Happy Mail - Bath and body works

I remember as a little girl on holiday in Florida visiting the Bath and Body works store and being simply blown away by all the products and wonderful smells in there. My mum brought a body lotion that had beautiful glittery sparkles in it. I remember that lotion lasting for ever and always coming out at Christmas for party sparkly!

 My very best friend went to live in the US last year with her American husband. I miss her loads but no matter how far she may be we always stay in touch and up to date with each others lives...
Anyhoo ... due to Bath and Body works not posting to the UK (Boooooo!! :( ) I asked her if she would mind sending my order onto me.

And here it is!! I love it all so much and now feel even more devastated they don't ship to us English peeps! The smells are just so yummy and strong. The candles are diddy - they are the mini ones - but the smell is huge!

The body lotions make me smell so nice and hydrate my skin with the mix of shea butter, vitamin E and essential oils scents.

The pocketbacs i have wanted to try ever since i saw one - they have lovely scents and do not dry out my hands (which i was worried about). I am not a germ freak at all - cant be with 2 horses and a dog but I thought this would be perfect to have around when i start beauty therapy, especially when touching others people's faces.

I got all these items in the sale after Christmas and it was so cheap! The lotions were about £1.50 each! How amazing is that!
However the postage to the UK was expensive about the same as the order itself. It was still worth it  though and worked out at only £2.50 an item!

Gosh I want them to ship to UK!!!

Let me know your favourite Bath and body work scents! I can't smell before i buy so i'd love to hear your opinions my pretties!

Pong Wiffy Floating Flower

I will admit to this being the most beautiful display from a bath bomb I have seen. The stunning colours froth as the bomb dissolves softening the water and your skin. It takes its time so you can really appreciate the colours and take lots of pictures (if your like me!)

 Now onto the 'pong wiffy' part - so i ordered this online so i didn't have a sniffy of the bomb before i brought it - if i had i probably have quickly put it down.
It has a very overpowering smell! You are either going to love it or hate it - personally I... mmm...  I don't want to say i HATE any of Lush's products so i'll say i strongly dislike this smell! I wouldn't buy this again. I think it is the strong jasmine smell that puts me off.

My Lush Interview (featuring the Dorothy bubble bar)

I had my interview for a position at Lush Spa late last week. I was super excited but a little hesitant as it was a 'group interview.' I've had a couple of these type of interviews before but it is safe to say the Lush interview was nothing like my previous ones!

The interview was at 7.30pm so i had plenty of time for a lovely bath to relax myself and boy, did i pick the perfect bubblebar - Dorothy! My reason for this was i loved The Wizard of Oz when i was little. I would watch it on repeat and knew all the words (bit like i am with Harry Potter now actually!) Anyway i just thought 'Somewhere over the rainbow' was the perfect song for this tubtime  so i listened to it on repeat! ... I mean isn't this just perfect...

'The dreams that you dare to dream really do come true'

This bubblebar was definitely the best choice. It turned the water this gorgeous greeny-blue colour and create a serious amount of bubbles. I was in the bath a good while and i still drained so many bubbles out! The scent is sweet and uplifting and, as I've found with most bubblebars, it really moisturised my skin. It contains ylang ylang and orange essential oils which are uplifting and cleaning. The ylang adds the sweet sensual note you can smell which is glorious.

So  it was very dark when i left to head to the spa and as i walked down the garden path i stepped straight into mounds of my Dorothy bubbles that had overfilled the drain!! Haha - This made me laugh so much - a true addict!

When I arrived at the shop a small group of other candidates where waiting outside - we made pleasant conversation about the weather, where they were already working or studying and where they all came from. Once we got inside we all chatted amongst ourselves and wandered around the store! Yay!
We then were asked to answer some question about ourselves - Name, favourite Lush product, If your life was a movie what would be theme song and which cartoon are you? This was fun - we had to talk to the whole group so it was important to be clear and explain your reason for each answer to show your personality.
Next we broke up into groups and learnt to do a demo for a product - i was with group who did shampoo bars. This was my favourite part of interview - I loved learning more about the product and looking in detail at the ingredients - here it really helped me to have some knowledge of why certain oils, clays, butter etc were being used. We then had to demonstrate the products to everyone. I think there must have been about 25 people there plus 4 Lush staff.
We then did a short prioritizing exercise all together and then got split into groups depending on the job we were interested in.  I was there for about 2 hours - it was all very laid back and fun but I honestly didn't think i was going to be successful. There were alot of big characters there and I thought I may not have been noticed...

The next day i woke up feeling low - I didn't expect the phone call I got at 11am to say I was successful !!! I simply can't wait till my trial shift at the end of this week! This is such a dream come true - I feel like I am starting off on this amazing adventure!

Love for Lush

It is no secret that we all love the products from Lush - they smell great, look gorgeous and make us feel amazing but my love of this awesome company runs deeper.

The terms 'Fresh' 'Handmade' 'Organic' 'Againist animal testing' are at the very heart of Lush and all they do. Now these are not just marketing slogans to boost sales. This company goes out of its way to insure they stick to the ethics they hold.

• Against animal testing - There are many companies out there that are just a tad flaky about their stand on animal testing. Some may say they do not test on animals - by this they mean their final products. The companies they source raw materials from do. This is how Lush is different, they make sure all the companies they use have no connection - financially or physical with animal cruelty. Not only this, they actively fight against it by educating, joining lobbies and doing campaigns.
• Campaigning - They focus on different campaigns throughout the year by creating awareness for environmental, human rights and animal protection charities. They create products to raise funds and as we Lushies know any new products are must haves for us so even better when they help a worthwhile cause. 
• Charity Pot - This pot of body lotion was created in 2007 - it supports grassroots charities Lush work with. 100% (yep thats right - all of it!) goes to fund the amazing work they do. 
• FUN - Did you know 10p from every sale of FUN goes to help children in Japan who have been affect by the natural disasters that have happened there over recent years.

I am sure i have only scratched the surface of the amazing work Lush do to improve our planet. This should be standard for every company and Lush really are a flagship for this 'giving back' ethos.

Now lets take a look at the products!! My favourite!

• Lush go back to the roots of cosmetics - the ideas they use are not new formed science, they are the way of our ancestors. Using the earth - what is better than that! They source top quality Essential Oils, Plants, Clays, Butters etc. to make their products. They don't stock pile products - they are produced little and often to keep things fresh and reduce waste.
• They use a minimal amount of synthetics and preservatives. Over half of the products are unpreserved choosing to use natural preservatives such as salt, honey or clay. 
• Environmental issues at the heart of what they do - they produce less than half of the packaging than comparable company. They have shop targets for recycling and energy consumption. 

I hope this post has given you a little more detail of my passion for Lush. I am at the beginning of my career as a beauty therapist and from my first step i want to focus on growing into my new career holding on to the things I already stand for... I am an animal lover, I love nature and I care about our marvellous planet and the people on it. Nothing should suffer in our journey for enjoyment and beauty. Thats why we can buy from Lush without fear. 

Delivery and ExCiTeMeNT!!

This has already been an exciting week with one successful interview for an admin job - got second part next Monday. Even more exciting is the fact that I have an interview for a job at Lush spa tomorrow! I am so crazy buzzing for it but also I'm filled with nerves. I love the products and the ethics of the company and it is my goal to be a therapist for them one day so .... like .... no pressure!!

I also received my delivery so I have a new set of products to try out! Yippee! The smell of these are totally different to my previous Lush products that were quite light and candy (ish) scented. Theses seem to combine into an intense aroma almost similar to incense! Awesome!! As I'm a bit fan of ye olde incense! 

And And AND ... I picked up some of my kits for my beauty course which starts in like 2 weeks! This is a big career change for me and i can not wait. Years of office work has drained me downnnnn. I want to do something I'm passionate about and Pretties, this is it. 

Level 2 Beauty Therapy,
and my doggy! 

Phoenix Rising

This little love is simply stunning. Purple is one of my favourite colours and this is intense and sparkly! When you plop, (yes it plops) this into tub it sinks to the bottom and fizzes beautifully and relies beautiful pinky tones and a white foam similar to the 'So White' bath bomb.

The fragrance was quite strong when I first sniffed this but on dissolving in the tub it become more subtle. Its described by Lush as cinnamon scented with bergamot oil. I swear there was a lavender tinge to it... it certainly transported me to cloud nine. It was blissful. Definitely one for your pre-bedtime bath.

The inside begins to bubble out a green foam

Stunning mixture of colours

Starry Starry Night - Twilight Bath Bomb

This bomb contains some of my favourite essential oils - Lavender and  ylang ylang. The smell is sweet and enticing. Not only is this a beautiful looking bomb ( I love the stars and moon design) it is huge!  It takes ages to fully dissolve in the tub which is lovely as believe me you will want to star show to continue forever!

As this dissolves it releases a soothing creamy foam in a combination of white, pink and finally blue. It gradually turns the water a lavender haze of purple - no where near as pigmented as the 'phoenix rising' but I actually preferred this as it was more natural looking - if that makes sense!

My favourite thing about this glorious bath bomb is the show it gives while dissolving. As you can see from my piccies it really is a stunning.

Ran out of Bath bombs! God forbid!!

My stock of Lush bombs and bubble bars was at empty!! :( (don't panic an order had already been dispatched!) so it was the perfect opportunity to have a little play with some of my samples of soaps, shower gels and massage bars!

Xmas massage bar and Sandstone soap.

£3.40 for 100g

I began by soaking in the (boring) tub for a while and to soften my skin. But soon I couldn't resist the glorious smell coming from the Sandstone soap. A gorgeous lemony smell, perfect for a morning shower I thought. It certainly did not disappoint.
This was a sample piece I brought from ebay - please see previous post for more details. This is a 33g bar of soap. I have included the standard size paper clip so you can see the size easier.

Plus it looks stunning!

It contains litsea cubeba oil which I had never heard of before but it gives the soap a strong lemony fragrance - its truly delicious. 

It contains tiny pieces of sand which gently exfoliates without being too rough. For me having more sensitive skin, this was a lovely feeling without being too rough.

Next I used the sample piece of Christmas massage bar I was sent with my order. I really loved the smell of this bar, there was a hint of cinnamon and orange which, well isn't it just perfect for Christmas time and through those chilly months! Massage bars are one of my favourite Lush products as for my tight, dry, wintery skin they are life saving. The mix of coco and shea butters they contain leave my skin hydrated and silky smooth.

This combination left my skin well moisturised and I went hours without needing to apply lotion. Very impressed.

Happy 4 Sad shower gel, Baked Alaska
soap, Porridge soap 

Again this is a mixture of the samples I brought from Ebay. The 'Happy 4 sad' shower gel has a rather unusual smell and I wasn't sure I liked it. I like rose and mandarin normally so I can only guess the drops of neroli oil are not for me. I actually used this as bubble bath which was a total fail. It did bubble abit but soon dissolved. I really like the idea behind this which is to help with seasonal affective disorder. I will try this as a shower gel and see how that feels.

Porridge soap £3.10 for 100g

This is a piece of 16g porridge soap- it has a earthy natural smell with a hint of citrus when lathered. I liked the smell but for me it was too abrasive. It contains pinhead oats which remove dead skin. This is a stronger exfoliation so I wouldn't recommend it for sensitive skin.

I used the glorious 'Baked Alaska' soap afterwards - this is a limited product so I'm glad my sample packs had 2 pieces in! It contains lemon myrtle, toning grapefruit and stress-relieving ylang ylang oil. The smell is delicious and refreshing. My hubby think it smells of Spirit - lemon and lime. Perfect for a morning bath or shower.

Back Soon My Pretties

LUSH Samples

When I become 'addicted' to something I go all out, I want everything they sell - however I do not have an endless supply of money - far from it actually. So when I stumbled on a seller on ebay who was selling samples of different products I thought I'd take a risk and try some.

The descriptions on ebay give the weight of each product included in the bundles - I had no idea what these would actually look like or if they would be worth it. I ordered 3 bundles, each contains 9 products to try - when they arrived they were well packed and included about 4 additional free samples! So lovely. Below are some pictures of the products included. I will be doing individual reviews of each so you will be able to see  in more detail the exact sizes.

Mixture of soaps

Shower gels

Hand cream, cleanser, butter cream

I think this is a really good way to try before you buy especially if you are ordering online so cant smell and feel the products. Also included where some pieces of bathbombs and bubblebars. I firstly tried using one piece in the tub - this didn't really work as its just too small. However using a cocktail of the piece was perfect.

Essential MakeUp Bag Products

Not everyone has the same requirements when it comes to make up so before i start this post please always remember we are all individuals with different opinions and tastes. If you don't want to wear make up - Don't - If you want to wear it all - Do it. Below is my essential make up for those of you who are maybe starting out or just need some tips ...

Basic Skin base -
Tinted cream (£3.65)
followed by
light weight foundation (8.99)

Essential brushes - £5.49
A foundation brush (L)
Blusher brush (M)
Eyeshadow blending brush (R)

Eyeshadow Palette containing a range of natural colours
Top - MakeUp Rev essential shimmers £4
Bottom - Sleek au naturel £7.99

A blusher or blusher palette
Sleek Pink Lemonade £9.99

Mascara £10 in Black or brown

Basic lipgloss £1 or lip balm

The items I shown are some of my favourites that i re-buy over and over however they are not necessary the cheapest. I would really recommend Make Up Revolution if you are looking to start out - I have been very impressed with all the products i have tried from them. They are very reasonable and excellent quality.

Thanks for reading my Pretties xxxxxx

Let me know what you're essential products are!

Bubble Time - LUSH Bubblebars - 'Christmas Eve' and 'Pop in the Bath'

Christmas eve £?

Pop in the Bath £2.95

I can't believe it has been a week since my last post! I have been busy stitching a baby sampler for a friend and job hunting - 2 interviews next week!

So bubblebars are definitely a favourite of mine especially if they colour the water as create a ton of bubbles. 'Pop in the bath' comes in a choice of 3 colours - i don't think it makes any difference which you choose as they all have the same fresh smell which is a combination of citrus oils: bergamot, lemon and mandarin. It reminded me of the fresh linen smell in candles. I really liked it. I had intended (as i normally do when first trying a product) to use the whole bar however as i holding it under the tap mountains of bubbles were forming!

The remaining bar after 1 use.

This one didn't seem to need crumbling - The hot water melted some of the bar and hey presto foamy bliss. Ahhhhh :)

Perfect with a cuppa brew xxxx






Next onto the limited edition 'Christmas Eve' bubblebar. The smell of this is divine! Ylang Ylang and Jasmine absolute - what a perfect combination. I wish i had owned one of these for Christmas Eve as it was simply perfect! Not only did the create fountains of bubbles it turned the water the most stunning green colour! I will be stocking up on these next Christmas time.

My love of Lush keeps growing!!