Bye bye 2018

Just like that, it's New Year's Eve. I have a few products to talk about before I look back on the year beauty-wise.

I didn't mention this face mask in my previous Body Shop post because I had bought it as a present for my sister-in-law. Obviously I operated on the principle, one for her, one for me. 

This Drops of Youth mask is marketed as bouncy. It's hard to explain the texture, it's very slippery and you have to dig in. I am here to tell you that it's Very Good Indeed. I don't use it as a mask, which implies you rinse it off, I slap it on and go to bed. One wakes up looking all dewy. Honestly, it works a treat. You can feel it doing you good as you apply it. Do yourself a favour and check it out.

My sister gave me this for Christmas.

Bjork and Berries Dark Rain body wash. I am not exaggerating when I say it smells like heaven. It's delicious and I have been using as a bubble bath in my bathroom of joy. 

Looking back on 2018, it's the year I concentrated on haircare. The Grow Gorgeous Cleaning Conditioner was a revelation although I am not using it now it's winter. For me, it's a summer product and a life saver on holidays. I've loved my Function of Beauty shampoo and conditioner and can't wait to finish my original order so I can try another scent. Kristen Ess needs to come to the UK at a reasonable price. Or I need to go back to the US to stock up.

I also hit Beauty Pie hard. I've said this a few times on here but the serums are incredibly good value. The eyeliners are great too. I have more products to review over the coming weeks. 

I've invested in regular facials and as a result, I barely wear foundation which was what I was after. The Bobbi Brown serum concealer has become my new BFF.

I learned that too much shellac is not a good thing and that you do need to wait two weeks before having it removed. My nails spent the autumn in rehab with the help of Sally Hansen Gel Rehab and Moisture Rehab.

The Moisture Rehab is so good that I now have about six bottles of it so I always have it to hand. It soaks into cuticles with no grease. 

Thank you for reading and happy 2019!

The Body Shop

It's nice to visit old friends. Especially ones you've not seen for ages. I've not investigated The Body Shop for years but recently I went in and was deeply impressed.

It seems to be the law that all 10-15 year old girls love The Body Shop. Thus I found myself in the Oxford Street branch with my friend who has a 12 year-old daughter. She was after the advent calendar but it was long since sold out. However, they had a little booth where you can instantly print personalised covers for their body butters. What a great idea. It's not online so you have to pop in but we were entranced and I only just managed to stop getting one for me.

I bought this.

The Almond and Milk Honey bath milk. I basically bathe in my new bathroom any time I can so bubble baths are a must. This is sublime. It's soothing, delicious and soft. 

I came home and immediately went online to explore more. I bought this:

If you love rose scent, then this is for you. It's gorgeous, not greasy but deeply moisturising. 

It's almost impossible to pay full price. Currently there is 40% off if you spend £15 and more. I stocked up on Christmas presents. If you're reading this and in my family, DO NOT BUY, DO NOT BUY!

The Body Shop does appeal to girls but it has serious products in there as well. The skincare range is excellent. I avoid anything strawberry scented but that's just me.

Body Shop Rose Shower Gel

Atlas Mountain Rose Shower Gel. I'm pretty sure no ingredient in this gel has been within a hundred miles of the Atlas Mountains but no matter because it is truly lovely. I love rose scented things more than anything else so this was always going to catch my eye. However, I wasn't expecting it to be so delightfully rosy. It's very concentrated so you don't need much and it's £6.50. Bargain. I love it.

The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit shower gel

Fancy a trip back to the 80s? Dig out some Bonnie Tyler, wear faded denim and get lathered up with this. You'll feel 16 again in no time. I adore this shower gel, it's such a reassuring smell, I like that the formula doesn't appear to have changed at all. It's refreshing, smells great and is good value. What's not to love? Sometimes the oldies are the best.

Shower gel of the week

It's 1986 at Cover Girl HQ as I bought a bottle of this. I used to love this back in the day and at £4 decided it was worth a try. I'm happy to report it's still really nice. It smells exactly the same and is perfect for these deep, dark days to blow away the cobwebs. Am loving The Body Shop at the moment.

The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector

I bought some of this the other day while I was picking up a present for CoverBoy. It was half price so £5 and not £10. And I have to say, I am loving it. I have very dry hands that border on eczema and they are always bad at this time of the year. I slapped a bit of this on and instantly soft (yet crucially, not greasy) hands were mine. 

It has a huge design flaw though, the screw on top is small and fiddly and it is in a weird metal container - this going to make it much harder to squeeze it all out.  You'd think they could design a hand cream container a little better, it's not exactly difficult. Flip-top lid please L'Oreal, come on, you are not new to this.

Despite this drawback, I am going to recommend it because it really does work. It's still £5 this week and that makes it a real bargain too but I'd buy it for a tenner too. A perfect stocking filler.

Body care must-haves

I don't want to ignore the body, after all, it makes up most of our being! It's easy to neglect it but we all know that would be a mistake.

First up, let's scrub. There's nothing like a body scrub to energise and get your blood pumping. I do like to scrub once a week and I've tried many scrubs over the years. At the moment I am using a Body Shop one and I really like it, not least because it's in a tube. Why do they make scrubs and put them in pots? It's such a faff in the shower. For this reason I have to exclude the delicious Ren Rose one I was given as a present which is divine but very impractical (and very slippery) and it also excludes the Bliss one which is probably the best in terms of results but again, comes in a pot.

So, by default, I vote the Body Shop Satsuma Scrub. It's nice and zesty, it's not too expensive and it lasts ages as you don't need much - I use those funny gloves to apply it, makes it last far longer.

In terms of shower gel, there is only one contender and that's Bliss. I am currently on the Blood Orange flavour but used Lemon and Sage throughout the summer.

Yes it is quite expensive but it lasts for ages, it is a very large bottle, it has a pump (again no fiddling with flip lids in the shower) and it smells heavenly.

Body moisturisers. I love Neutrogena Deep Moisture Creamy Oil. It sounds like it's going to be a greasy disaster but it sinks in like a dream and is lovely. It's a total bargain at £4.99.

Hand cream. I can't live without hand cream and have tubes of it all round my flat. I am not going to lie, the Bliss hand cream is gorgeous but I don't buy it because I get through way too much hand cream to justify that. I really like the Nivea Nourishing hand cream - not greasy and nice and cheap.

That's all folks! I think you'll agree this is my most thrifty post (apart from the Bliss!). I shall save specific Bath products for another thread.

Body Shop Satsuma Body Polish

As always I am on a mission to find the perfect body scrub and I was in The Body Shop the other day having a browse and thought I'd give this a go. I don't know when TBS got so expensive - £12 for a scrub? I think that's quite a lot.

Recently I had a revelation when I realised that you are meant to put a scrub on dry skin before you get in the shower. It's far more effective. Obviously you all know that and I am slow. I used this scrub yesterday morning and can report it smells lovely - very zingy and pleasing. The results are pretty good but not life-changing, I probably wouldn't buy it again.

New shower gels

Today CoverBoy asked me to buy him a present. Not one to turn down my dear true love, I headed to The Body Shop and picked some of this rather nice shower gel. It's a new range called Earth Lovers. It has no nasties in it and if you buy one, you get another one half price. I used the fig and rosemary one (hey, share and share alike) in my bath earlier and it's really rather lovely.

If you are looking for a non-chocolate Easter present (not sure why you would be) then this could be the ticket. He got me an After Eight easter egg. We were both content.