A Valentines Beauty Swap

Happy V Day lovelies.
I'll be honest, to me it's just another day but it did give a good excuse to do a beauty box swap with one of the ladies on the Facebook community Beauty Box Swaps!
My swap was actually with the same lovely lady as last Valentines Day. We set our budget at £25 and tried to stick to a pink, white and red theme and I was more than excited when this box full of delights arrived!

My box was full to the brim with pretty, yummy and beautifully scented things and I love it all. Where to begin?

Valentines Day wouldn't be complete without a sprinkle of sugar so it was nice to find lots of sweet treats nestled among the other goodies in my box. I may have eaten a couple of the Maoam sticks before even taking the photos ;)

I'm in love with Yankee candles so felt totally spoilt to find that there were 9 scents in my box that I hadn't tried before and not one that I don't like the smell of. I'm looking forward to trying the sweet strawberry in particular.

As well as 9 new scents, there were also two of my all time favourite scents in there. Fireside treats is definitely in my top three Yankee Candle fragrances so this will be stashed away for when I'm running low.

On to the beauty bits, there were some Sugar Crush products from Soap and Glory; two travel sized tubs of the body scrub and a lovely big tub of the body buttercream. I love the zesty scent of the Sugar Crush range, the mix of brown sugar and lime juice just leaves me feeling so refreshed. There was also a tube of Philosophy Cranberry Medley body lotion which has been popped straight in my hand bag. I'm a big fan of Philosophy so I'm looking forward to having this at my disposal :)

How cute is this L'Occitane set? This pretty pink flowery pouch contained travel sizes of the Rose Aurore body milk, Rose 4 Reines bath and shower gel and Spring Cherry shower gel and is perfect for packing up to take on holiday. As it is, I've actually taken the bottles out and used the pouch to store some of the candles. There was a mini floral hand cream stashed away in the pouch too that smells completely gorgeous. I can slather my hands in floral hand cream and then pop on the Elizabeth Arden moisture gloves that I got and let the skin really draw in the moisturiser. Bliss right?

There were also a few little random beauties in my box including the most amazing pair of slipper socks I have ever owned. Oh goodness they keep my feet warm! I'm not sure where these are from but I own thermal socks that don't work as well at keeping my toes toasty! The cute little button badge says "love is..." ans then lists adjectives to describe the emotion. Last but not least is the adorable writing set from Cath Kidston. I'm a sucker for cute stationery so this will definitely be put to good use very soon.

A huge thanks to Jemma for my lovely Valentines gift, I hope you like yours :)
And I hope everyone has had a great V day!

Annie xx

Lush Valentines Collection! Neon Love Soap and Prince Charming Shower Gel!

Last week I showed you a first glance at the Lush Valentines Day collection and there was a lot of excitement from you guys (and me!) about trying the products out. So on my last trip into Bath I popped into Lush and picked up the bits I was most looking forward to enjoying; the Prince Charming shower gel and a slice of Neon Love soap and both really are gorgeous!

First up we have the intensely fruity Prince Charming. This bright pink bottle of goodness is packed full of fresh pomegranate juice, almond oil, grapefruit oil as well as sweeter vanilla and marshmallow root, geranium and sandalwood. I'm not sure what I was expecting scent wise from this, maybe something similar to Snow Fairy, but I wasn't prepared for the beautifully intense fruity punch that this shower gel gives off. It reminds me a lot actually of the fruity bit inside jaffa cakes and I think if you are a fan of Happy Hippy then you will be a fan of this one.

Now onto Neon Love, a soap that looks amazing when whole of in large chunks and also smells incredibly fruity! My piece doesn't show it off but the white inside the soap is actually large soap hearts full of soya yoghurt and coconut oil to leave your skin feeling silky smooth as well as being deeply nourished. Now, I'll be honest, when I smell this soap all I can think of is the ultra zesty scent of a Pisco Sour cocktail (seriously, you need to try one, they are amazing) and I just can't get enough of it. It's a real uplifting scent that reminds me of summer, sunshine, and-of course- cocktails.

When I was in the shop I also took a little look at the Valentines gift boxes and the packaging team have really done well this time. I already know that I love the products but the boxes themselves really made me want to add them to my collection. There is high gloss paper, bright colours and one gift is covered in toucans!

Have you tried any of the range yet? How are you finding the products? Do you like the sound of cocktail scented soap?

Annie xx

Lush Valentines Collection First look

Now that Christmas is done and dusted, the retail world has moved on to the next "big day", valentines day!
Being a hardcore Lushie I was very excited when an email pinged into my inbox telling me about the super bright valentines collection.
This year the collection takes a nod towards the beautifully bold! Think neon wrapping, confetti, glitter and punchy fruit scents.

The range takes a rather artsy theme with products inspired by musicians, novelists, artists and actors and I have to say that I really love how everything looks. I've never been one for laid back, subtlety and the stand out style really appeals. I think that the collection shows Lush as people want to see the company; as the crazy soap shop that we all love.

I'm meant to be on a spending ban at the moment since my beauty stash is getting quite astonishing, however I'm going to get my hands on a few bits from the collection to show you in closer detail...and also because I want some of these gorgeous bright goodies in my life so any excuse! ;)

Prince Charming is definitely the product that I'm most keen to have a good sniff of. The sweet yet refreshing ingredients all point towards it being a product that I'll end up falling in love with then pining for when it's discontinued.
The only thing that I'm a little disappointed by is that there are several products in the collection, like "The Kiss" lip gloss that have been returned from last year that, to be honest, I thought were pretty rubbish that time round and could have maybe been replaced with something more interesting however that's just my personal opinion.
You can find the range *here*. What are you most looking forward to trying?
Annie xx