Lush Imogen Rose Perfume

With my love for Lush I am intending to make way through their entire product collection, I seem to be up to date with trying all of the Bath Ballistics and I am almost done with the Bubble Bar slices, so its no mean feat being a Lush-o-holic. However, I am always really happy to try new products and the one product section with Lush that I am not so familiar with is their perfume range. So I decided that it was about time I tackled this problem and purchased myself something from the range, whilst trying some of the new products.

Lush perfumes come in 6 different aromas - Tuca Tuca, Ginger, Orange Blossom, The Smell of Freedom, Karma and Imogen Rose. They are all sold in store and online.

Lush Imogen Rose Perfum

As ever with Lush, nothing is ever straight forward when it comes to a product and the perfume range is no different. For starters with Imogen Rose, of which I have in my possession, it is available in a bottle or as a solid perfume. I have never in my lifetime tried a solid perfume, so I thought I might as well give it go and see if I could be converted. 


So the solid perfume is priced at £10 and for that you get a 12g stick and I say stick because what you get is a fatter, dumpier version of a chapstick to describe how it looks and the tube itself is black and on the tube it features white writing which tells you it is 'Imogen Rose' and a solid perfume, so you definitely know which product you have purchased. The lid is one of those similar to the ones you find on a tube of lip salve and is simply removed by pulling it odd and then re-applied by pushing it back on, so thankfully that is a simple task. Then to reveal the solid perfume, again the characteristics of a lip salve/chapstick come into play with the twisting section at the bottom of the perfume which raises and lowers the solid perfume in and out of the tube. The one thing I immediately liked about this product was how easy it was to use and how easy it is to carry on your person or in your bag, I always have a bottle of perfume in my bag, no matter where I am going, and it has been known for that bottle, which is always made of glass to break which in turn becomes a complete waste of money and if it hasn't ruined my current handbag by staining it, I'm left stinking rather strongly of perfume! 

Imogen Rose was designed by a Lush product designer with reference to his one year old daughter also named Imogen Rose, and he, Simon, wanted to make a perfume containing roses because in his own words "They're either too granny-ish or seem so synthetic that I'm sure a rose has never been anywhere near them" and from here Imogen Rose was born. As you would expect Imogen Rose is a nice bright pink colour and it really stands out against the blackness of the tube and when applied to the skin, thankfully it does not leave a pinky stain behind, although it does look pink on your skin when you do apply it. 

Solid perfume

When I first removed the top from the tube, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice this perfume did smell, like Simon who invented it, any perfume that usually contains Rose does remind me of my Granny and not in a nice way, so it is nice to have something which smells quite floral but fresh at the same time and not overly potent. The one remark people always make about Lush is how pongy their products and shops are and for me that is what I love about them, the solid perfume however is not pongy and would not give you a headache but it is a prominent smell as soon as you remove the lid.

So when it comes to the list of ingredients you wont be surprised to learn that as ever with a Lush product there is an exhaustive list which accompanies it and even more unsurprising is that the first ingredient to mention is:

• Rose Oil and Rose Oil comes from the flower petals of the damask rose and is used in more than half a dozen lush products because on the skin it has an amazing ability to moisturise and improve the skins appearance. 
• Next is Orris Butter which has a very delicate, sweet floral and a slight woody aroma. 
• Vertivert Oil which is again used in a lot of Lush products, is good because it helps to help clear the mind and help dispel anger and anxiety and on the skin hosts similar properties to Rose Oil, however within a perfume it has an earthy aroma and works well alongside Orris butter. 
•  

There is a further list of ingredients that can be found on the back of this product or from Lush.
 
When it comes to using this perfume, because it is a solid there is obviously no need to spritz it here and there and for me at first this did pose a problem because if I am spritzing it I can tell how much perfume I have applied, so for the first few attempts I did find applying this perfume a little bit hit and miss but soon got to grips with it. So to apply it, you simply rub it onto your pressure points and apply as much or as little as you feel your skin needs and as I mentioned earlier within this review, given that the perfume stick itself is a bright pink colour and when it is applied to the skin you can see a slight pinky stain on your skin which disappears almost immediately and is not a permanent mark and I find it useful to pinpoint where I have applied the perfume as I am applying it. Once it is applied to the skin the fragrance for me comes alive and there is, as Lush tell you, a slight hint of the baby powder aroma, which is simply divine and for me makes this a fantastic perfume, if anyone has ever had a Baby Powder Yankee Candle then the aroma is distinctly similar and it is for me incredibly girlie and definitely not 'Granny-ish'. 

For me this is a brilliant product and one I am really quite fond of, when applied it is very fragrant and the aromas last for a good few hours because a re-application is required and my own husband even likes the smell of it, despite knowing it is from Lush! So this is one product that I intend to carry around in my handbag for the immediate future and should it run out then I am very much tempted to either buy it again or try my luck with another one from the range. I suspect this product will last for different amounts of time depending on how often you feel the need to apply and re-apply it, I have had my 12g tube for 5 weeks now and suspect I've got just over half of the stick left and I apply it 2 or 3 times a day some days, although I don't actually use it every day of the week, so it is worth its money. 

Perfume Lover?

Here is the guest post I did for the lovely Hayley over at Sparkles & Stretchmarks as she was due to (and now has) given birth to the very handsome and beautiful Tyne - see HERE about some of my favourite perfumes.  Just lately as I find myself coming to the end of bottles, I debate trying something completely new... I am drawn to the Marc Jacob bottles because they are stunning... should I try them? I am not sure...  Anyway here was my post for Hayley...

I love perfume, though I am quite fussy about what I will and won’t wear.  I am sometimes tempted to purchase a perfume because I like the bottle and am desperate to get my hands on Dior J’adore (the advert is also catchy) and Mark Jacobs Daisy because I like the look of them.  But I never tend to buy a perfume on a whim, I will go into whichever store I am near, test it on my skin, walk around and then if I like it, I might purchase it or add it to a list of ‘wants’ and when birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas are on the horizon, said perfume(s) show.

There are now, some perfumes I can just go out and purchase because I have worn them so often and I thought I would share some of my favourite perfumes with you.

Shown above in those 9 squares you will find:

1. Chanel Allure which will cost you around £46 for 50ml

2. Bvlgari Coral which will cost around £33 for  25ml

3. Miss Dior Cherie which will cost around £55 for 50ml

4. Clinique Happy which will cost around £35 for 30ml

5. M&S Blush which currently costs £8.50 for 25ml

6. DKNY Be Delicious which costs around £48 for 50ml

7. Bvlgari Pour Femme which costs around  £35.50 for 25ml

8. Valentino Rock N Rose which costs around £50 for 50ml

9. Fame Lady Gaga  which costs £25 for 50ml and the only ‘Celeb’ perfume I like currently

I am a huge fan of Bvlgari perfumes, they all smell really lovely when I wear them and they are the ones which tend to last the longest before I need to re-apply.  I carry the Marks and Spencer’s Blush around in my handbag because it is so light to carry around and perfect handbag size.  I do like to chop and change on a daily basis which perfume I wear, but it is likely it will be one of those listed above.

Now I don’t know if anyone remembers Tribe perfume? I used to wear it all the time as a teenager, I loved it and imagine my delight when I found some in a storage box, still wrapped and unused.  It is now discontinued and I am told a bit of a collectors item!  I also used to wear Ex’cla-ma’tion as did all my friends and although you can still buy this, I really don’t like the scent anymore.  The final perfume I used to wear is Vanderbilt, again my best friend and I used to wear this and well.. . It is still available to buy and will cost you about £10 for 100ml.  

If you can’t remember any of these perfumes, you will find them shown below:

What perfumes do you love to wear? What was your favourite Childhood perfume?

Essie Nail Polish cheap haul...

A few days ago I bought Four Essie Nail Polishes from a website called Buyapowa, I had never heard of it before, but someone tweeted about it, I had a look and signed up.

Buyapowa explain themselves as so:

"But what if the more friends you took along, the better the products on offer?

That’s the principle of the Co-Buy: co-operative buying power. Ancient civilisations had the same idea. What’s new is how perfectly it dovetails into this generation’s defining behaviour patterns.

Ideas and crazes spread faster than ever before. Everything is shared. Why not buzz about your products and services?" And you can read more about Buyapowa from their website which you can find HERE.

Anyway, I have got home tonight and these are my Essie Nail Polishes - what do you think?

So in this lovely bright packaging you can clearly see the Essie Nail polishes, their retail price is £10.00 on Lookfantastic see HERE and the marketing blurb is as follows:

Can’t decide which colour you want? Well you don’t have to! Essie Mini Summer 2012 Collection contains a quartet of your summer favourites to get you set for some summer fun.

Get set to wow with Essie Mini Summer 2012 Collection- these perfect handbag sized shades will take you from beach babe to glamour puss in no time! Essie’s chip resistant formula and outstanding durability is not only easy to apply and fast drying, but will give your nails superb coverage and a professional finish. DBP, toluene and formaldehyde free.

This pack contains the following products:

• Essie Bikini So Teeny- 5ml - A sparkling, cornflower blue shade.
• Essie Off The Shoulder- 5ml - The boldest, hottest pink shade there is.
• Essie Fear Or Desire- 5ml - A bright, orange crush.
• Essie Mojito Maddness -5ml - A fun-loving lime green

I only paid £6.95 (plus £1.95 P&P) for these nail polishes and I do love their colours, they are so refreshing and so bright, I can't wait to try them out.

Did anyone else purchase these? 

Already have them? Like them?

Soap and Glory Foot Buffer

Well given the weather it looks like it is going to be quite a while before I can wear my beloved Fit Flops, there might have been a bit of sunshine today, but the wind was blooming cold. Anyway, spring and summer are on their way, so in the meantime it does give me time to sort my feet out and make sure they are not a total embarrassment to put on show when the time does eventually arrive. 

I hate feet! I make no secret of that fact and it is one thing most people know about me. I cannot stand them especially my own and to make matters worse I cant even stand to let anyone else touch them, it makes me feel queasy, I don't know why I feel this way about feet, I just do. But... if I just left them alone and ignored them as I wished I could do, then I would eventually have to go and see some professional type to sort them out, faced with that dilemma I tend to take quite good care of my feet, gagging in the process. 

Over the years I have used and reviewed quite a lot of products for the feet that deal with pretty much everything from dry skin to dead skin. The one product on the market which I cannot bring myself to purchase is the Ped Egg, it is to all intents and purposes a cheese grater for your feet and the less said about it better. So far I have tended to stick to traditional methods of removing dry skin from the heels of my feet in the shape of a pumice stone and it isn't the perfect solution but I have just made do. Then whilst I was on Boots buying some deodorant when I came across the 'Soap and Glory Foot buffer' which intrigued me to the point of buying it and better still on the beloved 3 for 2 offer it meant I could also buy some bubble bath and lip balm. Thankfully this item is sold in protective packaging so no one can have a go of your product and then put it back on the shelf! Just think about it! 

The Foot Buffer retails at £8.75 in Boots and size wise it looks like a Loofah crossed with a golf club and is white in colour. It is sold with the following marketing blurb "Give yourself a 5 star pedicure treatment in the comfort of your home with our utterly fantastic Soap & GloryTM Foot Buffer" which isn't what sold it to me it was the fact I was told it came with 3 different filing heads which are described as being: 

1. The ruff side - for getting rid of the ruff stuff 

2. The smoother side - for a final buff 

3. The toe piece - for filing in between the toes 

Now naturally number three isn't for the faint hearted or someone like me who hates feet but given the 'head' of this device is golf club shaped with two sides I was intrigued to find the 'third' filing head and in all honesty it took me quite a while to work it out. Located at the bottom of the 'club' is the third and final filing head, hidden away from sight, you simply tug at the bottom and it appears looking slightly fatter but shorter than your average nail file. 

So once you have your foot buffer home attached to it is a set of instructions which you really should read before you get home because you need a lemon! Once you have your lemon the instructions tell you to 'rub rough heels with lemon juice first, to dissolve the glue that gives dead skin cells their grippiness. Wait ten minutes before you buff, and they wont be as tough' so having cut a lemon in half and rubbed it into the heels of my feet (obviously if you have any sort of open wound this is not advised) which was slightly weird, thankfully I did it in the comfort of my own home, alone and felt daft enough. I had at least thought to put a towel on the floor under my feet to catch bits of juice that went everywhere and as instructed allowed the lemon juice to sink into my skin. Then picking up my buffer I used the first side and gently rubbed it along my heels to attack the dead skin moving from one side of the heel to the other backwards and forwards, as you use the tool you can feel it being scraped across your skin, something I had to not think about at the time and instead just get on with the job of removing the dead skin. Then I wiped my feet to remove anything that might be left there and flipped the buffer over to use side number two defined as being 'The smoother side' and repeated action number one and was surprised to see that all of the dead skin had been removed and having once again towelled my feet to remove anything left sticking to them, my feet were lovely and soft. So I covered them with some Soap and Glory Heel Genius and slipped my feet into the accompanying socks to give the cream time to sink into my skin. 

To date I haven't felt the need to use the in-between the toe file as this is not a problem area for me, but it is there should that change. For me this was the first time that I had ever used a metal buffer on my feet, I have always stuck to using a pumice stone or a foot scrub of sorts from places like Lush, so I was a bit apprehensive as to how effective it would be. To my surprise using this 'Foot buffer' was not only easy it was much quicker and produced much better results than a pumice stone because it is much easier to hold on to and it is also much sturdier in your hands than a pumice stone which at times can be like trying to hold a bar of soap with wet hands. 

So whilst I still hate feet, I do like this Foot Buffer and it has now replaced my pumice stone which I hated having to use and because this product lives in the bathroom in its own little storage pot (which I bought myself) I use it once a week when I am in the shower just to ensure that my feet are kept in good condition until the sun finally decides it is time to make an appearance for summertime to finally begin. So I feel this is a brilliant product which is worthy of its price. Having said I use this once a week, the filing heads are still as good now as they were a few weeks ago when I bought it, but I would guess over time they will become blunt and the way this product is designed means you cannot buy replacement heads which is a bit of a shame. I however will simply purchase another one the next time I need to stock up on products.