*THE BALM BOUTIQUE

 

*A couple of weeks ago, I received an absolutely wonderful package from the lovely Carmelina, founder of The Balm Boutique.

 

The balm boutique offers products which are made with 100% natural ingredients, lets be honest, nobody knows what actually goes into some of our favourite high street beauty products, which can be quite scary. I was incredibly humbled to speak to Carmelina, and enjoyed learning more about this lovely company, despite her background in Law, Carmelina became a mother, and grew more concerned about the products she was using on her children. She then started to make her own alternatives using wholly natural ingredients before eventually developing more products, and the rest is history!

 

Carmelina was kind enough to send me a selection of her homemade products; a Berry Bliss Body Spa Gift Set worth £20, along with her flagship product called the Green Healing Cream worth £10, and her Strawberry, Chocolate Mint and Citrus lip glosses worth £5 each. I was advised that the balm is one of her most versatile products, due to its healing attributes it can be used for almost anything... bites, stings, dry chapped skin, burns, scars and even cuts and grazes. 

 

Berry Bliss Body Spa Gift Set-

 

Includes a berry butter bar, berry body polish, strawberry lip tint.

One of my absolute favourites from this set was the strawberry lip tint which left my lips wonderfully smooth. I had been suffering with dry lips at the time and this really helped, along with the citrus and chocolate mint glosses.

 

As for the body polish exfoliator, I did find this to be a little abrasive, however used in small amounts works really well... and to make it even better, it smells delicious... honestly good enough to eat! Finally, the berry butter bar, which is  naturally coloured Alkanet infused Sweet Almond Oil and Beetroot extract, produced such soothing effects when used in combination with the exfoliator.

 

Green Healing Cream-

 

This is literally the best thing you will ever smell, with ingredients such as Beeswax, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Black Cumin seed, Aloe Butter, Sunflower Seed Oil and Avocado Butter, i'm really not lying when I say its good enough to eat, but please don't! Although I was surprised by how green and vibrant the product was at first I decided to use it on my shoulders, damaged by sun burn last summer, which has caused me to now be left with dry skin. I used it every evening for around 2 weeks and found it not only left my skin less dry and full of moisture, but it also has began to repair some of the damage and has soothed any itching.

 

If you would like to try any of The Balm Boutiques products you can visit their website- https://www.thebalmboutique.co.uk/ , definitely worth a look if you want to try a product which you 100% know what's inside!... 

January Favourites

Okay I am a little late with this post but I have been super busy moving back to university and preparing for a placement assessment day, but I really wanted to share my favourite products which I loved using through January! I spent two weeks of last month with my boyfriend, and while he was at work I spent my time browsing Boots, Superdrug and KIKO in search of new hair and beauty products to try, as I have been trying to improve my hair care and skin are routines. Here  are the products I've been loving! 

BATISTE SMOOTHING CONDITIONING MIST- £3.99- BOOTS

BENEFIT FULL GLAM AHEAD INC THE POREFESSIONAL, HIGH BEAM & BAD GAL LASH- £9.99- BOOTS

SCHWARZKOPF GOT2B OIL LICIOUS STYLING OIL- £2.71- BOOTS

LOREAL PARIS SKIN PERFECTION MICELLAR SOLUTION- £3.33- BOOTS

MAYBELLINE BABY LIPS LIP BALM- £2.99- SUPERDRUG

 DAZZLEGLASS LIPGLOSS 'EXTRA AMPS' - £15.50- MAC

BUBBLEGUM LIP SCRUB- £5.50- LUSH

KIKO REAL GLARE NAIL LACQUER- £2.40- KIKO

RIMMEL LONDON SCANDALEYES MASCARA- £6.99- BOOTS

ZOELLA CREAMY MADLY DREAMY BODY LOTION- £4.00- SUPERDRUG

RIMMEL LONDON STAY MATTE PRIMER- £5.99- BOOTS

MARC JACOBS DAISY EU SO FRESH PURSE SPRAY- £24.50- BOOTS

What were your January favourites? Leave me a comment below! :) 

OSMO Hair Products

*For many years I have had the terrible habit of straightening my hair nearly every day, unfortunately I have such thick and frizzy unruly hair! So when I was offered hair products by OSMO, from their salon professional range I was very excited to try their products designed for taming the hair and leaving it silky soft and frizz free. 

From my experience so far, I have found all of the products work really well, apart from the straighten up 3 spray, as although it smells lovely, I don't think it does leave your hair straight for 3 days, unlike other hair products I have bought on the high street. However, if you are looking to improve the smoothness and silkiness of you hair and tame the frizz In this cold weather, I definitely reccomend you give these products a go! One thing I would say about these products is that they smell divine, they are such high quality and do exactly what they are supposed too. Also I would say that although with some hair products I find can be a bit slimy or claggy, leaving your hair feeling caked with product and greasy, these products are super light and easy to apply.

Make sure you check out the OSMO website at osmo.uk.com to find which products will be most suitable for your hair type, they have so many you're bound to find something perfect for you! Here is a list of the products I received:

OSMO THERMAL DEFENCE, £4.50

Works by protecting the hair from heated hair stylers, limiting the damage done to your hair and prevents dryness and split ends which leads to frizz!

OSMO BLINDING SHINE HAIR SERUM, £8.28

Perfect for taming straight or curly hair, this oil is really light on the hair, simply apply a few squirts to the  mid length and ends of the hair. Although it's a little pricey compared to high street alternatives this works so well and really does keep your hair frizz free throughout the day, no matter what weather.

OSMO INTENSIVE DEEP REPAIR MASK £2.95

Cheap and cheerful, the deep repair mask is designed to repair damaged hair, which mines definitely is unfortunately, although I can't see any immediate effect right now hopefully I will see a change in the next couple of weeks, simply apply after washing your hair and rinse!

OSMO STRAIGHTEN UP 3 £9.99

This was my favourite of the products as it smells lovely and your hair feels super soft, use after washing combined with the hair serum, and then it is activated by heat from your dryer and styler. The only thing I would say is that it doesn't do what it says it will, my hair definitely didn't stay straight for 3 days.

If you would like to try these products you can find them at osmo.uk.com or amazon.co.uk. Do you use similar products? Have you tried Osmo before? Leave me a comment below!

Glamour shopping event & Glossybox!

I always get excited when shopping centres hold discount events or student lockin's, I seriously need bargains! Last week a "Ladies Shopping Night" was held at the Trinity shopping centre in Leeds, in association with Glamour.com, so of course I had to go. Not only were there some really great discounts and offers to be snapped up, but there were pamper lounges, and many competitions and freebies. One of which was a giant wheel spin, in which you got to pick an envelope which enclosed a prize, I won a lovely No7 "High Shine" SPF 15 (Shade Whisper) worth £10, which leaves a lovely shimmer on your lips, and my friend won a £10 gift card for Primark, not bad! Another amazing offer on the night was depending on how much you spend, you were treated with either; Pick 'n' Mix, a cocktail, Lindt chocolates and a beauty bag, or a £10 Trinity Leeds gift card! Since I bought some £52 shoes, I got some Lindt chocolates and a Glossybox for free! The box which can be subscribed to for just £10 per month,  includes 5 products and a product description guide, it is just perfect for beauty lovers. My box included Mitchell And Peach body cream, which is made with honey, organic cocoa and shea butter (smells divine), Helenere age sensitive zone repair serum, Dove hair therapy 60 second treatment shot intensive repair for damaged hair, bella pierre cosmetics gold eye shadow (shade Oblivious SP037) and finally my favourite; Sleek  Make Up Pout Polish SPF15 Tinted Lip Conditioner (shade Bare Minimum 963). Not only is the box filled with different products and delivered to you every month for just £10, but the box itself is beautiful and is filled with tissue paper and ribbon, I am seriously considering signing up! What do you think? Do you receive Glossybox? :)