Lush BIG Shampoo

On my usual quest of finding shampoo to fix my dry hair I found I stumble upon this beauty. Okay I was using up all my shampoos which I have accumulated over the past months so I was particular on the hunt for a shampoo. I've never used a Lush shampoo and I think the price alway had put me off but wow-o-wow they are amazing! (I say they when I mean one as I have only tried this one.) 


 However, after watching one of missglamorazzi videos she mentions this shampoo was good for clarifying. It took me a while to buy this product as I thought the sea salt so automatically dry my hair. I brought the product in the end was because I wanted the sea salt to clear excess product on my scalp. The really helpful Lush assistant did reassure me that because the shampoo consists of coconut oil it isn't too drying, though she did recommend that I only use it once a week because I dye my hair it can be quite stripping for the colour and your hairs natural oils. 


But seriously, I have NEVER had so many compliments in my life on my hair; it looks great, feels great and I have fallen in love with this shampoo. I wish I could use it every time I washed my hair but I know it would ruin my hair. So now I need to find a shampoo which gives me these effects but is slightly milder for a more frequent use. It is quite expensive at £11.25 for 330g but I think for Lush products it is worth it. Mainly because they are filled with natural ingredients and the service that you receive in store is the best on the high street. I am Lush bias as I am in love with the brand. 


 Has anyone else tried other Lush shampoos?

Thank You 100!

Woo-wa-woo. I have hit 100 followers and that means so much to me; because I only ever started this blog just to ramble to anyone in the world about my life and my favourite topic beauty. So I just wanted to say thank you to all my wonderful followers. Now hitting the BIG 100 I have a few exciting things coming up on my blog for example a new layout/ design to get away from this basic has been thingy. (I'm rubbish at HTML) and I will be hopefully getting a new camera as well as a little graduation present so my pictures will hopefully be of a better quality. Just a bit thank you to you all :)

F*ck Monday: Goals for the Next Month

As we are slowly seeping into August (where has this year gone?!) I thought that I would share this post which seems to be flying around the blogging world. It is Louise's aka Sprinkle of Glitter  new tag/trending post where you state 7 goals of yours for the following week... I'm going to do mine for the month. I have seen loads of these post and it has really inspired me to get off my butt and sort some of my bits out (without sounding too rude :P). So here is my 7 goals:  

Gym :: I need to get my wobbly butt to the gym... Now money is becoming tight, I need to prove to myself that there is a reason why I am spending £50 a month on a gym membership. 

Sell :: I have copious amounts of clothes and things that I know longer need or want to sell on Ebay. 

Review :: I keep thinking that I have nothing to blog about but I have collected so many items over the past couple months which I haven't giving any air time too on my blog and that's a bit silly really. I feel like I'm keeping them from you all. 

Film :: I might be tempted to branch into YouTubing, I love watching peoples videos and I think I'd like to make my own but I am a little bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to things like that. I think people can be too judgement and that's what scares me. 

Relax :: Since my graduation on Thursday many people are telling me that I should be enjoying my last summer of freedom before I have a full time job (as I only have a part time one at the moment) however, I always think that you need money to have fun. But no, I'm gonna spend sometime relaxing over the next few weeks until I start my work experience at a magazine in September :)

Pamper :: With my saving and selling process, I have accumulated lots of beauty products which I think with the amount that I have, I should be the most beautiful person ever (haha, I know it doesn't work like that) but I need to put some of my products into practice. Operation use up before buying. 

Hunt :: Like I said above, I do have a job, but it isn't in the field that I want to be in. So I am on a hunt for a job/ an internship which will push me onto my career path!

If anyone else has done this tag on their blogs, link me as I love to read them :)

Thanks

Finally Made It - Graduation

Hello everyone, it was my Graduation last Thursday in Guildford Cathedral. I must say it was a beautiful day, and a bit too hot for the black robes as I was roasting. My graduation started at 10.15 but we had to be there so early that we needed to leave mine at 7am. Yawn! So no only was I tired and hot, I was pretty nervous too and was a little bit of a grump. I find situations like these really cringey anyway and kept getting embarrassed with all the pictures etc, even though I was frequently reminded to embrace it by Olly (the boyf - see below :p). I had a great day with the family and was so grateful that they supported me throughout my whole degree... moods included. So I thought I would share a few pictures of the day with my fellow followers. The only thing about the day that I was a bit gutted I never got a picture without that daft hat thing on... but I guess it is just part of the get up. My camera isn't the greatest at taken pictures which I guess you all, already know but I'm making do with this select few until I can still Olly's iPhone and see which snaps he caught. So this post could be updated. :) 

 The Parents

A special message about this girl... she is the one who got my through uni and my I love her... am I bit gutted about the goofy face that I am pulling but it's genuine happiness! So proud of her!!! Big Love :)

Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle... Yeah!

As many of my frequent readers will have gathered is that I am the biggest worrier in the world of worriers. To much of the annoyance of my friends, family and boyfriend, me stressing so much isn't the nicest quality. I must admit in my ripe old age of 22, I am trying to stress less and laugh more. Here are a few activities which generally keep my smiling for days and sometimes months. 

 * My first one is karaoke, okay I appreciate that this kind of thing isn't going to everyone's cup of tea (excuse the cliche). But honestly there is nothing more mood uplifting for me than getting on the karaoke with my girly friends or in a couple of past cases my Dad - and singing at the top of my voice. Mind you I have normally had a cocktail or three in me. My karaoke classics range from I kissed A Girl by Katy Perry (where my friend and I won karaoke - a proud moment), then when in Mexico with my parents and boyfriend we sang Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen much to the whole bars annoyance as it is such a long song but a very funny moment and then I have dabbled in many different songs. Oh the recollections are beautiful. Haha. 


 * Acting like a child again, so doing lots of things like making cakes, painting or playing a sport can take away the sting of adult life. I am lucky enough to have a lot of little cousins so I am forever using them as a excuse to behave like a child again.


 * Now for my more 'adult' activities such as writing my stresses down or planning so I have less time to think about things. When my body is distracted by doing something my brain follows. Though I am thinking about taking up Yoga to keep mind balance... But we'll see. 


 * Doing lunch especially in the summer is great, filling up on fish (rich in Omega-3) with lots of mood balancing foods such as broccoli, sweet potato, nuts and eggs which are all filled with Vitamin B's. Healthy brain food is the way forward :) 

Empties #1

In the next coming months I will be doing more empties posts than the average person. Now this isn't because i'm trolling through every beauty product that I own but I have hundreds of mini products and a quarter full ones that need to be used up. I'm also on a mission to minimise my spending and with me using up all my old products and saving up some money on the way. 

This is my first batch of empties... they are all mini's or samples. I am addicted to buying smaller versions of products over the larger ones despite the larger ones being more cost effective. Another reason is that I get bored easily and like to change up things and it might be because I also like buying products so if I buy smaller ones I get through them quicker hence needing to go shopping more. Ooops! 


The Body Shop Camomile Eye Make-Up Remover 60ml £3 - As far as gentle eye make-up removers go this isn't gentle. I couldn't continuously use this everyday as my eyes wouldn't had been able to take the sting. I'm not sure whether the formula reacted with my mascara which caused it to sting or whether it is just harsh. I just hated it really and used it up for taking my general make-up off and not using it near my eyes. And it was helpful for cleaning make-up marks off my dressing table... despite the purpose :p
Won't Repurchase - Unless I want squid eyes every morning.  

Toni & Guy Firm Hold Hairspray 50ml £2.50 - My favourite thing about this item is that the lid stays on... You wouldn't believe the amount of products that I stop using because the lid falls off - especially if they are handbag size because that annoys me. The packaging is pretty basic and it 'does what it says on the tin' kinda of hairspray. Nothing special or wow though it does smell quite nice too. 

Might repurchase - I like this product enough to repurchase it as it held my hair well but it isn't the best one and I would probably rather chop and change my hairspray until I find one I adore. 

Handpicked Hotels Shampoo 60ml Free - I was given this when my friend Megan and I went to a spa day for our birthdays last year. Instead of buying each other presents we had a salt scrub and back massage - it was beautiful. I'm not sure I could repurchase this shampoo even if I wanted too, it had a fresh 'spa' scent to it. It felt quite clarifying for my hair and had the 'squeaky clean' effect and I know all shampoos should clean your hair but some still feel like they are in your hair even after you've washed it out. 

Unable to repurchase

Charles Worthington Front Row Blonde Dry Shampoo 50ml £1.99 - I like the idea of this product firstly and if I had any hair colour other than blonde then it would be great. It is dry shampoo with a touch of colour so the dry shampoo blends into your hair colour easier. The reason why I don't think it was such a great idea for blonde is that I find the standard (whitey) dry shampoos to be just as effective for me. I find that the dry shampoo lays thick on my scalp more than others that I use. 

Won't repurchase - I won't be re-buying this mainly because a generic dry shampoo suits me better. 

Estee Lauder Take It Away Total Make-Up Remover 30ml Sample - This works in a similar way to the Liz Earle cleanse and polish, the product has the same texture too. Though you don't need a muslin cloth to remove. I was not impressed with the product and I am a huge fan of Estee Lauder skin care. I can't work out whether the cleanser has a scent or not... but either way that is the biggest dislike to this product. 
Won't Repurchase  - Aside from the fact that I personally don't like this product, I think it is really over priced for what it is. 


Clinique Moisture Surge 30ml Sample - I think that I got this in Glamour last year, or at least the last time they did their Clinique giveaway. Up until a few months ago, I thought that I had dry skin and always went for heavy mositurisers and never particularly liked them. I now know why and it is because I have combinational skin and I tend to only get flaky dry skin on my nose... which I hate. I think this Clinique cream is okay, it sinks into the skin well but it doesn't have a smell to it and i'm a sucker for something which has a fruity/citrus/fresh smell. 
Won't Repurchase - Just because I think it isn't wow enough for a facial moisturiser and it doesn't seem to have an SPF in it which is a must for me. 


Lancome Visionnaire Skin Corrector 5ml Sample - I loooove this, I'm currently using Estee Lauder Idealist Even Skintone Serum, however even though I have only tried this 5ml sample I prefer it. Visionnarie keeps my skin so beautifully smooth and clear, it helps keep blackheads at baby which is odd as a couple of serums I have used in the past have clogged my pores. 
Repurchase - I will be definitely buying a new one when my current serum runs out unless I find a better one before that... As I still have a couple of Clarins and Chanel samples to use.


The Body Shop Lip Butter 10ml £4 - I can't remember what flavour lip butter this one was all I remember is that I brought it a couple of years ago and it was one of their charity ones and I think it could had been guava but I am possibly making that up. Either way as most Body Shop lip butters do it smelt amazing and left my lips feeling nourished. And for a 10ml pot it has taken me years to get through that I thought this day would never come. 
Repurchase - I think next one that I will buy will be the coconut one because that is my current favourite smell. 

Top 5 Perfumes

I'm not fussy when it comes to many things in the beauty world - as long as they don't react with my skin. However, when it comes to perfumes (and purses actually) I am unbelievably fussy. There are more that I don't like than I do like with perfumes and when I find ones that I love I just repurchase them all the time. Also I'm pretty shitty at describing perfumes/smells. :) 

Chanel Chance Eau De Parfum - £62 for 50ml Everyone who knows me well knows that this is my staple perfume. I adore it, I ask for it every birthday and Christmas. My brother tends to buy it for me as it is easy for him. I love the smell of it and the compliments I receive when I wear it.

Ralph Lauren Ralph Eau De Toilette - £38 for 50ml This perfume flutters between my car and my bedroom, it is an easy to wear scent and is quite refreshing. It is light and summery.

DKNY Delicious Night Eau De Parfum - £43 for 50ml - This DKNY one was one that I had just found whilst I was playing around in the perfume section of Boots. It is a night time smell and it is quite heavy and dark (if a perfume could be heavy or dark). 

Dior Pure Poision Eau De Parfum - £63 for 50ml (Not my picture as I have run out... oops) This was my first 'dark' perfume before the DKNY one and I love this as my 'going out' scent. I ran out at the beginning of the year and because I was stocked up with perfume I have yet to replace it. It is really pricey but the smell lasts all night and because it isn't so light then I find the scent isn't over powered. 

DKNY Gold Eau De Toilette - £40 for 50ml - My handbag scent, it doesn't last long on my body but I just love the smell. It is a summer scent, fresh and bouncy. But it is also limited edition which is a little annoying. :(


I hope you loved my well written description of my favourite perfumes. I'm not quite sure whether I would make a great perfume writer. Ha. Hope you are all having a great day. 

F*ck Monday: Endometriosis

Good Monday Everyone,

My post today is going to be quite personal as I feel that I want to explain why I haven't been blogging as much as I would had like this month. Now if you follow me on twitter (@MissLaceyLoves) you would have seen numerous of tweets about me being a 'poorly bear'.

*Just a quick warning this is going to be a text heavy post. :)*

I have been pretty unwell recently, and it has been a continuous thing which I have been suffering with for almost six years. It has only been recently that I found out my "problems" are pretty common amongst women. Within these six years I have had four hospital submissions, two operation and numerous doctors and gynaecologists. I suffer with endometriosis which 'is womb lining does not leave the body properly during a period and embeds itself onto the organs of the pelvis.' (More information here)

In 2007, I was finishing my A-Level exams and I had been suffering with unusual stomach pains. I went to the doctors and when I explained the pain and what was happening they put it down to stress. Within 4 days my stomach had swollen and I looked 9 months pregnant, I went back to my GP where he sent me straight to A&E after doing a urine sample where I had high levels of blood and protein cells. After being poked and prodded for hours they admitted me. My parents asked why they were keeping me in and they said that they just wanted to keep me under observation. I stayed in hospital for over a week and in my discharge form their conclusion was that they were pretty sure I wasn't pregnant. Now after the MILLION urine samples, blood tests, X-rays and ultra sounds... I would be impressed if a baby could go that easily undetected. Anyway, I felt fine when I left and never thought much of it but felt like what had happened was unexplainable.

It wasn't until a couple of months later I had a bout of chronic stomach pains which lasted nearly two weeks. The doctors tested me for all sorts and couldn't diagnose what it was. Then these long periods of painful cramps became more frequent. Every time they happened it was usual procedure of "Are you pregnant?" "Do you have an STI?" and this patronising talk started to grate with me, I wanted to shout at someone and say just because I am under 25 doesn't necessarily mean that I am another statistic. One doctor even turned around and said, "It's probably, you just having a period." That was incredibly patronising and like most people I know my body and I know what certain pains feel like. 

This went on for around a year, until they decided there it was my pill Microgynon 30 had been the cause. I had been on the same pill since I was 16 and never had any gynae complaints until I was nearly 18. They changed me from the Microgynon 30 to the contraceptive implant as they it had higher levels of oestrogen which would help. The doctors definitely sold it to me when they said that a lot of people never had periods with the implant. That sounded glorious to me. At 19, and not having periods, I thought this was going to be the answer to my problems. As it was getting me down and I began to feel like I was going mad and imagining the pains. 

Bliss lasted for about a two months, until one night the pain was worst than I had ever had before and I was taken by parents to A&E where they told me that it was just my body adjusting to the implant. I wasn't convinced, I had test after test after test. I had things poked and prodded in me and on me. I was pretty fed up and hated how I felt ill and that it was now effecting my mood. Late one night, my Dad was sitting downstairs watching tele. I walked down to see him and just bursted into tears. I explained to him how I couldn't take the pain anymore and that I felt people where not believing me. I was at university and this was dragging me down, I felt that I was being held back. 

A couple of days later, Dad had arrange an appointment with a new gynaecologist, apparently she had been highly recommended. I knew that if she couldn't find anything then it was definitely all happening in my head. Now this doctor was a god send to me and despite the fact that she had bad news for me, finally felt that I was getting some answers. It was just before my 21st birthday when she diagnosed me with Endometriosis. She was disgusted with how this condition had gone unnoticed for so long, particularly because the amount of endometriosis which was in my pelvic area was dangerous to my fertility. The next morning after the consultation, Ms Hanna (my gynae), performed a laparoscopy (a minor operation) where she removed all the endometrial cells. After a weeks recovery, I felt like a whole weight had been lifted off of me. Ms Hanna at the time did explain that Endometriosis does return but that usually takes a few of years. 

About ten months later, I started getting similar complaints again. I was at work in Wimbledon and I doubled over with pain and I said to my manager that I needed to get to a hospital, I was taken to St George's in Tooting where they staff were amazing. Within an hour they had diagnosed that I had an Endometriotic Cyst which was the size of a tennis ball that had formed on my left ovary. They needed to operate again. The operation was complete and again after a weeks recovery, I felt good again. Though I was concerned with how quickly this cyst grew and Ms Hanna said I needed to get my implant removed as that was causing the problem. That was removed put on Cerazette until another doctor told me that I need to be back on Microgynon 30. 


Another year on, the endometriosis is back and has increased. Ms Hanna explained to me that I should had never gone back on Microgynon 30 because it was my body having a period which was causing the endometriosis to form. I'm now back on Cerazette and will need another operation to remove the cells. It is beginning to affect me, I know in comparisons with to a lot of people who are suffering with illness, mine is pretty minor. But I can't help but worry about my fertility - I mean don't get me wrong, there is no way I want a child at this current point in my life but in the next five years, hopefully I will. It's silly to worry about things like this but it is not help by the side effects of endometriosis which is a decrease in energy and low moods. At this moment because it has been bad for the past 2-3 weeks it is dragging me down, hence the lack of posting. I think because the pain also comes and goes it's frustrating. 


Does anyone suffer from Endometriosis? How do you deal with the pain and other symptoms? 

Give Me Some Jumping Beans

I frequently have those horrible mornings where I just can't get out of bed and I always need something to force me out of my lovely pink pit aka my bed. I'm one of these people who are forever hitting snooze on my alarm or slumping my head deeper into my pillows. So basically I thought I would share with you all a couple of little tips which helps me spring out of bed. 


* I drink a glass of ice water with a slice of lemon before I do anything in the morning... This usually happens whilst I'm having my morning fix of Daybreak :) 


* In the mornings I always try and open my blind as early as I can to get all the natural light into my room. This also helps with putting my face on as there is nothing worst than putting your make-up on in artificial light and go outside and it looks awful. (I've been there and done that) 


* Another aspect which effects me waking up is the amount I sleep, as much as I get really lurthagic if I sleep too little but probably even worst if I over sleep. I tend to judge how many hours sleep I need on how my week has gone. It rarely strays from eight hours but if I am feeling engertic I shave of half hour and sleep about seven and a half but if I am feeling tired I stretch it to nine hours. 


* If I am really struggling then I put on some music generally something upbeat it can range from Jessie J to Take That to You Me At Six but the second my bum starts wiggling, I have to get up.


I would love to know if you have any tips or tricks on how you manage to get out of bed in the mornings?

Body Shop Shea Beautifying Oil

So after my previous 'depressing' post, I now have the energy and the mental capacity to return to the world of beauty blogging. I've got quite a lot of exciting products lined up and have gone on a little hair product splurge. :) If you have read my blog before I normally complain about my dry and over processed hair. Now I saw this new oil from the Body Shop and was initially interested in it as being used as a face oil. 


This oil is from the Body Shop and retails at £9 which I thought for a 100ml bottle was quite pricey as I expected it to be bigger. They do a wide selection across of their different scents. I chose Shea as it is my joint favourite with Coconut but I didn't want to splash out on two of them. As you can see from the pictures above I was so desperate to use it before I photographed them. For some reason the top picture looks different to the rest but I think it is because they flash didn't go off. (Sorry!!) 


Anyway enough of my ramble, let's get down to the product. I hated this product as a face oil, I'm not so sure whether it was just the feel of using a face oil or whether I applied too much product but it felt to thick for my skin. But as this oil can be used on hair, body and face and wow my hair drunk it up so quickly. I now have found out that my hair loves oil. It is really soft, I must admit that the effects don't last as long as I would had hoped and even though you don't need that much on each application but you have to keep reapplying so I don't the product will last a long time. It isn't a miracle product by any means but it certainly isn't bad at all. Though I do need to get some Moroccan Oil in my life :).


Has anyone else tried this or used different scents?

F*ck Monday: Miserable

So I don't particularly want to bring everyone down with a moany post because let's face it the weather is bring most of us down. It's July already but I don't think the sun got the memo. Anyway this last week I have been pretty much wallowing in my own self pity and trust me I am the first one to admit that. This has resulted in the lack of blogging because I just haven't felt up to it. Now I'm not particularly sure what was wrong but it just felt like everything was shit... If you know what I mean, even though in hindsight it wasn't. All of the pictures above sum up me from the last week. I wouldn't go as far as saying that I've been depressed because I don't think I was or am. I just think I've had a real downer of the week. All I have wanted to do is lie in my pit (bed) and do nothing but this has obviously led to over thinking about every minor hiccup in my life and ultimately made me feel worst. 


This is the part where this post could get cringey... My brother and I had a big sibling heart to heart session. He's older than me and lives about an hours drive away, so it is always nice when we have a big session. In particular, I was talking about how I had been feeling and how that I think that I am the one making myself feel miserable because I'm focussing on it. I mentioned how I heard about The Secret Book from a couple of people at work, and my brother had actually read the book. This book talks about the laws of attraction in the universe and I know there will be millions of people who think that these kinds of books are a load of rubbish likewise there will be millions of people who believe in it. In a nutshell it is basically says that if you think positively, positivity will come to you, likewise if you think about something negatively then all you will attract is negativity.I have absorbed the first couple of chapters and after reading it and I think if it makes me feel good then it can't be that bad, whether it is true or not.


So in the whole this can kinda seem like a pointless post and I hopefully this will be the end of my moan. I am going to continue to read the rest of The Secret Book and probably write a full detailed blog post on it.


Has anyone else read it?