Product Reviews Archives - Page 14 of 17

The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook Review & Giveaway!

christmas / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Most of you know we’re an oddball family and love all thing’s weird and wonderful so when I had the opportunity to review The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook I couldn’t wait to see what it was all about! It looks rather interesting with the front cover stating ‘Everyday recipes for the living, dead and undead!‘ I have a feeling this one will be working it’s way into my brother’s stocking once I’ve noted down my favourite

This Cookbook is full of all kinds of gruesomely gory recipes for all the monster’s out there! It’s just like any other recipe book with specific sections for recipes such as Biscuits & cookies, Jams & Preserves, Savoury Snacks for Entertaining Monster’s, anything and everything you can think of that you will need for entertaining monster guests or just a little home baking is in this book!

For hundreds of years, the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies shop has been supplying quality goods for the monster community – and this, it’s classic recipe book, has been in use for just as long.

Now, for the first time, it has been adapted for use by humans as well as monsters. So wherther you’re entertaining trolls, hosting a vampire soiree or expecting zombie round for tea, you can make delicious treats to suit every occasion.

It’s so difficult to choose a recipe to start with, do I go for the Fairy Brain Fudge? Some Dragon Fuel for my beloved dragon friends? Gingerdead men look soo delicious too, then there’s the Strawberry Shortdeads.. argh it is just soooo hard to decide and we haven’t even got to the cakes yet! *Drools* Don’t they all sound scrumptious!? Think of all the Monster Tea Parties you could hold to show off your baking skills!

Along with all the monstrously delicious recipes there are also pages full of Advice & Wisdom full of all the important stuff, Golden Rules For Entertaining, Seasonal Humans (This one’s been a great help, now I know which Humans to go for during which months!), Common Ailments & Recommended Cures, How to Carve a Human and more!

I was totally unaware of The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies shop existing in London so I will definitely be taking my brother & the girls along to visit & pick up some Icky ingredient’s to help us as we work through the recipes! Head on over to the Monster Supplies website to find out more.

Do you like the sound of this Cookbook for yourself or know a Monster who would? Well I have 3 copies for my Monster readers, just enter the giveaway to get your claws onto one of these delicious cookbooks!

Handy Hobby Holster’s

Crafts / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I received a Grey Hobby Pack by Holster brands which you can buy HERE recently to try out and review and I have to admit I absolutely love them! They have been so handy when I’m crafting and so easy to use too. I love how they can be moved about to where you want too.

I received the Lil’ Holster & Hobby Holster in exchange for my honest review and I am really impressed!

They come in a range of colours and I received these grey ones which is actually my second favourite colour and I am little obsessed with using them on my kitchen worktop whilst I do things like drawing.

The Lil’ Holster

They are basically handy little silicone pockets you can hang off of ANY smooth surface as long as it is clean and dry. The Lil’ Holster has draining holes in the bottom so it can be used by the sink I love using the Lil’ Holster for holding my Posca Pen’s I’ve recently won to stop tiny hand’s getting hold of them (again) whilst I’m drawing. You could literally use it for anything though.. I also found it quite handy to pop my glasses in at night as I often knock my glasses to the floor & struggle to find them haha!

They are so easy to use just lift the flap (they come folded) make sure the surface your using is clean and dry and press it down and your good to go! If your having trouble getting yours to stick simply wash it with soapy water and let it dry completely to remove the dust and dirt preventing it from sticking. They are dishwasher safe too! (Upto 120°c) Once they are stuck down it’s fine to get them wet, they still stay in place!

Hobby Holster

The larger Hobby Holster is amazing for crafting. Although I don’t have one (yet) they are ideal for holding hot glue guns as they are heat resistant up to 200°c! It also has a built in ruler which has been pretty handy with some of my crocheting recently as I can measure my stitches. We also used it to measure my brother’s coat rack as we had measured wrong to begin with and couldn’t find a ruler but needed to cut it down a bit!

Trying out the Lil’ holster and the Hobby Holster has been brilliant!

If you have a small desk & need somewhere for pens, stapler’s etc in. It’s handy for holding crochet hooks/knitting needles in too, these Hobby Holster’s really are handy little things!

How would you use your Holster?

Eva’s Crazy Moves For The #FrubesMoves Challenge

Family / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Eva loves all kinds of dancing and is often dancing around the flat whether there is music playing or not! She has some seriously crazy dance moves but she would love to do ballet or street dance so we are looking out for classes and hopefully we can afford a few terms for her next year. She was really excited to get involved when I told her about the #Frubesmoves challenge and that she could make a video of her dancing! I received £9 worth of Yoplait vouchers to spend on Frubes and keep our fridge stocked up with a healthy snack that contains vitamin D and calcium which helps children build strong bones!

Of course we decided to try out the purple pack first 😉 which contains 3x Strawberry, 3x Red berries and 3x Peach flavoured Frubes which the girls very quickly demolished which is fine by me since they contain 50% of a child’s daily Vitamin D. Frubes are currently running a promotion in connection to the new Angry Birds movie which runs until October 31st so each pack has a promotional code inside which you can enter on the Frubes website for a chance to win prizes including a trip to the Bahamas!

You can also practice your #FrubesMoves whilst your there too selecting different Angry Birds/ Pigs, their dance moves, the music & the scenery which Eva spent quite some time playing on creating different dance off’s. Her favourite music style was Funky, no surprise there!

A squawksome dance off!

Eva really enjoyed playing on the website and couldn’t wait to show you all her #FrubesMoves which you can view on my Instagram here. Did you take part too? Who did you want to win the dance off?

This post is an entry for BritMums’ #FrubesMoves Linky Challenge, sponsored by Frubes

Jungle Jam Book Review

Family / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

We were really excited to receive such a captivating & colourful story book aimed at children aged 0-5 years to review with the girls, Written by Louise & Noam Lederman & it’s called Jungle Jam.

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We recieved the book, a magnet & a puzzle, I was impressed with the bright and colourful cover, it’s eye-catching but not too in your face, even the Mr agreed it looked good!
As it arrived whilst Eva was at school, I decided to see what Izzy thought of it first as it’s mostly aimed at her age group.

We sat and read it to see what Jungle Jam was about. We met Mikey the Monkey who was off on an adventure to make it big! Along the way he meets several friends in the Jungle but refuses to join them, intent on making it big by himself until eventually he decides to join them all and make it big together!

Izzy (2) sat and listened intently, pointing out all the new characters we met along the way, with her favourite being Ella the elephant and her drums.

Izzy spent the rest of the afternoon looking through the pages & claiming the magnet as hers and adding it into her magnet collection on the storage heater haha..

Eva (6) was just as impressed when she got home and loved that she was able to read it to her sister who sat & listened to the story again..several times!

The book is beautifully illustrated and the girls really loved reading it over and over and over… Eva loved it so much that she wanted to talk about it on her first video! She was a bit sniffly as she’s coming down with a cold & unsure of what to say but she wanted to do the video so badly, so here it is.

We definitely recommend ordering yourself a copy of Jungle Jam here on Amazon for just £5.99 to add to your bookshelf. It’s such a fun book to read with all the colourful pictures and characters and the lovely storyline, I can see this book being a favourite for quite some time! The last few pages have some awesome musical craft’s for you to make too!

Out-Smarting A 2 Year Old With SmartMotion

Family / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

The Samsung SmartThings SmartMotion!

I reviewed the Samsung SmartThings Starter pack and won it last year. I still use the SmartPlug’s to control the Pump & Light on our fish tank (Can you Phone the Fis h?)which is an absolute life saver especially if we aren’t home & forgot to turn on their pump!

I also use the Multi-purpose sensor to send me a notification on my phone if something comes through the letterbox.

The SmartMotion Sensor however I hadn’t really managed to come up with a good use for yet.

Izzy has recently started getting out of bed and coming in to the living room at night. She plays a bit of a game with it making sure to cover the monitor with a blanket or teddy so we can’t hear her sneaking out of bed.

She rarely wants something, she just wants to know what we are up to and with Eva making sure to keep her awake after we have put Izzy back to bed, we become yo-yo’s trying to get her to stay in bed. If we manage to catch her at her door she will generally go back to bed and go to sleep. If she gets any further though she thinks she’s winning and keeps trying.

Secret weapon: SmartMotion

Now it’s set up in the girls room so when they pass their chest of drawers (the range is pretty good too!) I get a notification on my phone. So as Izzy gets out of bed we can race her to their door and get her back into bed quickly and stop her little game. We’ve been using it for the last week now and she has learnt rather quickly WE KNOW and she cant (yet) find away to open that bedroom door without setting off the sensor Muahahah!

Now she will actually call through the monitor ‘poo bum!’ or ‘Melp pweeeeaaaaase’ when she wants something and doesn’t get up and down just because she can.

This could also be useful for potty training too as I will be woken up if she leaves her room to head for the toilet/potty. Samsung SmartThing’s Motion Sensor finally has a purpose. It also let’s me know the room temperature which means as the colder months draw in closer we can make sure there room is kept at a good temperature too!

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How do you outsmart your kids when they are playing around at bedtime? Do you have a sensor? A video baby monitor? Do you have a SmartHub at home? Which one? Let me know

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Making Packed Lunches Easy With #FloraLunchbox

Awareness Campaigns / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

A packed lunch is somewhat dreaded by most parents. With children’s fussiness & guidelines to follow it can be difficult putting together a healthy nutritious packed lunch that your child will actually eat. With #FloraLunchbox packed lunches have never been easier!

Flora Distributed 631,000 Lunchboxes and healthy meal planners throughout the UK in light of recent research.

Did you Know only 1.6% of packed lunchboxes in primary schools across England are actually meeting food based standards for school meals!? I know.. it shocked me too! Children’s Lunchboxes have only improved by 0.5% in the last 10 years and only 1 in 5 lunchboxes (17%) contain ANY vegetables or salad.

Those are some pretty sad statistics and clearly this needs to change, Flora understands Parents don’t need telling off & just need a little help, especially with fussy eaters so with the Flora website full of tips & recipes anyone can put together a healthy and nutritious lunchbox for their child.

Eva is VERY fussy when it comes to food and putting together a packed lunch for her can sometimes be quite a difficult task but with the Flora Planner & Recipes on-line it has never been easier!

The Lunchbox Builder makes it easier to put together a healthy lunch for your child as it gives you healthy options containing easy-to-make plant-based recipes alongside Flora spread, giving you Mains, Snacks and Fruit & Veg ideas to choose from and of course a selection of Flora Spreads you can use.

Every Flora tub contains plant oils, such as sunflower, rapeseed and linseed oils. Flora is lower in saturated fats than butter* and provides a source of healthy Omega 3 and 6. These essential fats contribute to the maintenance of normal blood cholesterol levels and are also needed for normal growth and to support the development of children. Flora also recently launched Flora Freedom. This is a 100% dairy free product, which is free of preservatives, artificial colours and flavours, and like the rest of the Flora range is approved by The Vegetarian Society.

Eva loved pointing out things she likes & things she’d like to try (Mini pretzels!) on the Lunch Builder but came up with her own idea’s based on the builder where she is very fussy. She went for a Grilled chicken & Cucumber Flat bread using Flora original as her main, Raspberry Rice cakes & a Fruit Jelly for her Snack along with a choice of Banana, Apple or raisins. (I give her a few choices as she WILL change her mind several times across the school day & this prevents a meltdown).

Eva’s usual packed lunch isn’t much different from this but we tend to give her a variety of breads such as bagels, crusty rolls, pitta’s, sandwich thins etc.. Occasionally mixing it up with different pasta & noodle dishes with lots of hidden veg in. 😉

Bread sticks with dips & rice cakes are a big favourite lately along with crackers & crisp breads. Eva absolutely loves fruit so we always give her a variety, she loves apples, grapes, bananas, blueberries and melon. What’s your child’s favourite packed lunch?

If your struggling for idea’s don’t forget to head over to the Flora website to see some yummy nutritious dishes even for the fussiest of children! Florasaurus is full of fun facts & tips & recipes.

This post is an entry for the #FloraLunchbox Linky Challenge, sponsored by Flora. Check out their lunch planner and recipe ideas here

A Replacement Backpack for the Mr

Product Reviews / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I promised to review the replacement backpack we got the Mr for his birthday and as it’s been a few months. (Oops!) I figured I should probably get on to it!

Searching for a replacement backpack

We spent so long on our desperate backpack search but as I mentioned previously we finally gave in and accepted it wasn’t possible to find an identical copy of the Mr’s old Surfanic backpack. We decided to have a look around and see what else was out there.

It had to be big enough and sturdy enough to carry heavy shopping like bottles of coke, milk, juice. It’s more to satisfy the Mr’s needs as he prefers to carry most of the weight on his back (I generally can’t pick his backpack up when its full as it’s so heavy!) so we really had a challenge finding one a decent size that didn’t cost the earth.

Ordering a replacement backpack

After looking around for some time the Mr finally decided on an Under Armour backpack being sold on Ebay for £26.99 which arrived within days.

Izzy was quick to help get it unpacked check it out when it arrived. She seemed fairly impressed. The Mr eventually got round to using it a few day’s later and has since retired his surfanic bag.

There are 2 large compartments and a rather large bottom zip pocket along with 2 mesh drink bottle pockets & a smaller zip up pocket at the top of the bag.

We hadn’t realised when ordering that the bottom zip pocket is a long square that reaches to the back of the bag. This is something we have never seen before and it is pretty cool! The Mr has used it daily for the last few month’s and hasn’t had any problem’s. He finds it pretty comfortable on his shoulders which is great for heavy loads. He the handy little pockets for things like his keys, sunglasses, phone etc.

The Mr is surprisingly still happy with his replacement. Although it does carry less than his last bag as it still carries what we need.

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#MamiasDaysOut

Days Out and Events / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

When I saw the opportunity for the #MamiasDaysOut on the @britmums website I signed up and crossed my fingers. I was pleasantly surprised when this amazing hamper showed up a few days later. I am a great fan of Aldi Mamia products having tried a lot of different products with both my girls. Aldi Mamia has proven to be the best for us time and time again. Good quality and value and 100% organic, what’s not to love?

Our Hamper contained:

Mamia Juniors Apple Mini Rice Cakes 7months+
Mamia Juniors Raspberry Mini Rice Cakes 7months+
Mamia Organic Apple & Blackcurrent Juice 4months+
Mamia 4 pack of Apple & pear fruit pots 4months+
Mamia Organic Banana’s & Apples Squeezy Pouch 4months+
Mamia Organic Apple & Strawberry Squeezy Pouch 4months+
Mamia Organic Mango, Apple & Banana Squeezy Pouch 4months+
Mamia Organic Apples, Carrots & Parsnips Squeezy Pouch 4months+
Mamia Organic Apple, Sweet Potatoe, Butternut Squash & Blueberry 4months+
£5 Aldi Voucher to spend on Mamia Nappies & wipes.

We have used Aldi a lot more since Izzy was born, it’s only a 10 minute walk from ours. I love the quality of their nappies and they are such brilliant value! I love that I can get 2 packs of size 6 Mamia nappies and a 4pack of wipes for less than £10. I was spending double that with Eva just on nappies alone!

I decided to spend the £5 voucher on the Mamia easy-pants as Izzy is showing an interest in using the potty and toilet recently. At only £1.85 for a pack of 16 you really cant go wrong! Izzy absolutely loves them and finds them much easier to pull up and down than other brands we have tried.

I also bought my usual 4 pack of Mamia sensitive fragrance free baby wipes as the girls & I have quite sensitive skin and suffer Eczema. These wipes are so soft and gentle on your skin and for 59p per pack or 2.39 for 4 packs you just cant beat them.

Trying something new

We decided to give the Mamia Fabric Softener a try as we hadn’t noticed it before & for a 40 wash bottle at 99p it beats the current deals we’ve been picking up elsewhere!

We gave it a go and I am pretty impressed as it’s left our towels lovely and soft & all the girls clothes are coming out softer too and we haven’t had a problem with skin irritation which limits what we can use quite a bit! I think it’s safe to say we will be sticking with the fabric softener too!

When I recieved our hamper Izzy spotted the rice cakes which are one of the few products from their Mamia food range that she hasn’t tried yet. She sneakily grabbed the pack of Apple Mini Rice Cakes and got munching. She did share them with Eva too who said they were delicious.

Izzy has loved the Mamia Apple and Pear pot’s since she was around 4/5 months old. I haven’t bought them in a while, yet Izzy couldn’t wait to get stuck in again and demanded a pot when she saw them in the cupboard a few days later.

How pleased does she look to have gotten her own way!?

Although I haven’t managed to snap any pictures as I haven’t gone with them, Izzy has been demolishing the Mamia Puree pouches whilst whizzing about town on her trike with daddy! She still loves all the different flavours but Apple & Banana is still her favourite and lasts about 5 seconds flat!

Our #Mamiasdaysout

I decided to brave baby rhyme time at Grays Library so Izzy could get out & do something fun and spend time with little ones around her own age. She decided afterwards to head upstairs to the Thurrock Museum

She absolutely loved it all but after all the excitement she was very hungry & made me stop halfway home for a snack.
Luckily I had taken the Mamia raspberry rice cakes and organic juice with us so Izzy sat on a bench & had a quick munch & a juice when she eventually let go of the bottle!

She wasn’t too impressed with the wind & really didn’t want to let go of the bottle!

We absolutely love the Aldi Mamia range and would definitely recommend it to anyone with a little one. Whether it’s the nappies, wipes, food or juices it is well worth a try. They have so many healthy food options & are so handy on the go!
Mamia makes parenting that little bit easier and cheaper too!

This post is an entry for BritMums #MamiaDaysOut Linky Challenge, sponsored by Aldi Mamia.

August MS515B Bluetooth Speaker Review

Bargains / 9 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

You may have spotted my post offering a one day only early Christmas deal with a 40% discount on a set of August MS515B Bluetooth Speakers. Sold on Amazon for £29.95.

For sharing August Lab’s early Christmas deal I was given an awesome discount on the bluetooth speaker myself & ordered them first thing Thursday morning when the discount codes went live.

Friday morning we received our email letting us know our parcel was being delivered later that day!

This made me pretty excited as A) I LOVE opening parcels 😂😂 & B) I love listening to music! Especially when cleaning & these can easily be moved around room to room without disturbing the music!

Our parcel arrived around about 4.30pm and we quickly got the box opened up to have a look inside.

I checked the manual and got them plugged in to charge up & was really impressed by how easy they are to set up. They come with a USB lead with a split lead to charge both speakers at the same time. The speakers connect by a lead included in the box. They also have an AV in lead so you can plug them in to devices without bluetooth. So you can literally use them with anything!

I quickly got my phone connected via bluetooth to test them out and was amazed by the sound quality. They are pretty loud too! For small speakers they really do have some power. Anything with bass (when up loud) makes them jump across the side a little which really amused Eva.

We had them set up in the kitchen and the sound filled the room & we all ended up dancing in the kitchen whilst I cleaned & the Mr cooked for the girls.

The Mr loves music too and has play-lists saved on his youtube. He eventually got bored of typing in each song on my phone. He decided to connect his phone to the speakers instead and took over with his play-lists for a good hour.

We are seriously impressed with the quality of the bluetooth speakers. Especially for only £29.95 (Unless you used my discount code 😉 ) delivered the next day even though we chose the free delivery option!

I can see these becoming one of our new favourite toys. As Eva has seen them I cant give them to her as a present. Instead I have said we can all share them. I can see the girls using them in our room and me using them around the flat when cleaning to save having the sound system on which we currently have no remote for & have the bass up high which can be a bit much at times! 🙈🙊

I love that the girls can connect using the Tablet as well as us using our phones & pc/laptop and as they are rechargeable we can take them anywhere. I’ve yet to find a problem with them. I like that I can skip forwards and back a track using the button on the back of the main speaker.

*This is a sponsored post & I received a large discount on the speakers in return for sharing the 40% off discount post and an honest review.

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Dream Purple Kitchen Bargain!

Product Reviews / 10 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Last week I shared some lovely Purple bits I’ve spotted for my dream purple kitchen & mentioned the Wilko’s Colour Play Purple Microwave which I intended to buy when we got paid for £50 however when the Mr checked they had dropped the price to £40!

I love a bargain, it’s cheered me up knowing I not only got my purple microwave but for £10 less!

We ordered it on-line Friday morning to be delivered in store within the next 48 hours. The Mr had found that although the price had dropped our local store was out of stock. Luckily there were still 10 left on-line so I quickly ordered it to make sure I got one!

Being a bank holiday weekend I didn’t expect a pick & dispatched email until Tuesday morning even though the stores were open on the Monday but by late morning I still hadn’t received an email and after 2 weeks without a microwave already I decided to tweet Wilko and find out when it was due to be picked & dispatched.

After DM’ing my order number Connor answered my questions and informed me my order had been lost in transit. IEither I could wait until they had more in stock week or be refunded.

I panicked as either way I thought I’d be waiting a week as refunds take 5-7 days. I was already getting stressed without a microwave for so long (I never realised how handy they are until I didn’t have one!) so I asked if there were any in stock in my 2 local stores & Connor quickly let me know he had reserved one at the Basildon store for me!

The Mr quickly got in touch with a friend and they went to collect it for me. By 3.30pm I had my brand new shiny purple microwave in front of me!

I felt like a kid at Christmas! It was set up on the worktop with the rest of the Wilko ColourPlay appliances we have!

Obviously I need a new glass chopping board in purple to compete this worktop 😉 but I think it looks quite now now even on a tight budget & it definitely looks better than the ugly kitchen we had a few months ago!

I quite like how small the microwave is as it gives us that little bit more worktop space when cooking. Our last microwave was a huge old beast so it really makes a difference!

We tested out the microwave for dinner a few hours later as we had Jacket potatoes. Although I had to show the Mr how to work it. It is pretty simple to set up and use (helps to read the instructions like I had! 😂) and it does what it needs to.

I love that it is digital & you can set the time and adjust the settings. There are so many settings! I imagine it will take us a while to use even half of them but for a small budget microwave I am pretty damn impressed!

Relentlessly Purple

Category: Product Reviews

The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook Review & Giveaway!

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