Cruelty Free Brands

I am going to be honest and say I do my best to buy from cruelty free brands but do slip up on some occasions but I've learnt over the last few years which brands are cruelty free and if I can find a product I like from one of these brands I will do. So today I wanted to share with you some brands which are cruelty free and also the best way to spot them.

The best way to spot if a product is against animal testing is to look for the little bunny on the product, if you find one then it's cruelty free and doesn't test on any animals which is always good. Another thing to look for on a product is the little recycling symbol which is normally three little arrows following each other which is great if you want to recycle the product once you have done using it.

Lipsy London - Make Me Gorgeous Palette Review*

Lipsy London is a brand I've heard of but never brought from as I see them as more of a teenage brand and as I'm 23 I'm not sure I fit the right criteria for there make up range. But I won a palette in a recent giveaway and was quite excited to try out the product to see if it was just for teens or if I could pull it off myself.

Spending Time At Home

Sometimes I confuse my friends as I say I'm going home and they always think I mean my house where I live but I actually mean back to Birmingham. I grew up and lived there for 16 years before moving to a small and odd place called Banbury, to this day if people ask I still say Birmingham or Oxford is where I live as I have never accepted Banbury as my hometown even after living here for 7 years.

This weekend I spent the day at my favorite park growing up called Lickey Hills which is a park and woodland area with a cute little tea shop and place to learn all about nature. Growing up my mum would always say let's go to Lickey Hills and I would love to go and walk the 100 steps or the mile walk to Barnt Green, knowing that after I would be rewarded with a half hour play on the park.

Tips On Hair Growth

For the last year now I've been growing my hair and have gathered quite a few helpful tips on the way so today I thought I would share with you some helpful tips on hair growth. My hair used to be just above my shoulders and very short this had been my style for 6 years and I was now bored with it, so I may the decision to grow my hair just below my boobs and have almost got to that length now.

Bare Faced Beauty

I have awful confidence when it comes to going without make up and rely on it far to much, so I set myself a little challenge to go without make up at least two times a week and to wear minimum make up on the other days. It's been a bit of a struggle but I've learnt to love my face over the last few weeks and wanted to share with you today how I have done it and my experiences.

I feel my skin is uneven, spotty, greasy and just a mess with no make up on so for me wearing make up builds my confidence and makes me feel complete in a way. I normally wear heavy and thick foundation with a lot of concealer and it's normally full coverage MAC, if I'm having a particular bad day I wear shades and hide my face behind my hair so for me this was a hard thing to do but I felt like I needed to build my confidence so that's why I have changed my routine.

No make up!

Product Empties March 2015

Over the last month or so I've had a lot of products I've used up and feel like I ought to do a product empties post to let you know if the products are any good and if I'm going to be buying them again.

The Body Shop Mango Scrub
The scent of this product is my favorite aspect as it is really fresh and fruity making me want to use the product over and over. The texture is dry and really scrubs into the skin well removing any dead skin and making it easy to buff the area. I've loved using this product and had the intention of buying a new one but when I went into the store I noticed the Early Harvest Raspberry scrub and picked up one of those instead. The product is £13 for a large tube and around £6 for the mini.

Sanex Dermo Sensitive Deodorant
This is the first deo that I have tried from the brand Sanex and I was really impressed, as I have really sensitive armpits I have to go for ones that don't harm my skin but they tend to be not as good as other brands. However this deo works well for keeping my sensitive down and keeping me smelling fresh throughout the day, I'm really impressed with this product and shall be picking up a new one as there only around £2 in stores like Bodycare.

MAC Natural Radiance Serum Sample
I've never got a sample from MAC before so I was really surprised to get one in my bag on my last visit, the sample I got was Natural Radiance Serum to put under my foundation to help keep it in place longer. I was impressed with the product as it went on well and soaked in nicely while holding my make up in place all day, however for me the price is a little to much and I find my MUA serum works just as well so sadly I won't be purchasing the full sized product but do recommend it.

Sally Hansen Moisturising Polish Remover
I've always raved about this brand of polish remover and always love how it removes the nail varnish off my nails and keep them in such great condition. It has a mild scent and it doesn't take to much of the product to remove nail varnish off my nails so for me this is my favorite brand to go for when buying a new polish remover, at only £2.49 it's a great buy that I shall be repurchasing.

Dove 2in1 Daily Care Shampoo and Conditioner 
I love this shampoo and conditioner as it works so well at keeping my hair clean and soft while being such a quick and easy to use product. The scent is fresh and stays in my hair all day while I only need a small amount of the product to create a really thick lather to wash my hair in, it's a really great product to use and only costs around £2 in Bodycare so it's one I shall be picking up again.

Sensodyne Rapid Relief Toothpaste
I've been using this brand of toothpaste for around 2 years now and always replace the toothpaste when I have run out as it works so well at keeping my teeth sensitive free and with a mint fresh feeling. I do find however it is a little expensive as a small tube cost £2.49 and that's from Bodycare I have however already replace the product as I love it so much.

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish
It feels like I've had this little sample for ages and I'm pretty sure I have, the main reason being is that it's one I use and then kind of forget about. It works really well as cleansing and my skin feels great after but it's the kind of product you just forget to use and don't go back to. It is rather pricey but works great so it's worth the money you pay £26 but for me I just wasn't to over wowed so I won't be buying a new one just yet.

One Direction One Moment Perfume
This perfume was one of those buys I never thought I would make as I'm not the biggest fan of One Direction but they do make a brilliant perfume. I brought it ages ago around a year ago and have used it as an everyday perfume since purchasing it for around £25, it has such a nice girly scent and I always get compliments when wearing it but due the fact I have seven other perfumes on the go I can't buy a new one just yet however once I've got through a few more perfumes I shall be buying a new one!

So that's it for this post, what have you used up this month?

Spring and Summer Lookbook

This summer I have decided to go out of my comfort zone and really make an effort with dressing up and dressing for my figure, most of the week I'm in work clothes which are really not that flattering. So I hope you enjoy this post - please note is it a tad bit photo heavy!

The Dresses
I am a bit of a lover of dresses and have a few that I wear none stop when the sun comes out, I suit more skater style dresses and love to accessorize with cute pieces of jewelry and adorable summer bags.

Jeans in Summer! 
Yes I'm that girl you see sweating it out in jeans in the summer my main reason is my legs as I most certainly do not love them I tend to hide them. I love to pair my jeans with really cute and girly tops - denim on denim is very in right now and wearing a denim top with a pair of jeans is really cute. I will also be wearing my two favorite skirts which even though there black they are a really light materiel and work nicely in the summer sun.

Pastel Tops with Florals 
I am a sucker for pastel tops and light girly shades in the sun so this year I shall be over wearing some of my favorite floated light and bright tops with my jeans and skirts. I love tops which don't stick to my tummy and show off my lumps and bumps so most of my tops are very big and floaty.

Accessorize The Hell Out Of It
I tend to go a little OTT with adding bits of jewelry and a cute bag or that must have blazer with an outfit and love to layer in spring so here is a look at all the bits I shall be getting out this Summer.

So there we go, I do hope you enjoyed this post and if you have a similar one then link it below so I can take a look. What's your favorite outfit choice?

Would You Rather - Beauty Edition

I haven't done a tag post for ages and thought I would do one for you today, I've seen a beauty Would You Rather floating around for a while now and when I searched for it I came across two versions and think I have found the newer one. So sit back and enjoy my Would You Rather tag post!

Would you rather lose all your mascara, eye liners, lipsticks and lip glosses or lose all your palettes and eye shadows?
I would say I would have to lose my palettes and eye shadows as I love lip stick and my mascara far to much I feel like I could cope with no eye shadows, but I would be a little upset over losing my palettes although I would get over it.

Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again?
For the last 10 years I've pretty much had a bob and have only just started to grow my hair out so I feel I would be able to cope with a short hair cut for the rest of my life.

Would you rather have a coral cheek or pink cheek?
I love a good coral cheek as it's my favorite shade in pretty much everything so I would go for coral.

If you had a £1000 to spend, would you rather buy clothes or make up?
This is a hard one as I love both but I feel like I would go for make up, there are a lot of high end make up brands I can never buy from as there far to expensive so I would go splurge on expensive make up.

Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?
I think I would go for eyeliner as lipstick as applying lipstick on the eyes would hurt and go everywhere but applying eyeliner as a lipstick if you find the right shade it might look pretty nice.

Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?
As much as I love MAC they only have a small range of products were Sephora has a massive range with loads more to buy from so I would choose Sephora.

Would you rather only use one eye shadow colour or one lip colour for the rest of your life?
I would go for one eye shadow for the rest of my life, as you can mix it up with eyeliner and I just love my lipsticks to much.

Would you rather have dark nails or bright nails all year round?
I would go for dark nails as I feel they would go with more outfits and more looks rather then having such a bright pop of colour on my nails as it may get annoying to see.

Would you rather give up your favorite lip product or rather eye product?
I would give up my favorite eye product as I feel like I could easily replace it and would find an alternative quicker.

Would you rather never paint your nails again or never wear lip gloss?
I would never wear lip gloss as I don't wear much of it now and feel like I could get away with lip sticks and lip balms but never painting my nails is giving up to much.

Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all, or draw them in with sharpie everyday?
This one is hard as both are quite extreme but I feel like I can never get the right look or shape of my brows so I would shave them and hope for a new trend to be started.

Would you rather live without make up or nail polish?
I would live without nail polish as I feel my nails look good enough bare but my face certainly doesn't!

So that's my Beauty Would You Rather, I do hope you enjoyed and if you give it a go yourself then please leave me a link in the comment!

Rimmel BB Cream Matte Review

For summer I wanted to find a BB cream as last year I wore my foundation and my skin looked awful, so browsing in my local Superdrug I came across the Rimmel range and was drawn in by the shade being very light. As a pale skinned girl finding the right foundation/make up can be a nightmare but for me finding a very light BB cream was like Christmas had come early.

As it's a BB cream it advertises the fact in can do 9 things from minimising pores to evening skin tone there's a lot this product claims to do. For me I wanted a foundation to cover my skin but still be light enough to wear in summer without making my skin look awful, and so far so good. The product goes on light and thin while still covering all my spots and problem areas which really impressed me, it also suits my skin tone really well as it's a really nice light yellow toned shade of cream.

The product tends to last me around 6 hours which is pretty good and as it has a matte effect it goes on really well but maintains the matte look until the end of the 6 hours which I thought was a helpful effect to have for summer as I shall more then likely be a hot mess. The packaging is really handy as it's a small tube of 30ml and fits nicely in my make up case, the lid is a simply twist off and squeeze out the product which is good as the cream is quite runny so I feel the need to place it onto my hand before applying to my face and having that kind of lid helps a lot.

I've been using my tube for around 2 weeks now and have around half the product left so it's a bit off a quick user meaning I will have to repurchase this every month, this can be annoying as it all adds up and I may as well just buy a new foundation but it is a really great buy and I feel like it's worth the £6.99 each month.

Have you had any luck with BB creams or do you just stick to foundation?

Lush Unicorn Horn Review

I feel like I haven't done a Lush review for ages and if I'm honest I have been using so many of my old favorites that I've had no new ones to review, but luckily I picked up Unicorn Horn for my latest bath and decided to give it a review. It's a bubble bar and was released this year for the Valentines range costing around £3.25.

I was really drawn to this bubble bar in the shop as the shape was rather odd but the colours were really pretty and girly. It reminded me off My Little Pony and I love the added shimmery effect on the bubble bar, but the little stars were a real winner and I couldn't wait to pick one up. It's one of those products you wish Lush would bring out all year round and not just for Valentines day.

The scent is quite a musky deep flower scent which isn't my all time favorite but it does go quite mild in the bath leaving it with a rather subtle floral scent which I didn't mind at all. Crumbling it into the water was really easy as it's such a soft bubble bar so it was really easy to use and quite fun, it does have little added stars which were easy to crumble as well.

The water goes a lively bubblegum pink which I liked a lot and then water also had quite a lot of bubbles which impressed me. It didn't do much for my skin apart from leaving it a bit shimmery but I feel this was more of a shower then a doer, if you can get your hands on one then I would highly advise picking one up!

What's been your go to Lush product this week?

The Body Shop Early Harvest Raspberry Body Scrub

While browsing the sale in my local Body Shop store I came across the Early Harvest Raspberry body scrub and because I was after a new one I picked up it, not realising just how much I would love this product!

The scent is so overpowering and sickly that it's really good smelling just like jam with far to much sugar in, I'm addicted to the scent and love going back into the bathroom after using it as it lingers for ages making the room smell incredibly. It also last's for a while on the skin but not to strong which is not to good as I would love to have the scent all day and night on my skin.

The texture is a really thick jammy texture that is cool and refreshing while gliding onto the skin, not to sticky but it has enough jammyness that it feels like rubbing jam on the skin. It also has exfoliating beads in making it a scrub, there not to harsh and don't scratch the skin but do a good job off removing dead skin and leaving the skin feeling soft and smooth.

The only thing I would say is I used it in the bath at first and loved it but after using it in the shower on damp skin rather then soaking wet skin I adored it. It works well on skin that has been in water and left to dry a little before using so you can really work the product in, however it does work well both ways so you can use it in the bath or shower.

The price for a big tub is £13 but at the moment in the sale it's only £6.50, as it is in the sale I'm not sure if it will be available to buy much longer as it's already gone from the website! What's your favorite purchase from The Body Shop?

Stress Relief

I've been dealing with anxiety and stress since my teens and sometimes I have days when it all gets to much and I need some relief. So when I was out shopping I came across some Stress Relief tablets and thought I may as well give them ago, a pack of 60 is available from Body Shop for around £3.

The tablets are all natural and include Hop Stobile, Valerian and Passion Flower for temporary relief from mild anxiety and stress. As they are a herbal remedy they do smell really strong and almost make me gag when taking one but it is so worth it. I get an nice calming feeling once I take one and I always feel happier and my mood is always improved which makes me a nicer person to be around.

I know that the tablets are only a temporary fix and I would never use them daily only for when I'm feeling low but for anyone who suffers with stress or anxiety I would urge you to buy a pack and see how you feel after a month of using them. I have informed my doctor and he explained it's a great product as it doesn't contain and scary ingredients and it has a positive affect on my mood.

I wanted to do this post today to encourage people to try out a new product which could help them out but if you do need to chat or get anything of your chest you can always email me - jessb1991@gmail.com

WLW March Update

This month has been quite fun with me starting my new healthy diet and using Weight Watchers so I've had quite a good food month. I've also been doing some workouts not that many but around one big hour long one a week which has kept me on my toes. I have however been ill a few times this month and don't feel like my weight has been a true match so this month I shall be sharing my food diary with you but not sharing my weigh in!

Weight Watchers is a really great way to diet as you are given points and then each food has a point value, so I have 24 in a day and I can eat as much as I want as long as it is only 24 points. My family has used this diet and it has worked well, I used it a few months ago and lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks so I can't wait to really go for it this time.

Breakfast
I have a serving of Granola for breakfast with skimmed milk, I find it's filling and tasty while having enough variety I won't get bored. My favorite style is clusters with raisins but at the moment I'm using a fruit one which is just as tasty and just as filling. This meal is 3 points.

Lunch
At home I have a rice packet or some pasta which is filling and healthy while staying in my points range of just 4 points a meal.
For work it's a sandwich and a fruit pot which is a bit more points at 6 which stays in my range but there is a big difference.

Dinner
I always have a healthy meal at home which is cooked for by my family I normally have a zero pointed vegatable mix and something added like salmon/lamb/chicken which is around 3 points, which is great for a dinner.

Snacks 
The best bit about Weight Watchers is you can snack on anything so if I want chocolate I can or if i want some cake then I shall!

So that's it for today post, hopefully I won't be ill next week and I can actually weigh myself!