Lush new Christmas products 2014 - Elsa from Frozen inspired!

So I thought I would share one of my favourite new products from my work - First Snow! It's a limited edition Christmas dusting powder which has an amazing citrusy scent (same scent at Celebrate body lotion!) and it contains 'snowflake lustre' to give your skin a beautiful icy sparkle, and cornstarch to make your skin super soft. 

To make it even better, it was inspired by Elsa from Frozen! To add to the Frozen theme, the packaging is a bottle with a blue label, and little snowflakes on it :-)

This is how it looks on the skin!

So, as it says on the bottle 'leaves skin looking as if it's been kissed by twinkling snowflakes'. I've been using it with the Celebrate body lotion to layer up the scent.

And whilst on the subject of Frozen inspired, we have a gift inspired by Frozen too! Also called First Snow :-)

It's one of my favourite gifts this year :-) it is shaped like a snowflake, with a blue ribbon the same colour as Elsa's dress tied around it. It contains 7 products; First Snow dusting powder, Shimmy Shimmy massage bar, Baked Alaska soap, Rock Star Soap, Snow Fairy shower gel, Bubblegum lip scrub & Snowman Fun!

Snowman Fun is another Frozen inspired product!

Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

Anyone who has ever used the Fun before, will know its a play dough you can use in the bath & shower. In the bath, you use it the same way you use the bubble bars - break little bits off and sprinkle it into the water until you have as many bubbles as you want! And in the shower, just break at bit off and use it as either a hand and body soap to wash your skin, or massage it into your hair and use it as a shampoo, or both! This one comes with a white section, black section and orange so you can have fun building your snowman too!

Feeling like a mermaid

Why? Because this morning I showered like one! This means lots of seaweed, lots of sea salt and uplifting fragrances!

So for a shampoo, I used the Lush Big shampoo, and as the name suggests, it makes your hair BIG!

It is a sea salt shampoo, so naturally, contains tons of coarse sea salt - sea salt lifts your hair from the root, so it naturally gives your hair lots of volume. It also contains seaweed and coconut oil to hydrate and soften the hair, and lemon & lime to cleanse the hair, and give it shine. It has a really uplifting fragrance of neroli and orange flower!

The Retread conditioner is made with agar agar gel, which is a type of seaweed - so more mermaid ocean inspired goodness! It contains extra virgin olive oil to give hair tensile strength, organic yoghurt, avocado oil, lanolin and jojoba oil to deeply moisturise, and soya milk to give the hair protein to keep it super healthy. This conditioner is very thick and extremely moisturising, so is most suited for dry hair. However, a good alternative for those with oily hair is Happy Happy Joy Joy also by Lush, as it is a very fine conditioner, and works to moisturise without weighing the hair down - it also had the exact same scent as the Big shampoo!

Ocean Salt facial scrub is made with sea salt to exfoliate the skin, getting rid of any dry or dead skin. Coconut oil, seaweed, mango butter, avocado butter and glycerine moisturise the skin, keeping it hydrated, and lime extracted in vodka deeply cleanses the skin. I would use this one when I feel my skin needs a deep clean, and a good scrub!

The soap I used is the Lush Sea Vegetable soap! It's lemon and lavender scented and contains seaweed and sea salt for more ocean inspired goodness!

For styling I used two of my favourite hair styling products; Sea Spray hair mist and Shine So Bright hair balm. I love these so much because they allow me to still style my hair, but don't damage or dry out the hair, infact, they make your hair even healthier!

I use shine so bright first - you rub a little bit on to each fingertip, then rub your hands together, then apply it to your ends. This is a split ends treatment, so it is full of moisturise ingredients, as the ends of your hair will be the parts that is most dry! Coconut oil and shea butter hydrate and moisturise the hair, while olive oil strengthens and nourishes. This also contains fresh free range eggs to give the hair protein, and candelilla wax, which gives it a waxy yet smooth consistency to enable you to style with it also!

I love sea spray so much - I used to use hairspray on my hair almost everyday, and it really dried it out, so when I discovered this, I was so excited to try it! It has carrageenan seaweed and glycerine in it to moisturise your hair, sea salt and sea water to give your hair volume, and pvp, which is a safe type of glue, to give you a fine hold. This is also neroli and grapefruit scented, so after using all those sea salty, sea weedy, fresh and fruity uplifting scented products, how do you feel? Pretty mermaidy. 

Some of my favourite Lush products

Honey Trap lip balm was the product that introduced me to Lush! It's a sweet, vanilla and white chocolate lip balm with a smooth, buttery texture - perfect if you love sweet scented/tasting things! It contains Shea butter, almond oil and extra virgin olive oil to keep lips nourished and hydrated. It also contains honey, which is a natural antiseptic, peppermint oil to stimulate and keep lips looking plump and full, and oatmeal to soothe the lips. Topped off with vanilla and white chocolate - nom!

I love using the bubblegum lip scrub before using the lip bam to prep the lips! It's made with castor sugar to scrub away dead and dry skin and jojoba oil to moisturise. You basically massage it into your lips, then lick away the sugar - and it tastes like bubblegum!

The Kiss lip gloss is a valentines day product, so it's only available between January-March. It gives the lips a soft soft and subtle pink sheen and tastes like the candy sweets 'love hearts'.

American Cream is my all time favourite beauty product ever! Why? Given that I get my hair dyed blonde, it can get quite dry if I don't look after it, and this conditioner is double strength. It contains lanolin, which comes from sheep wool - this makes the conditioner extremely moisturising. It also contains fresh strawberries which both cleanse the hair, and provides it with tons of vitamin c, and fresh orange juice gives the hair a natural glossy finish. 

This conditioner smells like a vanilla strawberry milkshake - it is scented with fair trade vanilla absolute, vanilla pod infusion and clary sage oil - clary sage is a natural mood boosting essential oil (I always feel so happy in an aromatherapy kind of way when I can smell it rinsing off my hair!).

Daddy-O is an amazing purple shampoo for blondes. It contains violet leaf absolute and lemon to tone and lighten the hair - keeping it blonde, not brassy! Seaweed and coconut oil to hydrate and soften the hair, lemon and lime juice make the hair cuticles lie flat, causing the hair to retract more light and look a lot shinier, and fine sea salt lifts the hair from the roots, giving you more volume! As if this shampoo wasn't amazing enough, it also smells like parma violets! Mmm. 

Also, not just for blondes - it works just as amazingly at giving all colours more volume and shine!

Now, favourite bath products! Super exciting stuff!

I have two bath bombs in a my favourite bath - Sex Bomb bath bomb and Twilight bath bomb. Sex Bomb contains clary sage and jasmine, so has a very feminine floral scent. The clary sage really helps me relax, as it helps boost my mood, the same way chocolate does! This turns the water a beautiful pink colour, and has a little flower inside which floats around the bath once dissolved.

Twilight bath bomb is pink on the outside, blue on the inside and contains silver lustre. The pink and blue mix together and create a deep purple colour, then that along with the silver lustre gives it a super sparkly look - like a twilight sky full of sparkling stars. This one is lavender scented, but more of a sweet lavender rather than herbal lavender, as it also contains tonka absolute! 

I have three bubble bars in my top bath products - creamy candy bubble bar being my all time favourite! This one is scented with fair trade vanilla absolute, and reminds me of vanilla cupcakes! It also contains cocoa butter to moisturise the skin, and gives lots of fluffy white bubbles, with pastel pink coloured water hiding underneath.

Candy mountain bubble bar is the exact same scent as creamy candy - this one is basically the Christmas version of it! Last Christmas it contained silver lustre, so it had the amazingly scrumptious creamy candy scent, turned the water a super vibrant pink, and sparkled! An amazing Christmas treat, or all year round treat if you stock up before they're all gone!

The third bubble bar is the best selling The Comforter - with cassis absolute to give it a blackberry scent, and bergamot for an uplifting citrusy scent - overall the scent reminds me of a creamy ribena scent! This one also turns the water a vibrant pink, and forms mountains of white bubbles.

The last of the lot is the Melting Marshmallow Moment bath melt; used for a relaxing and moisturising bath. This contains tons of cocoa butter to moisturise the skin, and is scented with the best selling, amazing Snow Fairy scent - as Snow Fairy shower gel is only available at Christmas time, this will help to keep Snow Fairy lovers going through out the year!

Lush Sun Care - Lifesaver Sunscreen Lotion Review

Another new product from Lush is the Lifesaver Sunscreen! This one is very rich and cooling on the skin, and has a high SPF of 30.

It contains eucalyptus and mint infusion to cool and soothe the skin - particularly good if you're going to be out in the sun all day! Cocoa butter, Shea butter & murumuru butter to deeply moisturise, coconut oil & avocado oil nourish and soften the skin, and rose hip oil is full of vitamin c to keep the skin super healthy!

Like the rest of the sun care range, this contains many natural ingredients to nourish and moisturise the skin, and synthetic sunscreens to protect the skin from UV rays. Sesame oil acts as an effective power booster for the synthetic sunscreens, and nourishes the skin, while calamine powder is rich in zinc oxide, which is already used in many sunscreens, as it basically gives the skin a protective barrier (for this reason, it's also used in many powdered foundations). 

This cream has a very uplifting and citrusy scent, and when first applied it does have an oily feeling the way most sunscreens do, but after about 15-20 minutes it sinks into the skin and leaves the skin feeling smooth and smelling like an orange and mint ice tea! 

Lush Sun Care - Million Dollar Facial Moisturiser Review

So, we have a whole range of new suncare products in my work, and they're all full of natural ingredients that focus on nourishing the skin, and synthetic sunscreens that focus on protecting your skin from UV rays. This is something I feel Lush has been missing for a while, giving that the only product containing SPF we had was British Nanny facial moisturiser - until now, yay!

I've been using the sun care range for the past week, and I can honestly say that they are absolutely amazing! My favourite from the range is the new facial moisturiser - Million Dollar Moisturiser, with SPF 30!

It contains jojoba oil and evening primrose oil to soften and nourish the skin without being too heavy - evening primrose is also balancing and restorative.

It also contains sesame seeds, oatmeal & ground almonds, which create a soothing milk that sinks easily into the skin, and helps keep your skin soft, plump and youthful. The synthetic sunscreens help build up the SP & UVPF, protecting the skin from UV rays, and sesame oil helps to boost the effective power of the synthetic sunscreens, and is extremely nourishing on your skin.

Other amazing ingredients such as fair trade Shea butter and glycerine deeply moisturise, and honey brightens, moisturises, and is a natural antiseptic!

You can feel this moisturiser softening your skin, but also sinking into your skin without leaving any oily residue behind. It leaves your skin feeling soft and matte - as if you've just applied a primer!

As a huge bonus, Lush have also added a bit of their Feeling Younger skin tint into this moisturiser, for the same purpose as Feeling Younger, the lustrous sparkles reflect light, making your skin appear brighter and youthful!

Skin softening ingredients, SPF protectant AND sparkles? I'M SOLD!

Lush D'Fluff Strawberry Shaving Soap Review

We got a couple of new products in my work, and I'm always talking about them in and out of the shop, so I thought I'd write an online review of them! Starting with my favourite: D'Fluff Strawberry shaving soap (it's more of a cream really).

A few months ago, probably around January, I recall having a conversation with one of my colleagues about the shaving creams, and how we are definitely missing a sweet scented one, and it would be lovely of we got one - one month later we were informed of this!

This product was actually inspired by the American treat 'Strawberry Marshmallow Fluff' which already got me excited to try it. It's a pretty pink colour, and smells like sweet, white chocolatey strawberries!

 It contains egg whites to give it a fluffy, light consistency. Egg whites are also an amazing source of protein for the skin!

It also contains rose hip oil which is full of vitamin c, fresh strawberries to soothe the skin, cocoa butter to nourish and moisturise, rose absolute to calm redness and fairtrade vanilla absolute to contribute to the beautiful sweet scent.

It feels very luxurious to use, and the scent lingers on the skin for ages! I'd say anyone who likes the more sweet scented products would enjoy using this - and it's quite rare that you come across a sweet scented shaving cream, they're generally citrusy & fresh scented!

Also, any Lushie that's ever used the Yummy Yummy Yummy shower gel, or the Strawberry Feels Forever massage bar - it smells the exact same as those two products!

Oh, and this also makes and amazing shower smoothie! 

So I work in Lush

I thought I'd talk a little bit about my love for the company

So, what was it about the company that caught my interests?

During December '05, me and my friends spent a lot of our nights in the city that is Glasgow doing fun festive things - getting festive latte's from Starbucks, going to George Square to look at the huge Christmas tree and ride the carousel ponies, going to see magical movies, and going to the Russian market for 'Marzipan lumps' which were delicious!
I remember very vividly walking up Buchanan Street with my Crème brûlée latte, talking to my friend Craig about how much I loved this time of year; the decorations are beautiful, everything seems to sparkle, it's okay to be a little more indulgent, and everyone seems a lot more happy! Just as we were discussing this, we were approaching Lush, which was enticing us in with it's amazing smell, then even more so when we saw the staff dressed as fairies and angels, and saw how happy and joyful everyone inside looked!
So we walked into the shop, and were immediately greeted with happy hellos from 2 members of staff. I loved how colourful everything was, it all looked so vibrant and beautiful, and reminded me of a candy shop. There was lots of colour, lots of sparkle and so much joy and fun going on - I was so excited by everything I was seeing! A member of staff approached me, and I told her I loved her outfit - she was dressed as Snow Fairy, so she told me all about the festive treat that is Snow Fairy then showed me it, let me smell it, let me wash my hands with it.
When I first saw it, I was already intrigued - it was bubblegum pink, with blue glitter through it, and anything with the word fairy in it's name has got to be amazing! When I smelled it, I felt so much nostalgia - it reminded me of eating pear drops and bubbaloos with my childhood best friend Iona. I got myself a small bottle, and the sales girl gave me a bath bomb to take away named 'Jingle Spells'.

So that was my first experience with Lush, and that's what caught my interest in it - lots of nostalgia from Snow Fairy! and now when I smell Snow Fairy, not only do I get childhood nostalgia, but also nostalgia from that first Lush experience. That's what Snow Fairy is supposed to do, take you back to the most magical and sweetest time of your life. However, even if it hadn't had that effect, I'd still love it, because I love anything sweet, girly and magical!

Why did I decide I want to work for Lush?I wanted to work for Lush more because of their ethics and beliefs - their beautiful products come second!
It's not hard to figure out that Lush are highly against animal testing - it's on all of their bags, in their magazines, and any sales assistant will most likely mention it to you at some point! Not only are their products not tested on animals, they go out their way to make sure every ingredient listed has not been tested on animals, and that everyone they are buying from does not support animal testing. Many cosmetic companies who claim they have not tested on animals only refer to the finished product, while many of the ingredients in that product has been tested on animals. I hate that companies do stuff like that - lie without really lying. So, the fact that Lush are so honest just makes me love them even more.They do ethical buying, ensuring that most of their ingredients are 100% traceable.
Lush are a company that focus on helping people, animals and our own planet, and they encourage everyone to do so! With products such as the Charity Pot hand and body lotion, they are constantly raising money for charities that cover animal, human and environmental causes - all profits minus VAT on this lotion go to these charities, Lush make nothing off it! And right now they are raising money to save badgers - the all money made off of the May Day bath bomb go to a charity called 'Save Me' which aims to raise enough money to have badgers vaccinated rather than culled!
Lush also don't believe in spending millions on advertising when all that money could be going into making beautiful, fresh and honest products. I feel Lush is a business I connect with through ethics and beliefs - let's all be nice to each other, to our planet, to the animals. We are all equal!

And here are some pictures of me in work - not to mention the amazing award I won just after Christmas!♥ 

With our Valentines Day special, Prince Charming shower gel

Campaigning for our sign of love campaign - because love is equal

I won best Snow Fairy!