My Aldi Swap

I started this month with a challenge to myself. For most of this year, I've been living on frozen food from Tesco. At the start of each month, I'd order a month's worth of frozen food. It was convenient, but for almost a full year I'd found I was eating pretty much the same thing.

So for November I decided to drop the monthly shop and try a fresh weekly shop at Aldi. I hoped I would save money but also eat fresh nutritious food. 

I got exactly what I hoped for. Not only do I save over £40 a month when you compare the items to the Tesco equivalent, but I also saw a big whoosh of weight loss to boot!

I felt inspired to Instagram the vast majority of my meals (yes, I'm that sad) so here's some of my favourites:

Tabitha

Xx

My Little Box | November 2015

Just like Birchbox, I should start by saying that I've cancelled my subscription to My Little Box this month. This is an even bigger surprise to me because just a couple of months I was so in love with this box and really enjoyed receiving it.

However, the last few months of boxes have just been so disappointing. It's like they reached their first anniversary of being in the UK and just gave up. This gets mentioned in their Instagram comments a lot, but it's hard to enjoy the UK boxes now when the French and Japanese versions are always so much better.

It was a little tin instead of a box and I got very excited about what might be inside. Then I saw this:

The apron is cute, sure. But where the hell is the sweet?! There's a sweet hand cream that is a bit marshmallowy but this will be cream 10,000 received from My Little Box now. Not forgetting there was a  hand cream in the last box as well. How dry do they think my hands are?

Then there was a little perfume that smells like Poundland's own cat piss.

Finally there was that shitty foamy face wash that long time readers will remember I HATED when Birchbox sent this a few months ago. 

I'm not even going to list the contents, I'm that disappointed. It's just too much money each month to justify when the contents are this cheap.

So very disappointed!

Tabitha 

Xx

Birchbox | November 2015

I'm going to preface this post by saying that even though this box was a lot better than last month's, it still wasn't good enough to retain my custom and I have now cancelled my Birchbox subscription.

I know, it's a big shock given how much I loved their boxes just a few months ago. But I, like many of their customers, have very little patience when I don't feel like I'm getting my money's worth. 

Birchbox November 2015 Contents:

So Susan Featherlash Mascara | £18

Lord & Berry Silhouette Neutral Lip Line | £9

Delarom Creme Acquaconfort | £34

Pure & Light Organic Revitalising Facial Exfoliation | £25

Beauty Protector Beauty Cream Body Lotion | £8

Thumbs Up Rosa Nail Wraps | £6.99

So Susan Featherlash Mascara

This is a lovely light mascara for days when you want a more natural look. It does flake off though so it's a bit of a pain by the end of the day.

Lord & Berry Neutral Lip Liner

I tried this out but I'm not convinced that it made a difference at all. That could just be where I don't tend to find that my lipsticks bleed/smudge if I don't wear a lip liner.

Delacrom Creme Acquaconfort

I can't remember if I've tried this or not so this definitely didn't make an impression.

Pure & Light Organic Revitalising Facial Exfoliation

I actually really liked this but there was only enough for two uses. It smelled of light citrus and had enough exfoliating grains that my skin felt amazing afterwards.

Beauty Protector Beauty Cream Body Lotion

The smell of this was amazing but it was a bit too oily for my tastes. 

Thumbs Up Rosa Nail Wraps

I haven't tried these yet as they're a little more Spring than Festive but I definitely think they're cute.

I'm not saying I'll never go back to Birchbox, but I don't think I ever really recovered from the horrific October box and it has tarnished this box for me. 

Tabitha

Xx

Review | Maybelline Super Stay

We are well into Autumn and nearly Winter now so all manner of dark berry shades have been gracing my lips. While I can get away with a darker lip, I fully intend to. 

By far my favourite dark berry shade is this absolute beauty of a product by Maybelline. This is their Super Stay 24 Ultimate Red lip colour in Always Crimson (575). I swatched this on the back of my hand in Boots and couldn't get rid of it without severe scrubbing so this is definitely a product made to last as long as it promises.

I tried it on my lips for the first time today. The first layer was perfect and I shouldn't have touched it, but being a fool, I put the balm on before it had dried properly and then tried to put another layer on top to even the colour that I had smudged. It still looked amazing but it did flake off when I ate lunch so I definitely recommend one layer that you allow to fully dry.

The colour is gorgeous and there's a massive range from light nudes and pinks right the way through to the darker vampy shades that I enjoy most. 

10/10 - Highly Recommend