Lush's Breath Of Fresh Air

I love a good toner, they can be nice and refreshing and make your skin feel clean. The first Lush toner I ever tried was this guy, Breath Of Fresh Air. It has an underlying rose note, so if you're not hot for the scent I wouldn't recommend this for you. This is my current favourite, I like keeping this smaller version in my handbag for a quick sudden burst of freshness (especially in these hotter months during work hours). I even feel like this makes my skin a little tingly, but the whole aromatherapy side just wins me over here. The website quotes that this is sea breeze in a bottle, which I don't really agree with - sure its refreshing but there's nothing that reminds me of the coast here. However, one spritz and I am transported to a calmer place, sounds dumb but totally true. My preferred way of using this is to squirt in twice on to a cotton pad and just soak my eyes and wipe all over for such awesome freshness and soothing properties. I really want to try the other toners Lush has to offer as this is the only one I have tried, the Eau Roma water is next on my wishlist as its a rosey lavender mix.

You can get this in two different sizes at Lush!

Emma x

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The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil

This is a bit of a saviour at the moment. I, for some reason or another, have been attracting mosquitos like mad in the last couple of weeks resulting in very irritable bites forming in annoying places (back of the knee is the worse!). I read up on the internet that this can reduce the inflammation of such bites and then picked some up when I saw some first (Body Shop just happened to stock some, other brands available!). And like magic, it has worked, I could even go as far as saying this has taken some of the itch out too. I hear this is also good for blemishes and itchy sore scalps, I have yet to try this for a remedy but for the £7 I paid I am one happy bunny. As soon as I get bitten now, I drip some of this on and then give it a wipe with a cotton pad - it does sting a little but I don't mind so much, makes it feel like its working!

If you are also a mozzie magnet, give it a go and pick it up here for £7.

Emma x

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Birchbox August '14

So August is here, and with it brings a new Birchbox. This months theme is 'Away We Go' suggesting a summer holiday/get away theme. Unusually, this months goods come in this sweet little clear bag rather than the drawstring bag - not sure how I feel about this as this just feels cheap compared to what we normally get. Anyway, lets look at this months contents.

First item out of the bag is Number 4 Super Comb Prep + Protect (£20 full size). On the whole I'm not a fan when these boxes use the same brands over and over, I didn't like the No4 hairspray they sent out in the box a while back so why do I want this. Anyway, back off the tangent I'm not sure I'll like this one as much as my affordable Aussie alternative.

The only item I am loving here this month is the Wild About Beauty Creme Eyeshadow in Matilda (£13). This is a nice shiny satin mid brown colour, it has a really creamy texture, not far off the Maybelline Colour tattoos. This is also a super wearable colour so will be carted around in my makeup bag for the next couple of weeks.

Thirdly, we have Nude Progenius Omega Treatment Oil (£58). Not hot on this either due to the price tag and the fact that this is a oil/serum kind of product. Not huge on putting oils on to my face as my skin seems to react by drying out even more so yeah, another bum product.

Another product we recieve this month is Supergoop! Daily Correct SPF35 CC Cream (£32). First off - can we just state how tiny these babies are, they are TINY. Anyway, with any tinter moisturiser I seem to recieve in beauty boxes, they are always too dark for me so I will be giving this a go on my legs. However, I do like that this has an SPF in, as this time of year its definately handy to have in a face product like this.

Lastly we have Vasanti Brightenup! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator (£26). Another product I don't hate this month, I am all about scrubs at the moment, whether they are for face or body. I was pleased to see this in amongst the others and it has a nice scrubby texture to it - planning on using it tomorrow morning to waken up my face.

There was also a chapter sampler of a book called 'The Proposal' by Tasmina Perry, but I buy these boxes for the beauty goodies rather than the lifestyle extras (even though some are better than others! ;)). I appreciate Birchbox are trying to move away from the generic subscription box but I really would rather have a better item included.

So as you can see, if you are mad rad about skincare, this may have been the box for you, however I prefer make up items, so for me, this wasn't a scorching box. This is a really dissappointing box compared to the last few, I wish they would just include a wider range of things than skin care items.

If you like the look of this box this month, you can purchase your own here for £10 + p&p!

Emma x

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Liz Earle Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion

I thought I would give this a couple of weeks use before I reviewed this. I have had this for a month as I got it as an extra item on my Liz Earle bundle (pretty much got this as a freebie). You use this like you would a toner, but just on the eyes. I apply this on a cotton pad after toning, and just sweep it all over and under my eyes. I'm definately still on the fence with this one, I don't see that its making a huge difference to the puffiness and bags around my eyes, however I do think it makes my eyes feel really rejuvinated. The lotion is more of a liquid, it smells as you'd expect but it really feels cooling over the eyes, you could use this as a toner to be honest. I also put this to the test to see if it would sweep away any of the extra garb away (e.g. make up, general eye gunk) and it really does. For somebody who suffers from 'gunky' eyes, this is a gem for the property it just gets rid and feels like its freshening my eye area and lashes.

You can pick this up at Liz Earle direct for £10.75

Emma x

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Charles Worthington Salon At Home Volume and Bounce texturising spray

I am constantly on the hunt out for anything promising volume to my lacklustre roots, so when all the online beauty community went mad over this, I just knew I had to have it. I totally forgot about it until I was rummaging the aisles of Boots the other day, saw it was on offer, I snapped it up right away. Boy, does this not dissappoint! I am mad rad in love with this, it might not be for everyone due to its tacky feel (kinda feels like a hairspray) but it gives me such awesome root lift. The general volume this gives its great, like I said, I suffer in the root department but it also gave my lengths (which already seem to be volumous) body, love this so much. As for bounce, I don't get that half of the bargain but it gives a lush texture and volume to the hair. I think for the usual £6.99 mark its fab, I have already ordered another can of this while its still on offer - that is how much I am big time loving this.

If I have convinced you to give this a whirl, Boots are currently doing a 3 for £12 deal - pocket saving for sure.

Emma x

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L'Oreal Wild Ombre in Number 104 'Intense Ombre'

So I picked this up in Boots recently, and thought I'd be super late to the Ombre Party. I have quite dark hair at the moment so I chose this intense ombre for dark to medium brown hair. I had this previous tuesday off so I thought I would give it a whirl while I had the time!

In the box you get the ever present developer liquid, developer cream and classic black L'oreal gloves. As added extras you obviously get the bleaching powder, a little brush to brush the mixture through your ends and some conditioner. The brush feels like something you'd get along side a barbie doll, I wasn't sure how well this was going to work.

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Here I donned an old merch T-Shirt. I parter my hair straight down the middle and gave my hair a quick brush through to make sure there were no tangles. I then made the dye mixture by adding the powder, and then putting the developer cream in the bottle too. Then you give it a good, vigorous mix/shake.

 Then I brushed the dye mix through the lengths and ends of my hair, starting from the back. I tried to pop more of the dye on the very ends of my hair to see if that would aid it turning more 'blonde' (aka ginger).

I then wrapped the ends of my hair in kitchen foil to make the dye stay in place. After this I waited for half an hour, then brushed in more dye on to the ends and waited another 25 mins - ten more minutes than stated in the booklet - oops! ;) Then I washed it out using the provided conditioner, then I washed with proper shampoo and then deep conditioned it using Aussie's 3 minute miracle reconstructor to make sure it was in okay condition.

And this is the finished result! Overall, I'm pretty impressed, however it is very orangey/brassy toned so I have already been online to order some purple shampoo. Hopefully this will leave my hair a lot less orange! The ends of my hair are not feeling like they're going to snap off (which is a surprise) and don't feel rough! I'm still not too sure if I am loving the ombre on me personally but maybe it is just a case of getting used to it!

You can find this kit at Feelunique for £8.29.

Are you still loving the ombre?

Emma x

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Lush 'The Comforter' Bubble Bar

Due to the recent, weird spell of hot weather in the UK I've had difficulties getting to sleep. This bubble bar from Lush is my favourite of the range and I have found that just recently I've found that I have slept much better when using this beforehand. If you didn't already know, Lush do a range of what they call 'Bubble Bars' which are basically solid bubble baths. You can get a vast and variant selection, and you basically just crumble them up under hot running water. This provides excellent bubbles and this particular fella turns the water a birght majenta shade. The smell I think is what is the winner here, Blackcurrant and Bergamot is just such a relaxing scent - almost like Ribena but sweet and floral at the same time. One of these rocks can provide five or so baths if used sparingly (you don't need an awful lot here) so much so years ago, I took one of these for a quiet weekend away and ended up bringing enough for one extra bath back. These chaps aren't highly expensive either which is always a bonus!

If you like the look of this you can get one here!

Emma x

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