Author: Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie)

Wicked Kitchen Naked Burrito

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I noticed this Wicked Kitchen Naked Burrito (400g  £4.00) by chance in Tesco next to the Quorn section. I figured this would be a handy ready meal bursting with flavour.

I liked the different textures of the rice, shredded Oyster mushrooms, kale and beans and found it very filling. Here I’ve added veggie pepperoni slices, a torn up Violife ‘cheese’ slice, sliced roasted peppers, gerkins, lettuce and green and black olives. Considering this is based on a Latin dish I didn’t notice any heat, just very mildly spiced tomato rice and hardly any jalapeños.

Good Points

The fresh lime wedge was a nice touch

Incredibly quick and accessible snack

Full of protein, just half of this is really filing.

Fair price for the large amount that you get and the quality ingredients

Vegan

Gluten free (for me personally this is a huge plus)

Bad Points

Would have been more practical at half the amount and price, in cardboard tray. I think this maybe too expensive for some people to include in their weekly shop and not easily recycled in a lot of cities.

I’ve had 75p boil-in-the-bag Mediterranean rice more piquant than this – snooze.

Rating 4/5

❤Chrissie❤

Charlotte Tilbury Collagen Lip Bath Review – Well, I wasn’t Expecting That!

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Unusually for a white chick (as far as I know, but it’s complicated) I have a big ol’ pout which I really like but I wish it were more even as my lower lip is a lot bigger than top. My lips are also incredibly dry and dehydrated which causes them to peel or even crack sometimes – ouch! As my eternal quest for more peachy coloured and non-sticky lip gloss continued, I came across Charlotte Tilbury Collagen Lip Bath £25  which sounded glam, plumping and possibly healing.

After applying a thick coat I felt a cool tingly effect which subsided after about 15 minutes. It’s not very sticky but I certainly wouldn’t want to eat food or go out in the wind without my hair tied back. I mainly applied it to my top lip and as you can see it’s evened them up!

My face is blotchy because of allergies NOT the gloss btw. After about five minutes a second coat and wow are they pouty! Sometimes when I smile, I get a tiny little gap between my lips on one side but it’s not normally this noticeable.

After ten minutes you can see (with my head tipped back) the gloss has inflated my top lip but rather unevenly, like it made no difference to that little bit on the right. I can’t see or feel any scar tissue there but I do have a collagen disorder – Hypermobilty Syndrome – so maybe I just didn’t have enough in that area to plump up?

Conclusion…

I’ve been using this lipgloss sparingly as I like the colour and sheen and the feel but I won’t be slapping it on heavy-handedly anymore, that’s for sure!

I love the glam, glass packaging (easy to recycle) and the little heart applicator is cute but I would have preferred a pointed doe foot applicator instead for more precision. My first attempt at application made me look like I’d been eating apricot jam lol

As I said, my lips get so dry and dehydrated; everyday they have the texture of crinkled, rough paper unless I apply masses of balms and oils. This gloss made them so soft and healthy for the day, just with one application!

It’s the most expensive lip gloss I’ve ever bought but it certainly does have an effect and Tilbury’s other glosses which don’t plump are all on the pricey side.

Rating 5/5 Giving it the benefit of the doubt because of my own wonky collagen

❤Chrissie❤

 

Replacing Our Favourite Scents with Cruelty Free Ones from Eden Perfumes

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On our journey to replace all of our favourite scents, me and the bloke have been trying a lot of samples to the point where we are having to make notes! The scents the bloke is trying to replace are Oud by The Body Shop (as they no longer stock it anymore) and 1 Million by Paco Rabanne. Mine are Heat by Beyonce (I’ve never smelt anything more ‘me’ ever before) and Deep Red by Hugo Boss (I have a fairly good one from Floral Street already). All uplifting, musky orientals essentially. There’s also Burberry Woman as the bloke noticed an amazing aroma float past and asked this lass what she was wearing.

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Eden perfumes are an independent, vegan company from Brighton who don’t test any ingredient or finished product on animals (they don’t ship to countries who demand testing by law). You can post bottles back to them and they will refill them for you.

The main thing that attracted me to them over other cf perfume companies is that, as well as creating original scents they also sell some highly recommended dupes for existing perfumes. The perfumes have similar names to the original name/brand or you can search by which notes you prefer under the perfume shop tab such as ‘fruity’ ‘woody’, ‘musky’ etc.

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The Sample Gift Box (£21.60) contains three 10ml perfumes of your choice and is incredibly useful for figuring out if you’ve made the right choice before committing to a 30ml or 50ml bottle. I find this sample size of bottle to still be handbag friendly but they are far easier to spray than some smaller tester bottles, which are way to fiddly for me.

Left: SHE 060 is a very fresh, sexy scent that reminds me of the best selling unisex scents in the early 2000’s. Centre: TREASURE 019 is an oriental fruity/floral and isn’t meant to be a dupe for Beyonce’s Heat but really reminds me of it, plus it’s lasted all day – 1 down, 4 to go! Right: BERRY BERRY 018 is meant to be a dupe of Burberry Woman but the bloke immediately said that wasn’t anything like the one he meant. I don’t know if the lass just said Burberry and didn’t know which specific one she was wearing or what? Sadly, it also faded incredibly quickly on my skin so was no use as a general perfume even. We’ll have to keep trying…

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In the second gift box I’ve ordered, I’ve included ‘Million Dollar Man’, ‘Oud Wood’ and ‘Virgin Waters’ which is a dupe of Virgin Island Water by Creed which I’ve never heard of  but apparently it smells of the beaches in the Bahamanian islands. Sold!

Keep in touch, I’ll let you know how our search goes…

Which scent would you want a dupe for?

❤Chrissie❤

 

How The Hell Do You Sit Down In High Waisted Trousers & Jeans!?

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It took me ages to find some cargo pants that weren’t skinny fit or cropped and then I came across these by Stradivarius £20.50 at ASOS. I thought I’d give high waisted pants one more try to define my waist and flatter my podge.

Kinda cool right? Well made, neutral colour, decent fit, decent length and very comfy…when standing…that’s the problem.

When sitting they come right up to my boobs like I’m an old lady. If I squish them down a bit I look like a horny old man! Oh. Hell. No.

I’m usually the same height as the online models but then, they rarely have DD’s. I was wearing a decent bra though so it’s the waist band that’s too high or my torso is too short, not that my babs are too low. LOL

So I untucked my top…

Much better. I think I look like I have bigger hips (so more shape) with this swing vest untucked anyway. So these pants are going to keep my legs cool but my back nice and toasty for Autumn/Spring then, which is quite nice actually.

If you’ve managed to sit down comfortably, and without looking ridiculous in high waisted pants/jeans with your top tucked in or a cropped top, I’d really love to know! Anyone want to help me out here?

❤Chrissie❤

Bouja Bouja – Caramel Pecan Praline Ice Cream – Too Salty or a Total Dream?

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  • Dairy free
  • Gluten free
  • Organic
  • Vegan

I mainly bought this Bouja Bouja Caramel Pecan Praline ice cream as it’s dairy free, plus it sounded amazing! When I first tried a chunk – I’m not going to lie – I found it way too salty and intense but I realised that’s it’s blended for a reason. Eaten all together the ingredients create a fantastic salty-sweet flavour.

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Even though it’s dairy free, it’s incredibly rich and filling so a 500ml gave me four desert portions, even though I was eating it out of the carton as you do. Also available are Chocolate Salted Caramel, Keep Smiling M’Gorilla Vanilla (!?), Hunky Punky Chocolate, good old Raspberry Ripple and Hazelnut Chocolate Truffle. 110ml costs £2.00 and 500ml costs £5.49, well worth the price in my opinion.

Which flavour do you want to try?

❤Chrissie❤

Finding the Perfect Cruelty Free Perfume with Floral Street Scent Exploration Kit

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It sounded like the most perfect perfume, containing every note that I like. I bought it and loved the fruity top note, as I knew I would…Then it changed. The middle note was very strong and I absolutely hated it! The bottom note was warm and musky which I liked but I’d had to endure the middle not for three hours to actually get there – gaaagh!

This is why I vowed never to buy a perfume a) without smelling it first and b) without seeing how it changed over time on my skin.

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Floral Street perfumes have three notes but they all mix together perfectly and immediately so no unpleasant surprises. The scents also last for hours and are noticeable without being over-powering. All their perfumes are vegan and no ingredients or finished products are tested on animals.

Floral Street offer this fantastic Scent Exploration Kit (£68) with 8 perfumes in 1.5ml tester spray bottles to eliminate any guess work. It comes with a voucher for a full size 50ml bottle, once you’ve picked your favourite scent (which also arrives in a recycled/recyclable cardboard box). If that sounds a bit pricey you can buy The Discovery Set (£14) to either help you decide which larger perfume to buy or to simply have a choice of handbag-friendly sized scents.

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I’m going to go through each scent and try to describe it in my own simple, honest (and slightly unknowledgeable) way.

London Poppy – This reminds me of every lads aftershave in the 90’s. The one’s the girls used to pinch because they were so unisex and fresh.

Wonderland Peony – Fresh, light, flowers of Spring.

Neon Rose – The air on a sexy Summer evening.

Wild Vanilla Orchid – Warm, sexy and sweet. Nothing like an obvious perfume – more like the natural scent of someone you’re snuggled up to.

Iris Godess – I’m sorry but this is more like ‘Iris Grandma’. Next!

Chypre Lotus – About as subtle as a brick but incredibly sexy. Similar to YSL Belle d’Opium. Prrrr

Ylang Ylang Expresso – The scent drifting from a hipster coffee house. I’ll let you decide whether that’s a good or bad thing.

So the one I’m going to buy is….

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.

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Wild Vanilla Orchid!

I have nothing like this in my perfume collection but I’ve always wanted something subtly sexy, which actually lasts on my skin.

Which one would you choose?

❤Chrissie❤

Shopping at Ocado for Free-from Food & Review of Items

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Why Ocado?

I’m not able to get out of the house much (especially in the warmer weather) and I feel awful sending my Dad and my bloke out with lists of incredibly specific items that not every individual supermarket stocks. Imagine my Dad asking a member of staff for “This quinowaa stuff in a tub? It was on the Instagram.” “Sounds exotic, try the foreign isle.” (That’s the only thing they ever suggest because they can’t be arsed looking) and my bloke trying to explain that “No, harrisa paste won’t be in the DIY section!”

Is it easy?

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So easy! For a start there’s a ‘Browse Shop’ tab (top left) which reveals all of the different sections of the shop including toiletries, gardening, baby as well as frozen, fresh etc. I chose ‘Free From & Organic’. From the next list I choose ‘vegetarian’, ‘dairy free’ and ‘gluten free’. You can also filter by brands and what’s on offer. Minimum order is £40, which I would say is an average family, weekly shop anyway.

Booking and deliveries

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It’s displayed on an easy to understand grid, with the dates across the top and the 1 hour delivery times underneath. I’m not sure how far into the future you can schedule a delivery but it’s best to bear in mind that a product may be available when ordering but not necessarily available by the time your delivery happens.

You can alter your delivery times and edit your basket (you do have to check out again for the latter) up until the day before it’s due to arrive. You get a text the day before your delivery reminding you of the time, then another on the day telling you the name of your driver, the colour of the van (‘lemon’ which had giant lemons all over) and the reg. It also tells you if any item is unexpectedly out of stock. I found it amusing that, of all things they’d run out of my plain old toothpaste.

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Staff are so friendly and will carry your shopping right into your kitchen for you. Everything comes in named and colour coded bags so you can see where everything should go.

It is easy being green!

A little green van symbol indicates ‘greener delivery slots’. These are when an Ocado van is already doing another delivery in your area, so less millage and fuel burnt. You keep your bags and hand them back and any cardboard beer/wine holders on your next delivery.

The Food

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The Good

Everything by Sacla is always perfect.

Biona Fruit Bears are so much juicer better than Haribo.

Nakd Salted Caramel Bars are perfectly balanced between sweet and salty. They are so soft that it’s better to store them in the fridge on hot days.

Livia’s Nuglets are similar in flavour and also better kept in the fridge, for that chunks-of-cookie-dough-in-ice-cream effect.

Gu Spanish Lemon Cheesecakes are absolutely dreamy!

Gosh! Spinach and Pinenut Bites are basically a mild, soft falafel. These taste great with a few drops of water splashed on and warmed in the microwave for 10 seconds, then teamed with humus and salad.

Soulful One Pot, Brazillian Tomato and Black Bean with Cashews and Quinoa was so creamy for something dairy free and the ingredients were all so perfectly balanced, it was a delight to eat.

Violife block of cheese is the best dairy-free cheese I’ve eaten. Like a giant block of Dairylee slices.

Quorn Peperoni slices do contain milk in the flavourings but not enough to have an effect on me. Perfect cold in sandwiches with American mustard or hot on a pizza.

The Bad

Bakery of Main GF Muesli Banana flavour – No where near enough banana pieces!

Warburton’s GF Loaf – Sticks to your teeth like a sponge rehydrating it’s self. schaar white loaf is so much better.

Free and Easy Chickpea and Vegetable Curry – I was expecting something like an Indian daal, what I got was a Mexican chilli. Hmm.

The Meh…

Soulful One Pot, Mexican Bean and Sweet Potato with Quinoa – I thought I might not like the flavour of the quinoa but it was pleasant. I was disappointed that the flavour of the sweet potato was barley noticeable. I found that I was begrudgingly plodding my way through it, simply because I was hungry.

Clive’s Pies – These came out of the oven so damn dry! It didn’t say to microwave them but I did and they came out like a pudding from the chippy, nom! Still not a patch on other veggie pies I’ve eaten as they are stingy on the filling. Sort it out Clive!

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I’ve found the whole experience so much less stressful and time consuming than doing a physical shop. It wasn’t anymore expensive and I now have a fully stocked kitchen of lovely food that won’t make me ill. I accepted my second delivery (filled with more every-day type stuff, as well as a few new things) as I was typing this. After I’ve tried everything I’m going to edit my favourites list online and then just have it as a repeat order every month I reckon.

❤Chrissie❤

 

 

 

 

Mon Cherie

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This is one of my favourite day-to-night outfits. For daytime when it’s been hot, I’ve left off the cardigan and worn black caged-toe sandals with it instead (I prefer the evening look though, so here it is). The blouse is from Hell Bunny (I cut of the Peter Pan collar because I didn’t want such a specific vintage look) and the boots are from Joe Browns (last season but still in stock).

❤Chrissie❤

A Photo Tour of My Fave Place in the House

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Even though for me to feel peaceful and relaxed I need the main living area of a house to be airy, open and calm, my fave place in my home has to be the bedroom. It’s like a little cave filled with sparkly, interesting and collectible things.

I do my hair and makeup in the bathroom as there’s a really wide mirror and more natural light. This is for costume jewellery, perfume, nail polish and pin badges etc in trinket boxes.

The view I have at the foot of the bed. Nice and plane but bright with the light pouring in through the yellow and gold curtains. Oh, and Guss the gargoyle.

Books, gifts, geeky collectibles and fossils, rocks and gems. Some of my fave albums on CD which should be in the ‘memory crate’ instead on display.

Above the bed.

I had a marble desk and pin board before I was a blogger and it was such a bloggers clique lol. Some pretty little things now live on the left of my pin board because they aren’t fit for their original purpose anymore. Film books, graphic novels and free copy of Festival Annual that one of my photo’s was featured in. A cut glass vase I rescued from a house clearance (hiding behind my Funko’s) that looks like a pineapple.

Hope you enjoyed the tour! I’d love to have a nosey around your fave place.

❤Chrissie❤