SOTW: Garnier Skin Naturals PureActive Exfo-Brusher Wash

Phew! That's a long title! Today I've chosen the Exfo-Brusher Wash by Garnier as my 'Something of the Week' because I can't wait to tell you how great it is!

Here is the actual product. It's hard to see in the picture but there are small, white bristles at the top (above the arrow) which are described as 'flexible micro-bristles' with an 'ultra-soft touch' and they are! I was expecting the bristles to be quite abrasive (due to the 'exfoliating' qualities of the product) but they are really soft and gentle when you use it.

What amazed me most though was that although I had bought the product on Tuesday afternoon (and used it straight after I got home - I was that excited!), I have already seen noticable results! The product is supposed to:

- Help clear blackheads

- Visibly reduce shine

- Help fade marks left by imperfections

I can safely say that two out of the three aims have already been ticked off the list and it's only Day 1! Obviously, I'm going to have to wait for the marks to face - that doesn't just happen over night. But I really have noticed considerably less shine which is strange for me in the warmer months :).

Honestly, if you've ever had skin problems, like me, go out and buy this exfoliator wash. I don't think you'll regret it and there's a £3 off deal in Superdrug (a British drugstore) at the moment so grab the chance! I can't rave about it enough!!

I will update this post next week and see if it's still working but in the mean time, I'll see you tomorrow!!

Massive Haul and First Impressions Part 1 (Lush!)

HI everyone! Today me, my mum and my sister drove the long trek to Bluewater and we brought back loads of goodies I thought I would share with you all. First of all, I have to do a 'disclaimer'. :/.

I'm not trying to brag, I merely want to show you guys what we bought (mostly my mum) and tell you what I think of the products so you have some idea of what to expect. :)

I've decided to split the haul up into a couple of parts for a few reasons
1. So you don't get bored
2. It's quite a lot of stuff
3. and I want to give you my first impressions in as much detail as possible!

So, without further ado, let's get on with the haul!

Firstly, let me show you the bags...

It may not look like a lot but believe me, a lot is crammed into these bags!

Top Row - L-R

House of Fraser

John Lewis

Bottom Row - L-R

Mini House of Frazer bag

MAC

Let's start with the first bag, the big House of Frazer bag.

Actually, this is a bit deceiving because the products that are in this bag are actually from Lush! It's only been in the past few months that my family have really started getting into Lush. I mean, my sister said to me today that she only started liking Lush once she walked into the store in Bluewater! (I think that was mostly due to the really friendly lady who helped us out, she was lovely!). Basically, we went round the entire shop, sniffing everything, before we finally decided on a couple of things to take away. When I say a couple...

That's right! 4 bags, 2 wrapped soaps and 4 black pots. We got a bit overexcited, methinks...

So, the 4 bags contained...

A big dollop of...

Actually, it's Three Gold Rings which is sadyly not available any more. This was the last in stock! It's a bubble bar so all you have to do is crumble it under a running tap and bubbles appear! Don't use it all at once though, if you use smaller pieces, it lasts for longer.

I really like the scent of this. It smells fresh, but not like soap. It is a more sweet scent than anything else. I don't know what indgredients are in it though because it doesn't have a sticker and it's not available on the website at the moment, sorry!

Sorry this is such a bad picture! If I took it with a flash, you couldn't see the detail of the shampoo. Yes, this is a shampoo. For people who haven't been to Lush before, this might seem like quite a strange concept to you, but if you're curious I urge you to try it out. At least once! :)

This is Soak and Float. It's a shampoo designed to stop your scalp from itching and prevent dandruff and according to the reviews, it really works! We haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to do a review on all these products for you. This post is just about my first impressions.

So, first impressions about this soap. Basically it's like marmite: you either love it or you hate it. In the comments on the Lush website, people have compared it to 'a church on fire' but the only reason my mum bought it was because she loved the smell so much! To me, it smells like bonfires and burning wood, which has probably put me off using it for a bit. I might wait until my mum uses it before I put it anywhere near my hair! Personally, the smell is a bit too strong and would give me a headache if I had to smell it for too long, but you guys might like it! If you have a Lush nearby definitely go and give it a sniff. You won't forget it in a hurry! 

Thirdly is another shampoo. I don't actually have a picture of it but it looks very similar to the shampoo above, just purple and without the 'bits'. It's called Jumping Juniper and is the reason why we went to Lush in the first place! We ended up buying a lot more than expected! This is my mum's shampoo so we have to make special trips to Lush just to repurchase her shampoo! I don't even know what's so special about it... It basically just smells like soap (maybe with a little bit of parma violets thrown in) but it's not my favourite scent in the world. Apparently it's supposed to smell of rosemary and lavendar but I don't get any of that... Maybe it's just me? But we stocked up on it so we won't get to go back to Lush again any time soon :(

This is Phoenix Rising and is the prettiest out of the lot! It's a deep purple colour with gold bars running through the top and gold dusting all over. It's an amazingly scented and beautiful bath bomb and it would be such a shame to watch it fizz away. I absolutely love this smell! To me, it brings back childhood memories from when my sister got a Harry Potter potions making kit for her birthday and made a Pepper-Up Potion, which is a potion that is supposed to cheer you up. This bath bomb smells exactly like that! It smells very cinammony and spicy but it is hard to put my finger on the exact smell. I'm sitting here now with it beside my lap top so my room stinks of it :)

So that completes my first installment of this massive haul. Tomorrow I'll be going over the rest of the Lush stuff. See you then!

Midsummer's Night Yankee Candle Wax Tartlet Review

Today, as promised, I'm going to be reviewing one of the wax tartlets I talked about in this post. I really hope this review is worth it because I've suffered all day from the scent of the Midsummer's Night Yankee Candle wax tartlet. Seriously. This product smells like men's deodorant. And not in a good way.

It's not just me either! When my mum came home from shopping today and walked into the house, the first thing she commented on was that the house stank of deodorant! And because she doesn't like it and she was the one who bought it for me (for Christmas), I'm allowed to write a bad review about it! :L

I have to say that I haven't had very good experiences with was tartlets from Yankee Candle (as you can see from this review) but I think that's because the scents that draw me in are 99% of the time sweet and sugary scents, not clean, fresh smelling ones so maybe my nose is just prejudiced! I don't know, but what I do know is I won't be getting this one again!

So here are some pictures of what the Midsummer;s Night tartlet looks like...

I'm still not quite sure what men's deodorant has to do with Midsummer's. Maybe you could enlighten me in the comments section?

I only hacked off a small amount because I didn't want the smell to be over powering. Then I decided to chuck the whole lot in so I could get rid of it quicker. I don't think this stuff will be budging for a long time to come :(

Sorry for the blurry photo!

And I'm afraid to say that I won't be doing a review for the other was tartlet I got for Christmas soon because I have to wait for this ugly black stain to go. :(

If I could rate this with 0 stars, I would...

Review of BaByliss Curling Wand

As promised, today I'm going to do a review on my brand new BaByliss Curling Wand! I was so excited to get this and I had been wanting it for ages before I finally opened it on Christmas day. Obviously, I tried it out straight away so I'll give you my first impressions on it and, after trying it out for a second time today, my overall impression.

But firsly, in case you have no idea what a curling wand is, and I don't blame you if you don't (I had no idea what it was until about a year ago) then here it is in all it's glory...

Basically, it is a conical shape and has no clamp, which allows you to create any number of different types of curls from tight ringlets to flowing waves (although I've only worked out how to do a standard curl so far!).

The box includes a glove which is very useful if you don't like the idea of having your fingers too close to the hot 'barrel'. Personally, I don't use the glove. Partly because I don't need it and the wand it easy enough for me to use on its own, and partly because the 'all size fits all' glove is way too small for my hand! But that is one of my only critisims.

The other disadvantage of the curling wand is that it is extremely difficult to curl the hair on one side of your head (for me anyway). I'm left handed which means it's difficult for me to curl the left side of my head, even with a clamp (but maybe that's just me...). And I suppose you get better with practise because I found that today it was much easier to curl the left side of my head. You sort of have to hold the wand upside down and wrap your hair around it that way, away from your face.

One very useful function of the curling wand are the five temperature settings. It goes from 'power' (whatever that means!?) to 155oC to 200oC and the '+' and '-' buttons are very easy to use. However, having the easy to press buttons on the handle of the wand makes it very easy to turn off the appliance while you are using it. Having said that, the wand does heat up very quickly so, for me, it is not a problem.

What I especially like about the curling wand is it's ability to curl your hair away from your face so easily. I used to have a hard time with my 'fringe' using a curler with a clamp, but now it is so much easier to do! Also, you only have to hold the hair completely on the clamp for a few seconds at most (maybe longer for ringlet curls) and I find that extremely useful if I'm in a rush (which I was today!).

I also like how the curls soften throughout the day. I've had my curls in all day and now they are soft waves, which is an effect I like.

Overall, I'm really pleased with this curling wand and I would recommend it to anyone. Even the price is good; about £25.00, maybe less now that it is time for the sales!  

5 stars!

Rimmel London Disco Ball Nail Polish Review

I forgot to add this to my last post so I've decided to do it now. I got a Rimmel London nail polish in Disco Ball in my stocking on Christmas day and here is the review for it. The polish itself has got silver and blue sparkles in a clear varnish.

From inside the bottle, the polish looks like it's packed with glitter, but in fact, when you apply only one coat the glitter is very sparse. In my next picture, I've layered the nail polish 5 times on each nail because I didn't put a coloured nail polish under neath it. Of course, if you put another colour as an undercoat, you could put only one layer of this polish.

As you can see, it almost looks like a glittery silver nail varnish rather than just an over coat.

I would say that one disadvantage of it is that it's really easy to peel off if you put too many overcoats.

Overall, I would give this polish a 4/5.

(losing one mark because of the sparse glitter and gel-like quality it gets when there are lots of layers)

Merry Christmas and Upcoming Reviews

Merry Christmas!

I hope you had a lovely day, everyone!

Since it's Christmas, I'm going to have a load of reviews in the next couple of weeks so this post is just to outline what I'll be reviewing soon (and also some of what I got for Christmas! So happy with all of these!!).

BaByliss Curling Wand

LUSH products: Whoosh and Snowglobe (I think, but it doesn't have the packaging!)

Yankee Candle Wax Tartlets in Clean Cotton and Midsummer's Night

Liz Earle Skincare Range Review

A couple of months ago, I received a 'goodiebag' of Liz Earle products from a friend. I used them religously for a few weeks and then slowly forgot about them. But recently, I've rediscovered my love for them! I've only been using them for a week but I have already noticed some improvement in my skin. Usually, I have quite spot prone, oily skin but after using the following products, I've been getting less spots and have a less oily t-zone (which is usually where I get the most oily skin).

The first product is the Cleanse & Polish cleanser which you can use to either take off your make up or just to cleanse your face. I've actually run out of make up remover wipes so that's why I started to use this. It can even remove eye make up. You massage the product into your skin and around your eyes and then use a muslin cloth (provided with the product - usually) to gently 'polish' it off. It's supposed to leave your skin clear, smooth and clean and I find that it does this really well. One down side is that the muslin cloth is a little rough but I can live with that if it's going to make my skin better!

The consistency is just like that of a moisturiser, maybe a bit creamier

I haven't included a picture of the muslin cloth because I literally just used it!

 

The second product I use is the Skin Tonic Instant Boost. This comes in a spritzer form and a bottle which you pour the product out of. I have both but I usually use the spritzer because it is easier and quicker to use rather than the hassle of using cotton wool pads and pouring the product. I spritz this onto my face morning and night after using the Cleanse & Polish and it leaves my skin feeling refreshed. Plus it smells awesome!

in spritzer form

in bottle form

The last Liz Earle product is Spot On. I have used this religiously for a couple of months now and its only just starting to run out. You just roll this on any spots you may have and it gets rid of them for you! The only down side is that is it a bit unhygenic because your skin comes into contact with the bacteria left on the roll-on part every time you use it. And it smells very strongly.

I think I've got a couple of months left of this one!

I have some other Liz Earle products that I don't use as often but I could review them for you if you want. Just comment below if you do!