Sunday 14 June 2015

Animal Testing & Cruelty free list.

Hello everyone,

so I've made a decision to purchase cosmetics and beauty products which do not test on animals or have an involvement in animal cruelty.

That means I need a clear out of all the makeup I own, which does test on animals, so I have compiled together a list and some reviews of these products the good, the bad and the ok, all of which will be published very soon.
I am not a vegetarian in regards to my eating as I was previously vegetarian for a year, however, it made me feel quite unwell and so for health reasons, I need to eat meat.
All will be explained and expanded on in a separate post, meanwhile below is a compiled list of brands split as best as I can into their specialities,  so if you want to join the animal test free cause, here are the list of brands to look for.
Some are put onto two lists because they offer more than one thing, some do offer more than one thing but I got tired of flicking up and down the page if I'm being honest.
(NC)=Nail Care
(NP)=Nail Polish.



According to, https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/LeapingBunny the products listed below are animal cruelty and animal test free. 

 Skin care Animal Cruelty free brands.
Adam and Eve Skincare (available online).
Aurelia Probiotic Skincare.
Avalon.
Badger.
Bakel. (Anti aging)
Bee Good.
Co-operative.
Dermalogica.
Emerald Essentials.  
Giovanni.
Fresh Therapies (Nail care)
Handmade Naturals.
Honesty Cosmetics.
Indie Lee and Co.
Inlight organic skincare.
Isis essentials.
Jason Natural cosmetics.
Liquidflora Fantastika.
Live Native.
Mambino.
MangoMadness skincare.
Marble Hill.
Marks and Spencers.
Moa the Green Balm (also offer NC)
Montagne Jeunesse.
Morrisons.
LUSH cosmetics.
Mount Purious Good day Organics.
MuLondon.
Nature by natural oils.
Neal’s yard remedies.
North Coast Organics.
Nothing Nasty.
Nourish skin range.
Organix South (TheraNeem).
Orico London.
Pai Skincare.
Pia Ethical Beauty.
Pucker Hugger (lip care!)
Pukka.
Pure Anada.
Quinessence Aromatherapy.
Raw Elements (Sunscreen and care).
Roseisle Skincare.
Route One Pumpkins.
Sainsbury’s.
Savon Du Bois.
Shear miracle Organics.
Skin essence organics.
Skinflow.
SkinPointEight by John Tsagaris.
SoapyLayne.
Solay Wellness.
Spa Ritual (NC/NP)
Superdrug.
The aftercare company. (Offer Tattoo aftercare products)
Konjac Sponge Company.
Victorian Garden Organic Skincare Company.
Thesis.
Tropic Skincare.
Unique Products.


Deodorants, Shaving, Bath or Shower brands.
Alvin Connor.
Balm Balm.
North Coast Organics.
Body and Face St Cyrus.
Buddha Beauty Company.
Co-operative.
Friendly Soap.
Giovanni.
Jason Natural Cosmetics.
Live Native.
LUSH cosmetics.
Marks and Spencers.
Me & T’s Handmade soap.
Molton Brown.
Montagne Jeunesse.
Morrisons.
Mount Purious Good day Organics. 
Native Unearthed.
Nature by Natural oils.
Neal’s yard remedies.
Nothing Nasty.
Nourish skin range.
Organix South (TheraNeem) 
Pukka.
Quinessence Aromatherapy.
Red Barn herb Farms.
Sainsbury’s.
Schmidt’s Deodorant.
Skin essences organics.
Soap Cauldron.
Soaptopia.
SoapyLayne.
Spa Ritual (NP/NC)
Suma Wholefoods.
Superdrug.
Konjac Sponge Company.
Thesis. 
Alba botanic.
Arbonne.
Albrey Organics.
Body and Face St Cyrus.
Buddha beauty company.
Conscious skincare.
DermaQuest Skin therapy.
Devita natural skin care systems.
Dr Bronners magic soaps.
Earths beauty.
Natroma.
Waitrose.
Yours Truly Organics.
Aqua Natural.
Crescent Soaps.
Crystal body deodorant.
Devita natural skin care systems.
Dolma vegan perfumes.
Dr Bronners magic soaps.
Faith in nature.
Soapy Soap company.
Solay wellness.
Soothing Showers.
Natural Soapworks (NC)
Waitrose.
Dermalogica.
LUSH Cosmetics

Hair Care.
Biorganics.
Gloss and Toss.
Honesty Cosmetics.
Jason Natural Cosmetics.
Marks and Spencers.
Molton Brown.
Montagne Jeunesse.
Morrisons.
Mount Purious Good day organics.
Neal’s Yard Remedies.
Paul Mitchell Salon Success.
Phil Smith Be Gorgeous.
Sainsbury’s.
Superdrug.
Tara Smith.
Co-operative.
Thesis.
Unique Products.
Waitrose.

Make up Animal cruelty free brands
Barry M.
Too Faced Cosmetics.
Bare faced beauty.
Beautiful Movements (BM)
Beauty without Cruelty.
BellaPierre cosmetics.
Bare minerals cosmetics.
Younique Cosmetics.
Fior mineral cosmetics.
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. 
Flawless by Nadia.
Rimmel London.
Lily Lolo (also do make up brushes and kits)
Liquidflora Fantastika.
Gosh Cosmetics.
The Balm.
2 True.
accessorize.
Cheeky.
Jane Iredale.
LUSH cosmetics.
PHB Ethical Beauty.
Marks and Spencers.
Miss Sporty.
MUA.
Savon Du bois.
Neal’s Yard Remedies.
Patyka.
Plain Jane Beauty.
Pure Anada.
Shear mineral organics. 
DermaQuest Skin therapy.
Devita natural skin care systems.
Earths beauty.
Fevour Cosmetics.
Beauty UK.
Butter London.
Collection.
Essie.
Everyday minerals.
I heart make up.
Glam Colour Cosmetics.
Look.
Make up revolution.
Models own.
NYC.
Nicole by Opi.
Sleek.
Sally Hanson. (NP)
Zeo essence of Nature.



Questionable?
Revlon is an animal cruelty/test free company in all countries aside from China. China has a list of laws, which explain that in order for a makeup product to be sold in China, it has to be tested on animals first. All other countries, Revlon is animal testing and cruelty-free, it is attempting to work with other companies to make this the norm.
Statistically, what I’m saying is: Revlon in the UK, is potentially animal test free, however, if you purchase from china it has been tested on animals. 90%/10% animal test & cruelty-free.

Urban Decay and The Body shop were both bought by L’oreal, who are not listed as an animal test & cruelty-free companies. Urban decay originally were highly promoting animal cruelty-free cosmetics and boasting their belief, to abolish animal testing, however, after expanding their market to China they took back all statements, saying, "Going into China was a huge decision for Urban Decay. But, we believe that change cannot and will not happen by outside pressure alone in a closed market. Change can only happen from within. When we enter the Chinese market, we will do our part to help make those changes." 
Originally this was placed upon the Urban Decay website but since, has been removed along with the leaping bunny symbol and the law of animal testing before china's citizens consume the cosmetic product, still stands.
In comparison, The Body Shop and Tom's of Maine who both pride themselves on their animal test free policy, have agreed with PETA and all other consumers of their products that this policy will not change, after they have been bought by L'oreal.  
“You will continue to be able to rely on our tried and true Natural Care products based on our model of stewardship and sustainability. We will continue to make products without artificial preservatives, sweeteners, or dyes and without animal testing or animal ingredients.”


Liz Earle is another debateable one. The company came up on a list as Vegetarian and animal cruelty/test free, however, they were bought by Avon, who are not an animal test free company.

Benefits cosmetics sells their brand over in China which requires animal testing by law. Their products are not tested on animals over in the UK, HOWEVER, the company they are owned by, LMVH, do test a range of products and ingredients on animals.
Benefit is a very confusing company because they swear on their page and go into detail about the fairness and their beliefs of being against animal cruelty. Yet to sell to china and their mother company testing on animals, it becomes very unclear and I am uncertain in my trust in them at present.

Tarte and NARS are also owned by mother companies, which test on animals and sadly when you give money to them, you are essentially funding their animal testing.

A common statement coming from the majority of these companies, if you look on their website, is "They do not test on animals, that they are strongly against it" However they do sell to china, which means to obey and respect their laws, in order to sell in China-They have to test on animals?
Personally, I'm just going to avoid reviewing these brands any further, after my Cruelty clear out review blog.
I do not want to promote or accidentally promote animal testing or animal cruelty on my blog. 

Tuesday 9 June 2015

Once upon a time Season 4: Review. [SPOILERS]

I am sorry this took me weeks and weeks to write, it was very hard for me to write about over the last few weeks because to be honest, I have too many feelings after this seasons finale, I just don't know what to do anymore. It was so perfect and brilliant, I am barely functioning as a human right now.

Some of you who know me personally, know my love for this show is almost deeper than my love for food, it's probably on the same level. I am indeed an Evil Regal, a Captain Swan Shipper & an Outlaw Queen lover. I will not apologise for this borderline obsession because it's a beautiful fandom to be a part of, the other fans are so lovely and it's just nice-we're our own complicated family, WHAT A GLORIOUS TIME TO BE ALIVE!
Oh Wait... it isn't so glorious, because we have to wait until September for Season 5. The waiting for Season 5 is currently looking to be on the same level as Cora, I mean, I'm not dealing too well with this level of Torture.
Fear not Oncers, I know your pain but here we are, Season 4 finale review and the long wait for September, we will get through this together.


Once Upon A Time is a TV show, written and created by the same people who brought us Lost and Tron: Legacy, Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitis. The show is based in a fictional town in America called Storybrooke and is home to all the fictional princes, princesses, villains and plenty of other familiar names or faces that lived in the Enchanted Forest, who we all know and love.
The Queen (The E word needs to be dropped already, she's a bit more refined now!), also known as Regina Mills, placed a curse on the Enchanted Woods casting most of the characters into our world, "A place where no one gets their happy endings" all characters aside from Regina and August (Pinocchio) have no recollection of their previous life.
Since then we have come a very long way and developed probably one of the most complicated family trees, known to the history of man. Season 4, has only just made that even more complicated.

Season 4 has shown a journey for all characters in Once upon a time, the first half of season 4 being a Frozen special which was incredible, in my opinion.
The characters of Elsa and Anna, gave a phenomenal performance and shared a close likeness with the characters in the Disney modern favourite fairy tale. Georgina Haig did a fantastic job of depicting Elsa, from her fear of being unable to control her magic as she attempts to "conceal it, not feel it" and her loving search for her sister, Anna, she really brought Elsa to life right in front of our eyes and took the well loved Queen of Arendelle into our world as a beautiful live action character. The similarities between the Disney Anna (played by Kristen Bell) and Elizabeth Lail's version of Anna were practically twins! These two actresses really captured the characters well and Elizabeth Mitchell's depiction of the Snow Queen/Elsa and Anna's aunt/Emma's foster mum, Ingrid, was absolutely incredible. I went from disliking her to loving her towards the finale of the first half of the season, which I was not expecting. I felt it would end in a similar way, with my feelings for her being on a similar level of hatred that I felt, towards Rumpelstiltskin's (Robert Carlyle) dad, Peter Pan (Robbie Kay). Instead, I was upset when Ingrid left the show and I would love to see her make a reappearance, which sadly I know won't happen. but I'm hoping the reappearance of Elsa and Anna will be something of the new future.
However, with all this focus on the Snow Queen and Frozen theme, plus the background of their connection with Emma Swan, I felt some of the characters such as Mary Margaret/Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and David Nolan/Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) were semi side lined, almost pushed from main characters into just supporting roles, I am pleased that quickly changed in the second half of the season and they were back in the spotlight.

I felt a mixed bag for these characters anyways, so this side lining was not a massive down flaw for myself but for some fans, who were real lovers of the pair this could have been a problem. My feelings towards Mary Margaret and David Nolan, stem from their consistent "everything is going to be OK" "true love always wins" overly positive and overly heroic ideologies, which in our world aren't always true, making is highly annoying and even more annoying when they were always right. They have been that way throughout the seasons, I'm guessing due to guilt for barely being there for the upbringing of Emma, at the same time, because of how much they are trying to make up for it, you still find yourself loving Mary and David, or almost sympathising them for their efforts. Whilst we're on this subject, I would also like to cover my "what a pair of selfish ass holes!" reaction I had, when they stole Maleficent's child, Lily, to put all the potential darkness Emma could have had into her. I mean, I know they want what's best for their child but really? Going to that extreme I almost freaked out and so in this sense, well done writers! You made my mix bag of feelings towards these two even more complicated. The beauty however, about this depiction of Snow and Charming, is the fact they don't pretend to be perfect in fact, they're the most imperfect heroines I have ever come across, which to me shows their human nature and makes them more lovable. So as annoying as they are, the guilt they feel at some point because as usual they made a mistake, thinking they were doing good, shows me as an audience member everything I want to see in a heroine/hero, their perfect imperfections.

Speaking of the daughter of Maleficent (Kristin Bauer van Straten), Emma's history 101 was a real interesting turn of events, I did not expect her to be friends with Maleficent's daughter, Lily (Agnes Bruckner), and for Lily to be carrying all of Emma's capable darkness. I was aware that Lily would have to be involved in their Enchanted forest life somewhere, but I like this connection and the idea of Maleficent having a very human side.

Emma's (Jennifer Morrison) development became interesting in this season, the first half we saw all the capable good and her fully accepting her role as the saviour, becoming incredibly powerful and gifted with her magic however, the end of the season we see her becoming the Dark One and seeing darkness, tint her heart already. The focus being on her potential for great good and great darkness, depicted in both halves was a very clever idea, well done Ed and Adam!
Emma having grown up in our world has always had a slight edge anyways, having to deal with the lack of happy endings here and everything else you know, it can take its tole. But arguably, is she really being dark when she was defending her friend? I suppose threatening to punch someone in the face for saying Lily is a bit weird, was a little bit extreme but her heart was in the right place.
I am very excited to see how Emma (Jennifer Morrison) accepts her new darker edge, but more so interested in seeing who "becomes the saviour" and figures out a way of breaking the darkness from her. Will it be Mary and David? Her love for Henry? Her love for Hook? Or how about this new character that's coming in, Merlin!? OR does this mean, that Rumple is now the Saviour? I have to admit when they said it, I did imagine the BBC Series Merlin coming back...anyone else?
We've seen Emma's borderline darkness capability, but her being the product of true love and taking all the darkness, I mean I'm hoping this means she'll get to wear leather and some amazing corsets like our Queen and Rumple were originally wearing in the Enchanted forest (a cross myself and hook, I am sure are willing to bare-not even lesbian but Jennifer looks amazing anyways, at all times let alone now!) Does anyone think she's going to have an evil plan? What do you think the darkness will do to the saviour? Does this mean she will become the total opposite and become the Saboteur?  I don't know if I can wait until September to find out and I don't personally know if I will be ready.



Speaking of Captain Swan, I've loved seeing Emma and Hooks relationship develop and grow throughout this season, it has been a very enjoyable watch as these are two of my favourite characters, I want them both to have a happy ending. Furthermore, I like how their love story hasn't taken up too much of the limelight and has a been subtle, the transformation in Hook from "villain" to a repented hero just so he can be with Emma has give us ladies a man to wish for and admire; The fact he's also Irish probably helps.
In comparison, Outlaw Queen's relationship has only got the more complicated thanks to the reappearance of my favourite love to hate character, Zelena (Rebecca Mader). Rebecca's depiction of this not evil, Wicked Witch, has been a favourite thing of mine to watch, because I have fallen in love with the character at the same time, I have grown to dislike her with every inch of my body.
So Zelena in the Enchanted forest, if you can remember she succeeded at turning back time, took the place of Marian (Christie Laing) by puffing her off into Heaven in a green puff of smoke, when Emma and Hook were in the Enchanted forest, and Emma decided to save her from Regina. So they brought Zelena back with them disguised as Marian, then sadly because Marian (Zelena) got struck by Ingrid and gained a frozen heart, which then meant that Marian, Robin Hood (Sean Maguire) (Regina's true love) and their son Roland (Raphael Alejandro) had to cross the town line and leave. So Zelena/Marian, Robin Hood and Roland ended up living in Baelfires/Neil's (Michael Raymond-James) old flat in New York, only for Zelena to become pregnant with Robin's child.
As we know from Season 3, Zelena is Regina's half sister, Robin is Regina's true love, Zelena being "green with envy" the master plan was to try to steal that from her. There was a reason why I never liked Marian and though a lot of oncers were for Marian and Hood, I knew there was something not right, so I'm going to take this time now to say I TOLD YOU SO! ;D

Zelena in my eyes is the ideals of an wicked villain and probably one of the true Queens of Darkness if we're been perfectly honest. Her clever, sneaky, devious and determined, if only she put these skills into another practise she probably would have a happy ending. I've enjoyed watching her develop from the simple villain who just wanted to cast a curse, to this villain with a more complicated evil plan, I will admit at first I did not know how I would feel about the Wicked Witch of the west joining but the chance to go to Oz excited me. However, as the series has gone on I can't imagine being without this evil yet lovable character because you do feel sorry for her, as wicked as she is at the same time you envy her because you wish that Regina didn't end up with Cora as a mother. But hey! What can you do, this show gives you a mixed bag of feelings about everyone's stories I'm starting to get used to it...kind of.
Lets also bring into the fact that Rebecca Mader's manner and the way she portrays Zelena is simply magnificent. The way she says things, her body language and the facial expressions that she does with every single action are incredible and partly make you love-to-hate Zelena even more! Mader has done a fantastic job of bringing this Wicked Witch to life and she is always going to be a favourite actress of mine, because of these skills.
Speaking of Regina, as an Outlaw Queen fan, this plot upsets me a great deal and because it's so complicated it's taken a lot of the limelight. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that freaked out when we heard Zelena was pregnant with Robin's child and the thought of how they made it freaks me out even more. I'm hoping they did it in a lab and not actually the S-E-X word cause that's nasty! However, I will give the plot the benefit of the doubt because it's showing how good Robin is for Regina and is keeping her on the path of good.

Regina's character has really come a long way from the start, when you honestly could not stand her and how evil she was but now, we're seeing an entirely different side with just the right amount of Sass a Queen should have. All of the good in Regina mixed with that little bit of fire and attitude makes her a lovable character and my personal Favourite. Long Live Regina!
Our beloved Queen had the chance to destroy Zelena, instead she chose against it and has decided to merely keep her under wraps in the same room she kept Belle for a while. Furthermore, she's decided to work through this little hiccup with Robin and perhaps stepping up to the plate, to be the Aunt/Step mother of Robin & Zelena's child. In my eyes, this shows us Regina's capabilities as a Queen, leader, mayor and overall Good Heroine.
Lana Parrilla (Regina) is one the most beautiful and talented actresses, in my eyes and in Once upon a time she has expressed to me as a viewer, her amazing talents but also how much she enjoys her job. She is simply radiant and a stunning person as well to top it all of, she has a good heart as a feisty Queen and outside of her acting work.

I will be honest, something which I was semi pleased and semi disappointed because I don't feel they were in it longer enough, was some of the depictions of the Queens of Darkness.
In fact, I liked the way the writers turned two of my most feared villains as a kid, Ursula and Maleficent, into the two most human villains out of the Queens of Darkness.
I did like how they simply wanted the two things that were taken from the back, in order to get their happy endings I was however upset with how short lived Ursula (Merrin Dungey) was, and how short lived their darkness was. I would have liked to see more fire from Maleficent, only 2 more episodes more of their company maybe or the whole season. I'm hoping that Ursula would make a re-appearance. I will say however, Cruella (Victoria Smurfit) as a character I was not expecting her to the darkest one, as a child Ursula and Maleficent definitely scared me more so I liked this whole shift of my young-character -ideas, which the writers gave. In a battle as a child, I thought Cruella was one I could definitely beat easy and that she wasn't very fearful, however seeing her murderess intentions and her love to kill in this series has made me think otherwise. Although she still was one of my favourite characters for her sophistication and clever, witty pun lines "Is there a problem Sheriff Chiseled Chin?".


Now, Lets talk about the one and only, The was-but-no-longer-is Dark one, Rumpelstiltskin.
Robert Carlyle we all know and love, because he is one of the best actors of all time-you can't say he isn't and if you do say he isn't, you're wrong dearie.
As usual Rumple takes us on an epic roller-coaster with being good and bad all at the same time, to the point where I cry when he's gone at the same time I'm happy.
We see in the first half an epic attempt from Rumple, to stay good and to put his love for Belle (Emilie De Ravin) first however this desire, is also the very thing which caused him to go into Darkness in the first place. His desire to break free from the dagger caused our beloved Dark One to lose the very thing he was trying not to lose, after doing a lot of stupid things. Now arguably, we could say he was doing it out of love for Belle as he was obviously trying to free himself from darkness technically because as we now know, the Dark one contains all of the Darkness which Merlin was trying to protect everyone from.
At the same time, we know full well that Rumple may have also been doing this to obtain freedom and more power, the Dark one with no ties to the blade. Now at the start of the season we see the two take a beautiful honeymoon to the sorcerers mansion, funnily enough, the beautiful scene with Belle and her "beast" dancing in the hall was something which set all Rumpbelle supporters hearts alight. However this was short lived as he captured the sorcerer's apprentice and all the fairies into the hat, whilst blackmailing Hook with his heart. So in the first half what we have in the finale is a scene in the Clock tower (where everything positive always happens! *sarcasm*) with Rumple and the sorcerers hat, awaiting for all the stars on the hat plus the ones in the sky to be aligned, so he can free himself from the dagger. In his hand, we see him with Hook's heart about to crush it when the Saviour bursts in to attempt to rescue, only for her to be frozen by Rumple. About to crush Hook's heart in front of Emma, until a very pissed off wife, Belle busts in with the legit dagger, commanding Rumple not to.
It is clear at this point that Belle is sick of Rumple's shit and at the same time heartbroken, I happen to love this bit and I did scream at the TV because as much as I was for Rumple and Belle, I love Belle's character and I think Emilie has done an amazing job at bringing her to life, literally so close to the character in the classic Disney tale that it is hard not to love Belle. But I adore her character so much so that it hurt me to see her continuously get hurt by Rumple so seeing her taking the heroic step and brave step of banishing him from Storybrooke was both hard and lovely to watch. Almost instantly Rumple has come up with a plan, the same plan as "operation mongoose", find the author and get the happy endings. (I'll talk about the Author after this one).
I have to say, Rumple has taken a few steps to being a good guy and a few bad steps so he's still evil but I can't imagine the OUAT show without him. Robert Carlyle as always has done an amazing job at bringing a character to life and making the audiences feel such an array of emotions, we could argue that Rumple, Snow White and Charming are on similar pages in the sense of they have all done things which are imperfect, Rumple has done more than others but lets talk about the fact he's been carrying pretty much all of the darkness and how that has probably impacted 99% of his decisions.
Does the fact he's been overtaken by Darkness of "The Dark One" mean, that he has had no control in his decisions? Does that mean now he's free from Darkness we're going to see the real Rumple? Is he going to want to take the darkness back from Emma to regain his power? Is he going to be all good? Is he going to become the saviour? I'm very keen to see what happens to Rumples character now he isn't going to have that darkness. What about Rumple and Belle now too? Throughout the second half of this season, Belle swiftly moved on or appeared to be dating Will Scarlet (Michael Socha) however, towards the end where Rumple almost dies, she seems to still be in love with Rumple. Are they going to get back together now Rumple has the potential to love again? Where does that leave Will?
Can we also take a second to acknowledge how weird it was seeing Rumple as a knight... I still can't wrap my head around that one it felt too uncomfortable and somewhat interesting. Although we all knew too well, that the fictitious world which Rumple and the Author created could not last, it was not the truth and only the truth should be written. What I did enjoy about the fictitious world however, is how undecided they were about Regina, because although she was good and had the chance to be with Robin she still didn't get her happy ending. Perhaps because in spite of the author being a fan, he liked her having hope and then watching it get crushed. (Meany!) In any event, it's clear we're going to see a potentially different Rumple, maybe the real Rumple, I just hope we enjoy it because Rumple in this show takes us through a journey of fuck you, love you which I kind of like, I hope that stays.

Lets talk about the author whilst we're here, What an ass hole [no offence Patrick Fischler]
at the same time, I could not help but feel sorry for this guy. He was almost like that little kid who just had a dream of being an author but every time he tried, he did something terribly wrong. A part of him like Rumple, became attached to this pen and idea of being all powerful, he had the ultimate power of controlling all of these characters lives. Isaac was both a coward, a villain actually he was like a mini Rumpelstiltskin if we're being perfectly honest so as much as I wanted to be like Fuck you I still wanted him to have some sort of happy ending; in spite of all the pain he put everyone through. I'm not entirely sure where we are left with him when it comes to season 5 but I was not attached to his character enough to wish for him to come back, I am not entirely sure why but although I did sympathise, it wasn't enough for me to want him to stay.
Henry as an author and the truest believer however, I think is probably the best twist in this series. I always thought all a long that Henry would make a brilliant author for this story, that he would also be the hero. The role really suites him seeing as really, he was a part of the breaking of the original curse since he truly believed and pushed Emma into believing too.

The Finale of Once Upon a Time has shown me how talented, gifted and wonderful the entire cast and crew of this show really are. From the writing and the amazing plot twists, to the many dynamic roles every actress has had to play throughout this series. We've seen Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) act as Bandit, Queen, Evil Queen, Mother, Mayor, Princess and Daughter, we've seen Regina play Bandit, Evil Queen, The Queen, Sassy, Revenge seeker, Mother, Daughter and Lover, we've seen Emma change from pessimist and non-believer to true believer, daughter, good, mother, lover, saviour and now soon the Dark one plus so much more!
We've been through a lot as a fandom with this cast and crew, that trying to explain it to others can be a challenge but it's been the most funnest of journeys, every emotional turning has been an absolute pleasure and I am eager to see season 5.


 




Saturday 6 June 2015

Swapsies! With Rachel. (LUSH Cosmetics)

Rachel and I are both fond lovers of cosmetics and beauty products, one evening we were discussing our blogs and favourite products when suddenly, like a bolt of amazing genius (as always! She is a genius!) Rachel came up with this fantastic idea.

Let's swap favourites and write reviews! 

I honestly could not think of anything more fun. We both agreed on a limit of £20, ordered our favourite products and had them sent to each others houses, to test and review. Neither of us knew what the other had purchased, which makes this all the more exciting; it's like an early christmas present.  This week, we agreed to do a LUSH cosmetics swap-a-roo.
You can check out The lovely Rachel's reviews of the products I bought her, plus more here:
http://catchaneye.com/2015/06/10/lush-swap-with-natalie-catchaneye/

I received my box a few days ago and inside I found a collection of beautiful products.


(Left to Right)
Cupcake Fresh Face Mask
Bubblegrub Bubbleroon Bath bars.
You've been Mangoed! Bath Melt. 
Twilight Bath Bomb.
Vanilla Puff Dusting Powder
Samples: Retread Hair Conditioner, Ro's Argan Body Conditioner, Happy Happy Joy Joy Conditioner & Tea Tree Water Toner water. 


Cupcake Fresh Face Mask-Price: £6.50 for 75g. (vegan friendly!) 
Myself & Rachel both bought each other this face mask! It is one of my favourite masks for a number of reasons, but my love for chocolate definitely is one of the reasons why this is a dream boat mask. The face mask comes in the standard lush pots, black with the title and all ingredients on the front, when opening the pot you are greeted with the beautiful fragrance of chocolate-dough cake heaven. Dark brown in colour, the face mask requires like others, to be rubbed in as the natural liquids may leak from the product. The mask is quite thick and is made from ingredients which works all your skins possible needs! This deep cleansing uses the extracts of cocoa butter, mint, linseed and Rhassoul mud for many different skin needs; Rhassoul mud is a cosmetic clay originating from Morroco, works well with cocoa butter to strip the hair and face of all impurities, giving your skin and hair back some highly helpful minerals. The mint extract is used to tone and stimulate the skin, to calm any itching or infected skin, mint is an extremely good ingredient, which helps soothe and treat it. Whilst the Linseed works also with the cocoa butter, to moisturise and soften. All ingredients work well together, to offer your skin everything it could need.
I applied the face mask with my clean hands around my face and after 2 minutes, my skin felt a lot calmer and much more relaxed after a day of wearing make up. The smell of the face mask is a chocoholics version of heaven and the feel after washing it off 10-15 minutes later, were incredible. My skin was even in colour, felt silky smooth and toned well. I have used cupcake previously and it is a personal favourite, which is why I sent it to Rachel and probably the same reason she sent me one too in this swapsie! The long term effects on my skin after this face mask never disappoints!
Rating 4/5

BubbleGrub Bubbleroon bubble bars-Price: £2.95
This little guy was absolutely adorable in spite of the fact he was missing an eye when he arrived. The Bubblegrub bubblebar had the most lushest smell and made the bathroom smell gorgeous, until I eventually used it. The smell was a mix of cinnamon, caramel and vanilla, giving it a uniquely warming yet calming and soothing scent, especially when crumbled into the bath. The Bubblegrub is a "naked" product, which came completely without packaging aside from the box all the items arrived in and he sat comfortably in my bathroom draw until the need for soaking arrived.
The bubblegrub is made of a mix of ingredients, including the dried vanilla pods, which contain the antioxidants, antibacterial qualities and Vitamin B help to treat acne, have anti-ageing effects on the skin, soothe burns and promote healthy skin. Whilst the Sandalwood oils has anti-inflammatory, anti-sceptic and memory boosting qualities means concentration and relaxation can be optimised to maximum capacity.
I crumbled the first bar under the cold tap and allowed it to drop from my hand into the bath, which turned a light green colour; I like the optional choice you get with the bubbleroon bubble bars as to how much you put in, either one bar or two and both halves work well together, especially with this little gem. I could already smell the calming qualities and warming smell from the bar, fill the bathroom. The bubbles began to form but I love quite a few bubbles in my bath, so I had to put the other bar in to get the right amount of bubbles for myself but if you aren't a bubble lover, one bar is enough. When placing in the other bar, the two colours of green and orange mixed, I found myself stepping into a warm, relaxing sea of caramel coloured water and bubbles. Upon soaking my bath, the smells from the bubbles were helping to relax and soothe me, the smell was less strong however I found when using it in the bath, in contrast to the strong smell which it produced out and around the top floor of my house.
The bubblegrub is an adorable little creature that I would happily use again, the little guy made me feel more relaxed, more confident and more determined to get things done. When getting out of the bath, my skin felt a lot softer but the smell of the bubble bar didn't remain on my skin. I would use this little guy again when concentration is a miss and I need to get back down onto the ground.
Rating: 3.5/5.

You've been mangoed bath melt!-Price: £3.35 Vegan Friendly! 

You've been mangoed is now a personal favourite of mine, because I loved the smell of the lemon with the slight tints of the mango and how refreshed, clean and energised I felt after using this bath melt. This bath melt is another "naked" product, no packaging. The bath melt is a perfect rectangle, with "Mango" across the bar, its yellow/orange in colour and smells divine! I found it started melting in my hands as they were quite warm since I was perfecting the temperature for my soak. Upon placing the bath melt in, it began to leave a beautiful orange like trail and the lemon smells literally filled the air, instantly giving that refreshing and energised feeling. The lemon oils in this product help by acting as a anti-sceptic, cleaning all acne or other kinds of infection on the skin and with it slowly diluted into bath water, you won't feel the sharp sting if you applied it directly on (not that you would! Thats like putting yourself into a saw trap!) The high level of vitamin C found in lemon, has high levels of soothing qualities which help the skin calm down from inflation or irritation. Where as the use of the Mango butter and Cocoa butter, work together to help the skin hydrate and moisturise, whilst being full of Vitamin A, which is a very vitamin for anti-ageing; not only that but the two butters may help to improve skin blemishes, eczema and dermatitis.
I will admit I was expecting as the name suggests a stronger smell of mango, so when I dropped the melt into the bath and was greeted with the mix of lemon and lime oils, It was a pleasant surprise. The smell of lemons always reminds me of skin and energises me after a long day with very minimal energy. You've been mangoed! Left me smelling fresh, clean and feeling completely cleansed from inside to out and I highly recommend this product for anyone who needs an uplifting bath.
Rating: 5/5.

Twilight Bath bomb-Price: £3.35 Vegan Friendly! 

A new favourite bath bomb has been discovered after this weeks swap-a-roo! Twilight is by far an amazing evening bath bomb, perfect for helping you to relax enough to get a good nights sleep. Twilight is another "naked" product which came with no packaging, other than the box the products all came in. It's a rather big pink ball, with a beautiful picture of stars and the moon on one side of the bomb, I heard a lot of good reviews on this bath bomb and was very keen to purchase and buy it for the next set of reviews!
Twilight has a blend of ingredients such as lavender oil, Tonka absolute, ylang ylang oils and benzoin resinoid to help banish insomnia and sleep evasions. The lavender oil in this bomb works as a magic healer and I have loved the use of lavender in many products because of it's health benefits; lavender helps increase the circulation in the body, relieve pain and is sometimes used to treat respiratory problems at the same time, being so naturally calming in its scent helping to release any nerve tensions. Whilst the Ylang Ylang oils work as an antidepressant, sedative, hypotensive and maybe very good for those who suffer with eczema or skin irritation/inflammation, as it helps calm irritation and sooth redness. Tonka absolute is a seed obtained from the fruit of the Dipteryx odorata tree, found in Costa Rica, Brazil and Peru, this seed is thought to be an anti-flammtory and rumoured to help with joint pain. Benzoin resinoid is an extracted liquid obtained from Evergreen trees and is a deep cleanser which helps to soothe skin, add shine to hair and ease muscles.
Basically Twilight bath bomb has all the ingredients for a perfect relaxation before a goodnights sleep, and that is exactly what I got. I placed the bath bomb into the water and instantly left a trail of pink, blue foam in its path as it twirled in the water. The bomb turned the water a beautiful purple colour and soon split in the middle, to release the blue colour foam in with the pink; it literally looked exactly like a twilight. My skin instantly felt clean, soft and nourished after using this product and it seemed all worries and stresses disappeared, I highly recommend this product and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating: 5/5.

Vanilla Puff Dusting powder-Price: £4.95 Vegan Friendly! 
I have a set routine which this has now joined, that I do after a bath to keep my skin looking and smelling fresh all day; Shower, body butter (let it dry), body lotion (let it dry!) and now, followed by this beautiful powder. Vanilla dusting powder has a beautiful scent and locks in moisture, whilst clearing out all the unneeded oils leaving skin feeling soft, smooth and fabulous!
The blend of vanilla, Tonka and jasmine means that your body gets the full benefits of these organic ingredients. Jasmine absolute is solvent extracted like the majority of absolute products, which means two liquids are shaken in order to separate one from the other. Jasmine is used to relinquish depression, dry skin, exhaustion, labour pains and is kind to sensitive skin. This product feels so kind and light on the body in comparison to other talcon powder products, which sometimes I find can be quite heavy although gentle on the skin. Vanilla puff is very light, coming in a bottle in a form of glittery-like white powder, the product left my skin feeling, smelling fabulous all day and it feels so soft on my skin I love putting it on my body. The dusting powder kept access oils off my skin and allowed it to breath well all day long and it kept bad odours out of my problem zone! I smelt and felt fabulous. However like all body dusting powder products, I advice placing a towel down before applying so the dust doesn't spread over the bed sheets, although it is refreshing when bed time comes and you can smell the vanilla.
Rating: 4/5

If you want to see the videos and photographs of these products, you can visit my instagram page:
https://instagram.com/natiee_blogs/

I will be posting the samples in another blog review separate!
Thank you everyone for your patience! Have a LUSH Day!

Tuesday 2 June 2015

Instagram!

Hello Everyone!

I am currently working on the next blog post, in the mean time you can have sneak peeks of all the products I will be reviewing plus see them in action on my instagram! : )

https://instagram.com/natiee_blogs/

OR if you have any requests or messages for myself, please feel free to email
natiee_blogs@outlook.com

Hear from you soon lovelies!

Natalie