Review: Hubble & Bubble Bath Bomb & Salts

I'm back from my holidays!

We had a lovely week in Portugal, even though my other half came down with the flu and a couple of rainy days! But it was still nice to be away by the beautiful coast and staying in the most gorgeous villa.

I came back to earth with a bump when we unpacked and I had what seemed an ever-lasting pile of washing up to do! I needed to revitalise a little, so I was really pleased to have received some wonderful goodies from Hubble & Bubble to try and review.

Hubble & Bubble are a company based in West Sussex, UK, and was founded in April 2013. They sell a variety of beautiful bath products including bath bombs, soaps and bath melts, all at affordable prices. 

I decided to test out two of the lovely products I was sent. The Very Berry bath bomb (priced at £2.50) and the Passion Fruit Bath Salts (priced at £1.50 for a 200g bag). 

 

The Very Berry bath bomb when you open it up just smells... divine! It has a really strong, sweet scent that almost had a tutti frutti kind of smell to it! It was absolutely delicious though, and almost smelt good enough to eat. 

The same goes for the bath salts. The smell when you open them just hits you instantly, and makes you want to get them in the bath ASAP!

The great thing about the bath bomb is that it also contains shea butter, which is fantastic for your skin. It contains different vitamins which help nourish and moisturise your skin, soothing any rough or dry patches. Just what I needed after spending days on the beach!

The bath salts also aim to work wonders - they contain a mixture of sea salts and Epsom salts, perfect to relax your muscles (again, just what I needed!) and to give your body back the minerals it's lost throughout the day. Epsom salts are known to be fantastic for several reasons including easing stress, treating colds, easing stress, and even helping with pain and inflammation. 

When I put the bath salts in the bath first, the room was instantly filled with a gorgeous passion fruit scent. They smelt amazing, I couldn't believe how strong they were. But the real fun came with the bath bomb!

It turned my bath a lovely shade of bubblegum pink! 

After my bath, my skin did feel noticeably softer and I without a doubt felt an ease of the tension in my muscles that had built up from the stress of the holiday. The scent of the bath was amazing, and I felt so relaxed. They definitely do what they say on the tin and I was really impressed. My skin was left with only a very gentle smell to it, which is great because there was no concern over it irritating my skin. I highly recommend both of these fabulous products which not only make your bath pretty (!) but also work wonders for your muscles and relaxation.

You can buy online at http://www.hubbleandbubble.org/ and they also have a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/hubbleandbubble. You can even follow them on Twitter @hubbleandbubble.

Be sure to try out their products and let me know what you think!

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Review: Avon ExtraLasting Lipstick

Finding a lipstick that will actually last can be tricky, especially if you're going out. I've often put on my favourite red lipstick for it to half come off while I'm out for something to eat, and I hate having to constantly reapply. That's why I thought I'd give Avon's ExtraLasting Lipstick a go and see whether it really could stand the test of time.

I decided that with it being Spring, I wanted a more pink shade of lipstick than normal. I always stick to various shades of reds just because that's what I feel most comfortable wearing, but I thought it was worth a change. There are eight shades to choose from and I opted for Forever Pink.

Avon's ExtraLasting Lipstick is meant to last for up to 8 hours thanks to it's Fresh Wear Complex formulation, 'to help color stay true and wear evenly'. It also has the added bonus of an SPF 15 which is always handy especially now we're well on our way to Spring and, fingers crossed, more sunshine. Their website describes the lipstick as being 'luxurious with a silky satin finish'. 

When I saw the lipstick first of all, I thought that the shade was a little different to what I was expecting. The shade I had seen in the brochure made it look more of a nude shade, but this was slightly brighter, almost a bubblegum sort of pink. I thought it may be a little too bright for me at first but I liked the colour when I took a swatch.

The first thing I recognised when I took a swatch was how it really did have a satin-type feel too it. It was lovely to put on and did feel more expensive than it actually was. I liked how it had a slightly balm-like quality to it, and it felt good for my lips. It had a nice shine to it too - not too much that it was overly glossy, but a perfect dewy type glow that is perfect for this time of year.

When I applied the lipstick, I was surprised at how strong the colour actually was. I thought that because it was quite moisturising it wouldn't have a strong pigment to it, but I was wrong. It felt really nice to apply to my lips, and I was really happy with the colour. It's not something I would have normally gone for, but again, I wanted to try something softer due to it being Spring time. I feel as though when I applied it I could actually see it was more of the nude tone like I had originally hoped for it to be, so this made me happy!

But would it stand the test of time?

I'm pleased to report that yes, it did!

I decided to apply it before I had a morning of work to do, and then I took my dogs on a walk by the river. I loved that it moisturised my lips and I could really feel the softness when I was out and about. And even better, when I got home, the lipstick was still there and still just as bright as to when I had applied it a few hours earlier. I also ate a snack and had a drink while I was out, so it survived those tests too.

This is another fabulous product by Avon, and I'm really impressed that this lipstick lasted just like it said it would. I'd definitely consider buying it in more shades now, just so I have more choices for different occasions, as this would be brilliant to wear when you're going out, or just have a long day ahead of you. The satin-feel to it and the moisturising qualities are really positive qualities of this lipstick, and it makes it feel a lot more expensive than the £7.50 that it cost. I highly recommend giving this lipstick a go!

This post is not sponsored or endorsed in any way by Avon. 

Review: St. Ives Gentle Facial Cleansing Wipes

Face wipes are always something I've found to be a bit hit and miss. They can be a saviour at times when you just need to quickly remove your make up and get into bed, but sometimes they don't remove all your make up and instead, you end up with a smeary face of mascara and needing to use half the pack of wipes to get it off!

I recently picked up St. Ives Gentle Facial Cleansing Wipes whilst they were on offer. I'm a big fan of the St. Ives scrubs so I thought these would be something nice to try. I picked up the dry and sensitive ones as I can suffer with sensitive skin at times.

They claim to: 

"Gently cleanse & soothe in one easy step" and "Removes make-up & waterproof mascara for a smooth skin feeling."

They also contain aloe vera extract and almond oil, are alcohol-free and have no artificial fragrance.

The wipes themselves smell really fresh, and you can smell the aloe vera extract in them. They're also really soft to the touch which I can only assume is partly down to the almond oil they contain. 

I've been using the wipes most days now for the past week but thought I would do my review today when I had a fair bit of make up on. 

I was mostly worried about how my mascara would come off as this is where face wipes can often 'go wrong' and you end up with lovely panda eyes instead. 

The wipes were really soft on my skin and felt moisturising straight away. I really do love the smell of them as it just smells clean rather than any strong fragrances that could effect sensitive skin. Plus the best bit... my make up came off like a dream. Here's me with half of it taken off from the wipes and half of my make up still left on.

What I loved was instead of just pushing the make up around, it actually cleansed my face and removed the make up really easily. The best part? My mascara came straight off! No need for hard scrubbing or tons of wipes to get it off, it just came off straight away. 

Afterwards, my skin did feel softer and cleansed. It felt as though I had actually used a facial wash rather than a wipe which really sold the wipes to me. It removed all traces without any make up left over, yet my skin didn't feel overly damp afterwards (another downside to wipes sometimes!). 

All in all, I really rate these wipes. They feel natural and almost good for your skin, and despite face wipes sometimes being looked down on as not the best way to remove your make up, these strike me as being a really good option. I love how they left my skin feeling genuinely cleansed rather than as though I still had traces of make up, and one of the best parts was how well they removed my waterproof mascara. 

St. Ives Gentle Facial Cleansing Wipes are currently on offer for £1.49 at Superdrug, so I would definitely recommend getting a packet and giving them a trial. Nice one, St. Ives, another lovely product from you!

This post is in no way sponsored or endoresed by St. Ives or Superdrug. 

Review: Poundland's Make Up Gallery

If you haven't noticed by now, my blog is dedicated to reviewing bargains! I, like most of us these days, don't have the cash to splash out on expensive skin care and beauty products, so I have to try and make the best with what I've got.

This week I've gone extreme bargain. On a trip to Poundland recently, I saw their now quite extensive Make Up Gallery range. I'd read other blogs about how some of the products were worth buying, so I thought why not give them a go myself. I've already got a highlighter from there which isn't the best but does the trick just about, so I wanted to explore other products.

I picked up two - a concealer and a lip gloss. The first I'll review is the concealer - Hide and Chic in Ivory.

It's a typical lipstick-style concealer, which is what I like using the best as they tend to give a thicker coverage. I must admit that I thought it would be a lot more oily than it actually was, although I'd probably not recommend it for extremely oily skin (I have combination/oily skin). 

I liked the consistency when I tried it on my hand and was impressed at the coverage. I was pretty pleased with the shade as well (it doesn't look a match on my hand as my hands are naturally a lot redder!). So now, to the important bit, testing it on my problem skin.

At the moment, my skin isn't great, and I have a few blemishes and redness so it was probably quite a good time to test it. I started out with my using foundation, Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Foundation, as my base. 

As you can see for some reason I've got a puffy left eye (not sure where that's come from!) but I also have some darkness under my eyes, and some redness underneath the bottom of my nose.

I was immediately impressed! 

You can see the coverage particularly on my eyes, and it's covered the dark circles fairly well (the puffiness I don't think it can help!). It's also added some brightness to under my eyes so I looked immediately slightly more awake! It's also covered the blemishes under my nose. 

It worked really well with my foundation and was easy to apply. I found it was really smooth and I liked the relatively heavy coverage. For a £1 concealer, I'd definitely buy it again and would recommend it. I didn't find it too oily like I was concerned about, and in fact I think the final finish is fairly matte.

Now on to the lip gloss - Shine On, and I got the shade Cherry Pop. 

I'm not normally a lip gloss fan but I wanted to try something a bit out of my comfort zone, but sticking with a shade I would normally go for. I thought that looking at the bottle the colour would be quite intense, so I felt optimistic. 

When I tested it on my hand however, I started to feel more disappointed. You can already tell the colour isn't as strong and vibrant as to what it initially looked in the bottle, although you could tell it was certainly high shine. In terms of that 'gloopiness' (a technical term there...) that lip gloss can often have, it didn't feel too bad when I applied to my hand. 

As you can see, while the colour is okay, it's certainly not as opaque as it looks in the bottle. It's got a lot of shine to it, which was different for me to be wearing, but my partner commented on how nice it looked so that was a bonus. I was disappointed it wasn't a stronger red but for £1 I suppose you can't complain too much. 

All in all, the lip gloss didn't too it for me. I went out wearing this and had a coffee and it came off almost immediately, so the lasting power isn't good either. I'd say if you're not needing to eat or drink, and you're okay with less intense colours, then you could pull this lip gloss off, and for £1, it would be a great thing to have in your handbag, but it wasn't for me personally. 

I loved the concealer so much though that I'm not disheartened about trying future products from the Make Up Gallery range at Poundland, and I may have to visit a store soon and see what else they have on offer. I'd recommend trying the range for yourself, and it's a great way to try different colours and shades in products without worrying about spending a fortune. 

Have you ever tried some proper beauty bargains? What did you think of them?

Review: Aveeno Moisturising Cream

Aveeno has been my saviour since I discovered it about three weeks ago, and so I just had to do this as my next product review.

As I suffer with OCD and as a consequence wash my hands over-frequently, my hands can become extremely sore, dry and as a result, the skin breaks a lot. My partner often remarked on how I had the hands of an elderly lady, and so I decided I needed to do something about it. The problem was, the majority of hand creams I had tried hadn't worked out - because my skin was so damaged, when I applied a hand cream, it tended to create a burning sensation that was often so uncomfortable I'd end up washing the cream straight off again.

I went to my local Boots store and spoke to the pharmacist. He took one look at my hands and said 'Aveeno.' I'd heard of the brand before but had never tried any of their products, and whilst I was a bit reluctant in case it burnt my skin, I decided to trust the pharmacist's advice. He told me to use their Moisturising Cream which I picked up for around £5.

Aveeno Cream contains Colloidal Oatmeal, which their website claims to restore the skin's natural barrier. It also says it is :

"Clinically proven to hydrate and soothe dry, sensitive skin leaving it feeling comfortable, soft and smooth from day one." 

Their website also boasts some amazing reviews, with most scoring it 4 or 5 out of 5, so by this point I was feeling more optimistic. 

When I applied it, I noticed it had a nice thick consistency. I don't like anything too thin and watery, so this was a good starting point from me. 

A good selling point for a hand cream for me is also how quickly it sinks into the skin. I don't like anything that leaves my hands feeling oily and unable to do anything for the next quarter of an hour! This sunk in instantly. It did have an unusual smell though - the website states it's fragrance free, which it is, but you can smell the oatmeal in it and it almost smelt a bit like rubbing porridge on your hands! I wasn't too keen on the smell at first but I've kind of grown more used to it now.

As soon as I'd applied this product, my hands felt as though they'd been given a good old dose of TLC - they felt smoother instantly, and my skin felt as though it had more elasticity to it.

I've been using the product every day now (I probably apply about three or four times a day) and my hands have improved so dramatically I can't quite believe it. My nails are stronger, my skin is nourished and I no longer have a tightness in my skin. My hands are soft and supple, rather than rough and cracked, and even my partner has commented on how much better they are!

I highly recommend the Aveeno range for anyone who has problematic skin. It's a fantastic hand cream and I see no reason as to why it wouldn't work just as well on other parts of the body. They have a whole range of different creams, lotions and washes, so there's something to suit everyone and it can even be used by children. 

Have you used Aveeno? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

This post is in no way sponsored or endorsed by Aveeno.

Review: Avon Perfectly Matte Lipstick

My first, review, hurrah! Now to be serious...

I'm a fan of matte lipsticks for starters. I've previously tried a couple of the ones Rimmel do, and whilst I loved the colours, I found that they tended to dry my lips out more. I thought that this would be a similar scenario, but I was soon proved wrong.

The packaging it came in was the standard Avon black casing, however, I noticed they'd gone for a matte finish on the casing this time. This is handy for when you're rummaging around and looking for your particular matte lipstick!

Avon Perfectly Matte Lipsticks come in 15 different shades, which means there's plenty of choice. From some lovely classic nudes to bright pinks and deep reds, there's something to suit every skin tone. I chose Red Supreme as I just love a deep red lipstick.

I must admit, when I open the lid and saw the colour of the lipstick, I thought it looked a lot darker than the swatch in the catalogue (it appeared a lot brighter there). But when I actually tried it on my hand I noticed it was still the shade I first thought it was. I also saw how smooth and easy it was to glide on, a feature I really liked, and it gave the effect of being a more expensive lipstick that it actually is. You could tell instantly it had a matte finish, and there wasn't a hint of sheen. 

When I put the lipstick on, I immediately loved how strong the colour was. The pigment was bright and I loved the shade of red. It went on easily, and I could get a crisp clean line without any trouble. It was lovely to put on.

I also noticed that it somehow made my lips look even more fuller than usual! I'm not sure if it was the vibrant colour just making them really pop, but I liked the effect either way.

In terms of lasting, I found it lasted a good few hours before I needed to reapply more, but I would normally use a lipstick sealer anyway just to make my lipsticks last through all the cups of coffees I drink. I didn't today but would use this in future.

All in all, I'd highly recommend this lipstick. It's currently selling on Avon's website for only £5 so it's a bargain too that you should really try for yourself. I'd even recommend getting a couple of shades at that price and just have a play around with what suits your skin tone the most. I was really happy with this buy and it's definitely a go-to lipstick for me from now on.

Click here to visit Avon's website and buy their Perfectly Matte Lipstick.

Please note this post is not in any way sponsored or endorsed by Avon.

Let me know what you think in the comments below - have you tried any of the collection? 

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Hello!

Hi! I'm Kimberley, a twenty-something girl who loves books, coffee and lazing in her pyjamas.

I currently write a blog about my mental health called Musings of an Anxious Girl which has steadily grown in readers, and I previously did a similar blog called The Hopeful Hummingbird. I've decided to broaden my horizons a little and blog about all the other things I love in life - make up, beauty, and lifestyle products.

As an Independent Avon Representative, I will probably be doing a fair few reviews of their products, but I want to try and see what other lovely products are out there. I particularly love anything natural, organic, or free of harsh chemicals as I tend to have quite delicate skin. So let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like me to review!

Anyway, I will probably talk a little more about myself throughout each post, but for now, I'll say buh-bye and I hope you enjoy reading my posts!


Love,
Kim - x -