Lush: The Golden Egg

I hope everyone had a great Paddys day and is in tip top form for the week! If not then I get it, I myself was in town and saw the crazy drunken crowds of people. Little to my knowledge, not many shops open on the day but alas, Lush was. I popped in and got some samples and a free face mask as I had 5 empty pots to exchange. I had also gone in earlier to the week. Now lets remember, limited edition products don't count in my Lush ban!

The golden egg drew me in like a moth to a flame. Its part of their Easter range and honest to god would you just look at how sparkly that thing is! I knew one of them just had to be mine. This is a glittery bath bomb and a bath melt rolled into one egg shaped wonder. It smells like one of my favourite soaps from Lush, honey I washed the kids - a sweet honey and toffee scent.  Nothing could stop this blossoming romance.

Pop it in the bath and you get lovely yellow glittery water and a decent amount of bubbles. But if I was to split hairs here I would say that a regular bath melt is better for bubbles then this two in one style. None the less its just so lovely to steep in and I really needed it after a long day. It has fair trade cocoa butter, wild orange oil and olive oil to name a few of the ingredients in it that will leave your skin silky smooth when you eventually mange to drag yourself out of the watery world of relaxingness - totally a word fyi...

The one thing that I hated about it? And now, it is only a small thing but its wreaked my head. The glitter. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of glitter, a lover if you will. But it was all over my skin and towel. The shower the next day didn't get it all off and I made the mistake of using the towel from the night before which means I looked like I sloppily devoured a bowl of glitter and the towels needed to be thrown in the wash in order to try and rid the sparkles. Oh well lesson learnt!

Apart from having to keep all my towels separate in future, I might just be tempted to go back and buy another of these beauts. At €4.50 who could say no to that egg? 

Lush Valentines Love Locket Bath Bomb

I'm having a bit of bother writing my last juice detox post so bare with me pretty please! Today instead I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite place, Lush! Before anyone goes and points fingers, I got this before I decided to start my Lush ban and anyway, I don't think limited edition items should be counted as you can't get them any time you want. I was really excited to hear that Lush had their Valentines day range out and went in the next day to have a goo of everything. I was expecting to be forking out a fair bit as normally their Valentines things are really to die for, but I was wrong.

Thinking I would want some of their prince charming shower gel I had a sniff and came away disappointed, it was nothing to write home about, the same with their neon love soap. Even one of the staff admitted that he thought the soap was awful. I did like close to you (a sweet scent) and tender is the night (a faint floral scent) massage bars but they were a little more pricey then the normal massage bars so I resisted. They have three limited edition boxes out too which seem to be nice enough if you like the products in them - they don't actually have a lot of the Valentines products in them!

Apart from the kiss lip balm which I didn't try, only the love locket was left to tempt me. And I'm sorry to say I fell for it, it was massive and smelt like a refresher sweet. Remember them!? The guy in Lush told me there was three layers to this, but I'm not sure if I missed one or if he was having a bad day because when it broke open there was only two, an outer shell and a heart inside.

At almost €9 (see why I needed the ban?) this is the most expensive bath bomb I have ever gotten and I had to have a little sit down after I bought it to consider just how crazy I am. But off I went home happy as anything, that is, until I went to take a bath and all hell broke loose. 

Above you have seen my lovely big bath bomb in bits all over the kitchen table. Its true, when I picked it up to take it into the water it shattered all over my book, clothes and granny's fancy table cloth. It left me almost in tears! Needless to say its not the most sturdy bath bomb I have ever come across and at the price I paid I expected more. The disappointment continued into the bath..

Now its true to say not all Lush bath bombs will have bubbles in them, but my little heart always drops to my stomach a bit when I see that this is the case. I'm so sad but bubbles make my world! And yes, I know I should just stick to bubble bars if its that big a deal but variety is the spice of life I'll have you know. The water turned a pinkish red colour and when I got into it I got the fright of my life. Intelligence here didn't notice all the little heart confetti that was floating about. For a second I didn't know what it was and was half out of the bath before I copped. Let us all pause momentarily to shake our heads over the blonde moment. Its a nice added touch but warn a girl will you Lush!

Overall I was really disappointed with this bath bomb and with Lushes Valentines range this year. Could just be me being all fussy or not liking some of the scents that others could love, but I'm glad I only forked out a near €10 and not more. Sorry Lush but back to the drawing board. Two years ago was probably the best year for Valentines things as it was the year of the sweet smelling red topped mushroom bubble bar. Proves the saying 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. 

Hope everyone is having a fab day and keeping happy! :)

Glossy Woman Glossy Box November

Yeah, I know its the 11th of December, but I didn't want to do a post without trying out the products first to give you a mini review as I find limited edition box reviews a bit boring on their own.

This one was targeted more towards the slightly older women with day and night creams that 'rewind time', collagan booster and a spray for colour treated hair to name a few. I'm not at the stage yet where I need specialist anti aging creams (thank goodness!) but it never hurts to start when you can see fine lines and some serious worry lines on my forehead deeply etched in, someone pass me the cement mixture!  

To start off when I opened the box I noticed the dark brownie colour that didn't appeal to me at all. Why is it so dark and off putting?? Not cool GlossyBox, try again. Other then that all the potions and lotions were shoved into a corner which makes me point some fingers at the post man! I loved the orange ribbon, that kind of made up for the awful box colour and the bad post man.

So the first thing that caught my eye was the Olehenriksen truth serum collagen booster in a bright orange. Not only does it look orange but it smells of fresh oranges - nom! It is their number one selling product worldwide and having used it I can see why. It has five sources of vitamin C boost collagen, dramatically brighten skin tone, hydrate and help prevent signs of aging. Sounds fancy huh? The consistency of this is quite watery but makes it very easy to apply and their GlossyBox tip is to pat vitamin C products onto the skin, never rub in. Its way harder to do then you'd think! But it feels very luxurious and I will admit since starting to use it I have noticed my skin is brighter which is surprising as I don't normally see a product working so quickly! The full size for a 30ml is a pocket pinching £47.

The next things that caught my eye were the two little black and white bottles of Lulu's Time Bomb Glory Days day cream recaptured youth and Flashback night cream rewind time. The day cream has rich borage oil, glucose and white flower oils that help to improve texture and even skin tone, making it smooth and tight.The night cream has ultra rich moisturisers and anti aging ingredients beneath an invisible rich bran wax barrier. 

Both of these creams smell really lovely and they sink into the skin well, but I have yet to see any amazing results. My skin does well nice after using them but I would be leaning toward the Olehenriksen still. The day cream is £12 and the night cream is £13.50, both 15ml bottles. 

The next product is Redken colour extend in a lovely red eye catching bottle. This one claims to offer 10 benefits to coloured hair in just one spray.It deeply cares for and prolongs the life of coloured hair for vibrant, lustrous and naturally reinforced locks. I have very coloured hair, I'm awful for dying it a billion colours every few months and I am really loving bright blues and pinks too, so I this would be a life saver for me. However this has been the biggest let down of all the products in the box. I have seen no difference in my hair or the colour, oh well! I will keep giving it a go for the next week or so but after that if I still see no improvement, to the bin it goes! This costs a pricey £20.80 for a 170ml bottle.

The last thing is the [Comfort Zone] glorious skin visible lifting tensor mask. A sublime gel mask, it visibly reduces expression lines and leaves even the most dehydrated skin super soft. The first thing I thought when reading that was score! My forehead is about to get an ironing out. But in reality its not as exciting as that. This has to be one of the most unpleasant smelling products I've tried in a long time, just ugh. It sinks in amazingly well though and the smell reduces after a minute or so. I haven't seen any mind blowing results but I do notice that my skin is soft after washing it off. This sleek bottle sets you back £34.75 for a 50ml bottle.

Thats all for now, I am waiting by the door every day bothering the post man for the December GlossyBox like a mad woman! As always, stay fab! x

Star Light, Star Bright Lush Bath Melt

Think we all know by now how much I love Lush and have a house coming down with all their products. Cough, this haul here, cough. I always have high expectations for their things, sometimes I'm really disappointed and then sometimes like this time, I'm grabbing my hat and knickers running out the door to go buy more. (Not quite that literal, but you get the jist)

Can I introduce you to the wonder of all that is Star Light, Star Bright. This jazzy star is a bath melt that looks fab, all that silver glitter really gets me in the Christmas mood (I know, hold your horses its only November, but I like to be ready and organised for the season thats in it.) This is one of many Lush Christmas limited edition products that they have gracing the shop floors at the moment. I saw it in the Lush Times magazine and went to investigate further to see if it was as nice in real life as on the pages. It smells like a wake up call - a nice one mind you. Not one of those sleep deprived, far to early starts with added baltic temperatures once you step out of the bed. No my dears its one of those, darling, I'm just giving you a bit of a zing to keep you going, but feel free to relax all the same. Yup, I did just sum a bath melt into a weird metaphor/scenario.

To get technical, it has cocoa butter, organic shea butter, ginger, lavender, coconut and lime oil. Thats just naming the few I think are important in creating a picture like smell in your heads. When you break up the star into the running water your meant to make a wish which I totally did because I am indeed 5 years old. The second it hits the water you get a gorgeous citric scent. Now let me just say that I am not a fan of citric scents normally and when I picked this up it was with a slight hesitation as sweet scents are normally my go to. But man I haven't loved a smell like this in ages, I'm surprising myself! 

Inside is a beautiful blue center of shea butter fondant making the bath water a yellowish green colour. I'm always disappointed when theres no bubbles in my baths but I think I can forgive this time as the water was just so moisturizing. I can not stress that enough. I've had many a bath melt from Lush in my time but this one is top of the moisturizing list. And if that doesn't tick all your boxes then the glittery bath water will. I couldn't get a decent picture of the glitter but take a look at my arm below. See the lower blue flower? Covered from head to toe shimmering like that. I felt like a fairy. Stephen even commented on how sparkly I was for the next day or so (and I quote, your like a twilight vampire... I'll take it!)

There are some downsides of course. If your not a fan of citric scents then this really isn't for you. Same goes for over sparkly skin until your next shower or bath. And before you use your bath melt there is the hassle of just looking at it, not even touching it and getting covered in sliver glitter. Don't do the stupid thing of touching the bath melt and then your face like I did in the shop. Oh man I was fit to sit on top of a Christmas tree.

But for €4.50 I think its well worth it. I got mine in the Lush on Henry St from the ever lovely Garret. I met him when I was at the Lush event and he is ever the total babe. Go in and say hi next time your passing!

Lush Soot Ball Halloween Limited Edition Bath Bomb

The minute I saw this online I knew I had to go grab it before they were all gone. This little soot ball reminds me of the soot gremlins in Spirited Away by Studio Ghibli. I love this film and I love how this bath bomb looks!

This is a limited edition Halloween special along with two other Halloween pieces. I have to say I was a bit disappointed Lush didn't bring out a bigger range this year and its not clear to see them in the shops when you walk in either, Christmas gift sets and products have taken over instead.

 Soot is filled with shea and cocoa butter, frankincense, sandalwood and the burnt caramel sent of tonka absolute giving it a sweet yet spicy sent that will fill your bathroom once it is all dissolved in the water. It really smells lovely and warm, something you can't wait to sink into and relax. The only down side to this bath bomb is that there aren't a huge amount of bubbles, which I always like my baths to have. But it does make up for it in how moisturizing the bath water is.

Despite Lush's best efforts, the bath water does not go a golden colour but instead a shiny brown as the gold and black mix together. Look at the pictures below to understand what I'm talking about. Now some people will find this disappointing or even unappealing to get into, but for me I thought it was fun. My mind tends to run away with itself and as its nearly Halloween I was imagining all sorts of reasons as to why I had to bathe in this funny coloured water. I decided in the end that it was to find the Loch Ness Monster because only a pair of eyes were to be found at the end of this adventure. (I know, mind of a three year old over here. But it was fun!) I came away relaxed, softer skinned and smelling a bit Wintery if thats at all possible. Oh and some people have been a bit ifie over comments being made about this bath bomb. No it does not stain your skin and no it does not stain your bath. Theres no scrubbing involved when you get out of the bath I promise!

When I went into the bathroom to turn on the water this is what I was met with. A Dodie cat in the bath! I think she was looking for spider dinner as she often does. Shes doing her best 'I'm not doing a thing! I'm being really good' face. 

You can win your very own Soot Ball to try and love in my Halloween giveaway. Have you entered yet? This month is flying, do it soon!