The Body Shop Buys!

Shopping again, I hear you cry - I just can't help myself, especially when there's a bargain to be had. Fee from Makeup Savvy had tweeted about The Body Shop doing a 40% off offer last weekend (sadly finished now, although they are currently doing a £10 off when you spend £30 with the code 'New30') and, you know, I just had to take a look...

Camomile Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover, RRP £8.00, sale price £4.80 - I am currently half way through my first bottle of this and really like it, so decided to buy a back up bottle!

Born Lippy Pot Lip Balm in Guava RRP £2.00, Sale price £1.20 - I'm a bit of a lip balm/lip gloss addict, so any product that moisturises and glosses your lips (and costs less than a magazine!) is a winner to me!

Rainforest Shine Shampoo RRP £4.50 (for 250ml - 400ml is available) sale price £2.70 - It's quite difficult to find a reasonably priced scalp-friendly (i.e. no sulphates, parabens etc) shampoo, so I was rather excited to find this one.

Banana conditioner RRP £4.50, sale price £2.70 - Fee had bought this as part of her llittle haul and I had read good things about it online, so into my (virtual) basket it went. I would have bought the accompanying shampoo but it contains SLS, which i'm trying to avoid where possible.

Rainforest Moisture Hair Butter, RRP £3.00 (for 50ml - 200ml is available) sale price £1.80 - another paraben/silicon free product, and one which i'm hoping will inject some much needed moisture and repair into my frazzled locks!

Grapeseed Glossing Serum, RRP £7.00 sale price £4.20 - Aside from the obvious shampoo and conditioner, i'm not much of a hair product user, but I thought I could use this as a 'finishing' product after blow drying/straightening my hair to help smooth and tame it - it can go a tad 'fluffy puppy!'

Leona Lewis White Musk Libertine EDP Limited Edition RRP £13.00 Sale Price £7.80 - I took a bit of a gamble with this one ordering it online without smelling it first, but I LOVE the bottle design, and the reviews were very positive so I took the chance! It's a rather small bottle at 30ml but I'm not complaining for the price I got it at for an EDP.

Did you manage to get anything in the 40% off sale?

Review: Lush Hair Doctor

I've made no secret of my love for Lush of late, and the more products I try, the more in love with Lush I become!

Haircare is always something I have been a bit lazy about - generally I just shampoo my hair, rough dry it and let it do it's own (crazy) thing - but recently i've made a resolution to be kinder to my tresses and hopefully make it look a bit healthier!

My scalp has been particularly dry and itchy, and therefore the idea of putting something heavily based with chemicals did not seem like a good idea at all, hence why the preservative-free hair masks offered by Lush appealed.

Hair Doctor (£6.75 for 95g both online and instore) is a preservative free pre-shampoo hair and scalp treatment based on seaweeds and muds (but includes tons of other yummy ingredients such as coconut oil, jojoba oil and peppermint) to sooth the scalp and condition, strengthen and moisturise the hair.

Key ingedients as highlighted on the Lush website are red henna and rosemary absolute to add shine, fullers earth (basically Bentonite Clay which contains a load of essential healing minerals and is very efficient at drawing oils and toxins from the skin/scalp) to absorb grease, and peppermint to stimulate blood flow (and make it smell immense!)

 If like me you are curious as to what the chemical-sounding ingredients are (in italics), Cetrimonium Bromide is a compound capable of being absorbed by the hair cortex and also works as an anti-septic, Propylene Glycol is a chemical made by reaction of propylene oxide with water and acts as an emulsifier, and Glyceryl Stearate is an ester of stearoc acid and glycerin, used as humectant (moisture retainer), skin conditioner, and moisturizer.

As there is no preservatives in Hair Doctor, it has a use-by date and needs to be kept in the fridge otherwise it is in danger of going off (just treat like a dairy product!).

It is an incredibly thick, almost paste-like mask (actually not dissimilar to Playdoh!), that is very muddy (unsurprisingly) in texture, and doesn't look the most appealing colour wise, but it definitely smells amazing: largely minty, with traces of herbs and 'earthy'-ness!

The girl in the shop advised me to use the entire tub's worth of product on my head (I had thought I could get away with two uses, even with my amount of hair!), which I did.

You apply to dry hair, which took me a good 10 minutes or so to do given that you use from cold and so it is more solid than you would expect - I think there must be a technique to putting it on! - massage it in then leave for around 20 minutes.

Your hair definitely feels very 'heavy' with it on, and as it dries you do look like you've been mud wrestling or something, but the amazing tingle on your scalp tells you it's working, and it leaves your hair smelling amazing for literally days afterwords.

I did worry that washing Hair Doctor out my hair could be a nightmare given how thick it is (both the treatment and my hair!), but it actually washes out really easily - although I would advise you spend an extra few minutes rinsing then deeply shampooing your hair to be on the safe side.

To be honest I don't think it makes my hair particualrly soft, but it makes it shinier, and definitely soothes my scalp, as well as giving your hair that deep-down clean feeling.

A few people online have complained that the scalp tingle is more like scalp fire with this and HATE it, but I personally love it (it must depend on scalp sensitivity).

I've since used another tub of this up, and think I will use it as a monthly treat for my hair and scalp.

Do you use any hair/scalp treatments?

I'm as free as my hair...

Well for the first thing in about 6 months I actually went to the hairdressers this morning, as my barnet was beginnng to take on a life of it's own.
I didn't get anything drastic done, as I like having long, "mermaid" hair, but I got it thinned out a bit, the dead ends cut off and a bit of a sweeping fringe cut in in order to give my hair a bit more shape, as it looked (as my hairdresser described it) "like a triangle." Thanks.

(Cue moody looking pics - i'm not actually as depressed as I look, honest!)

I also love the fact tha the Kim Kardashian/Cheryl Cole "bounce" to my hair was created entirely using a hair dryer and 2 round natural bristle brushes.

I'm booked in again for 6 weeks time!

Melanie x

Cosmetic, haircare and perfume mini haul!

Bonjour mon amie,

As my Primark/Matalan haul posts (and my video on my YouTube) proved to be so popular, I thought i'd do a quick post on some bits I picked up from Superdrug, Boots etc last weekend.
I'm not going to go into too much detail, as I'm hoping to do a review on most of them at some point!

MeMeMe "Beat the Blues" highlighter in "Moonbeam" - £5.25 from Superdrug.

Benefit Highbeam dupe or what?!

Miss Sporty Liquid Eyeshadow in 200 "Sublime" - £1.99 from Boots (also stocked at Superdrug)

This is a beautiful golden colour which I am currently wearing all over the lid with MAC Wedge in the crease for a beautiful and simple daytime look!

Miss Sport Liquid Eyeshadow (as above) in 400 "Prime Time"

Really cute pale baby pink colour with a metallic finish

Miss Sporty Liquid Eyeshadow (as above) in 600 "Eye Jewel"

Metallic Silver colour which i've been wearing in the inner corner to waken up my eyes!

Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in "Twilight" - £5.99 from Superdrug (currently on offer)

I have been dying to try this ever since Lollipop26 mentioned it on her Twitter, and being the Twilight groupie that I am I had to have this aptly-named one! I thought it would be a colour quite similar to my natural lip colour, but it comes out very dark and dramatic - like you've been drinking blood mwah ha ha

Boots Essentials Curl Creme - £1.32 from Boots

Can't believe how cheap this is for how huge (250ml) a tub! I decided to get this after hearing about it on the MoneySavingExpert Forum, as many people have said it has helped tame their curls. I've used it once, and so far it has helped give a bit more definition to my otherwise unruly hair!

Ok this isn't necessarily a "haul" as such, as my Mum and Dad got me it as a present from the Duty Free! Jean Paul Gaultier perfume in "Classque" - a summer take on the classic fragrance!

I also purchased this from Superdrug, but had to leave it at Lee's as it was over the 100ml mark and thus I couldn't take it on the plane!

Superdrug Simply Pure Gentle Eye Make-up Remover - £2.59 from Superdrug

As well as being suitable for vegetarians/Vegans (Superdrug do not test any of their own-brand products on animals, hurrah), this make-up remover is paraben and fragrance free, hypoallergenic and is dermatologically tested, as well as being enriched with glycerine and Soothex.

What have you been buying lately?

Melanie x