Lush Big Shampoo

Lush 'Big' Shampoo 330g, £11.25

'Have a big hair day.

This is like having your hair lifted on a sea breeze.'

Another hair related post from me today, I wanted this shampoo from Lush as I have fine, straight hair which gets greasy quickly. 'Big' contains flakes of salt which I was hoping would inject some much needed oomph into my hair and possibly give me a slight beachy wave - well a girl can dream.

To use this shampoo you scoop out some of the product and massage into the scalp, I have to say it did annoy me when I saw that the container mentions using a 'generous scoop' of the shampoo followed by another 'generous scoop' for a repeat shampoo....errr Lush? Have you not seen the price of this stuff? I got eight washes out of this tub - that's eight single washes - if we're talking about repeat shampooing then this tub would only be good for four washes, which wouldn't be a problem if a tub of Big didn't cost £11.25. Granted £11 is not a lot of money but it seems quite a lot to spend on a tub of shampoo which you will only get four washes from. 

The flakes of salt in this product make it different from any other shampoo I've tried and I actually really loved washing my hair with this, massaging the salt into my hair felt really clarifying and acted as a nice scalp exfoliation. I've read so many reviews of this product which say it produces a great lather, sadly I could never get this shampoo to lather at all and because of this I had to use more of the product per wash than I would have done with a regular shampoo - FYI my head isn't abnormally big.

This shampoo smelt fresh and clean which is probably down to the citrus fruits in the ingredients. After use my hair felt squeaky clean and super soft but I wouldn't say it was particularly voluminous and I didn't notice it staying clean for any longer than normal. Overall I think this product is a fantastic clarifying shampoo but nothing groundbreaking and I've had better results from cheaper drugstore shampoos.

What's in My Holiday Bag? Part 1

I am off on holiday this week and ever since I booked my tickets I have become obsessed with What's in my Holiday Bag videos on You Tube. I don't want to presume anyone has any interest in what I'm taking on holiday but I couldn't resist doing a post on the products I'm taking before I go, In the hope that maybe someone out there - at some point in the future - might find this useful. I haven't included every single product I'm taking (otherwise we'd be here forever!) to save you all from complete boredom I have omitted all the boring products, I'm pretty sure no one wants to see my bug spray, deodorant or toothbrush! :)

L to R: Garnier Body Intensive Hydrating Lotion 400ml £2.99, Superdrug,
Nivea Sun DNAge Face Sun Cream SPF 50 50ml £7.69, Superdrug,
Hawaiian Tropic Sun Lotion SPF 30 200ml £12.25 Superdrug.

First up is Sun cream. Being such a pale thing I don't fair particularly well in the sunshine, I do tan but it takes a long time and I'm prone to burning. I can't stand being sunburnt, not only is it painful but it's also very bad for your skin so I tend to wear a high factor. The suncream I have chosen to take on holiday is Hawaiian Tropic Sun Lotion in Factor 30, I have never used this before but it was recommended to me by a fellow pale skinned girl who just got back from two weeks in Mexico so it should be fine on my skin. Whilst I love the smell of all sun cream (mmm coconut scents!) this one smells particularly lovely! It doesn't feel sticky or greasy (v. important!), absorbs into the skin quickly and best of all is water resistant and has UVA and UVB protection which is a must with all sun cream!

Next up is the Nivea DNAge Face Sun Cream SPF50. I always use a really high factor on my face as I develop freckles easily and I'm hoping to avoid looking like a leather handbag by the time I'm 40. Nivea is a brand I trust and I use Nivea lotion every single day, so it was natural to buy my face sun cream from them. This will be slapped on my face, hands and decollete, I also pop higher factors over my moles - I have no idea whether this makes any difference but I like to be cautious and cover them in a high factor. The cream feels light and not too heavy or greasy for the face area...no one likes it when sun cream causes break outs! 

The price of After Sun is ridiculous so rather than spend £10 on a bottle of 'official' After Sun I opted to spend £2.99 on this bottle of Garnier Body Intensive Hydrating Lotion with Aloe Vera. It smells lovely and fresh and will hopefully feel cooling on my skin after a day in the sun.

L to R: The Pink Cow Vanilla Biscuit Bath and Shower Gel 500ml £2.99, Boots,
Alberto Balsam Coconut and Lychee Shampoo and Conditioner 400ml
£1 each, Poundland

Whilst the size is a little excessive I chose to take The Pink Cow's Vanilla Biscuit Shower gel as the boyfriend and I agreed to share it - I'm sure he'd kill me if he knew I'd revealed his love of girly fragranced shower gels on my blog! The product smells great, sweet and vanillary and best of all it doubles up as a bath foam and shower gel. I was not going to bother taking any body products but I'd rather take my own than rely on the hotel's toiletries, plus it is cheap enough to chuck out at the end of the holiday.

It's become a bit of a holiday tradition to purchase the very cheap Alberto Balsam shampoos and conditioner for my holidays. I tend to buy a different scent for each holiday and as a result certain fragrances remind me of particular places - the freesia one will always remind me of our family apartment in Florida and Sunkissed Raspberry (my favourite) makes me think of a friend's hen do in Malaga. For this holiday I chose coconut which I was delighted to come across (in Poundland no less!) as I have never seen this fragrance before and I am a total coconut fiend! These shampoos are very basic and gentle, they don't do anything fancy other than clean your hair and are perfect for holidays when you are constantly dipping in and out of the water.

Stay tuned for part two of this series which details my holiday make up :)