Lush Let the Good Times Roll Face Cleanser

Hello there!

We are long term fans of Lush and on a recent visit picked up a new cleanser that I had the chance to smell and knew I just had to have! Let The Good Times Roll (LTGTR from now on).

LTGTR is a face and body cleanser, it's a thick paste that you need to mix with a little water to create the cleanser. It's also double up as a scrub on account of the ingredients so you're getting double the effects from a single product.

The cleanser contains maize flour and polenta for exfoliation, and cinnamon powder to stimulate your skin. Even without these ingredients the smell is unbelievable; it's sweet, warming and reminds me of cinema popcorn - of which there are bits of it inside!

I've been using this cleanser for a few weeks now and love the smell and the exfoliating effects. If i had to be picky the bits of popcorn are actually a bit annoying when you are trying to make the cleanser but I'd definitely repurchase this.

Let the Good Times Roll costs £6.95 for 100g of product, so a perfectly reasonable cost. Have you tried this cleanser? What did you think of it?

It's another Lush product that I'd definitely buy again!

L xxx

Lush Mask of Magnaminty

Hey lovelies!

Our joint review today is for a well loved product from Lush, the Mask of Magnaminty.

We both recently picked up the self preserving version of the mask which means it will last a lot longer. It can be used on face and body and is a miracle worker on hormonal breakouts as well as longer term skin problems such as acne. It contains only 13 ingredients and the website pretty much says all that you need to know:

Easily smoothed over the skin anywhere you like, this mask is made with peppermint oil to stimulate, marigold oil and chlorophyllin to treat the skin; evening primrose seeds and aduki beans to gently exfoliate as you remove it. There’s also mineral rich kaolin to nourish, antibacterial honey, and peppermint oil to stimulate the blood cells just under the surface of your skin to leave it looking bright and refreshed.

The average review on the website is an impressive 4.7 stars which should tell you everything you need to know but i am absolutely in love with it. It costs £9.75 for the large tub and £5.50 for the smaller one shown above. I would fully recommend it to anyone struggling with hormonal breakouts especially the self preserving version as it would last much longer.

For anyone struggling with acne this would be a natural way to help prevent more spots from forming and help to reduce the size of the current ones. I occasionally get spots on my chest which aren't by any means bad at all but it has definitely helped to get rid of them faster.

I tend to leave this on whilst in the shower and then massage the scrubby bits into my skin (which aren't abrasive in any way) and then rinse it off. My skin feels deeply cleansed and over the past few weeks usage has definitely helped the condition of my skin. Also the smell (peppermint) is one of my favourites and I really enjoy using it. It's so refreshing and awakening.

If you have any issues with your skin I would 100% recommend it especially as its all natural. I'm definitely coming around to using Lush products a lot more. This is my favourite closely followed by Ocean Salt scrub.

Have you tried Mask of Magnaminty? What's your favourite Lush product?


L xxx

Hey All

Hope you've had a great weekend! I've had a chilled but busy one with the other half! As L said we've both picked this up recently! I love Lush masks and have tried most of them now but the short date is annoying, they do last a little past it. I tend to operate by if it smells and looks the same I use it.

One that lasts longer is always preferred though. I love that Mask of Magnaminty is also recommended for body breakouts. As gross as it is my back has been having the occasional break out too lately! Lush I know but I'm pretty sure it's from exercising!

I love the slight cooling effect this has on my skin. I find minty things just make my skin feel extra clean! I do find a more clay like mask can leave my skin feeling dry but this just leaves it looking soft and slightly more glowy!

As L mentioned it has a mild exfoliant in it which is great for sports to get rid of the annoying dry skin on and after spot! Overall I'm loving this! The blueberry cosmetic warrior used to be a favourite but mask of magnaminty has definitely knocked it off the top spot!

Lush have a whole range of new self preserving products out to help make them even more natural. They've used products like honey which is a natural antibacterial. For things like the ever popular dream cream they have the new self preserving version and the original.

Have you tried any of the new range?

Love M

xxx

Lush Ocean Salt Scrub

Hey pals!

This is a super quick post from me as were both on our way to....wait for it.....HARRY POTTER STUDIOS TODAY!!!

To say I'm excited is an understatement, we went once over a year ago but this time it coincides with the Dark Arts exhibition so were very excited to see the extra things and go with a group of friends too. Expect a post and lots of tweets, eek!

That aside, I've been loving a bit of Lush lately which for me is out of the norm as I'd never normally travel that end of town. but a few new purchases and a few blogger goody bags and I'm slowly changing my mind. I've got a few reviews coming up but this one is for the Ocean Salt Scrub which I'm sure for many of you is nothing new at all, but for me, it's love!

First off, I picked this one in the Self Preserving formula which is fairly new for this product and it means it will last AGES which is great news for me as I like to swap and change things sometimes or might give my skin a break from certain types of products for a bit as it is weirdly sensitive (currently nursing a reaction from e45 cream from 4 weeks ago, siiiiiiiiiiigh)

The ingredients in this lovely product can be seen in the image below, if somewhat blurry at the end:

I've been using this for face and body and it smells absolutely GORGEOUS. i think what puts me off about Lush is the strong smells, I know everyone loves them but I can't stand them! My nose is very sensitive and I can smell scents quite quickly, there's no need to over power my nose. Things like Snow Fairy look gorgeous but I just can't deal with the smell, sorry superfans!

The citrus smell of this beauty is something that I just can't get enough of, its FABULOUS and my pot is diminishing faster than a plate of food does in my house (trust me, thats lightning speed!)

You only have to look at it to see it's pretty swirl of cream and blue and then get a whiff of fresh citrus scents to want it and it has certainly won me over. I've been using this in the shower on face and body, the usual backs of the arms kind of places and my skin has been super smooth and not irritated in the slightest.

The smell wakes me up in the mornings and the scrubby bits do the perfect job of exfoliation, cannot go wrong with this one!

As if it wasn't perfect enough already, it has also got vodka and coconut oil in, what a winner.

The 250g pot of this costs £13.95 which is a bit steep, but when you know its 100% natural and unlikely to become a product that adds to the millions of microbeads washing into our water systems all the time then you know you're onto a good one!

Have you tried Ocean Salt Scrub? do you prefer the self preserving one? What else would you recommend from lush for me to try that isn't too strong on the nose?

L xxx

Neutrogena Deep Clean Daily Scrub

Hi there!

I've long been a skincare junkie and blogging has clearly made that worse; my endless drawers of facial skincare are testament to that addiction. When I was in America in 2012 I picked up many a product and one of those products was the Deep Clean daily scrub from Neutrogena which helps to provide long lasting shine control.

If I remember rightly this comes in at around $5 and it is worth EVERY CENT. It's one of the products I ask my friend over in america to send me whenever we do a product swap only it was such a long time in between the two bottles I was getting serious withdrawals from it!

As you can see from the tube, its a bright blue scrub with bits in and comes in 125ml tubes.

It claims to clear away 85% of built up oil and keep you shine free for hours with the use of rice protein. I was skeptical at first but I'd travelled to america for university for 2 months and didn't take a scrub with me so needed to get a cheapy to keep me going as my skin wasn't enjoying the humidity and heat that North Carolina offers.

I used this once or twice a day after cleansing and it cleared my skin up a treat! I couldn't believe something that was a scrub could be used twice a day and at such a great price could clear my skin completely of any blemishes and redness leaving uniform and (almost) flawless skin....how amazing!

It also kept my skin oil free ALL DAY LONG which considering I was mostly digging in mud for 5 hours a day and it was over 30 degrees I think is pretty impressive.

I realise this isn't a review that means you can go out and buy it straight away as sadly this is still only available in America and however much I wish for it, it is yet to make it to these shores.

You can find it on ebay here, but sadly even though the products are around £5/6 the postage can be £8 itself!
It would be amazing if they brought it to these parts of the world but for now I will have to stick to swapping present packages with my friend over there. if you travel over to the US I would definitely recommend you trying this.

Have you tried the Deep Clean range? Do you have any fave American products that you can't get hold of in the UK?

L xxx

Save, Spend, Splurge: Facial Exfoliators

Morning lovelies!

M has written a fair few 'Save, Spend, Splurge' posts previously and I had these three facial exfoliators that I just had to compare. All are very similar but differ in price....are they worth it?

Soap and Glory's Greatest Scrub of All - £9 125ml

Antipodes Reincarnation - £20.99 75ml

Origins Modern Friction - £33 125ml

S&G's Greatest Scrub of All contains smooth boost spheres that 'pop open' when you press them. These are made from silicon and contain salicylic acid when you pop them so it's like your own DIY microdermabrasion.

It's a white cream with what feels like a powder the consistency of sugar granules in. It feels rough on your hands but not on your skin especially when it was wet, makes it a lot easier to exfoliate your face without anything too harsh.

I quite liked this, especially for the price. It doesn't have an overpowering smell and my skin did feel like it had been scrubbed (in a good way) and felt clean and free of oil, dirt and residues.
The packaging is cute, witty and easy to like, plus its dermo tested and from the UK. There's not a lot to dislike in this product!



Next up is Antipodes Reincarnation Pure Facial Exfoliator.

This packaging is totally different; its a very grown up cream tube made from recycled materials and has a black lid. It's a whole lot more grown up and kinder to the environment.

The scrub itself is cream coloured and contains the tiniest particles I've ever used in a scrub. They're actually jojoba beads and the other main products in this exfoliator are all natural including avocado oil, calendula oil and carrot seed.

Again this is applied to damp skin and my skin feels cleansed and my newer cells shining through after the duller older ones have been removed. You can barely feel the particles sloughing off dead skin which is really good especially for sensitive skin.

Lastly we have Origins' Modern Friction, which is self titled as 'Nature's gentle dermabrasion'.

I have to agree as this is the first product I bought from the three shown in this post. It's again a thick white cream containing Rice Starch to slough away the lifeless skin and Lemon Oil to aid illumination.

This can be used on wet or dry skin; dry skin for a more concentrated scrub and wet skin for those who are more sensitive. The scrub doesn't feel rough on your skin even when used on dry skin and not only does the skin feel smoother it looks visibly more uniform.

It was a hard task to decide which of these i preferred more. When looking at the figures and sizes of the products, the Antipodes Reincarnation exfoliator was actually more expensive as the original price was for a 75ml tube and not the 125ml that the others were. It actually works out at £34 for 125ml so is pretty much the same as Origins.

It's a hard choice but I think that with skincare it always ends up being the most expensive that wins out. I do think skincare is worth splashing out on, and Im yet to find a product from Antipodes or Origins that I haven't liked, hasn't been worth the money, and hasn't lasted considerably longer than other products that are cheaper.

S&G is a great scrub and I will continue to beg my mum for the sets at Christmas.....but I think in this case the Save option has been beaten by the Splurge options.

Do you think skincare is worth spending on? Or are you not bothered and would prefer to save your money for shoes?

Have you tried any of these exfoliators? Which one did you prefer?

L xxx

Antipodes Spree....Round 2

Morning chums!

I wrote about my Antipodes spree a few weeks ago in this post. I'm completely hooked and won't bang on about them as a brand too much but basically they're blooming good!

My second order from them involved another 2 raved about products and another freebie which I sent to the lovely Sasha from Ramblings from a Beauty Bird as she missed the deal.

I ordered the much raved about Aura Manuka Honey Mask and I'm a huge fan of Facial Exfoliators so snapped up Reincarnation too.

Reincarnation Pure Facial Exfoliator is an EXTREMELY gentle face scrub, the particles are so tiny that really its like rubbing a cleanser with the tinest amount of powder in. It's probably the most non-abrasive exfoliator I've ever used.

It contains avocado oil and jojoba oil to remove lifeless skin, Calendula oil to repair and carrot seed the revitalise the skins surface. Not only that but it also contains a range of essential oils to soothe the skin's surface, what a combo!

I've used this a few times over the last few weeks and can honestly say it is one of my favourites. I am a firm fan of Origin's Modern Friction and whilst the effects from both are the same, the Reincarnation exfoliator is definitely less abrasive so it all depends on what you yourself are looking for in what is essentially a facial scrub.
This retails at £20.99 and whilst this may be expensive for some the ingredients are of top quality and a little goes a very long way.

Not to mention that i love the packaging of these products, the tubes make it easy to dispense as little or as much as you want and ensures there is nothing left at the end as you can squeeze every little drop out of it!

The Aura Manuka Honey Mask has been raved about all over the bloggersphere and I knew I had to pick it up months ago but unfortunately buying a car had delayed my ability to purchase anything!

Now i know why it was raved about and how much i will always need to repurchase this!

Applied to clean and dry skin the mask not only utilises Manuka Honey (an ingredient from NZ that is famed around the world and which we always keep in our kitchen cupboards) to increase moisture it also has fragrances of vanilla pod and mandarin to balance your 'Aura'.

After my first use I was hooked. I was astonished how a hydrating mask could not only alleviate my dehydrated and drab looking skin but also reduce the size if not completely eliminate some pesky spots i had and reduce the redness. Unbelievable!

This mask retails at £21.99 and comes in the very same tubes, easy to squeeze out every last drop and I can assure I will be there squeezing until my next one arrives. I cannot ever be without it and I apologise to humanity for not buying it sooner, maybe you wouldn't have to put up with my 'pizza face' for so long eh?

Have you tried Antipodes before? Which product is your favourite? Are you a manuka honey fan?

My wishlist for Antipodes is growing at an alarming rate, but I'd love to get my hands on the Joyous Night Replenish Serum, the Kiwi Seed Eye Cream and their Immortal Moisturiser.

No doubt when I'm closer to being debt free I'll be snapping up everything I can get my mitts on!

L xxx

Review: Outback Organics

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to be sent some products to try from Outback Organics. I had seen them on twitter and seen lots of positive reviews on their products so when they asked for people to try stuff I sent them our information.

Outback Organics is a company from Somerset (my home town) so that intrigued me even more. It's great to support local businesses. They've grown into a successful business which is used my professionals in salons and available to purchase online. We were sent three products to try. The Face and Body Scrub, Face and Body Wash and the Botanical Body Oil.

The Face and Body scrub was the product I was most excited to try. The scrub comes in a tube which I prefer in products. I'd much rather this than a tub as I find tubs like soap and glory end up with the product going gloopy as it gets water in it. As someone who uses an epilator unfortunately ingrown hairs are part of what comes with this method of hair removal. This product was developed to use prior to waxing or epilating to help prevent them and is gentle enough to then be used after and on the face.





I love multi-functional products. They are handy to leave my bathroom less cluttered. This product is a white cream with a soft exfoliation. No rough particles. The beads are a good size but don't feel rough on the skin. The micro-beads are make from jojoba which helps to buff away dead skin without irritating it. I've used this a few times a week since receiving it. I've had no reactions to it and I've used it all over my body and face. It's been perfect for the bits of skin left behind after spots and has helped with ingrown hairs. The scrub retails for £8.99 for 100ml. It's also not tested on animals (big positive) and is free from synthetic chemicals. I also have to add the smell of this whole range. I love it. All the products smell very spa like, they are fresh, almost woody smelling. They smell exactly like spa massage oils to me. I definitely want to try the ingrown hair serum from this range.



The skin wash is another multi purpose product but I've been using this just on my face. This is from the tea tree range. Anyone with oily skin will know tea tree is great for helping cleanse it. I usually stay away from tea tree products as I find them over powering and while this smells of tea tree it isn't as strong as I usually find them. The tea tree oil in this in organic and it also contains peppermint oil. The combination of these help to clean pores and prevent spots.



The skin wash retails for £5.99 for 100ml. I personally think this is a great price and this product will last a while. I like to use this in the mornings as it has a fresh scent to it. I also prefer to use a gel cleanser in the mornings. I feel like this is giving my skin a deep clean and leaves it feeling fresh and not greasy. This will definitely be a repurchase for me.



The botanical body oil is a product with four uses. It can be used pre wax, post wax, pre shaving and as a moisturizer. I've only tried it the last two ways. Being an oil I was definitely skeptical of putting it on as moisturizer. I don't enjoy the feeling of being slippery. This took me a while to try out. After I did I wondered why. It really is a dry oil. Which is quite an unusual texture. When rubbed in it sinks into the skin leaving soft skin feeling that lasts. This has really helped my sun burnt skin. I've been applying it morning and night and so far I've not had any peeling (fingers crossed it stays that way). It's really kept my skin soft.



I also tried it out under my shave cream (shampoos I didn't like) and found it made my shave much smoother. I definitely like this as a moisturizer and a spray bottle is much easy than a pot of body butter. I'm a fan. This retails at £11 for 100 or £15 for 250ml. I know which size I'll be reordering. If your a fan of dry body oils I definitely suggest trying this one. It'll last ages too.

I've really enjoyed trying these products and it's nice to find a new company that doesn't test on animals.

You can purchase outback organics online from here and they have some great July offers on.

Love M

xxx

Unfortunately for me I had a bit of an allergic reaction recently, so haven't been using anything new on my skin until it cleared up. You can see any pictures of it on twitter, but after a trip to a spa I was covered from head to toe in a pretty nasty rash which took a week of super strong antibiotics to get rid of. 

This meant that I haven't been able to try the Outback Organics products as much as I'd have liked.

I have however used the products once or twice (without any reaction!) and I think they're really great.

I tried the body oil first and that sunk in really easily leaving my skin with a sheen but not feeling greasy which a lot of body oils seem to do. It seems a lot drier than others I've tried and smells really fresh and clean, I'd definitely be interested in repurchasing this if the long term effects are as hydrating!

The face and body wash is also another that smells great. It smells of tea tree oil and from my childhood this always reminds me of being really clean and would be great for oily and blemished skin to fight off spots and kill bad bacteria on skin. It foamed up nicely too!

The face and body scrub felt really gentle and smells of rose I think? It's a really soothing smell and my body and face both appreciated how gentle the scrubby bits were as they weren't abrasive at all.

Another plus was the multi functional usage of the wash and scrub as you can use them on both face and body. This is perfect for morning showers when you are in a rush! 

I can't comment on how they are over time as I've only just started using them, but on initial usage I really like all three products and would definitely be interested in looking at other products from Outback Organics.

What do you think of these products? Do you like multi functional ones?

L xxx