A Mini Ikea Haul

Ikea. The Holy Land of Home Things (like Lush is the Holy Land of Body Things). You tend to go in for one thing and end up buying a lot more. And you generally have to give yourself a stern talking to before you buy everything and anything.

On Friday, my friend needed to go and she invited me along with her. I could hardly say no to a road-trip that involved shopping (and pizza) now, could I? That would make me a bad friend. So I went and I, accidentally of course, bought a few things. WHOOPS. 

HOME THINGS

BRADA laptop stand *laptop not included. obvz. : £8.00

SKACK Serve bowl *popcorn not included. duh. : £5.00

PLATYCODON  (birthday present for the Father) : £1.75

FOOD THINGS

Muffin mixes : £2.95 each

SÖTSAK KAKAOBOLL : £1.20 

These are sooooo good.

GODIS CHOKLADRÅN : £1.85

Milk chocolate covered wafers are always a winner.

KAKOR HAVREFLARN : £2.60

Like Hob-Nobs but much better.

I hope you enjoyed this 'mini-haul'. See you next time! xx

21 Thoughts You Have When Shopping in Ikea

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1. ♫ It's a magical place, we're on our way there, with stuff in a million all under one roof, it's called Ikea! ♫

2. Wait. That's not right...

3. ♫ Schlomping is for you, schlomping is for me-EEE ♫ *tries to hit the highest note I can* *dogs howl* *all glass things in the vicinity crack and shatter*

4. WE. ARE. HERE! Woohoo!

5. Must remember that the car is parked in Zone F. 

6. Basket or trolley? Are we going to buy all the things or just some of them?

7. These pencils are so teeny-tiny! I feel like a giant using them.

8. Shall we follow the route shown or shall we be rebels and go any which way?

9. That sofa/bed/chair looks so squishy! It is made for sits.

10. When I buy a house, I will get an Ikea kitchen. Yes, yes I will.

11. Do I need any new bedding? No. But's so pretty...

12. Cushions galore! I'm literally in cushion heaven right now.

13. How many mugs counts as too many...?

14. What exactly does that thing do?

15. I *heart* the stuffed toys! We all need a stuffed carrot/broccoli/8-piece salmon set in our lives.

16. OMG LOOK AT THE TEA PARTY SET!!! I want a grown-up version made please.

17. How many cacti do I need to own before I become a Crazy Cacti Lady?

18. Ahh...the smell of flat-pack furniture in all its woody glory. *takes a deep breath*

19. Do I need to buy a bag? I can carry all of this in my arms, right?

20. SWEDISH FOOD! *stays away from the weird looking fish and meat*

21. Okay....where is the car?

BEAUTY HAUL: Escentual

Who else absolutely loves finding a new website where you can spend all your hard earned cash on? I know I do! 

Recently I have become a little bit obsessed with my skincare routine, after all, you only have one skin, so you may as well take care of it, right? So when I heard of Escentual, I thought all my dreams had come true (and my bank account had a little cry because it knew what that entailed).

The reasons why Escentual stands out to me from all the other beauty websites out there are:

1. They stock products that you can't necessarily find on the high-street.

2. They run a points system (similar to Boot's advantage card points) called 'Pretty Pennies'. For every £1 you spend, you earn 2 Pretty Pennies and each Pretty Penny equals 1p.

Pretty good, huh?

So, here is what I bought:

Hydraphase Intense Eyes - Targeted Rehydration: La Roche-Posay

This is designed to target puffy eyes and dark under-eye circles, which is something that I definitely suffer from, due to inability to sleep at night and having to get up at an un-godly hour the next morning for work. I've been using this every day (morning and night) but I think it's too early to say the product is doing what it says on the tube, although, I do think that my dark circles have faded slightly.

Normaderm BB Clear - Unifying Corrective Cream - Vichy

This smells incredible for a BB cream. I wish I could explain what of, but it's very fresh smelling. This BB cream was created for those who suffer from oily skins and blemishes and one of the ingredients is salicylic acid, which is supposed to be really good for spots. It also contains thermal spring water, which makes it a really light formula, super hydrating, and a dream to apply. I've certainly noticed that any spots I do get now, are less red and angry looking and covered up well.

Serozinc Spray - La Roche-Posay

My favourite of the three! I'm not going to go into detail about it now - watch out for a full review coming soon! Let's just say, it's worked miracles!

Have you ever tried any of these products? What do you think of them? Is there anything from these brands that you think that I must try? Let me know in the comments below! (Please...I mean...if you want to of course.)

Stop With The Body-Shaming. Please.

[Source: @effyourbeautystandards]

Today I learnt that Instagram has banned the hashtag "curvy" because apparently "it was being used to share images and videos that violated Instagram’s community guidelines around nudity." 
However, you can still search for - after a warning pops up - "thin" and "skinny" and...guess what? You can find nudes. [Don't, for the love of all that is holy, even think about searching for "dildo". ALL THE NEKKIDNESS! Thanks Buzzfeed.]

Great move Instagram!! *slow claps* A bit of double-standards there, don't you think?

Why can't we just all accept that we all come in different shapes and sizes? Being "curvy" does not equate fatness. I know plenty of people who are curvy and they don't live off a diet of cake, pizza and chips! WOW. On the other foot, lots of people who are perceived as either "skinny' or "thin" aren't starving themselves as they have healthy appetites! Shock. Horror. No-one on their death-bed has ever said "oh my, I wish I didn't eat those cupcakes. I should have had more salad!" (or vice-versa.)

Everyone has different opinions on what is classed as beautiful but that doesn't give you the right to put someone down if they don't look the way you want them to. It is Not Cool.

Chocolate Crispie Treats

I've got a confession to make. In my whole adult life (so far) I have never made these. Not once. And I can't remember making them anytime before that either. 
On Wednesday, we had another charity bake sale at work - this time for the 'Bath Cats and Dogs Home' (which is an animal rescue centre) - and I, being the baking fiend that I am, desperately wanted to make something, but I just couldn't be bothered to actually switch on an oven, get out mixing bowls, use flour, etc etc. OKAY OKAY, I'm just lazy. Jeez. 
Thankfully, inspiration hit me in the form of Louise (SprinkleofGlitter). In her new book - 'Life With A Sprinkle of Glitter' - she wrote a whole chapter called 'Anti-Baking', and this was one of the recipes. 
I'm not going to insult your intelligence by telling you in great detail how to make these, because all you need to do is:

1. Melt chocolate
2. Stir in Rice Krispies (or a non-brand alternative)
3. Spoon into cupcake cases
4. Chill in fridge until set

See? Easy-peasy lemon squeezy!

On a blogging related note, you are lucky that you actually got this post from me at all as I'm currently on my quarterly Sims binge-play, so any life related things that have needed to get done haven't been. I have no shame. 

PRODUCT REVIEW: Hand Food by Soap and Glory

At the end of May, the super lovely people at Boots sent me another little Soap and Glory treat in the post! (click here for my review on The Righteous Butter.)

I am the worst person ever when it comes to hand creams. I buy them, use them for a week, then I completely forget from then on. *tuts at self* Saying that, I have got into the habit of applying this in the mornings before I start work and then maybe once again in the afternoon and OMG, it has done wonders for my hands! Never before have they felt so soft.

You only need to use a pea-sized amount and that goes a long way. I make sure to really massage it in well (including into my nails) and it soaks in quite quickly too. 

Smell wise, it reminds me of The Righteous Butter, I think that's probably because they both have shea butter as one of their ingredients.

When this sample runs out, I won't be buying a new one straight away as a work friend has given me her full sized tube of it! Apparently someone keeps buying it as a present for her, but she doesn't like the smell. I hope she gets more to pass on to me. She also handed me a tube of Heel Genius, which I haven't tried yet but I'm more than willing to give it a go.

Thank-you

My little 'cupboard-under-the-stairs' bit of the Interwebs reached 20 followers on Bloglovin' yesterday! Isn't that great? Yes, it is. I never even imagined that even one person would want to read my random musings and various waffle on a regular basis, but apparently, there are people who do. WOW. I mean, to put it into perspective, 20 people wouldn't fit into my bedroom, heck, not even in my living-room. Well, they might but it would be like a game of Sardines....

ANYWAYS.....

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH AND I LOVE YOU ALL!!

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Tall Person Advantages

Why, hellooooo there everybody! How are you all doing? I'm fabbity-fab-fab, thank you very much for asking.

First off, an apology. Last month, I blogged about 'Tall Person Disadvantages' and I really really did mean to write this particular post sooner, but I kind of forgot. Whoops. Anyways, here we go...

You are a beacon for your shorter friends in crowds

The rule generally is, "if we get lost, just look for Clare." This could be classed as a 'disadvantage', but at least it means that you can be useful.

Finding people is easy because you can see over everything and everyone

"Oh, excuse me, I've lost my husband, can you help me find him?"

"Sure!" *stands on tippie-toes for ultimate effect*

You will be last to die in a flood

As I always say, I may be the first to know when it rains but when the sea-levels rise and there is a flood of biblical proportions, then you will have the last laugh because with my height, I will be the last to submerge under the water. HA!

Long legs = longer stride

This means that you will get to places far quicker than everyone else. It also helps that I am a naturally fast walker, but even so, I still am blessed with a 'long-legged walk' as Keelin calls it.

Little old ladies think you are lovely

You can reach high up things for them and then they think that you are completely amazing and a lovely human bean.

Making A Cat Friend At the Beach

Don't you just love it when a cat senses that you are a friend, so it willingly comes over to you and acts all squishy and cute?? 

Today we were sat on a bench overlooking Petit Bôt (a beach on Guernsey) and this cutie decided that we were worthy enough to become it's pal.