Beauty : The Body Shop Fuji Green Tea Hair Scrub Review

Hey All

When I first saw that The Body Shop was selling a hair scrub I knew I had to have it. I love The Body Shop Banana Shampoo and Conditioner and have raved about that here.

Beauty : The Body Shop Matte Clay Foundation Review

Hey All

A few months ago whilst shopping with my brother we popped into The Body Shop and I couldn't resist grabbing they're new matte clay foundation. For my oily/combination skin it seemed like the perfect foundation for me and there was a great range of colours and even though I'm pretty pale I wasn't the lightest shade.

The Body Shop Banana Shampoo and Conditioner

Hey all

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. Whilst wondering past The Body Shop store in Cardiff a few months back I saw an offer where if you bought a shampoo you got the conditioner free, I hadn't actually tried any hair products from The Body Shop so decided to test them out (I have the hair scrub now too which I can't wait to try!)

Since going Cruelty Free I've almost rediscovered The Body Shop as a brand and I'm totally in love with so many products, and obviously I've convinced L too (you can find all of our reviews on The Body Shop Here and Here)

The Body Shop Shade Adjusting Drops Light

Hey All

As a pale girl finding foundation that matches especially on the high street and that is cruelty free is a struggle. After finding The Body Shop Shade Adjusting Drops in light I've not looked back, I can now use all my old foundations that are too dark and adjust foundations to suit perfectly dependant on my skin tone at that time!

If you've read our blog for a while you'll know L and I are huge fans of The Body Shop, after going cruelty free I rediscovered a love for their products and have tried loads and got L hooked too, you can see all our reviews here and here.

Must Have Cruelty Free Make up Brands

Hey All

A few weeks ago L shared her Top 5 skincare products (post here) so I thought I'd do the beauty version, I've been totally cruelty free in all purchases of make up for over 18 months, it's taken some discovery with some brands being shady about it and some brands making the decision to sell in china so are going back to animal testing (Nars I'm looking at you, that decision broke my heart!) Anyway, so here are some of my favourites!

The Body Shop Matte Lip Liquid in Tahiti Hibiscus 016 and Mauritius Dahlia 017

Hey All

Just before Christmas I was at home visiting Clarks Village, since going cruelty free last year I always pop into The Body Shop as I love their skincare now especially The Drops of Youth Range which I will be finally sharing my thoughts on next week! (L reviewed the peel here), when I was picking up my standard serum and bouncing sleep mask I had a reward on my beauty card so couldn't resist these.

NOTD Body Shop Mint Cream Colour Crush

Hey All

A while a go I was lucky enough to win a competition for some of the Body Shop Colour Crush Nail Colour. I've been loving trying them out and painting my nails to help me try to stop biting them as much. I never got around to grabbing Essie Mint Candy Apple when everyone was loving it last year and with the weather getting warmer I couldn't wait to try it out.

At only £5 a bottle they are reasonably priced and available online or in shops. The brush is a decent size and easy to paint with and so far all the polishes I've tried have a decent coverage with two coats without being two thick.

Mint Cream is a perfect mint pastel green with a great glossy finish. I love these type of shades for spring summer and I find pastel shades like this don't look too bad when my nails are short. 

If you've read the blog for sometime you'll know I rarely comment on wear, for me due to my job no polish lasts more than 48 hours unchipped. When I wore a lilac version from this range to a wedding recently I did get 5 days chip free.

I'm loving the colours in the range and price of these! It's definitely opened my eyes to The Body Shop as more than body butters and scrubs for me. Any product recommendations?

Love M

xxx

Beauty Rehab

Hi there lovelies!

I've been working hard for these Beauty Rehab posts of late, and have been successfully powering through my stash. I've still got a long way to go but using up moisturisers is my biggest mission as i seem to have thhe worlds biggest collection.

If you're looking to use up your stash as quickly as possible I would recommend you start with all of your half used products followed by sample sizes. After that, start attacking your biggest items as I'm assuming that space is the number one reason for using items up. I'd probably suggest you avoid using Soap and Glory products as they're always so big and last forever, testament to their value but not ideal for using up!

Weleda Skin Food - Actually really liked this, too greasy for day wear but a gorgeous smell and a thick cream for hydration, Would consider buying it.

Indeed Labs Pepta Bright - Not sure if this works or not, I did enjoy it and the effects initially but I was rubbish at continuous use so I can't comment on the entire tube. Wouldn't repurchase as it wasn't the right product for me.

Lancome Hypnose Mascara - loved this but unfortunately after an eye infection this one had to go....I'm extremely fussy with eyes products! Would rebuy but not at full price, the Christmas sets are worth waiting for!

Collection Lasting Perfection concealer - Love love love for the £4 price tag. Have already repurchased!

Re Gen cream - a home bargains bargain, lovely moisturiser but can't say it had any re generation properties.

Body Shop Clementine body butter - loved the smell of this and actually enjoyed using it considering I'm not a body butter fan! Would rebuy in future when I don't have 5 million others to use....

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation - initially loved this but the colour didn't suit me as much after a time. Needed to condense my foundation collection which is taking some time!

JPG MaDame perfume - absolute favourite perfume. Struggled from Christmas to get one for my birthday so am very relieved to have a full bottle again!

Bourjois Nail varnish remover pot - Loved this but it does seem to degrade pretty fast. I'm sure there will be a cheaper version soon but I do like the look of the new toe nail remover they've got!

Ojon Rare Blend Hair Oil - lovely smell, lovely idea but it was a chore to use and I don't like pouring things. wouldn't repurchase again as I'd prefer one with a dispenser.

Botanics Clay Face Mask - technically not finished...I don't get on with this mask any longer and there's not a lot left in the tube anyway. Wouldn't repurchase as I have plenty more!

Cutex nail varnish remover - wouldn't normally include polish remover but I'm intrigued if anyone ever thinks that there's a difference between cheap and expensive brands?? I never notice a difference! Cheap is good with me.

S&G Slimwear - Used to love this and that it was blue, now it feels very cold on my skin! I have another tube of this to use so maybe I'll save it for just before Glasto in the hope it will make me look super svelte!

Aussie 3 Min Miracle - love this conditioner and will buy it forever more! Smells amazing and works a treat for my long and dry hair.

Aussie Mega Shampoo - also loved this, would repurchase both Aussie products but I've already stocked up for the next few months :)

S&G Smoothie Star Body Milk - took me a while to use this but loved it. The smell is so warming and comforting. Cannot go wrong with an S&G product!

Tresemme Salon Finish hair spray - great spray thought the nozzle does get clogged up easily. Good size can of spray for the £5 price tag! Have another in the sidelines.

Mane n Tail conditioner - enjoyed using this and it definitely did help the condition of my hair and length of it too. I'd love to try more products from their range like the leave in treatment.

Murad AHA/BHA exfoliating cleanser - Loved this and it lasted forever, large price tag but was so worth it as this cleanser really works and isn't abrasive at all.

What do you think of my empties? Do you have any favourites in the list?

L xxx

LFW - Backstage with Label.m

When we saw the email pop up in our inbox inviting us to go backstage at LFW to the shows Label.M and Toni and Guy were working on we both knew it was too good an opportunity not to go. 

We were lucky enough to head to LFW in February to see the Matthew Williamson show so after that experience we were both excited to head to LFW again. We both love all things fashion, hair and make up and thought to see what happens back stage would be really interesting.

Label.M is a brand we've been lucky enough to try a few products from now and it's fair to say we both love them. Especially the protein spray! When we arrived we met Lucy who gave us the bands to allow us back stage! 

The shows we attended were held at Freemasons Hall. It was such a beautiful setting and the building was amazing!! Inside there were lots of great high ceilings, guild work and paintings!

I decided to test out the panoramic feature on my camera. It's great to show the set up of the room. We were both really shocked at how calm it was before the show. Everyone was really busy but it was so well organised that everyone was just working efficiently.

When we walked in we were lucky enough to speak to the head hair artist for the designer. Mateus (hope I spelt that right) explained the concept for the look to us. For Natasha Zinko it was more of a Presentation than a catwalk show, this meant the models hair really had to last. Natasha Zinko is a Jewellery and clothing designer and lots of the models would be wearing hats. The plan for the hair was big hair with curls that looked natural and effortless. 

The hair was prepped with Label.m Extra Strong Mousse and blow dried to ensure it would hold. 

The hair was then curled using tongs and wands and pinned into the curls and left to set. Mateus would show the stylists how to do it on one model and then they would go and repeat. It was all very well organised. The placement of the curls and where the pins should be positioned were all standard so that the finish look would all look the same. Some of the girls would have two or three stylists curling the hair to get it all done. 

We loved being able to have a nosey around and see the whole look come together. A combination of Mac, Bodyshop and Nars make up were being used. The make up was a strong brow (Cara Delevingne esque!), cat eye with white liner on the water line and the liner going underneath into the inner corner and an amazing red lip! 

One of the models with make up done and hair waiting for the next stage. The lips were a stunning colour and Mac Lipmix in crimson was used. Am I right in thinking this is only a pro product?

The models all had grey nails. It was an essie shade but we couldn't figure out which. Maybe slightly more grey than Chinchilly. I think it was most likely to be Cocktail bling, It looked so neat on the nails. 

As it was approaching show time set stylists were given the job of finishing off the hair so all the models would go to him one at a time to get it brushed out. It was impressive how organised it all was.

Here the finishing touches are being done!! How beautiful is that hair!! We both want to try it out and are hoping we've picked up the tricks to gorgeous volumous curls. It looks so soft and big!!


How stunning is the final look!! The hair and make up look amazing and Natasha's Designs are amazing!! I'm a huge lace fan and love the classic simple look of this dress!! I love the garden theme and layout of the presentation.

This is definitely a look we will be trying to recreate!

The second show that we went backstage at was for Pam Hogg. Unfortunately as they were running late and everything was a bit stressful here we didn't stay there long as we didn't want to get in the way.

Even so we managed to snap a few quick pictures!

The style for this show was sleek hair blow dried straight to be pinned back or underneath. The main focus at this show was the clothes and the head pieces, there was absolutely no way anything was detracting from them and you can see some photos from the Metro of the show itself below:

 

The models at the Pam Hogg show were lovely, they even posed for us and it just shows how used to the chaos they are!

The make up for this show was laid out beautifully, there were so many products and I just wanted to get my hands on it all!

Particularly the lipsticks they look amazing!

It was really cool to see the notes the artists had made as well, the pictures look awesome!

It was a fantastic experience to attend LFW again and especially to go backstage. Seeing all of the hair being done was so interesting and we picked up a lot of tips.

I think we'll both be trying out the mousse technique to see how much better our hair looks and how much longer it holds, the Label.m Extra Hold Mousse is supposed to be amazing for this!

Which shows were your favourite from LFW? Did you do any celeb spotting?

L and M xxx

   

Body Shop Bargains!!

My brother text me this deal when he saw it last year and he's had his eyes pealed and text me again today! If you're a fan of body butters you definitely need to check this out or The Body Shop products in general.

At the moment they are offering a huge 40% of items including sale items! They also offer free delivery when you spend over £5!!

For me this means stocking up on body butters for the foreseeable future! I go through the sale body butters which are reduced from £13 to £5 which is already a bargain. Then with 40% off it reduces them to £3 each so you can save £10 on body butters if you aren't fussy on fragrance.

Sweet lemon is one of the fragrances. I've not smelt this but I'm sure it'll smell good and citrus is always a good summer bargain.

Another £3 one is the Macadamia Body Butter Duo. I've not tried these before but I've been keen too. It has two different moisturisers depending on how dry your skin is.

My hair always needs moisture as I dye it a lot so while I have a discount code I thought I'd try one of the masks. They contain no silcone or parabens and host a lot of other benefits. Hopefully this will be good. I got the small size.

In total I ordered four body butters and the hair mask and it came out at a bargain amount of £13.80 just over the price of one full price body butter.

To get the extra 40% off just type in EXTRATREAT at checkout.

Will you be ordering? It's too good an offer to resist.

Love M

xxx

Spring Series: Body Care

As it's March (this year is speeding by already!) we decided to start up a new series of posts for Sunday's.

With Summer coming up, in case it's in April again, we've decided to start a series of posts on how we get skin ready after the drying effects of Winter and Spring/Summer trends for clothes and make up.
We'll be doing them every Sunday in the hope that by the time we've finished them some good weather will be here!
Our first one is on body care, hope you enjoy :)

Body Scrubs

Through winter my skin goes horrible, especially my legs, they get so dry and no amount of moisturiser seems to help. Plus honestly I get lazy with moisturiser. I hate getting out of the shower and having to be cold while I rub in moisturiser! Now hopefully warmer weather is nearing it's time to prep my legs as I'm hoping soon I can wear skirts.

For body scrubs I love the Next Spa Sugar Body Scrub. Unfortunately I can't find this one online so I'm not sure if it was just a Christmas product. The texture of this scrub is one of the best I've used. It's very thick and almost jelly like. It smooths onto the skin and gently exfoliates with a good size particle. It leaves skin feeling moisturised leaving it with an oily feeling after. I love that it has a glitter sparkle through it. The only downside is the smell. As this is from the spa range it's a very fresh almost woody scent which does make you feel like you are entering a spa which is nice but for me I prefer more sweet or fruity scents. I will be looking out for this in shops and hopefully I'll be able to find it again. We were lucky enough to get this at a Next Blogger Event.

Body Butters

I'm a huge body butter fan. I love the thickness of them and the instant moisturising feeling they leave. I usually use Body Shop body butters, I love the variety of scents these leave and you can quite often get them on offer. They smooth onto the body easily and leave a nice scent on the skin.

I love how big the pots are and a little does go a long way. I tend to prefer body butters to lotions as I like that they are thicker.

Body Lotions

I did get the Soap and Glory Smoothie Star Body Lotion for Christmas. I love the scent of this. It's sweet and creamy smelling and I love that it comes in a pump bottle as it means when I'm wearing fake nails I don't get loads of product under my nails. This sinks in easily and leaves my skin well moisturised. It has converted me from body butters and as it's lighter it will be better for during the day on hot days.

I also like Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Pump Lotion. I love Palmer's products as they smell amazing. This is again a pump lotion so it means I don't get product under my fingers.

M xxx





Body Scrubs

I am what you would call a 'Soap and Glory girl' through and through. When it comes to scrubs the first thing I think of is their Sugar Crush scrub.
I absolutely adore this grainy substance which smells very strongly of sugar and lime, basically it's like a mojito and I just love it.

 

I also love their Pulp Friction scrub which foams and has more of a fruity smell and feels more moisturising because of the foam.
I pick and choose which one I fancy using depending on my skin condition at the time, and of course the smell I'm after! I find they do a really good job at sloughing off all of the dead skin cells so the new ones can push through and make moisturiser easier to sink in.

Body Butter

I'd never really used a body butter before I received a Soap and Glory one a few years ago, so they were a new thing for me. I have now become obsessed with how luxurious they feel on my skin especially after winter where my skin has taken a bashing from the cold and heating in the house.

I love how thick it is and it obviously smells amazing.
I do also like the Body Shop butters, they are on a similar standard and have a great variety of flavours. Satsuma is my next one to try!

Body Lotion
Again, having received the Soap and Glory bag I also like the Body Milk that M likes. The pump makes things so easy!
I also like the Vaseline and Dove moisturisers as most of the time they are so easily absorbed into your skin that you rarely need to wait long for it to sink in, so these are my favourites for week days and after the gym when I haven't got much time but don't want to skip it.

A product I would love to try is a body oil. I've tried baby oil and it was too thick for my skin and took forever to absorb. I've heard drier oils are better and the Palmer's cocoa butter is one of the ones I've heard rave reviews about and definitely need to try. Do any of you have any recommendations??

So there's our first Spring Series post, what do you think? Do you use scrubs often?

L xxx

  

Beauty Rehab

I haven't posted one of these in a while but have still been trying to make my way through plenty of products!

It seems endless and although I always seem to be finishing things I feel I need to step it up a gear in time for Christmas.

This moisturiser was bought ages ago and it took me a while to use it up.

It was ok, the 'firming' ones never seem to work as well as they claim they do!

I wouldn't buy this again as it took quite a while to sink in.

These are both good tanners but not worth the money, sprays always seem to run out so fast and I personally prefer a lotion now, even if sprays can be easier to use on the back and hard to reach areas!

I personally felt that the Sanctuary Pore Refining Toner was, for want of a better word, pointless.

The smell was too floral for me and the spray felt like a waste of product, when the product was on my skin it felt like it didn't do a thing.

Liz Earle is obviously my favourite cleanser and every time I finish another bottle I die a little inside.

Maybe a little dramatic but it's true.

I am so tight for cash but this is one of the things I'd buy with pennies!

Loved the Dreams Unlimited butter, it sank in and didn't sit on my skin for a long time.

I personally would buy this again but the price of the Body Shop puts me off.

The Soap and Glory butter is just as moisturising but much cheaper.

The Tigi Control Freak Conditioner was great, and it smelt gorgeous!

I would pick this up again in TK Maxx as I feel it is worth the money.

Sebastian Potion 9 was bought ages ago on recommendation from my previous hairdresser.

I did enjoy using it and it did have a positive effect on my hair and maybe I'd buy it in the future but currently have so many hair products to use I can't afford the space.

The M&S Lime body butter was divine. I couldn't stop smelling myself whilst wearing it!

The smell lingered for a while but wasn't overpowering and my skin felt hydrated, would definitely buy it again!

As far as mattifiying moisturisers go the No 7 worked nicely. Seeing as my skin has become drier of late I found this does not provide enough hydration and so needed something more, and would be pointless in repurchasing.

I find Simple products a little boring. When I was younger they were great for when I had no idea what to use and my skin was more sensitive, but now I just felt like I was applying a cheap moisturiser and one that isn't quite so innocent as it seems.

How tastes change!

Benefit They're Real Mascara was in my opinion, amazing!

I did love it, but as with all mascaras they always run out or dry up and sometimes this seems a little annoying for the price tag.

I would pay for this again, but due to my current financial situation I will be sticking to my current new find which I will be blogging about soon!

The Pretty Quik nail drying spray was another pointless buy.

I never find that they help and always leave my hands greasy so I think I will have to remember this every time I consider it!

What have you been using up recently? Have you been trying to use more before Christmas?

L xxx