5 Affordable Beauty Treats (All Under £10)

I don't think that it's unusual to get the ocassional urge to go shopping, but sometimes you want to treat yourself without spending too much money. This is when I usually turn to my favourite affordable beauty treats, because they're a great way to satisfy my craving for something special and new without breaking the bank. In today's blog post, I've gathered together five of my favourite affordable beauty products, all of which I would highly recommend!

Spring Beauty Empties

Nowadays I don't hang on to all the beauty products that I finish, I ususally only keep the packaging of products that I'm excited to talk about. There are a lot of beauty products that I use which don't get mentioned on my blog - or don't get mentioned enough. I always enjoy reading "empties" blog posts, so I hope you enjoy all these mini reviews of the products that I've finished this spring.

One Single Pringle's Galentine's Day Pamper

Today is Galentine's Day - Leslie's Knope's celebratory day for women to get together and celebrate. To honour of this made-up holiday I'm gathering the troops and celebrating the old fashioned way, with lots of delicious food... Once the food coma has well and truly hit I plan to retire to my bedroom and engage in the mother of all relaxing pamper sessions. [Pro tip: this pamper would also set you up nicely if you have Valentine's Day plans tomorrow; two birds, one stone!]

My Exfoliating Goodies

(A Belated) January Beauty Favourites

One Lush Line Up

As much as I enjoy trying Lush's vast array of products, I am often put off by their price tag. I don't know what it is, I'm willing to part with an unseemly amount of case for certain brands but with Lush I'm always a little bit reluctant. That being said, most of the time, when I try Lush products I'm always suitably impressed - and sometimes I'm even surprised that things aren't more expensive. I think that on the whole their bath and body products are pretty overpriced, whilst some of their skincare represents great value for money. I could rave about Lush's face masks and cleansers until the cows came home, but you're not really here to read about that. Today I'm going to walk you through the Lush products that I'm currently housing in my bathroom, and I'll let you know which ones are hits and which ones are misses.

My 2015 Beauty Favourites

Lush Boxing Day Sale Haul

My Beauty Wishlist

Lush Haul & Review: New Lush Oxford Street Skincare & Bodycare Products

The Best Beauty Pamper Routine

Vegan Beauty: Lush's Ice Blue and Sandstone Soaps

I picked up these two Lush soaps from the Vegan Society's stall at the Natural and Organic Products Show - a slab of Ice Blue and Sandstone. I'm already a big fan of Lush's solid soaps as I really like the range they stock and I think that they're affordable and long lasting products. I already knew that Lush's soaps were cruelty-free and free from unsustainable palm-oil but I didn't know that many of them were also suitable for vegans. 

Lush Ice Blue Soap* | rrp £3.10/100g

Ice Blue is a peppermint soap, and it's as refreshing as it is blue! It contains menthol which gives it a strong minty scent, along with fine sea salt which works to gently soften skin. Although it contains hydrating ingredients such as rapeseed and coconut oil, it does also contain SLS - an ingredient that encourages that satisfying foam you get in many shampoos and body washes, but that can also act as a skin irritant. However, if you're looking for a soap that will give a really good lather then Ice Blue is going to be a good option. It would work well as a body wash, or perhaps even as a shampoo (that's how lather-tastic it is), but for me personally I'm probably going to reserve this for use on my makeup brushes as it leaves them squeaky clean.

Lush Sandstone Soap* | rrp £3.40/100g

Sandstone also has a refreshing scent, but with a citrus rather than a minty base. Unlike Ice Blue it doesn't contain SLS, but it does still contain ingedients like rapeseed and coconut oil as well as other oils such as litsea cubeba oil and coriander oil. It also contains sand which acts as an exfoliating property, although it does contain far less sand than I'd imagined it would. However, the sand content coupled with the gentle citrus scent makes it really nice for use on the hands. It leaves them feeling clean and soft but not overly dry like a soap containing SLS might. Although I love Ice Blue's strong minty scent, I definitely prefer the consistency and ingredients of Sandstone.

Do you ever use solid soaps?

What's your favourite Lush product?

My Haircare Reshuffle

January Beauty Empties

Recycle Lush's Black Pots for a Free Lush Face Mask

Oh dear- look what I've gone and done, I've finished all the goodies. I love a good Lush haul, there's something really enjoyable about opening a new little black pot and some of the products I used last year were really lovely (I was a particularly big fan of Let the Good Times Roll). What you might not know is that when you've gathered together five empty black Lush pots you can return them to a Lush store where they'll recycle them and in exchange you can choose a free fresh Face Mask or fresh Hair Mask.

I recently recycled my empty pots and exchanged them for a pot of Lush's Cupcake Face Mask. I can hardly believe it but it's been almost two years since I used this face mask but I'm soooo glad that I picked up another pot. It's a wonderful mask for anyone with oily and blemish-prone skin and there's something really lovely about applying these face masks fresh from the fridge - they just feel so much more like a treatment than other face masks in my collection. And when I finally finish Cupcake (Lush's Fresh Face Masks usually last about six applications) I'll be saving the pot to eventually cash-in for another freebie…

What's your favourite Fresh Face Mask from Lush?

 Do you recycle your Lush black pots?

Haircare Favourites from 2014

Hair Heroes: Unadulterated Volume

Earlier this month I attended a Kerastraight event at the Trevor Sorbie Covent Garden Salon. At the event I was able to chat one-on-one with a hair stylist about my hair. Not only did I get some tips on how to help it look its best but I also witnessed some of Kerastraight's products in action. The styling product that really caught my eye was Kerastraight's Root Lift Gel* - seriously, just a couple of pumps of this gel visibly lifts hair, offering fantastic body and volume. 

I was lucky enough to take some of Kerastraight's products home with me from the event and they've really taken pride of place in my haircare routine. I've found that I can use the Root Lift Gel* on damp or dry hair - on the former I blow dry my hair after application and when I use it on dry hair I just run it from my roots down my lengths and brush it through. Either way, it leaves my hair visibly bigger and this volume lasts for so much longer than it used to when I used other styling products.

If I want to add a bit of extra hold, or if I want to add some texture to the ends of my hair, then I've been reaching for Alterna's Caviar Anti-Ageing Perfect Texture Finishing Spray*. It's the best aerosol texturising spray that I've come across and it adds a lot of grit to my hair without weighing it down. I've also found it fantastic at helping curls last (I've been curling my hair a lot this month with my new Vidal Sassoon Radiance Curler*).

On second-day hair, I usually add some of Lush's No Drought Dry Shampoo and I've found that it works well at reviving my style and adding lot of extra volume. You have to be careful not to use too much otherwise your hair can be left with a white cast. Once I've brushed the dry shampoo through my hair, I then apply another couple of sprays of Kerastraight's Root Lift Gel* to my roots and mid-lengths and my hair is pretty much as good as new. 

November Beauty Empties

Best Lip Balm: What to Buy

Best Lip Balm from the Drugstore

My Pick: Nivea Essential Lip Balm

I've been a big fan of Nivea's Essential Lip Balm ever since I discovered it. It's very easily available in many different countries and is incredibly affordable - I usually pick mine up for £1 from Boots and Superdrug stores. I find that it lasts ages, does a good job at keeping my lips hydrated and the packaging stays looking neat for a long time - even in my cluttered hand bag. It's blue packaging also renders it unisex, I've seen plenty of men using it, especially over the winter season!

Best Smelling Lip Balm

My Pick: Hurraw's Chai Spice Lip Balm*

This is a recent discovery of mine and I just cannot get enough of the scent! The lip balm itself reminds me of an old favourite of mine from Jason, it's soft and buttery and melts onto the lips. It does a good job at keeping them soft and hydrated and I reach for this one quite often. Hurraw make all sorts of great scented lip balms so there's bound to be the perfect scent for you, and they're all vegan products and cruelty free. 

Best Natural Lip Balm

My Pick: Dr. Lipp's Nipple Balm for Lips

This is another new discovery and although I was initially put off by the name (I mean, what is nipple balm?) this is a truly incredible product. This is the lip balm that I like to apply at night time before bed as it has a thick, gel consistency that deeply hydrates even very dry lips. If you're looking for an overnight treatment or want something very effective then I'd definitely recommend this one from Dr. Lipp. 

Best "Fun" Lip Balm

My Pick: EOS Lip Balms*

I've wanted to try EOS Lip balms for the longest time. Their packaging looks so much fun online and when I finally had the opportunity to try them out I discovered that they are just as fun as they look! Personally, I think EOS Lip Balms have been overly hyped online. They're a standard lip balm in very cool packaging. I don't find that they intensely moisturise my lips, but they're great if you want something that won't leave your lips looking shiny. I have the scent Blueberry and Acai which is nice but isn't a favourite of mine.

Best Lip Balm to Give as a Gift

My Pick: Flint+Flint's Lip Hero* 

The packaging of Flint + Flint's products alone is a big selling point for me - they come in incredible looking boxes that are stylish and make perfect gifts. The Lip Hero itself has a thin, gel consistency and whilst it isn't the thickest and most nourishing of lip balms it still does a good job. I like using this as a primer before applying drying, matte lipsticks but the product and packaging is completely unisex. 

BONUS: My Most Repurchased Lip Balm

Lush's Honey Trap Lip Balm

I've written about this lip balm from Lush before - it's a long standing favourite of mine. I love the buttery consistency and the sweet honey scent. The only problem is that this lip balm comes in a pot which makes it a big unhygienic to use "on the go". I tend to keep this at home and use it after I exfoliate my lips (with Lush's Bubblegum Lip Scrub). 

I hope this helped you find some new lip balms to try. I'd love to know some of your recommendations for which lip balms to try next.

Lush's Toothy Tabs Review: An Alternative to Toothpaste?

Beyond the bath bombs and shower gel Lush is also home to some really kooky and interesting beauty products that are too often overlooked. Very recently I finally cracked open my pot of Chou Chou I Love You Toothy Tabs which I bought as part of a gift set in Lush's Boxing Day Sale last year. To use them you basically put them in your mouth, begin chewing them and then they begin to foam up into a lather which you then use to clean your teeth. Chou Chou I Love You has a rather unusual rose flavour (also a little strong on the soapy side) which I must admit I don't like very much. 

However, I do love the overall idea of the product so I popped into Lush and asked if I could try out another flavour or two to see if I could find the Toothy Tabs for me - I'd definitely recommend doing this is you're thinking of trying them out, as the flavours are very hit or miss. The sales assistant in the South Molton street store very kindly gave me some samples of Dirty and Ultrablast, both of which have a slightly more conventional (although not straight up minty) flavour. My favourite of is definitely the Ultrablast Toothy Tabs as I found that they leave my teeth feeling clean and my mouth feeling very fresh. Lush's Toothy Tabs may not be to everyone's taste but they offer a way to clean your teeth that leaves no product waste and the cardboard packaging they come in can also be recycled. Follow my link to check out the whole of the Toothy Tab range (available from £2 - £2.75).

Do you like the sound of a solid toothpaste?