Beauty Product of the Month: November - Body Shop Tea Tree Oil Facial Exfoliator

This is by no means a new discovery to me; I’ve loved The Body Shop Tea Tree range for a number of years now, and wonder why I haven’t mentioned it sooner. This is a product suitable for weekly to twice weekly use to use in place of your usual facial wash. It’s meant for oily skin, and I wouldn’t recommend using this product any more than twice a week because it has quite a rich formulation. It’s described as a “polish”, and is very thick and creamy. The exfoliating beads are very gentle so it shouldn’t irritate your skin. After using for a few months either once or twice a week, this has helped to minimise the number of breakouts I get. Tea Tree oil is famous for its blemish beating properties so I’d highly recommend trying out this range. I’ve also used their face mask (not as luxurious as Lush’s face masks, but still great), the facial wash and the pure tea tree oil which you can apply directly to your spots overnight, or dilute and use as a toner.

Lush Humperdink

Yesterday I went to Leicester for the day. It was a bit of a mission from London, I had to get up super early. I had to go though because I had a dress fitting for my best friend's wedding. Its' the first time I've ever been a bridesmaid so I'm quite excited. I met with my parents for lunch afterwards because it seemed silly to travel all that way, be really close to where they live and not see them. I wandered around the shops afterwards and because it's now properly cold in England, all I could think of was getting back in to my warm flat and taking a bath.

I love the range of Christmas goodies they have in Lush, and this year they've really gone all out with the selection of bath and shower goodies. I'm a little bit addicted to the Snow Fairy shower gel and have used it the last two winters (if there's still some left by spring I put it away!), but never tried any of the bubble bars or bath ballistics. The bubble bars are my personal favourite, a bath is just not the same without bubbles! I found this little one called Humperdink which is supposed to be a Christmas elf. I think they put the eyes on too low, but if you use your imagination you can kind of see it. This is also supposed to be special to Leicester but I checked on the Lush website and they have this exact bubble bar available on there but under the name Wee Harry. Anyway, this has a gorgeous cinamon and spice scent, very nice for the winter time, and very relaxing too. I only used a third of this bar and that was plenty. I think I will have to check back at Lush and try out some more of their Christmas goodies, especially a bit nearer the time to get me in the Christmas spirit.

I hope everyone's had a great weekend so far. I'm off to see Paranormal Activity later. :s I probably won't sleep tonight.

Make-up Product of the Month: November - Barry M Blusher

I’ve just discovered Barry M’s latest addition to their range, the collection of blushes. I went for the most neutral, earthy, inoffensive shade, number 6. These blushers are seriously pigmented hence why I started off with a safe colour choice. I was really attracted to the vibrant pink shade, (number 2 or 3 I think) which is comparable to MAC’s Dolly Mix. After trying this out I’m definitely going to return and try out some other shades. Aside from the one I bought, the rest are a lot bolder, along with the Dolly Mix dupe there is one that reminds me of NARS’s Taj Mahal. I’ve never experimented with orange toned blushers but I think the price of Barry M definitely allows for trying out new colours without feeling like I’ve wasted money if I don’t like it.

(blusher without flash)

The perfectly pigmented, matte blusher is highly sought after, and this ticks both boxes. I personally love a bit of shimmer in my blush, but for a more natural day time look, matte is more preferable. So if you are on the hunt for a really pigmented blusher but could do without the shimmer that often comes along with it, then these are worth a look.

The blushers are £4.40 each, a bargain for 7g of product and especially good value for money because these blushers tend to stay put all day without the need for reapplying. I also don’t need a lot of product as a single wash of colour I find is enough.

100 followers giveaway announcement

Thankyou to everybody who entered my giveaway. I assigned all the entrants a number and used www.random.org to select a winner. Congratulations to Erica, you're the winner! I have emailed you so I'll get your prizes sent out to you soon. Thanks again to everyone who follows my blog, I hope to hold another contest some time soon.

Bourjois 1001 Lashes Mascara Review

I briefly mentioned this mascara in a recent post but didn't give much of an opinion on it. It turns out I really like this mascara. I have quite low expectations with Bourjois, I find their eyeshadows quite boring and not very well pigmented, their nail varnishes chip super quickly and anything else I've tried to be a little overpriced for the quality. That said, I do really like their mascaras. I went through a phase of wearing nothing but the Volume Glamour mascara, I loved the plumped up lashes I found myself with, that no other mascara could match with just one coat.

I've since become very fussy about what I want my mascara to do, and I no longer just want volume, but length and separation too. (We girls are allowed to be fussy!) I can't really fault Rimmel's Glam'Eyes mascara for achieving all three and that mascara has definitely earnt its place as one of my HG's. I would say the 1001 lashes mascara is on a par with Glam'Eyes. It might not look much in the picture below, but this is just one coat, and I've found that it's very easy to build up for a more dramatic look. Also I'm not blessed with very long or thick lashes!The bristles are shaped very similarly to Glam'Eyes and aren't at risk of snapping off, they're firm but flexible. What makes this mascara unique is the shape of the wand, the bristles are kind of twisted around which actually helps to coat more of your lashes. I would highly rate this mascara, it's good value for money, (on offer right now around £6 at Superdrug I think) and is a pretty innovative design.

I love the super sleek packaging too. I did at first think this was a lash primer because of the white packaging, but I've found it's easy to pick this out of my mascara collection amongst all the black tubes!

Bad points? I've noticed that as the day wears on, I end up with a slight black mark on my brow bone from this mascara. That's because it really curls my lashes up to the point where they keep touching my brow bone. Slightly annoying yes, but it goes to show what it can do for my sparse eyelashes. If they bring out a hardier, waterproof version I think my problem is solved.

Just another reminder about my giveaway. I will be picking the winner really soon, so you have one more day to leave a comment if you want to be entered!

100 Followers Giveaway!

Hurray! I’ve reached 100 followers now and decided I really want to do a giveaway as a way of saying thank you to everybody who’s followed. It really means a lot that people take the time to read what I write so wanted to give something back! It’s really simple to enter, the only condition is that you are a follower of my blog. You can also leave a mention of my competition with a link on your own blog if you would like, but it's not compulsory.

Here are the prizes, (each of your choice!):
1x Barry M Nail Paint
1x Barry M Dazzle Dust
1x GOSH eyeliner
1x Sleek Eyeshadow Palette

I will post the prizes anywhere in the world, so this is a good opportunity if you live outside of the UK to get your hands on some great UK brands, but if you're under 18 please get parental permission. Just leave me a comment below to tell me you want to be entered. Contest closes at 10pm GMT on Tuesday 10th November.