With one of the top toy trends at the moment being slime related, the Glam Goo Deluxe Slime set was sure to get a positive first impression from my daughter so I was keen for her to try it out and give me her views. The set comes boxed featuring a good sized glitter plastic handbag with sections inside to store all of your fantastic slime creations in.
The set contains:
Glitter storage handbag
Double finger storage ring
Pot of Glam Goo (clear slime)
3 pots of mixed glitter – Cloud Crunch, Daydreams, and Unicorn Tears
2 colours – Electric Blue and Pinky Promise
1 scent – Violet Vibe
1 mixing spoon
So essentially you have a large pot of clear slime and you are free to make any creation you wish with it using the glitters, colours and scent although there are some suggestions of combinations to follow on the included instruction sheet,
The three glitters are all really pretty and themed with different shaped pieces and shiny colour combinations. There are two pots of iridescent powder colours and some lilac scent to add a fragrance to your glitter.
As you can imagine my 11yr old was super eager to get started and began by giving the entire pot of slime a good knead to soften and stretch which she thoroughly enjoyed and found very therapeutic.
It was then time to get creative with the Glam Goo and add the glitters, scent and powder colours to make various different combinations which you can store in the ten compartments of the glitter storage handbag. Miss M really enjoyed this part and came up with an array of pink, blue & lilac slimes with different glitter combinations in each one.
There really are numerous possibilities and you can change and add to them later on. Miss M found that some her colours were quite pale at first so when she got them out to play with the next time she added more colour pigment or some extra glitter to make them more vibrant.
I think the storage case is a brilliant idea and something my daughter really loved. It enables you to store the slime safely and the sections mean that your different combinations don’t get mixed up. You can even store some slime in the heart compartment on the front of the Glam Goo bag.
One thing my daughter loved was how the slime settled and spread out evenly in the sections when it was left alone and she found it pleasant to pick up and play with again at anytime. It’s non sticky, very stretchy and has a great texture that you can pull, break, roll and stick back together again.
The ultimate fun of the Glam Goo Deluxe set though has to be how portable your slime is. You can carry it around in its fun storage case with over the shoulder strap and play with it at your leisure anywhere you go.
This set is an absolute winner with my daughter, she loves everything about it, from making the slime, playing with the slime and carrying it around with her. Glam Goo Deluxe set has our seal of approval and I think that it’s non sticky texture and secure storage make it a great gift for girls!
All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.
The Anker Soundcore Icon Bluetooth Speaker combines great quality, great sound and great durability! Quite a lot packed into small size speaker but for the current Amazon price point of £54.99 I really do think this speaker packs in a ton of features that make it perfect for those on the go, inside or outside making it the perfect speaker to take with you on your travelling adventures.
The best adventures always have a killer soundtrack. So when the good times start, take Icon along for the ride.
Inside the box you get the Soundcore Icon along with a micro USB charging cable and basic instruction sheet. For me it’s all about ease of use and set up – I want something I can take out of the box and find fairly simple to work and this is exactly that.
The Icon sits firmly on a solid surface with two small silicone feet on the underside while the touch function buttons are across the top.
Each charge lasts for up to 12 hours which is pretty good going and I’d say that seems pretty accurate, I tend to play music for around 2-3 hours a day and this easily lasted me 4-5 days before I needed to recharge. Once charged I simply used my phone to pair it up via Bluetooth, it found it immediately and then played my favourite tunes via Spotify. As well as the on/off button on the top of the speaker there are volume buttons and a play/forward/back button in the centre.
Design & Durability
The Soundcore Icon is a solid but fairly lightweight speaker and one thing I love about it is it’s easy to hold and carry in your hand due to its long, oval, slimline shape making it really portable. It also has a unique feature of a detachable strap making it perfect for hanging up somewhere or onto something either in the home or out and about. Again making it the perfect travel companion.
Detachable Strap
So let’s look at bit more at the detachable strap – it is incredibly strong and durable and really doesn’t feel like it will break despite you stretching it and wrapping it around things. The strap comes off of both sides of the speaker so if you happen to have a different coloured one you can always swap them around. The other benefit of owning two Icons of course is that you can pair them up for stereo sound.
The bonus of this strap is that you don’t have to find a surface to put your speaker on or you can simply carry it with you on your bag, bike etc.
If I can get few minutes peace from the children and it’s a sunny day I do like to sit outside reading a book and instead of burying my speaker among the grass I can simply hang it from a tree!
The strap has many uses such as to aid me to listen to my tunes in the shower or hang it from my kitchen window sill out the way as I cook or I even love hanging it from the bar of my Velux window in my attic to admire the glimpse of the sea I get above the rooftops – one of my peaceful places to hang out at home!
Being perfect for out and about and travelling I can hang the Icon onto my bag or pack it in my case knowing I’ll have great sounds wherever I go!
Ultimately though you don’t need to use the hook, you can simply sit the Soundcore Icon on the side of your bath while you have a soak, because if it did happen to fall in – you know you are safe as it is fully waterproof with an IP67 rating!! This does also mean it’s protected from dust and dirt so wherever you are you know it’s safe wherever it is.
Final Opinion
For me this is a great speaker to move around or carry around a lot for two reasons, it’s durability and portability. Soundwise – I personally think it sounds great for the size and compared to another branded portable speaker of similar spec that I own, they sound pretty much the same, although the other speaker cost twice the price of the Icon. I look forward to taking this away with me on weekend trips and our family Summer adventure in Europe later this year knowing that we can have music wherever we are, whether that be beside the pool, on the beach or having a picnic in the country. Knowing that the Soundcore Icon will be safe and is tough enough for anything my kids will put it through, makes it the ideal on the go speaker for me and my family!
All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.
With the warmer weather and drier days upon us it’s great to get the children outdoors and enjoying the fresh air. When at home it’s good to have things to encourage them to go out in the garden away from technology and Addo Play have an Out and About range of simple garden toys that are great value for money and can be played both in the garden or taken out with you to the park, beach etc. All toys are available from The Entertainer toy shop.
We were sent a few items from the range to try out:
The Mini Soccer Goal is actually a really lovely set for young budding footballers. I’d say this is more aimed at younger players although I’m surprised at how much fun my two children have had playing with this. It comes as a set which includes push together poles and corner pieces, anchor pegs, a small football and pump.
My children have had so much fun with this over the last couple of weeks. My 8yr old isn’t a huge football player at school but really enjoyed kicking the ball into the goal himself – a great way for him to keep occupied and moving about outside. He also played with his football mad sister and they created little obstacle games to play to get the ball into the goal. They’ve literally had this out everyday that it’s been dry and sunny in the garden which is great to see.
Next up is the Racket Set which comes with two rackets, a ball and a shuttlecock.
I like that this comes with two ways to play, either ball or shuttlecock and the bats themselves look really nice with a soft padded handle. My children got stuck in straight away with these playing along the garden. I actually think these would be great to take on holidays for either an open space at the beach or a park – a great activity that adults can join in too for a bit of family outdoor fun!
Finally we tried out the Baseball Bat & Ball set which was a surprising hit. I wasn’t sure how much they would play with this but it’s actually been a fantastic addition to our garden games collection.
The children used the bat to create a mini game of rounders in the garden. They put some cones down as markers, asked daddy and me to join in and we played our own little version of rounders, trying to run around the cones before the others got our ball back to one of the bases.
Whilst playing on their own they just practiced bowling the ball and improving their batting technique!
Overall these garden games are great value for money and simple sports that children will enjoy and keep them active.
Moj Mojis a new favourite for those that love squishy toys. Coming in small pocket money sized packs, these blind bag collectibles come in a variety of character animals and an array of colours and sizes. With several series available, we received a selection to check out and see what we thought.
Both of my children were delighted to add more squishy toys to their collections and divided the packs between them to open.
They squealed and smiled as they opened each pack and met their new characters, then laid them out carefully on the table to admire.
Each pack contains either 2 large Moj Moj’s or 5 mini Moj Moj’s (dependent on series) along with a check list of all the different ones in the series. Some also come with a little sticker sheet.
As you can see below the Moj Moj’s are ultra cute. They are very tactile to touch and the children just love to squish them. They rare particularly fond of the mini ones as they seem to be really cute and they liked arranging them in groups together. They also seemed to be a bit better formed that some of the larger ones which were a bit blob like.
If you are lucky you may get a glittery character and you can also see on the check lists which ones are rare or ultra rare. They are so many to collect and they are great to swap among friends. My children have already swapped a couple between them and they also like to arrange them for display on the shelves in their bedrooms.
Moj Moj collectibles are fun, cute squishy toys that children seem to absolutely love, I always catch them in my children’s hands been squished or played with and they are always reading through the check list to see which ones they want to try and get next!
All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.
The idea of a robotic vacuum cleaner is something I’ve been eyeing up for a while, so when the opportunity arose to test out the Eufy RoboVac 15C I jumped at the chance, keen to put it through it’s paces in my family home.
It’s key features being:
All-New RoboVac: Wi-Fi-equipped and re-engineered to be the slimmest* RoboVac (2.85″) but with increased suction to 1300Pa.
BoostIQ™ Technology: Automatically increases suction power within 1.5 seconds when extra vacuuming strength is needed to get the best clean.
High-Capacity Li-ion Battery: Delivers up to 100 minutes** of constant, powerful suction.
Premium Features: Anti-scratch tempered glass-top cover for protection, infrared-sensor for evading obstacles, and drop-sensing tech to avoid falls. Automatically recharges so it’s always ready to clean.
What You Get: RoboVac 15C, remote control (2 AAA batteries included), charging base, AC power adapter, cleaning tool, extra set of high-performance filters, 4 side brushes, 5 cable ties, welcome guide and our worry-free 12-month warranty
The Eufy Robovac 15C comes with all the required accessories and is super easy to set up and start using, although does require an initial charge of up to 6 hours prior to use. Two of the side brushes need to be simply attached underneath (the other two are spares), the batteries need to be put into the remote control and then it’s just a case of plugging in the charger and sitting the Eufy on the charging plate. If it’s flashing orange then it’s currently charging and solid blue means it’s fully charged.
You do need to keep your RoboVac on charge all the time in order to be able to regularly use it and it does require a fair amount of space round the charging unit to allow itself to manoeuvre and find it’s own way back to the docking station.
I love the way you can sit the remote control on the back of the charging unit so that you always know where it is and it keeps it all together tidily.
There are various settings to use when cleaning using the Eufy RoboVac 15C and also multiple ways to control it. You can simply press the large on/off switch on top of the unit itself. You also have the remote control which contains buttons for each of the various actions but alternatively you can download the Eufyhome app on your phone or even use Google Home or Alexa to set the RoboVac into action!
Most commonly used is the Auto function which just starts and stops the RoboVac but the 30 minute setting is good as it will clean for this length of time and then return to the docking station to recharge. You can also spot clean, concentrate on the edges or boost the suction.
Set up is super easy as is controlling the RoboVac – I can honestly say it’s so simple to use and I find both the app and the remote control very user friendly – just what I want and need for a gadget I’ll be using daily and one that will save me time.
Time to see the Eufy RoboVac 15C in action:
So as you can see the RoboVac is an absolute joy to own and something that I think totally fits into the modern lifestyle and helps automate everyday housework.
Here are my carpets freshly vacuumed by the Eufy RoboVac 15C:
Every week or so the Eufy RoboVac 15C does require a little attention as does any vacuum cleaner by checking the underside and unclogging any hair etc from the rollers.
There is also a helpful guide on the underside to troubleshoot any issues it’s having where it will beep or flash to indicate particular problems. Fortunately I haven’t had to use this yet as it has run perfectly ok for me over the last few weeks.
My key questions!
With a busy family household I did have some concerns as to how the RoboVac would perform so here are some of the thoughts that were running through my head before trying it:
Would it really pick up much dirt and dust and be worthwhile? – It’s been amazing to see how full the dust collector is after each time of using the RoboVac and it’s clear it is really using suction to gather up all the bits of dirt that it can – definitely worth using.
How would it tackle my long hair? – It’s been fine, the main roller brush underneath does collect up my hair and needs cutting off once a week, the same as my manual vacuum cleaner, so no difference there.
How would it clean around the edges? – Better than expected, the side brushes do sweep bits of dirt in towards the dust collector and the RoboVac does buffer itself around the edge of each room during it’s cycle so there is no obvious dirt left around the edges of each room.
Would you be able to use it upstairs without it falling off the top stair? – Oh my – I was petrified the first time I tried this and jumped as it reached the edge but it exceeded my expectations and clearly can tell a sharp decline in floor level and reverses itself.
Would it really reduce the time I needed to use my main vacuum cleaner or is it gimmicky? – Definitely not a gimmick – this really does mean you can leave your manual vacuum cleaner tucked away in the cupboard and only bring it out once a week/fortnight to do the stairs/top of skirting boards and around any tricky furniture, like down the sides of cupboards, behind things etc.
Will it save me time? – Yes, yes, yes!!! Knowing your RoboVac will do the job for you means you can concentrate on what you want to do – so whether that be put your feet up and read a book or do a family activity with the kids, then you can whilst the cleaning is being done automatically for you.
Will my children get in the way? – Well at first it is such a novelty to watch and the children love to follow it around and jump out of it’s way but now I just tell them I’m putting Eufy on and shut the door to the room they are in and it gets on with the job. Although now I’m more confident with Eufy I tend to set it to run when I’m home alone or in the evenings when we are watching tv etc.
My Top Tips
Do’s
Tidy away any small or dangly items away before letting the RoboVac loose around the house.
Block any areas you don’t want it to vacuum, either by shutting a door or putting something in the way.
Try and use the RoboVac when you are either out, or busy/chilling in one area so it can get on and do it’s own thing.
Don’ts
Don’t sit watching the RoboVac – it is a complete waste of time once you are confident with what it does and the whole object of owning one is to save time!
Don’t forget to empty the dust container every few days or so to ensure it isn’t full and keep it efficient – it’s only small so fills up quickly!
Don’t turn the switch off at the plug as it continually charges and is always ready for it’s next clean.
Would I recommend the Eufy RoboVac 15C as a great gadget to own in a family household? – The answer is a big fat yes from me! At just over £200 this is a very reasonable purchase for a vacuum cleaner and alongside a simple upright model to cover off the stairs, then you are sorted for all your family cleaning needs!
For more information check out Eufy or find the RoboVac 15C on Amazon.
All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.
We love a good jigsaw puzzle as it’s something all of the family can join in with and something we dip in and out of over a few days as we please. The Ravensburger Crazy Cats Vintage No.7 – Knit one, Purrl one 500pc Jigsaw Puzzle is the perfect one for our cat loving family and is full of fun cats, mice and quirky features making it an interesting and fun puzzle to do.
As usual we tend to start of finding the edge pieces, something my children love looking for and with the various coloured balls of wool lying around, it aids finding where the pieces need to go.
With lots of vintage signs on the wall it helped to locate where the pieces go, but with the quirky cabinets, coloured balls of wall and numerous cats eyes, it took a little bit of working out which pieces went where!
Alongside myself was my 8 and 11yr old who both love it when they find a piece that fits and between us all we soon completed the puzzle.
We love this puzzle and really enjoyed doing it. Being 500 pieces it isn’t overly challenging and is something we can do over a few days. Great for when at home to get away from screen time and good for rainy days. Ravensburger puzzles are always a pleasure to do and the Crazy Cats are just one in the vintage series of puzzles. I love the vintage designs and can’t wait to try out some others!
All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.
The World of David Walliams Gangsta Granny Stash the Swag Board Game from Paul Lamond Games is a fantastic game for fans of David Walliams books and that includes my two children who read each new title as it is released. With World Book Day on the 7th March this year it’s a fantastic time to get reading and being able to play a game associated with a book is always a lot of fun and helps bring your favourite characters to life. With Gangsta Granny among my children’s book collection they were excited by the prospect of a board game featuring team Granny & Ben on a mission to stash the Crown Jewels without being caught by the Queen.
The Gangsta Granny board game is presented in a fantastic tin which a great way to store the parts ensuring they last making it a durable game to play over and over again.
In the tin you will find:
Game board
4 Granny & Ben play pieces
1 Queen play piece
24 Jewel tokens
2 Dice
The aim of the game is to collect all the letter ‘jewels’ to spell out the word GANGSTA but watch out because the Queen is on the prowl and if you get caught by the Queen before stashing your jewels, they all have to be returned!
Each player moves by rolling both dice and moving the number on the white one themselves and the number on the black one for the Queen, therefore with everyone moving the Queen ahead each time she gets around the board quite quickly chasing everyone for their jewels. When you do catch a jewel of your colour you can stash it in your player’s piece until you pass the swag bag and can put it safely on the appropriate letter in the word Gangsta.
We found this Gangsta Granny Stash the Swag game fun and something that all the family enjoyed. With four of us this game was perfect although can be played with between 2-4 players at a time. Suitable for ages 7+ meant that this was perfect for all of us as my youngest is 8 and he really enjoyed this and particularly got excited as the Queen chased us all around the board and loved crossing the board using the secret passageways. We found game play to last around an hour as although it seems easy enough to collect your Gangsta jewels, the Queen is always hot on your heels to steal them!
When someone does manage to collect all of the jewels and spell out the word ‘Gangsta’ they become the winner of game!
If you’d like the chance to win a copy of the board game Gangsta Granny Stash the Swag from Paul Lamond games then just complete the Gleam widget below:
All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.
Do your kids love playing with Slime, Gelli and Fake Snow? Then Zimpli Kids have the answer to all of their messy play dreams with simple, easy to use products that kids love and parents don’t have to worry about too much mess. We were sent to review a selection of their products to try out and see what we thought.
The Slime Baff is a really easy to use slime kit made by simply adding a sachet to a bath of water and stirring around until it thickens up and becomes….. SLIME!! The children were excited at this and happily got their arms in to stir around the green, gooey looking water and they loved feeling it turning into slime, not quite believing that I was actually going to let them get into an entire bath full of slime! (For me though, this seems like a contained way to play, keeping all the mess in one place)
Once in the bath it was impossible to contain their excitement swishing the slime around, stretching it in to the air and showing each other what they could do with it!
Here’s a short slime video to show you the slime in action and my 8yr old’s thoughts on Zimpli Kids Slime Baff after he’d come out of the bath tub and I think I can safely say it was a complete hit and something they’d definitely do again. What I love about it is when they have finished playing (about an hour later), you just dilute the slime a little bit before letting it run down the plug hole. I then transferred the children across to the shower for a rinse off and their daily wash. Simple!
***********************************************
Next up from Zimpli Kids is Gelli Baff which is a firm favourite with us having first tried it back in 2013 with my then 6 yr old. She’s now 11 and loved it just as much this time and my boy who just admired from afar last time as a toddler but this time got completely stuck in and thoroughly enjoyed himself.
With the Gelli Baff you simply stir the coloured sachet into the water, the solution gradually thickens up to produce a jelly like consistency. As you can see below we made it quite thick at first and slowly added more water to get it to a soft textured mixture that the children enjoyed sitting in as it was warm and loved feeling it endlessly running through their fingers.
The children found this relaxing but fun and when you’ve had enough you simply add the sachet of salt to dissolve the mixture before letting it run down the plughole.
***********************************************
Our final product to share from Zimpli Kids is SnoBall Play which is a small sachet that when mixed with water creates a fake like snow substance allowing you to mould snow balls and have a snow ball fight. Seeing as we rarely get snow in the South West, the children were delighted to try this one out.
Mixing with water produced a soft mouldable snow like substance that the children were really excited with. Despite the weather being damp and cold, we had a brief sunny spell so they got outside and started making their snow balls. All I could hear was excitement and laughter as they attempted to hit each other.
The SnoBall Play went down a treat with my two and they were constantly entertained and giggling until the snow ran out! They then came in and despite the snowy substance being left on the lawn I didn’t have to worry as it’s degradable and a couple of days later I noticed that it had all disappeared.
Overall I have to say that all of the Zimpli Kids products have provided much enjoyment, fun, laughter and all round entertainment for my children. The products are different from their normal toys and activities, all kids love a tactile substance to get their hands into and who doesn’t love a good old snowball fight?
All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.
A bit belated but I’m only just getting back into the swing of things after the Christmas mayhem and New Year chaos (for us it’s the daughter’s birthday as well!). Here’s us celebrating on Christmas day (me a bit run off my feet due to husband at work and cooking for my parents as well as me and the kids!.
2018 was a hectic one for us, the first full year I’ve worked 5 days a week since having children albeit part time but still one that exhausts my day and leaves little time to get things done. On top of that we have had a major kitchen renovation that although is 95% completed it is still in limbo with the final fittings still waiting to be done due to major leaking from the roof (a project that’s looking to cost us around 5.5k in the upcoming months!). And let’s not talk about the day the skip got delivered onto the driveway and shifted a section of the front wall around at an angle causing a crack along the front (another ongoing issue!).
I’m super pleased to be rid of the old kitchen and I hope to do a show and tell of our before and after new kitchen once the final issues are ironed out.
We got the children active between the eves with outdoor walks, trips to National Trust properties and a fun session at Clip n Climb – as you can see, these two never fail to be afraid of heights.
New Year saw my eldest turn 11 years old on New Year’s Day!! Oh my where’s the time gone? She played with my phone that day doing her own selfie which I thought was rather cute so here it is!
As for what 2019 holds for us, who know’s?
It’ll be challenging I believe in many ways with the eldest off to secondary school in September, ongoing uncertainties in my job of 17 years, solving and fixing the damp issues in our house, finish decorating the downstairs and finally carpet the house!
Keep following us to see where life takes us this year, what adventures we go on and what new things we try out!
If you’d mentioned Eucerin Aquaphor soothing skin balm to me a few months ago, I’d of shook my head and said “Sorry never heard of it”, but now after a few weeks use I’m raving about it to anyone that will listen – it really is amazing and has revolutionised the dire state of my cracked, dry, chapped lips at this time of year, something I’ve unfortunately suffered from since I was old enough to remember.
Aquaphor is a soothing balm that you can literally apply anywhere, hands, nails, lips, face, body – wherever you need it basically and it’s even gentle enough for babies.
Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm gives dry to very dry, cracked and irritated skin the SOS care it needs
Formulated with only seven ingredients, Aquaphor is gentle enough to be used on highly irritated skin as well as on sensitive baby skin and also in the nappy area
Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm protects the skin by creating a breathable protective barrier, allowing oxygen and water vapor to circulate to and from the skin, allowing skin to ‘breathe’ and strengthen its natural barrier function
The Eucerin Aquaphor formula was first introduced in the US market in 1925 and has been a household staple ever since – long trusted for its effectiveness in repairing a wide range of skin SOS cases
Thinking I’d probably use this on the dry areas on the front of my shins, I was surprised when I saw the consistency of the product, a transparent, thick emollient type of balm. With my lips feeling really sore due to the colder weather, my usual lip balms just weren’t cutting it and I was reapplying every hour or two. I decided to try some Eucerin Aquaphor on my lips when they were feeling really sore one day and wow – it was like a velvety smooth, really soothing feeling. Non sticky and staying put, my lips felt totally protected but oh so hydrated, the feeling was amazing – something my lips have been crying out for!
It goes without saying that now Eucerin Aquaphor lives by my side now, whether that’s on my bedside table at night or in my handbag during the day – I have found my holy grail in lip care and will definitely be purchasing this in the future to help restore my lips to the glory they deserve. That’s not to say you can’t use the Aquaphor ointment elsewhere, I have tried a bit on my dry shins, my elbows and the kids dry patches and again it’s great but I must put emphasis on those that suffer from chapped lips – YOU’VE GOT TO TRY THIS – its utter bliss for those dry, chapped, cracked lips and will feel like all your Christmases have come at once!!!
This post is an entry for the BritMums #MyAquaphor Challenge, sponsored by Eucerin. Discover the benefits of Eucerin https://www.eucerin.co.uk/
