Do you like going out for winter walks? Why?

My life has had a lot of changes so far this year and one of the biggest ones has been working from home more. Because of this I definitely feel the need to get out and about more!

I’ve always been a fan of going out for walks and it’s been something that my family have done since I was a kid, but I quite often find that I’m the only one of my friends who does it...

Do you ever just go out for a walk? And I don’t mean when you have to go somewhere or to walk the dog or get from A to B. I mean just going out walking for the sake of walking.

Ok so I was so excited when I got the opportunity to give these a try, because I haven't tried anything else like them before. Sure I've tried one or two different plastic free deodorant options, but had neve quite found the right fit for me...

Powders just didn't seem to work, bars irritated my skin from the rubbing while applying them; and although I really quite liked the deodorants in push-up card tubes, I found that they weren't quite as long lasting as I needed when being very active and they occasionally left sweat stains on my clothes...

Pit Putty however, I really like. They call themselves "The natural deodorant that works!" and they're not kidding!

It's easy to use and it smells great too, you just take a pea sized amount, melt it between your fingers and gently rub it into your armpit. I was gifted two sample sized pots in different scents to try out and each pot lasted me for about two weeks, so it's decent value for money too. The first scent that I tried was the lemongrass and tea tree, and I immediately noticed the difference of how fresh I remained smelling all day. That being said I did prefer the lavender and lemon scent as it was more subtle when wearing it.

​With a claim on their website to be "the most effective natural deodorant on the market" I really put this stuff to the test! I went hiking (for MILES), I wore it all day at work, I danced in it, I did some serious heavy lifting in it, I wore it with a big coat on the London Underground (if you've done that yourself then you'll know how strong a test it is!), I went to busy events in it, and I did an important audition in it (also a very strong test!).
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The Pit Putty took it all in it's stride... This stuff literally does do what it says on the tin.

I also really like that they sell sample pot sizes so that you can try it out first before you commit to buying a bigger tin. Firstly because it gives you a chance to see if you like it, and secondly so that you can discover which scents you like best and would like to buy in the bigger tins. They also have a handy store locator on their website if you want to see which of your local eco-friendly shops may stock Pit Putty. Useful in further reducing your carbon footprint if there's one right around the corner. Plus the tins that the putty comes in can be recycled or washed out and used for something else, I'm using my empty sample tins to carry a shampoo kube and toothpaste tablets for when I go away for a few days.

The biggest adaptation I've had to make while using Pit Putty is to move my deodorant from the bedroom to the bathroom because you need to wash your hands after applying it .That's literally it, it's so easy to use. I even have long nails so when scraping some out to use I just push my finger instead of pulling so that the putty gathers on the top of my nail instead of underneath it, which works a charm!
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Now even though Pit Putty isn't zero waste by being packaging free, it can be if you re-use or recycle the tins, so it's just up to us to be responsible with our waste. Plus as I've said before, this stuff actually works, and no nasty sweat stains on my clothing either which is a big bonus. I have literally only found one slight negative (which is specific to me and my body).

My skin can be very sensitive at times and I have noticed that I do get a little redness in the creases of my underarms. I'm not sure if it's the rubbing that's causing this or something in the ingredients but it's not uncomfortable or sore, it just looks a little red. I'm going to try applying a little less putty at a time as I feel like I may just be using too much and it's sitting in the creases, plus when it works so well I don't think that using a little less will make it any less effective. I'm also going to try out their other two scents to see if there is one that better agrees with my skin.

I've seen on their website that they are looking into a baking soda free option in the future so I'm hoping that at some point there may be a sensitive skin and possibly fragrance free line, which I would definitely try out as well! Overall I really do love this brand. It does work, very well, and it does smell amazing. It's not too expensive (as some plastic free products are) and it's one more step toward taking better care of our planet as well as ourselves as it is natural and organic, vegan, cruelty free, and aluminium salt free. All good things! If you're looking for a great deodorant that you really should give Pit Putty a try.

Not so long ago my family decided that we would prefer to share experiences, or to give gifts of experiences to each other instead of just buying more "stuff" (unless of course we knew it was something that the person wanted, needed or they would absolutely love).

At Christmas we were given a trip to an escape room (which of course instantly made me both happy and excited because I absolutely love them) and this time it was to visit Escape London in Shepherd's Bush to try to crack The Da Vinci Room. This is one of the few escape rooms around where you can actually fit 7 people into the room to play together. That being said, I wouldn't recommend any more people than that because not only would it feel really cramped, but not everyone would get the chance to work on a puzzle and feel included.

"Our Da Vinci Room will see you take on the role of thief, but for the greater good. Dr John Albright has studied the workings of Da Vinci in great detail. He has amassed a considerable collection over the years, including what many believe to be the Holy Grail.
​Having gained his trust by helping him "acquire" items over the years, you have access to areas of his home and knowledge of his security that no-one else does.  You've been paid well for your services over the years, but you've always felt that an item of the importance of the Holy Grail should be on display for everyone.
The professor is away and now is your chance. Get in the room, grab the grail and get out. It should be easy!"

This room was really good, there were a great range of puzzles to complete and they had varying degrees of difficulty. The room itself has a difficulty rating of 5 stars (their most challenging rating) and only a 43% success rate of escaping. We had an hour to complete the room and managed to do it in 45 minutes and 30 seconds, so it was a challenge for us! We really had to use our brains on this one and sometimes think outside of the box. Plus we were lucky that the people in our team all have different strengths because there's no way any of use would have been able to do the whole room on our own!

This venue was great because the staff were really friendly, the only slight negative was the temperature because it was SO warm in the waiting room (though thankfully it wasn't as hot in our puzzle room and I had layers on so could remove some). They provide you with free lockers to store your things which was definitely appreciated to store all of our winter coats. I would love to go back to this venue again to play their other rooms, plus hopefully I'll get the chance to visit their other venue in Shadwell too!.

So when I was give the chance to try out and review two pizzas from The White Rabbit Alternative Pizza Co, I jumped at it!

Now these aren't just any pizzas because they are all gluten and soy free! They also have vegan pizzas too. I'm wheat intolerant so often find it really tricky to get wheat free bread that actually tastes good and also that doesn't fall apart, this goes for pizza bases too. While there are decent amount of options to choose from now, only some are good and even fewer of them measure up to the full blown glutenous original... But that's not the case with these pizzas!

White Rabbit pizzas are honestly SO GOOD, you wouldn't even know that they were gluten free at all. My favourite has always been a margarita (some people say it's a boring choice but I'm not fussed and in my opinion if you can't do the basics well then can you really do it well at all?) so naturally my first choice of their pizzas to try was The Mozzarella Master.
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They did the basics very well!!! I loved this pizza, it was full of flavour and ​had the perfect amount of topping, plus they didn't hold back on the cheese. The gluten free base was really good. I usually have to eat the crusts with a sauce because they tend to be a bit dry, too crunchy or hard with a gluten free pizzas; but I didn't need any sauce at all to dunk these crusts in which was great. The base also didn't go soggy underneath (another gluten free pizza pet peeve of mine). This was definitely my favourite of the two pizzas that I tried and it's up there with the best gluten free pizzas that I've eaten so far.

The other pizza that I tired was The Vegan Gardener, because I wanted to see what their pizzas would taste like without traditional cheese (especially because I'm a cheese fanatic). I was pleasantly surprised. I very much enjoyed the kale topping on this pizza and again there was the right amount of topping on there, plus the vegan cheese was actually really good (this coming from a non-vegan here). I do however wish that there had been a little bit more vegan cheese on this pizza just to balance out and bind all of the toppings together a bit more. Because of this I also found this pizza a little trickier to eat as it was difficult to pick it up and eat it by the slice, that being said I would just eat it with a knife and fork next time so that doesn't really bother me too much.

Overall I thought that these pizzas were great, They also have a third flavour called The Smokin' Vegan and they do a focaccia too. Don't worry if you don't like the look of these flavours though because you could always just add your own toppings to The Mozzarella Master, or create your own from their gluten, dairy and soy free pizza base twin pack.

Thank you to The White Rabbit Alternative Pizza Co for letting me try them out, I will definitely be eating them again!