My empties #1

Hi everyone !

Today I'm trying a new type of posts that I've seen in many other blogs but that I never thought about doing before. Empties posts are quite nice to discover new products or see if something is worth the try or not.

I've got five things that I've finished recently, so I'm going to show them to you and tell you what I think of them and if I'm going to repurchase them or not !

1/ Le Volume mascara, Chanel

I've spoken of this mascara in my all times favourites, some months ago. It is a really good product, makes your lashes look great. The brush is quite thick and takes every lash perfectly.

Although because of its price, I won't be buying it again for now (and I have a sample size of the great They're Real by Benefit to use hehe). But I'll surely buy it someday, because I loved it !

2/ Blueberry body butter, The Body Shop

I've had this body butter since last year, and I finally finished it ! I only used it during the autumn/winter times, so that's probably why it lasted me so long.

The smell is quite good, not too strong nor too sweet. And it lasts a few hours on the skin, which is always nice ! But I won't rebuy this one, because I want to try new scents from The Body Shop.

3/ Exfoliating body scrub, Galeries Lafayette

I bought this last summer during the sales, mainly because it was cheap and smelt good haha. It smells of iris, so a very floral and light scent. I used it as a scrub before using my shower gel, and it did a good job and left my skin soft. The exfoliating bits are tiny so they don't hurt your skin as some scrubs could do. But I won't be buying it again, because I have another one of the same brand to use !

It is only sold in the Galeries Lafayette in France I guess, but it is maybe something to try if you are in France and want a nice shower product !

4/ Gliss Ultimate Repair mask, Schwarzkopf

As I have curly coloured hair, I'm always on the hunt for a good mask that will moisturise my hair and leave it soft. I've tried sooo many that I couldn't list them all, but as I've just finished this one I can really say what I think about it.

It is one of those masks that you apply after your shampoo for a few minutes - I always left it for about three to five minutes. It does make your hair soft, and pretty shiny too. But this effect doesn't last, at least on me. If you have normal to dry hair I think it should work well - but if your hair is damaged or frizzy, it probably won't be enough.

Not sure I'll rebuy it because I'm always changing my hair routine (at this point this is not even a routine haha), but I can say that it's a pretty good product anyway!

5/ Vanilla dee-lite body lotion, Lush

I got this lotion on the Lush box I received for my birthday. I was excited to try it out, because I haven't had the chance to use a cream/body lotion from Lush before.

First, the smell is amazing. Although it is called Vanilla dee-lite, it doesn't smell of vanilla, but rather of jasmine, and it even reminds me a bit of lilac, which is my favourite flower ! So as you can imagine, I love the smell of it. It is very light-weight as it is a lotion obviously, and it is very refreshing. I would recommend it for the months of spring especially, because it is not at all a winter smell.

As it is very light, it doesn't moisturise your skin deeply, and if you have a very dry skin I would probably advise you to use a thicker texture. But I'd love to buy this again for spring and summer, I love it !

***

That's it for my first empties ! A lot of shower/body products as you can see, but naturally these are the ones we can finish the most easily. 

I'll do another empties post in a few months maybe, see if I can find new interesting products to show you !

Julia xx

Lush birthday haul

Hey there !

Since it was my birthday on the 25th of October, I received some Lush products (all of my friends know that I'm a huge Lush fan !). I thought I would share them with you, and give my thoughts on the items that I've already tested. Let's go !

I'll start by my favourite items, the bath products !

I've got the Sunnyside bubble bar, which I can't wait to use - I looove glitter ! And it smells really good, a bit like lemon and orange and fresh citrus fruits like that. 

Also I have the Shoot for the stars ballistic. First, the name is really cute ! and the smell is amazing, it actually smells like the "Honey I washed the kids" soap, a.k.a. my favourite Lush scent ever. And it is a big ballistic, you could use it in two or three baths if you cut it.

I have two more more bath products, from the Hello Gorgeous present box.

The huge white and pink thing is the Comforter bubble bar. Again if you buy this you'll get a good use out of it, it is so big that you would probably have it for quite a while ! and it smells delicious.

The pretty pink ballistic with flowers on it is called Think Pink. Although I'm repeating myself a lot there, it smells very good and can be divided in two for more use. A thing that may be a bit annoying is that the flowers keep falling and I lose it everywhere, but it won't matter anymore when it's melting in the bath !

Then, as you can see from the picture above, I've got the Vanilla Dee-lite body lotion. It is a very light product and actually doesn't smell of vanilla, it is more flowery and somehow reminds me a bit of lilac (which is my favourite flower, yay !). It is not very moisturising though, so for autumn-winter I would not use it all the time as a real moisturiser.

Speaking of moisturiser, a sample of the Gorgeous face cream came in the box. It is a very good moisturiser and does a great job. The smell this time is not really my cup of tea, it smells of orange blossom so it is quite strong - but other people may like it. It is nonetheless a good product and I'll still use it at night to moisturise my skin before bed !

Last but not least, a shower product : the Rub rub rub shower scrub. 

 

First of all, can we talk about the colour of this ? I love it ! It is so fun to use. One more time, the smell is quite strong and reminds me of lemon and citrus fruits. It has sea salt in it to exfoliate the skin, and it is very good - not too gentle but not too strong either. You can also use it as a simple shower gel, that's what I've been doing since I got it.

So that's all for my Lush birthday haul ! I really enjoy these products and I'm kind of using them all at the same time haha. 

And now that the Christmas collection is out, I think I'm gonna buy some new stuff soon... I can't fight against Lush, unfortunately !

Julia xx

Review : Angels on bare skin by Lush

Hello !

Today I'll be reviewing a Lush face cleanser, Angels on bare skin.

At first, I was supposed to buy Coalface, but I changed my mind because I thought Angels on bare skin was maybe more useful for me, as it has little bits that could be good for exfoliating my face.

This is the product :

 

Here is what the website says about the product :

"Angels on Bare Skin evens out skin tone, reduces redness and improves the health and appearance of your skin – giving a natural healthy glow.

The ground almonds in this product release their goodness and turn to an almond milk on your hand when you add water."

 The main ingredients are almond, kaolin and essential oils, and lavender. It looks like this :

You can see the little lavender bits of the product. They can fall off it very easily when you take some product so you can find them everywhere in the sink ! And the little orange dots (if you can see them here) are the almonds.

Basically, to use the product, you take some of it (about the size of a pea) and mix it with water, then apply it on your face. Then, of course, you take off the product and that's it !

When I use the product (every morning and night - I mean before going to bed or around that time), it cleans my face very well and makes it smooth and mat. I noticed that it diminishes my imperfections and spots and leaves my skin clear. I really like that !

The only thing that bugs me is that after I clean my face with it, my skin is dry in some areas, around the nose and on my chin. I've always had dryness in these areas of my face, and unfortunately the cleanser is not moisturising enough - I know it's not really meant to be, but still.

For the smell, it is a quite strong one. When I first smelt it, I disliked it (even though it's lavender and I love it) because it was so strong. But after some time you get used to it. It reminds me of the Portuguese countryside where I go every now and then during the summer !

So to sum up, this cleanser is a good product and does the job well, but it's not a miraculous one though.

I'm not going to purchase it again, I'll try a new one to see if I find the perfect one for me !

Julia xx

Wishlist : April '13

Hi everyone !

This is my second wishlist of the year. I always love making these lists because the thought of buying things makes me happy. Yeah, maybe it's a disease like when you play poker too much or something, but what can you do ?
I'll probably don't even buy everything from my wishlist anyway. From my March wishlist, I only bought the dress and the Make Up Forever foundation (which I'll be reviewing soon !). Unfortunately, I didn't find the New Look necklace that I wanted, and I didn't like the chambray skirt when I saw it in the shop.
Concerning the Coalface cleanser from Lush... I may buy it this month, but I'm not sure now that I have spotted another cleanser that seems good. We'll see !
And I'm adding a book in this wishlist, because I've wanted to read it for so long it's now an obsession, I need to get it !

So here is the list :

1. H&M sleeveless blouse from the Conscious collection, here for £9.99.

2. Angels on Bare Skin, Lush, £6.25 for 100g.

or (I'm not sure of what to choose yet)

3. Coalface, Lush, 4.70 for 100g.

4. Tan cat face clip frame purse, New Look, on the website for 4.99€.

5. Ultra Glossy Stylo (SPF 15), Kiko, you can have it here (the brand ships in the UK) for 4.90€.

6. Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen (any edition really, it will not be more than 5€).

***

That's all for this month ! again not a huge list featuring loads of Chanel or MAC products, I would be too disappointed if I made a list and ended up buying nothing from it, heh.

I wish you all a very nice weekend !

Julia xx

Review : Love Lettuce by Lush

Hello !

Today I'm making a review of one of Lush's fresh masks, Love Lettuce ! 

Honestly I don't understand the name, even more because it's very different from the French one, how did they translate that and why... But that doesn't really matter after all.

I wanted to try one of these fresh masks for a long time, and I finally decided to take one. According to how they were described on the website, Love Lettuce was the one that suited me best. 

Here is what Lush says about it :

"This mask is a seaweed gel with exfoliating granules through it. 

Ideal for those who want to clear away dead skin and brighten the face, whilst also gently treating it to softening ingredients."

Exfoliating + brighten the face + softening ingredients = perfect !

So it looks like this :

Yes in French it's called "Balançoire", and you could translate that by "swing"... Strange !

This product is made of agar agar gel (it's a seaweed - I prefer explaining that just because before I bought this I didn't know what agar agar was), honey, almond oil, lavender oil... and some other things but you can have a good idea of the product just with those.

Concerning the texture : the mask is not as thick as it looks on the first picture. Not too thick, not too liquid, just the right texture to apply on the face without struggling to put it nicely everywhere. There are a lot of almond pieces in it, so that when you put it and when you take it off, it exfoliates your face naturally - meaning that you don't have to rub your face yourself.

But you have to be careful when after you apply the mask : when it dries, the pieces of almond can fall very easily. Even just by slightly touching your skin with the tip of your finger, almonds will just fall from your face. That's not a big problem, of course, but it's worth being noticed.

I won't post a picture of my face with it - but you can easily imagine what you would look like if you put it !

Now for the smell : as many Lush products, it's quite a strong smell. It doesn't stay on your skin or on your hands after you've used it, but you have that smell from the moment you apply it to the moment you take it off. It smells of lavender, and I know some people really hate this smell so think about it before buying, if you don't like lavender this mask can be very unpleasant to use. 

I personally adore it !

And finally, for the result !

I've used Love Lettuce maybe five or six times since I got it (about two weeks ago). I've read that you can use it two times a week or so, but I use it more - sometimes just as a sort of cleanser, without leaving it ten minutes on my face. It's not really a cheap product and I have only ten days left to use it so I don't want any waste hehe.

Now that I've used it a few times, I can notice some changes on my skin. It seems brighter ; the skin looks less tired than it did before. As I have a combination to oily skin, I have (well, I had !) some dry areas on my face, mostly around my nose, and when I wore foundation it was awful. After I started using Love Lettuce, this dryness slowly disappeared and now it's completely gone ! I'm very happy with that.

And when you take off the product, your skin is very soft and matified for a while. 

***

To sum up, I think Love Lettuce is a very good product, of great quality. You can definitely see a difference before and after you've used it, the face is a lot prettier then.

Would I buy it again ? Yes totally, but not for now : I want to try coalface by Lush too and I cannot buy them both at the same time, but I will surely come back to Love Lettuce later !

You can find the product here !

Julia xx