Fuerteventura Favourites

This is going to be like a monthly favourites style post, but instead 2 weeks worth of favourite items and from the island! As well as that it’ll be a mixture of beauty and lifestyle related items that I loved using and enjoying whilst I was away.

I would have included these on my October Favourites post at the start of next month, but I already know for a fact that I’ll have loads of things on that list already and these wouldn’t even get a look in!

A couple of these items have been left in Fuerteventura so due to that I’ve had to use stock images to show off what they are.

Let’s get on with the favourites though, starting with beauty!

Beauty

Image taken from Amazon.co.uk

• Babaria Foot Cream.

My feet really were bad when we were on holiday and they usually are to be perfectly honest due to how dry my skin is as well as how the sea and sand were drying out my feet too. This foot cream said to apply it both day and night, so I applied it before I went to bed and first thing when I woke up. It helped in a short matter of time and I guess I’m just gutted I couldn’t bring it  back with me, especially with how good it worked on my feet! This being said when I was looking for a picture of the product to put on here I delightfully found out that Amazon UK sell this! So I may pick one up when I’ve used my Body Shop Intensive Foot Rescue.

Image taken from Amazon.co.uk

• L’Oreal Hair Expertise Sleek Smooth Intense Shampoo.

This is the shampoo I always use when I got to Fuerteventura and it really did work wonders for my hair whilst I was there. It made it feel so light and moisturised. I loved it so much I had a search for it when I got home to buy and thankfully I found it in Superdrug! I haven’t used it here yet, but a part of me can’t wait to, as sad as that sounds. I’ve been using sulphate free shampoo for about a year now and it really has improved my hair, I’ll never got back to normal shampoo now!

• Skinnydip X Carmex Cherry Lip Balm.

I picked this lip balm up the day before we went on holiday as whilst I have Vaseline, that doesn’t contain any SPF. I wanted to make sure to pick up one that did so I grabbed this whilst in Superdrug. I love Carmex, especially the cherry flavour and this contains SPF 15 too which is perfect! I used this constantly on holiday, both day and night. I did find however in the day time that this would sting the part above my top lip in the day time, which makes me wonder if it’s due to the sun being really hot and 15 not being a high enough number. I didn’t burn though, so who knows! I’m still using this now we’re back and I still love it just as much!

• Essence Out Of Space Nail Polish in shade Intergalactic Adventure.

I picked up this nail polish the day before we went on holiday and although it’s just a bog standard nail polish but it’s so pretty and for the price it’s a complete bargain! I remember when higher brands such as OPI and Nails Inc brought out polishes like this for five times the price! I painted my nails with it before we went and wore it a couple of times whilst we were there. It was especially lovely to wear when swimming in the pool. I want to pick up more of the shades from the collection!

• Barry M Matte Me Up Metallic Lip Kit in Avant Garde.

This is another product I picked up before the holiday and it was my most worn lipstick throughout the holiday. I only wore it in the evenings of course as this is such a dark colour! It’s not at all a holiday type shade, at least not one you associate with holidays anyway. It’s a dark purple shade and the metallic in it shifts the purple to a slight gold colour. Due to it being part of a kit you also get the lip liner, which is amazing too! I’ll be reviewing this really soon on my blog and I cannot wait! This is a gorgeous shade for autumn and winter, especially teamed up with a mustard jumper or dress.

Games

• Miitopia.

The night before we went on holiday I ended up downloading the demo of this to see if it was worth the fuss it was getting. That and it’s meant to be like Tomodachi Life, which both me and Dane love! I fell in love with the demo and downloaded it as soon as possible! It was ready in time for the day of our flight and I played it loads on the plane, as well as pretty much most mornings and/or evenings in the house. Dane loved the look of it so much that he bought it whilst we was on holiday to play with me. Sadly neither of us have played it since we’ve been back, but I’m sure we’ll pick it up soon.

• Pokemon Silver.

Oh all the nostalgic feels this game brings me! I loved the first gen of Pokemon, but gen two holds more of a place in my heart, so when I heard Nintendo were bringing this out on the 3DS I was beyond excited! I pre-ordered it the day before we went on holiday and downloaded it ready to play the day it came out, two days after we arrived. I played it loads the one day and since then I’ve picked it up once. This is mainly due to playing loads of Miitopia! I’ll be playing it more now as I really want to play it and complete it to the level my original Game Boy Color game was at.

• Persona 4 Golden.

This is a game that I didn’t start playing until the day we came home. We flew with Monarch… Do I need to say anymore? 😛 We were in the airport for 7 hours so I needed something to do! I got my PS Vita out and played this for about an hour and played it for half of the flight home. Since then I’ve picked it up a couple of times to play and I’m really enjoying it! I still haven’t finished Persona 5 though, so I won’t invest loads of time into this until Persona 5 is finished.

Book

• Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella.

If I’ve really enjoyed reading a book in such a long time, it was most definitely this one! I’ve wanted it since Sophie Kinsella released it and it was better than I thought it was going to be. It’s about Audrey and how she suffers with anxiety disorders due to something that happened at school. It’s really well written and clearly researched before writing about. As usual Sophie Kinsella writes her characters so realistic that I want to be their best friends. If you haven’t read it yet and love young adult mental health related novels, please do!

Music

Image taken from https://dainumo.bandcamp.com/album/suited

• Dai Numo – Suited album.

Oh man I LOVE this album so much I can’t even put into words how much I love it to be honest! It was the perfect album to play whilst in the pool, driving around the island and on the flight there and back. My favourite track is One Digit, which is how I discovered Dai Numo in the first place! I’ve linked where to get his album under the picture of it, but I’ll also link where you can listen to his music on Soundcloud here. Other than this album we didn’t really listen to much whilst we were on holiday.

Food & Drink

• Nescafe Frappelatte.

These are a real treat whenever I go to Fuerteventura and I just wish so much that we could get them here! They’re really thick coffee milkshakes that are made in a machine just like a Slush Puppy. They’re not expensive and you can get all sorts of different toppings such as cream, chocolate sauce, ice cream and even a Kit Kat. I wish I’d been naughty and drank more of these whilst we were away, but we had one as a treat whenever we’d been swimming at the beach or out for the day. It’s a lovely treat to have, like a Slush Puppy I guess. 😛

• Fanta/Clipper Fresa.

I don’t quite understand why we don’t have strawberry Fanta in the UK because it’s bloody amazing! I gave Clipper a go too as they did a zero version. I didn’t drink loads of this (I’ve definitely drank more in the past!) but it was so refreshing to drink and incredibly yummy. It was just nice to have on the balcony in the day time and as a drink to pick up and have whilst down at the beach or out on a walk. We really need this in the UK though, only through Five Guys at stupid prices is lame.

• Nutella B-Ready.

These ARE in the UK and they’re fucking beautiful! I didn’t realise we could get these at home, but on the night we arrived we popped to the shops and picked a box up. I popped them in the fridge so that the chocolate inside would go hard and it was really nice done like that. These were a night treat in the day time after going for a swim in the pool and in the evenings if we fancied something sweet! Since we’ve been home we’ve bought a box of them from Asda, but they aren’t exactly cheap. Tesco have them on offer right now so me and Dane intend to buy LOADS! 😛 I’ve been eating them in the mornings before work to give me a little something for the day.

So those are my favourites from Fuerteventura, but in reality everything was my favourite thing there. 😛

Do you always seem to have favourite items when you’re on holiday? If you do what were your favourite items from your last holiday? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

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

Some Bedtime Treats

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Top 5 Hand & Foot Creams

As a lot of regular readers will know, I suffer from eczema on my hands, but luckily enough since before Christmas it’s actually calmed down a lot (watch it flare up now I’ve said that!) and it’s meant I can use a lot more hand creams other than my steroid cream, which I’ve actually been able to stop using!

As well as that I have discovered foot creams again, after only ever using one from Avon. My feet feel so much better since using foot creams and I strongly recommend everyone to buy one, if not just use some normal cream on your feet!

So I shall be talking about my top 5 favourites today!

First of all let’s start with the foot creams.

As you can see there are only two foot creams but in all honesty, one is enough! Originally I was only going to stick with one foot cream, which was to be the Soap & Glory Heel Genius, but as you may have seen on my Christmas 2013 post I received a L’Occitane foot cream from my Mom, which I have to say I love to bits!

Let’s talk about Heel Genius first.

In December I purchased Soap & Glory’s Yule Monty gift set (which you can read about here), which included loads of goodies, including Heel Genius Foot Cream. I’d never tried this before and was rather excited to try it after I’d read a review for it a while ago, stating how amazing it was. To me this cream has more of a gel like texture to it but either way it’s gorgeous and a little bit of this can go a long way. It says on the back of the tube to apply this to feet every night along with some cotton socks and I can only guess that whilst you sleep it works it’s foot softening magic! However I am hopeless at wearing socks whilst I sleep so I apply this in the daytime before I go out, it does the same job!

Heel Genius is a light blue coloured cream and it smells of a mixture of menthol mint and citrus, which is hard to describe really and is one of those scents you just have to give a sniff of yourself to understand what it actually smells of. I apply a good 2 pence piece of this to each foot and it not only smooths your feet and makes them feel baby soft, it also leaves them feeling cool due to the gel cream texture, which I can imagine will be nice when warm summer days are upon us once again.

I use this before I go to work or after a long soak in the bath. This isn’t cheap at £5.50 a tube but as you don’t need much, it lasts a long time! I know I’ll be re-purchasing this when it runs out as I just love it a lot for all sorts of reasons. It keeps my feet lovely and soft, it won’t break the bank to buy, it leaves my feet feeling cool and it smells great too!

For Christmas my Mom bought me this L’Occitane Amanda Foot Cream and it is something I use a couple of times a week as a real treat for my feet! It smells amazing and works wonders for my feet too. Like Heel Genius I pop this on whenever I’m going out for something special, such as seeing friends, my boyfriend or going out with my family. Plus it states on the back of the tube how due to its powdery finish you can quickly put your shoes on after applying this products, which is great and in the future means I can use this in the summer before I slip on a pair of flats. This foot cream contains almond milk and shea butter which means my feet not only feel and look soft, but they smell yummy too!

As this was a Christmas present for my Mom I’m not sure how much it cost her to purchase and I don’t really want to go and look it up either, as it seems rude of me but as it’s by L’Occitane I can only imagine it was the same price as Soap & Glory’s Heel Genius, which I mentioned about costs £5.50 a tube.

Personally I LOVE this foot cream so much I would gladly throw my pennies away for it, but although you only need a little bit of this cream to go a long way, I intend to make sure not to waste it willy nilly, which is why I often opt for Heel Genius.

Now I’ve finished talking about the foot creams, it’s time to discuss the hand creams!

I love hand cream and I can’t get enough of them to be honest! This is due to my eczema so I’m always on the lookout for anything new that will help keep my hands soft and smooth and I think with these 3 hand creams I’ve found it, alongside loads more hand creams that I am yet to mention on my blog in the near future!

These have all been recent discoveries and I think they’ll see me through 2014 rather nicely!

Like the foot creams, the first hand cream I will be talking about is by Soap & Glory. Like Heel Genius I got this inside the Yule Monty and it was probably one of the products I was most excited to try out after hearing nothing but good about it!

At the moment this is pretty much the most used hand cream of the bunch, but mostly because I use it loads in the mornings and early afternoons before I leave the house to go to work. Hand Food has the gorgeous original Soap & Glory smell everyone loves too and although it isn’t my favourite scent by Soap & Glory, I would be lying if I said I disliked the scent.

You don’t need a lot of this and it goes a long way, which is great as I hate hand creams that you apply a little of and it doesn’t even give you a good coverage on your hands. I have to add too that if you suffer from eczema flare ups like I do, then PLEASE don’t use this on irritated or skin that is cut or split open as this WILL sting! I was rather silly and put some of this on my hands when my knuckles were split and cut open and I was in agony for a good five or so minutes. This being said, it does clearly state on the back not to apply this to irritated or damaged skin… Oh what a fool I am!

Other than that this hand cream is amazing and I can see me in the near future purchasing the little travel size of this so I can keep it in my hand bag! It costs £5.50 for a big tube, the same as Heel Genius, which is a decent price if you ask me!

I recommend this to everyone, it’s a wonderful hand cream and smells gorgeous too. What more could you ask for eh?

This is my second tube of The Body Shop’s Hemp Hand Protector and I don’t think it’ll be my last! When I opened up my Love Your Body membership in November I was able to have a small tube of this for free just for signing up, which was nice! The small tube should have been £5, but as I paid that much for the card, it pretty much paid for itself. This huge tube costs £10, but it cost me hardly anything thanks to my LYB card and my birthday coming up, but that’s all explained over on my birthday presents post.

This hand cream is for very dry skin, which of course I suffer with, but since using this I haven’t really had any problems! At one point at work I suffered with terribly dry hands and someone I work with suffered from the same thing too and finally we came to the conclusion that we were both allergic to something at work (a cleaning product). Sadly I thought it was this hand cream and I discontinued using it until more recently, to which I realised this was ACTUALLY helping my hands and it has now become my hand cream for work, which I keep in my work apron to use a couple of times throughout my shift. Since using this, my hands have stayed lovely and soft!

This hand cream is somewhat thick and you don’t need a lot for it to go a long way, I think a 5 pence piece is just about enough, but sometimes it can be a little bit too much and my hands often feel greasy and wet for ages afterwards! I’m not a huge fan of the smell of this, but I have owned worse smelling lotions and hand creams, so I can’t complain!

For £5 for their smallest size, £10 for their largest it is VERY expensive and personally without a discount I wouldn’t purchase this at all, because it’s bloody expensive! Especially as I can pick up Laura Mercier for £13!

But this being said it’s a great hand cream and if you have the money to splash  out on it, I say go for it! The Body Shop do three or four different types of hand creams, all depending on which kind of skin you have. Go check out their website or go in store to see which one would suit your needs.

Finally I saved the best until last! The newest edition to my hand cream collection, L’Occitane Amande Hand Cream. Like the foot cream, I also received this from my Mom for Christmas and I don’t think I mentioned to her enough (just before writing this post!) how much I love this hand cream and I WILL be re-purchasing it in the future!

Like the foot cream it contains almond milk and it smells so delicious! Like Heel Genius it’s more like a gel than a cream which not only means that this sinks into my hands rather quickly but it also means it gives my hands a slight cooling feeling, which will be lovely when the summer is upon us.

I won’t lie, I’ve just put some of this on as I love it so much and I can’t stop smelling my hands!

BUT back to the post! I don’t use this hand cream as much as I do with Hand Food and I’ve realised since receiving it that I’ve used it for special occasions and whenever I’ve been going over to see my boyfriend.

In December I went into the L’Occitane shop in Birmingham with my friend Poppy to help her buy a Christmas present, which is where I bought something for my Mom. Whilst we looked around I discovered another one of their hand creams that I said to myself I would purchase in future, which I can’t for the life of me remember the name of!

Either way and sadly the hand creams by L’Occitane aren’t the cheapest and for their travel size tube it’ll cost you nearly £10! But personally I think L’Occitane is worth the money and something I wouldn’t purchase for myself very often as it is an expensive purchase, but even then I think I would be more likely to pick up a large tube, instead of the travel size, which in turn is also the size my Mom bought for me.

I love this hand cream and I’ll be making sure to make it last me!

So those were all my hand creams and foot creams!

Do you own any of the ones I mentioned? If so do you like them, if not, why not?

What are your top 5 hand and foot creams? Let me know all your answers, questions, etc in the comments down below.

Until next time, take care and make sure to keep those hands and feet soft!