Beautifinous.

Wikaniko Moringa Oil

So here we are! We have reached the end of 2015, so that means that it is time to discuss what beauty products have impressed us the most this year.

As I did last year, I have compiled a list of products that I have throughout the year and have loved. They may not have been originally released this year, but they were tested and written about on the blog over the course of 2015.

It's been a difficult list to come up with as there are so many stand outs for me, but I've managed to whittle it down into a list of 9 products (including 1 Children's product) for your viewing pleasure.

Don't forget to get down to the end of the list to see what my ultimate top product of 2015 is and to let me know what your favourites are too!

So without any further delay, let's take a look at the list.

Birchbox is a monthly beauty box that includes 5-6 deluxe samples of beauty and lifestyle products that are tailored to you.

You get to discover new products and test them out in the comfort of your own home with no pressure to buy the full product if you don’t like it! However, if you do enjoy it, you can purchase the full sizes from the Birchbox store with the most recent month’s brands being available with free delivery (min. £10 spend)!


The theme of this month's box is "free your mind." It is all about getting creative and experimenting. The box design is a fantastic idea and I particularly love the fact that this box is a black and white pattern that you can colour in (it even comes with a mini box of colouring pencils!). I was super excited to colour in my box, but my little man managed to get his hands on it first and coloured all over it in black crayon! Maybe I'll have to invest in an adult colouring book instead!

Here is what I received in my box this month:

It is a turban towel design and it can be used cable free or whilst attached to a battery.

from the first half of 2014. As I explained back then, the second half was on its way at the end of the year - and now here it is!

Birchbox is a monthly beauty box that includes 5-6 deluxe samples of beauty and lifestyle products that are tailored to you.

You get to discover new products and test them out in the comfort of your own home with no pressure to buy the full product if you don’t like it! However, if you do enjoy it, you can purchase the full sizes from the Birchbox store with the most recent month’s brands being available with free delivery (min. £10 spend)! 



For the December box, Birchbox teamed up with shoe designer Sophia Webster. The box design is based on her Suri shoe, so it is covered with pictures of jewels.

Inside the box there is a discount card to receive 20% off Sophia Webster shoes if you spend £300.

Here is what I received in my box this month:

ORS Olive Oil Heat Protection Serum is a product that helps to straighten the hair whilst protecting it from heat damage caused by hot hair tools. It contains coconut oil and and olive oil to add shine and moisture and leaves the hair looking soft and smooth as well as straight.



This post is actually going to be a collaboration between myself and my sister. The ORS Olive Oil Heat Protection Serum is a product that my sister loves and she really wanted me to write about it, so we have teamed up to provide you with a review!

The product comes packaged in a clear, plastic tube that holds 177ml (this bottle states that it now comes with 50% free extra product) with a rounded red, flip-cap lid. The product itself is clear and has the consistency of water. It also has a really nice to smell to it.

The Weleda Oat Replenishing Conditioner is a part of an award-winning haircare range. It is a natural conditioner targeted to those with dry, damaged hair that is made with organic coconut and jojoba oils and extracts of oat and white mallow. It claims to add moisture, restore suppleness and smooth hair.

It is free of synthetic fragrances, colourants and preservatives as well as SLS's, silicones and raw materials derived from mineral oils.

It is the only conditioner in Weleda’s natural haircare range and it is designed to compliment all of their shampoos, even though the bottle states "for dry, damaged hair".

It comes packaged in a bright yellow squeeze tube that holds 200ml of product.

Weleda’s Millet Nourishing Shampoo for normal hair is an award winning, mild shampoo that contains extracts of organic millet husks and organic macadamia nut oil to gently cleanse the hair whilst maintaining its natural shine.



The use of millet helps to prevent the hair from becoming dry due to its mild, conditioning abilities. It also helps to maintain the nutrient levels of the hair. Weldea’s Millet Nourishing Shampoo also contains extracts of peppermint, grapefruit and woody amyris. 

Birchbox is a monthly beauty box that includes 5-6 deluxe samples of beauty and lifestyle products that are tailored to you.

You get to discover new products and test them out in the comfort of your own home with no pressure to buy the full product if you don’t like it! However, if you do enjoy it, you can purchase the full sizes from the Birchbox store with the most recent month’s brands being available with free delivery (min. £10 spend)! 



The theme of this box is 'Cosy at Home,' which is precisely what we all crave around this time of year. I also think that they've pretty much got the products spot on for the theme, so kudos to Birchbox!

Along with this, this box contains two full-size products, so it really feels like a treat. For example, for £12 (the price of the box + delivery), I received a full-size product worth £32 and another worth £11.95. 

Birchbox is a monthly beauty box that includes 5-6 deluxe samples of beauty and lifestyle products that are tailored to you.

You get to discover new products and test them out in the comfort of your own home with no pressure to buy the full product if you don’t like it! However, if you do enjoy it, you can purchase the full sizes from the Birchbox store with the most recent month’s brands being available with free delivery (min. £10 spend)! 


As October is Breast Cancer awareness month, the theme for this box is “Work It” in association with CoppaFeel. 

Birchbox are also running a campaign throughout October where if you post a photograph of yourself "copping a feel" onto Instagram with the hashtag #CoppaBirchbox they will donate £1 to CoppaFeel for every photo posted!




In addition to this, for every new subscriber they receive this month they will donate £1 to CoppaFeel! You can subscribe here*.

When you discover that you are pregnant, it is natural to start asking questions about what we apply to our skin and whether or not they are safe for your unborn baby.

You probably have found yourself searching the Internet for answers, but usually there are different pages discussing different topics. I’ve been there, so I get it. Lots of different pages for lots of different topics can get a little annoying to keep track of. On top of that, during your pregnancy people will always be letting you know tidbits of information about this, that and the other and sometimes they conflict with each other.




For example, I was told by some people that hair dying during pregnancy isn’t allowed. Others tell me that it’s fine. This product isn’t safe some will say, others will tell you the opposite. Let’s be honest, it can be overwhelming to have such a wealth of information continuously being fed to you - especially when so much of it contradicts each other! On top of that, you have far more important things to be focusing on right now - that child inside of your tummy for one.

Because of this, I have tried my very best to do the hard work for you. I have spent a lot of time searching around for information regarding all varieties of skincare and beauty that may be of concern during pregnancy. I’ve tried to cover both sides of the arguments that exist and used lots of sources of information - all of which are linked for further reading if you want to find out more.

Birchbox is a monthly beauty box that includes 5-6 deluxe samples of beauty and lifestyle products that are tailored to you.

You get to discover new products and test them out in the comfort of your own home with no pressure to buy the full product if you don’t like it! However, if you do enjoy it, you can purchase the full sizes from the Birchbox store with the most recent month’s brands being available with free delivery (min. £10 spend)! 



The theme for this month's box is Summer holidays and your holiday toiletries list. It features products that are suitable for warmer weather and are hassle free -  prefect for trips away!

No-Poo is a method of washing your hair without the use of shampoo. No-poo doesn’t literally mean no poo, it means no shampoo. You may or may not have heard about it, but it is a way to help your hair become stronger, healthier, shinier and softer - naturally.




If you are a stranger to this concept, I admit that it may sound either crazy or disgusting. I assure you that it is neither. 

Shampoo contains detergents that strip your hair of its natural oils. The sebum that your hair needs to maintain its health and strength is actually being stripped with every shampoo wash. This means that you are inadvertently causing your hair more damage than good. The lack of oils makes the hair weaker and thinner, and your scalp then feels the need to produce extra sebum to replenish what is lost. When this happens, we see our hair become greasy again. In response to this, what do we do? We wash it all over again.

After shampooing we tend to use conditioner. The role of the conditioner is to replace the oils that you have just stripped from the hair with shampoo with synthetic oils. Why use a product to replace oils when you can just not strip them in the first place? 

A multitasking mist that nourishes hair, helps to relieve irritated skin, helps with spots, oily skin and dry skin, refreshes, provides a healthy glow and is all natural. You can also make it yourself! 





I love a multitasking product. I also love natural products and I love DIY beauty. Therefore, I simply had to attempt to create my own multitasking beauty product for the summer, and now I would like to share with you what I came up with - a multitasking mist!*

Birchbox is a monthly beauty box that includes 5-6 deluxe samples of beauty and lifestyle products that are tailored to you.

You get to discover new products and test them out in the comfort of your own home with no pressure to buy the full product if you don’t like it! However, if you do enjoy it, you can purchase the full sizes from the Birchbox store with the most recent month’s brands being available with free delivery (min. £10 spend)! 

The June Birchbox could really only be based around one theme: The World Cup.





Featuring a collection of products from a variety of countries around the world, this box is a celebration of culture as much as it is the World Cup. One of the things that I really liked about this months box was the beauty tips from different countries. I will definitely be giving the different tips a go! Maybe I'll even write a post about them in the future!

Beautifying Oils from The Body Shop are multi-purpose oils in a range of fragrances that can be used for a whole range of things from haircare to body oil.

Made up from a range of nut oils, the star of the show is really the marula oil. Marula oil is an anti-inflammatory oil that can reduce redness, hydrate, soften the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, soothe irritation and improve and restore skin elasticity amongst other benefits, too!



I recently mentioned these oils in my Top 10 Multitasking Beauty Products post and from that I have decided to explain some more about them. The best way that I felt I could do this was to discuss the different uses for these oils and give a summary of how well they work in each area that they claim to be useful.

As linked to in my previous post, I am going to try review a collection of tips suggested within the video that is posted on The Body Shop’s YouTube page.

Birchbox is a monthly beauty box that includes 5-6 deluxe samples of beauty and lifestyle products that are tailored to you.

You get to discover new products and test them out in the comfort of your own home with no pressure to buy the full product if you don’t like it! However, if you do enjoy it, you can purchase the full sizes from the Birchbox store with the most recent month’s brands being available with free delivery (min. £10 spend)! 



Also, you are able to earn yourself Birchbox points that you can use to spend in the store. Each month you can provide feedback on your samples in the form of survey’s and each one filled out earns you 5 Birchbox points. Every box and product purchased even earns you points, so when you have collected enough you can buy a full size product for nothing (you have to buy in blocks of £10)! How amazing!


So if you are interested to see what I received in my April 2014 Birchbox and what I think of the products, then here we are:

If you look at the ingredients in your beauty products then the chances are that you will see a variety of oils listed. Tea tree oil, lavender oil, eucalyptus oil, argan oil, jojoba oil... they’re used everywhere.

Essential oils can benefit your skin in so many ways. Why else would they be included in beauty products the world over? In fact, their presence is spotted in non-beauty products such as cleaners and insect repellents too. They can even be used to affect your mood. As this is a beauty blog though, we’re going to be focusing on the beauty side.

Now, have you ever actually thought about using essential oils to create your own products that are low in price and tailored to your skin type? Not to mention that it’s incredibly easy and quick to do which, of course, is what this blog is all about! It’s also pretty fun! I got in touch with Paul Rawden from Fresh Skin to discuss the benefits of essential oils and how you can make the most of them.