Month: January 2018

Home Organisation, Vitamin Sea - Wellbeing & Self Care

Planner Time

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Sunday well spent

I love this quote because to me it’s about starting the week off with a clear, organised, peaceful mind.  What helps me with this is using a planner.

Planners Group

The amount of planners on the market is huge and some are so pretty with great motivational quotes, inspiring suggestions and have lots of creativity aspects.

My favourite brand so far is Create 365 The Happy Planner.  Last year I had the small version (Just Be Happy in picture above) but this year I went BIG!  I have one for my personal planning – blogging, holidays, house plans etc and then I have one for work.

I went with American Crafts Heidi Swapp Large Memory Planner with Gold Foil Stripes.  Its faux leather, with 12 month tabs, each tab is different with pretty floral designs, quotes etc and the handy thing is its has clear pockets at the front of every month.  For anyone who needs to keep receipts for accounting purposes this is a god send!

Work Planner

American Crafts Planner from Amazon            

                                                    

Its is delivered from America so takes a little bit longer than the normal Amazon shipping but it’s very functional.  It comes in other designs and including postage comes in around £20.

There are lots of add ons you can purchase also but for this planner, because I use it for work I keep it professional and quite simple.

WOrk planner inside 2

Now the real fun begins with my personal planner.

Last year I purchased a 365 Create Happy Planner for the 1st time and I loved it.  They are beautifully made and come with lots of stickers, bookmarks and there are lots of additional add ons you can purchase.

This year I went online searching for another planner and liked the look of the boxes which contain your planner, stickers, bookmarks and pen all together rather than buying separately.  However the only one I really liked the design of (as there is a lot of different designs) was from America (again!) and would take 1 month to arrive!!!  Could I wait that long?

The answer is yes and I am so pleased I did….look what arrived today

Home Planner

And when I open it all these goodies were inside

Planner Open

The planner is the larger size (magazine size) but I love that for the house.  It has a handy envelope flap at the front for magazine slips, recipes that kind of thing and gorgeous colourful monthly dividers some floral and some with motivational quotes.  It also has a monthly sheet were you can write down what you are currently reading, watching, cooking, crafting etc.

The sweetest part is each month who can write what you are thankful for.

Planner Page

If you want to view the different version available ( I think this style is sold out) have a look on Amazon although there are other independent sellers in the UK.

365 Create Happy Planner from Amazon

You now know what I will be filling my time with this weekend, lots of writing, being creative with stickers and planning for the weeks ahead.

Happy planning everyone

Nikki x

 

Uncategorized

00No7 Licence to have good skin!

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In the general frenzy of present buying at Christmas, my attention was drawn to a great gift Boots had on offer – The No 7 Beautiful Skin Beauty Collection Box.  Boots had it on special offer at just £39 and individually all the products would cost £144 – it was too good to miss so I loaded my trolley with the gift box and headed to the counter (will my double points coupon to boot!)

I was tempted to ask my husband just to wrap it as another present but I wanted to start using the products straight away.

You got all this lovely lot inside:

Contents Inside
Box Contents

 

I have been using all the skin care products for about 3 weeks now and some items have been exceptional and some may take a bit longer to see any really difference and for me to be able to give a balanced view.

The few that have stood out already are

  1.  No7 Beautiful Skin – Hot Cloth Cleanser (200ml)

This was not a new product for me as I had previously used it however its a great cleanser.  It is easy to use, definately gives your skin a great clean and does not leave it tight like some cream facial washes.

I dont always use the muslin cloth and it still removes all the make up from your face, however when you use the cloth (which is also included) you can feel the difference as everybit of your face is cleansed.

I am impressed with this, normally I reach for the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish as I do feel it has a more herbal/botanical cleanse.  There is a bit of a price difference with Liz Earle at £14.50 and this No 7 cleanser which is normally at £10.  A repurchase for me when the time comes.

Hot Cleanser

Boots No 7 Cleanser

2.  No7 Beautiful Skin Eye Make Up Remover (100 ml)

A new one for me and I love it!  Removes the toughest of mascara gently.  Now it is a bit oily for you oily skin people as it does leave a bit of oily residue on your skin after use but thats the only bad thing I can say about this product.  I will definately buy this again – but only on 3 for 2 or with a £5 No7 voucher as it is on the pricey side at £8.50 for just 100ml

Eye Make Remover

Eye Make Up Remover

3  No7 Skin Illuminator Nude (30ml)

Again a newbie for me and something I would not normally pick up from No7.  Maybe because it was winter or my skin was tired from the busyiness of Christmas but I felt like I need this little boost over the Christmas period and I have kept it in my dialy make up routine into January.

I have been wearing it like a primer before my foundation and I like the gentle radiance it gives.  Its a very light texture, soaks well into the skin and does not clog up when I put on my foundation.    I did wear it as a bit of glow on top of foundation also when heading out for the evening and it worked perfectly.

A great little product, you do not need much so I think it will last through to the summer.  It comes in Nude or Bronze and a good price at £12.50.

Illumator

No 7 Skin Illuminator – Nude or Bronze

 

4.  No7 Beautiful Skin Hydration Mask – Dry/Very Dry (100ml)

All I can say about this product is WOW!  Its the star of the box so far!

So…I am a bit of masking fanatic and I mask at least once a week if not a bit more.  I love them from sheet masks to mud masks to charcoal masks to overnight masks I have tried them all including the pricey GlamGlow (good but not worth the money).  This little jar of wonder surprised me!

I have used it about 4 times now and left it on for about 10 minutes, its comfortable on your skin – no stinging or ickiness so I am happy to let it just seep into my skin.  Each time my skin the next day has been plumper, refreshed looking and generally healthier looking.  I dont have dry or very dry skin so maybe it provided me with a better result because of that but I think for anyone with that skin type it would be well worth a try.

I am so impressed with it and for just £13.00 I think it needs to be a constant repurchase.

Mask 1

No7 Beautiful Skin Hydration Mask

Thats all the recommendations from the box at the minutes.  Its only been a few weeks of using the Day and Night cream, eye cream etc so I think I will come back to you on those items.

I have not used any of the make up either but looking forward to the spring/summer months to get use out of them.

Other products in box I have yet to review:

  • Protect & Perfect Intense Day Cream 50ml
  • Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Night Cream 50ml
  • Protect & Perfect Lip Care 10ml 
  • Protect & Perfect Intense Eye Cream 15ml 
  • Exceptional Definition Mascara in black 7ml
  • High Shine Lip Gloss in ‘Sparkling Rose’ 2.6g

Overall so far,  for £39, I am very impressed.  Sorry if you missed the offer at boots  however there are some full boxes selling on ebay for around £70 + p&p at the moment but in my opinon you would need to be a regular user of all the products to get the true value at this price.

Let me know if you love any of the product I have mentioned or any other Boots No7 products you enjoy – I would love to try a few more.

Until the next time, enjoy

 

Nikki x

 

 

 

 

Home Organisation

Its time to get organised…again

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So when January comes around I always feel the need to get organised.

Pinterest often provides me with inspiration, looking at all the organisaiton tips and pictures of fabulous organised homes.  Last year I set myself a target of getting some aspects of our home sorted and one of the big items I wanted to do was sort all my Christmas wrap, cards, birthday cards, wrapping paper, boxes and stationery supplies.

So I took inspiration from Pinterest and set up my own wrapping station – very american I know but its fantastic and what a pleasure it was to do all the Christmas present wrapping this year.

So this year I have set myself a goal of sorting 2 aspects of our home each month.

January

  1. My Wardrobe – I actually do this every season so this is a good one to get me strarted.
  2. Make Up Drawer – As much as I love keeping an eye out for new products and testing them I do have a hard time in either throwing them away, passing them on to someone else or donating.  This will be a wonderful achievement.

I did it!  My wardrobe is done.  I sorted, purged, donated, cleaned, foldedand generally give everything a good tidy (I do love a bit of colour coded organisation).

That’s one off the list.

Wardrobe

Why dont you join me and get sorted in 2018?

If you need some more inspiration I can highly recommend a wonderful book called ‘The Complete Book of Home Organization’ by Toni Hammersley.

Toni has a blog called ‘A Bowl Full of Lemons’ which I love. Its full of great useful tips, lots of printables and its full of encouragement to tackle those sorting tasks. Check it out, you will want to subscribe just after one read!

Bowl Full of Lemons Blog

Home Organisation

Buy this book on amazon

The book is an extension of the blog and website. Its filled with beautiful images and lots of handy tips from small projects to bigger tasks its a great read and I have found it so useful to dip in and out of through the year.

I am feeling very accomplished, next task is my make up drawer, so I will keep you all posted on how it get on.

Leave me a comment on what you hope to start with, how you are getting on and of course some before and after photos would be great.