Lush Secret Garden Bath Bomb

I'm quite delayed with this one as it's from the Easter/Mother's Day collection but due to the move I hadn't had a bath in a few months (not in the food and there was also a leak...)!  So for the first bath in my new flat I decided to use Lush's Secret Garden.  It has a floral - as you would imagine - of rose absolute, wild orange and rosewood oils.

When I dropped it in the water, it started to fizz away and as the green and pink mixed, it made the water a very dubious grey colour!  However as there is more green in the bomb, it soon took over and the water was a much nicer shade of green!

As it reached the end of it's life, I realised it was spluttering (yes, actually spitting them out!) out some little flower petals!  I did know this at the time but after a few months I'd forgot so I was slightly alarmed to see black things floating around my until I realised what they were... I do enjoy petals but these were a bit odd to be honest, there wasn't many and some just looked like bit of dark mush!  I have seen it compared to Tisty Tosty which also has petals in it but I haven't tried it to say for myself.

The smell of it was pleasant but I would've liked it to be a bit stronger.  If you like floral scents but only quite subtle ones then this would be ideal for you.

Overall I did enjoy the experience of using Secret Garden but not going to bother repurchasing if they bring it out again next year.  I think it was £2.50 which is fairly cheap for Lush, and it's also vegan.

<3

Dinner at Chiquitos

At some point before I moved down to Manchester, Chris and I went on a wee date to Chiquitos and I thought I'd share my meal with you and do a mini review!

We started off with a plate of nachos to share - it was just the normal size though not the bigger one.  They came with cheese, salsa, jalapeños, sour cream and guacamole with some green stuff sprinkled on top?!  Coriander maybe?  They were really good but there was something else which had a funny flavour to it, a bit of a minty edge which was unusual, we weren't sure what it was!

For the main course I had roasted vegetable fajitas which were pretty epic!  It was two huge skewers of vegetables with more underneath then on another plate were your sauces and wraps.  If you ran out of any of those they would refill for free which I think is great.  We both got a couple more tortillas but I still couldn't finish my veggies.  There were green and red peppers, red onion, sweet potato and courgette I think?  Chris got chicken fajitas which were a similar layout but actually looked less than mine!

We also got sweet potato fries which were really good, we added them into our wraps haha.  We probably shouldn't have got these as we had so much food already, and if I known I'd have sweet potato in my fajita skewers I probably wouldn't have bothered.

For both our meals and drinks it was about £40 which I think it quite a lot considering it's more tex mex rather than an authentic mexican restaurant but I would still go back on occasion.

What's your favourite Mexican restaurant?  I went to Pancho Villas once and I'd really like to go back there.

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The Body Shop Mango Body Butter

I’ll be honest, I definitely don’t moisturise my body as much as I should!  Due to this I don’t tend to need to buy them very often, but if I do, I always go for The Body Shop Body Butters.  I love them because they have a great range of smells, they feel nice and the tubs are huge.  At full price of £13 they’re quite reasonable but if you keep an eye out you will never need to pay full price as The Body Shop have always got great deals on, especially online!

I was offered the Mango Body Butter to try and jumped at the chance as fruity scents are my favourite and I’d tried the shower gel version of it so I knew I liked it. 

So first of all, the packaging:  I really like the way they look with the bright range of colours and a picture on the top of what the scent is, but some people may not like how it is a tub so you need to scoop it out rather than squirt it out a tube.  Personally I don’t mind this and it means you can take out as much as you need and easily put some back if you have too much.

The smell of the Mango Body Butter is so good!  Sometimes fruity scents can smell a bit artificial but this one is very fresh and has a creamy edge to it so it smells a little bit like a fruity yoghurt!

The Mango one states on the packaging that it is aimed for very dry skin, which I don't have but to be honest I always just go for for scent rather than skin type...  It applies nice and smoothly to the skin but I wouldn't say absorption is particularly quick.  For example you couldn't put it on and get dressed straight away, but it does soak in quicker than other moisturisers I've tried.  I tend to use it at night when I can wander round in my pj shorts for an hour or so before going to bed!  My usual reason for applying moisturiser is after shaving my legs to rehydrate them and sometimes this can sting but The Body Shop Body Butters (the ones I have tried at least!) have all been absolutely fine which is great!

I briefly mentioned price above which is £13 full price for a big 200ml tub so it isn’t too bad, it will last you a while.  However I’m sure most people don’t pay this and wait for deals before making purchases which is definitely worthwhile, I’m pretty sure I got one for half price once and at the moment The Body Shop have got selected butters for £5!

I would definitely repurchase this but I would like to try different scents first before going back to this one.  Follow this link for the Mango Body Butter and here for the full range of butters.

P.S.  I still don't have broadband in my new flat *cries* but I've been told 4th of July so fingers crossed...

<3

All Change!

As I mentioned in my last post (Empties #16) that I had some news to share with you but I would do a separate post on it, so here we go!

The Co-Op sent me this to help with the move, so cute!

I've been job hunting fairly seriously since about December looking for entry level jobs in Merchandising but I didn't get very far.  The furthest I got was at the end of last year: a phone interview with House of Fraser which I passed and got to the next level which was a workshop at their head office in London.  However I ended up turning it down because I would need to move to London and the salary was definitely not high enough for me to be able to support myself, and they weren't going to cover my travel costs for the interview either.

I applied for a few more and had a few calls from agencies with jobs for me to apply for but they were always in London!  I tried contacting numerous Scottish retail head offices to see if they could give me any sort of work experience but with no luck, so I decided to widen my search to include northern England.

Long story short:  At the start of April I finally managed to get a job, yayy!!  However it is in Greater Manchester so in less than a week I will be moving down south...

It's slightly terrifying but I'm so excited and can't wait to start my new life down there.  I've got a flat sorted but I've only seen it once and the next time I see it will be when I'm moving in which is making life a bit stressful trying to get everything organised for furnishing it...  I'm looking forward to moving into my own place because I'm still living at home so it will be so good having my own space and choosing my interiors etc!

Are any of you working in retail head offices or in Merchandising?  I've no idea what to expect!

<3

Empties #16

I have got some super exciting news to share with you all (although if you follow me on Twitter you probably know!) but I will do a separate more personal/life themed post so you can read it if you are interested :) Anyway, onto this next bunch of empties!

John Frieda Full Repair Deep Conditioner

Thoughts: I received this to try out along with other John Frieda products.  I wasn't particularly impressed by the others but I really liked this deep conditioner.  I used it just as a normal conditioner but sometimes I would leave it on for longer as a hydrating mask.  £6.99/150ml here via Boots.

Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Yes.

REN Hydra-Calm Cleansing Milk

Thoughts: I got this as sample with an order from LoveLula and I really like it!  It leaves my skin feeling so clean and soft.  The Hydra-Calm range have been rebranded as Evercalm now but as far as I'm aware they're just the same.  £16/150ml here. 

Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Yes.

Liz Earle Sheer Skin Tint in Light

Thoughts: LOVE this product!  This is now my everyday tinted moisturiser - I only wear foundation on special occasions haha!  I like to mix it with a highlighter such as Soap & Glory Hocus Focus to give it a nice and glowy finish.  £21/40ml here.

Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Already have!

Bourjois Fan-Tastic Volume Mascara

Thoughts: This mascara was fine, I quite liked the shape of the wand.  As the name implies, it was in a one sided fan shape which was quite good for coating the lashes and giving them a bit of curl.  £9.99/9ml here via Boots.

Cruelty-free?: I thought so but there's a bit of confusion with them at the moment as they've been seen selling in China.  I have emailed them asking so we shall find out soon hopefully!

Repurchase?: Probably not.

Lush So White Bath Bomb (not pictured)

Thoughts: So White is a Christmas bath bomb which smells like apples!  I love apple scented products and this was no exception.  Fizzes nicely with some white foam and it even changes colour on the inside which was a nice surprise! 

Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Yes.

REN Rosa Centifolia & Vita Mineral Special Purchase Kit

Just a quick post this evening to share this with you! LoveLula are doing a deal on this REN Skincare kit which includes: 50ml Vita Mineral Daily Supplement Cream (full size), 50ml Rosa Centifolia 3 in 1 Cleansing Water, 25ml Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Gel, 10ml Vita Mineral Omega 3 Face Oil and 3ml Vita Mineral Active 7 Eye Gel all for only £23! Link here.

Unfortunately it's now sold out and I'm so annoyed that I didn't get it yesterday when I got the email!  However, it does have a 'notify me' when it's back in stock where you can add your email which is what I've done.  I'm not even sure if it's a limited edition thing or what, but it's worth adding your email if it's something you think you'd like to try.

Fingers crossed!

<3

Current Favourite Eye Make Up Remover

I've been trialling several eye make up removers over the past few months after my favourite one ended up not being cruelty free (it was Boots Botanics, but apparently they reformulated it and made it crap so that makes me feel better!).

After going though various different brands I've finally settled on The Body Shop Camomile Gentle Eye Make Up Remover and am now on my second bottle.  

Generally I prefer oil based products but I've yet to find one which is cruelty free actually - if you can think of one please let me know! - so I've just been using water based ones recently.  I think this one works really well at removing eye (and lip) make up quickly and effectively.  Although Caroline Hirons says that you shouldn't need a separate eye make up remover, your cleanser should do the job, I definitely prefer taking it off before cleansing, especially if the make up's quite heavy!  Most of my cleansers would be fine at taking off eye make up but I rarely use them for that, I also feel a bit worried about rubbing round my eye area with a muslin cloth or flannel!

The ingredients for this product are on the website - here.  It contains SLES which I'm not a big fan of and prefer to avoid but it's not a main ingredient thankfully.

Honestly, it's not amazing but it's definitely the best one I have used which is cruelty free, I am quite happy with how it does the job.  My only complaint would be that if you have too much on the cotton ball/pad then it can sting the eyes a bit but to counteract this I use it on my eyebrows first to remove excess liquid.

It is £8 for 250ml but I only buy from The Body Shop when they have offers on, which is pretty much all the time!  If you keep an eye out you will rarely pay full price for any of their products online.

I see that they also do a waterproof eye and lip make up remover, has anyone tried this one?  What's your favourite eye make up remover?

<3

Homemade Veggie Nandos

Nando's seems to be a bit of a love or hate thing, some people are obsessed and others think it's rubbish and overrated.  I am part of the 'love it' category which probably sounds crazy to some people seeing as Nandos is a chicken restaurant and I don't eat chicken...  But if you actually look at the menu, yes there's loads of chicken, but there's also loads of veggie options!  For example, for the main meals you have bean burger, veggie burger or portobello mushroom and halloumi...  The one I always get is the latter, usually in a burger with chips and spicy rice.

However one night I was lying in bed and had this sudden amazing idea - to make a homemade Nando's using Quorn?!  So the next night my boyfriend and I were cooking dinner so we decided to have a go at this and see how it would turn out.

We went to Asda and picked up the following ingredients:

Quorn 6 Chicken Fillets
Nando's Peri-Peri rub in Medium
Nando's Garlic Peri-Peri Sauce
Nando's Chip Salt
Asda Seasoned French Fries
Shredded iceberg lettuce
Pitta bread (we got the giant ones)

1. We started by turning on the oven for the chips and rolling 4 chicken pieces in the spice rub.
2. Put some chips on a tray and sprinkle some chip salt over them.
3. Heat olive oil in a griddle or frying pan then place in the 4 chicken pieces.
4. Fry the Quorn on both sides until cooked through, adding in more of the spice mix if desired.
5. Toast the pitta bread in toaster or under the grill to heat them up.
6. Assemble everything on the plate - 2 pieces of Quorn, lettuce and sauce in the pitta, then chips at the side with more chip salt over the top.

It was sooo good!  Far too spicy though, when we made it the second time we used the Lemon & Herb Peri-Peri rub and it was so much better, didn't burn my tongue off!  My boyfriend hadn't tried Quorn before and he said he really enjoyed it and couldn't tell it wasn't real meat.

Have you got any good meat substitute recipes?  The Nandos products are also suitable for vegans so it could quite easily be adjusted for a vegan diet too.

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