Product Review - Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel

Hello ladies!

Yesterday, I purchased my first Lush goodie! Yaaaaay! Why has it taken me so long?! I don't know but I'm glad I ventured down to Covent Garden, spent 45 minutes looking for Lush and then found it to be in quite an easy, straight forward little spot!

As I walked into the Covent Garden Lush it seemed really small and my first thought was 'Hmm, is this it?!'. Then I looked over and saw the stairs leading down and then thought, 'Ahh! Hidden gems!', *wink wink* and then followed the yellow brick road to Lushness (by that I mean I went downstairs!).

To be brutally honest with you, I was disappointed. The bath bombs didn't smell as good as I imagined them to and the soaps didn't leave their scents lingering either. I really wanted to like the 'It's Raining Men' shower gel but I just didn't. The FUN bars smelt good, though! The best smelling product was the item I bought - 'Snow Fairy'. Did I do something wrong? Was I sniffing all the wrong things? Maybe I'll go to a different Lush to see if/where I went wrong... Despite my disappointment, I had to leave with something, which is why I picked up a medium sized bottle of Snow Fairy.

I have one question: Why is it called Snow Fairy?? I don't get it...it has blue glitter swimming about inside and smells of candy floss! It just doesn't add up... Enough of my rambling! Shall we review this product?

Obviously, the main thing that draws you to grab that open bottle of Snow Fairy is the gorgeous pink colour and pretty packaging. Then the blue glitter catches your eye and it becomes the prettiest shower gel on the shelf! So you sniff and WOAH! The scent of sweets and candy floss slap you around the face leaving blue glitter everywhere! (Not quite, but you catch my drift). A pink shower gel with sparkly blue bits that smells of sweets and candy floss? What more could a girl want?!

It doesn't stop there...once you've bathed/showered in it and you're all clean and dry, you get the occasional whiff of it, which is really rather pleasant! And it leaves you soft, soft, soft! 

Also, call me crazy, but I ended up washing my hair with it too! I was bored of my Tresemme shampoo so decided to be a little adventurous and gave my hair a sweet treat. I was initially worried about it leaving loads of little blue glitter flecks in my hair but so far, I haven't seen any (the glitter doesn't stick to your body either) and now my hair smells like candy floss too! So a good all rounder, if you ask me!

I must warn you though, as you may or may not have gathered, this is a very sweet smelling shower gel, so if you don't have a sweet tooth (or sweet nose, should I say?) then steer clear! You will not enjoy the (very!) sweet smell of candy floss filling your little noses.

♥ Snow Fairy prices are as follows: ♥

£3.50/100g

£6.25/250g

£10.25/500g

♥ Have you tried Snow Fairy? What do you think of it? ♥

Chat soon!

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To wax or to shave? - That is the question.

As a level 2 qualified Beauty Therapist, I've been asked many times about waxing and it's benefits. I often find myself speaking highly of waxing rather than shaving, so I'm going to fill you in on the pros and cons of each and let you decide for yourself...

Shaving

Shaving is when you use a razor to remove unwanted hair. When you shave, you are literally cutting off the hair you see above your skin, creating a blunt hair shaft.

Pros

♥ It's quick and easy.

♥ Painfree (unless you cut yourself! Eek!).

♥ Relatively cheap.

♥ Easily Accessible - you can purchase razors anywhere!

Cons

♥ Quick growback - since you are only taking off the hair above the skin, it tends to grow back very quickly.

♥ It is possible to cut yourself which can be ugly and painful.

♥ The growback feels prickly and sometimes itchy and uncomfortable.

♥ Shaving means that if you have thick and dark hairs, they will continue to grow thick and dark. I will explain why I say this in a moment.

Waxing
Waxing is when you apply a type of wax over your unwanted hairs and using a paper waxing strip, you pull the hairs out from the root so that there is no hair left in the follicle.

Pros

♥ Lasts up to weeks at a time.

♥ Growback is not prickly or uncomfortable since there is a whole new hair growing through - the tips of hairs are soft compared to when you cut across a strand of hair, then it becomes prickly.

♥ Easily accessible (if you have a good salon near you).

♥ If you wax for long enough, you might start to notice that your hairs are no longer black and thick. This has happened to me - I've been waxing for around a year or two now and I've noticed that my legs grow less hair than they used to and my underarms have fine, blonde hairs now instead of thick black hairs, which is a bonus!

Cons

♥ Can be painful, however the pain is only there for a few seconds and then it's gone!

♥ Can also be a bit expensive depending on where you go.

♥ You need to make regular visits to the salon.

♥ 'In between waxes' - this is when you're waiting to grow hairs long enough to be waxed again, which takes up to 2 weeks, and can leave you looking and feeling like a man for a while! But totally worth it, in my opinion :)

♥ You are more prone to ingrown hairs if you wax, however this can be prevented by using a body scrub regularly.

I hope that has helped some of you in some way. If you have any comments, questions or concerns please don't hesitate to post them below in the comments section!

Chat soon!

How To Look For a Job - 10 Tips/Things to Remember

As a 20 year old living in London, I know exactly how hard it is to find a job. Even with qualifications, if you have no experience, no one wants to know. But without a job you cannot gain experience and without experience you can't find a job - it's one big vicious circle, isn't it? That's why I'm sitting here, writing this for you, so that if you are looking for a job, you know exactly what to do and how to do it.

I have added links to all the sites I mention.

So are you ready to find a job? Let's get started...

1 - Look in the right places
You need to make sure you're looking at the right websites and such. For example, I find certain job seeking websites a lot better and efficient than others. The ones that I like to use are:

Gumtree

Direct Gov

Total Jobs

London Job Vacancy

Others that I don't particularly like, but you might find useful, are:

Indeed

Reed

All The Top Bananas

Monster

The reason for my likes and dislikes is that I can always find something on the ones I listed first, but this might just be the kind of job I am looking for.

I also make sure I check my local newspapers weekly. They're usually only around 40-50p so definitely not breaking the bank!

2- Update your covering letter and C.V.
You can do this by searching on Google for good templates for covering letters/C.V.s or you can ask a friend or family member if you can look at their C.V. By all means copy the layout, but never, ever copy the wording. And don't lie on your C.V. because you will get found out when they ask you something in Spanish because you lied on your C.V. and you find you don't know a word!

3 - Sign up for job alerts via email
I have signed up for job alerts via email, which means that the job that you are looking for is emailed to you when they're listed on the website. The amount that I receive differs from day to day. Sometimes I get sent a whole list, other days just one comes through. I've signed up to Total Jobs and London Job Vacancy (find links above).

4 - Be persistent
Make sure you search for a job daily or at least every other day. This will mean that you won't miss out on any vacancies listed on any website.

5 - Be prepared to make a few phone calls
This isn't the time to be shy or nervous. If a job ad says 'Call on ....', do it! Don't think shy, think confident. They don't know you and you don't know them. You are free to act and sound as you wish. I know you're thinking, 'easier said than done', but I was a very shy and timid person until I realised I had to make these calls and meet people that I'd never met before. Now, I contact companies directly without even thinking about it. Just make sure you speak clearly, politely and confidently.

6 - If you have some experience, think about furthering your qualifications.
So you have some experience in the type of job you're going for, yet still getting nowhere? Look into taking on short courses that might make you more employable. For example, I am currently looking for a receptionist job and I have 7 months experience within this role. However, I don't have any IT qualifications or working experience using MS Office, so I might go and look for a short course that will give me some sort of recognised IT qualification.

Are they expensive, I hear you say? Well, something that I didn't know until recently is that if you are receiving Job Seeker's Allowance, you can actually choose from a number of courses provided by Learn Direct for free - yes, free! Head over to Learn Direct to see what courses are available that will help you nail a job.

7 - Look the part
As females, we already know this part, but I'll whizz through it anyway. Make sure that you look the part, and by that I mean dress to impress and make it classy. I always make sure I wear my hair in a bun or a pony tail because they look the most professional. If you wear your hair out or down, you're probably going to be fussing with it and all sorts during your interview, and that's not giving the right impression. Wear, simple, pretty, minimal jewellery and ensure that your make-up looks done-up, yet natural. Appearance for an interview is important because remember, people draw their opinions on us almost straight away.

8 - Smile
My ex boss once told me that she turned down a woman applying for the manager's job because she never smiled and was always serious. "Who wants to work with someone like that", she said. And I agree with her. If you don't smile, you won't seem like a pleasant person and they won't want to take you on. So smile!

9 - Be prepared to be rejected. A lot.
You might apply to 30 jobs weekly. Some you will never hear from, others might offer you an interview only to let you down and tell you they've found someone who fits their needs better. Don't take this to heart and just remember that you are not the only one being given a 'no'. You may even attend 30 interviews before you get one 'yes', (I have attended 6 interviews within the past month) but always remember that everything happens for a reason, and there's a reason why you didn't get that job, even if you thought it was perfect for you.


10 - Stay positive!
This is the hardest part but you need to stay positive. If you let yourself spiral into that tornado of negativity, everything will seem so much worse than what it is. Take it from someone who knows and believe that if you stay positive, this is what you'll attract - positive things.

If you have any other tips or advice, please comment below to share it with everyone.

Good luck with your job search!

From scratched to glossy in 30 seconds!

So, here's the situation...you paint your nails before bed with your favourite colour and can't wait to show them off the next day, only to wake up and find this...

They're all scratched and dented and your whole manicure is ruined!...Or so you thought!

All you have to do is grab your favourite glossy top coat and apply a thin layer over your scratched polish and wait for it to dry.

Voila! Your polish is back to glossy in no time and ready to be showcased!

I hope you found this useful. Share your nail repair tips in the comments section below :)

Chat soon!

My Top 5 Autumn Nail Polishes

It's that time of year again where we all pull out our jumpers, jeans and boots ready for Autumn, and let's not forget our nails - they need to be dressed accordingly, too! And for that reason, here are my top 5 Autumn nail polishes!

♥ No.7 - Violetta: A lovely deep blue-toned purple.

♥ Barry M - Dusky Mauve: A very interesting greyish mauve.

♥ Nails Inc - Victoria: Perfect for Halloween; blood red!

♥ Orly - Steel Your Heart: The perfect steel for those steel cold nights!

♥ MUA - Shade 2: A classic deep black.

♥ What are your top 5 Autumn nail polishes? Let me know in the comments section below :) ♥

Mani - Gradient Glitter

I'd never attempted gradient nails before this so I wasn't expecting much of a fantastic outcome, but I am rather pleased with how this turned out! :)

How to create gradient glitter:

♥ First use a base coat - dark polishes can stain your natural nail!

♥ Next, paint your nails with a thin layer of Barry M's 'Grey'. Wait to dry. Apply another. Again, wait to dry.

♥ This is where the glitter comes in! Paint a thin layer of Models Own's 'Juicy Jules' up to about half way and again, wait for this to dry.

♥ Almost done! Now add another layer of your glitter polish onto the tips only. This is important for the gradient effect to be prominent.

♥ Finally, add a top coat to protect your sparkles and add a lovely shine!

You can create a glitter gradient effect with any mix of colours your sparkly heart desires, so go on, get glittering! (And don't forget to post your designs in the comments section below!)

Chat soon!

Update & July Glossybox!

Hi beauties,

Apologies for my absence - I've recently started a new full-time apprenticeship and am finding it difficult to salvage any spare time for anything, let a lone blogging! I am now at a salon for 49 hours per week - more hours than I spend with my boyfriend or anyone...and I get 2 days per week off: Tuesday and Wednesday. Not ideal but within a year I will finally have an NVQ level 3 in Beauty Therapy. *phew* I just have to stay patient for now :) and hopefully I'll find a bit more time to blog!

Anyway! I hope you've all been well? It looks like England finally has a summer 2012! Just as I was starting to think of buying more jeans and boots for the winter...ha ha

Now the exciting bit...GLOSSYBOX!

I really wasn't impressed with last month's box, I mean, a Glossybox brush?! That to me is not a luxury sample...it's not even soft! This month is a different story though! I'm quite excited to try out all the skincare products in my box this month. Oh! and not forgetting the HD Brows kit - that looks exciting!

♥ Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Skin Balancing Skincare for combination skin (exfoliating cleanser, optimizing skin serum, skin balancing lotion SPF15) ♥

♥ Monuspa Golden Glow Face and Body Bronzer ♥

♥ Clynol Colour & Care Enrich colour shampoo ♥

♥ HD Brows Kit in Foxy ♥

♥ Jelly Pong Pong Irish Cream Pavlova Lip Frosting ♥

What did you get in this month's Glossybox? ♥