LUSH Birthday Haul

It was my Birthday last Saturday and during in my birthday shopping trip I couldn't resist picking up a few bits I've had my eyes on in LUSH. (If you didn't see my last haul, click here)

The last time I went to LUSH I went a bit crazy testing stuff out on my hand and when I got home I kept getting a whiff of something amazing. However,I smelt all the products I had bought, but unfortunately it wasn't anything I purchased in store that day. So when I went to LUSH on Saturday I tested out the products I thought it might be! It turned out to be the Vanillary Solid Perfume.It's described as a "sweet, yet sophisticated vanilla fragrance".  Now, here's the thing, I am absolutely in love with the scent of this, a lot of people say the jasmine is too overpowering which I don't find, however since purchasing it and wearing it I have had the biggest headache/migraine sort of thing, is it something to do with this perfume? I can't be sure, but I have read reviews of people saying it gives them headaches.

 

Another purchase of this trip was the Feeling Younger skin tint, I love a bit of highlight but I do find some can make you look a bit too shimmery.On the LUSH website it's described as "A light-reflecting skin tint made with oats, fragrant essential oils and cocoa butter for a gorgeous glow". So far I really like this product, as you an see from the swatch it blend really nicely and leaves a lovely glow but isn't too shimmery. Plus it goes perfectly with Jackie Oates. When wearing this even my boyfriend noticed that I looked different so it must be doing something!

Recently I've seen quite a few blog posts on Jackie Oates colour supplement. On the packaging this is described as a product for "fairer folk and English roses". Now I'm the the kind of person who only wears foundation because of my spot prone skin however if I had the choice I'd wear something lighter. I am quite pale so I never delved into the world of BB creams as I knew they'd probably not suit my skin tone. I haven't used this product enough to give a full review, but so far so good and it would be perfect for summer! 

Finally, I was gifted this bath bomb for my birthday from one of my lovely Uni friends, Avobath bath bomb I'm yet to use it but it smells amazing, it's so sweet and reminds me of sherbert! On the LUSH website it's described as "citrus bath bomb to cheer the spirits and feed thirsty skin" as it contains oils such as avocado and olive oil for tackling dryness (see full list of ingredients here). I've heard good things about this product so cannot wait to use it!

Have you tried any of these products? If not, would you be interested in a full review of any of these items?

Hayley x

The Liebster Award

Eeek, the gorgeous Roxy from January Blonde (link to her blog here) nominated me for a Liebster award! In case you're new to blogging like me, and haven't head of it,  it's an award that is blogger to blogger and helps new bloggers gain recognition for their lovely blogs then run!

The rules for this are as follows:

1.You must link back to the person who awarded you

2.You must answer the 11 questions given by the nominee before you

3.You pick 11 nominees with under 200 followers to answer your questions

4.You cannot nominate the person who nominated you

5.You must tell your nominees that they have been nominated by you

  

Thank you Roxy for nominating me, I have never done any kind of tag post so I guess this will let you find out a bit more about me!

1. What's your favourite thing to blog about?

At the moment I would say product reviews of stuff I've been loving or monthly favourites!

2. What inspired you to start writing a blog?

 My passion for writing, my desire to become involved with the blogging community and the need to for somewhere to chat about beauty!

3. What is one item of clothing you couldn't live without?

 Comfy warm jumpers!

4. What is on your summer wishlist?

 Sunshine! Does that count?!

5. What was the last beauty item you bought?

I popped into Boots the other day and bought the some Essie nail varnishes in the 3 for 2, in the colours Fiji, Bahama Mama and Beach Bum Blue!

6. What's your favourite song right now?

I'm still in love with "How long will I love you" by the beautiful Ellie Goulding!

7. What life motto do you choose to live by

"When you look back on your life you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did"

8. Do you prefer sun or snow?

This is really tough - but I'm going to say sun! Everyone's happier when it's sunny, right?

9. What is your dream job?

 I won't know until I have it.. if that makes sense! The grass is always greener on the other side!

10. Who is your favourite blogger of all time?

I'm going to have to say Zoe Sugg (a.k.a Zoella)...

11. Why is your blog called what it is?

Well, Hayley is my first name then Jachz is the first two letters of my middle and surname with a Z on the end! (crazy, I know!)

I nominate the following people, who all have less than 200 followers on either Twitter, Bloglovin' or Instagram:

Ellie-  Ms Ellie Jean

Genevieves- Genevieves life blog

Tabitha West

Rosie- Rosie's Cottage

Abbie- Studded Rose

Joanna Joanna Sprinkles

Jackie- Beauty made Simple

Sal- Novarellie

Hollie- Loved by Hollie

Poppy Lily

Lily Frohlich

And my questions for you are 

1. What made you decide to start a blog?

2. Have you stuck to your New Years resolutions? What were they?

3. What do you hope to be doing in 5 years time?

4. What are five beauty products you could not live without?

5. MIC or TOWIE?

6. Favourite LUSH product?

7. What's your favourite quote?

8. Favorite time of the year?

9.What's your favourite brand and why?

10. Would you rather only have a wardrobe full of winter or summer clothes?

11.  If you could only wear one lipstick for the rest of your life what would it be?

Thanks again for my nomination, hope you enjoyed reading my answers! I look forward to seeing the answers to my questions!!

Hayley x

Essie NOTW.

The other day I quickly popped into Boots as it was leading up to the end of the 3 for 2! I picked up some more lovely Essie colours, here is one of my favourites, "Beach Bum Blue". I would say, and I'm sure you'll agree from the name, this is more of a summery colour, but I wanted to try it out as it's such a unique colour. It is quite shimmery but not glittery, and does weirdly make me feel like a bit of a mermaid but in a good way!

Whilst looking through various blogs I have read that quite a few people find Essie nail varnishes chip quickly and this one has weirdly chipped more quickly than my other two Essie nail varnishes, which barely chip after wearing them for days, no idea why that is! 

I do like this colour but I definitely think it's too bold for this time of year, so I think I'll be going back to using my current favourite of "Splash of Grenadine"!

What do you think of this colour? What Essie colours are your favourite at the moment?

Hayley x 

LUSH Shower Gels and Candy Mountain Bubble Bar Review.

I thought it would be quite nice to write a little post on a few LUSH bath and shower products, as so far my reviews have heavily focused on skincare! (see my latest LUSH haul here).

The bubble bar shown is Candy Mountain, it was part of the 2013 Christmas collection. I purchased this for myself quite a while ago, however I only got round to using it last night! I'm not sure if this is part of the Christmas collection every year but I thought it would be worth showing and just giving a mini review on it as I really enjoyed using it!

The main ingredient of this bubble bar is Fair trade vanilla absolute (for full ingredients go on the LUSH website here), which makes it smell so sweet and well, like candy! It reminds me of the Snow Fairy shower gel (see below!). So if you are obsessed with that scent, like me, you'd definitely love this! The scent stays on your skin for quite a while after using and I found it made my feel skin incredibly soft, this is the first bubble bar I've tried but they do claim to be more moisturizing than the bath bombs. As you can see from the photos it made tons of bubbles! I used the whole thing, but I definitely think it could be used for at least two baths! There is glitter in this product but it's very fine and doesn't stay on your skin but, along with the colour, it makes the bath look very girly!

The LUSH shower gels shown below Prince Charming, Snow Fairy and It's Raining Men are the only shower gels I've tried so far from LUSH. Snow Fairy is definitely my all time favourite, unfortunately its part of the Christmas collection, and sadly I didn't stock up and I'm almost out! Next, Prince Charming, which was part of the Valentine's collection, I have a love hate relationship with this shower gel, it's a very... unique scent and very hard to describe! It's very sweet but not in the same way as Snow Fairy, although it smells strong while using, it leaves a lovely scent on your skin. Its Raining men is one of my latest LUSH purchases, it's certainly not my favourite but it's very fresh and moisturizing. I think my problem is with the shower gels is that nothing lives up to the perfection of Snow Fairy!

 I really want to try out Flying Fox shower gel and I'm also keen to see what the shower jellies are like. Although, it is a shame LUSH don't have a sweet candy scented shower gel as part of their permanent collection as I'm pretty sure that's all I would purchase and use!

Have you tried any of the LUSH shower gels? Which is your favourite? 

Have you seen my LUSH collection? Click here to see all the LUSH products I'm currently using! A new LUSH haul post and updated collection will be up soon!

Hayley x

Time for a Chat ❤

So, I realized I haven't actually done a chatty post on this blog yet! Therefore, I thought I'd formally introduce myself and just let you know a bit about me, the person behind this blog. I'm not sure where to start, maybe by the fact I'm suffering from shock that it's already March, I have literally no idea where time is going! I have one and half weeks of lectures left for this academic year, then I face horrendous exams and the realization that I only have one year of University left! As much as I enjoy University, I cannot wait to get on with my life and see what the future has to offer. I've been in education my whole life and I'm fed up of my life being defined by achieving grades; numbers and letters on pieces of paper! Although arguably University is a challenge in itself, I want to start challenging myself in ways that are worthwhile and achieve my goals. I guess you could say the aim of University is to get a good classification in order to get a job, but is it really that simple? I don't think so!

Anyway, bit about me and the future for this blog! So, if you are wondering I'm currently studying Psychology, regarded by many as a pointless subject, but of course I'd argue otherwise. I personally think it provides important insight and explanation to behaviour and reveals the capabilities of the human brain and body. Even if you wouldn't consider studying Psychology, I highly recommend for you to read about it, you might even discover for yourself how exciting and interesting it is!

On this blog, I don't just plan to talk about beauty but to express my thoughts and discuss topics which are  current and of importance (maybe even a few book reviews!). Of course, if you've read my previous posts it will be very clear that I'm a bit of a beauty junkie, in particular, in love with LUSH and I am highly supportive of their campaigns, which I'm sure I will discuss on this blog in the future. Other than that there isn't much else to know; I love living near the sea, writing and going shopping (obviously!).

I plan to regularly blog and I'd love to hear suggestions of what content you'd like to me to post!

Hayley x

Spring Nails: ESSIE

  On a recent trip to Boots (I can't resist a good 3 for 2!) I purchased a three Essie nail varnishes. I've been loving this one, Splash of Grenadine, it's such a girly purple pink colour, which is perfect for spring. Being pale I feel that pastels tend to just make me look even more washed out so I prefer to add a burst of colour. I'd never tried Essie nail varnishes before, at £7.99, they are quite pricey in comparison to other drugstore nail varnishes. Are they worth it? Definitely! Normally within a day my nails have started chipping but my Essie nail varnishes manage to go without chipping for days, I haven't actually tested how long yet, but I had the one colour on for four days and it still looked pretty much freshly painted. (okay, forgive me in the photo it does look like they have chipped bit on the tips but I have been typing a lot, A LOT).

Hayley x

First Impressions: LUSH Ultraband Facial Cleanser

On my recent trip  to LUSH (see my Mini LUSH Haul post) I purchased the Ultrabland facial cleanser. I've been trying to find some new skincare products as my eczema prone skin has been playing up recently so I need something less harsh on my skin, the micellar water I was using has dried out the skin around my eyes. I'd seen quite a few positive reviews about this product so thought it was worth a try!

Ultrabland is a gentle cleanser and which contains almond oil, rose water, beeswax and honey (read the full list of description here on the LUSH website). I haven't been using this product long enough to say for definite if I'll repurchase but so far so good!

  PROS:

-Very gentle on the skin.

-Leaves my skin feeling very soft and fresh.

-Soothes my eczema and dry patches.

-Easy to apply and wash off (I usually apply then wipe off with a damp cotton wool pad then use my Eau Roma Water).

    

CONS:

- It does feels slightly greasy on the skin (but it is described oily so I'm not sure what I was expecting- duh!) but doesn't leave skin feeling oily at all once washed off!

-This product smells a bit weird in the pot (however, you kind of get over the smell once it's on your face and it could be a lot worse! A lot of people say it doesn't really smell of anything, so maybe it's just me!

OVERALL:

I really like this product so far and am using it daily as part of my night time skin routine, I can't be so sure if I'll repurchase just yet as I'm not sure if this is definitely the cleanser for me but so long as it doesn't cause any breakouts on make my skin any worse then I would consider continuing to use this! I'm also worried about how long it will last me, it wasn't particularly cheap but if it takes a few months for me to use up then I can justify it!

Have you tried this cleanser? If so what did you think? Let me know in the comments below!

Hayley x

Another Mini LUSH Haul!

 

It had been a(nother) stressful week with lots of coursework, so I popped into LUSH to treat myself to a few things I've had my eye on! I've been looking to find some new skincare so thought I'd test out these bits! (Full reviews to follow!)

 Ocean Salt Facial Scrub - I haven't had a chance to try this out yet but it smells AMAZING, it basically smells like a lime cocktail! As well as sea salt for scrubbing away any dead skin, it contains  avocado butter, coconut oil and seaweed all which make your skin nice and soft! (see full ingredients here on the LUSH website)

Ultrabland Facial Cleanser- A first impressions post will be up about this soon (you can now read this here!), but ultimately it's a very gentle cleanser! I really wanted to try this out as my eczema prone skin has been very dry from the cold weather.

Eau Roma Water Toner Water- I've been wanting to try out the LUSH toners for a while but have always chosen to spend my money on other products instead but I've been using this before I go to bed to get rid of any makeup my cleanser hasn't removed, it's so relaxing and definitely worth purchasing!

It's Raining Men Shower Gel (100g)-So this is the scent of the Honey I Washed the Kids Soap, which I haven't actually tried as I'm not a soapy person. I've used it once and I'm not sure if I'm impressed, in comparison to the other LUSH shower gels it doesn't have a really strong scent and I couldn't smell it on my skin after my shower. I will test out a few more times though cause my sense of smells has gone a bit strange lately!

 

When paying for these products the lady who served me told me that LUSH is bringing out a new collection this month of lots of new stuff!! Unfortunately  it's top secret, I'm so excited though for the launch of new products! 

Comment below if you think there is anything you think I should try!

Hayley x