LUSH HAUL

Last week I went on a shopping trip to with my mum, I hadn’t been shopping in weeks so as you can imagine I went a little crazy. While we were there we popped into Lush to get a couple of facemasks for my sisters for their birthday over the weekend. I don’t often visit a Lush store and often forget we even have one in my local, as its hidden in the corner of the high-street but while I was in there I thought I would treat myself to a few bits to pamper myself with. I love Lush products, the main reason being that everything is natural so I know I’m not putting any bad chemicals on my skin but mostly I love how I always feel spoilt walking out of the shop after purchasing my own little bit of Lush heaven, smelling all the bath goodies and getting amazing customer service making for an overall amazing shopping experience.

I could have bought almost one of everything that I picked up as everything smelt so good and I have a slight addiction with anything skincare or beauty related at the moment but I settled for three-bath ballistics; Think pink, blackberry bath bomb, and butterball, A bubble gum lip scrub and the catastrophe cosmetic facemask.

I didn’t pick up the bath ballistics’ for any special reason, they just happened to be the ones I liked the smell of the most and if my conscience hadn’t been telling me that three was enough for one trip I would have picked up more.

The bubble gum lip scrub had been a product I’d been looking at for a while now, I get very dry and chapped lips so hopefully a scrub will help repair them and if not, at least the edible sugar scrub tastes amazing! I’ve used the scrub twice since it’s purchase and it seems to be working so far. My last purchase, the Catastrophe Cosmetic mask is a product I repurchase every time I visit Lush. It’s an all round amazing fresh face mask made of blueberries, calamine and chamomile, rose, and almond oils, I have oily and blemish prone skin so its ingredients really help to soothe and calm my skin.

Let me know what your favourite Lush products are!

Laura Jade x

Beauty and Fashion Haul

Over the past couple of months while doing my Christmas shopping there have been a lot of sales on, including a price match event at John Lewis and Black Friday sales, so as hard as I have tried not to buy myself anything there were various buys that I ‘needed’.

This month I’ve been a bit naughty and purchased three pairs of shoes.

1. Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Low Sneakers - £45 - John Lewis.
2. Amy Black Chelsea Boots - £49 - Miss Selfridge.
3. Ace Biker Boots - £42 - Miss Selfridge
(Current prices)

1.I wanted a pair of converse for ages but I originally wanted them in white but because they were on price match in John Lewis all of the white pairs where sold out so instead I brought these. Thinking about it the white ones would probably go grubby and would never stay white so I decided the black ones were a better choice. I can wear these any time of year too so I’m definitely going to get my moneys worth. 

2.These boots are my latest purchase; I wanted some winter boots that had a chunky heel. They are perfect for both day and evening wear, and because they have chunky heels they are really comfortable and are easy to walk in. I wore these with black skinny jeans but they could be worn with leggings, thick tights and denim jeans.

3.I got these Biker style boots from Miss Selfridge, I brought these because I didn’t have any slouchy winter boots, the majority of footwear I own aren’t very practical for winter weather and are pretty cheap so are pretty much falling apart, so these boots keep my feet warm and dry plus they look really stylish too.

4. Pro palette large and Pro palette eyeshadow x15 insert - MAC Cosmetics.
5. Taaj Micellar water - £21.52 - Amazon (Current price)
6. Clinique Anti- Blemish Solutions Cleansing Foam, 125ml.
7. Clinique Anti- Blemish Solutions Cleansing Bar For Face and Body.

4.John Lewis, Southampton, has recently opened a MAC cosmetics concession in their beauty department. I fell in love with the brand a few months ago and I was so excited to see the  mac in one of my favourite department stores. It looks amazing and the staff are so friendly and helpful. I purchased a large empty eye-shadow palette and an eye-shadow refill in the shade omega, to use on my eyebrows, along with a 208 Brow brush.

5.For a while now I’ve been using micellar water by B.Pure from Superdrug to take off my make up. I’ve not been 100% happy with using it to take off my eye make up as my eyes are a  little sensitive and it stings, I also found that the bottle was way too small, so when I read a review online recommending Taaj micellar water , I brought a big bottle from amazon for £21.52 for 100ml. I love this product, it takes off all make up, including my eye makeup and its delicate on my eyes. It smells amazing too and leaves my skin feeling clean and soft.

6 & 7. These two products are pretty much the same product except one is in a pump bottle with a foam wash and the other is in the form of a bar of soap. I buy the bottle of foam wash on a regular basis and it is the only face wash that prevents my skin from breaking out and helps to get rid of any blemishes I do have.  The bar of soap has been out of stock for ages so as soon as it came in I brought a bar as again it was on price match, I wont use it all the time as previously it as dried out my skin but sometimes I get spots on my arms and back and it again it’s the only soap that sorts those blemishes out.

8. Madame Crop Tee - £18 Miss selfridge (Current price)

8. When I brought my biker boots I was determined to not buy any clothes as I have so many but I saw this crop top on my way to the till and couldn’t resist. I don’t often buy t-shirts but I really liked the material and design on this one and thought it would be really nice to wear with high waisted denim jeans and my biker boots.

Real Techniques brushes review

I’ve never really been a makeup person, I wear it almost everyday but my make up and its application was always pretty simple. That was until about a year ago, I visited a makeup counter and had a mini makeover, when I told the girl at the counter I applied my foundation and concealer with my fingers; she didn’t look too impressed and recommend that I brought a few brushes. I purchased a few basic ones from body shop as they were reasonably priced and up till recently I’ve never really given brushes another thought.

However over the summer I started watching beauty YouTube videos (under my sisters influence) and heard a lot of good things about the real techniques brushes by Samantha chapman.  I talked to my sister about them as she owned the blush brush and she confirmed they were pretty amazing so naturally after catching the beauty bug I had to find out what all the fuss was about.

1. Stippling brush – The stippling brush was the first brush I brought to replace my old foundation brush, I have skin that tends to break out so its great for covering up blemishes as you can use it to build up coverage. It doesn’t make for an amazing foundation brush on its own so I now use it just for building up coverage rather than a base brush.

2. Foundation brush – I purchased this brush shortly after I brought the stippling brush so that I had a smoother finish to my base. It’s a really good foundation brush as the shape makes it easy to get into to any creases, although I was a bit disappointed with the quality of the bristles as I expected it to be a soft brush just like others from the collection. I found that after I washed it the bristles became softer and it applied my foundation better without any streaks.  I tend to use this brush more to apply my concealer now than I do to apply my foundation.

3. Expert face brush – This bush is one of my favourites from my collection and is just amazing. I use it to buff my foundation on rather than simply brushing it on which makes my foundation look flawless. Really nothing negative to say about this brush.

4. Blush brush – I love this brush, it’s so soft and applies powdered products really well. Its peaked shape is really good for brushing powder on in concentrated areas. I’m currently using this brush as a replacement for my powder brush as my blusher brush is still fairly new. The head of the brush is quiet big so I feel it is perfect for setting my powder.

5. Miracle complexion sponge - I brought this sponge as in reviews I’ve watched it has been praised as being just as good as the beauty blender, so I thought I would try it seeing as it not as expensive. I’ve only used this sponge once since having it as I felt the first time I used it was quiet time consuming and isn’t practical time wise when I’m getting ready before work. With that in mind I was really impressed as how flawless it made my foundation look so I’m really looking forward to using it again.