Graze Box #1

Everyone and their dog knows about Graze, they do super yummy and natural treats, they they post to you in a little box that fits through your letter box! I actually got my first graze box when I was in my first year of uni, it arrived and I nibbled, but I didn't really appreciate it. Now that I'm out of uni, I've grown up a little more, and my tastes have changed, I thought I would give it another go!

I'm signed up for a fortnightly box, and I think they cost £3.99 a time, but don't quote me on that! I was lucky enough that I had a code to get my first box for FREE, and who can resist something that's free? I also get my 5th and 10th box for free, so they continue to reward you the longer you stay!

This is what my box looked like when I first opened it! You get four snacks, so it works out at about £1 per snack, and they are all individually packaged in little plastic containers, so that you can pull them out and just pop them into your bag for a handy snack! They even send you a little booklet with all the nutritional information, so you can see exactly what you are eating.

Here's what I received in my first Graze Box from top left to bottom right:

• Cherry Fudge Sundae: a mix of chocolate fudge, blanched almonds, cherry infused raisins and cherries. This little box contained 181 calories! It was super yummy, the cherries were slightly sour and made a nice contrast to the sweet fudge.
• Smokey Hot Dog: a mix of sweet mustard breadsticks, smoked cashews and cheese croutons. I am not a great fan of mustard, but these were tasty when mixed together, and with only 124 calories in this little box, I don't have to feel guilty about eating the lot!
• Summer Berry Flapjack: a rustic rolled oat flapjack with berry-infused cranberries. This was probably my favourite thing in this box, it wasn't too dry, and there was the perfect amount of berries to break up the oatey flapjacky-ness. This one had the highest calories at 230, but still pretty good!
• Rhubarb and Pear Compote: a mix of rhubarb, pear and cranberries. This was probably my least favourite, I think it was because I'm not a fan of rhubarb, but the cranberries and pear were still yummy! This little box cam in at 111 Calories!

Overall I was very pleased with my first Graze box, my boyfriend even had a little look at what I had got. He's not a fan of any kind of dried fruit (a.k.a fussy) so I doubt he'll be eating much of the stuff that comes in them, meaning that they are all mine!! MUAHAHAHAAHHAHA *cough*

You may be thinking to yourself, 'what if I don't like a particular ingredient?', well worry not, as Graze have made it as easy as possible to make sure that you get what you want! You simply go onto the website and you can rate their snacks, you can even remove whole categories based on your dietery requirements. The good thing about this is that if you get a snack that you didn't particularly enjoy, then you can simply 'bin it' and you won't receive it again. This also works in the opposite way. So if you find a snack that you really enjoyed, then you can like it, and then will send it to you every so often! Yoou can browse ALL of their snacks, and if you come across something you are dying to try, hit the 'send soon' button, and it will be in your next box as long as it is available. The service is so easy to use, and encourages you to share what you like, or dislike.

If you want to get your first, fifth and tenth Graze box for free, then sign up with the code: ALYSSI9NP, and enjoy!

Polish Days: Quirk Novels and Nails #1

As you may or may not know, I actually began my blog life writing a Nail Polish blog called 'Rose Tint My Nails'. In the space of two months my nail polish collection grew from a humble 15, to 150... I try to limit myself a lot more nowadays, and I haven't blogged about nail polish for a long time, until now.

My lovely blog friend Kerrie, who writes Pish Posh and Polish, has recently started her own indie brand of nail polish called Quirk. All her polishes are rigorously tested, and are beautiful. She decided that she wanted to bring out a monthly subscription box for her polish, but one with a difference, and so she came up with Novels and Nails. Here is what she says about it on her website: Novels and Nails is a mystery package based on a different book each month. This includes a brand new paperback, two limited edition polishes and a range of extras. Each package costs £20 and is sold on a pre-order basis and will be shipped on the 15th of each month. Each package should be a real experience when opening it!

Obviously when I heard that she was making this I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap one up. I received my package ages ago, but have only just managed to open it tonight! As soon as I saw my goodies, I knew I just had to blog about it immediately, so without further ado... I present, Novels and Nails!

This is what greeted me when I opened my big brown envelope, a lovely bright green paper bag, holding all of the goodies inside...

I was shocked at the sheer amount of stuff that Kerrie managed to pack into this package. As promised there was a paperback copy of the book which the polishes are based on, but there were also three separate little bags.

Bag 1 + 2 contained the limited edition polishes and some lovely quotes...

These quotes were such a nice touch, and made me smile the entire time that I was opening my package, even my boyfriend came over and had a nosey at what I had got!

The first polish I opened was Little White Bird which has a cream coloured based, with golden glitters in it. This is the only one of the polishes that I have actually managed to use so far, and as I was applying it, I literally felt like I was painting pixie dust onto my nails.

It's such a beautiful polish, the perfect one to get me back into painting my nails! It was very fast drying too, which is always a plus for me when I am painting my nails.

The second polish is The Secret of Happiness, and it's a really pretty blue base with lilac glitters in it. I really wanted to use this one first, but as I wear SO MUCH blue, I thought I would give the other polish a go first. As soon as I paint my nails again, this will be going on them!

As well as the two polishes and the book, Kerrie actually included some cute extras, like these Tinkerbell Nail Decals, and some 'Pixie Dust' a.k.a glitter. Oh and love hearts... one of my favourite sweets (I promise they aren't gone already).

All in all I was seriously impressed with this little package, it was such a bargain, and I will definitely be purchasing one again! I have never actually read the book of Peter Pan, so as soon as I have finished my current reads, then I will be getting on it. I recommend these polishes very highly, yes Kerrie is my friend, but that aside, she really puts a lot of love and care into the polishes she makes, and it really shines through. If you would like to check out Kerrie's Polishes then please go to her website here.