Tuesday 26 March 2013

Bath and Body Works Candle Haul

Well I guess it's not a proper haul as these Bath and Body Work's candles were sent to me by Andrea in our latest swap which you can watch the unboxing of on my youtube channel here and read in my last post here.
I have wanted to try some of these babies for so long, there raved about by American bloggers/you tubers all the time. I normally burn the pricey Yankee Candles which smell gorgeous before you burn them and when you burn them too but it can get expensive. I notice that a lot of candles will smell gorgeous but when you actually burn them...nothing!
So I have Cotton (smells like clean cotton by Yankee candles), Sun Tan, Leaves, Salted Caramel, coconut water (I love coconut smells) Cinnamon Sugared Donut, Pumpkin Cupcake, Sweet cinnamon Pumpkin and Pumpkin Caramel Latte.. Most of these smell like something I would happily eat.
So far I have only burnt this little baby, it's one of the mini's, you can't tell so much in the pictures but their tiny. I'd say there wasn't much of a scent throw (my room unfortunately didn't smell of Cinnamon Sugared Donuts) but I have a feeling this is the case because it's a 'mini'. But they did burn well, I'm looking forward to trying the rest.. I have faith in them!
What's your favourite smelly candle?
<3>

Saturday 23 March 2013

My USA swap unboxing haul - Chanel, Bath and Body works, Tarte, Too faced..

So this has to be the longest swap ever, Andrea who lives in the wonderful place called America and myself in rainy (or should I say snowy?) England took forever (atleast 6 months) collecting things for each other and behold this is what the lovely lady sent me. From Wet n Wild, Tarte, NYX to Bath and body works, Lush, Chanel...
USA SWAP HAUL CHANEL BATH AND BODY WORKS WET N WILD TARTE
USA SWAP HAUL TARTE TOO FACED BATH AND BODY WORKS
Seriously so many goodies, we both made unboxing videos on our you tube channels check out mine here and Andrea's here and feel free to click subscribe if you want :D.
Anyway's I love doing swap's, especially with this lady..it's so much fun and I'm incredibly grateful that our paths crossed (thanks to the beautiful world of internet) and I now consider her as one of my good friends.
So many cool products right? you can have a look at what she sent me when we did a swap last year in my post here.
What product would you like to try the most? I love everything but I'm the most excited about Tarte!
<3>

Thursday 21 March 2013

My favourite: Exfoliator - Caudalie Deep Cleansing Exfoliator

The Caudalie Deep Cleansing Exfoliator has to be my absolute favourite exfoliator that I have come across so far. In the past I have used St Ives Apricot scrub and Clean and Clear's exfoliating daily wash both of which I liked oh and Soap and Glory's 'Greatest scrub of all' which was okay.

This one was introduced to me by my friend Andrea and I had wanted to try it, it turned out I had a sample of this from when I did a swap with my friend who live's in Paris so I was super excited to try it.
Once I did I fell in love it.

Why? you may ask.
Well let's have a more in depth look into the product:
-Contains micro-particles to deep cleanse and unclog pores
-Grape pulp to soften and moisturise
-Menthol extract to leave you feeling refreshed.
-Free from Parabens, Sulphates and other nasties.

The texture was pretty unique compared to the other exfoliators I have used in the past, a whipped and more fine gritty texture which didn't feel too harsh but definitely felt like it did a fantastic job at deep cleaning my skin and gettinf rid of dead skin cells.
My skin felt smooth, refreshed and very clean after using this exfoliator which tick's all the boxes for me. The scent is light but nice I'm thinking grapefruit and something sweet. I overall just loved how it felt on my skin - the feeling of something working as your using it!

A few downsides however:
-The price 60ml for £18.00 is rather pricey. I bought it for slightly less as there was an offer on sites like feelunique who have 10% off this product at the moment.
- Although it's free of some nasties Polyethylene is second on the ingredients list which I didn't pay attention to till now. Polyethylene is plastic, it's what 'exfoliates' and gives that gritty/beady texture in a lot of skin care products and is also found in many other cosmetic products like mascara and powders. It's hard to avoid but there is of course talk on side effects of this ingredients which you can read about here, Skin Deep site and various other sites.

Overall I love this product and it is a favourite regardless of the downsides but I do wish it was more natural than it seems, maybe a more natural exfoliating ingredient like sugar rather than Polyethylene. Personally I'll still use it but be careful of avoiding it if I have broken or irritated skin and use it less frequently than I would have.

What's your favourite exfoliator?
Look out for my post on natural exfoliators!
<3

Tuesday 5 March 2013

A Perfume I'm enjoying: Liz Earle Botanical Essence No15

Yep girlies I'm still here, I've been lost somewhere between work, family issues and the gym and just haven't felt like blogging for a while but oh how I've missed it.

So I love my perfumes, I have around four at the moment all of which I like using in rotation, I'll be blogging about all of them eventually. One of them is Liz Earle's Eau De Parfum Botanical Essence No15 which I kindly got sent to me sometime last year.

Liz Earle Botanical essence 15 perfume

Some Facts:
-It's described as ..' a fresh spicy oriental scent. This clean, sexy and addictive eau de parfum is synonymous with feeling seductive and elegant.'
- 90% of the ingredients comes from sustainably sourced natural ingredients which is always great to hear.
- 50ml for £47.00
- Some of the 15 notes are Bergamot, Virginian Cederwood and Patchouli.
Liz Earle Botanical essence 15 perfume

Liz Earle Botanical essence 15 perfume

What do I think of it? (and my mum!)
I literally just sprayed some before I wrote this blog, my mum came upstairs and in the hallway mentioned how gorgeous something smells. She actually stole it off me as she loved the smell, I guess we kinda share it now.
It's definitely a strong scent (which you can smell for quiet sometime after spraying) it has a fresh undertone along with the spicy oriental notes.
It's different to anything I own, I normally go for either fresh and sometimes citrus scents or something sweet, fruity and floral but having said that I do enjoy this perfume I feel like it's my more 'mature' smell.
The packaging is really nice too, something very different to other perfumes, the front has pictures of all the different notes and on the inside it also tells you a lot about the perfume and the names of the notes that are in it.
Overall I like it and would suggest getting a sample or trying it out at the store, I think it would make a great mothers day present too!

What's your favourite perfume?