Bathing in Liquid Goth.

So it's been a while since I last uploaded! Whoops! During December if I wasn't working, I was sleeping. Retail is killer! Although I did manage to read some wonderful books and get super excited about ones yet to be released which I will talk about in the next blog post!! For now, I want to talk about my inner goth. My 13 year old self who spent long hours listening to Scene music and browsing myspace profiles. I wasn't someone who teased their hair and put copious amounts of eyeliner on, but I definitely wouldn't have considered myself a 'preppy' girl! haha! But had this product come out in the early 2000's I would have been all over it. Many of you will probably remember this craze that spread through Instagram and Facebook not long ago - Black bath bombs. 

When I first saw this I was obviously worried that it would stain my bath or skin, and as cool as it looks I didn't want to have to spend half an hour bleaching the bath out afterwards. So after watching a few youtube videos on this bath bomb called Hex Bomb - Black as your soul from Bella Muerte Clothing and Accessories, and seeing all the positive responses I decided to give it a whirl. As this is a website I don't know and haven't used before I used Paypal, safety first! 

The bomb itself is a little tricky to get out of the tub, you have to squeeze the bottom and then whack it into your hand, but it didn't crack or crumble too much and stayed mostly intact. As soon as I put the bomb in it looked like ink bleeding into the water. It was so COOL. 

The bomb has quite a strong rose scent to it, like when you first open a candle and you're slapped with its fragrance. Once the bomb dissolved fully and the scent dispersed around the room it wasn't too strong. I will admit I do like rose scented things such as perfumes or *cough* biscuits *cough*, but I prefer it when the scent is subtly floral. Although my hair does smell like roses right now and that's a thumbs up. 

If you go deep enough into your bath, you will literally disappear. Half way down and I couldn't see my hand, which lead me into believing it would be a good idea to have a snapchat of my face coming out from the blackness. Cut to water going straight up my nose and me nearly choking, but lets keep that between you and me. 

After I drained the bath there were no stains on my skin or the bath itself, or on the bath mat. The darkness came and went without a trace. 

So if you used to (or even still do) listen to MCR, Fallout Boy or 3OH!3 , then I recommend you experience this just once. It's just so fun.

Lusciously Lush!

6 months. 6 whole months I've gone without being surrounded by the amazing aroma that all Lush shops seem to have. Even the streets outside smell nicer now. 

Lush in Bournemouth has had a massive refit, and now they're finally open to the public once again, and packed as ever. I feel like there's even more bath bombs then there was before which is perfectly fine by me, no-one has managed to recreate bath bomb in Lush quality. When I walked in there was literally glitter in the air and I felt like I was walking in a fairyland. I'm pretty sure I looked like I was slightly crazed the entire time I was walking around. Thankfully I was saved by a lovely girl called Zoe! She was so nice, and she convinced me to buy lots of stuff cause I'm such an easy target. And obviously she was gorgeous because it seems all people who work for Lush naturally are. 

So obviously I had to splurge on my first visit back. Be prepared, this is going to be a long post with lots of pictures with a distinctly Halloween theme, and a special bath bomb extra. 

Lord of Misrule

Bathe in the wine of the gods and wait for all the surprises that Lord of Misrule holds inside. The mix of fragrances, vanilla, citric, and a minty hint are perfect for this time of year. The colour of your bath water will make you feel like you're living a life of pure luxury, and you'll smell delicious for days. 

Monster's Ball 

Every time I look at this bath bomb I think of Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett. This isn't a bath bomb that I've used before, and I'm really excited to try it. I love how it looks like something out of Monsters Inc, a hybrid of Sully and Mike. The lime fragrance is one of my faaavourite things. I love citric scents and I'm hoping that after using this I'll be a walking lime. Bitter inside but smelling great. 

Lava Lamp

The orange and purple colours make me think of the 70's. Not that I was alive to remember it, but I was honestly going to get some violet and orange towels when I moved to Dorset, and mum thankfully stopped me. Towels, maybe not, but bath bomb, hell yes. I can't wait to see what colour the bath water is after stewing for hours and refusing to leave this orange smelling heaven. 

Fizzbanger

I love this bath bomb, it was one of the first ones I tried when I started going to Lush regularly. First the apple fragrance will smack you in the face, then you'll be assaulted by cinnamon, resulting in an apple pie bath. Now I know I made that sound slightly worrying with all the violent language, but it's good trust me. There's no nice words strong enough to tell you how I feel about this bath bomb so I had to be creative.  

Pumpkin

It's a pumpkin aaahhhhh! Can you guess what it smells like? Shall I give you a minute, I know it's tough when you're put on the spot. Oh, okay-IT'S BASICALLY A PUMPKIN PIE AHH GOD YES. The fact that it's shaped like a carved pumpkin gave it away a little. Vanilla and cinnamon and biscuity goodness. I'm probably going to be buying this in bulk. 

And something extra, 

Father Christmas!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Those who say it's 'too early for Christmas' can leave now. IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS. And it's never too early for Christmas themed bath bombs. This one smells very sweet, the Lush website says 'candy floss' but for me it smells like sweet sherbet. Like those straws you used to get that were filled with a sweet powder that used to be passed around like crack. That's an interesting idea for a school business. Young entrepreneurs, instead of selling donuts at break time, start selling bath bombs.  

Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bar

I couldn't walk past this bath melt without smothering myself in the glittery gold goodness. I don't often buy bath melts, so when I do it's usually one that I've invested in for a reason. This one being the fact that it's a sparkly pumpkin and I'm autumn themed trash. The citrus scent drew me in, and the fact that I want to walk around looking like a pixie covered in magical dust was the nail in the coffin.

and last of all I picked up a cleanser that suits my sensitive skin, Ultrabland 

I have previously suffered from facial acne, and whilst tablets and a very strong face cream has sorted it out, I'm very wary about what I put on my face now. I don't like anything too heavy or moisturizing as my skin is oily anyway, and I like my skin to feel fresh after using a cleanser. After Zoe tested the cleanser on my hand, my skin was nice and soft and I'm hoping to achieve a similar result on my face. We'll find out!

Lush in Bournmouth also now has a Make up section! One of the very few Lush's to have a make up section, I'm glad this one is close to me. I find it difficult to get my hands on cruelty free products, and so I'm excited to try everything. 

Expect a Christmas Lush haul, and if you know me personally then expect some Christmas presents from Lush!

Are you going to accept this change?

Horoscopes. People really invest in their horoscopes, and lots of people actually let them dictate their daily decisions, they let them make judgments about people before they've met them, they even let them choose their lottery numbers! 

For instance, I'm a Virgo. 

Now apparently that makes me a perfectionist, judgmental, modest, reserved, intelligent and reliable. My ruling planet is Mercury, my element is Earth and my symbol is a Maiden. I'm not one to follow my horoscope, I like reading them and reading others as well, but I do it mainly for the fun of it. And I don't think any less of people who fully commit themselves to their horoscopes either, live and let live. 

BUT WAIT


You may not have realised that your horoscope might have changed! Look at the dates below for yourself.

Capricorn: Jan. 20 to Feb. 16

Aquarius: Feb. 16 to March 11

Pisces: March 11 to April 18

Aries: April 18 to May 13

Taurus: May 13 to June 21

Gemini: June 21 to July 20

Cancer: July 20 to Aug. 10

Leo: Aug. 10 to Sept. 16

Virgo: Sept. 16 to Oct. 30

Libra: Oct. 30 to Nov. 23

Scorpio: Nov. 23 to Nov. 29

Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 to Dec. 17

Sagittarius: Dec. 17 to Jan. 20

Now being born on the 17th of September, I don't actually have to worry about throwing out my Virgo mug. But lots of people have just had their life upended. And who do you have to blame for this? The Babylonians. NASA has confirmed and blogged about this, but essentially the Babylonians were being a little bit lazy when they created the zodiac 3000 years ago. Having a 12 month calendar and 13 signs seemed a little tricky for them, so they kicked out Orphiuchus. NASA couldn't give a flying feck about astrology, so after doing the maths they dropped a bomb and watched the world burn.

I've already spoken to a few people about their change in horoscope, one man with a Leo tattoo wasn't very pleased. Some people are just ignoring this change all together, refusing to believe that their horoscope could be something different after having their one for so long. But does this mean that peoples personality traits will change? Will people slowly conform to what their horoscope is telling them? I'd love to do a covert conditioning observation but I don't think me following people around with binoculars and a notebook would fly. 

For now, I'll just have fun watching people's lives fall apart. 

Notting Hill Carnival - Don't forget why it's here

If you live in London and you haven't heard of Notting Hill Carnival, you must be living under a rock. Or at the very least, deaf. This year is the 50th anniversary of Notting Hill Carnival, 50 years of celebrating Black Culture in London. Everyone goes to carnival, it's something that I've seen every year since I've was born. Even if I didn't actually venture outside, my windows would always be vibrating with bass from the giant trucks with mammoth speakers and bubble machines just outside my house. I love the music, I love the colour and the people, how happy and equal everyone is. Everyone enjoys the music, the food, and for the most part, everyone is relaxed. For black and minority ethnic people who live in London and don't have the opportunity to be surrounded by their culture or miss it on a day to day basis, it's a great event to let loose and be you. 

(picture taken from https://www.instagram.com/nottinghillpost/)

Starting at Great Western Road, through Chepstow Road and Westbourne Grove and down Ladbroke Grove there are dancers, stalls with food, big floats and trucks blasting great music, and lots of dancing. It's basically the best way to spend any weekend. It's also a way to teach people that black culture and traditions are just fantastic, and anyone who thinks different can go suck an egg. Notting Hill Carnival started because of the murder of Kelso Cochrane in 1959. And as the festival continues to draw more and more people, (last years turn out was over one million people) I think people are starting to forget. With the #BlackLivesMatter movement, I really hope people realise and educate themselves. Partying is great, but here's hoping that comradery lasts past the dancing and music this weekend. 44% of London is black and minority ethnic people, and everyone deserves equality and to be accepted. 

I've been listening to music from previous carnivals whilst writing this, and I'm debating getting some Caribbean food from Turtle Bay tonight. I'm may just get some coconuts and make some cocktails! Hope everyone whose at the carnival today stays safe and enjoys themselves. 

This heat is killing me

I am not a lover of hot weather. I don't like the humidity, the sun blinding you early in the morning, the bugs, the sunburn, having no suitable clothes to keep you cool, and sleepless nights. ugh. I hate hot weather. 

I love cold weather. I love orange sky sunsets, crunchy autumn leaves, apple spices, christmas candles, gloves, scarves, hats, boots, hazelnut hot chocolate, pumpkins, warm fleeces, soft blankets, buying presents, spice cakes, christmas pudding, slipper socks, spooky scary skeletons, big coats, The Craft, christmas songs, fairy lights, wrapping presents, Elf, early nights, snow, rain, frosty windows, onesies, and many many more things. If I continued to list everything I love about autumn/winter we would be here forever. In fact after writing that sentence I added a few more things. I can't wait for the chilly weather to get here. I can't wait to sit in my chair covered in blankets, sip winter spice tea, and watch all the movies. And I can't wait to wear all my thick jackets and coats that have been hanging up in my wardrobe, neglected for so long. 

Summer is basically a period of time where I'm grumpy, dehydrated, too hot, and overtired. So expect much happier posts in the future. Probably lots of recipes, movie reviews, maybe some outfits, and definitely some decorating. Oh, and there will 100% be some Halloween hauls. I'm so excited. 

High on fumes!

I had plans of posting my Illumicrate today, but I got distracted by the beautiful colouring sheets we got in this months box and ended up spending most of the day colouring them in with sharpies! 

For those of you who use sharpies, you know how strong they smell! After using them for around 4 hours it's left me feeling very ill and lethargic.

It's no-ones fault but my own. Secretly I'm still thinking it was worth it because I finished one and started the other and it's the first time I feel like I've successful coloured something and it doesn't look like a 6 year old did it!

I'll be uploading my Illumicrate post tomorrow including my attempt at colouring!

There will be spoilers in tomorrows post so those who haven't got theirs yet will have to avert their eyes. I'll be posting another warning on that one too though so don't worry! 

In other news, I've also been watching PrankvsPrank and BFvsGF all day and making myself sad. I'm a long term subscriber of Jesse and Jeana and I was gutted when they broke up. It must be so difficult to have to share your daily life on the internet, and even tailor your life to what you feel like would be "good content". When you've watched someone every day for years, you get to know them, and when they're suddenly not in your life anymore, you really notice it. 

Obviously Jesse and Jeana's mental health, personal freedom and choices are the first and only priority not matter what any fan thinks, but obviously I miss their watching their daily banter! I do hope they're both living life still!

If you haven't seen any of PrankvsPrank or BFvsGF, then I would highly recommend that you do! They still sometimes upload on BFvsGF separately, but they have hundreds of vlogs to watch. Some of the best pranks on PVP (in my opinion) are D!CKHEAD PRANK, SPRAY TAN PRANK, TERRIFYING TARANTULA PRANK, and GIRLFRIEND CAUGHT CHEATING PRANK. The challenges on BFvsGF are hilarious too!

PrankvsPrank

BFvsGF

Peace, on the streeeeeeeeets, SAN! 

Animal testing

I'm not going to make a massive post about this, because I don't want this blog to be about such serious topics. I want this to be a place where you can come to have a natter and maybe find a new book/tv program to watch! But something happened today that effected me for quite a while at work.

Today I had a customer that made a joke about how they wished a company would do animal testing on their products.

As someone who doesn't eat meat for moral reasons, this struck a chord. I think they must have know that it was the wrong thing to say by my reaction. I didn't say anything apart from suggesting she uses Lush as their products were all natural and they are fully against animal testing.

I don't like to influence peoples morals too much, apart from making people aware when appropriate. Like I wouldn't say "you shouldn't eat meat" because that's not my place. But animal testing is a different ball game. Unnecessary torture of animals is wrong and useless. And I think it's the people who are ignorant to the actual facts of animal testing, that think that it actually benefits them.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that as it really had an effect on my day.

Live and let live.

Brains

General life updates. When I used to work behind a Bar I was very into baking, and I still am! Time and motivation can be tricky things though. So hopefully I can make a fair few posts on my favourite things to bake, experiments and the guaranteed failures. Pics included. Expect a post about my Old-Fashioned Spice Cake. 

Quick preview of some of the cakes I've made:

Top Left: Confetti Cake

Top Right: Spanish Almond Cake

Bottom Left: Blue Velvet Cake

Bottom Right: Old-Fashioned Spice Cake

Family and friends will definitely play a part, I'll try to keep my drama out of blogging but you may notice days when I'm typing particularly grumpily. 

Politics will not be a part of this blog. Unless there is something I feel very strongly about or something I can take the mick out of.

Current news MAY be a part of this blog if I feel its appropriate. It could just be a small acknowledgment or a full post depending on how I feel about the topic. 

Basically all the little happenings in my life!