GIVEAWAY: Win a Personal Planner!

If you're as disorganised as me, a planner can be a lifesaver. Instead of having a million post-it notes with various appointments floating around the house plus all the things that you haven't even written down that are vaguely in your brain somewhere, a planner gives you one place to store all your important dates, appointments and anniversaries.

The lovely people from Personal Planner contacted me about hosting a Giveaway, and after checking out their products, I was on board. These are unique Personal Planners in that you design it yourself, making it completely personal to you. Personal Planner offers:

- your choice of colour, text & design of the front/backs covers & the inlay
- clever boxes for to-do lists, gym, preschool, idea of the week and weather
- you can choose between 4 different sizes
- option to import friends and family members Birthdays directly from FB
- you choose the start and finish dates (no wasted months!)


You can check out the Personal Planners on their website here.

The Prize

A $45 voucher for you to design your own Personal Planner in any size. The finished product will be printed and delivered to your door. This Giveaway is open internationally, so anyone can enter!

How To Enter

1. Like Personal Planner on Facebook
2. Like Max The Unicorn on Facebook
3. Follow Max The Unicorn via Google Friend Connect (click Join This Site with Google Friend Connect, over on the right hand side)
4. Leave a comment below telling me the first thing you'd write in your Personal Planner!


Terms & Conditions
Giveaway closes 5.00pm AEST Wednesday 6 February 2013
Winner will be drawn shortly after, contacted,  and announced on this blog and Max The Unicorn FB page. (please ensure there is an email attached to your GFC account, or I have a way of contacting you).
Prize cannot be exchanged for cash.
Giveaway open internationally.
Winner will be emailed the $45 gift voucher directly from Personal Planner.

Disclaimer: I will receive a Personal Planner for hosting this giveaway. No money was offered/received for this post. All opinions are my own.

FREE MitoQ TRIAL: Apply For Your Free Bottle!

Remember how I trialled MitoQ skin rejuvenation cream recently? You can read my review and thoughts on the product here.

In summary, I was very impressed with the results it gave me, especially firmer, younger-looking skin and a significant reduction in the fine lines under my eyes.

MitoQ are now conducting a FREE PUBLIC TRIAL, where they are giving out bottles to 500 people so you can try it for yourself! Hurry, though, as places are filling fast. Here's how to apply (it couldn't be simpler) ....

- Like MitoQ on Facebook
- Send them a private Message letting them know you'd like to take part in the trial.
- MitoQ will take it from there!

You will receive a full sized bottle of the product (worth $177 AU), and all MitoQ ask is that you stay in touch and let them know of your experience with the cream.

MitoQ say: "MitoQ is a scientific breakthrough in cellular CoQ delivery technology. MitoQ protects the skin from free radical damage induced by the aging process or accelerated by exposure to sunlight. MitoQ accelerates skin rejuvenation creating a radiant outward skin appearance. MitoQ topical cream moisturizes, lightens and brightens skin. Scientifically tested, MitoQ creates total skin rejuvenation through protection and repair."

Disclaimer: No payment was offered/received for this post. This product was provided for consideration. All opinions are my own.

Kambrook Flutter Butter Popcorn Maker Review + Recipes!

I entered a Blogs And PR competition recently where you had to describe your worst ever cooking disaster. I had MANY to choose from, but went with the time I burned microwave popcorn to the point where smoke billowed forth and alarms were going off. I didn't win, but I think they felt sorry for me because Kambrook generously offered to send me a Little Chefs Flutter Butter Popcorn Maker to review. Try my Recipes at your own risk; I made them up and you know what I did with the microwave!

The box :)

The box and the Flutter Butter Popcorn Maker

The Kambrook Little Chefs Flutter Butter Popcorn Maker is extremely easy to assemble and use. Actually, I had barely pulled it from the box and removed the plastic bag, when my five year old had already fitted the chute and cup into place. Awesome, less work for me!

To use, you simply add one measuring cup (provided) of popcorn kernels down the hole, put on the chute and measuring cup, slide a large bowl under the chute to catch the popcorn and turn it on. That's it, the machine does the rest. Just hit the off switch on the side when there are no more popping sounds. Optionally, you can add two tablespoons of butter to the measuring cup that clicks into place on top, and the heat from the cooking process melts the butter. It didn't melt my butter completely, but I may have added a tad too much. The machine does get quite hot during the cooking process, so watch that your kids don't touch it.

The whole process takes less than five minutes, and you get a big bowl of popcorn, to which you can add the melted butter, or use to make any number of recipes. Some of the recipes suggested in the handbook include Madras Popcorn, Chocolate Corn Crackles and Honeycombed Crispy Popcorn.

1 measuring cup worth of freshly popped popcorn

What I Liked
- it's cute
- fun and easy to use
- very easy to follow, clear directions in the Instruction Booklet
- popcorn turned out light and fluffy and perfectly cooked. No burnt bits like you get with microwave popcorn (especially MY microwave popcorn)
- easy to assemble and clean
- doesn't take up much space on the kitchen bench

What I Didn't Like
- the butter didn't fully melt during the cooking time
- the maker gets quite hot while cooking, so make sure little fingers don't go near it
- if your bowl isn't big enough, popcorn will pop out and go everywhere until you can put a new empty bowl under the chute! This was my fault, the instructions did say 'large bowl' but I used a medium one. You should probably use a large bowl.

Cheesy Garlic Popcorn Recipe

Cheesy Garlic Popcorn

- finely grated Tasty or Cheddar Cheese
- Garlic Salt
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 1 measuring cup of Popping Corn

Put 2 tablespoons of butter in the measuring cup and cook popcorn as directed. Add melted butter, grated cheese and sprinkle with garlic salt to taste.

Spicy Peanut Popcorn Recipe

Spicy Peanut Popcorn

- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 1 cup Peanuts
- 1 cup Nutri-Grain
- 1 tablespoon mild Curry Powder
- 1 teaspoon Mustard Powder
- Oil
- 1 measuring cup of Popping Corn

Put peanuts, Nutri-Grain, curry powder and mustard powder in a bowl and mix well so the powders coat the ingredients. Drizzle with oil and mix well.
Put 2 tablespoons of butter in the measuring cup and cook popcorn as directed.
Drizzle melted butter over the popcorn.
Pour in the peanut, Nutri-Grain, curry powder, mustard powder and oil mixture and stir through.

Disclaimer: This product was provided for consideration. No money was offered or accepted for this review. All opinions are my own.

Sparkle with a Glitter Heavy Nail Polish Haul!

Confession: I am currently completely and utterly OBSESSED with Glitter Nail Polish! I missed out on the Limited Edition OPI Rainbow Connection multi-coloured sparkle polish from The Muppets collection. So I went on a crazy spree, dedicating nearly an entire afternoon solely to glitter nail polish. A few of the following are nail polishes of the non-glitter variety. I saw them and I HTH (Had To Have). 

Sparkle, glitter-lovers!!

The Whole She-Bang!

Epic Glitter Polish Tower!

Rimmel Green With Envy; BYS Baby Bloom

BYS Gold Finger, Glam Glitter Dazzling, Million Dollar Baby

OPI Gold Shatter, Navy Shatter, Red Shatter

Australis Glitter Strikes Back Top Coat; Australis Milky Way

Australis Crystal Speck-tacular Top Coat; Fairy Bread Top Coat

Disclaimer: I bought all of these products with my own money. Yes, I'm insane.

What's your favourite glitter polish?

MitoQ Skin Rejuvenation Cream Review

MitoQ say: "MitoQ is a scientific breakthrough in cellular CoQ delivery technology. MitoQ protects the skin from free radical damage induced by the aging process or accelerated by exposure to sunlight. MitoQ accelerates skin rejuvenation creating a radiant outward skin appearance. MitoQ topical cream moisturizes, lightens and brightens skin. Scientifically tested, MitoQ creates total skin rejuvenation through protection and repair."

I've been trialling MitoQ topical anti-ageing cream for the last month, and I'm pleasantly surprised with the results. The yellow-hued cream is lightweight in texture and easily absorbed into the skin. It feels lovely going on, and a little goes a long way (you really only need a small amount to cover your whole face).

The product comes in a tall, rectangular plastic bottle which is see-through at the top and graduates to opaque black half-way down. My only qualm with this is that you can't actually see how far the product goes down inside the bottle. However, the bottle looks classy without actually being made from glass, so you don't have to worry about it smashing on the bathroom floor if you drop it.

I used this product daily under my moisturiser, and I noticed after about a week, that my skin was looking a lot healthier. It was smoother and clearer than it had been in months. The biggest change I noticed, however, was that the fine lines under my eyes were significantly less pronounced. I have tried a lot of different eye creams over the years (I'm still searching for my Holy Grail product!) and most of them either have little effect or only reduce my fine lines temporarily (eg Benefit's Ooh La Lift). The rest of my face is predominantly line-free, so my eye area was my main point of difference to gauge how well MitoQ was working. I'm really impressed with the results of this product; anything that can make my under-eye area look smooth and fine line free is a winner in my book.

Overall, the changes I noticed were firmer, smoother, softer, clearer skin and a significant reduction in fine lines. I can't say I noticed brighter skin or a lighter skin tone, but I feel that MitoQ's rich antioxidants have rejuvenated my skin and really improved its appearance and health.

You can read more about the science behind MitoQ here.

Disclaimer: This product was provided for consideration. This review is my honest opinion. I was not paid for this review.

Epic LUSH Haul. Finally!

I have been wanting to haul it up big-time on Lush goodies for months now, and I'm happy to declare it has FINALLY happened. Yeah, I went a little cray-cray. It had been building up for so long, I kind of just went "I want one of everything!!!". Thankfully, the resulting haul is not quite that bad, but it's still a 12 product spree. I also got a free Goodie Bag (GWP at the time) but I was pretty disappointed with the size of it. So far, I'm really enjoying the rest of the products, though. 

Behold, my Epic LUSH Haul. Finally!

Products Bought:
BIG
OCEAN SALT
KARMA
RUB RUB RUB
SWEETIE PIE
BREATH OF FRESH AIR
SEX BOMB
SNOWCAKE SOAP
THE COMFORTER
NEW
SUGAR SCRUB
HONEY I WASHED THE KIDS SOAP

Lush Goodie Bag (included free of charge) is pictured above. The Christmas bauble is mine; I included it so the products would photograph better against the background. This photo is quite close up, the product samples were actually VERY small (disappointingly so). Contents:
ANGEL'S DELIGHT SOAP
NORTH POLE SOAP
TWILIGHT SHOWER GEL

BIG Shampoo

OCEAN SALT Facial Scrub

KARMA Solid Gorilla Perfume

RUB RUB RUB Shower Scrub

SWEETIE PIE Shower Jelly

BREATH OF FRESH AIR Skin Toner

SEX BOMB Bath Ballistic

SNOWCAKE Soap

THE COMFORTER Bubble Bar

NEW Solid Shampoo

SUGAR SCRUB

HONEY I WASHED THE KIDS Soap

YAY! You made it to the end! I'd love to know your favourite Lush products so I can try them out! Please comment away ......

Disclaimer: These products were all purchased by me (excluding the free Goodie Bag obviously).

Beauty Bay Hair Haul!

I'm proud to say I'm a Beauty Bay virgin no more! Cheap prices (compared to the alternatives my quick google search yielded), a hassle-free online ordering process and free delivery mean I'll definitely be shopping there again. Behold my three product Hair Haul ......

Products I bought:
SEBASTIAN THICKEFY FOAM
TIGI CATWALK SESSION SERIES SALT SPRAY
TANGLE TEEZER IN DISCO PURPLE

I won a bottle of this originally and fell in love with it! No other volume product gives me the natural-looking body I get from this Thickefy Foam.

Never tried a salt spray before, wanted to, bought this. Hope it's good.

The much-hyped Tangle Teezer. In Disco Purple no less! I hope this lives up to its reputation. My hair is so knotty after I wash it!