LEVINIA GOES TO THE MOVIES | JUNE & JULY

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've done a movie post and so today I thought I'd continue the series combining a few months of movie releases together. I'm going to pick out a few movies that I watched in the months of June and July. I'll be giving you a short synopsis and review on each as well as a star rating. Don't worry, there's no spoilers here!

TIME TO TALK | BEING AN EXTROVERTED INTROVERT

introvert

noun

1. 1. 

   a shy, reticent person.

For most of my life I have always considered myself a bit of a loner - comfortable in my own company and content without the need of often forced, awkward social interaction. I've always had friends and good ones at that but keeping my circle small has always been what I have preferred. In large groups I tend to feel a bit suffocated and often I can come across as shy and quiet. On the flip side however, I'm strong minded and confident in my actions, I love to talk and enjoy going out and laughing with my friends. And so, I've come to accept that I'm an extroverted introvert and as annoying and confusing as that can be for me sometimes, I've decided that it's okay. We don't all have to be the loudest in the room to still be heard and it's alright to not always want to be around people. Being a introvert however comes with its misconceptions and in todays post, I thought I'd discuss some of the ones I encounter the most. Can you relate too?

AHA's and BHA's and why you should be using them

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a good day today. In today's blog post, I'm going to be discussing chemical exfoliation and AHA's and BHA's. This post can be considered a pre-cursor to a review on a beloved skincare favourite in the beauty community - Pixi Glow Tonic.

A key ingredient in Pixi's Glow Tonic is glycolic acid - which falls under the category of an "AHA" - also known as an "Alpha Hydroxy Acid". In simple terms, AHA's are great at detaching dead skin - they help to loosen up the dead cells of the skin allowing them to fall away revealing brighter, healthier and plumper skin. This helpful subreddit explains the main AHA's and the uses and purposes of each. As an ingredient in skincare, due to their focus on the renewal of dead skin, AHA's are popular for those of us who have drier skin types.

You may also be thinking of other acids that have not been mentioned above such as salicylic acid. Well, that falls under the term of a BHA instead. Unlike AHA's, BHA's focus more on purifying the skin and deeply penetrating and cleaning out the pores. Due to this, BHA's and salicylic acid as an ingredient is very popular with acne, oily and blemish prone skin types and it will often be an ingredient found in skincare products used to treat these skin issues. BHA's however are well known to dry out the skin which is why adding moisture back into the skin is important in order to prevent skin from once again overproducing oil and breaking out. Again, this subreddit contains more information on BHA's and their uses.

LUSH FOCUS | MAGIC WAND

Hey guys! Today's post is yet another Lush focus in which I review a specific goodie from Lush and tell you all about it. On the blog today is Magic Wand - a reusable, candy scented Christmas bubble bar, enjoy!

Here's what Lush has to say about this product:

Conjure up candy suds. Close your eyes, swish your Magic Wand in the tub as it fills, and your wish for mounds of sweet cotton candy-scented bubbles will be granted! There’s enough magic in this wand for several baths full of candy-scented bubbles and sweet pink waters, so pop it on the side of your tub for the next time you need a magical bathtime escape.

As the description states, Magic Wand is a reusable bubble bar - the bubbles themselves are created by swishing the bubble bar in running water until satisfied. The scent of the bar is much like that of the much loved Snow Fairy and this factor definitely makes it one of my favourite Christmas products from Lush. I'd say you can get around 3-5 baths from it making it also one of most cost effective bubble bars in the range which is always something that I look for!

The design of this bubble bar is also super cute with the glitter coating and the pretty little silver bow wrapped around the handle with a bell attached - it's festive yet still girly and cute which I love!

LUSH FOCUS | PEEPING SANTA

If you don't already know, I love Lush products. I especially love their bath bombs and melts - they are one of my favourite ways to relax and pamper myself. So in a new series of posts, I thought I'd feature different products from Lush (mainly their bath products) and give you a short breakdown and review of each of them.  Today's post is going to focus on a Christmas bubble bar - Peeping Santa.

A Christmas favourite, Peeping Santa is a bubble bar containing ingredients such as: shea butter, bergamot oil, geranium oil and olibanum oil. Lush's official description of the product is:

Santa may use his dairy-free chocolate eyes to see who's been naughty or nice come Christmas, but, at this time of year, he also looks out for the perfect batch of hand-churned shea butter. Nipping over to Ghana, he visits the Ojoba women's cooperative, who crack and churn the shea pods into a rich, chocolatey butter. Blended with Fair Trade, organic cocoa butter, this indulgent combination is sandwiched between fragrant bergamot and geranium oils. Crumble under running water for sack loads of fruity bubbles.

Ingredients:

• Sodium Bicarbonate
 
• Cream of Tartar
 
• Sodium Laureth Sulfate
 
• Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter
 
• Lauryl Betaine
 
• Cornflour
 
• Laureth 4
 
• Bergamot Oil
 
• Olibanum Oil
 
• Geranium Oil
 
• Fair Trade Shea Butter
 
• Benzyl Alcohol
 
• Hexyl Cinnamal
 
• *Linalool
 
• Colour 14700
 
• Colour 45380:3
 
• Dark Chocolate

• 
  

*occurs naturally in essential oils.

I love the cute design of this bar and especially this chocolate eyes which is a cute little detail. The scent is mild and pleasant - mainly smelling of both the shea and cocoa butter. Being a melt, I find this bar to also be fairly moisturising - though not as much so as something like Butterbear / Ball. It's definitely moisturising enough however that you feel it and don't necessarily need to moisturise after if you don't want to. This bubble bar definitely does go a long way - I decided to use half but I think you could certainly use a quarter and still get the same results. Overall, this is a lovely, relaxing and moisturising bubble bar that I'd definitely recommend you pick up around Christmas time!