Tuesday 30 July 2013

Lenny's Soap Review


Hi Everyone,

Today I am going to be sharing with you my experience of Lenny's Soap which is a small scale craft business run by the lovely Leanne in the Scottish Lowlands. The website sells soaps, bath bombs, truffles, salts and more, all of which are handmade by Leanne personally.

First of all I am going to review the super cute ice cream bath truffles. You receive three 40g truffles for £3.50 and you only need one per bath so that's around £1.10 per bath which isn't bad at all. The truffles are made with sweet almond oil to soften the skin and smell amazing, really sweet and sugary. Once you drop the truffle into the bath it dissolves completely and releases the scent which I could smell on me after I had go out of the bath. 




I also received 3 soaps, 1 full size and 2 sample sized in goats milk & ylang ylang, parma violet and patchouli sandalwood ylang ylang. Full size soaps retail at £3.00.


The soaps are packaged in a really cute vintage style and would look lovely as gifts.


I used the sample sizes to take with me for a couple of weekends away and got plenty of use out of them, the parma violet one made me feel particularly nostalgic as they used to be my favourite sweets! The soaps are all of a high quality giving your skin a cleansed and refreshed feel and use ingredients with softening properties. 

Leanne also included pictures from the making process of her gardening soap to show you guys!

Firstly we have the ingredients being added, there are 5 different oils, olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, hemp oil and castor oil


The oils are heated until they reach the desired temperature, the lye is mixed with water and when both are at the right temperature they are mixed until they reach trace


Once trace is reached you can add any extra and essential oil, with this soap seaweed and poppy seeds and essential oil lemongrass and rosemary is added. The soap is then poured into a mould and left for 24 - 48 hours to set


The soap is then cut into the desired size and left for a further 28 day to cure. During this time the lye and oils saponify to create glycerine.


Resulting in a fantastic end result!

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed testing the products and many thanks to Leanne for collaborating.

Thanks for reading! Love Sally X

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Thursday 11 July 2013

Clovelly Soap Company Review

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all having a nice week in the sun.

Today I am bringing to you a review of two products that I was sent to try out from the Clovelly Soap Company.

The Clovelly Soap Company is ran by the lovely Sarah Harper who had made soaps for over 9 years starting in her kitchen and now in a craft studio in her barn conversion. The company sells a selection of handmade soap, natural confetti, wedding favours and also runs soapmaking workshops which I would love to take part in one day.

The two soaps I received are the cinnamon & oat and honey & oat varieties and both come wrapped in beautiful vintage print paper with classy labels. They both weigh 100g and retail at £4 each, however a half size bar (50g) is available at only £2.



Here is a shot of the soaps unwrapped to give an indication of the texture but I will go further into this below.



The first soap I am going to talk about is the Cinnamon & Oat scented soap.



The soap is lightly scented with cinammon powder and has a bumpy texture due to the oats which provide exfoliation of the skin. I found this product to be particularly good on my legs leaving them nice and soft without the need for greasy moisturisers. 



The honey and oat variety offered the same exfoliation and moisturising experience, however is unscented so just smells clean! I know some people may prefer this, but I would say my favourite was the cinammon as I do like a nice light scent.

The soaps are made by hand by the traditional cold process method using olive oil, coconut oil and sustainable palm oil. I have touched on my thoughts on palm oil in a previous post however Sarah was able to assure me that their supplier is a member of the round table for palm oil production who are a collective of growers and buyers working to make the industry more sustainable for the future which I think is great.

I was also able to obtain a few images of the soap making process from Sarah which I will include now in a little timeline to give an idea of the work that goes into making the soaps. 

First the ingredients are sourced, weighed and measured. Ingredients will include ground oats, glycerine, olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, various essential oils, herbs and botanicals. 





Then the ingredients are poured in a big pan to be melted to liquid form and mixed together to form a mixture ready for the next stage...




The mixture is then poured into lined moulds to cure and harden for 4-6 weeks



The set soaps are then turned out onto greaseproof paper to dry out and once dry are then ready to be cut to size.


Each soap bar is then sliced up into the individual sizes ready to be packaged up and sold


Creating a beautiful end product!


I hope you liked my post and thanks for reading. Love Sally X


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Monday 8 July 2013

Work Outfit of the Day


Hey Everyone!

Today I have a nice and quick outfit of the day for you. 

I am wearing a plain grey skater dress from Asda that I picked up for £10 in my latest binge, worn over my usual Tesco long sleeve black tshirt, Sainsbury's leggings and my latest bargains which are the vintage leather chelsea boots that I picked up at the bootsale for £9.They are sooo comfy and look perfect with leggings and a skater dress for a laid back but stylish look. 



Do any of you buy clothing at bootsales? What are your best bargains?

Thanks for reading! Love Sally X
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Saturday 6 July 2013

Outfit of the Day


Hi Everyone!

So when I first started the blog I used to do a lot of OOTDs but lately I've been neglecting them so thought I would do one today for you! 

Today I am wearing a playsuit I got for £8 from Asda and it has a gorgeous fairground print with a ruffle at the top and comes in at the waist with a red and white stripe ribbon. Here is a close up of the print:


 I layered it with a long sleeve black top from Tesco for £4 so I didn't have to wear a cardigan to cover my arms, leggings that were £10 from Sainsburys and comfy Ugg boots.


I've kept my hair down which has a slight wave and my make up is simply a touch a foundation with a dash of mascara as it's so warm outside and I don't want it to run.


I really like this outfit for a casual weekend look and it was part of a mini haul I got from Asda last night (post to come). You will be surprised to know that the playsuit is actually from the nightwear section but it just shows how certain pieces can be adaptable and there was a really cute neon skull playsuit also in the range I might have to get next time. 

I hope you are having a nice sunny weekend and thanks for reading.

Love Sally X


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Wednesday 3 July 2013

Cotswold Handmade Soap Review





Hi Everyone.

Today I am going to be doing a review of the goats milk, oatmeal & orange and the ginger & lemongrass soaps that I received to try out from www.cotswoldhandmadesoap.co.uk.

Cotswold Handmade Soap was started in 2010 by Sue Collins who was inspired to learn soap making from a TV programme. The company sells online, at craft fairs and also at farmers markets and is known for their vegetable oil soaps, using natural ingredients and no preservatives. 

So let's jump straight into my review!

The soaps each come hand wrapped and labelled and are freshly cut to order.


First up is the ginger & lemongrass soap, introduced in November 2012 this is the most popular soap they sell. The delicious blend of the citrusy fresh lemon and the ginger which is more deep and spicy work perfectly together and it is no wonder this particular variety is so well received. The texture is creamy when lathered, moisturising, cleansing and the lemongrass has anti bacterial properties all of which are benefiting your skin and it's appearance.



Next is the goat's milk, oatmeal & orange soap, it is described on the website as perfect for dry hands and skin problems so sounds perfect for me as I do suffer from dry skin in patches. When I tried the product I found it to be a very gentle formulation, lathering up nicely and I definitely felt the product had added moisture to my hands and they felt softer. The scent is gorgeous but not overpowering and the oatmeal goes really nicely with the fresh orange. 

I am really happy with my experience of these products and would recommend you check out their full range on www.cotswoldhandmadesoap.co.uk for more information.

Thanks for reading!

Love Sally X


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Monday 1 July 2013

Miss Patisserie Review



Hi Everyone! 


Monday for me is generally a really dull day spent mourning the weekend but this morning I thought I would do a bright and cheery post to snap out of it.


Today I am going to be talking about a brand that I recently came across called Miss Patisserie. The company started in 2009 by Charlotte Ridgewell based on a love of beauty and bath products, beautiful illustration, patisseries and boulangeries and her pugs Louey & Vinny. I have to say the beautiful illustration certainly comes across with the website design and packaging which is visually stunning, a elegant mix of vintage and girly glamour. Also as a fellow pug owner I go mad for any products with pugs on them!


The company started in Charlotte's kitchen with the infamous "bath bake" and grew from there to a much bigger kitchen with a team of chefs! All products are handmade, of a high quality and not tested on animals and they sell a range including bath melts, cupcake bath bakes, lip balms, fizzy lollies, fizzy slices and bubble bath biscuits. Awesome yes?


So let's get into the products that I received to review for you guys!

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First of all we have the Sugar Heart mini bath bake 70g / £4.50. As you can see the packaging is exquisite and the box design is so cute!






To use the product you just peel off the wrapper like you would a normal cupcake and drop it in your bath. Once the base has dissolved in the water you can use the topping as an exfoliator which I found worked really well for my skin leaving it soft and smelling great afterwards.




Next we have the Lemon Bay and Lavender macaroon bath melts 70g / £2 each




Lemon Bay is described on the site as having sweet & citrus notes of lemon & mango along with spun sugar & cream which I would say definitely comes across resulting is deliciously fresh  scent. Lavender of course is a well known scent that's delicate, calming and perfect for relaxation in the bath tub. You can use either a half or the whole bath melt, I chose to use half to make them last that bit longer and found that to be enough to get the melt experience. You just drop the melt in the bath and it will dissolve releasing the aroma and a range of skin loving ingredients including cocoa shea nut butter which really helped moisturise and soften my skin.


I also got the Sweet Orange Balm which smells gorgeous and glides onto my lips conditioning them with a subtle sheen. The product contains mango butter, coconut and jojoba oil and sweet orange essential oil and can also be used on the cuticles which I shall give a go!




I really enjoyed the products I got from Miss Patisserie and would definitely recommend you check out the site http://www.miss-patisserie.com to take a look for yourself and swoon over the illustrations and pretty products. It's quite literally a bath bakery and everything looks good enough to eat (don't though!).

Thanks for reading! Love Sally X
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