Facebook Photo Book - Print your memories*

We live in the age of Facebook where everything we do is posted online and there is no physical evidence of our memories. When I heard about Printrbook, a simple way to print Facebook photos and Instagram photos, I thought this sounded like a great idea.

I love my Facebook photo book, all my memories are kept in one place. I also think this would be a great gift idea for only £12.99 for a book of 25 photos.

It's so simple to create your book. Once you allow access for Printrbook to retrieve your Facebook photos, you click the ones you would like to include in your book, one photo per page. I actually had a lot of fun flicking through my photos and choosing the ones I wanted to include. There is no difficult formatting of the photos, Printrbook does that all for you.

You even have the option of adding dates and times to the photos and the information is retrieved from Facebook. I also kept the captions of the photos in the book, but you can remove these if you'd simply like just a photo book.

My book arrived after around 10 days and came nicely packaged in sturdy cardboard to avoid any bending or damage to the book.

The book was a lot smaller than I expected and fits in the palm on your hand. I think this would make a great little gift for someone to document an important time in their life. I can imagine attending a wedding and printing a book full of photos to give to the happy couple.

If you love this idea- why not go and create your own Facebook Photo Book! Head over to Printrbook now and if you'd like 10% discount, please use the code 'christie10' when ordering. You could also create an Instagram book!

*I was provided with this Printrbook for free for the purposes of a review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way. Please see my Disclaimer for more information.

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Father's Day Gifts with Snapfish*

Having previously reviewed some products for Snapfish and being a great lover of the quality of their personalised gifts, I jumped at the chance when given the opportunity to create some personalised Father's Day gifts. I love how easy it is to personalise items on Snapfish and I am a repeat customer. Whenever I think of 'personalised photo gifts' my first option is always Snapfish.

I collected some old photo's of my dad, me and my brother and scanned these in ready to add to my Snapfish account. I decided I wanted to create a few different things for my dad so he can remember some of the old times and I know he doesn't have access to these photos.

The first item I created was a Photo Book and I decided I would make this into 'Things Dad knows best about'. I used old photos and recent photos to outline some funny one liners and I think it worked pretty well. There were so many options for sizes and cover styles and I chose the 8"x11" book with a classic blue linen cover.

This book cost £19.99 and was really easy to design. Snapfish provide you with lots of themes and photo layouts and if you're really pushed for time you can even have the book auto-filled for you with your chosen photos. I wish you could emboss something onto the front, I think that would make it a little bit more special.

The paper quality is really good, and despite using quite old photos, they have been printed really well and look surprisingly clear.

I then decided to create a Collage Photo Mug in my Dad's favourite colour, red. This was really simple to do, I simply chose the photos I wanted on the mug and Snapfish autofilled them into a collage around the mug. Brilliant, and literally took only a few minutes. This cost only £8.99 so is an ideal gift if you're on a bit of a budget. To make this a more interesting gift, I filled this with Dad's favourite sweets and wrapped it up to make it into a gift.

The final thing I purchased for Father's Day was a card which I also personalised for just £2.99. This took only a few minutes to do, but gives it a nice touch. The quality of the photos on the card are really clear and I am impressed with how it turned out.

To order a gift for your Father, why not head over to Snapfish now. The last order date for Father's Day is 15th June 2015. 

*I was provided with these items from Snapfish for free for the purposes of review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way, please see my disclaimer for more information.

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Chroma Stationery* - Personalised Notebook.

If anyone knows me well then you will know I love stationery. I love pens, notebooks, stickers, paints - the list goes on. I recently received this gorgeous Chroma Stationery notebook and I couldn't believe how nice the quality was. I would even go as far as saying its the nicest notebook I have ever owned!

The notebook was beautifully packaged in tissue paper, and I couldn't wait to open it and see what was inside. I chose the colour 'Becky' which is this gorgeous sky blue colour. I love that the notebooks all have different names and stories behind why they are called that.
 

With Chroma Stationery notebooks you can also have them customised with embossed letters in silver or gold. I chose to have my blog name embossed in silver, and it looks great and matches my blog logo brilliantly. I love that any fonts/styles can be added to the front, it's such a nice touch.

The quality of the notebook is very high quality. The cover feels smooth and the pages are 80GSM and feel like high quality pages that aren't flimsy or subject to tearing.

This notebook costs only £8.50 plus shipping which I think is a great price for the quality of the notebook. I was also impressed with how fast it arrived especially being a personalised item. It would also make a great gift for someone. I'm going to use mine for blog post ideas.

To order one for yourself, please check out Chroma Stationery to see the range of colours and styles available as well as plain and lined paper. You can also visit Chroma Stationery on the below links.

Chroma Stationery

Twitter: @chromastatnry

Facebook: Chroma Stationery

Instagram: chromastationery

*I was sent this notebook for free from Chroma Stationery for the purposes of a review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way. Please see my disclaimer for more information. Thank you to Bloggers Love for giving me the opportunity to be gifted this item.

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It works! - Ultimate Body Wraps*

If you're a big Instagrammer then you will have no doubt seen these wraps from 'It works!'. I'll be honest, when I first heard about these I was a bit skeptical, I thought - How can they possibly work? When my friend Emily offered me the chance to try one out, I couldn't say no. I wanted to see what they were like for myself and provide you with an honest review. 

 

 These wraps are so versatile. Not only can you use them on your stomach, you can cut then several ways to make leg wraps, arm wraps and even chin wraps to tighten a wide range of areas.

First thing's first, take your before photos and measurements. I decided to wrap my stomach, so I took a few measurements of my waist and around the center and the bottom of my stomach. Photo's are also important. Ensure you take them from the same distance and same pose each time. I'll be honest, this was the hardest part! In the end I had to use my phone because my DSLR was washing all the colour out and I wanted to be able to see every detail in my results!

Before popping on the wrap, it is advised you take a hot shower to open up the pores. Do not use any lotions. I then read the simple to understand instructions on the wrap packet and wrapped myself up! It was very easy to do. The wrap actually smelt really nice, like Aloe Vera! I was expecting it to be made of clingfilm in all honesty, but it's actually a polyethylene cloth covered in a lotion which is comfortable and pleasant to wear. I left the wrap for 45 minutes to ensure I got my results.

During the 45 minutes it is vital to stay hydrated and keep drinking water. If you're going to be moving about then it is best if you wrap yourself in clingfilm to stop the wrap from moving. If you start to sweat, remove the clingfilm! The wrap felt nice. It was cooling and made my stomach tingle. I actually liked the sensation, it reminds of that feeling when you put nice cold after-sun onto sunburn.

After you take the wrap off, you smooth the extra lotion on and retake your measurements and take your after photo. 

These wraps continue to work their magic for up to 72 hours so it's important to keep hydrated and drink plenty of water in the upcoming days. I didn't shower until the next day to ensure the lotion really got a chance to soak into my skin.

These are my results! My measurements went down and I felt great! I felt toned despite not doing ANYTHING. I told Emily I would give an honest review, and I'm not just saying this because she's a friend, but I seriously am impressed with the results.

Here is my before and after photo. Bearing in mind this is just after one wrap! Think of what results I could see if I purchased more than this. And after only 45 minutes, I am over the moon, I can definitely see a change. Everything feels tighter and flatter.

There are plenty of rules to ensure that these work and you will need to follow them all. I haven't detailed all of them in this post but you should know when done correctly, these wraps work for 98% of people, so I would urge you to try them out. You have to be realistic, you're not going to drop a stone overnight, these wraps aren't for weight loss. I think they are ideal if you have a special event coming up, a holiday or even a wedding. These wraps tighten and tone in a way that I can't explain!

To find out more about these wraps and try some for yourself, you can contact Emily on Facebook. Why not book yourself a 'wrap party' and have the girls round for en evening? You'll then be able to try one out and make an evening out of it.

*Emily provided me this wrap in exchange for an honest review. I was not influence in any way and all opinions are my own.

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Bootea Teatox* - Review and Results

When I was offered the chance to be a Holland and Barrett Good Life Insider I couldn't wait to trial some of the products I was kindly sent. One of the items I was most excited about was the Bootea 14 day Teatox, available for £19.99.

I've heard so many good things about this and seen so many celebrities promoting it and I really wanted to try it for myself. I was a bit worried as I heard if you are on the contraceptive pill you need to be careful when you take it as the 'flushing effects' can make your pill less effective. It is best to take your pill in the evening to give it a good 8 hours to sink in. This was probably the only thing that scared me about doing this teatox - oh any maybe the laxative effects!

Anyway, the concept of this 2 week detox is you have one morning cleanse tea bag every day, then every other evening you take one of the bedtime cleanse tea bags. The morning tea bags weren't too bad and tasted a bit like a lemon green tea. As a lover of green tea, I found it easy to incorporate these into my morning routine as they taste quite similar and were a good substitute.

My cat also loved these. He kept trying to get the teabags, so something in them must be attracting him to them, I didn't see catnip on the ingredients list though!

The evening tea bags weren't as nice, they were minty but also tasted a bit like grass but after a couple of days I got used to them and could drink them easier.

After day 1, I took my evening tea and waited for the laxative effects to kick in the next day, but nothing happened. Later on in the day my stomach really swelled, I wonder if this was part of the flushing effects but nothing came out.

So did they work? By the end of week 1 I still had experienced no laxative effects and actually gained 1.5lbs despite still keeping up a healthy diet and drinking lots of water.

After the whole 2 weeks was up I had actually gained 3lbs! Although I gained weight, I must admit that I did feel a lot less bloated, and even after a big meal my stomach remained flatter than usual. I took the Teatox during that "time of the month" and I did notice a difference in the fact I was a lot less bloated than usual. This could also be why I gained weight due to extra water weight.

It is recommended you eat a balanced diet and drink plenty of water alongside this teatox and as I eat fairly healthily anyway I continued as normal, maybe that's why it didn't really work for me.

If you want to lose weight the best way is to eat healthy and exercise. There is no tea that can substitute that for you. I will also be trialing the Slendertox Tea to see if this has any effects on me so keep an eye out for that in the next couple of months.

*I was sent this product free of charge. I was not asked to review it and this is not a paid post. All opinions are my own. Please see my disclaimer for more information.

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Coloristiq* - Nail Polish Rental Service.

If you're like me and you like painting your nails from the comfort of your own home, but end up with so many different colours that you use once then leave them to dry up, then you'll love Coloristiq. When I heard about Coloristiq - a nail polish renting service I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it out.

Coloristiq works by allowing you to create a wishlist on their website across over 160 nail polishes from well known salon brands such as Essie, OPI and China Glaze. You will be sent 3 nail polishes which you can use for 9 nail paintings (3 per bottle) for the whole month. You then return the bottles for free using the provided return postage labels, and the next 3 shades will be on their way.

The three shades I received were all from China Glaze and came well protected inside a small box which is then re-used to post the nail polishes back. The great thing about this box is that it fits into a letterbox, so you'll never miss your parcel and it's all securely packaged to avoid breakages.

The first shade I opened up was called 'More To Explore' which is part of the China Glaze 2015 Road Trip collection and is the perfect peachy coral colour to wear during the transition from Spring to Summer. The formula was slightly thick but evened out nicely after 2-3 coats.

The second shade is called 'Out like a light'. This is a gorgeous deep charcoal grey from China Glaze Twinkle Collection. This applies to the nail really smoothly and creates a fantastic shine that you only really get with a high quality nail polish like China Glaze.

The final nail varnish I received is also from the Twinkle collection and is perfect for using as a top coat over any other coloured nail varnish you may have. This colour is 'Feeling Twinkly' and is a clear polish with small blue glitter flecks. This alone will not create an opaque coating but will look great layered on many different colours.

I loved the freedom of being able to try the shades out and knowing that they won't go to waste or be shoved in the bottom of a drawer never to be seen again. And if you don't like one of the shades you receive, it's great that you haven't committed to buying it. If you visit the Coloristiq website you can even add different polishes to your wishlist if you like the look of them and want to trial them. 

If like me, you're sold on this idea - why not try it out for a month completely free? If you sign up now and email info@coloristiq.com  using the code: ChristiesLifestyle1 your first month of £14.49 will be refunded. What are you waiting for? Sign up to Coloristiq today!

*I was sent these nail varnishes from Coloristiq for the purposes of review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way. Please see my disclaimer for more details.

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Alcatraz Island

Sometimes when I am trying to think of new blog post ideas, I forget that I have plenty of things to write about which happened before I started this blog.

One of those things involves my holiday to California. There's so much I could talk about regarding my trip, and the first thing that popped into my mind was my visit to Alcatraz Island in San Francisco as it is the most favourite and memorable part of my holiday.

For those who don't know, Alcatraz was many things, but the most famous is that it was a federal prison. Today, it is open to visitors and you can go on an amazing tour of the abandoned prison. I definitely recommend the audio tour, simply plug your headphones in and walk around whilst finding out all the facts and imagining what happened here years ago.

After a small boat ride from Pier 33, we arrived at the Island. There's so much to take in here.

Famous ex-convicts include some of the most notorious criminals in American history, such as Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz) and George "Machine Gun" Kelly. Some of you may have seen the Clint Eastwood film 'Escape from Alcatraz' which is based on true events about the escape of American criminals Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Morris . It has never been confirmed if they managed to escape or die, but their bodies were never recovered.

To cut a long story short, Morris and the Anglin brothers tunneled their way through the cell's air-vents using spoons then made artificial 'heads' to place into their beds so they could make their way out of the prison via a ventilation shaft. Watch the film, seriously it's awesome. You can see the cells where this happened when you visit Alcatraz. 

This area is where a grenade hit the floor and exploded during a prison riot. I found it really fascinating.

I won't bore you with too many factual details, as you can look those up on Wikipedia.

The best part about visiting Alcatraz was getting to meet ex-prisoner Robert Luke. We were so lucky that he happened to be there that day, I bought his book which he signed and it was so interesting to read about what life used to be like for him when he was a prisoner of Alcatraz.

Have you visited Alcatraz? Is this something you would like to do?

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