Saturday 11 January 2014

Lush Haul + First Impressions


Lush is one of those stores that is always appealing, it smells wonderful, it has loads of vegan options and everything looks so nice but it's also incredibly overwhelming to find things you like because there's so much! After receiving a couple of gift cards over Christmas, I decided to use them while they still had boxing day sales and pick up things I've never tried before!






9 to 5 cleanser - 95g.
I picked up the baby version of this because I hadn't test it out or read any reviews previously about it so I wasn't sure if I would like it. It's suppose to soothe and clean the skin, remove make up and leave your skin feeling smooth. I've been using it most mornings and I really enjoy it, it's quite lightweight and my skin feels ready for the day afterwards, I use a heavier cleanser in the night time as I find this doesn't remove my make up as well as I'd like it to (also I'm a bit weird about having to use a cotton pad to remove the product and I hate the feeling of it!) and I just prefer it for the morning. I do really like it so far though!

Rose Jam - 
After loving Snow Fairy, I wanted to try another one of their gels and wanted a heavier smell. Rose Jam has brightening goji berry juice and Sicilian lemon that is suppose to boost your skin with rose oil to leave it soothed and softened. I love the smell of this, it's a beautiful rose scent but not doesn't smell like grandma's perfume. It leaves my skin feeling very soft and smooth and I find the scent lingers on my skin for a long time (especially longer than Snow Fairy!) I love this shower gel and I'll probably have to pick up a new one soon as both my boyfriend and I have been covering ourselves in the stuff!

Veganese -
I've seen rave reviews on this conditioner so it was one of the first things in my basket, it has lemon, lavender and seaweed in it to help your hair feel soft and add shine. I actually love the smell of this and I love the product which is even better! I have quite curly, very tangled and dry hair and usually after washing and conditioning it, I can't wear it how it's naturally dried as it's one big dry mess. I have to do a lot of brushing, add a leave in conditioner or some type of smoothing lotion but this conditioner actually leaves my curls and in general hair looking lovely, I feel comfortable wearing it straight out the door without straightening it and it's easy for days when I'm working because I can leave it out and have it still looking presentable! (Although I work with children so they probably wouldn't care if I had a birds nest as my hair.)

R & B Hair Moisturiser
I haven't tried this yet but it smells delicious. It's suppose to (obviously) moisturise and control frizzy, flyaway hair. It can be used as a leave in conditioner on dry hair, a replacement for your regular conditioner or you can use it after conditioning your hair and leave it on to dry. I think I'll use it as a leave in conditioner when washing my hair and let it dry, I'll do a follow up on the few products I haven't tried!

Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub
I love this, it gently exfoliates my skin but it doesn't leave the gritty residue that most scrubs I've tried leave, it washes off easily. It's a bright blue colour and has a nice refreshing scent. This used with one of Lush's body lotions/gels leaves my skin feeling so nice and soft!



Bubblegum Lip Scrub
This is my second or third jar of this which is surprising because there's a lot of product in these and you only need the littlest bit. It's a sugary lip exfoliator that you rub onto your lips and it tastes/smells delicious, it's also a bonus that it actually works! I use this most mornings and nights to leave my lips incredibly smooth and pop on a lip balm (I'm obsessed with HURRAW lip balms at the moment!) to leave them extremely hydrated too. They have a few other flavours such as popcorn and mint julips that you could try!

Lush Scent - Snow Fairy
This is one of the online exclusive perfumes that my uncle thankfully bought me, you can tell by the name what it smells like and it is like heaven in a bottle. I have to use the tiniest bit or it becomes too sickly sweet but I love this and sometimes I use the body lotion and layer this on top and smell like a fairy bomb exploded all over me all day.







Last but not least, it wouldn't be a Lush trip without grabbing some of their wonderful bath bombs. I haven't tried any of these yet but it's Sunday so I think a bath is on the list!

If you have any Lush favourites that I haven't tried, you should definitely let me know and thank you for reading! XO

Friday 10 January 2014

Food Fridays!

After a lot of my friends have been travelling overseas lately and posting food pictures for my mouth to water over, my boyfriend and I decided to make a imitation version of a burger, fries and shake combo.

We made the burger patties with nutritional yeast, tvp, rolled oats and peanut butter from this recipe and this is what you'll need:




1 cup textured vegetable protein

1/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon onion granules
1/2 teaspoon garlic granules
1/4 mustard powder
3/4 cup water 
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

I won't write out the instructions but mostly you just chucked everything into a bowl and mixed it up. (Tip! We had to add a lot more flour than what was in the recipe as it wasn't binding together properly) we added basic toppings such as tomato, onion, lettuce and mozzarella cheese!










Our fries were just from the local supermarket with added sauces!

Lastly, my favourite part which was a peanut butter fudge milkshake that we got from one of my favourite websites for vegan recipes which is here.

You'll need:
2 scoops soy or coconut ice cream
1 tablespoon of chocolate fudge
2 tablespoons of peanut butter (we used white chocolate peanut butter)
1/4 cup soy milk
Soy whipped topping (we didn't have anything)

And simple: blend!

One thing I will tell you is that trying to take pictures while cooking is definitely a challenge!

Here is our delicious end result! (I might go make another one of those milkshakes right now....)



Thanks for reading! XO

What's your favourite type of milkshake?