Lavender and Thyme salt scrub

Lavender and Thyme salt scrub 

Home made scrubs are so easy to make, and fantastic! I have been making many and I thought I would be nice and share them with you over the course of a few weeks. So here is the first, a homemade fresh Lavender and Thyme salt scrub. 

Why make your own scrub? Aren't the shops full of them? Well yes, the shops are full of scrubs but they are full of extra ingredients and potential irritants. Furthermore, you'll pay over the odds for something which grows in the ground. Making your own means it's not tested on animals and it vegan. 

I'm using plants I grow in my garden, so I know where it has been and what it has been exposed to. If you don't have these plants growing, you can either buy a whole plant, or buy dried online. You will need: 

A few sprigs of fresh lavender- or dried lavender flowers 

Thyme sprigs- fresh or dried (fresh is preferred) 

Sea salt- gritty or fine milled depending on desired finish (I used Himalayan salt) 

Oil- coconut, olive oil or vegetable oil. 

Jar or storage container, unless you're going to use it all at once 

To make- If you're using fresh or dried place all ingredients in a pestle and mortar and grind down, if you don't have one place all in a plastic food bag and bash vigorously with a rolling pin. Once all the ingredients are mixed up place into your jar and enjoy using your scrub. 

This makes a fantastic exfoliate and the fragrance from these plants and essential oils are mesmerizing. The exfoliation of the skin using this will improve circulation, and salt is a known skin purifier. 

I hope you enjoyed this post, please let me know if you have made this. 
Laura x


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Cupcake Soap

I love pretty things, and whats better than something pretty which smells nice and can be used. This is a cupcake soap from The Soap Story. It smells really fruity and comes in a plastic container, the foam/cream is actually spongy and smells really refreshing. 

It seems like loads of brands are jumping on the soap trend of making things pretty and practice. With brands such as Lush and The Bomb Cosmetics making really pretty soaps with unique designs, more and more brands are emerging with unique and cute ideas.  

Here is a close up of that unique foam, it smells of synthetic sweet strawberry. This soap is called Trifle Cupcake Soap. I have never seen these anywhere else, this came from a local pharmacy but I haven't seen it again. They cost £2.50 which is pretty reasonable for such a unusual product. I love that in the bottom of the cupcake is two soap orange slices. 

This product lathers well and smells really delicious. This would make a great gift for anyone, but I would be careful giving this to young children as they might try and eat it. It really does look like a convincing cupcake in real life.  

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. 

Laura x 

If you're interested on reading about more unusual soaps click HERE. Or if you want to read about Lush products click HERE.  

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Soaps- Scottish Fine soap, Arran Apothecary and Chikpe

Most of us use soap. I love soap for my hands and body! But I like to buy unusual soaps from brands people have probably not heard of. One of my great hunting grounds is TK MAXX, love that place. But I also buy from local businesses, craft fairs and online. You might think it's crazy to have so many soaps, but I love all things pretty which smell nice, and i'm a real sucker for nice packaging. 

   Scottish Fine Soaps 

Scottish Fine Soaps is a brand I truly love! Their soap is so creamy and makes wonderful presents or a bit of everyday luxury for anyone. I love the blubell soap (blue individual in) it smells amazing. You really have to try it to smell how beautiful it is. It even comes in a beautifully packaged box. The other soaps are sea kelp and oatmeal, they smell divine especially the sea kelp.  

  

What I love about these soaps is they leave no residue on the skin, but leave behind their fragrance which I can smell from the other side of my landing after I have had a bath. They feel very luxurious and expensive. Their single soap in a tin retails for £4.95 and their pack of 4 soaps retail for £12.95 from their website HERE.  They make fantastic gifts for anyone, and I love soap and shower products, I especially love classically designed soaps which have a vintage feel and are packaged beautifully. They are rather expensive, but once you smell them you'll totally understand why. 

The blue bell soap smells like really fresh intense forest fresh blue bells. Imagine sitting among millions of blue bells, that is how good it smells. It brings back memories of spring time.

Sea Kelp smells really strong and fresh, it smells like fresh washing and baby powder.

Oatmeal soap smells earthy and like fresh cut wood sap, to me it smells nothing like oatmeal but it's lovely.  

Arran Apothecary 

These two soaps are really lovely. I brought these individually and I have already used two Seaweed and Oatmeal soaps which have chunks of real seaweed inside of them. The soap bars have a lovely smell and are very large and easy to handle. They smell so natural and not synthetic like so many soaps out there.  These soaps retail at £2.75 each and are really beautiful, they have grooves which make it a great massarge bar too. I really think everyone should try the seaweed bar it is just out of this world. They are avaliable from their online store HERE.

Lavender and Tea Tree smells like fresh lavender stem with a hint of tea tree which is not overpowering. 

Seaweed and Oatmeal smells earthy and herbal. 

Naturally Scottish- Arran Aromatics 

This is another branch of the brand Arran Aromatics (reviewed above) these bars are much bigger at 200g each. I couldn't find these exact soaps online, but a bar this size retails for £3.50 each. They are huge and about double the size of a normal soap bar. They do sell some of these bars online but I could not find the avocado and oatmeal.

Lavender smells of strong lavender, it smells very herbal. 

Alo Vera smells floral and fresh. 

Avocado and Oatmeal smells fresh and herbal. 

Chikpe 

Chikpe is a brand which is only available in store in Shrewsbury. They have their own shop which stocks handmade products but they do have an Ebay page Here which makes it easy to get to if you live no where near Shrewsbury. Their soaps retail at £3 each. Their soaps are good for people with sensitie skin, the brand started in 2000 and does not test on animals!  I really think everyone should give them a go.  

Lavender soap smells of light lavender with real lavender flowers dried. 

Rose soap smells very floral with a hint of rose. 

Here is the top of those soaps with the dried flower on them, how pretty are they!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, if you have any questions please leave a comment. 

Laura x 

If you would like to find out about cool cupcake soap click HERE, if you would like to read about some ace LUSH products click HERE. 

Winter sparkle nails

What is more pleasing than pretty nails which reflect the season. We're in winter and the morning are frosty, and nights bitter. But everyone loves the wintertime shades of color of cool hue's and striking blues. 

Here are three really pretty glittery nail polishes. I made a really sparkly nail look using these three. I love glitter, it lasts longer than normal nail polish and looks super pretty on any length of nails. 

I made the look dark to light from the tip. This was easy, and I used no tools other than the brush provided in the bottle of polish. I covered the nail in the silver glitter, then from half point the green and then were the tip of the nail I used the blue. This look took around 20 mins to complete and dry. Due to the glitter being rather gritty I put two top coats on, one the day I did the look and the next the day after to create a smooth finish. 

Shades were

Silver: Rimmel, Space Dust: Shooting star 

Green: Orly, Color Blast: Shamrock

Blue: Sally Hansen, Gem Crush: Blingtastic 04

These glitters are really pretty, Shooting star is a really fantastic glitter which gives a full coverage to nails after one coat, Shamrock is also lovely with holographic glitter of every color, and Blingtastic has huge glitter chunks and the odd large silver piece. They all make fantastic nail varnishes for many other looks. I really recommend these, they all dried well on top of each and the look lasted a long time. 

I hope you enjoyed reading, feel free to comment. 

Laura x 

Body Shop Shimmer Cubes

Here is the Body shop shimmer cubes, they are beautifully unique whole blocks of baked pigmented shadow in individual cubes. They are from The Body Shop and available in store and online, they retail at £16 for one set of 4 cubes. There are 7 different sets to choose from, each are unique and non are duplicates or doubles. The shades range from warm neutral, to blues, greens and pretty pinks. There really is something for everyone's skin tone and taste. I own the warm collection also called palette 6, this contains the shades honeycomb, dark chocolate, marshmallow and choc chip. This product is not tested on animals, nor is any of their products, which is a real bonus as I love all fluffy animals.

Here are the 4 shades together, you can see they come in individual packaged cubes which is great to stop them mixing. They each come with lids and a plastic container to keep them all together. These shades are designed to be sheer with an iridescent finish. You get 14g of product total which is HUGE considering most of my eye shadows are 1g or 1.5g, so these eye-shadows will last ages. You can apply these dry or wet, wet will give you a more intense pigmentation. The box they come in like the individual cubes have no clasp to hold the lid down, this allows the lid to just fall off which can be annoying. The top layer of these eye shadows can be a bit chalky, but once you break through it is really buttery with minimal fall out when using a good primer.

This is the shade Honeycomb, this is a orange toned gold with fine milled yellow micro glitter. 

This shade is Choc- Chip, this is a medium taupe with silver undertones. 

This is the shade Marshmallow, this is a champagne color with warm undertones.

The final shade is Dark chocolate, this is a warm deep chocolate brown with  golden pink micro-glitter. 

Now for the swatches: They all come out rather sheer but I love that and this is what the product is designed to be. The top shade is Marshmallow, Honeycomb, Choc- chip and finally at the bottom is the Dark chocolate. I used a dry brush but you can use a wet one for a much more intense finish. 

There are of course with every product pro's and con's:

Pro's

• Beautiful shades with lovely finishes 
• Unique reflective properties 
• Does not crease throughout the day 
• I love the fact you get so much product 14g in total

Con's 

• The box it comes in does not have a clasp and opens easily
• Expensive for non premium eye shadow 
• Fiddly individual cube boxes (not good for busy mornings)

Would I recommend this product? Yes, even though there is a fair few issues with this product I love the finish and the colors, I have never seen another shade like choc-chip before and I am totally in love with it. They make beautiful every day easy to store eye shadows. If you're interested in buying them they are available from The Body Shop link here.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Feel free to comment or if there is a product you would like me to review. 

Laura x

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Sleek Snapshot Palette Review

It seems like every brand is getting into true color, with Urban Decay's Electric pallet and many other brands getting into super bright shades. Here is a really affordable pallet with all the wow of the mega brands, Sleek. This is the Snapshot pallet containing 12 eye shadows for £7.99, it is available from Superdrug, amazon and Sleek online. As you can tell this pallet is a well loved and used pallet in my collection. The sponge applicator is rubbish, and I only used to to make the swatches, but I don't use it to apply my makeup.

These shades are all super bright and they have a fantastic pigment. All Sleek products I have used have been fantastic, I have tried the blusher, mascara and eye shadows.

There are matte shades, shimmer and pearl finishes. They are really beautiful but still wearable, if they are too bright on their own you can always mix them with browns or beige.

This is the top row of shades, left to right: Tequila Sunrise, Hummingbird, Lotus Flower, Kiwi Flower, Martini and Summer breeze. All of these were very buttery but Summer breeze was a bit chalky which is the issue with almost all matte eye shadows. Hummingbird and Tequila Sunrise were so much brighter than the photo suggests. 

This is the bottom row of shades, left to right: Magenta Madness, Purple Haze, Green Iguana, Sunset, Washed Ashore and Sand walker. These were all so beautiful, they applied like higher end brands which is so surprising for the price tag. Many of the shades are beautiful but I did find Sand Walker to be almost my own skin color, but it would be a beautiful shade on darker or lighter skin. 

I really fell in love with all the colors, they are stunning on and there is something for everyone in the pallet. The super bright pink Magenta Madness is such a beautiful shade, Purple Haze is so funky and unique I have never seen a matte purple which is so pigmented and neon. The shades Sunset and Green Iguana are beautiful together, they really look like a tropical sunset over the sea. 

I have used this pallet a lot and have really loved it. It always makes me smile when I open up this pallet and see such beautiful shades like a holiday in a lovely package. I defiantly give this pallet a 4.5/5. The only reason I don't give it a 5/5 is because two of the matte shades are chalky.  

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, please feel free to comment. 

Laura x 

L'oreal Color Riche Single Eye-shadow Review

L'OREAL is a brand many of us will have come across while potting around Boots and Superdrug. They do many affordable products ranging from lip stick to foundation and mascara. But today I want to show you a product I have fallen in love with, their color riche range of eye shadows.

Image of shade: Gold Mania (500, Lumiere)

I went off drugstore products for many years after several bad reactions to cosmetics. However, a friend of mine reintroduced me to the love of drugstore and L'oreal all over again at university! Since then I have had little to no issue with any products I have used.

These eyeshadow products are gel/cream in formulation, they come in a plastic black and gold clip case with some product information front sticker. This information informs of the finish including matte, lumiere, pop, nude, smokey and chamelon. I have at least one eye-shadow from each range besides the chamelon, this is because I found it impossible to find one. In total I have 13 of these, I have also had them a few months. I have used these eye-shadows for glamours looks and day time looks. 

The Pinks 

There is nothing better than a cheeky pink, shades left to right: 

Escape in Bordeaux (Smokey, 301). A deep burgundy with gold glitter.

La Vie En Rose (Matte, 104). A matte pastel pink.

Pink Up Pink (Lumiere, 507). Salmon pink with golden shimmer. 

Image left to right- Pin up Pink, La Vie En Rose, Escape in Bordeaux.

Golds and Bronzes 

Pretty and classic shades of gold and bronze, shades left to right: 

Cafe Saint Germain (Nude, 201). Medium taupe brown.

Golden Nude (Nude, 204). Warm gold. 

Quartz Fume (Lumiere, 502). Cool chocolate brown.

Image left to right: Golden Nude, Cafe Saint Germain, Quartz Fume.

The Blues

Blue  and terquoise are difficult shades to get hold of, although they don't do a true navy blue the first shade on the left comes beautifully close. Shades left to right: 

The Big Blue (Pop, 405). Bright medium blue.

Punky Turquoise (Pop, 410). Cool toned turquoise.

French Riviera (Lumiere, 505). Silver toned pastel blue.

Image left to right: French Riviera, Punky Turquoise, The Big Blue. 

The Nudes 

Everyone needs a good nude in any good collection. They make fantastic base colors for smoldering smokey looks, or as a natural day look. Shades left to right:

Gold Mania (Lumiere, 500). Yellow toned gold.

Breaking Nude (Matte, 106). Medium matte taupe.

Macadam Princess (Matte, 101). Cool toned grey.

Image left to right: Gold Mania, Breaking Nude, Macadam Princess.

The Highlighter 

This is the shade Little Beige Dress (Nude, 206). Sadly this shade as you can see has shattered. This is an issue with these eye shadows. Due to their gel type formulation they sometimes fall out of their pans. They don't do well with trying to press them back into the pan, and because they are not powder they can not be set using alcohol. Sadly this has happened to two of my shadows, neither were dropped or mishandled they just dropped out while I was using them. I notice this is an issue with many of them as I witnessed many had fallen out of the pan in the shops. 

Image of Little Beige Dress 

I applied these products using my fingers, it was applied on bare skin with no primer used. This product is hard to blend with other products from this line, but it is amazing when using powder based products. 

Pro's and Con's of this product: 

Pro's 

• Very pigmented product and some unusual colors. 
• Affordable for the product quality and finishes.
• Nice packaging which looks expensive. 
• Good pan size which is easy to use with either your finger or a brush. Good for ladies with nails. 

Con's 

• Don't blend well when using other products from the same range (they mix fine with other powder products) 
• Break easily, fall out of the pan without vigorous use. This also happens when you hit pan in the product.
• Not secure lids, they open easily which can lead to product damage. 
• Product difficult to use with some brushes. 

I hope you enjoyed reading. Please feel free to comment. 

Laura x 

Find me on Facebook, or on The Little Beauty Blog. 

Victoria Secrets Birmingham

Victoria Secrets 

Upon visiting the new Victoria Secrets store in Birmingham a few months ago I was left infuriated that they only carry up to a DDD bra. The shop was beautifully presented with glossy stands displaying products and pictures of the "angels" proudly adorning the walls. This is suppose to be the pinnacle of femininity, and yet it is ostracizing many women for something they have little control over, their breast size. 

I love their bags, they are a really nice touch which I wish other brands did.

Before this I had never visited any Victoria Secrets store, but was more than aware of the brand, and of the angels due to heavy media coverage. Like any woman underwear and nightwear are an essential part of any wardrobe, so I was slightly disheartened that they didn't carry sizing for all women to celebrate femininity in all of it's glory. I know many women who wouldn't be able to shop here due to it stopping at a DDD. 

The only I have from Victoria Secrets, I really love this it smells amazing.

So I spent my trip pottering round the nightwear, underwear, perfume and body section. I was very impressed with the shop, but there seemed to be no staff anywhere to ask anything. It wasn't overly busy so unless I just visited during a quiet day it felt rather empty. It was also quite messy, their bra walls were not full leaving odd gaps in the wall. Their underwear sale section looked like something I see in primark, and actively avoid. But I really enjoyed the nightwear section and perfume displays. Their perfume is surprisingly nice and fresh at a very reasonable price. 

I wasn't overly impressed with the items I saw in the bra and underwear section, they seemed very average. Although i'm sure the fit is wonderful (from reading reviews), their actual design is pretty basic and the materials they use pretty standard. I have seen very similar items for far less in shops such as New Look, H & M, Matalan, F & F Tesco and Primark. However their fit might be totally different.

I did however come across a really beautiful kimono dressing gown. It was truly stunning and I really loved it. Sadly I already have several dressing gowns and felt it was unnecessary to own yet another. 

Would I visit again? Yes, but only to look at their body, perfume and nightwear sections. Personally I feel there is better quality for less elsewhere. I do love the bags they provide with the paper which is a really special touch. I feel lots of higher end stores are missing out on nice packaging. 


I hope you enjoyed reading 

Laura x 

Vegan Chocolate- WHAT IS IT LIKE?

Vegan is a word being thrown out there a lot at the moment. But what is vegan alternative food like? Here is one guilty pleasure as a vegan alternative; chocolate. Chocolate tends to contain dairy which makes it a no no for Vegans. But here is some vegan chocolates!

I love chocolate, but only super dark chocolate. I'm not really a fan of milk or white, unless it's mint chocolate then I love it all!  I have now tried a few vegan chocolate bars from two brands,  Conscious and COCOA. I am not a Vegan, but I thought I would give these a try.


Conscious is a brand aimed at being different. Their flavor is very rich and easy to melt, very easy it goes everywhere. I have tried several of their varieties. These chocolate bars are gluten free, soya free, vegan, free from refined sugar and suitable for those with a gluten intolerance. It sounds like this is a wonder bar. It comes with a large price tag, I think I paid nearly £4 for a bar in a sweet shop. It does not taste like any chocolate I have eaten before, much richer but not bitter. It is very sweet, and the texture reminds me of the texture inside of Lindor balls, however they can be a bit dry sometimes. I have tried the plain, orange and fruit and nut. They were all amazing, but the orange was my favorite. The only mega down side I can think of is it is really hard to get hold of. It's available in Selfridges Birmingham, but not online and on their own page HERE. I really do like these.

I had a nibble to see what it tasted like. It was very bitter, and not sweet but I liked it. 

Here is the second brand called COCOA, these come in black paper packaging with lots of health claims on the packet. It says:

• Made of unroasted cocoa beans
• Rich in magnesium, potassium and iron 
• Vegan 

There is very few ingredients: Raw cocoa beans, coconut blossom, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa powder. (plain bar) 

I have tried two bars, the COCOA with goji berries and the classic bitter. Both are very bitter in taste and the bars themselves are very hard, and dry the mouth. The taste is very intense and I like it, but this chocolate bar probably wouldn't be to everyone's taste as it is very, very bitter. I like raw cocoa taste, it's like raw cooking chocolate powder. But I know that this probably wouldn't be as popular as the other chocolate bar. This does leave a very dry texture in the mouth which isn't nice, the goji berries are pretty tasty though. 

I struggled to find this online, I was brought these so i'm unsure where you can buy them. 

Would I recommend vegan chocolate bars? Yes! They are far better than I imagined, tasted far nicer and had some interesting varieties. 

I hoped you enjoyed reading this. Got any questions? Feel free to comment. 

Laura 

Cargo Cosmetics- Shanghai Nights- REVIEW

Cargo Cosmetics- Shanghai Nights 

Cargo is a beautiful cosmetic brand, but one up till now I had not heard of. I got hold of two of their eye shadow pallets although they seem to do a huge variety of products on their CARGO website. Cargo is not a new brand and was established in 1996. Debenhams carry several of their lines but they don't include the one I am reviewing here. They are a premium range product costing £30 per pallet on the Debenhams website.

Shanghai nights is a pallet with warm tones and great basics. It makes a great pallet for smokey night time eyes. It comes in a plastic magnetic case which holds 12 eye shadows, it also comes with a double ended brush one being for eye liner and the other to smudge. 

Top row: Wai Tai, Skyline, Bund, Lychee, Jin Mao and Neon 

Bottom row: Hu, Street Style, Ginger, Jade, Bar rouge and Night life. 

The shades are all warm toned, they are very easy to blend and most of the shades are shimmer with a few matts. The blue shade called Skyline is a matt which is so lovey to see a navy blue true to shade. The lighter shades in this pallet do have some pigmentation issues with poor payoff, but they are good colors for highlighter. 

Top Row

Wai Tai:  Matt taupe 

Skyline: Matt navy blue 

Bund: Mid toned brown matt shade 

Lychee: Shimmery pink/coral

Jin Moa: Silvery brown 

Neon: Cream with reflective shimmer

Bottom Row

Hu: Matt cream in color 

Street style: Silver shimmer 

Ginger: Pink with mid toned brown 

Jade: Deep green 

Bar Rouge: Deep purple pink shimmer

Night Life: Matt black

All the shades are a good quality, and the brush which is provided is good (mine was broken when I opened it, a little disappointing but nothing glue won't fix). I think this is better than the other pallet of suited to a tea as these seem to have good staying power and even the eye shadows with poor pay off could be used. 

There is a good selection of shades in this pallet and it could be used for everyday or evening looks. 

I would repurchase this again as I feel there are some unusual colors in this pallet, and the finish on them is nice. 

I hope you enjoyed reading. 

Laura x