Reading Festival Diary

Hi Guys,

I know it's a bit late, but better late than never eh? This year I attended Reading Festival for my sixth year in a row. I had a bloody blast with some amazing people so I thought I would talk you guys through my highs and lows of Reading Festival.

We arrived at Reading Festival at around 4pm on Wednesday 26th August, the queue entering the campsite was pretty rammed due to lack of staff upon entry. But thanks to my faithful trolley I bought from Amazon the trek to the campsite wasn't too traumatic. Once we had everything set up we could finally commence enjoying ourselves.

Reading Festival Favourite Moments -

It has to be Baby Metal, they opened the main stage on the Saturday morning, me, Dan, Meghan and Heather all went to check them out just for a laugh due to them being such an odd concept, but they were actually such a fun band to watch and the music was pretty good too! Also skipping around a mosh pit with Meghan at Cancer Bats to their sabotage anthem, unfortunately in the commotion I was knocked over and had a pile of people on top of me. But with most mosh pits, the occupants are pretty quick to pick everyone up, dust them off and carry on moshing, (don't worry I didn't have any injuries).

Reading Festival Least Favourite Moments - 

I really hate to say this, but it has to be Royal Blood's performance, which is frustrating to say the least. Me and Dan had seen Royal Blood at last year's Reading Festival in the NME tent and I got really into Royal Blood after then as I was so blown away by their performance. This year on the other hand, Royal Blood performed on the main stage and in my opinion, they didn't have enough material to fill the assigned time slot, they had a lot of guitar distortion to fill silences. Unfortunately the lead singer seemed like he had taken MDMA as he had the classic "gurning" motion of constantly chewing which disturbed the vocals.  I was just completely disappointed with them to the point towards the end of their set, I couldn't be bothered to waste my time with their performance anymore so we left early. My second least favourite moment was seeing a "band" called Years and Years (uuuuugh), our friend Heather (was) a fan of Years and Years so she wanted to check them out so we said we would go with her, oh how we would go on to rue that decision. Years and Years is every stereotypical manufactured pop act you could you think of rolled into generic lyrics and lazy dance beats. These factors alone make Years and Years pretty dire.

Reading Festival Surprise Best Acts -

My inner teen has always been really into Panic! at the Disco so I thought for old times sake I would go check out their set. Bloody hell! Blown away with how good they were, they did a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody which was fantastic and had the whole crowd singing along. Not only that but Brendon Urie's vocal range was absolutely mind blowing, the notes he hit had us all standing in awe. Such an underrated band and I would thoroughly recommend checking them out if you get the chance. Not to forget Mister Jamie T of course, now I've always been aware of Jamie T and his music. I know the classics such as Zombie, Sticks and Stones and Sheila but never massively followed him. Jamie T played the Sunday evening so we thought we would check him out and he was so fun to watch, after a drink or two everyone was dancing around to his hits and singing along. 

Reading Festival Regrets - 

I have to say my main major regret is not seeing Bring Me The Horizon, I've just got their latest album "That's the Spirit", it's a cracking album and I've heard BMTH are a really fantastic live act. I actually have no idea why I didn't see them but definitely wish I did, maybe next time.

All in all, like the past six years, Reading Festival was an absolute blast full of laughs and memories, but by the time I woke up Sunday morning I just looked at Dan and said "I'm too old for this", as much as I love Reading, it's full of 'kids' celebrating their GCSE results and once upon a time I was one of those 'kids' but I think it might be time to move on to pastures new. (I do also say I'm not going to go to Reading Festival every year due to this exact reason but still end up going, but it's completely dependent upon the line up, who knows).

All my love,

Bex

Lush Yuzu and Cocoa Bubbleroon Review

Hi Guys,

Back on the old Lush product review wagon and I've got a good one for you lovelies.

Introducing the Yuzu and Cocoa Bubbleroon:

Now I'm just going to go right ahead here and say this is the best bubblebar (roon) that Lush have brought out in it's recent additions.

It's just an absolute delight and I honestly can't find a fault with it, as you may have guessed from the name the bubbleroon has an amazing moisturising effect thanks to it's coconut and shea butter ingredients.

The bubbleroon produces just the right amount of bubbles and has a refreshing citrus scent which is perfect for that Monday morning pick me up.

I was quite anxious because of the bubbleroon being yellow in colour it may turn the water a horrible colour and stain the bath like previous products. But as I said previously I really can't find a fault with this bubbleroon.

What I would recommend for an ultimate bath time cocktail is the Lush Yoga bath bomb in combination with the Yuzu and Cocoa bubbleroon for the holy grail of bath and aromatherapy experiences. 

All my love,

Bex

St Tropez In Shower Gradual Tan Lotion Review

Evening all,

So a little while ago I was sent a bottle of the new St Tropez - In shower gradual tan lotion, and being a faired skin princess I was in two minds. A) anxious to try it in case I turned into the female equivalent of David Dickinson and b) wanting to be a glowing goddess so everyone can ogle at my beautiful tan. Whether this gradual tan lotion would deliver either of a or b's effects is a different kettle of fish. The main thing that instantaneously put me off of trying the gradual tan lotion is because there isn't a fair/medium/dark option, it's a once size fits all kind of thing. But I thought I would go in for the kill regardless (I was only brave enough to use it on my legs for the first time), but let me fill you in with what my thoughts were on St Tropez's latest product.

So before hand I had one of my typical Lush bath's and used an exfoliating brush to scrub the hell out of my skin and shaved as normal to get a nice even base and get rid of any lumps or bumps. One of the main dreaded things of tanning lotion is a) having to let the tan develop overnight and b) the dreaded tanning lotion stench. I'm pleased to report that the In shower gradual tanning lotion has neither of these problems, you do have to let the tan develop for three minutes while standing out of the bath/shower which is a bit of an inconvenience but it beats staining all of your clothes and bed sheets. The smell to the lotion is lovely as well, one of the most prominent ingredients is the almond oil which gives the lotion a beautifully sweet smell and is really hydrating for your skin.

When applying the lotion, less is definitely more as it gets quite thick pretty quickly so you're better off putting a bit on at a time then gradually adding more. Instantaneously I could feel the lotion becoming really nourishing and hydrating for my skin and could see the colour developing quite quickly.

After the three minutes of development time have passed you then need to get back into the bath/shower and rinse the residue off of your skin, make sure you're thorough and there isn't any left on your skin.

As you can see the tan itself is very subtle but a nice sun kissed glow rather than a "you've been tangoed" appearance. The lotion can be used over a period of days if you would like a darker colour which can gradually be built up. I only used the lotion once and was quite happy with the colour. It's been a week since the lotion application and the colour has only just started to fade. What I would like to really emphasise is to make sure you thoroughly rinse off any remaining residue. As I then went to sleep after the gradual tanning process and woke up with a tan patch on my stomach, elbow and arm (obviously where I rubbed my legs in my sleep). So that's the only real flaw with this product, apart from that I really would say I'm quite impressed with St Tropez's latest addition and would thoroughly recommend it.

All my love,

Bex

Lush Bath Bomb Review - Skydancer - Far From The Madding Guns

Hey Guys,

So I've decided to do a review on another one of the latest Lush bath bomb additions. I wanted to specifically check out Sky Dancer as it's a charity bath bomb where the proceeds of each bath bomb sale goes towards helping fund equipment to satellite tag any future endangered Hen Harrier chicks and help protect them.

Now unfortunately Skydancer has had a vast mixed review from the Lush community, I am also one of those people who have mixed feelings about it, let me explain.

The Skydancer bath bomb itself is visually quiet interesting when you first see it, as you can see in comparison to my hand, the bomb is really large which is beneficial as it is a long lasting fizzer so you get a lot of bang for your buck.

When the bath bomb is first put in the water, the contrast between the yellow and blue is really lovely and the blue bird silhouette lasts for quite some time.

However, if I really am going to be honest, for me this is probably the worst of the latest Lush bath bombs I've used as of yet. The scent it produces is really quite overwhelming, it's allegedly a mix of soft floral notes with over tones of liquorice. But the liquorice is such a powerful musky smell it just completely over powers any other fragrance, I also didn't enjoy the fact the yellow in the bomb is so potent it stained my bath and took ages to get the yellow stains off. I was just sat in the bath looking like I'd had an accident as the bath water was luminous yellow with no real appeal.

All in all, much to my dismay I really would describe Skydancer as a "nothing" bath bomb, except for the fact the proceeds from the bomb goes to a really good cause.  Skydancer was poorly executed, there was no real charming visual display like previously reviewed products, the scent was overwhelming to the point you couldn't enjoy your bath and was a complete nightmare to clean up afterwards. 

Unfortunately this was a huge disappointment, but as I said previously, the proceeds still go towards a really good cause. It may of just been I had a bad experience with it, but regardless check it out for the sake of the Harrier Hen chicks.

All my love,

Bex

Lush bath bomb review - The Experimenter

Evening all, 

Sorry I've been a smidge quiet, as you may be aware, I've been away at Reading Festival, but don't fret! A) I will be doing a post to fill you all in about Reading and b) I will be back posting regularly.

So to kick things off I thought I would brighten your evening with a very colourful bath bomb review, meet The Experimenter. One of the most recent additions to the Lush collection and a fan favourite in the Lush kitchen. 

I can definitely understand why The Experimenter is so popular with Lushie's as soon as you dunk this little baby in the bath, a phenomenal rainbow display commences with a fragrant assault on the senses. The rainbow forming before your eyes is mesmerising enough to warrant buying The Experimenter on it's own merit, but the fragrance that fills the room is just as fantastic.

The Experimenter has a very strong fragrance made from fair trade vanilla and tonka that will satisfy any lover of all things sweet. It's made up of five colours and popping candy to coincide with the sugary sweet scent. 

It seems that a lot of Lush's recent additions have quite a copious amount of glitter involved in the mixture. With Frozen this put me off slightly as it can get so messy, however I feel this adds to the visual display of The Experimenter and the balance of glitter is just right, so you don't look like you have glitter dandruff.

As a whole I would definitely recommend to try The Experimenter at least once. I would say the only major downside to it, is due to the five vibrant colours the bath bomb is compromised of, once the colours have all mixed together the bath water turns into quite a dark dirty colour. But due to the addition of the glitter I feel this is kind of similar to Twilight in the sense it looks a bit like a starry night sky. 

I hope this review helped you make a decision as to whether to purchase The Experimenter or not, happy bathing!

All my love,

Bex