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.

October ’16 Favourites

Wow October blitzed through this year and now Halloween is over it’s time for annoying people to shoot off fireworks at stupid times (and stupidly at each other…) and then onto alllllll the Christmas stuff!

But for now lets try and not get too excited for Christmas yet seeing as we have all of December to do that… Which will be here before we know it too! My favourites this month aren’t anything special sadly and I actually found it really hard trying to think of what I loved this month. Eventually I soon came up with some ideas. 😛

• Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel

As many of my old readers will know I LOVE Lush and I especially love Christmas time when Snow Fairy their Christmas classic comes out. This sells out fairly quickly when it first comes out, both online and in store. I still have my bottles from last year to use up before I buy anymore this year. Dane bought me the huge 1kg bottle last year for my birthday in January and we recently started to use it. We both love the smell so whenever either of us use it we can smell it on each other right up until the end of the day when we get into bed. It’s a great shower gel not just for the smell, but it leaves you feeling lovely and clean, as well as soft and smooth. Oh by the way the label isn’t on the bottle anymore because the label kept peeling and making a mess so pulling it off was just easier.

• L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream

My mom recently gave me a large tube of this hand cream because she got it for free when she ordered some goodies for herself. I have LOADS of L’Occitane hand cream to use up but meh I needed something at the time as my hands were really dry and I ended up keeping it. Now it lives in my handbag as my daily hand cream that I use before, during and after work. My eczema is starting to flare up again due to the cold so this hand cream has really helped to calm it down when it’s really bad. You can never go wrong with their shea butter hand cream, it’s definitely the best one I’ve ever used to date!

• Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Androgyny

I LOVE Jeffree Star’s liquid lipsticks and I’m forever eyeing up a new shade to buy, or even new shades that are being released. Recently Beauty Bay a UK beauty brand online brought his brand out to the UK and along with that LOADS of shades! I hadn’t been fussed about picking up Androgyny until my friend Rhi from work picked it up and it looked so lovely on her, so she swayed me to pick one up myself. Since then I love it so damn much and wear it a couple of times a week. I’ll be reviewing this very soon.

• Holika Holika Smoothie Peeling Jam (Grape Expectation)

This was a face scrub I picked up from Homesense when I was in Chichester for work. It’s a gel style scrub you apply to dry skin, with dry hands and the more you rub the more dead skin begins to form on the skin. It literally peels away all your old dead skin cells on the skin. I would love something like this for my whole body to be honest! I bought two jars of this as I loved it so much after the first use. A little bit of this goes a long way which is great. It’ll definitely last me ages!

• Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub

I’ve used this body scrub on and off for a couple of years now and make sure to use it weekly so ensure my skin stays lovely and soft. The best thing about it though is how lovely and sweet it smells, like a key lime pie. It works great not just for scrubbing the dead skin off of your body but also as it has some form of oil it leaves your skin feeling soft and as if you’ve used a body lotion or conditioner.

So those were my favourites from last month! I’ve found it was mostly items that help keep my body lovely and soft. You can tell the weather has got colder and harsher on the skin.

What did you love using last month? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time take care all and I hope November is an exciting month for you all!

April ’16 Favourites

It’s May, and you wouldn’t believe we were into Spring with how the weather as been the past week. Snow two of the days this week! Weather, are you drunk? 😛

Anyway, on with the favourites for this month just gone!

• Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Spray (link)

I love the Sugar Crush scent. It’s so gorgeous, summery, and it cheers me up any time of the year. So when I spotted that they had brought out the body spray, I made sure to pick one up. At the moment I use it everyday at work, I usually go for perfume but I want to try to use up my body sprays. That and I find my perfume is too nice to wear for work right now. One of the girls I work with always compliments me when I wear this, saying I smell like a holiday, and coconut. Love it! 😛

• L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream (link)

I only have the travel size in this and that suits me down to the ground as this stuff is amazing! A little bit goes a long way and it really does help moisturise my hands when I’m out and about. It’s thick which makes it feel like it’s actually working when applied to your skin. I love L’Occitane when it comes to their products, and you can never go wrong.

• Lush Magic Wand Re-Usable Bubble Bar

This is a limited edition Lush item from Christmas, so sadly you can’t buy it anymore. My friend Sophie recently gave me a small box of Lush goodies that her sister didn’t want anymore, including Fairy Dust, Snow Fairy, AND this Magic bubble bar. I’ve used it twice now and I love it! I still have two of these in my Lush box to use too. I find one point of the star gives me enough for one bath, so I still have four baths left, the three points that are left, as well as the middle. This is just a lovely treat for me, and I intend to use one this evening after I finish work.

• Bourjois Souffle De Velvet Liquid Lipstick in shades Cherry Leaders and Plum Plum Pidou (link)

I couldn’t decide on which one to add to my favourite this month, so I had to add both! I wasn’t going to pick these up, as I’d just bought two new Jeffree Star Velour liquid lipsticks, but alas I saw the offer Boots had on and bought two (the offer being any 2 Bourjois products for £14) and I don’t regret it. These are so lovely and light to wear on the lips! They go on like a gloss, and they don’t really dry matte, but they dry well enough to stay on for a while. I use Cherry Leaders over a red lip liner to help it last longer. I got nothing but compliments when I wore these towards the end of April. I’ll be reviewing them soon for sure.

• Yankee Candle Large Jar in Hazelnut Latte

I LOVE this candle. I’m just sad it’s slowly coming to the end of the jar. It’s limited edition and probably won’t come around again until autumn/winter time now. Sad times. It lasts ages though and smells amazing. My family love the scent of it as well, which is a nice change. I have it burning now and it smells lovely. I’ll definitely pick another one of these up in the future if I see it for sale. Dane bought me this last summer, so I’m surprised how long it has lasted me.

Apart from one general product, those were my beauty favourites from April! I know I’ll be stuck for choice already for May as I have so many things I love from the end of April already, as well as stuff I’m waiting to arrive in the post. Let’s just say they’re liquid lipsticks, and by my favourite brand. 😛

What products did you keep reading for throughout April? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you had a great April.

Boxing Day Sale Haul

I can’t believe how fast the past couple of weeks have flown by! It only felt like yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas, than New Year, and yesterday it was my birthday. I have so many posts I need to write-up, but I’ve just been so busy with the celebrations, as well as work, and spending time with loved ones. So in hindsight I’m only just able to write about what I picked up in the Boxing Day sales! I have so many posts to get sorted, so please be patient with me over the rest of the week as I’m busy with work all weekend.

I mentioned in a post on Christmas Eve about what goodies I was contemplating or had even already bought in the Boxing Day sales. One of the main things I bought caused me so much hassle I nearly rang customer service and had a massive bitch out at them… But I was calm and collected (surprising for me in situations like this!) and I got the problem sorted. That item I shall talk about first, to get it out-of-the-way.

• Topshop Two-in-One Velvet Cord Playsuit – £60.00 (link)

It took a while to get this playsuit to my home, and safely in my wardrobe but it was definitely worth it! As I mentioned on my post-Christmas Eve, I had my eye on this playsuit during my holiday, as I saw it being advertised in a magazine. When I got home I got onto the Topshop website as soon as I could, and was sad to see it was sold out. So I had a look in some stores, and they had sold out too. I scanned Depop and eBay, but everyone was charging a fortune. So on Christmas Eve I had a look on the Topshop website again and there it was, back in stock! So with my student discount, and a £20 gift voucher, I ordered it. It cost me £34 instead of £60, which I was really happy about.

However, I soon encountered a few issues when it arrived… 1. It was too small, which was pretty upsetting to be honest, for obvious reasons. No one likes feeling like a fatty! 2. The playsuit arrived damaged. Something had ripped the bag it was packaged in, which had gone through to the playsuit itself and caused it to rip and be covered in mud. 3. It hadn’t even been packaged properly and was clearly one that had been sent back and re-sold to me. I’m not a snob by all means, but damn at least make it look presentable! These were all annoying, and frustrating issues, so as soon as I could I emailed AND tweeted Topshop about it with complaints. The complaints department fobbed me off with the email I received by saying, “Sorry you better take it back to a Topshop store to be looked at, and exchanged.” which made the situation even more annoying than it already was. I was going to make a complaint about it, but it’s past now and I have my new playsuit. However, the people who I spoke to via the Twitter page were amazing! They offered me some compensation by saying I could have free express delivery, AND 10% off. I asked if I could still use my student discount on the playsuit, and they said yes! It was incredibly generous of them, especially considering I only paid £28 for the playsuit in the end, including my £20 voucher and 20% off.

So I am now the proud owner of this playsuit and I cannot wait to wear it out soon. I intend to dress it up with some knee-high socks, and some flats for a cute Japanese school girl look. I might just throw my fedora on for good measure.

• New Look Back Ribbed Cold Shoulder Long Sleeve Top – £8.99 (link)

Sorry I don’t have a picture of this… 😦 I originally ordered two t-shirts from New Look, but I ended up returning the one as it didn’t fit properly. It was extremely annoying to be honest, as on the picture online on the model it looked like a normal length. But when I got it and tried it on, it was more like a crop top. This is due to me having boobs… Big ones at that. The t-shirt was rolling up whenever I lifted my arms in the air. Once again, like the Topshop playsuit it left me feeling less confident about my weight and body, and more like a potato.

However the t-shirt I kept fit beautifully and I’m wearing it right now to be honest. I’ve been after a cold shoulder top for years! Since I first saw my friend Faye (HI FAYE!) wearing one back when I first met her nearly three years ago (wow time flies!). So I’m glad to finally have one of my own. I expect a fashion addiction to start-up soon, especially as I now have my eye on other cold shoulder items from New Look… This wasn’t in the sale, but it was still a bargain at £8.99 and they come in four different colours too! May have to pick up that burgundy one soon.

• The Body Shop Frosted Plum Shower Gel – £2.00 down from £4.00 (link)

I wanted to try this shower gel all over the Christmas period that it was out in store, but I never got around to it… I was trying to save money, and use up products I already had accumulated in my cupboard. As Christmas loomed I found most of my shower gels had gone, and I needed more. So I thought, “sod it for £2.00 it won’t break the bank!” so I ordered it. It’s a lovely shower gel, that with a little it goes a hell of a long way! It has a fruity, yet floral scent to it which I really enjoy, but my boyfriend doesn’t like. I wish I had picked up the Frosted Apple scent now, but hey ho. Can’t have them all (well I could… It’s still available to buy…)!

• The Body Shop Africa Ximenia & Salt Scrub – £7.5o down from £15.00 (link)

I have used this body scrub since buying it, and wow it is amazing! I don’t think there will be any body scrub to top this and that is just after one use. This is a very thick scrub, which is more like a wax consistency (it isn’t wax!) and a little bit of it really does go a long way. I’ve hardly touched mine. I already know I will be repurchasing this scrub as it has really helped my skin already, and it smells amazing too! I can’t wait to review this in the future. Even at £15.00 this is definitely worth the money.

• Boots Soap & Glory Get A Smooth On – £17.50 down from £30.00 (link)

I popped into Boots to get some essentials for myself, but I ended up picking up this gift set after having my eye on it for a while. I was close to ordering this online when I ordered my Christmas Eve Yankee Candle but I wanted to be good and not order too much. I eventually decided to pick this up for various reasons, the main one being that I needed a new weekend bag desperately! It’s a gorgeous silver holographic bag, which is pretty roomy to be honest. I used it for New Years when me and my boyfriend went to our friends for the evening, and everything fit in there perfect. I also love the Sugar Crush collection by Soap & Glory, and so does my boyfriend who has been using the shower gel loads since I bought this set. I’ve used the shower gel, and the body scrub before but never the body spray, and buttercream until now. I love the spray, and have been using it for work.

• Boots Yankee Candle Large Jar in Christmas Eve – £10.99 down from £21.99 (link)

I’ve been after this candle for years, probably 6 or 7 years now… Boy has that flown by! It was a complete steal at £10.99, and I was tempted to buy another Yankee Candle too as they had Christmas Cookie and Snowflake Cookie for the same prices, but I left the last two as my boyfriend admitted he had bought one of them for my birthday (you’ll find out soon which!) so I just bought Christmas Eve. I can’t wait to burn it soon.

So that’s everything I picked up in the sales! I don’t think I did too bad in hindsight. I did buy some goodies from Lush, but that’s for a separate post coming up soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

What did you manage to pick up in the sales? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all.

Christmas Present Ideas – Beauty Gift Sets

Hands up who doesn’t like receiving beauty gift sets for Christmas? No one, eh? Beauty gift sets are a real treat to open up Christmas Day, no matter what brand they are, or what they contain. At least one person will receive, and I already know I’ll be getting one, if not two this year.

I thought I would do my final present idea list about beauty, and what great gift sets you can pick up last minute (depending on stock on stores obviously), and considering it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow, you better get out quick before they’re all gone!

• Lush Butterbear gift set – £14.95 (link)

This was one of the Lush gift sets that I put down on my Christmas wish list this year, for the tin alone! Inside this cute little tin you get six little Butterbear Bath Bombs (link to them here) which are a remake of the Lush permanent Butterball Bath Bomb. This set is perfect for children, and grown ups alike! The only flaw of this tin is that it isn’t really worth the money, and if anything you’re paying for the tin… I can see me picking one of these up in the Boxing Day sales if there are any left!

• Boots Soap and Glory Get a Smooth On gift set – £35.00 (link)

This is an amazing gift set, and one I didn’t actually know about until researching for this post! I love Sugar Crush, and I don’t think I know anyone who doesn’t love it. You can get various different sets, but this one just seemed the nicest, and best value for money. You get four beauty products from the Sugar Crush range (body wash, body scrub, body buttercream, and body spray), as well as an overnight bag, and a Soap and Glory body polisher! I need a new overnight bag myself, and this is a gorgeous silver one. Perfect for any woman of any age, and maybe even some men, my boyfriend loves the Sugar Crush scent.

• Debenhams Make Up For Ever Artist Plexi Gloss Collection – £110.00 (link)

This is the most expensive gift on this list, and you can see why! Any lip gloss lover will adore this collection (I know I would!) no matter what their age. You get 12 shades of gloss in here, and they’re all sorts of shades from nudes, pinks, reds, dark shades, and even a gorgeous blue purple shade! As I said, this is expensive but it works out being a bargain.

• The Body Shop Modern Gent’s Post Party Rescue Kit – £16.00 (link)

Of course I had to include men in this beauty list… Something I have learnt from my boyfriend since we got together is how men really don’t look after their skin, and they should. Thanks to me my boyfriend now has a facial regime in place with his Lush and The Body Shop products. This gift set is perfect for introducing men into getting their faces taken care of. In this little kit you get an Eye Rescue Serum, and an Face Protector. Perfect for men who may work long hours, and need something to help them wake up in the mornings, and keep them alert in the evenings.

• L’Occitane Delicate Floral Cherry Blossom Collection – £49.00 (link)

I love L’Occitane, and received a gift set last year from my boyfriends brother and his girlfriend. I loved that set so much! I myself have even bought people L’Occitane in the past, especially my mom who loves the lavender collection, which I bought her one year, as well as this year! You can get various collections in gift sets, including the lavender one. However, I have decided to show off the cherry blossom gift set today, as it’s such a gorgeous scent to be using late winter, ready for spring. You get seven products in this set, including a perfume.This would make a lovely gift set for anyone of any age, but especially older ladies who like a nice, delicate scent.

• Debenhams DKNY Be Delightful Be Delicious EDP 50ml gift set – £50.00 (link)

I love a perfume gift set as a Christmas present, like any woman. I usually receive one every year, if not every other year. This is a lovely scent for Christmas as it’s a gorgeous fruity scent, that smells like crisp apples. However I do prefer DKNY Red Delicious. In this gift set you get the 50ml EDP as well a body lotion, so if you receive this for Christmas you can use it for New Years Eve, applying the lotion first and then spritzing over the perfume to ensure the scent lasts all night long. This is a perfect perfume for teenagers.

So that was my present ideas for beauty gift sets! It was also the final of my four present ideas posts. I can’t believe it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow, and then Friday Christmas Day.

I am excited for Christmas, although not as much as last year. How are you all feeling about Christmas? Are you all ready present, and food wise? If not, stop reading and get out there and shop!

Until next time all, take care.

June Favourites 2015

June has flown by and I can’t believe it’s the first day of July. We’re now officially into the summer season and I’m off to London in just over a week. I pray that July is a good month as June was pretty decent and I want to keep that good streak going.

I really started to enjoy using some new products, as well as a few old ones that I forgot I loved. Just a warning, some of these products have long mini reviews. Just shows how much I’ve loved them this month!

• Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub.

I bought this back in May and have been slowly using it and seeing how I’d get on with it. I won’t lie, at first I thought, “what does everyone see in this product? It’s rubbish!” But that was only after a first use and the more I used it, the more I realised what all the fuss was about. This scrub is so amazing for so many reasons. First of all, the smell! I love the Sugar Crush scent, it’s by far my favourite by Soap & Glory and now they have the body spray out, I’m trying to use all my Soap & Glory ones up so I can buy this one. Another great thing about this scrub is how thick it is. There’s nothing good about a fine scrub that slips off as soon as you apply it to the skin. It also means it lasts a lot longer. I’ve had this over a month now and I use it once a week, I’m just over halfway through the tub. That to me is amazing! Something I did notice I had to do with this scrub though to make it work to my liking was to rub it together in my hands first to get the scrub nice and rough and then I rubbed it on my skin. It does work amazingly on dry skin, but I always use this when I have a bath so the only dry parts will be my shoulders and upper arms. After I use this my skin feels moisturised, super smooth, and smelling lovely. I’ll definitely be repurchasing this in the future as it’s a keeper now.

• Victoria’s Secret Fragrance Mist in Snow Mint (LE).

I’ve owned this since before Christmas and I remember picking it up the first time I went into Victoria’s Secret. I’m a sucker for that shop now and each time I pop into town (which isn’t that often anymore) I usually pick something up. The fragrance mists are a definite must if you love things like this, not just for the gorgeous scents, but for their lasting power. I had used these on and off over the winter and spring months, but now summer is here I’ve been using my body sprays a lot for work, as well as for after pole dancing classes. I’d never noticed before how good these sprays actually are! I spritzed this all over my neck, chest, arms, and legs in the morning before I went out for the day and when I got back in the evening and was snuggled into bed relaxing, I could smell this all over me. I was well chuffed! Snow Mint is definitely one I wish I’d picked up a dupe of. It’s a peppermint sweetie style scent that isn’t too strong and isn’t too sweet, it’s perfect in the middle. It leaves me feeling refreshed and smelling good. Once I wore it for work and got nothing but compliments! I think I might take this to London with me to spritz on during Hyper Japan. It really does cool you down! I hope this comes back this Christmas as I’ll be stocking up on it for sure.

• John Frieda Beach Blonde Sea Waves Sea Salt Spray.

This was something that came up on one of my wish lists for London during June and of course if I said I wanted it… Chances are I was going to buy it. I honestly couldn’t resist picking this up and I’m so glad I did because I don’t regret it. Whilst this hasn’t made my hair curly, that’s due to not putting any hair curling effort in… Lazy me! HOWEVER this has made my hair thicker when used in both wet and dry hair and it’s definitely good when I want a bit more volume and style for my braids. I spritz this onto wet/damp hair and blow dry. Blow drying upside down gives you more volume and body. Then I brush it through and style it afterwards as and how I want. This makes my hair super wavy after wearing a braid all day and makes my hair feel thicker and very beach like. The only issue is, it can be a tad tough to brush, but not as bad as another sea salt spray I’ve used! This smells like yummy coconuts too, so just as a treat I sometimes spray this into my hair before I style it. This doesn’t feel sticky or heavy on the hair and it’s as if you’re spraying water onto the hair. I’ll definitely be repurchasing this as it’s just such a great product. I need to style my hair with this though next time!

• The Body Shop Peppermint Cooling Foot Lotion.

If there is a range from The Body Shop that I adore out of them all, it’s definitely their peppermint foot range. It’s by far the best one you can pick up on the high street and for amazing prices too. I picked up most of the range back at the start of February after my holiday and they’re still lasting me to this day. Since starting back at my pole dancing classes, my feet have been busy, as well as my legs getting bashed and bruised. After a quick shower and a good scrub of my dirty feet, I like to get my servant *cough* I mean my boyfriend (he he he :P) to rub some of this on my feet and legs as a nice after pole dance treat. As it’s a cooling lotion it really does help tired limbs and leaves me feeling great. This weekly treat has now turned into a daily one. As soon as I get in from being out and about I like to rub some of this on my tootsies. It’s a fast drying lotion so you don’t have to apply foot socks, or wait around ages for it to dry (but you can if you want to, of course) which is convenient for me. This lasts ages too as you don’t need to use a lot. Although I won’t be taking this to London with me, I will be taking the Peppermint Cooling Foot Spray with me, which is something else I use alongside the lotion after pole classes. This is perfect for summer, especially holidays so pick some up.

• Rimmel London Moisture Renew Universal Transparent Lip Liner.

This is something I ordered on a whim that I’d wanted to try it for ages, and for less than a fiver I didn’t see the harm. I have all sorts of lipsticks, but not that many lip liners… I own three and out of various shades of pinks, reds, and now purples, I could do with one lip liner for them all. Which is where this one comes into play. I had heard nothing but bad things about this, so I was worried I’d regret what I ordered. However, I haven’t had any issues since ordering and if anything I personally love it! It doesn’t exactly do as great a job as other lip liners, but I didn’t expect it to. I mostly use this with my darker shades such as Rebel, and my purple lipsticks. I even tried it with a black lipstick I recently purchased and the staying power wasn’t as great as a bog standard lip liner, but it did really help some of my lipsticks last longer and that worked for me. It applies creamy to the lips and doesn’t leave them feeling dry, which is a bonus. I would like to try a more high brand transparent liner next, but this one is a bargain for sure. I definitely recommend it, but don’t go in with high expectations because you will feel disappointed.

So those were my favourites for last month! What did you enjoy and love using? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time take care all and I’ll see you soon.

August Favourites 2014

It’s September… Really 2014, really? I know I say this every month and I think I always will but bloody hell is this year going quick! They say times goes fast when you’re having fun, but I wouldn’t say this year has been 100% fun… I’m going off subject now!

It was actually really hard to pick my favourites this month, I don’t know why!

• I Love… Cosmetics Hand Wash in Mango & Papaya.

I bought this on a whim as it was only a £1, I needed hand wash, and I rather like I Love… Cosmetics products. I’ve been using this for the past couple of weeks now and it’s a really lovely hand wash to use. It leaves your hands feeling lovely and soft, as well as smelling fresh and beautiful! I would definitely try their other hand washes and I’m sure I will be as soon as this one finishes. A little bit of this hand wash goes a long way, which is great! Try it whilst it’s on offer for a £1 in Boots!

• Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire EDP.

I’ve mentioned this perfume before in a previous favourites post and I still love it! During the cold and rainy weather this has been the scent that has really picked me up when I’ve been feeling a bit sluggish and bleh. I think this will definitely be my scent for autumn and winter this year, as it’s such a lovely warming scent and you can’t go wrong with that, eh? If you want to read more about it, check out this post.

• Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Shower Gel.

I LOVE this shower gel so as soon as some of my shower gels were finished up and thrown away, I was able to pull this out of my toiletries cupboard and pop it on the side of my shower/bath. This smells like key lime pie and due to the citrus scent of it, it really does wake you up when you use it, making it perfect for mornings when I feel really sluggish! I’ve worked a lot of early shifts at work throughout August so this really did help wake me up! I’ve already used quite a lot of this shower gel, which  is hardly surprising and as soon as it runs out, I’m sure I’ll pick up another bottle. You can read more about this here.

• The Body Shop Hand Cream in Coconut.

These are some of The Body Shop’s newest products and I was counting down the days until they came out in store to buy! I randomly popped into one of The Body Shop stores for a look and they had all the samples for their new hand creams out for people to look at and try, but they weren’t for sale. I asked when they would be out, as I was sure I read on a blog that they would be out in August, however I was told by the cashier that they wouldn’t be out until late September. So I let out a disappointed sigh and forgot about it. I randomly popped in for a look and they had them for sale, IN AUGUST! So I picked up Coconut and Strawberry and all I have been using when at home is the Coconut scent. It smells so beautiful and is really relaxing to sniff whilst snuggled up in bed. It leaves my hands gorgeous and soft and even my boyfriend has noticed how it has made my hands feel lovely! This and the Strawberry scent will be reviewed very VERY soon so keep your eyes peeled for it!

• Etude House Peel Off Base Coat.

Peel off base coats are now becoming something new that all nail polish wearers need, especially if you love wearing glitter nail polish! OPI have brought one out but at a high price, and one I don’t wish to pay for myself. SO to eBay I went (as I always do) and discovered that Etude House have a peel off base coat! So for £3.70 (including P&P) I bought this and it arrived pretty quickly too, as I ordered it from Korea. Since then this has been a staple of mine whenever I use glitter nail polish. I’ll be reviewing this in September as it just NEEDS to be spoken about in further detail.

• Bath & Body Works PocketBac in Crisp Morning Air.

This is one of the most beautiful PocketBac’s I have come to own and it’s all thanks to Hollie over at Eating Lipstick, who has recently posted quite a few Bath & Body Works haul videos over on her YouTube channel. She mentioned how beautiful Crisp Morning Air smelt and I knew I had to have it. SO I once again ventured over to eBay and found someone selling it for a good price, so I ordered it straight away and I couldn’t wait for it to arrive! When it finally did I was pleasantly surprised that I hadn’t ordered something that I may not like and it really does remind me of autumn. It has a lovely crisp warming scent to it, apples, cinnamon and just yummy goodness but not like a cake smell. It’s hard to describe but I recommend ordering it, or smelling it if you’re over the pond at the moment or soon. I wrote a post about hand sanitizers recently and this one was mentioned in that post, you can check that out here.

• Maybelline Baby Lips Electro Lip Balm in Berry Bomb.

Another month, another Baby Lips lip balm! This is by far my favourite out of the four I’ve tried! I had seen swatches of this online from bloggers from over the pond so when I heard that it was going to come out in the UK I was super excited! This is a gorgeous purple shade and smells delicious, like dark berries. The only flaw with this is that I’ve bought a shoddy lip balm as this rubs up the side of the tube and before I know it this will break soon, I’ll probably need to buy another one soon. ANYHOO! I love to use this over my purple lip products whilst at work and on the go. Even on its own this shows up really lovely and I really like it. I can see this being a staple, I keep it in my handbag all the time.

• Carmex Lip Balm in Strawberry (review here).

I’ve been using this a lot lately at home, due to the weather being on and off hot and then cold my lips have taken a turn for the worst and got really dry and sore and to be honest I think Carmex is what has helped them go back to being lovely and soft. This tastes vile mind, I won’t lie nothing like strawberry if you ask me and I much prefer the original due to that, however my original is now close to running out and I need to use this lip balm up anyway! This is alright to use underneath some lip products too, especially stains and lip crayons. I can’t wait to finish this mind so that I can try one of the other Carmex flavours, which include Cherry and Mint.

• elf Cosmetics Lip Exfoliator.

I read a review for this lip exfoliator a while ago and thought it sounded ideal! I ended up purchasing it as a treat and I’ve ended up being unsure of how I feel about it. It DOES work and leaves my lips feeling lovely and smooth, but at the same time the stick has actually gone a bit deformed in the tube, making it a little awkward to use. This isn’t a major issue mind! As I mentioned above my lips have been horribly dry during August so this and Carmex have both been lifesavers! If you’ve tried Lush’s lip scrub and found it was too fiddly to use then I recommend this for sure! I find the Lush lip scrubs are rubbish and too awkward to use, so this is much easier and tidier too.

• Collection Lip Butter in Perfect Plum.

I LOVE this lip crayon! I don’t think I’ve ever liked one as much as I do this one. My best friend and I whilst looking around the shops stumbled across these in Boots and we both decided to take up their 2 for £5 offer. I bought Perfect Plum, a near dupe of MAC Rebel and she picked up Vintage Rose. This is so creamy and smooth to apply to the lips and lasts ages too! It’s easy to apply too and doesn’t need sharpening, which makes it great to use on the go or at work. I recommend these to everyone and soon I’ll be writing a review for this as it’s too good not to share and talk about.

Wow I can’t believe it’s September! I’m actually really excited as August was a pretty crap month for me and this month I aim to sort my life out… Well try to anyway, and that’s all you can do!

What were your favourite products for August? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time take care all and happy September.

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!