What's in my Shower?

Since you can never have enough products in the shower to choose from, we have two shower caddies in ours. I prefer to have everything at eye level where I can see it (and thus will be more likely to use it), and I hate having things on the shower floor as they are more prone to get mouldy and gross. 

So... what is in my shower caddies? 

MooGoo Milk Wash* - (review here)
I love this product, it's really moisturising, creamy and basic - for those times where my eczema is playing up or my skin is just generally being shit, this will really calm my skin down. I love the handy pump bottle, meaning I never need to take it out of the caddie. 

J keeps his toothbrush and toothpaste in the shower - mine live next to the bathroom sink because I am not a fan of brushing my teeth in the shower... fun fact. 

Natura Siberica - Oblepikha Shower Gel*

I received this product at a bloggers beauty event a few months ago, and am so happy I discovered this brand. Their products are all organic, using natural ingredients sourced from Siberia. 

This shower gel promises "energizing freshness", and is beautifully fragranced. 

Joico Colour Endure Conditioner

I bought this just before we travelled to New Zealand, and de-canted it into a smaller bottle for my travels. I love that I really don't need a lot of this product for it to work (which is great as my hair is getting so long now, and hair products now get used up so much faster). This conditioner glides through my hair, de-tangles it, and leaves it feeling silky and smooth - after it's air-dried and I run a straightener through it, it's so sleek and beautiful. The product isn't thick and it doesn't weigh my hair down or leave any residue behind. 

Schick Hydro Silk TrimStyle Razor*

I pretty much only use razors that have replaceable cartridges. This razor has 5 "curve-sensing" blades, and an electric bikini trimmer on the end. The razor takes 1 AAA battery (included) and is totally waterproof. Which is good, because I only ever shave in the shower. I think what I like most about this razor is the white dots around the razor head contains a water-activated moisturising serum, which moisturises your skin as you shave. I also think it's really convenient that the bottom of the razor has a little stand to prop it up when it's laying flat, preventing it from touching any surfaces. Although I keep mine on a wire rack, so that's not really that necessary for me. 

The waterproof trimmer works really well too, with trimmer guides to assist you in maintaining your desired style / length. 

I bought this shower caddie from Howard's Storage World, and it seriously stores so much stuff. It hangs over the edge of the shower, and it has a little hook which I hang my shower cap up on. I also like that it has room at the bottom for a squeegee - convenient storage as our shower is all glass doors.

Natural World Moroccan Argan Oil Moisture Repair Shampoo (Review here) 

L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil (Review here) - I love this product, and have used it for years and years. Totally decadent, beautiful, luxurious. 

Skin Theory - Aloe Exfoliating Polish*

I try to exfoliate my skin regularly, so keeping an exfoliator in the bathroom assists with that. This is a manual exfoliation, using micro sea salt crystals. The product itself is quite creamy, and the salt dissolves so it's not scratchy on your skin. There's not really a scent to it, which is good. I love how clean and refreshed my skin feels after using this. 

Unfortunately the entire skin theory range is only available at Amcal chemists (unfortunately because I don't really have one conveniently located to me), but it is super cheap at $10.

Lush Rose Jam Shower Gel

This smells exactly like the Ro's Argan Body Conditioner, also from Lush. I love this shower gel. Smells incredible, and the scent lingers on your skin. 

Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Masque

Another product I've used for years and years, have done numerous reviews on, and has appeared quite a few times in my empties posts. I use this as a conditioner when my hair needs some extra love and attention (e.g. right after dyeing it). Leaves my hair feeling and looking healthy, silky smooth, beautiful. 

Milk&Co Face Cleanser* - Review here.

Rosehip Plus Organic Daily Cream Cleanser*

This is a fairly new product, launching in October 2015. I haven't really used many cream cleansers before, but I'm really liking this one. It's a bit heavy, which is awesome for when my skin is dehydrated or dry, but it doesn't really give you that "squeaky clean" feeling, so if that's your jam you may not love this. The thick cream though does help to dissolve your make-up, and I never get my make-up completely removed with gel or foaming cleansers alone. The product contains rosehip oil, jojoba and sea buckthorn. All products are Australian Certified Organic. I'm really impressed with this cleanser. It also smells incredible.

Disclaimer: Products marked with an asterisk (*) were provided for editorial consideration. No brand or PR company have influenced my opinion in any way, shape or form, and all opinions are my own. Links in the post are not affiliate links - I've just linked for your convenience! For further info check out my disclaimer.

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Lush Bathbomb and Bubble Bars Haul

I love taking baths - they're relaxing, and they ensure you get about an hour of just "me" time, to pamper yourself, read a book and zone out from the real world. 

I picked up some more bath bombs from Lush a few weeks ago - 

Twilight Bath Bomb: This is one of Lush's best-sellers, and I've read so many reviews on this one that I had to try it. The scent is really relaxing, so I'm hoping it will carry through and be a really relaxing bath. 

Sex Bomb: I've written about this bath bomb before, and I loved it so much the first time I used it that I just had to get another one. I love the colours this turns my bath, and I love how moisturised my skin is after using it. I also really love how good my bathroom smells. 

While in Lush I thought it would be a good idea to pick up some bubble-making bars, because as J says "baths aren't baths without bubbles". I think these are probably a bit better value than the bathbombs, because they can be used multiple times.

Pop in the Bath Bubble Bar: This has lemon, bergamont and mandarin, which sounds really refreshing and rejuvenating. 

Sunny Side Bubble Bar: I was partly attracted to this one because of how pretty it is, partly because of the citrus-y scent it gives off. 

I can't wait to hop into a bath and try these new ones out. 

What is your favourite Lush bath product?

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What's in my Rubbish Bin #4

 
Only a small empties post this time. Having these types of posts in the back of my mind definitely helps me with finishing products up, or (as you'll see in this post) parting with products that don't perform as well as they used to.

A few months ago we moved into a new place that has a bath-tub. Naturally, I rushed out to Lush and stocked up on bath products. The first I used is the Sex Bomb Bath Bomb. I was absolutely delighted to see this transform my bath water into bright pink. I've heard this is Lush's most popular bath bomb, and I can totally see why. It smells absolutely incredible, and the scent really lingers on your skin afterwards. My skin felt so hydrated and soft when I stepped out of the bath, and I was left generally feeling incredibly relaxed. It also didn't stain my bath, which I was a bit worried about.
Will probably repurchase.

I really liked the Australis Curve Ink Eyeliner - it was great for those mornings where I was too tired to properly apply eyeliner because this product was marketed to be as easy to use as possible. I loved how black the ink was. Sadly, this product is now discontinued so I will not be repurchasing.

I first read about the John Frieda Full Repair Flyaway Tamer on Hair Romance's blog. I still have about half the product left in the bottle, but the gel has dried out a fair bit, and doesn't perform like it used to. I really like this product for ... you guessed it.... taming flyaways. I have a lot of baby hairs around my face. These are fine if I'm going for a messier look, but when I want to look polished they really annoy me. That's where this product is really useful.
I will repurchase this.

 

I do have a much more in-depth review coming for the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water, but to be brief; although this is touted as a dupe for Bioderma's micellar water, it doesn't come come close in my opinion. It has a funny smell, stings my eyes and isn't as effective. Will not repurchase. 

It took me so long to finish Lush's American Cream Hair Conditioner, because I could not make my mind up about it. After finishing the bottle, I think I've worked out that I don't like it. It really weighs my hair down, and after I step out of the shower my hair feels "fried" - which is a really weird adjective to choose, but is the most appropriate I can think of. Fried and frizzy. This is not moisturising in the slightest. I needed to use heaps, even when my hair was much shorter, which means it isn't that economical, and does work out to be quite expensive. It does smell nice (think vanilla milkshakes), and the scent lingers in your hair, which I did kind of like. Unfortunately, that's really the only positive I can think of. 

To end on a high, we've got Dr Lewinn's 4 Fusion Cleansing Oil. I adore this as a pre-cleanse to remove all my make-up, and the majority of my face make-up. I've spoken before about how much I really love this product, and just repurchased it during Priceline's recent skincare sale. 

I will say though, that my bottle did leak a lot of product (so much so that I needed to have paper towel underneath it so it wouldn't stain the bathroom cabinet) and the bottle ended up this weird shape when it was done - does this happen to anyone else?

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Lush Haul!

 

I recently treated myself to a mini lush haul, for no particular reason. The house we recently moved in to now has a bath, a luxury I haven't had since I moved out of my parent's home over 5 years ago, so I was keen to try out some of Lush's bath bombs.

 

I fell in love with the scent of the "Tisty Tosty" bath bomb (the white heart with rose petals), and it's just so damn pretty. Lush says that rose eases tension and stress, and gives people happy, positive feelings. Sounds perfect for a Sunday night treat. 

I also had to get the "Sex bomb" bath bomb (top left). This has jasmine-clary sage and ylang ylang, which are apparently aphrodisiacs. I don't know about that, again I just chose this one because I loved the scent. The guy at the store said this also turns your bath water pretty colours, and I'm down for that.

 

I also picked up a new shampoo bar - I love seanik, and heard that Copperhead is good for maintaining colour, so thought I would give it a whirl. 

I also couldn't go past the Rose Jam Shower Gel that was stocked at the front counters. This smells exactly like the Ro's Argan Body Conditioner (one of my favourites), and hopefully is also quite moisturising. 

What are your favourite lush products?

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What's in My Rubbish Bin? #1

This is my first 'empties' post! I'm not quite sure why I haven't done one before...I think the thought of holding onto rubbish put me off it. I finished off all this stuff kind of around the same time though so I thought now would be as good as ever to start posting! 

Dermalogica Precleanse

This was the first oil based cleanser I ever tried and I loved it. I am pretty sure I got this sample size in a beauty box, and reserved it for travelling. It took me ages to actually finish, even though I never felt like I was skimping on product when I did use it. I think that goes to show that a little goes a long way with this product. 

Would I repurchase? Absolutely, but at the moment I'm using another oil based cleanser so maybe after that. 

LUSH Ro's Argan Body Conditioner

I got a sample of this in a beauty box about a year ago, and fell in love with it and purchased the full size. It is a tad expensive, but it lasted me about a year, so I think I definitely got enough use out of it. I love the way this makes my skin feel (especially in winter) and if your skin isn't as dry as mine you could absolutely get away with using this and not moisturising after. I don't moisturise my upper body after I've used this, but unfortunately my legs are drier than a desert and require an extra little lovin'. 

Would I repurchase? I already have! I jumped in and bought Michaela's from Lather Rinse Repeat when she had a blog sale before she moved to Dubai. 

Macadamia Oil Deep Repair Mask

I'm not even ashamed to admit that I succumbed to the hype and bought this. I used it as a normal conditioner (I only wash my hair like once a week), and found it worked really well for me. I actually really like this, and find it super hydrating without weighing my hair down too much. 

Would I repurchase? Yes. I've tried so many other hair masks since I used this one up, and they just do not compare.

Lee Stafford Argan Oil Deep Nourishing Treatment

I bought this the last time Priceline had a 40% off hair sale, and I had just ran out of the Morrocan oil mask. This one smells quite synthetic, and whilst I loved the way it made my hair feel under the water, if I let it dry naturally I didn't feel like this did much. If I blow dryed my hair and applied more oil afterwards, then it was in pretty good condition, but that's too much effort for me every single time. It worked well, but not great. 

Would I repurchase? Probably not. 

L'Oreal Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover

A friend told me about this one back in first year uni, and I have barely strayed since. This is my HG eye make up remover. It doesn't sting, it removes all eye make up without needing to tug and pull and this bottle lasts forever. (Spoiler alert, I've already repurchased this). Unfortunately, they've since changed the packaging on this, and now it squirts out all over the place and I've used up half a bottle in half the time. Which makes me really unhappy. Loreal need to do something about that, because I'm not okay with wasting product because of shitty packaging. 

Would I repurchase? see above. Love the product, hate the new packaging. 

I also finished up some Loccitane samples, but I have another review coming soon for those!



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Review: Lush 'Whoosh' Shower Jelly

I purchased this on a total whim in the Lush store, just before Christmas. The 'shower jelly' part intrigued me, and I'm a sucker for a good gimmick. 

This is a really citrus scented soap, with lemon, grapefruit, lime and rosemary all being key ingredients. I really, really love the scent. I love the 'kick' of it, and I love the freshness, especially for Summer. 

I can totally imagine using this when I'm stressed and tired because of uni and it giving a bit of a 'perk up' as well. The scent is really nice whilst your in the shower and it doesn't linger heavily after you step out. 

That being said, I don't think I actually like the 'jelly' part of this product. Basically, this is a lump of jelly in the pot, and I find it a bit tricky to dig a little bit out while in the shower. It's also slippery and gloopy, and when you combine that with water it gets a bit tricky to hold on to. It slips out my hands and on to the floor, wasting a lot of product. I've tried smooshing it into a loofah but that didn't quite work either. 

Basically it requires a lot more effort than I would like to expend on a soap, so I would say it definitely fails on the practicality aspect. 

SLS features predominantly as an ingredient in this product, however, despite that I didn't find this product to be super lathering. It's also a little drying on my skin, so I always make sure to follow up with a moisturiser after using.

Overall, I love the scent of this, but it's far too much hard work for my liking. The jelly is too slippery for the shower and I think the product is a bit gimmicky.



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Best of: The Products I LOVED in 2013

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2013 CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY - NOW CLOSED

Source (edited by myself)

Christmas is less than 5 weeks away! Can you believe it? We've put the tree up at the J&M household, and we've started buying gifts for everyone. Christmas and I have such a love-hate relationship... I hate the inevitable drama of the season. But I think that my love  for the high spirits of the season, and my love for giving gifts outweighs anything negative about this time of year. 

So in the spirit of giving, I'm going to give away TWO prizes to TWO lucky winners! 

SO. This is TWO SEPARATE giveaways. If you wish to win both or either prize, then you will need to fill out both forms! Today I will reveal the first gift I will be giving away, and then next Sunday I will reveal the second gift! 

FIRST GIFT

A little 'ZING' from Lush! I thought this gift pack was so cutely wrapped, and had some great products inside, I couldn't resist grabbing it for one of you! 

Inside is a Rub Rub Rub shower scrub, and an orange jelly soap! Tropical scented sea salt shower scrub and orange soap.  Hello summer!
Being from Australia, I tend to associate Christmas time with summer and citrus and sunburn and barbecues and all the good things that come with this time of year. So I thought this would be a great gift for an 'Aussie' summer! If you're from a hotter climate then this will suit this time of year perfectly! And if you're one of my northern hemisphere readers...then you can use these products and wish you were somewhere with a bit of warmth.

RULES AND LEGALITIES:

• This giveaway is open internationally
• You must be over the age of 18 to enter. If you're not over the age of 18, you must have your parent's permission to enter. 
• You need to be a follower on GFC, and answer the questions in the google form below. Leaving a comment DOES NOT COUNT as entering. You can leave me comments if you wish (I do love reading and interacting with you guys!) But this will not count as an entry. 
• For extra entries, follow me on bloglovin and on twitter, and tweet about the giveaway! 
• You can enter both this giveaway and next week's. 
• All entries will be checked and verified. If you do not comply, your entry will be invalid. 
• The giveaway will end on the 15th December, 2013. The winner will be decided and notified on this day, and given 24 hours to respond. If there is no response, a new winner will be decided and will also have 24 hours to respond. 
• The prize will be mailed out, using regular Australian Post within a week of responding. If the winner would like registered post or tracking, they agree to pay the costs of this.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOOD LUCK! 

ETA: THE WINNER is Di from Max the Unicorn! Her favourite thing about Christmas is "Watching my six year old son rip open his presents under the Tree on Christmas morning! The excitement in his eyes bring me such joy."
Congratulations to Di, and thank you so much for everyone for entering...I loved reading through all your entries and wish I had more money to buy you all prizes. Thank you all also, so much, for supporting my blog :)

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Review: Lush Volcano Foot Mask

Sometimes I feel a bit sorry for our feet. People hate them and are literally repulsed at the sight of them, and yet they do so much of the hard work for us... walking us around everywhere every day, treading on things, being shoved into smelly shoes, and sometimes...just sometimes they want a little loving too.

I picked up Lush's Volcano Foot Mask and have been using it once a week for a couple of months now.
The mask is quite a thick, pale-coloured clay gloop that you apply a thick layer of to your foot. Then you wrap your feet in plastic, leave for 10 minutes and rinse! Too easy.
I've been applying it before I shower, after I give my feet a little rinse, and then rinsing it off in the shower. If you plan on doing this too, I will warn that it does get pretty slippery with this stuff on your feet, with wet tiles and the like. So please, do be careful.

Like the clay you use on your face, the clay in this mask will help to draw out dirt, while anti-fungal essential oils keep your feet from getting gross. It's got papaya and lemon in it, to help with cleansing, tomatoes for deodorising (who knew!) and minty goodness.
My feet don't have any real health issues going on down there, but they get kinda calloused from wearing sandals and they do ache after standing on a hard floor for 9 hours (I hate you retail). Even so, I love the way this makes my feet feel.

The mask tingles when it's on your feet (which honestly I really like!), almost like a menthol heat rub for sore muscles. In fact, when I purchased it the sales assistant told me that sometimes he used it to rub into his calves after he'd been running long distances, to help soothe them. Interesting, but I'm not sure I can put something on my legs that has been on my feet.

Look, I'll be honest. It doesn't smell that great. If you can get past that though, you will love this. Especially if you are on your feet all day. It makes them feel great, it really does deodorise and refresh them, and there's a slight scrub when you wash it off (due to the pumice) so the dead skin comes with it.
The mask is made with fresh ingredients, so doesn't have a long shelf life. The good thing though is it is included in Lush's "Bring 5 clean pots back get a mask free" program, so that's nice!

Do you regularly apply foot masks?



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Body Care: Eczema and Dry Skin

Winter is notorious for sucking any moisture from our skin. As we spend more time indoors with heating, and brave chilly winds, our skin takes a serious beating. I have dry skin to begin with, so winter is actually hell for me. (Despite this, it's still my favourite season)

Hair Care Series Part Seven: My Routine

I get asked often in real life how I keep my hair so healthy while at the same time keeping it so blonde. Let me tell you; being bleached is never easy! Quick run-down of my hair history:

I started going blonde when I was about 15, with some highlights and foils at the hairdresser. I did this for about 2-3 years, until my lovely hairdresser moved to New Zealand (and I cried and threw a tantrum; NOW who is going to do my hair!?) She did such a great job, at such a great price and I was too scared to visit another hairdresser for colouring. So I turned to packet dyes to touch up my roots and all was well in the world. This ended up also being expensive. And I wasn't that good at doing it myself and ended up with weirdo patches. J asked me why don't I just bleach it because that's cheaper and quicker. Uhm, because it's scary, that's why. 

Anyway, I'm lucky my boy experimented with colouring his hair because he's done it for me ever since. 

So if you want me to do a post about bleaching your hair let me know and I'll happily comply. 

Now onto what I do to keep it healthy:

Shampoo

I only shampoo my hair about twice a week. Shock, horror. Your hair doesn't actually need cleaning that often, and is in better condition the less you strip it of its natural oils. Who woulda thunk it? 

At the moment I'm using Lush's Seanik and I love it. It contains salt for body and volume but the nori helps soften the hair as well. The lather of this one is really creamy, which I also like because I feel it's not as harsh on my hair (although it does still contain sulfates. Blah!) 

Conditioner

Every time I re-do my roots and wash the bleach out, I immediately put on the Sckwarzkopf Ultimate Repair Anti-Damage Mask, and let that soak in for a few minutes. I've been using this product for a few years, and have repurchased it many times. This mask is great value for money and I really like the 'deep condition' I get from using it. 

For normal conditioning, I use Tresemme's Moisture Rich Conditioner (in the blue bottle). I absolutely swear by this - my hair just soaks it up and it leaves my tresses smooth and shiny. 

As a 'special treat' for my hair I'll occasionally switch it up and also use the Organix Cocoa Butter conditioner. This one actually smells like chocolate (not like synthetic chocolate) and is really good at moisturising. It is a bit expensive though, which is why I tend to only use it sporadically. If I could afford it, I would buy/use this more often. 

Treatments
I am still loving Loreal's Elvive Extraordinary Oil and have done an entire review on it: here. So go check that out.
I've been trying out the Davroe Smooth Senses Straightening Balm when I blow dry my hair and I think it's doing a pretty good job at taming fly-aways.

For more info and general rambling, check out my video below.
Just a warning though that not only do I have chronic bitchface in the thumbnail, but I was slightly distracted that day - so not my best work. The general message still gets across though.


What are your holy grail hair products? How often do you wash your hair?



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