Breath of Fresh Air

I hope everyone is well, once again apologies for the lack of posts, i'm currently still in revision land, my final exam is next wednesday so almost over! Anyway I thought i'd do a quick review today because i've been using this product a fair amount over the past few weeks and i've remembered why I love it so much. So it is Lush's Breath of Fresh Air skin toner.



So standard Lush packaging, just plain black with a spray nozzle on top, which makes it really easy to use. I have the 100g bottle which retails for £3.75 but they do have a 250g bottle which is £7 depending on how often you'll be using the product. I've had mine for a while now and its still pretty full as you don't need a lot of this. Lush state that this is a toner to soften your skin with vitamins and minerals and that it reduces dryness, soreness and redness. It has seaweed, aloe gel and essential oils and is scented lightly which is good because i'm not a massive fan of heavily scented products for the face. To me the strongest smell is rose water but its very light and not overpowering.

On to whether it works, the simplest answer is yes! I adore this product, I use it whenever i've been in a stuffy environment, think aeroplanes, offices, uni buildings, anywhere where the air is stale or there is a lot of air conditioning. It always makes my skin feel horrible after being in those types of places, because it drys out your skin and air conditioning is notorious for spreading horrible germs and just generally making you feel a bit grim. So I use this to refresh my skin and it really does work, it makes my skin really soft without making it feel tight, it has definitely helped any dry patches i've had particularly on my forehead. It makes your skin feel fresh after a long day and also the scent is quite relaxing so I find it quite calming if you've had a busy day or its been a bit stressful. You can also use this on the body as well which I think is great for hot summer days, it would definitely cool you down. I also use it to remove any traces of cleanser before bed and its great for that too. All in all a great product and one i'd definitely recommend if you work in an office or travel a lot!

Handy Gurugu...a must for cold weather

I recently purchased Lush's Handy Gurugu hand cream, as this weather was doing nothing for my hands, going from the freezing cold into heated university buildings was causing havoc to my skin particularly on my knuckles (is it ever going to stop raining? That's what I want to know!). I'd seen a few reviews on Handy Gurugu which said it was great for dry skin so I thought i'd give it a go.

It's not much to look at let's be honest but are any hand creams? It does have a slight greenish tinge but that doesn't bother me, although it might some. The smell is hard to pin down, it reminds me of the Lush stores themselves, it definitely has that signature scent, but its light and smells fresh. The most prominant smell is rose water, at least that's what I can pick out. It is described as a very butter rich cream and they aren't joking its got shea butter, organic peanut butter, organic almond butter, organic cashew butter and organic pumpkinseed butter in it! Along with other essential oils. As it says on the tub a little goes a long, you definitely don't need much of this. It does feel quite sticky when you first rub it in, which did put me off slightly when I first used it, however do persevere because it does soak in and it leaves your skin feeling very soft and nourished and it has done my hands a world of good, the skin feels less tight and feels much softer. The key is definitely not to use too much, its definitely made with very very dry skin in mind and I feel its definitely more of a winter product and would be great if you suffer from cracked knuckles in cold weather. It retails for £7.25 for 100g, which yes is quite pricey. Lush is not the cheapest on the market there's no getting away from that, but it will last a long time and the shea butter in this product comes from a women's co-operative, The Ojoba Project in Ghana so I don't begrudge paying the money for it.

If you are looking for something a little less intense then i'd recommend Soap and Glory's Hand Food, I carry a little tube of it in my bag at all times. It smells amazing and is non-greasy, it soaks in so fast and leaves your hands feeling incredibly soft. The mini 50ml tube is £2.50 and is in my opinion the perfect size to just carry around with you, at work, school, uni anywhere.

So that's my little review, i'd say go for Handy Gurugu if you suffer with extremely dry, cracked skin and need something to sort it out and fast because it is incredibly good for that, but if you don't have such an issue then Hand Food is a good everyday hand cream that's not too heavy.

x

Another Lush fave...

So you may be able to tell that I like Lush. I know loads of people hate it (including my mum, who sends me in to buy presents for people because she can't stand the smell! haha) but I love it. I love the fact that its natural, against animal testing and just a bit different from standard soap/shampoo/skin care products. Anyway enough of my rambling. I suffer from dry lips, that get so chapped during the weather change between Winter and Spring which drives me a little mad. As many things just do not work. So when I came across Lush's Lip Scrubs in my local store I was eager to give them a try.

There are three flavours, Bubblegum, Mint Julips and Sweet Lips. I have Mint Julips because I wasn't a huge fan of the sweeter ones, and this smells amazing, its like peppermint creams. Basically the product is made from sugar and oils like jojoba and peppermint and you just rub it across your lips to get rid of dry and dead skin and because it hasn't got anything nasty in it you can just lick the excess off if you want, I know some people don't but I do it doesn't really bother me. It leaves my lips feeling very smooth and its perfect for using before applying lipstick. It retails for £4.95 which I will say is a bit pricey but I have had mine for a few months now and it does last a long time, as you can see from the photo, I use it probably 5-6 times week, basically when I notice my lips chapping or if I want to apply a particularly drying lipstick. I would recommend this product if like me you suffer from dry/flakey lips, if you don't like minty flavours or scents maybe try one of the others, but I love this is very refreshing and feels slightly tingly which I like.

Current Skincare Favourites

Okay so i'm back in Bristol now, journey was fine, despite the embarrasment of how much stuff I had to squeeze into boyfriends car, but we made it so thats all that matters. So in true student form i'm procrastinating already by making this post but hey nevermind. So this is on my current most used/favourite skincare products. This is facial skincare, I do have body products but that might be better in a different post. Now I do use other products sometimes but these are my top four that I use regularly and always have to hand.

So my first product is the ever faithful Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser. Sigh I love this product, a firm favourite and a product i'll continue to use for probably well ever. Its lovely both in packaging and in the product itself. It's a concentrated cream that has eucalyptus and cocoa butter (smells lovely) and basically you rub the product into your skin, on a dry face (rather odd I know but trust me it works!) and then you take a muslin cloth and run it under the hot tap, wring it out and then use it to take the make-up and just daily grime off your face. It leaves your skin feeling amazing and so soft. It's helped my skin so much, eased the dryness and definitely helped with my oily t-zone which is amazing because nothing i've tried before has worked this well! You can buy the starter kit which includes a 100ml bottle of the Cleanse and Polish and 2 muslin cloths for £14.25, the Cleanse and Polish on its own is £12.75, both of these I think are bargains as its honestly the best skincare product I own by far. I buy mine from John Lewis but you can order it online from Liz Earle .

The next two are both Clinque products. First is the Superdefence SPF 25 moisturizer, this is my favourite moisturizer ever, it just works for my skin. It doesn't leave that horrible sticky feeling on your skin like some moisturizers do it sinks in quickly leaving your skin feeling really smooth and it's easy to apply make up over this product. It's fragrance free which I like because i'm not a fan of really heavily scented moisturizers for the face. It's designed to combat the signs of aging...now i'm only 23 so I don't know if this actually works or what but hopefully it will do! This retails at £35, which yeah ouch but it lasts a really long time and its a great product, so i'd definitely recommend this if you're looking to splash out on a good moisturizer.

Second product by Clinque is the Anti-blemish solutions moisturizer, this is meant to be step 3 in Clinque's anti-blemish solution kit but I just use this by itself. If I start to have a break-out i'll use this usually over night for a couple of days and it really does help with blemishes and pimples. I can definitely see a difference even just using it for a couple of days, especially around the time of the month, thats when I tend to use it most. It also controls excess oil, also good for when your skin is feeling the effects of extra hormones. So this is another favourite that I'll continue to buy, also another fragrance free product. This is £17.50 for 50ml, which again is a tad expensive but in my opinion worth every penny!

Last but not least is Lush's Ocean Salt facial scrub. This is a fairly recent addition to my favourite skincare products but i'm so glad I found this. Its a sea salt based scrub which has lime, coconut, seaweed, avocado butter and vodka! It removes dead skin and acts as an antiseptic, also good for blemishes. It smells amazing, kind of like a cocktail, and it's an amazing blue colour when you stir it all together. One thing I would say is go easy with the scrubbing as there are some quite large salt pieces which could be quite abrasive on the skin but apart from that its a great product. It's £6.75 for 100g, which isn't bad, I don't use this everyday as it would seriously dry my skin so its lasted me a while. It's great for when you want to feel really fresh and feel like your skin could do with an intense exfoliation.

So there you go my top four skincare products, i'm in no way appose to trying new things but these i've found work best for me at the moment. Oh in case anyone was wondering my skin is combination, tends to get dry on the cheeks but quite oily around the t-zone, so if anyone is similar to me i'd recommend any of these products :).

Lifeless hair be gone!

Used this today and thought i'd sing it's praises a little bit. This is Big by Lush, it's a sea salt shampoo, which is designed to add volume. This has done wonders for my hair, my hair is currently quite long, i've got naturally dead straight hair which can become a bit flat and lifeless. I tend to have to wash it everyday because it gets quite greasy quickly, (I know you're not meant to but I just prefer it, feel sort of grim if I don't). So anyway I was browsing in Lush and saw this and the sales advisor told me it was good for giving volume and getting rid of any product build up so I decided to take the plunge and try it.

First of all on appearance this could put people off, it does look a bit weird, its kind of like an off white jelly looking substance, but you just have to look past it. I think it smells lovely but my sister hates it! It smells fresh and clean which I like, Lush state that its neroli, mandarin, orange flower absolute and vanilla. Because it's made up mainly of sea salt there are no synthetic preservatives which is a plus. Secondly it's best to shampoo and rinse with this twice, the second use makes it lather up really well, and your hair will be literally squeaky clean! Finally I would say to use a little bit of conditioner after this just so its a bit easier to comb through afterwards but honestly this is the best hair product i've had in a long while. I tend to use it once or twice a week as it gets rid of any build-up from other shampoo's and gives my hair a bit of life if its looking flat.

Oh it's also a vegan friendly product! It retails for £10.95 for 330g, but it lasts quite a long time, and I wouldn't recommend using it everyday, I've found that I go through a tub every month or so. I have heard that Seanik one of Lush's shampoo bars is a good alternative if you don't want to spend as much, Seanik is £5, I haven't tried it myself yet but might be worth a go if you'd rather not fork out nearly £11! Overall though Big is definitely going to be staple in my hair care routine for a while.