Lush "the olive branch" shower gel

Just a quickie! My greedy paw fumbled around the body washeruper shelf of my bathroom cabinet and pulled out this little bottle of Lush shower gel

The olive branch shower gel.

This product needs a good old shake before use, this pic was taken post bathroom booty dance whilst product shaking. Before this its components are separated and look rather curdled and gross. BUT, I gave Lush the benefit of the doubt here seeing as you probably couldn't mix olive oil with anything without it throwing a strop. 

Its rather watery I feel it shouldn't be called shower gel, more shower liquid! Non the less it lathers nicely. You'd certainly need a shower lily/scrunchie or sponge though due to its wateryness, and more is needed in comparison to a thicker gel, so this little bottle won't last as long. 

I'm not sold on the scent, i like sweet and fruity scents for shower gels and this is very earthy. The ingredients does contain mandarins, but my snout cant detect it, amongst other ing like olive oil and vine leaves it just doesn't tickle my fancy in the smell dep. That said, I can compromise scent for pure natural oils, I have gone mad for all things oily lately, and why not? Oils have so many uses and are so good for our hair, skin, nails & everything else! I like nothing more than to head to the kitchen, dig out the olive oil and tip it over my head! I leave it on my hair as a mask for hours before washing out and revealing baby soft locks. So by all means, I can sacrifice scent for oils here, and its not an awful scent, just not to my preference. 

As I expected, it left my skin soft, it felt as if I'd exfoliated. This is the one to use if you're skipping the post shower moisturiser if you're rushed or just having a lazy toad day. 

You can also use this in your hair which I haven't tried yet, but sure will be. The more oil based products for my damaged wig, the better. I tend to use argan oil and olive oil most and I'm loving finding more & more products being released using natural oils. My hair and skin is rather thankful.

What's your favourite oil based product? 

Thanks for reading!

Kara xXx

Electrical: the best hairdryer everrr.

I'm a lazy bones with blow drying. I loathe it. within two minutes my arms are aching, I'm overheating, my hairdryer is overheating. I have a proper good head of hair. A horse's mane. It's mega thick and mega damaged. If Im to get a nice result from blow drying I have to section off chunks of hair at a time and take it slow n steady. I can't be arsed with that. All to often the dryer is on the hottest setting and Its too close for comfort, my hair is wilting, my eyeballs are drying up. Anything to get the job done quicker. My other hand remains naked, whereas it should be occupied grasping a brush or comb smoothing my hair shaft down as It dries, but I'm forever swapping the dryer over in attempt to give my other arm the rest it craves. I'm not exaggerating when I say it takes around 25 mins to dry my locks, so my poor limbs really get bored.

I'd seen my new dryer, or one simular a few years back but thought it might be more damaging than usual. I was wrong and so mad ive only just got one.
All hail, my new lazy lover dryer.

Its the Philips straightening 1000w hot air styler. As you can see it comes with different stylers that click onto the main unit. Today i just used the paddle brush dryer. It also has two round brush heads, a volumizer and a nozzle for standard blow drying. All these attachments can be used to straighten, curl, flick & add volume to hair. 

The paddle dryer is nice and wide and blows warm air, it doesn't need to blast fire because its used so close to the hair, good news for me, from now on my wig will endure less pain whilst drying. The bristles are widely spaced to allow an easier journey through damp hair. Mine is serverly damaged and this didnt tug once. Its nice to hold and easy to grip. Because you are pulling the hair shaft down as  you dry, your hair is smoother and straighter. It took me 15 mins or so to tonight with this, with so little effort required, as easy as brushing, literally...just over and over, but if your hair is finer than mine, and its not hard to be, it might only take you a few strokes. It has a cool mode for further smoothing and setting your straight head of hair.

mine was pretty darn straight afterwards, no straighteners needed, so thats another 10 mins shaved off my evening schedule when all i wanna do is eat chocolate, drink tea and sleep! It was in brill condition, no frazzled frizzies. Happy days.

It also comes with a tidy little drawstring bag, so the attachments can't grow legs and run away. 

Ladies, if you're a lazy madam like me and hate your blow dryer, i suggest you invest! 

Im looking forward to trying other styles using this too.

xXx Kara 

Lush bathtime.

Time for a soak with the rubber duck, and I'm trying two Lush products while I'm at it. A creamy candy bubble bar, and the limited edition gold FUN bar.

The candy bubble bar is sweetly scented with vanilla and is packed with cocoa butter & almond oil for soft skin. I plopped it into my bath as it filled and instantly expected it to start fizzing away, but some serious jazz hands were needed to help it along, and even then i was scavenging for the chunks that had fallen to the depths and smooshing them between my fingers. It bubbles as a bubble bar should. 

The sweet smell isn't as strong as i thought it'd be, but then again, the scented candles are usually flickering away and we wouldnt want to send our snouts into overdrive. My skin is feeling slimey, but that's just confirmation that the product is actually strong enough once diluted in my overflowing bath to cling to my skin. 

Onto the FUN bar. This ones the christmas limited edition gold bar but they do many others too. Its a playdough like consistency and the idea is to break a chunk off and use it to wash your body & can be used in hair too, as a bubble bath and to hand wash clothes, although, not all those ideas appeal to me to be honest, i guess i shouldn't knock it til i've tried it. It's aimed at children too, which im sure they'd love playing and moulding it into shapes. It contains sweet wild orange oil and is a very comforting smell, which funny enough is exactly what the label says as i've just read it! My sniffer is on high alert tonight! Here's the size of the piece i broke off, and like the big kid that i am, i couldn't help mould it myself! 

You can see the gold shimmer on my hand too, but its not enough once you've washed up to leave you emerging the bathroom looking like the christmas decs you've just reluctantly taken down...

Maybe the chunk i used wasn't big enough, it lathered well initially, and easily, but didn't go very far. I like a good lather, my own private foam party.

Post bath i was relaxed and soft enough to skip the moisturiser. I also didn't want to disturb the scent that clung to me, with every waft of a limb i could smell vanilla milkshake. Yum. 

Lush bathbombs are always a winner and they're always bringing out new ones to try. As  for FUN, would i repurchase..? Probably not, but i haven't tried all it's possibilities yet, it's also a brill idea for kids. 

What's your favourite Lush bathtime product?

xXx Kara 

Make-up: Maybelline dream fresh BB

I was recently confronted and intimidated in a ladies public toilet. She pointed out my flaws like no other, highlighting my bad skin, my dry patches, my old acne scars, my eye baggage, my beautiful juicy new spots, she could even see ones lurking under my skin. She was harsh and unforgiving. I'm sure you all have one near you, this bitch my friends, is the common public toilet mirror.
What kind of breed of mirror are these!? Why are they so unflattering!?

After my incident with the heartless glass I set out on mission "sort my face out". I went through every lotion, potion & tablet on the market as a teen when my father kindly passed on the faulty gene that is hereditary acne. Until I was prescribed Dianette, a contraceptive pill that is also prescribed for bad skin. If you're reading this thinking "I want that!!!" I recently heard they stopped prescribing it due to serious health risks.
Alternatively, I am going down the herbal route and I'm trying different products to put a stop to the beasts that dwell within. I'm hoping they will have a better effect this time round as my skin isn't as bad as before, it now comes and goes depending on the time of the month. So look out for those posts if monthly facial madness is something you're plagued with too!

On to the product review, I've rambled a little in this post! My sincere apologies.
I wanted to try a lighter foundation to allow my skin to breathe. I had tried a BB cream before and didn't like it, it was Miss sporty...? Which I don't think is a very established brand, I never see bbloggers raving about their products and I never see advertisements either. So this time i went with Maybelline dream fresh BB

The thought of a BB cream doesn't really appeal to me, I like coverage when I need it most and even when i dont need it, i dont think to change my base make-up accordingly. I am now on the hunt for something lighter in hope to let my skin breathe and avoid another cakey face in the mirror incident, even though i swear my make up was perfectly fine in any other mirror than that pesky one in the loos. 

I dont think i have found that in this BB cream, the coverage is light to say the least and im now only going to use it on good skin days. It's very greasy on the skin up until you apply powder, and even then the greasyness comes back asking for another date with your shine surpressant, so if you're trying this BB dont be without your powder or blotting papers. 

From what i could see it only comes in three shades, light, medium & dark which is always dissapointing to see. I picked up light and its a decent match. 

I've said all i can about this product, i think BB creams are only suitable for those blessed in the skin dep or for make up virgins starting to experiment. 

Have you tried a BB cream that you love? I don't think I'll try another one unless I hear raving reviews...

xXx Kara

Fragrance: Katy perry "Killer Queen"

Just a quickie to ask...Is this perfume in your life? If not, why ever so?
It is my new favourite & I think it's gonna take a lot for another fragrance to flirt with my nostrils so much so as to knock the crown of this one...

It's described as a "charmingly playful yet lethally gorgeous floriental fragrance"
Its sweet, but floral too, it's just delightful!
It's also described as "addictive" and golly it is. I spritz it on my scarf so I can smell it constantly and even then I can be seen shoving the scarf up my sniffer to get my fix, looking like a common tramp wiping my snotty nose on my poor scarf to the passerby.

The bottle isn't ideal in my opinion. I don't like that it lays on its side, its not got a flat side that commits to the table, it just looks like it's fallen over. It also doesn't feel nice in the hand, I've got the 100ml bottle so the smaller ones might be fine, but this large bottle is asking for conflict with my small hands. I'm sure it will dance with the floor a few times.

Non the less, I'm reaching for this fragrance everyday and I'm pretty sure I will repurchase.

Go have a whiff ladies, I'm sure you won't be leaving the store without it.

Do you have this? What do you think of it?
xXx. Kara 

New years scrub up.

Today, I've scrubbed away my 2013 dead skin cells, ew, and with the help of a new favourite product I've welcomed soft new skin for new years day.
I brought from the body shop during the sale & picked up a new shower scrunchie or lily whichever word your tongue prefers, there's one in the sale atm at £1. As much as I like my scrunchie to exfoliate as well as lather, this one is a tad too harsh on my skin, it scratches a little. Maybe it will soften up after another use or two, but I never keep them long so we'll see. Today though, as I needed a good skin shedding session, it was welcomed.
The shower gel of choice today to dribble all over my lily (clean minds please ;) !) was Radox berry burst shower cream, which does it's job, lathers up nicely and smells sweet & fruity! Lavly.
I have been excited to try my body shop Brazil but scrub since it came and today, I was not disappointed, It smells quite sweet, which I wasn't expecting, very pleasant. The texture is great! You have bigger & smaller scrub particles which I loved. It didn't dissolve and a little went a long way. I just love washing off scrub, its rather satisfying knowing all that cacky dead skin is going down the plug'ole with it! My skin was very very soft after, even that pesky dry skin at the back if your arms, gone. Only the dry patches on my knees remain, clinging for dear life, but that's winter clothes for you, I'll be honest, even my razor is happy at our reunion.
This scrub will be a permanent fixture in my bathroom & will not be collecting dust. I'm liking it lots.

I then took my body brush in hand and proceeded to brush my skin, feeling like big foot grooming his hairy bod! Of course I'm not hiding a hairy physique but that's what body brushing makes me think of! You're supposed to do this on dry skin, but being cold & naked in front of my unforgiving bathroom mirror isn't my idea of fun. I feel it makes no difference anyway. With my shower curtain protecting me from the heartless ass that is my mirror its just so much more relaxing.

LastIy, i washed my mug with simple facial wash. I got the wash, cleansing lotion & toner 3 for 2 at superdrug, I intend to use the wash in the shower/bath to remove make up and then the cleansing lotion & toner later on, which is exactly what I did.

I didn't get a simple moisturiser because I have so many to get through first! I'm using up my clean & clear dual action moisturiser atm. Its meant for bad skin, but I feel it makes no difference, im yet to use a clean & clear or clearasil product that actually does! Non the less its oil free and light so I rather like it on days when my face doesn't need more to drink.

Moisturisers of the day, are both from lush. I used "celebration" all over, which is a limited edition lotion. Its as thick as a lotion can get before becoming a butter, and it smells divine!!! Oranges & limes with almond oil, yum. Its a lovely big pot which will last me a while. However, this isn't one you can slather on get dressed and go, an hour later I was still sticky and greasy. Eventually my skin drank it all up and carried the lively fresh scent for a good few hours. One for those pamper days in your jimjams.
My extra dry patches sought v.i.p treatment in lush's dream cream which I will sure be purchasing again and hoping they do a very big pot! My hands belong to that of an 80 year old troll, I wash them a gerzillion times a day due to having a toddler who loves a good sticky, dirty, soggy and even poopy situation. This cream saves them instantly. It's a beast. A mighty good beast of a product. It has even overtaken my Palmers intensive hand cream. Blimey.

Lastly, I slathered my smackers with nivea's lip butter in caramel creme. Smells good enough to eat and reminds me of old primary school days, the caramel desert that was the ray of sunshine through the dark clouds of over processed meals that the microwave gave birth to. The one us children used to fight over seconds like wild ravenous coyotes. That one.

Those, my dears, were todays chosen pamper products and how fabulous they were.
Hope everyone had a brill new years
xXx Kara

Percy & Reed colour & shine conditioner.

I've had this conditioner in my bathroom cab for around 6 months. It's Percy & Reed really rather radiant colour and shine conditioner. It retails at £16 for a 250ml bottle. Rather pricey I think, esp if you're after its sister shampoo too, £14 also for 250ml. That's £30 gold nuggets swiped outta your pocket, the bottles aren't the biggest, and if you're a convicted product over user like myself it's not going to last you long at all.

The packaging is pleasing, simple but chic. The ingredients include raspberry oil, white grape seed oil & aloe vera, while you'd expect the scent to be somewhat fruity, you'd be wrong, the only thing my sensitive sniffer could whiff was the aloe vera, which isn't to my snouts preference. The website www.beautybay.com (which has a large range of Percy & Reed products) claims this cond is "nourishing" and is designed for coloured hair. My hair has been bleached and coloured over & over to the point where I'm thankful to still have hair upon my abused head. This conditioner just doesn't cut if for me, its thin and watery, I always wring out my hair so conditioners aren't watered down, but I just couldn't feel this in my locks. As I said above, I always use far more product than needed and I still went in for seconds with this in hope it would thicken up, with no such happening I left it on for a good 5 mins. It rinsed off very easily, good for if you're in a rush but to me it just validated the feeling that it wasn't even there to begin with. I like a good war with my conditioner, imagining it clinging to my weakened mane desperate to exceed my already satisfied standards.

I didn't give my head hairs the extra leave in conditioners and serum it craved and proceeded to blow dry bare to see exactly what this cond had to offer, its last chance to survive in the highly competitive world that is my bathroom cupboard. My hair instantly wilted in the heat of my blow dryer showing the tell tale chewing gum like signs of bleached hair, frizzing and pulling at the ends. From the window behind i imagine my neighbours and nosey by passers on the phone to animal control with reports of an escaped circus lion standing on two feet. I am a mess.

I boldly take my straighteners in hand, and make matters worse. I think I may have lost an inch or two during this review.

I take to the bathroom where my two mirrors show no mercy and I'm surprised at how shiny my tortured wig is. Still without serum or shine sprays it glistens. 

I'd like to see this product in action on someone's hair that has more life and isn't so chemically treated, while this product is targeted at coloured hair I dont think its for dead hair, like mine. I'd use this again, just because I have it, and I'd use it after a deeper, thicker conditioner that my hair has already approved of and i'd follow it up with my leave-in conditioner and serums. I wouldn't buy this again as my hair is not getting in any better condition...I type this sat on my bed sporting a morrisons plastic bag on my noggin waiting for my full head colour to develop. 

To wrap up, give this a shot if you're hair isnt severely damaged as it does give brilliant glossy shine! However, unfortunately not enough nourishment, not a nice consistency and a disappointing scent. 

Let me know what you think of this product if you have used it. :) 

xXx

Kara