Swimming for Fitness – Speedo Pinnacle Review

A little while ago I wrote about my upgrade from a shoddy high street swimming costume to one more suited to my rediscovered love of swimming. I got myself a swanky and much admired Speedo one.

Since then I’ve fallen back in love with the Speedo brand and couldn’t resist getting a proper, full-on training costume. My eye was drawn to the Speedo Pinnacle Body Positioning Kickback costume.

Regular readers will know I had two lots of spinal surgery last year and most of my core stability was lost, plus I’ve got a long rehab road ahead of me. A costume that will help re-balance me and strengthen me in the water could only ever be a good thing.

The Speedo pinnacle is full of special panels to help with core stability. Because of this it can be a little tricky to get on, but it’s worth it. Once on it looks fantastic and got lots of very positive comments.

The Speedo Pinnacle is made from fabric which Speedo call Endurance+ and has been developed to be 100% chlorine-resistant, as well as quick drying. The fabric is 20 times more fade resistant than conventional swimwear and has been engineered to keep its shape, so it shouldn’t get baggy after a few months. There’s nothing worse than a baggy bottom!

Thankfully for someone rocking a sizeable pair of double Ds, it has decent bust support. I struggled with my old, non-Speedo costume and its slippy down straps, there’s none of that with this, the racer-style back which means you don’t have to worry about giving people an eyeful when you dive in, nor are there any hasty readjustments after every few lengths.

It was comfortable to wear and I felt it did support and improve my performance, not to mention increase my confidence in the water. When you’re exercising the last thing you need is to be worrying about what you’re wearing. This is stylish and performance enhancing.

Would I recommend the Speedo Pinnacle? Absolutely, if you’re a serious and regular swimmer or you do aqua-fitness, then this is a brilliant costume. It looks good, it feels good and it should last longer than other costumes.

Disclaimer: Speedo were kind enough to send me a new swimming costume for review, to help me on my road to post-surgery fitness and as a thank you for my (always honest) review.

Wrappz.com iPad Skin Review

Disclaimer: I was sent my iPad skin free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are my own.

I live my life with my iPad in my hand. All of my work is done on it so I spend a lot of time on it. At Christmas I upgraded to an iPad Air and bought myself a cheap case to go with it. Within a couple of weeks the case cracked and was rendered useless.

When I was offered the chance to try a personalised iPad skin from Wrappz.com I couldn’t resist. They do personalised plastic and leather cases too, but as yet only skins for the iPad Air.

The process was really simple. Upload your chosen picture or pictures, adjust it to how you want it using the simple tools, add any text you want and submit your order.

My skin arrived within a couple of days, I’d chosen one of my favourite pictures of my son and the image was as vibrant as the original. It was easy to apply too. It’s like a large sticker with all the holes in all the right places for the camera etc. You just position it carefully and roll it onto the iPad taking care to rub away any bubbles or creases, if you get it wrong it’s easy to take it off and re-apply, though I managed it in one go.

ipad skin

I thought it made my iPad look beautiful, I was really pleased with it. When my son saw it the next day, he loved it too, he kept stroking it and saying “that’s me”

Although the skin wouldn’t massively protect it if I dropped my iPad from a height; it will protect it from everyday scratches and minor bumps. It’s a lovely thing to have and each time I pick up my iPad I am reminded of a happy, sunshiny day last summer with my lovely son.

I am delighted to be able to offer my blog readers a free personalised phone skin from Wrappz.com, you just need to pay the postage. Please enter the voucher code freeskin at the checkout.

Disclaimer: I was sent my iPad skin free of charge for review purposes. These are my honest opinions.

Gusto, Didsbury Review

I’m a Didsbury girl through and through. I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve seen many changes. I remember Gusto when it was Est Est Est (yes, I am that old) and it has always been a local, neighbourhood eatery, a restaurant for all occasions and for none.

I love that when you go in there’ll be a table celebrating a birthday, a few couples on their first or fiftieth date or just people who fancied a good meal. You don’t have to dress up to go there, or you can dress up to the nines, whichever. It’s so relaxed with very little pretention.

I’ve been itching to review Gusto since I started blogging and I was pretty sure we’d be in for a good night with some great food.

We were seated next to their open kitchen. I love sitting there watching the hustle and bustle and the quiet concentration of the chefs, it can get a bit warm up that end of the restaurant in the summer, but on a drizzly February evening it was just the ticket.

We ordered a bottle of Italian red, a very acceptable Feudi d’Albe Montepulciano. It was easy drinking and matched our food beautifully.

To start, Matthew, my long suffering husband ordered the mussels in white white, garlic and cream served with ciabatta. He was cock-a-hoop over this dish. He reckons mussels are a good way to judge a restaurant. If the mussels are prepped properly and the sauce without grit you know kitchen standards are going to be alright. He loved the tender mussels and the rich, flavoursome sauce. They smelt incredible, even to my vegetarian nostrils. He’ll be having those again.

I opted for the Burratina mozzarella cheese, slow roasted beetroot and herb wafers. This was undoubtedly the prettiest thing I’ve ever eaten. The mozzarella was soft and yielding, beautifully creamy, it almost sighed as I ate it. It was well matched against the tang of the beetroot, with the crunch of the herb wafers adding a welcome contrast of texture.

My only moment of pickiness was I wasn’t keen on the crunchy seeds mixed in with the beetroot, I’d’ve preferred them on the side, but that’s a personal preference. It was a delightfully light start to the meal.

On to the mains and I chose the Rigatoni Primavera which was rigatoni, butternut squash, celeriac, carrot, cabbage, green beans, pine nuts and cream. Being a real vegetarian the waitress kindly offered to get me the vegetarian Parmesan instead of the standard non-veggie one. This was one of those lovely, attention to detail touches that really make the difference in terms of customer service.

The Rigatoni Primavera was a well executed dish with the pasta being just a nudge over al dente. The vegetables were tasty and the celeriac was sweet and tender and I could’ve eaten a big dish of that alone. The green beans added crunch, it was a lovely rich, wintery pasta dish.

My carnivorous husband went for the pan roast breast of duck, balsamic shallot tartlette with red wine and beetroot reduction with sides of buttered savoy cabbage and pine nuts and a dish of lovely crispy baked garlic and rosemary roast potatoes.

The duck was pink with perfectly rendered fat, he said it was about the best duck he’s ever eaten. The shallot tartlette was sweet, unctuous and the pastry crisp and golden. The red wine and beetroot reduction (which I had a little dib-dab at with my finger) was sweet and I’m told worked well with the duck.

The sides which I ably assisted in the consumption of were lovely. I adore cabbage so there was a little battle of the quickest fork going on between us. The potatoes were hot, crispy and garlicky. We loved them (I was so inspired by them I knocked up something similar to go with Sunday lunch).

The portion sizes were just greedy enough to make us feel nicely full, but still magically have room for pudding. I plumped for the Bombolini, homemade mini doughnuts with chocolate sauce and cream. These arrived piping hot, sprinkled with sugar with a pot of melted chocolate and a dollop of cream on the side. These were amazing, far, far superior to the hot doughnuts you get in huts by the seaside, altogether classier and if I’m honest I’ve thought about little else since I ate them.

My companion chose the hot chocolate and hazelnut brownie with pistachio ice cream and chocolate sauce. As is the law I scoffed a couple of mouthfuls of the warm, moist brownie. The pistachio ice cream was a bit special too. Definitely a contender for brownie of the year.

We rounded off our meal with a Godfather cocktail each. We’d had an exceptionally delightful, laid back, fun evening; with three courses of excellent food, a bottle of good wine, with attentive and considerate service and all just five minutes walk from our house. Perfection.

Gusto, Didsbury can be found at 756 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2DW Tel: 0161 445 8209

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of the restaurant and ate for free in return for our honest review.

Review: Happi Feet Shoe Fresheners

In our house there are two boys (one big, one small) and me. We have a cloakroom (but alas no cloaks) and most of our shoes live on the floor of the cloakroom. In the warmer weather when you walk past, you are aware that that’s where the shoes live because of the gentle hum of feet wafting under the gap under the door.

Thankfully I was sent a pack of happi feet shoe fresheners to try. These are innovative shoe fresheners which sit above the sole allowing the shoe to breathe whilst freshening it with one of the four scents from their range –

Caribbean beach breeze
Japanese cherry blossom
Freshly laundered
Madagascan vanilla

I tried the freshly laundered, which to me is probably the most logical clean foot smell. It does indeed smell clean, fresh and having used it on my stinkiest, most ancient walking boots for a few days, I can confirm they smell much, much better. I’ve juggled them about and tried them in a few different pairs of our shoes and it’s all good. Plus they have the added benefit of making the cloakroom smell fresher too.

Happi feet are available from Tesco and retail at just £2.60 a pack which lasts approximately 6 weeks. You can swap them from shoe to shoe as and when needed.

Disclaimer: I was sent a packet of happi feet shoe fresheners for review purposes, all images and opinions are my own.

Review: QV Skincare for Eczema & Psoriasis

I have psoriasis on my feet. It’s horrible and can flare up to the point where I can barely walk and the soles of my feet bleed. I’ve been prescribed some ointments from my GP; a standard emollient and Betnovate which is used to treat inflammatory skin conditions. They work to some extent but it never really goes away.

Psoriasis is the rapid acceleration of skin cell production. Skin cells are normally made and replaced every three to four months, but with psoriasis this process only lasts about three to seven days. The resulting build-up of skin cells is what creates the patches associated with psoriasis.

Frankly, my feet have been so bad recently, if it worked I’d happily rub dog poo on them (rest assured, I won’t). So when QV Skincare asked me to try something new, I jumped at the chance. I gauged my skin on their website as being level 4 which was the very worst imaginable and they sent me a range of samples to try.

Review: QV Skincare for Eczema & Psoriasis

The QV skincare range is from Australia, an Australian friend spotted them in my house and was pleased they’d made the journey over, QV is a well recognised and trusted brand in Australia. I do rate Australian Skincare products too so knowing this I was excited to try them.

Unlike a lot of skincare products which tend to be petroleum jelly based, QV Skincare use Glycerol. Glycerol isn’t greasy and won’t block pores, and leaves skin feeling smooth and soft. This is important; we’ll come back to this point later.

I tried the following QV Skincare products:

QV Gentle Wash This is a mild, foaming cleanser which you could use as a hand soap or facial wash. As I have dry skin on my body. I used it like I would a shower gel and I have to say I was impressed. It was developed for sensitive skins and there are few as sensitive as me. I noticed a visible difference to the dryness on my skin within a few days and some of my bad rashy patches had massively improved. I will be buying this again.

QV Bath Oil I hardly ever have a bath because it dries the skin out on my feet and usually within minutes of getting in. my psoriasis is insanely itchy and I scratch all my skin off. Not so with this. I ran myself a lovely bath, put the recommended amount in and had a good soak. There was no in bath itching and when I got out my skin felt soft and lovely and my feet weren’t horribly dry and hating me. I have in the past used oilatum but this seems much, much better, maybe it’s the glycerol base. This is another product I’d have as a skincare staple.

QV Skin Lotion When I opened this I thought it was like a baby lotion for sensitive skin. I actually loved this and it would be perfect for babies and children with dry skin. I used it on all my dry bits but not my feet. My dry, rashy bits showed quite incredible improvement after just a few days. My skin felt happier and just looked less angry. I think this will be a staple skincare product for me. You can also use it to remove make-up which is a real boon for sensitive types.

QV Cream When I opened this it reminded me of E45 cream, I have to say this was my least favourite product by a long way. I think it’s great for dry skin and eczema but I made the mistake of putting it on my feet and within minutes I was scratching the skin off. I did use it on my legs and it worked perfectly well on them, I think maybe it just wasn’t right for my condition. Everyone’s skin is different so what works for one won’t necessarily work for another. I was sad that I’d loved everything else but not this.

QV Intensive Ointment This is probably my very favourite product in the range. When I opened it I thought it’d be just like the emollient I get on prescription. Not so, again my standard emollient is petroleum based and this being glycerol based seemed lighter and better suited to treat my psoriasis. Within 24 hours I noticed a change on my feet. By the end of the week they were looking fantastic. Honestly the best they’ve been in years. I was delighted and will be sticking to this product in future and foregoing my prescription emollient.

Review: QV Skincare for Eczema & Psoriasis

I was delighted with this range, like I said earlier the glycerol really does seem to make the difference, certainly with my skin.

The QV skincare range is suitable for all ages but is great for kids; they have a character called Qool Vince who explains all about eczema and itchy skin. I suffered (really suffered) as a child with my skin and explaining things to children in a really accessible way can only be a good thing.

Few things are more miserable than itchy, cracked, dry, bleeding skin. I think it’s excellent that more products are being developed to treat and ease the symptoms. Once you find something that works for you you’ve got to stick with it. I’ll be sticking with QV Skincare.

For more information about QV Skincare, visit their website.