The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter

 Hello Lovelies,

If you've been reading my blog or watching my You Tube video's for some time you will know that I'm a bit of a skin care junkie. I started to become interested in skin care a few years ago when my skin had become very badly dry and dehydrated, and after some help from the lovely Caroline I began a routine and my skin thank fully settled, but this sparked a real interest in skin care for me and since then I have become a bit of a skin care geek, I spend ages reading up on and ingredients and products and skin care has become a real passion of mine.

I came across the The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter whilst researching cleansing balms, I have never tried skin care from the body shop before, I love their shower gels and body butters and always take them on my holidays but I haven't ever looked at their skin care range, until now.

Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter 

I love to use a balm cleanser, and have used a few different ones over the years, but I always go back to the Clinique Take The Day Off cleansing balm as my cleansing balm of choice, but after researching the camomile cleansing butter and then finding out The Body Shop had a 40% off discount code, I decided to give it a go. 

I used the camomile cleansing butter in the same way as I use all my cleansers, I applied it all over my face, then removed using a flannel (face cloth) that I had run under hand hot water and wrung out.  I first used the cleanser as a double cleanse, the first cleanse to take my make up off and the second as a general cleanse. 

The cleanser looks very similar to the Clinique balm cleanser in the pot, a white 'set' consistency, it scoops out easily and rubbed into my skin effortlessly too, there is a scent to the cleanser which is a  lovely scent but a subtle one so if scents aren't your thing then this shouldn't be too much of a problem at all, I really like the scent, it's a nice fresh scent that isn't overpowering and doesn't linger at all. 

some of the camomile cleansing butter on my hand

As I said the cleanser rubbed into my skin effortlessly and didn't sting or irritate my very sensitive skin at all, I rubbed the cleanser all over my face including over my eyes to remove my make up. Once I'd started to rub the cleanser into my skin it turned from a set like consistency into more of an oil based product, I don't mean my face was suddenly like an oil slick, not at all, but other cleansers I have used have just spread around my face and not changed consistency, whereas this one does change into an oil, but that wasn't a problem at all. 

The cleansing butter removed all my make up with the first cleanse, I was wearing a full face of make up including waterproof mascara and it all came off with ease. I then did a second cleanse and my face was left feeling really soft and smooth. I would definitely recommend the cleansing butter, it removed my make up with ease and left my skin feeling really soft and smooth without any visible dry patches, which when your skin is as dry as mine is at the moment is brilliant, as I said my skin is very dry and it is also dehydrated but the cleansing butter is suitable for all skin types. 

I bought my cleansing butter when the body shop had a 40% discount promotion and paid £7.20 but I would definitely buy it at it's full price of £12.00 it is a lovely product and one I will continue to repurchase, and I would go as far to say that this will be replacing my beloved Clinique take the day off balm which until now I had been using for a very long time.

It is an amazing product and if you haven't already tried it you certainly should, you won't be sorry. 

Clinique who? 

If you would like to try the Camomile Cleansing Butter you can find it on the Bodyshop website for £12.00 by using this link. 

At the moment The Bodyshop have a buy one get one half price promotion using the code SUMMER. 

Thank you for reading, much love

Zoe x

The Debenhams Sale ~ My Perfume Picks

Hello Lovelies,

Today whilst browsing online for gift ideas for Coles birthday I fell upon the Debenhams website and of course went straight to their beauty page, and I found some amazing deals on perfume so I thought I'd share with you some of my picks. 

1. Anais Anais by Cacharel (eau de parfum) is a soft floral scent, ideal for the summer. It's down from £26 to £15 for a 30ml bottle.

2. Couture Couture by Juicy Couture (eau de parfum) is Coles favourite perfume and one of mine too, it is a lovely sweet scent. It has an amazing 50% off at the moment and is down from  £65 to £32.50 for a 100ml bottle.

3. Nikki Minaj Pink Friday (eau de toilette) is described as a sassy, fearless and feminine scent and the bottle would look great on any dressing table. It's down from £29.50 to £17.70 for a 50ml bottle.

4. DKNY be delicious (skin hydrating eau de toilette) is again one of my favourite scents, it's lovely and fresh and ideal for summer. It's currently down from £54 to £36 for a 100ml bottle.

5. Ysatis by Givenchy (eau de toilette) is a scent I wore for a long time many years ago, it's more of a night time scent I would say but still quite a sweet scent too.

6. Couture La La Malibu by Juicy Couture (eau de toilette) is a lovely fresh but sweet scent for summer, I love all the Juicy Couture scents and have owned them all at some point. This one is currently down from £63 to £31.50 for a massive 150ml bottle.

7. Vera Wang Princess (eau de toilette) is a sweet and fruity scent and the bottle is adorable. It is currently half price and down from £45 to £22.50 for a 50ml bottle.

8. LILY by Stella McCartney (eau de parfum) is a scent that was very hyped up in the blogging world a few years ago, it's a beautiful bottle and is currently down from £60 to £40.20 for a 50ml bottle.

9. Vera Wang Lovestruck Floral Rush (eau de parfum) needs no introduction, just look at that bottle! How amazing would that look on your dressing table? It's a beauty and is currently half price and down from £48 to £24 for a 50ml bottle.

So they are my picks of the Debenhams sale perfumes, I hope you've found it helpful. There are also a lot of aftershaves in the sale too for the men in your life.

Happy shopping and do let me know in the comments if you treat yourself or anyone else to anything, I picked up something for Coles birthday but sssshhhhhhh it's a secret.

Thank you for reading, much love

Zoe x



*image credit - Debenhams website.

Currently Loving - Statement Necklaces

Hello Lovelies,

I love statement necklaces, they can transform a plain outfit in seconds or take your outfit from day to night with ease, apart from being stunning they are a really handy accessory to own. I could spend hours looking online at statement necklaces so researching this post has been a dream, but not for my bank balance! And thats part of the problem with statement necklaces they aren't always the most affordable item on the high street.

Today I am going to show you some of my favourite high street statement necklaces, and also some much more affordable statement necklaces I have found for you online and am loving. And I also have an amazing Zara dupe for you too. Love statement necklaces? Keep reading.....

New Look

New Look have some stunning pieces but these 6 were my favourites. They range in price from £9.99 up to £19.99 excluding delivery, prices and links to buy are below the photograph.

1. I love peach/coral tones and this looks great against the gold chain.

2. This lovely mint green and silver combination, perfect for day or night, it is £12.99.

3. This is gorgeous, I love the multicoloured stones against the silver. It is £14.99.

4. This is the most reasonable price wise of my New Look pics, I love that it has my favourite colours in it, coral, pink and mint and not a bad price at £9.99.

5. This is the most expensive of my New Look pics but stunning all the same, I love the bright colours. It is £19.99 .

6. Last but not least this gorgeous piece with the fan detailing it's beautiful and I love pink, it is £14.99.

Accessorize

Accessorize have some beautiful pieces but I found them to be more expensive than New Look. I do love the 3 pieces I have chosen but as you will see further on in the post you can find some much more affordable and equally as lovely pieces elsewhere online. Again all prices and links where you can buy the necklaces are listed below the photograph.

1. I love this necklace, it has some lovely colours in it and also a nice mix of pastels and neons, I think this could be worn either in the daytime or at night, it is a little more expensive at £22.00.

2. The blue tones in this piece are beautiful, and this one really caught my eye, it is in the sale at the moment too and was £22.00 but is now £15.40.

3. I bought Alicia this piece for her birthday back in March, and it looks stunning, she receives so many compliments whens he wears it, I was hoping it might have gone into the sale but unfortunately it is still full price at £17.00.

Cheaper Alternatives 

When searching for statement necklaces online I came across some gorgeous pieces on ebay and was very pleasantly surprised at how affordable they were, I chose 3 of my favourites for you. 

1. This beautiful blue and lime green piece really caught my eye, it is almost a dupe for necklace number 5 in the New Look photograph but half the price at £8.79 (plus £1.99 p&p) it is from a UK ebay seller.

2. I love mint green, and since pastels are everywhere on the high street, this beautiful piece is sure to go with many an outfit and is a steal at under a fiver! Again it's from a UK ebay seller and a bargain at £3.99 (plus £1.99 p&p) .

3. This gorgeous multi coloured piece is lovely and bright and I think would look great with a plain black outfit. Again it's a UK seller and a great price at £6.59 (plus £1.99 p&p) .

An Amazing Dupe

And lastly I have an amazing Zara dupe for you. 

                                                              

Number 1 is from Zara and priced at £19.99 (plus delivery) and number 2 is from ebay and priced at £5.98 and I cannot see any difference at all, I was so happy when I found this as I had seen this beautiful necklace on the Zara website on their new in section and loved it but £19.99 was a little too expensive, £5.98 is much more affordable and the delivery is free making this a must have buy.

Hopefully you'll have enjoyed reading this post as much I as did researching all the lovely statement necklaces, there really are some beautiful ones, I am spoilt for choice but I know I will definitely be ordering the Zara dupe, what a bargain! Now I just need to decide which others I like best, but sssshhhh don't tell Simon.

Now, where did I put my purse?

Thank you for reading, much love

Zoe x



*Image credits taken from New Look, Zara, Accessorize and ebay.

*Unfortunatley no matter what I did some of my images look blurry, hopefully this won't have spoilt the effect of the necklaces for you when reading my post.

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipsticks ~ A Review

Hello lovelies, 

Liquid lipsticks seem to be everywhere at the moment, so many brands have launched a liquid lipstick recently but one brand I seem to be hearing and seeing everywhere on blogs and You Tube channels is Bourjois and their liquid lipstick offering the Rouge Edition Velvet Liquid Lipstick. I have read so many blog posts and seen so many videos where these have received rave reviews and people saying they last hours even with eating and drinking and they get up in a morning and the lipstick is still on (slightly gross) so I decided I would yet again give in to blogger hype and try one. When I went to pick one up two shades caught my eye and I couldn't choose between them, then I noticed they were on offer for buy one get one half price and since I was paying with Boots points I bought two, things are free with Boots points are they not? 

The colours I got are Ole Flamingo and Pink Pong. Both are bright pink shades, I love a bright lip colour and both of these appealed to me immediately. Ole Flamingo is more of a red toned pink where Pink Pong is more of a blue toned pink and reminded me a little of girl about town by mac. 

Ole Flamingo

Pink Pong

Application & Wear ~ 

As you can see from the above photographs the lipsticks have a doe foot applicator, I noticed that the applicator picked up quite a lot of product and I needed to wipe some off on the side of the tube, no problem though just beware or you may end up with more than you need. I found the lipstick easy to apply without any problem at all, as with all lipsticks I applied one coat, blotted it off with a tissue and then applied another coat. I loved both the colours and found them easy to apply without any mess, I have been known to end up with these on my teeth so I would say definitely check before leaving the house, or filming a you tube video in my case, slightly embarrassing! 

The first colour I tried was Ole Flamingo.

Wearing Ole Flamingo

I wore Ole Flamingo on a day where I was going to be filming a you tube video and also my friend was visiting so I knew I would be doing a lot of chatting. I applied the lipstick at around 10 O'clock in the morning, filmed a video and chatted to my friend, spoke to Simon and the girls and generally went about my day as normal. At 6pm I asked Lissy to take a photograph of me wearing the lipstick. 

Ole Flamingo at 6pm

As you can see in the above photograph by 6pm ( 8 hours ) after I first applied the lipstick, the colour payoff was still strong, however the lipstick had started to bleed around my bottom lip, despite me not eating anything at all and only drinking through a straw. I didn't take any more photographs but I ate my evening meal at around 7.30pm and afterwards went to remove my make up, it had bled much more and around my top lip also and the colour had come off a lot but you could still see the colour. 

I then tried Pink Pong.

 Wearing Pink Pong

Again the day I wore Pink Pong I was filming a you tube video and I was also going to visit my mum in the afternoon. So again lots of chatting was on the cards, again I didn't eat during the day and only drank through a straw but the difference this time was that I had a drink mid afternoon at my mums and didn't use a straw, when I got home from my mums at around 3.30pm and asked Lissy to take a photograph.

Pink Pong at 3.30pm

As you can see from the above photograph, the lipstick had bled badly where I'd drank from the glass, it was also starting to bleed in other areas around my top lip if you look very carefully you'll see it. 

My Overall Thoughts ~

I'll start at the beginning with packaging, I didn't mind the packaging of the lipsticks, I didn't think it was amazing or particularly bad, it didn't wow me, I am a sucker for nice packaging, I wouldn't say this was nice, I'd say it's standard plastic packaging, it's ok but didn't wow me. I found the applicator picked up a lot of product so would say beware when using the product and wipe the excess off on the side of the tube as it could get messy otherwise. 

As I said I found the lipsticks fine to apply and didn't have a problem, you do obviously have to take care when applying as it is a very wet formula but I didn't have any problems, just be sure to check your teeth! With every lip product, I apply one layer, blot with a tissue and then apply another layer. 

The lipsticks felt nice on the lips they weren't drying at all, they do dry down but I thought they took longer than I expected to dry down, again once dry I didn't experience any feeling of dryness, however I don't have any issues with dry lips as a rule. 

I thought the wear time of the lipsticks overall was good but as I said I didn't eat anything and only drank through a straw and when I did use a glass the colour bled badly, this was around 4 hours after application too, I hadn't just applied the lipstick and drank from a glass, it had plenty of time to dry. The lipsticks are marketed as 24 hour wear, I wouldn't wear any make up product for 24 hours anyway but I think you may be left with a stain of colour after 24 hours but not the colour as it is on application. 

I removed the lipstick with my L'oreal make up remover and it removed without any problems at all. 

I loved the colour of both the lipsticks they were both amazing colours, Pink Pong is a gorgeous fuchsia pink colour and like I said not too different from girl about town by mac, and Ole Flamingo is more of a red toned pink, both gorgeous colours and both looked lovely and are great for the summer, I received a lot of compliments on both colours when I wore them, they are very highly pigmented and one swipe gives the deep colour you see in the photographs. 

I wanted to be wowed by the lipsticks, I had read so many rave reviews from people saying they had worn the product all day without any problems and it looked exactly the same 12 hours after applying, but unfortunately this wasn't the case for me as you can see from the photographs. Yes the colour payoff was amazing and as you can see from my photographs the colour was still amazing hours later but they did bleed, something I was really disappointed with. 

I think the shade range is also quite poor with only around 6-8 shades available, theres a red, a couple of orange tones and a nude as well as the 2 colours I picked up so not really a massive choice and I feel not something for everyone as apart from the nude the shades are all quite bold, I love a bold lip colour but not everyone does, I think I nice pale pink and maybe a nude/pink would be nice too and maybe a berry tone would be ideal shades to add to the collection. The price of these lipsticks is £8.99 I find this quite expensive for a "drugstore" lipstick, I think considering the plastic packaging they could have been at least a couple of pounds cheaper. 

Overall I wasn't wowed and wouldn't buy them again, I wasn't massively disappointed and I loved the colours and loved the wear time but the bleeding put me off massively, had I paid half the price it probably wouldn't bother me as much but for £8.99 it does, they aren't cheap and when I wear a lipstick I want to be able to put it on and go, not keep checking in a mirror to see if it's bled. 

If you would like to try one of the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks you can find them here for £8.99. 

Have you tried these lipsticks? If you have let me know in the comments what you thought, be sure to check back as I always reply to all my comments/questions. 

Thanks for reading, much love

Zoe x