Beauty Reviews
Clinique Mascara
I’d just like to start of by apologising to my brother and sister-in-law because I went snooping for the price of the gift so I could include it here. However, it seems this set was only available over the christmas period, so it was quite hard to find.
So, this will focus on the mascara but I’d like to mention the “All About Eyes” sample - promising to hide a multitude of sins including dark circles and puffiness - and it does just that. It leaves your skin with an undeniable softness and under eye radiance. It’s fast becoming one of my must haves, retailing at roughly £15.
Looking for a perfect day time mascara? Let me stop you right there and introduce you to my friend, Clinique’s High Impact Mascara. If you’re looking for a mascara that gives you that sultry thick night time look, this probably isn’t the mascara for you.
The head goes back to basics, thick, short bristles. It works though, when you apply it, it’s like a massage to your eyelashes. Soft, feather light and yes, clump free. Rejoice. As mentioned earlier though, it’s not your party mascara.
It’s the daytime mascara, the natural one, just enough to lengthen your lashes and fill them out without looking over the top. It retails at around £15 but is well worth it in my opinion. I have yet to find something I personally dislike about the mascara, even the tube is sparkly green!
Pro’s: Great for work, school, etc. Subtle.
Con’s: Maybe a tad on the expensive side. Not waterproof.
Rating: 10/10.
My 2 Favourite Lush Products
The Comforter (Bubble Bar)
There is literally no other word to describe this other than; comforting. The name is absolutely perfect. Snap a bit of this off, drop it into hot running water and watch the water take on a purple tinge. The smell hits you as soon as you’re holding it in your hands, it’s deliciously fruity, blackcurrent to be precise. When your bath is filled, the aroma will be all over the bathroom. As well as the slight water colour change, you’ll notice the bubbles. They’re soft, there’s lots of them and they stay for a long time, everything you want - and everything there should be - in bath bubbles.
And when you get into the bath, you need to take a moment to feel the softness wrapping around you. Lie back, relax. It really is the best thing after a long, tired or miserable day. Pat yourself dry and enjoy smelling yourself because I guarantee you won’t be able to get enough of it.
Quite possibly one of the biggest advantages of this particular bubble bar is the portion is generous. You only need to break a small piece of your bar to create the desired effect. From each bar you can probably acheive six to eight amazing baths. I suffer from terrible dry skin and eczema (mostly on my hands) and this doesn’t irritate either condition.
Retails at around £3.99/200g (Source)
Pro’s: Great smell, nice size, bubbles galore. Has the almost superhero power of making you feel relaxed and calm, no matter how stressed you were previously.
Con’s: I have nothing to add here.
Rating: 10/10.
Snow Fairy (Shower Gel)
If you haven’t tried this product yet then I’m sorry to tell you you’ll have to wait ‘til December to buy some (or eBay it if you can’t wait that long). Lush teasingly only offer it on their shelves during the Christmas period and when you’ve squeezed every last drop from the bottle, it leaves you wanting more. It’s almost like breaking up with a boyfriend. It hurts.
Ok, that was dramatic. That’s just testament to how much I love this though. It has a smell that can only be described as girly. Sugar, spice and all things nice, right? Right. The best part? You don’t need to use a lot to work up a nice lather, making it last longer. It’s worth mentioning that this doesn’t irritate my awful eczema nor my awful dry skin, hallelujah!
The reason this is my second favourite Lush product though is because it can be used as shampoo, amazing shampoo at that. The smell wraps itself around every strand of hair and doesn’t let go, it also leaves your hair, well, lusciously soft.
Pro’s: Shampoo and shower gel, smells good enough to eat, available in three sizes from small - large. Doesn’t irritate dry/sensitive skin.
Con’s: A tad on the expensive size, the biggest bottle will cost you roughly £10. Limited edition; only available at christmas.
Rating: 8/10, I’m knocking a couple of points of simply because I wish it would be available all year and it’s a bit on the pricey side.
Bourjouis Paris 1 Seconde Nail Varnish
This nail varnish is gorgeous! It’s very quick to apply, the brush fans out across the nail. Very nice choice of colours, this particular one is lovely and subtle. It’s not very quick drying though, I found it stays ‘tacky’ for a while. Doesn’t chip easy, I tried!
Pro’s: Applies easily and quickly, nice colour, shiny.
Con’s: Slow drying.
Rating: 8/10
Soap & Glory - The Best Bits
At SOAP & GLORY we believe you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg just to moisturise one
The first point I’ll make here is how unbelievably hard it was to narrow these down to three product reviews and two special mentions because really? Soap&Glory are my favourite beauty products, I’ve been using them for years.
1.) The Righteous Butter (Body Lotion)
My favourite product because it quite frankly, saves my face in particular, from disaster. I get up in the morning, do what I need to and then head to my mirror, Righteous Butter in hand. I suffer from dry skin on various area’s of my body, my forehead being one in particular. Not anymore. Using this every morning, makes and keeps, my face baby butt soft.
It smells delicious and lasts a long time because you only need a drop. It sinks into the skin well, not leaving a greasy feeling. If you’ve just ran out of body lotion/ moisturiser and are looking for something different, new year and all that, give this a try, you won’t regret it!
Pro’s: Great for dry skin, leaves skin soft, smells great, inexpensive for how long it lasts, retailing at roughly £6.89.
Con’s: The only thing I can possibly think of is that it’s very easy to squirt too much out of the bottle!
Rating: 10/10.
2.) - Glad Pits (Anti Perspirant Deoderant)
I’ve only just tried this recently, literally, I bought it two weeks ago and I will never go back to normal supermarket available anti perspirant. I WISH they did a Roll-On version of this because I’d be all over it. I’m not a sweaty person but I struggle to find a deoderant that I feel comfortable with, one that I don’t feel like it wears off after a few hours. I was in Boots when I passed this and vaguely remember reading something about it being oh so lovely.
And almost like fate, I had a purse full of birthday money, so I added some to my basket along with some other S&G things I couldn’t say no to. I’m so glad I did, I put this on in the morning before I get dressed and it leaves my underarms feeling so cool and refreshed - and keeps them like that. I wouldn’t say for 24Hrs but definately the hours I’m awake through the day.
It has a slightly fruity smell but is in no way overpowering. It also doesn’t leave that horrible, throat and nostril invading sensation that makes you feel like you can’t breathe. The best part? No white marks, ladies. :)
Pro’s: Smells great, keeps you feeling refreshed, no white marks.
Con’s: It’s quite a bit pricier than regular anti-perspirants, retailing at roughly £4.34.
Rating: 9/10. One point off because the price might put some people off.
3.) Glad Hair Day (Shampoo)
* Conditioner available too
This is another product I threw into my basket in Boots a couple of weeks ago. I have thick hair that gets greasy quickly and loses volume. I’ve trawled through too many supermarket shampoo and I settled with L’Oreal, it gave me enough volume. I thought I’d give this a try because it can’t hurt, right?
This will be the only shampoo I’ll use from now on, a small amount will work into a delicious lather that smells divine, a hint of fruits. Once I’ve blow dried my hair, it’s soft and has heaps of volume, my only downside on this product is that it doesn’t keep a strong smell in your hair like some other shampoo’s (Lush’s Snow Fairy, I’m looking at you.) The price is a particularly nice surprise considering how nice this shampoo is (even if the smell doesn’t stick around), retailing at a glorious £5.22.
Pro’s: Soft hair, shiny, smells great.
Con’s: Smell isn’t as strong once hair has been blow dried.
Rating: 8/10. Knocking a couple of points of because I wish it kept it’s smell a bit more, it may be my own fault for having a style that needs blow drying, though.
Special Mentions
Clean On Me / Calm One Calm All
Shower Gel / Bubble Bath
Soft, smells great, affordable, both priced around the £5 mark.
Scrub Your Nose In It
Facial Cleanser
Lovely minty smell, refreshing, does it’s job! Fairly expensive at around the £7 mark.
I’d like to say if you want to try lots of S&G products but don’t want to spend a bomb on things you’re not sure you’ll like, go to your local Boots and find the S&G area, they do plenty of “miniatures” of their items, that are a lot cheaper and are nice little testers.
This was hard, Soap&Glory has my heart.
Volume Blow Dry Spray
“Charles Worthington Front Row Volume Blow Dry Spray with added hold to make sure your style, curly or straight, won’t fall flat.”
I threw this into my basket in Boots a couple of weeks ago, I have hair that falls flat very easily, especially if it’s not blow dried. This cost me just under £6, it’s now priced at £6.12 (Source: Boots), I won’t buy it again.
The recommendation is to spray at the roots and then brush through, while blow drying of course. I brushed and I brushed and the result was tough “stuck together” hair at the roots, that felt awful, it wasn’t necessarily over the top obvious but it really didn’t feel nice.
It has your typical hair spray smell to it, which clings in the air. I did every thing it told me to and I honestly barely noticed a difference, there may have been a slight boost but it wasn’t the dramatic effects this product promised. Any boost it did give me wore off after a couple of hours and my hair just looked normal.
Onward goes my conquest to find hair products that do as they say…
Rating: 3/10
Given points because at least it didn’t make my hair tangled like some hairsprays.
2 More Soap & Glory Reviews
Glad Hair Day Conditioner
I gave up on conditioners a while ago because they never did anything for my hair, instead on using a mixture of Shampoo’s. When I bought the Soap & Glory Shampoo I was still skeptical of the conditioner but the shampoo was so amazing, I caved and bought it’s partner. I am not disappointed. It’s worth mentioning that on the back of the packet it says “Thick, fuller or curly haired girls should opt for our S&G Thick&Full conditioning formula.” I have really thick hair but bought the one for ordinary hair and it still works a treat.
A small dollop will work nicely from root to tips, it smells delicious and rinses out nicely. I have hair that tangles really easily and I found my hair was pretty much tangle free after this. It was also left soft and shiny. Perfect!
Retails at around £5.22.
Rating: 10/10.
Hair Supply
I was intrigued by this product when I was picking up the conditioner. It promised to sort out split ends, give your hair some va-va-voom and I’ve been searching for so long for nice hair products that actually do as they say on the package. Helloooo, Hair Supply, never leave my side ever again! I might actually look into marrying this product.
It’s quite a thick formula, a small dollop in the palm of your hands should be plenty, work it from root to tips a la Glad Hair Day conditioner, then leave it on. It recommends 60 seconds for a daily treatment or three to four minutes for a weekly treatment. I was somewhere in the middle of these because I got distracted, I washed it out after about two minutes.
It took a while to make sure it was all out but once I’d dried my hair, the thing that surprised me most was that it had really brought out the colour of my hair. I last dyed my hair in November and lately it had been looking quite boring. The other thing I noticed is my hair didn’t seem as “thick” and definately no frizz, as well as leaving the ends of my hair looking revitalized. I still have nothing bad to say about Soap & Glory!
Retails at around £6.00
Rating: 10/10
“At Soap & Glory, we believe that a little fresh hair can do you a world of good.”
Garnier - Ultra Softening Lotion
Garnier Body, Intensive 7 Days, Ultra Softening Lotion with L-Bifidus, to be precise. Skin feels intensely hydrated for up to 7 days. This was on a new introductory offer in Tesco the other day. I bought the Nourishing Shea Butter for Dry To Extra-Dry Skin. It smells like Sun Lotion, which personally, I like. A little bit goes a long way, spreads nicely and sinks into the skin quickly so it doesn’t leave that tacky feeling all over you and especially on joints (I’m looking at you, Aqueous Cream!).
After four or so days of use, my skin is definately smoother and softer and not nearly as dry and it does keep a faint smell on your skin all day, which is nice. I can’t see the results lasting up to 7 days though because by the following morning (I use it after showering every morning), my skin is always in need of more.
Retails at around £2.99/250ml or £4.99/400ml.
Overall thoughts: Nice as a daily moisturiser, does smooth and soften skin, nice smell, doesn’t irritate eczema. Rating: 8/10.
Lush - Tiny Hands
This arrived with my post this morning (along with a bearded lady and an ex-factor!) and I immediately used it after hearing great things about it. Did it disappoint? Quite the opposite. And really? When has Lush ever disappointed on anything?
I’m sure I’ve said this before but I have awful eczema on my hands, which instantly felt better after putting this on - skin was soft and smooth, no longer dry or cracked. I think I may have put too much on to start with because my hands did seem to stay greasy for a while so beware of that.
It’s a really nice compact size, the colour is slightly different than pictured, mine has a bit of a greeny tinge to it. I can see it lasting a very long time though, it’s thicker than I thought it would be. It’s not a bad price for the amount you get, £3.95/60g (Source).
And lastly, the smell, it’s amazing. It’s indescribable. It stays around. I put this on about three hours ago and can still it smell it on me. Lush are known for their great smells but this has to be my favourite next to Snow Fairy and The Comforter.
Buy this for yourself, buy it for your mum, buy it for your sister, buy it for your girlfriend, hell ladies, buy it for your boyfriend or brother. It really is that great that everyone can appreciate a little bit of it!
Pros: Smells great, nice price, amazing product.
Cons: Greasy if you use too much?
Rating: 10/10! Most definately.
The tale of a Magic Mushroom, A Dragon’s Egg and a Bearded Lady.
Not so much a tale, more like three new Lush reviews for you all!
Magic Mushroom (Bubble Bar)
Unfortunately I have to give my first ever negative Lush review. I don’t want to do it but this product was utterly disappointing. It’s one of the smaller bubble bars I’ve seen which is fine if it packs the punch which this doesn’t. I put a generous amount in the bath and found the two things I’ve come to expect from Lush M.I.A.
The bubbles! There was a serious lack of bubbles which made me sad. The second thing missing was the smell, even when just holding this it doesn’t have as strong a smell as other Lush items, put it in the bath and I couldn’t smell anything.
I wouldn’t buy this again, which sucks because it is a cute looking little bubble bar! Sorry Lush! Retails at around £2.50.
Rating: 3/10.
The Bearded Lady (Bubble Bar)
Enough of the negativity - this is amazing! I ordered a bar of this online a couple of weeks ago and how I wish I ordered more than one. It’s fairly big, allowing you about four baths from it. It gave me so many lovely bubbles, bubbles that were so soft and really milky! It has some great ingredients for skin softening, including oatmilk, it just feels nice and soothing on your skin.
The smell was divine and I could literally sit there sniffing this all day. I just feel great after a bath with this. It’s a shame it’s only available for christmas, I’ll be stocking up next year! Retails at about £2.50ish, not bad!
Rating: 9/10.
Dragon’s Egg (Bath Bomb)
First thing’s first, this bath bomb is MASSIVE and takes absolutely ages to dissolve. Both positive things in my book! I read about this online and it was the thought of all the colours swirling that made me pick it up when I was in Lush the other day and I’m glad I did. Before I really get into it though, does anyone else think that the picture above looks like one of those giant gobstoppers?
I put this in my bath and was immediately surprised by it’s ferocity, I see why it’s called a dragon’s egg, fierce…the thing I liked about this bath bomb is it didn’t go nuts all over the bath, it stayed in one place and fizzed for ages and spun around slowly, first white and then a bit of yellow came off.
Loved it when it got to the orange and then the glitter - oh God, the glitter! It was amazing and I loved it and I want more bath bombs with a glitter filled center! The smell this bath bomb gave off was yummy and it stuck to me literally, all day. I had people saying “What’s that smell? You smell nice! What perfume are you using?”
Absolutely my most favourite bath bomb so far!
Rating: 10/10.
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