Lush Haul!!

Good Morning ladies,

 I was going to save this post for the weekend but I have unexpectedly been given the day off work so thought I might as well take the opportunity since I've been meaning to put this post up a couple of weeks ago. Anyway I'll crack on with it. I went to the Trafford Centre a couple of weeks ago and as most of you probably know, you can't just walk past a Lush or in without buying anything so here's what I bought.

(left to right: Space Girl Bath Ballistic (£2.25), Cupcake Fresh Face Mask (£5.95) and Creamy Candy Bubble Bar £2.50)

 The description of the Space Girl bath ballistic is from the website is: "A space-dust filled bath bomb with a sweet and fruity fragrance". This ballistic smells amazing and like sweets plus it looks so pretty and as you can see I chose one with as much glitter on as possible so my lovely new bathroom will be all girly and glittery after a bath with this. I've never used this ballistic before however, I have been tempted on a few occasions but stuck to ones I've had before.

 I have used Lush's fresh face masks before however, I haven't used Cupcake before. When I was in Lush I read all of the tubs to see what was best for me to try as I have had some problems with my skin being quite oily recently. The description on the tub says: "Chocolate heaven for oily and teenage skin, Helps absorb excess oil and calm breakouts. Cocoa butter, linseed and cocoa powder soften with balancing peppermint, spearmint and sandalwood oils." When you look at this face mask it looks like chocolate icing but it does have a chocolate minty smell to it. I've used this mask a couple of times since getting it and my skin seems to have calmed down a little and that's just using it once a week so I may start using it every few days.

 Finally Creamy Candy is described as: "A nourishing, creamy-candy scented bubble bar with added cocoa butter for soft skin" whilst the scent is said to be candy floss and the same as Rock Star which you can definately tell although I'm not sure it smells like candy floss. To me it does smells very sweet and a little similar to Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment but I love the smell and can't wait to use this product.

 This is a quick one as I haven't used these products before however, I can see me purchasing these again as I love the scents but we will see how they are when I use them. It's also been quite hard for me to type this as Dexter keeps sitting on the laptop or chewing it haha. I do have a couple more hauls to post up which I'm hoping to get time to do at least one today but if not they will be up by the weekend.

 I hope you all enjoy this haul and I would be interested in hearing if anyone has tried these products and your opinions of them.

 Thanks for reading. 

Love

      Lou xx

A belated Happy New Year and my new addition

I know it is a little bit late but Happy New Year everyone!! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, New Year and start to January, unfortunately I've had the dreaded cold/flu bug since a few days after Christmas 😔

For this next year my aim is to post on here a lot more whether this be from my phone or the laptop and it will be helped along by better pictures and Tom bought me a lovely new camera for Christmas. I have a few aims for myself this year and I've decided I will share them with you guys as it will add a bit of a mixture to my posts. 

Last year I wanted to lose some weight and at first I really struggled and then a stone dropped off in a few weeks but then I put half a stone back on and have been finding it difficult to get it back off so I am going to be working on that and will be letting you know of my progress and any tips as recipes. 

For my down time I have also decided I am going to set myself the challenge of reading 25 books this year and I will post reviews of the books I read. At the minute I am reading Game of Thrones and as there is 7 books so far I may just do an overall one when I finish them.

This year I am also going to be working on getting a new job, getting my driving license and I am toying with the idea of going back to university in September as I only have a year left of my degree however now I have my own house it is a lot to think about financially. I'm also hoping to go on a lot more adventures this year both in the UK and hopefully abroad as well and thought these could make some interesting posts.

Now it's time to introduce you all to my new addition; everybody meet Dexter.

Tom and I have talked about getting another cat for a while however, we were going to wait a few months and save up for a Bengal as Ozzy is three quarters Bengal. A couple of days before New Year I got home from work to be told we were going to see some 7 week old kittens and although they weren't Bengals we thought they were adorable. By the time we got there there was only 2 left and we wld have had both if we didn't already have Ozzy.

Dexter was the runt of the litter and so tiny! When we first brought him home Ozzy wasn't sure what to think of him but when we took him upstairs Ozzy started hissing and growling at him. Luckily Tom was off for a couple days although did get a couple of call outs so he could keep an eye on them and everyone kept telling me they'd be fine within a week or so. We'd only had Dexter 2 days by the time they started going on and they're now the best of friends. They're constantly play fighting with each other and following each other around and when they're not doing that they are cuddled up on the bed together.

Ozzy just seems huge compared to Dexter! 

As I have been typing this they've been running around the living room like crazy things chasing each other and Ozzy has now knocked a glass of water flying! If any of you are cat owners you will know they always play rough, with the size difference I keep thinking Ozzys going to kill Dexter but he's not hurting him and it's usually Dexter that's starts the play fighting.

Anyway I will stop babbling about my cats now as I need to do some tidying and get a list together of posts I would like to do and hopefully I will be back soon.

Thanks for reading guys.

Love

Lou xxx

Gift Ideas - Makeup

 I seem to have a bit of spare time today so thought I'd try and get another post up offering my gift ideas for any friend or relative you may have that is interested in makeup (or maybe even just a treat for yourself). The items that I have chosen for this are ones that I would be interested in myself and are probably mostly towards the high end and from Debenhams as they are currently offering 10% off their beauty products at the moment. Whether the products are high end or not I will let you know where they can be purchased, how much for and if there are any offers.

 There's a lot of fuss about this product at the moment so I thought it would be the best product to start off my makeup gift ideas. I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you that this is the Urban Decay 'Naked 3' palette. On the Debenhams website this is priced at £37 and doesn't seem to be included in the 10% off deal but I'm sure you'll all agree that this would be a great gift for those makeup lovers.

 For any of those Benefit lovers out there, I have here the How to Look the Best at Everything kit which is usually £25 in Debenhams but is currently on offer for £22.95. I've been eyeing this product up for a while myself with its various face products and I like how this comes in 3 different shades so targets different skin tones however, I'm not sure if they would be suitable for everyone. In the kit you get POREfessional, boi-ing concealer (this is in 2 shades which vary dependent on the kit you get), hello flawless oxygen wow face brightener and hello flawless! powder.

 Next up we have another Benefit product and I'm sure you all know this is the World Famous Neutrals kits which cost £23.50 each but are currently on offer in Debenhams for £21.15. There are three of these kits all with different shades of neutrals (most galmorous nudes ever, easiest nudes ever and sexiest nudes ever) and come with 2 cream shadows and 4 powder shadows. Personally I think all 3 of these kits are gorgeous.

 This gift is a bit price coming in at £60 however, this is reduced from £99 and it may be something you lipstick lovers may want to put on your own Christmas lists. Although Illamasqua can be purchased in Debenhams, I found this gift on the Illamasqua website. It includes 6 lipsticks which are Plunge (bright mauve pink), Fable (bright rose pink), Scandal (warm coral pink), Over (bright coral pink), ESP (vivid violet) and Isis (red pink). For those of you who haven't tried Illamasqua lipsticks before, I have to admit they are one of my favourites and I don't actually have any of these colours. Due to the offer, each lipstick in the set works out at £10 whilst bought separately they would cost £16.50 each. For those of you who may be interested in trying these products but can't afford it, in the January sales Illamasqua had an amazing sale where some of their lipsticks were just £5. If they run this offer again I will let you all know.

 Here we have the Master Makeup Collection from E.L.F which is available at £35 and although E.L.F don't currently have an offer for a discount, they may well do nearer to Christmas however, if you do choose to order this now you will receive a free gift. I'm not sure what the free gift is but when E.L.F do offers like this its usually a palette of new products. The website doesn't list what this palette includes however, from the pictures it looks like 84 eyeshadows, 36 lipsticks/glosses, face powders, bronzer, blush, contouring powders and stuff thats included in their complexion kits and also some brushes. E.L.F products are surprisingly good for their price and I think this kits quite a good price for what you get. If you are interested in this product for yourself, you may want to wait until the sale starts after Christmas as E.L.F's sales are usually pretty good.

This 50pc Makeup Artist palette is also from E.L.F and is available for £15. In the set you get 40 eyeshadows which look to be pretty nice colours, 6 blushes and 6 bronzers. I think this kit is quite a handy little thing to have as it doesn't look look bad and has a mirror so may be quite a good product for travelling with.

 These are my top makeup choice that I personally think would make great gifts for a friend, relative or even yourself. I do realise there's not many but I'm going to try and not overload each post with loads of products. If I do see any other great makeup gift ideas and offers then I will be sure to let you all know.

 Thanks for reading.

Love
          Lou xxx

Gift Ideas - Body Shop

 If you're stuck on any gift ideas for your loved ones this Christmas, the Body Shop is a good place to look as they cater for everyone from your grandma to your little sister. At the moment Body Shop are running a 50% off all purchases offer on both their website and in store. If you're ordering from the website, there is also free delivery on orders of £5 and the offer of 50% off will apply when using the offer code 19809.

 The Body Shop is somewhere I always turn to for gifts especially for my mum as she loves their products but only tends to buy them herself if there's an offer on. I've had a quick look through the website and picked out a few gifts to show you in case you are stuck on any ideas.

 First up we have a limited edition Christmas gift set and it is the Gingerbread scent which they also had last year although I don't remember this gift set being available last year, I feel like the only set available in a tin last Christmas was the Chocomania gift set. This gift set is quite a decent price at £17 at full price and it is really cute. I think the scent itself is probably not for everyone however, I do think its quite a Christmassy scent. This set includes Ginger Sparkle Shower Gel 250ml, Ginger Sparkle Body Butter 50ml, Ginger Sparkle Body Polish 75ml and Ginger Sparkle Mini Heart Soap.

 Next up I've decided to show you one of the more expensive gift sets that Body Shop have and this is also one of the limited edition Christmas ones but this time it's the Cranberry Joy one. This gift set is £25 however, if you do take advantage of the off then it would be only be £12.50. I think this gift set is good value for money as the products are all full size and you get Cranberry Joy Shower Gel 250ml, Cranberry Joy Body Butter 200ml, Cranberry Joy Body Polish 200ml and Cranberry Joy Lip Balm. 

 Sticking with the Christmas collection, this is the Vanilla Bliss gift set which at full price costs £17. I actually purchased most of the products in this set in the January sales and I think it smells so nice, it is probably one of those scents that cater for pretty much everyone although I do think the body polish smells a bit like battenburg and I wanted to eat it. In the gift set you get Vanilla Bliss Shower Gel 250ml, Vanilla Bliss Body Butter 50ml, Vanilla Bliss Body Polish 75ml and Vanilla Bliss Mini Heart Soap.

 I feel this Shea gift set is a pretty safe bet for anyone as it doesn't have a strong scent which some people not like so if you're not sure what sort of smells the person you are buying for would like then I would go for this one. I got this for my mum last year and she loved the products in this and says they were really nourishing. At full price this is again £17 and comes with Shea Shower Cream 250ml, Shea Soap, Shea Body Scrub 50ml, Shea Body Butter 50ml and a shower lily.

 If you are aware of smells the person you are buying for likes best then the Shea gift set does also come in Coconut, Mango, Olive, Satsuma, Strawberry, Chocomania and Honeymania so there's quite a choice to pick from and they all come with the same products in the respective scents. The Vanilla gift set is also available in Cranberry Joy whilst the Cranberry Joy gift set you can get in Chocomania, Coconut, Olive and Shea.

 I wasn't going to include this gift  at first but I decided to as I think it's quite a fun concept and a bargain with the 50% off. I also think this would make a great gift for anyone who loves body butters. This set is £20 and you get Coconut Body Butter 50ml, Shea Body Butter 50ml, Moringa Body Butter 50ml, Strawberry Body Butter 50ml and Satsuma Body Butter 50ml. Apart from the Strawberry and Satsuma scents which are quite strong, I think the products featured are quite suitable for anyone no matter what their preference of smell is.

 I hope this has helped a little if you have been struggling for ideas and I will be back with another gift ideas post hopefully within the next few days.

Love

       Lou xxx

Calling all Soap n Glory addicts

As promised, I have kept my eye out for any fantastic deals. I mentioned in my previous post that last year the Soap n Glory gift set that comes in at £60 did get reduced to half price for a couple of days. 

When looking through my emails this morning I noticed one from money saving expert which I get on a regular basis and would you believe it, Boots have decided to run the offer on this gift set again and it will be available as of tomorrow priced at £27 which is a huge saving.

I've been on the Boots website this morning and it currently says 'stock coming soon' so I'm assuming that the stocks being taken off the website until the offer launches as if last years anything to go by it will sell out pretty quick.

If you want to bag this gift set for yourself or as a Christmas present for a loved one then I suggest checking the Boots website first thing in the morning (maybe even later one tonight) or get to your nearest store as early as possible tomorrow. If I remember correctly the offer got extended for a few days last year but I would assume it's while the stocks last.

This is just a quick one as I am on my way to work but I'm hoping to be back tomorrow with some more Christmas offers/gift ideas for you all :)

Thanks for reading.

           Love 

              Lou xxx

Christmas Gift Ideas - Boots

Good evening everyone,

 With the festive season upon us, I fancied letting you all know about offers that are currently available for you to take advantage off  however, I've found quite a few gift ideas when I've been looking so I've decided to mix these gift ideas with the various offers available. As there is quite a lot rather than overloading you all I've decided to break it down into stores.

I popped into Boots today and although I didn't actually purchase anything as I'm planning on buying my Christmas presents next week, I did notice that they did have some good offers on particularly on fragrances. The offer available on quite a few fragrances seems to be up to 50% off however, I'm not sure if this offer will be able for a while or whether it is part of there 4 day offer event.

 The major offers I noticed on women's fragrance were Lady Gaga Fame 50ml which is on offer for £15.50 instead of £31 and Paco Rabanne Lady Million 50ml £31 instead of £48.50. I feel that the offer on the Lady Gaga perfume is pretty good as it would actually would out cheaper to buy two 50ml bottles than it would to buy one 100ml bottle.

 For men, I found that Paco Rabanna 1 Million 100ml was on offer for £35 instead of £54.50 and Hugo Boss 50ml is £26.66 instead of £39.99. Considering the R.R.P on these products I think its a particularly good deal.

 As I said I'm not sure how long this offer is available for so if you are interested in buying your loved ones a fragrance this Christmas then you might want to pop into boots or order from that website at some point over the weekend. If you are a Boots Advantage Card holder you will obviously also earn points on these purchases or if you're lucky enough to have enough points available to spend, you can use them as payment towards any of these items. I am aware that there will be good fragrance deals around at this time of year especially with websites available such as Cheap Smells so if I do find any of these fragrances or any others cheaper then I will let you know.

 The other good offer available at Boots at the minute is 3 for 2 on gifts. I'm sure you are all aware of this one as it's something Boots do every year and seems to be an on going offer all year round on Soap & Glory but I have picked out a few things that would make good presents for pretty much any woman. I've not picked out any men's gift as they all seem to be pretty much along the same lines but I am going to try and get together an overall men's gift idea guide together possibly with the help of my boyfriend.

 I'm quite a fan of Nivea products and my mum always seems to get me either a Nivea or Dove gift set every Christmas. When looking through the boots website I noticed these two and would quite like them as gifts myself so thought I'd share these products. The gift set on the left is Nivea Pampered Skin Ultimate Collection and does retail for £15 however I think that the price is worth it as you do get included Nivea Daily Essentials Gentle Facial Cleansing Wipes (20 pack), Rich Moisturising Day Cream SPF 15 (50ml), Nivea Aqua Effect Nourishing Honey Mask (2 packs of 75ml), Nivea Pearly Shine Lip, Nivea Irresistibly Smooth Body Lotion (75ml), Nivea Express Hydration Hand Lotion (100ml) and Nivea Soft Moisturising Cream (200ml). The set on the right is Nivea Silky Smooth Skin and is a lot cheaper at just £6 so if you are on a budget this one may be a bit more up your alley. For £6 this set includes Nivea Irresistibly Smooth Body Lotion (75ml), Nivea Smooth Nourishing Hand Cream (100ml) and Nivea Lip Butter in Vanilla & Macadamia. Personally I like both of these and think they're both quite a bargain.

 As the person you are purchasing the gift for may be more of a Dove fan than Nivea, I've found two gift ideas that would be the alternatives to the Nivea gift sets. First up we've got Dove Wonderful You Gift Set which is available for £15 and includes Silky Nourishment Cream (300ml), Purely Pampering Shea Butter Bar (100g), Silk Glow Nourishing Body Wash (250ml), Silk Care Cream Bath (500ml) and Pampering Nourishing Body Wash - Shea Butter with Warm Vanilla (250ml). This set also includes an eye mask and a shower puff. Up next we have Dove Radiance Duo Gift Set which is £6 and I think I may have had this one last Christmas but it may have been one similar. In this gift set you get a shower puff, Nourishing Body Wash Revive Pomegranate & Lemon Verbena (250ml) and Nourishing Body Wash Burst Nectarine & White Ginger (250ml).
With these gift sets I have given both a budget option and a slightly larger budget which won't break the balance however, below I'm going to show you two gift sets that are probably luxury purchases and a cheaper gift set from the same brands which although they aren't as cheap as £6 are a decent price.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find pictures of the next two gift sets however I will provide a link to where they can be found on the Boots website. Both of the gift sets are from No7 with the most expensive one being No7. The Ultimate Collection (http://www.boots.com/en/No7-The-Ultimate-Collection_1375459/) coming in at £65. Although this is an expensive product I do think it is worth it as there are 8 skin care products, a mascara and a lip gloss and all products seem to be full size as well (if not then they're still a good size). As I've provided this link for this I won't list the products enclosed as it can be found on that page. The bargain gift set I've found from No7 isn't the cheapest one they've got but it is only £15 and I thought was a lovely little gift for any female relative or friend. This gift set is No7 The Skincare Collection (http://www.boots.com/en/No7-The-Skincare-Collection_1375451/) and does contain 4 products, a muslin cloth and a headband.





Next up we've got everyone's favourite - Soap & Glory and I'm sure you can all guess that the luxury gift set from this company is The Yule Monty Gift Set which comes in a £60 however, if Boots do run the offer they did last year then this item may be on sale for a few days at half price. What I like about this gift set is that every year although revamped, it always comes in packaging that the products that could be kept in and can be used again with this years being a toiletry bag, In the gift set you will get Sugar Crush, The Righteous Butter, Heel Genius, Hand Food, Peaches & Clean, Thick & Fast mascara, The Scrub of your Life, Butter Yourself and Sexy Mother Pucker XL Plumping Gloss in Pink Out Loud. All of these products a full sizes as well.

 The more bargain product I've chosen from this brand is Relaxstation Gift Set coming in at £20. This isn't the cheapest gift set available from Soap & Glory however, I think it is a reasonable price for the products that you get. In this set you will get a full size Clean on Me and The Scrub of your Life along with minis of Hand Food, Heel Genius and The Righteous Butter. You'll also get a shower puff and hair turban thrown in there.

 All the gift sets I have shown you are available on the Boots website and I'm sure the majority of Boots stores will stock these items especially the larger ones and are all available on the 3 for 2 offer which I imagine will run up to Christmas. Half way through writing this post I did realise that all of the gift sets I've included are body and skin care gift sets but I have decided I'll do an overall makeup Christmas gifts in its own post within the next few weeks so I will include any makeup gift sets I find in that.

 I am sorry if this is just a rambling nonsense post but I hope it helps some of you if you are stuck on Christmas ideas for your loved ones.

 Thanks for reading guys.

 Love
       Lou xx

Lush Haul

Well good afternoon everyone.

I do realise it has been a while since I've posted anything but life's been quite hectic as of late but now I'm giving myself a kick up the backside starting with my recent Lush hauls.

I've always been a fan of Lush products and when I was at university as there was a Lush in the town I regularly purchased things from there but since I moved back home its been a rarity that I've bought anything as my nearest store means travelling into Manchester. The lack of Lush in my life needs to change.

We are currently in the process of having our bathroom taken out and a whole new one put in so I've decided that I'm going to always have a stock of Lush products in the new bathroom ready for me to have a nice relaxing bath (along with making the bathroom smell amazing!) With this in mind a couple of weeks ago I took a trip to the Trafford Centre and purchased the below items from the Christmas range.

(left - right: Bombardino bath ballistic - £2.50, Snow Fairy shower gel 100g - £3.50 and Candy Mountain bubble bar - £2.65)

I'm pretty sure you have all heard of Snow Fairy and Candy Mountain before as they seem to be a favourite amongst many bloggers out there but I just couldn't resist them as they're probably some of my favourites from Lush as well. Bombardino is new to the Christmas collection however, I have seen quite a buzz about this little guy in the blogger world. As some of you may not be familiar with these products, I will tell you what the little blurb on the labels says and my opinion of the smells.

Bombardino - This bath ballistic smells a little like a lemon meringue with added cocoa butter for your skin. Launch him into your bath and watch him fizz away.
 I'm not overly convinced this little guy smells like lemon meringue although it does smell sweet and does have a slight citrusy and probably a little bit like you could eat it (I realise I am rubbish at describing smells). Either way I really like the smell of this guy and will be purchasing another before the end of Christmas.

Snow Fairy - This product doesn't have a blurb on it however, the website says "Our winter temptress shower hair and body gel that’s bursting with fruit fragrance and has a sparkle of ice through it." Personally I wouldn't say this smells fruity, I think it smells a bit more like a sweet shop but it smells so yummy! Although I usually use this as a shower gel, it can also be used to wash your hair with which I have done in the past and it made my hair really soft.

Candy Mountain - This bubble bar shares its sugar sweet scent with Rock Star soap. Crumble under a hot running tap for mounds of pretty pink bubbles.  I can't quite figure out what this product smells like although it is very sweet and I do agree with the blurb that it smells like Rock Star. For those of you who are not familiar with Rock Star, the website describes this as being a sweet vanilla scent. It's definately sweet but I can't decide if I can smell vanilla. One of the things I like about this product is that you can use the whole thing in one go and create a mound of bubbles or due to the soft texture you can break a bit off and crumble it under the tap. If you do this you do get a few baths out of it.

Sticking to my idea I've had of either visiting the Lush store every few weeks or placing an ordering online, I went into Manchester over the weeekend and picked up another couple of products. This time I decided to go for a couple of items from their main range which is available all year round.

(left to right: The Comforter bubble bar  - £4.50 and Mmm Melting Marshmallow Moment bath melt - £3.95)

From what I've seen and heard, The Comforter is one of Lush's most popular bubble bars and although it is a little more on the pricey side it is definately worth it due to the size of it meaning you could probably get a few baths out of it. The blurb on the label doesn't actually describe the smell however, the website says "Berry yourself under a blanket of soft fruit foam" and I can get the hint of a typical berry scent but I also think this smells really sweet and a bit like those Swizzlers sweets you used to get as a kid, or maybe even Love Hearts. It smells so good!

Similarly to The Comforter, Mmm Melting Marshmallow Moment doesn't have a description of the scent on the blurb but the website says "If you love our sweet products like Snow Fairy Shower Gel and Godmother Soap, you’ll be pleased to know that this has the same fragrance." I completely agree with this statement as the smell does have that same sweet smell as Snow Fairy. I've not tried any of the bath  melts before but I've wanted to for a while and decided I'd give this a shot. It's also quite a decent size so you could probably cut a bit of and make it last. 

As you can probably tell, I seem to be drawn towards the products from Lush that smell really sweet and to be honest, I tend to go for this scent most in other products as well as fruity smells rather than floral ones. I can't wait to use these products and will probably be repurchasing some if not all of them.

That wraps up my Lush haul however, I would be interested in hearing what your favourite Lush products are or if there are any you would recommend me trying.

Thanks for reading guys.

Love
          Lou  xxx