Face Care Routine

(Photo's taken on my iphone, as we are moving in to our new home at the moment and I seem to have packed my camera cord away, sadly)

I have re-done this post SO many times now, every few months my routine seems to change because I find new products and fall in love with them so quickly, which is not always a good thing. Half the time I don't see a change in my skin's condition and just love the feel or the scent of a product, this time, things are a little different.

As I posted a few weeks ago now, I received the Priceline skincare goodie bag. To receive this I purchased for myself Yes To Cucumber daily wipes, Yes To Cucumber daily face cleanser and Innoxa Super Sensitive toner. In the bag I received Witch blemish stick and Sukin facial moisturiser. These products along with St Ives Apricot daily scrub make up my new face care routine.

In the shower:
I first wash my face with Yes To Cucumbers daily face cleanser (if I have managed to remember I usually take my make up off first with the daily wipes) using the clean pod I received with my L'Oreal facial cleanser a while ago. The cleanser is a translucent green liquid with no ex-foliating beads, I usually squeeze a little on to the pod and then rub my entire face with it. The scent is mild and smells pretty much like cucumbers. Once a week I use St Ives Apricot daily scrub. They call this one a daily scrub but I find it far too harsh to use daily. It is full of crushed walnut shells and is quite gritty against the skin, almost as if you are rubbing sand on your face. I like to use this one to rid my face of dead skin cells and really give my pores a deep clean and I only ever apply it with my hands.

Out of the shower:
I first tone with Innoxa's super sensitive toner and a swissper pad. This gets rid of anything the cleanser or scrub may of missed and usually the pad comes away relatively clean, always a good sign (This always depends on whether I have taken my make up off before the shower or not). I then apply Witch's blemish stick to all my spots which as usually on my fore head, around my nose and on my chin, and then apply Sukin's natural facial moisturiser (which has the gorgeous scent of orange and lavender) to the rest of my face, avoiding the blemished areas. The Witch stick is a small blue stick in a push up container, almost a wider version of lipbalm that you literally just rub on your blemishes. It can sting a little sometimes, but seems to help with the dissapearence of blemishes.

Before I changed my routine to the above, my face was covered in spots and blemishes (which is really unusual for me, I usually have really clear skin, so I put it down to the products I was using, along with the pregnancy) and now, after a few weeks, my face is pretty well clear. I can't attribute my clear skin to just one of these products as I started using them all at the same time, but I can say that they are all great and my skin is thanking them all greatly. Most of the products I use are natural and nasty free. I am very happy with this routine as I have actually seen the results and happy skin! I won't be changing this one up for a while!

Online shopping overseas: Lush

Recently I have discovered I can save myself quite a bit of money purchasing online from the UK, instead of online from Australia or driving down to Lush in Adelaide, not to mention the UK stock retro products, some of which I am dying to try. When we get our tax back, we are allowing ourselves a little to splurge on things we wouldn’t normally buy, so I figure I am going to spend mine on Lush and maybe some new clothes. I am so keen that I have already picked most of the things I would like from Lush. So far my list is:

• Rub Rub Rub shower scrub, this is mainly for my husband as scrubs really help with his dry skin. He is also working with grease and cars all day, so hopefully this will help to get it all out of his pores on his front and back.
• Karma Komba, is my current shampoo and I am in love with it. I swear by it. (I barely use Rehab anymore because I love it that much)
• Jungle, so far I have really loved using it as an alternative for Veganese. Switching up conditioners gives my hair a shock and something new every so often seems to keep it silky smooth.
• Cooclaulin, I would really love to try a new conditioner and coconut scents that helps with dry frizzies sounds wonderful to me. This is a retro product.
• Silky Underwear, because who doesn’t want to have smooth silky skin.
• Karma and Godmother Soaps, let’s face it Karma and Godmother scents are to die for, Karma (Lush's most well known scent) is the citrusy wake up, where as Godmother is the fun, flirty sweet smell reminding us of the Christmas favourite, Snow Fairy.
• Flying Fox Shower Gel, I have a temple balm in this scent from years ago and I am still in love with it, the jasmine scent is very strong, but personally I don't find it over powering.
• Slammer Shower Gel, This is another retro which I would love to try, apparently it is really citrusy, so great for waking up a tired body in the morning.
• Trichomania, once again coconut scents are amazing and I am hoping this goes well with the Cooclaulin conditioner, like I said I love chaning it up in the shower and since the scents last for days on the hair, it would be great to know there is a range of scents to choose from.
• Latte Lip Tint, I have just wanted to try this for a while and this seems to be the most subtle colour.
• Lemony Flutter, if you could see my fingers, you would understand why I need this desperatly. I have a horrid family habit of picking the skin around my nails.. I have terrible cuticles!

I can get all this, including postage, for just over $100 Australian. If I was to purchase all of this in Australia it works out for over $140 Australian and that doesn’t include the postage of $9 when you order online. So I save around $50 shopping online in the UK and manage to score some retro products too. Sounds pretty good to me! I can not wait to order these next month and feel fresh and clean everytime I use them, there is just something about Lush products that make me feel extra clean after using them. Not the mention how AMAZING all their scents are.

If you're looking in to a big order from Lush I reccomend checking out the UK site, who doesn't love saving money!

Changing the look - Apologies

Apologies to those who visit my blog over the next week. I will be making some cosmetic changes to the look of my blog, so it might be all over the place for a bit!


EDIT: All done guys! Hope you like the new look!

Lush Reviews

Last week I received my Lush package after ordering my goodies with free shipping thanks to the Lush Gorilla perfumes exclusives. To qualify for free shipping, you are to order a Gorilla perfume and then enter the code EXCLUSIVE at checkout, for me this turned out to be a great deal, as shipping is usually $9 and I only paid $9.95 for the solid perfume to qualify, so technically I paid .95c for the perfume! (This offer has sadly ended)

Upon receiving my Lush package I could smell Karma Komba and Jungle before even opening the box. Their scents are just gorgeous. Karma Komba has a fresh orange citrus scent, I personally don't find it to be over bearing, rather sweet and calming. Solid shampoo bars remind me very much of those little sprinkles all stuck together, my husband thought they were just 'so weird' and much like 'rubbing a bar of soap on your head'. The Karma Komba bar lathers up beautifully. I wet it, rub it between my hands a few times and on the top of my head and then wash my hair as normal. I rub my hair until the lather calms down and then rinse. My hair feels soft enough to not have to use a conditioner after. My hair has never been so tangle free after using a shampoo alone, I was so shocked the first time I used it. After using Rehab for the last 5 months and having my hair feel like straw after shampooing (it is SOO very clarifying, now I will only use it once or twice a fortnight or when I have used product in my hair), it was a nice surprise to have my hair feeling clean and refreshed without conditioner. Even though my hair feels so great without conditioner, I still use Jungle after. Jungle's scent is what I keep describing as foresty. I honestly can't pick a particular scent from this bar, I just know I love it. Once again I wet it, rub it between my hands a few times, then run it down the length of my hair, this conditioner bar takes a few more swipes than the shampoo bar does as it is a lot harder to melt. I rub it through my hair and then, get on the with the rest of my shower before rinsing. After rinsing I have literally tangle free and gorgeous smelling hair. These two keep my hair shiny, looking healthy and pretty tangle free until the next wash. When I get out the shower I pat them both dry and store them in an open container under my sink where the moisture can not get to them. Overall both of these get a big thumbs up and a 5/5 from me.

The ultrabalm is a great universal product that I use on my extra dry fingers/hands, my lips, scraps, cuts and so on. There's not much to say, since it is such a regular products, like vaseline or paw paw cream, aside from the fact it has little scent and is very moisturising. 


1000 kisses is a solid perfume from the Gorilla perfume exclusives and was created in honour of lasting love. The first time I opened and smelt the bright orange stick, I was greeted by the scent of blossoms and fresh citrus followed by a woody undertone. I swirled some on my wrists, rubbed them together and smelt more of a strange indescribable smell rather than the fresh citrus. After giving it some time to warm and soak in, the fresh citrus scent returned and the woody undertones were more apparent. The scent is subtle and not over powering, but sweet at the same time. I have never smelt something like this before, and I like it more and more every time I wear it. 

I did not like the Dirty toothy tabs I was given as a sample one bit. I don't actually have one nice thing to say about them, so I won't go in to it too much. I crushed mine up first as I didn't like the idea of chewing it and getting it all stuck in my teeth. Long story short, I put my tooth brush in my mouth, the flavours hit my tongue, I spat and rinsed within two seconds. I felt like I had eaten soap.. These aren't my thing at all..

I am super impressed with my new Lush additions, especially the hair products. These will be a re purchase for sure!

How do you guys store you solid Lush bars? Have you tried toothy tabs? Let me know below!

Priceline's Skincare Goodie Bag

Priceline's free goodie bag is back again! This time they are handing out a skincare bag, packed with $220 worth of great skincare brands when you spend $50 or more on the selected brands, which includes some of my favourites like Yes To, Sukin and Puretopia.

After spending yesterday deciding what products I needed that added up to $50 I ended up ringing my sister and asking her if she needed anything from Priceline that was included in the selected brands. Don't get me wrong, I could spend waaay more than $50 in one go on skincare, but as we are on a budget at the moment and I just bought a new car, I thought I been just stick with what I absolutely needed. Luckily for me my sister DID need some things, and over all together we equalled up to $55.

Together we bought:

• Yes to Cucumbers Gentle Daily Cleanser (mine)
• Yes to Cucumbers Daily Wipes (mine)
• Innoxa Super Sensitive Oil Free Toner (mine)
• Neutrogena Ultra Foaming Facial Cleanser (sister)
• Palmers Cocoa Butter (sister)

I will get reviews up for my products after I have used them for a few weeks, so I can really comment on their effectiveness. (I used the cleanser and toner for the first time last night, and let me tell you, they both worked amazingly, especially they toner.)

I was so eager to open my goodie bag, but we still had to grab some dinner and go grocery shopping before I could even have a sneak peek! (In the car I looked at a few items, but it was quite dark so I could barely see.) As soon as I got home I quickly took the fridge items to the fridge and then tipped my bag out on the bed (at which point my husband rolled his eyes at me as he began unpacking our groceries) and quickly divided everything up in to face, body, hands etc. I am very pleased with what I have received in this goodie bag, so many great products and 90% of them suitable for me! (The Playboy deodorant is for my sister, the anti-wrinkle hand cream will be given away as a gift to a mum or a grandma and the Oxy spot gel I gave to my husband) I am over joyed with how many natural products they included in this bag, with Witch, Puretopia, Yes To, Ulittlebeauty, Sukin and so on.

I can't wait to start using and reviewing these items! It definitely gives me something to write about now as I was running out of products there for a while. Did you redeem this awesome gift from Priceline? What's your favourite product you received in the bag?  

Lush Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at my order from Lush. It finally came this morning and I am so impressed that I managed to score a sample of the new Dirty Toothy Tabs (I didn't even have to ask!). I can't wait to go home and wash my hair tonight because these two smell divine, I could smell them before I even had the box open! Stay tuned for my reviews on these products over the next week.

Something extra special.

This week I thought I would post about something extra special happening in my life at the moment. As I have written about previously, I got married in February to Billy. In April we found out that we (I was) were pregnant with our first bubba! Now I am 13 weeks and finally had my first ultra sound yesterday and received some precious photos of our baby! Everything is looking great so far. Our baby measures at 6cm from top to tail and has a head span of 2cm. The baby is growing at a steady rate and we are both healthy. (Aside from my morning sickness, which is slowly subsiding thank god!) We are both so thrilled and our families are both equally thrilled and have been ever so supportive. Getting pregnant so soon after our marriage was not the plan at all. We had planned to do so when we were financially stable (paid off our loan and billy moving up to full time work, as he is only a 3rd year apprentice mechanic right now) but we wouldn't change this for the world and have been making it work so far. We have now done a lot of planning and budgeting to prepare ourselves and believe we will be fine when the little one comes along. We are both truly blessed to be given this chance to be parents and raise something so precious. So I should probably share some of my pictures with you guys now.