SKIN CARE EMPTIES

I find skin care one of the hardest things to get my head around as there are so many different brands and products to choose from that more often than not do exactly the same thing, which is why I very rarely branch out and switch it up. I've been collecting my empty products for a few months now and I've finally finished enough skin care products to write about.

The first of my product empties is a facial wash by Neutrogena, I finished this a few months back and I wasn't very impressed with it. I found out after buying it that it was a cream wash, this means that it doesn't lather up at all when you add water. I really didn't like this formula because it felt like it wasn't washing my face at all and was just moving the dirt around. I will definitely be reading labels properly from now on and stay away from cream wash products.

The next product is a cleanser from Lush called 'let the good times roll' This was featured in my Lush skin care products post which you can read here. I actually finished this yesterday which was so sad because this is amazing! It has the strangest formula because its originally a paste and you add a small amount of water and massage it onto your skin. Once you wash it off your skin feels so soft, hydrated and clean I have defiantly recognised a change in my skin since using this.

I keep all my empty products in a box under my dressing table and this has been in there for what must be nearly a year now! I didn't want to get rid of it because of the fact that if you bring in 5 empty pots or tubes you get a free face mask. I now have 2 empty pots so 3 more to go! This face mask is aimed for oily skin types that often break out. Due to it being made from fresh ingredients you do have to keep it in the fridge but this makes it really cooling when you put it on your skin. I loved how clean and oil free my skin felt after using this product.

Another recent addition to my product empties is a moisturiser by Garnier. I bought this with the matching cleanser and toner as I was going through a stage where my skin was constantly so dry! This really did help although I wish it came in a bigger size as it didn't really last long and as you can tell from the packaging I made sure I got every last drop out. I mean this didn't surprise me in any way, it did what it said on the packet but I was expecting a little more from it because of it being for 'Dry to very Dry skin'. 

Thank you for sticking to the end of my empty skin care products I always like having a nosy at what people think of the products they have finished because it's good to see reviews before you purchase something as you then know what to expect and what you will get from it. What are your favourite skin care products?

ZARA WISH LIST

Okay so I've never really been one to online shop but I keep looking on different websites and my favourite to brows on at the moment is Zara. It's definitely one of my favourite places to shop at the moment as you can find some really nice good quality affordable items. Since summer is coming up Ive been looking at things to update my wardrobe as everything is so dark and long sleeved, nows a perfect time to start looking at things to save for. I thought I would keep this simple and just post images of some of the things that I've been looking at to help you gain inspiration for your summer wardrobe.

So as you can see these are just a few things on my Zara wish list at the moment, if I had stayed on the app any longer it would probably be about 10x bigger... but I definitely need to get saving as I'm getting so bored of my clothes at the moment and I love the quality of everything in Zara.

I hope this helped you get some inspiration for summer, are there any shops you have been loving at the moment? 

TOP SUMMER LIP COLOURS- COLLAB

So this is my first collaboration on my new blog and what better way than to be with the lovely Jade from Simply Jadey! You have to check out her blog as you will no doubt fall in love with it like I did, she's honestly such a nice person and we've actually been talking for a few weeks now.

Summer is on its way and that means getting together all your summer makeup, including Lipsticks. I always find Lipsticks the hardest to purchase as theres so many different brands, colours and finishes to choose from. This is why I have put together all of my favourite summer shades to help you find some that could become a part of your summer collection!

The first of my top summer lip colours is the shade 'Beehive' from Topshop, it retails at £8. This has been a part of my lipstick collection for a long time now and is probably one of my first Lipsticks! I love this shade as it is a really nice wearable everyday pink and has a slight matte finish, its a really creamy formula so its not drying at all. I haven't worn this in a long time as I had totally forgotten about it but I will definitely be wearing this a lot throughout summer.

The next summer lip colour is from Clinique, I got this free in the Glamour magazine and its in the shade Nude Pop. The full sized version retails at £16, I love the formula of this lipstick as it is really hydrating on the lips. The colour is really sheer with a slight shimmer to it which makes it a perfect nude for summer.

Something I know I will be reaching for a lot over summer is 'bene balm' by Benefit, I was given this in a set for Christmas but if you were to buy it on its own it would cost you £14.50. I love how easy to wear this colour is as it is such a lovely sheer red, due to this being a balm it does mean that it isn't very pigmented but it looks like a lip stain.

In the set I received for Christmas I also got 'posie balm' which is another perfect shade for summer, its a really nice light pink that can be worn with almost anything. I love how moisturising and hydrating these balms are as this makes it so much easier to wear as you don't have to worry about it drying out your lips. 

My final summer lip colour is from Mac and is in the shade 'Flamingo', it does look really bright in my swatch on the paper however because its a Lustre finish it means it doesn't come out this pigmented on your lips. It has a similar formula to the benefit balms as its really hydrating and creamy and actually blends really nice with my natural lip colour.

I hope you found this post useful for finding summer lip colour shades as I know how hard it can be in shops to find one that you like which is why I find posts like this so useful!  Don't forget to head over to Jades blog to see what her top summer lip colours are.

Whats you're favourite lipstick to wear in summer?

SOAP AND GLORY'S SWEET TEN-TATION

I received an email from Boots advertising Soap and Glory's new Sweet Ten-tational tin which they released to celebrate their 10th Birthday. I had to go in and check it out which obviously lead to me purchasing it and I mean at £20 how could I leave all of these products in Boots... The tin is worth £37 which means you're saving £17! (This works out at just over £2 per product)

Opening this tin made it feel like Christmas all over again, I love how they have wrapped it all up in tissue paper as it makes it 10 times more exciting to open! I was so surprised to see some full sized products in here as I thought they would all be minis for the price, but no! When you think about it the mascara on its own is £10.50 and for £9.50 more you get 8 products... could you get any more for your money? I have only tried a few of the products before in this tin but I have never been disappointed in any of soap and glory's products so I know I'm going to love them all!

The 9 products you get inside are the:

• mini Hand Food
• mini Heel Genius
• mini Scrub Of Your Life 
• mini Face Soap and Clarity face wash
• mini Clean on Me (although I wouldn't call this mini as its about half the size of the original so you get so much more)
• mini Sexy Mother Pucker
• full sized Thick and Fast mascara
• full sized Original Pink body mist
• full sized Righteous Butter

As you can see you get so much for your money and really you have everything in here you need for the perfect pamper day or even to give as a gift to someone else. I have to say that this was the last one in store when I went in so you have to be quick when getting them! 

Whats your favourite soap and glory product? Mine has got to be the thick and fast mascara although all their products are so lovely!

MAC LIPSTICK COLLECTION

Okay so my collection isn't the biggest out there but I'm slowly starting to find more shades that suit my skin tone. Theres something about the way they are displayed in the store that gets me all confused with the different finishes and colours, so I tend to watch videos on youtube of peoples collections so that I can see what they look like on someone and also hear what they think about the formulas because £15.50 is a lot of money to spend on something you don't like.

The first lipstick in my collection is in the shade 'Blankety' which is an amplified finish. I had this on my christmas list after really liking the look of it in Emily Canham's Mac lipstick collection video. I thought that this would be perfect for me as I don't really like to wear anything to bright. After trying it out for a few weeks I wasn't too keen on the finish of this lipstick, it really doesn't sit well on my lips and doesn't blend well on the inner part leaving a really clear line. I find this does actually look better when I have dry lips or I have lined them but it has definitely put me off getting any others in this finish because it doesn't feel comfortable on my lips at all.

The next lipstick I received of a friend for Christmas and is actually one of my favourites by far, it's in the shade 'Modesty' and is a cremesheen finish. The colour of this lipstick is a really pinky nude and I would say is a 'my lips but better' shade. It goes onto my lips so nicely and the formula is really smooth and not drying at all. I do prefer this one so much more to the Amplified finish as it is a lot more pigmented on my lips and feels a lot more comfortable to wear.

Where to start with this shade... I have to say if I'm ever unsure which colour to go for with lipstick I will 9 times out of 10 pick this one as I know I can't go wrong with it! Its the shade 'Mehr' and its a matte finish. I was a bit worried about finding it really drying but I have been really surprised to find it more comfortable to wear than any of the others I have. This might be because it lasts a lot longer on my lips so I'm not worried that I need to keep re applying it but this colour is so pigmented and a really nice warm berry purple/red. This shade is super complimentary to my skin tone which is an added bonus!

Last but not least my final Mac lipstick is in the shade 'Flamingo' this is a lustre finish. This was the first Mac lipstick in my collection and I received this as a Birthday gift off my friend. The finish of this lipstick means that it isn't as pigmented as all of the others so it goes on as more of a balm which makes it really easy to wear. I fell in love with this colour after swatching it a few times in the shop and thought it would be perfect for summer, because it is so sheer you can wear it really easily. Its a perfect colour for those of you who want to try something a little more colourful but without it being too bright and bold as this blends well with your natural lip colour.

Well, thank you for sticking with me to the end of my collection, I know its not the biggest but I love to see what colours other people have in their collections so thought that this might help some of you out if you have been looking into getting a new shade recently. I hope this helped you with the different finishes that they have as I know I didn't really have much of a clue when I first started to collect them.

Do you have any Mac lipsticks? If not are there any shades you want to get?

MINT AERO CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Baking isn't really something I do very often but if I'm going to be baking anything it will be cake, and more often than not it will be chocolate! If you're a chocolate cake lover like me and are also a fan of mint chocolate then carry on reading to see how you can make my 'mint chocolate Aero cupcakes'. They are super super easy to make and if you aren't keen on mint Aero you could always substitute it for the original chocolate flavour.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

• 100g of butter (I used unsalted but they can be made with either)
• 100g of caster sugar
• 75g of self raising flour
• 25g of coco powder
• 2 large eggs

Icing

• 100g of butter
• 225g of icing sugar
• 2 tbsp of milk
• blue food colouring 
• small bar of mint Aero

Decoration 

• Packet of Aero bubbles

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and place 12 cupcake cases into your baking tin.
2. To make the cake mix simply soften the butter in a bowl until it is a smooth consistency and then add the sugar to this, mixing it together until it becomes lighter in colour.
3. Crack your eggs into a separate bowl and whisk them together with a fork, then sift your flour and coco powder together in another bowl.
4. Once you have done this add small amounts of each at a time and mix together using a wooden spoon until you have emptied both bowls.
5. Spoon the mixture evenly into your cupcake cases using a teaspoon and your little finger to scrape all the mixture off the spoon into the cases (if you want a cleaner option use another tea spoon).
6. Place your baking tray into the preheated oven for around 15 minutes, make sure you check them after 10 minutes because depending on your oven they might cook faster. To tell if they are cooked poke a fork or a cocktail stick into one of the cakes and if it comes out clean they are ready!
7. Let the cakes cool on a cooling rack, while they are cooling you can mix up your icing.

To create the butter cream icing you simply just mix together the butter and icing sugar until it forms a smooth consistency, you then need to crush up your small bar of Aero and mix it into the buttercream. Once it has all been mixed together transfer the mixture to a piping bag with an open star shaped nozzle (I will link the shape I have used here) and then pipe it onto your cakes starting from the outside and finishing in the middle. 

To decorate I simply placed an Aero bubble on the top and with some of the leftovers I crushed them up and sprinkled them on top. Once you have done this they are ready to eat, Enjoy!!

Thank you for reading I hope you enjoy this recipe, if you do try it out please tag me in a photo on Instagram so I can see! Whats your favourite thing to bake?

LUSH SKINCARE FAVOURITES

Something I have been getting better at recently is taking care of my skin, I've often neglected it and I was once one of those people who just used a makeup wipe to take off all my makeup. Don't get me wrong I still find them super handy when taking off eye makeup or when its late and I haven't got time for a full facial cleanse but when I found out how little they actually removed it really put me off using them on their own.

I've been loving going into Lush recently due to their wide range of hand made fresh products, not to mention the fact that they don't test on animals! This isn't always something I look for when buying beauty products but it is something that is defiantly growing on me.

The first product I have been loving is the 'Ocean Salt' face and body scrub. When I first started using this scrub I was really impressed with how soft it made my skin feel and also how my skin started to look so much clearer and because of this I was using it every day. My friend works in Lush and he recommended for my skin type that I shouldn't use it this often as it is quite harsh on the skin due to the sea salt in it which exfoliates the dead skin cells and using it too often could make your skin become quite dry. I would really recommend this to those of you who have pore proned skin as there are ingredients such as lime and vodka used in this scrub which help with this and also tone the skin. However, if you have sensitive skin you might find this a bit too much as it is a really corse scrub so it might be something you use only occasionally. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that it doesn't taste good at all if it accidentally gets into your mouth! 

More recently I have purchased the  'Let the good times roll' facial cleanser. This is the strangest facial cleanser I have ever come across before, the texture is similar to Lush's 'fun' and once you add water it totally changes. When I use this I put a small amount in the palm of my hand and add a tiny amount of water to it and mix it in until it forms a paste, I then apply this to my face and massage it in circular motions. Once I feel like it has been spread around evenly I wash it off with warm water and I'm left with really clean, smooth, moisturised skin! One of the many things I love about this is the scent as it smells like buttered popcorn and its so sweet! I use this every other day in-between using the 'Ocean salt' scrub as this is a lot more moisturising and gentle on the skin, its prefect for those of you who are looking for a natural cleanser which has a lot of ingredients that help nourish and cleanse your skin.

After talking to my friend for a while about my skin type he showed me this moisturiser called 'Magical Moringa' and as soon as he tried it out on the back of my hand I was amazed! It looks like a solid moisturiser but once you apply it to your skin and rub it in it warms up and quickly turns into an oil, this then melts into your skin leaving it with a matte finish. It has all the qualities you need for a moisturiser and also as a primer too, this is down to the fact it leaves your skin feeling so soft which is a perfect base for your makeup. Most primers I have used have quite a synthetic feel to them and feel quite un natural on my skin but because this basically melts into your skin it doesn't feel like you have anything on at all.

These three have become my favourite skincare products, I hope you found this post helpful as I always find it so hard to find something in Lush as theres so much choice! But I hope this review shows you the different benefits of these products and if you're after something new in your skincare routine definitely go to your nearest store and ask a member of staff to recommend some products for your skin type. Don't forget that if you have 5 empty pots you can take them into your nearest store and they will recycle them and in return you get a free face mask! This does exclude the sample pots however these can still be taken into the store as they too can be recycled.

All opinions in this post have been my own and I want to say a huge thank you to my friend Scott for helping me find the perfect products for my skin type, also for telling me about the different ingredients and benefits of these products to include in this post.

Have you ever tried any skincare products from Lush?