop (£28)

Topshop (£42)

Topshop (£22)

Topshop (£35)

Topshop (£22)

Topshop (£38)

This A/W I'm finally going to get brave, instead of hiding in huge hoodies, leggings and uggs, I'm going to be brave and wear colours and faux leather. I'm going to wear the shiny leggings with a soft knitted jumper, such as the one above, it may not be ground breaking but its enough to give me a shock.

P.s. Apologies for the lack of posting, my laptop has been on the blink a tad, if you follow my twitter (@sopheehanah) then you will see that i've been complaining about it quite a bit. But i shall upload more :)

Follow me on BlogLovin' :)

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Lush Haul :)

Payday was last Thursday, and I am famously known for my spending ways, when I have money it MUST be spent as soon as possible...this time wouldn't be any different.

I went on a bit of a spending spree due to being in town 2 hours before needed (as I pass through to go to work) and the shops were open, I thought I'd have a 'look'.

I shall put the rest of my haul into another post as this one is dedicated to my lush lovelies :)

Twilight Bath Bomb

Sorry I forgot to take photos of what it looks like before I dropped it in the water!
I was tempted to buy the honey bath ballistic (forgotten its name oops) but when I smelt it in person I couldn't smell anything, I was so disappointed that I went on a smelling spree as I was determined to find a ballistic to enjoy that night, and after 10 minutes and many weird looks I found it! Twilight bath bomb, on the website it claims it smells of lavender, which I disagree as I can't stand lavender at all, it makes me feel ill within seconds however I couldn't stop sniffing this lovely smell! :) 

As I dropped it my bath it darted around with a pink train behind it, and as it dissolved a blue vein appeared and it turned into a dark blue-ish black colour (which I forgot to photograph as well, sorry!) but the dark water had sparkles in, I think to represent stars, which was lovely. Also washing my face with blackish water was a new experience.

A Sample of Big shampoo

This is my favourite shampoo ever! It has weird exfoliating crystals in a foggy water, but when its slapped on wet hair it lathers up wonderfully and it makes your hair feel squeaky clean! And a little goes a long way so a tub should last you a while. 

Honey I washed the kids soap bar

Yes my chunk didn't have any honeycomb on :(

After hearing so much about this product I just had to have it, when I walked into Lush I HAD to grab a bit and try it out, however when I got home and shared my bathtub with it, it smelt nothing like honey, it smelt more like cleaning fluid or something chemically. I have since e-mailed Lush for any advice that may make the smell a little nicer, so I shall keep you updated with that.

That is my Lush haul (not much of), thanks! :)

Sophee x

What's in my makeup bag?

My makeup bagggg! its pretty old now, I bought it when the Boots vouchers included Ruby & Millie, many moons ago. Its a Ruby & Millie gold barrel make up bag that is a gold finish (not anymore as it is on its last legs) and it fits sooo much in!

The goodies inside!




Brushes & Tools




Left to right; Eyelash curlers (H&M), Kabuki Brush (present), Maybelline eyeliner brush (Part of set), Tweezers (Superdrug), Angled blush brush (Avon), Eyeshadow brush (H&M), double ended angled brush (H&M), eyeshadow brush #2 (Part of Urban Decay pallete), Retractable powder brush (Unknown)

Products

First up is my foundation, which was bought in the sale part in Superdrug, for a nice £2 due to the lid being cracked and broken, but that doesn't make any difference to the product and it doesn't leak so I'm not fussed. I'll do a full review of this to a later date, although its been around forever :)


My face powder! It sets my foundation easily and quick, however the rose scent it has makes me feel a tad sick after a little while. This was bought from eBay in a made panic after I broke my Rimmel Stay Matte powder the night before. It cost me £3 and came within a week of purchase, bargain or what? The shade is 64 Rose, which is a light vanilla shade, perfect for my face but can make me look slightly ghostly when I'm wearing fake tan.




<a href="http://sphbckwtsn.blogspot.com/2011/05/getting-tad-flushed.html  " target="_blank">My blush has already been reviewed here </a>


My everyday eyeshadow pallete 





These eyeshadows are extremely pigmented and blendable, my favourite is the gold colour on the far right, and I use the brown to fill in my eyebrows. This little pallete cost me £5 in a car boot sale, expensive for a car boot sale but totally worth it for the colour pay off.

Bronzer :)

I received this last Christmas as a stocking filler and I have never heard of this brand before, but this bronzer is great as an alternative to blush, however not as good for contouring as it has a slight sparkle to it.

End of an era.

Yes this post is dedicated to HP! Last night at 12am I sat in a cinema with around 1000 others and watched the last HP film. Some may think, 12 O'clock at night, watching a film, yes I was irratated easily due to being tired and I found it hard not to yawn every now and then, but it was so worth it. Except the girl next to me kept crying, and elbowing me, but nevermind, theres always one.
GO SEE IT! GO SEE IT!!!

13.07.2011

Today I had lunch with my parent, Nana & Brother. We had lunch in Starbucks, scoured some shops and I came across something that caught my eye. I'm used to bargain hunting and finding something ok-ish, like the odd YSL jumper, or a nice blouse, but today I hit the jackpot!
I found for the silly price of £30 instead of the hundreds she's worth.. drumroll please...
 

Say Hello to Roxy!!!

I am chuffed! My new baby! I've lusted after any Mulberry in Fenwicks for the last 4 years, always thinking 'when I am rich I will own one', now working in McD's has given me what I always wanted :)

Haircut!

My Hair used to be nice and long and wavy, but alas it had no real volume and had literally 2 layers, thanks to a hairdresser who didn't listen to what I had wanted when I had it cut 6 months ago. My fringe was a fully grown out full fringe, which lasted 3 weeks and became a side fringe again. 

New Hair!!!

Apologies for it being unstraightened and being quite unruly but I just want to get a quick photo, I promise I'll take a better photo later. Now it is shorter, layered, with an annoying fringe that likes to get stuck in my eyelashes constantly. I'm hoping it will grow, as the only length I have is the small amount of hair situated at the back, so the front is short hair, which isn't very good as I can't use it as a security blanket anymore.  

What are your tips to grow hair faster? I'd love to try and test anything you think may work :)

OOTD/FOTD

Hello my lovelies! Hope everyone is well :)
Well today I went to work, then came home & received a letter saying I still had work to do at college so in the bad books with the parents.
Anyhoo, a couple of days ago I went shopping, as I haven't been able to check out the sales, on my way to Primark (I never actually made it to the store thanks to H&M) I picked up a little bargain in H&M...

This is a very Christopher Kane copy cat (like the pun?) tee, which cost me a nice £5, however I find the fit a little short in length but its nothing to phone home about.
The leggings are a basic ankle length pair from Topshop I've had for quite a while.

Awful photo alert! My make up has stayed in place after a 6 hour shift in a hot kitchen, definitely a winner in my books. Make up used;

Loreal Matt Morphose foundation (I don't know the shade sorry)

Boujois face powder

Topshop Cream blush in 'Flush'

Maybeline Gel Eyeliner

Clinique high impact mascara

Urban Decay eye shadow in 'Half Baked'

MUA eyeshadow 'Dark Brown' (used on eyebrows)

 You can slightly see the eyeshadow (I know its an awful picture)

Hope you have a nice week! :)

Pugly?

How could anyone say no to that adorable face?
I used to hate pugs, just because of their smushed faces (my mum used to joke that they looked like they'd ran into a wall), but now thanks to seeing a lot more of them, they've definetly grew on me.
Now they are my almighty wishlist, I'd love one exactly the same as the one above, and it would be named Charlie.
Too cute!!!