Heaven in tub x 3 - Soap and Glory Three Times Butter Trio Review

Hello my lovelies, how are we all doing today? 

February has arrived, we are two months in to 2016 already andValentines Day is around the corner.  Do you have any special plans in the works next Sunday?  I think me and the hubby will be seeing Deadpool.  Not the most romantic I know, but we’re saving the pennies for Florida.  Besides a film and dinner afterwards isn’t a bad date night right?  Am quite excited to see the film as it looks really good and Ryan Reynolds is not unpleasant to look at either.

Today I am reviewing one of my sale finds from Soap and Glory.  It’s the Three Times Butter set.  Original RRP was £8 and it was reduced to £4 in Boots.

Three Times Butter 

This is my first ever Soap and Glory purchase.  I must admit I wasn’t a fan at first, I smelt one of the hand creams (can’t remember which one) and it smelt so sickly and sweet, I figured that the rest of their products probably smelt like that.  Ignorant I know, but I’ve learnt my lesson and am now a Soap and Glory convert.

I think this set was perfect for me to ease into their range.  I’ve already looked up some other products and have my eye on the Fab Pore face mask.

Anywho, back to the products at hand, in the set we have three mini tubs of:-

 

The Righteous Butter

Sugar Crush

Smoothie Star

Righteous Butter

First off, I want to profess my love for The Righteous Butter.  It smells so heavenly divine I almost don’t want to use it so that it never runs out, ha ha!  The scent is very strong and heavy.  Citrus like with something else I can’t quite put my finger on, like a buttery cocoa smell.  Sorry, I’m not good with describing scents unless its really obvious like roses or chocolate.  There does seem to be a good mixture of scents in there.  Put it this way whatever they are they smell gorgeous. 

The consistency is quite thick and does take a little while to dry.  But once you’ve covered your whole body you should be dry enough to put your on jammies.  This is by far my favourite out of the trio and I will definitely be buying the full size tub.

Sugar Crush

Next up is Sugar Crush, my second favourite of the trio.  With a heavy citrus scent, it reminds me of a sweet I used to eat when I was younger, can’t for the life of me remember what it was called, but it takes me back to my school days whenever I smell this.  It’s like a fizzy sherbert type smell, so I’m thinking it is probably one of those chewy sweets like Refreshers.   The texture for this one is lighter than Righteous Butter and it goes on so smoothly.  It’s also quite refreshing as well.

Smoothie Star

Last up we have Smoothie Star.  Now when I first tried this one I did not like it at all.  But after a second round its grown on me.  I’ll admit its not my favourite compared to the other two, but it does the job and makes me feel silky smooth after application.  The scent I know straightaway and thats almonds.  It is very strong almond scent mixed in with cocoa butter and I think that’s why I wasn’t so keen, as personally I don’t think those two scents go together.  To me this one feels a little thicker than Sugar Crush, but lighter than Righteous Butter.

Overall I am so pleased I found these in the sale and that I finally tried them out.  All of them leave my skin feeling so soft and smooth and the scents are heavenly, I love catching little whiffs of it here and there after application. 

The packaging for Soap and Glory products are gorgeous, I mean who doesn’t love pink, its very eye catching and makes you want to look and see what this pretty object is.    I will probably try and find a use for the tubs, as they are just too cute. 

Value wise, obviously these were a bargain as they were in the sale, but the original rrp is pretty good value at £8 and these would definitely make a lovely gift or starter to their products.

I can’t wait to try the rest of their product range and check our their make up too.   Have heard good things about all their makeup.

Do you guys use any of these lotions?  Which one is your favourite?  What other S&G products do you use?  Leave me a comment as I love to hear from you.

Ciao for now

Stefy xxx

Roses are red, Violets are blue, sugar is sweet, so won't you check out my lovely candle too

Hello my lovelies, I hope you are all doing well.  Sorry for the cheesy sounding title, but I wanted to try something different than the usual "candle review" title.  

It is naughty that this is my first post of 2016, that darn procrastination kicked in again.  Need to get out of this habit, especially if I want people to read my blog.  Not gonna get any readers without content now am I.

Before we get started, I want to give a small disclaimer.  I was not asked to review this candle by the company.  These are my own thoughts on a Christmas gift that was received and I wanted to share with you my experience and thoughts.

So I thought I would start off with a review of a candle I got for Christmas.  My awesome hubby remembered how I kept telling him about this company called Imperial Candles and how I really wanted to try them out.  Bless him he came through and my wish was granted.

Imperial Candles are a UK based company who produce hand made soy candles with a little surprise tucked inside.

I first discovered this kind of candle from a US based company called Diamond Candles.  They are another company who hand make soy candles that have a ring inside and that ring can be anywhere between $10 or $5,000.  I was lucky enough to purchase a few of these candles and get them shipped to a friend in the US, who then in turn shipped them to me (as Diamond Candles do not ship internationally). 

Anywho, back to Imperial Candles.  I was so excited to learn there was a UK company that did exactly the same as Diamond Candles and to make things even more exciting they not only did candles with rings, but also necklaces and earrings, not to mention candles aren’t their only products.  They also do:-

·      Bath Salts

·      Bath Bombs

·      Body Scrubs

Your surprise can be anywhere up to the value of £2,000.

On Christmas Day I unwrapped my very own candle.  The box it came in was very sturdy, so these babies are packaged very well.  Once I ripped open the packaging I was presented with this beautiful looking candle in a glass jar.  The lids are also quite sturdy with that sucker type rubber thing that you get on coffee jars etc.

The smell was amazing, my hubby had opted to go for the Fresh Cut Roses scent and my does it smell like fresh cut roses.  You would think you were standing in a rose garden it was that authentic smelling.  I also love the colour as well, it’s a sort of soft purply pink shade, which is perfect for the scent namesake.

Sizes vary on these candles.  Mine is 21oz but you can get smaller ones that are half the size at 10oz or 270g.  Price wise, again, it depends on what size you go.  My one retails for £24,99 with a standard delivery cost of £5.90.

Now you might think this is a bit pricey for a candle, but these are quality hand made with soy wax, which I believe is a better alternative as it burns longer and more cleanly. You don’t get that soot build up that you get with other paraffin type candles.  They have less additives in and are generally more eco friendly.  I can’t speak for the other products as I have not tested these out, but I am sure that the quality will be equally to the high standards that the candles are.

Now on to the part I know you are eager to know and that is what was my prize.  After burning the candle for a good few hours, I managed to dislodge the wrapping from the side and dried it out.  These babies are pretty well wrapped, there is no chance of any wax getting onto the jewellery at all as it is doubly wrapped in pretty colourful foil and then in a plastic baggy.

My surprise was a pair of gorgeous earrings that have a value of £15, which doesn’t bother me as I’m not in it for the value.  What do you think?  Pretty aren’t they?  I am hoping to try out a bath bomb and will report back if I get one.

If you are interested in purchasing your very own candle, or want to check out Imperial Candles, here is their website Imperial Candles.

As always, thank you for reading and please do feel free to comment or ask me any questions you might have.

Love to you all

Stefy xxx

Reflecting on 2015

Good Evening my lovelies, hope you are all well.

How are you spending your New Years Eve?  Me and the hubby are quite boring and tend to stay in and watch a movie.  Think we will order a cheeky Chinese soon, crack open the bubbles and see what Netflix has to offer.

So, I thought I would do a post that reflected 2015 for me.  It was a strange one I’ll give you that, filled with some ups and downs and a bit of a life change but thankfully nothing too major or bad and we still have our health etc.

The year started out good, new year new me the usual things we all say.  I got to celebrate my birthday abroad for the first time and had an amazing mini break in Paris, filled with lots of memories and naughty shopping bits and we got to celebrate Dave’s 30^th in one of our most special places, Lake Garda.  We had a slight glitch along the way, wherein work was really not meshing with me and after 8 years I handed in my notice and stepped out into the big wide world to figure out what I wanted to do with myself.  Ultimately, it was the right decision to make and I don’t regret leaving (although I do regret the salary I left behind – but I digress money isn’t everything right?).  Now I am working part time and actually have the time to do normal stuff like cooking yummy meals that isn’t just a quick chicken and pasta dish.  I’m making more interesting thing that contain more than 3 ingredients.  I don’t have to commute anymore, which I think has made me a little less aggressive and I just feel happier as a whole.  Not gonna lie it is tough getting used to a reduced income, but I know that things will turn out ok and that good things are coming.

Looking to the year ahead, I’m not one that makes new years resolutions (not that there is anything wrong with making them) I just find that I put too much pressure on myself and it all goes wrong.  So I am going to embrace what comes and try to make myself better day by day.

I am hoping to fully embrace blogger life and start vlogging.  I want to get myself out there in the world, meet new people, go out more and just general fun living life stuff.

I'll stop rambling now and end here, but before I want to know if you guys have any new years resolutions or if you have any goals for 2016?

Wishing you a very happy and prosperous new year and as always thank you for taking the time to read this.  Please feel free to comment and subscribe.

Borrowed from Google Images 

Love to you all

Stefy xxx

Boxing Day Sales

Hello hello

How are we all doing today?

I keep forgetting to add to my previous posts my social media details and that I would love for you guys to follow me on Instagram and Twitter.  Deets are as follows:-

Instagram – @stefypb

Twitter - @stefypb

I’ve added the buttons to the side of the blog, so please feel free to follow me. 

Right so on with the show.  On Boxing Day I did something out of character and that was venturing out to the Boxing Day Sales.  I’m not normally one for going to the sales after Christmas, or in general.  I prefer to shop online from the comfort of my sofa/bed.  However, since I have started blogging I wanted to get out there with the masses to see what bargains were to be had and also practice my vlogging.

I decided to stick a little closer to home and go to St Albans.  The shops there are pretty good, the only downer is that it doesn’t have a Primark, but I guess that means another shopping day to Primark right?  Hee hee.

We set off at a decent hour, our train times were picked, Starbucks was purchased and away we go.  We got to the station and the ticket office was closed and the main building locked up tight.  The side entrance was open though so no biggy, right?  Wrong!  The gate was indeed open but the machines to purchase tickets weren’t working (that should have been clue No. 1).  We took a photo of the machine as we would buy our tickets when we got to St Albans.  There were a few people waiting for the trains going into London but other then that it was really quiet.  I started to do a bit of vlogging when I heard someone yell “excuse me”, it was a fellow passenger informing us that the info machine on the platform had said that no trains were running at all today.  Great!  Now what.  Dave very kindly suggested we get an Uber and luckily there was one nearby.  Yay, crisis averted.  It was shocking though, as the website was showing that trains were running as normal.  I looked up Thameslink on Twitter and the buggers were now saying that no trains.  Anywho, we hopped in our Uber and arrived in St Albans no time.  Let the shopping commence.

We hit up Boots first, as I’ve heard that their sales can get crazy with people queuing really early in the morning.  My goal here was to see what gift set offers were to be had and also purchase my first Liz Earle products.

As you can see there were some good bargains to be found.  I couldn’t get over the deal that was this Elizabeth Arden New York Beauty Must Haves set.  The lady behind the counter said it was worth £90, was originally sold for £60 and was now reduced to £25.  The mascara alone is worth £22 so you pretty much get the rest of the products for £3!  Bargain or what.

This set contains:-

·      Eight House Cream Intensive Daily Moisturiser for Dace SPF15 50ml

·      Visible Difference Exfoliating Cleanser 125ml

·      Ceramide Lash Extending Treatment Mascara Black

·      Cereamide Ultra Lipstick Melon

I’m really excited to try the mascara as I’ve been thinking about researching some lash extending moisturising type enhanced doobery.

Elizabeth Arden New York Beauty Must Haves - Boots

Liz Earle Daily Essentials Kit - Boots

Liz Earle only had one set on offer and whist I wanted to purchase the famous Cleanse and Polish, I wasn’t keen on the other item in the set, that being the eye cream.  If I was going to try out the C&P I figured that I might as well follow up with the moisturiser.  I ended up purchasing the Daily Essentials Kit at full price £45.  I’ll list below the exact products contained:-

·      Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser 100ml

·      Instant Boost Skin Tonic 200ml

·      Skin Repair for Dry/Sensitive skin 50ml

·      Gentle Face Exfoliator 50ml

Dave got himself a new aftershave, Tommy, which was £51 reduced to £17.99, so he was pleased with that.

Our next stop was Clintons as I wanted to see if they had any Yankee Candles on offer.  They did have 50% off of their Christmas range, but I wasn’t feeling any of the scents.  I did end up buying the Yankee Candle Christmas Melts Warmer.  That was half price and I paid £9.49 for it (original price £18.99).  This set contains:-

• Melt Warmer
• Christmas Eve melt
• Cinnamon Stick melt
• Snow in Love melt
• 1 x tea light 

Yankee Candle Christmas Melts Warmer - Clintons

Superdrug was next but their shelves had been raided.  They did have the Real Techniques Ultimate brush set for £48.99 reduced from £99.99 which is not a bad deal, but a little more than what I was willing to pay so I passed on that one.

Real Techniques Ultimate Gift Set - Superdrug

I haven’t been in a BHS in such a long time but figured why not pop in and see what they might have.  I found the Christmas gifts section and we picked up some of those alcoholic gift sets you can get.  I love Disaronno so had to get the set with the nice glass in and at £3 you can’t go wrong (all prices were 50% off).  Dave picked a Captain Morgans set with coffee and a really nice looking mug, his was £6 and a good bargain.  I was tempted to buy the Courvoisier set, as the mug was really nice looking, but stopped myself as I didn’t really need it.  The last thing I found was a blanket reduced to £12.50.  I love the design and have been wanted a cable knit type for ages.

Stone Rib Knitted Throw - BHS

We then stopped off in a shop called Love Aroma (they are an authorised official Yankee Candle stockist) again they had the Christmas range at 50% off.  I purchased Season of Peace at £10.99, there wasn’t much else that took my fancy as I was interested to see if they had some of the more normal/usual scents on offer.  We did decide to purchase the Cappuccino Truffle, which smells absolutely divine and is a different scent then what we would usually go for, hence the justification of spending £22 on a candle.

Yankee Candle Season of Peace - Love Aroma

Yankee Candle Cappuccino Truffle - Love Aroma

I popped into H&M to look and see if they had any treggings in stock and also browsed the sale racks.  No treggings, but I did end up purchasing a couple of cardigans which will be perfect for Disney World next year.  The purple-y one was a steal at £3 and reminds me a little of the Missoni design.

TK Maxx was next, now I must confess to never having really shopping in here before.  I think I tried once but it was so messy looking I walked straight back out.  But I thought I would give it another try as I have seen other fellow bloggers find some good bargains in there.  It started off well, I found a Michael Kors bag in there but not a design I would have gone for.  I started to feel the same feeling when browsing the racks, that it was just too much and where does one start.  I think (and this is in no way an insult to any TK Maxx lovers) this is the kind of shop where you really need to be dedicated and give time to searching through all the racks to find that bargain or lucky designer item.  I did manage to find a foundation brush from Eco Tools, I already have one and absolutely love it so seeing another one at £3.99 instead of £6.99 made it worth venturing in.

We were pretty much done by this time, our bags were heavy and we were getting hungry so we stopped off in a local pub for some food and headed back home after that.

Now you would think this post would end here, having been out for the best part of 5hrs, but no.  I had to take back a Christmas present that I received from my parents (duplicate present) so left Dave in our local Vape shop (his fav hobby) and set off for Debenhams (our local shopping park has a good few shops including a Debenhams).  I managed to find a replacement and also some other sale goodies.  The Benefit Pucker up and Party lip set  was on sale for £13 down from £19.50.  I had been eying this one up before Christmas and was very pleased with my find. 

Marvel Wash Bag - Debenhams

Batman Suit Cover - Debenhams

Benefit Pucker up and Party - Debenhams

I also picked up a wash bag for Dave that had gone on sale, is a Marvel design reduced from £15 to £7.50.  This Batman suit cover would be the perfect replacement for his current suit cover and he does like a bit of Batman.  This was also reduced to £7.50 from £15.

I then headed over to Boots to see what they had that we didn’t see in St Albans and let me tell you, this one had way more.  I picked up:-

·      Colours by Technic Eye Collection half price down to £5

·      Soap and Glory Three Times Butter Set half price down to £4

·      A Champneys Nail Polish Collection half price down to £6

·      For Dave I found his favourite deodorant in a gift set, Old Spice Wolfthorne which contains a deodorant, aftershave and shower gel.  That was half price down to £7.50

·      Lastly I got him a L’Oreal Men Expert set which contains  a skin and stubble wash and a skin and stubble moisturiser.

Old Spice Wolfthorne Triple Set - Boots

I figured I had better leave before it got too messy and headed to the checkout and on my way home.

All in all it was a really successful day, lots of bargains to be found and it wasn’t as crazy as I thought it was going to be.  I will try and link below the items that I purchased, but some may already been sold out or not available at all online so I apologise. 

I will be reviewing most of the items I have purchased individually so look out for those posts soon.  I will also be doing a Boxing Day Sale haul vlog and also uploading the vlog of the day itself, so again look out for links to those soon.

As always thanks for reading and please feel free to comment, I would love to hear from you.

Ciao for now 

Stefy xxx