2018 Top 3 Favourites

I thought I’d do an overall favourites post about 2018, because although I do it monthly and talk about my favourites, it’d just be good to have a summary of favourites from throughout the year.

Of course with talking about my favourite things from 2018, I’ll be mentioning my top 3 favourites from each category I talk about monthly on my favourites post, including beauty, TV, film, book, music and games.

I’m hoping for the New Year to try and include favourite clothing as well! I wanted to start doing this halfway through 2018, but instead I thought I’d wait until the New Year to start including it. You’ll see this coming into my monthly favourite posts starting in February, when I do my January favourites.

But for now, let’s start talking about my favourites from 2018!

Beauty Top 3

1. The Body Shop Banana Body Yogurt (review).

2. Australian Bodycare Skin Wash.

3. Lime Crime Plushies in shades Cherry Soda and Gumdrop (review).

TV Shows Top 3

1. How to Keep a Mummy.

2. American Horror Story: Cult.

3. Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents Documental.

Movies Top 3

1. Deadpool 2.

2. Christopher Robin.

3. Bohemian Rhapsody.

Books Top 3

1. Snotgirl.

2. Himouto! Umaru-Chan.

3. A Polar Bear In Love.

Music Top 3

1. Arianna Grande – “No Tears Left to Cry”.

2. Mahalia – “I Wish I Missed My Ex”.

3. Don Broco – “Stay Ignorant”.

Games Top 3

1. Detroit: Become Human.

2. Spyro Reignited Trilogy.

3. Pokemon Go/Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee!

So those are my top 3 favourites from 2018! I know this blog posts wasn’t lengthy as to why they were my favourites, but I’ve spoken about all of these mentioned here so many times on my blog before, multiple times too and even have some reviews around. 🙂

What were your favourites from 2018? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

I can’t believe we’re into the first week of 2019 now. Where is time going already?!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a lovely week so far.

Coventry Bloggers – The Body Shop Event*

Oh man I have been M.I.A. this past week and I am so sorry! I’ve been a mixture of poorly and too busy with personal life to do any blog work.

FINALLY THOUGH I am here and I am talking about an amazing blogger event I attended last Friday, which the gorgeous Emily over at Drained Beauty organised.

As the title reads, this was for the Coventry Bloggers community, which I’m proud to be a part of! I know, I’m not from Coventry BUT Dane is so we both visit the area regularly.

I was so excited for the event and made sure to leave work early so I could get to the event in good time. This is my first (and hopefully not last!) blogger event of 2018, so I couldn’t wait for 4pm to hit so I could leave work and make my way to Coventry.

Can I just say, the weather was so shit as I got off of the train in Coventry, it was chucking it down so I legged it from the station to the town centre. Thankfully it wasn’t raining on my way home, even though I’d bought an umbrella as soon as I got to Primark. MEH!

Anyway! I got to the event with about 15-20 minutes to spare and got to meet the lovely ladies who would be attending the event. I just want to say, the Coventry blogger babes who were at the event are by far some of the nicest I have ever met! I’ve been to many events in the past and whilst I’ve met some absolute beauts, they weren’t as friendly and chatty as the girls were last week.

Not only were the bloggers at the event lovely, but the two members of staff were also amazing. They were approachable throughout the event about all sorts and were thorough whenever they were talking about certain products. So thank you so much girls for holding an amazing event!

Right, onto the event itself now! I’ll be talking about all the new products we heard about, as well as what I got in my cute little goodie bag and what I bought.

The event itself worked out that we would have a nose around the shop, talk amongst ourselves, to one another and the staff all whilst trying certain products.

The first new product we were shown and told about is the limited edition banana range! I’ve already spoken about this on my blog and even reviewed the body yogurt (which you can read here).

Although The Body Shop has banana hair care in their permanent range, the body care is sadly only limited edition and I assume will be around until the Christmas stock is out. I’ll be sad when it goes, especially the body butter and body yogurt.

In the range there’s three items shower cream, body butter and body yogurt. The girls were telling us how banana is great for dry skin due to how rich in potassium they are. This helps to repair and hydrate dry and damaged skin. After hearing about the banana range and how amazing it is, we were offered demonstrations with both the body butter and body yogurt. I would have had a go, but I already own the whole range so I already know how amazing it is!

Before the next demonstration and talk went ahead on another new product, we were left to take ALL THE SELFIES with the banana range! I did a couple myself with two of my favourite products from the range. I cannot tell you how amazing the banana range is and I swear we all need to get a petition started for The Body Shop to keep it forever!

The next products we heard about were new face products that The Body Shop have in stock, as well as some old favourites that not many people know about. The first item we heard about is their liquid peels and they showed us the Vitamin C Glow Revealing Liquid Peel, Drops of Youth Youth Liquid Peel and Drops of Light Liquid Peel. I had a go with the latter and it is pretty cool and yet gross all at the same time!

Sadly I didn’t get any pictures of the demonstration I had on the back of my hand, but I’ve used liquid peels in the past by Korean brands. It’s a gel consistency and the more you rub onto your skin the more it works on the skin to gently peel away any dead skin. It’s gross and satisfying seeing all the gunk that rubs off of your skin! I love using my Korean one once to twice a week and I honestly plan to buy The Body Shop one in the future! This leaves your skin looking and feeling fresh, as well as brighter. I love how there’s the two different liquid peels to choose from. I tried the Drops of Light, but I’m 30 soon so I need the Drops of Youth one me thinks.

Alongside the liquid peels, the girls were also telling us about the new face mask to join The Body Shop’s growing collection! We heard about a couple of the face masks, but the newest member of the family is Mediterranean Almond Milk With Oats Instant Soothing Face Mask.

This face mask is designed for people with sensitive skin and is 100% vegan! This face mask also acts as an exfoliating face mask and reminded me of porridge when I looked at it inside the jar. It helps dry and sensitive skin from feeling tight and itchy, all whilst gently exfoliating your skin to leave you with smooth hydrated skin! I don’t know about you guys, but this is very much needed throughout the winter months, so this will be great to dig out whilst having a hot bath as the weather gets cooler.

I gave this a go in store on the back of my hand and it felt so gentle and the sort of product you would use in a spa. I know one of my friends definitely wants to give it a go after I showed it her, due to the sensitive skin idea! There is nothing worse than having sensitive skin and not being able to use face masks due to that.

The other face mask that the girls were talking about is the Japanese Matcha Tea Pollution Clearing Mask. I’ve wanted to try this since it came out and I had a little look at this face mask on the back of my hand, which felt amazing! I definitely need to give this a go in the future, especially as autumn and winter will be here before we know it.

After we gave the face products a go that the girls spoke about, they were showing us this box with loads of things inside of jars that you can look at. Each jar explains what the item is inside and where it has come from in the world. They also have the cards which explain where EVERYTHING comes from that goes into our products, which I think is amazing! If you visit the Coventry store the girls told me you can ask to see this box and honestly have a look when looking at certain products! It’s really interesting to see where they come from.

BUT an awesome fact one of the girls told me has really stuck with me since then and I’ve been sharing it with everyone I know! Basically Hartley’s sell seedless strawberry jam. Someone at The Body Shop knew this face and asked Hartley’s what they do with the seeds. I can’t remember what Hartley’s said but now they give the seeds to The Body Shop, which goes into their Strawberry Softening Body Polish. How cool is that fact though?!

After that we again got to have a little look around the shop, give the face products a test and take lots of pictures! I went around the bath products and had a nose at what The Body Shop has to offer. I’ve bought some of the bath bombs and bubble bars to try and so far I’ve tried the strawberry one, which I’ll also be reviewing VERY soon!

The last products that the girls told us about were make up related and sadly I didn’t get any pictures of the girls talking about these. I can of course fill you in on what new products we were told about.

The girls were talking about the new Matte Clay Powers that have recently launched, which come in six different shades. Sadly I don’t wear make up like this so these didn’t interest me in the slightest! They look pretty good for the price though and I’m sure they give good coverage too.

Then we were told about the new lipsticks that have recently come into store. I feel bad that I can’t remember for the life of me what they’re called and I can’t seem to find them on their website! They’re matte style lipsticks but with shine and comfort that a matte lipstick doesn’t bring with it. They came in a lovely variety of colours, with mostly nudes, pinks and reds! I sadly didn’t give them a go as I didn’t want to end up buying loads of lipsticks. 😛

However, I did give their Shine Lip Liquid’s a go as the holographic style packing was bringing out the magpie in me!

One of the exciting things we learnt about from The Body Shop girls is that The Body Shop is rolling out 3 for 2 in some stores right now, including the Coventry store as a trial run. This 3 for 2 applies to pretty much everything in the store and will enable people to try all sorts of different products! The 3 for 2 works like most offers of the same name, you pick up 3 products and you get the cheapest free!

 

Sadly I didn’t make the most of this promotion as I’m trying to be good, but I did end up buying one of the Shine Lip Liquid’s, which I have fallen madly in love with and worn ever since buying. I’ll definitely be reviewing this in the future! I picked up Blueberry Chew, which is a gorgeous pink with blue tones and shimmer. It’s definitely a lip gloss. These come in nine different shades, some shimmery and some normal. I would love to pick up more of these in the future!

Then it was time to grab my goodie bag and make my way back to Birmingham. I ended the evening buying 20 chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and going around the local area playing Pokemon GO. Oh how the other half live. 😛

I thought I’d show you guys what I got in my goodie bag as it’s so lovely and perfect for myself. I did want to give some of the products in here a go before writing this post, but sadly I just haven’t had time to. Hopefully in the future I can give them a go and give a proper review!

First of all I’ll show you guys the gorgeous cosmetic bag* I got in my goodie bag! It’s a black bag covered in pink bunnies, writing which says, “Forever Against Animal Testing” and The Body Shop logo.

Inside the pouch are three products, a full size bottle of Strawberry Shower Gel*, a full size tube of Almond Milk & Honey Calming & Protecting Hand Cream* and a travel size bottle of Banana Truly Nourishing Shampoo*.

I’ve used the Strawberry shower gel for about 20 years now and it’s always a fond favourite to have in my shower. Dane loves it so much that he bought 2 massive pump bottles in the sale! So this will go down a treat in my bathroom.

I’ve grown to love the Almond Milk & Honey range SO MUCH recently and I especially love the hand cream. Sadly however it doesn’t do as much for my hands as it could and should. This being said I still use it and use it daily at work.

Finally the banana shampoo has been a love/hate product of mine and Dane’s since we started dating. One minute I love it and what it does for my hair and the next I feel a bit meh about it. Mostly because you pay quite a lot for the product and I don’t feel the price is worth what it does. Sorry The Body Shop! Dane loves it though and these little travel bottles are handy for have for weekends away.

The other goodies I got in my bag came in this cute little pink and white polka dot paper bag. Inside there are loads of little samples, including the Japanese Matcha tea Pollution Clearing Mask*, Mediterranean Almond Milk With Oats Instant Soothing Mask* Vitamin C Glow Revealing Liquid Peel*, Banana Shower Cream* and finally the Banana Body Yogurt*.

I honestly cannot wait to give the liquid peel and the matcha face mask a go over the weekend! I plan to have a proper pamper day on Sunday and these two will be used in that regime. 😛

As I mentioned I bought the Shine Lip Liquid in the shade Blueberry Chew and thanks to my £5 discount voucher, I managed to bag it for £2! Bargain!!! I honestly can’t wait to review this on my blog.

Overall I LOVED this The Body Shop event and I cannot wait to attend more Coventry Bloggers events in the future. Again I want to say a massive thank you to Emily for hosting the event, as well as allowing my brummy self to attend. 😛

I’m going to pop the Coventry The Body Shop Instagram down below, make sure to go and check them out and let the know I said hi! 😀

LoveYourBodyCov

What do you guys think to some of the newbies that The Body Shop are bringing out? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time all, take care and I hope you’re ready for the weekend.

The Body Shop Banana Body Yogurt – Review

If there’s something I always love writing, it’s an honest review. Whether it be about a good or a bad product, they’re what we look for as people when we buy things and we trust other normies opinions when it comes to that.

I love writing them because I love being honest about a product in every shape and form. Today’s review however will be a good one, a VERY good one.

If there is anyone who is terrible at using body moisturisers, it’s me. I actually HATE using them and always have done for as long as I can remember. I get warm very easily throughout the year so whenever I’ve used anything on my skin I end up getting even warmer and feeling clammy and gross.

Years ago I did give The Body Shop body sorbet (review of the strawberry body sorbet here) a go and loved it, but meh after a while I didn’t actually feel like it was doing much for my skin. It did do great things throughout the summer though. It’d be a perfect product to use on holiday as an after sun.

The Body Shop released their body yogurts not long ago and since their release I’ve heard nothing but good things about them from bloggers and social media users. I wanted to give the strawberry one a go, but only of late have I been more frugal with my money.

The banana range really caught my eye (you can see which goodies I wanted to get here) and as soon as I got the change to go into a store, I made sure to sniff ALL THE BANANA! that sounds so rude… 😛

I knew I wanted the shower cream but I wasn’t sure if I would be sold on the body butter and body yogurt. I cannot stand the body butters from The Body Shop. They’re too thick for my skin and are the worst for causing me to feel sticky and gross. This being said, I did in fact pick up a little tub of the banana body butter, which I use on my hands. It’s amazing and really has helped my eczema lately.

I also ended up picking up the body yogurt and since buying it, I have been hooked!

You can only get the body yogurts in one size, that being 220ml and costs £8.50. Including the banana there are currently 6 scents to choose from. Almond Milk, Banana, Strawberry, British Rose, Moringa and Mango. Apart from banana, I’d love to try the strawberry one in future.

It states on the tub that it is 100% vegan, as it is made with almond milk! Nice one TBS! 😉

Directions are fairly straight forward really.

48H moisturising, instantly absorbing & non-sticky gel-cream. Can be applied on damp skin after your shower. All skin types.

First of all I know what you’re waiting to find out. “What does it smell like?” Now, a sarcastic person would reply, “Bananas, of course!” But deep down, I’ve got you and I know what you mean. In what way does it smell of bananas, it could either smell of sickly sweet foam bananas, the yellow medicine you used to get as a kid or just a regular banana.

The answer is that it smells of fake banana, as in McDonalds banana milkshake, or even Nesquik banana milkshake mix. It doesn’t smell sickly sweet at all and it doesn’t smell like true banana, it’s a nice meet in the middle scent.

The texture of the product is amazing though! As the product states it’s a gel cream, which is what makes it so light weight and cooling to apply. You don’t need a lot either to make the product go a long way! I don’t use this on damp skin though, just because I was always told that moisturiser doesn’t work on damp skin, so meh I just can’t.

Due to how light this is on the skin, it only takes me about five minutes to apply in the mornings and really doesn’t feel like a chore at all! With the warmer weather it also hasn’t left me feeling sticky or clammy throughout the day. However with how warm the weather has been lately it can feel a bit warm in the morning when applying, but that is just due to the heat.

I only use this every other day due to the 48 hour moisturising but I do feel like I could easily use it everyday, especially when winter is here and my skin needs it more than ever!

The scent lasts all day on my skin and I get nothing but compliments from people on the yummy banana scent. I just wish The Body Shop had brought out a body spray and perfume too, as I would LOVE to smell of a banana all day long. 😛

Overall, I do really love this body yogurt and I especially love that it’s banana scented. It really has improved my skin in such a short amount of time and if you’re like me and can’t be arsed with the hassle of applying body lotions before work, then you need to give this a go!

If you like a thicker moisturiser then the body butter is definitely one to go for as you’ll still get the same scent with that too!

I would like them to bring out some more scents in these, such as coconut, which is another favourite scent of mine from The Body Shop. I’d also love to see old limited edition scents make a come back, especially raspberry which is another of my favourite scents.

Sadly the banana range is limited edition so their stuff won’t be sticking around for long. If you want to try this, I recommend you try it really soon. There are always some discount codes flying around. I intend to stock up when a sale hits! 😛

Have you ever tried The Body Shop body yogurts? If so which one(s) have you tried?

Do you want to give the banana range a try? Have you already? Make sure to tell me all in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a lovely week so far.

July Favourites ’18

Why hello August! I know, month after month I moan about how fast the year is going but as much as I hate how fast it is whizzing by BUT I’m not going to do that this month… I’m actually excited for September.

Both me and Dane had some lovely news in July, which I’m not going to mention here and NO before you guess we aren’t expecting or having a baby. 😛 Honestly, you will not see a post in 3 months of me holding a scan… Not unless it’s of a puppy fetus. 😛

URGH I really did ramble. I didn’t mean to. 😛

This months favourites were pretty easy to write up, but at the same time they did feel like a bit of a challenge. I hope you enjoy them either way, I always love writing my monthly favourites, so I hope you always enjoy reading them.

• The Body Shop Body Yogurt in Banana.

I recently posted a wish list Wednesday about The Body Shop and the majority of that wish list had the new limited edition banana range on it. Literally 3 days later I was in a store buying all of the goodies I had posted on that wish list. Since I picked up the body yogurt I have been using it daily and oh my, it has changed up my daily routine! My skin has been looking and feeling dry lately and I HATE moisturising. Not only do I find it a chore, but thick creams can leave me feeling clammy and warm so I avoid it like the plague. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the yogurts and it was Estelle’s The Body Shop haul post (which you can read here) where she spoke about the strawberry one that got me into giving it a go. Thanks Estelle! 😛 This has just been a game changer for my skin. It really is lightweight and only takes 5 minutes max to apply all over and thankfully doesn’t take long to dry so you can be dressed quickly. I plan to have a review of this up on my blog ASAP, possibly this time next week so keep your eyes peeled for that!

• Fairy Glo Gel Polishes.

Since I picked these up a couple of months ago I’ve been meaning to review them as they are AMAZING gel polishes for sod all money. Since getting my Le Mini Macaron gel nail kit I’ve been kind of obsessed with gel nail polish and have certainly gotten into it more. I picked up a massive 14 piece gel polish set, with 12 glitter/holographic shades as well as a base and top coat. All for £15.99 on Amazon with Prime too! I’ve worn the polishes a handful of times now and I do adore them. I feel so pretty when I have the shades on and I especially love the silver holographic shade, as well as the lilac and blue shades. My mom also recently gave me her UV lamp as it was taking me 2 hours to do my nails with the little one nail LED lamp that you get in the Le Mini Macaron kit. I’d love to start doing peoples nails, but that just isn’t going to happen. 😛

• Korres Wild Rose Lip Butter.

I really miss wearing lipstick(s) and yet I don’t know why I stopped wearing them. I think it’s due to the fact that I now have on and off eczema in the corners of my lips, which sucks to be honest with you. Using a stick lip balm is now a thing of the past for me and I have to constantly now use lip balm in tins, e.g. Vaseline. I recently picked up a couple of tinted lip balms from The Body Shop but I decided to dig out this old favourite and start using it at work. No, it isn’t lipstick but it’s a gorgeous tinted lip butter which leaves my lips feeling moisturised and with a gorgeous dark pink colour. I would love to try more of the Korres lip butters, but this one has lasted me so long, I don’t know if I need to. 😛

• The Body Shop Body Butter in Banana.

Yes, another one of the banana products from The Body Shop and this one I have fallen head over heels in love with, for many reasons. There is one product I dislike from The Body Shop and that’s their body butters. They’re really thick, and don’t last very long for how much you spend on them! I’ve tried at least 3 different ones over the years and each one has left me feeling sticky and hot both in the colder and hotter months. However, the banana one smelt amazing so I KNEW I had to pick it up. But I decided to pick up the little tub so that I could test what I thought of the body butter as a hand butter instead. Well, so far I am LOVING IT! It makes such an amazing and deeply nourishing hand butter and I do love it. Whenever I use it at work I get nothing but compliments on the scent, which in turn makes me happy. I’ll definitely invest in the bigger tub soon and just keep the little tub to decant the product into. I’ll also definitely give other scents a try in future, including strawberry.

• Clean & Clear Blackhead Clearing Cleanser.

This is another product I’ve mentioned recently on my blog (you can read that post here) and since I picked it up at the start of July I have loved using it on my skin! I was after a new toner and for years my mom has been using this one and always praised it up. My skin has been in atrocious condition for the longest time now, which was down to certain products I was using, including the old cleanser I was using. This one has helped clear my skin so much and for under £3.00 I am so CHUFFED to have finally discovered it.

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

Image taken from tenor.com

Favourite TV Show – Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.

This is such a random one TV show to start watching, but recently BBC put it onto iPlayer so I’ve just been binge watching it pretty much. I used to LOVE Two Pints growing up and as a student, I just felt like I could relate to it, even with the humour and such. It also just reminds me of when I was younger too with the themes and the fact it’s set back when I was younger. I’m currently on season 5 and close to finishing it. If like me you loved Two Pints growing up, then honestly give yourself a blast to the past and watch the whole box set on iPlayer whilst it’s on there.

Image taken from Giphy.com

Image taken from giphy.com

Favourite Film – Inglorious Basterds.

This was such a random film for me to watch but I saw it on Netflix in July and just thought I’d pop it on to watch one morning whilst I got ready for work. One morning turned into a week pretty much! I do love this film so much and it’s definitely one of my favourites by Quentin Tarantino for many reasons. I remember going to see it with my dad when it came out and he loved it so much. When looking for gifs for this post I giggled at so many awesome ones! 😛

Image taken from giphy.com

Favourite Book – A Polar Bear In Love Vol 3.

Yay finally Vol.3 came out in July and I was so excited to read it after how they left off in Vol.2! I honestly love A Polar Bear In Love, as it is such an adorable manga and one that I will enjoy reading until it finishes. I FINALLY found a gif to use on my blog for posts like this one! They also have short anime clips out of parts from the manga, which is equally adorable, if not cuter. 😛 If you love cute manga, I cannot recommend this enough!

Favourite Song/Album – Daft Punk Random Access Memories.

Recently at work we were talking about music and one of the questions that went around the office was, “What band would you like to see before you die?” and my answer was Daft Punk. I have LOVED this band for as long as I can remember and they are a massive part of my life. They’re the reason for my love of a lot of music and are for sure a band I would love to see perform. This is the last album they released (I pray they’ll bring out another soon!) back in 2013 and it came out not long before I met Dane. This album reminds me of that year and how rough it was. I listened to it when things were hard because it always made me feel better. I even wrote a MASSIVE review on it back in the day, which I’ll link here. I’ve been listening to this album quite a lot since then and ARGH I just forgot how much I love it and how I need more Daft Punk albums on my iPod for my car. I’ve added a couple of my favourite songs from the album above.

Image taken from giphy.com

Favourite Game – Pokemon Go

Yes, I am still playing Pokemon Go and I am LOVING every minute of it. Me and Dane are still playing it loads and even going out late at night to play it. Since me and Dane bought our Pokemon Go Pluses we play it every day. I know it’s seen as a lazy way to play the game, but if you’re going for a walk, or a day out shopping you don’t have to get your phone out to get all the Poke Stops you walk past, which is so handy. The only issue I have is that the game drains my battery, but that’s what I have my battery pack for. 😛 Recently on our way home from visiting Dane’s parents we made a u turn to a local shopping area so that we could catch a Dragonite! It was for sure worth it and we both have a Pokemon we’ve wanted for AGES. I just love the game so much and I wish I’d never stopped playing it years ago. I remember the game coming out in July 2016 and that’s when me and Dane were doing up our house so it does take me back to that time too. 🙂

So those were my favourites from July! I feel like they weren’t anything special but to be honest with you I feel like July went by in a ball of madness! It’s been a pretty decent month to be honest in every single way. As I said at the start of the post me and Dane both had some great news, we’ve had some amazing sunny weather and some much needed rain. It’s overall been a pretty decent month and I’m excited for what August brings!

What were your favourites from July? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a great week so far.

Wish List Wednesday – The Body Shop

I wasn’t planning on doing a wish list Wednesday post for quite a while, but recently The Body Shop came out with their limited edition banana range and I NEED it in my life! I was actually going to order them over the weekend, but I’m leaving it until payday as I need to be good.

So I thought this would be the right time to talk about the banana collection on a wish list Wednesday post, as well as talk about some bath goodies The Body Shop have out now!

• The Body Shop Banana Shower Cream – (link)

As soon as I heard about The Body Shop bringing out this shower cream, I was so excited! Finally they had listened to me (obviously they didn’t… :P) and my cries for a banana range, other than the hair care! I used to love the shampoo due to the scent but I stopped using it as it didn’t do anything for my hair. Sadly the banana range is only limited edition, but I’ll make sure to stock up due to that! When pay day hits I’ll be ordering one, maybe two of these to try out!

• The Body Shop Mango Bath Bomb – (link)

I recently found out that The Body Shop now stock bath products and as I’ve recently stopped buying from Lush, I’ve been on the look out for somewhere new to get my bath time treats. Christmas 2016 They brought out some little bath fizzers which I tried and loved! I love the sound of mango though, especially for summertime and the best bit about these? They’re super cheap and affordable!

• The Body Shop Banana Yogurt – (link)

I’m not someone who moisturises. I have been on and off in the past but these days I’m not arsed. Why? Because it makes me feel hot and sticky and due to that I HATE it! In the past I’ve given The Body Shop’s body sorbets and I loved them. I just felt like they weren’t moisturising my skin, which is a shame. The body yogurts sound similar to the sorbets but much more moisturising! I’m definitely going to pick one up to have a go with. I love the smell of banana so much and I’ve heard this smells of foam banana sweets, yay!

• The Body Shop Coconut Bath Bubble – (link)

Not only do The Body Shop now sell bath bombs, but they do bubble bars too! This is super exciting as I LOVE bubble bars! I especially love that they sell one in coconut as this is one of my favourite scents from The Body Shop. They have another two scents too but they’re both bleh! I’m definitely going to give this bath bubble a go and like the bath bombs, they’re at an affordable price.

• The Body Shop Passionberry Lip Balm – (link)

I don’t really wear many lipsticks anymore, at least not at the moment anyway! I love wearing lip balm and rings and I’m always on the hunt for something colourful and conditioning. I know The Body Shop ones are pretty good and at a good price. There’s a couple of different flavours and shades but I like this purple passion berry one the most.

• The Body Shop Banana Body Butter – (link)

If there is one product I hate by The Body Shop it’s their body butters! I’ve owned a couple in the past and using them has been such a misery for me. They’re just too thick and I always ended up throwing them away, giving them away or using them as hand butters. If I was to buy this banana body butter I’d use it as the latter, a hand butter. My hands get really dry and whilst L’Occitane helps them, I would like to find something else that helps them too, especially if it’s banana scented!

• The Body Shop Green Tea Bath Bomb – (link)

The final product on this wish list is yet another bath bomb! I’ve not tried any of the green tea range from The Body Shop but I have smelt it in the past and it smells so refreshing and summery! It’d be nice to use this bath bomb on a hot summer evening to relax and unwind. Again, these bath bombs are affordable so I wouldn’t feel guilty picking it up.

So those are The Body Shop products that I have on my wish list/future purchasing list. I’m going to wait until I get a decent discount code or venture in a store before I pick anything up.

Have you got your eye on any goodies from The Body Shop? Let me know in the comments what you want to pick up!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a lovely week.

February Favourites ’17

I’m not going to lie not only am I glad to see the back of February due to how incredibly shit it was, but I also struggled with my February favourites post this year. I couldn’t think of many products when I was planning this post a week ago but luckily as I sat down to write it, can of cider in hand (oh God…) I’ve seemingly remembered some stuff I have indeed loved this month. YAY!

• Imperial Leather Foamy Banana Shower Cream.

I LOVE this shower cream so much, so much so I have the bubble bath to go with it. I loved foamy banana sweets as a kid and I always remember my mom buying me some whenever we went into our local Woolworths… Oh good ol’ Woolworths eh? This shower cream smells just like them which makes me so happy! I just love the smell of bananas in general and sadly due to an allergy to them I can’t eat them. So things like this make me happier than they should. ANYWAY! Not only does this smell great but it leaves my skin feeling lovely and clean and smelling great. It also perks me up in the mornings if I need to be up at the crack of dawn for work. It’s a bargain at a £1 a bottle so if you fancy giving it a go you know you won’t break the bank buying one on a food shop.

• Reece’s Lip Balm.

I don’t know why but throughout February my lips have been covered in cold sores and blisters and been so damn sore and uncomfortable! I haven’t been able to wear any lipstick which sucked to be honest. But even when using Blistex products nothing was getting rid of the cold sores. I eventually bought a cold sore cream from Boots which helped but THEN another nasty massive cold sore appeared. FUCK! I didn’t know what it could be but when I started using this lip balm during work the cold sores just seemed to heal quicker. So not only was I comfortable, but my lips smelt and tasted amazing too! It just makes me laugh.

• Bath and Body Works Black Cherry Merlot PocketBac Hand Sanitizer.

This is on of the other Bath and Body Works items that my friend Sophi brought me back from America and it’s definitely my favourite item she brought me back! I have wanted to try this scent since it came out a couple of years ago but as of yet I haven’t been able to and oh my it has been worth the wait! It is such a warm and yummy smell, just like black cherries and reminds me of a black forest gateau. I’ll be sad when this runs out. I’m currently not going to pause writing this post to go look for more on eBay… Oh dear… 😛

• Moisturising Foot Socks.

I only have one of these to show off at the moment but at one point I had at least five of these lying around to use. You can pick these up pretty cheap from Body Care for a £1 each and you can pick up all sorts of types. Argan oil, tea tree, coconut, etc. I bought my mom loads of these and decided to get some for myself too. You pop your feet into them for 15-20 minutes and when you take them out your feet will feel soft and smooth. I keep my feet in them for at least an hour to make sure they’re as soft as they can possibly be. As someone who is on their feet constantly due to work these are a lovely treat once a week after a hot bath.

• Bath and Body Works Body Creams in Lavender & Honey and Cherry Blossom.

My friend Sophi went to America in November last year and she was lovely enough to bring me back some goodies from Bath and Body Works, including these body creams as well as a hand sanitizer I’m mentioning in this months favourites too. I’ve been using this as a hand cream instead of for my body and it finds it works really well and keeps my hands moisturised for a long time, although not as long as I would have hoped or wished. They both smell lovely, but my favourite of the two is the Lavender & Honey scent. It’s so refreshing yet comforting to smell. Can’t go wrong!

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

Favourite TV Show – The Last Leg

I know this show has been out for years but I only recently discovered it on YouTube through clips, the one added above caused me to cry with laughter. The show is just hilarious, witty and currently just rips the shit out of Donald Trump, which is always funny. 😛 I just love it and if you haven’t watched it before definitely give it a go! I’ve only watched series 1 and I’m currently up to date with series 10. I need to try and find the other series to watch online!

Another Favourite TV Show – Sex and The City

Sadly I don’t have a favourite film for this month so I decided to talk about another favourite TV show. I mentioned in a post recently about how I was watching Sex and The City again and I’m about a handful of episodes away from finishing the show for God knows how many times now. I re-watch the show at least once a year and every time I do I’m reminded of how much I love all the characters but how pissed off I get at the all too… Apart from Sam. 😛 Dane is watching it with me for the first time which has made me so happy! He’s actually really enjoyed it too which is nice. I’m going to put the films on for us at some point for us to watch.

Favourite Book – Your Lie in April

I know I mentioned this last month on my favourites but I would be lying if I said I was reading anything else other than this… Which I actually finished a few days ago. I haven’t been able to get enough of each volume and during my breaks at work I’ve read a whole book! I’m not even joking. So in a week I got 5 volumes read… Well I don’t know what to say about this manga other than I love it so damn much and it has fast turned into one of my favourite manga and anime series. I can’t really say much about it without ruining it but it’s a very sad story to be honest but with a positive ending which makes you think. I cried to be honest at the end. 😛 I wish it could have lasted a little longer but I’m glad with the way it finished.

Favourite Song – Duke Dumont – Ocean Drive

I discovered this song at the start of the year through a beauty guru on Instagram. She said what the song was in the posts description so I went to search for it on YouTube and here we are. It’s been out for nearly two years now and only now have I heard it! WHAT!? I do tell everyone how I don’t listen to chart music… This is evidence of that! It’s a catchy song which is very chilled sounding and reminds me of something from the 80’s. I love it so much and it’s always something I listen to whilst getting ready to go out and even when doing blog related work. 😛

Favourite Game – Pokemon Moon

 This game came out towards the end of 2016 and during February I actually picked it up and played it constantly! I hardly played it when it came out due to being busy with work, getting ready for Christmas and being an adult. 😛 BUT when I had time in February I picked it up every day when I got the chance. I haven’t finished it yet and I haven’t picked it up for about a week now… But I will… I will…

So those were my favourites for February! It was a long but at the same time quick month and I am so pleased it is done and dusted. I won’t state why but it was shit… Really shit… Stuff still is shit but it’ll get better. Well I hope anyway. 😛

What were your favourite things throughout February? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time take care all and here’s to a new month… and hopefully some better weather. 😛

July/Hyper Japan Wish List 2015

Due to London taking up most of my money this month, I don’t have much of a wish list this month either. This will mostly be stuff I’ll be trying to buy whilst I’m in London at Hyper Japan, as well as from places around London that me and my boyfriend hope to be going to when we get a chance.

I’ve already made a separate wish list for Lush, which will be live on my blog Wednesday.

• Pokemon Center Pokemon Time Eievui Vaporeon Plush Keychain.

I recently showed you guys a haul of some purchases from Japan, this is part of that collection and something I regret not asking for! But I’ll be keeping my eye out for it when I go to Hyper Japan for sure! It’s a cute little Vaporeon plushie keychain which is just pulling on my heartstrings… Not good, not good at all! There is of course a full collection of these in all the Eeveelutions but this one is my favourite for sure.

• Nana Manga Volumes 10-15.

I LOVE this manga and even though I’ve been reading it for a couple of years now, I’m still up to volume 9. Why? Because this manga is proving hard to find! My boyfriend was amazing and bought me 8 and 9 for Christmas, but they didn’t last me long whilst we were on holiday. I want to try and finish this manga this year so I can focus on reading another (Attack on Titan maybe?) and whilst I could be naughty and read it online for free, I love this manga enough that I want to own it. I love the anime and the manga continues on for longer than the anime does. I’m hoping I can pick these five volumes up from Hyper Japan, or maybe even a Japanese or geeky book shop in London.

• My Neighbour Totoro Backpack.

I don’t exactly NEED a new backpack, but I would like one. I love my current one, but I fancy something new and something that will work with both my fashion needs and practical needs. I saw a gorgeous Totoro backpack when I went to Comic Con in November, but it wasn’t this one. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for a gorgeous new Totoro bag, whether it’s a backpack, or a shoulder bag. You can’t go wrong with Totoro!

• Kit Kat in Green Tea Matcha.

I LOVE matcha Kit Kat’s! I could eat them all day but I also hate them. They cost so much money to buy, but oh so worth it! I plan on investing in these and buying as many as humanly possible. You can pick them up for decent prices on eBay, Amazon, and other websites online, but if I can pick some up from Hyper Japan, then I’m good with this. If you’ve never tried any of the random yet amazing flavours that Kit Kat’s that Japan have to offer, then you really are losing out! Websites like Sushi Noms and Tofu Cute sell these at decent prices.

• Pokemon Center Pikazard Plushie.

Who can say no to this cutie? I’ve wanted the Pikazard plushie since it came out and although it isn’t a must, if Sushi Noms is selling it (like I think they might be!) then I may have to look into it. I’m sure there will be hundreds of fakes of these flying around Hyper Japan, but I’ll only buy from sellers I KNOW go to Japan to buy legits. These are incredibly cute though. Who could resist?

• Pocky in flavours Peach, Banana, and Matcha.

I LOVE Pocky. Like Kit Kat’s really, the Japanese do these treats well and what’s best is they’re not too many calories. So I don’t have to feel too guilty whilst I snack on them. Once again, I love matcha flavouring so I can hardly resist the matcha Pocky. I bought loads of Pocky when I attended Comic Con and I loved them all. The only problem with Pocky sellers is they often rack the prices up, whilst Asian supermarkets sell these dirt cheap! I may stock up on these if I can get them for reasonable prices, like the Kit Kat’s. I mostly want banana and matcha flavours. Nom, nom, nom!

• Nendoroid – Sword Art Online Kirito.

This isn’t just a rare Nendoroid, but it’s also very bloody expensive due to it! This is something I have been after for quite some time now, not for myself, but for my boyfriend. He loves his Nendoroid’s like myself, if not more and most of his collection have been bought by myself as presents. I’ve bought him a majority of the Attack on Titan series with only two left to get (Colossal Titan and Cleaning Levi) which I am also on the hunt for at Hyper Japan. However, if I can find a real version of Kirito, then I’ll probably buy it, or give him some money towards this as I know how much he’s after it. He’s a gorgeous little character and who wouldn’t want him in their collection, eh?

So that’s my wish list for July and for Hyper Japan!

Are you attending Hyper Japan this summer? If so, let me know!

Until next time all, take care and have a great weekend.

Some Bedtime Treats

I love my bed. It’s my safe place and the best place to snuggle up on rainy weekends with my boyfriend whilst we watch anime and films.

It’s also the place where I like to snuggle up under the covers and have some beauty and self-indulgent treats.

The first thing I like to do is make sure I’m nice and moisturised before bed. I’ve been using various foot moisturisers at the moment, with I slather on my feet as much as possible and put my white cotton socks over the top. I sleep in this and wake up to find my feet lovely and soft! The foot cream I’ve been reaching for the most at the moment is Heel Genius by Soap & Glory (review here). I don’t do this every night, but every other night I’ll do this. I’ll soon be doing this every night as I want nice soft feet ready for spring and summer this year.

Another thing I like to keep soft and smooth are my hands. I suffer from mild eczema in both the winter and summer, HOWEVER I haven’t as of yet had any issues and I thinks it’s because I’ve been making sure to keep my hands moisturised whenever I can. My sister-in-law gave me a huge Sanctuary Spa gift set for Christmas and this came inside of it. I’ve been keeping it by my bed to use throughout the day as well as before I go to sleep. It’s not too thick and really does leave my hands feeling soft. The smell isn’t the best in the world but I don’t care, it does the job.

I like to make sure my lips are moisturised all the time! As soon as they feel dry I make sure to apply plenty of lip balm, as the worst thing for me are a chapped pair of lips. Especially if I want to wear my lipstick and not need to worry about scrubbing away any dead skin first. I know it should be the done thing, but sometimes I don’t have the effort. I love my Carmex lip balms (review here) and these are my go to lip balm at the moment for when I’m at home. I’m currently trying to make my way through plenty of lip balms as I appear to have quite a few… I’m sure I’ll make my way through them though.

You can’t go wrong with burning a candle in the evenings, especially when it’s cold and miserable at the moment. I’m currently burning Yankee Candle’s Red Raspberry wax tart and it’s safe to say I LOVE it! At first it reminded me of The Comforter bubble bar from Lush but now it reminds me of something else, which I can’t quite put my finger on. I love this though and intend to buy a jar of it in the future. I’ve recently gone back to burning wax tarts as instead of forking out for large jars, I may as well pick up some of the scents I want to try before I buy in tart form.

Days in bed are definitely days spent doing next to anything and watching TV shows. One series I’ve been loving at the moment is Dexter and since getting Netflix I’ve been able to continue watching it… Seeing as Amazon Prime took it down. I’m currently just over the halfway mark of season 4 and really addicted to it. I’ve been told not to watch until the end, but I will. I love Dexter’s character too much to just let him go and not find out what happens to him.

Another series, well three series in one that I’ve been enjoying is Cucumber, Banana and Tofu. These are a trilogy of shows put together about gay relationships, as well as a couple of straight ones thrown in there. It’s very modern, funny and great for people of any age. Cucumber focuses more towards older ages, whilst Banana focuses towards a younger audience. Tofu however is only 10-11 minutes long and each week focuses on different topics relating to sex. I love shows like this as they’re so interesting, as well as keeping a funny and lighthearted side to them too. If you haven’t watching any of them yet, do it!

Finally what I really enjoying doing whether my boyfriend is here or not, is to snuggle up to my Totoro plushie and my seal plushie from my second home. My Totoro is huge and it makes it somewhat comforting if I’m feeling a little lonely, sleepy, or just want something to snuggle. My seal plushie is just so squishy and nice, which can make a change from the size of the Totoro one.

Either way, I love having time to chill in bed with all these comforts and treats before I go to sleep and as I’ve written this post out this evening, I’ve done them all. Including snuggling with my Totoro plushie and watching Dexter.

What are your bedtime treats that you do before bed? Let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, take care all and I wish you all a good sleep tonight.

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.