Mother's Day 2015 - LUSH Bath Bombs

Hello Beautiful Ones!

I could spend this entire post writing about how amazing my Mom is, but I'll try to keep that to a minimum (no promises though!). If you still haven't pinned down that perfect gift for your own Mom, or that special woman in your life, you might want to try a Lush bath bomb. The Lush mother's day collection features two bath bombs this year: Rose Bombshell and Secret Garden.

Rose Bombshell bath bomb (left) and Secret Garden bath bomb (right).

I'm a sucker for a good bath bomb, so I decided to stick to those instead of the other Mother's Day offerings. The first thing I noticed when these showed up in the mail (sadly there isn't a Lush store in my area), was the major size difference. The Rose Bombshell was on the larger side for a bath bomb while Secret Garden is on the smaller side.

Rose Bombshell Bath Bomb

Even though this is marketed as a bath bomb it is actually a bit of a hybrid. The outer layer is your typical bath bomb while the inside contains rose petals and bath salts. This bomb also contains soy milk powder and rose oil. The scent is a really gorgeous floral smell, but not too overpowering. Obviously the predominate color here is white, so there isn't a lot of color with this one. However there is a little pink in the middle, along with the red rose petals. Admittedly though I only got about 6 rose petals in mine, but it was a nice touch. My pros for this one are great smell and I like large size, the cons are lack of color and more rose petals would have been nice. The price runs for $7.95, which is pretty good for the large size.

Secret Garden Bath Bomb

Like I said at the beginning of this post, the size of this one was much smaller than I expected it to be. Again, this one has a floral scent (but I'm not complaining) and there is also some citrus mixed in there. According to the description on the Lush website this bomb is also supposed to contain flower petals, but mine just had a few tiny ones. If I hadn't been looking for them I might have missed them altogether. With that being said, this bath bomb was great! The smell was very relaxing and it melted very frothy. Plus, the color payoff was really pretty greens and pinks just like the outside of the bomb (expect that at the end you're pretty much left with a murky green). My pros for this one are good scent, pretty colors, and very frothy. My only con is a severe lack of promised flower petals. Also, smaller size means smaller price so it's only $6.95.

If I had to choose between the two I would say that Secret Garden was my favorite, but they were both lovely. Don't forget that Mother's Day is Sunday May 10th in the U.S.! My Mom is one of the kindest women I have ever met. She reminds me everyday to follow my dreams and never give up. I hope you have an amazing woman in your life to celebrate this Mother's day. 

I'm sending love and sparkles to all you amazing Moms out there this mother's day!

XO- Brittney

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Maybelline The Blushed Nudes Palette

Hello Beautiful Ones!

It's about time I did a beauty on a budget post, so why not a drugstore palette?! Maybelline has been rolling out a whole line of eyeshadow palettes in the recent months. This one is a "blushed" variation of their original The Nudes palette.

First of all, let's talk about the packaging. Unlike the Maybelline palettes before it, this one is not black but rather blush colored (how fitting!). There is just something about these palettes that are so clean and appealing to the eye, they make me backtrack everytime I pass one in the makeup aisle at the drugstore.

Now on to the colors, this is obviously a very warm palette and could easily be compared to the shades in Urban Decay's Naked3 palette. There are several shades of pink, grey, and brown. This palette is pretty heavy on the shimmer with a few matte shades as well. Here are the swatches:

Finally, on to what we've all been waiting for: performance. I have to admit, after trying several of the other Maybelline eyeshadow palettes I didn't have very high expectations for this one (sorry!). With the other palettes I noticed a lot of creasing and rub-off after a full day of wear. But I am happy to announce that The Blushed Nudes palette has officially passed the work day test. I can wear these shadows all day with little to no creasing or rub-off (that's over a shadow primer of course!).

The only disappointment I found with this palette is that the colors are not super pigmented. I found myself having to really cake them on to get a decent color payoff. Also, as far as colors go you aren't getting a lot of variety here. But with that being said these are nice colors to have especially during the summer months when you're trying to get your bronze on. Lord knows my pale skin could use a little sunshine boost! And at $9.99 it really is a budget beauty bargain (say that 5 times fast!).

Let me know if you've tried this one!

XO- Brittney

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Current Curly Hair Favorites!

Hello beautiful Ones!

After a week of drizzly-rainy-gloominess the sun is finally shining and it just seems to make everyone and everything a little bit happier (I'm not complaining!). I thought that today I would give you an update on what hair products I'm currently using for my naturally curly hair.

For me, the goal is to keep my curls in check without getting that crunchy look or weighing them down. After I wash my hair and lightly towel dry I rub in a dollop of my Lush R&B Hair Moisturizer.  A little bit of this product goes a long way, so you don't need a lot! This moisturizer will work for all hair types, but it's especially good for curly hair because it adds a lot of moisture, which is something that curls crave. Also, the smell is AMAZING. Seriously, I could just stand in my bathroom and sniff this fruity scent forever (but I won't... because that would be weird). This one is on the pricier side at $22 for a 3.5 oz. tub, but it does last a long time. 

Next I want to add a little definition to my curls, so I use a small dime sized amount (remember, we don't want to weigh down the hair) of my Not Your Mother's Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream. Again, this product is moisturizing and smells fantastic. It also adds a little bit of hold, while still looking natural. And at only $7 a tube, this is a great bargain. 

If I am going to let my hair air-dry then I would just stop there with the products, but if I'm going to blow-dry and curl then I will spray my damp hair with my John Frieda Frizz Ease Go Curlier Heat Activated Spray. The idea behind this product is that you spray it on damp curls and then when you blow-dry the product is activated by heat. It does a great job of cutting down frizz (which is the main reason why I would normally try to avoid blow-drying). But you will most likely want to plan on defining your curls with your preferred heat tool after blow-drying. You can get this at most drugstores for around $9.99.

Lately I've been curling my hair exclusively with my flat iron. Once you get the hang of it, it's very easy and doesn't give you those dreaded clamp marks that are so easy to get from a curling iron. But, before I even touch my hair with the flat iron I want to protect it as much as I possibly can, so I spray on some of my Tresemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Spray. Not only does this protect your hair from your styling tool, but it just makes the hair look smoother and keeps fly-aways at bay. Plus, you can get it for about $4! 

So there you have it: my current curly hair favorites! Have you tried any of these? Let me know in the comments. I'm going to go frolic in the sunshine now! :) 

XO- Brittney 

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Fighting Writer's Block

Hello Beautiful Ones!

I'm not going to lie, I've spent the last few days wracking my brain for something to blog about this week. Writer's block is no joke. So I decided to beat it at its own game by writing a post about it (take that dreaded writer's block!). The sad part is I couldn't even come up with a creative title (ugh), but E for effort right?

I've taken a couple of creative writing classes during my life. Once in high school and once in college. Both classes had very similar formats. We spent some time talking about writing and different techniques, but most of the time we were given crazy prompts to write about. For example, describe someone in this room using as many adjectives as you can. I actually had to do that one, and then we had to guess who each person had written about based on their description (mortifying, but actually very productive).

I guess my point is that there were a lot of times in both of those classes were I felt completely silly writing about the things I was writing about, but at the end of the day I truly was writing better than I ever had before. Sometimes nonsense turns out to be exactly what you need to create something great.

As a perfectionist I've always struggled with the idea of just writing whatever comes to my mind without a plan. That sentiment goes for a lot of other things in my life as well, I'm not that great at being spontaneous. But sometimes that's exactly what it takes to make things happen.

Which brings us to this messy post about writer's block in an attempt to get rid of my writer's block. Did it work? Only time will tell! :)

XO- Brittney

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