Saturday 25 February 2017

A Very Eventful London Trip

There were nine of us going on this day out together, including my parents, my boyfriend, my sisters and their friends. Everyone slept over the night before so we could leave at six-thirty the following morning. It all went to plan, at least to begin with and I did have a very good day. We all separated into our own little groups and went off to do what we wanted to. Matt, Pia, Guy and I went first to The Clink Prison Museum which was interesting but also very horrific, where we tied up Guy to the torture chair and left him for ages before coming back to get him. Afterwards we separated. Matt and I went to Borough Market, The Tate Modern and then got the tube to Chinatown where we explored the supermarkets, ate spring rolls and rice, and bought a Chinese lantern. At the end of the day everyone met for lunch at Pizza Express. 

What made the trip eventful was that when we were on the tube back to Euston, one stop before, it was announced that Euston was closed due to Storm Dorris. There was a stunned silence before half of the tube carriages sprung into action and swarmed towards the exits. Once outside we decided that the best plan was to stay in a youth hostel overnight... all nine off us. So back on the tube we went, only this time in the opposite direction. One of the best parts about this was that we all stopped in Primark and got matching pink pajamas. When we got back to the youth hostel everyone would take turns to go into the bathroom and get changed, emerging to cheers and applause when they came out in their pink shirts and heart-printed bottoms. I'd like to remind you that, regardless of gender, we all wore this identical outfit. Guy, my sister's best friend, had been uttering protests during our trip to Primark so, when he emerged clad in pink hearts with his trainers still on, waving his hands in the air as he exited our minuscule bathroom, we all applauded like hooligans. We waved and clapped our hands in the air, rattled the bunk beds and yelled. Breakfast the next day was great also, overall everyone had so much fun camping together on this spontaneous trip.


Wednesday 22 February 2017

Lush Products to Try This Year


Foot Soak and Fancy Free
To be honest I expected this to be a little more like a bath bomb than it was. After filling a big tub with warm water, I dropped it in only for nothing to happen. Eventually it did sort of dissolve to form a less than appealing sight of murky water with floating bits in. Perhaps that's the price to pay for natural products. I feel it would be helpful if lush added a "How to Use" section to their website with more precise directions because I can never tell simple things like how much I need per use of things. The outcome was very good though, I soaked my feet for about forty minuets and they were softer after. I found that the most effective outcome was achieved when I used a pumice stone after taking my feet out. My overall opinion of this is that it was worth getting.




The Rough with the Smooth Body Scrub
Exfoliator is something I have blogged about before, highlighting the benefits and importance of it. I consider it to be an essential part of taking good care of your skin. I was very happy to discover this product, an exfoliator that isn't for your face but for your body. I have wanted something like this for a very long time. If you have rough skin then regular use of this will definitely help you achieve smoother. It may feel harsh at first but it does feel like its working and if your skin can stand it then you should definitely use it.




Strawberry Feels Forever Massage Balm
Currently I have two of these. I love it, it's probably my second favourite lush smell. I use this weekly and should probably use it daily but rarely remember. I use it as if it were a body moisturiser, applying just a layer. It really does leave your skin smelling and feeling so nice.  I like the look of the rest of the massage balms on the lush website and would be excited to use those too.




Pumice Powder Foat Soap
I was skeptical at first as to whether I would actually like this product, especially as it is something for your feet, an area of your body that is rarely noticed. Also products intended to be abrasive to your feet often need a lot of pressure applied in order to actually work. I felt like, with this fact in mind, this product would be almost all used up in after one go. Surprisingly this went far better than anticipated. Hardly any was used in one go and it did work. It is gentle, not tickly and leaves you with very smooth feet.




Each Peach (and Two's a Pear!) Massage Balm
This is my favourite smell in lush, the very top of the top. It smells amazing like a citrus fruit and I consider it to be like the strawberry scented one, in the sense that I use it as if it were a body moisturiser that isn't cold to apply at all. I replace it once used and I have raved about this before on my blog. It is the best.




Razzle Dazzle Bath Oil
My sister and I had mixed experiences concerning this product, hers better than mine. The contrast between our two tales is surprising, considering we both got the same thing from the same store. She found that once dropped in the bath, glitter spiraled out everywhere turning the bath a magical pink colour. Personally when I opened the packet my initial reaction was disappointment. It looked to me to be some sort of greasy play-dough. Putting it in the bath was a little more exciting admittedly but I didn't find it did much besides turn the bath water a pale, not so glittery pink. The smell was very good just like everything else in lush but, I wasn't blown away by this particular bath oil. Unless a pink bath is on the bucket list, this is not really something I'd recommend.




MMMelting Marshmallow Moment Bath Oil
I really, really loved the smell of this. I think it could be described as small but powerful. After dropping it into my bath my skin was so smooth the following day. I'd just run my hand over my arm and it would feel so polished even though it wasn't applied directly to that area. The smell is heavenly, marshmallow scented things always seems so perfect.



Monday 6 February 2017

Books to Read February ǀ 2017


I always write on my blog about things that I myself would like to be seeing on other peoples blogs. Every time someone suggests a good book to me I always write it down because I feel like you can never really can discover everything all by yourself. There is also a theory that we are living in our own little echo chamber where we read only what we choose and we follow who we choose on social media so that all we hear is what we want to hear. Therefore I feel like taking book suggestions or a reading list from someone else could really broaden our mindsets, being well-read never hurt anyone. Here I have listed a few books that I myself have enjoyed and I will try to upload more suggestions fairly frequently. If you have a book you think I'd enjoy then feel free to let me know in the comments.


Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
In my opinion this is the most flawless book in the world. Even though it is written in a language that essentially seems to have come from a different era, the story line is so perfect and pieces together so well that none of that matters at all. No knots are really left untied and the book ends on such a positive note. It is satisfying to feel like all the times the protagonist so openly expresses such deep emotions, it has not been in vain. It is such an emotionally stirring thing to read, cleverly introducing so many extra themes and ideas. It really is a work of art. My favourite film version of this is the series from 2011. This would be my first recommendation but I feel the character of Joe is better portrayed in the 1946 film.



Blue Monday by Nicci French
This is definitely something to read if you have felt yourself getting gradually less and less interested in books. After not reading a decent book for a while, I often find myself less motivated to try again to find one. Blue Monday is something I am so glad I stumbled across. There are several books in the series (this being the first) so there is even more to keep you entertained after this book is finished. I think it is written so effectively in order to keep you interested and then to dramatically build tension towards the end. If you haven't found a book that you couldn't put down in a long while then this is for you. It refreshes your love of reading fiction. Nicci French is the pseudonym of husband-and-wife tema Nicci Gerrad and Sean French. The combination of two people who write psychological thrillers could definitely contribute to just how great this story is.


The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
This book is written from the perspective of someone who has been greatly affected by something that has happened in his childhood. It is so cleverly written and I feel you experience the same emotions that the main character feels, you get excited about the things he gets excited by, even though as the reader you know that most of it is motivated by the emotional corruption from his childhood experience. Because of this, I believe Nathan Filer shows how easily influenced you can be by your infant years. This is very reminiscent of a book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. They are both written from the perspectives of people who do not think like your average person, yet are so cleverly constructed that you remain drawn to the character and their actions anyway. I read and reread this book and even bought two copies of it in the end.


The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
Robert Galbraith is pseudonym for J.K Rowling. She chose to write under this name in order to receive unvarnished feedback on her work and in order to work without hype or expectation. She has said, even now her cover has been blown, that she writes under this name so it can be distinguished from her other works. Unsurprisingly I found this book to be a very good read. It wasn't particularly any more difficult than reading Harry Potter, like you'd perhaps expect a book aimed adults to be, rather it was fairly simplistic on the scale of things in my opinion. It did include immaculate descriptions, I love the way you can visualise things so easily with her writing. In this way I believe the writing style to be recognisable from the Harry Potter books. Even though I personally didn't find the ending The Cuckoo's Calling to be giant shock, the rest of it and the build up is amazing.