Lush Bloggers' Event & Haul

lush bloggers event halloween and christmas 2016 lush haul

Hello hello, todays blog post is on the wonderful annual Lush event - honestly if you're a blogger and you haven't gotten in touch with your local store, you're missing out! They love holding these events and educating us bloggers on the beautiful new seasonal products. I was exhausted that day but very much looked forwards to attending and it was so nice meeting a couple of new people too! Seeing all the new halloween and Christmas products was great and I thought it was so nice how they had vegan snacks and non-alcoholic drinks for everybody to enjoy. The event always starts by passing around a Lush shower jelly and introducing ourselves, along with our blog/youtube channel. We then were given a quick tour of the store set up, followed by a 'spot the new release' sort of game, which was different and a more exciting way of seeing each product as a group. I managed to create a couple of GIFs I know I know, how fanceeh!




This is the Autumn Leaf Bath Bomb (£3.75) which I was simply mesmerised by...look at all those stunning colours! 😍 The colours are supposed to reflect the stunning autumn leaves falling onto the floor, although I love the more pastel colours in this version. The three main oils in this bath bomb are Neroli Oil for uplifting and toning, sandalwood oil for uplifting and soothing the skin and bergamot oil for uplifting and cleansing. So as you can imagine it has quite a woody scent, which isn't my personal favourite as I love sweeter scents. But I think we can all agree that it is BEAUTIFUL 🙌🏽.



Another bath bomb we were shown is this oblong shaped one, which try as I might, I just cannot find it on their website...so I'm assuming its an Oxford st. exclusive that we have in our local store too. Sorry I couldn't be much help here, but I just had to show you the pretty gif I made from it! 😍



Next up we have monsters' ball (£4.25), which is clearly a halloween exclusive! It has quite a fresh smell due to the ingrediant of lime oil, howevr I love that it also includes fair trade organic cocoa butter. This makes the bath so much more relaxing and the smell is fresh, with a slight gloral mix and it turns the bath a bunch of different colours from pink - blue. I love how it was still fizzing for a while after it was placed in the bowl and I think its the perfect autumnal treat!


On the left hand side we have butterbear (£1.95) which is by far one of the most affordable lush bath products! Although it doesn't look as exciting as the others, this bath bomb is one of the most comforting and contains very few ingredients. Amongst those we have fair trade colombian cocoa butter, ylang ylang oil and cocoa powder. I think this is one of the most moisturising bath products in the whole store - do pick it up if your skin needs some comfort!

Moving on to the brighter yellow and pink concoction, this bath bomb is called Never mind the ballistics (£4.25), which has a very sweet smell - not snow fairy sweet, but literally candy sweet! It contains the wonderful cocoa butter, as well as lime oil, sweet wild orange oil and fresh banana! Again its lovely for the skin and a real beauty to look at.



And finally one of the beautiful bubble bars: The magic of christmas (£5.95), look how pretty it is! I have to say I do love a good reusable product and I think you'll love this if you're into warm cinnamon scents. This product contains cinnamon leaf oil, Almond oil and sweet orange oil and has the cutest little bell attached to it too!

I hope you enjoyed those gifs, it is very cool to me that I can make them now relatively easily so expect more in the future ☺️. Now on to MY haul of products I picked up...

lush magic wand


Firstly we have another reusable bubble bar wand, which does by the name of magic wand (£5.96). This version makes the bath water turn a hue of pink and of course has the classic bubblegum snowfairy smell, which I adore! I am a huge fan of sweet smells, so I had to treat myself to this.

lush father christmas


I also picked up two bath bombs...with the first being Father christmas (£3.75), another repeat from last year. It again has the snow fairy smell and it also has a green centre - which means the water turns this colour! Lets be honest, I don't plan on using a whole one for just one bath so who knows how much of the colour I'll see - but I love the fact that this smell lingers and I think it'll make a good couple of soaks!

Never mind the ballistics lush


The final bath bomb I purchased is one I showed above: Never mind the ballistics (£4.25) which I'm super excited to use 🤗.

ambrosia shaving cream


I also asked the lovely lush ladies to recommend me something for my very sensitive skin, after or before shaving. If you've been following my lumea journey, you'll know how much I despise shaving because my skin comes out in rashes and bumps. They recommended the Ambrosia shaving cream (£4.95 - 100g), which contains oat milk, cocoa butter and several oils. They all go a long way in ensuring my skin is comfortable and so far it has been working a treat! My skin is less irritated and feels super smooth to touch, making shaving less of a pain.

I also purchased the well known cleanser from Lush, which I totally forgot to take a photo of. The Ultrabland cleanser (£12.95 for 100g). Now it was a little pricy as you can see and perhaps I should have purchased the smaller one, but in terms of value for money this made more sense! This is a cream cleanser, so a little goes a long way and it is packed full of brilliant natural products, a few of them are: honey, almond oil and rose water. I love how nourished and clean my skin feels after wiping this off with a damp flannel, however I will be using another cleanser alongside this so I can keep using my vanity planet cleansing brush - as I've really noticed a difference in the lack of exfoliation with my skin! So, so far I'm enjoying it, but it's not my only evening cleanser in use.

mr sandman dusting powder


The final thing I wanted to share with you all is the two samples we were kindly given. I was thrilled to get the Mr. Sandman dusting powder, which is a stunning golden/silver powder that you literally dust over your skin. I think its perfect for a special occasion and it also has a beautiful lavender scent.

They also gave me a small sample of a shower gel which'll be interesting to use!


What has caught your eye from Lush's recent collections?


Thank-you for reading




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Lush Bloggers' Event & Haul

lush bloggers event halloween and christmas 2016 lush haul

Hello hello, todays blog post is on the wonderful annual Lush event - honestly if you're a blogger and you haven't gotten in touch with your local store, you're missing out! They love holding these events and educating us bloggers on the beautiful new seasonal products. I was exhausted that day but very much looked forwards to attending and it was so nice meeting a couple of new people too! Seeing all the new halloween and Christmas products was great and I thought it was so nice how they had vegan snacks and non-alcoholic drinks for everybody to enjoy. The event always starts by passing around a Lush shower jelly and introducing ourselves, along with our blog/youtube channel. We then were given a quick tour of the store set up, followed by a 'spot the new release' sort of game, which was different and a more exciting way of seeing each product as a group. I managed to create a couple of GIFs I know I know, how fanceeh!

Beauty Haul | Becca & Kat Von D

becca and kat von d haul uk

Hello everybody! Today I have a haul post for you all and it will most certainly be the last one in a long while, cause I'm still about that #studentlife haha. This haul spans from August till now and I'm really excited to share it all with you.


A couple of weeks back towards the end of summer, I went to Birmingham to meet with a friend of mine, and of course I couldn't resist having a bit of a shop! It was wonderful to spend time with Hoodo and towards the end of trip I had some time alone and decided to hunt down the Birmingham Space NK store. It used to be in the bullring, however they have moved the store and its now about a 5 minute walk. Usually I'd just think, naaah I'll leave it and just sit on a bench and people watch till my train arrives. But it was SPACE NK - a store I rarely get to enter, because my nearest is in London. So I used google maps and followed the path till I got there and boy oh boy was it worth the searching and walked avec heavy bags! All the gorgeous brands that you don't find in a typical department store laid out, all the products I constantly browse through online and the best part? No pushy sales assistants 🎉 I was seriously in my element and could have spent a good couple of hours browsing. I had intended to purchase the Becca Champagne Split in Amaretto and Prosecco pop, because it sold out instantly online and I was told via twitter that it was only available in stores. However after a chat with the sales assistant there, I realised it would make a lot more sense to purchase the champagne collection palette, which I was sure would be sold out anyway!

becca champagne collection palette


The split pans cost £32 each are are available still from here. Like I said I was not expecting the palette to be around, so I was taken aback to see it there haha. The palette costs £48 and when you compare the amount of product you get in the palette (20.4g), to the amount in the split pan (7.93g), its a no brainer that if the palette is available...ya get the palette! 😋 What made me umm and ahh a little was the question...will you really use all the shades? At least by buying a split pan, you know you'll use it up, but again the value for money was just better in this case. Obviously it has been quite a few weeks since I picked this up, however if you are interested in picking up the palette, I'd recommend you check out your local store just in case. I wasn't expecting to find it, but I did so who knows ^_^.
becca champagne collection palette

On to the actual palette itself I've not had a lot of time to try it out properly, but upon swatching the shades they're the same gorgeous buttery formula that Becca produces. The packaging is beautiful, white and gold, with an excellent sized mirror which is always a plus. Although I was unsure about the size of the blush pans at first, they're more than enough due to how pigmented the formula is. You only need to tap your brush on the pan and you'll get enough for one use. I also already have champagne pop, it was a gift I received for my birthday this year which was another reason why I was keen on getting the split pan initially - however its such a beautiful highlighter that I know I can use it for years to come now I have two. Presseco pop, the golden highlighter, is utterly dreamworthy for warm skintones and I cannot wait to use it soon!

becca champagne collection palette


I just had to put another photo in here - as you can see you're given a clear sheet with the names on, but when I do lose this it's all good because they have the names written on the back. I'm most excited by Amaretto, which is the matte/satin blush that is more of a nude colour and reminds me of what I envisage NARS Madly would look like. However Rose Spritz is reminiscent of Sleek rose gold and NARS Orgasm, so again another shade I'm looking forwards to wearing. I'm happy to have a selection of the mineral blushes from Becca as I'm such a fan of the NARS formula, I rarely spend a lot on other blushers.



kat von d lock it powder review


Moving on to another exciting release in the U.K - horaaaay we finally have Kat Von D! It only took the U.K a couple of years to get this brand haha. I was incredibly excited to hear at the start of summer that we would be getting KVD here and I started thinking about what products I want from her line. You probably already know that I am smitten with the Shade and Light contour palette (£36) reviewed here, which has recently been re-released in a refillable packaging but for some reason that version isn't being stocked in the U.K. Yesterday I hit pan on a third shade within the palette, which is a first for me as I've never gotten through so much product! So that in itself speaks for how great the product is, which has led me to have high expectations of the brand in general. Recently Kat has released the 'lock it' setting powder (£20 for 19g), which I didn't hear too much about before the brand came to Debenhams, but the reasonable price meant I wanted to give it a go. I have been loving the Coty powder for lightly baking, so I wanted to pick up a higher end version. I really like the packaging, its sleek and pretty compacy. In terms of a difference from the drugstore one, although this is a little more yellow toned than the coty and finer milled, I haven't seen a big difference in the performance of the powders - but I shall keep you posted.

kat von d lock it creme concealer in medium 17 warm review and swatch


I was really interested to try the newly reformulated and repackaged 'lock it' creme concealer (£20), however I just have to say I hate how expensive concealers are becoming these days. 6g costing twenty quid??? Thats a joke if you ask me, when the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual skin enhancers aren't even double the price but contain a load of product and last a couple of years. This is the primary reason why I don't often spend my money on other brands for concealer, cause often they're not worth the money. Its much more beneficial picking up an expensive longer lasting product, than a £20 one which only lasts a couple of months, making it even more expensive than the product with the £35+ price tag! I hope I'm making sense here haha.

Anyway on to the actual concealer, I guess I purchased it out of complete and utter excitement that KVD was available online and I picked up the shade Medium 17 - warm. The online swatches are sparse, so I was VERY lucky to get a shade that works well for me. Its brightening and inbetween yellow and neutral. I do use a corrector first - but I do this with EVERY concealer because my dark circles are just that awful. I'd describe the coverage as medium but you could build it up a little. The formula is creamy and easy to blend, I use a damp beauty blender and its quick and easy in the morning - definitely quicker than Kevyn! For this reason I have been using it almost daily and although I would prefer a full coverage under-eye for special occasions, I'm actually okay with this for a daily basis. So far so good, but the pricing for the amount you get still bugs me...and I don't know that I love it enough to repurchase at this point.

kat von d lock it creme concealer in medium 17 warm review and swatch kat von d everlasting liquid lipstick lolita 2, bow n arrow, double dare review and swatch


Finally I picked up two more of her everlasting liquid lipsticks. I already owned Lolita and Double Dare, so I added Lolita 2 and Bow N Arrow. These cost £16 each, pretty pricy but you get a decent amount in the tube and I do enjoy the formula. By the way the swatch style I've used, is totally inspired by the beautiful beauty with charm ☺️. So far I really like lolita 2, it is a stunning orange toned mix of brown and red and I've been leaning towards this kind of shade since discovering and falling for ABH Ashton. Bow N Arrow looks VERY brown in the swatch, yet on my lips its more muted and slightly more on the nude side. Look out for a collective review of these in a couple of weeks!


What are your favourite recent purchases?



Thank-you for reading




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Beauty Haul | Becca & Kat Von D

becca and kat von d haul uk

Hello everybody! Today I have a haul post for you all and it will most certainly be the last one in a long while, cause I'm still about that #studentlife haha. This haul spans from August till now and I'm really excited to share it all with you.

The Dior Skin Foundation Trilogy Reviewed

Dior skin nude dior skin star dior skin forever review 31 comparison


Hello everyone, I have had my September favourites sitting in my drafts for over a fortnight now but because I've not had time to retake those awful photos. I've pretty much given up with that and moved on to the next one, on to the neeeeext one...and here I present you with my collection of Dior foundations. This post is a mini review and comparison of the Dior Star, Dior Forever and Dior Nude foundations, all of which I've had for quite a while already. I'll link any original reviews below if you're interested in swatches and more detail. I hope this post'll be an introduction to these bases for you and if you have been interested in splashing out on a Dior base, this post should help you decide which one you're looking for!


Dior Forever | £33.00 | Shade 31 
It was because of this very foundation that I realised I had to write a post pronto, because the other day I reached for this and instantly realised it was gone its sell by date. The texture was slightly thicker, the colour was deeper and there was definitely a not so great smell. Coincidently this is the only foundation from the three, that I haven't dedicated a full review to and that is because I really didn't choose to wear this often. I purchased it with the intention of using it for special occasions as it is fuller coverage than what i typically go for, however it's one of those foundations that you can feel on the skin and that is why I wasn't such a huge fan.

The coverage is medium-full and the finish for me was most definitely matte, so oily skins its worth grabbing a sample for sure. When I was wearing this here and there, my skin was on the drier side so I remember looking into the mirror around lunchtime and cringing at how it was clinging onto dry patches and making me look at least two decades older! Despite it feeling heavier on the skin and not being forgiving on dry patches, it definitely didn't look cakey - especially when applied with a damp beauty blender. It lasts really well on my skin too and I typically only reached for it when I was having bad skin days because it provided more than enough coverage.

I should mention that I'm 95% sure they've reformulated this now and I've heard it better - however this is obviously just my experience with the one I purchased.

Rating: 6/10      Repurchase: No, its alright but there are better for the price.

Dior skin nude dior skin star dior skin forever review 31 comparison


Dior Skin Nude | £33.00 | Shade 31
This foundation was my first from the luxury brand and I loved it from first use...then I didn't so much because it stopped lasting well on my skin, but then I discovered that simply using a SPF went a long way haha. One thing to note about the nude foundation is that it doesn't quite match the same shade as the other foundations in this line. Its a tad lighter, but really does live up to its name in my opinion. The coverage is light-medium and you can hardly feel it on the skin which makes me very happy. Formula wise, is it quite a satin finish, meaning it works well for every day again.

I've nearly finished this bottle and although its a nice foundation, I don't think it's particularly worth the £30+ price tag. I prefer my NARS Sheer Glow foundation over this because that one makes me skin look fantastic, whereas Dior nude is just a pretty good base. Nothing special which I guess I do expect if I'm paying that amount of money.

Rating: 7/10       Repurchase: Nope, its a nice foundation but there are better out there.

Dior skin nude dior skin star dior skin forever review 31 comparison


Dior Skin Star | £33.00 | Shade 31
Last but certainly NOT LEAST - the star of the show and one of my absolute favourite bases of all time - I present to you Dior star foundation! One of my go-tos for special occasions, and when I'm feeling like my skin could do with an extra boost I'll reach for this day-to-day also. I don't really believe in reserving foundations or any type of makeup just for special occasions, cause like you can see with the forever foundation - they do expire! However I can't help feeling extra happy with my makeup with I'm wearing this, because it really does look so beautiful.

Glowy skin in a bottle, not too dewy but not matte at all, it applies like a dream on the skin with the use of a brush or a damp sponge. It provides a medium coverage which is my preferred at all times, so it'll cover redness and light blemishes with ease. On special occasions I will always spot conceal where necessary, but for everyday the coverage is more than enough. It lasts well throughout the day as long as I've applied SPF first and it just leaves my skin looking health and radiant. This foundation is in my top three of all time and is totally worth the price!

Rating: 9/10     Repurchase: YES, 100%


Next up I'm definitely looking to purchase the Dior airflash foundation - a sales assistant applied it ontop of my makeup and I was in awe at how incredible my skin looked...after 7 hours of applying the makeup in the first place! However for the time being I have enough bases to be using and reviewing for you all, with Too Faced born this way coming first so keep an eye out ☺️


Have you tried any Dior foundations? Which is your favourite?



Thank-you for reading




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The Dior Skin Foundation Trilogy Reviewed

Dior skin nude dior skin star dior skin forever review 31 comparison


Hello everyone, I have had my September favourites sitting in my drafts for over a fortnight now but because I've not had time to retake those awful photos. I've pretty much given up with that and moved on to the next one, on to the neeeeext one...and here I present you with my collection of Dior foundations. This post is a mini review and comparison of the Dior Star, Dior Forever and Dior Nude foundations, all of which I've had for quite a while already. I'll link any original reviews below if you're interested in swatches and more detail. I hope this post'll be an introduction to these bases for you and if you have been interested in splashing out on a Dior base, this post should help you decide which one you're looking for!

September Update | A month into teacher training


Hello everyone! Happy October to you all 🤗 I do try to put my favourites up on this day, most months, however I've currently lost my camera charger and so photos are on hold. I was a bit behind with my blog anyway and thought I may as-well type up a chatty type of post because I know some of you really enjoy reading these ^_^


So September has been a whirlwind of newness for me. For the first time in 5 years I have had to regularly wake up at 6:30 am Monday-Friday which really was a massive shock to the system. University really kills routine, unless you're on a intense placement heavy course OR you're very disciplined with your time management (which is tough!). I've been at my school for a month now and I've taught four lessons in total with one being observed. The experience has been really exciting, although a little nerve-wracking of course! When you first start working in a school as a trainee you do spend a lot of time observing. I was nervous about my first lesson, but very lucky too because it was on the Quran (an R.E lesson), so I didn't have to do a lot of prep as that's a subject I'm quite familiar with. It actually turned into a bit of a Q&A which I loved, because the children felt comfortable to ask me questions they may have had on their mind but have felt a little unsure about asking before. Especially questions on my hijab haha!

The number of lessons and observations will slowly increase, which is fine with me and I actually find being observed really helpful. I am by hardest critic and once a lesson is over I'm quick to pick up on my mistakes straight away which really isn't the best thing to do. We've been told to note down the positives first and then what we could do better after which is a challenge for me, but it does help. The chat after an observation is great and I know it'll really help me to develop my teaching as the weeks go on.

At this point, aside from the really early starts and long long days, the most challenging part of doing this teacher training is remembering ALL the things that have to be done. Of course we have school responsibilities like lesson planning, being on break duty, taking the children to and from assembly and taking the register. Then we have a lot of objectives to be working towards and for each objective we must obtain evidence and explain how each piece of evidence will impact our training and teaching career. There are also assignments, small from training and one really big one which is towards the PGCE element. So there is a LOT to take in and we have had two training sessions just on time management and how to deal with stress effectively!

The training days - Thursday and Friday I really look forwards too, we have been lucky enough to have some brilliant external trainers, as well as a great base team too. This week we learnt about our personality types and how to steer away from being aggressive/passive/passive aggressive and instead be assertive when need be. I found it really interesting, perhaps because of my psychology background, but I hope I am able to use a lot of what we have been taught in my professional life as well as my personal life too. Two weeks ago we had a brilliant trainer in, who's topic I really wasn't sure about  (phonics, because I didn't think working in KS2 would really involve needing a vast knowledge of the subject!). However she made us all realise that its VERY important, not just whilst the kids are at school, but for the rest of their life. It wasn't just that message, but her vibrant passion for education and her heartwarming personal story, of how a few teachers in her life got her to where she was today - a very successful business woman. It made quite a few of us emotional when she actually thanked us for choosing this path, because teachers don't get thanked enough for dedicating a HUGE amount of their life to the children in their class and wider school.

The rest of September consisted of Eid - which was strange for me because I didn't have a day off for the first time in my life. I definitely could have asked for a day off, but as it was the first day of my second week I didn't want to miss anything. We ended up going out for dinner to a restaurant, which was a whole different experience in itself, but anyway it was nice to spend some time with the family and of course to get dressed up a little. I have really been enjoying playing around with the certifeye glitters, keep a look out for my next favourites as I'll be sharing more there, and I'm getting more confident with applying false lashes too. Teacher training has given me a new found love of the weekends too as I can stay at home all day and just catch up on lack of sleep and my never-ending to-do list - bliss! I also was lucky enough to end a fabulous Lush event, where they shares the halloween and chirstmas collection. I'll have a dedicated post, including a little haul and I'm rather excited to share this with you because I've discovered an easy way to make little Gifs, so expect many hehe.


Have you had a great September? What was your highlight? 



Thank-you for reading



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September Update | A month into teacher training


Hello everyone! Happy October to you all 🤗 I do try to put my favourites up on this day, most months, however I've currently lost my camera charger and so photos are on hold. I was a bit behind with my blog anyway and thought I may as-well type up a chatty type of post because I know some of you really enjoy reading these ^_^