Monthy Favourites - May 2012

Time for the monthy favourites (I'm a bit late again), these are products that I have been using all month/rediscovered or have stood out for me.

1. Paco Robanne Lady Million EDP

This is one of my favourite perfumes, I just love it but I hadn't worn it in a while. I got it out again and I still adore it. It is sweet with some floral notes and makes me feel special. I'm not overly fond of the bottle design but I do kind of like how the spray works. I just wish I could figure out how to decant it into a travello.

2. Lush Rehab Shampoo

I have used this shampoo before but stopped using it when I started colouring my hair. Now that my hair is it's natural shade again, I can use it. I went to Lush to get some toner but decided to find out if they sold a shampoo that will reduce build up from dry shampoo - which I use a lot and end up with quite a bit of build up. This stuff is great. It clears my scalp of all the crap left on it after a couple of days using dry shampoo and leaves it so much fresher. 

3. MAC Lovecloud Blush

This has been my go to blush this month. I'm not sure if it is still available as it was a limited edition colour. I really love it, it is so easy to wear and can be applied sheerly or built up. It is a pink with some coral in there to warm it up and works really nicely on my skintone. I also love the satin finish because it is so soft and natural looking.

4. Origins Vitazing SPF 15

This is basically a really sheer tinted moisturiser with SPF in it. I took this on holiday with me in case it was hot and I didn't want to be wearing foundation. Plus foundation wasn't really needed. It has these little greyish dots in the moisturiser which burst as you rub it into your skin and release a tint. This tint is supposed to be suited to all skin tones but I think very fair skins and dark skins might find it either too dark or light. Light to medium skin tones should be okay and it might even be okay for skin that is a bit darker. You don't get a lot of coverage with it but it does help to even the skin out somewhat and then a bit of concealer will cover the rest if needed.

5. SensatioNail Starter Kit (I have the red) - review to be posted soon.

Now this is a little gem! I love this piece of kit! I wont go into it too much because I will be doing a full review on it with lots of photos of it freshly applied and then two weeks later. If you don't know what it is, it is an at home soak off gel polish kit which includes everything you need to get started, including the lamp and one colour (either red or raspberry). It was quite dear when I got mine but the price has gone down a lot now so if you are interested, it is worth a go. I applied this for my holiday so that I didn't need to polish my nails while away and hopefully protect them better than regular polish would from working the locks and narrowboat. It held out brilliantly, as you will see in the upcoming review :D

Jennifer xx

LUSH - Phoenix Rising Ballistic

Another one of LUSH's new products to celebrate their 16th birthday. This one is a ballistic and is the same shape as their existing Vanilla Fountain. It is a gorgeous purple colour with gold lustre all over it which is difficult to see in the pictures.

Here's what LUSH say about this ballistic:

'All the myth and magic of a phoenix, pressed into one bathtime experience, which lets you arise at the end feeling refreshed and ready for the next 500 years.

Your phoenix will sink to the bottom then rise in triumph, her mythical sparkling purple and green plumage unfurling through your bath water.

She’ll release gentle shea butter, cocoa butter and jojoba oil to leave your skin feather-soft. Exotic essential oils of fruit and spices take your mind on a flight of fancy to distant shores where you are lying on a beach drinking spiced rum.

Actually, you won’t want to rise again from this bath – you’ll want to just stay on in there gliding on the dream! The phoenix is often quoted as using cinnamon sticks to make her nest. So we’ve topped this ballistic with some, so she has some handy nesting material, should she wish to stick around at yours for a while. Meanwhile, it will also add to the delicate spiciness of your bath.

The work on this website had been going on in the background at Lush for quite some time. Having a current website trading plus a new one that is being built made for very confusing conversations when talking about things for ‘the website’. To end the confusion, we gave the website under construction the name Phoenix.

So Phoenix has been very much on everyone’s mind here at Lush; not least Jack, who has been working on it for over a year. When he went into the lab to invent new ballistics, he couldn’t shake his mind free of it – and thus we now have a Phoenix Rising ballistic!'

Ingredients:

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Icing Sugar, Cocoa Butter, PEG-6 Caprylic / Capric Glycerides & PEG-60 Almond, Perfume, Bergamot Oil, Cassia Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Fair Trade Shea Butter, *Cinnamal, *Citral, *Limonene, *Linalool, Colour 45410, Colour 42090, Colour 77891, Colour 77491, Colour 77510, Frosty Holly Lustre, Gold Lustre, Cinnamon sticks

*occurs naturally in essential oils

This product is suitable for Vegans.

£2.95/100g

When I first opened this to give it a stiff, I was hit with this very intricate smell, it smelt complex and alluring and made me want to keep taking more sniffs at it to figure out what was in it. I smelt spices in the background with the main event being fruity berry notes. This is they type of scent that LUSH used to make back when I first got into the company, unique kinds of fragrances. Then they went very samey, products were released with the same scents in them and there was very little for me to choose from that I actually enjoyed using and smelling of. I'm so glad that LUSH have created this, it takes me back to when I first fell in love with their products and reminds me of some products which are sorely missed amongst longtime LUSH fans.

LUSH - Rose Jam Bubbleroon

I've been waiting for LUSH to bring out new bubble bars for so long, they are one of my favourite things that they make and the last few discontinuation rounds have lost some lovely products making the bubble bar line quite small. Over the last few months I have been going off Lush a lot due to the lack of products interesting me, the scents becoming quite boring and repetitive, nothing unusual, nothing distinctively 'LUSH'. It is such a shame because I used to visit LUSH often.

LUSH have just turned 16 so to celebrate, they have released 16 brand new products. I decided to take the plunge again and placed an order, pleased to see that they had new bubble bars to try out!

A new type of bubble bar that LUSH have invented is the Bubbleroon - shaped similarly to a macaroon, two halves of a bubble bar stuck together with a creamy filling of coconut oil.

Here is what LUSH say about this new bubble bar:

'Jam and Jerusalem!

If the Women’s Institute knew how to make bath products, this is what they’d make

A bath that helps you get out of it feeling better than when you got in. With lemon to bring clarity and alertness and rose to lift the spirits. The geranium oil in here will balance the skin, whilst the coconut oil and shea butter will leave you feeling smooth and soft.

This smells of roses, with the sweetness of jam – it shares the same fragrance as Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner.

The fragrance in Rose Jam was invented by Simon. Every year he visits Turkey during the rose harvest to see our rose absolute being produced. He talks about the smell of roses in the fields in the hot Turkish sun and the lunchtimes sat out eating rose jam with Hassan, our rose grower. The rest of us here at Lush think he’s jammy to have this aspect of the job - and we notice that it is always tales he brings back to us, not pots of the actual jam!'

Ingredients:

Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Lauryl Betaine, Fair Trade Shea Butter, Perfume, Rose Absolute, Geranium Oil, Rose Oil, Lemon Oil, Cocamide DEA, PEG-6 Caprylic / Capric Glycerides & PEG-60 Almond, Titanium Dioxide, Colour 17200

This product is NOT Vegan.

As I purchased this online, I didn't get to smell it before hand, however I do like rose so went for it. As soon as I opened the wrapping I was hit with this beautiful rose scent. It made me want to sniff it over and over, it was a real perfumey rose scent - like when you were a kid and made your own perfume out of your Mum's roses by picking the petals and putting them in water to infuse... at least that is something I remember doing as a child! Rose Jam doesn't smell synthetic at all, really natural and real, you can tell that it is full of rose absolute. It also has a greeness to it like the leaves of the plant, probably to do with it being a real rose smell and not something you get in an airwick block. At the same time, I get a whaft of a sweetness cutting through the fresh perfumey rose, this is the jam part. It is delicious, it smells just like a picnic in a rose garden, so ideal. It isn't sickly at all, the greeness stops it from getting too sweet and sticky, the rose is sophisticated and it isn't overly girly

Using the bubble bar was easy, it crumbled with ease and made plenty of bubbles. The scent filled the bathroom and lingered on my skin for a few hours later. It left my skin feeling smooth and soft and hydrated. It made the water a lovely soft pink (my photos are a bit dark). It is certainly a product that I will be repurchasing in the future as I already look forward to having another bath with this.

Go check out www.lush.co.uk for their other brand new products. Is there anything catching your eye? I promise, the other new things I ordered also smell fantastic and I look forward to testing them out!

Jennifer x

February Favourites!

Hi all! Another month gone so it is that time again. February seemed to go so quickly and yet it seems like it was ages since this year began... wierd. Anyway, these are the things that I've been liking this month, my concealer and corrector from Bobbi Brown are still firm favourites for me but I wanted to show some other things instead.

MAC Stereo Rose MSF, MAC Dalliance Mega Metal Eyeshadow,
Lush Smitten, Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, Benefit So Hooked on Camella Eau de Toilette

Firstly, MAC Stereo Rose MSF (Mineralise Skin Finish). This was one of the first products I bought from MAC when I started buying from them last year. I thought the swatch picture on MAC's site looked quite nice and then I did a little google to see what it looked like on. This was before I was aware of the beauty blogging world so only had google pictures to go on but ended up going for it as so many people were saying it was nice. I thought it was really pretty in the pan at first but it just didn't seem to show up on me. When I bought my MAC 129 brush I realised that it wouldn't show up due to the crappy brush I was using before. It got shoved away because I still wasn't in love with it and then I thought I'd try it again last month and found have been reaching for it loads now. It just gives me a nice glow and adds a lovely colour. It is shimmery so it isn't something for everyone but I do love it now and I'm glad I purchased it.

MAC Dalliance Mega Metal Eyeshadow - You can see my review for these, including this shade here. This colour is lovely and works so well as just a wash over the lid area when you just want a bit of subtle colour. It is quite a versatile shade and would work with a nice range of colours. I've used it with green, cranberry, brown and turquoise so far (all mega metals). It also has a great texture.

Lush Smitten - This handcream is a funny one for me as I actually dislike the smell. It smells of almonds but more towards the marzipan side but not all the way there (if it did smell exactly like marzipan, I wouldn't use it... bleugh!). I suffer from ezcema and have done for years. It isn't terrible but it can get bad at times, especially in cold weather where my skin can become so dry and end up cracking so it bleeds. I got this product in a Lush hatbox and thought I'd try it out before giving it away as I didn't like the smell and found that it is actually a pretty decent hand cream. At the moment my hands aren't their best due to the cold weather we have had in London over the past few days and it takes a lot for a moisturiser to keep up. However, my skin is better than it would usually be. They are still sore but they are soft except for around my knuckles and between my fingers. Hopefully they continue to get better :D

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat - I am rubbish at keeping my nails looking nice after painting them. I always seem to bump them on something and smudge them. They always seem to take forever to dry and I'm just unpatient and sods law I need the loo or something straight after! I'm so glad to have read about this product and decided to buy it. It is just brilliant and dries my nails in 5 minutes. It penetrates through each layer of lacquer to dry and seal them. It also gives an amazing glass like shine finish.

Lastly, So Hooked on Camella Eau de Toilette from Benefit. I am rubbish at describing perfume but I really love this. I do smell vanilla and coconut in it and it is a sweet creamy sort of smell. Benefit have the base notes listed as Vanilla, Sandalwood and Amber (I often choose these for my perfume as I love how they smell on me) the middle notes as cyclamen, peony and tiare flower and the top notes as grapefruit, lemon and rhubard. Wierd how I smell coconut... I don't even like coconut but I do love this perfume. I think some people may say it is cloying but I don't find it to be, there is something there taking the edge off the sweetness for me, might be the florals or the zingy fruits cutting through it. This perfume lasts and lasts and lasts on my skin, something that rarely happens. I can still smell it on my scarf/coat a few days later when I haven't worn it. Also, the packaging is gorgeous, it is like a cocktail shaker which I think is really fun and the box is made of a thick cardboard and designed like a house with the front flipping down to reveal the interior. This is definately a repurchase for me and I'd like to try the other Benefit perfumes to see how they fare.

- Jennifer