Quick Catch Up

First of all Welcome to my new followers, and new visitors to my blog! I got an overwhelming amount of visitors to my Ultrabalm post, and I'm so grateful!

I am so sorry I havent posted in so long, I have MANY half written posts, and many more planned for the future!

I'm currently stuck writing my Fashion Dissertation, BUT I will be done late on tuesday, so from then onwards I am all yours! :)

I prefer to take my time over my posts, to make sure I've covered all that I wanted to, but in the meantime you can find me on:

Twitter: @BlueButterfly3o

I have really missed blogging, and will be back as soon as I can with more posts!

(Also you may have noticed I still have no youtube videos.....I chickened out! Maybe in the future. I hope so!)

The Many Uses of ULTRABALM

Ultrabalm is Lush's natural, petroleum-free alternative to Vaseline. I absolutely LOVE this product, and originally only bought it to use as a lip balm. But after much research and experimenting I have come to find that Ultrabalm can be used for so much more!

Here are the uses I have found for it so far:

• Lip Balm
• Lip Gloss
• Lip Night Treatment
• Lip Scrub: Apply generously to lips and scrub with an old toothbrush for the softest lips
• Eye Cream
• Eyelash Treatment: Apply before bedtime for longer, thicker eyelashes
• Clear Mascara
• Tame Unruly Eyebrows
• Makeup Remover: Great replacement for Lush's 'Babyface'
• Removes Eyelash Glue
• Night Cream
• Scrub: Mix with sea salts for great exfoliation
• Use Under Eyeshadow for a Shiny, Wet-look
• Apply to Cheeks for a Dewy Look
• Nails and Cuticles
• Elbows
• Knees
• Heels
• Foot Moisturiser: Apply at night and cover with socks
• Use After Shaving: To avoid unsightly bumps, razor burns and sore skin
• Use for Eczema
• Acts as a Barrier on top of Medicated Creams
• Reduces Chaffing
• Use to Firm Neck and Décolletage 
• Heals Tattoos and Creates a Barrier
• Aids Healing After Piercings
• Heals and soothes Grazes
• Aids Healing After Surgeries
• Apply to Dry Spots Before Fake Tanning
• Use on Sun-burnt/Peeling Skin
• Use to Soothe Burns
• Relieves Itching
• Apply to Insect Bites
• Reduces the Appearance of Scars
• Great for Colds: Apply around the nose to prevent sore, cracked skin from the overuse of tissues
• Use as a Barrier Against Pet Allergies
• Use to Ease Rings off Fingers
• Use to Enhance Perfumes/Scents
• Use as a Hair-Dye Barrier
• Apply to Ends of the Hair to Hide Split Ends
• Apply to Ends of Hair Before Using Straighteners
• Apply to a Tick to Remove it: I found this one out from a fellow dog owner. Apparently tick's breathe through their skin, so if you put this on them they will literally stop biting and back away!

Its amazing how many uses one product can have. And I'm sure there are so many more!

As I find more they will be added to the list. 

If you have any other uses or tips, please leave a comment and it will be added :)

I would love to hear your ideas!

How I Store My LUSH Soaps

Now I know this isn't anything new in the slightest, but I just wanted to show you how I'm storing my LUSH soaps. 

I've seen a few tutorials on how people store their soaps, and I know a lot of you use this method:

I cut up my LUSH soaps to use a bit at a time so I dont get the whole bar wet, and I'm not stuck having to only use that soap, so I can mix and match each day. I also keep one small chunk at the sink to wash my hands with.

Firstly I make sure I sanitize my chopping board and knife with 91% Alcohol (I have a knife dedicated just to LUSH soaps so that my food doesn't end up tasting of soap!) And then I just cut one small segment off the block of soap.

I came across this container at Homebase (below)

I love this because it has 2 sections, which can be removed to make one big one. 

I removed the labels from the wrapping the soaps came in, and stuck them under the compartments so I can see which soap is which without it getting ruined by the soap.

Once I've cut a segment off each soap, I wrap the remaining block in cling-film and place it in its section above its label (below)

A lot of people I've seen cut the whole block up into small segments and wrap each one up individually in cling film. Theres a reason I haven't done this:

To me wrapping LUSH products up in plastic kind of defeats the point of them being naked, and goes against LUSH's philosophy of minimising packaging as most plastic is not bio-degradable

Although I HAVE used cling film, I've used it on one big block, which means when I need another small segment I just cut it off and wrap the block back up in the SAME wrapping, and then when the block is done the left over cling film is big enough to be used AGAIN.

So there is some kind of method in the madness!

Below: I've tried to recycle as much of the 'ingredients' label as I can by putting the 'fresh handmade cosmetics' part from both labels on each side. Then I cut the soap name from the label and stuck it onto the corresponding end:

With the small segments I cut off, I placed them into a small container (BELOW RIGHT) to keep in the bathroom. 

Its also very handy to travel with as they last a long time, and I don't particularly want to be carrying around a big block of soap! Especially as I'm prone to losing things, so if I get home and realise I left it in the hotel/friends house then it doesn't matter too much as I have more spare!

This idea works really well for me, but tips and new ideas are always welcome as I'm still a LUSH newbie, so I'm sure I'm doing it wrong! Haha

Would love to hear what you do with yours! 

Storing my new LUSH

I thought I'd do a post about storage and organisation as I personally love looking at other peoples collections to get good tips and ideas, so I figured I'd post my new storage solution and hopefully it will inspire you :)

Either that or it will make you feel better about your own collection!

I've been holding onto this old GHD box for ages, and haven't been able to bring myself to throw it away!

Until Now I was just using it to house a few empty Travel-sized bottles, but most of the space was just wasted.

But now I have a mini-stash of LUSH I figured I'd use it to store it all :)

I didn't want the GHD logo on the lid though, and decided to make it more LUSH dedicated, so heres what I did:

Empty GHD Box

Lush Paper Bag

I cut up the above empty bag (I have 2 and this one was a bit too battered to use again for shopping, so thought this would be a nice way to recycle it) and used double-sided tape to fix it to the lid to cover the logo so now it looks like this:

Box Lid Now

Inside Box: Before

Above: Inside the GHD boxes there's a plastic holder fixed to the lid to hold an instructional manual and DVD. Obviously this space would be wasted left like this (plus it looks quite ugly) so I removed it (below)

Removing Plastic CD Holder

Below: I then put non-slip liner at the bottom of the box to stop my LUSH products from sliding around once they're in there.

Adding Non-slip Liner to the Bottom

Back of Lush Bag

Removing the plastic from the lid revealed plain cardboard, which again looked ugly, and I obviously wanted to cover it. I wanted to keep with the black theme, so I cut up the back of the LUSH bag (above) and fixed it to the inside of the lid (below)

I quite like the idea of having the LUSH Philosophy behind my products, as its this that has made me go as crazy about their products as I have. 

Inside of Box Lid

So BELOW is what the box looks like fully loaded with my mini-stash!

Things will eventually be moved around. Everythings spread out at the moment to make it look like theres more than there actually is! But theres plenty of room for more, which I love as sadly I'll be going over to the Portsmouth store for MORE with my birthday money. 

I really wasn't lying when I said I've gone crazy about LUSH :/

Where My Lush Products Now Live

Close-up (Sorry its blurry)

Whats really nice about this box is, the way the lid is, when its laid out like this theres a little ledge which sits all of my sample pots perfectly! (Below)

With hind-sight I'd have put a big magnet strip on the lid before fixing the LUSH philosophy to it, and then fixed little magnets to the bottom of the sample pots so I could have more all over the lid when the ledge eventually gets filled up :S

But never mind!

Sample Pots Sit Nicely Along the Ledge of the Lid

Another Close-up!

I absolutely love this and it's taken pride of place in front of my mirror where my old cleanser/toner/moisturiser etc products used to sit. LUSH's skincare products work so much better for me than any other products I've tried, so of course it had to take centre stage!

Hope this gives you a few ideas on storage, or what to do with random boxes you've got lying around!

Birthday Haul

It was my Birthday yesterday! 

I didn't end up doing much for it, but it was a lovely sunny day and I live along the Downs Link (an old railway line turned public footpath) so went for a lovely walk in the sunshine with my family and puppy to a nice little pub. 

I FINALLY got to open the presents I picked out from LUSH with my sister!

....And of course the things I bought for myself :/

Picked myself up a lush times too. Why not!

In case you cant see clearly, here's what I got:

Ballistic: Honey Bee

Cleanser: Angels on Bare Skin

Toner: Breath of Fresh Air

Moisturiser: Celestial

Serum: Full of Grace

Soap: Honey I Washed The Kids

Soap: Porridge (Absolutely in love with the smell of this soap!)

Hand Moisturiser: Tiny Hands

Toner Tab: Vit C

Toner Tab: Tea Tree

Massage Bar: Therapy

Shower Gel: The Olive Branch

Samples:

Charity Pot, Toothy Tabs, Cosmetic Lad Moisturiser, Vanishing Cream Moisturiser,Cosmetic Warrior Face Mask, Jackie Oats (colours), and Light Pink (Colours)

I love everything I got, and once I've been using them for a few days I'll post up reviews on each of the products. 

So far I've used the cleanser, toner and moisturiser, Tiny Hands, plus the Porridge soap, and at this moment in time I'm very impressed :) My skin looks and feels so much nicer, and the smell of the soap and hand moisturiser has stayed on my skin for so long. 

I think I'm in love <3