LUSH Dream Steam Review

Hi!
Another LUSH review for you, this time it is the Dream Steam toner tab. I had no idea what this was until I stumbled across it the other day. Its a toner in the form of a solid tab.  It sells for £2.50 and contains rose, chamomile and tea tree. It is not tested on animals and the only chemicals it contains is sodium bicarbonate and perfume.

Heres how to use it

1. Boil enough water to fill a large bowl
2. Drop the tab into the water & watch it fizz
3. Grab a tea towel and put your face over the bowl and the tea towel over your face. You look stupid so this is an activity best done alone! It keeps more of the seam in so you get a better result.
4. Wait for about 5 minutes then stop steaming
5. Get a cotton wool pad and dip it into the water
6. Wipe on face to finish cleansing

Its really simple!

Here's my face before:

My skin problems are bumps and redness especially on the nose & cheeks.

The tab smells sweet and floral before you put it into the water. When its in it smells less sweet but it is strong. I'm not sure whether it was the steam or the ingredients in the tab which made my throat burn. This sensation was still there about half an hour later. This made it less relaxing. This might not be a problem for other people, so don't let this put you off.

Here's my face just after I finished steaming:

 After my face dried a bit, my skin felt very moisturised. After wiping my face with the water, my skin felt tighter and less moisturised, but still good.

The water didn't look very appealing afterwards. It looked quite grey and murky and the petals that decorated the tab looked like bits of dead skin, which is pretty disgusting. However, you can keep the water for up to a week in the fridge and use it as a toner and makeup remover, so I'm going to try that.

Here is my face about an hour and a half after I used the tab:

Honestly, I can't tell that there's any difference. I had high hopes for this based on the reviews on the website, but I'm disappointed in this product and I don't think I would buy I again. Overall, I'm going to rate it 2/5 because it was a fun experience and smelled nice, but it made my throat burn and didn't make much difference.

Thanks for reading,

Ellie

The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes Review

Hi!

(Slight spoilers ahead- but not many)

The only way I can endure is to be in a place I will never see you, never be haunted by the possibility of seeing you with him. I need to be somewhere where sheer necessity forces you from my thoughts minute by minute, hour by hour. That cannot happen here.  I am going to take the job. I'll be at Platform 4, Paddington at 7.15 on Friday evening, and there is nothing in the world that would make me happier than if you found the courage to come with me. 

After reading Me Before You and crying A LOT I decided that I wanted to read more books by Jojo Moyes. The Last Letter from your Lover appealed to me because, firstly I has a character called Ellie who is a journalist (hello future me?) but also because I'm fascinated by love letters.

Its a book which tells the story of Jennifer in 1960 and Ellie in the modern day. Ellie finds a letter from Jennifer's lover which has been lost and she becomes fascinated with their story. This book cuts around a lot in time, jumping to focus on lots of different characters, which can be confusing if you are not paying a lot of attention.

Jennifer wakes up from a car accident with no memory of her life before, so when she discovers beautifully written, very romantic letters from B she wants to find out who her mysterious lover is and what exactly happened between them. Ellie is a journalist who is sleeping with a married man. She thinks that he makes her happy, but her friends are disapproving. She's struggling at work and her boss is not happy with her. On a trip to the newspaper archives she comes across a letter from B to Jennifer which sparks her interest. She starts trying to find out what happened to them and writing an article about their love affair.
This book has made me question my ideas about love and whether affairs are ever alright. I loved the characters, which are very 3 dimensional, even the minor ones. It had me laughing, crying and yelling. There are twists which I didn't see coming and until quite late in the book I wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen. This is a story of missed opportunities, fate and love and it was beautiful. As a writer I love reading about other writers and journalists and there are plenty of these in this book. It was very believable and felt well researched. I loved comparing the differences between newspapers in the 60s and modern day.
There's a lot more I'd love to talk abut, but it would mean major spoilers, so I wont. I loved that each chapter started with a quote from a real life last letter from a lover.

I recommend this for anyone who likes historical fiction or romance . I will rate this 4.5/5 as it was so good but confusing at times when it jumped around.

If anyone wants to write me a love letter, please feel free, Valentine's day is just around the corner...

Thanks for reading,

Ellie

Lush Northern Lights Bath Bomb Review

Hi!
Today I am reviewing Lush's Northern Lights bath bomb. I love all of Lush's bath bombs as they are the best. I was given this one as a Christmas present by my parents. Just before Christmas, we went to Lapland to try and see the northern lights. We did see it, but it was very faint, but still amazing! I would love to go back and try to see it in its full glory.
This bath bomb is supposed to create a similar effect in your bath tub. It smells light and floral. It's not an amazing smell, but its still pretty.

It fizzes quickly into bright multi-coloured foam.

It swirls out echoing the real phenomena beautifully. It turns the water into a dark green.

You can see the similarities!

As time goes on, the colours fade until you are just left with the white foam you can see starting to appear in the picture above. The water also becomes less green and more grey which is less appealing. However it is very moisturising and my skin felt lovely afterwards. It did not stain the bath.

Overall, I would rate this 3.5 because its very pretty in the beginning but does not end up so lovely. Although the smell is nice, its nothing amazing, which sums up my feelings about the whole product. It was fun though, and I would use it again.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Cannes Review

Hi!
Today I am reviewing NYX's Soft Matte Lip Cream in the shade Cannes. I love how these shades have been named as they are all after cities. I'd love to be able to wear each colour in the city its named after. I bought this from ASOS for £5.50 but you can also get it from Boots and other places online.
I hardly ever wear lipstick because I struggle to find colours which suit me. However, I have been wanting to try the matte lip trend for a long time. I've heard lots of good things about these lip creams so I'm going to give them a try.

First of all, it smells amazing! It smells like Vanilla. It applies smoothly and evenly. It takes a little while to dry completely matte. It doesn't feel too drying. It looks darker on the lips than it does in the tube. For me this is a my lips but better shade. I wore this whilst wearing no other makeup 😮 but it actually made me look quite put together. I can't wait to wear this with a full face! The only bad thing about this product is that it didn't last that long so I had to keep reapplying it.

Not a great photo but you get the idea!

I am definitely going to try some of the other colours in this range! This was a really good introduction for me to the matte lip trend. Overall, I'm going to rate this 4/5.

Thanks for reading,

Ellie

MUA Elysium Palette Review & Swatches

Hi,
Today I will be reviewing MUA's Elysium palette. I love how affordable MUA is and how their makeup is such good quality for the price. This palette contains 10 shadows and costs £6.
Elysium is an unusual word, it comes from classic mythology to mean the place people go after they die. The colour names follow this theme.

With flash

Without flash

So lets start on the swatches, the first five are more suitable for the daytime, while the next are better for a more glamourous night look:

L-R: Air, Cherub, Charm, Astral, Grace

Air: Air is a subtle matte nude colour. It is not very pigmented but would be good to brighten up the corners of your eyes.
Cherub: Cherub is the least pigmented shade here. In the palette it is a very sparkly light pink but it comes out more nude and less sparkly on the skin.
Charm: Charm is a matte dusty rose colour. It looks darker in the palette. I think if you are pale (like me!) then this could also double up as blush in a pinch.
Astral: Astral is a rich, deep glittery pink in the palette, which translates to more of a peach on your skin. I was the most excited about this colour, so felt a bit let down by the real colour.
Grace: Grace is the most pigmented of this five. Its a dark shimmery brown that comes out the same on the skin as it is in the palette.

L-R: Refine, Entrance, Adore, Smoke, Seraphic

Refine: Refine looks like a dark terracotta pink in the palette, but shows as more a mauve on the skin. I've found that it is good for putting in the crease.
Entrance: Entrance is the most pigmented of the shimmery shadows in this palette. It is a brown with hints of gold but seems to lean towards purple on the skin. This pairs well with Refine.
Adore: Adore is a dark purple with a hint of shimmer which is not really visible on the skin. It is the most pigmented shadow in this palette.
Smoke: Smoke lives up to its name, it is a smoky grey colour on the skin, however in the palette, it is a matte black. It is not very pigmented, so you would need quite a few layers to get an opaque black.
Seraphic: Seraphic is a beautiful shimmery bronze which is the more or less the same in the palette as it is on the skin, although maybe less shimmery.

This palette also comes with a double ended eyeliner and highlighter pencil. I have not used this yet although from swatching, neither are very pigmented and the highlighter is very soft as the tip broke just from swatching. I was not pressing very hard. Personally, I don't think the highlighter suits my skin tone, but for others I'm sure it would be fine.

These eyeshadows need to be worn with a primer because they do not have good staying power and tend to crease easily. I have noticed a massive difference between wearing them without primer and with. I've been using Urban Decay's eyeshadow primer which has also enhanced their colour.

In previous MUA palettes, I've found the shadows to be more pigmented and have more staying power. However, with primer this is a really pretty palette which gives you the freedom to create both day and night looks.

Overall, I would give it 3 stars.

Thanks for reading,

Ellie