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!

They say simple things please simple minds: Woods of Windsor soaps

I was invited to an event last weekend but due to someone shrinking all of my work trousers, I had to do an emergency trouser shop.  That resulted in me missing the event and also buying more tops than trousers.

The event was for Yardley and Woods of Windsor..I loved the event they put on before and thus my annoyance at the trouser shrinker was palpable.

Anyway, I was sent a range of products by both Yardley and Woods of Windsor and the packaging of the soaps has really won me over.  These are right up my street and I would love to receive something wrapped in a similar fashion for Christmas.

I've sepia-d this photo up because I wanted to add an air of "mystery" to their actual colouring.  Seriously, I've never been this impressed with packaging before.  I LOVE the prints on the packaging and the smells are gorgeous.

I only got these on Saturday and despite having a queue of posts lined up, this jumped ahead of all of them as I was that impressed by the packaging.

Have a look...

My photographs do the packaging no justice, they really are gorgeous.  If I have time to take them in decent enough lighting, I'll add some more to this post.

Now, let me tell you about Spiced Vanilla.  This is a scent that I have been trying to track down for years. It is the scent of Christmas for me, it smells exactly like my childhood home used to.  We haven't been able to replicate that smell since my parents moved.  I'm convinced that that is because we were in that house for 12 years and my parents have moved twice since I was 19.  Now I've found this scent, I am going to try and find a candle that replicates this smell.

Also, Sweet Fig and Pomegranate is the smell of my mum.  You know when you hug your mum and you get that "mum smell" from her?  She smells exactly like Sweet Fig and Pomegranate.  It's the kind of smell that is very hard to capture in a manufactured scent, it's just my mum's smell.

These soaps all smell gorgeous, not synthetic at all which is something that I always welcome.  The Spiced Vanilla one smells the strongest but they all have their individual scents.  The scent of Sweet Fig and "Mum" is a bit weaker

I'm very against things that are faux old school.  You can't successfully make something new look like it's old.  The packaging design seems to have an authenticity to it, you can tell they haven't just switched to this packaging because vintage is currently en vogue.  To me, the clue is personally in the colours they've used..  The designs look almost Victorian to me but then I'm not hot on my period pieces.

If you're looking for an alternative to burning scented candles/using room sprays or those diffuser sticks that are en vogue at the moment, then you could unwrap one of these soaps and they'd easily scent the room.  Mine have been resting in different rooms in the flat (still wrapped) and they've scented the rooms up nicely.

Each retails for £4.95..have a look at the rest of the range here..

And "they" who are featured in the title of this post can jog right on!

Review: Clean and Clear Instant Dissolving Cleansing Sheets

Sheesh, I can't remember the last time I actually wrote a review on here. 

I've been getting into soaps recently, having acquired five pineapple soaps and an exfoliating soap..which I'm yet to use.

I picked these up totally by accident, I didn't have my eyes in and thought they were the very hard to find Clean and Clear Oil Blotting Control Paper.  Should really learn to read before I pick things up..

Amongst the copious crap I chat on Twitter, I did mention that my Pears soap had finished and I hadn't opened the backup.  I've been using these sheets in place of soap for a few weeks now and I really like them.  They clean my skin and my pores are empty after using them, which is always a good thing.  I really like the way they work, I just need to make sure I don't use too much water because otherwise the sheet doesn't foam up.

The only problem I have with these is one I created for myself.  I opened the container and touched them all with my wet hand..they're all sticking togther now and I have to carefully rip them apart but I can live with that.  Also, there are 24 sheets per pack, I use one in the morning and one in the evening so they will last me 12 days.  I don't really mind that though because firstly, you don't need to use them twice a day and secondly..they only cost me a quid.  Yep, this is another Pound Shop bargain.

I've decided to stock up on these because the stuff I like is always discontinued, I'm currently suffering from toner withdrawal.  If you know a good toner, let me know!

Review: Pears Transparent Soap

Wow, my first "proper" review for quite some time..

My skin has recently gone through its teenage phase recently as it has been pretty much doing what the hell it wants.

First it got super greasy, then it got super dry and then it just started being really spotty.  I went through the natural motions of anger, despair and then resolve.

None of the liquid face washes jumped out at me and for some reason I decided to buy a soap.  I'd give you an insight as to why I decided to pick this up but truth be told, I don't really know...

I've been using it for about three weeks now and it's working a charm.  My skin has gone back to its normal self (greasy on the head and nose) and then to normal all over.  NORMAL ALL OVER. I can count on one finger the amount of products I've used which have given me normal skin.  The soap doesn't dry my skin out at all.  My skin feels nice and clean after using it and there is none of the usual facial tightness associated with using a soap when your skin feels tight for five minutes yet twenty minutes later, it's swimming in oil again.

(This isn't how the soap looks when it's new, I've used mine a fair bit).

I told my mum about this and she told me that my grandmother had been using the soap since she got married.  That may not seem something major to you but my grandmother has the best skin I've ever seen, it's perfectly moisturised all over (without any moisturiser), all one tone and she has minimal wrinkles.  I just hope my skin holds up that well!

The soap costs about 60p and lasts a very long time.  You can get it in two sizes, 125g bars cost about 60p and 75g bars cost about 40p.  You can buy it anywhere that soaps are sold, so places like Boots, Superdrug and your local chemists.

Repurchase?
Hell to the yes.  It's cheap and does exactly what I need it to do.