The Simply Pure Range from Superdrug

When it comes to personal products and being strapped for cash it's hard to find a balance between what you want to spend more on. I've found myself to be looking for cheaper alternatives for my makeup, hair and beauty budget as I have to save a bit of money up for other things.

I recently purchased some skincare products from The Body Shop, but they are no longer performing on my skin - instead they began to break my skin, leaving a burning sensation afterwards. After spending a total of £36 on 3 products on their online store I needed to find a cheaper alternative for my skincare routine.

After having previous success with other Superdrug's own products I decided to purchase a few items from the Simply Pure range. I own:

Face Wash
Micellar Water
Calming Cleanser
Refreshing Toner
Hydrating Serum
Light Moisturiser

They also do a Smoothing Face Scrub, a Foaming Cleanser, a SPF15 Face Cream and a Gentle Eye Makeup Remover. I don't think all products in this range need to be used together as some are very similar in what they intend to do, I purely believe it's down to personal preference on which texture and consistency you like in a specific product.

This range has a good variety for you to choose from to achieve the best result for your skin. Though these do not specify which type of skin they work best on they claim to be perfect for sensitive skin which I believe covers all skin types. I personally have combination skin so I wondered how this would affect the various textures on my skin.

It's got top marks thus far!

These perfume-free, colourless products make my skin feel evenly smooth and supple, which I never thought I'd say about products that have a £2.69 price tag each! With a twice daily use my skin no longer feels dry or excessively oily where they normally were, and my makeup has a good base to sit on.

I don't believe that you always need to buy expensive products to get good results, though I do strongly believe that a lot of expensive products have such a price tag for a reason, but this range by Superdrug is quite impressive and I prefer it to The Body Shop's range that I purchased before this one.

Oh and one more thing...this range is Vegan and cruelty free!

My First Experience With Quinoa

Quinoa - pronounced keen-waah, has become one of the most popular grains in the last couple of years as it is a 'superfood'. It contains a good amount of fibre, vitamins and minerals needed in our body and is naturally gluten-free.

I decided to make a dish using quinoa to see if it was worth the hype in taste as well as it being beneficial to your health. I looked up recipes on good ol' Google and found one which involved stuffed peppers. It sounded yummy enough so I popped to the shops to get my bits.

Do you know how much a measly 500g bag of dried quinoa cost me? £3.28!

That, my friends is a rip-off!

I swallowed my cheapness and bought the stuff anyway and made it for my lunch the next day. Using my favourite cheese substitute, my last pepper and an organic stock cube I cooked up a treat which, despite slicing a chunk out of my finger and slightly charring the top of the cheese, tasted really nice. I cooked these for work so they had cooled for about 5 hours and left in a sealed container before use. They served as a filling, snack-like tea that kept me feeling full for my shift.

Quinoa stuffed peppers with grated Violife

I don't think I'd buy quinoa again despite the superfood status. With how many grains, cereals and pastas I consume in my diet I don't think I could afford to eat it regularly. Though this bag of quinoa is still over half-full and I've cooked maybe 4 meals out of it, I think I'd buy this as a treat. It's very similar to couscous in how it cooks and couscous also has a decent amount of fibre and protein but isn't gluten free.

I think if you have a gluten-intolerance such as coeliac disease it's worth the splurge, but if you don't then it's not worth its price tag, especially when accompanying vegetables and fruits contain a lot of vitamins and minerals essential for everyday health.

I have to say though, quinoa is yummy!