Month: May 2015

‘Better Than Sex’ – Too Faced Mascara | samanthalalaa

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For the past few years I’ve been a huge fan of Benefit ‘They’re Real!’ mascara, but I’ve recently had just about enough of it. I love the mascara itself, but as with my Benefit ‘Gimme Brow’ it dries out so quickly.

I’ve tried everything to prevent this, screwing it closed as tight as I can get it, yet after a couple of weeks it still dries out and I have to buy a new one, and at £19.50 a tube, I can hardly afford to do that.

So today I found myself in Debenhams, Benefit ‘Roller Lash’ in one hand, Too Faced ‘Better Than Sex’ in the other. I’ve heard good things about both of these, ‘Better Than Sex’ being a big hit amongst bloggers and ‘Roller Lash’ being a hit with… Well, everyone except my friend Aimee. But it was the fact I’ve had enough of Benefit mascara drying out on me that made me go for Too Faced.

 
The mascara comes in at £19, and I fell in love with the packaging. It’s sort of a dusty pink metal tube that feels nice and looks high end and luxurious.

 

 
The brush was also a big selling point for me. I love a proper brush on a mascara, as I don’t think the plastic brushes separate my eyelashes properly and make them look clumpy. The brush on this mascara has an hourglass shape, which is really good for getting right into the little eyelashes in the corners of your eye and enhancing your natural shape.

One Coat 

   

If you ignore the bags under my eyes you can already see a difference between the lashes on the right and the lashes on the left. With just one coat they’re already nice and long and are already making my eyes pop.

Two Coats 

   

I only put two coats on, purely because I was so happy with the results I have here. I have naturally quite long lashes, but this mascara really enhances my natural lash and makes them looks really nice and even. The mascara almost gives a false lash look without mucking about with any glue or fake lashes.

I really enjoy the initial results I’ve got from this mascara, and I’ve got high hopes for it. Fingers crossed it doesn’t dry out on me.

Sam xoxo

Lush Review – ‘Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment’ | samanthalalaa

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The second of my bath luxuries I used was the Mmmelting Marshmallow Moment (£3.95), which is a bath melt. First of all; I’m going to say how strong this product smells. It’s so sweet, and it makes your bathroom smell like a sweet shop, so it’s definitely something you need to be in the mood for.

The bath melt reminded me of the Snow Fairy shower gel and The Comforter bubble bar, having the same sickly sweet smell, and it turns the water a really pretty pinky colour. I put the melt in my bath, went to take off my make up, then by the time I went back the bathroom the smell of the melt had taken over my entire house. 

  

The melt dissolves really slowly, unlike the bath bombs, which I’ve seen a lot of complaints about. When it comes to a bath melt, I think you get what it says on the tin when it takes longer to dissolve than a bomb. It’s a LUXURY product, it’s meant for relaxing and chilling and taking it easy. For some reason I found it a lot nicer than a bomb for that reason. 

This product left my skin so soft and creamy and I really enjoyed my bath with this. It’s definitely a luxury product, good for relaxing, but not something you want to use in a quick bath. This is a product to definitely make time for. 

Sam xoxo 

Lush Review – ‘Sunnyside’ | samanthalalaa 

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I get paid weekly, and I get paid minimum wage. I don’t really have a lot of money, because as soon as I get it on a Monday it’s as though I have to spend it as soon as possible. On such a Monday, with various notes crammed in my small purse, I found myself in Lush.

I tried to limit myself, I prevented myself from buying anything over a fiver, or any thing from the same family. After an eternity of sniffing and wandering, I purchased three things, a bath bomb, a bath melt and a bubble bar.

 
The first thing I used, that night, was the Sunnyside bubble bar. I’ve only bought one bubble bar before this, The Comforter. I love the smell of The Comforter, it’s the same, if not similar, as Snow Fairy (the Christmas shower gel) so I had high hopes. The Comforter if a firm fan favourite, but I just didn’t like it.

The girl in the shop explained to me that with bubble bars you could break them off and use as much or as little as you wanted with each bath, but to be honest I don’t think I was using it right. I was kind of rubbing it in my hands like a bar of soap. THIS IS WRONG, and perhaps part of the reason I didn’t like it.

 
Using the handy ‘how to use a bubble bar’ article on the Lush website, I used Sunnyside bubble bar by running it under the tap and letting all the bubbles spread across the tub. Unlike the comforter, the bar itself is exactly enough for one bath,  which I found a lot easier to use. The Sunnyside bubble bar smells amazing, really citrusy, probably due to the fact it contains oils from oranges, lemons and tangerines. The smells are really summery and fresh and ideal for a bath at this time of year.

The bar itself turns your bath water a quite horrible yellow colour that reminded me of pee, but when I looked a little closer I noticed all the glitter swirling beneath the surface. The glittery looked so ethereal and magical that it reminded me of a potion from Harry Potter (Felix Felicis to be precise).

Overall my second attempt at using a bubble bar was much better than my first and I feel more open to exploring all the different possibilities that my new found love can lead me to. The only downside to this bubble bar is the colour and the fact it leads a sort of yellow ring around the bath, although that comes off quite easily.

I’d definitely try this bomb again, and at only £3.75 it’s an absolute steal.

Sam xoxo

Film Shoots | samanthalalaa 

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For about 30% of my grade this year I had to design, make and produce a magazine, and being the movie lover that I am I decided to base mine on film. Sound boring, obviously, but the twist to mine is that it is all content provided by students from Stirling, more specifically, all my friends.

The section of the magazine that turned out the best was definitely my film shoots, in which we took an iconic film from each decade and recreated it. My cousin Kris took the photos for me (as his talent is unfortunately not genetic) and I really love how they turned out, so I thought I’d share them here.

1950s – Rebel Without a Cause 

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1960s – Breakfast at Tiffany’s 

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1970s – A Clockwork Orange

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1980s – The Breakfast Club

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1990s – Pulp Fiction

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2000s – Mean Girls

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