LUSH Caca Rouge

Many people aren't aware but Lush stock a range of henna hair dyes, which are used to colour the hair naturally without any nasties! I picked up Caca Rouge after googling lots of pictures - it seemed to be pretty close to the colour I normally dye it so thought I didn't have much to lose.

The bar was surprisingly large and the lovely sales assistant said that I'd only need about half of it for one application but silly me used far too much hot water when mixing it all together so had to use the remaining blocks to try and salvage the mixture...typical! Now, I'm not going to lie to you, this is MESSY, but I loved it.

You mix the henna with hot water in a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of hot water. The henna does take a while to melt down completely but I just left it to it and just stirred every so often. Henna is renowned for having a strong smell and Lush do do their best to cover this up - when in the bar, it smells gorgeous, the cocoa butter is definitely the predominant smell, but then when it's all mixed up, there it definitely had an earthy smell (strong, but not unpleasant!).

Now for the fun bit! I basically just slapped this on my head - it's basically like smothering mud all over your hair (and definitely felt like shampooing dried up mud out of my hair!). On reflection, I probably should have been a bit more methodical but it seemed to work at the time!

Lush suggest that you wrap your hair in clingfilm for stronger red tones (so that's what I did) but you can also just leave it as it is to oxidise, if you want a more natural, browner result. After leaving on for three hours, I was really impressed with the colour, I couldn't put my finger on what it was but I got so many compliments on my hair colour for the next few days. I think it added richer tones and shine to my already red hair.

I think the results would be much more striking on someone who wasn't already a redhead but I was genuinely really pleased with the results, although Lush say that this is more of a "treatment" because of the moisturising ingredients, my hair felt in the same condition as if I'd used a chemical dye.

Have you or would you use a henna dye? Lush also do a reddy brown henna and a lovely black henna, so there's something for most!

Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Hello Cotton

Barry M Nail Paint #301 Block Orange

It's no secret that Topshop nail polishes are by far my faves EVER but this has meant that my original (and trusty) Barry M nail paints have been a bit neglected. I was searching high and low for the perfect orange nail polish and this is it!

It's not neon, which frankly looks terrible on my pale skin, and it's not pastel like a lot of the more autumnal oranges that Topshop seemed to have. This is just a pure orange in it's simplest form - it's definitely love. Great on fingers AND toes, it's definitely been a great way to top up on my orange obsession. I know Barry M formulas can sometimes be a bit hit and miss but this is completely opaque with one coat, I was seriously impressed (and at three quid, you really can't go wrong, can you?)

What's your favourite summery nail colour? More of a pastels or brights girl?

Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Hello Cotton

Current Obsession: Almonds

Anyone I went to school with knows I had a serious cherry bakewell addiction, so when it got down to weening myself off my one box a day (!) habit, I needed a big marzipan fix somehow. So here are my favourite almond products that I just can not put down at the moment!

First up are two products which I'm sure need no introduction: the L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil and the L'Occitane Almond Supple Skin Oil. Both products have a much more "grown-up" almond scent, with the shower oil only smelling great whilst you use it but it's the body oil that really stands out fragrance-wise - it lingers on the skin all day and I can't stop smelling my arms when I have this on! My only gripe is that you need a lot of the body oil to cover yourself so I've been desperately rationing it (this stuff ain't cheap!).

Now, the Body Shop's Almond Body Butter is the sickly sweet marzipan smell I was hoping for - this stuff smells amazing! It's aimed at normal/dry skin so probably isn't as nourishing as I'd like but I generally love the thickness of body butters regardless, and the Body Shop's are definitely my fave!

Finally, is a product that has sadly been discontinued (why Lush, why?!): the Creamed Almond and Coconut Shower Smoothie, which is a weird concept to explain...it's like a soap but much, much softer, so you can literally scoop this stuff out and slap it on! I'm not a massive fan of coconut but the main scents that come through are definitely vanilla and almond. This is packed full of natural oils so my skin absolutely loved this.

Are you as crazy for almond as I am? What's your favourite scent?

 

Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Hello Cotton

How to Wear DoubleWear

I'm just going to put it out there - Estee Lauder's Double Wear foundation is my favourite night time foundation EVER. The colour (Shell 1C1) is a perfect match for me and the coverage is just amazing, without being too cakey or too orange. Saying that, I know a lot of people struggle with the consistancy of it, maybe it's a mixture of the packaging or the thickness of the product (even though it doesn't feel heavy on the skin) but I thought I'd share how I make it work for me!

Long lasting foundations are notorious for clinging to any dry patches on your skin, and whilst I don't find this particularly drying, I do like to put a barrier between my skin and the foundation so I use the Body Shop's Moisture It Skin Primer. I'm absolutely loving this - I like using primers but it's so difficult to find one's marketed for dry skin so this was a great discovery for me.

Next, I'll mix up the foundation and some of the No7 Skin Illuminator in "Peach" on the back of my hand, which just helps to warm up my complexion a bit and gives my base more of a radiant finish. Because of the thickness, I'll then apply a thin layer with the Sigma F80 brush and I'll then go on to add another thin layer if I'm off on a night out! This stops the foundation looking cakey and the kabuki brush really buffs the foundation into the skin.

So there we are! I hope you found that useful - I know there's generally a love/hate affair with Double Wear.

What's your favourite night time foundation?

Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Hello Cotton

Figs & Rouge Organic Balms

The Figs & Rouge 100% Organic Balm has got to be my favourite product to come out of a beauty box EVER, so much so, that I was on Feel Unique ordering a second one less than an hour after receiving it (damn you, 20% temptation code!).

These are marketed as a multi-purpose product, but I've got to say I only ever use them as a lip balm. They're a million times better than anything I've ever used before - the balms are actively nourishing, rather than just being a barrier on the lips (Vaseline does absolutely nowt for me!), as they contain lots of lovely natural oils.

These smell and taste absolutely gorgeous - ideally I wanted a larger cherry and vanilla pot, but the pomegranate is lovely and fruity. I've been leaving the big tin (I say big, it's the size of a normal lip balm, but the smaller version is absolutely diddy!) by the side of my bed and chucking the cherry and vanilla version in my handbag.

What lip balms are you liking at the moment? What's your favourite beauty box product?

Bloglovin | Facebook | Twitter | Hello Cotton