What I Got For Christmas

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope this year brings everyone much joy and happiness, although 2016 wasn’t necessarily a bad one for me, some of my nearest and dearest didn’t have such a great year – so I’m glad to be moving into the new year and look forward to seeing what it brings for one and all!

I love reading though everyone’s “What I Got for Christmas” posts, mostly because I like to have a nosey but also because I like to see what people make of the products they were gifted – I like to get others opinions when reading these posts too.  So I thought it would be fun to do my own Christmas post and share some of the beautiful things I was gifted this year.  I was so totally spoilt once again, and I’m feeling super loved from everyone around me.

Nugg Masks

Martin picked me up the cutest little Nugg face mask gift set which I’m delighted with.  I got one of these in a beauty box a while back and I loved the way it made my skin look and feel, and so having a few to try out now means that I can give them all a go and decide what ones work best for my skin.  The exfoliating and revitalizing ones have been a hit with me so far, so I reckon the other two will be no different either!

Sweet Cecily’s

Both Martin and his parents were sweet enough to pick me up some bits from Sweet Cecily’s – a cute little store who lovingly create hand crafted skincare goodies.  Martin gifted me the cocktails lip balm set which both smell and taste delicious!  Mines contained the Gin & Tonic, Mojito, Pina Colada and Espresso Martini balms, but if you check out their site they have a whole bunch of other flavours to choose from too!  His parents gifted me the almond and avocado face cream – which I’ve been using every single day and have to say that it is wonderful!  My skin feels hydrated and nourished every time I apply it, it smells good enough to eat and I only need to use a small amount (I place my fingertips on the surface of the cream and use what’s there!)  It’s a super thick and creamy consistency, however it isn’t greasy nor sticky in the slightest. They’re both really nice products, and I’d recommend that you try them out yourself!

Zoella Goodies

My sisters and parents totally showered me in Zoella goodies this Christmas after I wouldn’t stop raving about how much I adored her Bake My Day lotion and fragrance.  Between everyone I was gifted a solid perfume, gingerbread bath fizzers, the mini fragrance set and a Gingerbread Village candle.  They all smell absolutely beautiful, and I can’t wait to give everything a go and work my way through it all.  My favourite scent is still the Gingerbread/Bake My Day, however Sweet Inspirations very closely follows now!

Friendship Collar

I was beyond excited to have opened up a Friendship Collar from my lovely sister Kayleigh for me and my pugger Hulk on Christmas morning.  I spied them online a while ago, but didn’t actually think that I would be lucky enough to receive one so soon!  It makes my heart full that me and Hulk are matching every day now, and I think they are super cute too!

Tea Pigs

 A colleague at work was filling me in on the Tea Pigs pick and mix boxes that they had online, so naturally I went and had a look!  You can choose 15 tea variations online, and they’ll send you out the cutest little tea boxes that contain two of each flavour.  Martin selected a bunch of tasty ones to gift me including the chocolate tea and sweet mint – both super yum!  I’m intrigued by the sounds of the chilli chai and popcorn flavour, and I’m looking forward to tucking into them soon!

The Library of Fragrance

Another item that I was so super pleased to have received on Christmas morning was the Cinnamon Bun fragrance from The Library of Fragrance.  It SERIOUSLY smells good enough to eat!  From the sweet smell of cake, icing and cinnamon they have completely managed to master the exact scent of an actual yummy cinnamon bun!  I’ve been wearing this at night as a bed time fragrance, however I will absolutely rock this fragrance on my everyday outings too.

This year I’ve been gifted a lovely selection of goodies form my wonderful friends and family, and I only hope that they enjoyed their gifts from me as much as I have enjoyed theirs!

Have you tried out any of the above items yet?  What was under your tree this Christmas?

Until the next one,

August Lust List

So July was a pretty busy and rather expensive month.  Hulk needed a vet check that ended up costing a small fortune, it was brought to my attention that I was driving around with an illegal tyre – goodbye fitty dollars – and then I had three birthdays to fund.  That being said, I decided that my vegan subscription box could wait till this month (I can’t wait for it to come now though!) and decided to skip the Nakd delivery too.  It’s hard to believe that we are now in August – where had this year gone?” – and now that most of the birthdays are done for the year (there is still two to go for me) it’s time to start thinking about Christmas as I’ve lots of people to get for.  This month I have a few bits that I’ve had my eyes on for a while now, which I’ll hopefully be able to pick up throughout the month.

Beauty Box

I’ve been fancying treating myself to a beauty box for quite some time now, however over these last few months I’ve noticed lot a beauty bloggers posting about how they’ve not been overly impressed by some of the more popular boxes.  After doing my own research, I discovered You Beauty and Love Me Beauty – both reasonably priced boxed with a difference – if you’re quick enough, you get to choose what items you receive in your boxes.  Since going cruelty free though, it’s been a tough one trying to find a month when the boxes contain a good selection of suitable brands.  August looks like it could be the one though for both – so now I’ve just the decision to decide on what one I want.  Watch this space…

Multipurpose Balm

You’ve heard me whine and whine again about my dry lips and sore skin around my mouth – so this month I’m determined to find something that is going to solve the problem once and for all!  It popped up on my Facebook ads that Dr Pawpaw were on special offer in Superdrug, so naturally this is one I’m considering as I’ve heard great things about this cruelty free balm.  It’s also been suggested to me several times that I give the Lush Ultrbalm a go, as again they say it works wonders on dry skin, sore lips and simply just tired skin.  This is another strong contender as let’s face it, I do enjoy a Lush trip.  The final one I’ve seen throughout this last month was actually one featured in the Love Me Beauty Box, is the Dr Lipp balm.  Although I’ve not heard so much about this particular one, the website suggests that it does exactly what I’m looking for.  Stay tuned, as I’m going to make sure that this is the month that my lips stop hurting once and for all!

Bakedin

After one of my favourite bloggers posted online several weeks back that they had received a lovely selection of mug cakes from a company called Bakedin, I was very much interested to see what it was all about.  I thought it would make a lovely and quirky present for a couple of people, but didn’t have much hope in finding anything that would be gluten and dairy free.  I was pleasantly surprised though when I came across a gluten free brownie cake mix and mug cakes!  After an email questioning if the recipes could be adapted to dairy free alternatives – they got back to me very promptly confirming that it should work with no real problems.  I think I’m going to try out the mug cakes first, so fingers crossed everything turns out fabulously!

What are you treating yourself too this month?

Until the next one,

The Body Shop Treats

Another one from my June Lust List, on my last trip into town I also came away with a few lovely bits from The Body Shop, as part of my monthly treats to myself!  I know that The Body Shop are not registered on Peta’s cruelty free website as they are owned by a company who are not cruelty free.  This said though, as they alone do not conduct any form of animal testing, and are currently raising money to help to restore the rain forests -  I thought that they would be a good place to start looking for my toiletries!  I’ve been using everything that I bought for a number of weeks now, and have to say that I absolutely love everything that I picked up.  Alongside this, they also signed me up for their beauty card – which gives you a £5 voucher for every £50 you spend… which is super impressive!  I mean, how many other companies do you know that reward you so frequently?

Wild Argon Shower Gel

This smells amazing, like so, SO good!  I don’t even know how to describe it -  it just smells so clean and pure and fresh and amazing!  I was gifted a sample back at the beginning of the year and I put it aside because for some reason I just really didn’t think I was going to enjoy using it… silly me!  I splurged on this one a bit paying £4 for 250ml – it won’t be something that I buy myself all the time, I use all of my Body Shop goodies at my boyfriend’s house – so they will last me slightly longer than my Lush alternatives, as we don’t always stay there. 

Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner

I’m not going to lie, I thought I was getting myself a real bargain here.  I had done all of my online research prior to popping into store, and I knew that this pair were the ones that I wanted.  It was a duo that would be good for dry hair.  I’ve not been to the hair dressers in months (I know, not cool) so as you can imagine the ends of my hair are not in the best condition.  These two were perfect, as they are designed for just that!  However during my online prep, I spied them advertised for just £2 – winning!  Alas, upon arriving at the till it was brought to my attention that these 250ml bottles were £5… each!  I never spend that much on such a small quantity, but I was feeling a little spend happy – so got them anyway.  Although I’m not sure I’ll purchase again purely on the price (unless there is an offer, in which case I’ll be there!)  I have to say that my hair has felt absolutely gorgeous after every wash with them.  When using the shampoo, it foams up into a nice and thick lather, which doesn’t make my hair feeling tuggy when I wash it out, unlike some.  The conditioner is also nice and thick as you apply, and both have very strong scents of honey – which is not normally something that I enjoy the smell of, but for some reason I really like it in this pair!  Both really nice products, so I hope I can pick them up again should there be some kind of offer soon.

Hand Sanitizer

I picked up the Strawberry and Coconut versions on this trip, and they smell so good!  Any time I apply it, the smell lingers for AGES which sometimes leaves people asking me what I’m wearing because it’s so strong and pleasant!  Priced at £2.50 (and on 3for2) these will be items that I pick up ALL the time – they smell fantastic, last for ages and are generally just great value for money!  I always need to have some sort of hand sanitizer on me wherever I go, so why not have a nice smelling one?

What’s your favourite Body Shop treat?

Until the next one,

HydraQuench Cream Mask

Christmas past, I was gifted a beautiful Clarins gift set from my lovely boyfriend.  I’m not one to typically go and treat myself to really expensive brands like Clarins, and so it was nice to receive such a luxurious little pamper set.  Inside included a body lotion, hand cream a bath oil (which I am yet to use) and a facemask.

The HydraQuench facemask was whipped out from my beauty products stash early last week, after a number of days of really dry skin.  Although I’m extremely lucky and don’t have eczema breakouts across my face, when it does break out everywhere else like right now, it makes my face super tight and really uncomfortable.  So I decided that enough was enough, and I was ready to give this bad boy a shot at hydrating my mug.

Normally I wouldn’t go for a mask that has the sole purpose of hydrating the skin, as typically I use plenty of heavy duty moisturisers all year round to keep my skin nice and smooth – however as this was a gift, I was never not going to try it out!  I used about a  grape sized amount to cover the whole of my face and part of my neck, and applied using a cotton ball.  The mask is a thick, creamy and easy to apply – it literally soaked right into the skin seconds after being applied which was great.  The bottle recommends to wear for 5-10 minutes at a time, which I was a bit dubious about as I usually wear masks for around 20 minutes a go. However, I followed the instructions on this occasion and was very pleasantly surprised.  Five minutes into the application, my skin felt the best it had all week!  It was soft, looked super hydrated and overall just looked an awful lot healthier than it had previously in the day – which is fantastic results for the sake of a five minute application.  A further five minutes later, I soaked my cotton ball in some of my Lush Toner and swiped it across my skin to remove the mask.  It was hard to tell if I had managed to get it all off, as the mask totally disappeared within a minute of applying, but I don’t think leaving any extra residue of this particular product would cause you any major harm overnight. 

After use, my skin looked and felt amazing – leaving me curious as to how much a bottle would cost if I wear to consider buying when I run out of this one.  Alas, I was left disappointed at the price of £33 for a 75ml bottle.  Although I actually loved this product and was really pleased with the results – I can’t bring myself to part with £33 for a singular beauty product.  I’m cheap, I know. This time, it won’t be something that I will be buying anytime soon unless 1. It drops in price dramatically by the time I finish this bottle or 2. I come across another gift set featuring HydraQuench at a reasonable price.  I would however highly recommend this bad boy for anyone who’s feeling the treat yo’ self-vibe, or if your skin is in desperate need of some tlc.  I for one will not be taking hydrating masks for granted ever again!

What’s your favourite Clarins product right now?

Until the next one,