SIGHH DESIGNS

I challenge anyone not to be a fan of Sighh designs. I've been following Polly (the creator of Sighh) on Instagram for a couple of years now, and I've been lusting over her products for just as long. After countless debates over what to get, I finally took the plunge and am now the very happy owner of a very beautiful (and aesthetically pleasing) phone case and to-do-list pad.

I was lucky enough to receive the phone case for Christmas, I helpfully pointed my mother towards the website and the cactus print seemed very fitting after my cactus-buying rampage during November. There are two types of phone case available, the original slimline case with the design on the back and clear plastic sides, or the new premium case where the design also goes up around the sides. The cactus design only comes in the slimline case, which I actually prefer as I like to still be able to see the beautiful gold colour of my phone. The back of the phone case, where the design is, is matte, which I absolutely love, not just because matte always looks better, but also because it's scratch proof and still looks brand new. One thing I'd also like to highlight is that the case is really easy to get on and off, so there's none of that struggle and stress that one or the other is going to break with the brute force.This phone case has stood up to the ultimate phone case test, I dropped my phone onto my friend's wooden floor and neither the phone or the case (or the floor) are damaged at all, which is perfect.

A kind-of-picture of how the slimline case looks on the sides of your phone

The second product I bought, which I'd been eyeing up for quite a while and desperately waiting to come back in stock, is the 'Today's Activities' desk pad. My order of the desk pad also included an A6 art print, which I thought was a really nice added touch. Undoubtedly, the 'Today's Activiites' desk pad is one of the most photogenic desk accessories I've ever seen. I love all things stationary and organisation, and so this little pad is absolutely perfect for me. I no longer have to keep pages and pages of notes on my phone, but can have it all here beautifully in front of me. The pad was initially thinner than I was expecting, but each sheet has over 10 little boxes and, really, how much is one person doing? For me, it's the perfect little size and the paper is think enough that you can make it all colourful and pretty without having the risk that it'll seep through. Both the desk pad and the art print are a cute little A6 size. The art print has a nice quote on it,'turn bread and water into toast and tea', which are two of my favourite things, and I love the mismatched style of the different fonts.

So I thought I'd talk briefly about the products themselves before I went on to the designs, the real reason why we're all so attracted to Sighh. The artwork is beautifully and painstakingly drawn, you can tell that a lot of love and effort goes into these designs and that anything less than perfection is not accepted. I absolutely love love love the hand-painted look of the 'Today's Activities' pad, it's definitely my favourite of all Polly's art styles. It's such a simple but effective design and I love the final imperfect-but-purposely-imperfect look it gives. The cactus design is one of Sighh's immensely popular cute and quirky styles. Other phone cases that caught my attention were the vegetable and hot chocolate cases, both of which have adorable foods with faces on them. What I really love about the design of the cactus case is that each cactus is different, it makes the case much more personal and interesting. With all these products, you can really tell that a lot of time and effort has gone into designing and making them, and they are all designed and produced to a really high quality.

Sighh is an immensely popular, home-grown, independent shop, and it really, really deserves all the hype and popularity that it gets.

Prices

Slimline Phone Case - £14.00

Desk Pad - £4.50

Art Print - £1.50

Link to the website here

Rosie

BELOVED BODY SHOP CHRISTMAS

The Body Shop Christmas range is one of my favourite things about winter, I feel like I'm allowed to start being festive the minute the Christmas Body Shop products hit the shelves. Every Christmas my mother and I fixate on one particular new Body Shop range, and everyone we know gets given products from that range for Christmas.

Every year the Body Shop release three new Christmas ranges with a variety of bath, shower and body products. Some favourites of mine this year are the candles, bath fizzers, shimmer lotions and bath jellies, alongside the typical shower gels, body butters and lip balms.

So normally, in their Christmas collection, Body Shop have a vanilla range, a cranberry range and another range. In 2013, there was an amazing gingerbread range and in 2014 there was the absolutely incredible glazed apple range, that literally has you drooling when you smelt it. Obviously, I love the vanilla scent, but I've never been all that bothered about it, and my mum and I always always obsess over the 3rd range that changes every year. However, I was very surprised this year to find that Body Shop had decided not to release a vanilla range, and had instead gone for the usual cranberry, brought back the glazed apple and introduced a new scent, frosted plum.

I thought that this year, instead of talking about an actual product, I'd talk about the scents. As I said before, the glazed apple range has me drooling just thinking about it, let alone smelling it. It manages to smell both sweet and sour at the same time, and it has got to be one of my all-time favourite Body Shop scents ever. I can never get bored of this scent and it doesn't disappoint. I think this is one that everyone will like.

Now the frosted cranberry range is more of a personal-preference scent, it's definitely not one for everyone, I've always liked it but my mum is not really a fan. It has a very fresh, berry-like scent, but there is a more sour-berry tang to it that not everyone will get on board with. The frosted cranberry is a much more sophisticated scent that the fun and sweetness of the glazed apple.

And finally, the newest range, frosted plum. I was so excited when I found out that the Body Shop were releasing a plum range. I had a plum lip balm a couple of years ago (pictured above, i don't have anything from the frosted plum range to show you) that I absolutely loved; it smelt beyond incredible and it became one of my favourite Body Shop scents, I was obsessed. However, I was really disappointed with the frosted plum range. I smelt the body butter, as that's normally the best thing to smell for the scent, but it just literally didn't smell of anything to me. I also smelt the shower gel, which smells a lot stronger, but to me I just wasn't wowed by it. It smelt okay but it definitely didn't smell like plum like the other range did. It had a kind of weird under-lying smell that I couldn't place but I just wasn't a fan, and that disappointed me as I was fully prepared to love it.

I will always love the Body Shop Christmas range, I especially have my eye on the bath fizzers this year, and I am very, very happy that they've brought back the glazed apple scent this Christmas.

Rosie

FAIRYPANTS

I discovered the Chester-based, handmade, independent company 'Fairypants' on Twitter a while ago and I absolutely loved the idea of some of their products, though I've only very recently remembered about them and decided to have another look. (How amazing is their brand name and logo by the way?)

I dropped some water on it, which annoyingly damaged the label ever so slightly

Fairypants is a vegan company, and I'm not vegan, but I simply couldn't resist trying their lip balms after I saw the flavours. Fairypants' lip balm speciality is 'cocktails and cakes', and with a mixture of cocktail or desert flavoured lip balms, how could I resist? All Fairypants lip balms contain Shea butter, jojoba wax, sweet almond oil and natural colourings and flavourings, have you ever see a more lovely line-up of ingredients? (As they're a vegan company, all products are natural and none are tested on animals).

Choosing a flavour of lip balm was a near impossible task for me. Personal favourites of mine from the cocktail range were Irish cream, mojito, margarita and ameretto and cola. And from the deserts range I was tempted by key lime pie, banoffee pie, sticky toffee pudding, cherry bakewell, blueberry muffin and parma violets. They have 20 incredible flavours of lip balm, all for £3.99 each, plus many other cosmetic products.

In the end, I opted for Irish Cream after a very lovely conversation I had on Twitter with the creator/owner/inventor (I don't know what to call her) of Fairypants. I really like it when business owners get involved with people on Twitter, it adds such a nice, personal touch and it makes me all the more keen to support their company. After asking exactly what Irish Cream smelt like (exact Twitter reply: 'happiness, Rosie. It basically smells like rich coffee, and Irish Cream liqueur. Like pouring bailey's into your cuppa') I couldn't resist; if you seen the ingredients photo (above) you'll note that it contains coffee and whiskey, though it's definitely not alcoholic. This lip balm does smell incredible, I occasionally find myself sitting in my room and sniffing it while I'm browsing online. You can definitely smell the coffee and whisky but it's so good and not at all overwhelming; you can't smell it while it's on your lips, but I prefer it that way. The creator of Fairypants has said online that this lip balm is one of the more Christmasy scents, and it can definitely makes you feel all warm and wintery when you smell it. I'm desperate to try out some of the other scents, which are bound to be equally as incredible.

Now onto the lip balm itself. When I first opened it, it looked like a hard balm and I was fully prepared for that, but surprisingly it turned out the be the complete opposite. The minute I touched it, it was a lovely smooth and creamy texture that feels really good on the lips. It sinks into your lips, rather than just sitting annoyingly on top, though this does depend on how much you put on. If I'm at home or before bed, I tend to be very generous with my lip balm application, so it takes slightly longer to sink in, but I wake up with beautifully soft lips the next morning. One of the things I like about this lip balm is that it's thick but not at all greasy, and everyone knows I really cannot stand anything greasy.

It's no secret that I've tried a hell of a lot of lip balms in my time, but I'd go as far as to say that this is one of the best and one of my current favourites. I've been using for a little over a week now, and my lips are super soft and smooth. They started to peel slightly after I didn't use the lip balm for a couple of days, though that is most likely due to the awful weather, and they healed literally over night with the help of this product. My lips do not like the winter weather and I can already tell that this product is going to be a life-saver over the next few months. It's such a lovely lip balm, the thick and creamy texture is incredible and my lips feel amazing. I'd highly, highly recommend, I can't rave about it enough, and I'm itching to try out some more of their stuff.

SKIN SAVIOURS

I have bad skin, it's not as bad as it once was, but it's still pretty bad. This is something that I have come to accept, though I'm always on the look-out for good spot treatments (and concealers- but we all know that already). One brand that I'd never tried before is Clearasil, but I spotted it at work (you can probably guess where I work) and I thought I'd give it a try.

I picked up two spot creams from Clearasil, the Rapid Action Treatment Cream and and Blemish and Marks Treatment Cream. The Rapid Action cream claims to 'visibily reduce spot size and redness in four hours', and the Blemish and Marks cream claims to 'clear blemishes and fight the appearance of red marks'. The majority of my problem with my skin is that I have a lot of scars, marks, blemishes and redness from previous spots. Both of these creams are twice-daily applications and came in at under £6 each.

First up, the Clearasil Rapid Action Treatment Cream. Clearing spots in four hours is a very bold claim, but this little cream surprised me. I put it on for the first time over night and I definitely noticed some changes the next morning, and my mum noticed it as well. This cream and I have got on very well. It reduces but it definitely doesn't completely clear spots within four hours, not that it claims to, I'd say it takes about two or three days for the spot to go totally. It has definitely helped me a lot and I'd highly recommend.

Now for the Clearasil Blemish and Marks Treatment Cream. I'd like to start by saying that this cream smells incredible, it has a kind of fruity-shampoo scent and my whole face smells really good after using it. I also have to say, though, that it is immensely drying to the face. I have dry skin anyway, but this leaves big dry patches where I've used it. Saying that, I'll live through dry skin if it means I have clear skin, and the dryness is nothing that can't be fixed by some good moisturiser. I'm not so sure about this cream, it has faded my scars, not as much as I would have liked, and I'm still a little bit red in the chin and forehead areas; I use it at the same time as the Rapid Action cream. I have definitely noticed some change in my scars so I'll definitely carry on using it, but I'm not entirely convinced.

I'm definitely going to try more Clearasil products soon.

Rosie

MAGNETIC BOOKMARK OBSESSION

Recently I've really got back into using bookmarks when reading. Previously, I'd always found bookmarks to be a bit of a nuisance and I'd always just been able to memorise which page I was on so I didn't actually need to use a bookmark. But all that changed with the discovery of the world of super cute magnetic bookmarks on Etsy. As there's two companies that I bought from, I'm going to be doing a couple of little paragraphs on each.

(As I write this, I've actually found some more magnetic bookmarks that I want from another Etsy store. One is an absolutely beautiful gold and swirly cartoon feather, and the other is the Aries constellation, which is my star sign. Maybe expect another bookmarks post fairly soon...)

Crafted Van
Crafted Van are quite possibly the most popular and well-known company for magnetic bookmarks on Etsy, and for good reason. They have an amazing selection of super cute bookmarks for all tastes, and it took me so long to decide which ones I was going to buy. Crafted Van offer three different bookmark options, all at a fantastic price. They have sets of four or five mini bookmarks (around £4-£6), bigger individual bookmarks (just over £3), and brand new jumbo sized bookmarks.

In the end, though, I decided on the mini nursing themed set of five mini bookmarks. As a future nurse, I simply couldn't resist! My three favourites of the set are the needle, stethoscope and IV drip. Right now I'm usign the drip one in the book I'm currently reading, it's such a strange but brilliant idea, it makes me laugh so much to see a little drip smiling up at me when I open my book.

Just a last couple of things on Crafted Van, firstly I'm really pleased with their shipping, considering that it was coming all the way to the UK from Canada, shipping only cost around £3 and it came within two weeks which was really great. These bookmarks are a really high quality, it's hard to explain but they're like but they're made of card with a glossy, almost sticky finish to it. The card-like-ness to them means that they're so easy to clip onto a book and the sticky, glossy-ness means that they're waterproof, which is always useful. I'm really happy with my purchase and I would highly, highly recommend this company.

Magicbookmarks
The other company I bought from on Etsy is one called Magicbookmarks. This time, I bought a bookmark for myself and one for my brother as well. Where Crafted Van have little cartoon objects like Cacti, animals and cups of tea, among many, many others, Magicbookmarks has all fictional characters from films, books and TV. Once again, it was a very, very hard decision over what to buy and, once again, there is definitely something for everybody.

In the end, I chose a little Sirius Black from Harry Potter, and my brother chose Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. Something which surprised me and that I was really happy about was that Magicbookmarks also sent a little free gift of a sticker with Hermione Granger, Percy Jackson and Sadness from 'Inside Out' on it. Unknowingly to them, these are three of my favourite fictional characters, and I'm going to stick the sticker on a piece of card and use it as another bookmark. I thought that was so so sweet, a really nice added touch to the order and I'm really happy over it.

As with Crafted Van, Magicbookmarks also had really good shipping. As it was shipping from Spain to the UK, shipping was a couple of pounds cheaper (I also forgot to mention that the products themselves were a good price, between £2.50-£3 each). The thing I'm most happy with about shipping is that I received an email a couple of days after I placed my order saying that it was on its way and should arrive in two weeks, and in actual fact it arrived two days after I got that email. The bookmarks are a high quality, they're also card with a glossy-ness to it (though not sticky like Crafted Van) and the part of the bookmark that you fold over the top of the page is actually made out of felt instead of card. I like how the felt corresponds to the main colours of the bookmark, and I also like how the back of the bookmark looks like the back of the character's head and clothes instead of being double sided. The bookmarks were also packaged really nicely, each presented on a prettily stamped piece of card with washi tape, and you really got the sense that time and effort had gone into each individual order. Again, I am very, very happy with my purchases and I would high recommend.

Rosie 

THE CONCEALER COMPARISON

I've been using the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer in Shade 1 for about a year now, but recently I've been wanting to try something new. I made a list of various concealers I was interested in from brands including Rimmel, Bourjois and L'Oreal. After trying them all out in Superdrug, I settled on the Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer in the shade Ivory, a cult favourite that I hadn't really considered until now. In my opinion, Rimmel is one of the best highstreet makeup brands.

I've heard that the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer is quite drying on your skin, I've always had dry skin, but I've been wondering lately if using the Collection concealer has anything to do with making it worse. I can't report back on whether or not the Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer is drying, however I have noticed that it's smoother and can be blended in so much better than the Collection concealer, without leaving noticable, slightly flakey makeup patches in its wake.

Another thing I've found that makes Rimmel Wake Me Up so much better than Collection Lasting Perfection is the colour matching. The Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer in Ivory is a much, much better match for my skin colour, so much so that I can't actually see it when it's on my skin. The Collection Lasting Perfection concealer in Shade 1 seems noticably way too light for my skin, whereas the Shade 2 is far too orange.

Don't get me wrong, I have been pleased with the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer, I think it's a bit thicker than the Rimmel Wake Me Up one, meaning that it gives spots slightly better coverage. It's just far too noticable and drying on my skin, whereas the Rimmel one appears to be much better suited to my skin type and much more subtle.

SKIN MONTH | LAND OF SOAP AND GLORY

You can't spend a month reviewing skin products without delving into the wonderful world of Soap and Glory now can you. (As shallow as this sounds) one of the main things that attracted me to Soap and Glory originally was the cute and vintage-looking packaging, both of which I am a sucker for, I can't help but want something if it comes in a pretty packaging.

Everyone knows Soap and Glory to be quite an expensive brand so my excitement was obvious when I came across the Boots miniatures section and found a mini Righteous Butter and Hand Food for only £2.50 each! Granted these tubs are tiny, but it means I have to avid spending over £10 on a massive tub that I may not even like. I decided to get the Righteous Butter as everyone raves about it and that appears to be what they are most famous for and my mother already has a bottle of Hand Food.

Soap and Glory Hand Food (normal size- £5 for 125ml, miniature- £2.50 for 50ml)- I am normally not much of a hand cream lover as I really hate my hands to be greasy or sticky. The first thing I noticed about this hand cream is it stinks. Now I don't know if this is because my tube is quite old but it smells horrible and I have already washed it off (I am praying that it's because it's old). The good points are that it sinks into your hands really quickly so you don't feel greasy, but it didn't really make my hands feels any softer and it almost made them feel worse. I will not be buying this again due to how bad it smells and I can easily buy an overall nicer hand cream for much cheaper.

Soap and Glory Righteous Butter (normal size- £10.50 for 300ml, miniature- £2.50 for 50ml)- Every Christmas and birthday I am always given masses of Body Shop body butters so that is what I have been using for the past few years; I rarely remember to use body butter but, when I do, I use it in the evenings after a shower or bath. I was a bit worried about trying this after my disappointment with Hand Food as I believe they have the same formula or scent or something, so I was super glad that they do it in a miniature size for relatively cheap. One of my favourite things about this product before even using it is that it was technically free as everything in Boots in currently on 3-for-2 and I'd bought some face wash and toner so this was my free thing which I love. I like this product but I really don't see all that much difference between using this and a Body Shop one. I'm not sure if I will repurchase this as it is quite expensive and there are cheaper options out there which work in the same way.

With the most expensive item costing £3.50 and the permanent 3-for-2 offer, I will definitely be taking advantage of the Soap and Glory travel range at Boots- fantastic bargain.
The one thing I am slightly regretful about not being able to try this month is a hot cloth cleanser but I will be on the look out to hopefully try one soon.

SKIN MONTH | YES ANOTHER BODY SHOP REVIEW

*Just to start I would like to say that I am sorry I have not posted for a while but I went on a camping competition with my Explorer Scouts (which I won) last weekend (really not good for your skin that) so obviously I cannot post from a tent.*

In my last Body Shop review I was not feeling the Seaweed Iconic Clay Mask vibe and, if it's possible, my view on it has actually decreased the more I've used it. I have only used this product twice but I don't think I'll be using it again in a hurry unless I run out of other face packs. Really soon after I put the mask on my face started to feel like it was burning, which is not ideal. I decided to stick the mask out until it dried because it does dry really quickly, but when I took it off it start to burn again and the exfoliating particles do not appear to wash off with the rest of the mask and I found myself having to stand there scrubbing it, my face also started to burn again when I used my normal tea tree soap afterwards. I am really disappointed as this is the first ever Body Shop product that I really have not liked, despite how smooth my skin feels afterwards. I have found, though, that the mask is doing nothing for my skin and my face really smells like seaweed afterwards which I do not want. I am going to try another Body Shop face pack because they have always been very good before, but I think I should just stick to my normal tea tree...

Tea Tree Face Mask:
Despite my initial disappointment with my other Body Shop face mask, I didn't want to give up on all hope of Body Shop skin products as I have been highly praising of them in the past. For this reason I decided to go back to an old favourite which I knew (and hoped) wouldn't fail me- the tea tree face mask. I have written before how good tea tree is for your skin (I actually took an online test on the Body Shop website link here which I really recommend doing and it actually said I should be using tea tree for my personal skin- so there you go!). There's something very refreshing about tea tree and your skin feels very soft, fresh and light after use. This is quite an old tub and I believe the packaging has changed slightly since I bought mine but the product itself is still the same. I love this face mask, it does exactly what I want it to (clears spots) and I will be buying it again.

Another product that I recommend is the aime Spring Clean Cooling Clay Mask which I won't review as it is basically the same as the tea tree one above, but it is a very good product and this one tube has lasted me literally years; I would be inclined to say that aime is one of the best.

SKIN MONTH | A BIT OF A WEIRD ONE

Every teenage girl can tell you without a doubt that Montagne Jeunesse are the best face packs ever. Now most will not actually know what the brand is called but EVERYONE knows the packaging. A French brand, these face packs come in individual sachets that cost £1 each from Boots or Claire's accessories and are the perfect quick or sleepover companion.

(Every girl in the world knows this packaging design immediately)

After the last face pack disaster (which I will go into more detail on later this week) I popped into Boots and picked up my favourite one, the Passion Peel Off. The ingredients of this mask are not the thing that appeals to me, it's the fact that, once dry, you peel this mask off like when you were a child and covered your hands in PVA glue just for the fun of peeling it off when dry. Childish, I know.

The thing that struck my most when I opened the sachet was the nostalgia I got from it, every summer I go on a group holiday with my dad's friends from uni and the three girls (me included) buy masses of these and have daily pamper evenings. This smells really great but comes out of the packaging in a thinner, pink colour so it does look like you've got a bad rash all over your face. I really can't fault these face masks, they are so fun and come in loads of different types (my other favourites being the red one that heats up on your face and the chocolate one that you have to physically resist eating). My skin feels all smoothy smooth after taking this off and they make the best presents or things for a sleepover or pamper day with your friends (also I cannot explain how much fun it is to peel this one off when it has dried).

The one problem I have with these is that there is too much in one sachet for one mask, but then you have to leave the packet somewhere safe is you want to use it again but it may dry up. That being said, it only costs a pound so only being able to use it once is really not that much of a problem.

SKIN MONTH | BODY SHOP REVIEW

So here is the first of my Love Your Skin Month product reviews, and we're starting with the Body Shop...

Seaweed Iconic Clay Mask:
Normally I get the Tea Tree Face Mask as tea tree is soso good for your skin, but this time I decided to mix it up a bit and go for something (hopefully) a bit stronger. Due to the 'clay mask' bit of the name, I was expecting a very hard product, but when I opened the tub the product was surprisingly soft and smooth and went on really nicely with a great coverage. It also smelt really good, like a subtle salty water scent, but the longer I kept it on my face the stronger the scent got until it was a rather unpleasant fishy-seaweed scent. You have to leave the product on your face until it has dried (the colour changes from dark grey to light grey so you know it's dry) but by the end the product had almost started to burn and I was itching to take it off. When I did take it off I remembered that there were small, gritty, exfoliating particles in it (which is great, I'm all for removing dead skin) but felt like rubbing sand on your face and actually hurt when taking it off. To take the product off I used the Body Shop Muslin Cloth and I was actually so surprised at how easy the face pack came off! Which most face packs it takes a lot of scrubbing to remove it once it has dried, but this one came off really quickly and easily (I only use a thin layer because the product is very thick and I want it to actually work and not just sit there). I'm not sure how I feel about this product, but my skin does feel very smooth afterwards and it dries super quickly so you don't have to keep it on for very long which is great. I am going to keep on using this product despite the negatives as it feels quite good for my skin, I will update if my opinion changes in the next few weeks but now we will just have to wait and see...

 

 

 

Vitamin E Gentle Facial Cleansing Wipes:

These have got to be the best makeup wipes I have ever used. They remove makeup I didn't even know I still had on without hurting your eyes. They can make under your eyes feel a bit sore if you rub it for too long and too hard but that doesn't last long. There's not much I can say about this product apart from the fact that I absolutely love it and it's not scented which is great if you're using it on your eyes like I do. The Body Shop Vitamin E range is one of the best and is good for your skin and so far I cannot fault this product in any way- I am a very happy bunny.