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New Ninja Swimming Goggles from Phelps Giveaway #Ad

February 8, 2021 by Erica Hughes 34 Comments

Ninja Swimming Goggles

A few years ago I got back into swimming. In my childhood I’d gone to lessons for years; represented my schools in competitions and my swimming club too. Then for many years I just swam for fun with friends or family. Pregnancy saw me back in the water for a while, as it was just so easy to move in the pool, but after my son was born I transferred my efforts into teaching him to swim well. Eventually though I felt the need to get back into the water and swim on a more serious basis for fitness, health and enjoyment. Now I swim three or four times a week and clock up 50 lengths a time in a 30+ metre pool. A key part of my swimming routine is wearing good quality goggles – it makes such a difference. When you swim with your face down in the water most of the time, you do need to protect your eyes. But, finding the right pair of goggles can take some trial and error. It’s so annoying to be always adjusting your goggles because water gets in or to find that your vision is impeded because the lenses keep misting up. Getting the goggles right though makes such a difference to your swimming, making swimming a much more pleasurable experience.

These Ninja Swimming Goggles from Phelps are very luxurious with their gold titanium mirrored lens. They are a streamlined racing goggle designed for ‘serious competition’ swimmers but obviously any swimmer may like to get their hands on it! I certainly would.

They are made in Italy using Aqua Sphere technology and were developed by Michael Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman. To get a perfect fit there’s a Race Fit Strap System for one-time low-profile strap adjustment. Simply fit it and forget it.

Curved lens technology for 180 degree panoramic view, so you can spot swimmers to the side without altering your head position and messing up your stroke. An ultra soft Softeril gasket provides watertight comfort and the four interchangeable nose bridges help ensure your perfect fit. Various lens options are available, including clear, smoke and mirrored. This gold titanium coated mirrored option offers ultimate glare protection for max visibility in bright conditions and also reflective glare conditions. Super for outdoor sun/cloud and indoor artificial light. FINA approved for racing.

I have a pair of these fabulous goggles to give away to one lucky reader. Wouldn’t you like to win a pair for yourself? If so, enter via the gleam widget below.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third-party or automated entries allowed.

2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or older and resident in the UK.

3. The winner or winners will be chosen by a random draw using the competition widget.

4. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter to enable prize fulfillment.

5. The winner’s name may be published on this site.

6. Competition closes at the end of Sunday 28th February 2021.

Ninja Swimming Goggles

Clear Confidence Review and Giveaway #Ad

January 27, 2021 by Erica Hughes 34 Comments

Clear Confidence

I’m always keen to find new products that care about the environment. The good news is there are a lot of products out there and new ones being developed all the time. It’s getting easier and easier to shop in an ethical way and that certainly feels good. Clear Confidence recently got in touch with me to tell me about their products. Clear Confidence is a company that specialises in vegan-friendly and plastic-free products, care about the health of the planet just as much as they care about personal health.

Focusing on delivering high quality personal care products that abide by ethical and environmental obligations, Clear Confidence pride themselves on assuring customers that their supporting a sustainable business practice. Clear Confidence are a vegan business that doesn’t support animal products or animal testing. This can be seen by their men’s shaving brush, which uses grass-based bristles instead of the usual badger or boar hair. Not only does it support ethical business, but the grass base ensures more exfoliation and less irritation on the skin. The grass bristles feel pleasant to the touch on the skin. The brush carries the soap well and does a great job of spreading the product over the face. So far it’s looking good after use too.

As well as being vegan-friendly, Clear Confidence’s products are also 100% plastic-free. Their razor, with a handle made of bamboo, uses high-quality, double-edged blades that cost much less than the standard plastic-built razor blades, while their nail files are 100% stainless steel and offer longer-lasting use with ergonomic handles. The razor has a good weight and is pleasant to hold and use. The blades glide across the skin to ensure a smooth, close shave.

I’ve teamed up with Clear Confidence to offer a male grooming bundle of a plastic-free shaving brush, plastic-free safety razor and shaving bar to one lucky reader.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third-party or automated entries allowed.

2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or older and resident in the UK.

3. The winner or winners will be chosen by a random draw using the competition widget.

4. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter to enable prize fulfillment.

5. The winner’s name may be published on this site.

6. Competition closes at the end of Sunday 21st February 2021.

Clear Confidence

Bioglan Superfoods Review and Giveaway #Ad

January 20, 2021 by Erica Hughes 44 Comments

A couple of years ago, I discovered that by adding a powder to my breakfast cereal enabled me to pump up the amount of nutrition my body was receiving in each mouthful. Previously I’d stuck to berry or fruit powder blends as they added some colour and a fruity flavour to my meal too. Bioglan Superfoods recently asked me to try out some of their powder blends and I happily agreed.

Australian brand Bioglan Superfoods harvest the world’s finest quality ingredients, to make better tasting healthy products, new look packs and even new products, to ensure that everyone can get the necessary vitamins, minerals and superfoods into their diets.

Government advice has been that we need to eat 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. Many nutritional experts also say we should ingest ‘superfoods’ daily and that we need 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. I find it difficult to get all that into three meals a day. Enter Bioglan Superfoods, an easy way to get these much- needed superfoods, that give your body natural vitamins and minerals, into your daily diet, hassle free and cost effective. Add one of the powders to a morning smoothie, sprinkle on cereal or include within your food intake to get the full benefit.

With a range of great tasting powders, such as Superberries, containing an array of colorful berries including Goji, Acai and Pomegranate, with added Vitamin C & K (great for skin, hair and nails) and Folic Acid with Magnesium (great for women) or the Superberries, made up of amazing superfoods such as Spirulina (which has more protein than 5 steaks – so great for vegans) and Chlorella, an algae that draws toxins from the body and lowers cholesterol and blood sugars, with added vitamins B12, C and E for energy. The powders have all been made to taste great, no earthy, grassy flavours here, just yummy sweet fruit notes or warming spices that taste great in recipes or even with nut milk or just plain water. .

Bioglan Superfoods powders are really easy to use, just two teaspoons in your regular smoothie, or on your cereal to set you up for the day, The powders are also great in recipes, ideal for whole family- the Green Boost is yummy in a pesto and the Cacao Boost makes some fab healthy chocolate and raspberry muffins. You can make a huge change to your health without making a huge change to your lifestyle or bank balance.

bioglan superberries

I’m very familiar with using a fruit based powder blend, but I’ve enjoyed trying out some of the other varieties I was sent. I’ve been very impressed with how good they taste – previously I’d stuck with fruit powders because I was worried about this. I can really see myself introducing a range of these powders into my diet. I’ve got plans to do a bit more experimentation – really interested to see how they perform in pesto because that’s something I love to eat for a quick and easy meal.

Good news for readers: I’ve teamed up with Bioglan Superfoods to offer one lucky reader a bundle of Bioglan Superfoods powders including Superberries and Cacao Boost. Enter via the Gleam widget below.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third-party or automated entries allowed.

2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or older and resident in the UK.

3. The winner or winners will be chosen by a random draw using the competition widget.

4. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter to enable prize fulfillment.

5. The winner’s name may be published on this site.

6. Competition closes at the end of Sunday 14th February 2021.

Bioglan Superfoods

Making Kombucha With Freshly Fermented #Ad

November 19, 2020 by Erica Hughes 22 Comments

kombucha kit

My first experience of kombucha was at a vegan restaurant event for food bloggers in Birmingham. I quite liked the taste, although my plus one on that occasion was less keen on it. I’d taken the odd glass since then, but I’ve never drunk kombucha on a regular basis until very recently.

Freshly Fermented got in touch and asked me to try out making my own kombucha with one of their kits. Whilst I was waiting for my own to brew, I could drink some of their ready made kombucha. Freshly Fermented offer the largest selection of organic & vegan fermented food cultures in the UK. I was sent one of their organic kombucha starter kits to try.

The kit

In the organic kombucha starter kits there is everything you need to start fermenting. To be honest you don’t need anything else at all really: the ingredients are all there, as are all the utensils. There’s no danger of you not having the right tools for the job. The kit comes with a high quality Kilner jar for fermenting in, plus some glass bottles for your produce. The remainder of the utensils are plastic (a stirrer, funnel, measuring jug and strainer), but of good quality and they were the right size for the job too. As well as your ‘hardware’ you’ll get sugar, tea and the magic ingredient: your scoby with starter tea. The instructions are on the website and you can either read them online or print them off (they print off nicely: no odd words on a separate sheet or any margin problems).

kilner jar

Making kombucha

Getting your kombucha started takes a couple of hours in total. Just to be clear this isn’t because there’s a lot of work, but you do have to wait for the mixture to cool down and I found that was the most time consuming part of it. The actual work is only a few minutes in total. First you heat up your sugar and water mixture – this only took a few minutes on the hob in a saucepan. I did use a meat thermometer to check the temperatures, but it’s not essential. Next you add tea leaves and let your tea brew. I did this for 15 minutes, but you can go for a stronger brew if you prefer. It’s a good idea to set a reminder on your phone or use a kitchen timer, so as not to overdo it.

Then strain off the tea leaves and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature – this is where the waiting comes in, but obviously there’s no need to sit there watching it, you can just get on with whatever you want. I was surprised how long it took to get the temperature back down. Then you transfer your mixture to the kilner jar and add the scoby with starter tea. You close the lid and leave for five days (or a bit longer if you prefer).

fermenting kombucha Obviously, I knew I would have to wait to try my kombucha, but you can buy kombucha drinks to tide you over till your brew is ready. Alternatively, some will prefer just to buy the drink and not bother with making their own. I was sent some bottles of the Organic Black Orange Kombucha to try out whilst I was waiting. As it’s a real, unpasteurised kombucha, it continues to ferment when bottled meaning it has a short shelf life and murky appearance (the stuff you can buy in the supermarket really isn’t the same thing at all). You’ll also need to take some care when opening the bottles as the kombucha is quite fizzy. Kombucha may also contain low levels of alcohol (less than 1%).

Drinking kombucha

So whilst my kombucha was brewing, I started drinking the organic black orange kombucha every day. I liked the taste: quite sweet and fruity. I liked the fizz. Drinking it became part of my daily ritual. The first two days I tried it, my stomach made some very loud gurgling noises (apparently this is quite common) for half an hour to an hour. I have never heard my stomach make so much noise for that length of time before. So probably best to start drinking when you are at home for a couple of days or drink it after work, just in case it happens to you.

After two days my system seemed to get used to it and my stomach was silent from then on. I did notice a difference though. It felt like my whole digestive tract had eased and I felt lighter. I wasn’t suffering from any particular problems before started drinking kombucha, but there was a definite feeling of ease. Everything seemed to slip along much more smoothly. I was surprised at the difference it made. It made me want to continue drinking kombucha.

Organic Black Orange Kombucha

The results

How was my kombucha getting on? It sat there for 5 days without much obvious difference occurring. Maybe the scoby had grown a little and the mixture was slightly murkier. After five days I took out the scoby and the top 10% of the mixture to use for setting up my next batch. The remainder I transferred into my glass bottles ( I filled about one and a half bottles). The mixture is ready to drink. I liked my home brewed kombucha. If anything it was a little sweeter than the organic black orange kombucha and it was less fizzy, probably because it hadn’t been bottled for as long. I’ve already set up my next batch to ferment and I think kombucha will be a regular habit for me. I like the idea of experimenting with different types of tea and a variety of flavourings too.

Allergies And How To Overcome Them #Ad

November 6, 2020 by Erica Hughes 4 Comments

Photo by Brittany Colette on Unsplash

Some allergies are simple and obvious to identify. An immediate reaction after coming into contact with something say makes it all pretty clear. Sometimes though it’s more subtle, not as immediate, but still painful, uncomfortable or worrying. An allergy occurs when the immune system reacts to something in the environment that is usually harmless. In the case of food allergies, the immune system sees certain chemicals found in foods as ‘enemies’ and launches an immune response. It’s that immune response that means we experience the symptoms usually associated with allergies, like sneezing, rashes, watering eyes, runny nose etc.

Allergies can have such a negative impact on your life. If the allergy is severe or life threatening, it will overshadow a lot of everyday life. If it’s milder it’s less frightening, but if can still have a major impact on your life and how you live it. Some allergens are easier to avoid than others e.g. I have a friend who is allergic to strawberries and she finds them fairly easy to avoid, as they are usually in sweets and desserts. If she does make a mistake it isn’t the end of the world, as it’s a fairly mild reaction in the grand scheme of things, but still uncomfortable enough to avoid if she can.

Before you can tackle the allergy and the symptoms it causes, you need to identify it. There are two main ways to find out which foods are causing allergy symptoms: an elimination diet or allergy testing . The elimination diet works by fasting, or consuming foods which have a low allergic rate such as rice, lamb, cabbage for 4-7 days until symptoms clear, then reintroducing foods one at a time may point to the culprit. It obviously only works for food allergies and not other allergies. It’s not a quick process either. Allergy testing can be a skin test, a patch test or a blood test.

An allergy blood test is one of the most comprehensive ways to test for a wide range of allergens. The NHS offers a limited number of allergy tests as part of its service. So it’s no wonder that so many sufferers choose to try a private test. Many really like the idea of being able to carry out a test in the comfort of their own home, so home allergy tests are very popular. Test kits usually contain everything you need to take a test and then the sample is sent away to a lab to be processed.

Once you have the results of your home allergy test, you can take the next step to overcome your allergies. The results of any allergy test need to be interpreted by a doctor alongside your symptoms and your medical history. Your doctor will be able to advise you on any necessary follow-up action to fully diagnose you and come up with a treatment plan. But, the knowledge that that home allergy test brings gives you the power to do something about your allergy and eliminate the symptoms that come with it from your life.

Gin Tasting Kit From The Little Gin Company Giveaway #Ad

October 26, 2020 by Erica Hughes 59 Comments

home gin tasting kit
The Little Gin Company was launched at the start of 2015 by old school friends, Emma and Nicola…
They’re gin loving ladies who have spent many a time sampling the gin delights on offer in their local town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Now a little older (and wiser?), in 2015 they decided to turn their love of gin into an exciting business venture, to share the passion for gin with others through The Little Gin Company.

Building on our unique and creative style they lovingly converted a retro-style horse trailer into their mobile gin bar, to serve the gin-loving community with a selection of locally distilled and speciality gins. Launching their own range of gin in 2017 with the Trailer Made Gin Range now including a classic London Dry Gin, a fresh Elderflower Gin, a warming Old Tom Gin and a Rhubarb Gin with a Twist of Lime.
Their gin experience now extends beyond the horsebox bar as there’s also have a pop up gin bar and gin tasting experiences suitable for any occasion; be that a corporate function, hen do or just an excuse to get together and drink gin. Since March 2020 they have also been offering virtual gin tasting experiences, taking the popular face to face tasting experience and tailoring it to a virtual setting when it isn’t possible to get together in person.

The Trailer Made Gin Tasting Kit lets you host your own gin tasting experience from the comfort of your own home. Perfect to enjoy solo or with a partner of choice!

Your Trailer Made home tasting kit includes the following:

5cl bottle (double measure) of our London Dry Gin, Old Tom Gin, Elderflower Gin and Rhubarb with a Twist of Lime Gin.

A selection of complementary mixers to enjoy with the gins.

I’ve been enjoying gin at home during lockdown and more recent partial lockdowns. I love the idea of gin tasting at home, so I’m pleased to team up with The Little Gin Company to offer one of their Trailer Made home tasting kit to one lucky reader. Enter via the Gleam widget below.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third-party or automated entries allowed.

2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or older and resident in the UK.

3. The winner or winners will be chosen by a random draw using the competition widget.

4. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter to enable prize fulfillment.

5. The winner’s name may be published on this site.

6. Competition closes at the end of Sunday 15th November 2020.

Trailer Made Gin Tasting Kit

Ink & Drop £30 Voucher Giveaway #Ad

October 14, 2020 by Erica Hughes 65 Comments

ink & drop prints Prints make such a difference to a room, especially if you have opted for a plain wall covering like a one colour painted wall or simply have a large expanse that looks a bit bare without some visual interest. I love that prints are a way of reflecting your personality into a room, as the choice of images is very individual. Not only that, they are a great way of bringing a new look to a room to suit the seasons, or simply ringing the changes a little when you get bored of an old look. Styling your home with art prints allows you to express your creativity and create a beautiful and compelling narrative in your living space.

Ink & Drop is a small family business, born from a passion for all things interior, and in particular, unique cool art prints with a belief that every home should have great artwork, regardless of budget, style or theme. A collection of artwork unlike anything else on the internet, Ink & Drop prints can transform your room and freshen up your walls regardless of interior style and for a very small budget.

ink & drop prints So whether your style is minimal Scandinavian or maximalist dark decor, Ink & Drop have artwork that is sure to draw attention in your home.

If you’d like to win a £30 voucher to spend at Ink & Drop, enter via the Gleam widget below.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third-party or automated entries allowed.

2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or older and resident in the UK.

3. The winner or winners will be chosen by a random draw using the competition widget.

4. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter to enable prize fulfillment.

5. The winner’s name may be published on this site.

6. Competition closes at the end of Sunday 8th November 2020.

Ink & Drop £30 Voucher

Buzzy Blends Giveaway #Ad

October 2, 2020 by Erica Hughes 62 Comments

honey buzzy blends Buzzy Blends is an independent, family-owned business based here in the UK. It was created to bring honey to the table with a tasty twist. Buzzy Blends’ unique range of handmade honey is seriously big on flavour without compromising on quality. With their bees at the heart of everything they do, their honey is collected by ethical beekeepers who care for and protect the bees, and the blends are made with absolutely no additives or preservatives, just 100% natural ingredients that deliver all the nutritious goodness. There’s a great mix of flavours such as peppermint, chocolate, right through to lemon and ginger and cranberries. Buzzy Blends use nature’s best ingredients, such as berries, alongside their incredible, natural, raw, spring honey. They lyophilize (a freeze-drying process) their ingredients to keep as much of the goodness in, so that they boost the health benefits.

You can eat Buzzy Blends’ honey just by the spoonful, on toast, or to mix into hot water and create a warming drink, plus you can use it in a wide range of recipes. If you need some culinary inspiration, check out their blog.

I’ve pleased to say that I’ve teamed up with Buzzy Blends to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a fabulous Flavoured Raw Honey Gift Set worth £24.50. Enter via the Gleam widget below if you’d like to win.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third-party or automated entries allowed.

2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or older and resident in the UK.

3. The winner or winners will be chosen by a random draw using the competition widget.

4. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter to enable prize fulfillment.

5. The winner’s name may be published on this site.

6. Competition closes at the end of Sunday 25th October 2020.

Buzzy Blends

Dermoperfection and Metro Spa Reopen After Lockdown

September 4, 2020 by Erica Hughes 6 Comments

metrospa edgbaston Just before lockdown I booked in to have my second ENVY facial at Metrospa in Edgbaston. For those not familiar with ENVY facials, it’s the only face and body skin resurfacing treatment to effectively exfoliate and extract damaged skin cells gently and deliver infusion into the skin at the same time. This is thanks to its patented breakthrough 3-in-1 technology. ENVY drives serums deeper into the skin at the same time as it is exfoliating and extracting. This means that maximum depth is reached with maximum absorption of the serums. The 3-in-1 technology removes dry and damaged skin cells, deep cleanses the skin surface and directly cleanses the pores.

envy facial dermoperfection Having the ENVY facial just at that point really set me and my skin up for lockdown. It gave me confidence in my skin and much of the time in lockdown I didn’t bother with makeup. So now lockdown is over, it seems like the perfect treatment for a little skin pick me up, as both a confidence boost and to help my skin cope with the ravages of everyday life. Of course, it’s only one of a range of treatments available at both Metrospa in Edgbaston and Dermoperfection in Birmingham city centre. Thankfully both Metrospa and Dermoperfection are now reopen after lockdown and are offering their usual range of treatments. Pop along to Dermoperfection for all your aesthetics needs or to Metrospa for aesthetics and spa treatments.

There’s always a friendly welcome to be had when you arrive for a treatment and Metrospa is comfortably and stylishly decorated, so it’s very much a pleasant place to spend time. New treatments are regularly being introduced so you can have access to the latest skin care innovations. Maybe you’d like a Profhilo® treatment to give your skin some TLC. Profhilo® is a revolutionary ‘beneath the skin’ hyaluronic acid moisturising treatment, made with the patented NAHYCO® technology. This results in a unique hyaluronic acid injectable gel, which has a prolonged stimulating activity on the dermal cells. When injected into skin, Profhilo stimulates the skin cell receptors to counteract skin laxity and improve and restore firmness of the skin.

metrospa edgbaston Or maybe you’d be tempted by ULTRAcel Q+ which is a new type of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) that promotes the formation of new collagen, suppression of stubborn fat cells, and skin tightening in various parts of the body. It’s a great way to enhance the tone of your jawline, but you can have the treatment on a range of areas of your body and face.

It’s great to see a local business coming back strongly after lockdown and I think that the innovative approach will be a successful one.

Win A Hamper

August 24, 2020 by Erica Hughes 2 Comments

Photo by Dmitry Mashkin on Unsplash

I’m getting a bit bored now about the idea of staying in so much. I totally understand why we have to mix with other people less, but I’m starting to miss the social interaction despite the Zoom calls and Whatsapp messages. One way to cope with that is to have more fun at home and I do think having some treats makes this trying time so much easier. A takeaway once a week say, or some new toiletries. I think what would be a lovely thing to receive would be a lovely hamper packed full of goodies – something like that would really make my day. That’s why I’ve teamed up with some other bloggers to offer one as a prize to our readers.

The Bloggers

The following bloggers have all teamed together to contribute towards this competition, offering you a fantastic prize.

Please show your support by visiting some of the bloggers taking part just by clicking on the name of the blog below.

The prize

Up for giveaway is a £100 M&S hamper of your choice.

With plenty to choose from you can choose yourself a lovely treat!

Rules & Enter

1. There is one top prize of a £100 M&S hamper of the winner’s choosing.
2. There are no runner up prizes
3. Open to UK residents aged 18 and over, excluding all bloggers involved with running the giveaway
4. Closing date for entries is midnight on 31.08.20
5. The same Rafflecopter widget appears on all the blogs involved, but you only need to enter on one blog
6. Entrants must log in to the Rafflecopter widget, and complete one or more of the tasks – each completed task earns one entry in the prize draw
7. Tweeting about the giveaway via the Rafflecopter widget will earn five bonus entries into the prize draw.
8. 1 winner will be chosen at random.
9. The winner will be informed by email within 7 days of the closing date and will need to respond within 28 days with their delivery address, or a replacement winner will be chosen.
10. The winners’ names will be published in the Rafflecopter widget (unless the winner objects to this).
11. The prizes will be despatched within 14 days of the winner confirming their address.
12. The promoter is www.EmmaDrew.info
13. By participating in this prize draw, entrants confirm they have read, understood and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions

To enter simply complete any or all of the Rafflecopter entry widgets below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!