Reflecting On 2018

As we enter 2019, I'm so happy to be able to say that 2018 has been a fantastic year, and by far the best one yet.

At the beginning of 2018, I wrote myself some goals for the year. Not quite 'resolutions', but things I wanted to personally achieve over the coming year. I didn't post these anywhere, as I felt like that added an extra pressure of having to publicly achieve so many things. Instead, I kept them stored on my phone in the 'notes' section and have been quietly working towards them over the last 12 months.

So what did I achieve in 2018? I've broken down my previous goals below, and how I went about ticking them off...

Get back on my tablets

Completed January 2018

An easy-peasy one that I had built up way too much in my head. For a little bit of context, I have been taking the antidepressant Fluoxetine for about 3 years now. At the end of 2017, I left it too late to collect my prescription from the chemist and it got returned, meaning I would have to undergo a whole re-evaluation before being prescribed again. I went to the evaluation, had a quick chat with the doctor, then collected my tablets from the chemist an hour later. Done and dusted.

Get my MUA qualification

Completed May 2018

Going back to college to complete a make-up artist course really challenged me in more ways than one. I had to adjust my work schedule so that I could get there on time, meaning I was getting up and going to work an hour earlier than normal. I then had to fight my fear of driving to travel 40 miles there and back each week in the dark, rain, and even snow (something I had never done before.) It was a new situation that I haven't dealt with since Primary school, starting in a new class knowing absolutely nobody and having to make friends as an awkward adult.

It was worth all the stress though. I made really good friends with a girl called Kayleigh (who has now gone on to run her own freelance makeup business), increased my driving confidence, and achieved a Distinction grade in the course overall.

Read more books

Completed June 2018

I kept this one simple. I picked up the first book from a series I'd started reading in my teens, then just kept going. In June alone I read a book each week, which is something I'm really proud of. I'm classing June as my completion date as I didn't actually specify an amount of books to read in my initial goal.

The reading slowed down a little in the second half of the year, however I am now just finishing book 8 of The Morganville Vampires series, and have also read a couple of stand-alone books too (including 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine', which I recommend to everyone and anyone.)

Find a new job

Completed September 2018

I didn't actually find a 'new' job, however I did receive two raises and a promotion at my full time job, alongside picking up a second job working at LUSH over Christmas, which I am hoping to be kept on at.

I now have a lot more responsibility in my role, which has led to me enjoying my work a lot whole more than I did this time last year (in October 2017, I was signed off work with depression caused by my work environment.)

Save £4,000

Completed October 2018

Now this is one achievement I am incredibly proud of. Over the last 12 months I have managed to save the grand total of £5,550. I feel like this was a completely wild, unattainable, random goal - yet I absolutely smashed it by October and finished 2018 having and essentially saved pretty much half of a house deposit.

It wasn't easy, and I learned a lot about myself whilst working towards this goal. Mainly that I had a major shopping habit that I needed to sort out ASAP. However once I got into the habit of budgeting and planning my spending in advance, it started to feel like a second nature to me. I found resources such as the 'Money' tab on Girlboss incredibly useful, and tried to dedicate at least an hour a week to updating my spreadsheet and reading up on financial advice.

Get a tattoo

Completed November 2018

This is one goal I never thought I would be able to achieve! Ever since before I turned 18, I have been desperate to be absolutely covered in beautiful, floral tattoos. I finally made the first leap on the 28th of November when I had a little bee tattooed on the inside of my right arm.

It was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be, and I'm already planning absolutely loads more to get in 2019.

Launch my LUSH blog

Completed November 2018

For some reason, I felt like this would be a much smaller deal than it actually was. I was initially planning to ditch this blog and write solely on there. Then I changed my mind and imported all my posts. Finally, I settled on the idea of having changing my entire blog name and URL, having a fall out with Go Daddy, and waving goodbye to 'Dainty Alice' as I knew it.

Get engaged

Completed December 2018

My final remaining dream was ticked off on December 28th when my boyfriend got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!! Something I had written down a year prior as a silly daydream 'goal' suddenly became a reality, and it felt absolutely surreal.

We had trekked up the 199 steps to Whitby abbey and were exploring the gardens, when Adi suddenly pulled out a ring box, but more on that another day!

I already have some goals drafted up for 2019, and I'm very excited to begin working towards them. I want to save more money, go on holiday, and grow my hair for starters!

How was your 2018?

Review: LUSH Intergalactic Bath Bomb

Everyone loves Intergalactic bath bomb. There’s no denying that it’s one of LUSH’s best-selling ballistics, being a solid fan favourite all year round. Apparently, 800,000 Intergalatics were sold in the UK last year, with 3.5 million of them sold worldwide. Which makes it really weird that I, a self-confessed LUSH addict, had never tried Intergalactic bath bomb before now.

I can explain myself a little bit. I’m usually too engrossed in Kitchen, LUSH Labs and seasonal releases to pay much attention to the mainline bath products, neglecting them in favour of shinier exclusives. I did however learn my lesson with this when The Comforter shower cream was discontinued, having only tried it for the first time on the day of its demise.

I probably would have never picked up an Intergalactic bath bomb for myself had it not come inside the Dreamscape Christmas gift set that I got for my birthday last month. In fact, I hadn’t even planned to review until, hence why I don’t have a proper photo of the bomb before hitting the water – How wild is that?

Luckily, I’m pretty sure that this is a bath bomb that everyone will have seen before, either online or in person. One of the largest mainline bath bombs, Intergalactic is bright blue in colour, with threads of yellow and pink running through the centre of the ballistic.

Intergalactic bath bomb looks exactly as you’d expect a ‘classic’ LUSH bath bomb to look – Bright colours, speckled with glitter, and with a definite handmade aspect that ensures no two bombs look the same.

As far as the scent of Intergalactic goes, it’s not the most complex blend. Despite the ingredients list also featuring grapefruit, vetivert oil and cedarwood oil, peppermint is really the only ‘true’ scent that comes through. To me, Intergalactic smells a lot like a mixture between the classic ‘Dirty’ range, and Roots scalp treatment. A pure, sharp mint with a little edge of sweetness.

Luckily, the incredible bath art from Intergalactic more than makes up for the overly bland scent. Intergalactic bath bomb is one that just keeps on surprising you, exploding with colour, right until the very end.

For a moderately fast fizzer, I was genuinely surprised at how long the bath bomb’s ‘show’ lasted for. Checking the time stamps of my photos, the release of colours lasted a full seven minutes, which is pretty good going!

At the start of the immersion, Intergalactic looks like it’s just going to be a regular blue bath bomb. Vibrant blue froth spreads over the surfaces of the water, with only a few veins of purple hinting at what’s to come. Around three minutes in, the pink colouring begins to cascade from the middle of the bombs, swirling into the water and creating glorious pools of fuchsia amongst the blue foam.

Finally, the yellow starts to gently seep out of the bomb, tainting the water a delicious teal colour, along with swirls of golden lustre that creates glittering rings on the surface of the water. 

Intergalactic bath bomb had so many different twists and turns that my camera roll looks like I’d used two completely different bath bombs. I’m truly stunned at the fabulous pinks and purples that came from an unassuming blue bomb, alongside the sheer amount of silver and gold lustre.

This is all without even mentioning the popping candy that Intergalactic includes. Just a little edge of fun to further improve a truly magical and out of this world bathing experience. I wish I hadn’t used any bubbles in my bath, just to see the true extent of the bath art spread across the whole tub.

I have been completely converted to trying mainline bath bombs after my incredible first experience with Intergalactic, and I will absolutely be stocking up on it’s minty goodness to last me throughout the Winter season.

Which mainline bath bomb did you instantly love?

LUSH Gossip: New Kitchen Perfumes

Fresh LUSH gossip is the best LUSH gossip, especially when it revolves around a topic we all feel so passionately about - perfumes!

Update - 22/11/18
The perfumes are set to be released on the 1st of December! This information comes straight from LUSH themselves, in the newsletter reveal of the Exclusive bath bombs. See below.

Update - 19/11/18
Everyon'es favourite meme queen @LushDolly has been in cahoots with a sneaky lushie down in LUSH manufacturing, who has provided her with the below list of confirmed perfumes.
- Lord of Misrule
- Yog Nog
- Big
- Sex Bomb
- Golden Pear

It's been a while since we've has any major hype within the LUSH community, so it's nice to finally have something to get excited about. What's even more special about the upcoming rumoured release it that the OG perfume man himself, Simon Constantine, is getting into the swing of things and sharing some teasers on his Instagram to give a little credibility to the gossip mill.

Working in the perfume lab
Old perfume labels images
Perfume bottle sneak peeks

Following on from his Instagram posts, Simon also shared an Instagram story where one of the LUSH digital portrait artists was designing him a new sticker, so that's a pretty huge confirmation of his input with the launch.

Since then, the big man himself Marky C has updated his Facebook cover photo to the full version of Simon's Instagram image. How juicy!

Why perfumes? 

The reason why we are expecting perfumes is an easy one. They are one of the most requested Kitchen items since the big perfume release in 2015, which saw the likes of American Cream, Yuzu & Cocoa and The Comforter hit the Kitchen, never to be seen again once they were sold out.

LUSH Labs also recently released quite a disappointing batch of perfumes, many of which were returned and stayed online for a long time past their monthly quota, as the scents proved to be quite unpopular. So it seems LUSH have a bit of making-up to do on the perfume front!

What scents to expect?

Based on the above photo from Mark, the labels I can make out are as follows;

- Yog Nog
- Butterball
- Grass - ? (Third from left, bottom row, ending in 'ss')
- Lord Of Misrule
- American Cream
- Golden Pear

I've also done a little digging about for clues in the comments section of @LushKitchen and @Sigorilla's perfume posts on Instagram, and from the sheer amounts of comments and 'likes', I think it would be pretty likely that we can also expect the below perfumes to make an appearance;

- Big
- Sex Bomb
- Calacas
- Sultana
- Yummy Mummy

If the previous Kitchen lotions are gels are anything to go by, I would definitely be expecting Avocado Wash and HIWTK style scents too.

When are they coming?

Based on the random release dates of the Kitchen gels and lotions, I feel we have good reason to believe that the perfumes will not be a part of a LUSH Labs release, and will have their own unique release day.

The Kitchen body lotions were released a week after LUSH Labs, on the 6th September, so I would expect a perfume release to be either a week before or a week after the 29th of this month, which put them on track for release between November 22nd (fitting in perfectly for Black Friday) and December 6th.

As always, I'll be updating this post with fresh gossip as it drips in!

Review: LUSH Goddess Bath Bomb

There has been no avoiding the release of Goddess bath bomb this Autumn. First teased prior to the 2018 LUSH Showcase (where it was available in a limited number) this lilac and silver bath bomb was created to celebrate Ariana Grande’s beautiful music video for her single ‘God is a Woman.’

Initially only sold at the LUSH Showcase, Goddess was then made available online and from the Oxford Street store, and is intended to make it’s way to UK stores on the 22nd November.

There’s no disagreeing with the fact that Goddess is absolutely gorgeous in its bath bomb form. The usual spherical ballistic mould has been altered with a strange concave dome on the top of the bomb, and one flat side, apparently intended to help the Goddess bath bomb float on the surface of the bath water better.

The ballistic is royal purple in colour and is decorated with threads of lilac and silver. The entire effect is designed to mimic the paint-filled waters of the ‘God is a Woman’ video and a lot of effort was put into perfecting the aesthetics of this bomb over several weeks (I stalked Jack Constantine’s Instagram stories for a long time during the inventing process.)

The aspect that everyone at the Showcase was most excited to find out about was the scent of Goddess bath bomb, which is apparently the same as the online exclusive Zen soap. I find it quite difficult to describe, as being completely honest I discovered that the scent annoyed me slightly!

The main ingredients in Goddess consist of Jasmine, Sandalwood and Oudh oil, the latter being the reason for the bomb’s £5.95 price tag. Apparently, Oudh is one of the most expensive oils in the world (costing more than gold by weight) as the Agarwood tree it comes from is classed an as endangered species. This means that Oudh is regarded as quite a rare and precious ingredient. There’s quite an interesting video on how LUSH buys Oudh in regard to the ethics on the LUSH Player.

I have a hunch that it may be the Jasmine in Goddess bath bomb that annoyed my nose, as it’s a scent that I have a strong love/hate relationship with. To me, Goddess smells a mixture of sweet, woody and powdery scents that some people may absolutely adore.

One thing that surprised me with this bath bomb was how fast it fizzed once hitting the water. I barely had time to take a drop-shot as I first lowered it into the bath. Seeing as Goddess bath bomb contains such expensive ingredients, I would have thought it would make sense for it to have a slower fizz, to make it longer-lasting and give it a calmer, more luxurious vibe than an energetic fast-fizzer has.

Unfortunately, that's the last of the nice things to say about Goddess bath bomb, as what happened once the ballistic starting to fizz was quite non-descript. 

I had such high-hopes for the bath art from Goddess, however it just wasn't there. The bland lilac colouring did not live up to the promise of the 'God is a Woman' music video, and the silver lustre just coloured the water a murky grey. It barely filled a quarter of the bath tub before disintegrating into nothing - a big disappointment really.

Overall, I think I'd rather have a Star Light, Star Bright bath melt. The colours are almost identical, and it has a lot more lustre and 'spark' to it.

I currently have one Goddess bath bomb remaining in my stash, but once I use that up, I won't be buying any more. This bomb just didn't do it for me, and it absolutely did not live up to the ridiculous amount of social media hype and prestige it has gained online.

Have you tried Goddess bath bomb yet?

Do you believe God is a woman?

Review: LUSH Big Shampoo

One of LUSH’s most popular potted hair products, Big is a volumising shampoo designed to give you divine, mermaid hair whilst adding body and shine.

The main ingredients in Big consist of Coarse Sea Salt, Lime Juice, Lemon Infusion and Toothed Wrack Seaweed. Big is usually referred to as the ‘sea salt shampoo’ as it makes up the vast majority of the product, with sea salt increasing volume in the hair, whilst deeply cleansing and exfoliating the scalp. Toothed wrack seaweed contains large amounts of vitamins and minerals which strengthen the hair, whilst the citrus infusions and juices boost shine.

Big also contains hints of Neroli oil, Orange Flower absolute and vanilla absolute, which combine together to create quite a light, perfumed Neroli scent. It is nowhere near as heavy as Orange Blossom or Happy Happy Joy Joy, but has a pleasant floral lift to it which makes it one of my favourite ever LUSH scents.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well Big lathers, even when using such a small amount of product. I mistakenly used a whole small sample pot at once the first time I tried Big, which resulted in a LOT of excess suds.

I now find I can get three uses out of a small sample pot as the amount you really need to use is minimal, taking me two whole months to use up a 100g tub. I have newly ordered a 330g tub, which I am expecting to get around six months use out of.

After my first few uses I was absolutely smitten with Big. My hair smelled incredible, with the delicate scent clinging to it for hours, and the beachy waves it created perfectly mimicked the effects of going for a swim in the sea.

I loved how it lifted my roots and gave them fabulous volume, whilst treating my scalp to a good scrub with the chunky salt crystals.

However, a problem I found the longer I used Big shampoo is that it leaves my hair almost too clean. Every wash seems to strip my hair completely of its natural oils, and whilst this gives my hair great volume and beachy waves, it dries it out like crazy! This isn’t exactly ideal as I have such thick hair anyway that tends to lean towards the drier side.

I have also noticed that I can only go one day between hair washes when I use Big, as the intense cleansing results in my scalp over-producing natural oils to replenish my hair, leaving me with oily roots only the next day.

Finally, AVOID THIS SHAMPOO IF YOU HAVE COLOURED HAIR. I cannot stress that enough. The combination of sea salt and lemon juice in Big actually managed to strip my hair of Caca Rouge Henna, which is almost impossible to remove. I dread to think of the effect it would have on other types of dye.

To conclude, I think my hair might be a little too thick for regular use with Big. I think the ideal hair type for Big shampoo would be fine to normal hair which leans on the oily side. I think the sea salt would be perfect for neutralising excess oils, whilst the volumising effect is perfect for thickening and adding lift to fine hair.

Have you tried this volumising, sea salt shampoo yet?

Review: LUSH Angel Hair Shampoo Bar

Angel Hair is one of six solid shampoo bars invented for the October 2018 Lush Labs release. Described as being 'angelically gentle', I was intrigued to try this one out on my newly-bleached locks, and popped one in for myself when I placed a group order for my work.

I’ve always been interested in using the solid haircare products, however after accidentally melting my Jason and The Argan Oil, falling in love with Wash Behind Your Ears only to see it never return again, and having a disastrous experience with Big conditioner, I’d pretty much decided that bottled was the way forwards.

Flash forwards to last month’s Lush Labs release, where we were all surprised with the decision to release solid shampoo bars (instead of the perfumes we’d been hoping for, or the hair marshmallows we’d been expecting.) Each of the shampoo bars had been meticulously designed to cater for six different hair types, including bald or super short hair, and included a huge range of different ingredients.

The main ingredients in the Angel Hair shampoo bar consist of Rose Water, Ylang Ylang oil, Witch Hazel, Aquafaba. Despite not sharing many of the same ingredients except for Ylang Ylang oil and ‘Synthetic Musk’ (whatever that is), I am absolutely convinced that Angel Hair is Butterball scented. Even though it doesn’t actually contain any Cocoa Butter, the dusty chocolate scent of this shampoo bar completely hides any traces of Rose Water or Witch Hazel.

An interesting development in the October Lush Labs batch of solid shampoo bars is that they contain Sodium Coco Sulphate (SCS) as the foaming agent, as opposed to Sodium Laurel Sulphate (SLS). A lot of people are choosing to avoid SLS and have been questioning LUSH’s continued use of it in their products, so I love that LUSH has listened to our concerns and made the decision to trial alternatives instead.

Despite not using SLS, the Angel Hair shampoo bar foams up beautifully, resulting in a soft lather that gently cleanses the hair. This is not a shampoo bar that leaves hair squeaky clean, but rather a gentle removal of built up dirt and oils on the hair.

This kind of cleansing effect is exactly what I was looking for when choosing a new shampoo. As much as I adore the scent of Big and the weightless feeling it gives my thick hair, it does strip my hair of colour incredibly fast and leaves it feeling dry on the ends (which is often over—corrected with really greasy roots.)

After using Angel Hair a few times, I'm very pleased to report that my hair looks and feels absolutely fabulous. It's very soft and lightweight, without being static or flyaway. The gentle cleansing has worked wonders for my oily roots, as my scalp is no longer needing to over-compensate for dryness by producing excess oils. The ends of my hair feel conditioned and hydrated, no longer brittle and dry.

I've been teaming Angel Hair shampoo bar with my main babe American Cream conditioner and they are literally a match made in heaven. My hair smells and feels incredible, very silky and soft to the touch, even after being bleached and chemically coloured for the first time in just under 12 months.

I genuinely can’t think of many negatives when it comes to Angel Hair shampoo bar, with my only minor irritants being purely cosmetic. Firstly, the sprig of… lavender? or whatever it is either gets crushed and falls off during shipping, or gets stuck in my hair if I use it the wrong-side down. Secondly, this shampoo bar is bright pink, and when wet can slightly stain the edges of sinks and bath tubs.

I think Angel Hair shampoo bar would work amazingly on almost every hair type, but especially so if your hair is in need of a little extra love and gentle treatment. If this shampoo bar could speak, it would whisper.

Did you try any of the Lush Labs shampoo bars?

Review: LUSH The Comforter? Spa Treatment

This post has taken a while to materialise as I struggled for a long while to accurately document all the thoughts and feeling I had whilst experiencing The Comforter? spa treatment for the first time.

However, after taking part in a spa-focused training session at my LUSH Meadowhall job, all the beautiful memories came flooding back to me, and I felt inspired to starting writing this full review the very same night.

I've split this review up into three parts in order to accurately express my feelings and emotions during every step of the experience. Warning - contains spoilers!

Before

My spa treatment was on the 5th October at LUSH Spa Leeds and the beautiful Head Therapist Jody performed my treatment, all of which my boyfriend was informed of beforehand when he first booked my treatment.

You're advised to arrive at the spa about 10 minutes before your allocated time, however I showed up about half an hour early because I'm an anxious little bean when it comes to these kind of things. It wasn't a problem at all, as the store assistants at Lush Leeds were incredibly accommodating, sitting me down for a mini pampering session with a hand and arm massage before I was taken into the spa for the 'main event'.

Once I entered the spa itself, it was an absolutely surreal experience. As soon as the door closed behind me, all the hustle and bustle of Leeds city centre is silenced, and I was transported into the most gorgeous Devonshire farmhouse kitchen, complete with quirky shelving, books and vintage mugs lining the walls.

I was then invited to sit at the beautiful wooden table and have a chat with Jody all about what I could expect in the treatment along with filling out a health and safety document and discussing any queries I had. She even showed me the solid products she was using before they were melted down and described the main ingredients to me.


Whilst Jody finished setting up the treatment room, I used the bathroom (which was helpfully stocked with cotton pads, toner waters, mascara and hair bobbles alongside loads of other LUSH goodies) and made sure to take lots of photos of the Kitchen area.

It was then time to enter my treatment room...

Stepping into the treatment room for the first time was absolutely magical. The room was softly lit with pink spotlights with ceiling stars, and the 'Aquarium' track from the accompanying CD acted as a beguiling welcome into such an enchanting setting. A heated bed with a 'marshmallow mattress' took up the centre of the room, and I was dying to peel back the covers and jump right in.

I was told to undress at my leisure, and ring the little bell on the bedside table when I was ready for Jody to come back in. I spent such a long time wandering around the room taking photos that Jody actually popped her head back round the door to check if I was ok (and that I hadn't died from excitement or something) just as I was snuggling down into the bed and taking a sneaky selfie.

During

The treatment started with Jody tucking me into the deliciously toasty heated bed and placing a lavender scented sleep pillow over my eyes, checking that I was ok with the temperature of the room and the bed and if I would like anything adjusting. She then spent ages brushing my hair and fringe back with her fingers, which was the most luxurious feeling even before the pampering began. I knew from that moment onward that I was in for a real treat.

First up was the chocolate body scrub. This is a vegan solid scrub which is melted down into a pool of hot chocolate. It's a very intense scrub with quite a shock as the hot mixture is first applied, and there was moments where I started to wonder 'does this hurt?' but I was so chilled that it didn't bother me much and I'd forgotten about it by the time she moved onto the next body part. That was the bit that I liked the most about The Comforter? - Even though it's a level 3 nakedness treatment (just down to my My Little Pony pants, no bra but a soft towel over the chest and tummy) you're kept cosy and snuggled up at all times as the therapist gently removes one limb at a time to work on, before tucking the duvet back.

Working clockwise around my body, starting with my chest and neck before circling round to my right arm, Jody carefully yet thoroughly worked the scrub all over my skin. Once I was all covered, she began the 'endless massage' through the top sheet of the bed, which essentially involves massaging with the palms and forearms, leaning close in like a hug. The smell in the room from the melted chocolate was absolutely incredible and the feeling of dozing off while being cuddled and gently stretched made me feel so safe and looked after.

The scrub was removed using hot mitts, which was the strangest feeling. I didn't open my eyes, so I could tell if they were wet or just hot. Either way, they did the job of removing the scrub whilst feeling incredibly indulgent.

It was at this point that Jody gently whispered "would you like to open your eyes?" and as I did, I saw that the room was filled with bubbles as 'Bubble Bach' played from the soundtrack. I then turned onto my front as she held the duvet up for me, and the entire scrub and endless massage process was repeated. This time, once the scrub was removed with the hot mitts, she proceeded to apply a warm rose serum all over my body, taking time to really rub the serum in and ensure I has a proper massage.

I had a little bit of a giggle as she did my legs, because she tucked the sheet under my pants and wiggled my feet in the air whilst applying serum to my calves, which I found hilarious at the time. There was no point during the treatment where I felt self-conscious (aside from briefly worrying when I'd last shaved my legs) especially as I'd never had a massage before, but I was kept so cosy and covered the entire time that it didn't bother me in the slightest.

After

Just as I was falling back to sleep again, I heard Jody whisper my name and tell me that it was the end of my The Comforter? treatment. I absolutely did not want to get out of that beautiful bed and had another 5 minutes just dozing and stretching myself out, trying to take in everything that had happened over the past hour.

Once I had dressed myself, I (begrudgingly) left my treatment room and was once again met by Jody in the beautiful kitchen area. This time I sat down in a squashy armchair and was treated to the most elegant drink of rose syrup and sparkling water, which was presented alongside a cocktail glass filled with candyfloss. Mixing the two resulting in a super sweet, fizzing drink perfectly suited to the likes of fairies and unicorns. The sugariness of it definitely helped me ground myself a little after having such a daydream-like experience during my treatment.

My skin felt incredible, like the softest velvet, and I can only describe the glorious scent to the likes of Fentiman's Rose Lemonade. It was absolutely divine and I came out of the spa almost floating, which my boyfriend found hilarious when he met me outside the store. I was genuinely drunk on chocolate, fantasy and music and that delicious feeling stayed with me all throughout the rest of the day. I didn't even notice that it was raining heavily as we wandered through Leeds, that's how high I felt.

After experiencing The Comforter? treatment for myself, I am absolutely besotted with the LUSH Spa and cannot wait to book another treatment for myself after Christmas. I also think I might be a little bit in love with Jody too and will definitely make sure that I have her perform any future treatments as I cannot imagine anyone else doing them so perfectly.

Have you ever been to a LUSH Spa?

Would you want to try The Comforter? for yourself?

Review: LUSH Banana Skin Naked Facial Oil

Every year like clockwork, as soon as October starts to creep around the corner, something horrible happens to my skin. As the days get colder, my usual slightly-oily, peachy and (dare I say) supple skin becomes tight, dry and rubbery, flaking on my chin and the tops of my cheeks. It’s an absolute nightmare, and one that has only got worse since I started working in air-conditioned environments.

However, miracle of miracles, I don’t think I’ll be having that problem this year. All thanks to a tiny product I bought on a whim at the LUSH Showcase – the Banana Skin solid facial oil.

Being one of four naked facial oils available at the Showcase, Banana Skin was the only one I bought. So why did I pick it over the others?

To put it simply, the delicious scent that this product gave off drew me to it straight away over all the others. Banana Skin contains a gorgeous blend of fresh bananas, apricot oil, mango butter, cupuaçu butter and murumuru butter, which all work in harmony to create the most scrumptious banana and coconut scented product. (Despite not actually containing any coconut, it’s 100% there in the scent for me!)

I knew as soon as I put it in my basket that I couldn’t wait to get it on my face, and it was the first product from my haul that I tried the night after getting home. Usually when I buy products on a whim without any research I tend to feel a little guilty and unsure, but somehow I felt like I’d made a good blind buy right from the start.

Thankfully, I wasn’t wrong. Waiting outside in cold for an hour to get into the Showcase (more on that balls-up soon) had left my skin chapped and a little sore. Sliding that buttery bar of banana goodness all over my face felt like absolute heaven, it was so cooling and I instantly felt reviving my dried skin.

You can apply the naked facial oils in two ways, either melting a little onto your fingers and massaging it in with your fingertips, or by sliding the bar directly onto the skin like I did. I initially tried to melt a little between my hands, but it felt too messy and made my palms itch, so I opted for the direct-to-skin approach instead.

I have used the Banana Skin solid facial oil twice now, with slightly different results each time. The first time I used Banana Skin it was at night, after cleansing and scrubbing my face. The oil sunk beautifully into my skin overnight, feeling soft, hydrated and without any hint of oil left in the morning. I think this was as I’d prepped my skin first, then left it overnight to work its magic.

The second time I used Banana Skin was in the morning. I didn’t have time to properly cleanse and apply any foundation or other makeup, so I slid a little bit of the naked oil over my skin and the results were amazing. It gave me a fresh, dewy glow that lasted all day, and the oil sat like a barrier on the top of my skin, protecting it from the air conditioning in my office. As I mentioned previously, I usually have quite oily skin, and yet even with the layer of serum on top I didn’t feel greasy or uncomfortable at all. Only hydrated and plumped, which was such a lovely feeling.

Storing the bar is proving a little bit of a problem. It’s too long to fit in a round shampoo tin or my new cork pot, so I’m currently keeping it in the paper bag it was wrapped in at the till. I feel like they should have placed it in greaseproof paper first, as there is a danger of melting when stored this way, so I’m going to wrap it properly as soon as I can.

Overall, I love this product so much that I wished I had purchased a second bar from the Showcase to keep in reserve, until I found out the absolute best part – all of the naked skincare goodies will be launching in #LushLabs on Saturday! The naked facial oils are all solid, vegan and self preserving, and I’m 100% going to purchase another one.

Did you buy any of the exclusive skincare products from the Showcase?

What did you think to them?

A Big, Pink 21st Birthday LUSH Giveaway

First of all, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has waited so patiently for the giveaway to come together! I first mentioned that I would be hosting a giveaway wayyyy back in June when I hit 1,000 followers on my @Wonderlushie Instagram account. Since then, I have been plotting, planning and collecting products to make this the biggest, best and pinkest LUSH giveaway ever.

To make it extra-extra-special, I decided to end this giveaway on my 21st birthday in order to mark the occasion! I've been thinking and thinking what to do for my birthday, and what could be more special than hosting a fabulous and sparkly giveaway for all my lushie pals?

Giveaway Prize

ONE lucky winner will win everything below!

Mainline
Sex Bomb bath bomb
Butterball bath bomb
Rock Star soap
The Comforter bubble bar
Bubblegum lip scrub
Shimmy Shimmy massage bar
American Cream hair conditioner 250g

Exclusive / Kitchen / Showcase
Pink FUN
American Cream shower gel
Goddess bath bomb

Christmas
Snow Fairy shower gel 250g
Snow Fairy dusting powder
Snow Fairy body conditioner

How to Enter

The only thing you have to do to enter? Pop over to my Instagram account @Wonderlushie and hit the follow button. That's it! There's loads of other ways to enter too, but that's the only mandatory one. Just make sure you verify your entry on the Rafflecopter widget below, or it won't count!

Please be sure to read the T&Cs before entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions

Unfortunately, this giveaway has to be mainland UK only* due to the whopping size of the parcel, and the postage costs associated. I wouldn't want to upset anyone with the prize getting damaged or lost overseas, so I hope you can understand why I have made this initial decision.

*In the event that you do live outside the UK and are happy to pay the shipping costs, please send me a message before entering. I take absolutely no responsibility for overseas shipping once it has been posted in this event.

There is to be strictly NO spam/giveaway accounts to enter this giveaway. I check every entry manually and will delete anyone who I believe to be flouting the rules (creating separate Instagram accounts, entering on multiple accounts, using dedicated 'giveaway accounts' to enter) without prior warning.

The prize will be packaged in a large LUSH box with packing peanuts and tape. The prize will be sent tracked and recorded delivery. It may need a signature on delivery. This is to guarantee the safety and delivery of your prize and minimise any chance of loss. I am not responsible for the delivery of your prize once it has left my care, however in the event of a damage or loss I will do everything I can to try and solve the problem.

The prizes in this giveaway have been purchased in advance and are non-negotiable. Requests for items to be swapped or exchanged will not be accepted, except for in the case of a known allergy.

Review: LUSH Roots Hair Treatment

Roots is a product that I've overlooked for some time, despite considering myself a fountain of knowledge when it comes to LUSH hair products.

I've tried almost every mainline shampoo and treatment in the last two years that I've been a hardcore Lushie, yet have neglected Roots as I've simply never felt like I needed a scalp treatment. I don't get dandruff, and have never had any problems with dryness or itching. It's also described as being for thin, fine hair, so with my thick mass of tresses I always felt like it wasn't for me.

Fast forward to now, and Roots has become a bi-weekly staple in my haircare routine for the last month. So how did this minty, unloved treatment suddenly grab my attention?

To cut a long story short, I'm desperately trying to grow my hair. I cut my waist length hair to my chin almost two years ago, and I've struggled to grow it ever since. Venting my frustrations on Instagram, a whole bunch of my followers recommended I try using Roots for it's stimulating and clarifying properties.


I initially didn't know this, but it turns out that the best way to grow new hair fast is to stimulate your hair follicles and increase the flow of blood around your scalp. Roots hair treatment contains three types of cooling, tingly mint (fresh mint, spearmint and peppermint) which is the perfect ingredient for doing just that.

The triple mint also makes Roots smell absolutely incredible, along with the addition of orange oil, grapefruit, neroli and nettle. They latter gives Roots a slightly herbal edge to the scent, and I can only detect the sweet and fruity orange and grapefruit influences if I press my nose into the tub and breathe deeply - they're indistinguishable once the product is applied to the hair.

In regards to application, Roots is a super thick treatment that leaves you no choice other than to dive in and get sticky. I like to tie the lengths of my hair up into a bun on the middle of my head, then scoop out Roots with my finger tips and smooth it all over the rest of my head. I've found that you needn't worry about applying it directly to the scalp as once you start to massage the treatment in, it finds it's own way there.

LUSH recommend leaving this product for 20 minutes before shampooing out, however I tend to leave it as long as I can physically bear it. The longer it's on, the more intense the tingling sensation gets, and it can start to feel a little like stinging after an hour or so, but I can assure you that it's not doing any harm.


Coming in at £12.95 a pot, it's pricier than my usual choices of Marilyn and H'Suan Wen Hua, but I decided to take a chance and purchase a tub for myself. I'm very glad that I did, as I've found that the initial cost breaks down every time I use the treatment.

In explanation, I managed to get 8 uses out of my first 225g pot, which is actually incredible when you take into account how much product I was using each time. I absolutely did not scrimp on those applications - applying a thick, generous layer to the whole top of my head each time, from the seam of my scalp down to the bottom of my ears.

I usually only get 2 or 3 uses out of a treatment that covers all of my hair (such as H'Suan) so these multiple applications actually broke the price of Roots down to only £1.60 each use. Which is absolutely incredible value for money.

Each pot also has a shelf life of over a year, which stretches the value out even further if you choose to use the treatment only every couple of weeks instead of twice a week like I have been doing.

So how did I find using Roots for hair growth? Take a look for yourself. I didn't believe my sister when she mentioned that my hair was looking longer after only two weeks of using it, but after seeing the photos I'm gobsmacked.

Just how amazing is that? To say my hair has barely grown at all in the last year, I almost cried with happiness when I put those pictures side by side. After only 3 weeks of use, my growth has gone crazy! I'm hoping it will be down my back by Christmas.

Aside from the fabulous hair growth, another direct result of this treatment is that I'm not having to wash my hair every other day like I used to. Roots has kept my scalp so moisturised that's it's no longer having to produce any excess oils, meaning my hair is lasting two (or three with dry shampoo) days before getting greasy. Score!

Overall, I am loving using Roots, and plan to keep it in my hair product arsenal for a long time to come.

Which product did you take a chance on and LOVE?

LUSH Gossip: New Kitchen Body Lotions

Can you believe it's now been a year since the LUSH Kitchen as we knew it officially closed up shop for the last time? And how has it only been 3 months since LUSH released the much-anticipated exclusive shower gels? I feel like we've been waiting years for a new release of goodies to obsess over!

In case you haven't heard, LUSH is going to be blessing us with 10 limited edition body lotions, which was officially revealed on the below post from the @LushKitchen instagram account.

If you follow @markatlush you might have noticed something in his latest post! Ten body lotions neatly stacked next to @lush_jack. You voted, we counted and here are the winning scents! Yog Nog Noni I Washed The Kids (no, really, Noni! It’s Vegan so we’ve used Noni Fruit Decoction instead of Honey!) Avocado No-Wash (get it?) Calacas Yuzu & Cocoa Lord Of Misrule Butterball Sultana Yummy Mummy American Cream Details on prices, launch dates and more coming soon... #lushkitchen #lushbodylotions #lush

A post shared by Lush Kitchen (@lushkitchen) on Aug 15, 2018 at 10:00am PDT

Here's the down-low on all the information we have so far, along with my thoughts on the scents available...

Yog Nog - £14.95

Scented with fudge and nutmeg, Yog Nog smells like a chocolate and vanilla fudge slab of cake from a french patisserie.

I currently have a bar of the soap left from 2017, and whilst I can pick up enough of the scent to know that I like it, it's not strong enough for me to make a decision on whether or not I will be purchasing the body lotion.

Noni I Washed The Kids - £14.95

This body lotion is supposedly going to be the classic HIWTK scent, with the inclusion of Noni fruit instead of honey in order to make it vegan friendly.

While I really appreciate this move for anyone who chooses to eliminate animal products from their diet, Noni is also known as the 'vomit fruit' so I'm slightly worried at how exactly this will effect the cult classic HIWTK scent.

Avocado No-Wash - £15.95

Avocado No-Wash body lotion shares it's scent with the Avocado Wash shower gel released as an exclusive back in June. The creamy avocado and lemon pie scent first made an appearance in the Avocado Co-Wash shampoo/conditioner and has been a fan favourite ever since.

Unfortunately I am allergic to avocado on my skin so I won't be buying this one myself, however my boyfriend is obsessed with his bottle of Avocado Wash shower gel, so I may pick him one up as a treat.

Calacas - £16.95

The OG cult scent. Calacas is the flavour of green fruit pastilles and (to me) toilet cleaner. It seems to be everyone's favourite and I'm sure it will be one of the first to go out of stock when the lotions are eventually released.

Yuzu & Cocoa - £15.95

A delicious, Christmassy chocolate orange scent which should never have been discontinued in it's shower cream form.

I will 100% be picking up a tub of this absolute delight as I was never lucky enough to purchase a bottle of the shower cream when it was mainline.

Lord Of Misrule - £16.95

The smoky black pepper combined with the sweetness of vanilla makes Lord of Misrule a scent I love to hate. I can never make up my mind if I absolutely adore it, or can't stand it!

The lotion looks to be pale green in colour, and with Lord Of Misrule shower cream rumoured to be not coming back to stores this Halloween, I may have to pick up a pot just in case.

Butterball - £14.95

Now Butterball is one lotion that I will absolutely be purchasing. The scrumptious vanilla and cocoa butter scent is one of my favourites, and I can never resist picking up a Butterball bath bomb every time I'm in store.

I feel like this will also be a popular one, so make sure to snag it as soon as it's live to ensure you get one.

Sultana - £14.95

Another cult favourite, being the OG scent of the discontinued Blackberry bath bomb, and the mainline Sultana of Skin soap.

I personally won't be buying any of this, however if the shower gel launch was anything to go by, it's bound to be a popular choice.

Yummy Mummy - £14.95

The sweet fake strawberry scent is one that flits in and out of being one of my favourites, despite how overpowering and synthetic it seems.

I haven't made my mind up on purchasing Yummy Mummy yet, as I prefer the delicate strawberry scent of American Cream.

American Cream - £15.95

My own American Cream body lotion had literally just gone out of date when I bought it off eBay and is already smelling funky, so I am incredibly excited to be able to get my paws on a fresh tub.

This one is going to be super popular, however based on the huge amount of bottles they made for the shower gel launch, I think it will be available for a good while before selling out.

*

So when will we be getting these goodies? The exact date is being kept tightly under-wraps, however I have good reason to believe that it will be this Friday, the 7th September based on the information I received from the LUSH digital interns team.

If you check out the below screenshot, it contains a photo of what I believe to be the Lord Of Misrule body lotion being used, along with telling me to mark the 7th in my calendar.

Obviously this isn't a 100% confirmation, so don't fight me if they don't make an appearance on Friday! There's also the possibilty that the 7th could be when they're revealing more information as opposed to the full launch itself - but either way there should be more info!

As far as prices are confirmed, this is pure speculation but I'm willing to bet that they will be between £15 and £18 each, depending on the ingredients used in each lotion. When I purchased my The Comforter body lotion back in August 2017, it cost me £13.95, so with inflation £15 a lotion should be about right.

Which lotions will you be picking up?

As usual, I'll be updating this post as more information is released

Update: 04/09/18

Confirmed prices have been added (got it spot on), along with the release date - it's going to be a day earlier than expected on the 6th September! Even better!

My Interview At LUSH Cosmetics

In case you've been living under a rock for the last few years, you'll know that LUSH is my absolute favourite brand in the entire world. I solely use LUSH products on my hair and in the bath / shower, and I'm also very passionate about their skincare and general goodies too.

Clearly, working for LUSH is my dream job and I'm prepared to do almost anything for the chance to work there... including waking up at 6am *shock horror* but I'll get to that later!

Applying for the role

So for weeks now I have been stalking the social media accounts of my local LUSH stores, waiting for the "We're Hiring!" posts to start flooding my feed, as it's always around this time every year that LUSH starts scouting for temporary Christmas staff.

It didn't take long before I spotted an advert for LUSH Meadowhall advertising for 8, 12 and 16 hour contracts. I absolutely adore the Meadowhall store, and I have made friends with so many sales assistants there that I even have them on Instagram! As I work full-time Monday to Friday, I thought the 8 hour contract would be perfect for me to slot in on weekends, so I wrote up my cover letter and fired my CV off straight away.

I heard back almost immediately after the application deadline, thanking me for my passionate application and inviting me to attend a group interview the next week at 8am.

8am. As in, 8 in the morning. I'd previously read that most interviews took places after the store had closed, however since Meadowhall doesn't close until 9pm, the morning was the best time to get us all together before the store opened to the public.

This was all fine and I happily replied saying I would love to attend, until I realised that not only is Meadowhall 40 minutes away from where I live, I would also have to factor in traffic and time to get ready, meaning I would have to get up at 6am on the day. Gulp. As someone who is used to rolling out of bed at 8:30, this was going to be a struggle, however I can pleasantly report that I sprang out of bed when the day came, as I was just so excited!

The group interview

When I arrived for the interview, there was five other girls and one lad waiting outside the store, making seven of us in total. I had actually expected there to be loads more applicants, but I was glad to have a cosy group and set about chatting and learning everyone's names (Lauren, Ellie, Emma, Sam... I tried!) but we were also given name stickers to clear up any awkwardness.

We'd been told to wear whatever we were comfortable in, and it was so cool to see everyone's individual fashion senses. Emma especially was wearing an incredible pair of floral print trousers, whilst I wore my pink My Little Pony jumper under a black pinafore.

Once inside the store (the worst part was waiting anxiously outside) I felt completely at ease, and Laura the trainee manager was so fun and bubbly. The only bit of admin we had to do was sign in and show our right-to-work documents - I took my passport - then all the fun began! And it really was fun, I didn't ever want to leave.

Icebreaker task

We'd been asked to bring an object that represented us to the interview, then during the icebreaker task we had to talk about it and describe ourselves to the group. I chose one of my favourite My Little Pony toys, as it was sweet and colourful and made everyone happy, which is exactly how I feel when I'm in LUSH.

There was a wide variety of objects that people brought including a lip-liner (her love of beauty) a stage award (her passion for acting) and a DC wallet (how he wanted to be as inspiring as superheroes.)

First activity - Finding the perfect gift

We were then split into two groups and given the challenge to find the perfect gift for a specific customer. The customer we had was someone looking to buy a Christmas gift for a family member who suffers from eczema. We then had to come up with 3 questions that we wanted to ask our customer.

I'm not ashamed to say that I totally took over as the leader of our group, as my product knowledge and insight into LUSH were seemingly unrivalled *grin*. The questions we decided to ask were as follows;

1. Are you looking for something as a treat (that also won't irritate you), or for something to directly soothe eczema?
2. Is the eczema all over, or in specific places?
3. Are there any ingredients that you can't have, or just don't like?

We learned that she wanted a treat, but soothing properties would be amazing, that the eczema was on her arms and legs, and that she didn't like anything citrus scented.

Straight away I knew that the Relax gift set was absolutely perfect for our customer as it contains soothing lavender products such as A French Kiss bubble bar, along with really gentle items such as Butterball bath bomb and Dream Cream body lotion, which recently went viral for curing a toddler's eczema. It also contains Twilight shower gel, which is the perfect seasonal product to give the gift a Christmas feel to it.

Second activity - Becoming BFFs

We then had to partner up and basically just chat and become besties, then report back a fact about them to the group. I was partnered with Emma, who had just finished her A Levels and loved acting, having performed in Les Mis, Guys & Dolls, and Sister Act.

She was also really into Gossip Girl as well (I am currently obsessed with it) so we genuinely got on really well and found the whole activity a breeze.

It was really amazing hearing everyone else's facts as well. Sam was going to be in a drag production, Lauren has a tiny jack russel dog, and Ellie wanted to open her own interior design business.

Final activity - Playing pretend

I think this was my absolute favourite activity of them all, just because it felt really natural to me. We split up into two groups again, and were either customers or sales assistants. We had to browse the store and the sale assistants would chat and demo products as they would IRL.

I absolutely loved pretending to be a staff member! Sam was looking at the perfumes, so I asked if he'd tried the body sprays as they were more convenient and came in recycled packaging. I demonstrated spraying Dirty body spray, then spoke to him all about the toothy tabs, lip scrubs and lip balms too.

We got onto the topic of the Oxford Street store as Sam used to live in London and frequented it a LOT (!!!) We were happily chatting away when we ran out of time for the activity, and I was gutted when I realised it was all over, as I'd been enjoying myself so much.

I genuinely felt like I'd been waiting for the difficult part to begin, I'd been having so much fun just being myself and playing with products, it all felt really natural and I just knew I'd done well.

The Trial Shift

Barely a few hours after the group interview, I received an email from LUSH saying how pleased they were with me and how well I knew about the products, ingredients and ethics. I was invited to pick from a choice of dates and times for a trial shift, and by this time I was nearly screaming with excitement! They had some feedback for me too, saying they would like to see more teamwork (eg. I was a bit naughty for taking charge, but nobody else was saying anything!) but other than that they were really impressed.

I chose my trial shift to be Sunday at 12pm, which I thought would be the busiest of all the times listed. I'd learned from my interview at Benefit that I wouldn't get anywhere with demonstrating customer service if there was no customers around!

Then honestly... I can't remember anything at all. I went into a kind of LUSH trance, and just focused on talking to everyone, playing with the products and really just enjoying myself. I know that's not very helpful, but I think I was just so anxious and excited that I blocked it out and just went into the little LUSH-land inside my head (how adorable is that though.)

I vaguely remember playing with a Think Pink bath bomb in the sink alongside a little girl, and accidentally dying her hands pink, but I'll brush over that...

The next few days I was so busy looking after my sister that I didn't even remember to check my email, so I was totally shocked when I refreshed it to see an email from LUSH with the subject line "Offer of Christmas position". It truly was a fist pump moment and I screamed in excitement.

I'd done it! 

My next stage now is to attend my induction day in September, then figure out just exactly how I'm going to manage working at LUSH, whilst also working full time and trying to blog more often...

Wish me luck!

Review: Marc Jacobs 'Daisy Love' Eau De Toilette

I absolutely adore perfume, so I was incredibly excited to review the newest launch from Marc Jacobs, Daisy Love*! I'm not usually a fan of the Daisy range as I find them a little too cloying, however after reading about the sweet and woody notes that 'Daisy Love' contained, I thought it sounded right up my street.

LUSH Gossip: New Kitchen Shower Gels

I CAN'T COPE WITH THIS. When I first saw the news break on Instagram, I stopped talking mid-sentence, and stared at my screen, wide-eyed. My boyfriend thought I'd seen some terrible news, especially when I broke the silence by screaming as loud as I could.

Why I Deleted My Instagram

Over the last few months I've fallen into the mindset of finding my Instagram a burden, and something that I just can't be bothered to keep up with. This is so far from the way I felt when I first started blogging and would post to Instagram three, maybe even four times a day.

It doesn't help that I actually started my Instagram account a very, very long time ago, much longer than I've been blogging, right back in secondary school. I'm a completely different person now as to who I was then. My interest in the accounts I follow has changed, and I've just grown up a lot on the whole, especially when you take into account that I was 13 when I started it, and I'm almost 21 now (fun fact, Instagram actually first launched on my 13th birthday!)

This didn't use to bother me so much as when I came across an account I'd followed years ago, I'd just block or unfollow it. Every so often I'd decide I needed a change, and delete all of my photos (this was before the 'archive' feature was even a thing - I've lost so many amazing photos over the years) and change my @ in order to just start my feed over again.

But recently it was just bugging me more than normal. I discussed in my Confessions Of An Instagram 'Cheat' post how when I was in school I would use apps where you could 'earn' likes and followers in order to look more popular amongst the girls in my class. I spent absolutely ages this time last year going through all of my followers and trying to remove the ones that looked fake, but last month I just decided that enough was enough and I may as well start from scratch.

So here I am, trying my absolute hardest to grow my new Instagram account, whilst slowly realising that it's a lot harder thanks it used to be (thanks Instagram, you dicks) and mourning the loss of my 3,000 followers.

But actually, I'm really enjoying it. Somehow I'm posting every day at the moment (a first for me), I've found loads of new, relateable accounts to follow, and slowly but surely my followers are creeping up again. Dreamy.

Pop your Instagram handle in the comments, and I'll be sure to shoot you a follow.

In the meantime, I'm over at @DaintyAlice for all things, pink, girly and gossipy.