Kawaii Face Mask Wish List

Guys we are less than two weeks away from September. Can you believe it? It has also nearly been a month since the UK were told to wear face masks in shops. That month has flew by and it only feels like yesterday I was panicking about buying some more face masks.

Well, that mini panic is what inspired today’s post, which is all about face masks and which ones I have on my wish list (as well as one I bought). I know a lot of people went into panic over getting face masks before the 24th July, which thankfully wasn’t me. I was just panicking about which one to buy! I didn’t buy any funky ones, just a couple of black ones for both me and Dane. However, I would still love some funky and fun face masks, hence the wish list. These are also all going to be reusable!

I really hope this list helps people who may want to get some fun masks to wear during (and after) these times we are facing at the moment. Whether you believe in it or not, wear a face mask if you can and keep yourself and others safe.

• Firebox Smoko Pearl Boba Tea Reusable Face Mask (link)

This is the first cute face mask I found and typical it was after I bought my face masks in July, boooo! This one is sold by Firebox but is by American brand Smoko (who also made my Elodie ramen bowl – which you can read about here) who I love! They have three different designs on the website – Little Bao Dumpling, Tayto Potato and the one I’m mentioning here, Pearl Boba Tea. The little bubble teas are adorable and some have cute smiling faces on them too. They sound and look really good quality and I would love to pick one of these up in the future, especially as I love (and miss) bubble tea. 😛

• Society 6 Igor Canova Shadow Sneak Face Mask (link)

This is a face mask designer my good blogger friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) has bought herself and told me about. There are so many face masks to choose from, all with adorable Pokemon themed designs, 21 to be exact! Out of all of them, the ghost Pokemon design jumped out at me and I really would love to pick it up in the future. The design itself has various ghost Pokemon – including Gengar, Misdreavus, Shuppet, Litwick and Phantump. Alongside the Pokemon there are some ghost type moves dotted around, which make for a good print overall!

• PaperandPotionsArt Soot Sprite Face Mask (link)

It wouldn’t be a wish list on my post if it didn’t contain something Studio Ghibli related! I discovered PaperandPotionsArt years ago at Comic Con and straightaway followed them on Instagram. When I saw they’d created this Soot Sprite mask I knew I had to add it to this list. It’s nothing too elaborate and is a rather “simple” design, which I like! It works with it being white too, due to the Soot Sprite’s being black. I have some black face masks similar to this style and to be honest, they’re not the best due to how thick they are and with how warm you can get whilst wearing one of these, this may get a bit stuffy.

• Sunflower310 Japanese Shiba Face Mask (link)

My Instagram friend Emily (Meimi132) shared some face masks stores and designs with me and this is one of them. It’s a gorgeous Japanese inspired design that has various Shiba in different poses, Mount Fuji, sakura, geta footwear and dango. The design just screams Japan to me and reminds me of my trip there, as well as my love for the country. This is a face mask I would really love to pick up in the future, especially for any future trips to Japan.

• ClumsyCritters Animal Crossing Celeste Face Mask (link)

This is another face mask that Emily shared with me and it is so adorable! Celeste is so precious and I’ve always adored her since Wild World but I feel in New Horizons she’s so precious and adorable. Walking around, give you recipes and more to do with the stars. It makes me smile. Aside from the design, one of the things I like about this face mask is how the ear sections have adjustable beads on them, which I think is such a good idea.

• LenacchiStore Pikachu in Space Reusable Face Mask (link)

Finally we have another Pokemon themed face mask that I would really like to pick up  in the future! It’s a gorgeous space themed mask, but with Pokemon! Pikachu and Pichu are in space alongside various Pokemon including Mew, Jirachi, Clefairy, Clefable and various more! Both the Pikachu and Pichu are dressed in little astronaut outfits, which look so adorable! It’s just gorgeous, I love it so much.

I thought I would mention below the face mask that Dane bought for both of us as it’s amazing and deserves a recommendation!

• AALTRADE Resuseable Face Mask (link)

I didn’t want to add it onto the wish list but these masks come in various different colours, but we picked up the black one above. We got 2 each to ensure we had enough and we certainly do. You can pop filters inside, but when we’ve gone to do that it’s really awkward, so sadly we haven’t bothered. We both wear glasses and personally I haven’t had any issues with fogging, but I think Dane has from memory. If you don’t want to go for a kawaii design, you can always go for one of these plain black ones. 🙂

So there we have it! My kawaii face mask wish list! I know this weeks blog post isn’t anything special, but I thought it was both cute and important considering the planets current situation with COVID.

What do you guys think of the face masks I mentioned? Any you like, or already own? Do you have any face masks you recommend? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and keep safe. 🙂

Lush Rudolph Jelly Mask – Review

It’s almost been nearly a year since I last wrote a Lush review on my blog and I’m not in the slightest bit surprised (FYI it was this post). After Lush declared they would no longer hold their Boxing Day sales online I was a bit (very) pissed off. Not just for myself, but for people out there who can’t make it to the stores to grab themselves some bargains. It sucked and it was more than just that that annoyed me. Their scents are all the same lately (Le sigh – citrus) and the way their company has been lately it just put me off supporting them anymore.

On top of all that I just haven’t really been bathing as much as I used to. I think in my old job when I finished work at 1.30pm I’d come home and had a hot bath to relax myself after a shit morning at work. Now I get home around 5.30pm and cook dinner, chilling out and then sleep. 😛 Baths just aren’t fitted into my chilling out time lately due to a mixture of that time being taken up with playing games or blog writing.

However, since going to London in November that’s kind of changed. I went into the Oxford Street Lush and picked up some of the Christmas range for 2018. I LOVE some of the bits I picked up, but as of yet I haven’t actually used them… Oh dear.

I forgot to check out and pick one item up though that I was interested in, which I was gutted about. I don’t really go into Lush anymore as Dane doesn’t particularly like it and none of my friends are really arsed by it either. When me and Dane went Christmas shopping at the start of December he wanted to pop into Lush to look for some present ideas for people and I decided to pick up that one item I wanted to try!

I didn’t get chance to have a smell of it as the store was HEAVING! It wasn’t good really. The Birmingham store has now moved to a much bigger store (which is apparently bigger than Oxford Street!) so when we went shopping it was their tiny store. I just feel like the staff should have had a queuing system for the store as it was crazy packed. There were also members of staff standing around talking and to be honest, getting in the way of customers trying to look at items. I ended up barging past them all after saying excuse me so many times. We wanted to grab our items and get out of there.

RIGHT enough ranting!

The item I picked up, as you’ll see from the title is the Rudolph Jelly Face Mask, which I was inspired by Steffie over at My Lush and Stuff to pick up this jelly face mask as she made it sound so amazing! I may have gone off of Lush, but I’m all for a face mask that will do my skin wonders, whilst smelling amazing! 😛

Rudolph is a limited edition jelly face mask for Christmas and I already want it to stay around forever, I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. 😛

Although I’ve only owned it for a couple of weeks I’ve found that this face mask really has helped me after use and I KNEW I just had to write a review for it on my blog, especially with Christmas right around the corner.

As you can see from the image above it’s described as, “Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you cleanse my face with cocoa powder, orange oil and kaolin tonight?”

Oh the cringe, gold stars to whoever wrote it.

The jelly face masks come in smaller tubs than the fresh face masks do. They come in 65g tubs and costs £7.95, which to me isn’t cheap to be perfectly honest with you. This being said they’re not like the fresh face masks where you need to use them sooner rather than later and also need to keep them in the fridge. The jelly face masks don’t need to be kept in the fridge and have a long shelf life. The one I picked up has a 4 month shelf life on it, which is amazing!

The product itself reminds me of a chocolate mousse in both sight and scent! It smells so chocolately that I’m surprised I haven’t read of someone trying to eat it yet! It smells more rich chocolate scent, but due to the fact it contains orange oil you can get a hint of that. Either way it smells amazing! Of course the colour of this product is brown.

The look of the mask is clearly a jelly and when you push down on it it springs back. It reminds me of blancmange. In the middle is a cute little red shimmer piece of jelly, which is suppose to be Rudolph’s nose! I know you’re meant to pop it onto your nose to look like Rudolph yourself, but honestly I do not have a clue what else to do with it! 😛

This mask is said to be good for people with oily skin and also dry skin, so this sounds like it’d be perfect for combination skin to be honest. I haven’t been able to really find anywhere so I can go only go by the ingredients what this jelly face mask will do to your skin!

Kaolin clay is great for absorbing excess oils on the skin and also cleans out the pores and cocoa powder helps to soothe and moisturise the skin. This to me states how it is perfect for combination skin, which is my skin type. This would make a great gift for a teenager as obviously it smells amazing and will help them with their troubled teenage skin.

This is my first time trying a jelly face mask and it was definitely a bizarre and odd experience the first time I tried it. I wasn’t quite sure HOW to use it, well I did as I’d seen YouTube videos in the past, but I mean in the sense of how much I needed to use. I popped into a Lush store recently and noticed for their samples and DIY jelly face masks they’d cut the mask up into chunks inside the tub, which I think is a great idea! I wish I’d thought to do that before I’d started using it.

The one thing I really hate about the packaging for this face mask is the stickers around the packaging. You can read any of the writing! Why would you put black text against dark brown? Surely you would change to white writing so we can read the instructions and such properly? Alas this isn’t the case and whenever I want to read the side of the pot I have to get the torch on my phone.

How the jelly face masks work is you grab some of the mask out of the tub and with dry hands rub the jelly between your hands to create a paste. Apply to your face and leave for 5 to 10 minutes and rinse off with warm water or a cloth.

I don’t know if the first few times I used this I just didn’t use enough or what, but it’s such an odd product to work with, but not in a negative way. I grabbed (what I thought) was a big enough chunk to cover my whole face, rubbed it between my hands to make a paste and applied it to my face. The more I applied it onto my face and massaged it into the skin the more it seemed to move around and build up into jelly chunks, instead of smoothing my face evenly. It’s rather odd and I don’t know if I like it.

I gave up moving it around my face after a while and just settled with it on my skin. I love to use face masks in the bath 9 times out of 10 as it’s so much easier to rinse them off than it is in the sink. The shower is great too, but having a soak in the bath with a face mask on is definitely relaxing.

I usually leave this on for 10 minutes after it dries back to a jelly type form, which I find really odd. When dry if you rub at it with dry hands it starts to rub away and go back to a jelly type form, which I find really odd but somewhat satisfying.

I thought it would be hard to wash off due to the jelly but it’s actually pretty straight forward and after going over with a flannel, the mask is off and my skin feels baby soft to the touch!

I apply some moisturiser after I get out of the bath just to make sure my face is as soft as it can be!

Would I pick this up again? I would but at the same time I don’t know. It has improved my combination skin, but not for all that long. I feel like using this twice as a week is a good idea, but at the same time for how much you pay, twice as a week is such a waste of money! I’m going to use it once a week or once a fortnight and use it every now and then.

I do rather like this jelly face mask and would like to try the other ones in the future, but at the same time the others don’t really appeal to me all that much. This one is amazing and I wish Lush would make it permanent as it reminds me of the Cupcake face mask and I CANT STAND IT! The one time I used it it caused me to break out really badly. 😦

Don’t forget this is a Christmas limited edition product so it’ll only be available until (probably) Christmas Eve and then it will be gone!

SO! What do you think of Rudolph jelly face mask? Would you give it a go or give it a miss? Have you already tried it? What do you think? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

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

Random (But Small) Haul

Okay now I KNOW I’m on a spending ban and that I didn’t need most of what I bought on this random trip into town… But I did buy things and there’s nothing that can be done about it now!

I have my first photography related job next Saturday and I wanted to pick up something nice to wear, plus the fact I had my eye on one of the items for a while gave me more reason to try it on and possibly buy it.

Alongside that I had to buy some other bits and bobs and I did buy a few things I didn’t need but they were less than £10 so I thought, what the hell!

I didn’t spend all that much and the things I bought I was pretty much in need of anyway or wanted to treat myself.

So, here’s my random haul from yesterday!

The first shop I went into when my boyfriend and I got to town was New Look. I’ve been lusting after this dress since I saw it in one of the Coventry stores a couple of weeks ago. It’s a gorgeous 2 in 1 t-shirt dress and will be perfect for spring and summer! It’s not the thickest of materials, but that doesn’t bother me, as with a warm coat, a scarf, some thick tights and my Chelsea boots, this will look great! I’m doing my first “professional” photography job next Saturday and as the dress is smart casual, I saw the chance to finally pick up this dress! It was £14.99, which I thought was reasonable! I went to try it on in the changing rooms and it looks lovely. My only problem with this dress is that the pink top area is very see-through and due to this I had to pick up a new bra so that none of mine would show through… Which you will see in the next picture.

I ventured into Primark to pick up a cheap bra, as I didn’t want to splurge out on something expensive, so after trying on a few of the bras, I opted for this pink t-shirt bra. It only cost £2.50, so I couldn’t go wrong really! This being said, when I got home I tried on the bra with the dress and you can still see straight through it! But with a white vest underneath, it looks fine so my problem is now solved. Whilst I was waiting in the large queue to purchase my items, I saw that they had some Montagne Jeunesse face masks that not only sounded delicious, but ones I haven’t tried yet, so I snapped them up, at only 90p each, you can’t go wrong!

When I was on the escalator to go and look at the bras I spotted this Nirvana t-shirt on the middle floor and I was determined to go and take a look at it before I went to pay for my goods. I picked this up for just £8.00! I did have a look at the other t-shirts whilst I was in Primark and the majority of them are all My Little Pony… Odd! I tried this t-shirt on when I got home and it’s gorgeous! It’s a nice baggy, but fitted t-shirt and is super soft! I’m going to wear it next week when I go out with my friend Amy into Birmingham for the day, as well as for my cousin’s 21st birthday meal. I’m going to team it up with my newest Topshop jeans, Chelsea boots and a big coat to keep me warm.

I have been after this book since I watched the film in 2013, as I’ve heard nothing but good things about it! I had remembered seeing it in HMV for £3 or £4 before Christmas and had regretted not picking it up! I looked online earlier this week for how much this was being sold on Amazon, Play.com, eBay, etc and they were all asking for over £4! I decided against paying out that much and that I would check in HMV the next time I ventured there. So alas upon looking for this book I found it and at just £3.99! Complete bargain and I’ll be reading this after I’ve finished the current book I’m reading, which is Simon Pegg’s autobiography, Nerd Do Well.

My final stop for the day was Boots, where I just popped in to pick up some essentials, such as hand wash, toothpaste and some glasses cleaner. This isn’t the usual glasses cleaner I pick up, but it’ll do for now until I pick up what I usually use.

So that was everything I bought whilst I was odd… That and the £25 I spent buying food in YO! Sushi. My boyfriend and I couldn’t believe how much the bill came to and we’ve both said we’re never going again unless it’s on a Monday or Sunday. We much prefer Wagamama and even though it was nice trying the dishes in YO! Sushi, we somewhat wished we had gone to Wagamama now…

Altogether (apart from my food!) I spent less than £50! Not bad huh?

I know I’ve somewhat broke my spending ban, but whatever, I’ve not done too badly so far so let’s just say this was my little treat.

Have you bought anything nice recently? If so, what have you bought? Let me know in the comments down below!

I’m hoping to get some What I Wore posts up on my blog in the future, as I really do miss writing them and with my wardrobe slightly changing of late, I’d like to show off what I’ve been wearing.

So, until next time, take care all and I hope everyone has had a great week and an even greater weekend!

December Empties

The final empties post of 2013 is upon us and I’ve never had so many products used up before as I have done during December! I forgot I’d even used certain things up when I was looking through the bag to take pictures! I’m glad I’ve used quite a bit up, as it’s meant more room for new things that I received over Christmas.

So without further ado, let’s get on with this post!

• Head & Shoulders Anti-Dandruff Shampoo in Citrus Fresh.

For 2014 I have decided to stop using Head & Shoulders and since I stopped using it during December, my hair has improved dramatically and I’m not wasting nearly £5 every two to three months buying the shampoo. My Dad and boyfriend still use it mind, so that’s fine with me. Even though I usually used the Sensitive one, I picked up the Citrus Fresh months ago to try out and it was really nice! It left my hair smelling fresh and like lemons and it obviously did a good job of cleaning my hair too. I don’t really miss using Head & Shoulders and I don’t think I’ll ever buy it again, as in reality this stuff is probably one of the worst things you could buy and use on your hair so for 2014 I’m steering clear of this!

• Possibility Ultra Rich Shower Gel, Shampoo & Bubble Bath in Peppermint Ice Cream.

I rather like the Possibility shower gels, they remind me of a cheaper version of Philosophy and with all the talk going around blogs about Philosophy, Possibility is probably better for your skin too. This shower gel smelt just like mint ice cream, which I love! This is a multipurpose shower gel as you can use it on your hair and in the bath too! I often used this in the bath alongside a Lush bath bomb, I never used it on my hair as I didn’t feel the need to. As much as I loved this shower gel, I am glad to see it finished and in the bin as I just wasn’t enjoying using it as much as I had when I first bought it and to use it seemed more of a chore than a pleasure. I eventually used it up in the bath and that was that. This does leave your skin feeling soft and smelling sweet, but you would of course need to use a moisturiser alongside it. I would buy this again, but when that will be, I don’t know.

• Sainsbury’s Extra Care Alcohol Free Mouthwash in Sensitive.

I love my mouthwash and I keep trying different ones to try and find a favourite, but as of yet I haven’t seemed to find it, although this mouthwash was really nice for the money! Please excuse the mold at the bottom of the bottom! It’s gross I know. >.< Anyhoo! This mouthwash was lovely because it didn’t feel like it was burning the inside of my mouth when I used it, which is always a bonus for me! My mouth felt squeaky clean whenever I used it and when I popped into Sainsbury’s to pick up another bottle, I was saddened to see that the shelf these were kept on was empty and I was forced to try another one, which wasn’t such a bad thing. I would buy this again, but I need to find it first! 😛

• Dettol Honey Nourishing Hand Wash with E45.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this hand wash and everything about it! I wrote quite a lot about it in my top 10 favourites from 2013 post yesterday, which you can check out here if you’re interested. I’m already low on  my second bottle of this and have bought a new one, ready for when the current one runs low! I’m so glad that Dettol and E45 teamed up to make this hand wash, it really has been something sent from heaven for my hands.

• Royal Jelly Foam Bath.

I’m pretty sure this is from a gift set and I’m also pretty sure it was from Boots. One afternoon this suddenly turned up in my bathroom and I can only imagine my Mom put it in there for me to use. It smells really nice and reminds me of the Royal Jelly sets I used to buy my Mom as a child every Christmas, birthday and Mother’s Day. It’s not really something I would buy myself and people would know better than to gift this to me as I’m not the biggest fan of Royal Jelly, but this was really quite nice to use in the bath if I just wanted a quick soak. It left my skin feeling lovely and soft as well as leaving me smelling gorgeous too! I wouldn’t purchase this myself mind, it was a nice treat and that’s all it’ll ever be I think.

• Palmolive Nourishing Delight with Honey & Moisturising Milk Shower Milk.

I cannot tell you how much I love this shower milk and how many years I have been using it on and off for! I first discovered this shower milk in 2004 when my family and I went on holiday. We took a huge bottle of this stuff with us to use and I fell in love with it! I remember running myself a bath and putting loads in, only to discover it was creating so many bubbles that there were more of those than of water! Since then I’ve purchased a couple of bottles but only during the summer did I pick up this little travel size. I bought loads of them to take with me to my boyfriends for whenever I stayed over, to save using his shower gel. But eventually I just started doing that and this got put in the back of my cupboard, which I delightfully discovered towards the end of December. This shower milk smells just like honey and cream, which is something I love the smell of, it’s also a very thick shower cream and a little really does go a long way! It leaves my skin feeling as soft as a babies bum and smells just as delicious on the skin as it does in the bottle. I was rather delighted to see that the morning I finished this sample tube off, was also the day my Mom bought a huge 750ml version of this and popped it on the bath for me! I haven’t been able to stop using it and it’ll probably end up on my January favourites list at this rate! I recommend everyone to try this, it’s a must have, especially for winter.

• Sure Maximum Protection Anti-Perspirant in Sensitive.

I love this deodorant and it’s another favourite that found its way onto my top 10 favourites list for 2013! You can read more about it on this post here but I shall talk a little about it here too. This lasted me quite a long time, probably 6 months or more as you only need a little bit and it goes a long way. Since using this deodorant I don’t have to worry about sweating so much so that means no worrying about sweat patches or about horrible B.O.! This isn’t cheap at over £5.00 but for how long it lasts, it’s well worth the money!

• Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel.

I love this moisturising gel but sadly it finally came to the end of the tube and I was forced to throw it away, sad times, very sad times! For about two or three years all I used was Clinique but due to lack of funds right now, I can’t afford it and I’ve had to change down to somewhat cheaper brands, which appear to be working well for my skin! I loved this gel because it stopped my skin from feeling dry and not oily at the same time, which was lovely! Sadly this isn’t the cheapest moisturiser in the world and until I have a spare near £30 I won’t be able to buy a replacement tube. I recommend the gel to anyone who suffers from terribly dry skin but also suffers with oily skin too, so a definite must for people with combination skin.

• Decleor Hydra Floral Light Cream.

At first I loved this moisturiser, but now I actually quite hate it and I’m glad to see it in the bin! My Mom gave this to me after I’d run out of moisturiser and was in desperate need of some more so she suggested I try this one. At first I loved it and it made my skin feel lovely and soft but after a while I grew to dislike using it, mostly for the strange consistency of the cream, which to me doesn’t feel light at all, plus I don’t like the smell of this all that much. Actually I wouldn’t say I hated this, as it did a good job as a moisturiser whilst I was at my boyfriends, but I am rather glad to see this in the bin. It isn’t a bad product, just not one for me!

• Lush FUN in Pink.

I LOVE Lush’s FUN products and by the end of this year I want to have tried them all! I currently have a brand new bar of FUN Gold in my Lush box (yes, I have a box full of Lush products) that I dare not use incase I love it so much that by the time it’s finished I’ll need to cry due to wanting more. Okay, that was dramatic but I do love their FUN products because, they’re fun! They’re a multipurpose product which you can use as a shampoo, bubble bar, body wash and as it’s like Play-Doh, you can play with it in the bath, which makes this a great product for kids! Pink FUN smells has the exact same scent as Creamy Candy Bubble Bar and Rock Star Soap, which in turn are two of my favourite products from Lush! It smells like creamy vanilla with sweets and maybe some fruit in there too. It’s just so amazing to smell, it’s made my purple Liberty London bag smell amazing! I’ll be picking this up again from Lush, I’d be stupid not to.

• Montagne Jeunesse Face Masks in Deep Sea Mud Pac and Chocolate Mud Pie.

I thought I would include these two together on the same point, seeing as they’re both by the same brand, but they both do different things to the skin, etc. The first one I will be talking about is the Deep Sea mask, which I tried for the first time with this sachet. I had always liked the look of it, shamefully due to the fact it was a blue mask, come on, who else isn’t drawn to blue things, huh?! So anyway I thought for 99p I would pick it up to try and I’m really glad I did as this mask was amazing! It smells just like a aftershave and contains seaweed and kelp to leave your skin feeling clean and free from stress. The dead sea minerals in the mask work deep into the pores to penetrate and draw any impurities out of the skin and since using this mask I have noticed the blackheads on my nose look smaller, which is great! I’ll definitely buy this mask again as it really did feel nice to use whilst I was in the bath. Finally we have Chocolate Mud Pie, which is an amazing chocolate face mask! As I mentioned in my top 10 favourites from 2013 (which you can read here) this was one of my favourite products from the year and here I shall explain why! This mask smells just like chocolate and is a very thick mask, which was a nice change. It contains cocoa and shea butter which are great for softening the skin. This left my skin feeling soft and smooth and my pores looked a little smaller too, which was great! For 90p this mask was well worth the money and since buying this one to try I’ve already bought another two, one which I will be using the night before my birthday to ensure my skin looks awesome for when my boyfriend and I go out to celebrate it. I’ve tried the Cupcake Face Mask by Lush and I really don’t rate it. My skin broke out after using it and I was tempted to put in a complaint, but alas I left it and dealt with it. If you have the same issues with Cupcake as I do, then try Montagne Jeunesse’s chocolate face mask, it’s amazing and will leave you face soft and smooth with zero break outs!

So those were my empties from December! There was a lot huh? It’s taken me two hours just to get this post written, but I was getting distracted whilst writing it up! Either way I’m glad I was able to use up so many products during December as it means I have room for all the new ones I received over Christmas.

What products did you use up over December? Let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all!

 

2013’s Top 10 Favourites

Image taken from weheartit.com

Well I can’t believe 2013 has come and gone, and boy what a year it has been! I’m glad to be starting a New Year and with that I thought I would share my top 10 favourites from 2013! I probably couldn’t have picked any favourites from December itself as due to Christmas and such I was so busy trying to get everything sorted, as well as working and being with my boyfriend, my family and my friends.

So here are my top 10 favourites!

• Sure Maximum Protection Anti-Perspirant Deodorant Cream in Sensitive.

Since buying this deodorant in the summer time, it’s by far one of the best things I’ve EVER bought and since getting it, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live without it. I sweat terribly during the winter time so when the summer comes upon us I panic like crazy about if I’ll leave patches on clothes or smell really bad. However since buying this stuff I’ve not had an problems at all! You’re meant to apply this before you go to bed and even if you shower it off in the morning, it’ll still work. However I just apply it when I’m getting ready after a shower and it works for me that way. I’ve only recently started my second one of these, so it lasts a long time as you really don’t need a lot of product, it goes a long way. I have this in sensitive due to my sensitive skin. This isn’t cheap and costs just over £5.00 but it’s definitely worth it if you suffer with terrible sweating like myself. I was close to going to my doctor for help, but this stuff has saved me the embarrassment!

• Diesel Loverdose EDP.

I’ve owned this perfume for quite a while now, since it came out in 2011 to be exact and since November time it’s been running out and I desperately need another bottle! My boyfriend loves when I wear this perfume and I do too as it smells gorgeous and nothing like I’ve smelt before. It contains various notes such as liquorice, vanilla, mandarin, star anise and dry woods. This is a scent I wear all year around, but more so during the colder months as it has a lovely warming scent to it. I was going to try and pick another 30ml bottle up in the sales but I really need to save money right now. Hopefully I can get a bottle in the near future, as when this runs out I’ll be rather sad.

• Dettol Honey Nourishing Hand Wash with E45.

I LOVE this hand wash and although I’ve been using it more towards the end of the year it has fast become one of the best hand washes I’ve ever used. As regular readers will know, I suffer from eczema on my hands and most hand washes can irritate it and make it worse, however this hand wash helps it and keeps my hands lovely and soft. This is because of the E45 and after you wash your hands with this you can feel how soft it leaves your hands afterwards too, which is great. As well as that it smells of honey and the Dettol inside makes sure to wash off any bacteria, thus leaving your hands smelling lovely, feeling soft and being germ free. What more could you want from a hand wash?!

• Aqueous Cream.

As well as the steroid cream I get from my doctor for my eczema, my aqueous cream is amazing stuff and seems to be the only thing that keeps my hands soft and smooth. I use various different hand creams and more during December than any other month, so I didn’t feel I could really include those in my top 10 for 2013, but I’m sure they will feature in a post in the near future! However aqueous cream is an amazing invention and my boyfriend bought me this massive tub a few months ago as something to use alongside my eczema cream. I use this alongside that, as well as on its own but it’s also amazing to use on any dry patches on skin, which I sometimes get on my face. You don’t need a lot of this and it goes a long way and I always apply it after washing my hands to ensure that my hands stay lovely and soft. This huge tub cost £2 and for the new year I’m going to be finding a little pump tub or tube to keep this on for when I’m at work. I recommend this stuff to anyone, it’s especially lovely to use in the bath if you’re suffering from dry skin, as well as using it in place of a shower gel. Amazing product for not much money!

• Philip Kingsley Body Building Shampoo.

Over the year I’ve owned this shampoo a couple of times and the first time I owned it, I really couldn’t get on with it and if anything I hated it. I felt that it was making my hair thin, not thick like it is supposed to. You need to ensure your hair is soaking wet to ensure you get a lather with this otherwise it won’t give you any lather, I learnt this after months of usage. This shampoo smells amazing and I love sniffing my hair after I use it (didn’t just sniff my hair!) and I don’t really know if it’s making my hair thicker, but my hair feels and smells lovely and clean, as well as leaving it feeling soft and gorgeous looking. Over the past month or two I’ve only just started to enjoy this shampoo and use it once a week, alongside my tea tree shampoo which I use once or twice a week. I would love to try more of the Philip Kingsley shampoos, as they seem like amazing products and well worth the money!

• Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Body Lotion.

I bought this lotion back around the start of 2013 and around the end of spring I sadly stopped using this due to work and being too busy to apply it due to needing to leave the house in a rush. This being said this lotion is amazing and is the most used one of  2013! Since getting loads of Soap & Glory products in the Yule Monty gift set I have realised I do really need to keep my body moisturised and it’s something that a lot of us seem to neglect due to lack of time or laziness, mine being the latter. Since Christmas Day I have been moisturising more, only not doing it on the odd occasion due to not feeling too well. Smoothie Star is one of my favourite lotions as it smells of vanilla and honey, which is of course a smell enjoyed by many, including myself. I will be using this body lotion before work as it’s a very nourishing lotion but it’s rather thin so as soon as you rub this onto the skin it will begin to sink in and get to work, which is good! It only takes me 5-10 minutes to apply this to the skin and doesn’t feel sticky or take ages to dry! I can’t wait to start using this again and probably will for my birthday in a couple of days!

• Montagne Jeunesse various face masks.

I love Montagne Jeunesse face masks, usually clay or sheet ones as the peel off masks really irritate my sensitive skin and causes break outs to happen. But this being said the clay and sheet masks leave my skin feeling clean, soft and fresh and usually something I use at night-time during a hot bath or whilst I do some blog writing. My favourite this year is probably the Tea Tree and Dead Sea sheet masks, alongside the Chocolate clay mask. The Tea Tree mask helps when I have break outs as it calms them down and stops any redness too, this one proved to be amazing during the summer as the tingling and cooling feeling the mask left behind on my skin really helped to cool me down during the hot summer nights. The Dead Sea mask is just lovely to have as a treat if my skin is feeling and looking a little dull and needs some perking up, I use this one at least once a month, maybe once every two months depending. Like the Tea Tree mask, it leaves my skin feeling tingly and a little cold which is lovely during the summer too. Finally the Chocolate mask is a winner and one I pick up whenever I know I’m running out! It’s a very thick mask and smells just like Cadbury’s chocolate! This mask helps to soften your skin and leave it feeling clean too, which is what I always look for in a mask. Some of the masks I’ve tried by Montagne Jeunesse have left me with break outs days later, but as of yet I’ve never had a problem with the Chocolate mask… Well apart from wanting to eat it off of my face, of course! I recommend these face masks as whilst they aren’t the cheapest out there, they are by far the best and worth every penny! You can pick these up in Home Bargains at 3 for £2, which is pretty good. Primark also sell these at 99p each and Body Care sell them at around that price too. Also check out Montagne Jeunesse’s Facebook page as they have some great offers on there and competitions where you can win loads of their face masks.

• MAC Archie’s Girls Lipstick in Daddy’s Little Girl..

I couldn’t pick one MAC lipstick but I finally came to one choice and it was Daddy’s Little Girl, which came out in March for the Archie’s Girls collection. I debated for ages which lipstick to buy from this collection and Daddy’s Little Girl was at the bottom of my list, as swatches of this lipstick online were completely wrong and made the lipstick look bright purple! Instead it is a subtle purple pink that can be worn all year around, which is why it has won a place in my top 10 favourites for 2013! I wore this lipstick loads during the year and most people I know really love this lipstick. I wear this for work quite a lot too as it lasts ages and looks lovely over the end of summer, during autumn and throughout winter so far. Most of my MAC lipsticks can be worn throughout the year but this is the one I seemed to reach for the most. I don’t know if it’s due to its purple pink colour, or because of the limited edition packaging shouting out at me, but either way I love this lipstick and the day it comes to an end, is the day I’ll probably pay a lot to get a new tube of this lipstick. If you wish to read more about it, please check out my review!

• Nails Inc Nail Polish in South Molton Street.

Since I got these at the start of 2013, I have discovered that I have never EVER used a nail polish as much as I have with this one, as you’ll see from the image above. This is a gorgeous pink manicure pink and I used to wear this in my old job to try and make my nails looks healthier than they probably are, even though I wasn’t allowed to wear nail polish, sneaky Nat! It dries with a slight gel feel to it and with two coats it looks beautiful on the nails. I wear this for work now and I’ve had many compliments on it! As well as that, I wore it for New Years as I really couldn’t be bothered to paint my nails all special and such and I had lots of compliments on how healthy my nails looked, if only they knew! I kid, I told them it was nail polish! My Mom bought me South Molton Street in a two pack set for about £20 which is good considering Nails Inc nail polishes sell for £12-£12.50. So I’m glad I have a back up of this polish as I know I’ll probably be finishing this bottle off during 2014! I will be writing up a review for South Molton Street early 2014, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

• The Body Shop Shower Gel in Strawberry.

Last of all we have the amazing Strawberry shower gel by The Body Shop. It is by far my favourite shower gel EVER so the fact I own a huge 750ml bottle, as well as a cute little 250ml bottle makes me very happy! I got the little bottle for just a £1, thanks to the £3 gift card I got from Glamour Magazine in November and I picked up the massive bottle for less than £6.00, bargain huh? They’re selling for £8 at the moment in The Body Shop and as tempted as I’ve been to buy another, I’m being good and not doing that, however I did pick up a Satsuma one too so I have plenty of shower gel to last me until the end of 2014! Anyway, a story about this shower gel. When I was little my Mom would take me to The Body Shop once and month and buy me a bottle of the Strawberry and the Satsuma shower gels to use before school, as well as in the bath after school and over the weekends. I would be so excited to use them and as soon as they ran out she would take me back to The Body Shop to buy more bottles. The scent of them both just reminds me of my childhood, the Strawberry one more so than the Satsuma one. Sadly after a while she stopped taking me to The Body Shop and therefore I stopped having the lovely shower gels in my shower. I’m so glad to have picked these us up and both at bargain prices too! I’m going to have a lovely smelling 2014 me thinks.

So that’s my top 10 for 2013! It was hard to pick all those items, but I’m rather pleased with what I chose.

So, what top 10 products did you love during 2013? Do you like any of the ones I mentioned? Let me know in the comments down below!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you’re not feeling too hungover and if you’re a Sherlock fan, make sure to watch the first episode for series 3 tonight! I know me and my boyfriend will be eating yummy food, playing Beyond Two Souls and watching Sherlock all day!

Here’s to 2014! Take care all and have a great New Years Day.

July empties

Are we really into August already? Last week it felt like my 23rd birthday, me sitting at home being miserable and contemplating what I was going to be doing with my life this year.

I’ve used quite a lot of products up this  month, which is good as I want out with the old so that I can buy some lovely new things when I can afford them and such. There’s some usual bits on here that I’ve used up, some that I have come to love and will purchase again and one item that I hated and will never look at in store again, let alone buy!

Apologies that this picture is blurry, it came out clear on my camera itself… :S

• Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea Face Spa.

This face mask isn’t like your normal masks, it’s a fabric facial sheet, which you gently place onto your skin and leave to do all the work. It creates less mess than a normal clay or peel off face mask and feels absolutely amazing! This one is said to help calm and cleanse your skin, and it really does. It contains dead sea sat and seaweed, which helps to smooth and re-hydrate your skin. I popped this onto my face and it felt so cool and relaxing, perfect for a hot summer day! I left this on for 15-20 minutes and before rinsing off massaged my skin with the excess of the face mask, as well as what was left on the outside of the mask itself. Then I splashed my face with some cold water and patted dry with a towel. I’ll definitely be purchasing this again, it’s amazing and for once a mask that didn’t irritate my skin in the slightest. Also this mask smells refreshing and amazing, definitely one to pack with you for a holiday that involves plenty of hot days.

• Montagne Jeunesse Very Berry Face Mask.

Another wonderful face mask by Montagne Jeunesse, which I can safely say I will be re-purchasing in the future. This one (as you can tell from its name) contains blueberries and cranberries, which both moisturise and cleanse the skin. This mask was really thick and a gorgeous purple colour which was easy to apply to the skin. As well as that it smelt gorgeous and had shimmer running throughout, which I thought was a really nice touch. It came off easily with warm water (as I was sat in the bath) and after patting my face dry with a towel, my skin felt soft and looked radiant! This is the type of face mask that is necessary in the cold months and before nights out. I loved this mask so much!

• Neal & Wolf Ritual Daily Cleansing Shampoo and Daily Conditioner For All Hair Types.

I received these samples at VintSetFest last week and I can safely say that they are amazing and I’m hooked! The smell of both the shampoo and conditioner is divine and I really can’t put my finger on what they smell like but it’s just amazing and right up my street when it comes to hair care products. The shampoo foams up wonderfully and you don’t need much product to do this either. The conditioner is exactly the same and has left my hair really soft and smooth. I’ll be buying the full size versions of these, especially as I have 15% off of my first order.

• Dove Supreme Fine Silk Beauty Cream Hand Wash.

I bought this wash after one of the staff in Superdrug saying it helped minimize her dry hand problems. It worked a little bit for me, but not as much as I’d hoped. This was a lovely hand wash though and smelt really grown up and expensive, even though it was only 99p! This hand wash was really creamy and soothing on my skin after a long day of shopping or traveling back from where my boyfriend lives. My only issue with this hand wash is that it doesn’t contain anything that kills bacteria like my usual Carex hand wash does, so I was constantly paranoid my hands weren’t clean, so I was using hand sanitizer afterwards. That’s just me being a germ freak though.

• Carex Cola Bottles Hand Wash.

I’ve never loved a brand so much this year as I have with Carex. I know the scented flavours have been made to attract children and youngsters to wash their hands but I just can’t help but be attracted to them too! The smells so far have been amazing and as if they couldn’t get any better. Carex brought out a Cola Bottles flavour, which I loved so much. I can’t decide whether I like this or Strawberry Laces more… It smells just like the cola bottle sweets you get inside bags of Haribo and from your local corner shops, which is just heaven to myself. My boyfriend when he first started to come to my house commented many times how good this stuff smells. Since buying this I haven’t been able to find another bottle, but I’ll keep searching for it as I really want another bottle. As good as it smells, it also leaves my hands feeling soft and germ free, so overall this is a great thing to keep by your bathroom or kitchen sink, especially if you have children.

• Head & Shoulders 2 in 1 Shampoo in Sensitive Scalp Care.

Time and time again I’ve mentioned Head& Shoulders, if you want to read about it, please check out this and this post.

• Possibility Orange Cupcake shower gel, shampoo & bubble bath.

I’ve had this since April and I can say I’m rather sad that it’s gone and the sooner I  pick up another bottle, the better! This stuff was amazing and even featured on a monthly favourites back in April. It smelt just like oranges and lemons, foamed up really well and made my skin feel clean and soft after use. After a while I started to use it for shaving, as it was really sensitive on my skin and helped my razor glide along easily, better than shave foam to be honest with you. I love Possibility’s products and I want to try more of their scented shower gels! I’m going to be keeping my eyes peeled for new ones to try.

• Tango invigorating shower gel in Lemon.

This is by far the most disgusting shower gel I have EVER used and I couldn’t wait to see it in my bin at the end of July! I bought this thinking it would smell amazing, like lemon curd or at least like lemon Smirnoff Ice but it smells more like a lemon scented cleaning product and it’s a real shame. The apple flavour Tango is amazing, so I’m confused as to why this one couldn’t be the same. I’m going to try out the cherry and orange Tango ones and hope that I’m not disappointed by those too. Urgh so glad to see it in my bin, it’s disgusting, I don’t know why I didn’t smell this before purchasing it, but I’m never making that mistake again, lesson learnt!

• Liz Earle Orange Flower Botanical Body Wash.

I’m really sad to see this finished as I loved how amazing this body wash was. Not only did it smell like orange blossom but it also left my skin so soft I wouldn’t need to worry about putting any moisturiser on my skin after showering. I wrote more about this product last month in my June favourites, so if you wish to know a bit more about it, please go and check that post. I can see me buying this again in future, but right now I’m in no hurry to re-purchase.

So that was my empties for July! I used up quite a lot this month, which I’m glad about as I want to try and use up as many products as possible to try and start afresh to buy and try some new products.

What did you use up this month? Let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care and see you soon.