Monthly Archives: October 2016

Gift Guide: Garden Pharmacy

17th October 2016

Ok, I really can’t hold off any longer, the official gift guides are beginning properly. I like to think of myself as an organised person and I like to be ahead with my Christmas shopping. Figuring I can’t be alone in this (the ever increasing crowds of people in the shops being a huge giveaway) I’m taking the plunge. Click away if you’re one of those who can’t even begin to think about gift buying until the start of December…

I was recently sent a couple of items from Garden Pharmacy to review and given the vast array of beauty and fragrance products they sell I thought I’d combine my mini reviews with a little list of other items that I think would make for wonderful presents. They currently have some good offers on many of their products meaning you might just manage to bag yourself a bargain in the process.

The first item I was sent was this beautiful tin of Steam Cream. This stuff has been around for a fair few years now but somehow passed under my beauty radar. To be honest I think I was put off by the presence of lavender which I often find over-powering but having now actually had the chance to both smell and use these cream I can see what the hype is about. I’ve mostly been using it on my hands which suffer dreadfully when the weather gets colder and it’s working wonders. The gorgeous packaging (of which there are many variations available) means it makes a beautiful girly gift too.
The Selfie Powders Palette palette from Too Faced (currently only £24.00) has been an item of intrigue to me since it first burst on to the beauty scene. This trio of powders are designed to be instagram filters for real life providing either brightening warmth, a bronze glow or a cool ethereal light. It took me a while to brave using these, I feared yellow and purple streaks all over the shot- actually these blend wonderfully in to the skin and do give an added edge to my every day makeup. I’ve been getting so many more compliments on my skin since I started using these!
And now for a few other items that have made it on to my beauty christmas list- hopefully providing a little inspiration to help you along your way (or enabling a self indulgent spending spree in which case I am sorry!)

Here | Here | Here | Here | Here

Happy Shopping! Let me know if you have any specific gift guide requests…

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*Post contains affiliate links*

Posted in beauty, christmas, gifts, review, shopping

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New in from Essence

16th October 2016
After (rather excitingly) being awarded “blogger of the month” from my favourite affordable beauty brand Essence I was also lucky enough to receive a parcel with some of their new makeup lines to try out. In the spirit of living up to my new title I thought I’d do a quick review of my three favourite products which have very rapidly become staples in my Autumn/Winter makeup.
The first product is the “light up your face” luminizer palette which retails for a very purse friendly £3. I am absolutely loving this little selection of highlighter powders; used either alone or together these give the most amazing glow to my skin in a way far more expensive products have failed to do.

Secondly was my current go-to lip colour. This is the “matt, matt, matt” lipgloss in the shade ‘girl of today’. I often steer clear of matte lip products as they are notoriously drying. This product isn’t in the slightest bit drying and the colour is the perfect berry toned deep pink. The formula is a new one on me- almost mousse like and so light. The colour lasts a good half a day without need for a touch up which I think is pretty damn impressive from something that only costs £2.30

Finally on to the mascara. This is “the false lashes mascara” which promises dramatic volume unlimited. I’ve said before about how much Essence have impressed me with their budget mascaras. At £2.80 this is one of the cheapest I’ve ever owned and yet still manages to pack a powerful punch in terms of dramatic, voluminous lashes. There’s no flaking or clumping either which is a problem I’ve often had with cheaper mascaras.

There seems to be quite a few new essence products on the block which I hope to try out sooner rather than later. Let me know if anything in particular has impressed you lately, or if there’s anything you’d like to see reviewed in future posts.

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Posted in beauty, brands I love, make up, review

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Quirky Jewellery from Galibardy- Wish List and Discount

15th October 2016
Well, aren’t I on a jewellery roll this week? Today I am returning to a long time favourite brand of mine Galibardy, an alternative handmade jewellery boutique based in London. I’ve featured them on the blog before and keep a regular eye on what new and creative pieces they have come out with. I’ve amassed quite the wish list lately so thought I’d share my current favourites.
It goes without say that there are a couple of cat related items on the list and I’m also really rather taken with the red balloon unicorn necklace, cleverly inspired by balloon modelling (random fact, I’m terrified of balloon modelling balloons usually!). If any of these pieces have tickled your fancy, or anything else from the website then the lovely Lisa at Galibardy is offering all readers of my blog a generous 25% discount on their orders. Simply add code “daisychain” (all in lowercase) in the coupon section at the checkout.
Happy shopping!

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Posted in jewellery, shopping, wish list

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Bristol Life- Vintage Kilo Sale with Bristol Textile Recyclers

14th October 2016
It’s been a while since I last going involved in anything happening in my home city of Bristol. I could throw out dozens of excuses about being busy with life and such but actually I’ve been struggling a lot with anxiety and doing anything outside of my social comfort zone has just been too much. Still, with a renewed motivation for life when an invite came in to attend a vintage kilo sale run by Bristol Textile Recyclers I was determined to attend, and I did. A couple of weekends ago with Mum at my side I headed in to the city to see what it was all about.
For a bit of background Bristol Textile Recyclers is a massive warehouse that diverts 20 tonnes of unwanted textiles from landfill sites each day (that’s a LOT of clothes!) They pick out the best pieces of vintage and high street garments to put to one side and once a month they open up to the public in one of their vintage kilo sales. What does a vintage kilo sale look like I hear you ask! Well, much like this…
The clothes and accessories are placed in large containers around the factory. Guests are encouraged to roll up their sleeves and get digging through, placing their finds in to a bag ready to be weighed up at the end- with scales dotted around so you can weigh as you go too. There is a £1 entry fee to get in which is nothing really- especially as you could easily spend half a day there going through the goods!

Clothing is priced at £6 per kilo (cash only) which drops down to £5 per kilo if you get 10kg or more. For a rough guide you could pretty much get a skirt, top and a scarf within one kilo so it really is excellent value. Mum and I had such a good time rummaging through and came away with quite a haul at the end of the two hours we spent there. I’ve photographed a couple of my favourite finds to show you but stay tuned for more popping up on the blog soon.

I’ve pretty much lived in the quilted jacket and vintage jumper since I got them home. I did grab some dressier pieces too which I’m hoping to wear over the party season as well as some great denim. It’s worth paying close attention as there are plenty of brands around if you can find your size…lots of Levis for example and I did grab a fabulous pair only to find I’d slightly underestimated just how small they were when I got home!

This was one of the best Saturdays I’ve had in a long while and I’m planning to go to at least one more sale this side of Christmas and plenty in the new year! Bristol people check out the website and facebook to find out more about upcoming events and let me know if you plan to attend, I’m all for broadening my social horizons and actually interacting with people for once- the next sale is on Saturday 5th November.

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*Disclosure- Mum and I were guests of BTR and received free entry and a 5kg allowance each. 5kg is a LOT of clothes, we didn’t even manage it between us and came away with so much stuff! Opinions are honest and I will be attending future sales as a paying guest as it was just brilliant and an excellent chance to try something new and add something extra to my wardrobe- I’ve always loved vintage and this is such a bargainous and fun way to build up a collection.*

Posted in bristol, life, shopping, social life

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Gin & Elderflower treats from Holly’s Lollies- with a discount for you too!

12th October 2016
I love gin and I love sweets so when an opportunity that combined the two came my way excited was an understatement! In this post, and for the next couple of months I have teamed up with Holly’s Lollies to review some of her seriously tempting treats AND offer some exclusive discounts and surprises for you too.

Holly’s Lollies is the brainchild of Holly Brook, a 24 year old psychology graduate. What initially began as a summer holiday hobby soon became a full time job- in 2015, bored with office life Holly quit her job and began her confectionary business full time. At the time of conception Holly’s Lollies are the only handmade sweets made with real alcohol.

Every product is hand made with real alcohol- when a bundle of Gin and Elderflower goods arrived at my door I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.

Everything looks almost too good to eat doesn’t it? These are hands down the prettiest sweets I’ve come across. Obviously looks aren’t everything though and the real question is how do they taste? Well…

There is certainly a taste of summer about these goods, the lollipops especially bring back memories of sunny days with an ice cold g&t (and to further that experience you could dip a lolly in to an ice cold g&t). These are delicate and delicious- a real grown up twist on a childhood favourite.

The humbugs are incredible. As a fan of the humble mint humbug I wasn’t too sure what one could expect from a gin and elderflower take on tradition. Get past the lurid yet some how enticing green colour of the sweet and you have the sharp tang of gin balanced beautifully with delicate elderflower. These would make for a wonderful gift for any gin lover…the trouble being I’m finding it hard to imagine purchasing a jar then being able to part with them!

Finally we have the giant lollipop and I’m going to confess I haven’t tasted this one yet as I just can’t bear to break the perfect swirl (but it’s ok, there is a 12 month shelf life- I have plenty of time!) Apparently these would be great for a wedding and I shall certainly bear that in mind should I ever getting married. In the mean time I just want these scattered around the house, one glance at it in it’s bright green glory and there’s an instant smile on my face!

I know quite a few of my readers are also big fans of gin so it is with great delight that I am able to offer up my readers a 20% discount off of all GIN products until the 31st of October. Simply enter the code DaisyChainGin at the checkout.

Prices (pre-discount) are: £3.50 for the giant lollipop, £6.50 for a jar of humbugs and £6.50 for 5 x lollipops.

Let me know if you treat yourself, I’d love to know what your take on these are. And watch this space for more alcoholic sweets and treats soon!

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Posted in brands I love, food, gifts, review

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