Nature’s Ingredients Products by M&S

The brand I’m sharing with you today is called Nature’s Ingredients and is part of the M&S beauty line. I’ve never bought anything by this particular brand but I was intrigued to see how each product performed. All the different fragrances sounded gorgeous, so I picked one of each so I could test this side of things too. I bought the strawberry hand cream, lemon verbena shower scrub and mandarin shower gel. Others that sounded interesting included peach and almond, blueberry as well as mango. The packaging is really eye-catching, I love anything colourful, and it made me feel happy. Also the prices are incredibly reasonable for what you get, items included in this post range from £1-£3. I’m pleased to say the values of the brand are excellent as they are not tested on animals, are BUAV approved, paraben free, and suitable for vegetarians and vegans. The ingredients are better than a lot of mainstream brands too. They do other products in the line, such as body butters, deodorants etc. that I can’t wait to try.

So now onto my thoughts of each individual item…The strawberry hand cream priced at £1 is a light-weight lotion that sinks into the skin quickly, leaving soft hands after use. The scent is lovely and lingers after applying. The 100ml bottle holds a generous amount of product yet the size of the bottle is okay for travelling. The lemon verbena shower scrub has a pleasant, fruity fragrance and a great accompaniment when in the shower. The consistency was liquidy with small beads and I found this was great for gentle exfoliation as well as being moisturising! For 250ml this too seemed like a generous amount, and especially for the price of £3. Lastly the mandarin shower gel, priced at £2.00 for the £250ml seemed good going. Like the others the scent was delicious but fairly subtle. I found after pairing the scrub and shower gel my skin felt invigorated and although the scents weren’t matched my bathroom smelt heavenly after each shower.

Have you heard of this brand before? Which scent out of the three appeals to you most? Shop the brand on M&S here.

Saltburn Farmers Market Photo Diary.

Earlier in the month I visited a farmers market which I really enjoyed so thought I would include some photos from my day to show you what it was like. It was based in Saltburn and the stalls were packed with delicious homemade desserts, fresh fruit and vegetables, baked goods, plants, art work and much more. The sellers were very friendly, chatting to you and giving you samples of things. The atmosphere was lovely. I came away with a hot chocolate dipping spoon and some unusual shortbread. Later I visited a charity shop close to where the market was, I had a wander round and noticed they had a vintage section which was really cool. They had some interesting vintage hats and fashion scarfs. I took some documentary shots of the food stalls at the farmers market and other bits and bobs, hope you enjoy browsing them!

Do you like food/farmers markets? 

What are your favourite kind of places to visit in your free time? :-) xxx

June Primark Shopping Haul

Hello! Today I’m back with a Primark haul, and as I don’t go in there too much I was really excited to see what was in stores. I picked up some really nice bargains in the sale department, as I’m a bit of a bargain hunter. I’ve started shopping unseasonably as I find by doing this you can get things cheaper. I did find I was a little too earlier for all the brightly coloured summer clothes although my favourite season to shop in has always been Autumn. This beautiful khaki green suede effect jacket jumped out at me, it looks much more than the price I paid and thought it’s the kind of thing I can wear all year round if the weather is mild. Another jacket that caught my eye was this denim linen blend waterfall style. It’s kind of in between a coat and a blazer, I think this would work well as a summer jacket because of its weight and it was reduced greatly as I think it was old stock.

I’m lovin’ the tribal print trend at the moment, I saw a few items in store that fitted this theme including a neon bag although passed it up as the chain looked too flimsy. I did come out with two tribal items though, firstly this tassel fringed top in monochrome, and I sized up for a loose flowy fit. Secondly a tribal print dress, also monochrome and I imagine could be styled with neon accessories. Each clothing item I bought was in the sale, yay! I think the pieces are very versatile, perfect for that capsule wardrobe effect. Out of those clothing items my favourite is the faux suede jacket, I can’t wait to start wearing it.

I got really excited in the accessories/homeware department too. I stocked up on hair bobbles, they always go astray in my bedroom! The simple elastics were an essential but I spotted some fur ones which were too cute to pass up. Also the monochrome hair band looks lovely on, I’m hoping it will motivate me to wear my hair down more often and try out new styles. I adore this paisley cinema style cup I picked up, a really cool way to store water in when having a chilled day at home. And lastly I stocked up on some slipper footsies and neon cosy socks, another at home essential.

Have you popped into Primark lately? What kind of things caught your eye? What was your favourite item from my haul? :-) xxx

What I Bought & Prices.

Khaki green suede effect jacket £20 £10

Denim look linen effect jacket £17 £7

Aztec monochrome print dress £13 £5

Aztec tassel tee £8 £3

Paisley pattern cinema style drinking cup £3.00

Blue slippers £2.50

Neon pattern cosy socks £2.00

Grey faux fur scrunchie £2.00

Double pom pom faux fur bobble £1.50

Cream faux fur pom pom elastic £1.50

Monochrome hair band £2.50

50pk hair elastics £1.00 (x 2)

May Beauty, Fashion & Lifestyle Favourites

Welcome to another month and welcome to my monthly favourites of May. This is a collective much-loved bunch of items from books, to sportswear, a homeware bit and lots of beauty must haves etc. The first item I will begin with is these Sketchers pink and black trainers. My Mum actually passed them down to me as she got a new pair and luckily we have the same shoe size. I’ve been wearing them on a weekly basis to a yoga class for a good while now. They are so comfy and I love the pink detailing. On note of bright colours I’ve been accessorizing my outfits with this neon lime green pom pom trimmed scarf, I picked it up in the sale a few years back for an amazing £2.00, bargain or what?! It fits the current pom pom trend which I’m loving this season.

I’ve been drawn to Weleda products this month, including their sea buckthorn body wash and almond soothing facial cream. Both are really beautiful beauty must haves. The shower body wash is so moisturising and creamy with a lovely fresh scent. The facial cream is perfect for my sensitive skin so I devoured the sample sized product. I rekindled my love for the Nivea original lip balm, it made my lips so soft and I used it up completely. Last of the beauty bits include two Rituals products, the carpe diem shampoo and the rice scrub both in the organic rice milk & cherry blossom scent. It’s been a while since I’ve found beauty products this amazing and will be doing a review on my blog about the gift set including four miniatures.

I went to a homeware accessories craft day and decorated a wooden heart with butterflies and flowers on the front. The lilac colour scheme is perfect for my room, it’s been hanging on my door and I love it! Onto books I really wanted to share with you one of my most favourite baking books called Easy Peasy Sweetie Pie by Mary Contini, although its aimed at children and I’ve had it for years and the recipes are really lovely and the format of the book is easy to read. It’s perfect for beginners, and I always go back to it! There’s been quite a lot of hype around the Paul Arden books, they are little typography based self-help books, I read all three in the series and really recommend you check them out. I’ve been really getting into The Hills as I have the boxset, it’s my guilty pleasure and so far I’m on season four. I love the idea of reality shows, and the way this one is based in Hollywood.  I got round to watching If I Stay, it was really cool I won’t give too much away but it’s definitely worth a watch! Last but not least the CD that I’ve been listening to is The 1975, not the sort of music I would normally get into but love the bands vibe and upbeat hits.

So if you had to pick your favourite ‘thing’ of the month what would it be? Also which of my favourites were you drawn too? :-) xxx