Bargain Hair Haul

I got 8 products for £8! Or 9 products for £10.99 if you include the hair dye I but that doesn't sound so catchy does it?

How much do I love a bargain? A lot. It doesn't matter who are, I know you love bargains too. I will shamelessly admit that this is my cheap and cheerful haul from the 99p Store, Home Bargains and Pak Cosmetics.

99p Store, Home Bargains and Pak Cosmetics Haul

Firstly, excuse me while I get this off my chest because I have to address a pressing issue on behalf of my hair: where are the Tresemme Naturals conditioners at? Have they discontinued them? I always stock up when I see them on offer because I love that Tresemme is a high street brand making silicone free conditioners at great value. Recently though I haven't been able to find the Naturals range in Morrisons, Home Bargains, Superdrug or Savers Chemist. Okay maybe I should calm down and search other stores before panic sets in but please hold on while I chew my fingernails nervously and clutch my final bottle of Tresemme. What should I do? I can't substitute this stuff for watery silicone free conditioner *cough* Alberto Balsam *cough*. What's happened, yo?

Greenwich and Kat's Kalma Love

Tired and totally overdressed for the warm weather, I journeyed to Greenwich to visit the market. I didn't anticipate how packed it would be on the weekend and was quite overwhelmed by the lack of space and the sheer amount of people. I managed to see most of the market but would have liked to stay longer to really investigate everything the market had to offer. One of the stalls I did manage to spend some time at was Kats Kalma, a stall dedicated to natural face and body products.

Kats Kalma Greenwich Stall

I absolutely love the idea of a 'natural' and 'chemical free' free lifestyle. Although of course technically everything is a chemical, I'm talking about avoiding the usual big bad boys - things like parabens, sulphates, silicones in hair products, propylene glycol, drying alcohols, yada yada. This is all well and good in theory, but trying to avoid nasties can be very difficult when the high street is totally populated by mainstream brands. I suppose it's always easier to dodge them by buying from online independent sellers but many of them are abroad (can I smell extortionate shipping costs?). It's partly due to this that I've held off from buying natural products online as well as not being able to experience the products for myself. However, when I spotted Kats Kalma, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to dabble with some totally natural goodies. After taking a good look at everything, I purchased a gift set containing a hand balm and a lip balm.

Beautiful Textures Curl Control Defining Pudding Review

So once I realised this brand existed after reading this blog post, (and after spending 55 minutes oogling, sniffing and comparing everything in my local hair shop), I decided to buy the Beautiful Textures Curl Control Defining Pudding. I'd never heard of Beautiful Textures before but then again I've only recently properly discovered Pak's range. There's too much choice!

Beautiful Textures Curl Control Defining Pudding

Before trying it, my first impressions were alright. Not exactly inspiring confidence am I? Let me explain. I'm on the fence about the jar's mad colour scheme and at first it didn't strike me as being targeted towards adults so I wasn't really sure what the range was all about. You can't miss it on the shelves though so I guess it's serving its purpose. The jar itself is wide mouthed which makes it easy to access the product whether you use a spoon or your fingers. Of course a spoon is preferable but when you're in the shower and have forgotten your spoon, you're kinda screwed and this is great in comparison to tiny jars that squish fingers. The texture of the pudding is very thick and creamy quite like body butter, yet similar to jelly. A bottle or some kind of pump dispenser would have been amazeballz but the Curl Pudding is very thick so it's probably impractical. I can't say I'm a fan of the texture because it's so firm but I usually associate this with serious moisturisation so I had high hopes for it. It's actually a very pale peach which is a lot better compared to other mud-like concoctions I came across in Pak's. At least it's not candy floss pink like Boot's Curl Cream (we've got a love-hate relationship - I'll spare you). The product has a mouth watering-ly juicy melon scent definitely 'made' me buy it. Although I hate melons, I could eat one if it actually smelt this good.

Hmm on second thoughts nah, I still hate melons.

Camden, Wagamama and Yumchaa

I don't know. Sometimes I get sick of central London and you know what they say - "when a man is tired of London he is tired of life". Well I'm not a man and I don't think I need to re-evaluate my life just yet. Anyway, I thought I could do with a change from zone one and like the absolute undisputed rebel I am, I ventured out into zone two.

Camden Lock

Apart from checking out overpriced tat, the original plan was to hit Yumchaa and the vegan and gluten free bakery Cookies and Scream. When we got to the stall though, I couldn't say I was overly impressed by the presentation of the products. Nothing was covered and any old fly (or perhaps worse, a human) could have molested the mighty tasty looking goodies. I decided to pass.

We realised we were hungry and seeing as Din has a phobia of InSpiral (the delicious vegan joint) and I have a phobia of the food stalls in the market, I thought we were screwed. It seemed like the only place left that we both were okay with was Wagamama. After some pursuasion, Din (who had vowed to never visit Wagamama after they scrapped his favourite dish, Amai Udon lol) agreed to get a Chicken Katsu Curry. When we got talking to our waitress, she said Amai Udon had been phased out because a new but similar and better dish, Wagamama Pad Thai over took its sales. He took her advice and ordered it with tofu and udon noodles instead of soba. It contained shallots, chillis, beansprouts, onions, coriander cress, peanuts, tofu, spring onions and beansprouts. He agreed that it was better than Amai Udon. Success! He has now been reconverted into a Waga fan.

Wagamama Pad Thai with Soba Noodles

Quick and Healthy Guacamole and Salsa Recipe

Who doesn't like a simple, cheap and healthy pie-hole filler? Avocados are full of heart friendly nutrients, healthy fats, potassium and vitamins e and c. Tomatoes are also packed with vitamins and antioxidants and cucumbers (which have been one of my favourite foods since I was a yoot) are hydrating and vitamin rich. Might I add that on top of all this, these ingredients are also mighty tasty which could just be be their most important features.

This is a great snack because instead of just nibbling on 'unhealthy' tortilla chips alone, you're teaming them up with fruit and vegetables. Best of both worlds.

Guacamole, Salsa and Tortilla Chips

The Accidental Body Shop Hand Cream Haul

After spotting an amazing coupon on vouchercodes.co.uk for a free 30ml hand cream from The Body Shop, I could not pass it up! I printed it and happily trotted into TBS to get my free cream but kind of ironically I managed to fall right for the marketing ploy and ended up buying a bunch of the creams. I've had the hemp one before and liked it but thought I may as well try the other new? versions. There are Wild Rose (SPF 15), Almond, Hemp and Absinthe to choose from.

These have only been in my bag for one day but they're battered!

I can't say I like being objected to a sales pitch but needless to say I was. I was asked to buy a discount card and even though I politely refused, the woman kept pushing it, using Christmas as a good excuse for me to buy one. However, I'm never really in TBS so I'd never need one. Sorry but I want my fr33 st00f!

Thick or what?

My Snowball Glogg

Having seen a similar bottle in Whole Foods, I'd wanted one for weeks. However after finding out that that particular one was aluminium, I decided to hold off and search for a better, stainless steel and BPA free alternative. Introducing my pretty.

When I learnt that bottles made from aluminium and BPA could have the ability to leech chemicals into the water they contain, I wanted a safe and reusable bottle to drink from. Having dabbled with two other bottles years ago, I can safely say that the Glogg is my favourite of the three. I've had an aluminium one from Muji, it had a narrow neck which made it difficult to clean. The threading in the neck of the bottle was also deep which made it even more of a hassle. My other bottle was a pink plastic one from Karrimor. Whilst it was BPA free, I still wasn't comfortable drinking from it because in the heat my drinks tasted mighty strange. Anyway who knows what those plastic BPA free bottles have had added to them as a replacement?