September Favourites ’17

I’m currently on holiday when this post will go live on my blog and although I’ve only really been in the UK for just over 2 weeks for the month of September, I can still write what products I loved throughout that time… Right? 😛

I do apologise for poor image quality… I took this the night before we left and was rushing to get so much done. 😦

• Garnier PureActive Intensive 3in1 Charcoal Anti-Blackhead.

This is a product I bought on a whim. I love any facial cleansing products that contain charcoal, as it’s great for oily skin and can really help pull any crap out of your pores. As the title suggests this is a 3in1 product which means you can use it as a facial wash, scrub and as a mask. This isn’t the BEST product in the world but it’s done some wonders for my skin so far! It’s not as scrubby as I was hoping it would be, but my skin has been having some sensitive days recently so this has really helped when I want to use a scrub but nothing too harsh. I definitely recommend giving this a go! I haven’t tried it as a mask to be honest, but it’s an amazing facial wash for sure.

• Lush Sugar Plum Fairy Lip Tint.

This is my tube of Sugar Plum Fairy lip tint from last Christmas and it’s a lip product I randomly just started using again this month. I think with all the excitement of the Lush Creative Showcase and the Christmas goodies of 2017 being announced, it jogged my memory of this lip tint. It smells amazing, leaves a lovely magenta pink shade on my lips and moisturises at the same time! I’ll definitely be buying more Lush lip tints this year, including Black Rose for Halloween and Santa Baby for Christmas.

• Paco Rabanne Lady Million EDP.

I’ve owned for a while and when I was first given it by my mom (it was originally a gift she had been given but didn’t like it, so gave it to me! :P) and at first I REALLY hated it, but after using it for a while I’ve grown to love it. The scent reminds me of Yankee Candle’s Fluffy Towels scent and I love it so much. I feel fresh and clean when I wear it and whilst ages ago I couldn’t wait to get rid of it, I now want to buy a new bottle as soon as it runs out. For ages it was my go to scent for work, which to be honest it was for the 2 weeks of September.

• Mandarin Spa Amber Heaven Gentle Hand Wash.

My mom recently gave me this hand wash after noticing I was running low on hand wash in my bathroom. I had a back up ready to pop next to the sink, but how cute is that??? When I lived at home I would often use this hand wash if either me or my mom had bought any. I love the scent of this hand wash so much as it smells so posh! I can’t really describe how it smells to be honest… Sort of musky but a floral musk… If that makes sense? Even though I really like this hand wash at the moment, I do have a hate/love relationship with this stuff. Before now this hand wash has flared up my eczema and I don’t really know why. I has flared up slightly the past month BUT it hasn’t been as bad as it has been in the past.

• Dove Pistachio and Magnolia Shower Foam.

Whilst I love this shower foam, I highly doubt I’ll be buying it again unless it’s on a special offer. I picked this up in Boots for £2.00 and even then I think this was expensive, FYI it’s usually £2.99. There are three different ones you can pick but I love pistachios so I had to pick this one. I have found that this softens my skin after use and will leave me smelling yummy for a while after use, but I just feel like you have to use loads of it to get a good lather going in a sponge or shower scrunch and that in itself is a con for me. This being said this was something new and fun to try and due to the scent I picked it’s also lovely to use as we go into the colder months. The pistachio has a lovely warming scent to it. As I said, when this is on offer again I’ll definitely pick one up!

So now my beauty favourites are done, time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month!

Image taken from weheartit.com

Image taken from weheartit.com

Favourite TV Show – American Horror Story.

First of all, I know I don’t usually include 2 images when talking about my non beauty favourites, but I had to for this. I just want to get this out there that 1. I have a new favourite actor – Evan Peters and 2. The way he acted when playing Tate in season 1 of AHS was amazing and beautiful. I love the first gif I attached but the second one, oh my! Whenever he cried in that season I just wanted to cry with him. He’s one of those actors who nails crying scenes perfectly and those are some of my favourite to watch. Due to studying acting (as well as writing scripts) I love when an actor can be emotional and he’s just perfect at it (and may I add a perfect human being? :P).

ANYWAY… American Horror Story! Me and Dane have heard loads of good things about this, including from his own parents and we’re a little late onto the AHS wagon but it’s better to be late than never at all, eh? We are currently halfway through season 2 and we are loving it. I loved season 1 so much and his parents both said it’s their favourite to date! I have a feeling it’ll be mine too. If you don’t know much about AHS, every season pretty much has the same actors/actresses but each season has a different story behind it. BUT they’re all supernatural themed. They’re currently all on Netflix so I recommend going to watch it if you haven’t already. To be honest I’m really excited to see more of Evan Peters acting. He’s amazing. :’)

Favourite Film – The Girl On The Train.

This was recently on Amazon Prime to watch and I had heard SO MUCH about both the book when it came out, as well as the film. I wanted to watch it in the cinema but Dane wasn’t keen for it at the time. I’m glad I waited to watch it in the comfort of our own home but bloody hell, it’s good! I haven’t read the book so I can’t compare that to the film but even if you haven’t read the book like myself then I recommend you give it a watch. It definitely reminded me of Gone Girl, but in a different way.

Image taken from readeroffictions.com

Favourite Book – Erm…

Yeah I’m shit. I haven’t been reading anything AGAIN! To be honest I’ve been saving all my reading for my holiday. I do have shit loads of reading to catch up on though. I have all the K-ON! manga to catch up on, as well as many other manga books. I also have normal books to read and intend on taking 2 Bridget Jones books with me on holiday (as you’ve probably guessed I’m writing this JUST before I go on holiday…) as well as some manga, but we shall see. I’m sure I’ll do a post about what books I took at some point.

Favourite Song/Album – Porter Robinson & Madeon – Shelter and Rihanna – Te Amo.

These are both songs I discovered this month and ones I know I’ll continue to listen to loads, especially during and even after my holiday. Shelter was brought to my attention by Dane who mentioned that someone had used an anime in their music video. It’s an amazing song and the anime music video that accompanies it is lovely and sad all the same.

As well as that I also discovered this Rihanna song thanks to a beauty video on Instagram. I didn’t know of this songs existence, even though it’s been around for just over 7 years now. Bloody hell! I know my usual music genre tastes are in rock music as well as some electronic but I do have a soft spot for Rihanna. She just writes some catchy as fuck tracks and this is one.

Favourite Game – Life Is Strange: Before The Storm.

I completed this game in a day (including unlocking all the specials in each level of the episode) and I loved it, but at the same time I’m unsure what to think right now. I will elaborate without giving away any spoilers! This is a prequel to Life Is Strange where you play as Chloe, sadly she doesn’t have Max’s power but she has her own speciality. In this game you get to find out what happens with Rachel including how her and Chloe become friends and what happens before Max comes into the picture and Rachel goes missing. You get to be a little more rebellious with Chloe than you ever could be with Max and whilst I like this, I do find that both Chloe and Rachel are bratty. I’m not the only one who thought this either. THIS BEING SAID I can’t really say they’re acting bratty when Chloe’s dad recently died and Rachel has some stuff going on herself, which you find out about somewhat in the first episode. Overall it was really fun to play and I already can’t wait for episode 2 to come out soon! I bought the limited edition bundle so that I can get the bonus Max level, as well as all the episodes for Before The Storm.

So those are my favourites from the 2 weeks I was in the UK in September! It went by really quick and I already can’t believe I’m going away in just a couple of days (as I write this) and I’ll be back in 3 days when this post goes live on my blog (FYI hello future Nat! :P)

What were your favourites throughout September? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time all, take care! I hope you’re all well, I miss all my lovely readers! :’)

October Empties

I haven’t used much up during October and I’m not quite sure why but either way it means in the next couple of empties posts I might have loads of products to mention, so let’s get on with the post.

• Juicy Fruits Banana Body Wash.

This was an old Christmas present given to my Mom by a cousin. She had forgotten all about it and as the set it came in was brand new, my Mom asked me if I wanted it. I love the smell of banana so took it with both hands! This stuff is amazing! It smells just like bananas and for something that probably cost very little to make, it’s a very good body wash! The scent lasts ages on the skin, as well as leaving it feeling soft and smooth after using. My bathroom smelt like banana for ages after I’d taken a shower too, which I wasn’t complaining about! I wish I could find this to buy however, or at least an alternative as it smells heavenly. Anyone know of any banana shower gels or body washes I could buy?

• Mandara Spa Gentle Hand Wash in Amber Heaven.

I really love the smell of Amber Heaven by Mandara Spa and I own the bubble bath version of this stuff too so when I found out they made a hand wash, I made sure to get some for the bathroom. However, as lovely as this smells I’m sort of glad to see it finished… Why, you must be wondering? Because it hasn’t helped my eczema out at all and if anything I’m wondering if it’s made it worse due to the strong perfume smell. This does smell gorgeous and for ages the scent of it would linger on my hands for ages, which I really liked. If it wasn’t for my eczema I would re purchase, but I think I need something tailored to soothing my hands, not just perfuming them. I recommend this if you like musky smells, as whilst I hate them usually, this is gorgeous and reminds me of autumn and winter.

• Imperial Leather Foamburst Luxurious Body Wash in Moisturising Honey & Almond Milk.

This was mentioned in my September favourites and I’m rather sad to see it all finished and although I haven’t bought another one for myself yet, I’m waiting until I find some on offer to buy as I want to grab a couple of different scents to try. This was lovely and creamy and I often used it in the shower when I was in a hurry so usually after work if I was sticky from making drinks. This also made a great shave foam too and was mostly used for this purpose. The honey and almond milk in this smelt heavenly and these sorts of scents have always reminded me of my childhood. They were said to be moisturising and they definitely were. After each use of this my skin felt soft and smooth as well as feeling and smelling lovely and clean! This lasted me about a month, which seems like a decent time to me. I spoke more about this in my favourites post last month so if you would like to know more, go and check out that post. I’m definitely going to buy more of these in future, if not very soon.

• Montagne Jeunesse Iced Crystal Face Mask.

I bought this mask to try as it sounded like it would really work with my skin as it’s a scrub and mask in one, which seemed like a nice idea! It contains spearmint and dead sea salt so I know it would leave my skin feeling lovely and clean as well as soft. I used this in the bath, as I knew it would be hard to rinse off and apply what with all the scrubbing I would need to do when applying, as well as washing off. This mask worked like a charm and I already know I want to buy some more. It’s a clear light blue gel texture with plenty of pieces of sea salt and felt really cooling on my fingers. I splashed my face with some warm water and applied the mask onto my skin in a rubbing motion, it felt tingly and cool on my skin, which I really liked. The salt in this mask isn’t harsh but enough that you can feel it working when you’re rubbing it on your skin. After I felt I’d done enough scrubbing I relaxed for 15 minutes and finally gave it one more gentle rub around my face before rinsing off. My skin felt really soft afterwards and I made sure to splash my face with some cold water before getting out of the bath. My skin has felt lovely since and the spots I had on my skin the day and days before using this vanished a day after use, so I’m really glad that it worked for my skin. I’m going to definitely be using this in future, it’s a lovely face mask and a real treat!

• Original Source Shower Gel in Tea Tree & Mint.

This (as you can probably see) is a little travel size shower gel and was bought for when I first started to go to my boyfriends. I felt bad using his shower gel so I thought to myself, “Hey! If I take my own then I won’t be using his up!” but alas this ended up with me using his anyway! This shower gel smells gorgeous, mostly of mint and leaves a lovely scent on your skin after use. It also foams up lovely in a shower scrunchy, which I really liked! This shower gel is really nice, but may I add only during the hot months as due to the mint it leaves a tingling cold sensation after use. I’d been using this for the majority during the warmer months so I hadn’t noticed this before, but more recently upon using it, I’ve been left in my shower shuddering from the cold feeling this leaves you with. I won’t be re purchasing this shower gel again until summer approaches us! This little travel bottle wasn’t cheap and in Boots cost more than it would for the full size bottle in Bodycare, which pissed me off a little bit. I won’t be buying travel bottles again, I’ll just take a full size one instead!

So those were all my empties for this month!

What products did you use up during October? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all.

July favourites

Wow we’re in August already?! Is there anyway of stopping time so I can get off of this ride and take a break?

In a month I’ll be starting my post-graduate degree at university, which I’m excited for! I’ll also in a weeks time have been with my boyfriend for two months (oh how soppy!) which has just flown by and I can’t wait to spend more months like the previous two with him.

I’ve loved so much this month, but I only wanted to mention six things, so here are my favourites from July!

• Mandara Spa Amber Heaven Moisturising Bath Essence.

This stuff like some sort of evil spirit came out of nowhere in my bathroom. I came home after a long weekend at my boyfriends to find it sitting on the side of my bath, tried it out and instantly fell in love. My Mom later asked me if I’d used the “goodies” she had left on the side of the bath for me, to which I promptly explained how I was miffed as to how they got there, not even telling her how much I enjoyed this product. This just smells like heaven in a bottle to me, I usually stay away from musky scents but this is just wonderful and I can’t wait to use it when the colder months start to show. I lathers up beautifully when poured under the hot tap in the bath and leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth. I used it earlier today as a body wash and it’s left its gorgeous scent lingering on my skin, as well as continuing to leave my skin feeling baby bum soft. I don’t know where my Mom bought this from, but I wish to try more from this range!

• Sanex Dermo Sensitive Shower Cream.

Another product to randomly appear on the side of my bath, thanks to my Mom. This Sanex shower cream is lovely, which is comforting going by all the issues I have had with Sanex products over the years. One of their old shower products caused me to have a terrible allergic reaction and their deodorants have let me down so many times. My Mom loves Sanex though and I can safely say she’s passing on some of that love to me. This shower cream is great for if you’re in a hurry in the morning and don’t have time to pop any moisturiser on as it has skin moisturisers in it that does all that extra work for you. As well as that this re-balance which restores your skins natural balance. I really like this product, even if it does smell like old ladies, clean ones of course.

• Macadamia Oil No Tangle Styler Brush.

As you know, I bought this hair brush at the VintSetFest event a few Wednesday’s a ago (posts here and here) and since buying this brush I am in love with it! It brushes my hair without tugging or pulling at my head and thus leaves my hair soft and smooth, with no pain involved. Even my boyfriend likes this brush, so it’s definitely a great product! It’s only £9.95 and has a handle, unlike the Tangle Teezer so you can have a firm grip onto something whilst you brush your hair. This is also great on wet hair and I’ve found since using this brush that I’ve lost a lot less hair than I normally do, even though it is normal to lose at least 100 strands of hair a day due to old hair falling out to make place for new hair. I love this brush and I’ll soon be writing a review up for it!

• Angel EDP by Thierry Mugler.

I’ve mentioned this perfume on here time and time again I’m sure and it’s because it’s just amazing! It’s one of my favourites and for that reason it has made its way into my favourites this month. Whenever I’ve been off out in the day or going to my boyfriends this is the perfume I’ve reached for mostly this month. Whilst it seems like a warmer scent for autumn and winter, I think it works beautifully for summer evenings and is really strong so I don’t have to keep reapplying it either. Everyone recognises this too, so it’s nice to be complemented on it every now and again.

• Jelly Pong Pong Irish Cream Pavlova Lip Frosting.

I’ve had this lip frosting a while now after my friend Poppy gave it to me back in November time, she said she just couldn’t work with it and thought I might have a better job, so I gave it a go and I love it. I hadn’t been using it much before this month as in autumn and winter time I prefer to wear my MAC lipsticks, whereas in spring and summer I opt for a nice lip gloss, due to the humid weather. This is really easy to apply with your ring finger or a lip brush. It smells absolutely amazing, but I can’t put my finger on exactly WHAT it smells like, which is annoying! It’s a really pretty strawberry pink shade and looks great on its own or layered over a coral lipstick, but I tend to use it on its own. It isn’t sticky and lasts for ages on the lips, whilst tasting great too. These cost a lot of money to buy and I know Poppy received hers in a Glossy Box. I don’t think these are even available to buy anymore after being discontinued, which is a real shame. I’m sure you can pick these up on blog sales and eBay mind!

• Carmex Moisturising Lip Balm.

I got this lip balm free in my goodie back at VintSetFest and I can safely say I am in love! I’ve always heard great things about Carmex but never bought anything by them myself as I thought they were a tad expensive, but now I can see why! It reminds me of Vaseline due to it being petrolatum and it smells really minty and menthol, which surprised me. I thought that I must have an allergic reaction to this product as it makes my lips tingle and feel as if they’re being plumped up, but after getting my boyfriend to try some, he agreed it does this. So yeah it’s a lip balm and lip plumper all in one! What’s not to love with this product? It’s really thick too, which I like. There’s nothing worse than a watery lip balm that just gets everywhere! I’ve purchased another Carmex lip balm since receiving this one, but I opted for the strawberry flavour. I don’t know if it was due to the heat or if the product is just different to this one, but it’s watery as hell and it’s annoying! Love this lip balm though, I carry it with me everywhere now!

So those were my favourites for July! Apologies for them being a couple of days late, but I’ve been super busy since Wednesday night and haven’t had much time to finish off writing this from that night.

I hope you enjoyed and have found some products you want to try in August! What were your favourites in July? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care and I hope you all have a great week, I know I did!