Miss Patisserie's Dotty Box

Happy Sunday evening!

What a beautiful weekend it has been, I'm sporting some pink shoulders and sore muscles after finally getting around to sorting out some of my garden - 9 bags later and it's still not finished, eek!

Anyway, back to business....we went to Miss Patisserie for a blogger event (you can read the post here)

One of the items I picked up was the Dotty Box, a gift box with four items in all of which looked and smelled so good I couldn't resist it.

In total it contains the Mineral Mud Face Mask, Coral Bay Dry Body Oil, Coco Body Butter and the Coral Bay Bath Ball.
All of these smell so amazing, I couldn't wait to try them.

They come in the same boxes as when you can select four bath balls of your own choice, and the boxes are gorgeous. I'm planning on decorating my bathroom with the same colour as the blue on the box, so it will conveniently match...right?

The boxes are so well thought out and I love the note on the inside of it too. I wish I'd known about Miss Patisserie sooner, especially as it's been around since 2009!

Here are the products:

How cute are they?!
The smell when you open the box is amazing, even with the contents out the box it still smells awesome and I have sniffed it a few times just to remind myself of the scent! It makes me feel so relaxed and content, I need to bottle it up and carry it around with me.

First up? The Coral Bay Bath Ball. Look at the pretty colours!

This was my first bath ball and I was really impressed. The pastel colours were so pretty, and the bath ball fizzed for so long I actually ended up breaking it up with my hands, I am very impatient! I'd like a perfume in this scent, it's just makes me so happy!

Next is the Mineral Mud mask.

I've already written a post about this separately, you can find it by clicking here.
Short review: I love it and fully recommend it!

The next product I tried was the Coral Bay Dry Body Oil. This is a game changer for me, I knew I loved the smell but a dry oil isn't something I had tried before and I really loved it!

I use this all the time now, straight out of the shower and it sinks in pretty fast. I love moisturisers and body butters but sometimes they take too long and I can't be bothered to wait for them to dry. This is the perfect alternative and I'm really impressed with it.

I'd definitely recommend it, just let me stock up on it first so I never run out!

Last but not least is the Coco Body butter, and it is certainly another favourite.

The smell of this is also out of this world and is such a summery scent, it's a lovely thick moisturiser and takes a little while to rub in but it doesn't leave my skin feeling greasy at all.

Overall I am more than impressed with the collection and generally with everything I have bought from Miss Patisserie. This was the perfect box to try a range of products and I'd 100% recommend it for anyone who would like to try a few and can't choose.

The box costs £25 and is worth around £32 in product so it is worth buying if you want them all anyway. Individually they are priced at:

Mineral Mud Face Mask - £7.70
Coral Bay Dry Body oil - £14
Coral Bay Bath ball - £3.49
Coco Body Butter- £6

Have you tried any sets from Miss Patisserie? Do you love the Coral Bay scent?

L xxx

Madame Fromage

Hey All

When L and I went to the Miss Patisserie Spring Event (you can read about it here) and couldn't resist buying half the shop we decided lunch was needed (okay it was half 11 but we'd both drunk the night before and needed food!) and finally remembered we hadn't been to Madame Fromage - how we haven't been before is still a mystery to us.

Madame Fromage is in the Castle Arcade and is a deli and restaurant serving up a variety of food including cheese and tapas platters, fresh salads, tarts, welsh cawl etc. The whole menu looks amazing and is reasonably priced. The deli selection has a very impressive cheese and antipasti selection as well an amazing cake fridge that we were very dissapointed we couldn't fit in. We were very tempted to get cake to take away but as both of us our trying to loose weight we decided to skip it!

As you walk into the main restaurant you are straight away greeted with the amazing cheese selection - there is more seating across the road and outside. We both couldn't wait to get in and decide what we wanted. As standard we both had tea and water and decided on the cheese platter and mini meat selection (really just the cheese would have been enough to share) They suggest their cheese or tapas boards serve two and at £14.99 each are very reasonable. (I've taken my parents recently and sample the tapas and cheese boards with them. I don't think I could choose between them as the selection on the tapas was amazing but I do love the extra cheese on the cheese board!)

The bread selection that comes with the boards are amazing both times I've been I've had raison and walnut, one with sundried tomato, french stick type and others. The bread is all fresh and a generous portion.

Onto the star of the show!!!! Look at all that cheese. There was a great selection of soft cheese, mild, mature etc something for every taste and it was nice to try some I'd never tried before as well as seeing some classics. It also come with a lovely fresh salad! Something else I loved was that when I went back with my parents it was a different variety of cheeses so you always get to try something new. 

The mini meat was something we didn't need as we were totally stuffed but it was a delicous treat, nice chunky slices of ham, parma ham, chorizo and salami as well as more amazing bread. This was a nice addition to the cheese board and would be great if three of you were sharing it.

We can't recommend Madame Fromage enough, great service amazing food and I've already been back since L and I went together, definitely get there early we arrived at 11.30ish or late afternoon if you're visiting on a Saturday as it gets very busy!

Love L and M

xxx

Barry M Sunset Gel Daylight Curing Range: Do it Like a Nude

Morning!

Any one else absolutely love Barry M? Always a fail safe purchase for me and I love being able to go to a shop, pick up some new nail colours and still have some pennies left over.

I'm a bit later to the party with their Sunset Daylight Curing polishes, I picked up two nude-ish colours and the first one I've used is 'Do It Like a Nude' - cannot stop singing Jessie J whenever I see this!

You use these nail polishes just the same as any other, however the top coat has to be the Sunset Daylight Curing TopCoat. Don't make the same mistake as me and forget to pick this up...oops!

I used my normal Essie base coat and then applied two coats of Do It Like a Nude, before applying the topcoat.
The coats of the nail varnish need to be thin, I kind of ignored this but it is definitely worth noting. The first time I used these polishes I was in a rush so was a little heavy handed - I got it half on my fingers and half on the nail, that's the kind of rush!

Second time round I did use thinner coats and it was much better. I would say that they weren't 100% opaque so you could see some brush strokes and nail colour underneath but they weren't too bad and were only noticeable if you looked closely, maybe three thing coats would be required if you want full opacity.

I was pretty impressed with how long they lasted, my nails chip easily at work and these did last the week very well.
I'm planning on using this on the hen weekend I'm currently on because I don't have the time nor the baggage allowance to take any with me, it will have to last the four days so fingers crossed it will!

These polishes come in at a bargain £4.99 and can usually be found on offer in Boots or Superdrug which is very handy!

There are 16 colours in all and I'm a big fan of the nudes so far, perhaps I will have to pick up some pinks, oranges and red too!

Have you tried the Sunset Gel range before? What's your favourite colours??

L xxx

Cliff Bar Energy Bar

Hey All

A few weeks ago L and I were contacted to see if we wanted to try out some Cliff Bars as they'd also launched a new flavour for spring Coconut Chocolate Chip. As we both love these type of bars as a treat or pre/post gym snack we couldn't wait to try them. I was especially excited as I've currently got a thing for coconut. 

These are different from the normal bars we have like trek and bounce balls as the texture was more cakey due to them being made out of rolled oats. We both love porridge in the mornings so really enjoyed this texture. It also makes it feel more like a cake treat which is always a bonus. 

Cliff bars are great for workouts as they are packed with protein (10 grams in the coconut one) and carbohydrates to help sustain energy during long extensive work outs or they're great for pre workout boost. I know L has especially liked having them in between work and the gym. They're also packed with vitamins that contribute to the release of energy in the body.

We were sent a selection to try pit and none of them disappointed. I'm especially a fan of the chocolate coconut flavour and it's also made using dairy free chocolate! I've mainly enjoyed having half a bar as a snack in the day to fill me up when I'm feeling especially peckish!!

Clif bars are available from lots of places on the highstreet now including boots (it's a snack in the meal deal as well), asda and tesco and they retail for £1.60 each. I've been and grabbed extras since as I need to try the white chocolate macadamia one.

Do you have energy bars as snacks or pre gym workouts?

Love M

xxx