Soap and Glory collective review

I have been using Soap and Glory for a few years now and thought it would be a great time to finally review a few of their products on my blog. I have previously reviewed some of their makeup but I feel Soap and Glory are more known for their body care products.

Heel Genius 125ml, £5.50

This foot moisturiser is great, particularly now as summer is just around the corner and everyone wants sandal ready feet! It contains orange, lemon, menthol and macadamia amongst other ingredients. All you do is at night apply a thick layer onto your feet and then pop on some cotton socks. In the morning your feet feel moisturised and nourished.

Smoothie Star body milk 500ml, £10

I have never smelt anything so divine! This body lotion smells very similar to buttercream icing and for someone who loves cupcakes this is bound to be a winner. The Smoothie Star lotion contains almond, yoghurt, cocoa, oats and honey. Once applied onto the skin it soaks up in a few seconds. The water lock technology allows you to apply it just after your shower and this locks in the moisture throughout the day. The lotion feels very silky and luxurious.

Hand Food 125ml, £5

I carry this product around with me all the time, it is the perfect size to pop into your handbag. The lotion is very moisturising and one of the ingredients is marshmallows. Yes thats right, marshmallows! It leaves the hands feeling smooth and non greasy, I also find it works great as a nail cream too. It does however need to be applied frequently throughout the day.

Peaches and Clean facial cleansing milk 200ml, £8

I love this cleanser. It really makes your face feel refreshed and clean. Peaches and Clean is great for shrinking pores and makes your face feel smooth. It smells ever so slightly of peach. I also use the product on days when I have a full face of makeup, I find it breaks it down well and once washed off you just re apply it to remove any last traces.

- They have since discontinued this cleanser and replaced it with another which goes by the same name so I can’t imagine it to be too different.

Clean On Me 500ml, £6

I love this shower gel, the smell isn’t over powering and it contains a built in body lotion. It lathers up a lot and leaves your skin feeling super soft. This shower gel contain mandarin peel extract, the smell is very similar to the Miss Dior Cherie fragrance, win win.

The Righteous Butter 300ml, £10.50

This rich heavy duty body cream is perfect for anyone who suffers with dry skin. The Righteous butter is another product from Soap and Glory that only needs to be applied once and the results last throughout the day. Some people might find the scent of this quite strong but I don’t mind it. The Shea Butter and Aloe Vera helps nourish your skin and the fragrance smells very feminine and is long lasting.

Sugar Crush body scrub 300ml, £8.00

One of my favourites, I adore this sugar scrub. It smells almost identical to green Starburst! It smells almost good enough to eat although that would be a tad odd. The scrub contains lime, brown sugar, macadamia grains and almond oil. This was always raved about in the beauty community and I can see why! It is perfect for pre-tanning and smells so zesty. I am eager to try out the other products within this range too so the Sugar Crush Buttercream and Sugar Crush shower wash are now on my list.

All in all, I love Soap and Glory. The packaging is cute and the scent of all their products lasts throughout the day! Boots have 3 for 2 at the moment so you can grab a bargain.

I hope you enjoyed my Soap and Glory review. Have you ever tried anything from this brand before?

♡

Wishlist 4: Pastel Perfect

1. Mint green daisy sweater - New Look

2. Blue lace crop top - Topshop

3. Pink stripe watch - asos

4. Snake pink skate shoes - Topshop

5. Animal phone cases - cat (etsy) / rabbit (etsy)

6. Pandora pink rose ring - John Greed Jewellery

7. Pastel blue Pippa bag - Accessorize

I love the pieces I’ve picked out for this wish list, I feel all summery just looking at it. The daisy sweater is perfect, an easy way of adding a pop of colour - ideal for me because all I seem to be wearing is navy and black. I love the delicate blue top with the lace trim, it is so versatile. I seem to have developed a little watch addiction so I’m always looking for new ones to add to my collection, this pastel pink watch is perfect and it is so affordable too. Skate shoes/sneakers are the new hype, aside from the standard Vans and Converse I feel I now need these pink beauties in my life! Topshop have so many sneakers at the moment - I want them all. Nothing like a cute animal phone case - pastel colours make them that much better. I have been eyeing up the Pandora rose ring since it came out a few weeks ago, so pretty. I love the way the Pandora sales assistants layer up all their jewellery. And finally a pastel blue bag just because.

Hope you enjoyed this post? Let me know what you like and if you have anything on your wish lists at the moment.

♡

Pretty Wild Things

For somebody who much prefers winter and the rain you would think I would be hating life right now. I’ve never really been much of a spring/summer person but this year that has changed. I am definitely appreciating the weather a lot more recently and it is probably due to my little veg patch and having just sown flower seeds. I cannot wait until they bloom because this means I can pop them into vases and dot them around the house.

Grow Wild, which is a new 4 year campaign is looking for people to come together in order to grow Uk’s native flowers. I actually heard about the campaign before I was contacted by them and had already ordered the free seed packets they were sending out. Grow Wild feel strongly about our lack of wild flowers and have produced some eye opening research. In the last 70 or so years, 97% of our meadows have disappeared. This affects our wild life - have you noticed the lack of butterflies in recent years?

And yes I have already been scouring Pinterest to try and get some inspiration for wild flower arrangements. So colourful!

Also did you know Peonies also come in a wild form too? Still as pretty. 

♡

Image source

*In association with Grow Wild.

Cute Easter Cupcakes

Happy holidays everyone! I made some Easter themed cupcakes today and so many of you wanted the recipe so here it is -

The original recipe for the batter was taken from the BBC website - Vanilla Cupcakes. I then went on to decorate it in order to make it more suitable for Easter.

Ingredients

110g/4oz butter or margarine, softened at room temperature

110g/4oz caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

110g/4oz self-raising flour or plain flour and 2 tsp baking soda added

1-2 tbsp milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale. Beat in the eggs a little at a time and stir in the vanilla extract.
   Watch technique0:50 mins
3. Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little milk until the mixture is of a dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.
   Watch technique0:35 mins
4. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown on top. Once done, set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.

Decorate

Icing Sugar

Unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

Cadbury’s Mini Eggs

Sprinkles

Buttercream icing uses up a reasonable amount of butter and icing sugar so just be wary; I usually end up with too little. I don’t follow specific measurements with this and usually just go by the consistancy. With the softened butter in a bowl add in the icing sugar and keep mixing until it turns into a creamy texture. If you find it’s not mixing well you most likely need more butter.

Pop the buttercream icing into an icing bag with a star nozzle and starting from the edge of the cake work your way inwards. This part doesn’t have to be the neatest as you will next be applying sprinkles over the top. And then last but not least pop a few mini eggs in the center.

Hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you try the recipe out!

Happy holidays! 

♡

Holidaying in the UK

It’s that time of the year where we just need a little break. I personally don’t think you have to go abroad to have a good holiday. Short breaks by the coast are great if you like scenic views. The calmness of the sea and the copious amounts of ice cream are always winners in my heart. I have recently been looking for a nice place to go to within the UK, it’s cheaper and gives you the opportunity to appreciate all the great views we have within our very own country.

Mullion, Cornwall

Would you believe this holiday destinations is within the UK? Parkdean have 24 holiday parks dotted all around the UK and for 3 consecutive years they have won the ‘Best UK park holiday operator’. It goes without saying that they know what makes a good holiday. You have the option of staying in a caravan, holiday home or lodge and they have great facilities and entertainment available. Parkdean cater for people of all ages and 22/25 of their holiday parks are pet friendly too. Parkdean Holidays have also recently launched a fun interactive quiz in which you have the chance to win a seven-night stay, worth up to the value of £750 in one of Parkdeans 25 UK holiday parks. Now that the weather is getting slightly better I know I would much favour a holiday within the UK rather than one on the other side of the world. After all both still provide you with time to relax and a chance to be out with your usual routine.  To be in for a chance to win a holiday, all you have to do is establish which holiday picture is from the UK (home) and which is from abroad (away).

Know your Newquay from Nice? Take the Home or Away Quiz to be in with a chance of winning a UK family holiday worth £750 with Parkdean Holidays.

I got 479 points! The pictures definitely get you into the holiday mood. I love how UK holidays can be just as beautiful as holidays abroad.

Let me know your scores in the comments and what your favourite UK holiday destination is!
*In association with Parkdean Holidays

Subtle Lips

   

With flash

Without Flash

I have been loving wearing a more subtle lip colour recently so I thought I would share with you all my top picks. I am also currently rebuilding up my brights collection, but how many pinks can a girl own. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to support an orange lip yet! I think/hope these colour will suit most people, even though they are subtle I have selected different colours and consistencies. So from left to right -

Rimmel Apocalips - Shooting Star £5.99*

This is the newest addition to my nude lip collection. After seeing all the buzz around the bloggers it was only right to try it out. Rimmel have recently launched a range of shades entitled Apocalips and they are all perfect for Summer. The shade I have is called Shooting Star and it is a brown peachy nude, the great thing about this range is that the lip product itself is a mixture between a gloss and a lipstick. They are deeply pigmented, don’t feel sticky and are moisturising. 

Joey Speciality - Vanilla Ice and Cinnamon

I purchased this double gloss stick a good while ago now from a discount store and it was a few pounds. I thing the actual rrp is in its twenties? It doesn’t have the best staying power but the shades are perfect. Vanilla Ice is a frosted baby pink and Cinnamon is a very light coral. They are glosses but aren’t too shiny or sticky.

Gosh Cosmetics - Darling/Light Rose 134 £4.49

An original nude lipstick is a staple in everyones collection! This Gosh lipstick is the perfect nude. They have since renamed it from Darling to Light Rose. I usually use this nude lipstick with other lip colours to tone them down in order to make them paler but if you are fair and want a nude lip this is the one to go for!

Rimmel Moisture Renew - Spotlight Beige £6.49

This is my go to lipstick and I reach for it all the time. I came across this lipstick through Beautycrush who raved about it many times. Spotlight Beige is a pink/brown nude but the best thing about it is its longevity. This lipstick stays on for a reasonable amount of time and it is also creamy in consistency, this packs moisture into your lips.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please let me know your favourite summer lip colours or your go to lip products x

Thrifty: Growing your own Veg #1

credit

This is a bit of a different post but I am so excited to tell you about my newest hobby. As most of you may be aware I am really wanting to bring more ‘lifestyle’ into my blog. I enjoy writing about beauty and fashion but would love to add abit of diversity! I enjoy the ‘outdoors’ and something I have always loved doing is gardening, so when Debt Free Direct who run the blog Making money go further asked me to prove how much money I would save by growing my own vegetables I knew I had to accept! Between now and May is the ideal time to start sowing your seeds so if any of you are interested I would urge you to start now. Wilko’s have a fantastic range, and they are super cheap too!

I chose so many vegetable seeds I’ve lost count. I chose the easy ones like tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, watercress and the ones that are a little more difficult like rhubarb, hot chillies, onions and more! I even opted for sweetcorn! I researched like crazy and have learnt so much, it is actually quite interesting; nothing like a new hobby! At this present moment which is around 10 days after sowing all of them have successfully germinated. Now the real work starts with rearing these little beauties and hopefully in a couple of months I will have a lot of veg to show you all.

How great would it be though to just go out into the garden and pick out some fresh veg. When you go into the supermarket the majority of the fruit and veg are from the other side of the world and have had so many chemicals sprayed on them to ensure they don’t go off in transit. When you think of it like that its hardly ideal. I think growing your own veg enables you to know exactly what has been put on it of anything.

I personally am always on a tight budget so organic vegetables for me are a no-no. But hopefully if/when my own vegetables grow I will have an endless supply!

Last year we had an accidental harvest, quite a funny story really. We gave the pet rabbit strawberries and tomatoes to eat and he always leaves the seeds and fast forward about a month later and we had plants! The fruit that came off them was amazing, and they didn’t need much care. The tomato plant died hover from the frost but the strawberry plant is still going strong!

You don’t have to have the biggest house/garden to grow veg, the windowsill is another great place and pots don’t take up much space either. And if you are on a really tight budget use old yoghurt containers when sowing the seeds, just make sure you poke some drainage holes on the bottom and place them on a warm surface like the washing machine. Another great tip is cover the top with cling film so the heat stays in and water when the solid goes dry, for me this was everyday, sometimes twice a day. Then once they germinate take the cover off and give them as much light as possible and then put them into bigger pots!

I will be replanting these into larger pots later on in the week and will also try and get them used to the outside temperature as that is where they will be going. I have so many good gardening accessories too from Wilko’s and will show you the set up in the next post. 

This is another great way if you are limited on space and money - the bottle tower planter!

I hope you enjoyed this post and hopefully feel inspired about growing our own veg in order to save money. Let me know if you have any tips and also what you think of the idea!

*Making money go further (Debt Free Direct) provided vegetable seeds and gardening accessories in order to write up this post. All opinions are my own.

DietChef: The Plan

I’m always interested in reading about new diets, actually doing them is another thing. I heard of DietChef when they first launched years ago. DietChef does all the work for you, so if your anything like me you’ll love the convenience which is something most diet plans lack. No cooking,measuring or counting is involved. I still need to lose a few more pounds till I reach my goal weight and have unfortunately reached a plateau. I am so excited to trial DietChef plan in order to try and lose weight.

Each day you will have Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and a Snack. Meals should be accompanied with fruit/veg. The total calorie intake ranges around 1200. An average persons BMR (energy you burn off without actually exercising) is usually around that mark so this is ideal as you don’t really need to exercise, although it would be beneficial to in order to lose more weight. 

This diet is calorie controlled, and when you look at the menu online you wouldn’t believe it. Chocolate granola and Maple syrup popcorn?! I am so excited to try the range. DietChef runs a delivery system, so all you need to do is choose what it is you’d like and then it is delivered straight to your door. 

Where needed the food can be heated up in the microwave within around 2 minutes. This is the epitome of convenience. No need to spend hours preparing and no need to spend ages heating things up!

Studies suggest the DietChef plan is 3x more likely to work than any self regimented diet because everything is already prepared for you and it is delivered straight to your door. DietChef also have a live chat function available on there website so you have someone there to help you should you have any queries or are looking for advice.

I am trailing the 4 week plan which includes 28 breakfasts, 28 lunches, 28 dinners and 28 snacks. I wasn’t expecting there to be such an amazing range of foods so I was very surprised! I spent a while scrolling through the site and found so many I liked the look of. I’ve been off meat recently so I decided to opt for the vegetarian diet. As mentioned before also I not longer eat chocolate so I didn’t order food with chocolate in it either. Even still the range is amazing and I choose so many different items.

• Breakfasts range from a variety of cookies, muesli, granola, shakes and porridge and the ingredients work to boost your metabolism and provide you with enough energy till your next meal. They can be accompanied with milk, yoghurt or fruit.
• Lunches range from a variety of soups, pasta and more, they can be accompanied by a bread roll. Protein bars and shakes are great for those days when you are on the go.
• Dinners range from Italians, Chinese, British, Mexican, Indian and more. There is a great range from curries to pastas to lasagnes etc! These would go great with vegetables or even sale to bulk up.
• Snacks range from a variety of popcorn, biscuits, crisps, protein bars and oat bars.

                                      *all in varied flavours/ accompaniments must meet serving size suggestions.

The four week plan is suited to those who want to lose less than a stone and costs £61.25 a week.
The lengthier the plan the cheaper the weekly price gets and the more weight you can lose. 

As I type this I have already just had 2 whole days on the DietChef plan. Yesterday I had Luxury Muesli for breakfast, Minestrone soup for lunch, Taka Daal for dinner and Salt & Vinegar popcorn as a snack and today I tried different items which I will blog more about soon. Although I didn’t specifically count the calories I have read they equate to 1200 or less. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them and I am sure I will enjoy the 4 week plan!

The serving suggestion pictures on the website look amazing! I can’t wait to try out the other food, and I will let you all know next week how it is going.

*This post contains PR samples provided for review consideration