Graze Snack Box Review + Discount Code

If you have bought a magazine or ordered something from Amazon within the past couple of years you will no doubt have come across a voucher offering you a 'free Graze box.' How many of you have thrown said vouchers away or alternatively actually taken the offer up? I am one of the many who have done the latter.

I have been subscribed to Graze for over a year now and I still feel that same buzz of excitement every fortnight when my delivery arrives. For those of you who don't know, Graze is a subscription company that offers you a huge variety of healthy and balanced snacks that are delivered straight to your door as often as you please! Not only do they have their 'variety box' which I am a loyal customer of, but they also offer breakfast boxes, chocolate boxes, 'light' boxes and even a kids box. Snacks range from flapjacks to dried fruit to their own take on the classic chocolate brownie and the best part is that they are all healthy alternatives to the usual snacks you find in the supermarket. Prices can vary depending on the box, but the average price is around £3.89. The company have also recently began selling some of their punnets in Sainsbury's and Boots so if you don't want to commit to a subscription you can still try a few of their best snacks. I highly recommend the salted fudge & peanut cookie! 

Every few months Graze introduce new snacks to their collection and in my most recent box all four of my snacks were brand new so I thought I would write a short review on each snack and tell you how I rate it out of 10!

'Belgian Speculoos' (cookie dip with cinnamon pretzel sticks)

This was by far my favourite punnet out of the four and definitely makes it into my list of 'loves.' I am a huge fan of the lotus biscoff spread so when I saw that Graze had a new snack with cookie spread I knew that I HAD to try it ASAP. It didn't disappoint. The cookie butter is nice and smooth just how I like it (I've never been a lover of crunchy spreads) and the pretzels have a pretty good cinnamon taste to them. Together they make the perfect combo! I highly recommend that you click 'send soon' on this bad boy. 9/10

'Sesame Garlic Crunch' (oat bran sesame sticks, garlic sesame sticks & multigrain soy rice crackers)

This wasn't my favourite punnet as overall I thought it tasted a bit bland with the exception of the soy crackers. The taste of soy was significantly strong so if you don't usually like the salty taste of this flavour then you probably won't like the crackers. As I expected, the oat bran sesame sticks were bland with no distinct flavour while the garlic sticks were a little more flavoursome but not by much. However, I do think they would have been a lot nicer dipped in salsa! I don't think I will be requesting this punnet again any time soon. 3/10

'Louisiana Wild Rice & Beans' (wild rice sticks & chilli broad beans)

I much preferred this savoury punnet to the other. The rice sticks had a salty taste but it wasn't too empowering. Just the perfect amount in my book! Admittedly I didn't expect the broad beans to be as spicy as they were. Not my favourite savoury snack from Graze, but this punnet does the trick if you're craving a savoury snack! 5/10

'Salted Pecan & Chocolate Tart' (milk chocolate & salted almond buttons, pecans, chopped dates & pumpkin seeds)

Over the course of my subscription to Graze I have came to realise that I much prefer the sweet snacks to the savoury ones and this final punnet was an absolute treat. There was nothing particularly special about the pecans, dates & pumpkin seeds. The chocolate however MY OH MY! There were small pieces of salted almonds in among the milk chocolate and they were delicious. A great way to get your chocolate fix in a nutritious way! Sometimes with punnets like these I'll combine the ingredients together in hope that it will taste similar to what the name of the snack is. Wanting to save the chocolate buttons for last, I didn't combine them all this time around but I did try the dates and pecans together and the taste was divine! 7/10

Here's hoping that after reading this you might think twice about throwing those Graze vouchers away! In my opinion, they're definitely worth the money and with so many snacks available there's something for everyone. Alternative to the vouchers, feel free to use my friend code! This code allows you your 1st, 5th and 10th box free! And do you know what the best part is? There is no commitment and you can easily cancel the subscription at any time.
Code: ELIJAH5XP

Until next time,
Elijah xo

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Kawaii Box Review | January 2015

Today I'm back with another Kawaii Box review! I hope you don't mind too much that I didn't review last months box but you can take my word on it that it didn't disappoint.

On with the review!

Snacks, snacks, oh glorious snacks. Everyone loves them but what makes a snack even better? When they come in cute packaging of course! This months box came with two packets of Rilakumma rice crackers. You may recall that I received a packet of these in the Kawaii Monthly box that I was previously subscribed to and if I can remember correctly they were delicious!

Kawaii Box is known for its charms and keyrings and January was no exception. I'm running out of places to keep them all! I'm not sure what the pink plush is meant to be but it's super cute. There was also a squishy, foamy phone charm with what looks like the :3 face on and a decoden one with a mirror on the back.

I am always more than happy to welcome any new pens into my humble abode as they tend to disappear faster than a cat spotting a mouse. Other stationary items included these cute monster stickers and a stamp that says 'magic is happy.' My only problem with the stamp is that it doesn't come with anything to cover the stamper over with so once you've used it you may end up with ink everywhere.

My favourite item in this months box was most definitely these Hello Kitty glasses. I actually squealed when I saw them! Complete with bow and whiskers they are the definition of 'kawaii.' I love them so much that I had to post a picture of me wearing them on Instagram. You honestly wouldn't think that I was 19 years old! I was also treated to a new nail polish! Mint green is one of my favourite colours so I was beyond happy with it. I did have to apply a good few coats of it but it does the job!

I'm not a huge jewelry lover but I do really like this mermaid-esque bracelet. Unfortunately I haven't worn it yet as it doesn't go with any of my winter attire but I do have a few summery outfits that it will go perfectly with!

The final item in the January box was this coral polka dot coin purse. However, I'm not using it to carry around my loose change. I like to keep my two USB sticks for college in here so that I don't lose them!

Overall I was pretty happy with this months box! If you're interested in signing up and receiving cute items like these every month then you can subscribe here.

Until next time,

Elijah xo

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Kawaii Box November '14 Review

I'm back today with another Kawaii Box review! And I have to say that I'm pretty damn excited about this month's box. Usually with these kind of subscription boxes it's very hit or miss, but with the exception of two of the items, I'm pretty damn pleased with it all.

First we have a super cute cat keyring. I'm not sure if this is a specific branded character or just a random cat. The only problem I have with these soft, plush keyrings is that I never want to actually attach it to my bag in fear of it getting all dirty and ruined! So, instead I have this sitting nicely on my shelf.

Along with keyrings, Kawaii Box always seems to come with at least one phone charm. This month is no exception! I am totally in love with this macaroon phone charm. It reminds me of those decoden phone cases that people make! Again, like the keyring, I'm not actually going to use this as a phone charm but use it as a cute decorative shelf piece.

As usual Kawaii Box comes with a yummy snack! Pocky are my favourite biscuits ever so I was super excited to find these in the box. Although, I will admit to wishing that they were a more exciting flavour than just chocolate. If you've never tried Pocky before then I highly recommend that you do! The European branded name for Pocky is Mikado which you can find in pretty much any supermarket!

Naturally no box is complete without a variety of stationary items! Despite never actually using them as much as I would like, there's just something overly exciting about stationary. Surely I'm not the only one who gets over-excited on entering Paperchase? Here we have some cute panda stickers and some mini sticky notes! I'm sure I'll find a good use for these.

Apologies for the crappy photo, but here's another decorative/stationary item, a set of decorative stationary stickers. I used these to decorate one of my glass mason jars that I use to keep my cotton pads in. I did struggle a little trying to stick it down as it's all in one roll and I had to cut it, and once stuck down some parts did unstick but that could have just been the glass surface I stuck it on.

One of my favourite items in this month's box was this little sheep mini desk calendar. IT'S SO CUTE! The sheep is making a different face on every month. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that it actually started this month so I don't have to wait until January to put it up. Am I the only one who gets a calendar for Christmas and is disappointed over the fact that they can't hang it up straight away?

Another one of my favourite items were these cute My Melody socks. My Melody is a character from the brand Sanrio who are the brains behind Hello Kitty. Anyone who knows me knows that I am OBSESSED with socks so I was more than pleased about these! I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the material though. I'm no good with explaining things but it feels a little more rough than usual sock material, but I'm hoping they may feel softer after they've been through the wash.

There's always bound to be at least one item in these kind of subscription boxes that you're not overly fond of and for me it was these two. An 'OMG' keyring which I probably would have found cool back when I was ten and a zip bracelet which I think is pretty cool but I would probably never wear.

As I said, I was pretty pleased with the November box overall! I really hope that there's some Christmas related items in next months box. I'm already too excited about it!

Until next time,
Elijah xo

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Kawaii Box October '14 Review

Apologies for not getting a post up last week. My college work has been piling up and any free time has been used to catch up on TV shows, anime & YouTube. I know, I know, I'm a bad blogger! But I am back with another subscription box review!

You may remember that in my last review post I mentioned that I was going to change subscription boxes. That I have done and I'm so glad I made the switch. Not only is this box slightly cheaper but I much prefer the contents of Kawaii Box to Kawaii Monthly and feel like it's more worth the money.

I really liked how the box came with a postcard with a handwritten note on it! It wasn't even a photocopy. I feel sorry for the person who had to sit and write each note!

The difference between Kawaii Box and Kawaii Monthly is that this one has a lot more smaller miscellaneous items such as charms and stationary.

The first item was this furry little creature. I think it's meant to be a cat and it's just so soft and cute! There's a little hoop on the top of its head so I'm guessing you're meant to hang it somewhere. I don't really have anywhere to hang it so I've got it sitting on my shelf instead.

Next is this adorable cat sharpener. I never use pencils so I haven't actually tried it out. I get the impression that it might be like those plastic kiddy sharpeners that never work properly, but as I haven't used it I could be wrong. It does make a really cute addition to my desk though!

Pens always seem to disappear in my house so new pens are always welcomed with open arms, especially Hello Kitty pens! It has a little charm on the lid of what I think is meant to be a chocolate bar. Keeping on the topic of sweet treats, there were also these sweetie hair bobbles. They remind me of something I would've worn when I was younger.

This was probably my favourite item in the box. A Korilakkuma charm! I actually have a similar Rilakumma charm that my best friend got me. These charms are squishy and would make good stress balls. But I'd never take my stress out on these cuties!

Just like Kawaii Monthly, there's always a sweet treat included! Like most Japanese confectionery, these chew sweets aren't like your average Starburst or Fruitella. Oh no. The packet describes these sweets as a 'soft yoghurt candy' with small gummy pieces in. I've never been a huge lover of chew sweets, but these are decent. The gummy parts kind of pop out of the soft chewy part as you eat it! I received the grapefruit flavour but there are a number of other flavours available. And can we just appreciate how cute the packaging is?!

Next is this rather colourful flannel/face cloth/whatever you want to call it. It's always useful to have several of these bad boys around the house. I especially like this one as it has a little hook in the corner so you can hang it up instead of just draping it over the side of the bath. In saying that, there's no where around my bath to actually hook it so it'll still end up draped over the side.

This little note card is really handy for birthdays or any other gift giving occasion. Although I am tempted to not use it and just keep it for myself.

Naturally, no 'kawaii' subscription is complete without stickers! The October box came with these cute cupcake stickers. You are never too old for stickers! I also received these 'fashion stickers' which are pink peals that you can use to decorate your phone, iPod, laptop, pretty much anything you like. I'll definitely find a use for the cupcake stickers but as for the pearl stickers I'm not so sure.

And last is this cute pouch that could be used as a make-up bag or pencil case. I have so many of these things that I don't know if I'll put this one to use straight away but it's always useful to have things like this on hand, especially when you're travelling.

If you guys are interested in subscribing to this box yourself, you can do so HERE. It's a must have for any lover of cute things! If you read any of my Kawaii Monthly reviews, which box do you prefer? Feel free to let me know!
Until next time,
Elijah xo

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Etude House Haul & Review

One of my favourite places to browse for cute clothes is YesStyle, but it's only been recently that I've started to look at the beauty products on the site. Like any online marketplace, I've always been a little wary about ordering things in case they turn out to be really bad quality and are a hassle to return. I've ordered from YesStyle twice now and have yet to be disappointed! So, if you're looking for a place that sells quality Asian fashion and beauty products I highly recommend YesStyle.

My most recent purchases from the site were a number of products from the popular Korean beauty brand, Etude House. I had heard good things about the brand and being a complete sucker for cute packaging I just knew that I had to try the products myself.

The first product I bought was one of the nail polishes. Blue is my favourite colour and I do not have enough blue nail polishes in my collection! I only needed to apply one coat to my nails and it dried fairly quickly. However, I only had it on for about a day before it started to chip. It may last longer if you apple a base or top coat which I didn't do. Despite the chipping, I do really love the colour and the lace detailing on the packaging. It didn't break the bank either at only £2.81.

[Play Nail Colour 077]

I don't know about you, but when it comes to buying the essential basics I am the worst. I will go out with the intention of buying a pair of tights, or some plain leggings, or some make-up wipes and end up coming home with a bagful of stuff but none of it the stuff that I actually needed. I had needed a new pair of tweezers for ages, but every time I planned on buying some, I seemed to 'forget.' But when I saw these I knew that I HAD to have them. I instantly fell in love with these cat tweezers. Not only are they super cute but they do their job in helping me keep my unruly eyebrows at bay.

[Cat Tweezers]

I also decided to try the Green Tea cleansing foam. I'm rubbish when it comes to skin care routines and looking after my skin in general and I really want to try and change that. All you need to do with this is simply wet your face, lather the product up and apply onto your skin. After rinsing it off, my skin feels soft and clean! It's also suitable for people with sensitive skin. There are other products with different purposes in the range, this being number 5 - Fresh & Clean.

[Every Month Cleansing Foam 05 Fresh & Clean - Green Tea]

I'm one of those people who gets rather excited about anything pumpkin flavoured. I'm not entirely sure why as I've never actually tried pumpkin itself. I blame the Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks! But something I had never come across before was a pumpkin flavoured/scented beauty product. As soon as I saw this I knew I had to try it! Despite not actually stating it, I think this a face mask. You've to apply the product in an even layer on your face and then rinse after 10-15 minutes. I've still to try it so I'm not sure how good the product is yet, but I love the idea of it being in a mini pack! I'm a sucker for minis.

[It's Real Mini Pack - Sweet Pumpkin]

The final product I bought is by far my favourite. It is just too cute! It's pretty much just your bog standard hand cream but it's the packaging that makes me squeal with joy. IT'S A PANDA! Cutest hand cream ever. There's a picture of a peach on the front of it which makes me assume that it's meant to be peach scented, however, there's no real scent to the product at all. It just smells like a basic hand cream. However, the packaging totally makes up for it!

[Missing U Hand Cream - #03 Panda Story]

I can definitely see myself buying a few more Etude House products in the future. I'm also desperate to try some Tony Moly products which is another Korean beauty brand you can find on YesStyle. Let me know if you've tried any products from Etude House or Tony Moly, or if you've purchased anything from YesStyle and whether you're a fan of these online Asian fashion stores!
Until next time,
Elijah xo

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Kawaii Monthly Review - August '14

Another month, another Kawaii Monthly box. However, before I delve into this months review I'd like to say that this will be the final time I review a Kawaii Monthly box. But do not fear for I am going to subscribe to a similar box! This one is called Kawaii Box and is slightly cheaper than Kawaii Monthly and instead of five items you get between 10-12. The items included are usually smaller, miscellaneous things such as keyrings, phone charms and small accessories. I feel like I'll get a lot more use out of Kawaii Box than this one. But anyway, ON WITH THE REVIEW!

Rilakkuma Strawberry Puffs

As always, this months box included a snack. These are branded Rilakkuma strawberry corn puffs. They're basically like little balls of cereal with a strawberry flavoured coating. As soon as you open the tub there is a strong scent of strawberry and the flavour is no different. They taste a little like strawberry Pocky but instead of the biscuit it's corn. They're very moreish and I could have easily finished the whole tub in one sitting. I love it when snacks come with something extra, and these came with an adorable Rilakkuma sticker. And not to mention the packaging is super cute!

Kumamon Deco Tape

I've always wanted some fancy, decorative tape but have never actually bought any. I'd only end up not wanting to use it and just have it out on display. But I finally have some! This deco tape features the bear Kumamon who is the mascot of the Kumamoto area of Japan. The tape is made of a traditional material called washi paper which is made from completely natural ingredients. I'm going to try my hardest not to just leave this sitting on my desk as a decoration. I'm planning to use it for wrapping birthday/Christmas presents. Whether I follow through with that plan is a completely different story.

My Melody Pencil Case

I've always been that person to have a pencil case. I would never dream of taking it out and putting it on my desk, but you could always guarantee that I'd have one in my bag. Despite some people possibly thinking this pencil case completely childish, I've been using it for college. It's a good quality pencil case and features the super 'kawaii' character, My Melody who is a character from the brand, Sanrio (the brains behind Hello Kitty) and is an officially licensed product. The design is super cute and girly and as you can see is very pink. It's also the perfect size and fits into my bag nicely.

Romantic Falsies Case

This is probably the product that I'm least excited about this month. However, I will admit that it's a super handy thing to have. This vintage style plastic case is the perfect size to pop in your handbag and an easy way to keep your curbies, hair bobbles or any other small bits and bobs together when you're out. There's also a mirror inside which is always useful to have! I think it'd also be handy to keep jewellery in, especially earrings.

Oshibori Set
The final product in this months box was something I had never heard of or seen before. 'Oshibori' means wet towel in Japanese and this set includes a face cloth and a super cute container. Wet the face cloth, roll it up, place it in the container and pop it in your bag. The container helps to lock the moisture in the face cloth so you can use it to clean your hands or cool off when you're out and about. I think this item could be super handy, however I don't think I'll use it all that much. A simple face wipe can achieve the same result. The container is pretty compact and the moisture does indeed keep well in the face cloth.

And that's it for my final review of Kawaii Monthly. The first review of Kawaii Box may be a little later as I'm not sure how quickly the first box will arrive. Are any of you subscribed to either of these 'kawaii' boxes or are you subscribed to another kind of box? Feel free to leave a comment below letting me know!

Until next time,
Elijah xo

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