NSpa Coconut Bath Fizzer

A grocery shop in Asda is never complete without:

1) A magazine or two or three
2) A stop at the cake and dessert stand
3) A little something from NSpa

I love the packaging of this little bath bomb, it looks like an oversized, giant bonbon!
Unlike bath bombs from the likes of Lush, you'd be ill advised to split this one into several portions. Just dunk it into hot water, watch it fizz away for a few seconds and get in on the fun!

I have to admit I was a tad disappointed with my bathing experience, however. There's no exciting colours, swirls or random mermaids appearing in your bath, but that's not a problem as such.
The scent is faintly coconutty, but disappears after about two or three minutes leaving you with... well, just hot water. Or maybe it's just me getting used to the smell extraordinarily quickly.

At £1.60 a pop I'm more than happy to give the other scents a go, though. Maybe Vanilla or Turkish Delight will fare a little better?

Lush Golden Wonder Bath Ballistic

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know I am ridiculously late to this party as even somebody who is as obsessed with anything Christmassy has to admit that the festive season is very much over and far from beginning again.
In fact, I wasn't going to write about this bath ballistic which I bought just before Christmas and almost forgot all about, but it turned out to be so lovely I just had to share it!

The two other Christmas bath goodies I reviewed from Lush turned out to be just a little so-and-so, but this one truly blew me away. A golden present with a shimmery overspray which cracks open and houses little colourful, bobbly mini bath fizzers.

I am unashamedly childish about things with hidden surprises (I still buy Kinder Eggs from time to time as a treat at the check out line), so this got me ridiculously excited.

Of course, if you were a reasonable person you'd break this down into chunks and you could probably get up to four baths out of it to make your money go just that little bit further. But as I am not reasonable and I was also already covered in blue dust after cracking it open to photograph the insides I just chucked in the whole lot.

The result was an explosion of colours in my tub and more excited giggles from me. The main body of the ballistic turned the water a bright turquoise while the little bobbles (technical term here) floated to the top and made little colourful puddles on the surface of the water.

The smell is absolutely gorgeous. A fresh, ocean-type scent with a hint of citrus. So relaxing yet completely invigorating at the same time. Ahhhh, bliss....
My only bugbear was that the golden overspray on the surface stuck to the tub when I pulled the plug and took forever to get off - not quite so relaxing. And of course, I'm pretty peeved that this isn't available all year round. Trust me to leave the best item till last and not crack it open till a month after Christmas.

Oh well, as soon as this year's Christmas items come out I'll be racing you to the Lush stores and stocking up on Golden Wonders as well as extra-strong bathroom cleaner.

Lush Father Christmas Bath Ballistic Review

I never used to be a massive fan of Lush cosmetics, but the last year I've grown more and more fond of their products, particularly their bath goodies. Yes, they're a tad on the expensive side, but they smell amazing and are nice for a one off treat from time to time.

With all the seasonal ranges in particular I feel like I need to get in before they're gone or else I'm missing out. There were a few items I was eyeing up in the festive season last time around, but before I managed to get my bottom into gear they were already gone and I was gutted!

I wasn't going to get a Father Christmas, but he looked so happy in the shop he somehow magically made it into my basket anyway!

With bath ballistics I tend to just plonk the whole thing into my tub, but if you don't mind getting your hands a little messy you could easily get about two or three baths out of him.

Once in the water, he instantly starts fizzing away and dissolving, leaving behind a foamy pink trail.

Then he starts to reveal his green interior - and yes, those are big bits of red glitter you see in there.

Getting greener.

And this is the end result: Bright green bath water with white foam and lots and lots of red glitter on top.

And oh my, is it glittery. There was glitter all over my body, glitter all over the bath tub, glitter in unspeakable places! As I treated myself to this bath on Christmas Eve Eve I didn't mind being a bit of a disco ball over the holidays, but I'm not sure I'd want to turn up to work like this. The glitter stayed on for days, despite several showers!

As for the scent, I'd describe it as "eating sherbet in the forest". Very sweet and candy like, but with a little bit of woodiness to it, sort of pine tree like. The Lush website only mentions that this contains mandarin oil, so I guess that's where I'm getting the sherbet notes from.

I did enjoy my nice relaxing bath very much and emerged smelling lovely. I think due to the overload of glitter I'll give this one a miss next year, though!

Did you get yourself any seasonal Lush goodies?

Westfield London Haul

It's been ages since I've written a haul post, because, quite frankly, it's been ages since I let go and treated myself to a big shopping trip. I do feel that these posts can look a little self-indulgent, but personally I really enjoy seeing what other people have lugged home in their shopping bags, so why not, eh?

I was treated to a bit of money for Christmas under the strict instruction to spend it on nice things and not waste it all on day to day stuff, so I obliged happily. I know, I know, should have waited till the post-Christmas sales, but I fully intend to spend pretty much all Christmas partying like an 80s rock star and then I'm in France for the New Year - and nobody wants to wait that long! Besides, I hate how shops get all messy and unorganised during the sale season, I much prefer neat tidy ones. (Admittedly, that's a little less rock'n'roll of me)

Aldo Aureola bracelets

I had a little snoop around in Aldo for some shoes, but didn't find any I liked. Instead, I picked up a pack of these bracelets to add a bit of fierceness to some of my outfits. Generally speaking, the high street jewellery I saw was a little disappointing. I'm bored of owls, moustaches and crosses. Any tips on where to look for something a little different?

Lush Bath Ballistics: Golden Wonder, Father Christmas and Melting Snowman

Lush was quite the experience: Small, hot, crammed with shoppers, concentrated soap smell and overexcited staff (the girl on the till started dancing when I paid). But it was worth it for a few limited edition bath goodies. I've been eyeing up Golden Wonder and the Melting Snowman last year already, but was gutted when I didn't manage to get them. On a side note, whatever it is that Lush give their employees, I want some too.

Little Big Planet Karting for PS3

A little something to play with the boyfriend or whoever fancies to pop in on quiet nights. Spent about an hour and a half playing it tonight and kept losing resulting in a massive strop on my side. Perhaps it's not such a good idea to buy racing games when I'm such an awful loser...

Ice Aquarium from Pylones

I'm not a massive fan of Pylones. I like colourful things, but this shop pushes even my limits. The boyfriend's a fan, however, and that's how we ended up with a fishy ice cube tray. Why ever not, eh?

H&M Dark Side of the Moon Print Top

Not sure if this counts as a dress or a top, but if in doubt you could always wear it as both. It looks equally good over leggings or tights as it does on its own and the slouchy fit makes for very comfortable wear, though the sleeves are cut very low, so skipping the bra is not an option!

Models Own Nail Polishes in (from l-r) Peaches & Cream, Pink Punch, Luis Lemon, Magenta Divine

Being a beauty blogger, there was naturally no way I could have just walked past the giant nail polish bottle that was the little Models Own shop. They had a promotion on where you could buy one nail polish for £5 or four for £12. It would have been rude not to. These aren't exactly winter colours (apart from the glittery one), but there's nothing to cheer me up on a dreary, soggy day like a pop of neon nail polish. Reviews and swatches will naturally follow.

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers

The very first purchase of the day. At the beginning of the year I put them on my beauty wish list, yet all along I just kept on putting them off, because let's face it: Beauty tools aren't a particularly exciting purchase. I hope these live up to the hype, but either way I'll let you know how I get on with them!

River Island White lip printed t-shirt

I used to have a similar t-shirt that I loved to pieces, but it got ruined in brown gooey mush when the washing machine broke (sad story, isn't it?). Spot colouring usually makes me cringe a little, but surely this doesn't count?

Nip + Fab Dark Circle Fix

Does anyone else find shopping for eye cream to be such a chore?? It took me forever to find one that sounded sort of appealing. I would have just stuck to the Murad one I tried recently, but this blog's causing this urge to try new products all the time. Expect a review in a month or so, when I've had it long enough to see any effects.

Urban Outfitters Grey Carlton High Top trainers,  Glitter Phone Clutch and Triangle necklace

By far the most successful stop of the day was Urban Outfitters. These amazing hi-tops were on sale for £20 - bargain! The necklace is an attempt to build my pretty much non-existant jewellery collection and you can't really go wrong with geometric shapes.
Now, when I saw the phone clutches I almost screamed. Which genius came up with this idea?? The amount of times I headed out and only wanted to take my phone and some cards, but had to lug around a hand bag to keep them in - this has a compartment for your phone and one for your cash as well as a few card slots and a handle that can be wrapped around the wrist. Genius. Simply genius.

Have you treated yourselves to any shopping lately? Let me know in the comments section below!

LUSH time! Blackberry Bath Bomb and Yuzu & Cocoa Bubbleroon

I confessed a while ago that I hadn't been in a Lush store for years and years, but after reading so many good things about some Lush products I decided that it was time to treat myself and try out some lovely bath products.
The two things I decided to go for were the Blackberry Bath Bomb and the Yuzu & Cocoa Bubbleroon

Stupid me forgot to take a picture before chucking it in the bath

The Blackberry Bath Bomb set me back by £2.90. I know most people break these in half, but I didn't feel like making a mess in my bathroom and just chucked the whole lot in. It smelled absolutely gorgeous, like raspberry and blackberry and I just adore fruity fresh scents, so this was fantastic.

The bath bomb instantly fizzed away and turned my water a bright purple colour. Even if I'd changed my mind then to rescue some of it before disappearing I would have had no chance as it was gone within seconds.

As you can see, when I said bright purple bath water, I meant bright purple bath water! It foamed a little bit at the start, but that soon disappeared and there were no bubbles. That's not an issue, however, as these don't claim to product bubbles in the bath.

Fortunately the bright colouring did not stain my skin at all and I didn't emerge as a little purple alien. The smell lingered as long as I was in the bath, but didn't stay on once I got out.
One thing I do have to mention is that the girl in the shop told me this worked like a fortune cookie and would pop out a little message once thrown in the bath, which as you can see didn't happen. This wasn't the only reason I bought it, but I still wish that people in shops would know their products.
I enjoyed using this in the bath, but for almost three pounds a pop I'm not sure I'll be indulging in this very often.

The other little bath goodie I treated myself to was the Yuzu and Cocoa Bubbleroon.

This is a macaroon shaped bath product which consists of two halves with a moisturising cream in between. It was a tiny bit more expensive than the bath bomb at £2.95.

I'm not entirely sure why this is called Yuzu and Cocoa when the one thing it smells of more than anything is coconut. Having said that the scent is absolutely gorgeous, like a tropical cocktail. With this in the bath and my eyes closed I instantly felt transorted to a remote sunny island - heaven!

I was told I'd get two uses out of this by twisting it at the middle, so at first I used only half. However, the above picture shows how the water looked after only running for two minutes or so and the bubbles were quickly disappearing, so I threw in the other half to get myself some proper bubbling action!

It still wasn't mad on bubbles, but I do have to mention that I use a huge bathtub, so it would probably be a bit different in a normal sized one. The water turned a light orange and the little bits you can see floating about in the above picture dissolved quickly.

The bubbles made this a much softer and creamier experience and my skin felt a little bit softer when I got out of the bath. The scent also lingered for a few hours, though it was in no way overpowering or unpleasant.
Again, it was a lovely treat but not something I'd repeat regularly considering the price.

So now the question of all questions: Am I hooked on Lush?
Possibly. I'm not going to rush out to try any of their skin care products as I didn't overly love a sample they gave me with my purchase and I just like my cosmetics to feel a bit more luxurious rather than DIY. The bath products, however, are a different story. I'd be happy to try out a few more from time to time, though I think that next time I feel like treating myself I will order online to avoid a lot of hassle.

If you're a LUSH fanatic and have any recommendations, please share them in the comments section!