Lush/iHerb Haul

Hello all, here's something a little different: a mini haul - half from Lush and half from iHerb (btw my code for iHerb is KRN216 if you want discounts and such). This originally wasn't going to be a haul but when my iHerb order arrived on the same day that my boyfriend presented with a some Valentines Lush stuff it seemed like destiny.

Let's start with iHerb, I usually only use iHerb for shopping for makeup brushes, all my Real Tech brushes cam from iHerb and some of my ecotools too, even with shipping it's just so much cheaper then trying to buy them in Priceline. This time around I was waiting for the RT miracle complex sponge and decided to try the famous Queen Helene Mint Julep masque as well. While I was looking at the range, being a fan of face masks I decided to also pick up the Queen Helene Grape Seed Extract mask as well and since it seemed interesting I also picked up some African Black Soap (good for thinning fine lines, evening out dark spots, eczema, razor bumps and eliminating blemishes) .

I knew that the Valentine stuff would be coming out any day now and asked my partner to keep an eye out since he works in the city and can get into Lush much more easily then I can, he usually goes in once every 2-3 weeks to fil up our stash of Fresh Farmacy, my HG cleanser of all time and the product to which I attribute my acne-free skin too. So he came home that same day with a few little surprises which are still available until at least Valentines day but the limited edition stuff always seems to sell out quick to if your interested go right now. Here is the stuff I got:

Prince Charming Body Wash - Pomegranate juice, Marshmallow root, Grapefruit, Sandalwood and Vanilla. However personally i only really smell Pomegranate and it is quite a strong scent especially when mixed with hot water and steam. After use my entire bathroom smells like Pomegranate for a good few hours. It's great but It makes me miss Rose Jam.

Neon Love Soap - This one is a mix of Rosewood, Bergamot, Figs, Passion Fruit juice and Soya yogurt and it smells divine! I love it probably more then the body wash which is unusual for me.

Lust Solid Perfume - This isn't part of the Valentines collection but it certainly fits the theme, I asked for this one because I've been missing the Lust soap that Lush discontinued which was one of my favorites and this smells the same. Awesome and so easy to carry around and I think a perfect scent for Valentines day - not in a soft sweet kind of way but more the hot and heavy side of Valentines day.

Lush has heaps of other Valentines stuff, bath bombs and lip products if your still interested. Happy Valentines day everyone!

Review: Lush Honey I Washed the Kids Shower Gel

If you are familiar with the "I washed the Kids" Honey soap from Lush then this product will be no stranger; this is the exact same soap you know and love but in a handy gel form. Now, if you haven't tried the soap/gel then you have probably been living under a rock, as besides maybe godmother/snow fairy it's their most popular soap and has been one of mine since i first set foot in the store.

I'm quite excited about the release of this gel version as i sometimes find their soaps don't bubble as well as i would like, the unfortunate side effect of the eco-friendly step of removing the palm oil from the process. 

For a shower gel this one is slightly on the thicker side but nothing to a level that's truly bothersome, it has a lovely yet sedate honey smell, it's not anywhere near being overly sweet, almost a flowery honey scent is probably the best description i can give you.

On another note it can be used both as a shower gel and shampoo, which i normally don't do but figured for reviewing purposes i would give it a shot; and it was surprisingly awesome. Well maybe not so surprising, honey is awesome for pretty much every part of you so it shouldn't be too strange that my hair loved it. My hair is currently dyed black and it didn't strip any color and seemed to actually give back a lot of moisture.

If you haven't tried this delectable scent yet, in soap or gel form, now is a good time to try it!

House of Gloi Soaps Review

A few months ago, my boyfriend and i both fell head over heels for the House of Gloi soaps, and Ive been carefully waiting for them to come back into stock so we could see if it was accidental awesomeness or had we actually struck gold?

In the past I've been quite vocal about the awesomeness of their scrubs, pumpkin butters, and so on. I was following a trend here really, i had never seen a review for one of their soaps. It takes me a long time to go through scrubs or butters (I've yet to finish a single Body Shop butter) as things like that are not part of my usual routine. But soap is, indeed since discovering Lush about two years ago now my boyfriend and i have become soap snobs, we always have some Lush soap on hand. Why not? It smells amazing (i like Honey i washed the kids and Godfairy) and they work very well, though seem don't scrub up the best because they don't use Palm oil.

So I ended up trying one of their soaps, in the scent Satyr (which you may remember is also the same scent i tried their bubbling scrub in) which is vanilla and blood orange, and it was amazing, literally all you could ask for in a soap - soft, bubbling, sweet scented, lasting but not overwhelming scent, cleaning!

This is unlike other soaps i have ever tried, when using it, it almost seems to leave a very thin almost oily/creamy substance on your skin when you was it which seem to moisturize your skin like crazy. At first i was a little weirded out by this but when i woke up the next morning with super soft skin i was a convert.

This time around i ordered two of the Satyr and Litchi Milk Tea, which seems to be also be very good, the little black circles you see poking out from under the label add a little roughness to wash, like a mini exfoliator. I will keep trying others, as they seem fabulous, but i officially name Satyr the most awesome number 1 soap in existence. A must have. 

Oh, I also ordered one of their Valantines perfumes in "Who Needs Love" and it smells like chocolate and raspberries, it's quite a heavy scent but very lovely and makes you smell like a candy bar. Recommended

Review: Lush Sweetie Pie

Along with Willow soap, another part of my early Valentine's day presents was the Lush Jelly in the cutely named "Sweetie Pie". I've tried these before and they smell amazing, this one is blackcurrant and it smells incredibly....juicy. It's not a subtle smell, it's in fact very much in your face sort of scent. Very fruity, and pardon the pun, very lush. A mouthwatering kind of scent.

The product itself is literally what it sounds like "jelly", (see pic below)  and you need to tear of little chunks to use it, i find it works best when smushed into shower puff, as otherwise it tends to bubble but not ever really..disappear. Just kind of stays there jiggling on your bits.

(Look at those pretty blue shimmery bits!)

It's a bit utilitarian in that you can put in the fridge or freezer and can use it afterwards if its a hot day or your coming back from a run, and for obvious reasons this product is quite popular with kids. Especially if your trying to convince them why having a wash is a good idea.

For most people I'm not sure if its worth the hassle, it takes a while to work, its not as convenient as neither soap or shower gel, and if your not careful about your smooshing then you might end up with bits of jelly on the back of your legs. More of a treat then an everyday wash. But worth giving a try, but only if your looking for something different or just can't resist the smell.

Review: Lush Willow Soap

So.... this is my bar of Willow soap from Lush. Hopefully your looks more like this;

See, when things like this get shipped over to Australia in the Summer..they don't always survive.

According to the lovely staff at Lush plaza the crates of Willow soap got left out in the sun  a little to long by their delivery guys, same thing as what happened with their original shipment of Emotional Brilliance stuff. Sounds like someone might want to look into this?

However it's somewhat hectic history does not stop my bar of Willow from being any less loved or any less lovely; it's certainly very different and not what you usually think of when someone says "Valentines".  

Here is the story that is apparently carved onto the soap block;

Once there was a wealthy Mandarin, who had a beautiful daughter (Koong-se). She had fallen in love with her father's humble accounting assistant (Chang), angering her father (it was inappropriate for them to marry due to their difference in social class). He dismissed the young man and built a high fence around his house to keep the lovers apart. The Mandarin was planning for his daughter to marry a powerful Duke. The Duke arrived by boat to claim his bride, bearing a box of jewels as a gift. The wedding was to take place on the day the blossom fell from the willow tree.

On the eve of the daughter's wedding to the Duke, the young accountant, disguised as a servant, slipped into the palace unnoticed. As the lovers escaped with the jewels, the alarm was raised. They ran over a bridge, chased by the Mandarin, whip in hand. They eventually escaped on the Duke's ship to the safety of a secluded island, where they lived happily for years. But one day, the Duke learned of their refuge. Hungry for revenge, he sent soldiers, who captured the lovers and put them to death. The Gods, moved by their plight, transformed the lovers into a pair of doves.

But I'm sure you are not here for the stories, you want to know what the soap is like right? Well it;s as different as the soap, yes it's awesome and yes it works but it is not your usual cup of...soap?

See it lathers really well, but not like a creamy soap, it lathers into something that feels almost like clay and the texture really reminds me of my beloved Fresh Farmacy (also from lush). It smells of lemon and roses, but not too strongly of either and they blend together into a very unique but pleasant scent. The scent is certainly not man friendly and my boyfriend loves it too, and its nice to see q Valentine release not covered in pink fluffy hearts.

Highly recommend this one as it's a limited release! I will certainly be going back for more!

Here are the ingredients for anyone interested; Propylene Glycol , Rapeseed Oil , Coconut Oil (Brassica napus; Cocos nucifera) , Kaolin , Water (Aqua) , Cornflour (Zea mays) , Talc , Fragrance , Sodium Stearate , Titanium Dioxide , Rose Absolute (Rosa damascena) , Rose Oil (Rosa damascena) , Sicilian Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum) , Rosewood Oil (Aniba rosaeodora) , Glycerine , Sodium Chloride , EDTA , Tetrasodium Etidronate , Sodium Hydroxide , Synthetic Fluorphlogopite , Geraniol , *Citronellol , *Linalool , *Limonene , Ferric Ferrocyanide

July Want

Considering other things i want to try over the next few weeks or things I'm obsessively googe-ing on the interblobs. I though i would share/organize my thoughts as to the specifics.

1. New Blush Brush - preferably angled one. Mine is a leftover from the days before i liked the pretty makeup-y things. Now that  have a few nicer brushes i can see what a disaster mine is. It hurts, it's prickly and doesn't pick up color very well or make it easy to blend. It needs to go.
2. Intertubes! from Shiro Cosmetics. I saw these on Don't They Know Who I Am and have been telling everyone who will listen (many who don't care) that Nyan Cat and Rickrolled are lipbalms/lipgloss! So much Want. The one's I'm particularly eyeing are Rickrolled, Over 9000, Three-Wolf-Moon, and Yo-Dawg. Maybe a few eyeshadow samples if im brave.
3. Honey Tree Bubbling Scrub from Haus of Gloi. I also blame Don't They Know Who I Am for this. but now the want is there and this is the one i have my eye on, the other im considering is Satyr.
   
   Here's what they say about this perticular frgrance "Quite rich! Right from the bee hive - honey amplified by seductive essence of resinous vanilla, darkened by a passing waft of mild rare wood smoke." Honey & Vanilla? I am there.
   
   The other, Satyr is listed as "Absolutely fiendish creature! And quite frolicsome: Italian blood orange drizzled with blackened vanilla." A bit more for the boyfriend then me but it's hard to say no to blood orange no matter in what shape is decided to appear.
4. 
   
   
   
   
   Black Magic Soap Have seen this one often on numerous blogs and im thinking it might be time to give it a try myself. It sounds lovley and full of good face things. Plus, pretty pattern!
   
   
5. 
   50's Girls Reloaded Collection Coming way late to Australia, (July 2011 in America) there are a couple of items here pulling at my heart strings; the two lipsticks; not to fussed on the dark red but since there are only two and they look so darn cute i might as well. I believe they go by the names 01 back to the 50’s and 02 i’m sailing. Also the red and gray/blue nail polish seem interesting but i might already have those colors so gotta see those ones in person. Then maybe if I;m very brave the 03 come on board captain eyeshadow set. Eyeshadows are new territory for me.
6. Season of Extremes Collection. This one is actually relatively on time here, originally released in March 2012 (outside Australia) the nail polishes here are calling to many, some of the pastels, some of the brights, even the duo colors (though I'm not sure how i will house those, they wont fit in my nail polish box). Being a cheap cheap brand Essence is the only company I'm willing to splurge a little on.

On  a less beauty oriented note:

I want to try this, i'm told it's like fire emblem and ff tactics and it has pokemans.

Wish me Luck :)