Body Shop Winter Favourites

As yuk as it is, winter being just around the corner means only one thing, Dry skin! 

For a good few years now I have called upon this little trio from the body shop to help with my winter skin woes. First up is the Body Shop Cocoa Butter Lip care Stick, I couldn't tell you how many times I've repurchased this product, it's my go to lip moisturiser. Does the job, smells lovely, easy to use stick, always have at least 2 on the go at once. £4 from The Body Shop.

Seriously dry or chapped hands? The Body shop Hemp hand protector does the trick. One of the Body Shops best sellers this rich hand cream soothes and protects dry hands all day long. It even keeps working after you've washed your hands! I love it for times when my hands feel sore and dry. Smells gross, works wonders. £10. 

Last but not least, feet! Let's be honest we all forget about our little feet in winter, 3 months of hiding them away in socks and boots can make them feel neglected :( I try to use my Body Shop Hemp foot Protecter as often as I can be bothered (usually equalling about 3 times a week - sorry feet!) I love using this thick creamy foot butter before bed, its feels very rich and nourishing and keeps my feet soft. £10.

All products were purchased with my own money and are available from thebodyshop.co.uk or in stores. 

Empties

Clockwise L-R Macleans Total Health Whitening, Boots Build up removal shampoo, Liz Earle skin repair moisturiser, Nars Laguna bronzer, Origins eye doctor, Emma Hardie cleansing balm, Original Source vanilla milk and raspberry.

I love the medicinal, antiseptic fresh taste of the Macleans Total Health Whitening so much I used up two tubes. Not sure how much it helps to whiten my teeth but it leaves my mouth so super fresh I want to brush my teeth all the time. Not everybody will love the taste of this toothpaste but it's worth a try for the feeling alone. 

Boots Expert Build up Removal Shampoo has been a bit of a staple in my hair care routine for some time now. Used once a week it really deep cleans my locks, gets rid of any built-up product and grease to leave my hair squeaky clean and soft. I recommend you all try this £3.49 hair saviour. 

I will forever (well, for the forseable future) use the Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser, I wont bang on about it again. 2 more pots down.

It wasn't until I used up this Nars Laguna Bronzer and had to go back to using a different one that I realised I couldn't live without it. It's the high pigmentation, soft texture and colour, natural bronze, not orange, that makes it just perfect. I went out to buy another pretty soon after,  I will never to be without it again. 

This pot of Origins Eye Doctor Eye Cream has lasted me 6 months plus, value for money you might say, however considering the £25 price tag I would be disappointed with anything less. Whilst this wasn't a wonder cream, it certainly did what it says on the tin (or pot) Kept my eyes cool, hydrated & created a smooth base for make-up, I would definitely consider buying this again.

When I received this 15ml sample size of the Emma Hardie Amazing Face Natural Lift & Sculpt Moringa  (longest name in the world) Cleansing Balm, I wasn't overly excited. It swiftly landed in my ever increasing "to try" product pile.  Fast forward a few months and everyone & the cats mother is talking about it. So after finally getting round to trying, what do I think? Love it. This is like a cleansing balm on steroids. The smell, the texture, the way it emulsifies, removes make up and leaves skin super soft and clean is beautiful. Despite the £34 price tag I will be purchasing the full size. My best friend may also accidentally got hooked after using it to remove our heavy night out make-up, ooops!

A cheaply but a goody, I can't get enough of this Original Source Vanilla Milk and Raspberry Shower gel. Around £2, moisturising, pretty pink colour and smells amazing. nuff said. 

Week Over : 2

I was originally going to do these posts on a sunday but I might post them on mondays, everyone seems to post Instagram or Summary posts on a sunday and I thought you might get tired of reading about people's lives by sunday evening.

This week has been pretty uneventful, waiting to start my new job is becoming irritating. Saying that, at least my flat is clean and I have time to read and blog ect. A trip to the dentist revealed that I need a crown fitted to one of my back teeth, £380 argghh! That'll have to wait for a bit, sorry tooth! 

On the weekend Sam and I trotted off to the Love Food Festival, a mini free food festival held a few times a year in Bristol, it was really nice to see lots of local business and their produce in one place. Plenty of meat, cheese, bread and cakes to be sampled. We picked up these cute handmade cupcakes from Laura at Bellevue Bakery, you can visit her site here.  

P.S They were delicious! 

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain

 Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Honey rrp £7.99

Not being a huge fan of more traditional lips stains (dry lips + dry product = yukk!) I was very excited to see Revlon had released their balm version of a lip stain in the UK. The Just Bitten Kissable Stain Balm is basically a tinted lip balm in a stick form, and a complete copy of the Clinique Chubby Sticks! I picked up the shade "honey" which is the most subtle of all the colours in this range. It's pretty much the colour of my lips but just gives them a little extra pigment making them stand out more. This product is super easy to apply, no mirrors required and looks fairly undetectable on the lips. When first applied it has a lovely lip balm feel to it which is great if like me, you suffer from dry lips. After a couple of hours of wear I noticed the moisturising properties had started to wear off and my lips were left with a very subtle stain, I think a colour stain is probably more noticeable on some of the darker colours in the range. So not hugely long lasting but no more or less wear than a regular lip balm. 

overall I really love this lip stain so far, its easy to apply and this colour in particular is so easy to wear as it's not too pink, just lovely and natural. 

until the 1st August the Revlon stain balms are £5.99 in Boots and Superdrug (£7.99 afterwards)

Which colours will you be picking up?

Wednesday Wishing

Things I'm lusting after this week include:

1. Topshop Cord and Tube Collar Necklace £16.50  2. Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum £58 (50ml)   3. Beauty Blender Classic £16   4. Zara Shiny Flat Court shoes £39.99   5. H&M Print Skirt £7.99

What's on your wish list?

week over :1

The first and most exciting thing to happen this week is that I have a new job! I haven't signed the contract yet so can't say a huge amount. I will tell you that It's really exciting and I will be a working as a beauty therapist for a massive cosmetics company, more will be revealed later. I'm starting to feel like all my hard work is paying off and doing a part time course in beauty was the right thing for me to do. Really happy I'm not going back to uni. 

Been out and about generally seeing people this week, wednesday was cocktails and Men in Black 3 at the cinema. Not my first choice of film but thats what the boys wanted to see, it was easy to watch and pretty entertaining. 

On thursday my best friend little Lucy came to see me for Pizza Express and gossipy goodness which was great, living an hour away nowadays means we don't get to see each other as often as I would like :( 

Friday Sam & I went to dinner with a few of his workmates, it was lovely to meet everyone and the food was so good. I would recommend The Thali cafe in Clifton to everyone who loves Indian food. They do great simple curries made with really fresh ingredients in a street food style, very different to your usual local curry house. 

I feel like I've been neglecting my hair a little this week, its mostly been up in a topknot everyday due to dry frazzled ends making it look a little poop. so this week my aim is to give it some TLC and do something with it!

New Glasses + Rimmel Wake me up

excuse the messy hair but I'm wearing Rimmel wake me up foundation, I actually love it.

Frames £45 Specsavers

So I lost my perfect vision *cries*

I had noticed over the past few months that after spending too long reading on my ipad or looking at the tv screen for a while that my eyes started to ache and I was getting regular headaches. My boyfriend suggested I go get my eyes tested as I hadn't had an eye test for about 5 years! The lovely people at specsavers confirmed that I had one dodgy eye and this was probably the cause of my eye strain and headaches. cue new glasses.

Sam thinks they are, quote, "silly". But I like them. 

on the down side we now look like some matchy matchy glasses wearing couple!

April Empties

L-R Batiste Dry Shampoo Dark & deep Brown, Rimmel Glam eyes day2night Mascara, Redken Extreme Rescue Force, Joico K-Pak Intense Reconstructer, Xen Tan Dark Lotion Absolute Luxe, Lush Dreamwash

Over the month of April I have compiled this lovely bunch of packaging, not for any old reason, I have done so to show you what products I have used/loved/hated/repurchased/can't wait to throw away.

Starting with hair, Batiste Dry Shampoo in Dark & Deep Brown was probably purchased by me because it was on offer and I needed a dry shampoo. Im not hugely fussy with dry shampoo whichever is on offer suits me and this did the job. I would buy it again if it was on offer, if not I would probably use something else. 

This sample size Redken Extreme Rescue Force (now called "strength builder" (£17.25) was given to me by my ma, It's a protein treatment for damaged hair. I was expecting this to soften and smooth my hair, but what it actually does is much more useful. This made my hair feel "strong" again. using this as a weekly treatment I have found my hair less prone to splitting and snapping off, thanks to this I am looking into more Redken Extreme products to purchase full size, let me know if you have any recommendations on that front?

Joico K-Pak Intense Reconstructer (£13.95)  is a intense moisture treatment for dry hair, this did a good job of making my hair smooth and soft but I didn't feel it had any "reconstructing" properties like the Redken treatment did. It's ok, but it's nothing to write home about, I think there are better products on the market considering the price. 

Rimmel Glam Eyes Day2Night Mascara (£7.99) is another one of those "because it was on offer" purchases. I think I paid a fiver for it, I fiver well spent I say. I really do like this mascara, I love the way the small comb works to separate and lengthen, then if you want volume you can add it with the 2nd step, or not. It works both ways. again, I'm not hugely fussy about mascara and I like to try new ones all the time, so while I wont be purchasing this again straight away, I would consider it in the future. 

Xen-Tan Dark Lotion Absolute Luxe (£29.70) So the price makes me want to die a little but the truth is I cannot live without this product. You may have noticed in the photo that I even cut the bottle to scrape out the last little drops of this before my new one arrived. It's the best tan ever. Nuff said.  (full review here)

Lush Dreamwash (£9.25) I wash recommended this because of my dry eczema prone skin, It's supposed to soothe and calm irritated skin and hydrate without drying. I wasn't the biggest fan of this I have to say, while it was nice and soothing and non-drying, it was plain weird. I like a shower gel that lathers up nicely and feels like it's cleaning your skin, Dreamwash doesn't lather very well and I find myself using a lot of product per use (not great when your paying almost a tenner!) It also leaves an odd waterproof type effect to the skin which I don't like, lastly it sticks around the plughole in the shower as a milky gross froth which, quite honestly, freaks me out. On a better note, to replace this, I'm now using Lush's Honey I washed the Kids soap and It's Raining men shower gel which I both love!

Fur and Lace

Dress: Internocianale    Jacket: Primark    Fur: H&M    Boots: Primark    Belt: Vintage

Feelunique.com Beauty Box: December 2011

Its beauty box time again! After switching to FeelUnique.com's beauty box last month and being so impressed with the November box, I was apprehensive about the December box. Would it be as good? Would it be bigger and better for christmas?

and the answer was YES! This months box is crammed with lovely goodies, extra samples and money off codes.

From top left, clockwise:

Clarisonic refreshing gel cleanser

Tigi Bed Head Sugar dust styling powder

Annick Goutal Mandragore EDT

Figs and Rouge organic all purpose balm

Nails Inc. Limited edition Oxford Circus polish 

Also included in the box were some Living Nature cleanser, toner and moisturiser samples. As well as a code to receive £5 off your next £30 shop with feelunique.com.

Which beauty box if your favourite?

graze box

Bit of a different post today, I received my first graze box!

I had heard about the scheme a while ago but never got round to ordering a box, that was until I got my hands on a voucher for a free one.

Im sure you all know about the concept of the graze box, if you don't then it is basically a postal subscription of healthy snacks, delivered as often as you like, to wherever you like. 

 set up your profile online, tell graze.com what snacks appeal to you, what you want sent soon and which you never want to receive in your boxes and they'll do the rest for you. 

Each box is nutritionally balanced and should last you around 2-3 days. 

In my first box I received :

a cheddar, red onion and chutney foccia     

 golden honey cashew nuts    

   fig roll: fig & sesame balls, sponge pieces & walnuts    

korean chilli rice crackers

each snack is individually packaged to keep it fresh and is the correct size of a recommended portion,

you also get a handy booklet to tell you the nutritional information so you know what your eating

 graze boxes are £3.49 each but you can get your first box free with this code: HQQ3MW6  whats more you can cancel anytime! 

graze.com

I will deffinitly be keeping my weekly subscription for a little while, simply as a way to try out new snacks that I wouldn't have tried otherwise, I can always go to a health food shop and purchase larger quantities at a later date to save money!

If anyone has tried graze boxes before, I wanna know what your favs are! I love the chilli crackers and cashew nuts!