CHRISTMAS 2018

November 18, 2018 by Mr Luke Christian

MERRY CHRISTMAS

It may seem a little early to be bringing out my Christmas branding, however, now that the Christmas adverts are all out in full force gearing up for Christmas, then nobody can argue with me for this right?

It seems crazy to think that my first Christmas event was back in July to preview some Christmas goodies, but it was also exciting to have had the chance to be able to see what the trends were for this season giving me many ideas in terms of content and of course, Christmas gifts! I have a lot of content planned, so much so that I could be joining in with the infamous ‘Blogmas’ where a Christmas themed blog gets posted daily throughout the month of December and this is purely down to the amount of content I have lined up…

Thank you all for your support thus far and I do hope you enjoy my Festive ‘Makeover’ along with my upcoming content and if there is anything you would like to see from me then please do let me know down below!

BOX MEN UNDERWEAR

November 15, 2018 by Mr Luke Christian

It seemed to get to a point where I would be scrolling down on my Instagram feed, and every time I went to refresh, a new post of ‘Box Underwear’ would be shown. Perhaps it’s due to who I follow and the type of content I like to see… Moving on!

I had been approached by Box Underwear, and at first I felt rather excited as this was a whole new venture for me having not reviewed underwear before, but having said that, I did question it a little as the type of models I had seen wearing Box Underwear before, all appeared to have insane gym bodies that were all visually appealing, whereas for me, my body isn’t quite there so I wasn’t sure how I would feel in their underwear. Nevertheless, I was keen to give them a try!

Created by using soft stretch fabric which makes for a comfortable wear that offers support where needed whilst the BOX logo is prominent on the waistband looking rather slick! I was lucky enough to receive 2 pairs of boxers in a size Small along with 2 pairs of briefs, again in a size Small.

I tend to wear boxers more as it is just a personal preference and whilst wearing these I liked how the fabric was soft to the touch! Incredibly close to the skin without feeling too tight or uncomfortable and with the briefs, these felt a lot more supportive keeping everything in place so to speak… Again, without feeling too tight!

BOX underwear sizes range from a size S through to XL and whilst underwear is their main focal point, they also stock joggers, shorts and bundles such as jockstraps, briefs and boxers. To view more about BOX underwear, click here! Whilst we’re in the festive season, perhaps these would make a great gift for your partner, or why not treat yourself to a pair and see what the hype is all about!?

Have you tried BOX underwear before? Which option did you go for? How did you find the fit? What type of underwear do you prefer to wear? Let me know your thoughts below as I would love to hear from you and don’t forget to click the ‘like’ button!

*Please note, this post has been sponsored.

PENHALIGON'S - FRAGRANCE PROFILING

November 11, 2018 by Mr Luke Christian

I had recently been invited along to Penhaligon’s in Victoria Quarter: Leeds. Now, if you have ever visited Victoria Quarter in Leeds before, then you may find yourself wondering where that gorgeous, musky scent may be coming from as you’re walking through and I can reveal that it is indeed coming from, Penhaligon’s!

This was my first visit to the Penhaligon’s boutique, however, it wasn’t my first encounter with the brand as I have previously had the chance to review their ‘Roaring Radcliff’ fragrance which can be read here. I met with two lovely ladies from the Pehaligon’s team and was asked a series of questions to determine which scents best suited my personality and taste!

“What do you like to drink?” “What do you like to eat?” “Are you a day or night person?” “How do you want to feel whilst wearing the fragrance?” “What sort of holiday do you enjoy going on?” were just a handful of questions that were asked to me to get a well-rounded view to be able to help when finding the best fragrances suited to me. For the daytime, I enjoy wearing fresh yet aquatic scents that feel light and airy yet still have a strong projection, and for the nighttime I enjoy wearing rich, sensual and powerful fragrances that have a good longevity to them!

After the questions had been asked, it took about 4 fragrances before finding a daytime scent, and only 2 fragrances before finding a nighttime scent! It’s safe to say I know exactly what I want and it didn’t take long in this case… The two fragrances that I discovered were:

DAYTIME - BLASTED BLOOM
NIGHTTIME - KENSINGTON AMBER

Both of these couldn’t differ any more even if they tried, however, the one thing that connects them both, is their bold projection! Once I had found my two fragrances, I was beyond grateful when I found out that I would be able to take both of these away with me! With every bottle purchased from Penhaligon’s, you can also have the option of having your bottle engraved, which of course I jumped at the chance of doing. With that being said, the bottle of Blasted Bloom is a frosted glass texture which meant that they were unable to engrave this bottle, but could still go ahead and engrave ‘Mr. LC’ on my Kensington Amber bottle.

I will be doing a full review on both of these fragrances in due course and I have to say, having worn Kensington Amber on a few occasions, I have gained many compliments on this!

Penhaligon’s Boutique can be found in Victoria Quarter in Leeds and within the store, a large screen is presented with the ‘Fragrance Profiling’ with the same questions I had been asked and at the end of the questions, it will then show you a few fragrances based on your answers that you may be best suited to! You can also try out their ‘Fragrance Profiling’ here also.

A huge thank you to the team at Penhaligon’s for inviting me along to try out their ‘Fragrance Profiling’ and once again for selecting my fragrances!

Have you been to Penhaligon’s before? Have you tried any of their fragrances? If so, which ones? Will you be trying out their ‘Fragrance Profiling’? Do let me know your thoughts below as I would love to hear from you, and don’t forget to click the ‘like’ button!

BYREDO CHAI CANDLE

November 07, 2018 by Mr Luke Christian

As a personal way to mark the beginning of the Winter season and to embrace the Christmas festivities ahead, I have always treated myself to a Christmas candle! After all, it is all about self-care these days right? For the past four years, Byredo have been my go-to when it comes to holiday candles which have previously included; Cassis Glacé, Incense, Altar and as I like to keep up a tradition, I chose Byredo again this year and went for the newly released ‘Chai’ candle!

BYREDO CHAI CANDLE

Masala Chai is a blend of spices and black tea leaves which are left to boil in milk. This warm, and enveloping scent reminded creator of Byredo; Ben Gorham about his childhood memories of his Grandmother’s home.

The notes within Chai are:

Top Notes: Cardamom, Clove Buds, Ginger Zest
Middle Notes: Incense, Mate, Violet
Base Notes: Birch Tree, Guaiac Wood, Warm Latte

I purchased the Chai candle in the newly built boutique in London on Lexington Street and I had been excited to visit ever since I heard that Byredo were opening up over here in England! The boutique itself is exactly how I imagined a Byredo boutique would be. Clean, minimalistic and ultra modern!

Upon first impressions of smelling Chai, the notes of Cardamom and Ginger Zest were distinctly prominent which immediately invoked a Christmas feel for me. Around 15-20 minutes or so once the candle was lit, the warmth and cosiness of the note Incense came through which blended beautifully with the woodiness from the Birch Tree and Guaiac Wood notes right at the heart of the candle.

I found this candle to be interesting due to the fact that at the start of the burn, I thought it would be rather warm and spicy with the Ginger Zest and Cardamom notes, but by the end of the burn, it had a slight woody feel to it which given the previous Christmas candles where they were all spicy and fruity, this one was slightly different for me as my personal preference isn’t geared towards those of a woodier candle, especially for Christmas!

That being said, I love the way that this candle burns and how comforting of a scent it is.

To purchase Byredo - Chai, click here!

Be sure to check out my other Byredo reviews by clicking below:

Gypsy Water Fragrance / Baudelaire Fragrance / Bibliotheque Fragrance and Home Scent / Seven Veils Fragrance / Ambre Japonais Home Scent

Have you smelt Byredo - Chai before? What are your thoughts on this Limited Edition Holiday Candle? When it comes to Christmas candles, which do you tend to steer towards? Warm and cosy? Or woody and earthy? I would love to hear from you, so do leave me a comment below and don’t forget to click the ‘like’ button!

BETTY'S AUTUMN 2018

November 04, 2018 by Mr Luke Christian

Having Betty’s on my doorstep can prove to be very handy when taking a visiting friend who hasn’t been around Yorkshire before! The perfect place for Afternoon Tea with a wide selection of cakes and biscuits alongside many hot and cold drinks. My favourite? Their Latte, with a Chocolate & Passion Fruit Cube of course!

I had been lucky enough to have been sent a couple of their Autumn Treats;

Marzipan & Sponge Fancies
Sponge cake in Marzipan flavour filled with Buttercream that come in the form of these cute little pumpkins!
Spiced Lebkuchen Biscuit
A biscuit that is decorated with Marzipan flavour that comes in one of my favourite Autumnal animals, a squirrel!
Chocolate Owls
4 chocolate owls that come in both milk & white flavours.
Brownie Cupcakes
4 owl cupcake brownies which are all flavoured with Marzipan & Chocolate Buttercream topping! (A personal favourite of mine.)

All of these gorgeous, delicious treats can be found in a Betty’s cafe near you! There are currently 6 Betty’s Shops and Cafes and you can find these:

Harrogate / Harlow Carr / York / Stonegate York / Ilkley / North Allerton

You can also view their newly released Christmas range here too!

Have you visited Bettys before? Which cafe did you visit? What did you order? Will you be trying out any of these Autumnal Treats? Which of these sounds most appealing to you? Don’t forget to click the ‘like’ button below and let me know your thoughts as I would love to hear from you!

HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY - YORKSHIRE SOAP CO.

October 24, 2018 by Mr Luke Christian

Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year and what better way to celebrate this spooky occasion than to be able to team up with the wonderful brand that is Yorkshire Soap Co. to give away a whopping 10 Halloween themed bath-bombs!?

For this giveaway I will be selecting FIVE winners where you can have the chance to win yourself a special Online Exclusive: Spiced Pumpkin Cupcake alongside a fun Monster Mash Soap!

For your chance to win two of these gorgeous little creations from Yorkshire Soap Co. all you need to do is the following;

First entry;

Follow me on my Twitter page here and follow Yorkshire Soap Co. Twitter here.
Retweet my pinned Halloween Giveaway tweet here.

For a second entry;

Follow me on my Instagram page here.
Like & Comment: #MRLCYorkshireSoapCoGiveaway

For a further entry;

Simply mention and tag your friends in a comment on my Instagram photo!

It's that simple!

All entries will be checked on my Twitter and Instagram feeds, and each winner of these two Halloween soaps will be announced live on my Instagram Story on Sunday 28th October, a couple of days before Halloween itself to allow you to enjoy the special themed soaps beforehand!

I wish you the very best of luck!

PUMPKIN PICKIN' AT BIRCHFIELD FARM

October 19, 2018 by Mr Luke Christian

Whenever Autumn came around I used to always see bloggers in these ‘Pumpkin Fields’ and I’d say to my friends ‘Right, that’s it! We’re going pumpkin pickin!’ but for some reason it just never happened. That was until this year where I discovered a Pumpkin Farm just 10/15 minutes away from my doorstep!

Birchfield Farm is situated just outside of Ripley in the sleepy village of Summerbridge and prior to going to Birchfield Farm, despite how daft this may sound, I just didn’t know what to wear… I don’t do casual/practical clothing and given that I was off to a field I knew I’d have to compromise slightly. In the end I decided to go for my Idle Grey Sweater, ASOS Tan Overcoat, boohooMAN ripped jeans and my Debenhams: Hammond & Co by Patrick Gant boots!

My friend was driving us both there and as we approached Birchfield Farm we were looking down the hills and the realisation that perhaps we were too early in the season to go Pumpkin Pickin’ dawned on us as we could only see 2 pumpkins… Nevertheless, we carried on and as we parked up we could see a couple of people in the fields with wheelbarrows so we figured that there must obviously be more than just 2…

We made our way into the fields where we were told that we could pick out whichever pumpkin we wanted, they would then weigh the pumpkin and then they would work out the pricing whether it’s Small/Medium/Large. There were pumpkins EVERYWHERE! Orange, white, green, yellow, big, huge, small, petite, medium… So much to choose from!

In the end we decided to go for a petite orange pumpkin which came to £2.50. As we went early in the season, we were told that the pumpkin wouldn’t last until Halloween and would only last a couple of days once carved so we took the opportunity to head into a barn and began to carve out our creation! The staff at the farm supply you with a cutting knife, a pot to dispose of the excess pumpkin rubbish and some Pumpkin designs should you need any. My friend and I decided to name our little creation ‘Pumpkin Spice’! Once we were done, we went to their little cafe where they do a range of delicious food and treats such as waffles, cakes, ice cream and milkshakes!

Birchfield Farms ‘Pumpkin Festival’ is currently open from now until 31st October from 10am-4pm! A cute afternoon out where you could take your whole family, or like me, just go along with a friend and have some fun! For more details of the farm, click here and you can get directions to the Birchfield Farm with their address below:

Birchfield Family Dairies
Oakmount House
Birchfield Farm
Summerbridge
Harrogate
North Yorkshire
HG3 4JS

Have you visited Birchfield Farm before? If so, when did you visit? Will you be heading along to their Pumpkin Festival? Are you a fan of Halloween? Are you doing anything special for Halloween? Do let me know your thoughts below as I would love to hear from you and don’t forget to click the ‘like’ button below!