New things from The Body Shop

I got a surprise parcel from The Body Shop the other day, a parcel that Simon only told me about at about half eleven.  I'm sure that there is grounds enough to bring an action for negligence..

The cardboard box itself was a lovely near midnight olfactory treat and the new products were also rather nice.

A bar of chocolate was also included and until last night, I had never tried chocolate that I didn't like.  This one was the worst I have ever eaten.  It was dark chocolate (never a win in my book) but the combination of dark chocolate and ginger just made it taste like it was medicinal.  Can you imagine a chocolate that made you better? And was prescribed on the NHS?  That'd cure depression a treat!

I gave th bar of chocolate to my dad who loves it.  But he's the kind of person who is happy with a tub of Liquorice Allsorts so take from that what you will.

Anyway, enough yapping! Here's what was in the magic box..

Heart shaped chocolate smelling exfoliant soap, what isn't to love?!

I've opened only the chocolate lipbalm and it smells absolutely gorgeous, I'm definitely going to use it, even though it comes in pot form..

I really want to get the Pomegranate balm..even moreso after reading this about it..

If that isn't me in a sentence then I don't know what is!

Instead, I got plum..

And check the colour of my new ostentatious bedsheets, yeah, you know my bedsheet swag is on point!

I used to think that the lipbalms were expensive but the sticks are £3.50 and the tubs are only £2.00 which isn't bad at all!  I can't find the range on the website yet, which is understandable as these are new things but they should be hitting shelves and stores next month!

FOTD: Bright lip city gonna set my soul on fire!

I've been going through a bright lip phase at the moment which is something that I never thought I'd be doing.  These colours aren't fantastically bright but they're bright enough to allow me to strike the balance between bright and work appropriate.

My lips are pigmented and the top lip is darker than the bottom.  All three of these products mask that problem and apply uniformly to both lips.  The Korres tub is standard lipbalm size, the ELF tub really is that big. 

Could you be..the most beautiful balm in the world?

There was a time in my life when if you had asked me about my favourite lip smoother, I would have unequivocally told you that Nivea was the way to go.

So, how did I convert to Carmex? I was on the way to law school and horror of horrors, found that my lip balm had finished.  The Boots by Moorgate station only had Carmex and as it was only a couple of quid, I decided to bite the bullet.

I have never looked back.  Carmex is all I buy now.

All the other lip balms used to take about three to four days to make my lips feel smooth but Carmex does it from the first application.  I also found with other lip balms that if you use too much, your lips reject it..this doesn't seem to happen with Carmex.  Also, you know sometimes you use a lip balm so much that when you stop, your lips dry out? This doesn't do that, either.  When my lips messed up last year thanks to a Primark gloss, this (and some butter) came to my rescue so it really does have healing properties and goes beyond the standard "moisturising" spiel that most balms promise.

Whenever I use it, the smell ALWAYS takes me back to my time at law school, I went through so many of these whilst I was doing my LPC..isn't it funny how the slightest whiff of a familiar smell can take you back to places you haven't been to for years?

There is however, one cautionary piece of advice..avoid the tub version.  I'm not sure why it  does nothing for me at all, I assume the ingredients are the same but it must be the solidifying agent because the tub version is more solid than the version I have.  However, you can use that on cuts and the like, I've given mine to Simon who uses it when he cuts himself shaving or doing other man fings (footballing injuries).

The Body Shop Delipscious Lipsticks and Lipbalms

I was given two of these at the Body Shop bloggers event..for some reason I've been really slow in getting stuff out of the goody bag and using it.

I used these the other day..and then again today..

In short, I don't like them.

I think the food grade angle is the problem.  When I first put them on, they don't taste like lipsticks..they taste nice.  I don't mean that I chew a chunk of them before applying.  It's the incidental taste you get when you put stuff on your lips.

After about 20 minutes, I got the most disgusting taste in my mouth, I can't say what it was of but it was really bitter.  I had to have a couple of big glasses of water and take the lipstick/balm off and still there were traces of bitternes.

They are moisturising..very moisturising but the taste really puts a downer on them.  

The tinted lip balm should, in my opinion just be called a lipbalm.

When I put it on my lips, you couldn't see it! However, my lips are quite pigmented so that could be why.  I forced Simon to let me swatch it on his lips and you could see a slight sparkle..for all the 4 seconds he kept it on.

They didn't stay on my lips long enough for me to swatch them..

Review: Korres lip butter (Pomegranate)

I finally got around to trying this after another of my lip balms ran out.

What do Korres say?
"A buttery lip balm that melts on the lips and offers a shiny, tinted finish. The combination of Shea butter and Rice wax offers deep hydration and softness. Ideal for chapped lips."

What do I say?
The packaging first, is different to any balm/butter that I've ever used, I quite like this.

There is a lot of information to take in, so much so that Korres had to print on the inside of the box:

Ingredients:

The tub:

The first thing that struck me about the lip butter was the pigmentation in the pot, it was a really bright reddish colour which I didn't think would suit me at all.

The consistency is a bit hard to describe as well, it's like a shiny lipstick which has been melted and poured into the tub.  It's not as hard your typical balm/butter, it's quite soft so you pick quite a bit up.

I swatched some on my finger and it was just as bright.

I whacked it on my lips and it applied a bit sheerer than the initial swatch on my finger and the colour is quite wearable.

One of my pet peeves with lip balms is the fact that you can feel that you're wearing it.  You can't really feel that you have this on.

Another thing I liked was the fact that the colour was sheer but that there was still enough pigmentation in there to make my lips look better than their natural self.  After application, my lips were pretty smooth looking and they also looked glossy, I could use it as a lipgloss replacement.

It stays on for an age, I put it on in the morning and it is still there by the time my lunchbreak rolls around which is pretty impressive for a lip balm/butter.

It does everything that it claims to do and for me is a winner.

However, it's not without its faults.  The packaging is a bit decieving as a the tub is a fatter than it looks from the outside so you could get more product for your money if it was a bit thinner.  Also, despite being this thick, it still feels pretty lightweight which could be both a blessing and a curse.

Purchase?
I would buy this because I use it as a no fuss lip colour.  It stays on for ages and the colour works really well on my lips.  Plus, it's excellent at moisturising and keeping my lips nice and soft.  It costs £6 but I get quite a fair bit of usage out of the product.  If I used a lip brush then I'd get even more usage but that's a bit of extra fuss and the finger technique does me fine.

You can buy this here.