EOS Lip Balm (x4) Review

EOS Lip Balms

Pictured: Blueberry Acai, Strawberry Sorbet, Summer Fruit and Pomegranate Raspberry

These little rolly pollys are the best lip gloss I have ever used! I'm an absolute sucker for EOS lip balms and here is why...

  

One thing I hate about lip balms is the oily and or shiny feeling and effect they have. Generally speaking, the reason I use lip balm is to add a burst of moisture to my lips. These achieve that while avoiding the oily/shiny effects. Really great for when your lips have been exposed to the conditions, especially the wind. They are also 100% natural and 95% organic (it seems that these stats differ/change depending what marketing you look at). 

As shown above, I have a few of the different flavours/scents. The first Blueberry Acai doesn't necessarily smell like blueberries, but it is sweet and pleasant! It's almost a dull sour candy smell. The Strawberry Sorbet balm is SUPER sweet, and you can definitely smell strawberries, but just muted slightly, like that of a sorbet (name makes sense). The third, Summer Fruit, smells exactly like a mix of nectarines and apricots, and because of this is my favourite! The fourth and final the Pomegranate and Raspberry isn't as sweet as the others, but I can pick out the raspberry scent.

All flavours/scents are delicious and almost irresistible, which is why I suggest keeping them in places your dog can not get them!!! I first heard about EOS when my sister mentioned that our dog had chewed hers up when she left it on the coffee table one afternoon. Since then, I have seen little Poppy sniffing at my lip balm that I had left on the bench. Although I doubt the balm it's self could hurt your canine friend, the plastic they would have to chew and munch on to get at it would! UPDATE: Our dog absolutely destroyed my blueberry balm :( She is generally well behaved, however, she dug through one of my bags that was full of clothes and cosmetics, pulled out my lip balm, opened it and ate all of the balm minus a little bit she couldn't get to. She's lucky she's cute and I was kinda impressed that she got it open. She had a grumbly tummy for a few hours after wards but nothing else came of it.

I use these as a lip treatment as well as a base for lip colour.

I got all of mine for between $4-$5 each, however on popular sale sites in NZ I have seen them being sold for $9-$12. I wouldn't say they are overly common (haven't seen them in pharmacies or other chain stores), so this may explain why they are sold at such a high price. 

One downfall of the product is the shape! Although they do look cute, they can be a right hassle. Even as I'm typing this I have had lip balms rolling all over the place. I often find them under beds, desks and tables as they try to escape from their intended use. They can also be awkward when placed in jean pockets...

To anyone looking to buy these online, make sure your site is reputable (if you have chosen to purchase them from a site other than that of EOS)! In my search for them I discovered there is a market for fake EOS lip balms that are definitely not natural. 

Also note that these products also have a best before/expiry date (can't remember which one), so buy with that in mind!

You can go to the webpage here:

http://evolutionofsmooth.com/

They also sell shaving cream and hand lotion.

In conclusion...

 Love the product for both it's intended purpose and the differences between it and other lip balm products.

LUSH Limited Edition Items: Mid-Winter Christmas

LUSH Limited Edition Items: Mid-Winter Christmas
(Updated 11/10/2015)

So, for those of you who don't know, it is currently winter here in New Zealand! So instead of a white Christmas, we have sunshine and barbeques. This means that a lot of the snow themed products LUSH release at Christmas doesn't really make sense. So they do an awesome thing where they release a handful of the limited edition Christmas items in New Zealand's winter. 

UPDATE: LUSH has released their Christmas collection for this year so please head over to https://www.lushnz.com/shop/product/category/path/1052/christmas for all the products and stay tuned for a few more blogs that will be reviewing other Lush items (:

This is my first post on LUSH, but trust me, it wont be my last... I got introduced to LUSH products last Christmas and have been in love with them ever since. So, I thought I would do a post about six of the items currently for sale, so people who haven't tried them can see what they're like. 

LUSH products are usually reasonably expensive and I definitely understand how they might not fit the 'budget' side of this blog. But, these products have so much to give! For those of you who haven't heard of LUSH before, I urge you to have a read of their website about their ethics, or sit back, relax and watch a few of their youtube videos.

I've been lucky enough to be gifted a lot of my LUSH products, and each and everyone serves as a chance for me to relax a little and feel absolutely spoilt.

Please note: I have no idea when these items will no longer be available.

Also, on the LUSH US Facebook Page, they made a post about how some items have been discontinued, no news if this applies to the NZ/AUS supplier.

Now, time for the products...

 Snow Fairy Shower Gel

"Candyfloss pink and with a sweet, magical scent of soothing and comforting vanilla, the flecks of blue glitter leave you shimmering.  Wash your hair and body with this sparkling seasonal must-have."

I absolutely LOVE this product. I only had a taster of this and I fell in love! Super sweet, makes you smell amazing. Also cleans really well, which is important in a shower gel. Haven't/probably wont use this to wash my hair, but highly recommend it if you love sweet scents. (Only being sold in 250mL and 500mL bottles at the moment but is sold in 100mL bottles at Christmas). I find you only need the smallest amount! Like the size of your thumbnail. (Please note, I have small thumbs as well).

Candy Mountain Bubble Bar

"The candy scent wafting through the steam includes Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute, wrapping you in a comforting embrace. If you like the fragrance of our Rock Star soap and Creamy Candy bubble bar, you’re in for a treat."

For those of you not familiar with a bubble bar, you simply crush/break the bar apart under running water and eventually your bath will be filled with gorgeous smelling bubbles. This is a creamy bath bar that is very similar to the rock star soap.  It's sweet like snow fairy, but not quite on the same level. I would only use 1/2 of 1/3 of this at a time.

Luxury Lush Pud

"For a soothing and calming bath, Lush Pud has gone all luxury with colourful polka dots that float to the surface making pastel islands in the water. A relaxing bath treat made with the comforting lavender and ylang ylang scent of Twilight, perfect for a bath before bedtime."

This is such a pretty bath bomb that leaves your bath in a technicoloured  state. Now to describe the scent. I liken in to the imaculate eggception (yellow) bath bomb (sold by LUSH at Easter), as I think they both have a fake caramel  smell. To the best of my knowledge I had a caramel scented gel pen when I was younger and it smells exactly like it! A super relaxing and powerful scent. I would use 1/2 of this at a time.

Baked Alaska Snowball Soap

"The Baked Alaska soap has unique shape, which appears as a snowball and inside you will find small snowballs smelling of fresh and uplifting Organic Lemon Myrtle, stress relieving Ylang Ylang Oil and Grapefruit, which is refreshing and toning for the skin."

You can definitely smell the lemon! Kind of smells similar to the dragons egg bath bomb. The lemon/sweet lemonade smell is really nice, and the soap itself is quite creamy.

Rose Jam Shower Gel

"Inspired by our love for roses and the benefits of nourishing Argan Oil, this shower gel is as decadent as it gets! Skin brightening Goji Berry Juice and Sicilian Lemon give your skin a boost, while Rose Oil and Rose Absolute leave it soothed, softened and beautifully fragranced. A luxuroius way to start each day."

Again, another scent I love! I really love the rose scent from LUSH. It's used in a few other products like the Ro's Argan Body Conditioner, and it's just gorgeous! It's kind of old lady but it's a long lasting scent that I generally use at night to to put me in a calm state. Please excuse the beat up bottle, we've been through a lot together. Again, I only need a tiny amount to get a good later up!

Golden Wonder Bathbomb

"Drop this gold dusted gift into a warm bath and watch in wonder as golden stars burst out, dissolving in the water before your very eyes, turning the bath water a vibrant blue. The champagne-like fragrance of sweet orange oil, cognac oil and lime oil will uplift your spirits."

So much lustre/glitter. A really messy bathbomb, but it makes the prettiest baths. The gold lustre is altered by a surprise on the inside :) Not so sure if I love the scent but I definitely get the orange.

In conclusion...

All awesome products! I've got a lot of time for LUSH and they really deliver. Would recommend the Snow Fairy Shower Gel and Luxury Lush Pud the most. Again, limited edition items - not sure when the sale will end.Update: Mid-winter Christmas sale has finished, but normal Christmas sale has started!

 

O.P.I: Turn up the Juice! (Skin Quenchers for Hands and Body)

O.P.I: Turn Up The Juice; Avojuice Skin Quencher Flavor Pack

Flavours/Scents: Jasmine, Coconut Melon, Mango, Cran & Berry, Violet Orchid, Apple Pie Spice

Each 30mL

Bought this delicious pack a few weeks ago for $10. (Please note: I have seen the same set being sold for up to $25, and there are a number of sets with different smells). Had a good idea of the benefits the product offers as have used O.P.I's avojuice products in the past. Overall, love the product! The products are moisturizing and have really helped me avoid dry hands - dry hands is a problem for me (leads to cracks and super itchiness). I do find them a tad oily, but this usually dries up relatively quickly. Also, the 30mL bottles are the perfect size for chucking in your pocket, bag or car for moisture on the go. They fit perfectly in the chest pocket of my bush jacket, so now they even come on the farm with me!

In the past I've been really useless at using hand creams on a regular basis, but with these, I love the smell of them so I want to always have the smell of at least one of them lingering around me.

I don't usually paint my nails as I find that my lifestyle usually means they chip really easily, but I applied some lotion to my nails and surrounding skin before and after I painted them for an event and it made my cuticles and those little bits of skin that stick out on the side of the nail so much softer and easier to deal with.

 Now, on to the individual products and scents. 

Mango

If you remember sipping a chilled orange and mango cool change at primary school, this is for you. Smells exactly like the juice of my childhood! They named it mango for a good reason. A sweet yet crisp smell.

Jasmine

A very perfume esk scent. For some reason the first thing that came to mind when I smelt it was my boyfriends cologne which is Homme by Joop. A smooth floral scent. Still quit sweet.

Violet Orchid

I'm not too familiar with the orchid scent, but this is extremely pleasant! I feel that it could be passed of as a blueberry or grape (or a mix of the two) scent. Not as sweet as the previous too lotions. However, quite smooth like the jasmine.

Cran & Berry

Surprisingly a good mix of the two scents. Originally I thought the other berries over powered the cranberry, but there is a somewhat sour scent in there. Sweetness would be on the same level as the mango lotion.

Coconut and Melon

So far I have used this lotion the most (while I have been back at university) as it's the least confronting scent of the lot. The coconut is definitely there, but not so much the melon. Doesn't have the sharp smells like that of the mango and cran & berry lotions. It kind of just drifts into nose. 

Apple Pie Spice

Smells exactly like an apple pie! I'm not sure how dramatically apple pie recipes change from country to country, but when I think of a NZ apple pie, this is what I get. Red apples, cinnamon and brown sugar. This one is quite full on and an almost odd scent for body lotion, so only really use it when I'll be around home for most of/all the day.

In conclusion...

I love this product. Seeing as I only use around half a pea each time I apply it, I'm expecting the collection to last a long time. If you can get it cheap like I did, I would definitely buy again, but maybe not at the $25 price range.  

It would be an awesome gift instead of just giving someone a single product they may not like. You can find 200mL versions of most of these as well. I know you can buy the avojuice range at Farmers, but I have struggled to find any other stockists. 

Welcome!

Kia ora and welcome to my blog!

Being a cheap/broke university student, I've learned how to use my money effectively. I've always enjoyed using beauty products because they a) smell nice or b) are gorgeous!

I've tried a range of products and brands in my 20 years on this amazing earth, so I thought I would share my opinion, thoughts and experiences of any beauty products or businesses/groups that pop up.

I'm a huge believer in researching before you buy (especially when buying online or buying 'expensive' products), so I hope I will be able to provide you with an honest opinion of a range of products. 

Now, a little bit about me just to put things in context...

• I'm a farm kid.
• I'm in my final year/semester of study (Environmental Management and Planning).
• Currently, I'm the big 2 0.
• I love the outdoors + outdoor activities.
• Sport has been my life. 

So yea, cool?
I hope you enjoy reading my blog and it helps you in some of your choices!
Feel free to message me if you have any questions, tips, recommendations or anything else you can think of !

Cheers,
Christie