Beauty: Cherry Blossom Gradient Lips, AKA "The Petal Pout"

I'm Back!!!! I hated not doing a 'real' blog post yesterday but it was so worth it for such a good cause and I hope that if you could donate, you did. 

Onto a merrier subject today and to bring a bit of gorgeous spring inspired joy into your life, I thought I would try some gradient lips inspired by the beautiful Cherry Blossom tree that is taking over my garden at the minute. How friggin' yum do they look...not like I'm biased or nuffin'....

So to create this yummy look I thought I'd bring in one of the Freebies I got in my Lush Goodie Bag, the Celebrate Lip Tint. As per usual with my lip routine that I shared with you little pickles the other day, I'd already buffed my lips to get rid of any crusty dry bits and left a bit of lip balm on there for a few minutes to make them all soft and marvellous. So I took my Celebrate and popped it over the centre  part of my lips, kind of avoiding the lip line. Then I built up some of my heavenly and very popular with you kids, YSL Provocatively Pink Lipstick on my lip brush and slowly and carefully edged my mush with this.

 So then your left with two quite definite different colours on your lip- by the way; choose any colours you want! I think this would look boss with a lilac and dark purple too but I'm the pink kid as you know so this was the obvious choice for me. Im def trying some different colours soon- oooh maybe white to black if your daring! So yup- You have the two separate colour rings on your lips and all you need to do then is push your lips together- a lip smack I'm calling it and this blends the colours together. 

To finish it off and give a little staying power I got a bit of my uber pink blusher (that I'm reviewing this week BTW) from my Sleek Blush Palette and dotted this onto the YSL with my finger. What do we think kids? Im loving it! It makes me feel like an Asian Princess; essentially I'm Mulan on Disco Night!!! Hurrah!!! I'd love it if you gave it a try with as many different colours as you can and post them back to me! I want a full bouquet of petal lips.

My Perfect Lips Routine

I love a Spot the Difference. Arrow-words are my favourite and I like that one where you get one word to start off with and you kind of have to fill in the gaps but yup, Spot The Difference is pretty good. So lets play. For my more regular readers can you spot the difference between this lip picture and say the one on my YSL Provocative Pink Post? 

Did you get it? If you did Hurrah!!! 10 Beabarella points for you! Its the fact that my lips don't look like I have dried bread on them anymore! I have finally gotten rid of my dry skin and todays post is all about how I did it. Are we sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin! 

This shit is amazing! It is literally like heaven in a tiny pot. I've heard about it maybe a billion and seven times but just never really thought to pick any up and then at my Lush night I saw it skulking around the till and thought - sod it, I'll have one. There was to my memory, a kind of chocolate vanilla one maybe, and also a candy pink kind of one but anything with Mint in and i'm pretty much sold; Mint and Chocolate? Whoah there pickle! Too much excitement in one pot. Basically inside this gorgeous little beast is Caster Sugar, Jojoba Oil, Peppermint Oil and Vanilla extract so apart from that equalling a whole lot of lovelyness it mean it is very edible! Win! 

So you stick your finger in this pot to get some sugar crystals and then in circular motions buff away at your lips. More then anything how pretty does it look? It's like tiny little glitter flecks. Once you've buffed like mad you just lick it off. Fun, delicious and convenient!  

So the next stage is lip balm. Use whatever one you fancy. If you read my post last week you will know that I am obsessed with Burt's Bees at la mo so that is my weapon of choice.

I'd leave it a few minutes before you stick your lipstick on just to let your balm do it's stuff. So say you've left it ten minutes, then blot off any excess balm and apply your lipstick. I've gone for my absolute favourite, the irrepressible Lady's Choice by Benefit.

 So there you go. It's not exactly rocket science or anything but just s few little bits I thought I'd chare wid'cha! Do you kids have a better routine then mine? Am I missing something out? Let me know, you know I love hearing from you all!

Lush Colour Supplement Review

Sometimes indecision can be annoying and I should know because I am the friggin' Queen of indecision! When it comes to make up though, you generally don't want a product that can't make up it's mind..I thought. Enter Lush's Colour Supplement. Is it a foundation? Is it a moisturiser? Is it a Velociraptor? Well, no; no its not that, but I'm on a mission to find out what it is. 


Exhibit A- Lush's Colour Supplement in Light Pink. There are 5 shades to choose from, ranging from the superbly named Jackie Oats- for the palest of ladies among us to.....light pink, dark pink, light yellow and dark yellow- no I don't get it either! Why give one a brilliant little name like Jackie Oats, in true Lush tradition and then just kind of half arse it on the others. Bit of a cop out. After a little of debate, myself and the lovely lush assistant decided that I was a Light Pink over a Jackie Oats...awwww...I wanted to be a Jackie Oats (and it smelled yum too!) 

The product itself is a nicely thick consistency- that whole Goldilocks theory I have- not too thick and not too thin.... The idea behind this product and the reason it isn't a foundation is that it can be used a multitude of ways. If your looking a horror, the theory is that you apply it straight from the jar for a more complete coverage. If your feeling a little more in the mood for something Au Naturale, you can mix it with your moisturiser for a tinter moisturiser. 

To continue the Lush theme I though it was best to mix it with one of their moisturisers so I used some Skin Drink. Problem. Skin drink is for dry skin and I only very occasionally have to use it, it's more the Beau's product then mine. When I use this again, I will definitely use a less intense cream, probably the Imperialis that I intend to buy when my Decleor runs out. I think that would give a really delicious dewy look. It needs something thats a light moisturiser as my face looked beyond dewy for a while almost damp- not a look I would be wearing out anytime soon as my hair just stuck to it and I looked like I had a stuck on beard- different, but not necessarily right.....  but for pictures and the like on here, it's all good.

I added a bit of the supplement straight from the pot, no blending; to see if it would do anything to the dark circles under my eyes, nothing much does. As well as making your skin look good, the product is designed to try and make it feel good. It has Red Rose Petal Infusion to damped any redness skulking about your face, also theres Glycerine in there too doing dark magic to make your skin absorb moisture well, giving you a more flawless look. On the skin it felt divine. Really silky and it blended gorgeously. 

And here's the end product. I think, if I do say so myself I look resplendent. Not in the face, as for some reason as soon as try to smile at a camera I turn into Hamster Child but my skin looks gooooood! I like that you can still see my freckles; it has managed to even out my skin tone, which does have a lot of red   and pink undertones to it without covering my face completely. We chatted about it and this isn't a foundation; Lush doesn't want you to look like you are wearing makeup; they just want you to look like a better version of yourself. A sort of healthier yoga-ey, outdoorsy, Gwenyth Paltrow style person and it has always been said how similar me and Gwenny look...

If you had a complete breakout of pizza faced proportions I don't think it would cover mixed with a moisturiser and your best plan of attack would be to go at your face with the pure product foundation style. I tested it out on my little sister who is having a bit of a teenage breakout at the mo- she's a completely different skin tone to me, much darker skinned (bitch!!!) and we agreed that if she bought it, one of the yellow based supplements would be best for her. However even though it didn't 100% match her skin tone it wiped out any of the redness surrounding her spots! Winning! 

So, thoughts. Hurrah for indecision I say! If this is indecision then Im in full support of it! Is this going to be my new foundation? No. It just doesn't quite have that coverage that I would want on a night out but is it going to become my new tinted moisturiser and go-to daytime piece? Yes. I like that I can mix it to the coverage that I need and if anything is going to make me look well and like I've exercised and eaten sensibly without leaving the comfort of my sofa then bring on more. I still wish I was Jackie Oats though; such a good name! 

Lush Haulage

Hello  my darlings! I just thought I'd bung up those pictures from my Lush night in. Lots of yummy little bits and all products that I have never had before so I'm really looking forward to putting them to the test. 

These are my freebie goodies that I got for spending over £20, plus a dusting powder that has disappeared god knows where. It all looks like the christmas stock that they have left over but I'm chuffed with it and I couldn't give a crap if it's not seasonal its all yum! 

Oh and this is the facemask I made. YUM! 

Also Im putting together a blog roll (bog roll?!) this week. If you like my blog please feel free to email me: twoturtledoves@live.co.uk and we can exchange blog links and get stuff sorted out! 

An Evening in at Lush......with CAKE!!

It's not really safe to let me loose in Lush on a daytime with money to spend and well, witnesses; but to leave me in a closed shop is quite frankly ridicularse and the reason I will be selling my hair to wigmakers for money this month...

Thursday night my local Lush - Heads up Hull Whitefriargate- woop woop! - held an 

" Around the Table, Tailor Made Skincare Workshop" 

So me and the wife mozied on down there and were met by the yummy Michaela who's first words to us were "cuppa tea?" - instantly my most favourite person that day, when she told us to help ourselves to fresh bread and buns- marry me lady??? 

So first things first; Michaela and her lovely assistant- who's name for the life of me I just can't remember and she was soooo lovely aswel so I feel a tit- sat us down and told us about what we were going to be making. For me and Ness, they decided to do the Catastrophe Cosmetic Fresh Face Mask which is perfect for a few different types of skin but especially those who can suffer a breakout here and there- me and Ness are sadly in this catergory. I was giddy to try this one because I had never used it before and I'm on a mission to start getting new pieces from Lush as I always tend to stick to my old reliables when there is a bountiful buffet of Lushness to be had out there...

Catastrophe Cosmetic is packed full of Blueberries which we all know are full of antioxidants and if they're good for your inside, they're pretty much gonna be amazing for your outside. From what I learned the Chamomile Essential Oil in there is going to reduce any of that shitty redness and the Calamine talc will deep clean your pores with its own tiny hoover and chamois leather whilst soothing any inflammation thats lurking about. Also it's combined with some gorgeous Almond Oil thats going to moisturise your skin into supple perfection. My favourite bit of the process- I got to do the mixing!! I bloody love a wooden spoon and stirred the crap out of that thing! After we made our masks they got popped into their little black pots and put into our take away bags. Next onto our personalised skin routine. 

Jealous much? Yeah I look good I know! So the ladies sat and asked us about our routines regarding how/if we cleanse, tone, moisturise and about our skin type. I explained I have pretty normal skin aside from some hormonal breakouts once a month, maybe sometimes a little sensitive, so my lovely lady picked me out Ultrabland. Bland by name- demi bland by nature. Plain and simple enough that it can be used on any skin type without causing any irritation but it lifts any grease, grime and dirt off your face. That day my skin looked like I had been down a coal mine so it really was put to the test and it battled back like some crazy Muhammed Ali prizefighter badass! Amazing stuff! My skin was blissful afterwards.

Toner was next and as I had mentioned my occasional sensitive mush and LOVE of Lavender Oil apparently "Eau Roma Toner Water" was the obvious choice. My favourite thing apart from the yummy smell- 6 ingredients. 6 ingredients are all that goes into this water and with the amount of synthetic products I surrender myself to in the name of blogging, it's nice to make things simple sometimes. 

*Brilliant tip time*

This is a sod to explain in writing but I will try my best. So you take your Toner and you spritz it on your face. Then with your finger tips, do the motion that I'm calling the "Dancing Spider". Remember when you did Incy Wincy Spider when you were little and you do that kind of crawling motion with your finger tips? Well you do that across your face in the Incy Wincy motion and this does a fantastic bit of wizardry that allows the grub that has settled into your pores to come to the top of the skin and the toner to skin in! Good eh! 

Also the toner is brilliant for a mid day refresher apparently. So I will definitely be sticking it in my handbag as a pick me up. My Moisturiser was Imperialis and it's the perfect day or night cream. Its rammed with good herbally stuff- Elderflower, Lavender, Mullein, St John's Wort, Sweet Violet and Sunflower. It smells dreamy! My lovely lady gave me a brilliant little facial massage with it and I was so tired from a day of uni reading that I genuinely could have done a little sleepy...ahhhh......

Well I wasn't going to include this pic as it's isn't great quality but hopefully you can see a little bit that my skin looks refreshed, maybe in the cheek area- crappy ridiculous camera... It felt very clean and quite plumped anyway even if you can't see it, take my Brownie promise on that one.

After we were done we had time to wander round the shop, eat more and pick up any bits that we wanted. I also thought it was a good time get some snaps for you kids of a few bits and pieces that I don't have at the minute to do a full review on but have used before and really recommend.

Retread saved my holiday hair. It was so dry after two weeks of swimming and intense American sunshine and had become worryingly crisp. This little baby brought it back to life in a few days and the Lush staff in Hawaii were practically  dancing with joy because we came from England. We were like royalty- I loved it.

Big is brilliant if you want that kind of beachy hair. Its got salt in it which adds to the volume and has Neroli Oil which I can't get enough of.

Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds is my favourite all time Bubble Bar. Reason A- its massive and we all know it's not the quality of the product, it's the quantity. Luckily this has both. Reason B-This smells like heaven. Patchouli, urgh just, the best. My most favourite smell ever. Frankincense and Cinnamon too. It's sort of hippy heaven. I read that this was created while listening to ambient music- can sooo see that. Total chill out. 

Well after some time wandering round, Jillian who in my mind is the manager, came to see how we were getting along. Can you adopt someone older then you...with their own children...and life...and who has no real reason to be adopted.... hmm? I just love this lady! She couldn't have been more helpful if she tried and was an infectious joy to be around. 

Maybe my most favourite part of the night was that if you spent over £20, you got a free bag of loot worth at least another twenty squid....I managed £40..with ease... I'm going to do a separate little post on all the treats that I got free as this post is turning into a tome, so expect the blog to be a little Lush heavy over the next few weeks. If I know you lot though, you seem to love Lush as much as me so it shouldn't be too painful for y'all.

So how did I find my night round the table at Lush? Cake and Tea? Check. Delicious products? Check. Even more delicious people? Check. I needn't say more really. You know I'm in big love; I know I'm in big love- done deal. 

Lush The Olive Branch

Sometimes we can be a fickle bunch of shits and completely forget all the oldie products that we love in favour of the newest kids on the block. So today's post is about one of my oldie but goodies and its The Olive Branch by Lush.  

What the lovelies at Lush say:

 "Fairtrade olive oil, fresh mandarins, bergamot oil and vine leaves. We’ve crammed the whole Mediterranean diet into this bottle – well, all bar the pasta, because that isn't lovely on your skin like the rest"

There isn't really a time this isn't in my bathroom now. I got this in a box initially and I must have walked past it on the shelf a thousand times and not paid it a blind bit of notice. I'd smelt The Body Shops Olive range before and wasn't keen so when I saw this poking out of the box I thought " Oh bumhole...can palm it off on someone probably" Uurgh I can be such a tit and I'm so glad I actually thought to give this a smell before I passed it onto someone else. The smell is heaven and even though it is packed with Sicilian Olives its not just them that you smell but also citrusy notes of Mandarin and Bergamot.

Also thanks to that olivey oil it's really hydrating and leaves your skin super soft. You have to give it a good shake before applying as it separates into two layers, the creamier products and the oils so jive about your bathroom for a few seconds before you bung it on. You could just shake it, but jiving is just much more bettered...

There is one small downside to the product and thats the price....abit... If you are a normal person and buy normal amounts of this then it's a brilliant little 'treat' item. Only because I'm such an Olive Branch whore I go through quite a bit of it. At £14.95 for 500ml its not the cheapest of shower gels but I don't drink, I don't smoke so this is my selfish, indulgent product.

Do any of you kids use The Olive Branch? If not, do!!! Do so now!!!

Review: Lush's Charity Pot

Well here's what my night consisted of, pretty happy days really... For my Valentines present the ever amazing beau got me a ton of Lush goods so I was in heaven as you will know if you saw the post- the best thing about it aside from 1- now my house smells amazing and 2-I have the nicest baths and showers at the minute, is that I have so much blogging ammo!! 

The beau's selection had quite a few bits and pieces that were new to me so needless to say, in the name of scientific research, anyone who has come near me in the past week has been drenched in lushness.

The first thing I've been playing with is this little "Charity Pot". I'm an absolute devotee of Karma Kream so getting me away from that has been a bit of an ordeal-we're very attached...but I've done it for you kids. Soooo what did I think? First thing that hit me was the smell, between me, my sister and the beau it took us a day and a half to figure out what it smells like and the answer is.......Fry's Turkish Delight!! It smells exactly like that yummy squidgy stuff that had chocolate round it. My grandma loved those so that was a nice little thing to be reminded of.  Im guessing it's the combo of almond oil, ylang ylang and geranium- all quite "eastern" smells, plus a nice hint of chocolate, so smell wise if you like Turkish Delight your onto a win.

I love that Lush, minus the VAT, send the whole of the money from this pot- not just the profit but the whole sale price to charity. If that isn't an incentive to buy it, I don't know what is. My pot was supporting Sims Hill Shared Harvest so big up to Sims Hill- woop woop!!!!  For a 100g tub you will be paying £6.95 or £12.75 for 240g and you can buy it by clicking here!

It's quite messy I do have to say, I think it's something to do with the consistency. While its not watery by any means, it does seem to be more liquid than say, the Karma Kream. It got all over the rim of the lid and got a bit sticky and messy so that was annoying.

Like I said the consistency is slightly "loose" but it is a lotion and not a body butter...The picture above is me with my hand upright and it holds it's own so it can't be that runny can it??!! Personally it sank it quite quickly and wasn't overly sticky. We all have been putting the Charity Pot on before bed and it can still be smelt in the morning so I'm pretty impressed with that. I do wonder if it would last throughout the day when your up and about; only further testing will tell so I'll update on that at some point... 

I can't tell if it's very moisturising as I am always dowsed in cream so have damm soft skin! I do know that I get dry skin, especially on my hands if I don't use a cream and I haven't gone dry since using this so it must be keeping my skin nicely hydrated. I'd like to try it on someone who does have dry skin to see that happens there but with cocoa butter being so famous for keeping skin deliciously soft I can predict it would be a good outcome. 

After our weeks use:

My 17 year old sister's sum up was: "nice smelling but messy. Its slightly tacky until its dried which took a couple of minutes. The price is good, I don't mind paying a little extra for products if they're from Lush 'cos they smell so yum and it's a bonus the money goes to charity."

24 year old hub said: "nice smell and I like that it supports a good cause. Its a bit of an effeminate smell for a guy though but i'd buy it for Bea."

and I'm saying: "delish smell, good price, would recommend but I'm still a Karma Kream girl."

Im such a Karma devotee that I can't say I'd give it up for this, the messyness put me off a little too but otherwise it was an absolute treat. If I was in the market for a present for one of the girls this would be a great go-to and the charity aspects allows you to have a warm 'n' fuzzy feeling that you have done your bit for a little while.