Monday 23 February 2015

The Miniaturist Review

After finishing The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton I couldn't wait to share my thoughts on here as I really got stuck into it and thought it might be something a few of you readers could be interested in too. I won't lie, the cover completely drew me in to begin with, along with the 'Haunting, magical and full of surprises' slapped right on the front, but luckily this wasn't a case of pretty cover, shitty book, so we're all good!

NEW Makeup Revolution Oil Control Fixing Spray

I was so so excited to receive this brand new product from Makeup Revolution recently because it sounded completely perfect for my troublesome skin. The pro fix oil control makeup fixing spray* aims to deflect surface shine, keeping you naturally matte throughout the day, fixing your makeup in place so that foundations and eye products resist smudging and fading as the hours go by. I suffer from annoyingly oily skin with shine so persistent it seems to be able to break through any products and powders that I apply, so I was really intrigued to see what effect this spray would have - if any!

Healthy, tasty (vegan-friendly) lunch ideas

The new year really gave me a kick up the bum when it came to eating healthily and taking part in regular exercise, and the motivation that I had to get fit at the start of January still hasn't worn off (yet).

A really big thing for me is to make sure that I'm eating meals that I actually enjoy so I don't end up begrudging the whole being healthy thing (no processed shakes, skinny soups or cardboard-tasting rice cakes in sight). The way I see it, if I can eat meals that taste nice then I'm much less likely to slip back into other bad habits, and my little theory seems to be working out pretty well so far. I know that a lot of people are still aiming to get fit at this time of the year so I thought it might be useful if I shared a few easy meal ideas on here - all vegan of course. These 3 lunch ideas are all super tasty as well as being really quick and easy to make, so hopefully there will be something below that you might enjoy!

Avocado on toast

The Vegan Kind - Chocolate Heaven Box

When I saw that TheVeganKind had teamed up with Considerit Chocolate to create a Valentine's Day box full of delicious vegan-friendly treats I just knew that it had to be mine. For only £13.15 the box swiftly arrived in a couple of days, full of the prettiest and tastiest chocolates you can imagine. In my box, I received a cranberry crunch chocolate bar, raspberry chocolate truffle bar, chocolate and honeycomb bar, a bag of chocolate shards and a mini box of heart shaped chocolates in flavours salted caramel, chilli, chocolate truffle and raspberry.

Snooping around Manchester museum

The other week I decided to go look round the Manchester Museum because I pass it basically every time I go to uni but have never actually bothered to go in before. I didn't really think it would be anything special as I never see any hype about it or anything (then again it is a museum, I don't really know what I was expecting) but honestly it was SO cool! I turned into such a child while I was there, eagerly snapping away with my camera and getting overly excited about every single thing that I saw (especially the chameleon!!) so I was really glad that I'd made the trip as it was definitely worth it. Just in case any of you readers are interested in going - which I would 100% recommend - I've added a few of the pictures that I took there so that you know what to expect! Basically just lots of dead things.

January Favourites

As if it's February already! I've never actually done a 'favourites' post before but there's no time like the present hey! Basically I'm just gonna ramble about some of things I've been loving lately in the hope that it might be of interest to some of you.