Why I'm supporting #gayisok.

It's time to change.

I'm not going to start by telling you that I support homosexuality by saying: 'because I have friends who are gay'.  Regardless to the fact that I do, I find this a feeble excuse!  It's so much more than that.  For a start, us humans have one great big thing in common, and that's Love.

For people to argue that homosexuality is un-natural baffles me.  For them to argue that it is against God's plans for humanity bewilders me.  For them to argue that homosexuality will upset the laws of nature and cause catastrophic events bemuses me, especially when such disasters are really caused by the human desire to take take take.

But all these excuses do exist.  Did you know, when Britain legalised gay marriage in 2014, it caused the floods which forced thousands of people out of their homes.   Also, homosexuality is un-natural because it goes against God's vision of one man one woman ethos.  Wait a mo, so the flooding had nothing to do with the Thames Barrier seeing a steady increase of activity since 1990(click for the link)? And can multiple marriages and divorces really count as a 'traditional' marriage?
We as a nation have moved on so far from the days of grown adults being married to twelve year old girls.  Margaret Beaufort, grandmother of Henry VIII gave birth to his father, Henry VII when she was just thirteen years old, his father was twenty four.  My point is, we have moved away from this quite shocking tradition of 600 years past.

We can point fun at the backward excuses to justify homophobia here in the UK, and although people still don't accept homosexuality as a right, we're quite privileged in the fact that it's legal here.  You can marry that person you love.
When you think about what Love is, what it means to each and every single one of us, nobody should feel ashamed or marginalised.  Consider how hard it is for a man to tell his mother that he is gay, the fear that his mother may decide that this fact is a lie or even never want to see him again, it's all wrong.  We ought to support those we love, for their love is just as important as our love.

In seventy six countries on this earth, being gay is illegal.  People can find themselves facing years in prison for holding hands of someone of the same sex in a public place. In ten of those countries  being gay could cost you your life.  If the authorities haven't placed you on trial, your fellow neighbours may stone you to death for being LGBT whilst others watch.  People won't bat an eye lid.
This is why I support #gayisok.

Go to Lush, buy the Love soap, take a selfie and share it everywhere.  Because we can, because it is our right.
Not only does this show your support, but it also raises funds for the All Out (click for the link) organisation who are moving to change laws and shifting cultural norms, as well as funding other like minded campaign groups around the world, places where people don't have the right to be who they are.
Let's do this.  For we are all only human.
You can check out my review of Love soap here.

Have you got your teeth around the Lush Toothy Tabs yet?

They have always intrigued me, the little boxes you will find sat on every Lush store counter.  Lots of different 'flavours' ranging from Atomic to the iconic Gorilla Perfume Dirty.  Luckily, my good friend Clara had told me what they were, I wasn't one of the unlucky ones like my sister Amber!  She lives in Italy and if she wasn't born in England, she'd be Italian.  So, there she was in the beautiful location of Venice, and found just over the little bridge on Str. Nuova, the Venezia Lush.  Inside she was invited to try a mint, at least thats what she thought it was.  A long chalky, bitter, slightly foaming and odd tasting two minutes followed, and smiling through tightened teeth and watering eyes she eventually swallowed the foul mouthful and thanked the assistant greatly (her British politeness still gets the best of her!).  No one told her it was to clean her teeth with, not something to be eaten.  And as much as I laughed, I can't imagine she was the only one.

I have to admit, it took me some convincing, and after about a year of 'go on, try em' from Clara, I did.  Now I am totally hooked.  My first choice couldn't have been crazier, I jumped straight into the deep end and went for Chou Chou I Love You.  I was completely mind boggled, and really questioned wether Lush had lost its mind!  I mean, we have always had the smooth, white minty fresh paste to clean our teeth with and I couldn't work out how rubbing these little brown things (of which were a lot sweeter than I'd expected) on my teeth could actually clean them!  But they did, and wow, my teeth felt cleaner than ever.  I absolutely mean that too, I'm not exaggerating.  They also felt cleaner for longer.


What you do is, put it between your teeth and chew.  It makes a bit of a foamy mess, but that foamy mess can then be applied to the rest of your teeth.  Try not to let too much get on your tongue, as at first they don't taste very pleasant.  Once you get past the the odd feel and texture, you'll get used the the different tastes, and before you know it theres no going back!

I am however, a little concerned.  I live in Wales, and our water doesn't have fluoride in, which is perhaps why I haven't given up the plastic tube of tooth paste just yet.  My seven year old Molly is begging me to let her have a try, my fear is not that she won't like them but that she will!  She's losing her baby teeth at the moment, with her big teeth slowly pushing their way through her gums and I feel the fluoride from tooth paste is important at this stage.




I asked Lush just how good toothy tabs can be for your teeth, and here is the link they replied with.  Although they're dentistry proven to clean your teeth better, and even help remove the plaque on your teeth, fluoride is not mentioned once in the video.

For now at least, I can't get rid of the plastic tooth paste tube here with two growing girls.



But for myself, I love using toothy tabs and will continue to do so.
Thank you for reading, and don't forget to check out my Toothy Tabs Review.

After my blog went live, I asked my local Lush store in Cardiff the fluoride question, here is there awesome response.

That totally deserves a massive picture!

Lush Easter Range 2015

I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts after reviewing the Lush Easter range.

Firstly, and most importantly is the beautiful but very subtle smelling soap, Somewhere Over The Rainbow.  I think this may not find much attention by customers in the stores, as it's so subtle you simply can't smell it. However, it does have an aroma, a nice one at that.
 It will take you to trust me on this one, as you won't smell a thing at Lush.  All of the beautiful aromas in there are vying for your attention, and this one has no chance. But once you get it home, when you smell the familiar scent of Neroli oils you'll be pleasantly reminded of Prince Shaving Cream. In fact, they both share similar ingredients: the soap uses Madarin Oil, Prince has Orange Tree Blossom and both share the soothing and calming ingredient of Rose, Somewhere Over The Rainbow offers Rose Absolute whereas Rose Water is used to make Prince. I totally went out on a whim on this one, and I am really glad I did. 

As you can see, there is a very unsubtle lustre glow, not quite a glitter, more like a flaking. Not sure how this will look whilst using the soap, it looks more like an add on than an ingredient all the way through. Overall, pleasantly surprised by this underdog of Lush! Here is the review.

Next up, let's recap Fluffy Egg. The only thing you need to know about this little bath bomb is that it shares its aroma with Snow Fairy! Yep, you heard me, the great iconic aroma that sends teenage girls (and me) running into there local stores to get their hands on, whatever form it comes in!  I've seen many an empty bottle followed by some very unhappy faces on Instagram, well nows your chance to top up on that wonderful sweety smell before they're all gone.  Fluffy Egg.

Just quickly, Carrot Soap. Feels like a baby, you could cwtch (cuddle in Welsh) it all day, it just has the perfect weight! And it loves you back, full of Bachu, Bergamot and Carrot oils, it doesn't just keep you clean! Carrot Soap review.

Keeping up the Carrot theme, let's not forget Bunch of Carrots.  These things are rock solid, you just hold them under the water flow, slowly watching the bubbles grow, as well as the tone subtly turning your bath orange.  This bubble bar shares its aroma with the Carrot soap, as well as the Christmas Snowman shower jelly. What I love the most is how long they last! They just keep on going, reckon you'd get ten or more baths out of these.  Bunch of Carrots review.

Back to the eggs, there's Immaculate Eggception. A great play on words regarding the Virgin Mary and the conception of Baby Jesus!  Anyway, make sure you get three baths out of this bath bomb. If you chuck it all in, you'll miss the wee surprise inside.  Comes in two colours, pink or yellow, and has an agreeable citrusy aroma. Quite an intense one, fizzes all over the bath before leaving the colour you chose.  Immaculate Eggception review.

Oh and Golden Egg. This is a bath bomb with a twist, it's also a bath melt.  Now if you like the Honey I washed products, this is for you. It has that familiar caramel/honey/sticky toffee smell that you'll just love.  Leaves your skin feeling awesomely smooth thanks to the butter like melting. Oh and the glitter, gorgeous gold glitter to leave you feeling like royalty.  Golden Egg.

Next up, Pot O' Gold shower jelly.  Really wibbly wobbly and still a novelty to use, just rub it on.  I would suggest you don't chop it up as no matter how hard you try you will drop it! Shares the aroma with the old Creme Anglaise body lotion, a bit like a Creme Brûlée. The lads seem to love this, leaving more comments than the ladies on my review. Pot O' Gold.

Mustn't forget Hoppity Poppity. This is the more herbal, bath bomb version of Ultraviolet, which was part of the Mother's Day range here in the UK.  The violet aroma is just beautiful, joined with herbal scents of lavender, this is a real little treat. Hoppity Poppity  

Anyway, that's enough from me, just wanted to put all the reviews of the Easter range in one place. Thank you. 

Lush Cardiff Easter Bloggers Event

For all of my reviews you can subscribe to my youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/hmcosmeticsreviews?sub_confirmation=1

For me, Monday is the hardest day of the week.  Not only is it the first day to set the alarm, it's also the first day I have to turf my two little girls out of their beds and hurry them off to school.  Getting myself dressed and teeth cleaned is hard enough, let alone sorting them out too.

But last Monday had a little charm to it.  I was invited to the blogger event of the year!

 Lush Cardiff Easter Bloggers Event

So arrival time was seven pm.  I thought I'd be fashionably late but managed to arrive early on a wet and windy night, so I hid in the shop opposite till the doors were finally swung open by a friendly and greeting face. This is Gemma.  I believe she is manager of the store, always kind and polite, and is always incredibly busy.
Tonight is Lauren's, the social media guru at Lush Cardiff, time to shine, herself behind the camera catching the bloggers doing their stuff.

And then the fun begins, we are invited to an easter egg hunt, to enjoy some refreshment of which included chocolate eggs, always a win, and to have a good look at all the products in the store.

I was instantly drawn to the colourful display of the Immaculate Eggception!  At £6.95, this bath bomb may seem very expensive.  But this one isn't designed to be used all at once, you have to crack it open to reveal a surprise inside, and this way get three baths out of it.  You can see my review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCGqQA7ngeg



We did a little demo of Mother Superior bubble bar with Sarah, another wonderful Lush Cardiff member of staff, for my youtube channel. If you watch closely, you will see Meg at the end trying to decide if it's a good idea to come through the door or not, we all had a good giggle after the camera stopped rolling!

I also managed to get a good whiff of the new Death and Decay Gorilla Perfume.  Now, I must admit it does not smell quite as I imagined it would.  I am a florist and I really thought it would smell exactly like the fresh lilies I work with all the time.  But it doesn't.  After getting round that initial disappointment, I have to say it is still an extraordinary aroma.  I like it, yet I don't all at the same time. I think the name lends itself to the love/hate relationship.



Got myself a look (and a small piece of) the Somewhere Over The Rainbow soap!  It looks absolutely beautiful, but I have to say doesn't smell all that strong in the shop.  With all the powerful
aromas you find at Lush, this one is just too subtle to stand out.  I have brought a piece home to give a review of, and it sure does have an aroma!  Watch out for the video.

Check out my groovy footage of the new Pot O' Gold shower jelly.  With the help from staff member Meg, we dropped it from a height and filmed it in slow mo. The affect is great, and resembles my tummy when I attempt to run for the train! XD  If you want to know more about the product itself, follow the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umB-FTkJLR8








Here I am introducing you to Carrot Soap.  This is staff member Rhi's baby, and she fully intends to buy a whole carrot before the easter range comes to an end.  I have filmed a review of this
product with Sarah, so please look out for the video in the coming weeks.  I can say though, it shares its aroma with the Bunch of Carrots bubble bar as well as the  Christmas Snowman Shower Jelly.

The Easter range consists of Fluffy Egg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b544tgqdD0I , Pot O' Gold, Immaculate Eggception, Golden Egg, Carrot Soap, Somewhere Over The Rainbow Soap, Bunch of Carrots, and Hoppity Poppity, all of which I hope to bring yo reviews of, so keep an eye out.

Finally, it seems only fair that I say a great big thank you to Meg, Rhi, Sheelagh, Hope, Gemma, Lauren, Eve, and Sarah, the Lush Cardiff team present at the event.

 Thank you for all your patience and great advice.  And a thank you to all the girls who help me when I pop into the store to buy my reviewing items, Sian and Anna most recently but all of the staff.  You girls are Lush encyclopaedias to me!  Ever helpful and always gracious, taking the time to help and answer my questions.   
                                                            Thank you Lush Cardiff.

Lush Fluffy Egg

Scroll down for video.


Hello there, and welcome to my review of Lush's Fluffy Egg bath bomb.


There are already quite a few reviews of this product already out there, so I wanted to do something a little different: I thought I would ask my two little girls what they think of Fluffy Egg.  I bought it for them so it just seemed like the right thing to do!

Molly recognised it's aroma straight away!

But Annabelle thought it smelt of the Snow Tooth Fairy!
And as you probably have guessed by now, Fluffy Egg shares its aroma with Lush's iconic fragrance that is Snow Fairy.  Here is our review:

The bomb gives an intense fizz, spread out and around the bath with a spectacular pink mist. 

Very sweet, like candy, this type of fragrance is not my favourite (I prefer the likes of Twilight and Ultraviolet) but the girls really enjoyed it.  After Father Christmas brought them a bottle each of Snow Fairy shower gel, perhaps the Easter Bunny will bring them a Fluffy Egg.