My Little Flower Box

My little boxes theme this month is "My Little Flower Box" and it's not the normal box this month, its a book shaped box with ribbon ties, nice idea but I prefer the box as I can use it for storage this book/ box is thin and the ribbon does not hold it closed.....
There was the little magazine inside which is good. A Pop-up garden (£7.00) cute little box and good idea but the seeds are cress! if they were flower seeds I would have been happier, the theme was flower box?
A Travel pouch for lingerie from Balzac Paris (£13.00) This is a very pretty printed cotton double pouch, but if I was going away for the weekend I would need more then 1 knickers and 1 bra, that's if I could even fit my bra into the tiny pouch, again nice idea but........
The beauty items were a Nailsinc base coat (£11.00) OK I will use it but its not very flower related, a nice rose or lavender coloured nail varnish would have been better I think and a L'Occitane travel sized shower gel Cherry Blossom scent, I really like L'Occtaine their shea butter range of soaps is excellent, I will use this shower gel and its flower related but yes another problem it leaked not too much but a travel sized product that leaks is not good for travelling! I did contact them and they said email back if I wanted a replacement and they would send it out... which as its a little bottle and only a tiny leak I have not replied. The final item and the star of the box was My little boxes own brand face mask from "My Little Beauty" Rosy Mornings detoxifying mask (£11.00) this is a very good mask. Its vitamin C rich, 96% natural ingredients with active fruit extracts. It's a good mask it made my skin feel really clean, soft very smooth, sometimes I get tiny little bumps under the skin, you can't see them but you can feel them and it magicked them away. I think if not for this product I would have cancelled my subscription as overall the theme of the box was a good idea but most of the contains were a little disappointing. I will give it one more box and decide.

I will review the SO Susan subscription tomorrow

Fabric Love's Swatch Kit

I saw this magazine in the supermarket last month "Love Patchwork & Quilting" (a nice magazine), really it was the free gift I saw "a fabric lovers swatch kit" and thought it was an excellent idea. It contained 100 cards, 100 double sized stickers (to stick the fabric sample to the card) and a metal keyring.
It's meant for people to stick swatches from there fabric stash onto the little pre-printed cards with  information on one side to fill in with details so you can remember your fabric name, details etc. then add to the keyring to keep to keep organised.
For me I thought it would be an excellent way to have samples of my fabric designs at hand and organised. So I made a template to fit the card tags and ordered some of my design minis from both from Woven monkey and spoonflower in the correct sizes and started organising my fabrics. I think this is so useful for co-ordinating with other fabrics, buttons, threads, zips or just for showing my fabric design, plus its so small and neat and can fit in my bag when out 'n' about. This is one of the best free gifts from a magazine I have ever had :)

Birchbox April

This months Birchbox arrived, its with Rifle Paper so the box has a really nice, we were given a choice of two different floral designs. The one I selected reminded me of spring! fresh colours. We also had a chance to upgrade the box by adding two little Rifle paper notebooks. So that's a no brainer for me, I love notebooks!! always have one with me so I upgraded start away, it cost an extra £4.00 I noticed they are now selling them on the site for £12.00! The box also had a 25% off coupon for rifle papers so will be looking at their website to see whats available. Inside the box was the usual cute little drawstring bag, these are great for making sure my crochet/ knitting projects don't end up like tangled around everything in my handbag or my comb/ hairbrush!!
This months items were - Cynthia Rowley - Full sized Black Eyeliner (Birchbox Exclusive!) It saids its "smudge-proof definition that lasts all day!" (Full sized £11.00) I tested it found It did smudge a little, but it also lasted all day in fact I had trouble removing it, I would only come off with an oil cleanser in the end.
 - Sample sized Kueshi - Foot Care Cream - A foot-softening treatment that uses natural ingredients to refresh and nourish dry skin. (The sample was 40ml, Full sized 100ml £12.00) This has a nice tea tree oil smell and my feet liked it they felt nice and soft.
- A half size sample of Benefit BADgal Lash - Volumising formula.(The sample was 4.0ml, Full sized 8.5ml £17.50) nice big brush I will need to test it more.
- Beaver Professional - Hydro Nutritive Moisturizing Shampoo (40ml sample) & Conditioner (small foil sample) - it saids it "gently revives and restores and keep the pH balance". (The sample was 40ml, Full sized 258ml £11.50) I will try this out soon.
- Balance Me - Tinted Wonder Eye Cream - An eye cream to cover dark circles with a tinted lotion (Full sized 178ml £20.00) This is the same cream I got free on a magazine last month. It was a bit to dark for me when I tested it, but I found it very mosituring (it has rosehip oil) so I have used it in the morning if I am not going out and it makes my eye area feel good. I wish it was a little lighter but I am really really pale so its hard getting a good colour to suit me. Saying that I will use it also as an light eye cream on days I stay in so it will not be wasted.
Again I liked this months box, I like been able to choice the design and the little notebooks. The products included new items I had never tried, so I liked that.



Note: If you want £5.00 worth of points with your first box click https://www.birchbox.co.uk/invite/nezumi6 currently you can get a free full-size NUXE Masque Crème Fraîche® de Beauté worh £18.50 with the first box - just put the code PAMPERME in the promo code box before ordering.  So that's a free NUXE Masque Crème Fraîche® de Beauté and £5.00 in points, don't forgot to review the products when you get them and that's up to another £5.00 worth of points to spend in their shop. 
Birchbox UK cost £10.00 plus 2.95 p&p monthly, you can cancel at any time via your online account. They are an American company, different countries receive different boxes and products. 

Spring Update

I have been working on some new filet coasters, three flower designs, one to be added each month here on this blog and they are free!

A quick site update to reflect all the wonderful flowers now its Spring. A new banner, it has my floral edge fabric design, for a little bit of Spring inspiration.


I will also be posting reviews of the subscription boxes, but I want to use some of the products first so will be posting them very soon. 

Web and Mobile Diploma's Completed

So happy today, it's been a busy week! On Monday I did the final assessment of the Diploma in Web Development (I did the course last year November) and today I finish the final assessment for the Mobile App development Diploma. I got a distinction for both so very happy. I still have some assessments to finish for courses I did last year but slowly I am getting through them. I am hoping to do an advanced diploma in web development soon so want all the other courses finished and completed (well hoping they are anyway).

SoSusan Lip Love Bag

I said in a previous post I had been given a birthday present of another subscription box, well bag really (Thank You Dad). The first one sent out to me in February went missing in the post, they were very helpful (Gemma, Very good customer services) and a replacement was sent (it took about 3 more weeks to arrive) and it arrived the same day the March bag arrived.
I don't use make-up every day, but I like to sometimes. I recently cleared out a lot of the old make-up I had. I would be afraid to think of how old some of it was and it needed to go. I wanted to replace it with a more natural make-up but the prices are so high. I looked at SoSusan their subscription bag is a very good buy, you get 4 full sized beauty items and a limited edition bag for $20.95 a month with free shipping worldwide. You can put the bags on hold (I wish some of the other bags/ boxes did this) which is very good or cancel at any time. Its cheaper if you order a 3 month ($18.95 a month) or 6 month block subscription ($17.95 a month) you can still put bags on hold with these subscriptions. I was given a three month subscription and would like to keep it up for at least another three. I don't know how fast I will use everything so its nice been able to hold off bags (good for Holiday times also) without having to cancel the account.

The SoSusan products and the other companies products included in the bag are 100% Cruelty-Free,  Vegan, No Mineral Oil, No Parabens, No Phthalates, No Gluten, Hypoallergenic and Non-comedogenic.
I have put the contents of the bags below, I am still playing with the products so later this month or next I will do a review. I love the canvas bags and the packaging is  so cute. I am happy so far with what I have had. Because I had a replacement bag I was given a replacement product Seraphine botanicals - Conscious eyeshadow base (I love this and have been using it a lot). Really looking forward to this months bag :)

February Bag: The "I Love Challenges" Bag
Bag Contains : 

• Eco-Chic Canvas Makeup Bag (worth $12 / £12)
• LipoPout in "Cats" (worth $18.95 / £12.95)
• Omniblush by Jelly Pong Pong (worth $17.95 / £13.95) (Mine was replaced with a
  Seraphine botanicals - Conscious  (worth $20)
• Skin Salvation - Primer & Luminizer (worth $27.95 / £21.95)
• BONUS ITEM : Marshmallow Skin by Trifle (worth $18.95 / £13.95)

Bag Value : $95.80 / £74.85



March Bag: or The "I Love Spreading Kindness" Bag
Bag Contains : 

• Eco-Chic Canvas Makeup Bag (worth $12 / £12)
• Lip&Cheek Jam by Trifle (worth $22.95 / £17.95)
• Luminaire (worth $19.95 / £15.95)
• Crème Couture (worth $16.00 / £13.00)
• BONUS ITEM : Supercharged by Jelly Pong Pong (worth $22.95 / £17.95)

Bag Value : $93.85 / £76.85

My Little Bubble Box

This month's my little box theme is "My Little Bubble Box" I think the bubble bit is lost somewhere in translation, but its a fun box and has some very nice items.
Again a very nice box and also a little fabric draw-string mag with the beauty items and the mini magazine. The items were:
Bulle de teint or translated as beauty bubble (rrp 8.00) its a makeup sponge excellent for applying liquid makeup to give a airbrush finish and its simple to use. Wet sponge and squeeze, add a little foundation, concealer, blush whatever you want than dab dab dab onto skin adding more product as needed (a little at a time, better to build up). I needed a new one but they are expensive, although I have seen a few on ebay much cheaper may buy one to see the difference, so have been holding off buying one. Very happy with this and its not to big, good for concealer around the eyes.
A cute blue hairbrush (rrp £13.00) with "Be Cooler" on the back. One of the main things I like about this brush is its lightweight, so may be going in my out 'n about' bag, although not sure it could stand up to morning hairbrushing!
Bubble Blush Lip Tint from My little boxes own beauty range. A lip and cheek tint, its very pink but maybe as its a tint when on it will blend in.
Huygens body scrub (This is a Full sized Product rrp £12.90) , 99% natural ingredients (11,4% ingredients produced from organic farming), helichrysum italicum, sweet almond oil, fruit oils, limonene, spearmint, this smells like summer walking through a field should, without the smell of the animals and other things that a summers field really smells like!! A honey critus mix, it leaves your skin feeling really soft.
Givenchy Noir Couture volume mascara (sample size 4g, Full sized 8g £25.00) this mascara has the usual Givenchy packing very nice and chic, I have not used the mascara yet, but have read good things about it.
And lastly not forgetting a balloon with "BE wild!" on it, mmm...not sure about it, may just blow it up and let it off in the wind when I need a bit of inspiration.

My Little Box are a French company, their box costs £11 plus p&p and I think this month the products have more then covered that. For anyone wanting to subscribe they are billed monthly but you can cancel anytime via your account online.

Tip: Whatever box you subscribe to have a look online and on their facebook/ twitter/ instagram sites for codes before you subscribe, for extras and discounts