Dolce Gusto Coffee Machine

This Christmas past, I was very undecided as to what I wanted from my parents – and so I asked them to surprise me!  Needless to say, I was absolutely delighted when I opened up my Dolce Gusto Coffee Machine on Christmas morning. 

The machine itself is perfect in size, it’s slightly larger than a kettle, yet small enough that you can leave it sitting on the counter all of the time.  It’s really simple and totally safe – which makes me happy as I can be very clumsy sometimes.  With this machine, I’m not at all worried about scolding myself… which is always a bonus!

To use, you fill up the water tank on the back of the machine to the maximum point – which I have found gives me a decent sized drink with every make.  Next, you press the on button on the side and wait for it to turn green, which only takes about 15 seconds to do so.  Finally, you pick your pods – one drink normally takes two pods (one for the coffee/tea and one for the milk) depending on what it is that you are making.  Pop in your pod, wait for the cup to fill up about half way, swap it over for the milk pod and hey presto - you did it!  You really couldn’t get a simpler coffee machine if you tried.

Mocha anyone?

My parents spoilt me this year with a variety of different coffee pods to try out straight away, which consisted of caramel mocha, regular mocha and vanilla macchiato.  However when I went to register my machine to activate the guarantee, this qualified me for an extra £10 credit to my account.  With the free credit burning a hole in my pocket and an extra £10 cash to spare, I went ahead and ordered a variety of drinks including: 1 x caramel macchiato, 1 x mocha, 1 x vanilla macchiato, 1 x caramel mocha and 1 x chai tea latte.  Each and every single one of these drinks have been absolutely delicious. I love how professional each drink looks and tastes – even watching it brewing from the two pods is mesmerizing. 

Each box contains 8 drinks, which is pretty good value at £4 when you take into consideration the amount that you can spend on just one drink at Starbucks and Costa (… I’m still guilty of this though!)  You can pick up the pods at most major supermarkets at the moment, however if you’re looking for a large selection to choose from – I recommend ordering direct from the Dolce Gusto website, as they have all their drinks listed and delivery is free!

I’m really looking forward to trying out the other varieties of drinks available for my Dolce Gusto machine, especially the cold brewed ones, as I am yet to experiment with these.

Have you tried any of the Dolce Gusto range?

Until the next one,

Lauren x

Nivea Men Shaving Balm, Or Makeup Primer?

So back in January, when everyone was skint and trying to make their December wages last for the best part of 5-6 weeks, I noticed that a lot of people were ranting and raving about a new super cheap and extra effective make up primer.  My Instagram feed was full of pictures of folk sharing their new beauty product – Nivea Men Shaving Balm.

I was super sceptical for a very long times, “why on earth would you be applying shaving balm to your face before your makeup?”  “Surely that will smell super masculine and clash with my perfume?” “Won’t that make you feel really sticky all day long?”

But of course, as we all know I am a sucker for a bargain, and so when I spotted that you could pick up the product for just £2.50 on a half price promotion -  I decided to bite the bullet and give it a whirl.

When you apply the balm to your face, I have noticed that you don’t really need to use as much as you would, of you were using a normal primer.  The product is really runny yet quite thick, and so I have been using about a 10p size amount every morning before I do my makeup.  I rub this in using a beauty blender that I only use for my primer, it only takes a couple of seconds and it dries really quickly into the skin.  I have noticed that I do need to apply extra moisturiser around my eyes after using it, as it makes my skin here feel really tight.  However, this is probably just due to my eczema, and so is not a big deal.

The balm makes my skin feel a lot smoother, fuller and hydrated than a regular primer does.  It gives me a totally matt finish which I love, and makes my pores a lot less noticeable around my cheeks when I apply my BB Cream.

Literally seconds after I have finished my applying the balm, I’m ready to put on my makeup… as quickly as possible!  I’ve found that some primers can feel quite wet, meaning that you have to wait for them to soak up before you can do anything else.  However, the Nivea Men Shaving Balm is perfect for me, because unless I’m doing something that I want to look particularly nice for, I grudge spending any more than 10 minutes doing my make up in the morning. 

7am - 6pm make up wear, not too shabby!

What’s even better, is that is actually works amazingly as a primer.  My minimal make up will easily last a whole 9 hour shift at work without any touch ups – granted it wont look as great by the end of the day and usually a little oily, however it is not the patchy mess that it can sometimes be. 

So despite my speculation, the Nivea Men Shaving Balm will probably work really, really well for those of you who like a beauty bargain and a pretty decent make up primer. 

Have you given this a try yet?  What was your verdict?

Until the next one,

Lauren x

Books Abroad

-      Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working with Books Abroad, a Charity in Rhynie whom send books across the world to disadvantaged countries.  My work with them has contributed to part of my studies, as I’m currently out of uni for a 6 week work placement.  Whilst here, I’ve been given the task of looking over their social media, as well as taking a look at their promotional materials and looking into ways to help them gain some sort of media coverage.  This is exactly the type of work that I want to be moving into when I finish my studies, and so I’m absolutely delighted that they have given me such an opportunity to give it a try.

The charity founded as LINK in 1982, and were initially based in a cupboard in the Brander Library in Huntly.  In 1991 they moved to their current offices in Rhynie and changed the name to Books Abroad.  Years later, they expanded into the adjacent warehouse units where they now stock their hundreds of books that are kindly donated by various schools, libraries, individuals and organisations. Currently, their output sits at 125,000 books per annum, which is a fantastic figure for a little charity from the North East of Scotland!  The majority of the work at Books Abroad is carried out by unpaid volunteers, who give up a couple of hours every Monday and Wednesday to help sort out the books and have them ready for shipments.

Since starting back in 1982, Books Abroad have assisted over 2,100 schools and other organisations world-wide with new requests for books arriving daily.  Recently, they have been working hard and sending large shipments of books in 20 foot containers to in-country partner organisations such as library services or local charities who distribute the books to their client schools on their behalf.  It can take months for shipments to be organised and ready to be sent off, and so it’s a great achievement to see these being packed off and sent away for all of the volunteers!

The majority of the funding that Books Abroad receives is provided by a variety of charitable trusts and foundations to whom they are extremely grateful.  The remainder comes from membership fees, donations, and fundraising events.  Without the funds, Books Abroad would not be able to carry out the fantastic work that it does on a daily basis.  They currently only have one part time member of paid staff, who works on being the person of contact by taking calls, replying to emails and ensuring that shipments are being received by the people to whom they are sent off to.  The rest of the work is completed completely free of charge by the volunteers.

Books Abroad are always looking for volunteers to help out in the warehouse.  It’s an extremely rewarding project to be a part of, and when the charity have the opportunity to help others across the world, whom may not have the reading materials that they have today had it not been for them, is something that I think should be recognised by everyone far and near.  They are always on the lookout for book donations too, as they receive new requests every day for books to be sent across the globe.

If you would be interested in joining the dedicated volunteers at Books Abroad, or you would simply like to help out by dropping off some books, you can send an email to info@booksabroad.org.uk

You can also make a cash donation to the charity via Vodafone Text Giving by sending a text to 70070, quoting " Book43 " followed by the amount you would like to donate e.g. £1, £3, £5etc.  Text donations are free to Vodafone customers, whilst other networks may charge you for your text.  All proceeds go directly to Books Abroad, making it a great and worthwhile tool for the charity to take advantage of.

If you would like to know more about what it is that the charity does, or have any queries at all, please feel free to leave a comment below.  I’m here with the charity until the middle of March, and so I am more than willing to help them spread the word in any way, shape or form.

You can also check out their Facebook and Twitter pages (I've been helping to run them recently, so you should definitely give them a like/follow) by searching for @booksabroad

Until the next one,

Lauren x