An evening with Arbonne

Last night I had the pleasure of attending an Arbonne evening, aimed at introducing the brand to those looking for an animal friendly, sustainable, gluten free, vegan, responsible range of skincare and nutritional products. The words ‘Vegan’ ‘Animal friendly’ and ‘Nutritional’ stood out to me most from the invite; and I instantly wanted to know more about the brand. 

I had never heard of Arbonne before, they operate solely online which is probably why, I’m much more of a buy in store girl for all things skincare. I was horrified to learn that for a product to be stocked in a drugstore such as Boots, it must have a life span of 5 years minimum. The thought that you could be applying products to your face and body that were made half a decade ago is scary! Arbonne products have a shelf life of around 12 months depending on the product.

Michelle and Hattie did a wonderful job hosting the event, I was welcomed into the most gorgeous apartment with what must be the best view of Manchester’s night scene going. There’s something so lovely about watching over a busy city that’s bustling with traffic and lit up by the street lamps (and Christmas lights) from a calm and serene apartment 42 levels high. I confess, I could quite happily people watch all day long.

A large range of the skincare and makeup was displayed, and the hosts were keen to strip off your makeup to demonsrate the products. Sadly, I declined the offer in fear of over cleansing my skin by using more products, having done my full skincare routine moment’s before leaving for the event. But from the result’s I saw from the other girls, it all looked fabulous! I did however test out the ColourLast Hair Serum by applying a pea sized amount to my finger tips and dispersing it through my ponytail. My hair instantly became sleeker, softer and shinier.

You could really see the passion the consultants had for the brand and also how confident they were in the products. I listened to Michelle introduce the brand, and stared in awe of her skin. She said ‘age is a lifestyle, not a number’ and I could not agree more.

I spent the evening chatting away to the consultants, browsing the products and having a good read of the catalog which included folding down many pages for future purchases. The host’s touched on the chemistry behind the products – which is what I find most interesting about skincare and beauty. I love reading up on how and why the products I use are effective.

Michelle later introduced me to the nutritional products from Arbonne, and I sampled a protein smoothie. The blend of frozen blueberries, Arbonne vanilla flavour protein powder, a scoop of Arbonne fibre boost power and some almond milk was perhaps the most delicious concoction I’ve ever tried.

The daily power packs for women seemed like a brilliant idea to ensure as a woman you are getting all the vitamins you need – I love the idea of it being targeted to the female body and it’s needs specifically. The vitamin D + B12 spray also looked intriguing, I didn’t sample it however the idea is to spritz it onto the tongue, wait for 20 seconds and it dissolves. I’d suggest checking this out if you find swollowing tablets tricky.

Price wise I think Arbonne are pretty reasonable. You can expect to pay around £32 for a cleanser, £40 for a day cream, £14 for a shampoo, £22 for the hair serum- far cheaper than similar vegan brands operating without the use of animal testing.

I left the event super impressed by the whole ethos of the brand as well as the products. I’ll definitely be introducing some of the products into my routine. Thank you Arbonne for a lovely evening, you’ve got me hooked.

Click here to visit the website. It includes the chemistry behind all the products, which is a really interesting read.

Do let me know if you’ve heard of Arbonne before and your thoughts of the products!

Tips and Myths of Hair Growth

We’ve all read the ways which we can supposedly speed up hair growth, we’ve all brought the products claiming to work miracles… Here are the ways (I think) I’ve managed to add length to my hair over the past 3 months.

Just a quick disclaimer that I’m not an expert in haircare, far from it! I’m sure there’s many hair professionals out there that will say I’m doing it all wrong, but this works for me so I thought it’s worth sharing.

1. Multi Vitamins
Being a vegetarian and intolerant to some diary and nuts I’m aware I probably don’t get all the vitamins and minerals I need to stay healthy from my diet. I take an everyday multivitamin and a ‘Hair, Skin and Nails’ tablet every morning. Even if you think you have a well balanced diet, I’d still recommend you take a multi vitamin at least because you might not be fuelling your body with every single vitamin you need, plus if your meals vary day by day so will the vitamins you consume. Taking a vitamin will simply ensure you’ve covered yourself. Also, don’t be fooled into forking out huge amounts of money on top vitamin brands, do your research, read the labels, most have the same content.

2. Sleep with it up
I always sleep with my hair in a loose bun on the top of my head, tied with a scrunchie. The soft scrunchie won’t snap or add tension to the hair strands. By avoiding scrapping it back into a tight bun I’m giving the hair follicles room to grow. I’m lucky in the sense that my hair never kinks so tying it up works perfectly for me if I want to wear it down the next day.

3. Minimise washing
I admit this is a tricky one for me. I don’t have oily hair however I do regularly exercise. Ideally I aim for washing every 3 days but it’s more like every other day. If you can go every 3 days or more thats brilliant! Over washing is the same as over cleansing your skin, your not letting your body do what it’s designed to do if your interfering too much.

4. Don’t over cut it
Despite most hair growth articles I’ve read encouraging regular trims, I very rarely get my hair cut. I don’t have styled or coloured hair so I don’t find myself at the salon regularly anyway. Yes, I have the ends trimmed but when I feel they need it. My research all says get it trimmed every 6-8 weeks, but if you look after your hair I don’t think you need to. I definitely go far longer than 6 weeks between cuts. I get it trimmed when I feel it needs it.

5. Similar to the above, listen to your hair!
I’m very organised and have my whole week planned on Sunday night: my meals, beauty and hair routine. But I’ve learnt that sometimes you just need to look at your hair in the mirror and think, what does it need right now, and go against your schedule. I used to do a hair mask every week, but I noticed I was doing it for the sake of it. So sometimes I skip it, likewise sometimes I do 2 hair masks a week. It’s all about accessing your hair as you go along and responding accordingly.

6. Oil massage
Now and again I will massage my hair with a hair oil, I’m currently testing out the Argan Body Shop Oil, from root to tip for a good 5 minutes. I then tie it up and leave it on overnight. After washing in the morning, the general health and shine to my hair has improved. Most people only like to oil the ends, but by oiling from root to tip I think it encourages growth of the follicles by nourishing them too.

7. Shampoo with luke warm water 
Hot water, of course isn’t as hardcore as hair dryers or straighteners, but it’s still heat. I turn the temperature of the shower down whilst I wash my hair to prevent damage. I don’t own any electrical or heated hair tools so the only heat my hair gets is from sunny weather. Which living in rainy Manchester isn’t a big problem for me.

8. Paraben free products
I recently posted about the Lush Shampoo Bar’s which are free from preservatives and chemicals, check it out if you haven’t already. Paraben’s are artifical preservatives in a range of products from food to beauty. They’re unnatural and should be avoided!

9. Protein 
Most hair growth products such as shampoo’s and conditioner’s all claim to work because they have chemicals in them to boost protein, and in turn boost growth and repair. But by taking that right back to the source and eating more protein, I feel its encouraged my hair growth. I eat Tofu, flaxseed and egg whites as often as I can.

Some of these tips may be obvious to you, or you may have never heard of them before. Like I said earlier, I thought they were worth mentioning to you 🙂

I’d love to here your tips and tricks to hair growth so please get in touch.

Solid Shampoo Bars?!

Anyone that’s had a conversation with me for more than 5 minutes will have clicked on I am a huge LUSHie. I try to squeeze a mention in about the company to anyone and everyone.

Today I wanted to talk about their solid shampoo bars, yep they’re solid! For those of you not familiar with Lush, this concept may be completely new to you, but I’ve been hooked for 2 years.

I have long brunette hair thats pretty much unstyled. It’s all one length, undyed and fairly thin. I’d describe my hair type as normal at the roots, but being long my ends need constant care else they become dry. Apart from slight layers when I was younger this has always been how my hair looks. I do not use heat on my hair in any form, in fact I don’t own a hairdryer or pair of straighteners! Wow, I’m now realising how boring my hair history is. I’ve always been super jealous of girls that look good any colour, any style and have the nerve to do it in the first place. I’m definitely the teary eyed girl you see causing a drama at the salon because the hairdresser snipped off 1.2 inches inches instead of the requested 1 inch.

Now back to Lush. They sell 8 different solid 55g shampoo bars, and over the two years I’ve used 3 different ones, all suited to my hair type and the results I desire. The lovely ladies of lush will tell you they will last 80 washes, do not roll your eyes and dismiss this astonishing figure because they really do. For £5.75 and 80 washes they’re a bargain. You simply wet your hair and the bar, swish it across your head 3 times to lather, or lather in your hands, and massage into your hair to form large bubbles. It’s just like your standard paraben ridden nasty chemical liquid shampoos (can you tell how anti preservatives I am yet?).

‘Ultimate shine’ was my first encounter, and ultimate shine indeed it gives! Second was ‘Karma Komba’ which is apart of the Karma fragrance collection that includes various other products of the same smell. It leaves your hair perfectly scented until the next wash. Thirdly and my current shampoo is ‘New’. This is a spicy cinnamon scent designed to stimulate and refresh the scalp. This smell is definitely a love or hate, I love cinnamon on everything, food, skincare, candles…I’m very cynical when it comes to hair growth stimulating products but I do feel this has made my hair grow. Sadly for me the warm cinnamon scent doesn’t linger on the hair, but if growth is what your after but hate cinnamon scent, I’d suggest holding your nose because the results are worth it.

They’re also handy for travelling because there’s no bulky bottles and no need to worry about those annoying liquid allowance’s at the airport. I take mine with me on all holidays, in fact my current bar has jet-setted to 3 countries with me.

I’ve mentioned the 3 bars that suit my hair type however if you have frizzy, damaged or greasy heavy hair there will be one for you too. I desperately wish more people knew about this type of product. And now you do, give it a go!

…Oh and once you’ve taken the plunge and made the move to solid shampoo’s, DON’T leave them hanging around your bathroom. Trust me, stash these little gems away or you risk family members assuming its soap!

Click here to view the selection of Shampoo Bars at Lush

Get in touch if you love the Shampoo Bars as much as me!

The Body Shop Christmas Collection Bloggers Event

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of going to The Body Shop Christmas Collection Launch Bloggers Event in the Trafford Centre Store, Manchester. I went with the girls from the University of Manchester BlogSoc. The event was primarily to introduce the new seasonal products, however all the trusty Body Shop favourites still made an appearance during the night.

I was greeted by the lovely ladies that work at the store and welcomed into the event. With a drink, strawberries and wicker shopping basket in hand I began my first lap of the store. Admittedly until last night I was not too hot on The Body Shop products, so talking to the staff throughout the night was very insightful.

I was approached by Hannah, the hand care expert whilst browsing and was whisked away for a hand massage and mini treatment! I got to choose between the 3 new christmas scents, which are: Frosted Cranberry, Vanilla Brûlée and Glazed Apple. I’m an absolute sucker for any yummy food inspired product scents. Being a lover of sweet fragrances, I naturally went for the Vanilla Brûlée.

I dipped my hands into a bowl of vanilla goodness from the shower gel which Hannah added to the water to produce gorgeous soft bubbles. My hands were then scrubbed with the body polish and moisturised with the hand cream in the matching Vanilla Brûlée scent. I find that layering products with the same scent optimises the fragrance and creates a longer lasting smell. I was delighted with my mini treatment and can only apologise to the BlogSoc girls who had to listen to me on repeat ‘how good to my hands smell? all night long!

I later had one of the makeup experts apply a lip liner and lipstick of my choice. Having distanced from coloured lips in recent months and settling for a nude lip(or even vasaline) most mornings I thought I’d brave a bold mahogany shade. With bonfire night just round the corner I thought an autumnal shade was most appropriate. The makeup artist was also sporting the exact same liner and lipstick combo, and looked gorgeous, so the decision was made. The combo was Shade 06 Mahogany Lip liner and 125 colour crush lipstick. I grabbed the last one and popped it straight into my basket.

On my quest for lustrous glossy locks I also added the WILD Argan Oil to my basket. I’m feeling positive that this might just be the oil to transform my hair. I’ll keep you posted on how I get on with it. It’s a new product but is apart of the continuous line. Good news for me if I love it, I can easily repurchase it. Who else has experienced the devastation of trying to repurchase a product you’ve became unhealthily attached to, to find it’s discontinued or wasn’t apart of the continuous line? I feel your pain.

At the counter the manager of the store who was brilliant all evening gave me a free body butter. The selection was limited so I grabbed the strawberry scented one. I’m never normally a fan of fruity smells but who knows this butter may just convert me.

So back home I travelled with my Body Shop goodies, a bold lip, delightfully soft hands and a rumbling tummy from the yummy vanilla scent. The evening was amazing and I’m excited by the mention of similar events in the future.

Thank you to The Body Shop, I’m now feeling (and smelling) rather christmassy!

Click here to browse the Vanilla Brûlée products

And here to see the whole christmas collection including the Frosted Cranberry and Glazed Apple scents

Click here for the Lip Liner, Lipstick and WILD Argan Oil – all of which are apart of the continuous line not the christmas collection.

Spritz of Magic: LUSH Tea Tree Water Toner

I love trying out new products, and with new collections being launched all the time it’s rare for me to repurchase a product. Old favourites tend to get pushed out the limelight. However, Lush’s Tea Tree Water Toner is the only product I have ever purchased where this has never be the case. It is by far the most incredible product I have ever owned for delivering hard fast results.

The aim of the game with this little beauty is to lightly spritz your face after cleansing, or throughout the day to refresh. But I keep this miracle worker religiously in my bag for a different use… to zap any spots that are on the horizon before they can become troublesome.

With tea tree being the main ingredient and having normal to dry skin, lashing my face with this product will make my skin even drier – I know this too well from the first use of the toner a distant 2 years ago. I recommend using the product this way if you have oily skin. But what I did discover from first using the product was that it vanished a spot which was on the approach. It never became a full spot and was never to be seen again. So from that day whenever I can feel a sore patch of skin where a spot in brewing underneath, I rush to my bag, grab the bottle, spray my little finger with the product and dab it on the area allowing it to dry naturally. Fortunately I have good skin *thanking my lovely mother for good genes* but this product does come in handy when mother nature arrives each month.

The product does smell very medicinal, which I admit isn’t the most pleasant to be applying to my face, however if a product works miracles (like this toner) I’m prepared to overlook (or over smell) it.

It’s £4.25 for the smaller of the two bottles (100g), which is plenty to last you well up to a year – which is also roughly when the use by date is.

So next time you find yourself in a Lush store getting giddy over the colours and glitters, give this plain black spray bottle some love!

For more info on the LUSH Tea Tree Water Toner click here. Also check out the customer reviews, I always find this super helpful!

NEW Clinique Sonic System Purifying Cleansing Brush

I’ve managed to get my hands on Clinqiue’s brand new skincare tool – the Sonic System Purifying Cleansing Brush.

The brush is designed to aid daily gentle cleansing, with two types of bristles for targeting hard-to-reach areas of the face. Clinique say it will ‘dislodge a world of impurities, dirt and pollution that hand washing may miss’.

It’s been branded ‘the skin changer’ and my oh my I couldn’t agree more! *breathes big sigh of relief after forking out £79 for this gem* My instinct knew to trust Clinique, in my eyes they never get it wrong.

Although it is early days, I can see visible improvements to my skin, my skin tone is more even and it feels super soft. Makeup has also been applying smoother. I’ve been using the tool as directed, on makeup free skin, with a small amount of Clinique Liquid Facial soap on the head of the brush and letting the brush do it’s thing. After 30 seconds of gentle exfoliation and the only work on my part being to swirl it round my face, the brush turns itself off. I use the Clinique Facial soap but I’m sure the brush would work just as well with any non gritty soap or face wash. I have a normal to dry skin type but it can be used for all skin types. The brush is super soft so would be perfect for sensitive skin that finds similar products on the market too abrasive.

I have never used a skincare tool to cleanse before, my hands have always done an adequate job, or so I thought. But I’m so glad I took the plunge to buy this, it makes going back to my old ways of cleansing seem just not quite good enough. Bravo Clinique, you’ve got me hooked again.

I will keep you updated on how I’m finding using this after a longer period of time, but right now it’s a big thumbs up from me!

For more information on the Sonic System Purifying Cleansing Brush click here