LUSH! My first Lush experience and HAUL

So being the total mad head that I am, I decided to make the Christmas Eve eve the first time ever to visit Lush. The main reason for this is because I'm lucky enough to be off work for a week or so over Christmas so thought it would be the perfect time to try some nice bath products. 

I have never shopped in Lush before as I have very sensitive skin and always assumed I would be allergic, but after watching some Youtube videos I realised that they do cater for sensitive skin and the main rule is to avoid anything glitter. 

So I walked into the super packed,overwhelming store and people were going crazy. I literally couldn't get to the displays. Luckily I was only standing there for about a minute when a Lush employee saw my lost puppy expression and asked me if I needed help, which was really nice. I quickly told her I have really sensitive skin and there were some products I had heard of that I wanted to try and listed them off for her. She then took my basket and shopped for me! She squeezed through to displays and picked up the bits I asked for, passed them to me, told me about the product scents and skin benefits and let me choose whether or not I wanted to purchase. I asked her loads of questions and she could not have been more helpful..very impressive first experience especially considering how busy the store was. I ended up betting everything I wanted to try plus a few extra bits. 

In no particular order;

Coal face - which I don't have a picture of as I bought it for my partner and he hasn't tried it yet. Clearly he was not as excited as I am by Lush! 

Buffy bar - I'm a sucker for the name as I am a huge fan of Buffy the vampire slayer so obviously I had to try this! I also bought a tin it keep it nice

Safe to say, I LOVE this stuff!!!!!! It's super scrubby for expholiating ( which I love for my legs in winter) smells amazing ( I can't really describe scents ) and it is magical as although it scrubs, it also has a buttery texture so leaves your skin super soft. I'm finding it hard to limit myself to using this once or twice a week. 

Snow fairy shower gel - 

I love sweet scents so knew I wanted to try this. Now the description says cotton candy, but to me it smells like my favourite sweets, which are these little babies 

I do really like the scent of this, but I am used to shower gels by Philosophy, which lather up way much more in my opinion..

Angels on bare skin - 

Now the helpful staff member recommended this to me because I asked her for a gentle expholiator for sensitive skin. I was really hesitant to purchase this as it is marketed as a cleanser, and I love my Liz Earle so much, but she insisted this was the best for regular gentle expholiating. At first I hated this product, all gritty and weird the texture is like stuffing mixture and the smell is very different to anything else. I looked up videos on how to use this properly and realised that I wasn't mixing this enough into a paste before using and now I'm enjoying it much more. However this is not good enough to remove the hundreds of coatings of mascara that I use, and I feel like the grits get stuck in between my lashes, so I only use it in the mornings now. I am not sure if I will repurchase this.

American cream conditioner - 

I got a small bottle of this to try as I love the scent of strawberries and cream but have heard that it doesn't actually do much for the hair. Unfortunately I found this to be true and much prefer my secret pound shop conditioner! It does smell nice, but not as nice as the Milk_shake brand whipped cream products which are my absolute favourite thing to put in my hair, so I won't be repurchasing this.

King of skin- 

To say I love this stuff is an understatement. As previously mentioned I have sensitive, dry eczema prone skin so anything that adds moisture is right up my alley. This stuff smells like white chocolate and I am so addicted to it it's already half gone. It does moisturise the skin and as mine is so dry, I tend to put it on wet skin and not wash it off completely, but my skin is still itchy after? Not sure if this is a bad reaction to the product or just because my skin is so dry this time of year? It's mostly my arms that are the problem and I LOVE this stuff to really hope it's not a reaction. Going to have to do some experimenting to find out. 

Butter bear - 

I love this!! I tried using half of it but gave in and chucked the whole thing in the bath. It makes the water all oily and soft without a super strong scent and did wonders for my skin. It did leave a residue on my skin but this is the Shea butter in the product and I love it as I didn't have to moisturise after. I bought two of these but gave one of them to my boyfriends sister so I hope she loves this as much as me! I went back a few days after Xmas for the Boxing Day sale and picked up a few more of these, as well as the Christmas hedgehog and melting snowman.  I also braved the Boxing Day online sale and after about 3 hours of technical difficulties was able to order 2 half price boxes of the candy shop which contain a butter bear in each so I will have four more in total when that arrives so I'm very happy about this

Overall I have to say my experience at Lush was really enjoyable and they have definitely earnt a new Lushie! Super helpful, friendly, informative but not pushy staff teamed with cruelty free, yummy and effective products, what's not to love? 

Let me know if you hauled at Lush this year and what your overall shopping experience is like there? I will probably do a mini haul when my online Boxing Day order arrives and let you know what I think of those products too!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a fantastic evening tonight whatever you may be doing! 

 

Youbeautydiscovery day 12and onwards

This is gonna be short and sweet (mostly because I just wrote this whole post then pressed cancel instead of save and I'm pretty annoyed about it) 

Day 12 ; 

Always happy to recieve this product. I love it and have never actually had to buy one thanks to beauty boxes, which is lucky as the full size isn't cheap! It does amazing things to the skin though 

Day 13;

As I previously stated, nail products don't excite me. However my nails are pretty weak so it might come in handy. 

Day 14;

Little bottle, reasonably cheap brand. No wow here but who doesn't want more volume in their hair? It's worth a try

Day 15;

Fragranced water avalaible from marks and spencer. Meh. Passed on. 

Day 16;

That's more like it!! I didn't actually own a eye lash curler after chucking mine away last year so was nice to recieve a new one. It's an Eyeko Alexa Chung and the handles are a dark blue velvet, so it's pretty as well as effective. 

Day 17;

I looked online and this isn't actually full sized, however to me it's the same size as a regular gloss so I'm happy. The full size is quite pricy once again and comes in a pot which I find less hygienic anyway. I've been using it in the morning before I apply any lipstick as a sort of primer and as it's got a silicone feel it works well for that. 

Day 18;

I have to use medicated shampoo so passed this shampoo along right away. The other bottle is a lemon scented detangling leave in conditioner. It's pleasent enough to use but I won't repurchase. 

Day 19;

Another product I love without ever actually having to purchase thanks to magazine free gifts and beauty box samples. It's a cult favourite, what else can I say? 

Day 20;

The teeny size of this product told me it was high end and I was right. Only tried once so can't comment on whether it's worth it's hefty price tag. I'm sort of hoping it isn't! 

Day 21;

This is a full size body scrub which smells like a just peeled orange. Delicious. Looking forward to trying this

Day 22;

Another facial tanner. Passing along. 

Didn't even bother taking a photo of this one, sorry! 

And I will get back to you with the last few shortly! 

Heatless hairstyle number 1!

So I love my overnight heatless hairstyles A) because they stop damage caused by frequent heat tools and B) because I'm a lazy girl, it gets to about 9pm, my hair is damp and I cannot be bothered to dry and style it! 

Over the years I've come up with a few different methods, usually braids of different sizes and numbers, but this is the latest one I've been loving. Id read in magazines that if you put your hair in a bun overnight, you could wake up with beautiful waves. Well not me! My hair is too long and too thick, and is just soaking wet when I let it down after 7 hours sleep with a cold head. So here's my little adapted version

Step 1: start off with freshly washed hair. Apply oil and your favourite leave in conditioner ( personally I adore Milk_shakes whipped cream, it is the most delicious smelling thing in the whole world and I wish you all could smell it!) let this sink in before brushing to ensure that tangles are easily sorted without breaking the hair. 

Step 2; allow hair to dry to 80%-90% dry. I prefer to air dry as much as possible, hence the heatless hair style but if you are really short of time then grab a blow dryer and rough dry. 

Step 3 : Seperate hair into two sections very roughly(three if your hair is MEGA thick!). If you do it too neat, when it's dry you can be left with the parting set all the way down the back of your head and in my opinion this is hideous. 

Step four: TIGHTLY twist one side section of the hair, all together, away from the face and with it pulled up on your head. This allows you to sleep comfortably in the night and away from the face is just far more flattering. 

Step five; simply repeat. You should be twisting so tightly that the hair WANTS to go into a bun naturally. I also use POPband London hair ties as they don't snag or pull the hair as there's nothing worse when you're trying to sleep. Now you look a bit like Minnie Mouse (please

excuse all the makeup less selfies, I'm going to sleep after remember?)

Step six: sleep. Ahh. My favourite step. 

Step seven; wake up. Remove your hair band carefully trying not to disturb the hair too much. Unraveled it should look like this 

Repeat for both sides. 

Step 8; run your fingers through the hair gently to seperate. DO NOT BRUSH. Hairspray and voila! I tend to pin back the front as I'm growing out my fringe, so here's some selfie examples of how I wear it : 

This hair style can also last for second day hair, brush lightly, it should go big at first but then set back into how it dried 

Second day: 

So there you have it! My first hair blog! Let me know if you try this out, and how it works for you xxxx

Urban Decay - Naked on the run pallet!

Good evening beauties! 

Here is my long time promised review of the new Urban Decay "Naked on the run"pallete! 

 

First, let's talk about the packaging. There's no denying that this palette is beautiful, my crappy iPhone pictures do it no justice what's so ever. It's like a smooth marble effect, and the writing stands out over it. I have no idea how it was done, it's just beautiful. Here's another picture to show the size

The colour shades are printed on the back which I like, and it also has a nice sized mirror so you really could use it "on the run"

The pallete contains six never before released eyeshadows, which are highly pigmented as Urban Decays always are. The last eyeshadow "50/50" is in a larger size and can also be used as a highlight.  They are beautiful shades, and are called ( in order) " Dive" "Fix" "Resist" "Dare" "Stun" and "50/50. As well as the eyeshadows, the palette contains a bronzer and blush (named simply bronzer and blush) a lipgloss in "Naked Dolly" a 24/7 glide on pencil in brown and a sample size "Perversion" mascara in black. Here's a photo overview 

Here's some swatches of the eyeshadows

Super up close, excuse the arm hairs!! They are all really pretty shades, however as you can see, the last three are quite similar which means you could end up with "muddy" rather than "smokey" if you aren't careful when blending..

The lipgloss is close to my heart due to its name, it's a very pretty peach shade and not at all sticky. I just don't really "do" gloss, and me wish it was a mini lipstick or something instead. The pencil is very smooth and a really good size, I have fallen in love with it for the lash line 

The bronzer and blush are WAY pigmented. Like WAY. When I first put them on I made a rookie mistake and just put them on my face before swatching and I looked like a clown! I'm honestly not sure if I'm ever going to be able to pull off the bronzer with my super pale skintone. Here's some swatches

Complete swatches 

"50/50" there barely showing up on my pale arm! 

Now to the downsizes. 

Firstly, my main issue with this palette is that half of it is a mirror, and the other half is separated into product, and then slot spaces for the removable products (lipgloss,mascara, eyeliner) What this then means, is that once you have finished up these items, you are left with a huge empty gap. I understand the whole point of on the run is to all be together, but I feel like Urban Decay could have thought this one through a whole lot better as personally I am not looking forward to having half a palette.

 Secondly, the eyeshadow shades are quite similar to each other, it would have been nice to chuck in a slightly darker shade to avoid them being "samey" which can then lead to the dreaded "muddy" eye. 

The palette should be a fabulous starter pack for beginners, however the shockingly bright blush and dark bronzer might be dangerous to give to someone who is just getting into makeup, unless they have a deeper skintone and can pull those shades off if they are a bit heavy handed.

In conclusion, my overall thoughts are.. I have no idea.. I think if I saw this in person before I purchased it, I would not have bought it, but now I have it, the packaging so beautiful that I'm finding it hard to give it away (stupid I know). In my opinion it wasn't a bad price at £37 (Urban Decay UK website) for what you get, but for me, I just love my Too Faced Chocolate bar palette too much! Sorry Urban Decay! 

Have any of you guys been lucky enough to get your paws on this? Please let me know your thoughts on it 

Xxxx

 

You beauty discovery advent calendar days 9,10&11

Hi guys!  

Doing this a few at a time now, it's just easier and makes a slightly longer, hopefully helpful blog post

So day 9 brought me this 

Teez mascara! I ADORE the packing of this brand and the only other thing I've tried from them is a makeup brush that I love. I'm slightly OCD with my lashes so will test this out on a day where I'm not doing anything in case I hate it 

 

Day 10 brought me a handy little pot of Burt's Bees Almond milk hand cream 

As you can see it's a generous sample and not much smaller than the full size 57g one that retails in boots for £9.99. It's smell isn't one I would choose as it's got a slight marzipan scent and I hate marzipan! But it has a beautiful creamy texture and my hands always hurt in the winter so I'm looking forward to having this in my bag for emergencies. 

Day 11 brought me something I was impressed with, but that I personally would NEVER use as I'm pale as the snow. For that reason it is being donated swiftly to my boyfriends sister, who will definitely enjoy it more than me!  The product is a facial tanner and it also comes with a face friendly size mitt, which I really liked. 

As I don't tan, I have no idea how this performs. I can tell you that the product retails at full price on the website for £17.50! 

I'll be back soon with the next few days offerings soon. I can honestly say I LOVE this calender and it has really made my mornings having it to look forward too. It's also definitely worth the money with all generous sample sizes so far. I would definitely recommend, it's like getting a little present every morning for month! 

Any of my followers have a beauty calender? If so who is it by? Are you enjoying it as much as me? 

You beauty discovery advent days 5,6,7&8

Sorry I've been absent!! Super hectic few days

 So anyhoo, on the 5th day of Christmas Santa gave to me 

It's a nice sized product but another lotion?! I also used it as my hand and arm cream before bed and it smelt a bit too strong for me. Still I know others would be pleased to recieve this in their calender. 

Day 6 gave me this lite beauty 

Apologies for the super bad quality photo here! I was SO excited to recieve this!! It's a small sample but I believe the full size product is around £85 so I won't complain (I'm almost hoping that I don't love it for that price!) I'm always happy to recieve any form of facemask but one that's rumoured to be used by Victoria's Secret models?! Even better! 

The 7th day wasn't a surprise as the product was heavy and pushed the little advent widow open! But it's a small (but not ridiculously miniature!) candle from armotherapy associates 

It smells good and they also provided me with a £10 off my next purchase voucher which I thought was rather generous 

Finally today, day 8 I recieved a deluxe sample of the Philips Kingsley elasticizer 

I know this is for many a holy grail hair product, but I tried it before and it turned my hair into a knotted mess! So going to donate this to a friend or family member, as just because something doesn't work for me doesn't mean it won't work for them.  

  

That's all for now! Hope you are app enjoying the Christmas period. I have also learn today that Too Faced are launching a new chocolate bar pallet, called Chocolate bar Semi Sweet. I am BEYOND excited for this so once I have my paws on it will be with you for a review! 

Bye lovlies xxx