LUSH Haul

LUSH; aka the nicest smelling shop on the planet! I recently went to LUSH and though I'm not the biggest fan of baths thought I'd pick up a few items for those rare times I do have a bath. In fact, it's probably a good thing I don't like baths that much, otherwise this haul would be much bigger! :/

If you don't know what LUSH is, it's basically a bath bomb and all things baths/showers/cleanliness shop. They even sell make up, though I'm not too sure on the quality of the make up, due to the price of the make up I've never picked anything up from LUSH's make up section. The basic message behind LUSH is being against animal cruelty; all their products, everything they sell in their shops and online is animal cruelty free, meaning it was not tested on animals. This is a big bonus with LUSH, plus the reasonable (mostly reasonable) prices of their products.







The first item I picked up is one I've seen in past years, but never tried. It's the Unicorn Horn. The Unicorn Horn is a bubble bar, so you melt part of it under running water, by crumbling it in your hand. I will make this point now: I am incredibly crap at describing smells, so if you follow the links to the LUSH website product descriptions I've added, they describe the smells for you and do a much better job than I could! I have not used this yet, but bubble bars are designed to make your skin soft, and the ones I have used in the past do just that. From what I have heard this bubble bar turns your bath a gorgeous deep pink shade

The aftermath of this bubble bar was very sparkly! 

The second thing I picked up was the Ladybird Bubble bar, which was part of the mother's day collection and no longer available in store! I prefer the gorgeous glittery-ness of the unicorn horn, but this bar is so cute! Shaped like a little ladybird, purple and red, this bubble bar is described to give your bath an orange/red colour. The bar contains peppermint and geranium, but it's overall smell is a mixture of peppermint and something sweet. It's a very typical, Snow Fairy sort of LUSH smell. It also smells slightly floral! (See i told you my smell skills weren't great, but the website doesn't stock/show this product anymore so I've had to fend for myself!). When it was in store, it cost £3.95.

The third and final product I picked up was the Melting Marshmallow Bath Oil. This is so diddy and cute and only cost me £2! It smells (obviously) like marshmallow mixed with candy floss and is very sweet. The bath oils are designed to give you a relaxing bath and sooth your skin to make it soft. Just pop it into the bath and relax, watching it melt. The bright colours make it eye catching and I can't wait to try this!

Hope you enjoyed that little LUSH haul!

Music Monday // AG is back

Continuing my segment of Music Monday's, where I tell you guys what I've been loving in terms of music recently, today's post it about my all time fave, Ariana Grande and her incredible new album.

So AG recently released two songs of her new album as singles. The album was going to be called Midnight, but she changed the name to Dangerous Woman. In an interview I watched, Ari said she felt the new title represented her more and what she stood for. You can guess instantly from the album title that Ari is all about woman power. In fact one of my favourite interviews she has done, she shows just how much she cares about equality. I LOVE that her new album is all about what she stands for and I can't think of a better issue her music should help solve.

This is the interview I just mentioned:

The first song she released is called Dangerous Woman and clearly the main influence for the whole album title. First off, I love everything about the album cover:

She looks stunning and her make up is to die for. I lover the whole black and white and old fashioned vibe that accompanies the album cover, plus she is absolutely rocking the bunny ears (though I'm not sure how they are relevant!)

The song is true feminist anthem, upbeat, snazzy and just plain modern. I adore this song and her vocals are absolutely incredible. Below I'm going to leave the music video (known as visual 1) which she literally released in the UK yesterday! It is a good music video, but I personally prefer the video that accompanies her A Capella version of 'Dangerous Woman.' Check both out (shown below) as they are freaking insane.

 A Capella version

 Visual one (music video version)

The second song Ari has released is called 'Be Alright'. Though I prefer Dangerous Woman, I think the beat to this song, like the background music, is the best beat I have heard on such a pop song. Fast paced and light hearted, this song just holds the message that no matter what, everything will be alright in the end.  This kinda reminds me of Ari's older music and I am totally okay with that!

 Be Alright Audio Version

 Be Alright performed live on SNL

Overall I am loving Ari's new singles and I can't wait to here the whole album! She will always remain one of my favourites and her live vocals are freaking insane :)

My Favourite Photos On The Internet Right Now

So it's a little different and may be quite boring, but I find it interesting to know what people have been loving, so today's post is just a short one, that shares my favourite photos on the internet right now!

YASSSSS

My babies <3

This makes my laugh so much every time I see it

The only damn daniel glo up that matters

Firm believer of this <3

My heart hurts

Two of my faves replied to me, my heart began to hurt even more <3

I had tears in my eyes at this

So there you go, some pics I have been loving recently. I don't know if this was interesting for people and I've never see anyone do it before, but I thought it would be a cool little monthly segment I could start? Let me know what you think1

FOTD // 2nd April 2016

Hope everyone has had a lovely start to their Easter! I'm absolutely loving blogging right now, as you can probably tell from the amount of posts I've uploaded. I'm currently on my Easter Half term, so not at college and finding I have more time to blog and do things that are a little more interesting for the blog! Today's FOTD is using many products I have reviewed recently. As you can see from the photo, I have my hair up. When I do have my hair up, I tend to go for a more dramatic make up look, rather than keeping it subtle, purely to compensate for the fact that my hair is just thrown up ;) That's why I'm wearing a darker lip than I usually would in Spring.

Face:

On my face I am wearing my usual base of Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer where I need to cover and concealer, plus my Natural Collection powder to set the concealer.
I have contoured using a new kit I got; the Seventeen Define And Conquer Contour Kit, in the light shade. Once again, this is still too orange for me, though it is the least orange toned contour I have found, so i just use this very lightly on my cheekbones.
The blush I am wearing is Benefit's Rockatuer blush,
I primed my eyes using another new buy, the Collection Primed and Ready eye primer. This is incredible and only cost me £3.99!
I highlighted using my absolute baby, the NARS Copacabana Highlighter.

Eyes:
On my lids I am wearing the shade 'Camel' from the W7 In The Buff eyeshadow palette. I blended this shade out and have dragged it under my eye too. I love doing this as I feel it makes my eyes look bigger and greener.
On my lashes I am wearing a combination of Maybelline's Lash Sensational Mascara and Benefit's They're Real Mascara.
On my lower lash line I am wearing my trusty S&G Smoulder Kohl liner.
As mentioned in my last post, I have used the same eyeshadow shade from my Makeup Revolution kit to fill in my brows and set them with the Collection Clear Mascara.

Lips:
Finally, on my lips I am wearing a product I reviewed the other day. Funnily enough, in this review I said I felt this product wasn't a good shade for me. However, I decided to give it another try and discovered I really like it! It's the Kiko Cream Colour Comfort Lip Liner in 315, a gorgeous deep plumy pink colour. This lasts for ages on my lips and I really like the creamy consistency when I first apply it. It has quite a thick end for a lip liner which I find easier to use than a very thin lip liner.

Musicals // My Experiences

Today's post is going to be much more chatty and rather than reviewing a product or some new music, I thought I would review all the musicals I've seen and give my overall opinion of musicals and if they are worth it. Combined with travel, food and tickets, musicals can be pretty expensive. Just like concerts its the kind of thing that's over within a day. But I think they are so worth it! I'm going to run you down on all the musicals I've seen, which I would recommend and why!
The shows I have seen are Billy Elliot, Hairspray, Les Mis, Guys and Dolls and Mamma Mia!

5. Billy Elliot
I saw this with my school when I was in year 9. Though this wasn't only two years ago I can't remember much about it. I do remember I loved the story line; the whole idea of a young boy who wanted to be a dancer but society said he couldn't. Honestly, the only reason this is number five is because I can't remember much of the show! I do remember how gorgeous the theatre was and I know that many people love this show. I would still recommend it, as the dancing and particularly the acting of many cast members such as the boy that played Billy was very good. I also know that in the past (not the one I saw) Billy was once played by Layton Williams, an actor/dancer that I love.

4. The forth musical I am ranking is Guys and Dolls. This theatre was probably one of my favourites and the staging was very simple but beautiful. I would recommend this, but have ranked it as number 4, only because the others were so spectacular. This was just great. Still an incredible show and right up my street; a comedy set back in the 50's/60's (i think!) with some hilarious and relatable characters. I just found a few of the songs a little too cheesy!

 3. At number 3 is Hairspray. I've seen this twice at the Curve in my home town Leicester. One of my best friends is the biggest fan of Hairspray, so for the past two years, we've been to see it. And it is incredible. The cast is brilliant, and the songs are some of my favourite songs ever. Upbeat and just like the film, Hairspray is a must to see live. Especially due to it's talented cast. This years tour traveled the country and one of the 'negro kids' (not my words, but what they were referred to during the 60's and time period of the musical) is played by Layton Williams! As mentioned above, I'm a massive fan of Layton even since I started watching his well known TV show, Bad Education. He is insanely talented and gets to dance his heart out in Hairspray!
I was also lucky enough to get to meet Layton when we caught him outside the Curve Theatre after the show. He was lovely and very kindly oblivious to my fangirling nature!

2. This weekend I went to London and for my birthday present, got to see Mamma Mia at the Novello Theatre. I am the biggest fan of Mamma Mia, it is my favourite film, and holds a special place in my heart for so many reasons, One of these reasons is how much my mum loves it, we share a strong bond over the film, cast, songs and story. I love ABBA's songs, so a film based on them that included the likes of Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep made me very happy! The musical live was just as incredible, though I prefer the cast of the film to the cast of the production. If they could have got the film cast to do the live version (understandably impossible!!!) Mamma Mia would have made it to number one. Any massive fan of Mamma Mia would love this show, and the whole atmosphere of the theatre (which had the most incredible chandelier!) is undeniably satisfying to any such fan. If I had not seen Les Mis, which I will be talking about next, this show would be at number one. It is a close second. I can't describe how much love I hold for Mamma Mia <3

1. And finally I have ranked Les Miserables as the top musical I have seen. I was absolutely blown away by this production. No words can describe just how incredible this was. The cast especially the likes of Carrie Hope Fletcher (who played Eponine, my favourite female character) was incredible. I have only ever seen the film once, but thoroughly loved it. When I got the chance to see Les Mis in London with my school (the same trip I saw Guys and Dolls on) I was very excited! Perhaps because I have only seen the film once, I had no expectations for the production, which made it more incredible. It sounds silly but I think my high expectations of Mamma Mia because of how much I love it, made it less satisfying than Les Mis? The staging, based on  a turning piece of stage that rotated and looked incredible, the cast, the singing (OH MY GOSH THE SINGING) and general loved up atmosphere the adoring audience gave for this show was phenomenal. Highly recommend seeing Les Mis if you get the chance. The show is hugely talked about and has been running for something ridiculous, like 42 years now?!

Overall, I would recommend seeing all these shows. Even if you are less of a musical fan, I think these shows are enjoyable for all. I would however recommend you do your research before you go. For example, a friend of mine that watched Les Mis on our trip had never seen the film before and didn't have any general idea what was going on, so it was less enjoyable for her.

I hope you enjoyed today's little rundown of the musicals I have seen. I really enjoyed writing this, so will happily do more 'My Experience' posts :)