Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics

There is no denying that Lush is an incredible brand creating wonderful products for the bath, face and hair. I walk into lush and literally want to buy everything it all smells delicious and everything is so creative and the fact that it's all handmade and natural without harming any animals in the process makes me very very happy.

Twilight

First up is a bath bomb called Twilight which is £3.20 and can be found here. It has a very faint but lovely smell of lavender which is perfect after a long day at work or school. Also the bath bomb is huge so I'd recommend chopping it in half, because when you do, you discover a core of blue glittery goodness! Once you've popped it into your bath the blue and pink swirl around and create a lovely purple colour and you smell brilliant afterwards, just makes you want to cuddle up with a film and a hot chocolate, with is exactly what I did!

Yuzu and Cocoa

Next is this amazing smelling bubble bar called Yuzu and Cocoa which is £2.95 and can be found here. This smells like the wonderful alcoholic beverage Malibu it just smells of coconut and sugar and tropical goodness! Also the way it is made it has a "jam" in the centre (a little like a custard cream) which is this lovely smooth cocoa butter which is guaranteed to make your skin lusciously soft and smell wonderful of course!

Creamy Candy

So this is my absolute favourite and it's called the Creamy Candy Bubble Bar, it's £2.50 and can be found here. This is the girliest scent in the world, you come out of the bath feeling like a candy floss princess and just want everyone to smell you. Go and buy this! I have to say though, there are some reviews on the site saying that it didn't make many bubbles, the reason they are saying this is because they haven't used it correctly. You don't use it like a soap bar and rub it on your body, you don't leave it in the tub to dissolve either. What you have to do with the bubble bars is crumble them under running water then your bath will be wonderfully foamy!

The Comforter

If you like Vimto you will adore this! It is called The Comforter and it's another Bubble Bar, it's £4.25 and can be found here. You only need the tinyest chunk of this massive block to get a sweet foamy pink bath so it's definitely worth the money!

The world of fake tan

Now then I don't fake tan for day-to-day life however I do enjoy looking bronzed for a night out or an important gathering where I need to impress! To be honest I only ever fake tan my legs because there is a clear stopping point (underwear) however with arms I feel like I would have to carry it through onto my chest and torso and back, and let's face it, moisturising your own back is hard enough! I have tried a fair few in my time and here's some of the current ones in my bag. Also I don't approve of tanning mitt's, anyone I know that's used them has ended up streaky and patchy, I use my bare hands for any lotion/cream types, and those thin disposable plastic gloves you can get, usually from hair/beauty stores.

L'Oreal Paris Sublime Bronze Express Pro Spray

Honestly? It's not great. I've always used medium skin products because, well, I wouldn't exactly class myself as dark but this makes no difference to my skin, the only way I can tell I'm wearing it is the horrid smell. It claims to have a "citrus scent" and my personal opinion is that it's an awful smell! Maybe I should try the darker one, but just in case, I'm going to give it a miss. To be fair the "ultra-wide micro-diffusion spray" does work well, it feels like it goes on very evenly and it does dry quickly, thing is I can't tell if it has gone on evenly because I can't see it.
Just in case you are interested you can buy it here for £10.33.

L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Self-Tanning Golden Mousse

L'Oreal Paris makes a comeback with this one! It goes on a lovely golden colour and barely has any smell, it also develops wonderfully. Only bad thing is that it transfers onto towels, jammies and bedsheets very easily and can be a little orange. I would recommend it as a one night wonder! Pop it on in the morning after a shower and wear shorts for the day, let it develop throughout the day so it's ready for the night! It's £9.99 and you can buy it here.

St Tropez Everyday Perfect Legs

This is super good! It has two pumps, one with a super silky gradual tanner which is white and goes on first, then the black pump which contains the instant bronzer. As the instant bronzer comes out, for the first time it can be rather scary because it is super dark, it sort of looks like melted chocolate but I promise you it blends wonderfully! This is actually an application video but I'm sure the product is out there somewhere but I've had it for a while and it is one of my favourites and it's about £20 so if you can find it, buy it!

Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Natural Bronze Gradual Tanning Moisturiser 

This is ridiculously cheap at £2.67 for a 250ml bottle and it does genuinely smell like cocoa butter! It's a gradual tanner so just goes on as a generic white cream and develops over time. I have to say it is slightly orangey but makes up for it by making your body feel laaaavvely! Buy it here!

Vita Liberata PHenomenal 2-3 Week Tan

THIS IS SO GOOD! This is the best tan I have ever used, it has no orange tint and makes it look like you've been on holiday for about a month. I use gloves for application as it's a mouse so you also have to be very careful about any dry patches (knees and ankles). Also if you want it to last 2-3 weeks then don't shower....I don't think they thought about that part but after a couple of showers it's pretty much gone but other than that it just keeps developing and is such an amazing colour and is so smooth to apply with no streaks. I don't have a picture for you because I promised myself I wouldn't buy any more until I've used the rest of my stocks up. This is because it's £37.49 and spending nearly £40 on tan when I've already got loads is rather extravagent. But if you are looking for a good tan and have got the money to spend on it, get all over this!

It's been a while!

First of all I would like to apologise for not posting in absolutely forever?! Not quite sure where I've been! So basically this is just going to be an update so I'll show you a few of my favourite purchases since last time I posted.
Ps- Try to guess what style of dress I've been loving...
Pps- My editing software went a bit doolally so I'm really sorry if the pictures are bad quality!

I'll start wiiiiiitttthhhh OOH some stuff from stylistpick. If you don't already know, stylist pick is an online shop and they have some absolutely lush shoes and bags on there, I believe they also sell clothing but I just go for their shoes and bags and what happens is as you sign-up to their site you pop in all of your fashion preferences and so they'll give you regular updates on your "showroom" where they put all of the items that apply to your preferences, basically it's great!

 Patent printed platform wedge
These beauties are surprisingly comfy, they have a 6" heel but a front platform of (I think) about 1" and they're just super lush. Whilst looking at them online I thought that the wedge was like a weird foamy material so I was quite sceptical about whether or not I would like them, but it turns out that it has got a solid heel and it's actually covered in a really nice material, happy days! Finding them online just now for the link for you guys has made me aware they are now on sale for £20! You would be silly not to go and buy them!





If you are like me and love big bags then you will lovelovelove this one! Only thing is that I couldn't find it online anymore but if you can find it anywhere (e.g-Ebay) then I definitely suggest getting it, you can fit your life in this bag!

Another couple of things in my basket from stylistpick were the Antonia Patent loafer simply because I needed some new black flats! And the Britt-blush peep toe ankle strap wedges which I just think are adorable! Seriously guys, they have amazing sales on like all the time, definitely recommend you sign up!

Ooooohhh next up is the limited edition Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm in the colour Crystal Mandarin for £18. I have been looking for an orangey-red lip colour for ages in preparation for summer and finally stumbled across this one. The idea is that it has like a cylinder of lipstick running through the centre and then that is surrounded by this really smooth, hydrating balm and it's just super nice to apply and wear etc.

In all honesty I'm not short of shoes, in fact I have far too many and not enough space for them. However, I did go ahead and by myself some new converse! I have two pairs and they're both coloured and low-tops and I'm not a massive fan of them any more so I went with the Converse All Star Hi because they're just classic and beaut!

I headed on over to boohoo.com and found a couple of super cute dresses which are rather different to my usual style but I really like them. In total honesty they look a lot better on so I've got a picture of me in one of them so you don't just think I have terrible taste in clothing! First of all we have the Holly Vertical Stripe Bodycon Midi Dress and then it's the Carly Cap-Sleeve Polka Dot Midi Dress. Both dresses are relatively thin material so not to tight and hot for summer. I think they're just both really nice and they do cling, they're very elasticy and show off those curves!





Next up is this Polka Dot Bodycon Dress from Topshop! I love this so so much. Thing is, I saw it and fell in love only to realise it was in the Tall section...now then, for any of you who do not know me in real life, I am most certainly not tall. Then it kind of kicked in that although tall people may wear this dress as a "mini" I could totally wear it as a midi, and it so works!! It's 93% cotton so it's much thicker than the previous two which means I will get a bit toasty but that's okay because I will happily wear this in the winter and lets face it, English weather isn't the warmest anyway!

I got a new phone!

So I know that it's really unusual for someone to change from an iPhone to anything else but I have had an iPhone for two years now and to be honest I was just bored, I feel I have experienced all the iPhone has to offer and it's time to move on! Welcoming....the Samsung Galaxy S4!!! I am absolutely in love with this phone, I'm not going into details of it but basically it has the ease of an iPhone but it's more interesting and faster and has a better camera and has so many amazing apps, it just makes life easier! I got mine from Phones4U on a really good contract and bought some extras obviously.





Okay so this one isn't a new one, this is just me showing you my two favourite perfumes. Dolce & Gabbana The One and Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb. To be totally honest I think that when it comes to perfume you have to spend a lot, if you buy cheap you'll smell cheap.

Finallyfinallyfinally nails! This is just a new pattern that I saw on YouTube, loved but thought it would be hard, tried it and it was super easy!! To do this I applied two coats of white, then get one of your petal colours and pop a blob of it onto a piece of paper, then, using a bobby-pin, dip it into the varnish and dot four spots in the diamond shape and repeat that on your nails. Repeat this process for the different coloured flowers and then using the same sort of process, choose a centre colour and dot that inside each of the diamonds!
TA-DAAH, you have flowery nails! OOP don't forget your base/top coat!

One day I promise to do some posts dedicated to Nail varnish, Soap & Glory products, Fake tan, and Make-up! BYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEE xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Liverpool haul

UNIVERSITY DAY YAY. I think we all know that when I say university day, it involves shopping, and since Liverpool is a 4 hour train journey my mum and I spent 3 days there. Although I didn't like the university so much, the actual city is SO good for shopping! I shall try to be short and sweet with the purchases but I can't promise I won't ramble.

Urban Outfitters

I have always been jealous of the cities that have an Urban Outfitters because we don't have one here in Peterborough however it's probably a good thing because it is so expensive...good thing I had mama with me!

Cooperative Daisy Easy Tank Dress £42

This is an adooooorrrable navy shift dress with white daisy print, it's thin and light ready for summer!

Starting at Stars Printed Tank Dress £42

This one is super similar to the first one, is has this bold kaleidoscope print in blue, black, red, and orange and I love it to pieces, I just need the sun to come out for these ones!

Pins + Needles Daisy Vintage Dress £52

IN LOVE WITH THIS BEAUTY

It's a lightweight, 90's style daisy print dress with buttons at the front and a lattice tie fastening at the back. Usually I feel the need to belt everything at the waist to prevent the frumpy look but because of the tie at the back I don't need to! And it doesn't cause any weird ruffles but just folds over nicely, love it.

Sparkle & Fade Zip Back Sweatshirt £38 (now on sale!)

This is just a really nice, oversized, long sleeved sweatshirt with an  exposed gold zip going right the way up the back. It's super soft and cosy but not too thick which sounds like an odd feature to look for in a jumper but it will just be nice to throw on in the summer evenings when it starts to get a little chilly. It has white threads throughout to make it a little more interesting and also comes in black, ivory, and a salmony-orange colour.

Sparkle & Fade Chiffon Sleeve Sweater £38

Another cute jumper! Again, not one you choose for warmth but still very cosy, the chiffon sleeves make it a little more glam and the extra knitting on the edge of the sleeves ensure you don't have that wizardy look.

Zara

Again, another store that we don't have in Peterborough but one that I absolutely love!

Printed Trousers £35.99

Now then, anyone that knows me, knows that I don't own a single pair of jeans, I have one pair of adorable high-waisted, vintage style trousers and a few pairs of loungey trousers from my adventures in Nepal, but that's it! So buying these bad-boys was a massive step for me! They're 77% cotton so really soft and comfy and in all honesty I just absolutely love the print! I may have been converted...

Jacket with Combination Yoke £59.99

My absolute favourite purchase from Liverpool, hands-down winner. This was love at first sight and that love just grew the more I looked at it! It's light weight and two-tone material with plenty of pockets and fastenings. The hood is completely removable and quite frankly I just love it and cannot wait to wear it! 

Another lush purchase is another jacket, this one is quilted and black so much warmer, the material is soft and simple with elasticated sections at the sides and a buckle at the top of the zip fastening. However I genuinely cannot find it on the website :(  But just in case you do want to have a search for it, it costs £69.99.

Newlook

Okay, so we do actually have a Newlook in Peterborough but I haven't been in for so so long, thus, we had to! However I was a little disappointed, we only bought ONE thing. That one thing is these cute, simple, black and white polka dot shoes. Black Polka Dot Slipper Shoes £12.99

Dorothy Perkins

Floral Printed Prom Dress £38

Not something I was planning on wearing to prom, more of a day dress I think! But basically I love it, it is bright, colourful, and absolutely covered in flowers! It pinches in at the waist to tie a bow at the back, and has a slight V at the top of the back. And another really nice detail that I didn't notice until I bought it was the strip of sort of white, chiffon material round the bottom of the dress, whatever it is, I love it!! 

These were just a few of the wonderful purchases we bought over the weekend and I hope you've found something that you like too! Soon I'll be writing some posts on fake tan, nail varnishes, and that promised post on my Soap & Glory collection, see you soon! 

It was a Wednesday

So this Wednesday I went to Leicester with my friend Beth for a university open day which was absolutely brilliant and we decided to get an open return train ticket so that we could have a shopping sesh afterwards! So now I'm just going to go ahead and share with you a few of the wonderful things I bought.

Soap and Glory

Now then, something you need to know about me is that I am a complete and utter Soap and Glory addict, like full on. My collection currently consists of roughly 40 products and somehow is still growing!? One day I'll make a post about all of them so you can all bask in the wonderfulness but for now, here's what I brought on Wednesday! 

The Fab Pore Facial Peel £8.00 is a kind of clayey facial mask, is has tiny blue beads which leave a trail of blue when you smudge them into the clay (which is quite fun). You can leave it on for 5-15 minutes depending on the amount of help you need; I left it on for the full 15... It doesn't dry too hard so you don't end up with a stiff face, walking around trying not to crumble onto the carpet with any slight facial movement. It's also really easy to take off, just splash some warm water onto your face and it's really silky. You know when you can feel your face breathe? Yeah, it feels like that! It made me feel a lot fresher and it smells lovely too. Does it do what it says? It does indeed! Soap and Glory suggest using it 2-3 times a week but you know what it's like when you buy something new, you want to use it constantly. So I've used it 3 times in the space of two days and the pesky blackheads on my nose have almost completely vanished, go and buy it!

Another S&G product I bought was their A Great Kisser Lip Balm in Chocolate Cherry £5 which smells AMAZING and it makes your lips feel lush! They also do it in Sweet Coconut which is white, Vanilla Bean which is a pale pink and Juicy Peach which is a, well, a peachy colour!

Since I was in the cosmetics section I went ahead and got a new eyeliner, no biggy I just needed one, it's actually really good though, a very soft pencil which doesn't smudge everywhere, what more does one what?  Oh in fact there is more! It also has a built in sharpener which is incredibly handy and an unexpected surprise! Smoulder Kohl £5 in Superblack they also do it in Cocoa Bean.

Next, I hit the indulgent bathing section, my favourite section! I have to admit, with having so many lovely products from there already it is difficult to find something new that I want. However I found the Sugar Crush Body Wash and just couldn't resist it, it's only £6.50 for the massive 500ml bottle which is brilliant and I bought the Sugar Crush Body Scrub a little while ago and cannot get enough of it. The products in this range not only have the S&G quality but the smell is spectacular! Go to your nearest boots and sniff it...now.

Last but not least, Scrub 'em and Leave 'em £7.50 has got the classic S&G scent, which of course is lovely and girly! I'm an absolute sucker for a scrub and this is not one to be missed, it has a mixture of different sized beads and leaves you feeling soft as a babies bottom...I'm not even kidding!

So that concludes this Soap and Glory episode however I promise I will (one day) review ALL 40 of my S&G products! In the meantime if you have any questions about any products or you're on the fence about buying a certain product and you would like my opinion on it feel free to leave a comment or email me!

Food and Drink

I bought quite a few other things that day of course however something I really want to share with you is the world of food and drink! My go-to cafe is always and has always been Costa, it is simple and cosy and everything is tasty and staff are always friendly and it's just everything I look for in a cafe! So if you're anything like me, you love an "advantage card" so many places do them and they're wonderful little inventions, you spend money, you get points, you spend points, you save money simple. When it comes to Costa my staple drink is always a caramel latte...they're beautiful and I highly recommend them however that sometimes sways when they've got their Christmas specials in mmmmmm. Sorry, this is turning out to be a very rambly post! Also I can never resist a muffin, they are absolutely delicious and there are so many combinations and the majority have a small dollop of jam or "goo" as I call it, hidding in the centre. And if you want a cafe lunch you cannot go wrong with one of their paninis or wraps, my favourite is the British Chicken and Roast Pepper Panini, so yeah I just wanted to inform you all of my love for costa!

As I am sure all of you know, shopping is incredibly tiring and you work up a real appetite so when all of the shops began to close for the night we started looking for somewhere to eat and actually managed to navigate ourselves around Leicester rather well! In the distance we spotted a poster with 50% and a picture of a burger so we went running over only to find it was a Thursday offer (sad face) however right next to it was a rather exotic looking restaurant called Las Iguanas so we headed on in and got a table right by the bar! Las Iguanas has the slogan "Eat Latin. Drink Latin" and boy did we! We skipped starters and both went straight for the Vegetarian Enchilada: "Hand-rolled tortilla smothered in our own smoked chilli & tomato sauce & melted cheese. With garlic & coriander rice & frijoles refritos. Loaded with Roast butternut squash, iron-rich spinach, cheese & chickpeas" all for £7.90!! It was just so lush! And get this, Wednesday-Sunday it's happy hour...all.....day.....long. We began with a pitcher of the Iguana-wana for £16.90 which consisted of vodka, peach schnapps and orange juice over ice which was absolutely lovely and because it was "happy hour" you buy one pitcher, you get another free. So by the time we finished our two pitchers and our lovely enchiladas we couldn't possibly handle dessert, even if they did look fab, however we could handle two more pitchers of cocktail, but this time we went for the Keywest Cooler which consisted of Vodka, Peach schnapps, Midori and Malibu with orange and cranberry juices over ice which was so nice and fruity and fresh and also not too overpowering, just enough to give us the giggles and make us not-so-great at navigating our way back to the train station. My meal came to £24.80 which I think is great, so yes, on the whole a really good vibe, tasty food and lush drinks all for a very good price! 

Buy it all

Smoulder Kohl Eyeliner
A Great Kisser Lip Balm
Fab Pore Facial Peal
Sugar Crush Body Wash
Scrub 'em and Leave 'em

Explore

Costa

Las Iguanas

Birthday shopping

Yesterday it was my 18th birthday (hiphiphoraaayy), and birthday means lots of lovely gifts, friends, family and birthday money. Soooooo guess what I did today? I took a trip into town! I absolutely love morning shopping, it's all quite empty and quiet and all of the shop assistants are still in a good mood and it means that you have the rest of the day to yourself, I feel I've accomplished something!

John Lewis

So first of all I was walking past John Lewis but felt my legs leading me toward the make-up counters so I headed on in and found myself at the Benefit counter looking at foundations. Recently I've been using the "L'Oreal Paris Nude Magique BB cream" which I absolutely love for during the day but I find that at night I want something with a little more coverage. So the lovely counter girl helped me out a lot and I ended up buying this:

"Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Brightening Makeup" is £24.50 and absolutely lush!! I got it in the colour "Honey" which is nice and warm but there are eight other colours covering everything from Ivory to Nutmeg. It's really smooth and nice to apply, making you look photo ready in an instant! Now then, in the past I've found foundations to be really heavy and make me break out and my skin just look awful which obviously nobody wants. That's where the "oxygen wow" part comes in; it helps protect against environmental stresses (things like pollution if you're a city gal), contains vitamin's C & E which are known to prevent against signs of ageing and finally, it gives a "plumped up" effect!

Whilst at the counter, the girl mentioned that if I make two purchases I receive a free make up bag....and how on earth could I turn that offer down?! So I went ahead and bought their newest product "fine-one-one sheer brightening colour for cheeks & lips" for £23.50. 

It's absolutely lovely to use, and doubles up as both a creamy blusher and a lipstick, there are three tones in the stick, an orangey-peachy colour, a deep coral colour then a light salmon pink  for that extra bit or highlighting! It's a really nice change from powders because with its slight shimmers it really does highlight your cheek bones making you look healthy and naturally wonderful!

Then I popped to Topshop!

This lead to me buying a jumper and a dress that I've had my eye on for a while now! Okay so this jumper is just one of my absolute favourite things ever! I bought it in burgundy a while ago and wear it all the time, so when I saw it in this bluey-greeny colour I had to buy it, it's £26 and well worth it! It's super cosy and can be worn anywhere; either dressed down with some thick leggings or disco pants or dressed up tucked into a skater skirt. It's 3 quarter sleeves are just right as their rolled up which is so on trend at the moment. Just go and buy it! I bought a couple of sizes larger but that's just a personal preference for baggy jumpers!

This is the dress I've had my eye on for so long, I think it's absolutely adorable! it's quite a thin material and really floaty and £40. Usually I'm a size 10 however trying that on the sleeves were incredibly tight and I couldn't properly move, but the rest was a little baggy on me, maybe I'm just oddly proportioned, who knows? Anyway this lead me to buy the next size up, which did make it baggy but with a belt around the waist it looks really nice. Problem solved.

Finally, Pandora

Basically my dad and I have an arrangement by which for birthdays and Christmas' he gives me money to then go and get something that I really like (I love this arrangement) so as it was my 18th present I figured something special to mark the occasion;  I went into Pandora and came out with this simple elegant bracelet and 18 charm for £80; £55 for the bracelet and £25 for the charm. At first I wasn't very sure about the Pandora craze but now I really like it so I'm happy to be joining it! This also means that my family and friends have a really easy job buying me future presents.

And this concludes my birthday shopping, I figured at £194 I should stop and go home! Thanks very much for reading, have a wonderful day! 

Buy it

• Benefit foundation
• Benefit cheeks & lips
• Topshop jumper
• Topshop dress
• Pandora bracelet
• Pandora charm

  

Hi guys!

I would like to welcome you to my blog! 

My name is Lorna, I live in England and I'm a student and part time worker at H&M.

I have always been a massive shopaholic (who isn't?) whether it's make-up, or body products, or nail varnishes or clothes, or those little treasures you find and just have to buy, I'm all over it! So on my blog I'm going to be sharing my purchases with you, telling you where you can get them and whether they're worth the money or not! Also if you're super lucky I'll share my baking with you! 

I hope you like it lovelies.