Skincare Favourite of 2015 | Emma Hardie Amazing Face Moringa Balm

HELLO THERE MY LITTLE DAFFODILS! 

Yes, I know. January is almost over, so why has it taken me so long to write this? Because I only thought of it last week, that's why. 

I bought my first pot back in June as I knew it was a favourite amongst beauty bloggers and I wanted to see what the all hype was about. I wish I had purchased this magical pot of wonderous things earlier because OH.EM.GEE, this stuff is amazing!

At £38.00/100ml, it's not exactly budget friendly but it does come with a very handy cleansing cloth and it lasts for blimmin' ages. I'm currently on my third pot and I think I've got a couple more uses out of it before I need to re-buy. Also, I don't really mind spending the extra pennies on it as my motto is "you've only got the one skin, so it's worth your while to take care of it!" 

The reason why I've picked this as my 'Skincare Favourite of 2015' is because this:

1. It has cleared my skin up completely. Any spots I get now - especially the ones I get around TOTM - look less angry and red. 
2. It dissolves all your makeup. I do mean ALL. Some face cleansers claim to be good at removing make-up but you will still find a pesky bit of mascara lingering on your lashes. But not this one! I give it a good little massage into my eyes (don't worry - it's really gentle so there'll be no stinging) and then just wipe it off with the cloth. And it all comes off. 
3. A little goes a long way. Just put a small dollop into the palm of your hand, add a teeny bit of water and then rub onto your face. If I'm wearing a face of make-up, I will use a slightly bit more. I've discovered that if you use too much, it's too gunky when removed.

I've decided that 2016 is going to be the year when I'm going to up my skincare game even more. Lately I've become a bit obsessed with Pixi and I've started following the skincare blogger/guru Caroline Hirons for inspiration and general tips and tricks.

Oh, if you want to try the cleansing balm for yourself, you can find it in in M&S.

Toodle-pip!

xx

BLOGMAS DAY NINE: Christmas At Lush

We all know how much of a Lush fiend I am, and when the Christmas items come into store, I become 100 billionty times worse. I wish they could sell the festive items all year round but I guess we all need something to look forward to each year.

The only thing from their Christmas range that I don't like is Snow Fairy. FAR too sickly sweet for my liking!

These are a few items that I picked up recently. I haven't used any of them yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to! Bubble baths on a cold winters night are one my favourite things.

Dashing Santa bath bomb

Luxury Lush Pud bath bomb

Yog Nog bath bomb

Father Christmas bath bomb

Butter Bear bath bomb

What's your favourite item from Lush's Christmas products?

PRODUCT REVIEW: Hand Food by Soap and Glory

At the end of May, the super lovely people at Boots sent me another little Soap and Glory treat in the post! (click here for my review on The Righteous Butter.)

I am the worst person ever when it comes to hand creams. I buy them, use them for a week, then I completely forget from then on. *tuts at self* Saying that, I have got into the habit of applying this in the mornings before I start work and then maybe once again in the afternoon and OMG, it has done wonders for my hands! Never before have they felt so soft.

You only need to use a pea-sized amount and that goes a long way. I make sure to really massage it in well (including into my nails) and it soaks in quite quickly too. 

Smell wise, it reminds me of The Righteous Butter, I think that's probably because they both have shea butter as one of their ingredients.

When this sample runs out, I won't be buying a new one straight away as a work friend has given me her full sized tube of it! Apparently someone keeps buying it as a present for her, but she doesn't like the smell. I hope she gets more to pass on to me. She also handed me a tube of Heel Genius, which I haven't tried yet but I'm more than willing to give it a go.

June Wishlist

Products from L-R

Fuji Green Tea [Bath Tea] & Bath Infuser - £12/£5 from The Body Shop
This is such a unique concept! You pop the tea leaves into the infuser (which you then hang over your taps to immerse in the water) and it's supposed to leave you cleansed and de-stressed. 

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil from most supermarkets
Bit of an odd thing to have on a wishlist BUT I've read great things about Coconut Oil and it's beauty benefits. Did you know that if you mix a bit with olive oil, honey and 1 egg, you can concoct a hair mask that makes your hair super soft and shiny?? I didn't! Others rave on about rubbing it into your skin like a moisturiser. 

Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm - £38 from Space NK
Yes yes. I know. It's blimmin' pricey for a skincare item but we only get one skin so we should take care of it, right? Anyhoo, Zoella swears by this stuff and if she recommends it, then it must be good. 

Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in 'Lost Cherry' - £23 from Selfridges
Now, I am not one of those girlies who wears make-up very often. My idea of a "make-up routine" is slather on concealer to hide the black rings under my eyes from not sleeping enough and slap on some mascara if I can be bothered. Occasionally, I mix a little bit of foundation in with my moisturiser but that is about it and I almost never wear lippy but OMG the colour and of this one! I do love coral coloured things. Oh, and this is another Zoella recommended product. 

Harry Potter and Narnia inspired candles from 'From the Page' [Etsy shop] £6.72 ea. + £12.09 P&P

I think I someone blogged about these and so I clicked on the shop and now I want to buy them all. They do quite a few book inspired candles eg. several Harry Potter's, LOTR and there is even a Sherlock Holmes one (which smells like blackcurrant tea and leather books!)

Other wishes for this month

• Sunshine and warmth all month long - possibly going to happen because the UK has been forecasted a heatwave! YAY!
• Books for holiday - I'm off to Guernsey on the 21st for a fortnight and I like to gather together a pile of books to bring with me. I think I'm going to have to do an epic Amazon spree soonish.
• Lukewarm water & Lemon - I saw this idea somewhere on the interwebs and I really want to see if I can get into the habit of drinking it every morning. Apparently, amongst other things, it clears your skin, boosts your immune system, aids in digestion and is helps you with weight loss!
• Dying my hair blonde - Previous summers I've used 'Sun-In' to give my naturally brown hair highlights, but I thought I'd actually take the plunge this year and dye it blonde. 

Have any of you lovely people used any of these products? What do you think of them?

Friday Favourites #3

IT'S THE RETURN OF 'FRIDAY FAVOURITES'!! YAY! When did I post my last one? April??? APRIL??? I guess since then I haven't had anything 'favourite' to talk about....anyways, on with the post.

❤︎ Summer is on it's way! Woopwoop!! I'm really liking the daylight when I have to be up at stupid o'clock for work. Although, I'm not liking so much going to bed when the sun is still up.

❤︎ Receiving surprise treats in the post from Boots. Every so often, they send out gifts to their advantage card customers (I had something from them last month too - I reviewed it here) and today when I got home from work, there was a box waiting for me. I'm not going to lie, I shrieked rather loudly with excitement when I saw it. Good thing I was home alone at the time.... This hand cream smells divine! I have yet to try it out, but when I do, I shall report back.

❤︎ On Wednesday, I finally decided to teach myself coding [html/css] *coughs*nerd*coughs*. I've known basic HTML for a fair few years now as I used to dabble in making my own websites with Geocities (rip and no, I can't remember what they were about!) and tweaking various Tumblr themes but CSS has always been gobbledegook to me. The course I'm doing is on CodeAcademy and it's really well explained. I think I've overloaded my brian with too much information, as it's got to a complicated part and I'm a bit confused! I'm going to persevere with it though.

❤︎ Pinterest. I've really gotten into this in the past couple of weeks. When I'm bored on my breaks at work (usually this happens quite often), I pop onto the Pinterest app and have a peruse. This is my favourite from today:

❤︎ The Benefit 'Roller Lash' mascara. To be honest, I only bought this because it had great reviews from two of my favourite YouTubers [Zoella and SprinkleofGlitter] and I love trying out new things. I don't normally buy Benefit but because I'm a mascara freak, I had to buy this and I think it's amazing. I'm not going to rave on too much about it today because I want to do a proper review...but I loves it. A lot.

Have a good Bank Holiday weekend everyone! (If you are the UK that is. Do other countries celebrate the Spring Bank Holiday?? LET ME KNOW IF YOU DO. Plz.)

Toodles xx

Lush Haul

Ahhhh...Lush. I can't be the only one who goes into there for one thing and ends up with five, can I? Last Friday, after my walk through the park (check out the post about that here), I went into the Holy Land. All I needed was a new bottle of conditioner and, as you can see, I ended up spending more money than I meant to. Whoopsies.

1. Veganese Hair Conditioner - £14.25/500g

I think I may have mentioned before how vain I am about my hair. It's taken me years to find a shampoo and conditioner that doesn't weigh it down, and this is the conditioner. Yes, it's pricey, but you don't need to use a lot & the bottle lasts for aaaages. It's chock full of lovely smelling ingredients like lemon juice and lavender, and it also contains seaweed (well, agar agar gel), which is what makes your so hair soft. 

2. Flying Fox Shower Gel - £4.95/100g

Another favourite of mine, but I don't get it very often. If you don't like strong floral scents, then you probably won't like this one because it smells extremely jasminey and to be honest with you, I wasn't too sure about it at first either, but I've definitely grown to like it. This shower gel also has honey as one of its ingredients, which makes it super moisturising - good for the winter months when the cold weather makes your skin really dry and yicky!
3. Dreamtime Luxury Bath Melt - £3.35
New product for me! I've never used a Lush bath melt before but when I read the description of this, I thought "hey! I should give this a go!" This contains plenty of sleep-inducing ingredients, such as lavender and camomile, which are supposed to help you on the way to the Land of Nod. I am one of those people who no matter how tired I out of bed, as soon as my head touches the pillow, I become wide awake. If this can help me catch some 'zzzzzz's', I will be eternally grateful! It also contains ginger, which soothes tired muscles - something I need when I've been on my feet after a super busy day!
4. May Day Bath Bomb - £2.95
Something else new for me. I've obviously bought bath bombs before in Lush, but I think this one is a new product and all the proceeds made by them selling this goes to various animal cruelty charities, which is the reason I bought it (and of course it smells lovely too!). Its three main scents and their properties are: fennel oil (cleansing and brightening), rosewood oil (antiseptic) and bergamot oil (uplifting and cleansing). Also, someone left a review for this on lush.co.uk and it has a hidden surprise when it's finished fizzing away! I'm looking forward to that!

I also bought this, You've Been Mangoed Luxury Bath Melt - £3.35, which I couldn't resist using before writing this post. It certainly lives up to its name. I have been well and truly mangoed. It made my skin so so soft, which is probably due to the mix of cocoa, avocado and mango butters, which give your skin a drink and help to soften and moisture it as well. I could definitely still smell mango on my skin the next day!

PRODUCT REVIEW: 'The Righteous Butter' - Soap and Glory

Please could someone tell me what magical ingredient is in this, as it is MIRACULOUS!!

I don't tend to buy body butters anymore because even though I have good intentions of using them religiously, I never do. However, two weeks ago Boots sent lots of Advantage Card customers a little treat in the post, and I received this.

During the winter months (especially this year for some reason), I get dry skin on my elbows, just below my knees, the front (just the front. not the back. weird.) of my legs and an odd small patch on my right leg and I wish I took a 'before' photo of these patches because this product has improved them immensely. After every shower/bath, I've rubbed a generous amount into my skin and it sinks in so well. It smells so fresh and clean too.

So, even though I said that I don't buy body butters, I kind of went out and bought the full size version. In my defense though, I did have a 20% off Soap and Glory advantage card voucher to use....

PRODUCT REVIEW: 'Jason And The Argan Oil' Solid Shampoo Bar - Lush

Been using this for a week now and I love it. Here is the official product description from Lush themselves:

"On a quest for stronger, shinier, softer hair? Try this argan oil-packed, Rose Jam-scented bar. Argan oil is combined with glycerine to give your hair touchable softness and lustrous shine. From this solid foundation restorative rose absolute and oil balances the scalp making this bar particularly perfect for setting fair hair ablaze with brightness and strength."

Yup! Totally agree with all of this! 

I have a confession. I suffer from hair vanity. Walk out the house minus make-up (except for concealer. I always need that.)? No problemo! Go about my day looking like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards then dipped head first into a bucket full of oil? NOPE NOPE NOPEITTY NOPE!! 

I have to be careful about what I use to tame my mane. Any product that weighs it down is an absolute nightmare, which is why I swear by argan oil products. It manages frizz without making my hair look and feel disgusting! YAY! 

'Jason and the Argan Oil' will never replace my absolute favourite Lush shampoo, which is 'I Love Juicy' (I may review this too one day), but because they have different benefits, I will use them both. 

I'm not going to lie to you, no matter how hard I try, I will always have messy hair, 'embrace messy hair' is my mantra, but thanks to Lush, it will be grease and frizz free.