Lord of Misrule ♡

Every year, around Autumn/Winter time Lush bring out a whole collection of exciting new products, but every year there's one thing I look forward to more than anything else, Lord Of Misrule.

I fell in love with the Lord of Misrule bath bombs years ago and since then it's grown so popular that Lush have created a few more items that share its fragrance.

Lush Review-Soft Skin for Winter.

When the weather starts to get cooler my skin tends to panic a little, I get dry patches and it can just get really tight and itchy, I know most brands have products designed to combat this issue but because I get eczema on and off I have to be a little more careful about what I am putting on my skin.
This year Lush have released two items into their Christmas range that I've found really helpful, and I really want to share them with you.

My Mac Lipstick Collection ♡

Mac lipsticks must be one of the most popular products across the blogging community and with good reason, I find that they always seem to have what I'm looking for, they cannot be faulted on their variety and it's for that reason that they make up the majority of my lipstick collection.
While £15.50 is a little much for a lipstick something about them makes them worth it (though it's annoying that they keep raising their prices) and lately I've been buying them more from my local Cosmetic Company Outlet as they are discounted to £11 and then I get an extra 10% off as I work in the same shopping centre, if you live near a CCO, or are near one while shopping I would really recommend checking them out as they stock really good brands at a discounted price and also sometimes have old limited edition collection items which people will be selling online for a lot more. Anyway, onto the lipsticks.

Huge Lush Oxford St Haul ♡

I've wanted to visit Lush Oxford Street since I first heard about it and last week I finally got the chance, if you haven't heard about it it's their new flagship store with three floors, a Lush spa and 200 new and exclusive products, it's amazing!

I finally got to visit last week and was in love, the shop is set out really nicely, the exclusive products all look great and I'm excited to use the ones I bought.

I did try to research before I left, and found Jen's blog, All Things Lush, and Jess' instagram ! Using these I gained a good idea of what to keep an eye out for but still became overwhelmed in the shop and forgot a few things, anyone fancy taking me back for a second go?

Anyway, onto the actual products, this might get quite long and rambly so sorry in advance.

Lord of Misrule Shower Cream (250g-£9.50) This is one of the things I knew I needed straight away, Lord of Misrule is one of my favourite bath bombs and I've wanted a shower gel with this scent for ages, it has a warming, spicey peppery scent and is amazing!

Comforter Shower Cream (100g-£4.75) I really wish I had bought the massive bottle of this! I love it so much, it's like a warm, comforting (get it?) hug in a bottle, it smells like the Comforter bubble bar and is so soothing, my anxiety has been quite bad lately so I've been really loving this.

Yuzu and Cocoa Shower Cream (100g-£4.75) This is supposed to smell like chocolate oranges but I don't get that at all, like not even a hint, to me it smells like Summer, sun cream, cockatails, I love it! I haven't used it yet so the smell might change a little in the shower I suppose but hopefully it will still smell like Summer in a bottle. 

Shades of Earl Grey Massage Bar (£5.95) I've just realised this isn't exclusive, but I've wanted to try a massage bar for a while and this one smells lovely, it has cocoa butter, shea butter (both fair trade) and lemon and lime oil and is really moisturising.

They had so many amazing bath bombs and bubble bars but I really had to limit myself as I was buying for my friend as well, I wish I had bought back ups but I will have to wait I suppose.

Intergalactic Bath Bomb (£3.50) This is one I wish I had hundreds off (ish) as the photos I've seen on instagram are amazing, it contains peppermint and popping candy, smells lovely and I'm stupidly excited to use it, but dreading not having more to use after.

Guardians of the Forest Bath Bomb (£3.35) This is one I let my boyfriend choose, it smells very relaxing and earthy, I can imagine this one being nice for bedtime.

Top left-bottom right: Frozen, The Experimenter, Guardians of the Forest & Intergalactic.

Frozen Bath Bomb (£3.75) "do you want to have a bath bomb? do you want to splash and play?" I love lush's stickers, it's so nice to see a brand with personality! This one has grapefruit and neroli and is really uplifting.

The Experimenter Bath Bomb (£3.75)  This caught my eye thanks to it's shape and colours, it smells quite smokey but fizzes away quite quickly. I've already used this and found that while it's really colourful initially it does turn the bath a grey/green colour.

 Pink Flamingo Reusable Bubble Bar (£5.95) I've never actually used a reusable bubble bar before but this one is so adorable I couldn't not get it, it's inspired by cocktails and smells amazing with rosewood and ylang ylang, I can't wait to use this!
Karma Bubble Bar (£4.25) This is actually another one that isn't exclusive to Oxford Street but as it's changed formula and style I didn't realise, the purple got everywhere-the bag was covered, but it smells amazing, it's refreshing and uplifting with orange and patchouli and I'm so happy that you can get this in normal shops as I really do like it.
Milky Bath Bubble Bar (£3.75) This wasn't really something I wanted to try until I read a few reviews online, I don't like milk so was completely put off by it but I've read that it's actually really good if you have eczema, as the seasons change my eczema tends to flare up so while all lush bath things help, I wanted something that would go that extra mile, it smells very uplifting-it has orange oil in it-and contains skimmed milk to help your skin.

I was particularly interested in having a look at the bath oils, they are supposed to be really moisturising so I bought quite a lot for me and my friend, they are all £2 each. They are all quite slippy and messy, I made the mistake of initially putting them in the same bag and they got a little mixed in colours.

Ginger I'm going to be honest, the main reason I picked this one up is because it reminded me of a Golden Snitch, it doesn't smell overly of ginger but does smell lovely.

Lime Pastille This was the messiest of them all but as my boyfriend loved lime scented products I picked this one up for him.

Orange Blossom This one smells so uplifting and beautiful, I love orange products and am so excited to try this

Shark Infested Custard This one smells quite comforting and the melon paper fin is a cute little addition.

Double Vitality I've already used this one and it was so nice! It's sandwiched together and smells like peppermint and lemon, it's very refreshing and cute.

Oil on Troubled Water This one smells like mint and oakwood and the colour is gorgeous.

Johnny Appleseed This one is adorable, it looks like a little apple with a cinnamon stalk, it smells very sweet.

You've Been Mangoed This one smells exactly like the You've Been Mangoed bath melt, it's refreshing and uplifting and smells almost sherbert-y

Cloak of Invisibility Another Harry Potter themed one, the description says "when you just want to disappear, pop this into the bath and cloak yourself in jasmin and rosewood waters. Perfect for shielding yourself from reality until the doorbell rings. Use it well." I'm hoping I'm not the only Potter fan who fangirled over that? This one looks really cool and I'm really excited to try it out. 

Since I've been writing this (it took me so long) I've heard that they are bringing about 100 of the exclusive products into regular stores, I don't know for definite which ones but it's worth a look in the next few weeks to see if your local store has any.

I hope this haul has been useful, it took me a while but I really wanted to make sure I was happy with it, I do want to write a wishlist of the things I forgot, and when the new products make their way into my local lush I'm sure there will be another haul.

Thankyou very much for reading :) 

Smashbox Step-By-Step Contour Kit Review ♡

Hey, I know it's been a long time (again) since I last posted, and I'm not even going to try and explain, I guess I'm just not great at balancing work and blogging but hopefully I'll get there.

Today I wanted to talk about a new favourite product of mine, the Smashbox Step-By-Step Contour kit. I picked mine up in my local Cosmetic Company Outlet for a little cheaper but it usually costs £35 and can be bought in boots. 

To be honest I picked this up on a complete whim, it was pay day and I just felt like spending a little money and as I work in the same centre as the CCO I got a little extra discount, what better reason to try new products right? The moment I got home I was so excited to play around with the palette and have been obsessed ever since.

The palette includes a contour shade, a bronzer and highlighter, but what I love about all three is that they are all matte and none of them are really unnatural colours so they create a really natural look, originally I didn't know if I'd like a matte highlight but it really does work

With this palette you get a useful guide to contouring, and a brush that can be used with all three shades, while the brush is useful it isn't the best I've used, it's handy to take with you as it's travel friendly and gives a light but build-able colour, the main issue is that I've found it sheds a little which can be irritating. I tend to use other brushes that work better than this one but it's nice that they include it. 

Another thing about this palette is that no packaging is wasted. You have the three shades and a mirror, and a guide that you might be able to peel off the mirror (I have left mine on as it doesn't bother me) The brush comes separately in the box so there are no annoying spaces in the palette, or little compartments that you end up not using, making the palette perfectly slim and travel friendly.

I've spoken for long enough about the packaging so lets move onto the most important part, the product itself. As I mentioned you get three shades, one contour, one bronzer and one highlighter. There is only one shade option for the palette but as they are build-able it will work for many skin tones, including very pale as they are easily blend-able. 

The contour shade is the best I've found yet, it isn't warm or the slightest bit orange and is completely matte, making it perfect for contouring with, I like to build it up into the hollows of my cheeks with the Real Techniques Bold Metals Contour brush and then blend out with the Contour brush from their core collection, then take a little down the sides of my nose and up along the outside of my face in a "3" shape (through my temples and across the forehead) It blends so well and you really can tailor it so suit whatever makeup you're wearing that day.

The bronzer shade is probably the one I use the least, I'm not usually one for bronzing my face but I do use it sometimes with the core collection contour brush to help blend the contour shade into my blush sometimes when I want more warmth. It isn't too orange or muddy and works well with the two other shades. 

The highlight shade was the one I was more cautious of, I don't usually like a matte highlight but I've found that using this under my usual highlighter does help to brighten and add brightness, I use it with my Real Technique Setting brush and also apply down the bridge of my nose but I love it most as a brow bone highlight. While I don't like matte face highlighters I also hate shimmery eyebrow highlights and have never even thought to use something like this, but it's perfect. It helps brighten the entire area, emphasizing eye makeup without drawing attention to stray brow hairs, and makes eyebrows look more put together. It's brilliant!

I'm sorry this review was so long and rambly, I hope it's been interesting at least. I don't think I've tried a product review before so if anyone has any advice please tell me. 

Thankyou so much for reading, I'll try and not leave it too long until the next one.

Beauty Bucket Lists-the ones to come? ♡

In my last post I talked about all of the products that had been on my "beauty bucket list" that I'd eventually caved and purchased, this time I'll be sharing the products that are left on my bucket list, I meant to get this up ages ago but since I started my new job I've been all over the place, sorry!

First up is the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara, I think this is pretty difficult to get hold of in the UK but after hearing so many good things about this I really want to try it, I have a mascara problem and this may have to be my next addition to that problem. 

Next is a palette that is so pretty I would probably struggle to use it if I were to own it, Charlotte Tilbury's Dolce Vita is another product that has been raved about a lot and it is so pretty I'm struggling so much to resist it.

Another palette but this time it's more to finish my collection, the Urban Decay Naked 1 palette never used to appeal to me but now I've used the others I feel as though I'm missing out on the original, I'm not going to say too much as I feel as though Urban Decay shadows have more than enough praise online but they are the best I've ever used.

The next item I guess could be the thing that has been on this list the longest, Valentina by Valentino was the first thing I ever wanted to buy when I got my first proper job as a sales assistant in Primark and despite lusting over it every time I'm in boots I still haven't caved in and bought it yet, I'm sure I will one day but it is really expensive.

The Nars All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation has had some very mixed reviews but it seems as though it may work for me better than Sheer Glow would, the only issue is I don't live near a shop that stocks Nars and I'm really reluctant to buy it online without being sure what shade would be best. 

Another eyeshadow palette and this one isn't going to be the easiest to get hold off, though it will be easier now that Sephora ship to the UK I am a little nervous about getting customs charges, Marc Jacobs Lolita palette is beautiful and has had so many good reviews. You can never have too many eyeshadow palettes right?

Finally the last product, the Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour palette is so pretty and looks like it could be quite versatile too, again I'd have to get this from Sephora so I think I'll probably put an order together with my best friend and hope it doesn't hurt our bank balances too much. 

That's the end of my beauty bucket lists, I really wanted this post to go up sooner but things have been pretty hectic lately, I've started my new job and love it and have also started planning on moving to Southampton in September, if you know of any posts on tips on moving or things to do in Southampton please leave them below, I might even write some of my own as well.

Thankyou so much for reading xx

                                                     ♡

Beauty Bucket Lists-the ones that made me cave ♡

I love bucket lists, I feel like they can tell you a lot about people. This post isn't actually about my "life"bucket list, but my beauty bucket list. Does anyone else have one of these? It's a list of all the slightly more expensive makeup products that I really really want to buy but am waiting for the perfect time, and I thought I'd show you some products that I've bought that would have been on this list if I'd had it a while ago..so products that I had to build up the courage to buy (I did get some of them as gifts though)

As this post started to get far too long I've decided to split it into two posts so first up are the products that I lusted after for a very long time before either buying them myself or receiving them as birthday/Christmas presents.

I got the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette for my birthday a couple of years ago and loved it so much that a few months later I treated myself to the Naked 3 palette, I love them both a lot and, spoiler alert, am hoping to get the Naked 1 at some point too. 

Another eyeshadow palette but one that I didn't think I was ever going to be able to get is the Estèe Lauder Raisins duo, this was really popular a few years ago but was discontinued so I couldn't find it anywhere, until I was on holiday in Spain and found it by chance in a department store there, I really wish they would bring this back as it is beautiful and I never want to be without it!

A much more budget friendly product is the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, this is something that I've been looking at for so many years but never got round to buying it but with some events on at work lately I thought it would be a good product to have with brighter eye makeup for work.

I've been wanting a Nars blush/cheek palette since the danmari palette but always missed out on them so when my Dad managed to get me the Virtual Domination palette I was so happy, the colours are beautiful and I'm so glad I finally have one.

The Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow was definitely a risk purchase, I didn't get a chance to see it in person first and am almost sorry that I didn't, for some reason I was hoping that this would be more of a contouring palette but the highlight is beautiful and does make up for it.

Another nars blush product I wanted for ages is Deep Throat, it's beautiful and I love it a lot so am very happy that I bought it after having my eye on it for so long.

Mac's Stereo Rose Mineralise Skinfinish is another limited edition blush/highlight that I wanted for ages before finally buying it. Apparently this changes slightly with every collection it is released in but this one is stunning. 

Neon Orange by Mac was the first lipstick I ever wanted from them back when they were only about £12 (if there's one thing to hate about mac it's the ridiculous climbing prices, I haven't noticed any other brands increasing so much) I managed to find this unexpectedly in a Cosmetic Company Store and was thrilled, for some reason lately I've been too nervous to wear it but I used to wear it a lot. (this is now not discontinued anymore)

Charlotte Tilbury lipsticks are stunning and I really wanted some of the matte revolution ones, my Dad got me Amazing Grace and I bought myself Glastonberry and they are beautiful, I'll definitely be doing a review soon.

The last lipstick is one that was definitely love at first swatch, I literally stalked this lipstick in various department stores for months before finally ordering it online, it's YSL's Rouge Voluptè in number 9-Pink Caress. It's a lovely colour and the packaging is gorgeous. 

Lastly I have a couple of non beauty items, that are still kind of beauty related. I've wanted a pair of Frends headphones for ages and finally bought the rose gold layla ones with my birthday money last year and am in love with them, they are expensive but I find them completely worth it.

Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes was very popular last year and I can really see why, I haven't read all of it yet but it's very good to dip into read parts of at a time. 

Flowebomb by Viktor & Rolf is a perfume that Rhiannon from fashion rocks my socks spoke about a lot and I finally managed to get it for christmas one year and love it so much, it's running out now but I may have to repurchase it as it's lovely.

I just wanted to mention that this post isn't me bragging in any way at all, it's just something that I thought might be interesting to look at.

Thankyou for reading, please share any of your own beauty bucket list items below, I'll be replying to any comments I may get.

Thankyou :)