Retro Delivery Received: 22nd February 2010

My Mail Order delivery from Lush.co.uk arrived today! I got it delivered to the office as I knew I wouldn't be home to sign for it and it was being brought by courier so it was lovely to arrive back after a meeting this morning to find it there!

(Pic of the actual order - I'm getting better at this technology lark!)

This was the order of Retro items containing:

• Fizzy O'Therapy bath ballistic
• Lemon Days & Ginger Beer ballistic
• After 8:30 Massage Bar
• Sore Labours Massage Bar
• free Massage Bar Tin
• Happy 4 Sad Shower Gel
• Chai Shower Gel
• Back for Breakfast Shower Gel
• Mud Flats Soap

Out of the shower gels so far Chai is my least favourite which wasn't what I expected. I am loving the smell of the other two but haven't had a chance to use them yet. One problem I have with retro bottled items is that they only come in the large size (500g). This is a bit awkward for in the shower, especially as I already have a few Lush shower gels in there that I like to switch between.

I haven't taken the massage bars out of the wrappers but I can already smell how yummy After 8:30 is - really mint chocolatey! I'm almost afraid that if I open it, I'll want to eat it!!


I had also asked for samples and the ones I got were: Potion Lotion (Retro), Temptation soap (Retro), HIWTK soap, Sea Vegetable soap and Quinquereme Of Nineveh soap (Retro).

Makeup and Jewellery storage

So far this blog has been entirely about Lush and Soap & Glory, but unfortunately they're not my only beauty related obsessions! I also have quite a stash of jewellery (95% costume jewellery before you decide to break in!!) and makeup. During a recent declutter I came up with some better storage options for them which I have now decided to share with you.


Makeup:

I have quite a large stash of makeup even though its not something I wear everyday. Brands are mainly Gosh, Number 7, Essence (the only foundation I have found that suits me!) and Avon. I have it all stored in a Fira mini chest which I bought in IKEA in Belfast in January 2009.
Top left drawer: Makeup brushes and small makeup bag (empty).
Top centre drawer: Foundation, tinted moisturiser, concealer, primer etc.
Top right drawer: Lip balms, lip glosses, lipsticks and lipliners.
Middle drawer: Eyeshadow, eyeliners and mascara.
Bottom drawer: Makeup palattes, spare makeup brushes, tweezers, pencil sharpeners, nail scissors and other similar items.


Jewellery:

I have organised my jewellery using two GLIS boxes which I got in IKEA in early February 2010. These have three main compartments and can be divided up into 9 compartments in total if needed. This made them ideal for dividing my jewellery by colour in the smaller sections and allowing me to keep a larger section for items which needed more space.


Now when I choose an outfit its literally a case of opening the box and being able to lay my hand on the colour jewellery that I want before I dash out the door!



So now, courtesy of IKEA, I am feeling super organised!! What did we do before they came along??

Lush: Orders I am Waiting On

Part of why I haven't posted a massive amount lately is because I am (very impatiently) waiting for a pretty substantial order to be delivered from Lush.com.au... and no, you didn't read that incorrectly!! Yes, I am insane enough that I have ordered from the Australian website!! The cause of this madness?? Spice Curls soap!

With comforting cinnamon, cardamom and ginger, Spice Curls is great for warming you up during the cooler months. According to the website "Its color comes from spices which are ground to just the right size to give your skin a scrub while you wash. You hardly notice them working but when you rinse off and feel your skin, it's surprisingly smooth. With all those spicy essential oils, you'd expect to come out of the shower feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed – and so you do."

I got a sample of this soap with one of my very first Lush purchases and fell in love with it on first use! As my skin is so dry I really need to exfoliate on a regular basis and this soap just made it so easy to do. So, having searched high and low for it, I was amazed to discover it was still available on the Australian site. Unfortunately there was a $45 delivery fee which wasn't really feasible for ordering one piece of soap. Rather than putting me off this lead me to look and see what else they had that perhaps I couldn't get here!

So my order ended up being for:

• Lite Lip Balm
• Let Them Eat Cake Lip Balm
• Emperor of Ice Cream Buttercream
• Nutts Massage Bar
• Potion Solid Perfume
• Lily Savon Soap
• Spice Curls Soap
• Keep It Fluffy Soap
• Up the wooden Hill Emotibomb

Out of these I am most looking forward to getting my hands on my Spice Curls soap (all 3 of them!), the Up the wooden Hill Emotibombs (I ordered 7!) and my Let Them Eat Cake lipbalm (even if it is a bit out of season now!).

The site said the order would take 2-4 weeks to be delivered... It has now been 19 days so fingers crossed the wait is almost over!!

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In addition to this I have also been promising myself that I would order some Retro items off the Lush.co.uk site so last week I placed an order for:

• Fizzy O'Therapy bath ballistic
• Lemon Days & Ginger Beer ballistic
• After 8:30 Massage Bar
• Sore Labours Massage Bar(which meant I got a free Massage Bar Tin)
• Happy 4 Sad Shower Gel
• Chai Shower Gel
• Back for Breakfast Shower Gel
• Mud Flats Soap

All of these items are in the Retro range and therefore can only be ordered online. It means that unfortunately I am going on the descriptions Lush have given of the item and the feedback it has received on the site rather than getting to check it out instore before purchasing.

The Sore Labours massage bar I have purchased before and loved so much that I also got it for my mum for Christmas as she is an avid walker so something to help her muscles after a mountain hike is always welcomed!
That's also why I purchased the Fizzy O'Therapy bath ballistic this time. The site describes it as: "a Ballistic made specially to warm, soothe and relax your muscles when you've been exercising or you're feeling a bit tense. Imagine a bath fizzing with ginger, cloves, cinnamon and coriander. It's almost worth spending a couple of hours exerting yourself to justify indulging in such a spicy, scented, soothing soak."
I figured that they might make a nice addition to any Mother's Day pressie - which is coming up on March 14th for anyone who needs a reminder!!

Lush Review: Sugar Scrubs

I suffer with very dry skin, not just on my face but on my legs, arms, everywhere! This means that I need to exfoliate regularly in order not to end up flaky! As a result I am regularly buying face and body scrubs. One such option that Lush contains is the Sugar Scrub.

They currently have two options: Sugar Scrub and Sugar Babe.


Sugar Scrub is described on the site as: "hard, but a bit of a sweetie. Its no nonsense stance stimulates activity and tackles cellulite with fennel and ginger. Skin calming lavender has a balancing effect."

The one part of this that I really have to agree with is the reference to it being hard as this product actually left me with scratches on me the three times I tried it! I did however love how soft it left my skin apart from that!

Sugar Babe is made from sugar, sodium bicarbonate, cream of tartar, moisurizing extra virgin coconut oil and perfume made from ylang flowers and mimosa blossom. Its a much softer consistency than Sugar scrub and you have to be careful not to get it wet or it will dissolve in seconds!

I tend to cut the Sugar Babe into quarters to use in order to prolong its life. I find that a quarter is plenty for one shower and means that its easier to handle without losing lots of it down the drain.


Shower Scrub:
Another use I have come up with that works for both of the sugar scrubs is to crush them and mix them with a small amount of shower gel in order to make a shower scrub. I did this recently with a Sugar Scrub I had lying around, half of a Sugar Babe and some Body Shop shower gel that I had gotten fed up of but wanted to use up. The resulting scrub filled a pot that had previously held Ocean Scrub and it is still going strong in the shower about 8 showers later as only a small amount is needed.

Soap & Glory: Storage update

Just a quick update for you all in relation to my Soap & Glory products. Now that I have so much Soap and Glory stuff I have reorganised everything yet again!! Its a very simple process this time.

All products that are opened are now stored in my Big Softie bag; and anything unopened is in my Big Thrill hat box. The idea behind this is that I will have only one of anything open at a time and will use it up before I take something out of the hat box.

Here's hoping it works because it looks like I'll be moving again soon and I really want to be organised this time!!

Mini Lush Haul & More Great Customer service 21/02/2010

Went to Lush today to collect my Butterball Shower Gel and a few other bits. Was very proud of myself as I made a list before I went and stuck to it!! Most unlike me!!

All I got was:

• Butterball shower gel
  
• Shampoo bar tin (Mum wants this to keep a sliver of her soap in for bringing to work)
• Sympathy for the Skin fresh face mask
  
• an emotibomb, and
• a magic mushroom bubble bar

I had a 10% off voucher that I had received in a gift set so decided to use that too, having actually remembered to bring it with me for a change!

I had also considered getting some Honey I Washed the Kids soap as I am really liking the scent of the solid perfume but I just can't make up my mind on the scent when I am instore.

Got to the till and the girl who served me was lovely (as usual)! Mentioned to her about my HIWTK dilemma and she offered me a sample - quite a generous one at that! We also spoke about the Butterball shower gel. I mentioned that I had considered picking one up for a friend but was going to give her a sample of mine before doing so as the bottle was so big I'd never use it all if she didn't like it. The sales assistant immediately gave me a little container to put the sample in to make things easier which I thought was a lovely touch! And finally when I got out of the shop and checked my receipt I discovered that she had put the shampoo bar tin through as a free item - without even mentioning it to me!!

Overall it was a great experience even by my Lush standards and have to admit I left the shop with a big smile on my face!!

Lush: Customer Service

I have had two recent experiences of Lush customer service that I wanted to share with you. The first was in relation to an order I received from Lush mail order and the second is in relation to the staff in my local store.

I regularly order from Lush.co.uk (about eight orders placed and received so far) and my orders have always been perfect. I know from reading the Lush International Forum that others have different experiences though and knew I was jinxing myself when I posted in a thread there that I had been so lucky with my deliveries. The very next order I received an item had leaked in it. My beloved Mint Julips lip scrub!!



Luckily the lip scrub was contained in its own little bag so it had just leaked into that but unfortunately approximately a third of the scrub was gone. I was also a bit uncertain about the colour as it seemed different to the one I had seen in the store. So, I decided to let Customer Service know... I got a really prompt response back and they immediately offered to send me another one! Happy days!! I didn't have to return the other one and they reassured me that the colour difference was probably just due to it being from a different batch so now I have enough to keep me going for ages! When placing the original order I had requested particular samples so I also got seconds of these which was particularly awesome as one of these was their Gorgeous moisturiser!


My second experience of how awesome the Lush staff are relates to my local Lush store - the one at the bottom of Grafton Street in Dublin. On Friday I came in from work exhausted and basically browned off with a few things. While trying to decide what to have for dinner I logged in to facebook... Only to discover that my Lush had managed to get the very limited edition, much coveted Butterball shower gel in!!



Terrified that I would miss out I quickly checked the opening times they had posted on the Facebook page, summoned up some energy, wrapped up warm and ran out to get a bus to town... Only to discover when I got there that the shop was closed and the staff were inside mopping the floor... The times on the facebook page were incorrect!! So I logged on to Facebook on my mobile and just replied to their comment that I had come in and the store was closed and that I was disappointed. Only to get a response within a few minutes to say they were sorry and that they would hold a bottle for me!! How awesome is that!!??!!

So tomorrow I shall venture into town again and pick up my new shower gel and knowing me I'll grab a few other bits too... All in the name of research!

Lush Haul: 8th February 2010

There was a Pre-Valentines event in my local Lush tonight. I've been looking forward to it since I heard about it through their Facebook page.

There was 10% off everything and if you spent more than €25 after discount you got a grab bag! So I was cheeky and bought two lots of just over €28 each (total: €57.37)... And got two grab bags!!! One bath one and one shower one!!


Stuff I bought:
Demon in the dark Soap
Sexy Peel Soap
13 Unlucky For Dirt soap - gift for my mum as it is rumoured to kill MRSA.
3 bath ballistics - gifts for various people
The Olive Branch shower gel 250g
Rehab shampoo 250g
Coolaulin conditioner 250g


Stuff I got free:
Pillar of Fizz container - for buying three ballistics
Mange too (two halves - one in each grab bag)
2 samples of Lemony flutter
2 pieces of Angels Delight Soap
2 pieces of You Wash My Back Soap
Too drunk emotibomb
Ma Bar bubble bar
Snow fairy Solid perfume
The Comforter solid perfume
Honey I Washed the Kids solid perfume (swopped with a friend for a sugar scrub! I win that one!!)

Checking on the website this would total approximately: £39stg - at todays exchange rate that is about €44.67!! I think I did really well!!

Also managed to get a free facial, some glasses of orange juice (no wine as I was driving) and some hints on new upcoming products including getting to sample one that not even some of the staff had seen!! The joys of them knowing me!! Overall it was a great night!! Can't wait for the next one!!

Soap & Glory: A late Christmas present

One of my best friends visited me on Friday evening and as we hadn't seen each other since before Christmas we finally got around to exchanging gifts! I was completely overhwelmed by what she got me as it was a Soap & Glory Big Thrill hatbox!! So all my organisation has gone out the window as I now have all these amazing products to use, a hatbox that is just too amazing to get rid of and a fab drawstring bag to use too!! Isn't it pretty??

Soap & Glory's Big Thrill Giant Hatbox includes:

• A limited edition Sexy Mother™ Pucker Lip Gloss 7ml
• The Daily Smooth™ Body Butter 250ml
• Clean On Me™ Body Wash 75ml
• Flake Away™ Body Buff 50ml
• Girligo™ Moisturising Mist 100ml
• Hair Supply™ Hair Mask 50ml
• Hand Food™ Hand Cream 50ml
• The Greatest Scrub of All™ Facial Smoother 125ml
• Clean Mary™ Facial Cleansing Milk 75ml
• I-Foam™ Body Wash 200ml
• Butter Up™ Body Butter 200ml
• A super sized Sudsy Puff
• A beautiful striped drawstring bag

Given that I got some (good!) news on Friday which means it looks likely I shall be moving shortly I may just leave the products as they are for the moment and deal with the storage down the line!!

Storage: Soap & Glory

As you may have read in my post 'Storage: Lush' I have been trying to organise all of my beauty stuff. Have to say my Soap & Glory stuff was much easier to organise than my Lush stuff as there is simply less of it!!

Most of my Soap & Glory products are stored in the bag that I got as part of the Big Softie gift set.

This bag has small compartments around the side and masses of room to hold everything. The only items I don't have in there are the things that I use in the shower on a regular basis. The fact that the bag is so distinctive looking means there isn't a fear that I will forget about what is in it and by limiting myself to this as my Soap & Glory container means I am also controlling how much I can buy to a certain extent! Win/Win!

Storage: Lush

I've been doing a big clean out on my stuff over the last few days. Those of you who know me well will know that I am a hoarder and collector! It's a habit I am trying to break - and failing miserably at when it comes to beauty stuff!! However, I am getting more organised!! So thats a start - right?? The idea is that I will now know exactly what I have and that way won't be duplicating on stuff and having three of the same thing open at the one time! Something I can't really afford to do given that I have what estate agents would probably term a 'compact' ensuite!

The first thing I sorted was my Lush stuff. This was made pretty easy by the storage options provided to me my Lush itself! Firstly, I bought It's A Wrap which is found in the gift section of the website. This simply hangs on a hook on my ensuite door and pretty much everything in it is immediately visible. Initially I had all my massage bars, body butters and so on stored in here but decided (sensibly!) to now use it for stuff that I use on a regular basis. It currently holds items such as: Lemony Flutter, Angels on Bare Skin, Volcano, Ocean Salt, Eau Roma toner, Ultrabland and some spare tins that I have.

It's A Wrap actually came with one each of the massage bar, body butter and shampoo tins which was great! I have also taken great advantage of the fact that if you buy two of any of the above products at one time you get a free tin. As a result I have plenty of tins for using for various items.

Out of these I have to admit I find the body butter tin the most useful. It's a lovely size and fits everything from body butter, to sugar scrubs, to soap samples... The shampoo bar tin is really only useful for the shampoos and they can be quite a snug fit for it. I tend to leave my used shampoo bar in the lid of the tin until it dries as that way I don't run the risk of it sticking in the tin! One downfall to the massage bar tin is that its unusual shape doesn't even accommodate all of the massage bars. For example if you were to buy Strawberry Feels Forever and Mange Too you'd get this tin free and it wouldn't accommodate either massage bar... Seems a bit pointless to me to be honest.

Anyway... The body butters, sugar scrubs and shampoo that I use most are left in the shower in their respective tins. I have three different storage racks in my shower. Two are out of the reach of the water so that the things on them are protected yet on hand. The other hangs directly under the shower head and on this I have closed in bottles that can withstand water.

Finally, items that I don't use regularly are stored on a shelf in my ensuite in one of Lush's fabulous canvas bags. Have to say this is amazing quality and although it seemed a little expensive at the time given how much it holds and how sturdy it is I feel it is well worth it!

You can't really see from the picture but there is a little pouch on the outside of the bag which I use for my solid perfumes, temple balms and small samples that I feel could get lost in the main compartment. I then have one of the small boxes that I got a Lush online order delivered in placed in the bottom of the main compartment. Using ziplock bags I have organised my massage bars, spare body butters, soaps and so on into groups that are easy to place my hands on when needed. I also have another box in which I have my dusting powders (when did it stop being talc by the way?), shower gels and other similar items. All I need to do now when I'm looking for a particular item in this case is check the top box and if the item I want is not there I can lift it out to see what is in the layer below. I have to say there is something very satisfying about things being found so easily!

So, that is my (somewhat excessive) Lush stash organised and I am loving it!!