Skinthetics Coventry*

I can’t believe we’re already over a week into March, 2019 is really flying by but to be honest I am loving this month so far. It’s full of positive vibes so far, both in my personal life as well as with my blogging. I’m just loving it at the moment, I hope to bring you guys a very happy and positive catch up post towards the end of March.

Last week I was very much hungover after a night out of drinking with my work colleagues, so thankfully this treatment being booked in for the late afternoon was something I was really looking forward to having done!

I’ve never had a facial treatment before so this was a definitely first for me and due to that I wasn’t sure what to expect other than someone rubbing treatments all over my face.

Image taken from Skinthetics.co

Before I talk about the treatment itself, I’ll talk about Skinthetics. They’re a brand new clinic that opened at the start of March, so at the point of writing this post they’ve been open just over a week now. I was invited alongside some of the other Coventry Bloggers to the event last Saturday to partake in one of the many treatments they have to offer.

They’re located in Earlsdon and specialise in laser hair removal, beauty, weight loss, teeth whitening and more! They have so much on offer and it’s amazing!

When I was asked which treatment I would like to try I was offered loads of various different ones which ranged from:

Fibra DFA – a pain free laser hair removal.

T-Shape – body shaping machine that targets fat cells and uneven skin to smooth and tighten the target area.

Iridium – Eye treatment that helps active ingredients penetrate the skin deeper than usual.

Aqua 3 – An amazing facial that is ideal for oil, spot-prone skin and is a deep exfoliator.

I went for the Aqua 3* [GIFTED] treatment as it sounded right up my street due to it being ideal for oily spot prone skin and as it also offers deep exfoliation I really loved the sound of it.  I also found out during the treatment that this works on stretch marks too, which I would LOVE to give a go on the ones in my hips! This is also said to work wonders on acne prone skin too, which I think is amazing!

Whilst I was waiting for my treatment to be started I was reading one of the leaflets and inside it tells you a little more about the treatment, which I have added above as well as below. 🙂

Aqua 3 is a 3 in 1 system where the technology combines the properties of water based peel containing sequential acids with microdermabrasion and the transdermal delivery of cosmetic ingredients.

• Water based peel with sequential acids
• Deep moisturisation with hyaluronic acid
• Restructuring and oxygenating your tissues

When I entered the clinic it looked so clean and fresh, as well as welcoming. It was lovely and when I entered the building Emily (Drained Beauty) who runs Cov Bloggers had just finished her treatment (she had the same as me) so we had a little natter about the treatment as well as some general stuff.

The waiting room is gorgeous and for the grand opening of the clinic Skinthetics had some food and drinks out for people visiting the clinic, as well as some gorgeous cakes! At one point I heard someone ask, “Are they real?” as no one had cut into them throughout the day! I hope they were eaten eventually and also very yummy. 😛

My treatment was due to 4pm but I didn’t actually get seen for my treatment until around 4.30pm due to some communication issues. The clinic waiting room wasn’t exactly huge so I get why there had been those issues. Loads of people suddenly turned up and due to the size of the room it was getting all confusing. The wait was a tad annoying and it took me asking what as happening for me to get seen.

This being said though, the treatment itself and the service that was provided throughout it made up for the half an hour wait.

My treatment was done by the lovely Shahana who was chatty throughout the whole treatment with me, which I really loved! I felt so at ease and relaxed with her and just the fact we bounced on and off each other with conversation made her the perfect beautician for me.

FYI this photo was taken after the treatment, hence the paper being a bit messy on the bed where I’d been lying.

She took me up to the treatment room which was small so there was some privacy for just yourself and the person doing your treatment. There’s various seating so if you did want someone to come in with you you’d be able to. This being said I regret not inviting Dane in with me to take some photos of me during the facial. Again, it’s a lovely size and nothing too spacious.

The Aqua 3 facial treatment requires various different stages, all of which feel as good as the next one! I found a video on the Baldan Group website, who are the company to provide the Aqua 3 equipment and machinery to Skinthetics. I feel like the video will describe so much better than I ever will about the treatment and how exactly it works to leave you skin feeling and looking fresh, bright and silky smooth.

The treatment itself lasted for half an hour, even though I was told an hour originally when the treatment was booked. Either way the treatment was amazing and really did leave me feeling fresh and like a new woman! 😛

Shahana was so lovely throughout the treatment, making sure to let me know each stage of the facial, what it was, what it would do to my skin and even warning me about how each may feel.

The tool on the right is for deep cleansing and was a suction handpiece that had a mixture of water, mandelic acid and salicylic acid which helps to remove surface impurities. This can work on all skin types and sucks out all the dead skin cells, blackheads and whiteheads thanks to how strong the vacuum is. (info taken from Baldan Group website)

The tool on the left is the diamond tool that contains diamond granules to help with mechanical peeling on the thickest of skin. It helps to perform controlled, non-invasive microdermabrasion that can free the skin from the superficial stratum corneum. This improves the appearance and texture of the skin and restores elasticity. (info taken from Baldan Group website)

These both felt amazing on the skin and really did make me feel like I was being pampered, especially the deep cleansing tool. I’d honesty love something like that at home to use on both mine and Dane’s skin once a week! 😛

Now this tool, whilst I thought was going to be my least favourite part of the treatment ended up being my favourite and I’ve actually been craving it since which sounds so odd! 😛

When Shahana was talking me about how this treatment would feel I was worried I’d signed up to something I didn’t mean to. Alas this wasn’t the case. I was told it might feel painful in certain areas, especially my forehead and how it had a slight prickling sensation to it. This sensation was accurate but it wasn’t painful for myself at all and if anything, I didn’t even feel that sensation on my forehead! It was oddly relaxing and satisfying in the way it felt and for a couple of days after the treatment I wanted to feel it again on my skin as it just felt like it woke up my skin a little! It’s like the little dermal roll tools you can buy online but it doesn’t look as scary! 😛

How the tool works is by harnessing the power of the mesoporic handpiece’s transdermal delivery, the skin is restructured by hyaluronic acid and Dermakléb serums. (info taken from Baldan Group website)

The final stage of my treatment before some facial moisturiser was a bubble mask, which reminded me of the Elizavecca milky piggy mask (which you can read about here) and I loved the feeling of the mask expanding.

Throughout the treatment I was told by Shahana how lovely my skin was, which was such a compliment as I love to think I’ve looked after it pretty well the past 29 years. 😛 I asked her how often I’d need treatments and she told me either once a month or maybe even once every two months.

The cost of the treatment can vary depending on your skin so it’s best to have a chat with someone in the clinic to see what the options are for yourself. 🙂 Sorry I’m not able to give you guys a price. 😦

Before without glasses

Before with glasses

Straight after treatment without glasses

Straight after treatment with glasses

5 hours after treatment

5 hours after treatment

5 hours after treatment

24 hours after treatment

A week after treatment aka me sat in bed as I write this post… 😛

So here are some before and after photographs of my skin. I apologise about the amount of photos of my face, as well as the lighting by the way. I was trying to get some better photos but it just wasn’t happening for me. It’s definitely more noticeable in person than what any photo can show. I hope the photo from today helps you guys see how it’s left my skin.

My skin was a tad sensitive for the first couple of hours after the treatment itself but this soon faded and left my skin looking brighter and younger, which was lovely. I asked Dane how he thought I looked after the treatment and him being him I thought he was going to say, “You look the same!” but to my surprise he commented how my face looked fresh faced, plumper and bouncy. His wording was, “I mean if I flicked your cheek it would jiggle.” What a cutie. 😛

I think the only thing I didn’t like in the clinic was if you want to get your teeth whitened it appeared to me that you had to have the procedure done in the waiting room, in front of everyone else when you may have just wanted some privacy. I understand they’re new so this may be temporary but personally, I just wouldn’t enjoy it. It wouldn’t relax me and it wouldn’t add to the experience either. This being said, I didn’t have this treatment so I can’t really fault it… If that makes sense!

Overall I LOVED the treatment I received and it was definitely an amazing and memorable first experience for my first facial. I would love to get more treatments of the Aqua 3 done on my skin in the future as it’s really helped with my breakouts, as well as my oily t-zone.

I’m unsure if this was done to the facial or just the massive shift in the weather but a few days after the treatment my face was really dry on my cheeks and it was uncomfortable. I use tea tree daily to cleanse my skin and I’ve NEVER had a problem with it for the almost ten years of using it on and off. I’m combination skin so maybe on my dry patches on my face (cheeks and chin) this treatment may have been a bit too much for it. The dryness has gone now and only lasted a couple of days, but nonetheless it’s something to be wary of if you have combination skin like I do.

I wouldn’t let this affect my experience though as I honestly loved every moment of the treatment and I highly recommend Shahana for your Aqua 3 facial if you pop to Skinthetics in Coventry for a facial!

As I mentioned near the start of the post you can find Skintentis in Earlsdon, I’ll pop their address, opening times and contact information down below:

The Old Nail Factory

Allard House

28 Moor Street

Earlsdon

CV5 6EQ

Telephone: 01926 629 001

Email: info@skinthetics.co

Opening times:

Monday – Wednesday: 9.30am – 6.30pm

Thursday – Saturday: 9.30am – 7.30pm

Social media:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

I know this is something different for my blog today, but I hope you enjoyed reading about the treatment I had just as much as I did when receiving it! As I mentioned this was [GIFTED] to me so I’ve popped the * in the title of the post as well as where I mentioned the treatment for the first time.

Would you ever give the Aqua 3 treatment a go? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time all, I hope you have a lovely weekend! 😀

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.

Elodie the Unicorn Ramen Bowl

I don’t quite know why I’m writing this post/sort of review today as it’s just so random, but at the same time it’s something I really want to share with you guys for so many reasons! Of course, I’ll go into those as the post goes on.

I don’t mean to call this a review throughout the post either, but what else can it be?

I’ve been lusting after the Elodie the Unicorn Ramen Bowl for about a year now, which I discovered through Smoko’s Kickstarter campaign for the Elodie the Unicorn Humidifier. I nearly ordered this through Kickstarter which would have come with the humidifier, the mug and of course the ramen bowl. I didn’t due to how expensive it was and was gutted I’d missed the opportunity to getting some cute unicorn pieces for the house.

Smoko is an American company, so at the time you could order their Elodie products but shipping and import would have cost a bomb! So I left it… Then recently on Firebox they started releasing some of Smoko’s Elodie goodies, including the ramen bowl.

I’ve mentioned it a couple of times on my blog in the past when talking about my monthly wish lists, which you can read here and here.

Me and Dane had been in the house over a year when I discovered the Elodie goods on Firebox’s website and I pleaded with him to let me order the ramen bowl. It was pretty expensive at the time, £24.99 and for a bowl we both found it was expensive. I added it to my Christmas and birthday lists and I still didn’t receive it.

I noticed recently that the bowl was on offer and when I first looked it was down to £20.99, which I thought was a bargain… But again Dane was honest and said, “Nat where are we going to keep it? It’s not cheap either for a bowl.”

He was right, it wasn’t cheap and we didn’t have room for it, so I left it.

A couple of weeks ago I looked again on the website, just randomly to see what new Elodie goods Firebox may have added to the store, I discovered that the ramen bowl was EVEN CHEAPER than previously at £14.99!

I decided not to chance it a third time and put an order through! When you shop with Firebox for your first time you can receive a £5 voucher, which I put towards the ramen bowl. It practically paid for my postage, which sadly isn’t the cheapest in the world but it was definitely worth the money to ensure that my bowl arrived in one piece.

I didn’t have to wait long before my ramen bowl was on its way to me and on my doorstep, it literally arrived the day after I ordered, I was amazed and so happy.

I got home from work and I couldn’t wait to open it. The box that it comes in is cute in itself! Is it sad that I can’t bear to throw it away?! I’m not going to to be honest, I’m going to use it to keep my food in at work. 😛

The bowl itself is gorgeous and to be honest not what I imagined it to look like. It’s also lighter in weight than I thought it was going to be, which is incredibly handy when taking the bowl in and out of the cupboard.

This is technically two bowls, but to cook the noodles you need to use both bowls, one as the bowl itself and one as the lid.

So how it works is you pop your ramen noodle packet and any flavouring sachets into the bowl and pour boiling water over. Give it a max of 15-30 minutes and voila! The noodles will have grown twice their size and be ready to eat!

It claims it’s big enough to fit your ramen noodles in without breaking them, I don’t know if it’s due to the brand of noodles I used but sadly I had to break mine in half to get them into the bowl. I used proper Japanese ramen by the way. 😉

They melt in your mouth when eating them and this bowl will already make my life easier when I’m in a hurry or I’m tired after work. After cooking the noodles you could of course transfer the noodles to the other bowl so that two of you could share them… But of course I just want to scoff all the yummy ramen noodles myself! 😛

So, was this bowl worth the money? Oh hell yes! If anything I’m glad I waited a year to buy it for £10 less than the original asking price.

Dane was indecisive about this bowl but not only does it look adorable, it actually does an amazing job! Now Dane wants a ramen bowl himself, which I’m trying so hard to find for him! Otherwise I’ll have to buy another Elodie the Unicorn ramen bowl for him to match mine. 😛

If you like the look of this ramen bowl and want to get one for yourself, then make sure to use my code down below to bag yourself a £5 code!

https://www.firebox.com/r/natalee-e9e09e

ALSO! The Elodie the Unicorn goods are only available at Firebox for us UK shoppers, so you won’t be able to find those goods anywhere else! If you like the look of the Elodie the Unicorn goods then I’ll pop a link down below to both the Smoko and Firebox websites!

Smoko

Firebox

What do you think of my adorable ramen bowl? Would you buy one? Let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you had a lovely weekend!

Fan fiction: real or not real?

Hi everyone! I’m Kanra, taking over for Nat today since she’s on a vacation (and can’t answer the phone right now). I’m one of those odd bloggers who don’t really have a particular niche I stick to. Some days I’m posting about school (I’m a medical student), some days I’m posting about art (I really like painting) and some days I’m posting about random things that take up my interest. Today’s random topic of the day is fan fiction.

I’m not an avid reader of fan fiction and certainly not a writer either. In fact, I don’t think I would have been overly concerned about this topic at all if it hadn’t cropped up in a chat room I frequent. It was a writing group, where people who were either in the process of writing or editing would congregate to share their work and request for constructive criticism. It was a pretty nice group, until someone posted a fan fiction and asked if it could be reviewed.

Admittedly, it was a poorly written piece of work. I guessed the writer was maybe around 14-15 years old, merely writing out a rough draft of a fantasy or day dream they had. The writing was disjointed, meaningless details about the main character, unrealistic bullying and resultant save by ignoring the situation and focusing on the power of friendship or something along those lines. If someone asked me to constructively criticize that piece of work, I would have probably declined because there’s just so much wrong with it that needs to be fixed.

The moderator then decided to throw out the question: should fan fiction be banned from the group entirely?

I recently took an MBTI test which classed me as an INTJ, given the title of “The Architect” or “The Mastermind”. There are other characteristics of this personality type which include things like “avoiding eye contact while talking”. To be honest, I didn’t even realize I had some the characteristics I have until I read up on it, like arguing as soon as a person of power suggests something. So of course when the discussions started shifting towards a “yes, ban fan fiction”, I couldn’t help but argue against it. It’s like my inner rebel teenager came out.

The history of fan fiction is something long and messy, something we will not discuss at the moment (it involves lawsuits and copy rights). The only thing you need to know is that fan fiction is a gray domain. What fan fiction basically does is create a new story from an already published piece of work. There is almost nothing that you, as a fan fiction writer, can claim for yourself. Everything you build on, from the setting to the characters, is not yours. You can’t monetize your writing. I guess that’s why it explains why most fan fictions are poorly written wish fulfillment pieces.

Yes, I’m not going to lie. More often than not, fan fiction has disappointed me. The majority of these pieces of writing are poorly written, self insert fantasies. The occasional rare gem does show up and I couldn’t let a brash decision of “ban fan fiction” stamp these out. Not to mention the fact that most writers started out using fan fiction as a way to improve their writing before creating original content.

It’s okay to write bad fan fiction! You have to start somewhere and practicing it out with preexisting characters, universes and laws is better for hammering out the fluency of your words and polishing the entire process of writing before putting in effort to bring to life an original creation.

It’s really sad that there are amateur writers out there, who write as a hobby, dismiss fan fiction as legitimate literature. In my opinion, fan fiction involves just as much effort and skill as original content. It doesn’t matter what your idea is or how novel your plot is, if you don’t have the ability to convey ideas properly through good pacing, than what’s the point? It’s much more important for writers to focus on presentation and delivery rather than whether it’s original or not. To be very honest, the kind of attitude I see about fan fiction really makes me wonder why people focus on the wrong things. It’s just a harmless exercise that helps young writers develope their skills. If it’s not good fan fiction, then just leave it?

Personally, I like the idea of fan fiction. I watched Dexter a few months ago and in one of the seasons, Dexter is set up to almost turn himself in to the police, but of course, it doesn’t happen. When I finished that season, I wanted to know so bad what would have happened if Dexter had turned himself in. What would the other characters think? How would they react? I needed to know and I really wanted a fan fiction to answer these questions for me. Imagine how many other “could’ve been” scenarios there are out there that can be elaborated and explored through fan fiction! Isn’t that exciting? Of course, finding such literature is truly a challenge.

I normally don’t read fan fiction regularly, but there are some popular fan fictions that I’ve checked out and was blown away by and if you have zero exposure to fan fiction, then you should check it out! My absolute top favorite fan fiction ever is “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality”. This is a full fledged Harry Potter book and it’s amazing, it condenses the plot of all seven books and years just into this fan fiction Harry’s first year at Hogwarts. It’s amazing and I can’t stress enough about how great this is. The writing style is great, the concept is great, it’s just amazing and deserves more attention!

The other fan fiction is something I came across while seeing art on Pinterest. This might sound really childish but it’s a PowerPuff Girls fan fiction called “More than Human”. Revolving around a high school (instead of preschool) where the PPGs go, it turns out the RowdyRuff Boys are there too. I actually haven’t read all of it (to be honest I kept getting the boys’ names mixed up) but it was really nice nevertheless (very slice of life, high school drama sort of thing) and there’s a lot of artwork out these from fans who loved the fan fiction, so hey! Check it out, might be your cup of tea!

What do you think about people who write fan fictions? Have you ever dabbled in this art? What’s your favourite fan fiction? Have a nice day!

I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to Kanra for writing this post! As regular readers on my blog will know, I always love talking geeky on my blog whenever the chance arises! Although I’m not a fan fiction reader, Kanra’s post really opened up my eyes to it from both a reader and a writers point of view!

I hope you enjoyed reading her post just as much as I did! Until next time take care all and I hope you’re doing well!

Lush Halloween & Christmas 2017

Wow I can’t believe it. The Lush Creative Showcase has come and gone and I still regret not booking a ticket and going… Next time I will for sure!

It’s only September and Lush have not only announced what will be up for grabs this Halloween and Christmas, BUT they’ve released all the goodies online for us to buy NOW. Erm, what?!

I just want to get this out here that I am super pissed off about so many products that haven’t made a return. The main one being So White bath bomb, a bath bomb I have bought at least once every year since its release in 2009. FYI this was my favourite year for Lush Christmas as it had some of the best releases in my mind. Most of them are now shitty Lush Kitchen exclusives…

As well as that Lush hasn’t brought back Father Christmas bath bomb (Snow Fairy scented), Stardust bath bomb (was an amazing price and smelt amazing), Reindeer & Robin fun (cola scented), Santasaurus re-useable bubble bar (which I REALLY wanted to try last year and never got to!) and Peeping Santa bubble bar (strawberry scented). I’m sure there’s more I could think of as well! Either way I’m mostly disappointed that Yog Nog has COMPLETELY gone. What the fuck Lush?! :S Disappointed is not the word.

I also want to get this out there that I think Lush have REALLY put their prices up lately and it’s also very disappointing. Nearly £5.00 for a bath bomb?! For a few years now I’ve had a serious love/hate relationship with Lush and it’s usually due to their prices. I remember when I could walk into Lush and buy 2 bags of goodies for £30.00. Not those 2 bags would cost me near to £100.00. I seem to only really buy Lush when the Boxing Day sale hits, which is a shame. It really does say something about me… and I don’t care! If I can stock up on Lush products to last me the whole year then why the hell not?! I’ll be doing that again this year for sure.

ANYWAY! Instead of being gloomy about amazing Christmas exclusives that have come and gone, I wanted to share with you guys today about what I’m excited to pick up throughout the rest of the year from Lush!

Also! I will only be talking in depth about products that are new or ones that are coming back from the previous year(s) that I haven’t yet tried… So are technically still new to me! 😛

First I’ll start with Halloween products.

• Monsters Ball bath bomb – £4.50 (link)

This little cutie is returning for a second year and due to not being able to try him last year, I’m really pleased for him to be back! He smells of lime Fruit Pastilles and come on, just look at him! He’s a little cutie, for a monster. I’ll definitely be buying a couple of him this year when I get back from holiday to try out. Lush seem to see lime scented things as their sort of Halloween signature fragrance, which to me isn’t very “spooky” but I’m not complaining! 😛

• Bewitched bubble bar – £4.25 (link)

This is a newbie to the Halloween collection this year and one that I like the sound of! Alongside the lime scent, Lush always have something blackcurrant scented too. I’m not complaining! 😛 This bubble bar looks and sounds really nice so although it’s probably not one I’ll rush out and buy if I smell it and I like it, I might buy one. 😛 From the website it turns your bath water black and sparkly and I’m down for both of those!

• Black Rose lipstick – £6.50 (link)

I’ve used Lush lipsticks and tints in the past and they’re pretty amazing to be honest! I’ve been using my Sugar Plum Fairy lip tint from last year and I forgot how great it is! Due to that I really want to pick this one up! It looks black in the tube but when applied to the lips is a vampy dark raspberry pink shade. Perfect for the colder months! I mostly love how these moisturise as you wear them, which is something I’m always after in a lipstick.

That’s sadly all the Halloween products I’m after this year, which I’m sure my bank balance appreciates!

Now onto the Christmas goodies I want… Bank balance is going to soon be hating me. 😉

• Thundersnow bath bomb – £4.50 (link)

When I saw this being spoken about at the showcase I thought I recognised it, but it wasn’t out for Christmas last year so I did a little digging as to where I would have seen it before and discovered that it was actually a limited edition product at the Lush Summit at the start of the year! Crazy, huh? All that time and now it’s out for Christmas. It sounds amazing though. It has peppermint and cocoa butter in so it sounds like it’ll smell of After Eight chocolates. YUM! It also looks really cool, like a disco zebra. 😛

• Snow Fairy jelly bomb – £4.96 (link)

As many Lush fans will know Lush recently brought out their jelly bombs and they look pretty cool to be honest! I’m not going to be trying it myself however until I need to buy more bath bombs and bubble bars. I still have some bath bombs to use up from last Christmas! I definitely want my first go at them to be Snow Fairy scented though. These are really expensive though at pretty much £5 and although I can get 2 baths out of it, I need to consider if I really want to pay that much for ONE bath bomb. I’ll probably wait until the Boxing Day sale to grab this…

• Sherbet Dip bath bomb – £3.75 (link)

This is one that I think is REALLY random for Christmas and to me it just doesn’t scream Christmas at all. If anything it reminds me of the school holidays in the summer and going to the corner shop with your mates to buy sherbet dip and other crappy sweeties. This is from memory the cheapest Christmas bath bombs that Lush has brought out this year and I have wondered if that’s one of the reasons that people have bought it… Either way it sounds really nice and I’d like to give it a go, but I’m not fussed if I miss out on it. It sounds similar to Fizzbanger bath bomb.

• Plum Snow bubble bar – £5.95 (link)

I have to get this off of my chest and say what a cheek I think it is to charge £6.00 for a bubble bar. I don’t care how big it is or how many baths you’ll get from it. That’s expensive. I can make my own bubble bars for less and get more… I think. 😛 Either way it’s a fucking shame to be honest because this bubble bar sounds amazing! By the name it obviously shares its scent with Plum Rain shower gel, which I still need to smell! It sounds delicious… Just a shame about the price. I’ll be waiting until Boxing Day to buy this.

• Man In The Moon bubble bar – £5.95 (link)

This is another newbie for Christmas this year and like Sherbet Dip bubble bar, it just doesn’t scream Christmas to me… If anything it could remind me of stories you would have been told Christmas Eve… By the sounds of it it shares its scent with Monsters Ball due to the lime fragrance, which I like the sound of! It’s also funny how they both have one eye each. Can’t go wrong with that!

• My Two Front Teeth bubble bar – £3.95 (link)

Again, what the hell Lush? This is such a random shape for a Christmas product and I don’t get why it’s here! Maybe it was a random toy that someone in the Lush creative team had when they were growing up. If this is the case then why didn’t Lush include a little moustache too??? This sounds lovely scent wise however and would be one I’d pick up if it was as good as it sounds. It contains vanilla and lavender so this would be a lovely bubble bar to use in the evenings, especially for children due to how fun the bubble bar looks too.

• Christmas Cracker bubble bar – £5.95 (link)

This is one I’m unsure if I’ll like or not due to the scent, as it has that citrus lemon and lime smell going on, which Lush seem to be loving this Christmas. BUT they actually have a product out that is Christmassy! This looks like a pretty big bubble bar to be honest but again it’s so damn expensive! I have a feeling it has a bath melt on it as well, but it doesn’t state that. It does however contain popping candy so it’s a fun one for children to use around bonfire night.

• The Snowman bubbleroon – £4.25 (link)

I love bubbleroons so much! I find they’re really soothing for the skin and especially great during the colder months when your skin is feeling dry and needs some serious TLC. I’ve not tried the snowman bubble bars or melts before, but I wouldn’t mind changing that this year. This contains orange to brighten your spirits and soya milk and shea butter to soften your dry skin. This again would be a cute one to give to children to use.

• Star Light Star Bright bath melt – £4.25 (link)

This apparently shares its scent with Golden Wonder bath bomb (which is now my favourite Christmas bath bomb now that they’ve discontinued So White…). It contains lime oil as well as ginger, so I’m not sure what this would smell like. I’m pretty sure this is also a reoccurring product that was around for a few years before 2016. If that’s the case then I know a lot of Lushies will be happy to see this back!

• Snow Fairy FUN – £6.95 (link)

This isn’t a new product and actually came out last year, BUT again it’s a product I never got to try and wanted to. I’ll definitely pick one up this year though, I LOVE the Lush FUN. It’s a multipurpose product but I love mostly using it as a bubble bar, to wash with and surprisingly even to use as a shave gel for my legs. Hey! Why can’t I shave my legs and smell like a fairy at the same time? 😛 This is actually the only FUN Lush have brought out for Christmas this year, which I’m really disappointed about. Again I also sound like a misery BUT I remember when FUN was £5.00… Don’t you? :S

• Salt And Peppermint Bark body scrub – £6.95 (link)

Again, another returning favourite has come back for a second, if not third year now! AND I AM STILL YET TO TRY IT! This has clearly done well each year for it to come back and would be an amazing partner to team up with Christingle and Thundersnow for a minty and fresh bath.

• Snow Fairy cold pressed soap – £5.95 (link)

I’ve never used cold pressed soap before but as old and regular readers of mine will know, I HATE Lush soaps. I’ll use them if gifted or bought them, but I would never go out of my way to buy them. They often flare up my eczema and case sore and dry patches on my skin and always, ALWAYS dry up my hands and make them sore. I think the only time I’ve used Lush soaps is for shaving my legs and that’s usually the rare few I can use, one being Rock Star. I’m willing to give the cold pressed soaps a go though, they sound like they’re better for your skin and they look nice in their round little pill shape. ALSO IT’S SNOW FAIRY! I have to give it a go! I’d probably not use this for my hands, but instead get a nice soap dish for the bathroom and have it for washing hands.

• Berry Berry Christmas shower gel – 250g – £11.95 and 500g – £17.95 (link)
• Berry Berry Christmas naked shower gel – 240g – £11.75 (link)

This is one of the two new shower gels that Lush has brought out for Christmas this year and I’d like to say that that they have done an amazing fucking job! Last year they brought out Bubble shower gel which was my favourite new product of 2016 (you can read my review here). I don’t think this will be my favourite out of the two but you never know as I haven’t actually smelt them yet! This just sounds so fruity and delicious and I love scents like that as it contains cranberry and blueberry BOTH OF MY FAVOURITE FRUITS! This also contains loads of lustre as well, which looks amazing throughout the bottle from what I’ve seen on pictures. I can’t wait to give this a sniff!

• Santa’s Christmas shower cream – 250g – £10.95 and 500g – £17.95 (link)
• Santa’s Christmas naked shower cream – 240g – £10.75 (link)

THIS is what my favourite product of 2017 is looking to be. It shares its scent with Reindeer And Robin FUN and the Santa’s Baby lip tint and lip scrub which had a cola scent. Not exactly Christmassy but it’s really warming and reminds me of winter now thanks to Lush. I already know I want to pick up another Santa Baby lipstick BUT I definitely want to get the 500g bottle of Santa’s Christmas. Everyone is saying how gorgeous it smells and when used in the shower it leaves a long lasting scent on the skin. I was going to order one of these before I go on holiday, but I might as well wait until I get back. Lush have brought this out in a naked version which I very much doubt I’ll be getting. It just looks so fiddly to use!

• Christingle body conditioner – 100g – £9.95 and 250g – £17.95 (link)
• Christingle naked body conditioner – £9.75 (link)

I KNOW this has been around for about 2 years now BUT I am still to try it. I was gifted a Snow Fairy body conditioner last year and I haven’t used it yet. I intend to use it when I’m back from my holiday. This is going on the list as I still want to buy and use it, so it’s still technically new to me. It’s a minty body conditioner that you use in the shower after cleansing your skin. Like an in shower body lotion basically. I’ve used these in the past (the Nivea ones) and they work amazing! I haven’t yet used a Lush one, but I really want to. I’ll definitely be picking this up, I LOVE minty shower products. I’d definitely team it up with Intergalactic bath bomb. As you may have heard Lush have brought out some naked items this year including the body conditioners, body lotions and shower gels and creams. I don’t think I’d opt for the naked versions myself, they just sound and look too messy and fiddly.

• Once Upon A Time body lotion – 100g – £7.95 and 225g – £13.95 and 500g (link)
• Once Upon A Time naked body lotion – £7.95 (link)

So White looks to have been discontinued and in its place we have been gifted with Once Upon A Time body lotion AND a naked body lotion… I can’t complain, I have some sort of replacement BUT what if I didn’t want a body lotion? 😛 In all fairness I could do with moisturising my skin more, but I never feel like I have the time between working, blogging and being a lazy gaming moo. 😛 I wouldn’t mind giving this a go in store and seeing what I think. If anything I’d pick this up in the Boxing Day sale if it’s on offer.

• Snow Fairy sparkle jar – £6.95 (link)

Snow Fairy is one of my favourite Christmas scents and I remember quite a while ago now that Lush brought out a massage bar in the classic Lush Christmas scent. I never bought it and I regret it so much. I knew a few people who purely got it to burn and use as a wax melt. I wouldn’t do that myself as it’d be an expensive wax melt! BUT I would love to pick up the new sparkle jar version of this to use when me and Dane give each other back massages. He loves the Snow Fairy scent just as much as I do so this one is right up our streets. The one thing I don’t like about this is the shimmer inside. I wouldn’t really use it in all fairness so this product seems like a waste of money to me.

• Twilight sparkle jar – £6.95 (link)

This is exactly the same as the Snow Fairy sparkle jar, shimmer included! The only difference of course being the scent. This has the classic Twilight scent to it and although I’m swaying towards the Snow Fairy sparkle jar if I had to buy one, I also really like the sound of getting Twilight for back massages before bed. If I pick either of these up though it’ll be in the Boxing Day sales. 😛

FINALLY AFTER WRITING THIS POST FOR ABOUT 4 HOURS IT IS DONE! I’m not joking either. I’ve been faffing around from doing a live Instagram video, to messaging friends. It is finally done and here!

Overall what are my thoughts on Lush’s winter 2017 range? I’m pretty meh about it really. I know I have a decent list of products I want to smell and try but meh I don’t know what to think really. Apart from a couple of scents I don’t think majority of the products are actually anything to do with Christmas. When were citrus scents classed as Christmassy? Or a random pair of teeth and a man in the moon? I know a lot of people have said similar if not the same things as I have. I’ll buy some of the stuff but not as much as I will have bought in previous years, which to me is a shame.

When I get back from holiday I hope to go to Lush and check out ALL the new Christmas products and pick up a few bits. Hopefully anyway. 😛

What do you think of the Halloween and Christmas range this year? Make sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments down below.

Until next time all take car and I hope you’ve had an awesome weekend!

Bikini Wish List Wednesday

I know I usually schedule posts for every 3 days (unless like recently where I was a lazy bitch and left a new post for a week…) BUT I wanted to do another wish list Wednesday post before I go on holiday.

I’m in desperate need of a new bikini and whilst the Iron Fist one I currently own is amazing and does a great job when wearing it, I would like something new that reflects my personality… I know that sounds weird, but hear me out throughout the post as to what I mean!

I also wanted a new bikini because whilst I loved and felt comfortable wearing my Iron Fist one on holiday, I didn’t feel that it stood out and I really want one that will! Especially when going down to the beach, which I hope to do more of on this holiday.

There is a sort of theme around all the bikinis I’ve added to this list too, I am aware of that after putting the image together. 😛 Enjoy the wish list!

• Boux Avenue Cabaret Triangle Bikini Top – £28.00 (link)
• Boux Avenue Cabaret Bikini Briefs – £16.00 (link)

Sadly (as you can see) this bikini isn’t cheap. It’s actually quite expensive for what it looks like from the pictures, BUT IT’S PURPLE AND LOOKS ALMOST HOLOGRAPHIC! I also don’t see many bikini tops that allow you to buy your bra size as apposed to UK dress size or S, M or L. This would be a nice bikini to wear around the pool at my house, as apposed to the beach, but it would also be really nice to wear with a pair of shorts and a sheer jumper. It is expensive though for what it is and due to this I’d want to not only have a look at in person in one of their stores, but I’d also want to try it on before buying. I think I’ll wait for this to go in the sale though. £44.00 is a lot for a bikini in my mind…

• Soft Kitty Clothing Mermaid Bikini – £15.00 (link)

I really love the look of this bikini as it reminds me of Ariel from The Little Mermaid but again, it’s that mermaid print that I love so much appearing again. This is the cheapest bikini on this list and it looks really good quality too! The only thing that I don’t like about it is that it states not to swim in pools with chlorine, which I understand but at the same time that kind of sucks. I would wear the bikini top during sunbathing as it can be a bandeau but I don’t know that for sure. I can’t see this being a bikini I pick up, but if any of the ones on this list aren’t available before the holiday then this could be a last resort.

• River Island Mermaid Metallic Bandeau Bikini – £16.00 (link)

This is a bikini set I’ve had my eye on for a while now but it always seems to run out of stock or is sold out in sales. It’s only available on ASOS now but for £16.00 this is a decent price in my mind for a River Island bikini! I’ve been after a bandeau for a while to be honest for sunbathing in, as well as going out and about. As you can tell I have a metallic and holographic theme going on with these bikinis and this one is such a gorgeous petrol colour!

Missguided Blue Metallic Harness Bikini – £25.00 down to £12.50 (link)

There seems to be a trend this year with harnesses on bikinis and whilst I love it, I find it may also be impractical when tanning due to lines being left behind everywhere. I wouldn’t wear this for sunbathing in, it would definitely be one for going to the beach or shopping. I love the bottoms more than anything as they look so flattering and comfortable! These are so cheap in the sale that a part of me feels like ordering them now. 😛 But I won’t, I’ll wait to buy the bikini set I’m talking about last on this post.

• Boohoo Manhattan Hologram Triangle Tie Bikini – £18.00 (link)

I want a bog standard holographic bikini and this is probably the nicest one I have found, which is from Boohoo. They sell loads of stuff like this on eBay but I don’t trust the quality of eBay sellers stock. You can’t go wrong with Boohoo though and for £18.00 you can’t go wrong really. I’d wear this to go swimming in the pool, the beach and even to sunbathe in. So we shall see!

• Killstar Arabella Halter Top – £19.99 (link)
• Killstar Arabella Posing Shorts – £14.99 (link)

I’m saving my favourite item on this list until last! If there has been a bikini I have really fallen in love with, it’s definitely this one by Killstar. I was actually meant to order this and a dress with the same pattern when I got paid a couple of weeks ago, but I left it and bought a PS Vita instead… Priorities! 😛 BUT I will either be ordering this when I get paid next month, or September just before the holiday. Probably August though… 😛 I love mermaid printed things thanks to Black Milk Clothing and their gorgeous mermaid print leggings, which I own two pairs of (you can read and look at me wearing the one pair here) and love to death! I always take those with me whenever I’ve visited Fuerteventura, so why not wear a bikini with the same look to it? This one just looks sexy yet comfortable and flattering at the same time. I was worried this would actually cost more but when you compare the price of it alongside the Boux Avenue one, it’s a bargain really! This definitely isn’t a bikini I would wear when watching to catch the sun and tan and I’m sure you can see why! It’d be more something to wear on hot days whilst walking around with (again!) some shorts or even my Black Milk mermaid leggings. I just need this bikini in my life! 😛

So those are the bikinis I’m lusting after at the moment! There are so many things I want to buy and wear for the holiday and whilst I’m not low on funds at the moment, I don’t WANT to be low on funds either.

We shall see… I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing a haul of what goodies I get for the holiday.

Do you have your eye on any bikinis? If so please share them with me! 😀 Also, are you going on holiday this summer? Let me know where you’re going in the comments.

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

Lush Valentine’s Day 2017

Oh jeez Valentines Day… Such a bullshit holiday! Although it does make a good excuse for eating like shit. The only thing I do for Valentine’s Day is buy Dane a card and write a soppy message inside.

HOWEVER not all bad things come with Valentines Day such as soppy couples, restaurants being busy, expensive boxes of chocolates for sale and all sorts of stuff like that. It does come with some good, such as Lush’s Valentine’s Day range and this year it looks amazing!

A few weeks ago I popped into the Lush store in Birmingham to have a look at what they had on offer this year. Let me tell you, the store was HEAVING but what did I expect on a Saturday afternoon? In the end I managed to go back in and have a sniff and closer look at some of the new goodies, as well as some returning favourites. I thought I would talk through the new products with you guys and share which ones I want to pick up… Even though I’m meant to be on a spending ban… >.<

I might be naughty and get one or two things…

From L-R – ROW ONE – The Kiss Lip Scrub, Two Hearts Beating As One, Lovestruck, The Kiss Lip Gloss and Love You, Love You Lots. From L-R – ROW TWO – Unicorn Horn, Cupid, Over And Over, Roller and Kiss Me Quick. From L-R – ROW THREE Lover Lamp, Ladybird, Rose Bombshell, Love Spell and Prince Charming.

First of all I’ll talk about the lip products which consists of two for the Valentine’s Day range and are both returners from last year and if I’m not mistaken the year before too.

• The Kiss Lip Scrub – £5.75 (link)

The Lush lip scrubs are pretty amazing to be honest, but personally lip scrubs aren’t my cup of tea. This one is cute for Valentine’s Day and comes with some pretty pink hearts on the top of it when you first open the jar. From memory this has a sweet scent and taste similar to the Bubblegum Lip Scrub, but this is more grown up and in my opinion is nicer.

• The Kiss Lip Gloss – £5.95 (link)

Lush’s lip products when they were in the tins were horrible, but I don’t like any lip products that come in a pot. Lush now do the tubes for their lip products and they look amazing! I remember this lip gloss coming out ages ago and I wouldn’t exactly call it a lip gloss to be honest, it’s more like a tinted lip balm. I’m not a huge fan of this one as it just reminds me of Maybelline’s Baby Lips but with a couple more quid slapped on the price.

Next is the body and shower products, which introduces a new item that people are going crazy for!

• Love Spell Massage Bar – £5.95 (link)

I’m not a massive fan of the massage bars from Lush as I find they’re really greasy and as a result can break me out and cause issues with my sensitive skin. This one will be nice for couples who want to have a nice relaxing massage with one another due to the heart shaped nodules it’ll make for a lovely back massage and the floral scent will relax you both.

• Kiss Me Quick Business Wash Card – £2.00 (link)

Wash Cards are pretty new to Lush and from memory were introduced when the Oxford Street store opened in 2015. This is TINY and in my opinion not worth £2.00. BUT if you wanted something nice to give to a friend, or even treat yourself to it’ll be nice. You just rip off a bit of the card, apply some water and use all over the body. I’m gutted I didn’t get the chance to smell this as it contains apples and lemons, so I can only imagine how fresh it smells! I wish they had brought this out as a shower gel instead as sadly I won’t pay £2.00 only to end up using up the whole sheet in one or two washes. 😦

What Love You, Love You Lots Soap looks like before being cut up!

• Love You, Love You Lots Soap – 100g £4.25, 250g £10.63 and 500g £21.25 (link)

Like the massage bars I’m not a huge fan of the Lush Soaps and although this was up for smelling inside the Birmingham store I never bothered… I’m just never sold by any of the soaps Lush come out with and the only soap I did like by Lush was discontinued, even as a best seller! ANYWAY… Love You, Love You Lots smells of roses, which of course is always associated with Valentine’s Day. I’ve heard a few people say this soap reminds them of the Rose Bubbleroon and the matching Rose Shower Gel (which is a Christmas exclusive) and although I love the Bubbleroon I’m not so keen on the shower gel. Sadly this isn’t for me, but if you love floral scents, especially rose this is right up your street!

• Prince Charming Shower Cream – 100g £5.50, 250g £10.95, 500g £18.50 and 1kg £32.95 (link)

I LOVE this shower cream and have always bought a little bottle every year to try! I’ve tried both the gel and cream formula and the letter is definitely better. This contains marshmallow and vanilla which makes Prince Charming smell sweet but not sickly and is more comforting than anything. I find this one is lovely to use in the evenings before bed, or before a night out! I really want to pick up a big bottle of this for me and Dane to use in the summer.

I was going to talk about all the bath products together… But there’s nine and I think that’s a bit much so I thought I would break it up with the bubble bars and the bath bombs. First ones I’ll talk about are the bubble bars.

• Two Hearts Beating As One Bath Melt – £3.95 (link)

I like the bath melts that Lush also recently came out with when the Oxford Street store opened, however not all of them are great. I gave this a sniff in store and couldn’t smell much to be honest (which is a problem I keep getting with Lush products lately…) but even when this was demoed in the water for me, I STILL couldn’t smell anything! It’s supposed to smell floral. Very disappointed… This being said for nearly £4.00 you can get at least two baths out of this one, but I would say stick to the normal bath melts and save nearly £2.00 towards another normal bath melt.

• Lovestruck Bubble Bar – £4.25 (link)

I have to say this bubble bar makes me so angry, because it smells amazing but it’s TINY! For over £4.00 I would expect it to be the size of The Comforter Bubble Bar. What’s going on Lush??? This is supposed to look like an emoji (obviously!) which is funny although very hipsterish and annoying… I hate the whole emoji trend as I find it’s so tacky! ANYWAY! This smells of lemons and is so refreshing, so perfect for mornings off work when you have a long day ahead of you. I wouldn’t have expected this sort of scent to come up for Valentine’s Day, but I do like it. Just a shame about the price.

• Ladybird Bubble Bar – £3.95 (link)

This bubble bar was a newbie last year and one I heard nothing but good things about, so I wanted to try it so badly. Sadly I was on a much needed spending ban and I never picked one up, but to my delight Lush brought it back this year so I finally got to smell it a few weeks ago and it certainly didn’t let me down. It smells of a light mint scent but quite sweet at the same time. I love it though and I intend to buy quite a few when I get paid. I can’t go another year without giving this little cutie a go! It would be great teamed up with Intergalactic Bath Bomb and maybe even Snow Fairy Shower Gel or The Comforter Shower Gel.

• Unicorn Horn Bubble Bar – £4.25 (link)

This is probably everyone’s favourite product from the Valentine’s Day range… Or at least one of them. I know it’s one of mine! I still have one from last year which I know is pretty bad but I’ve been saving it for an evening where I’m really tired and need a good sleep. As you can see it’s a colourful bar which is to represent a unicorns horn. It’s quite a strong scented bubble bar and smells of lavender, which I really like! I’ve used these before in the past when I want a good relaxing bath before bed. I want to pick up a couple of these before they fly off the shelves for another year.

The final lot of products I’ll be talking about are the bath bombs and one of these is actually an Oxford Street exclusive BUT will be available on the Kitchen until the Valentine’s Day range disappears off the website.

• Cupid Bath Bomb – £2.95 (link)

This is one of the cheaper pieces in the range and one of the new ones as well. It’s a sweet looking bath bomb and the name of it is very apt. If you’re familiar with the Razzle Dazzle Bath Melt then this smells exactly the same, which is a mixture of raspberry, lime and rose. This sadly isn’t my cup of tear but for the price would make a lovely treat for someone wanting to give something nice to their Valentine. 😉

• Over And Over Bath Bomb – £4.25 (link)

This is one of my favourite new products for the range this year! It reminds me of Never Mind The Ballistics Bath Bomb from the Christmas 2016 range due to the bath melt on top and the rest being a bath bomb. I found the NMTB bath bomb didn’t have such a strong scent (even though I bought 2 in the sale… HA!) but this one really does have a strong citrus scent and I LOVE it! I know I’ll be buying a couple of these before they go.

• Roller Bath Bomb – £4.25 (link)

This has been a fast Kitchen favourite since either before or during Christmas and one everyone has been talking about for a while, so now it’s available to buy for a month online as well as in the Oxford Street store! Like Never Mind The Ballistics Bath Bomb and Over And Over Bath Bomb it has a bath melt on the top. It shares its scent with Yummy Mummy which is a creamy strawberry scent with a hint of floral. Sadly this bath bomb is CONSTANTLY sold out when online, which is annoying. Be quick if you want to get your hands on this!

• Rose Bombshell Bath Bomb – £4.25 (link)

This is another returning bath bomb from last year which did really well, due to peoples love of Rose Shower Gel. I haven’t tried this one, but I wouldn’t mind it. As you can tell from the name it smells of roses, which isn’t such a big thing for me as I’ve already mentioned. However the Rose Bubbleroon doesn’t smell anything like the shower gel to me and instead of being strongly floral, I feel it smells sweeter. This is why I’d like to give the bath bomb a go and see what all the fuss is about.

• Lover Lamp Bath Bomb – £4.25 (link)

Finally we have Lover Lamp which is exactly the same as Lava Lamp Bath Bomb which is a permanent bath bomb. I was annoyed when an employee at the Birmingham store told me there’s nothing like it when it was set relatively close to the Lava Lamp and that this had come out before Lava Lamp. Erm no. ANYWAY this smells fresh and like oranges which I really like! I sadly prefer Lava Lamp to this one as it’s available all the time.

So apart from anymore Oxford Street exclusives and some gifts for Valentine’s Day, that is all of the products coming out for 2017!

I really love the collection this year and feel like Lush have brought out some great products and scents, however I do feel some of the products are too small for the price, or too expensive for what they are. But meh this will only continue to happen the older Lush gets.

Have you tried any yet? If so which ones? Let me know your thoughts on the range this year!

Until next time all take care and have a lovely weekend!

November ’16 Favourites

Woohoo it’s now December and we are so close to Christmas. Honestly it’s going to be here before we know it. Then it’ll be New Year and then my birthday. JEEZ I’M GETTING OLD!!! But either way I am back on my blog after being absent for well over a week! I’ve either been too busy with life or too tired from it to do any writing for my blog. It would seem that when you move out life gets nothing but busy!

Well anytime is better than no time, so here is one of my last favourites posts of the year!

• Australian Bodycare Skin Wash

I’ve loved using this shower gel for as long as I can remember and it’s one I go back to time and time again. It’s one that I often use if my skin has broken out badly, or if I’m feeling under the weather and need a pick up. Lately though I have had a horrible allergic reaction on my thighs and tea tree seems to be the only thing helping it (as well as Sudocrem). I always forget about how much I love this and I really want to try and pick up more of Australian Bodycare’s products next year.

• Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in shade Bauhau5

I bought this last month and it has fast turned into one of my favourite liquid lipsticks! It’s just so damn comfortable to wear and it looks beautiful. I’ve wanted it for years so it was definitely worth the wait to pick up whilst I was in London. I’ll be writing a full review of it soon but it’s definitely the liquid lipstick I’ll be wearing throughout Christmas.

• Blistex Triple Butters Lip Balm

Due to the cold my lips have really taken a beating and even at the moment they’re really sore and split various times. This is either from just neglecting to pop any lip balm on my lips for one part of the day, or due to wearing liquid lipsticks. SO I’ve been in the need of a rich and caring lip balm. I used to use Blistex a lot when I was younger and it did a great job, so I decided to pick some up recently. Boots had a 2 for £3.00 offer on all their Blistex range so I picked up an intense balm and this Triples Bitters lip balm. This smells amazing and it reminds me of white chocolate and strawberries. I LOVE it so much! I use it around the house when my lips feel dry but I may start using it for work too.

• Garnier Skin Moisture Match Wake Me Up

Not only have my lips been super dry but so has the skin on my face. I find when I put my translucent powder on top of late that it would be showing up all the dry patches on my cheeks which was just off putting of course. So I dug through my beauty drawer and brought out this moisturiser. I’m so glad I did as it really did help to banish those dry patches on my cheeks which I was so pleased about. Recently I have gone back to my Clinique moisturiser which is my God send so now this will go back into my beauty drawer.

• Bath & Body Works Cherry Blossom Body Spray

This is one of the many Bath & Body Works products that my friend Sophi brought back for me from her trip to America! She was very thoughtful and picked me up a couple of Cherry Blossom scented miniatures, including this body spray. Since she gave it to me I’ve used it most of the month before going to work. It smells lovely and will definitely be one I’ll use on warm summer days.

So those were my favourite products throughout November! What products did you love using last month? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

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

Lush Ocean Salt Face & Body Scrub – Review

Another week, another Lush review! This week I’m talking about Ocean Salt Face And Body Scrub. This is actually a product I have now finished, which I feel sad to say as I loved this scrub! Including this version, this came in four different types and I found it a little trialing to try and decide which one I wanted to buy. I finally settled on the original Ocean Salt, and I’m pretty pleased with my choice.

I first tried this product when my local Lush gave me a sample of this a month before I finally picked it up. I’d always wanted to give Ocean Salt a go, but I worried that it wasn’t for me. I’d heard various people comment on how this was too rough for their skin, sensitive or not, so I of course worried it would be the same for me. I also worried that this wouldn’t last me that long… But more on all that throughout the review.

I bought this scrub towards the end of July, start of August and it’s lasted me just over a month… Something that was rather disappointing. I expected it to last me at least two months like my Soap & Glory Sugar Scrub did. I guess I’m just glad I picked up the bigger size! You can get this in two sizes, 120g for £7.75, or the 250g for £13.95, which is the one I bought. Also as I mentioned previously including the type I bought, you can pick up Ocean Salt in four types, the original, alcohol free, self-preserving, and alcohol free and self-preserving. These are also all the same price as the original, which I think is good. They of course come in the same size tubs too.

As you can see from the above picture, I had used nearly all of this when I took the pictures for this post. I wish I had taken pictures sooner to be honest, but it was only recently I decided I would start this series, as regular readers will know. This is a creamy product that smells really fresh, and reminds me of holidays. It’s white in colour, but when you get a new tub there is some blue swirling and coloured sat on the top, which makes it look really pretty. There is thick, course sea salt throughout this product as well, which makes it great for a good scrub!

Ocean Salt contains lime, coconut, and vodka, which of course gives it that rich holiday type smell. I wouldn’t say you could smell the vodka that much, but when it comes to that sort of scent my nose isn’t all that sensitive to it. If you don’t like that smell however and are thinking of ordering this online, I would advice popping into Lush and giving it a good sniff beforehand, just incase you don’t like it. You can definitely smell the lime throughout this product, something that really appealed to me. It’s a fresh scent and you can smell it on the skin all day long after use.

When using this on both my face and body, I noticed that it would leave behind a sort of moisturising layer on the skin. Nothing too thick and greasy feeling, but just enough to leave me feeling gorgeous and smelling lovely too. If I didn’t use this all over my body, I would definitely use it on my feet, my thighs, my bum, and the tops of my arms to ensure they got a good scrub.

I mostly used this product on my face once a week when I first bought it, and it would leave my skin feeling soft and smooth! I have sensitive skin and I did worry that this may irritate it, but if anything it was really good! Vodka being alcohol is actually really good for spots, so it really did help in that department.

I noticed when I used this on dry skin it did go that little bit further than it would when I used it on wet skin, which might be a reason why it didn’t last me so long… But I don’t see why that should be an issue. This is definitely not a product where a little goes a long way, which was something I was really disappointed about again, especially considering how much it cost.

However after I bought Cup O’ Coffee Face And Body Mask (review here) it was soon replaced and that’s when I decided to use it on my skin as a once a week, or fortnightly treat. Although I love Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub (review here) more than any other scrub I’ve ever used, this has been used more so than that. Why? I don’t really know to be honest, as Rub Rub Rub to me is the better body scrub. I think the scent reminded me of holidays abroad so much, that I just enjoyed using it more so, especially with the summer season coming to an end.

So, would I buy this again? I don’t actually know. I really loved Ocean Salt, but I didn’t love how long it didn’t last. I guess if I had just used this on my face like I intended to when I first bought it, I would probably still have loads left. So I may pick this up again in the future and make sure I JUST use it on my face, not my body. But that won’t be until I get back from my holiday, or at least when I run out of Cup O’ Coffee, as that is lasting me ages already, and it runs out of date in November! Oops!

Do any of you guys own Ocean Salt, or want to pick it up? If so what do you like about it, and has my review helped you decide whether to buy it or not? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

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

Lush Halloween & Christmas 2015 LEAKED! Part Two – Christmas

It’s here! Part two, and it’s going to be a long post. There is more information about the Christmas products than there is about the Halloween ones. Apart from the gifts, everything that is on offer looks to have been leaked, which is pretty exciting! I don’t know what September 15th will hold, but from what I have read from official UK Lush stores on Instagram, the winter range (Halloween and Christmas) will be out at the start of October, SO we have less than a month to wait! Exciting huh?

Without further ado, I’m going to share with you all what we’ll be getting awesome for Christmas this year.

Bath Bombs (and one Bath Melt):

Ignoring the bath melt at the bottom, this is the line up for the bath bombs! Not including Lord Of Misrule (as that’s a Halloween product) there are 10 bath bombs all together, 2 of them being new, whilst the rest are returning products.

I am of course really happy to see that So White is back for another year as it’s my favourite bath bomb from Lush and always reminds me of Christmas time. I remember when it was teeny, but it’s really evolved over the years, which is great to see. Alongside that I’m happy to see the return of Shoot For The Stars, as I loved it when it first came out, but never got to try it last year. I’m also glad to see that Father Christmas and Golden Wonder are back, as I got to try Golden Wonder thanks to the Boxing Day sales, and luckily have one left, which I’ll be using soon! It’s such a gorgeous bath bomb and I’ll be stocking up as and when I can. As for Father Christmas I wanted to try that so much last year as it shares its scent with Snow Fairy, my favourite from Lush! I’ll be making sure I try it this year.

The one product I am SUPER excited about is Yog Nog. Oh my GOD! I loved the soap last Christmas and bought myself some when I did some shopping in Lush, and you know what? I STILL own it. I haven’t used it, and it’s still in the packaging. I intend to start using it soon, but now that there will be a bath bomb out with the same scent, I’ll be buying these up as much as possible. Inside the bath bomb there is a luxury bath oil and also contains some bubble bar grating so this bubbles up when popped into the bath. Isn’t that just the perfect bath bomb???

There is only one bath melt being released this year, which is of course Snow Angel. I’m quite sad to see there will only be one as I really wish Lush would bring back the old Snow Fairy Bath Melt. That was probably one of my favourite Lush products from Christmas in 2009/2010 and they never brought it back. Sad faces all round.

Bubble Bars & Resusable Bubble Bars:

I’m really excited for some of the newbies that are coming our way with the bubble bars! There are 5 altogether, 3 of them being new and all of them sound amazing! I always love the bubble bars that Lush come out with, but this year they just look and sound really lovely.

Every year I love that Lush bring back Candy Mountain, even though it is just a nicer looking version of Creamy Candy. There are quite a few bubble bars that have gone this year, so Lush have had to make sure they replace them with goodies, which they have done! I’m going to be trying ALL the new ones. Five Gold Rings sounds really creamy and delicious, and looks really nifty too. I just hope it isn’t too glittery, otherwise I may just have to leave it… I hate when bath products are glittery, I get covered in it! Peeping Santa is another one which sounds delicious! It sounds like it’ll smell of yummy strawberries, and you can never go wrong with something like that. It would probably go really nice with So White Bath Bomb to give you a fruity bath! Finally the other new bubble bar that I am excited about is Bar Humbug. I’m not the BIGGEST fan of liquorice scents, but I’m pretty sure with Christmas around the corner this will be perfect. I’ll definitely give it a smell before I buy it mind, just incase I don’t like it.

I love reusable bubble bars, and I’m super excited to pick up Magic Wand! I’m sure this has been out previous years but sadly I’ve never bought it before, something I’m going to make sure I do this year! It’s said to share its scent with Snow Fairy, so I can’t pass this product up!

FUN:

I can’t say I am the biggest fan of FUN. I’ve used it before and enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong and really liked it, but I would prefer to pick up other products over FUN. The main thing I love using it for is to shave with. I recently used some of my boyfriends Pink FUN and I loved it. So maybe I’ll see if I like the look of one of these. I can’t really imagine how any of these will smell to be honest, but I’ll be giving them all a sniff, and see what I think. I love how creative you can get with them all though! It makes for something cool to pop into a friends stocking, something I might do with my friends and family.

Shower Gels & Jellies:

If there is one thing that I get excited for every year it’s Snow Fairy Shower Gel. Ever since I can remember I’ve bought at least a tiny bottle of the good stuff to keep me going. I still have my bottle from last Christmas, something I’m probably going to keep for when I go on holiday as a treat to wash with in the evenings before nights out.

I’ll be picking up loads of huge bottles of Snow Fairy to keep me going throughout the year! I’ll also be keeping my eye on it in the Boxing Day sales, I missed out last year, which was a shame. Alongside that I may pick up one of the jellies, I’m unsure at this moment in time as I’ve never been that bothered about Snowman, but Santa’s Belly does sound rather nice for winter! I’ll give them a sniff and see how I feel!

Soap:

I’m never a huge fan of the soap from Lush, as the majority of it leaves me with bad allergic reactions, however there are a couple of the Christmas soaps that I can get away, and I can’t resist either to be honest! There are 5 soaps, only one being a new face this year. Last year I picked up Reindeer Rock and Yog Nog, two soaps I LOVED so much and ones I’ll be picking up again this year. Reindeer Rock smells of The Comforter Bubble Bar, which is really comforting. Yog Nog reminds me of cheesecake, which again is comforting. Old Father Time is the new soap this year, which really isn’t something I’ll be buying, sad to say.

Shower Products:

Bar the roulade, I love everything on this page! Christingle Body Conditioner sounds like a gorgeous and menthol mint conditioner, which will be good for cooling down in the summer, and maybe even in the winter. I love mint scents, and Intergalactic Bath Bomb (review here) will work perfectly with this one before I go out for Christmas parties, or maybe even after a day of Christmas shopping. Either way I really can’t wait to pick this up and I can see me stocking up so I have enough to last me through the year. The Salt And Peppermint Bark Shower Scrub looks and sounds amazing, not to mention delicious. This would be great to use alongside Christingle and Intergalactic to give me a proper minty scent and feel! Icing On The Cake does sound delicious, but I’m not a huge fan of the roulade, so I’ll more than likely give this a miss.

Body:

I’ve never used Dusting Powders before but I’ve always wanted to. Last year I was going to pick up First Snow, but I left it as I didn’t think I would use it in the end. Now that Lush will be bringing out Fairy Dust I’ll be making sure I pick some of this stuff up! I would wear it before nights out, and for days out with my boyfriend. I’d be tempted to buy it and take it on holiday with me to wear in the evenings, something I still might do. I’m so excited to give Fairy Dust a smell though! I can see it flying off the shelves alongside Snow Fairy.

Face & Lips:

I’m not all that fussed about the face and lip products this year, but that’s mostly due to the fact I already own both the lip products from last year and the year before. Although I would love the Santa Baby Lip Tint in the new tube form! I may just pick this up to replace my old tin version. I might try and grab a sample of the Cranberry Festive Fresh Face Mask as I don’t feel it will do much for my skin but it would be lovely to try.

Sadly those are all the Lush Christmas products for Lush 2015! As I have said previously, I can only imagine what America get is exactly the same as what we get too. I hope so anyway as there are some gorgeous products that I can’t wait to get my hands on.

So, now you know what products are out for Christmas, what are you most looking forward to buying? I’ve already stated mine, I want to hear yours. Make sure to let me know your thoughts on the 2015 range in the comments section.

Until next time, take care all and keep those eyes peeled for Lush news!