An Update & Something I've Been Enjoying...

It's been over a month, and almost 2 weeks after my final (but only 2nd) exam. Devoting my time to blogging has decreased a lot recently, I no longer find myself participating in blogger chats or drafting posts. But summer is almost around the corner, and writing this now actually makes me realise how much I've missed blogging over the past month. There are so many things to talk about, so many things I want to share. However I sometimes question whether I have enough commitment for future blogging. I won't stop blogging any time soon, I know that for sure. But I do wonder why I find it hard to keep up with something I enjoy... Do you ever feel that way? Anyway, I'm not going to blame this on exams, because this years are done (except for some mocks). But instead be truly and say it how it is; I just haven't felt the need to blog, or want to. But that doesn't mean I won't in the future.

Besides my irregular intervals of content appearing on my blog, I wanted to come back with a positive post. A review on a skincare product that has become a part of my skin care routine daily, well, I say routine... I just seem to be using this and that's all. That may sound bad, but I think it shows my love for it.

Having never tried a micellar cleansing water, I was eager to... Especially where there are brilliant drugstore alternatives. The Garnier micellar cleansing water stands at only £5, and I got this on a deal for only £3.50! It really had become my daily routine, just this. Occasionally I will use a scrub/exfoliating face wash, when I feel my skin needs it. However once I used this, the convenience of it made me lazy and I've stopped using my other forms of skin care. Which I don't think is bad, because using so many chemicals on my skin slightly scares me (probably physiological... Even though I wear makeup every day). I am very impressed with this product, Garnier never seem to let me down with skincare. And the fact it takes off my makeup so quickly, leaving my face refreshed and clean, just encourages me to use it all the time an take advantage of how convenient and easy it is. The price really is worth what your purchasing, as you get 400ml of product (which claims to give 200 uses). Therefore, from a budgeting point of view, you can't really go wrong.  


So yes, I really did feel the need to talk about this product. As the amount I've been at using it really reflects my love for it, and I believe it will be a staple in my skincare routine for a while - which is strange for me, because I'm always changing the products I use to cleanse my face. Also, in the future I may be taking about some more skincare products I'm putting to the test; I'm trying to break this habit of just relaying on this one skincare product! 

I hope you found this post interesting, or it gave you a bit more information concerning this product.


Please tell me down below any skin care products you have been enjoying, or whether you've tried a micellar water before... I would love to know your thoughts! 

Ocean Salt

Skincare, an element of beauty that has grown upon me. Yes some days it becomes a chore, however a lot of the time I really enjoy washing, scrubbing and cleansing my face - it's just such a refreshing feeling to get rid of all the makeup and dirt hidden beneath your skin. When I received a lush box for christmas containing several products, I really was excited to try some of their skincare. I'm already fond of their bath bombs for sure, but for some reason had never chosen to try any of their skincare.  

Lush is a brand and a shop I really love. When you walk into the shop there's always that distinctive soapy scent lingering, and I can't forget to include their customer service as they're always so helpful! But after been given a few of their products for christmas and realising how much I love them, I think lush will be a shop I'll visit a lot more in the future. 

Today's post will feature one of the products from the gift set I got, which is Lush's Ocean Salt face and body scrub. I think there was a slight blue theme in the gift set, apart from a happy hippy shower gel (be expecting some more posts concerning some of these other lush products soon!). When it comes to scrubs they're not a skincare product I would use daily as I think it can become harsh on the skin. Therefore I would normally use the desired scrub every other day, however this scrub not even that. It's very harsh on the skin. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, as this product really does it's job. Meaning I normally use this weekly, if not every other week when I really feel my skin needs it. I have combination skin, and can experience dry patches whilst also having oily skin throughout the day. So when my skin really needs exfoliating I instantly reach for this product.

This scrub can be used on the face and body, but as I got a separate body scrub from the set I thought if designate this for exfoliating my face instead. With lashings of 'fine sea salt', organic limes to brighten and avocado butter to soften the skin - the scrub really does leave your skin feeling super soft. It says 'fine sea salt' but I'm not sure I would call it fine, as it's quite abrasive on the skin. The 100% recycled plastic tub holds 70g of product, which can then be sent back to the store with 4 other finished tubs or tubes - so you can then receive one fresh mask for free! All Lush products also support fighting animal testing, which is a great bonus.

Concentrating more on the product itself... I really have been enjoying using it and don't want to finish the tub. I'm not sure what price it retails at, but the only mishap when walking into the store is that I know Lush can be fairly pricey (well for me, and what my purse contains). But after using this several times, I don't think i'll be able to find another product like it. Yes I own quite a few scrubs which I really enjoy using, however non of which really preform as well as this one.  

In a nutshell. It smells, looks and feels divine - containing natural elements such as salt, which really help the skin recover and keep healthy. I just hope when I finish the product and pop into Lush for a repurchase, that it's not too pricey for my pocket.  

I hope you enjoyed this post and apologies for the lack on content on my blog recently. Sadly the light sensor in my camera has gone, and went a while ago - meaning the problem is only getting worse. So I'm currently finding it hard to picture any products without the outcome being a white blur, and this means I can't post as regularly; a bloggers worst nightmare. So with a hope to get that sorted, any help below about digital cameras (I own and use Nikon L310) and a bust light sensor would be appreciated. 

After not composing nor posting much, writing this made me realise how much I enjoy blogging as a whole - I've always tried to keep in mind it's a hobby and not a chore! Have a lovely week, and I really hope I can post again next Sunday. 




Have you tried Lush's skincare? 

Collective Haul | Sales

This weeks post is a post I've been waiting to do for a few weeks, Christmas has been and gone which left me with some Christmas money and many sales to search for. A few days after Christmas my friend Laura and I went on a trip shopping, Laura is also a lovely blogger and I recommend you follow her here! I knew I had some money to play with but didn't initially think to spend much of it. But walking into shops and seeing so many inviting deals and sales drew me in…Therefore the past 3 or 4 weeks have consisted of a lot of shopping and spending. The weekend after I wanted to pick one product up from boots, but the deal of ‘Buy one, get the second half price’ persuaded me to buy the ‘second’ – of course of which I wanted but didn't need! As well as these two trips, Kathryn and I (another blogger who you should follow, to see her blog click here), went shopping too. Once again a large amount of sales caught my eye, I’m sorry but a stand of Topshop half price makeup couldn't be walked away from.

Therefore after weeks of searching and purchasing (I forgot to mention yesterday was another day spent in shops…) I felt the need to do a collective haul and share what sales I had found as well as some good buys  -  also I will be featuring  my ‘Top 3 Buys’ out of everything I have bought in this haul too!

Why not start off with a high note and talk about my top 3 products?

Top 3 Buys...

1    1. This top buy is number 1 of my 3 for a reason and I think it will be an essential in my collection from now on, unless I find something better – but this is Miss Sporty’s Studio Lash incrediBALL mascara. Now when it comes to mascaras I often avoid purchasing a new one and let myself use up my current mascara until it’s basically dry! Now I find it’s because finding a new mascara just isn't an easy task, it’s so hard to get wrong and some can be £10.00 therefore you have to be careful! I once bought a miss sporty mascara and really loved it with a price of only a few pounds. For some reason I haven’t though of repurchasing any of their mascaras since. I now ask myself, why not?! This mascara only came to the price of £2.99 and is now a massive essential as I don’t touch any other mascara and can’t stop using this one. I’m not sure if I will review this or not but in a nutshell I love it and highly recommend you at least try it out!

2    2. My second out of my top three would be something I always wanted to try and it’s the ‘holy grail’ Maybelline Colour Tattoo, which I bought in the well known colour ‘On and On Bronze’. I've always put off buying this for some reason and who know why, the only reason I bought it was because Maybelline were promoting a ‘buy on get second half price’ therefore from being an appropriate £4.99  went down to a bargain of £2.99. All I can say is I use this most days, whether using it alone or underneath as a base it works a treat! I’m definitely considering buying more shades soon.

      3. The final out of my top 3 would be Topshop’s crème blush in ‘Prime Time’, the colour of the blush is a prime (how ironic) example of a ‘hot pink’ definitely not something I would go for on the cheeks. However a stand of HALF PRICE (yes 50% off!) Topshop makeup was definitely a yes for and I can’t normally justify spending that much on a product not purely branded as makeup (as Topshop is initially clothing). But there crème blushes normally stand at a decent £6 but half price to £3, so I couldn't resist and this was no regret of a purchase.

#

Now onto the rest…I’d be here for days if described every product in detail therefore the rest will be a short summary.

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder, £3.99 | sadly this product wasn't in the sale, but still at a reasonable price I wasn't going to give it a miss. I’ve repurchased this several times considering I use the product until it breaks (my last one was practically unusable) therefore no hesitation when buying this.

Mac Lustre Lipstick in ‘Plink!’ £15.00 | this was my first Mac purchase and probably not my last; I have quite a large Mac wish list but the price just daunt me. So when it comes to purchasing a high end product (I would class Mac as high end, other wouldn't), I do always research before to make sure I know what I want especially for lipsticks/eye shadow shades – I was pretty happy with this colour, it’s an every day (not that Ii will be wearing it every day) and subtle but pretty lipstick with a shimmery finish.

 

TopShop Lipstick in Saint, £4.00 (half price from £8.00) | As well as the crème blush I couldn't not buy some other half price Topshop makeup. Saint is a pinky-nude and has a creamy finish but I do have to finish this off with a pink gloss as it washes me out slightly.

Natural Collection Lipstick in Raspberry, £1.50 (3 for £5 deal, therefore around £1.50 from £1.99) | Kathryn was buying some natural collection products therefore we did a joint deal which work out well as it gave me a 25% off discount. Raspberry is a lovely rich, almost matte pink which I think will look lovely for spring.

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in shade shade 15, £5.99 | this I also bought with a Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me (sorry, I forgot to include this in the photo). This was still the same deal that Maybelline had of ‘buy one get second half price’ – therefore giving the baby lips a discount of £1.25 from £2.50. I have also bought the concealer once before and loved its creamy texture, it’s my current ‘go to’ concealer.

Topshop Lip Marker In Berry, £3 (half price from £6) | Autumn has past and winter is coming to an end soon, but why not still wear a deep berry lip? I did find this lip marker/stain was drying on the lips and was hard to apply however I’m in love with the colour.

17 Lipstick in Berry Crush, £1 (sale, but I’m unsure of the original price) | this lip stain Ii prefer to Topshop’s as it comes with a non-tinted balm on the other side to give the lips more moisture, whilst blending in the stain. Berry lips are gorgeous and I love the fact that lip stains like these can be dark/deep coloured but with a smaller amount of pigment, therefore not too harsh.

Natural Collection Mascara in Lash care (see through), £1.99 | I normally use this for my brows to keep them in place and find it’s a simple cheap product that does the job, therefore another needed (well…) repurchase.

Topshop Nail Polish in Daredevil, £3 (half price from £6) | I really want to build a collection of their polishes as the colour range is insane and not to mention I just love Topshop’s packaging. As soon as I saw the rows of half price polishes I automatically knew I needed to buy one. I chose Daredevil as it’s a deep purple with gold specs, it’s a lovely colour and appropriate as I've been searching for a nice winter deep purple.

17 nail polish in silver (an iridescent polish, silver and purple), £0.50 (sale, but unsure of original price) | A nail polish for 50p, why not? It may not be something I usually go for but it could look nice on the nails let hope, but for 50p you can’t really go wrong.

17 lasting fix lipstick in the shade showbiz, £1.00 (from £4.49) | I have been wanting to try out a statement red lipstick for a while and when I saw this for only £1 I couldn't say now. In the bullet it appeared a matte red but once the fresh coating slides of it’s actually a slightly shimmey red with a pink hue. I can’t wait to try this out for an event or evening out!

Hollister Body Lotion in Silver Strand Beach, £2.99 (from £12, 75% off) | I’m very keen on Hollister’s signature scent and when me and Laura spotted they were selling a few lotions and moisturisers with a 75% discount we couldn't not. I normally tell myself £12 is too much when buying Hollister’s body care therefore this deal was perfect.

Hollister’s Hand and Body cream in Solane Beach, again £2.99 (from £12, 75% off) | I had to also pick up the hand and body cream, they all smell too good

Lush Space Girl (£2.25) and twilight (£3,25) bath bombs | Lush rarely have sales on but having some change left over in my purse and a trip to lush didn't leave me empty handed – I can’t wait to have a lush bath as I haven’t had one in ages.

Maybelline Baby Skin primer, £7.99 | a price of £7.99 whilst only receiving a small 22ml product, I thought I would try this out as it’s new in the ‘baby’ range that Maybelline sell. But currently I have mixed feelings on this… there may be a post including this soon.

Thank you for reading this massive haul, I think I will be putting myself on a spending ban from now on. But I hope you enjoyed it and have a lovely week!

~ Happiness is not a destination, it’s a way of life ~

What have you been purchasing recently? 

Sugar Lip Scrub | DIY

This is a DIY I've been meaning to get round to - this tiny jam jar some what inspired me, and having sitting in my room I thought I ought to do something with it. Whether it was just to use it for storing something e.g. food or to actually make something to go inside. I've been wanting to make a lip scrub for a while, as I have made one before (which wasn't the best) and I've actually purchased one from LUSH in the past. But after finally getting round to doing a little DIY, it made me think how easy lip scrubs are to make - never shall I purchase one again! 

This weeks post will therefore be a quick and simple sugar lip scrub DIY!

What You Will Need...

Some of these are definitely optional; the flavouring, colouring and ribbon - just adjust it to your needs!

The first step (this is pretty simple and very quick!), is to measure out around 3 or 3 1/2 teaspoons of sugar (I used white) into a small mixing bowl. I didn't necessarily measure exactly, I just went with what seemed right and it turned out pretty good, so just add as much or as little as you want. I then added some 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' apparently this works best? I think I added around 1 teaspoon, basically until the consistency was to my needs, considering I was adding some more wet ingredients later. I then went and added the almond extract and was very careful as it is strong, but this gave it such a lovely scent as well as flavour. This next step is actually also optional but I added some Vaseline and lip balm, this gives the scrub moisture so it isn't too drying on the lips. To finish off and give it some colour I added a very small amount of food colouring, optional again but I thought it looked quite nice.

That's it! A really simple DIY that literally takes minute, I then placed it in the cute little jam jar and wrapped some ribbon round it too!

As an alternative or extra ingredient you can actually add honey, this is what I used when I last made some lip scrub but as I’m not fond of honey I didn't use it this time. For all the honey lovers out there, this would be a nice ingredient as honey is anti-bacterial as well as a healing ingredient. I have also heard you can add chilli oil can be used as it stimulated blood flow to the area and therefore can give you fuller, plumper lips. However I didn't use either of these as I didn't want to but maybe you do? 

Hopefully you enjoyed reading this weeks post and maybe you'll give it a try? Thank you for reading and have a lovely week!

As a side note I was thinking of adding a quote at the end of my weekly posts. It may be; inspirational, motivational or just a nice quote that you can read to start you off for the week ahead (as my weekly posts normally commence on Sundays!). These quotes won't be to do with the post just a meaningful quote that means something to me and maybe even you.

Are you doing any 'DIY's' at the moment, if so what are they? 

~ We must travel in the direction of our fear ~ 

Skin, Hair & Nail Care Haul | Boots

I recently went shopping (well yesterday) looking for some sales, as most of you will know there are quite a few at the moment. There were a few things I also wanted to try out as well, therefore I ended up buying quite a few skin care products, and some hair and nail care too!

My favourite part to the element of shopping is actually going through all my purchases when I get home and re-viewing what I can't wait to try. I realised that I had actually bought a fair amount and for all under £10 (well £9.91 to be exact), which is pretty good if I'm honest. Therefore I thought I would share this with everyone - I did come across a few sales and offers but nothing too special, sorry I'm not the best at sale hunting!

3 for £3 - Boots Essential Skin Care Range

I have heard about this deal, I didn't know if it was permanent so I grabbed it whilst I could! 

3 Minute Clay Mask

 Moisturising Cream 

 Eye Gel

I'm very indecisive and therefore picking 3 products out of the range took me a while. But I eventually opted for: 3 Minute Clay Mask, Moisturising Cream and an Eye Gel. The clay mask was one of the first things I picked up as I have never had a face mask actually in a tube and have only ever bought the single 'tester' packaged ones, which never seem to agree with my skin either. Therefore this product looked good, as well as smelling really good! All the products in this range are enriched with the fresh scent of cucumber and are very refreshing - which I love.

The second was the moisturising cream, I was 'uhming and arhing' about this but ended up buying it as I needed a plain old moisturiser for morning and night - I'll keep stealing my mothers otherwise. This was scented with cucumber more significantly in comparison to the rest and has a light consistency absorbing into the skin fast. 

The last product I picked up may seem strange but totally makes sense, this eye gel 'enriched with soothing cucumber and vitamins' and reduces puffiness - I love using this in the morning before applying my makeup as it's refreshing and, like it says, reduces puffiness - which I find very useful. 

I was pretty happy with this deal as 3 for £3 obviously means that comes to only £1 per product, which is very good in my opinion. 

Extra Skincare From Boots

On the same shopping trip (yesterday) I bought some Nivea Creme, a product I have been willing to try. This is a stronger moisturiser which can be used on the: face, lips and body... I think. I will be using this when I have dry patches on my face or experience flaky skin as this is a much thicker and I believe stronger moisturiser than the Boots essential one I also bought. This may sound strange but I actually have very dry elbows and shall be using this for them because I think it will work a treat! 

Just before buying all my products I was queuing and came across an anti bacterial hand gel, which coincidentally I was in need for. It was a fairly big bottle and I had used this make before and liked it, the scent is cucumber (I think I'm enjoying the scent of cucumber at the moment, haha) and garden mint. The scent is very refreshing and I much prefer this to the mango and passion flower scent this brand does. This was the only product on sale actually but I think it was reduced from £1.55 to £1.05. Not sure if any of you would be interested, but I cant go anywhere without hand gel, haha. 

As well as yesterday the other day my mum picked up some skin care from the drugstore for me, both products of which I really like and was in need for - I don't think I will need any more skincare for a while!

I didn't actually read the bottle before applying this late at night, I just grabbed something to take my makeup off with. I thought it was just a normal cleansing lotion but actually is a 'spot stress control' cleansing lotion, therefore isn't meant to remove makeup, in my case eye makeup. Therefore I stupidly applied to this to the eyes to try ad get rid of my eye makeup, but then it began to sting...oops. I read the bottle and just applied it to the rest of the face, but it still made my skin sting. However I think it's the formula working as it helps to clear spots, but I shall not be putting this near my eyes again, haha!

Here we go! Eye make-up remover, haha. My mum also picked this up for me and I actually used this afterwards to get rid of the excess eye make-up I still had on. It is a very oily product but this doesn't bother me as it's a makeup remover and afterwards I'm going to sleep... but this may bother some people if their skin is already oily? Anyway, I really like this product, it says 'soothing' and I agree it does sooth the skin with the oil based ingredients in this product - perfect! 

Hair Care

This was a product I had on my list whilst shopping yesterday and was actually recommended this by Catherine (candyxcosmetics.blogspot.co.uk) via twitter and I'm glad she did as I love it! I'm very impressed as this leave-in conditioner that boots supply comes to a price of only £1.39 and works lovely with my hair. It detangles and smooths the hair leaving a scent of coconut and almond! 

Nail Care

Recently I have been growing my nails (I'm a nail bitter...but hopefully no more!) and so far so good really, I just find it hard to stay out of the habit and easy to get back into it (a new years resolution I think). However I was close to purchasing OPI's Nail Envy but this is at a price of £18.80 and for one nail polish for me that's a lot. But I found it on amazon for only £8.80, which is great! I was close to buying this and thought it couldn't be duped because of how great it is, but just to check I researched and found that there actually is a dupe! which is this - Rimmel's NAIL NURSE nail rescue a 14 day nail treatment, very similar to OPI's Nail Envy. Therefore I was very impressed and thought to buy this at £4.49 instead, the price would only be four pound more if I were to get the Nail Envy but still every little counts! 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and it helped you in some way, or you just enjoyed reading it! What skin, hair or nail care have you purchased or been loving recently?

Have a lovely New Year!