Lush Haul

I've spoken about Lush products on this blog quite a lot over the years, but it occurred to me the other day that I've never written a whole post dedicated to the brand. So, here we are with a Lush haul! 

A few weeks ago I popped into my local Lush with the intention of buying a fair few bits (my student loan had just dropped) and that's exactly what happened. I think I'm going to talk through everything in the order I picked it up in. Sooooo, the first thing that caught my attention was the Bunny Moon Jelly Face Mask. I've always been intrigued by their jelly masks as they're so different from their fresh face masks. I have combination/spot prone skin and was told this was probably the best mask to go for as it has honey in which works as an antiseptic, rose oil which helps to soothe and chamomile which calms the skin. The rose oil is really prominent, so if you're a rose fan you'll love the smell of this mask. I do find this helps calm my skin down and it's always nice to use just before going to bed.

The second mask I picked up was the famous Cup O' Coffee. I decided I needed this in my life when Gem mentioned it in one of her recent blog posts. Because I have a combination skin type, I tend to get really dry patches around my nose and sometimes on areas of my cheeks. This is the perfect exfoliation mask and smells absolutely incredible; that is if you like coffee of course haha. Let's step away from skincare for the moment, and onto haircare.  

At the beginning of the month, I got my hair diiiid, which involved a lot of bleach. Everyone knows what bleach means, dry hair. Consequently, I was on the hunt for products that'd give my hair a bit of moisture. I'd seen a few people talk about the hot oil treatments and wanted to see what they were all about. I decided to pick up the Marilyn Hot Oil Treatment, as its targetted towards blondes. I'm yet to try this but it smells amazing and I can imagine it being so nourishing! The other haircare product I picked up was a pot of H'Suan Wen Hua. Now, this really is all about nourishing and giving your hair a boost of moisture. It has quite a strong scent which I can't tell whether I love or hate...its an odd one. Kinda smells like chai latte, kinda smells like a gone off cinnamon biscuit?! Anywho, I can get past this because my hair has never felt so soft! 

Last but by no means least, Dirty Shaving Cream. I'm aware this is aimed more towards men, but I absolutely love the 'dirty' scent, its one of my faves. Shaving cream is shaving cream right?! So I now use this when shaving my legs and it works wonders. I'm sometimes prone to shaving rash but this stops that in its tracks and works well to soothe my legs. 

What's your favourite Lush product?

- Lucy 

My Current Skincare Routine

Over the past couple of months, I've been switching up my skincare routine and trying out some new products, so I thought I'd share my thoughts. So, to take my makeup off initially, I use the Garnier Micellar Water, which I've been using for a couple of years now. It does such a great job and doesn't irritate my skin at all. After that, I go in with my trusty Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser. I am obsessed with this stuff as it feels so gentle and has such a gorgeous subtle rose scent, which I'm sure so many of you are familiar with. My skin seems to love this cleanser so I think it's going to be a staple in my routine from now on!

After cleansing, I like to go in with a toner. When I was in London a couple of months ago, I popped into The Ordinary pop up shop in Shoreditch. I'd heard great reviews about their Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, so I decided to pick it up. Plus it was only £6.75, so I couldn't really go wrong. I just pour a little bit of this onto a small cotton pad and gently wipe it all over my face. It's incredible at removing any excess makeup/dirt from the day, even if it does sting a tiny bit sometimes. At this point, I usually clean my teeth whilst waiting for the toner to sink into my skin properly.

Once that's settled into my skin, its serum time. The one I've been using for a while now is the Klairs Rich Moist Soothing Serum*. I've loved using this in the warmer weather as well, as it just feels so cooling on the skin. Although I have a combination/oily skin type, it's also a bit dehydrated so this really helps to fix that problem! Whilst this is sinking in, I also pop a bit of the Botanics Hydrating Eye Cream* on. I never used to bother with eye cream, but I suffer from quite dark circles so decided it was about time to use something on them. I haven't noticed a massive difference I must say, however it definitely calms my eyes down when they're a lil bit puffy.

Finally, a product I've been waiting to talk about on the blog for ages - the SOS Solution For Scars*. I've had my fair share of breakouts over the years and I've been left with some scarring on my cheeks/chin which, to be honest, I wish wasn't there. I've been applying this cream morning and night across the areas where most of my scarring is and I have to say I'm starting to see a subtle difference. The scars I have are quite dark/red from spots that I popped or picked at (oops) and I'm surprised at how well this has reduced the redness from them. Don't get me wrong, my scarring hasn't all gone yet but I am starting to see a difference and I'm hoping the longer I use this, the more it'll continue to fade. Another product I like to use on pesky spots is the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. This stuff really is a miracle in a bottle I'm telling ya! Whenever I have a breakout or the odd under the skin spot, I'll pop some of this on and overnight the spots are visibly reduced - it's amazing!

Sorry that this post was so rambly, I just love talking about skincare and it always intregues me to know what other people use in their routine. If you have any recommendations for combination skin I'm all ears.

- Lucy

PR Samples/Gifted Items*

You May Delay, But Time Will Not

It's that time of year again, yes exam season. Luckily for me, I won't be sitting in a hall staring at an exam paper this year (praise the lord), but I do have deadlines and various projects to be getting on with. I like to try and be as organised as possible, especially at this time of year, so I thought I'd share a few goodies I got to pick out from the Old English Company. 

Let's start with the smaller bits and pieces, shall we? Since we're made to wear our student IDs at uni now, I thought these pin badges would look so cute attached to my lanyard and jazz it up a bit. The first one I chose was their Buy Me Pizza Enamel Pin*. The full thing actually says, 'buy me pizza and tell me I'm pretty', which to be honest sums me up well. The second one I spotted was the Love Avocado Enamel Pin*. I know how much of a cliché avocado has become, but I honestly love it. Avocado on a bagel is literally one of my fave things to eat, so I knew I had to own this lil pin to show my love for them haha! Alongside the two pin badges, I decided to pick up this gorgeous Monstera Leaf Keyring* to pop on my car keys. I definitely already have way too many keyrings weighing down my poor car keys, but I couldn't resist this. It's actually quite lightweight, so hopefully, it won't make much of a difference when added to the abundance of keyrings I already have. 

As I'm doing a photography degree, I always seem to have rolls of film that need developing or SD cards that I need to carry around. So, I picked up this super cute Hot Mess Makeup Pouch* to keep them all in. I just love that it says 'hot mess' on it because I mean...I can relate, haaa. Okay so onto the less frivolous items, the more organisational bits and pieces. The first thing I spotted and knew I needed in my life was the Brush Stroke Weekly Agenda Notepad*. I will literally buy anything and everything that gives me the illusion that I have my life together. But seriously, this is actually really helpful as I can see what I've got to do for the week and it makes it seem more manageable. Something else to help me out is the Motivational 2018 Desktop Calendar*. I usually just use the calendar on my phone, but it's quite nice to have a physical one sitting on my desk to have a look at. Also, each month holds a motivational quote which is super cute! The final 'organisational' item I picked up was the You May Delay Notebook*. I'm a sucker for a good notebook and I own way too many, to be honest.  I love this quote because again, it sums me up so well - I am the queen of procrastination. Finally, I picked up this sweet lil' Love Heart Card* which I'm sure will come in handy for an occasion of some sort!

- Lucy

- Post in collaboration with Old English Company -

Travelling Abroad As An Emetophobic

First and foremost I want to include a trigger warning, this post will be talking about issues surrounding emetophobia. Travelling abroad (or anywhere for that matter), can be such a strain on mental health. It's made even worse if you suffer from a mental illness and can make you feel uneasy. I suffer from emetophobia (fear of sick), which causes me to have intrusive thoughts and severe panic attacks. Its safe to say I was pretty anxious about travelling abroad, but I was also determined to not let my emetophobia take over my mind and ruin my holiday. So here we have a few things I put in place to help manage my anxiety whilst away.

TAKE ANTI-SICKNESS TABLETS / ANTACIDS

A few months ago I went to my doctor and asked if there was anything else that could be done to help me manage my emetophobia and she prescribed me anti-sickness tablets. Even though I don't necessarily need them, they really help to act as a safety blanket for me. I decided to take one of these most mornings, so I was set for the day and hopefully feel no nausea whatsoever. I must say this really helped me out, whether it was a placebo or not it put me at ease and made me feel safe. Alongside the anti-sickness tablets, I took some antacids with me because anxiety can cause acid reflux/heartburn (as gross as it sounds). But again, if you feel that coming on, you just have to take one of these and hopefully, you'll be good to go!

WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE

This is actually a title of a mindfulness book, that I'd highly recommend. This was a statement I was constantly telling myself whilst I was away. Wherever you go, there you are. There's nothing you can do about the situation you're in, once you're somewhere, that's it, what can be done. So I tried my best to live in the moment and not even think 5 minutes into the future and just live in the now. It takes a lot of practice to do this, but its definitely a technique I've found very helpful.

USE TRAVEL SICKNESS BANDS

Something I found out through watching Lily Pebbles Instagram stories when she was away in Miami. I don't suffer from travel sickness myself, but my emetophobia likes to convince me that I do. These wristbands work by exerting pressure on the acupuncture point P6, by the means of a plastic button. I don't know much about acupuncture, but I'm always willing to try out methods of reducing any nausea that doesn't involve medication. I wore these on the plane, again mostly as a safety blanket and to put my mind at ease. 

I know that these three things aren't necessarily the answer to solving emetophobia, but they really did help me to keep calm for the entirety of the trip. I'd love to hear any other ways you keep your anxiety at bay when you're travelling!

- Lucy  

My Go-To Spring Outfit

I know the weather in these photos doesn't really scream spring. Sadly we still haven't had much in the way of sun in England, but fingers crossed next week is a lil bit warmer! Anywhoooo, I thought I'd share one of my go-to outfits for springtime, when it's not too hot but not too cold either. You know the in between weather when you don't need a coat but you still need something?! 

I think we should start with the 'statement' piece of the outfit. This is the Rust Button Up Cardigan* from Tobi and I looove it. It's come out slightly more orange in these photos than it is in real life but it still stands as a bit of a statement against the blues/blacks. I decided to pair this with a plain black tshirt from Zara, which only cost me a couple of quid. I've also been obsessed with Mom jeans lately, and I recently picked up this pair from Topshop. Although they're on the pricey side, they're so comfy and last a really long time in comparison to the Joni or Jamie jeans. 

I also popped on my favourite Topshop Western Belt, and I really like the way this stands out with the cropped tshirt and coloured cardi! Finally, there's no surprise here that I've chosen to wear my trusty Converse. I just absolutely love the way these look with rolled up Mom jeans, I feel like there's something quite retro about it? 

This cardigan is going to be so good transitioning into autumn as well, especially with the rust colour that it is! 

- Lucy

96 Hours In Berlin

So, myself and my boyfriend booked a trip to Berlin back in January and the time to fly out there finally arrived. I'm so excited to be writing this post. I got back last night (as I'm writing this on Friday), and honestly, I'm so sad that I'm back in the UK. I had such an amazing four days exploring Berlin and eating all the yummy food, I can't wait to go back already. So here's what we got up to in the time we spent in Berlin.

DAY ONE

Day one of the trip included a very early start of 4am, to catch a 7:15 flight. Although I was tired af, it was worth it as we got to spend the whole day in Berlin. We checked into our hotel and swiftly went for a little explore. Obviously not knowing Germany very well, we weren't aware of the fact that pretty much everything's shut on bank holidays, so we were kind of limited on what we could do. However, the zoo was open so we decided to have a wander around that. It was quite busy, probably because there wasn't much else to do haha. After we'd finished there, we decided to wander further afield and headed towards the Tiergarten. 

We walked through part of that, which is essentially a big park. After walking through part of the Tiergarten, we saw the Berlin Victory Column. I really don't know much about this, other than it was built between 1864-1873. From there, we decided to carry on walking towards Brandenberg Gate. It's a very long stretch of road from the Victory Column to Brandenberg Gate, but there are a few sites to see on the way. One of which was the Soviet War Memorial, which was very grand. Just on from this was (finally) the Brandenberg Gate, which was stunning. As we were walking back towards our hotel, we decided to have a look at the Reichstag Building, which was pretty much just next to the Brandenberg Gate. The Reichstag Building is the current home of the German parliament and has a lot of history behind it. The grounds are really nice as well, which I'm sure would be perfect for picnics in the summer. So that was our very busy first day in Berlin, but we managed to see so much!

DAY TWO

The first thing we did on the second day, was head towards the Art Of Banksy exhibition, in Bikini Berlin. It was quite pricey but worth seeing for sure. After this, we decided to use the U-Bahn (the underground) to get around, which was surprisingly much easier than I imagined. The first place we headed was towards the centre of Berlin, and more specifically Checkpoint Charlie. This wasn't too much of a walk from the tube station, and the sun was shining so we were happy. I must say, Checkpoint Charlie isn't the most exciting tourist attraction in the world, as obviously it's been built around over the years. However, it was still really interesting to see where the Berlin Wall crossing point was. 

From there, we decided to go and see what was left of the Berlin Wall. We hopped back on the U-Bahn and headed towards the East Side Gallery. This is where the remainder of the wall is left, and all the way along it, artists have painted murals on it. This was pretty cool to see, as there was such a variety of artwork, a lot of which had a political message behind it. Once we had seen the most part of the wall (and had a well-deserved rest in the sunshine), we headed back on the U-Bahn towards the Ritter Sport shop. I love Ritter Sport chocolate, so this was far too exciting for me haha. I picked up 4 bars, but honestly, I could have bought the whole shop, there were so many yummy flavours. After we'd finished there we decided it was time to head back to the hotel and call it a day. Although we did go to Spreegold for dinner, which was incredible. I posted a photo of what I had on my Instagram, so if you want to see that you can follow me here. 

DAY THREE

Day three started with the usual breakfast at Spreegold, and then we made the short trip to the Olympic Stadium. The weather on the third day was by far the best, and it reached 20 degrees! This was perfect for walking around the Olympic stadium, and it made it look 10x prettier. It was built for the 1936 Summer Olympics and has had so many events held there since. The architecture is incredibly beautiful and they've kept a lot of the original features, which is so nice to see. After we'd looked around the stadium, we headed towards the Memorial of the Murdered Jews. This is a memorial, that consists of hundreds of concrete blocks, the commemorate the murdered Jews during the war. The meaning of it is open to interpretation, but most people say it looks like a crematorium, which I have to agree with. After this, we decided to go and get a pretzel and sit and enjoy the sun. There was a seating area in the of the roads leading up towards Brandenberg Gate so that's where we sat and enjoyed our food for a bit. 

After that, we decided to get an ice cream and go for another wander. This quickly turned into a small shopping trip, which I wasn't complaining about haha. We saw signs for The Mall of Berlin, so we decided to try and find that. Although it's a huge shopping mall, it was quite underwhelming in my opinion. Maybe that's because there weren't the shops I was used to from back home, but it was still cool to look around. We then walked back to where we started and went to Vapiano's for dinner, which was so different to anything I'm used to. You have to go up and order your own food, you then get a pager and it buzzes when your foods ready, so you have to go and collect it. Basically, it's a self-service resturant, and the pizza I had was delicious. 

DAY FOUR

Our last day in the beautiful city of Berlin. We had our last breakfast at Spreegold (sigh) and then headed towards the Museum of Photography. As a photography student, this was a must for me as I do love a good gallery (lol, how old am I)?! Although we had to pay 10 euros each to get in, it was pretty good. There were three exhibitions on, the main one focusing on Helmut Newton. It took us just over an hour to wander around, and I thought it was pretty good. 

After that, we had another little walk around Bikini Berlin which was a smaller shopping centre right by our hotel. There were some really cute shops there and they even had some pop-up shops, including one called 'little beauty box', which was right up my street. We also walked around some of the outside shops, but by this point we were both quite tired. So a lot of the time was spent sitting in coffee shops, eating bread/cake haha. Then it was time to head to the airport for our flight back. 

Overall, I had the most incredible time exploring Berlin and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else (thanks Dan). I'll definitely be back one day, and hopefully be back to explore other parts of Germany too. 

- Lucy