Lush winter essentials

Hello!

It is the middle of winter, and the temperature keeps on dropping! My skin has started to suffer really badly, so I thought it needed some TLC.

For face ex-foliation, I purchased Lush's Ocean Salt face and body scrub. This is the new option which is self preserving. The difference between this and the original product is that, yes it is self preserving, so it lasts longer, but it is also less abrasive and more moisturising, due to the new ingredients. The longevity of this product justifies the price for me. I don't normally spend this much on my skin, but winter calls for desperate times!

The smell is different,  but I find this more pleasant and I don't mind the taste so much!

My skin feels so fresh afterwards, without it feeling abused! I recommend this for those who suffer from extremely dry skin during the winter months, or for those who have oily t-zones to be used in the dry areas.  

(Thank you to the staff member at Lush Cardiff who recommended it and let me try it! Good customer service definitely makes a difference...)

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The other item I purchased was the Popcorn Lip Scrub. I normally purchase the Bubblegum flavour, but sadly it sold out! :(

However, this turned out to be a revelation as I ended up loving this flavour! It tastes just like salted caramel popcorn, which makes me so tempted to eat it instead of scrubbing my lips. These are a lifesaver! No matter how many lip balms you have, you can't get rid of flakes on your lips painlessly unless you use a lip scrub! 5.50 a pot is a good investment considering you're saving yourself pain and hassle, while this product also involves enjoyment!

To save money, I have attempted to make my own at home, but these have always ended up tasting disastrously or completely ineffective. There are countless tutorials online, but bear in mind that many of those posting have some, to lots of experience with homemade cosmetics, while I have none!

Give both of these products a try! They've both become part of my winter cosmetics drawer!

Love, Lyz. xx

Links:

Ocean Salt Self Preserving - £7.75 for 120 g

Popcorn Lip Scrub -  £5.50 for 25 g.

General cute stuff I bought recently!

 Ugh, I have such bad spending habits tbf. That's why I started this blog so I can also monitor what I'm spending it on!

I bought a Lush Big Blue bath bomb, even though I DON'T HAVE A BATH IN THIS HOUSE.
Srs prblms. FFS.

But it smells so niceeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! And it makes pretty mermaid water!

I bought a 24 pack of Sharpies from WHSmith. I normally avoid the store as I've found their stuff overpriced, but someone sent me a link to their Back-to-School sale. These were £16.99 originally, but I only paid £6.99 for them, along with a pack of black biros for £2.99. Student essentials obv. They come in so handy for revision! 

I've also gone D.I.Y crazy. I've made some flowery buntings to liven my room up a bit. It's finally feeling like home! I bought a roll of wrapping paper from paperchase for £3.50 I think. I used it for this, and wraping my friends' presents!

I also bought a vintage map of the world from Paperchase. It still says USSR on it! I made mini buntings to go on my corkboard as well. The corkboard was a decent size, and it was £3.99 from WHSmith. My desk is still a work in progress though! 

I finally found some fairy lights fro £3.99 from Clas Ohlsen! Apparently they are 3 meters, but they are still too short! I might just buy Christmas Lights! My satin bedsheets though <3

This is just a small amount of my tea collection! I've actually joined the University's Tea Society!

And I'm going to see Twin Atlantic! Happy Days!

Links:

• Big Blue bath bomb 
• Sharpies (not on sale anymore :( )
• Wrapping paper is not available online?
• Poster too :(
• Corkboard (not onsale anymore as well!)
• Fairy Lights
• Twin Atlantic tickets at Cardiff University Student's union are sold out :(

Early October Haul!

Prynhawn Da! (Casually throwing in some Welsh!)

Apologies for the long break between posts. Year 2 is finally catching up with me!

Some good news though, I've been elected as the president of the Ancient History Society! YASSSSS.

Anyhoo, here are my most recent purchases.

I've purchased a few bits and bobs from elf before, but only a few brushes and eyeshadows. I was walking past their store in the Royal Arcade and saw this being displayed in the window. It wasbeing sold for £5 instead of £15, so I immediately purchased it. I've been looking to buy a big palette for a while, and this caught my eye as it contains both neutral and vibrant colour shades. The pigmentation on a few of the colours is not that great to be honest, but it can be fixed with some use of an eyeshadow primer and dampening the brush before use. But for £5, I am over the moon!

I decided I would try out a look with a few of my other purchases, such as the lashes and small angled brush from elf, as well as my B brand purchases from Superdrug. This small angled brush is going to be used with my Rimmel Gel eyeliner, which I've unfortunately lost the applicator too! This was £3.95 which I thought was a good price for a brush with precision application and nice feeling bristles. 

In the picture, I am using the B Prepared primer which was 9.99. The primer works really well for me, and I didn't even need to apply that much foundation as most of my pores were covered up.

I bought the lipgloss as well as it was on BOGOF offer! The lipgloss is absolutely fabulous and it is so bright, but it doesn't last that long. I'm on that purple hype...

I've always hated false eyelashes as they seemed so incompatible with my Asian, short, spiky, eyelashes. These were only 1.99 so I thought if it went wrong, it wouldn't have cost me that much. After a bit of trimming and experimenting with the glue, it turned out that I did like these. I will definitely buy them again! They stayed on for the whole day, and I didn't feel like I was wearing any at all.

I've recently run out of my revlon colorstay eyeliner, and I was getting sick of the brushes that ended up being terrible towards the end of the products life. I saw this advertised on tv recently and I thought why not give it a go! So far it has served me well. It's so much easier applying liquid eyeliner now!

It's been an eventful few weeks, and the next month is going to be even busier! Not looking forward to all the stress ugh, but on the upside, it's Halloween soon!

Links:

• Marble Palette 
• Angled brush 
• B. Prepared Primer
• B. Brilliant Lip Gloss in Morello
• Falsies
• Master Graphic eyeliner

Cardiff September haul!

Hello peeps!

I've just moved in to my new house in Cardiff and I took the opportunity to buy some goodies along with some essentials for the house. I bought quite a few things from the Beauty Studio store in St David's and I've been impressed with all of them!

The first thing I picked up was a lipstick from Makeup Revolution's I heart makeup range, in the shade of 'Totally NOT boring.'

Didn't like the packaging but overall a good lipstick!

The packaging was quite tacky, but I was impressed with the shade and consistency of the lipstick. I hoped it would be a little more purple, but I was pretty happy with the product considering it was only £2.99!

I'm wearing the lipstick in this picture!

You can buy the I heart makeup lipstick here.

From Superdrug on St Mary's Street, I decided to purchase a lip liner in brooding plum from Makeup Academy (which I always confuse with Makeup Revolution!) I also decided to buy snow white eyeliner since they were both £1! I love that all MUA's liners have sharpeners on the lids!

Snow white eyeliner 

Brooding Plum lipliner

Also from the Beauty Studio, I purchased some Aussie conditioners as they were 2 for £7. I 've been using their products for a while but these were two I haven't tried before. My hair felt so soft and it smelt beautiful after using these products. (I alternate the use of these two conditioners, the Mega for daily, but I use the 3 minute miracle conditioner if my hair particularly dry.)

3 minute miracle link

Mega Instant conditioner

Along with these conditioners, I purchased a Macadamia shampoo from TK Maxx. I've heard so much about their products from youtubers, and I was surprised to see them in TK Maxx so I decided to buy one on impulse as per usual! It was £9.99 but considering they are quite hard to find, and it was down from £15.45, I was quite happy with the purchase. My hair has never felt so good after using these 3 products!

You can buy this shampoo here, but hurry as stocks might not last long!

Another product from TK Maxx that caught my eye was an O.P.I Take Ten nail polish set. They were minis in neutrals and reds which will be perfect for the upcoming season. I love wearing red nail polish with the darker winter clothes! I'm such a lucky girl as my boyfriend went and bought this for me instead! My current favourite is 'You don't know Jacques.' The names of their products always make me giggle! I've currently been buying mini nailpolishes as I never seem to get through the standard bottles at all!

You don't know Jacques

I love OPI minis!

I can't find a link for this on the Tk Maxx website, but check it out in stores. It should be £19.99.  

Check it out on Amazon.

Hope you've enjoyed reading this!

Love, Lyz xxx

Purchase of the month: Fashion

Hello!

I'm still trying to get a grip with the features of blogger and it's taking a while sorry! I'm a complete noob and I find it harder to customise on here than on tumblr.

Anyway, it's been a busy few weeks full of parties and family breaks. I haven't really had time for myself except for the last few days. So I decided to go shopping in Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and purchased myself a pair of Sperry Top Sider shoes, which are known around the world as the original makers of 'boat shoes'.

Unfortunately in the rush, I have completely forgotten what store I got it from, and I lost the receipt as well. (Really unhelpful I know!) All I remember were massive closing down signs if that helps. But these were originally £85, and went down to £15!

It's taken a while to break into them, but once I did, they began to feel really comfortable and they  go pretty much with every outfit I've worn within the last few days. These are a good investment, instead of buying cheaper ones. I have a pair from next that were £8 from their summer sale, but those were canvas and is fraying already. These are leather and look a lot smarter. 

Click here to find these shoes on the sperry website. 

Lesson of the story: always be aware of closing down stores nearby. (For me, always keep the receipt!)

Maybelline Baby Lips Balm Review

Hello again lovelies! 

I recently bought the Maybelline Baby Lips Balm in Cherry Me and I wanted to share my opinion with you guys.

Firstly, we need to discuss the price. It's being sold for £2.99 which I thought was an extremely fair price for a lip balm from Maybelline. Not only does it moisturize your lips, it also gives it some colour. The products that I could compare this to are Rimmel's Keep Calm Lip Balm range, and Barry M's Cor Balmy Lip Balms. They have a similar range of colours, but Maybelline's have more shades available and different types such as minty fresh, repair and hydrate.

They are the same price as Rimmel's Keep Calm range, but I thought the packaging of the Keep Calm range was so tacky that I decided to buy the Maybelline ones instead. (Barry M's are £3.99 and they didn't have as many choices either.)

 The Keep Calm branding has been used pretty much everywhere recently, but it's the names of the product and the little images on the bottom that brings me back to the rubbers (erasers) that were shaped like lipsticks that everybody used in primary school.

 Their prices are also quite different, and I don't know if that is a typo on the Superdrug website or not, but the Baby Lips are at £1.57 per 10 grams, while Rimmel's are at £7.48. Besides, the Baby Lips have been around for longer, and many of my friends have recommended them to me. The slant on the Keep Calm lip balms do make it easier to apply, and the hydration is about the same. The colours however aren't as vibrant as the Baby Lips. Maybelline's lip balms also protect your lips as it has SPF 20. 

Seriously? Just nope.( Credit: Superdrug.com)

The Baby Lips Balm that I picked smells absolutely amazing, and I did need to reapply over the course if the day, but that that was because I was nonstop drinking because of the weather.  It's not overly bright as it is a balm and not lip gloss, but there is a significant change in colour.

Ignore the mess, I applied makeup during a really bumpy taxi ride!

I prefer carrying lip balm sticks over Vaseline pots. They just seem so bulky and take up a lot of space. They also don't tint your lips or smell particularly nice. 

You can buy the Baby Lips Balm here, and it's currently on sale at buy one get the 2nd half price.

Thanks for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts about this product.

Love, Lyz xxx

Favourite buy of the week (13/08/2014)

Hello lovelies!

So my favourite buy for this week is the Batiste Floral Dry Shampoo.

I was in Superdrug looking to buy a new dry shampoo as my usual Batiste Cherry Dry Shampoo had run out. The bottle caught my eye straight away and I thought it looked really cute, so I bought it on impulse (as per usual!) 

I'm pretty pleased with this product as it smells absolutely gorgeous. It's the same as other fragrant Batiste dry shampoos: texture, size and price, and it's currently on sale in Superdrug now!

I find that during the summer, my hair dries out and gets damages so much easier because I always feel hot and therefore shower spontaneously a lot more. Instead of showering every day, or every other day regularly, I end up showering twice, even three times a day because it's been so hot lately. (I know, it's terrible!) Dry Shampoo allows me to give my hair's natural oils to work and help my hair recover. 

So I suggest trying out one of Batiste's dry shampoos, as they're great products at a reasonable price.

Of course an alternative to trying out dry shampoo is using talcum powder. It does decrease the greasiness of hair, but it is harder to blend in with darker hair colours and your hair turns out quite grey. The Batiste Dry Shampoo Range not only decrease greasiness, but they also make your hair smell great and give it some volume. 

Click here to buy it from Superdrug.

And here is a video of Pixie Lott advertising Batiste Dry Shampoo.