Product reviews: ESSENTIALS MOISTURISING CREAM, 3-MINUTE CLAY MASK and EYE GEL (Boot's)

These three ties were all £1.50 each, but they were all part of a '3 for the price of 2' offer, so they worked out to be £1 each.

Product Review(s): TASTE THE DIFFERENCE BREADED CHUNKY COD & LIME CORDIAL (Sainsbury’s)

Brief thoughts on two impulse food buys from Sainsbury’s yesterday! With photos just to prove I'm not making it up ;)

Taste the Difference Breaded Chunky Cod

The contrast between the crispy bread crumbs on the outside and the moist, meaty cod inside worked a treat. The white fish on the inside was more moist and succulent than I’m used to, but definitely tasted better quality for it. The fish flakes are incredible tasted better than most stuff restaurants serve. 

One fish, served with chips, (slightly more than the amount photographed above; I'd left the rest in the pan as the plate is small), nourishes me plenty. Due to it being Taste the Difference, the fish has higher protein content than the usual, so in addition to tasting delicious, it’s also good for you. A

(Cooking recommendation: the fish takes 20 minutes to cook in a fan-heated oven. I would recommend turning it half-way through, else the bottom gets a bit soggy, as the first one I cooked, did).

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Lime Cordial

Pretty standard cordial, really. I bought this because whenever I was trying to go a month dry at University, lime cordial would be my alcohol substitute of choice, and I had a random bout of nostalgia for the drink in question. 

If you pour this and dilute it four parts water for the cordial, the end product tastes the same as what you get in pubs. Nice-tasting, doesn’t do anything wrong, but at the same time, didn’t jump out at me. B+/A-

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More product reviews here!

Review of five instant noodles

For me, one of the most memorable parts of Amy Dunne’s mordant ‘Cool Girl’ diatribe in Gone Girl was when she declared ‘because Cool Girls are above all, hot." This comment is delivered in relation to how she kills herself in order to stay a lithe, desirable size 2 (UK 6/8), to little appreciation from her perfidious husband, Nick.

Given that Amy is generally perceived to be a murderous psychopath, I probably shouldn’t pay this line too much heed, but for some reason, it’s really resonated with me, and as such, I’m trying hard to watch my weight. 

The first step towards losing weight and eating healthier was to stop having so many lunches at McDonald’s. A substitute I explored was easy cook noodles, and thus, here are my thoughts on five different types I’ve sampled recently.

Morrisons BBQ Beef noodles 85g, 25p

There was nothing barbequey or beefy about the taste of this, I’m afraid. The noodles came out stale and tasteless, and even the liquid it was boiled in didn’t have any particular flavour. The very cheap price signals to me that this is predominantly marketed at students, although if students eat this before a night out, the lack of nutritional content means their stomachs will be insufficiently lined pre-heavy drinking, and it could well result in them chundering out their dinner. Considering how it purports to be one of the more filling of the four (total calories: 466, apparently), it doesn’t do what it says on the packaging. 2/10.

Morrisons Mild Curry flavour noodles, 85g, 25p

Gar. Another ghastly Morrisons creation. As with its predecessor, it has thin noodles that tasted of nothing and a sauce which didn’t taste remotely of curry (at least they spoke truth about the ‘mild’ part, mind). The mild curry flavour noodles purports to have 458 calories in the entire bag and it did make more of a dent on my hunger levels than the ‘meal’ from the day before, so I’ll give it +1 mark for that. 3/10.

Nissin Demae Ramen Spicy Noodles 100g, 45p

Unlike the two Morrisons travesties, the Nissin Demae Ramen noodles were deliciously thick and unrepentantly eggy. The sauce the pack yielded had flavour too! Whilst it wasn’t the burn-your-tongue-off levels of spiciness that the bright red packaging might lead you to think/dread, it was sufficiently hot to satiate my need for spiciness. What’s more, this bag came with a sachet of the sauce as well as sesame oil, which gave the meal a welcome kick. Plus, you’ve seen my cooking – you know how much I dig my oil. 8/10.

Newgate instant snack shot noodles sweet and spicy 67g

This Lidl product weighs less than the three easy cook noodles I’ve appraised so far, and as such, is lower on calorific content. On the bright side, the dried flavouring that came in a sachet for those other three, which could lead to a slight mess, was embedded in the noodle here, meaning you could avoid any pouring mishaps. The noodles here came in a strange angular shape, and were even thinner than Morrisons ones, but had more noodle length to atone for it. After you’ve finished with the noodles, I’d recommend re-filling the bowl/mug with boiling hot water, because the solid flavouring is concentrated enough to make a nice brew out of it. Not that filling, but tastes good whilst it lasts. 7/10.

Ko-Lee Taste Sensation Classic Chicken flavour 85g, 28p

For just 3p more than the two disappointing Morrisons own brand noodles, you can get this in the same store, and it’s much more filling and appetising. As with the other Chinese-style noodles, the Nissin Demae, this also comes with a small sachet of sesame oil, as well as a pack of dried flavouring that far exceeds the quantity in any of the other four noodles assessed. The resulting liquid brew is a nice concoction for you to savour, which redeems the (once again, common to Morrisons) thin, bland-tasting noodles. 7/10.

Common to all of these five products was a real ease to use, as the names suggested. You're supposed to boil them over the hob, but I found putting half the amount in my Chelsea mug and applying hot water to it, as pictured below, was just as effective, and saved considerably on the washing up!

#ByeFelicia: Johnson's Baby Lotion

I'm kinda dumb for not realising this sooner (although in my defence, I mix and match the moisturisers I use on my legs), but Johnson and Johnson Baby Lotion is not the one.

Recently, my trusted go-to Soap and Glory moisturiser I use post-showers to apply to my legs has finished, so I transitioned to Johnson & Johnson's Baby Lotion, photographed here.

It was awful and gave me an allergic reaction the following day. Being slow on the uptake, I just assumed my laundry had been done with some new washing up powder and figured I was having a bad reaction to that.

My legs were not a nice sight and I scratched them raw. I won't assail your eyes with a photo though; I kind of think stumpy (I'm 5'4''. :'( I'd give anything to be Gal Gadot's height), unphotogenic legs, which mine most certainly were this week should only be seen by the poor sod who possesses them, and maybe not even then.

So on Thursday, I re-applied the J+J Baby Lotion, and four hours later, the intolerable itchiness recurred. 

This time, the penny dropped.

I've dropped said lotion in the bin and applied no moisturiser to my legs now. I'm relieved to report they've gone back to their normal condition.

So yeah! For such a reputable brand that purports to care so much about the welfare of their clientele, I would recommend that everyone, but especially mums who are putting this on their babies, to think twice before buying this rather dangerous product! 

I had a search online and this link explains in good scientific terms why I had the nightmare reaction. Am relieved to know it wasn't just me!

Tea watch: 加多寶 herbal tea.

I got given a crate of 加多寶 herbal teas for Christmas, and have been drinking a can a day. They're very much an acquired taste - my brother had one sip and didn't touch it again, whereas me and my parents love it. It does have a very sweet taste, which appeals to my sweet tooth, but the rest of the  ingredients are all extremely organic and good for you, so you could do much worse than to drink this. The only possible stumbling block is the price (it's considerably pricier than other teas), but if you're looking for a treat, I recommend you give this a go.

Grade: A-

Oblig food photodump