Lush - Ultimate Shine Shampoo Bar Review

I've been meaning to post this for a loongg time, so I'm finally making myself do it! If you have been following my blog for a while you will now that this is my third shampoo bar. I have a review for Jumping Juniper if you click here, and a review for Karma Komba if you click here. I really wasn't sure which bar to go for next, so after a look at the website and seeing that this was one of their most popular, I decided to go for it.

It's quite a nice looking shampoo bar, it's white with little flecks of glitter in it (which you can see if you look closely at the photograph). I also love the scent, it's very refreshing and has a bit of citrus to it.

If you haven't used one of these shampoo bars before, they're super easy! Just use it like a bar of soap and rub it into your head. I usually give a rub or two at the top, the back, and above both my ears. You think you haven't used enough until you start to massage it into your head and there is loads of lather so don't be fooled! Then simply rinse it out as you would any other shampoo.

Did it work? Yes it did. I am a huge fan of the shampoo bars and sing their praises to anyone who listens. They last around 3 months, and do a really good job. This one gives a good wash of my hair, making it feel squeaky clean. However, I'm not too sure if my hair looks extra shiny? It looks pretty normal to me so I don't think that part of it is working, but everything else is!

Pros :

• Inexpensive at only £5.25 (although it was £5 when I purchased mine)
• Lasts approximately 3 months, which is why the price is so good.
• Equivalent to 3 x 200ml bottles
• Lightweight, perfect for travelling
• Lovely scent
• Leaves a lovely clean, feeling

Cons :

• I don't think it made me hair any more shiny than it already is.

Overall yes, I liked this product. Would I purchase it again? No, probably not. I have absolutely nothing against this product, but I love the other two I've used so much because they have such gorgeous scents, that this one just comes behind them.

Have you used the Lush solid shampoo bars before? If so, what's your favourite? I'm always looking for which one I should purchase next!

10 Day "You" Challenge - Day 10

Dundundundunnn! I've finally reached the end of the 10 day "you" challenge, successfully putting up a post each day so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. Today's challenge was 'one picture of yourself' so I decided to post a photograph of an OOTD I posted on Instagram of what I wore to Tennents Vital last week.

Just in case anyone is interested...

Leather jacket - MuuBaa

Dress - Pacsun

Tshirt (just seen) - H&M

Boots - eBay

Satchel - eBay

Grey Socks - Primark

This is one of the most recent photographs taken of me so I thought I would post this one for that reason.

I just want to thank everyone who has been following my posts and leaving little comments :) I'm off work tomorrow so I'm going to type up some reviews that I've been promising for ages, and I promise I'll actually put them up this time!

10 Day "You" Challenge - Day 9

Almost at the end of my 10 day "you" challenge, and I'm glad I've actually stuck to it, fingers crossed tomorrow's post goes up on time too! Today's challenge is two songs, and I'm not too sure how to approach this. My favourite songs change a lot so this is quite difficult for me...

Song 1 - Muse - Knights of Cydonia. I'm choosing this song because whenever I heard it live, and every time I've listened to it after that, it gives me shivers. It's not one of my favourite Muse songs, I do love it, but it's not my favourite, it's just one of my most memorable songs concert wise, and I love to listen to it for this reason. I need to see them again!

Song 2 - Radiohead - Videotape. The reason I'm choosing this is completely and utterly depressing, but if I die this is the song I want played at my funeral. Make note! I absolutely love Radiohead, and my favourite songs include High & Dry, Karma Police, Creep and Street Spirit. I am aware these are all part of their most popular songs, but these are my favourites!

These are two random choices that I've made because I can't choose my two favourite songs as they're ever changing. Currently I can't stop listening to Taylor Swift's We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. As you can see I have quite a varied music taste!

I want to thank everyone for your movie suggestions yesterday, and would like to know of any song suggestions from you now!

10 Day "You" Challenge - Day 8

This is probably going to be the most difficult one out of them all. I have so many favourite films that it's impossible for me to pick just three but I'll try very hard. The first two have been favourites for a longgg time, the third is one I've picked randomly out of my 'new' (from the past year) favourites. It's too hard to choose!

Film 1 - Anchorman. A film full of the best one liners, and I'm so excited for the second film, and I really hope I'm not going to be disappointed. So many actors in this film that I absolutely love, Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate...Brick is most definitely my favourite.

Film 2 - Stepbrothers. Another Will Ferrell movie, in case you can't tell, he's one of my favourite actors! I don't even need to know what the film is about, if he's in it, I'll watch it. I think my favourite line from this film is "I won't call him dad...not even if there's a fire". I highly recommend everyone to watch this film if you haven't already seen it.

Film 3 - 21 Jump Street. I've chosen this out of a rather large selection of films and this one is staring me right in the face from my bookcase. One of the films to most recently make me laugh a lot, definitely one of the best films I've seen this year, comedy wise. Jonah Hill is another one of my favourites, because he reminds me of a young Seth Rogen, who I also love.

This was so hard to narrow down so I'm just going to throw in a few extra ones that I love, just for anyone who's looking for something good to watch! Horrible Bosses, Bridesmaids, Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Sitter, to name a few. In case you can't tell, comedy is my favourite genre. If anyone knows of any films that would suit my taste, please comment below!

10 Day "You" Challenge - Day 7

Day 7 of the 10 day "you" challenge, and today's challenge is 'four books'. I like to read, but I'm not going to pick out some fancy, unheard of books that I liked, but didn't love so much that I read them over again, so the books I'm going to choose are pretty popular, but I loved them!

Book 1 - Harry Potter, the whole series. I could just pick one from the series if I wanted to (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) but I'm not, I'm going to choose them all! These are, and always will be, my favourite book series. I have read them all so many times, especially the first three. When we were in school, my friend and I (Sarah Burch, Hi if you're reading this!) used to quiz each other on the books to see how much we knew.

Book 2 - Twilight, the series. Another series again, these really are my favourite type of books because it doesn't finish after just one book. I got absolutely hooked on this series and read them so fast, and I still love them!

Book 3 - The Hunger Games, a series again! I could pick a favourite book in this series too, Catching Fire, but I'll just go with the series again because they all go together. This has quite recently made it's way into my favourite books, and although I read them quite recently, I'd happily read them again right now.

Book 4 - Memoirs of a Geisha, the only one not a series. I loved this book so much and I've read it multiple times as well. I watched the movie first, and then read the book after, and as much as I loved the film, the book was so much better and I absolutely adored it.

10 Day "You" Challenge - Day 6

Today's challenge is 'five foods' which really shouldn't be too hard for me as I love food! I definitely have more of a sweet tooth than anything else. Once again, in no particular order...

Food one - cupcakes, an obvious one! Above are lemon butterfly buns I made a few months ago, I absolutely love lemon. I really enjoy making cupcakes whenever I have the time, or whenever there's a birthday coming up or I'm having people over for Christmas or other events. I also buy them anywhere else I see them when I'm out too.

Food two - ice cream. I absolutely adore ice cream. My favourite store bought one is Ben & Jerry's Baked Alaska. Whenever I'm out, I think my favourite is Nutella Bear from Mauds, or else any form of caramel flavour, which is weird because I'm not too fond of caramel in general. The photo that goes with this one is from a place called Morelli's in Portstewart and there is so many flavours to choose from. I ended up choosing Parma Violets which I've never seen before, and Pink Panther.

Food three - chocolate. I don't understand people who say they don't like chocolate because I can't live without it! I think I eat a bit of chocolate every single day. I gave it up for Lent this year (above is the collection I aquired during my time off) and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done, you don't realise just how much chocolate there is in everything. It was so hard for me to pick an ice cream flavour whenever I went to buy any because a lot have little flecks of chocolate in them!

Food four - pizza. Despite the fact that pizza is one of my favourite foods, I'm actually pretty boring with it and only ever get a plain margherita. Not that this bothers me as I absolutely love it and I never have to even look at the menu anytime I go anywhere. I wish we had a California Pizza Kitchen because their pizzas are amazing and it's been my favourite pizza place so far!

Food five - pasta, the ultimate comfort food. Italian food is my favourite, and I love whenever I go out for a meal and there's pasta on the menu, especially one with a creamy sauce. Chiquitos do a lovely dish called Mac 'n' Jack which is plain macaroni cheese but with broken nachos on top and tomatos. At home I love to get a filled pasta and have a sauce over it, or else just use plain pasta, grate some cheese, and throw in some salt and pepper. So easy, and so good!

All photos above where taken by myself and can be found on my Instagram page by clicking here. You can follow me on Melissa___j

10 Day "You" Challenge - Day 5

I can't believe it's day 5 of this already, halfway through and I haven't missed a day (yet), go me!

Today's category is 'six places' so I will be choosing six places that I want to visit for this.

Place one - New york. I have always wanted to go here so much. I've very briefly been in it, for an hour, during a connecting flight on the way to San Diego. It doesn't really count since I didn't get to see much, but I just wanted to say I'd been! I've been in Newark airport 3 times but it's not the same :(

Place two - Manhattan beach, Los Angeles. I really wanted to go here when we were in LA but we didn't have anywhere near enough time. I've seen photos and the beach looks so beautiful, and it's also where the OC was filmed so that's a bonus for me.

Place three - Tokyo. Another place I've always wanted to go. I just love the street fashion there and all the candy, which I've ordered a few times online from www.CyberCandy.co.uk and its made me want to go even more. Someday!

Place four - Hong Kong. This is quite a recent want for me. I've always thought I would like to go, but recently I've been wanting to more and more. I'm blaming it on blogging, because I keep seeing people get lots of good make up products for super cheap.

Place five - Russia. I can't actually say where abouts in Russia I want to go, because I don't actually know...I generally want to go to Russia just to say I've been because I think it would be an interesting experience. I'd also really like to be able to learn Russian.

Place six - Italy. Again, I'm not naming exactly where I want to go in Italy because I want to visit it all. I can't pick a specific place because there's just so much I want to see in Rome, Pisa, Verona. Also, the food is right up my street, bread, pizza, pasta, ice cream, all my favourites!

There's so many places I'd love to visit so it's hard for me to write a list. I'd like to visit every state in the US, but the top two are the ones I want to go to most. I'd also like to go to other places in Europe like Holland, Greece, Berlin, Portugal... and a few others. This is a hard one for me to narrow down!

10 Day "You" Challenge - Day 4

Today's challenge is 'Seven Wants' which to be honest, isn't really a challenge for me and I'm going to get a lot of enjoyment out of writing about this. I'm going to be very materialistic about this, and this is going to be one of the only posts in this series which is actually going to relate to my blog and be about beauty/fashion items. If this doesn't interest you, then look away now!

First Want - Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 in Damier canvas. I'm putting this as my first want as I've actually been wanting this for about 3 years now, and I'm really determined to own one as soon as I can. I deliberated for months on which canvas I wanted and finally settled on this.

Second Want - Superdry Ramona Leather Jacket. Again, something I've been wanting for absolutely ages. I tried this on months ago and it was one of those moments where you know it was just made for you. It fitted me perfectly and if I'd had the money I probably would have bought it there and then.

Third Want - Marc by Marc Jacobs Petal to the Metal Natasha handbag. Another handbag I've been lusting after this year. I quite nearly bought this last month when it was on sale in Cruise, but had to stop myself when I knew that I'd leave myself with no money for the rest of the month. I still can't decide if this was a good thing or not.

Fourth Want - Dot by Marc Jacobs perfume. This was quite recently released and I sprayed some on to a little sample card and carried it around with me last time I was in Belfast and I love this scent. I may have to make a purchase next time there's a 10% sale in Debenhams...

Fifth Want - Naked 2 Palette by Urban Decay. I've wanted to buy this ever since I fell in love with the original Naked palette. It was a hard decision to make deciding which one I wanted to buy first and I think it's about time I purchased the second.

Sixth Want - Office Daytime ankle boots. I've been looking at these the past few times I've been in Office. I really want to get a new pair of ankle boots for coming into Autumn/Winter and I think these look perfect. However, I still refuse to give up on the fact that Summer is nearly over, especially since this country hasn't really had one.

Seventh Want - London day trip. This really should be further up the list, but since it isn't fashion or beauty related, I decided to add it in at the end. Recently I've been really wanting to visit London and I'm not quite sure why. When the price is right...

I hope everyone enjoyed today's posts. These are my 'realistic' wants, which I strongly believe I'll get at some point in the hopefully near future.

10 Day "You" Challenge - Day 3

Time for day 3 of the "you" challenge, and today's category is eight fears.

Fear 1 - heights, most definitely. This is a weird one for me. I am terrified of heights, in a way in which it makes me feel dizzy and that I'll fall over if I go too close to the edge of something. I always get scared I'm going to get this sudden urge to just jump over the barrier, or that it's going to disappear and I'll fall over. I'm terrified, but for some reason I love rollercoasters? Strange.

Fear 2 - spiders, horrible creatures. I hate, hate, hate spiders, with a passion. I can't stand to be in the same room as one, and I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if there was one in my bedroom. I have a glass sitting in my room beside the door that's only purpose to catch one should it decide to pay a visit. I feel bad, but I'm then too scared to release them because I'm convinced it's going to escape from the glass and crawl up my arm. I'll leave it between a glass and magazine and drag it out into the bathroom.

Fear 3 - scary movies, not for me. I refuse to watch any film which is even remotely scary. My friend once made me go to see the Amityville Horror in the cinema whenever the recent version came out. To this day I'm still afraid to be awake at 3:15am.

Fear 4 - ghost trains/walks, in connection with the above. Whenever I went to Universal Studios in California in November, the first 'ride' we came across was House of Horrors. Having not really looked in this, and thinking because a lot of kids visited this park, I didn't think it would be scary. Worst. Idea. Ever. I ended up nearly ripping the arm off my boyfriends jacket I was that terrified because I hate anything jumping out at me or coming close to me.

Fear 5 - early morning walks, in the dark. I hate starting work at 6am. The walk down to work is one of the most terrifying experiences and I detest it. If I ever just disappear and you hear of a girl from Belfast getting kidnapped in the early hours of the morning, you heard it here first!

Fear 6 - people dying, but not me. I'm not afraid of death when it comes to myself, it's not something I ever really think about to actually be scared. However, a fear of mine is that everyone else will die before me, and I'll be without the ones I care about. I couldn't imagine ever being without my family.

Fear 7 - failure, an obvious one. I think most people are afraid of failure so I'm just going to throw that in there. I don't want to feel like I've failed at life, I want to do well and have a good job which I feel happy in.

Fear 8 - dropping my iPhone down the toilet, depressing. I thought I'd end on a light hearted fear because everything above is much too serious. I'm actually terrified that this is going to happen to me since it's happened to other people I know. I love my iPhone and it has told me it doesn't want to drown.

Decided not to add any photographs into this post because I'm talking about my fears, and these aren't exactly things I want to look at, nevermind read about! I'm sorry if this ruins it for you and makes it harder/more boring to read. 

10 Day "You" Challenge - Day 2

Time for day 2 of the 10 Day "You" Challenge!

Todays category of the challenge is nine loves so here are mine below in no particular order :

- America! Anyone who knows me will know I absolutely love America and everything about it. I was clearly American in a past life, or was born into the wrong continent.

- concerts, and I say this because I've been to two concerts in the past few days. I saw Paramore and You Me At Six on Sunday night, and I'm seeing Foo Fighters and The Black Keys tonight. I don't normally go to them so close together but I do love a good concert!

- movies, this is probably going to make it's way into all of my tags, but I love films! That's what my degree was in and I have an ever expanding collection. My favourite genre is comedy and always will be, and I love my Christmas movies! I can never choose a favourite film in particular but my favourites include Stepbrothers, Anchorman, I love you, man, The 40 Year Old Virgin, 21 Jump Street, The Sitter, Horrible Bosses, Bridesmaids, The Hangover.

- baking, I do enjoy a bit of baking now. I usually end up eating more of the mix than the actual result, but I just need to make sure it tastes okay ;) Cupcakes are my favourite thing to make, and I love trying out new recipes.

- photography, apparently I take photographs of everything. This is very true. I like to take photographs of random things, in partciular the food that I'm eating. You can follow me on Instagram, I have a link at the top of the page or my username is Melissa___j

- handbags, I love handbags. These are my favourite thing fashion wise. I just love going window shopping for them and thinking about how one day I'll have an amazing job and be able to buy all the handbags I want. I'm still determined to own the Louis Vuitton I've been wanting for about 2 years now in the near future.

-family and friends, of course. These really shouldn't be so far down here, but this is in no particular order! I wouldn't be anywhere without them and they're the most important part of my life.

- Marmie, my lovely cat. I absolutely love this cat, and if you do follow me on Instagram, that's very clear! He actually takes up the majority of the app, and my photo space on my iPhone. He's crazy and does so many silly things and I could just watch him all day.

- YouTube, I spend too much time on here. I feel like I need to go on everyday and keep on top of my daily videos. I have to admit that recently I've fallen really behind on this, but I've just been too tired at night to really go online! I love all my beauty gurus, but also JennaMarbles and EpicMealTime, even got myself a wee tshirt last time I was away!

I hope some of you also do this tag if you haven't started it already. It's always interesting to see what other people are interested in. I'm obviously interested in make up, but I decided not to include this and let you all know a bit more about me.

All photographs above were taken by me, and were taken from my instagram page.

10 Day "You" Challenge!

I've read two people today start this challenge so of course I wanted to join in, I love little tags like this! 

I'll try my very best to post these every day, and if not every day, every other day! Without further ado we'll do todays which is ten secrets.

Secret 1 : I like to collect things, DVDs, magazines, Victoria's Secret sprays...anything! I then like to keep them in order. My DVDs are obviously in alphabetical order, but also have a Christmas section, and an anime section. My magazines are in date order.

Secret 2 : I have to put loads of lipbalm on before I go to bed, and hand cream, or else I feel like I can't settle.

Secret 3 : I have to feel like a glass is clean before I can use it. I'll put it under the water and wash it out and then shake it clean until I feel like it's okay to use. I don't like to dry them because I feel like it makes it dirty again. I'm such a wierdo!

Secret 4 : I very rarely buy anything skincare related, or an expensive beauty product without doing a lot of research on it first to see what other people think.

Secret 5 : I've still only read 2 books of my Summer reading list and it's the 20th August...

Secret 6 : No one is allowed to watch any of my DVDs that are still in the plastic until I've watched them first because I like to open the wrapping.

Secret 7 : I'm convinced that anyone I see out early in the morning when I'm walking to work is out to get me, and if theres more than one person (when they aren't together), that they secretly are together and have some sort of plan to capture me. Walking your dog at 6am is not acceptable.

Secret 8 : If I ever check my bank balance online and I've been on my laptop for a while (or even just for 5 minutes), I have to close down all the tabs and internet pages, load a new one to go on and check, then close it down when I'm done, and open a new one to go on to my next website.

Secret 9 : Getting parcels and post is one of my favourite things, even if it's just something stupid and not important.

Secret 10 : I have to prepare myself to make phonecalls to people I don't ring often because I hate them that much and get scared that something unexpected is going to happen and I won't know how to answer it. I'd rather walk down to the hairdressers and make an appointment than actually ring because I feel like I'm more prepared in person.

I almost feel like I shouldn't publish this because it actually me sound like a complete and utter nut with some of the things I said! I actually do the strangest of things and have the weirdest of habits.

I tag everyone to do this!

Real Techniques - Stippling Brush

I posted last week sometime asking for some advice on which foundation brush I should get and I had a few replies saying I should try one from the Real Techniques range, in particular the Stippling Brush. I had a quick look online to see if I would have to order it, or if there were any stores that sold them. It said that Boots was a stockist and since there's quite a large one in Belfast I decided to try it.

At £11.99, this was less than half the price of the MAC brush I had been considering buying. Considering the price, I wasn't expecting too much from it, but thought I would give it a try anyway.

I use this to apply my MAC Pro Longwear Concealer as I had heard it was good for applying concealer. I put one pump on to the back of my hand and tapped the brush into it. I then applied it to my face in a swirling motion. I was surprised straight away at how well it went on to my skin, because it was actually perfect. It gave me amazing coverage straight away and quite a natural look. I'm not really one for using brushes when it comes to applying foundation/concealer so I can't believe how well it worked, and I'm so pleased that I tried it because I fell in love straight away and won't be able to go back. The only downside that I can see is that when applying without a brush, I only needed one pump of product to get pretty good coverage. If I want to achieve the same coverage, I need two pumps, but one is still adequate, so this isn't really a problem!

I highly recommend everyone to try this if you're looking for a new brush, and I thank Jessica and Ellie for recommending this brand to me!