Trimming My Stash - May 2015 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews

Well here we are we've survived the first 6 months of the year, this year is flying by and I'm in total denial that in 6 months time we'll be opening the doors on our advent calendars I refuse to even think about it when we haven't had any summer yet - I had the heating on yesterday! seriously what is wrong with this weather?

Anyone enough of the blogger being a typical Brit and complaining about the weather - it's time to reveal May's empties.

Elemis Jasmine And Rose Milk Bath - 125ml
May Beauty The Incredible Face Mask - 10ml
Beauty Formulas Body And Face Cooling Mist - 150ml
Barely There White Lily & Sweet Rose Blossom Bath Salts -100g
Total - 4 Items

1. Elemis Jasmine And Rose Milk Bath - 125ml

I've talked about this product before and I have to say it's love. I'm a huge, huge Jasmine fan, and who doesn't like the smell of roses. Add those expensive and pure extracts to Elemis' famous Skin Nourishing Milk Bath and you have the most indulgent bathing experience you can imagine. You can use this in the shower but in my opinion for the most luxurious and pampering experience you need to use it in the bath. The water is delicately scented, and feels super soft and silky on the skin. I love it but I'm not sure I can justify the spendy amount to just use it in the shower - the bath is where it's at and it's the way to see this product at it's best.

2. May Beauty The Incredible Face Mask - 10ml

This is something that I was sent for review purposes and I'm in the processes of testing it out at the moment. It's a face mask ideal for people with breakouts and problem skin and a full review including scary pictures will be on the blog in a few weeks x

3. Beauty Formulas Body And Face Cooling Mist - 150ml

It's not often that a product appears in an empties post before or without appearing in a haul post but this product was bought and used up in less than a month. Basically it's a cooling water spray that you can pick up quite easily in Poundland. Due to my illness and the amount of medication that I take I tend to get quite warm at night, and my skin especially on my feet often feels itchy and as though it's on fire. I've kept this on my bedside table and if I've had a hot or itchy spell I've had a quick spritz, and I have to say it's helped a lot . The pressurised container keeps it's cool so it's great for freshening up especially when the weather is warmer, and I'll definitely be picking another one up this week.

4. Barely There White Lily & Sweet Rose Blossom Bath Salts -100g

This bottle of bath salts came in a gorgeous, hat box gift set, that originally came for Wilko. Bath salts can be seen as a tiny bit old fashioned but these salts had a gorgeous smell. If you've ever smelled either the L'Occitane Shea Butter Body Lotion, or the Elemis Skin Nourishing Milk Bath than you'll know what this smelled like. It had a soft, delicate almost creamy baby powder type scent which I loved. Unfortunately I can't find any trace of this product or anything else in the range on the Wilko website but I still have quite a few of the products still to use up and I'm going to enjoy using all of them.

4 items in one month to be honest is disappointing but I have also finished a lot of Lush and Bomb Cosmetics products including some bubble bars, melts, and a few ballistics that I haven't included so it isn't all bad.

Bath products again dominate my list and it's just as well - After several cancellations we have yet another date for the bathroom refit so I'm really running out time to use up all of my bath products. I've made a serious dent in my bubble bath collection but I still have a few large bottles left, I'm thinking that I could use some of them as shower gels so hopefully nothing will go to waste. Instead I'm going to try and use up my remaining Lush items, I was actually doing okay and I only had a few bits left but I got a few bits for my birthday - I'm not complaining though nothing beats a Lush bath and I'm going to take full advantage while I still have my bath. If you have any questions or comments on anything I've finished or my Trimming My Stash posts then leave me your musings below xx

A Pampering Christmas Gift Or A Treat For Yourself From Gelicity

Although I haven't done any specific gift guide posts this year I've still found a couple of bits that I think that would make great gifts or stocking fillers that I'd like to share with you in the final run up to Christmas.

I'm a huge, huge bath junkie I love my bath and the thought of living anywhere without one fills me with horror Obviously they're good for the getting you clean thing but I use them primarily for relaxing and for soothing my achy muscles. I have some pretty tuned in friends they're used to me being in a bit of state most of the time so they're big on buying me things to pamper myself with. A few years one of my best friends Helen bought me some of this.

At. first glance you'd probably think bath salts and in a tiny way you would be right, but these are so much more than that - this is bath salts with the volume turned up

Gelicity Spa Therapeutic Gel Bath, in my opinion is the perfect gift for some stressed to the hilt or for the beauty junkie that thinks they've tried everything.

Each box contains enough products for just one bath so this products really is all about indulgence. The box contains two packets one white, and one coloured. The idea is simple enough but full instructions are supplied. All you need to do is half fill your bath as you normally would

Then you open the sachet labelled as Step 1 i.e. the coloured one. It doesn't look that interesting to be honest but pop the lot into your bath.

Then give it a swirl around with your hands, and give it a few moments, then get into the bath.

Be prepared for an odd sensation at the time because quite frankly, the water doesn't feel like water any more, it feels thicker, and it feels as though it's full of tiny little jelly like beads. The feeling in my opinion is amazing. The jelly like texture feels as though it's constantly massaging and exfoliating your body, and the gel texture means the bath stays warmer for longer. I've done my best to give you an idea of what this looks and feels like but really we need feely technology, okay it's probably a good idea that you don't - here are some pics of me in the bath :)

How do you get rid of the gel though I here you say ? Whilst it will go down the plug hole quite easily this is where Step 2 and the second sachet comes into play. This white crystalline substance looks exactly like salt , well it would do because that's exactly what it is, sodium chloride aka salt.

Just add to you jelly filled bath, swoosh it around a bit and within a few minutes your jelly bath has started to revert back to it's normal liquid self leaving behind a lovely detoxifying, salt rich bath soak.It can take a little while to dissolve and if it doesn't all disappear all you need to do is add a little bit more salt courtesy of your kitchen cupboard.

I usually put my hair up in a turbie twist to keep it out of the way, but I normally have a quick shower down when I'm finished to make show I've removed all the gel x 

There are a couple of counter indications with some of the varieties with regards to pregnancy so always check before using the products It can also make the bath a little bit slippy so give it a good rinse when your done. I have to be honest and say whilst I love this my mum can't stand it.She just can't abide the feel of it and says's it reminds her a bit of frogspawn lol you can't please everyone I guess :) 

The G Spa Bath Gel comes in 3 varieties, Revive which contains Rosemary essential oil, Relax which contains Jasmine, Bergamot and Lavender, and the one I used here Soothe which is especially for sore, achy muscles and contains Juniper extract. You can also get little kits specifically for foot soaks which sound amazing. 

These aren't cheap for a single bath coming in about £9.89 for a single bath but there are great for a treat, or as a pamper present, or just for somebody you want to experience something new. You can purchase the full range of Gelicity Gel Spas from their website (they're promising Christmas delivery until tomorrow) and from various other retailers including Firebox, Find Me A Gift and Studio where my mum got mine :) Have you tried a jelly bath product before leave me a comment and let me know xx 

PS. As of 2022, this product has been discontinued and the brand has gone into liquidation

Alva Naturkosmetik Dead Sea Salts - A Review For My Pure*

I don't know about you but being by the sea is one of my favourite places to be, whether it's walking along the Northumberland coast, or lazing on a beach in Cyprus. I don't know what it is but the sea air always makes me feel relaxed and invigorated.

As well as just breathing it when I'm on holiday (not in this country I'm not daft) I like nothing more than being in the sea, floating on a airbed, splashing around in the shallows, or swimming with the fishes

Salt water is well known for having amazing health and beauty benefits particularly the salt from the Dead Sea. That's why in need of a boost in December I chose a packet of Alva Dead Sea Salts for one of my December My Pure review products

The Dead Sea is well known as being one of the lowest points in the world as well being a water body with one of the highest salt levels in the whole world, the water is so salty that not only can you float in it, but it contains hardly any plant or animal life.

Because of this the water is packed full of essential minerals such as calcium and magnesium, which can help with a number of skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and acne, and well as aiding muscular conditions such as rheumatism, and arthritis.

The Alva Dead Sea Salts contain 100% pure Dead Sea Salt and are packaged in a plastic bag. For one bath they advise you use about 250g which is about a handful or so. You can also use less to use these in a relaxing hand and foot bath.The product itself just looks exactly like a coarse sea salt

It had no discernible smell, even when you add it to the water but it dissolved easily creating a very slight clouding to the water. I have to say despite the lack of smell which is often so important for relaxation, the bath felt very relaxing and soothing, and I actually felt a lot more relaxed and refreshed when I got out. Surprisingly enough my skin felt fine too and definitely not tight or dry which is what you might think with such a large volume of salt - a definite thumbs up for me

My one gripe with these is the packaging the bag isn't resealable so I just chopped a corner off and poured them out from there, I then found a old Yankee Candle jar which I put them in to keep them dry and airtight, in the bag in the bathroom they do have a tendency to attract the damp and stick together a bit.

 Never the less I really like these, if you wanted a nice smell to your salts you could also mix them with a bit of aromatherapy oil too to make your own scented bath salts. Alva Dead Sea Salts come in a 1kg bag for £10.00, or a 500g bag for £6.50. Any questions please ask

*Sample