Paper Jamz - Pro Mic

The blurb: Be a real superstar singer with the Paper Jamz Pro Mic. Sing a duet with the artist or go solo and become your favourite artist. The system features an auto mode that adjusts effects as your singing to recreate a track’s original sound. 1 built-in hit song and voucher for 3 downloadable songs. Buy new songs to add to your set list. Jam with Paper Jamz Pro fans from around the world with your own virtual studio.

I’m sure this is music to the ears of any Parent. A microphone that auto tunes your children (or you!!) and therefore makes the noise levels in the house much more bearable.....kind of!!  This is a brand new product from Paper Jamz, which is completely awesome and that Chick has played with loads.......you may need ear plugs to watch the video....

We definitely need to download some more tunes as I’m heartily sick of hearing the three that come installed! The Pro Mic retails at £29.99 and for us would be well worth the money! This comes highly recommended from the girls in the Brooks household.

Wild Science Face Mask Laboratory

The Blurb: Learn the secrets of luxurious cosmetics with Wild Science Face Mask Laboratory! Create your own clay face masks using the same ingredients as top brands and your healthy-looking skin will be the envy of all your friends. Follow the steps in the full colour instruction booklet which will teach you how to diagnose your own skin type and make the best custom cosmetics.

Everything you will need is provided; just add water and a little imagination! The perfect kit for sleepovers, there are four exciting experiments to try meaning girls will have hours of fun. Collect the whole range and open your own Luxury Day Spa!

This is a great set that Chick and I had a lot of fun with. We liked it so much that we bought a similar set for her best friend for Christmas. It's fab for parties and sleepovers especially now that Chick is getting a little bit older and is after having movie nights etc with her friends!!!  Retails at £14.99 from Toys R Us which I think is very reasonable for a good kit.

Teacup Piggies

The blurb: Teacup Piggies are everyone's best friend! Dress them, feed them and take them wherever you go. These cute interactive piggies talk and laugh and oink and each has her own unique personality.

Each piggie says over 25 different phrases. Lay them on their side and they go to sleep and gently snore, feed them with their bottle and hear them drinking! Each set contains:

·         1 x Teacup Piggie

·         1 x Teacup

·         1 x Feeding Bottle

·         1 x Birth Certificate

I can see why these may be attractive to children but if I’m honest it’s not something that I would buy for Chick. They are cute and interactive and they talk an awful lot but don’t say anything interesting. I don’t mind their American accent but it does get kind of annoying after a while. I think part of my problem with these is that they cost £15 but don’t really do much.

Chick gives her opinion in the video:

Given how much she says that she likes it, she really hasn’t played with it that often at all. However, she is seduced by all the other accessories that you can buy to go with it and would really like the limo. I guess if you buy some of the other sets the kids would play with them a lot more.

Available to buy in-store and online from Toys R Us at £14.99. The limo retails at £24.99.

Lalaloopsy Silly Hair Play Doll

The blurb: Girls will love these gorgeous Lalaloopsy Silly Hair Dolls! When their last stitch was sewn they came to life, taking on the personalities that come from the fabrics that made them.

Jewel Sparkles was made from remnants of a real princess' dress. She is very graceful, a little bit bossy, and loves to dance and wear sparkly clothes. She also has a Persian cat.

Chick is probably a little bit too old for this now but it doesn’t change the fact that she loves it!! Our doll is a ‘Jewel Sparkle’ doll and what I love about her is that she looks kind of like a rag doll but is actually really sturdy!! Throw in a cool website and Chick is a massive fan!! The other thing that I like about this is that it encourages kids to use their imagination and in this day and age I think it’s a good thing!

She comes with a brush, hair accessories and a little cat that has a curly tail that matches the doll’s hair.  I much prefer this to the old fashioned styling dolls with the grungy hair that gets all clumpy when you’ve brushed it  few times. Jewel has plastic hair that doesn’t tangle and can be curled or straightened and then twisted back around. Add bows, ribbons or hair jewels for more fun.

Aimed at 4+ years and retailing at around £39.99 (although TRU have £10 off at the moment!!) I think this will be a big hit with girls everywhere this year so get yours now before they sell out. A whole range of extra Lalaloopsy accessories are also on sale. Available from Toys R Us online and instore. Remember to check out the hundreds of brilliant reviews over at the Toybox.

Scraperfoil Gift Set

The blurb: The Scraperfoil Gift Set by Reeves includes three Scraperfoil titles, which can be mastered by scraping away the pre-printed outlines and by adding some individual touches of your own. Each pack contains: 3 pre-printed board, 2 scrapertools, 1 practice piece with full set of instructions, all presented in stylish silver packaging to compliment the range.

The idea is that you scrape off the grey print to get to the silver underneath. Once it’s done you get a lovely silver ‘etching’.  The pictures are quite detailed and I found that you had to concentrate but it wasn't too difficult.......Chick unfortunately wasn’t interested in doing this after the first 5 minutes, but to be honest she isn’t a big fan of concentrating!!!

You may remember back in July that we reviewed the ‘RainbowScraper Foil’ kit and were distinctly unimpressed with the scraper as it was plastic and didn’t work very well. Thankfully the scraper that comes with this set is made of metal and it makes a real difference to the detail of the pictures.

The set came with 3 different pictures and 2 scrapers so could be shared. I think this would make a lovely present for slightly older children and is suggested for ages six years and up. Retails at around £11.99 and available instore from Toys R Us.

Hello Kitty at WHSmith

I'm generally quite picky about what I choose to review, and the majority of things I do say yes to are for Chick. She is one very lucky girl, (as her bursting at the seams bedroom will attest too) but she has one true love in the world which is stationery!! If you tell her that she can roam the aisles in WHSmith just looking at paper, pens, folders and rubbers then she is a very happy girl..... and if you let her move onto the book section or actually buy her stuff then it makes her weekend!!

So when WHSmith asked me if I would like to review some of their 'Hello Kitty' stationery I didn't think about turning it down for a second!! I actually love the 'Hello Kitty' range anyway as their products are perfect for girls of Chick's age. They are useful, bright, pretty and she thinks that they are grown up but I like the fact that the images are all so innocent and lovely, whilst bright and funky. So when this little bundle arrived I was really delighted:

So colourful and lovely!! We got a really cool pen that has some kind of mini slide show on top, a little figurine and a folder.....which will be useful for keeping the reams of paper in that my lovely girl writes on every day!!!

We also got an address book, a notebook and a pot of pencils which I've actually put away for her Christmas stocking but I know that she will be more than thrilled with them on Christmas morning:

May need to buy a couple more of the folders to keep her future masterpieces in though :-)

Pinypon Travel Pack Gift Set Giveaway

Do you fancy winning a couple of new toys in the run up to Christmas??? We just received the last Toys R Us Toyology box for this year (booooo hiss) and I have two great prizes to giveaway.....one today and another tomorrow!!

PinyPon Travel Pack Gift Set

Pinypon loves to travel! She loves to visit all the trendy cities - such as New York and Paris and it's much more fun when you travel with a friend! There's so much to see and do.

Contents:

2 Pinypon Dolls

1 Pet

30 Accessories

3 Postcards

Sets are available from Toys R Us instore.  To enter all you need to do is check out the Toys R Us page on Facebook and have a look around at the amazing reviews in the Toybox and then leave me a comment here letting me know that you've done so.

Closing date is Sunday, 27th November at 5pm.

Pinypon 6 Figure Set

The blurb: This great PinyPon 6 Figure set is perfect for hours of creative fun. Comes complete with 4 Pinypon dolls, 2 pets and 30 accessories.

Pinypon dolls can be customised with the latest accessories and hair styles giving them a completely different, unique look.

To go with the Pinypon caravan that I reviewed last week, we also received a bonus pack of six Pinypon figures. They come with all kinds of accessories and are all mix and match.

They are quite sturdy figures that are all interchangeable. You can change the hair, faces, clothes and make them male or female. I really like the whole Pinypon set as it encourages imanginative play and although these are relatively pricey at £14.99 think that the kids will definitely get the use out of them.

These would be better as an addition to one of the other sets i.e. the caravan or the car but they can be used as a stand alone toy too. Available online or instore from Toys R Us.

Pinypon Caravan

The blurb: Take your Pinypon doll and her pet on a caravan adventure. This pretty flower caravan comes complete with a surfboard, a boat with a slide, deck chairs for relaxing in and even a little pool with a shower that really squirts out water.

Pinypon dolls can be customised with the latest accessories and hair styles giving them a completely different, unique look.

Includes:

·         1 x Caravan

·         1 x Pinypon Doll

·         1 x Pinypon Pet

·         2 x Deck Chairs

·         1 x Table

·         2 x Surfboards

·         1 x Pool with working shower

·         Sheet of Stickers

When I first saw this in the box I thought about giving it to my old friends at the hospital as I presumed that Chick was too old for it. Turns out I was completely wrong!! She caught a glimpse of it when I was trying to do something else and had it away and open quicker than I could say ‘no’!!! 

Out of everything that we’ve had so far this has definitely had the most use.  I’m not sure if they have a clever advertising campaign (as Chick knows all the words) but according to her, the buzz on the playground is that these are the toys to ask for at Christmas.

The set is mainly plastic and seems well made. It comes with a few annoying little pieces but actually is pretty cool. Everything folds up and can be put away inside the caravan so it stores very easily.

Chick loves that it’s compact but also everything else about it. The fact that you can add water and make the shower actually work, the fact that the dolls come with different hair, faces, clothes and accessories. Every time she’s had a friend round they’ve had the set out and been role playing. As I say I thought that she’d be too old for it but I can’t recommend it highly enough from her point of view.

The set is aimed at ages 4+ which I think is fine and as I say Chick is almost 9 and has used it constantly. Smaller children could use the caravan and dolls but you would have to take out the tiny pieces.

Retails at £24.99 and is available from Toys R Us online or instore.

Hello Kitty Mini Playhouse Giveaway

Thanks to the lovely people at Toys R Us I have this lovely little prize to giveaway:

  

Hello Kitty 15 piece+ mini dolls house play set. Compact dolls house carry case opens out to reveal dolls house with bathroom and bedroom on upper level and downstairs living space. On hot summer days Hello Kitty can enjoy the outdoors with the fold out pool, sunbeds and garden terrace. Contains Hello Kitty, Mama and Papa characters and furnishings for you to arrange in her house.

I know that it's very early to be mentioning Christmas but this would be a great gift to put away and send to Santa. To enter just leave a comment below and then check out the amazing Toybox. 

Competition ends Friday, 7th October at 5pm. Winners will be announced after this time. 

The prize will be sent towards the end of the month and hopefully within 28 days.

Harumika Dress Form Set

The blurb:  The Harumika Designer Dress Form Set allows girls to show off their cool fashion sense and their designer aspirations. As with all the Harumika sets, no sewing required. Girls can create their own personal style with two stand-out designer dress forms, which are decorated with cool stamped art in an assortment of signature colours: pink and white or black and silver. Just use the colourful signature fabrics and fashion accessories as well as the stylus design tool that locks the outfits in place to create a new design every time.

Harumika is quick and simple and doesn't require any sewing, glue, or scissors. The secret lies in the silicon strip on the back of each mannequin which holds fabric in place.

This is a great idea that I’m sure most girls would like and I’m not entirely sure how I haven’t seen them before. In the set that we received were two dress makers dummies, material to make outfits, bling to dress it up a little and a poker:

You use the material to make all kinds of outfits, styles and fashions without any sewing or gluing at all. The only downside to this is that once you’ve made your fabulous creation you can’t actually keep it.  There is however a Harumika website which is really cool and you can upload pictures to the site to show off your outfits.

Chick is a huge fan of this set, as well as the website and gives it an 11 out of 10. She would have liked a bigger choice of fabric with it but you can buy extra packs or use other material that you have laying around and cut it into smaller pieces and use that.

We would both highly recommend it as we’ve spent ages together trying to outdo each other with our designs. Gotta love a bit of competition in the Brooks household. Available to buy from Toys R Us online and instore. Retails at around £19.99

Galt Nail Art

Although very much a science geek, my little Chick is also a girly girl so when we received this kit she was of course thrilled. We decided that we would make the most of it and have a girly pamper session together on a Sunday afternoon. The results of which you can see in the slide show:

I would buy and have bought Chick sets like this before. I was really impressed with this. It's great for parties and to give away as presents. The nail varnish is in fab colours and I must admit to being a fan of the sparkly....the silver may have disappeared to my make up bag!! 

It comes with seven nail varnishes, tattoos, an emery board, holographic stickers and nail gems.  Available to buy from Toys R Us online and instore. Don't forget to like the Toybox on Facebook so that you can check out all the other fab reviews.

Bloggiversary Giveaway Day 1 - Casdon Toy Dyson

This Giveaway is now closed. Please keep checking back for more great giveaways.

The blurb: The hottest vacuum cleaner to date from the Dyson stable, the Casdon version features an imitation vortex that spins coloured beads making it look and sound like it's really working. The detachable wand has working vacuum action which can pick up small pieces of paper or poly beads. The toy also includes detachable tools on board. Height 69 cm. Requires 4 x C batteries, not included. 3 years +.

Chick and her friend Miss.C both used to have one of these when they were younger and what they both liked about it was the fact that it did actually pick bits up off of the floor......only small bits admittedly, but they enjoyed helping with the housework. It's aimed at ages 3+ due to the small pieces contained inside (I guess!!) but I would have had no problem with Chick using this at a younger age.....supervised of course!

The Dyson retails at around £20 and the model that I have to giveaway is actually grey & yellow so a little more unisex than the model shown in the pictures.

To enter you just need to leave a comment below explaining how you would review this item......it's as simple as that.

You can also check out the brilliant Toys R Us Toybox application on Facebook. Closing date is Friday, 2nd September at 5pm. Good Luck :-)

*This giveaway is courtesy of the Toys R Us Toyology programme.

Galt - Make Your Own Lip Gloss

I have to admit to being a huge fan of these ‘make your own’ kits and I tend to buy them a lot for Chick’s friends birthdays. Mainly because they are reasonably priced, cute, easy to make and girls just love them so when I saw this in our Toyology box I knew it would be a big hit.

It comes with a lip gloss base, colourings, pearlescent pigment to make everything shiny, 3 bottles, the measuring cup, mixing spatula and guide. It also has written instructions and a picture guide.

These are super easy to make and Chick managed all on her own with no help from me. She had lots of fun making these and has been carrying ‘her’ lip gloss around in the pouch that comes with it. It’s also done the rounds of school and after school club so I’m sure that they are thrilled with me!!! The only downside for me is that it tastes absolutely disgusting but Chick gives it 9 out of 10 for fun!!

Available in store from Toys R Us. Remember to head on over and check out the amazing new Toybox application where you can see all the reviews in one place.