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Popchips Giveaway!


I am a massive snacker, and my favourite has got to be Popchips, I literally eat so many I should be their brand ambassador. So, I've teamed up with the lovely faces over at @PopchipsUK to give one of you a whole months supply of Popchips. You're very welcome.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is use the super quick and easy box below!. There's 3 ways to enter, each one you do will give you another entry which means more chances of winning those glorious crisps! You can tweet about the competition ONCE a day!

Enter Here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway  




Sidenote: Due to an issue with my last giveaway, it will be re-run next week so keep your eyes peeled.
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Competition Time

 Want to win yourself a pair of British Boxers as reviewed by me along with a couple of beanie hats for your or a man that's in your life? It is super easy to enter, follow the instructions below! If you have any questions regarding the competition comment below or contact samsquireblog@gmail.com. This is just one of many competitions I'll be running this month! There's a tonne more of awesome giveaways. 

There is 2 entries available per person which gives you double the chance of winning. Simply enter below for your chance to win! Good Luck!
Sam Squire British Boxers


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I Can Do The Fandango

The quite fantastic people over at a quirky brand called Scaramouche and Fandango sent me over a couple of their products to try, you know me - I love trying products out and giving you my full and honest opinion! 

First off, I love their branding, each product is known by 2 letters, so I was sent Shampoo and Conditioner which are known to Scaramouche as Sh and Cd, I don't know if it is meant to but it reminds me of the periodic table from back in the day at school...yes, I actually learned something! They have these super sleek matte black bottles with the different coloured writing on each product, which for me is super handy - I wear glasses so when I am in the shower often cant see what I am picking up, these bright colours make it so much easier!

I started using them a week ago and I am now literally hooked! They make my hair super soft and before when I was just using any Shampoo I could find, my hair felt dry and looked a bit of a mess, however since using Scaramouche it feels soft and in much better condition. I have got to say I am really impressed, for a while I was wanting to try some of the Scaramouche products and if the rest work as well as these two beauties then I am definitely down to try a few more of their products! 

I cant really fault them, I am big on design which they have executed perfectly, and I love a product that works as well as these both do! You can buy Scaramouche and Fandango products direct from their website simply Click Here. What are your thoughts? Have you tried Scaramouche or which ones caught your eye? Drop a comment below or Tweet me @SamSquireBlog.

Keep your eyes peeled on the blog over the coming week because there is some exclusive chances for you to bag yourself some goodies in some super cool competitions! 
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The BRITs 2014 - The Good and The Bad

The BRIT Awards took place last night! Believe it or not, there was something of an OK show between James Corden’s tragic attempts at humour. However, he’s my least favourite parts.

Most arrogant man of the year…
http://www.corbisimages.com/

This ‘gent’ managed to bag himself the Sam Squire Most Arrogant Man award. He is the front man for the Arctic Monkeys, I care so little about who he is that I have done no research, his name? No clue. All I know is he genuinely believes he is ‘RocknRoll’ which is an utter shame for everything good in life, he’s about as RocknRoll as my left sock. I can only hope he takes stylespiration from Shia Labeouf and in future wears a paper bag on his head reading ‘I BELIEVE IM SOMETHING I AM NOT’. We live in hope.

Jessie’s Lips…
http://www.corbisimages.com/

I’m not sure if Jessie went down with some sort of hypothermia or something but her lips went a VERY strange colour. The former Voice UK Coach wore yet another camelicious cat suit for her Red Carpet appearance. No one appreciated it.

Ziggy Moss…
http://www.corbisimages.com/

The uber famous model accepted an award for her friend David Bowie and channelled her inner Ziggy wearing one of the costumes from Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust days.  I always believe we should stick to what we know, Kate is a perfect advocate for my belief, a stilted speech read from a card somehow doesn’t cut the mustard.  I genuinely think if you cannot be bothered to collect your award then you shouldn’t be awarded it at all.

Some positives…

Lorde…
http://www.corbisimages.com/

I can only congratulate the NZ teen on her performance; it was the most ‘normal’ that I have ever seen her do. You can’t fault her singing at all, she’s brilliant live I just don’t understand the pawing at the air…maybe she was a cat in a former life.

Bastille…
http://www.corbisimages.com/

Not only were the boys immaculately dressed but they also won! Congratulations to the four-piece on a well deserved win. Not only do they give a fantastic live performance but they’re just generally nice guys. Also one word. Bastimental. This whole merging of words could take off, they were Fantexellent. No? Huge fan of this band.

Best Dressed Man…
http://www.corbisimages.com/

Tinie – you simply cannot fault this man, what impeccable style he has. Always seriously on point. 

Worst Dressed Man…

Lemon – Oh Keith, what were you thinking?! Pharrell’s hat was awful on Pharrell and on you it is simply worse. Unless you’re becoming a pilgrim father, please ditch that hat!

What did you think? Comment below or drop me a tweet @SamSquireBlog



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Shameless Begging!

Today I am here to beg for your money. No, literally I am. For a little while now I have been working on developing a website for men full of my favourite fashion and small independent designer brands including clothing, shoes, accessories, skincare and more. However this whole blogging malarky doesn't pay too well, does it? So, I have set up a page about it on Crowdfunding website Indiegogo. 

Route 56 is the name of the brand and it'll be a website full of the great brands that I love, the online shop will mean that I'm bringing all these brands together under one 'roof' and making them accessible in one place. It's something I have wanted to do for a while now but the funding barrier has been holding me back. As mentioned on the campaign (Click Here for the link) I have a big plan for Route 56 including moving it into a men's highstreet boutique shop. So in funding the current project and getting it off the ground, you will be funding for the future. 

I know there will be many a person out there that will criticize the fact that I am so shamelessly asking for investment but I'm not really that bothered about that. I live by the whole 'If you don's ask, you don't get' saying and I'd love to one day be able to employ people to work for Route 56 and help me to achieve the dream that I have had.  There is the flip side though, without sufficient funding I will not be able to launch Route 56 and it'll simply be an idea that I will have to forget about. Believe me, if I could fund this whole thing myself I would!

If you want to help me to achieve this, please Click Here to be taken to the Indiegogo page, I have no set pledge limits, you can give whatever you want because every small or large donation will help me immensely to get this off the ground. I have a million ways to thank you all for helping me with the project. Here's the first: Thank you.


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Confessions of a Singletine



 Ah lovely, Valentines Day is here, yes, that is sarcasm you detect! As someone that is more single than a Pringle (they live in a tub, you cannot be a ‘single pringle’) and being less of a mingle than those minty chocolates (what happened to them by the way?!) I have spent the day begrudgingly selling chocolates to boyfriends who ‘forgot’ the date and to women who wanted to get a card on discount…

So, here is my guide to help everyone that will be ‘celebrating’ Singletines Day along with me this year, I like to nickname V Day ‘EFF OFF! Day’ - why? Well simply because it’s the one day a year where us singles openly tell smooshy couples to eff off. Here’s the top ways to distract yourself from those godawful couples. Singletines, I salute you.

  1. Order a take out.
No meal out for us tonight, no way – let’s not be reminded of our current relationship status, no. Get yourself a menu and order yourself a big fat greasy take out, plus there’s the bonus that no one will see you in a restaurant and assume you’re comfort eating, I do not comfort eat, simply make myself happier with a plethora of meals.

  1. Dogs are a Singletines best friend.
Nothing makes life more complete than a pup. I personally believe a French Bulldog or a Pug are more than adequate at showing love and affection, their adorable little faces will light up your life. However, careful you don’t go overboard; no one likes a crazy pug person.

  1. DO NOT DRINK
Alcohol is strictly forbidden today, we all know what will happen, you’ll promise to just have the one however, one glass (bottle) of wine and a few voddy’s later you suddenly decide to give your ex or your dream partner a ring or even just a text, well, we all know the disaster that goes on from here, so no alcohol!

I really hope this helps, you can do it Singletine! I just sure hope next year you can tell your story of how you used to be a Singletine!
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Dreams




So today I just wanted to do a short post, I guess it’s kind of lifestyle based. It’s about dreams and not giving up on them. You should never feel stupid or embarrassed by having something you’d really like to do in life, whether it’s climb a mountain, go on the X Factor or write a book, everything is achievable with a good mental attitude.  Look at obstacles thrown at you not as a barrier in your way but as motivation, if someone tells you it’s a stupid idea or it’ll never happen, okay that’s their opinion, maybe the thing that you want to do isn’t something they’d want to do, big deal – be yourself and achieve what you want to achieve.  I recently got some news about a really cool opportunity and originally I felt I couldn’t tell my family because to them it’d seem almost laughable and stupid, but to me it’s something I really want to do and only now I am starting to think, fair enough to them it may be stupid and embarrassing, but to me it’s something I’d like to attempt and it’s just another experience you can add to the tick list of life! 

I’m now at the point where I am asking myself ‘why not?’ and kind of feel stupid for overreacting and feeling like I couldn’t tell anyone due to fear of being laughed at.  I mean, you can achieve anything you want to in life, if you have a silly dream or aspiration then just do it, because I am pretty sure if you let the opportunity pass, you'll really kick yourself! Actually, after writing this post I feel better about this opportunity, it’s not something that comes your way every day and I don’t see the big deal I made out of wanting to tell my family but feeling too stupid. In conclusion, if you want to travel the moon then start building your ladder now – you WILL make it! I hope you haven't washed away in this ghastly weather, roll on the summer time!

As always you can comment below, or drop me a tweet @SamSquireBlog. You can now discuss the blog on Twitter giving me tips and requests for posts using the unique hashtag on each post. To chat use #SSDreams
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How Very British



It seems now that buying British made fashion products is almost a trend in itself. I was recently contacted by British Boxers who wanted to send me a pair to check out. I noticed they were made in Britain and it was something that really caught my eye, it isn’t often that you see British made clothing, with the majority of the industry being outsourced to different countries around the world due to cost. However just recently there seems to be a trickle of British made garments making their way onto the market.

Being a small brand, I hadn’t heard of British Boxers before, but I am pretty blummin impressed! They sent me over their press release, thank goodness because I’m so bad at just making assumptions…woohoo actual facts!

Created by Deborah, the whole concept of British Boxers seems to be focused around Jem Mace – Jem is described as ‘arguably the world first heavyweight boxing champion’.  The branding of the product is super good; they come in a card box that has a really vintage-esque feel about it. I am really impressed actually, the quality of the boxers themselves is really great, I can’t actually find any way to fault them. They can be purchased direct from http://www.dapsquared.co.uk/shop/ and are £22 a pair, they are also available on Not On The Highstreet and a scattering of indie retailers around the UK.

I’d say this is a really exciting brand, it has a really authentic British feel, with the brilliant quality and unique branding, I put these as a brand to watch out for, they have really found a gap in the market. Did I mention they also do beanie hats…like I said before, cannot fault them!

Have you tried them out or are you looking to? Drop me a message with your thoughts; you can drop me a tweet @SamSquireBlog using the hashtag #SSBritishBoxers or comment below! Don’t forget to check out British Boxers on Twitter, their handle is @GrandpaJem.
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Grover & Friends Review

 Subscription boxes are growing in popularity with makeup, food and techy boxes dominating the market, specially curated ones for the fashionable man seem to be still in the background of this competitive new industry.  The kind people from Grover & Friends offered to send me out a box to check out and review, I couldn't resist. Grover is a monthly subscription box for men, they state their goal as 'to bring men around the world a superior customer experience and fantastic new styles'. Thats a pretty cool goal to have, basically make men everywhere in the world just that little bit more trendy, did I just actually say 'trendy'? Forgive me. 


The box I received was 'The Rain Box' oooh! Inside was 2 products. Product 1 was by Grover and was one of their made in LA crew neck t-shirts. I have to say it is ridiculously soft, I can only imagine it feels the same as if you wore a cotton candy shirt...however, they had me at 'made in LA'. 


Second in the box of magic was the Claude Klassic Rain Jacket by KWAY. I haven't actually heard of KWAY - blasphemous, right? According to the neat little info card Grover include, KWAY have been making jackets since 1965. On opening the box I had no idea what it was, I was somewhat excited that I had taken a step back to the 90's and got a bum bag (fanny pack to our friends across the pond) however this rain mac folds inside its own pocket! Yes I did just say that. You can then using the elasticated band, wear it around your waist and look like some funky 80's dude. 
For the price, I'd say you get a really great box, some months you get more items than others but it all depends on the retail value of the items you get. Grover offer 3 different plans, first up is Monthly this costs $49.99 (£30.60) and means you can cancel at any time. Second is Bi-annually, this costs $249.95 (£153.32) this acts sort of like a 6 month contract so you get a box a month for 6 months, plus 1 free box! Finally is the Annual contract - with this you pre-pay $449.91 and receive a box a month for a full year, you also get 3 free boxes with this plan, everyone loves a freebie! Grover ship across the world from LA and I got my box in literally 5 days which I would say is pretty fast! I'd really recommend Grover, I may even sign up myself! To check out more information, see previous boxes and sign up, visit the Grover & Friends website friends.grover.us. Thinking of trying a Grover box or have you tried one? Drop me your thoughts and questions in the comments below or on Twitter @SamSquireBlog.



 

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How To: Make People Like You

Friendship, it’s a funny thing; we all seem to crave it and the acceptance of people that don’t know the first thing about us. Judgement, it happens a lot, we’ve all been the victim and we’ve all done the judging – this blog post will tell you the things you do to make people like you. It’s the Five Commandments that anyone who’s anyone will need. 

Commandment 1 – No Loafers!
 I have no idea what planet some people are on, however loafers are simply the worst thing to ever come around. It’s sad that a cow lost its life to be turned into such an ugly shoe. I mean, these are quite perfect for a retirement home and no doubt in 60 years time I will own a coloured pair myself but why youth wear them I have no idea!

Commandment 2 – No Being a Hopkins!
Ah, Katie Hopkins – she has a very unique ‘journalistic’ style in which is say whatever she can to offend anyone that roams the earth. She seems not to understand that going on TV and asking for fat people to be banned from her eyesight is less journalism and more just an unintelligent comment. So, if there is something you MUST avoid, it is mimicking the ways of dear old Hopkins.

Commandment 3 – SMILE.
What’s the matter grumpy gills? Let’s not live every day like we are attending the funeral of the family dog. Why not smile? What is there in life that is that bad you shouldn’t drop someone a smile? Okay so we all have off days but the world is out there, go and seize the moment, live life and flash those gnashers with a cheeky grin!

Commandment 4 – Make time for people.
Fobbing people off with excuses gets boring, there is only so many times you can visit the dentist within a week before people start to presume you either have a mouth full of gum or you’re just making it up. Friends will only stay friends for the amount of time you put in effort, no matter how long you have known someone if you go months on end without talking to them, they’re going to start to get the wrong signals. Why cant you drop them a text now and again, or are you just too important?

Commandment 5 – Be YOURSELF.
‘Yuh so I was driving daddy’s Bentley’…oh please, why do so many people act nowadays? This isn’t an episode of Made in Chelsea, just be you! I personally respect people a lot more who are grounded and act themselves, there is no point in having different persona's around people because if you have to do that to get friends then really they aren’t your true friends! If someone is a true friend then they will love you warts an all, we all have bad points so show your true colours.

Go out there and get yourself some friends, champ! Of course, these are all my own opinions and I am not a professional life coach – basically what I am saying is I may have given you completely awful advice…I am not held accountable for any mishaps…
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Should Bloggers Have Agents?

I'm momentarily steering away from fashion for this post to discuss something that has posed as quite a talking point for a little while amongst the blogging community. Do bloggers need agents? You ask any blogger this question and you're sure to get an answer - some more passionate than others.

I recently got signed to a management company and if I'm honest I'm glad I have been. Cue sneers from bloggers that don't believe in management. However I have full explanations for why I even considered getting an agent. It's not about image, I've only been blogging since September time so I'm still in my early days, I didn't get an agent so I could say 'contact my agent' to people - please, I'm not the sort to just throw money and diamonds at people (sadly some cannot say the same). I wanted to be able to have brands and people contact me without being bombarded directly with emails, an agent is a great middle-man that deals with brands, companies and other people on your behalf, in my opinion this puts spammy companies off because they know they won't get a response. I wanted access to events, I don't personally get directly invited to anything really, in signing to an agency they can hand pick the events that you get invited I and get you on guest lists that you otherwise would struggle to do. Remember, these are people that have a foot in the industry door - they're going to be able to do things us mere mortals can only imagine. 

I wanted to get into blogging to make it more than just a hobby. My agent is able to book me onto events where I can live blog from the event as well as get the attendees socially engaged as well as booking me to attend events as a 'special guest'.  Now please do not go thinking that I think any higher of myself, nor should any blogger that has an agent, it does not improve your social class and you unfortunately have the celebrity status of a Big Brother housemate. An agent is a key tool to help you in the blogging industry connecting you with brands, celebrities and other bits and bobs - it is not something that puts you a cut above the rest so deflate that head! 

A little birdie told me...
I find other bloggers opinions really interesting on this matter, in such a huge and diverse group of keyboard-happy chums, I think it is a great thing that we all have different opinions, here's just a few. Please keep your opinions coming on this topic as I will keep this post updated! Either leave a comment below or drop me a Tweet @SamSquireBlog.
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