THREE MINI BODY SHOP REVIEWS

It's been a long time since we had one of these. If you're new to the party, I have a slightly unhealthy addiction to the Body Shop, and every so often we revisit the classic Body Shop reviews. When I say mini, I mean seriously mini. So mini that we're going to do the first one right here, right now. It's more of a shoutout than a review, but I needed to mention the new Pinita Colada range. I have literally never smelt anything more incredible in my life. I want to live in a bubble of it so that I can smell it forever. Smelling like pineapple and coconut, it's the most delicious, tropical, summery scent that will have you watering at the mouth and crying over how good it smells. Even if you don't buy it, you need to make a trip to your local Body Shop, just so you can smell it.

The BB cream is pictured here in the old packaging, the new packing is the same as the pore minimiser

So onto the two main products up for mini review, both are from the Body Shop tea tree range, which is my absolutely favourite for skin care. Tea tree is really great for clearing up spotty and blemish-ridden skin, and I would highly, highly recommend anything from that range (especially the face mask). Another thing I wanted to add up here as it applies to both of them, is that they have quite a strong tea tree scent, but that fades really quickly so you don't spend the entire day walking around smelling like tea tree.

Tea Tree Pore Minimiser 
I always use the two products being reviewed here together; I never put on the BB cream without the pore minimiser underneath, as it protects my pores from getting clogged up by the makeup. Honestly, I can't tell you if it works to actually minimise my pores, I haven't studied them closely enough to see if they're looking smaller, but it definitely reduces how clogged they get. I use a small amount of this on the areas where I have noticeably (to me, anyway) larger pores and it works as a really good, slightly matte base for my makeup. Overall, I really like this product and, though I don't know if it's making my pores smaller, I definitely think it's reducing the number of black heads I get.

Tea Tree Flawless BB Cream
I'm not the biggest fan of foundation (I don't actually own one), I don't like the feeling of having something too heavy on my face and running the risk of making my bad skin worse. The tea tree BB cream is great as it's like a light foundation and kind-of spot treatment combined. I wasn't sure at first that it had the best coverage, until I took it off later that evening and I could see a noticeable difference in how my skin looked when I wasn't wearing it (if you know what I mean, I didn't explain that very well, basically it has better coverage than I thought). I really like this product, it gives me enough coverage on days when I don't feel happy with my skin, without feeling too heavy or being too bad for my skin. I love these two products as a pair and I'd highly recommend both of them.

Rosie

Back with the Body Shop love

LEAVING WORK HAUL

You may or may not (but probably don't know) that for the past 11 months I've been working as a healthcare advisor at Boots (and I won't say which one, but it is probably the best Boots out there in the coolest location). Alongside this came the single greatest thing in my life, a discount card. As Sunday was my last day at work, my mum and I did a huge Boots shop before I had to give back my discount (</3), so I thought I'd share some of the things we bought.

Skin Care
I did a stock up on my favourite skin care staples, which are the Boots tea tree and witch hazel foaming face wash and cleansing and toning lotion, the Neutrogena oil-free moisturiser (life saver) and the Quick Fix anti-blemish mud mask. Oldies but goodies, all of them.

Makeup
The first lot of makeup is stuff I bought myself. Firstly, I bought myself a new Natural Collection concealer stick, which is my current favourite concealer, and the Rimmel soft kohl eye liner pencil, as my current one from Body Shop is nearing the end of its life. I also bought, because there was an offer on Rimmel, the Lasting Colour Rush balm in 'Keep Mauving', which I have been lusting after for absolutely ages after buying a different colour a couple of years ago and loving it. The last makeup item I bought was the No.7 extreme length sensitive mascara. I was on the hunt for a good mascara, and I had this one years and years ago and really liked it. I don't need my mascaras to do too many fancy things, just simple length and colour, and I have really, really sensitive eyes, so this one ticks all the boxes for me.

All the other makeup products are Essie nail varnishes that I was given as my leaving present from my colleagues, as they know how much I love Essie nail varnishes. Firstly, I was given 'Chinchilly', which everyone knows is my all-time favourite nail varnish, and I was also given two duo sets. The first one is the 'Anchors Aweigh!' set, which contains two slightly shimmery nail varnishes, 'Naughty Nautical' and the immensely population 'Bikini so Teeny'. The other set is the 'a Sprinkle in Pink' set, which contains the also immensely popular 'Fiji' and the 'a Cut Above' glitter top coat. I am very spoilt and very emotional over this.

Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous products, aka the ones that didn't fit into their own category but I wanted to mention. Firstly, a set of three clear wash/makeup bags, always useful; then my favourite Denman hair brush because I haven't had a new one in over ten years. Finally, a new electric toothbrush that I can bring away to uni with me (plus spare heads, not pictured).

Rosie

Significantly poorer than I was before

A QUINTESSENTIAL LUSH CHRISTMAS POST

So my mother and I went Christmas shopping on Wednesday, and we got a little bit carried away (by our standards) in Lush. I never shop in Lush, it's a bit iffy for me, some of the things I love but quite a lot of the scents that everyone likes I absolutely hate, but I always like to go every Christmas and buy a couple of bits from their Christmas range. The only thing I didn't buy this year that I maybe should've done is a Snow Fairy shower gel, which really is the epitome of all Christmas.

Firstly, for myself, I bought the butter bear bath bomb. The butterball is my absolutely favourite Lush product, and for the last few Christmases Lush have released it in the form of an adorable little bear. There are no words to describe how good this smells, it contains cocoa butter, cocoa power and ylang ylang oil, and it has the most comforting vanillary-chocolately smell. For me, the butter bear is something that I could smell for the rest of my life and never get bored of. It's the most lovely, warming, comforting, delicious thing I've ever smelt ever.

The next bath bomb I bought myself is the yog nog bath bomb, a new one for this year. This bath bomb contains clove bud oil, shea butter, ylang ylang oil and soya milk powder; I do love a good bath bomb with shea butter and ylang ylang. This is definitely a Christmas-scented bath bomb, it smells like toffee and something else that's quite dark and heavy but definitely works. It's the polar opposite to the chocolatey-sweety-freshness of the butterbear, and I definitely think it's going to make me feel all lovely and festive when I come to use it.

The So White bath bomb is quite a popular one from the Christmas range and is one of the ones I bought as a gift. So White contains orange flower absolute, bergamot oil, rose absolute and neroli oil. I smelt this one for the first time last year (it's been around for quite a few years though), and I was pretty excited for it as I had heard it smelt like apples, which is one of my favourite scents. Last year, however, I was really disappointed with this scent, it just didn't smell good-or at all like apples- to me. This year, however, I thought I'd smell it again and give it enough go, as it seemed like a great bath bomb to give my aunt. This year, I'm much more pleased with the scent and I like it a lot more. It doesn't smell as good as the Body Shop apple products do, but it has a very nice, fresh scent that I think would appeal to a lot of people, and I've become more and more keen on the more I've smelt it.

The next two products are the reusable bubble wands. Like the bubble bars, these ones are designed to make bubbles in your bath, rather than being a bath bomb. With the bubble wands, you swirl them around in your bath to make bubbles, and you can reuse them multiple times.

The bubble wand I bought for myself is the Magic of Christmas bubble wand. This one is the epitome of all things Christmasy. Containing cinnamon leaf oil, almond essential oil and sweet orange oil, this bubble wand is studded with cloves and star anise, and the stick of the wand is a stick of cinnamon. As predicted, it smells incredible. It's fresh and orangey and spicy and I'm beyond excited to use it.

This next and final product, the Magic Wand bubble bar, is basically Snow Fairy in wand form. I quite like Snow Fairy, though it can be very sickly, but it smells fantastic in bubble wand form. I bought this one for my best friend for Christmas and it's really making me regret not buying one- or not buying actual Snow Fairy- for myself. For those out of the Lush loop, Snow Fairy smells like candy floss and sweets and all things sugary. It's not a scent for everyone, but it is the definition of all things Lush Christmas.

Rosie 

BACK TO COLLEGE ESSENTIALS

I go back to college next week on Tuesday 8th so I've been feeling that September motivation for the next academic year, which also happens to be my final year at college before university. One of the best bits of the year for me is the buying of new stationary, and boy do I love stationary. (A thing that must also be noted here is that W.H. Smith always has a back-to-school stationary sale near the end of the holidays and it's very exciting.) I've complied a list of some of the things (minius the pens, pencils, etc. stuff) that I think are essential for going back to school/college, all of which will be making their appearance in my bag come Tuesday.

Ringer Binders
Being at college rather than school, I work solely with paper and ring binders instead of out of work books. I love pretty folders and I buy all of mine from W.H. Smith. I use one of the regular two-ring ones on a daily basis, I only use one folder so that all of my work is in the same place and I only have to carry one around with me everyday. At home, however, I like to have the massive lever arch files, which I keep all the work I no longer need in, this way I'm only carrying what I need to college and my small folder doesn't get too full. I don't study a-levels, and my college course is split into nine different units throughout the year, so I only carry the work of the units we are currently studying around with me, and all the work from the completed units is kept in my lever arch files at home.

Folder Dividers and Plastic Wallets
I love folder dividers for separating each different unit in my folder, and they're a great way to keep organised. I have to hand in my college work as a physical copy, so plastic wallets are really useful for that. Each unit is handed in in its own plastic wallet so it's all kept together and there's no risk of anything being lost. I also find plastic wallets useful for booklets that cannot be hole punched but I want to keep in my folder.

Paper
This is pretty self explanatory, I write on paper that I then put into my folder. I normally use the W.H. Smith A4 sheets (as seen in the picture), though I am a notebook fiend so I do like to keep a few A5 notebooks around as well.

Planner
Organisation is a thing that I love, so obviously I can't not get myself a planner. As sad as I've been told it is, I get great excitement from writing in my planner and organising my life. I have a little tick sheet at the back in the notes section showing every piece of work in every unit, and I get to tick it in one colour if I've completed that piece of work, and tick it again in another colour if I've handed it in. Very satisfying. My beautiful planner is from W.H. Smith, they have an amazing selection of planners and I spent a good 30 minutes standing there trying to decide which one I wanted.

Pencil Case
Also self explanatory, everyone needs a pencil case. I sneakily like to only keep one pen at a time in mine so that I never have one to lend out to anyone and lose it. I absolutely love my pencil case, it's from Cath Kidston, I got it last Christmas and I think it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

Rucksack
I prefer using a rucksack for my school bag as two straps is so much easier and less painful than carrying a bag round on one shoulder. You may recognise the picture below of my rucksack from my ootd post at the end of August. This bag is from Accessorize, though I do have the back-up bigger rucksack if this one proves to be slightly too small for a folder, which it might well be.

BEDROOM BITS-AND-BOBS HAUL

I have been in the process of redoing my bedroom for the past two years, every time a holiday rolls around I promise I'm going to repaint it... This summer is going to be the one though. In February I took a mini trip to Ikea, so I thought I'd do a haul of what I got there, along with a few other bedroom-related things that I got for Christmas.

Ikea Fake Flowers 
67p each
I like having flowers in my room, but a lot of the time they're just not practical with the amount of space a vase takes up and the amount of leaves and petals dropped. I keep my fake flowers in a Fentimans Rose Lemonade bottle, which you can buy in Waitrose (it helps to drink it first); I love the cute, vintage look of these bottles.

Ikea Vanilla Candle
95p
I can't resist a good candle, especially one coming in at the beautiful price of under £1. For a cheap candle, the smell is incredible, I have yet to light it, but my whole room smells amazingly and noticeably of vanilla. Vanilla is one of my favourite candle scents.

Ikea Garden Pot
£2
Everyone and their mum on Instagram has the iconic white Ikea garden pot, but I actually prefer this one. These pots are so useful for storing things and tidying away clutter, I think I'm going to use mine for my ever-growing nail varnish collection.

Ikea Cushion
£7
I'd wanted a cushion for my desk chair because it has a hard back and I spend a lot of time there working. I love this cushion, despite the fact that my father told me he hates the design, and my mother looked at me like I was mad when I chose it. It's so quirky and weird and slightly horrible, I am very much in love with it.

Wild Fig Yankee Candle
Around £8
The first of the bedroom items I got for Christmas, the scent is very strong and I'm not sure where I stand on it. I can only light it for short periods of time, and it has the tendency to start melting in direct sunlight.

Cactus
This was part of my secret Santa present from my friend, I've already made the fatal mistake of grabbing the spikes. This is my second cactus, they're so cute and low maintenance as they're not something that has to be watered regularly.

Coaster
I'd wanted another coaster for my room so that I didn't have to keep transferring my coaster from the bedside table to the desk and back again whenever I wanted tea.

Rose Fairy Lights
These are my favourite thing in my recent bedroom haul, my parents bought then from the Ideal Home Christmas show in December. I'd wanted fairy lights to put in my room for ages, but I wasn't a fan of the LED ones which appear to be the only thing you can buy these days. What I love about these is not only the fact that they are roses (my favourite flower due to the influence of my name), but that they look really pretty when they're not turned on, and you almost never need to turn them on they make such a good decoration.

APOLOGIES TO MY PURSE

Just to say I am very sorry I have been neglecting my blog somewhat but I have my AS exams coming up soon plus coursework and other work so I have been really busy recently.

 

 

 

 

This post is the lovechild of two-three months of Boots, Superdrug, Body Shop and many other shopping trips. I had fun. Too much fun.

 

1. I genuinely have a severe problem when it comes to lip balm and the Body Shop. After my *slight* obsession with the Born Lippy stick in plum I couldn't resist getting another. In my defense at the time Body Shop has a buy-one-get-one-half-price offer on all their mini lip balms, soaps, etc. and I couldn't pass by on that one. I decided to opt for the pomegranate one as it gives a nice orangey/redy/corally tint and I don't have one like that.
Born Lippy sticks- £3 in Body Shop

2. I saw this nail Barry M nail varnish in Berry Cosmo on someone's Instagram and I couldn't not get it after that. It is the most beautiful dark purple/maroon colour that is probably more better suited to autumn/winter but I absolutely love it and it looks amazing with two/three coats.
Normal Barry M nail varnish- £2.99 in Superdrug

3. I couldn't find the Essie nail varnish in After School Boy Blazer in any of my local shops so I ordered it online and then prayed for it to arrive before my holiday (which it did but my brother didn't answer the door so I didn't get it until after my holiday). Sad? I know.
Essie nail varnish- £7.99 in Superdrug

 

4. This was actually a present from my friend's mum as she knows my love of lip balm, this Vaseline 'Paint the Town' is a limited edition one (missed out on getting the pink bubble one- boo :( ) and it just gives a really lovely, subtle redish-pink tint to your lips and basically enhances your natural colour (I mentioned in my October/November Favourites that I had got back into the Vaseline Rosy Lips and I am loving Paint the Town.
Vaseline Limited Edition 'Paint the Town'- £3.49 in Boots

5. These Topshop leggings were one of those 'omg I NEED these' buys and I absolutely love them. I'd been wanting tartan trousers for ages and these are perfect, they are much thicker than normal leggings and are basically perfect in every way (apart from the small hole going up the inside seam that I didn't see until I'd cut the label off but was easily sown back up).
Leggings- £25 in Topshop

 

The colours are much darker than this but the sun was very bright when I took the picture

 

6. This Rimmel Kate Moss matte lipstick was another kind of impulse buy but I love it all the same. Wine 107 is a dark colour (I love my darks) and is a dark red with pink undertones (I am yet to branch out into bright red colours for my lips).
Rimmel Kate Moss lipsticks (matte)- £5.49 in Superdrug

7. As many may already know You Me At Six is one of my most favourite bands ever and their new album Cavalier Youth is amazing and perfect and ARGH. I love it, I have it on repeat currently, I want to get it tattooed to my face. (I don't know what it is but something about this album cover gives me this weird extreme nostalgia and makes me want to cry).
Cavalier Youth CD and DVD combo- £12 on Amazon

8. After wanting to try one for AGES I finally picked up a Body Shop lip butter in Shea. I'd always been put off these before as £4 is quite a lot for such a small tub and the Born Lippy pots are only £2 each, however I have found myself using this religiously every night and it has worked wonders on my lips- it also smells really great. I also picked up another one in the Limited Edition blueberry range as, as I said, it's limited edition and I got one for my mum for mother's day and it smelt amazing.
Lip butter- £4 each in Body Shop

 

9. Yet another nail varnish, but I was NEEDING a pastel mint colour to add to my collection and I stumbled across this Model's Own one in Apple Pie in a Model's Own pop-up shop in my local shopping centre. This nail varnish claims to be scented like apples and has a little scratch-and-sniff stick on the top- the whole Model's Own Fruit Pastels range is absolutely beautiful and I want all of them.
Model's Own Fruit Pastel range in Apple Pie- £5 in Boots

 

10. Lush is always an iffy brand for me as some of their products smell amazing whilst others I would not want to touch with a barge pole. I was in Lush recently shopping for my friend and choosing her a bath bomb when I came across the Butterball. The problem I have with most Lush bath bombs is that they are far too big for just one bath and I hate that. The Butterball, however, is one of their smaller ones and with a scent of 'cocoa butter, light vanilla and musk' it is the perfect one for me (it also doesn't come with loads of small bits inside that float around your bath and you have to spend hours picking out afterwards urgh).
Butterball bath bomb- £2.50 in Lush