May Favourites ’18

It is already June and we are officially halfway through the year! It’s also one of the most exciting months for me and Dane are celebrate when we bought the house, as well as our anniversary. It’s a big one this year for us, as we’ve been together 5 years and in the house for 2 years. I’m excited for our week off together too, which starts today!

Throughout some of May I was rather quiet on my blog and sadly this was due to my mental health playing up. Blogging wasn’t on my agenda, hell not even reading manga or playing games was either in all honesty. All I did for one week was sleep, I was exhausted. Thankfully I’ve come out of that funk and I’m back to doing what I love! Playing games, reading manga, watching lots of Netflix and of course BLOGGING!

I cannot wait to bring you guys more exciting posts throughout June, as well as the rest of the year! I hope you’re all as excited as I am. For now however, it’s time to talk about my favourites from May.

Image taken from Soap & Glory

 

• Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Mini Hand Food.

You know when you forget about a product you love? Yeah that was me with this hand cream in May. I’m a real sucker for hand creams, especially ones that smell amazing and take care of my skin at the same time. As someone who is prone to eczema on their hands, I have to use hand cream all the time to avoid being in pain later. I remember buying the sugar crush hand cream years ago and falling in love with it. I used it all the time but for some reason, I stopped and I’m not quite sure why. I have a feeling I was savouring this in case Soap & Glory discontinued it. I had a look recently on Boots website and thankfully this is still available to buy! It’s just really helped my hands both at work and at home. I love the sugar crush scent as well by Soap & Glory so to have a hand cream that shares that scent just makes me so happy. I love using it throughout the warmer months, but I also love using it at Christmas as it reminds me of sugar crush gift sets I’ve received. Sadly due to using this hand cream up I don’t have it to photograph, so sadly all you’re getting is a stock photo. 😛

• Lush Santa’s Christmas Shower Cream.

This shower cream is amazing and I wouldn’t have dug it out of my collection so early, but as I picked up two bottles of it I thought I’d have one to use throughout the summer and then one for winter. It smells absolutely amazing, just like cherry cola but with a hint of vanilla too. Due to it being a shower cream it leaves my skin feeling lovely and soft, leaving behind a gorgeous scent! It also lingers in the bathroom for quite some time as well, which is always lovely. Sadly I’ve had a few issues with this shower cream the past month but I still love it so much! Sadly from using this as both a shower cream and bubble bath/bath cream I’ve noticed that the red colour of it stains my bath… Urgh! I made a complaint to Lush about it not thinking anything would come from it but thankfully it did! I’ll write about it properly soon but basically they offered to either refund me and I could send the shower cream back, or they could send me some goodies as an apology, I went for the latter. I’m planning to review this shower cream sometime this month. I know it’s a limited edition Christmas product, but it won’t hurt, will it?

• L’Oreal Paris Smooth Sugar Clear Kiwi Face and Lip Scrub.

I picked this sugar scrub up quiet a while ago… I’m thinking back in April time and I’ve used it loads since then and I absolutely love it to be honest. You’re meant to use it 3 times a week, but I only use it once as I feel that’s more than enough alongside other beauty products I use. This is just such a great face scrub to use for a gentle, yet effective scrub all over the face as well as on my lips. As well as noticing how soft it left my skin after, it’s also helped clean out my pores and left me with lovely clear and clean skin! I cannot wait to review this sugar scrub on my blog this month! 😀

• Carex Fun Bubblegum Hand Gel.

I picked up this hand gel recently as I wanted a new one to keep on my bedside table. I also picked one up for work but that was in the strawberry scent, which isn’t as nice as the bubblegum scent. This is really light in scent and feels lightweight after applying it to your hands. This is never going to be as good as the Bath & Body Works hand gels but this is pretty damn good nonetheless and they only cost a 99p too. I’ll definitely repurchase this in the future as it’s such an amazing scented hand gel for the price!

• Victoria’s Secret PINK Happy Holiyay Body Mist.

This is an old body spray, probably from 2 Christmases ago to be honest with you I’ve only just got around to using it after using up OTHER products! I use this pretty much every day before I get dressed. I spray it all over my skin and the scent lasts all day! I just love using this, especially whilst the weather has been warmer and I need something light to wear instead of perfume. I’ll be sad once I’ve used all my VS PINK body mists up, but it just means I can grab something else in the future!

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

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite TV Show – 13 Reasons Why Season 2 and Evil Genius.

Now I know a lot of people hated on 13 Reasons Why when it came out last year, so those same people if not more will hate on it this year. I LOVE this show so damn much and when I watched season 1 I was going through some shitty and dark places in my life. In theory this show probably didn’t make me feel better, but it made me feel less alone. So when season 2 came out last month I was anxious it would be rubbish. It wasn’t the best in the world, no but it was like seeing old friends again. I really did enjoy season 2 and I cannot believe how it ends! I’m not saying much as I don’t want to reveal spoilers. Let’s put it this way though, if you thought some of the scenes in season 1 were graphic, wait until you see season 2. I felt uncomfortable and that takes a lot for me to feel that way. Be cautious when watching it, especially if scenes from season 1 upset you.

As well as binge watching 13 Reasons Why, me and Dane binge watched Evil Genius in ONE EVENING! One of the girls I worked with was telling me about the documentary and had asked if I’d watched it. It was thanks to her talking to me about it that encouraged me to check it out myself. I LOVE crime documentaries and I’m a complete sucker for them (especially if they’re in the UK!) and from what I had found out about the crime committed in Evil Genius and what it was about, I knew I needed to watch. It’s basically about a crime that occurred back in America in 2003 where I man robbed a bank with a bomb around his neck. From here you find out who that man was, what happened to him, how the bomb came to be around his neck as well as many more. This is all explained in 4 episodes, all an hour each. If you liked Making A Murderer then you will LOVE Evil Genius. I’ve popped the trailer above so you can check it out if you fancy it!

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Film – Deadpool 2.

Come on, which film did you think I was going to talk about this month?! Of course it HAS TO BE DEADPOOL! Oh man I have so much I could say about this film. First of all, it was so much better than I thought it was going to be. I love Deadpool and I love Ryan Reynolds, so when the two merged together a couple of years back and brought us that sickening leaked trailer, I was so happy. Ryan Reynolds was destined to play Deadpool. SO when the second film was announced I was so excited, yet anxious all at the same time. I love Deadpool but I worried a second film may ruin it. Thankfully, good ol’ silver fox Ryan Reynolds did an amazing job yet again and brought to the screens the anti hero everyone loves. The cast was perfect, the acting was great and most of the the comedy had me fucking crying in the cinema. I want to go and watch Deadpool 2 again, but I doubt I will. I just cannot wait for it to come out now so I can watch it at home over and over again!

Image taken from Wordery

Favourite Book – Snotgirl.

I’m ashamed to say that I bought this comic back at the start of 2017 when it first came out and I have only just gotten around to finishing it. I’ve now ordered the second volume already because I am loving this comic book series already! It’s by Bryan O’Malley, the same guy who brought us Scott Pilgrim (which I need to read in the future!) and I discovered it through the YouTuber NinkComPoop when she was talking about it in one of her videos agggggges ago! I immediately ordered it from Amazon to read and fell in love. I forgot all about the fact I hadn’t actually finished it due to me and Dane moving our comic books around the house. I dug it out over the last bank holiday Monday and finally finished it! It’s about Lottie, a blogger who is out there, doing well and looks good! BUT behind closed doors she suffers with terrible allergies and is snotty due to them. There’s way more to the story than that, but I won’t say anything that gives away the story. I definitely urge you to read it if you’re a blogger and love comic books and manga. The only downside to Snotgirl is well… Lottie herself. She’s a bit of a twat and annoying but meh that’s her character I think. She’s just so pretentious and snobby, very up her own arse blogger, which I hate. That aside, it’s definitely worth reading!

Favourite Song/Album/Artist – Flyleaf and Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry.

Two totally different artists, but that just goes to show the type of music I’m into and how diverse I can be! 😛 First of all let’s address the Ariana Grande song being here this month and why. Due to the radio being on at work (Heart FM) we listen to a lot of pop music, if I had it my way I would have my rock music on, Bam Radio or even podcasts. Some of the music that comes on catches my fancy and recently No Tears Left To Cry has done just that. At first I hated the lyrics and loved the tune, now I love both! I find myself getting excited when this song plays on the radio as it’s just so damn catchy, upbeat but also relaxing at the same time! I’ve never heard one of Ariana Grande’s songs before until now. Sadly the rest of her music really isn’t for me, but she did good with this one!

NOW onto Flyleaf, one of my favourite bands and a band I’ve been listening to for quite a bit of May! I love how I can go without listening to Flyleaf for months but when I come back to them it’s like seeing an old friend. I love listening to them on my way to work as I just enjoy singing along to the words and thinking about what they are and mean. That sounds soppy as anything, but it’s true! Surely others do this and it isn’t just me?!

Favourite Game – Detroit: Become Human.

If there is a game I have been excited for these past 4-6 years, it’s Detroit: Become Human. I knew I needed to get hold of this game as soon as it came out, if not beforehand via pre order. Sadly I didn’t get to pre order it in time so I didn’t get it on the release date, instead I picked it up the next day and oh man am I glad I waited to pick it up! Due to some Nectar points as well as a Sainsbury’s coupon, I saved £10 on this game, so instead of £47, I paid £37 instead!  In all honesty though, at full price this game would have been well worth the money! I’m such a saddo and over the bank holiday Monday, I completed the game in the 3 days! Oh man it is just so good and I cannot wait to replay it already! If you own a PlayStation 4 and have played either Heavy Rain or Beyond Two Souls then you will love Detroit: Become Human, which is by the same people as those two games.

So those were my favourites for May! I’m sure my favourites from June will be just as good. I still cannot believe we’re in June already. 2018 is going by so bloody quickly and whilst it’s great, it’s also so scary that my life is flashing by me.

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

Until next time, take care all and have an amazing weekend.

May Favourites 2014

Wow I can’t believe we’re already halfway through the year and this weekend I’ll be off to Bristol for mine and my boyfriends first anniversary together. I’m beyond excited!

Also I apologise that this post is all of a day late but I had a rather busy weekend and I sadly didn’t get time to get anything written down, apart from notes on which products would be featured on this post this month.

So let’s get on with it!

• Soap & Glory Hand Food Hand Cream.

I wrote about this hand cream a while ago on this post and since then I won’t lie, I hardly used it. It sat in my room being unused for months on end until recently I decided that I would keep it in my hand bag to use on the go and boy am I glad I did just that! This hand cream has the Soap & Glory pink scent to it, which is one I can tolerate in the body spray but not in their body products. This however isn’t so bad and has a lovely conditioning feel to it, I love to use it before I leave the house for work as well as when I’m out on the go as it absorbs quickly and isn’t greasy or sticky feeling so it won’t leave your hands feeling clammy. I recommend this if you want a good hand cream for your bag, this being said I probably won’t repurchase this just because I want to try something new when this is finished.

• Dettol Revitalise Hand Wash.

This was a random purchase during May and one I’m glad that I made! As regular readers will know I love my Dettol E45 hand wash and have always said I will never replace it, however I don’t think this counts as a “replacement” due to the fact it’s by Dettol too, it just doesn’t contain any E45. It only cost 99p from B&M and for that it really does keep my hands soft and smooth, as well as clean and smelling like pomegranate. Can’t go wrong really!

• Phillip Kingsley Flaky/Itchy Scalp Shampoo.

I love Phillip Kingsley’s shampoos and you can’t really go wrong with his products as they suit all hair types and do exactly what they say on the bottle. This one is the flaky/itchy scalp shampoo and whilst I don’t suffer from dandruff as much as I used to when I was younger, I do suffer from my hair getting greasy every few days so I like to try and tackle that with a good shampoo. This shampoo is amazing for that and since I started to use it my dandruff has pretty much disappeared and my hair feels soft and looks beautiful all day long after use. Not only does it leave my hair feeling and look good but it also leaves it smelling delicious as it has an apple scent to it! I love this shampoo so much and this huge bottle should last me ages too.

• Lady Million by Paco Rabbane.

A while ago over on a guest post I wrote for my friend Amy over at Von Dork I announced how I hated the smell of this perfume… I’ve kind of taken that back now as I’ve been using this perfume none stop for the duration May. Yes this does smell of fresh towels and clean bed sheets but that’s actually pretty nice, especially if you’re feeling a little down in the dumps and need a reminder of your nice warm bed. This was actually my Mom’s perfume but she wasn’t getting on with its scent and ended up giving it to me to try out. My boyfriend loves this perfume and when I say to him, “Hey help me pick out a perfume to wear.” he’ll usually pick this one. If I’m not feeling too well I won’t wear this as the powerful scent can give me a headache and a bit of an irritated throat, other than that I love it and it’s become my favourite perfume to throw in my bad so far this summer.

• Sure Maximum Protection Deodorant in Sensitive.

I’ve spoken time and time again of how much I love this deodorant but there is one reason why this is being featured on here this month, besides the fact that I love it anyway. As regular readers or even new readers will know I went to the Lake District with some friends during May and it was amazing! I also mentioned how we all climbed up a very tall mountain whilst we were there and without my deodorant I would have sweated loads, as well as being smelly and shown sweat patches on my t-shirt. Luckily this didn’t happen and if that isn’t some sort of marketing ploy then I don’t know what is! I love this deodorant and I wouldn’t go a day without using it.

• Maggie James Candle.

I have to first add that I don’t actually know the scent of this candle but when I’m sniffing it it does remind me of a latte, a caramel or a vanilla one, a sweet coffee anyway! I bought this from TK Maxx about a year ago and since then I’ve not burnt it all that much, due to neglecting it for my Yankee Candles. However whilst I had the house to myself I’ve been able to burn it, as well as the fact I decided it needed to start being used. It leaves a lovely strong scent behind, which doesn’t fade straight away after blowing it out either, which is always good. Although this is a strong candle it doesn’t leave you a headache or a dry throat, which is always good in my books! Apparently Maggie James do a lot of different scented candles, but where I do not know! I paid £3.99 for mine.

• Bath & Body Works PocketBac Hand Sanitizer in I Love S’Mores.

I love my PocketBac’s and I always make sure there is one by my bed, as well as in my hand bag for when I’m on the go and at the moment the one I seem to be reaching for the most is my favourite, I Love S’Mores. It’s such a yummy cake scent to it but not as strong as the cakey PocketBac scents, if that makes any sense! Sadly this was a limited edition one for autumn last year and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to find a replacement bottle of it on eBay somewhere, which is where I got this bottle from. As well as keeping my hands smelling gorgeous is leaves them lovely and clean, leaving me less worry about germs so I can concentrate more on how good my hand smell!

• Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Lip Balm.

An old favourite and one that’s come back around again for yet another favourites post. My lips have been  pretty dry this month and I don’t know if that is due to being poorly, using too many satin lipsticks on my lips or just the dramatic weather changes. I know there is only one lip balm that can save the day when my lips get really dry and sore and that’s this baby! It’s a thick formula that applies like butter and feels super moisturisng as well as smelling and tasting of chocolate. I had a cold sore at one point in May and this did really help soothe it and calm it down too. I’ve actually missed using it and since beginning to use it again I’ve been making a habit of using it for work.

• L’Oreal Paris Glam Shine Stain Splash in Milady.

This was a new purchase I made mid May and since buying it I have done nothing but wear it out, both day and night! It’s a gorgeous purple lip stain that can be applied light or heavy to get the type of purple you desire. It lasts ages on the lips so I’ve been able to wear this for work and not have to worry about applying anymore, same can be said about nights out and when I’ve been out in the day time with my boyfriend and friends. I’m going to be writing a huge review on this soon, I have the images ready and everything, I just need to get some better pictures of myself wearing it. If you’re after an affordable and gorgeous lip stain then try out one of these by L’Oreal as they’re really worth the money.

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

I literally finished reading this book today and it has been one of my favourite reads for quite a while now. The film version of the book is one of my favourites and it always makes me cry when I watch it so I KNEW I had to buy the book to read and for £3.99 I knew I wasn’t exactly spending  fortune on it. I’m so glad I bought this as it was such an enjoyable read. I’ll be writing a full blog post about it because I just loved it so much. If you’ve watched the film version then I recommend you read the book as you’ll love it and if you’ve read the book but not watched the film because you’re worried you won’t like it, then I suggest you give it a go as the film is pretty great! Stephen Chbosky who wrote the book also directed the movie, so the film is pretty much how he pictured it to be. Definitely a good way to end May, such a lovely book!

So those were my favourites for May! I hope that June will be full of lovely summery things so when July comes along I hope to have lots and lots of lovely summery things to talk about with you all, if not a few new bits and pieces.

What were your favourites during May? Let me know in the comments!

So until next time take care all and see you soon!

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!

Soap & Glory The Yule Monty Gift Set

From 13th to the 19th of this month Boots had their best deal of the year up on their website, as well as in stores across the country.

Soap & Glory are fast becoming one of my favourite brands as they’re amazing products for great prices and I’ve been eyeing up one of their Christmas gift sets in Boots for quite a while now.

When I heard from a few beauty bloggers as well as an email from Soap & Glory themselves that their Yule Monty Gift Set would be £27 down from £60!!! If you don’t think that’s a bargain, then clearly you don’t know what a bargain is when you see one.

When Friday morning came I went online and ordered my gift set straight away, picking it up the next day from Boots. I didn’t actually know that Boots were doing this in store too, I thought it was just an online offer! So when I was walking around town on the Friday and saw loads of bags lined up in Boots stores, I felt a tad silly.

But who cares! I got my Yule Monty Gift Set! I cannot complain!

This set contains 9 different products, 10 if you count some samples in there.

So, although this offer isn’t around anymore, I thought I would share with you what is inside the gift set!

I warn you this is going to be a very long post!

The bag itself is incredibly glamorous and may I add, HUGE! At this moment in time I’m using it to keep my boyfriends Christmas present inside of. I don’t know what I’ll be keeping in there after his present leaves it, I’m sure I will think of something mind!

The bags design is a limited edition print by Jonathan Saunders and at that it is a gorgeous print. As well as the print being glamorous the zips are also really nice and gives the bag a little bit more glam, not that it needed it of course!

Inside the bag there is a cardboard box full of gorgeous Soap & Glory products! You get a body scrub, body wash, facial cleanser, hand cream, foot cream, body lotion, body butter, a mascara, lip plumping gloss and some serum samples. This makes this gift set perfect for either a huge Soap & Glory fan or someone who has wanted to try the range for a while, but hasn’t known which products to buy. And ALL of these products are full size products!

scrub 

Above is the Hand Food Hand Cream and the Heel Genius Foot Cream. These are both some of Soap & Glory’s best-selling products and as someone who hasn’t tried neither before but heard nothing but good things about them, I was excited to try them both.

First I shall talk briefly about Hand Food. I have heard nothing but good things with this, especially people who suffer with eczema like I do! It’s not a thick cream, but it’s not really watery either which gives it the perfect consistency for me. I’ve tried this hand cream a few times now before going out Christmas shopping and throughout the day my hands have stayed soft and beautiful looking!This is a 125ml tube but if you want to just try this hand cream out you can pick it up in a cute little 50ml tube, which I’m tempted to pick up to keep in my handbag. The 125ml tube retails at £5.50, whilst the 50ml tube retails for £2.50.

I can’t really say much about Heel Genius Foot Cream as I haven’t had the chance to use it yet! You’re meant to use this cream with foot socks and sleep with the cream on your feet overnight. Sadly I have misplaced my foot socks and need to repurchase myself a pair before I can try this out. However, trying this product out on the back of my hand meant I could see what consistency this product is. It’s a thick gel like cream and doesn’t so much feel oily but very conditioning and I want to slather this product all over my hands, as well as my feet! It smells gorgeous too, which is never a bad thing. This only comes in one size, 125ml which is the same size you get inside the gift set, this retails for £5.50.

I’ve been using Peaches and Clean 3-in-1 Wash-Off Deep Purifying Cleanser since I got it and I have to say it’s amazing stuff! It does state on the back of the bottle itself that you should use it at night, but I’ve been using it morning and early afternoon whenever I’ve been getting ready to go out. The cleanser itself is rather thick but I personally like that and as it’s a creamy consistency it doesn’t foam up when applied to the skin. I’ve been using my facial sponge with this and it’s such a pleasure to use too as it smells of peaches! This only comes in one size, 200ml and alongside that it doesn’t come cheap either at £8.00 a bottle but at the moment this is seeming worth the price tag and if by the end of this bottle my skin has improved, I’ll be re purchasing it.

Make Yourself Youthful Super Serum is in this gift set, but only in sample form and luckily there are three of them. I’ve only tried one of these so far and I can’t say whether or not I noticed a difference with my skin but the next time I try it I’ll make sure to look out for any noticeable changes. Each little sachet contain a lot of product and you can either use them under a moisturiser or alone, I went for underneath a moisturiser and it felt really nice on the skin. The full size version costs £20.00!

Out of all the products in this gift set, these are by far two of my favourites! I’ve already owned a full size version of Sugar Crush Body Wash but I’ve never owned a tube of The Scrub Of Your Life and quite frankly, I don’t think I’ll be able to live without it again… Unless I find something better or like this!

The Scrub Of Your Life is basically what it says, a body scrub and a damn good one at that! Most body scrubs don’t foam up when they come in contact with water, however this one does and it also leaves my skin feeling beautifully soft and smooth! You don’t need much of this and it goes a long way, however I am thinking of buying some more scrub gloves so that I can give myself a good scrub! I’ve used this on its own without a body wash or shower gel afterwards and I really didn’t need to. I used this one evening in the bath and the next morning when I woke up my skin was as soft and smooth as it had been the evening I used this. This being said I would recommend to use a body lotion or butter afterwards. This comes in two sizes, 200ml which is what you get in the gift set and a small sample size which comes in a 50ml. The full size of this product costs £7.00 whilst the smaller size costs £2.50.

Sugar Crush Body Wash is by far one of my favourite products by Soap & Glory and only at the start of this month in my November Empties post did I comment about how I would be re purchasing this! I’ve also mentioned this in my February Favourites. I’ve spoken highly of this over on this two posts but I will say a bit about it here. It smells just like key lime pie and lathers up beautifully! When I first bought this it was this time last year and I couldn’t see it as being a winter scent, but this works all year-long and I’m glad to have another full size version! My boyfriend loves this too and I was rather tempted to give him this as one of his Christmas presents but I was somewhat greedy and had it for myself… Sorry Dane! They also have a body scrub and buttercream in the same scent, which I would like to get in the future. This only comes in one size, which is a whopping 500ml bottle, which is what you get in this gift set. It’ll cost you £6.50 in Boots, but it’s worth every penny!

I’ve only ever tried one body lotion by Soap & Glory and I love it, although I haven’t used it for ages! The New Year will mean time for change as I am going to make sure to spend at least 10 minutes moisturising my skin as I haven’t done it properly since before I got together with my boyfriend. With two new moisturisers I have plenty of choice as to what types of products I use on my skin!

The Righteous Butter Body Butter is a thick body lotion that I know I’ll be using after relaxing baths before bed. I can’t stand thick lotions or greasy body butters but this isn’t really neither of them. It’s a lovely feeling cream and is something I would use once or twice a week as a moisturising treat after a relaxing bath. I haven’t tried this yet, but I think I will be soon! In the gift set you get a 300ml tub, but you can also but a HUGE 1L tub or a tiny 50ml sample tub. 50ml retails for £2.50, 300ml for £10.50 and 1L for £25.00!

I love a moisturiser that contains a pump on it and this one is no exception! This is slightly thick but I know it would be lovely to use on a cold morning as it would warm me up quite a bit. This is Butter Yourself Ultra Nourishing Fruity Liquid Moisture Lotion and it smells amazing! It reminds me of the Mist You Madly Body Spray which I wear to work quite a lot at the moment since forgetting my cheap work perfume in my boyfriends car, silly me! I’ll be using this around Christmas and New Year as I’m sure the scent of this lotion will make me smell gorgeous throughout the holidays! This comes in one size which is a huge 500ml pump bottle, this is the one you get in this set and retails for £10.00.

Apologies for how dark this picture is, but due to these earlier nights in the UK my camera is struggling a little bit! These are the last two products I will be talking about from this gift set, wow what a long post this has turned out to be!

Thick & Fast? Super Volume Mascara Superjet Black is one of the two make up related products that came in this gift set and I knew when I was ordering this gift set that I would be giving this away to someone for Christmas! At first I thought about my Mom but then after much thought I realised that my friend Poppy would love this as a Christmas present, so on my last time seeing her before Christmas I gave her this, which cheered her up. I did have a look at the wand of this mascara and it is HUGE! I’m hoping Poppy will review it over on her blog in the New Year. I would have kept this myself if I wore mascara but alas I do not and thus it has gone to a good home! This costs £10.00 to buy new.

Finally we have what is one of my favourite items from this gift set and one I tried out as soon as I got it home! Sexy Mother Pucker XL Lip Plumping Gloss in which I can assume is Very Berry. It’s a gorgeous orangey pink shade, which I would describe at coral and bloody hell does it plump! I popped this onto my lips and within seconds my lips felt tingly and like they were buzzing. It was so odd and I’ve never felt anything like it before in my life, so much so I gave my boyfriend some to pop onto his lips to see if it had the same effect on his lips. Luckily it did as I was rather worried that I had a bad allergic reaction to it! I’ll be writing up a review for this in the New Year, I just love it so much! It retails for £10.00 and is worth EVERY PENNY!

At the time of writing this I have tried 6 of the products mentioned above, but hope to have everything tried and tested by the New Year!

Wow have I finally finished this post? I think I have! Thanks for sticking through it if you have, you’re a star! Sadly the £27 offer for this gift set has come to an end, but for £60 it’s still a complete bargain, especially as it would normally cost £73.00 for all those items and I haven’t even included the limited edition bag in there, which I assume would be another £15.00-£20.00!

I nearly didn’t order this bag but after much encouragement from my boyfriend, I went for it and I’m so damn glad!

Did you get your hands on The Yule Monty Gift Set for £27?

Would you buy this at full price? Let me know your answers in the comments down below!

Well what a lovely long post for Monday afternoon, eh?

I hope you’re all well and have your Christmas shopping done now, there’s only a few more days left until Christmas now, I’ll be having a post up on here Christmas Eve and Day, because I’m lovely like that!

Until next time, take care all!