The best bath pampering session yet...

Starting a blog post with "I've just had the best bath ever" may seem weird in any other circles but it's all alright when you're a beauty and lifestyle blogger...

I thought I'd share with you the list of products so you can achieve your own amazing bath...!

1) Cleanse face, I use this - Garnier Soft Essentials Rose Cleansing Milk. It leaves my skin smooth and glowing.

2) Apply face mask of choice, I used the Sanctuary 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask. You can get a sample size of this for £2 in Boots to try it out:

This feels so warm on your face and you can feel it drawing out all the impurities

3) Choose bubble bath of choice - mine currently is Soap and Glory Calm One Calm All bubble bath

Smells great, makes your skin feel smooth, great for what they call "feeling like a queen"!

4) Choose exfoliator of choice - Soap and Glory Sugar Crush

I wish I could explain the smell of this, it just reminds me of a sweet shop. Please go to your local Boots and sniff it, however weird it makes you look...

5) Choose body lotion/moisturiser of choice - Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Body Butter

Boyfriend bought me this and the smell is gorgeous. Leaves you feeling luxurious.

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What's your favourite pampering routine?

August Empties!

Hi guys hope you are all well! I'm having a bit of a nightmare today, hardly slept last night and now just heard that Creamfields has been cancelled where my boyfriend is at the moment! He doesn't have a phone on him as he didn't want to lose his iPhone and I've heard that the car parks have flooded so some people can't start their cars...Trying not to worry but if you're anything like me you know girls are definite worriers!

But blogging is definitely the best way to distract yourself and I thought I'd do my first and rather early August Empties post. I've got to admit there isn't that many products that I've used up as I'm really rubbish at finishing a product...

1) Dove Go Fresh Pomegranate and Lemon Verbent Scent Deodorant

I really like the scent of this, it smells fruity and makes you feel fresh. Dove also seems to be permanently on offer in Superdrug or Boots too, this is originally priced at £3.29 in Superdrug but is currently £1.63 here. I find that Dove is my favourite deodorant as it keeps my skin non-irritated as it can be a little sensitive. I'd definitely repurchase this but I'm currently using their Lemon deodorant.

2) Elvive Nutrigloss Shampoo

This was on offer when I bought it and I think it was about £1.30 so a bit of a bargain considering how big the bottle is and lasts you (I wash my hair everyday.) The normal retail price is £3.99 which I probably wouldn't go for to be honest. It definitely cleans your hair and smells OK but it isn't a miracle product at all. For the price I'd really rather go for Aussie!

3) Soap and Glory Flake Away Body Scrub

I first came across Soap and Glory about two years ago after giving the shower gel to one of my friends at the time. I went into her bathroom one day and could smell the shower gel almost immediately and was hooked! I bought this sample size (£2.50 from Boots) a long time ago and I love it. The scrub is made up of shea butter, sweet almond oil, peach seed powder, sea salt and sugar - ingredients that make it smell divine to be honest. I've just bought three more Soap and Glory products, making use of Boots 3 for 2 offer and repurchased the scrub. The full size is £7 but is literally huge. Funny fact about this product: my boyfriend used it once and loved it so much that I bought him the sample size too...! Haha!

4) Body Shop Mango Body Scrub

This is another great body scrub. If I had to choose between Soap and Glory and this one, I'd probably choose Soap and Glory just because I find the scent of this a bit overwhelming at times. It does leave your skin super smooth though and is especially good before shaving. I'd repurchase a Body Shop scrub definitely but maybe a different one!

5)  Elvive Nutrigloss Crystal Conditioner

This is priced at £3.99 currently at Superdrug and I have to be honest I probably wouldn't pay full price for it. Again this huge bottle was on offer when I purchased it. It makes my hair feel soft but I don't really agree that it adds any shine. I far prefer the Dove Intensive Repair Conditioner that I'm using currently!

6) Radox Shower Smoothies Island Indulgence

This product is one that I loved the scent of at the start but was a bit bored of by the end. The main ingredients are passion fruit and papaya but there are also aronia berries that act as an exfoliator. I don't think the berries really work as an exfoliator but I enjoyed the scent and consistency of this. It cost me £2.95 from Boots but looking on their website it looks like their Buy One Get One Free currently, great deal! I think I'd repurchase another shower smoothie but in a different "flavour" instead, the Soul Soother one looks good.

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Have you used any of these products?

What did you think?

Please link me to your empties posts below and I'll check them out. Also please keep giving me ideas for my 50 followers giveaway :)!

Review: Lush Tisty Tosty Bath Bomb

I was given this for my twentieth birthday and have to admit it, bath bombs have never really been my thing. It's not like I've had a "bad" experience with a bath bomb haha I just never really saw the point in using them and preferred good old bubble bath and exfoliators. Unfortunately this product didn't really make me change my mind...

This product includes rose absolute, geranium, jasmine and orris. Firstly, what on earth is Rose Absolute? Lush states that their Rose Absolute comes from the flower petals of the Damask Rose. You can see from the photo that the bath bomb literally includes petals in it.

Now I would say that one of the positives of the bath bomb is that it does look lovely and the petals definitely look like a romantic touch.

But I was really disappointed in the actual bath bomb. I have read some bloggers that really enjoy the scent. I found that I could hardly smell any scent at all which was a shame. All it did to the bathwater was make it a slight off-white soap colour which disappeared in a few minutes..

Also I the petals floating in water didn't really do it for me...!

So I personally wouldn't recommend this product! It's £3.20 which I think is quite pricey considering what it did do.

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Have you used this product? What did you think?

Can you recommend any other bath bombs?

E.L.F. products review

So you may remember a few days ago I had a bit of an E.L.F. haul! Well I got delivered the products on Monday which was super exciting so I thought I'd let you guys know some first thoughts.

1) E.L.F. Duo Eyeshadow Cream in Butter Pecan, £1.05 with 30% discount

I was a little disappointed in the colour on the left hand side as I really didn't expect it to be so orangey! I like the colour on the right hand side though and the duo is great value for money as I purchased it for a £1. The fact that the eyeshadow is a cream means that it feels really nice on the eye, especially as I had used the E.L.F eye primer beforehand. I would say though that you need quite a lot of eye shadow to get the colour that you desire which is a little tedious, I guess they're not as pigmented as other eye shadows I've used. But still, great value for money - I just might choose a different colour next time!

2) E.L.F. Radiance Enhancer in Sunrise, £2.63 with my 30% off discount

This was a silly colour choice by me. It looks quite pinky/goldy on the website but it's really dark!

I have very pale skin so I wouldn't recommend it for people with pale skin like me! I like the product itself but I should have chosen the paler colour. This essentially works like you'd expect of a normal highlighter except I found it a bit drying compared to the other highlighters I've used - Benefit and Topshop's Skin Glow that are slightly more moisturising. For the price it's a good product that adds an extra glow to your face.

3) E.L.F. Corrective Concealer in Light, £2.63 with 30% off discount

This is probably the product I was most impressed with in my order (minus the eyebrow kit, review coming soon!). The packaging states that you use the neutral colours like normal concealer, the grey to eradicate red marks and the pink counteracts blue-ish tones.

It feels really strange putting green concealer on red marks but it does lighten them. You have to use quite a lot of concealer to get it to stay I found but once you've added your powder you're good to go. So I fully recommend the corrective concealer, definitely!

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Have you used any of these products? Do you want to?

ALSO: I'll be doing a giveaway for all you lovely people when I hit 50 followers. Please give me some ideas of what you'd want to get!

E.L.F. Wishlist

Why have I also never heard of E.L.F. before?! Crazy. I was browsing their website this morning and just can't believe how good value their products are. For anyone who hasn't heard of them - E.L.F. stands for Eyes Lips Face and they are an American beauty company.

So here's a few things that I have my eye on:

1) Radiance Enhancer, £3.50. I love the name of this product haha, it is essentially just a highlighter though. I'm a massive fan of highlighters so this would be a great add in to my current make up as it's something you can use sparingly everyday and not worry about using it up because it's expensive! This is available in Spotlight, Sunrise and Golden.

2) Corrective Concealer, £3.75. This is a set that includes four different concealer colours. Many people think that skin coloured concealer is the best but oh no! I know it will seem a little strange putting different colours on your face but here's their guide. Green: neutralises red blemishes on your skin. Yellow and Pink: counteract dark under eye circles and dark blemishes. Blue: minimises yellow coloured imperfections. 

3) Concealer Brush, £1.50. I'm after a concealer brush and you can't say no to that price.

4) Nail Polish in Mint Cream, £2.50. I love pastel colours (have you realised yet?!) and for the price it looks fab.

5) Lip Stain in Nude Nectar, £2.50. I'm really into lip stains at the moment, but I do worry that they dry out my lips. This one includes Vitamin E to counteract them and is another bargain. 

What do you think?

Have you used any of these products or E.L.F. in general?

Review: Lush Love Lettuce Fresh Face Mask

This is my first Lush product that I've ever bought! It's definitely taken me a while to warm to Lush as I find the stores a little bit overwhelming with so many different scents. But I thought I'd treat myself as I'm feeling a bit less ill and my body being cruel has given me rubbish skin this week!

The woman in Lush recommended this face mask for my skin type (combination, prone to oiliness, blocked pores). The mask is a seaweed gel that brightens but can also exfoliate as it includes ground almond shells. There is a definite lavender scent to it as it includes lavender oil.

For those of you who don't know Lush's fresh face masks are ones that you have to keep in the fridge. This was incidentally perfect for today as it was 30 degree heat in England and wow it was cooling!

(More this week is only 75p to those who are interested haha, just incase you can see!)

So this is what it looks like in the pot. It is quite thick and has a clay-like texture due to the inclusion of what Lush call "Fuller Earth". You can also see the smaller and darker pieces which are the almond shells.

So I put this on for about 10-15 minutes generously all over my face. You can definitely feel it tighten while it sets. Once the time was up I added some warm water to the face mask and gently exfoliated my face with the almond shells. I did this for a few minutes and it felt lovely, nothing too harsh as my skin can be quite sensitive.

I then washed it all off with cold water to close my pores. Anything that was a bit hard to get off I used my Body Shop Luxury Facial Flannel to get rid off everything else (I totally have a Body Shop haul to blog about soon...). 

The results? So my skin feels amazingly soft and I can see why people rave about Lush products. It hasn't had any adverse effects on my skin as far as I can see and has really helped remove any dead skin cells. This has left my skin feeling fresh and glowing. I'm really happy!

It cost £5.79 and the woman recommended it would have about three applications. I reckon I might be able to squeeze 4 out of it though, so it's very cost effective. I definitely recommend this!

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Have you ever used any Lush masks?

What else do you recommend?

Skincare Haul

Yep, I have to admit it: I'm totally obsessed with skincare. I went into Boots twice today to buy different skincare products. Here's a look at what I bought today:

Neutrogena Visibly Clear 2-in-1 wash and mask £3.99
Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Daily Scrub £4.95


There were actually on a two for £5 deal and well, you can never have enough facial scrubs or masks...

I absolutely adore the smell of the pink grapefruit daily scrub and hugely recommend it as it's on offer at the moment!

Botanics Shine Away Ionic Clay Mask: £4.66 (usually £6.99)

I saw this as I was looking for masks because after working for 8 days straight, my skin is struggling a little bit (as is my brain!)

These are also on offer currently which was the main decider.

I used this earlier and was surprised by the fact that the mask is actually liquid and incredible thin. I'm more used to thicker masks and was a bit skeptical putting it on as it takes a lot to spread it across the face evenly. I didn't particularly find that it had a scent. The effect was great and my skin looked polished and felt soft and clean.

Botanics Hydrating All Bright Night Cream: £3.33 (usually £4.99)

I've been searching recently for a night cream and I'm really interested in the Boots Botanics brand.

The night cream includes the natural ingredient hibiscus which helps to brighten up the skin.

My skin seems to really like this and it leaves it feeling plumped and hydrated, with a soft glow.

St Tropez Everyday Gradual Tan Moisturiser for Face: £12.99 (usually £14.99)

I definitely took advantage of all the offers in Boots today! I've been curious about St Tropez for a long time and I'm so glad that I finally got round to buying it. I'll have to keep you updated on this one.

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Has anyone else been making use of special offers in beauty shops?

What are your latest skincare buys?

S. x