Facepack Review: Lush ‘Mask of Magnaminty’

I went to a Lush Blogger’s Event and chose to try out this product. Yes, I got this for free! Like many people, I love Lush!

This is a basically a pale green, minty Facepack. The aroma is nice, and so is the texture which is fairly thick. The product is supposed to be ‘good for skin that has spots’.

Good things about it:

1. It has lots of natural ingredients, and, as an extra bonus, it has NO microbeads, which is brilliant. Instead of nasty micro beads, it use primrose seeds. I like that Lush have taken care to not use the beads. It reflects how progressive they are. I care about the planet, and I would never use any product with micro beads in it. It also has honey which fantastic for the skin too. However, it doesn’t say what quality of honey they use. (I can be a bit picky what kind of honey is used).

2. Like many Lush products, there was picture of the person who made this product, which was Jeff.

3. You don’t need much to make a full facemask, so there is plenty left over.

4. After I cleaned it all off, my face went a bit pink and glowing, and there was gunk on my facecloth, including some traffic pollution, so it ‘did its job’. My face felt clean and scent of the peppermint oil still lingered. I don’t have any spots so I wouldn’t have seen the difference from the ‘spot aspect’.

5. It comes in a recyclable pot which you can return after you collect 5 Lush pots. It is made from 100% recyclable plastic.

Bad things

1. I suppose it is a bit harsh for my dry skin. It doesn’t say what skin the mask is for. I kept it on for 10 minutes, although I think, with my skin, I should just use it for 5 minutes. It went a bit dry and tight but obviously, that’s what it’s supposed to do!

Would I buy it again? Well, it was nice, but a little bit strong for my skin. I am definitely going to use the rest of the product on my skin anyway though. I do like the peppermint aroma!

Wellbeing: DIY Coconut Milk & Rosewater Facial Wash for Dry Skin – Review

After watching some YouTube videos on making a facial wash, I thought I would be confident enough to crib together some of my favourite ingredients and ‘make up my own’ favourite facial wash and let you know what I thought of it.

This would be one that I would recommend to people and those in my family. It would be a ‘family secret formula’ that I would ‘hand down’, like ‘Granny’s favourite’ (not that I am a granny, but you know what I mean)

This one really is my ‘piece de resistance’; it just goes to show you how much I love it.

I am inspired by people from Asia, who use a lot of coconut milk for their skin and haircare. In Western culture, we seem to be obsessed with harmful chemicals, which I find really strange. I was also inspired by the Persians and Phoenicians who loved rosewater too, and used it for all sorts of things. I bought my large bottle of rosewater and almond oil from a good Turkish grocer in London and it lasts a long time.

I was actually making this facial wash for a friend who buys that nasty, chemically stuff from Boots (so I had to put a stop to that!)

For me, this facial wash is not only gentle to the skin, but it makes my skin feel super amazing and makes me feel great too, particularly when used at the beginning of the day, so it has that ‘warm, wellbeing’ ‘hygge’ factor. I feel like Cleopatra using it. I am a bit of a Roman freak and I love using rosewater which the Romans also loved. Ok, Cleopatra was Eqyptian.I like my facial wash to have a bit of ‘history’ in it.

I would go so far as to say this makes a nice DIY gift too, perhaps as a ‘thank you’. Keep it simple, and add a pretty tag to it.

Ingredients (Eyeball)

Castile Soap (a natural ‘must ‘in your house)
Rosewater
Distilled Water (to top it up) (you can boil it and let it cool down)
Coconut Milk
Honey (great to reduce spots)
A few Drops of glyerin (optional)
A few drops of johoba oil
A few drops of almond oil (brilliant for dry skin)
Poppy seeds

Method:

Just mix up the ingredients and give it a good shake before using.
I keep it in the fridge before I use it. It’s so refreshing

Tip 1: If you don’t have all the ingredients, you can get away with just castile soap and honey, although it won’t have that ‘luxury feel’. It is very natural too and honey is great for the skin and does so many good things to it.

Tip 2: This is a special facial wash, so use a pretty glass bottle for it. Some small vinegar or bath salts bottles can be very attractive. You can get some pretty bottles from charity shops too.

Tip 3: If you want to tailor make it for men, swap the rosewater with drops of peppermint essential oil (keep away from eyes) and remove the poppy seeds. However, if your man loves ‘rosewater’ leave it in!

Tips 4: Always use cotton wool pads for this facial wash, it really adds a touch of luxury and gets the nasties off.

Tip5: For heavy make up, go over with a few cotton wool pads of almond oil.

Review:

I would give this 10/10. My skin feels clean and moisturised, the almond oil gives it my skin a touch of silky luxury and the light scent of the rosewater really gives it a wonderfully ‘homemade’ luxurious touch. I will never go back to shop bought facial wash ‘nasties’ again.

London Review: DIY Orange & Lemons, Lavender & Poppy Seed Natural Hand Lotion

I made this gorgeous hand lotion this afternoon and I really was pleased with the results.

To make this lotion, I was inspired by the traditional English children’s nursery rhyme and singing game, “Oranges and Lemons” which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London:-

“Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement’s

You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin’s

When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.

When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,
Says the great bell of Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
Chip chop chip chop the last man is dead”

INGREDIENTS (I eyeballed these)

Coconut oil (in solid form (I got mine from Tesco which was under £3) (Avoid being ripped off by specialist health shops)

Shea butter (I always keep some of this in my cupboard)
Grated Lemon Peel
Grated Orange Peel
Lavender Essential Oil
Lemon Essential Oil
Poppy seeds
Lavender Flowers (edible version, I used some lavender tea)
Orange, Tangerine or Mandarin Essential oil
Olive Oil (a nod to the Romans)
Organic Beeswax (from a local farmers’ market)
A silicon soap mould of your choice or you can use the ‘square’ of a milk box

I heated the ingredients up by putting a bowl and saucer as a cover in the microwave for a few minutes (I checked it every so often). Hot oil is dangerous so keep away from small kids.

I then poured the content into a silicon mould, left it to set outside and then put it in the fridge.

Tips: Be more liberal with the beeswax to make the mould harder. Be generous with your grated orange and lemon peel but it needs to be dried so the lotion lasts longer. Try to keep the lotion in the fridge, away from each other.

Suggested uses: As gifts and, even better, as a random act of kindness! Love to hear if you do that….

REVIEW: 9/10 The first time I did this, I forgot the beeswax, which meant a lot of it was used really quickly as it was too soft. This time I used the beeswax and the lotion didn’t fall apart. I also used too much olive oil the first time, so it was a bit oily. This time it was perfect and I didn’t have to use much for it to go a long way. It has a really lovely vintage, summery smell, great for wellbeing too.

Review: Truprint prints

I wanted to copy my photos online easily and cheaply. I haven’t had photos printed for ages and need something to record my memories and post some to others. Using those online machines at Boots is expensive.

I tried to use Bonusprint but I had password problems and Bonus Print failed to contact me to rectify it.

I ended up using Truprint, which I remembered from 30 years ago. I was surprised that they are still going strong as I don’t see any Truprint envelopes anymore and don’t watch TV ads.

Each print was 14p which I thought was reasonable (though I didn’t shop around) and postage was fairly cheap. I bought the prints today (27th May 2017) and the product is expected to be delivered 6th June for standard delivery a
nd this is over bank holiday.

The website was easy to navigate though I never went for anything fancy like photo cards etc.

Note: Beaulieu did not receive any free prints from Truprint.