Vegan Tuck Box

Hi Guys,

For a long while I have been a little bit 'scared' of vegan food, I thought it was boring, bland and unusual. I thought all vegans ate was lettuce and air more or less....Since I have been trying to lead a healthier life I have discovered that this is not the case at all and that vegan food can be very tasty and fulfilling.

 I searched up healthy snacks on google and emailed Vegan Tuck Box and with a bloggers discount purchased one of the Vegan Tuck Boxes. I selected the 'Single Selection Box' which has 11 - 13 vegan snacks inside - this costs £18.50 plus £3.50 p&p but there are many boxes to choose from. There is the Chocolate Lovers Box which is £12 plus p&p and contains all chocolaty treats, there is the Vegan Starter Box which is £10 plus p&p and contains items to help you when becoming a vegan, they have a range of Gluten Free boxes and there are loads of subscription options too! PLUS you can also buy vegan treats which are including in the boxes on their site. You can send any of the boxes as gifts to your friends if you like, which means you can share these around.

When you purchase boxes or snacks you collect points which you can use to get money off other items - kind of like a loyalty card but online! Anyone who knows me, knows I love saving money so I think this is an excellent idea.

Here is a link to their shop: https://vegantuckbox.co.uk/shop/

You can use the discount code 'blog10' to get 10% off any subscription box!

The packaging is really nice, when the box arrived I knew exactly what it was, there were details of different boxes which I think is great especially if you have gifted the box - others will be able to see right away what other options they might be able to choose. When I opened the box I was overwhelmed, all the products looked amazing!! On the top there were a few leaflets as well as one telling me about the products and how much they would cost me to buy. When I added up the amount the items would cost to buy individually they added up to £18.50 which is the value of the box - thats great - sometimes I wonder whether you are getting the right amount of products when you buy something like this. Over all I think the service and the site is great, they have a loyaly scheme, its nicely laid out and easy to get where you want. When I contacted them they replied very quickly and from ordering to receiving the box was only a couple of days.

I have tried a few of the snacks so far, and I am really impressed! None of it was scary and I had no reason to be nervous at all!

What was in my box!?

Planet Organic Cheezy Kale Popcorn: I was honestly so nervous to try these, the thought of mixing Kale, Cheese and Popcorn just made me feel funny. I also wasn't 100% sure how they would look! I opened the bag and saw that the popcorn had green flavouring on it and this only scared me further! When I tasted it however I was pleasantly surprised, I could taste the Kale - but I don't hate Kale and it actually all went together really well. Popcorn is one of my go to snacks when I am eating healthily and to know that its organic makes me feel great and I would definitely purchase this in the future. Planet Organic has a huge range of products on offer their website is: www.planetorganic.co.uk and you can purchase the popcorn here.

Ten Acre Pastrami Crisps: I wasn't too worried about the crisps as far as I could tell from the packet they were just potato crisps (taste wise) and so I dived right in with this one. These crisps are gluten free, dairy free and MSG free which is great! MSG is a seasoning that many consider to be unhealthy and dangerous. Ten Acre has a great range of crisps and popcorn the link to their site is: http://www.tenacrecrisps.co.uk/ and you can purchase the pastrami crisps here.

Zeina Smoked Chipotle Pistachio Nuts: I love Pistachios they are my favourite nut and I love chipotle so I was so excited for these. I have never had a flavoured nut before I normally have them plain or salted but nothing else. The creaminess of the nut and the smokiness of the chipotle made for a great snack. I went through these with absolutely no problem and enjoyed them. I think these would be great with a glass of wine or just for a mid afternoon snack to make it between meals! Zeina offer a range of nuts, seed, dried fruits and mixes and their site can be found at: http://www.zeinafoods.com/index.php/ and you can purchase the sea salt nuts here. (the chipotle nuts will be available soon!)

Pulsetta Vanilla Oat Thins: I was really excited to try these because I love a biscuit with a cup of tea, and thinking that I could have a healthy option just makes me feel better! I tried these out and have to say I did not get along with them, the biscuit itself was fine but it left an awful after taste in my mouth which I just could not get rid of! Also I had the Vanilla biscuits but I am sure I could taste Lemon which really confused me. I have eaten Gluten Free biscuits before and they are often a lot drier than other biscuits but I have enjoyed others in the past, these could just not be fixed even dunking them in tea! Pulsetta offer lots of other products which I would be interested to try out here is the link to their site: http://www.pulsetta.com/ and you can view the oat thins here. As far as I can see you can not purchase these on the pulsetta site, but you can buy them elsewhere online.

Ananda Foods Vanilla Marshmallows: I LOVE Marshmallows!! I was super dooper excited for these. I wasn't disappointed....they were slightly less sweet than other marshmallows I have had, but they were very tasty and I can not wait to try them in hot chocolate! Again knowing there is a healthier option for one of my faves just makes me feel good about eating them. There is a lot on offer at the Anandas website: http://www.anandafoods.co.uk/ (you can even buy a make your own marshmallows kit which I am definitely excited to do!) and you can purchase the marshmallows
here.

Pernigotti Cianduitti King: This chocolate bar reminded me a lot of those sea shell shaped chocolates (by taste) crossed with a toblerone (by shape). It was HUGE (100g) and just a shame that there were no sections for you to snap off - I did break it in half and share it with my partner because I could not manage the whole lot it was pretty creamy which made it sickly after a while! Again I was pretty nervous to try this because I love chocolate, but I love milk chocolate and I am nervous of dairy free alternatives but I honestly wouldn't have known the difference it was lovely! Here is the link for their site: http://www.pernigotti.it/en and you can not purchase the chocolate bar on their site as far as I can see.

Essy & Bella Chocolate Banoffee Crunch: Again I was a little worried due to the fact that I really like milk chocolate and non-dairy alternatives do scare me. This tasted really nice, if I am honest I wouldn't say that the flavouring was Banoffee I didn't get that at all - but it did taste great. I found it to be slightly richer and darker than the Pernigotti chocolate and it had really nice little crunchy pieces in it too which was a lovely additon. I love the look of it, it is almost a marble effect but I am not sure how they create this. Essy & Bella Chocolate has a huge range of dairy and dairy free chocolate available on their site: https://www.essyandbella.com/ and you can buy the Banoffee Crunch bar here.

Nakd Bar - Christmas Pudding Bar: This bar was a limited edition for the Christmas period - so will probably no longer be available. I am not a big fan of Christmas pudding so I really didn't like this bar. It had the same consistency as other Nakd bars I have tried in the past - which I do love. My favourite is the choco orange flavour. You can find Nakd and Trek bars and other goodies on their site: https://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/

Lenny & Larry's The Complete Cookie Snickerdoodle: I am very excited about trying this, it looks amazing and is really big. There is 16g of Protein and 8g of fibre inside each cookie which probably makes them a great pre or post workout snack! I am saving it for when I get back to exercising hopefully I love it. Lenny & Larry's have a great range of cookies, muffins and brownies on their site: https://www.lennylarry.com/  and you can buy the complete cookie snickerdoodle here.

Sweet Revolution Instant Hot Chocolate: I can not wait to try this out with my vegan marshmallows. Before I was a little anxious due to it being vegan chocolate - but now that I have tried out the chocolate bars I think I will love it. I will probably make it with water, it says to do this or use a non-dairy milk. Sweet Revolution offer lots of different chocolate products including a chocolatey gift box on their site: http://www.sweetrevolution.co.uk/index.php and you can purchase the instant hot chocolate here. 

Artisan Grains Country Veg & Cashew Nut Roast: I have never ever tried a Nut roast before but I love Veg and I love cashews so I am so sure I will love this. Can not wait to try it out and give my son a healthy dinner one day using this. Artisan Grains have a very big range of products including Nut Roasts, Superfood Bars and Couscous on their site: http://www.artisangrains.co.uk/index.html and you can view the nut roast from here. As far as I can see you can not purchase them from their site. 

Over all I was very pleased with the products I received and out of the ones I have managed to try I liked most of them. They have made me realise that there are a lot more vegan products out there than we think! It is great to have a site that puts all these things together in 1 box and sends them to your door, it means you don't have to shop about or check the labels of everything too. Not all these snacks were full sized and others you can only buy online in multipacks BUT the list broke down the prices to tell you how much the amount you got was worth. Like I said at the beginning of my post the box I selected was £18.50 and the value of the products I got was £18.50 so thats really good! I would definitely recommend this service to any vegans out there or anyone who is looking to become a vegan! Perhaps like me the thought of vegan snacks and veganism itself scares you - this would be great to try some bits out before or when you start out.  

I did a video on my YouTube channel which explains a bit more about the boxes you can get and also shows me unboxing all the product and giving my first impressions. If you would like to check that out then you can do here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfI-UGUXFvE

You can find Vegan Tuck Box on their site here.

On Facebook here.

On Twitter here.

And on Instagram here. 

Thanks for reading

Sophie Jo xx 

Ickle Bubba Stomp v2 - Travel System Review

Hi guys,

I am writing this review with a very heavy heart and a lot of regret because I thought I had found the perfect pram/travel system.

As most of you know I had my little girl 5 weeks ago, but we actually started looking for a travel system very early on. I really liked the bugaboo and other similar models but they are all very pricey and I wanted to find something which was in our price range but still looked good! I wanted to write about this pram in my next 'Baby on a Budget' post - but unfortunately I can not recommend it.

We picked the Ickle Bubba because we saw it for £376 (which is way way cheaper than the others) and we thought this was a very good price. BUT when I searched for it on google I also found it online at Costco for £249 which was an amazing deal (it is now £299.99 on their site) you can view it here if you would like. We actually bought the black/black one which they don't appear to have on Costco anymore but they do still have all the other colours and they are all the same and come with all the same things.

I read a few reviews online, there weren't many that I could find, but apart from 1 or 2 they were all good, and even the complaints about it were only minor - i.e it was bigger than they imagined, the chassis was stiff at first, the rain cover took them a while to work out...nothing major. My Nan even sent me a video review of the product on YouTube and it looked great I was super excited.

I purchased the travel system right away on August 22nd so I had it for almost 4 months before our little one arrived on December 11th. The first time I took it out was Christmas Eve and I went for a trip into town and bought a few bits from the shops and just got some fresh air, I really enjoyed it and fell in love with the pram - I was using the carry cot attachment - it fit really nicely in the boot of my grandads car - he has a bit boot but the chassis part would easily fit in the boot of most cars if you were using the car seat attachment. Fast forward a couple of weeks after the Christmas holidays - I did not go out during and when I did we were given lists and I used the car seat - which was fine. I used the pram on about 4 school runs and then used it for another school run on Thursday (14th Jan 16) so less than 3 weeks after the first time I had used it. I was walking my son from school to his gymnastics class - a 15min walk on my own but a 20min walk with him so not too far. About 10mins/half way into my journey I was crossing a road and going down hill towards a much busier road and 'SNAP' 1 side of the handle completely snapped! I would like to point out that there was absolutely no way the pram was being weighed down, I had my nappy bag hanging on the handle but way further down this had approx 5 nappies, 4 breast pads, a pack of wipes, a sample sized tube of nappy cream, a muslin cloth, 2 spare vests, a spare babygro, a hat, a pair of mittens, a pair of socks (all newborn sized so not massive!) and a 500ml bottle of water which was about half full! I also had a spare pair of clothes in the shopping basket for my small 5year old. SO I am talking minimal weight because this pram should be able to hold a lot more than that anyway, and none of the items mentioned were anywhere near the breakage anyway!

Had the other side of the pram handle also snapped my 5 week old baby would have been rolling down hill towards a very busy road! Needless to say I was shaken up a little, frustrated and very upset. I just about managed to do the rest of my journey but it was quite painful as the handle was sharp and the pram was now pretty difficult to control. I then spent the next morning phoning people to try and get my son picked up from school as I could not leave the house with a 5 week old and no pram.

I have spoken to Costco and they are refunding me my money, however, I have to wait 7 days (from Friday) for the pram to be picked up and then a further 5 - 10 business days for my refund.....I have no pram and I am not made of money - so unfortunately my stressful situation will last until I have the refund and I can purchase another travel system or pram!

There are many many good points about this travel system and until this happened I was very happy with the pram, it is light weight, folds really small, handles well and has a massive shopping trolly underneath - but unfortunately after my experience I would not trust the brand again, nor would I accept a replacement as there is no guarantee that this won't happen again!

I would also like to point out that I emailed Ickle Bubba with pictures and told them what had happened, they wrote back very quickly and were very apologetic but unfortunately it does not change what has happened and I can not even bare to think about how bad the consequences could have been had both sides snapped....

Here are the pictures of my snapped pram :(

Thanks for reading
Sophie Jo x

Aleva Naturals - Daily Soothing Moisturizer & 2-in-1 Hair and Body Wash

Hi guys,

I was very kindly sent some Aleva products to try out with my little one. I am as I have previously said, looking to use more natural and organic products on myself and my family so I contacted this company. 

 Daily Soothing Moisturizer. 

First of all I love the packaging, the logo is so so cute and very easily recognisable, the details on the packaging are written both in English and in French which I think is good but it does mean the label is quite 'busy. It does however give you all the information about what it is, what it does and how you use it. 

The consistency is the same as most other moisturisers out there and it sinks into the skin very easily, I have used it on myself and found that it does feel sticky at first but within minutes its sunk in. I don't have a lot of dry skin, but, my little girl was born with quite bad dry skin especially around her ankles and wrists.  This product is meant for babies but I was a little unsure due to the very strong scent, this did put me off at first but I read the ingredients and was very happy to use it on her once I did so. The product contains a lot of natural oils (which is where I believe the scent is coming from) but it does not have a greasy feel to it at all. The most prominent smell is of Orange or Citrus which is coming from the Orange peel oil but there is a slight earthiness as well.

I have used the product several times now on my little girl and I have seen a very big difference in her skin, even after one use. I usually put the moisturiser on her after she has had a bath and massage it in. She doesn't seem bothered by the scent which is another thing I worried about and she had not had any reactions to the cream at all - so I think this product is very suitable for sensitive skin! My baby is left with soft skin again and the dry skin has nearly gone. It is quite hard to take a picture of a newborn babies feet but I tried my best - I hope you can see that all the dryness has nearly all gone! 

The price of this product on Amazon is £6.15 - you get 240ml and a little goes a long way so it is good value for money especially being such good quality ingredients. You can purchase the product on amazon here. I have had a look on amazon and a similar product from a leading brand is priced similarly so I don't think you can get a good product for any less money.

Over all I am very pleased with this product and would definitely purchase this in the future and recommend it to anyone who asked!  

2-in-1 Hair & Body Wash

Again the packaging on this product is lovely, it has all the information you need on it, both in English and French and it is very easily recognisable. 

When I first tried this product out I thought I could smell Lemon Grass, and I really like Lemon Grass - but when I read the ingredients it is not in there at all, I am not sure what it is I am smelling but like the moisturiser there is a very citrusy smell with an earthiness to it. It reminds me of a spa treatment I once had, very lovely!

I have not used this product on myself so can only comment from what I have seen in my little daughter. The product again has a very strong scent but this is not perfumed it is all coming from the natural oils in there, and is not harsh at all on the skin. My daughter has very dry skin and I have been using both products which seems to have taken this almost completely away! I read on the packaging that this product will wash away flakes of cradle cap due to the tea tree oil formula. I have just today, after using this product, noticed that my little girl has a very small amount of cradle cap and it did seem to be flaking away as I was drying her - whether it was working its magic which she was in the bath and I didn't notice I am not sure. 

The foam is very easy to pump and I was a little worried when I first looked as the product seemed very thin and liquidy - but the foam is thick and luxurious! It is very easy to use and washes off very easily too - it doesn't stick around and float at the top of the bath or anything it melts away as you use it - which I love. 

When I looked on Amazon at first I saw this product was £19.99 which I thought was a bit pricy for a body wash. You get 200ml and it has very good quality, organic ingredients but I don't think I would pay so much - plus there are others on the market for a lot less. I the scrolled down through the list and found it for £8.02 which is more like it! You can purchase that here. I had a further look on amazon and saw that this was around the same price as some other products which are similar. 

Over all I am very happy with this product and would happily pay £8 -10 for it but no more than that. If I can get it for that price I am very happy to purchase this in the future and use it on my little ones. 

Both products are Phenoxyethanol Free - I have read a little bit into this and it is absolutely amazing - if a product contains phenoxyethanol it is now not allowed to be certified organic. This is used as a preservative in cosmetics and occurs naturally in things like green tea. The version used in cosmetics though is synthetic and is believed to be an irritant...Hats off to Aleva for removing it from their products - apparently its a very big deal!

You can also purchase all the Aleva Naturals products from Kiddicare. HERE is the link to the Soothing Moisturizer and HERE is the link to the Hair and Body Wash.

Where to find Aleva Naturals 

You can find Aleva on their website - here. 

Their Facebook - here.

and Their Twitter - here.

Thanks for reading

Sophie Jo xx

Burts Bee's - Mama Bee Belly Butter

Hi guys, 

Today I am going to be reviewing the Mama Bee Belly Butter by Burt's Bees. I was very kindly sent this product to review which is very kind, Thank You.  

So as many of you know I have just had my little girl she is absolutely beautiful, I was and still am trying to use as many natural/organic products as possible, I want to be kind to myself and my family and that includes looking after ourselves well. 

First off I want to talk about the packaging, it is really nice in a big tub which is great because when pregnant you have to use the belly butter every single day and even after the birth you need to keep using it to really see the benefits. I think the packaging is simple but contains enough information to let you know what it does/what its for and what it contains! I love the design on the packaging it is like honeycomb so it is quite easily recognisable on the shelves. 

Before looking around on the internet whilst pregnant I had never seen this range of products before so I was really excited to use it. They have a small range for Mummies which is great, and the reason I love these products is because they are natural. Although it does state on the website that it is fragrance free I was expecting it to smell like honey - and I must say this is the only disappointment I had with this product and it is not a problem at all - just something I like and didn't have. When I opened it for the first time I could see that the product was very thick, this made me a little worried as I thought it may be quite sticky but after using it I quickly found that the whole lot soaks into your skin without a problem. I can not comment on whether it prevents stretch marks although I only got one (from what I can tell) new one - I had a huge amount from my first pregnancy so it is a little hard to tell. I was also quite far along in my pregnancy before receiving this product. The belly butter definitely moisturises thirsty skin and helps to stop itching!! I was very very itchy towards the end of my pregnancy and when I put the cream/butter on it really helped - although the itching would return later on. I used this product several times a day, and found it most soothing when getting out of the bath or shower - I even used it on other parts of my body - for example my arms and legs because I was getting itchy there too. It lasts very well, a little goes a very long way, and I think this is because it is so thick and luxurious, you can really tell that this is a fantastic and high quality product. 

I think the price for this product is pretty good, the quality of the ingredients and the fact that it is 99% natural makes it worth every penny.

You can purchase this product from their site here for £13.99 - for this price you get 185g which is a really decent amount. It is a similar price to other natural products on the market, in fact less than some others available. I honestly believe you pay for what you get and the quality speaks for itself! There are many cheaper products available but I found that a lot of those either left me feeling sticky OR they did not moisturise at all or for long periods of time. 

Keep your eyes peeled for my review on the Burt's Bees Baby Bee Shampoo and Wash - I will post the link here once it is live! 

You can find Burt's Bees at

Their Site - here.

On Facebook - here.

And

On Twitter - here.

Thanks for reading 

Sophie Jo xx