North York Moors Holiday Photo Diary

Today's post is a photo diary of my two week holiday in the North York Moors with my family during the summer. I’ve been doing my blog for a good few years now and have slowly been adding more lifestyle posts as it is something I enjoy. I had taken lots of photos so thought I could share them again like I had done previous years. There’s a few more photos you will get to see as they are coming up in separate café review posts.

My holiday was fairly chilled but we went for picnics, to cute cafes, beer gardens, art exhibitions and played some tennis. We stayed in a beautiful cottage where they keep horses and just next door they kept some farm animals. We stayed by the cottage quite a bit. I caught up on my reading and jigsaw etc while my Mum enjoyed baking and playing tablet games. My Dad went on early morning scenic walks and saw lots of nature/animals. My Brother joined us for the second week too!

I wanted to share a link to a guest post I have done on JustEmma.co.uk blog including Helen's Top 10 Photography Tips for Beginners. I would really appreciate it if you went over to have a look and comment. It was my first guest post :-)

So how was your summer? What did you get up to? :-) xxx

Flash Jimmy Choo Perfume Review

Todays post I wanted to share my thoughts on a perfume I’ve been wearing. I bought it as a gift set in the January sales last year and have been reaching for it lately. So lets begin with the review…

Described online as an ‘Intoxicating and dangerously sexy, the scent parades on a catwalk of addictive Powdery Woods. Sparkles of Pink Pepper, Tangerine and Strawberry introduce a flash of White Flowers and Tuberose to this Eau De Parfum fragrance.’

When I first became aware of this perfume I was instantly drawn to the unusual and sexy scent. It’s a really fab all-rounder fragrance that's easy to wear day or night or in any season. It can be sprayed lightly or built up if you are going out in the evening and the scent is incredibly long lasting.

The designer like feel shows with the gorgeous chic packaging, it would look pretty on any dressing table. If any of you are interested the body lotion it came with was lovely, the scent comes across nicely and the lotion sinks in well.

It’s available as a 40ml bottle retailing at £30ish on fragrance direct but you could wait until the gift sets come out around Christmas. I would highly recommend it, perfect for yourself or someone special! Click here to buy online. What’s your perfect Autumn perfume? Have you tried this product? Xx

Health Shop In Danby, North York Moors Tour + Review

Today’s post I will be chatting about a gorgeous health shop I visited while I was on my holiday. We have been visiting the same spot for a number of years. We popped into the shop quite a few times while away. My parents bought essentials such as organic food etc. while I loved to treat myself to a little something normally from the selection of chocolate. At the end of the holiday I bought a few more expensive bits such as makeup, haul post here.

The health shop has a wonderful selection of fresh organic food, beauty, gifts etc. I loved the selection of fruit and herbal teas, I’m really into trying out new kinds so it was a bit of heaven for me. Their beauty range has developed quite a bit and now stocking lots more natural brands such as Lavera, Faith In Nature, Jason, Pacifica etc. The prices are mostly quite reasonable especially as you are paying for quality.

The experience of walking into the shop is amazing, I love the aroma from the beauty items and the staff there are so helpful and friendly. If you are looking for gifts it’s a beautiful place to stop by. I would recommend it to those of you who like organic/natural products as everything in the shop is carefully selected.

So did you enjoy the tour of this shop? Would it be somewhere you might like to visit? Xx

Pukka Three Mint Herbal Tea Review

Despite liking so many other teas by Pukka this three mint variety was not really very appealing. Because of this I had to give it away as I could not manage to finish the rest of the box. So my thoughts on this product are as follows…..

I was hoping it would be a lovely variation of peppermint tea but there was a strong taste of toothpaste. It was way too strong and minty. I suppose I was taking a leap of faith with this one as I had not tried any other mint teas. My Mum was not really keen either.

I would not recommend this unless you love everything minty and don’t mind a strong minty taste in your tea. There were some positive factors though, I loved the packaging and the Pukka brand I do normally love. Retails at £2.39 but is on sale for £1.99 on the Pukka website, click here for this. Or I recommend trying the Pukka Elderberry & Echinacea with Elderflower Tea which I adore, review here, buy here.

What teas are you drinking at the mo? Have you tried this one, what were your thoughts? Xx

Autumn & Hot Chocolates

I love the feeling of the start of Autumn, it’s my favourite time of the year. This post is a bit of a miscellaneous rambling kind but hope you enjoy anyway…I met up with a friend on bank holiday Monday for a lovely catch up, we went to a trendy café in Saltburn called Profile Sitting room. The ambience and style of the café is lovely with vintage china and homemade cakes. I had a hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows (perfect get me in the mood for Autumn) and a tasty biscuit which there is a special name for but I can’t recall. I thought I would share some snippets from what we drank and ate.

I’ve been getting excited for A/W and so far I have read lots of related blog posts, looked into 2016 diaries, started my Christmas shopping, had my first Autumn hot chocolate, got back into reading and have a few Christmas novels on my Amazon wishlist ready to be ordered. I’m a planner at heart, I love to organise! Are you the same? Do you love this time of year? Let me know whats on your A/W to do list or what you are most looking forward too! Best wishes, Helen X

 

Soap & Glory Orangeasm Body Wash

Today’s post I am reviewing a Soap&Glory product! This body wash was the first product in the Orangeasm range I had tried. I bought it as a bit of a whim online after running out of my previous body wash and to be honest I wasn’t that fond of the scent. It was quite menthol and a lot less fresh/fruity than I had imagined it would be.

I didn’t really notice my skin was any softer after use and the liquid didn’t foam up that much. The 500ml S&G body washes are always really good value though maybe because the squirty lid makes you use the product sparingly.

It wasn’t unpleasant to use as such but I definitely don’t think I’ll be repurchasing. It just wasn’t my thing at all. Despite this I did like the packaging, it was bright and fun even though the name was in my opinion such a gimmick. I do normally like S&G but wouldn’t recommend this, it retails at £6.50. Click here to buy.

Have you tried this? Do you agree or disagree with my review? What’s your fav S&G product? Xxx

Lifestyle // Shopping Date with A Dear Friend

As you may have seen in my previous post I went into town to do some shopping. I thought in this post I would show some photo snippets from my day. My friend and I wanted to spend some quality time together just before her wedding so we hit the shops and stopped for a bite to eat.

The blogger that I am, I had to take piccies of our amazing refreshments. I had a very indulgent chocolate cake and my friend had an awesome cake with pink icing. She suggested we try the iced lemonade and oh my! It was delicious, plus they looked so Pinterest worthy with the lime and striped straws :-)

We did well with our shopping and picked up some really great things. I took a little photo snippet of what I tried on in the TKMaxx changing rooms. I ended up keeping the green dress and grey swirl pattern top. It was a lovely day, I enjoyed spending it with my friend and hearing her news. If you haven’t already check out my haul from this trip, click here.

What’s been happening with you this month? Been anywhere noteworthy? Xxx

TKMaxx, Primark, Peacocks etc. Haul

Today’s post is a haul from a lovely outing I had with a dear friend. She got married this summer and we had a pre wedding shopping date. I will be doing a lifestyle post on this but for now here is what I purchased :-)

We went in a quite a few different shops in town and my friend took me in TKMaxx. I don’t normally shop in there but I was actually really impressed with their latest stock. I found a few items and took them to the changing rooms. I came out with a green dress and grey top with a sequin trim. I would stay they are both unique pieces and priced fairly reasonably.

I go into Peacocks often and there sale was amazing on the day. I love the denim jacket I got which was reduced from £30 to £10. It has a boho type pattern on the front and makes the perfect light weight jacket for this time of year. I bought a few other bits I will let you check those out in the photos.

What shops have you been lovin’ recently? Did anything that I bought catch your eye? xxx

TKMaxx

Grey swirl pattern top £14.99

Green and black pattern dress £14.99

Peacocks

Denim Jacket SALE £10.00

Mini Brief Knickers £5.00

Primark

Plain black ballerina pumps £4.00

Summer pattern socks SALE £2.80

Bargain Buys Discount Shop

Galaxy hot chocolate 99p

Coconut mushroom sweets 99p

Superdrug 

Rimmel hide the blemish concealer in Ivory £3.99

Given as a birthday gift

Two Barry M Gelly nail polishes in Guava 520 and Cardamom 437

Asda Strawberry & Forest Fruits Tea Bags

Today I want to do a little review of a fruit tea box that I received for my birthday. I always like to try out new varieties, and this Asda one is great if you are after a cheaper supermarket kind.

I was interested in the flavour of this one and was hoping it would be pretty good. I will mention I had to add sweeter (or sugar) as its surprisingly not overly sweet. After trying it with sweetener I found it to be pleasant but it didn’t have that wow factor taste like some other brands I have tried. It reminded me a little of sugar free Ribena in taste.

The packaging isn’t overly exciting either. On a plus side one tea bag went along way and as soon as I popped it into hot water, it changed into a blackcurrant sort of colour. It’s also quite summer appropriate with it having strawberry and forest fruits included. It maybe be worth trying as iced tea too! I would maybe recommend this tea if you like fruit tea and are looking for something less pricey. Buy 20 tea bags for 74p.

So does this sound like something you would want to try? What is your favourite summer time drink? xx