BD Trade Secrets & that famous face lift cream

BD Trade Secrets Face Lift coming soon

The beauty press are currently abuzz with the relaunch of BD, the make up brand stocked in Tesco stores. The brand re-named 'BD Trade Secrets' will launch later this month with new formulations and products in Tesco Supermarkets. 

As soon as I saw my Twitter feed filling up with the news I was instantly transported back a few years to what was a favourite product of mine, The Barbara Daly Face Lift cream. Now Barbara Daly is no longer with the brand but the product list still shows the cream to be part of the relaunch and I can't deny this has got me rather excited.

I actually featured a review of the Face Lift cream in 2009 on my old blog following a recommendation from another blogger about how good it was and she was not alone as it was quite a cult product back then. It was actually a product I repurchased often and always had a stash on as I feared it would run out.

Regular readers will know I tend to stick to lighter bases by day such as the Erborian BB Cream and you might say that the face lift cream was of a similar vein and was my chosen base so I'm excited to get hold of the new formula when it hits stores. 

Reading through my old post it would seem I also rated the BD mascara, unable to tell the difference between that and my favoured YSL version. I even had early #bblogger signs as I wore one on each eye to test and couldn't tell the difference!

Prices will range from £2.99 for an eye pencil to £9.99 for the foundation so all pretty comparable to the usual drugstore prices and everyone knows, make up you can throw in the trolley with your weekly shop doesn't count.

Does anyone else remember this range and like me is looking forward to getting their hands on some of the new products?

Graze Snack Box Review

Graze Snack Box link

It's a well known fact that I love my food and I'm not the healthiest of eaters. I dabble with the Weight Watchers diet to keep myself in check but if I'm honest that's gone out of the window of late due to some more shocking than usual eating habits.

The saving grace to my 'bad' moments are my weekly Graze boxes which I have delivered to the office. Typically I would travel into work armed with a Special K bar and a packet of crisps and if either of those were missing I would visit the coffee bar at work and an apricot pastry would make it's way on to a plate. 

Recently I've been trying to change my eating habits to accommodate both my lifestyle and acceptance of excuses I'll make to enjoy a treat here and there. As I just mentioned if I'd forgot or run out of my Special K bars of a morning I'd go for the easy option, likewise biscuits are in abundance in my office so if I felt the need for a late afternoon pick me up that's where I'd head.

So enter the Graze box. Obviously I just assumed it with all nuts and berries which aren't foods I'd naturally migrate to and whilst that is largely the case I've found the little boxes of snacks I have delivered each week have been enjoyable and I actually can't remember the last time I had either a Special K bar or packet of crisps.

Each week my office post guy enjoys placing the Graze box on my desk announcing 'You're nuts'… and I enjoy opening the box to see what delights await me. I've gone for the lighter option because of my weight watchers diet and the individual boxes range between 2 and 4 points. I really struggle with portion control, especially on savoury snacks yet found the small box of tortilla chips for example are quite sufficient and likewise the box of pistachio nuts can sit on my desk for me to dive in and out of throughout the day.

Every week Graze will email you to rate your box and there have been one or two things that I've binned for one reason and another and I can't deny I'm more of a fan of the savoury snacks than the berries although sometimes it's great to have to eat that box because I have no excuse to get something naughtier.

I love some of the deconstructed versions of treats like Banoffee Pie or the Bounty Hunter and that satisfy my sweet tooth just as much as a packet of chocolate chip cookies would. The added bonus is these treats at work mean I'm not buying the crisps and snacks at all so they're not at home to tempt me either.

All in all it's a thumbs up for me on the Graze boxes. There is a weekly expense but for ease this is the perfect solution. If you're interested in giving Graze boxes a try you can use this link and get your first, fifth and tenth boxes free. Let me know if you do.

Vaseline Queen Bee

Vaseline Queen Bee Honeylicious Lip Therapy* link

Last night myself and Carissa headed over to Ham Yard Hotel to celebrate the launch of Vaseline's latest limited edition lip therapy, the fabulously named Queen Bee. Queen Bee is a honey scented Vaseline Lip Therapy to bring out your inner 'queen bee' as we head into the festive season and you become a 'busy bee'.

As one would expect there is a rather elegant and royal black and gold colour to the familiar Vaseline tin and the venue was equally colour themed - even the manicures were available in choices of black, yellow or gold glitter. As you will see I went for yellow. 

Luckily I received a honey themed gift bag which included a Body Shop Soap and the cutest bee bracelet which I will be wearing immediately along with the gorgeous honey scented Vaseline Queen Bee Lip Therapy.

The Limited Edition Vaseline Queen Bee is available at all your usual stockist so go on, channel your inner Queen Bee and give it a try.

Impulse Body Spray Vanilla Kisses

Impulse Vanilla Kiss Body Spray link

You'd have to be living in a cave to not be aware that the 90's are having something of a revival from nude lips to Mel B appearing on the X Factor panel - even the original Beverley Hills 90210 tv series is having a re-run on Sky - you watched it too didn't you?

The 90's for me were spent in high school education and where I discovered contact lenses and took the first steps into make up, The Body Shop All-In-One Face Base was my holy grail product back then and of course the standard can of Impulse in ones school bag to freshen up after PE lessons.

To celebrate Superdrugs 50th birthday Impulse re-launched Vanilla Kisses Body Spray* and as a fan of Vanilla scents I couldn't be happier to have this back in my possession in it's new modern form. Impulse has moved on from it's adolescent days and now has fragrance experts with experience of Dior and Calvin Klein working on their ranges with real perfume oil to ensure scents last longer and as I sit and type this post having applied Vanilla Kisses the fragrance is very evident in a positive way.

Impulse describe this as a musky and sensual scent with fruity top notes of fresh apple and peach, floral heart of whiteflowers and oriental base of vanilla and I'd say this is worth having a sniff at.

Do you fancy having a 90s revival with Impulse?

*PR Sample

Happy Birthday Mama

Today is my mum's 60th birthday and due to the usual work and school commitments our family got together for breakfast yesterday so that we could give mum her birthday present which she opened under the watchful eye of Brody and Violet. As you can see it was a Chanel bracelet which she had been coveting to match the necklace she brought earlier in the year.

As if she wasn't spoiled enough (and deservedly so) a parcel from Fortnum & Mason arrived from her friends and as you can see she was equally thrilled with the contents. This evening in part three of her ongoing celebrations we'll be joining friends and family down our local pub for a few drinks and fun times.

Happy Mum and thank you for everything you do for me - I hope I have your energy and enthusiasm for life when I reach sixty.