Santa's Break-Down Under + GIVEAWAY

Christmas is a special time for sharing moments with family, friends and those nearest and dearest.
Trucked Up Entertainment are hosting a special Christmas circus: Santa's Break-Down Under in Melbourne where you will see Christmas in a complete new way through a thrilling family circus show with acrobats, aerialists, a crane truck and blast of fire and ice.

Santa will be there in his cork-string hat and a pair of things getting into the down under Aussie theme.

Santa's Break-Down Under will be showing at Coburg Velodrome.
Friday to Sunday 9th - 11th and 16th-18th of December, 2016.
Doors will open from 5pm for a show at 6pm-8pm.

Ticket prices:
Family pass (2 adults + 2 children) $100
Adult $35
Child $25 (3-12 years)

NJT Blogger has teamed up with Trucked Up Entertainment to giveaway a family pass valued at $100 to a lucky reader to head out to a show of their choosing to see Santa's Break-Down Under for themselves. 

Win a family pass to Santa's Break-Down Under

Giveaway ends: Monday 5th December, 2016 at midnight. 

Winner drawn: Tuesday 6th December, 2016. 

Winner will be contacted via email and have 24hrs to contact back otherwise redraw will occur.

www.santasbreakdownunder.com.au

Disclosure: This post has been made in collaboration with Trucked Up Entertainment. I was invited along to the above mentioned event and provided with giveaway pass to run through the blog. I received no payment for this review and all opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

Santa's Magical Kingdom Preview + GIVEAWAY

November has arrived so we can move past the Spring Carnival and jump straight into Christmas chatter right? I can't believe we are at another year end and the jolly man himself Santa will be visiting us again, it just feels like last week I was up until the early am's putting together Niah's Christmas presents.

Recently we headed out to a morning tea preview for Santa's Magical Kingdom with the Snow Queen who read stories about Christmas and filled us in on all the magic that was to be happening shortly.
Niah was able to get into the festive spirit by doing Christmas crafting activities and share some morning tea with the other children in attendance.

Santa's Magical Kingdom is an annual event held and been running for the past 4 years successfully, where the beloved Silvers Circus put on their Christmas cheer and make Christmas special with their Circus.
Each year I have attended I have never been dissapointed, the atmosphere and the time shared celebrating the near coming occassion makes it an enjoyable time.

There is always many, many things for the family to take part in when it comes to Santa's Magical Kingdom, which include:

•   A magical Christmas walk-through wonderland

•   Snowland and meet the Snow Queen

•   A free gift, when you meet Santa

•   A brand new International Christmas  Show Spectacular

•   Roving Christmas characters

•   Christmas Craft Village where you can make your own Christmas tree decoration 

•   Gingerbread Land, where you can decorate your own gingerbread man

•   Interactive Letter Writing area and Storytelling area with Mrs Claus

•   Amusement Rides & Games, including Santa’s Sleigh Ride, the Giant Ferris Wheel, one of

the Largest Super Slide’s in the country, The Elves Magical Train Ride and more. 

•   There’s so much  fun for the whole family

This year you can join in on something new by helping to celebrate Rudolph's Birthday!
Rudolph will be celebrating his birthday at Santa’s Magical Kingdom.
Rudolph will be joined by Mrs Claus, the Snow Queen, as well as Trolls: Poppy and Branch to celebrate his birthday. Every child will receive a special gift.
All activities are inclusive with your Santa’s Magical Kingdom Ticket.
Rudolph’s Birthday will be celebrated on specific dates during the season, please check the website for dates.

Santa's Magical Kingdom is running from 18th November until 23rd December.
Tickets are available to purchase now OR you can enter my GIVEAWAY and win yourself a family pass!!

Santa's Magical Kingdom have kindly gifted one lucky reader a family pass valued at $140.

Session up for grabs:

Friday 25th November at 6pm in Melbourne. 

To enter to win, please fill in the form below. 

Win a family pass to Santa's Magical Kingdom

 Giveaway ends: Saturday 19th November at midnight.

Winners will be drawn: Monday 21st November, 2016.

Winner will have 24hrs to contact back otherwise redraw will occur.

www.santasmagicalkingdom.com.au

LUSH Halloween Collection 2016

I really love Halloween but it's just a shame we don't make as big as an event of it over in Australia as they do overseas. One of the bucket list items is to be overseas in America during the time of Halloween so I can see just how they do it.

Niah also adores Halloween and says it really cutely 'Hallowin' that just melts my heart. Halloween is becoming bigger now in Aus now thankfully and they even make celebration decorations at Niah's daycare and are having a dress up day on Monday in which Niah tells me she will be a 'witch'.
Last year she went as Pinocchio which was really adorable.

One of the ways we get into the Halloween spirit is by LUSH cosmetics with their special occasion releases, in which one of them is for the month of October.
Each year they will bring back some favs but also get creative and add in some newbie limited edition items to keep us on our toes.

LUSH Cosmetics kindly gifted us with some of the 2016 range which is featured below.

Monsters' Ball
This reminds me a bit of Monsters Inc - a super pink, purple and blue ball with a single eye.
A scent of neroli oils and lime to put some gorgeous color along with relaxing aromas into bath time.

Lord of Misrule Ball
A standout spicy herbal scent that gets you right on the nose with that mix. This one is a favourite of many LUSH lovers which comes out at Christmas time also.

Lord of Misrule Shower Cream
The same scent in what we see come out each year for Christmas in it's luscious dark green cream that leaves you smelly as gorgeous as Christmas can be.

Sparkly Pumpkin
A glitter filled bubble bath is what you will gain from this pumpkin.  Lightly scented with orange, blackcurrant and limes this one is a must have this Halloween.

Magic Wand
A new large round soap that has sweet fruity scents of tangerine and orange oils.
Colours of black and orange to fit the Halloween profile perfectly.

Goth Fairy
A shimmer bar that rubs over your skin providing nourishment as well as the fairy leaving behind shimmer and sparkles on your skin. This is a favourite this year for Niah as she loves fairies and of course what 3 year old doesn't like sparkles?

Fireside
A more Christmas feeling to this soap with the scents of roasted chestnuts. The colours of this soap is what gets me the perfect yellow, orange and red to make a real fire icon look to it.

www.au.lush.com

Disclosure: This post has been made in collaboration with LUSH. I received the above pictured items with no expectation for its promotion here. I received no payment for this review and all opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

Swisse Kids Vitamins Review + GIVEAWAY

Health is an important thing within our household, both Dan & I care have health focused minds (well majority of the time when it's not cheat meals). About six (6) years ago I started taking supplements, vitamins etc all of that jazz because I started to learn more about your bodies needs, the health system and what each amino acid within vitamins/supplements was used/needed for.

When Niah was about 1.5 - 2 years old we started her on having a vitamin aka 'lolly' daily. I was worried as Niah wasn't a good eater at all; refusing vegetables, meat, fruit and only eating what you would consider to be bad foods. I didn't want her to be missing out on all the vitamins that come from vegetables, meat and fruit so I took a stroll down the vitamins for kids isle at the pharmacies and have made it a ritual daily in Niah's diet to have a vitamin.

We have always used the same brand since day dot simply because I knew it was something Niah liked and I didn't want to change it up but we have been put to the test with Miss Niah as we were kindly gifted the Swisse Kids range to try out.

Swisse Kids have recently launched five (5) vitamins underneath their belt to aid with many things that may lack in our babies diets. At current what we use is just a multi vitamin to help aid with all the goodness Niah lacks within her fussy eating diet.

The first one in the range we had to try was the Kids Multi vitamin in which is a different form of vitamin in comparison to what Niah is used to so it took a little while to get used to as she had always had the squishy chew tablet rather than the hard form lolly like Swisse. The flavour was fine being natural berry and Niah didn't screw her nose up at it so that was a plus.

Swisse Kids Vitamin C + Zinc and Probiotic are the other hard form lolly vitamins through the range where you'll get soft liquid vitamins through the Swisse Kids Fish Oil and Calcium + D3.

The liquid ones are the ones Niah struggled with to begin with as she would chew and then get a shock when the vitamin would burst and release the inner liquid.

The Fish Oil one isn't as bad as an adults one I say, although it does smell like sushi which would be expected.

Each pack contains 50 chewable sugar-free vitamins, that contain nothing at all that will have allergies playing up and can be found for purchasing at pharmacies for $24.99 RRP each.

Swisse Kids have kindly also gifted x2 prize packs valued at $100 each containing all x4 products as featured above to try out the vitamins yourself. 

To enter to win, please fill in the form below. 

Win 1 of 2 Swisse Vitamins Packs

 Giveaway ends: Monday 10th October at midnight.

Winners will be drawn: 11th October, 2016.

Winner will have 24hrs to contact back otherwise redraw will occur.

https://www.swisse.com/en-au/products

Disclosure: This post has been made in collaboration with Swisse Kids.  I received the above pictured vitamins as above mentioned in exchange for its promotion here. I received no payment for this review and all opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

Benefit Brow's On Tour Event

Thanks to Benefit, I invited me along to their Melbourne Brow's On Tour Event where we were given a masterclass from the expert artist herself Hannah on the new brow range.
This event was an excellent tool in guidance to helping attendees better understand how to perfect those brows.

Benefit have recently revamped beloved brow products and launched newbies into their brow range making them super duper shiny, silver and bold. I have only tried a small amount in their brow range being the Gimme Brow and High Brow in which both of those I love and have high brow as my staple so I was over the moon to be able to learn more about the new range and of course have a play around with them to perfect my own brows.

I'm not a brow expert and as much as I try to make them 'on fleek' it's not really happening for me.
Thanks to Hannah and Luci from Benefit I have discovered a few things about myself with the way I am applying product as to why it's just not working for me.

• I'm too heavy handed. When applying brow pencil be light and only have the hand moving rather than the whole arm going. 
• I get too excited and go over and over with product then go oh oh. A spooly is going to be your best friend and it doesn't mean because you have gone in to dark that you need to wipe it all off and start again (like I always do) you just brush over it and soften it up. 
• I need an eyebrow primer. With the amount of cuddles and kisses I get from my gorgeous 3 year old Niah I end up having half my brows coming off giving me these terrible half eyebrows. 
• I don't look for my points. Measuring up at the start was a keep tip I need to remember starting at the eye points to match where the eyebrow starts and finished and then having my arch in the center of my eye. I'm probably always rocking these straight brows with a flick at the bottom which just are making me look angry all the time. 

The Benefit brow collection sees nine (9) products in total BUT it doesn't mean you need every single piece to be able to do your eyebrows. Hannah showed us the use of the different products and how we can create different looks according to the product use. 

For softer natural look eyebrows you could simply use BROWVO! conditioning eyebrow primer, Goof Proof eyebrow pencil followed by gimme brow or ready, set, BROW gel and your done. 

For myself who likes the bold sharp and defined eyebrows I would be looking to add a few more pieces into the eyebrow routine being BROWVO! conditioning eyebrow primer to keep the brows put, Goof Proof eyebrow pencil to start out and find my shape and/or ka-BROW! eyebrow cream-gel to mark out those lines ready to fill, Precisely, my brow eyebrow pencil to give me the fuller look filling in where my hair is sparse - ensuring you brush against the grains of the hair to get down under the existing hairs or alternatively you could use Gimme Brow to do this as well, 3D BROWtones eyebrow enhancer is a product you use to give some highlights into the brows and soften them down - purchase a few shades lighter as you need to go opposite to the color your hairs actually are and finally set it all in with ready, set, BROW! clear brow gel which sets those brows in place for 24hrs and will remain 'on fleek'. If you love a good highlighter like me then pop some High Brow or High Brow Glow under those babies and even on top to shine.

Just for an FYI if you have seen my brows and think they are the same shade and want to try our the range as well we were also color shade matched by the benebabes and I'm a shade 5 but would be a shade 2 in the 3D BROWtones. 

The Benefit Brow's On Tour Event was a real eye opener and something I came away with going 'yes, I can do this'. I can have good eyebrows and thanks to Hannah and Luci I know exactly what the Benefit brow range does and will need to save my pennies to add the rest of my brow needed products to the collection which needs to be done STAT. 

www.benefitcosmetics.com/au/en-gb

Disclosure: This post has been made in collaboration with Benefit Australia. I was invited along to the above mentioned event with no expectation for it's promotion here. I received no payment for this review and all opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

Liptember this September

September shall now be renamed to Liptember as we help kiss away the blues with an amazing initiative that helps raise awareness and much needed funds for women's mental health during the month of September.

Mental Health is something massive happening to those close around us that we may have never thought about or are going through tough times. About two months ago I participated in Mental Health First Aid training and the facilitator training us said I could listen to you all for a few minutes and diagnose each and every single one of you in the room with a mental health illness.

Recently I attended a breakfast and had the honors of hearing from the founder of Liptember, Luke Morris - who is a male, which first shocked me when I began to learn about Liptember a few years back. Luke is hoping to raise $1 million dollars this Liptember.

How can you get involved?
Purchase Liptember lipsticks from Chemist Warehouse, My Chemist or My Beauty Spot - be bold with your lip colors for a day, week or the month and post it to social raising awareness and donate to Liptember or get sponsors to donate on your behalf.

One of my favourite ways to get involved in purchasing a Liptember Beauty Box for $30 filled with value of over $250. I picked up mine at the Media breakfast event were all proceeds go towards Liptember with many great brands in support of Liptember.

All funds raised in Liptember are donated directly to The Centre For Women's Mental Health and Lifeline Australia.

www.liptember.com.au

Disclosure: This post has been made in collaboration with Liptember. I was invited along to the above mentioned event in exchange for its promotion here. I received no payment for this review and all opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

We Will Rock You Melbourne REVIEW

When it comes to music I am an easy going person and like to mix it up. Obviously there is my preferred type of music styles but when I was asked to attend We Will Rock You I was more then delighted to go along as I had heard amazing things about it last time around when they were in town.

We Will Rock You will have you singing along, clapping your hands, swaying them in the air and either stamping the legs or smacking the thighs to an array of hit Queen songs, and throwing in a range of current/past hit song titles during the production character’s lines.

The musical takes you through what they would imagine being the future for all of us. Music is being made digitally in the year 2350 and live music is banned on Earth rather than real instruments, which will have you see main characters Scaramouche (Erin Claire from Heathers, Phantom of the Opera) and Galileo (Gareth Keegan from Jersey Boys, Broadway to Oz) going back through history of the classic's to find the last standing guitar and fight against a diet of synthesized pop with the Bohemian’s.

It's a musical that is suitable for 13 years and above, but well loved by those who were around for Queen being one of the musical leaders. We Will Rock You has been crowned UK’s favorite show at the Olivier awards 2011, British theatre’s answer to the Oscars, had over 3600 performances in the UK in which resulted in 3600 standing ovations, has sold over 6 million tickets in the UK and tallying to 16 million worldwide!

A stellar theatre musical that is made by Queen and Ben Elton travelling worldwide and playing all those hit Queen songs we love: Another One Bites The Dust, Under Pressure, Killer Queen, We Are The Champions and of course, wouldn't be complete without We Will Rock You.


Australian Idol's very own Casey Donovan takes to the stage in a character role playing ‘Killer Queen’ in which will see Casey play out the ‘not to meant to be liked’ character that belts out those high notes and reminisced times for me when I watched her on the TV for Australian Idol. There is something that just has me impressed and feeling proud when we get to see those who rocked it on Australian reality shows go on to be with us for awhile to enjoy.

We Will Rock You is touring back in Melbourne right now until October 30, 2016, at Regent Theatre with a wide selection of show times throughout the week to suit any schedule.

The show does run for quite some time so I recommend you have a stock up the drinks and snacks as you will be there for 2hrs and 45mins for the show run time which is inclusive of a 20 min interval break. Tickets are from $71.07 at Ticketek.

www.wewillrockyou.com.au

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by We Will Rock You and Nuffnang. I was gifted tickets to attend the above mentioned musical as media in exchange for its promotion here. I received monetary payment for this review/feature and all opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own. 

Photo credits are by Jeff Busby 

A ladies intimate lunch talking Vaginas with Vagisil + GIVEAWAY

I'm one of those over-sharers who doesn't have much shame. I'm an open book and happy to share stories that humiliate myself or just share an experience that not many would chat about.
I do give warning to those who haven't heard these sort of stories from me before that I'm going to be TMI for a second but that's just what normally comes from me.

Back a little bit ago I was invited along to a ladies intimate lunch hosted by Dr Ginni Mansberg for Vagisil. Dr Ginni Mansberg if you haven't heard about her before is a Mother of 6 kids, media personality who you might have seen on Sunrise and is a GP who actively promotes vaginal healthcare especially being that it is a major health concern experienced by many of us ladies.

The Smith, Prahran was the location for us, in of course a separate intimate room was our private dining area to talk about our sex lives, our past or maybe current vaginal healthcare and discuss future ways to help ensure we have a good healthy vagina.

How many of you knew that using normal soaps or wash products were bad for cleaning your vagina? It wasn't until I got to probably my 20s that I grew to know this. Prior to that I remember being told/taught by my parents whilst washing to wash with soap down 'there' and obviously this has been what they grew to know as well being that back in the older days we didn't have specific products designed for these things.

I was lucky enough to be able to interview Dr Ginni Mansberg post event where it ended up being just a general chit chat as majority of my questions I had in the interview ended up being answered through Dr Ginni's presentation over lunch.

One of my main questions I wanted to share as I was really eager to ask Dr Ginni was 'Is having discharge normal and should it be cleaned off the surface?'
Dr Ginni responded that yes discharge is normal and majority of us will get this. Discharge doesn't necessarily need to be removed if it is on the surface as it's not really doing harm but should it be internal this is when it will be a concern.

Here are some key things we went over in the lunch:

• Vagisil is a perfect intimate care product to use as it has the correct levels of pH to balance you out. With use of fruity soaps this is at a pH level of 11 and a normal soap being pH level 8. 
• The vagina should be acidic not alkaline which is what use of cheap soaps will do. We think we are doing good by cleaning through soaps but in fact we are causing more bad than good as this will create smelly bacteria. 
• Vaginal dryness is one of the most common discomfort concerns more so than smelly odours, yeast infections or itches. 
• Vaginal dryness is treatable via easy self applicator products rather than surgeries. 
• Vaginal dryness can be suffered at any age, and can be caused by a range of many things like tight clothing, stress, incorrect product uses, menopause etc. 

Vagisil have a product within their range that helps treat vaginal dryness through the Vagisil ProHydrate Plus Internal Hydrating Gel. This product helps to replicate what a woman vagina would normally produce and help moisture the vagina for up to three (3) days. This product can be found in local supermarkets.

Thanks to Vagisil we have some goodie prize packs to giveaway, as pictured below.
1 x Internal Hydrating Gel containing 6 applicators
2 x External Hydrating Gel 30g tubes
Valued at over $40 per prize pack.

Win 1 of 5 Ladies Intimate Packs

Giveaway ends: Monday 19th September at midnight.

Winners will be drawn: 20th September, 2016.

Winner will have 24hrs to contact back otherwise redraw will occur.

www.vagisil.com/en-au

Disclosure: This post has been made in collaboration with Vagisil. I was invited along to the above mentioned event in exchange for its promotion here. I received no payment for this review and all opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.