So there I was, editing a new Glossier review post and I went to link back to one I did in the past... Only to realise it was still in my drafts! So I thought I would post the original review from my drafts (from 2018!) because these are still some of my most used products to this day! Without further ado, lets go back in time to 2018 Erin! 

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Early 2018

Glossier is a brand I've heard a whole lot about, but yet to try. So when I saw that they now ship to the UK I jumped at the chance to get my hands on a few wee bits and bobs. I picked up the oh-so-famous 'Boy Brow' and the lip balm trio. Let's get into my thoughts.

First up, it's the boy brow. This retails for £14. This has to be one of the most hyped beauty products ever. Rumour has it even Beyonce uses it. Needless to say I was. excited to try it. My first impressions - I love it. The shade is perfect for my brows, it's super easy to use, the spooly is so small it's great for precision. Additionally, the packaging is just right up my street, so simple and chic, the graphic designer in me is screaming in delight. 

(Edit 2021: In case you want a little update from current me on my thoughts now - this is still an everyday staple in my beauty routine! I love it. It's perfect for days when you don't want to wear makeup but still want your eyebrows to be defined. Saying that, it's also buildable so also good for when you have brows done and just want to set them, or if you really want to define them. I don't have a bad word to say about these products.)

Firstly,  the packaging! I'm obsessed! It's so modern, cool,  instagrammable,  and just ugh so perfect. I got three shades/scents - Original, Cherry and Birthday cake. The total cost was £25 for three. Lets break them down. 

The original lip balm says it can also be used as a 'universal salve' that you can put on any dry areas on your body. I haven't been brave enough to try that but in terms of softening lips... it definitely works. This feels so smooth and luxurious on my lips, I find myself wanting to put it on so much as it's just so nice. And the packaging,  I know I keep raving on, but it's so beautiful.  

Next, the wild card. I thought I would try out birthday cake as it was a colour free balm but has small bits of sparkle through it promising to give my lips a shine- and that it did. It's so pretty and subtle on the lips.  The smell isn't 'birthday cake' to me but it is sweet and sugary so if you like that kind of scent you will love this.  The glitter packaging is so cute as well. 

Finally, my favourite of the trio, the cherry Balm Dot Com. I LOVE cherry scented things and this certainly did not disappoint. It has that fake cherry smell that I know will divide people but I personally am a fan. It gives your lips a really subtle red tint to them which is perfect for those 'no. makeup makeup' days. 10/10 from me. 

(Edit 2021: I still use and love these lip balms three years later, definitely another staple. However, I have a new favourite! They released a Mango scented one that has a very subtle peach tint to it and it smells INCREDIBLE. I always have one on me wherever I go I. love it so much.) 

So there you go that's my first impressions of Glossier. To be honest I don't think it could have gone any better, I really like them!

Hello everyone! The sun is still shining in the UK (for once) so it's time to talk about tan! I know some people are blessed with the tanning gene - they can sit outside for a few hours and turn a lovely golden shade. Me on the other hand... the sun hates me. I can spend an hour in the sun and turn into a lobster. I once got heatstroke on a cloudy day in Scotland whilst wearing suncream - true story. So if you're anything like me and you still want a glow despite the sun having other ideas, this is where the FFS Beauty tanning products come in. 

I recently reviewed their shaving subscription plan, and I'm back again with another collab. This time it's their tanning set. I received a whole bunch of stuff that I can't wait to review with you today, but first, a bit about FFS. They are a UK based, female-first, multi award winning brand. They sell women's eco friendly razors, deodorants, self tan and shower products. They are certified cruelty free and their main ethos is that beauty should be effortless, which is something I can definitely get behind!

So now, onto the products. I received a tanning mousse, tanning drops, tanning mitt, kabuki brush, shave balm and a back tanning applicator. I've attached pictures below with a review of each product so lets go.

I also got some tanning drops - which is something I've never tried before so was excited to do so. These were £15 and also vegan and cruelty free. The idea of this is you mix in 4-6 drops of the tanning drops to around 5ml of moisturiser for a healthy, natural glow. I mixed this with my night-time face moisturiser and once it had dried I slept in it. I woke up and my face was looking so glowy and healthy I couldn't quite believe it! The drops were fragrance free as well which is great as I have super sensitive skin, but I was still expecting to break out from these - but I didn't! Additionally, I was expecting to have to change my pillowcases as they would be covered in tan, but they were clean. It's a miracle! This was super easy to apply and that's a massive selling point for me, so I'll definitely be using these to give my pasty skin a summer glow.

Now, onto the extras! 

Firstly, the softest tanning mitt in all the land. Seriously, it's so soft. It's velvet, double sided and it retails for £5. This felt so luxurious when using and it really helped the tan to go on smoothly and blends in nicely. I don't have a huge amount to say about this except it does the job. Oh, and it was super easy to wash as well just with cool water and soap. 

Next I got some post shave balm. I mentioned this in my last post about FFS so I won't ramble on about it here too, but I really like this. It does what it says on the tin, it's so soothing and it has a nice, gentle scent to it. 

So I also have a kabuki brush which up until I got I assumed was only used for makeup. I was wrong! It was £5 which I think is decent for a high quality brush, but I wasn't 100% sure what to do with it! So I read the instructions on the box, and suddenly it made a whole lot of sense. The idea is that the brush helps to get a really even tan by reaching those hard to get to areas, and areas that usually don't blend great (Knees, elbows, ankles, feet etc) I found this to be really helpful and it really smoothed out the tan, especially around my knees. No patchy orange knees for me! This is definitely something I didn't know existed, but I'm happy it does. 

Finally... a product I didn't know was a thing but now I'm not sure how I'll ever apply tan without it after using it... A back applicator. I took this out of the packaging and I admit, I thought it looked like some sort of torture device, or a face mask for a giant. You wrap this around your back and grab onto it at either side (there's a fantastic picture on their website which I highly recommend checking out in the link above) And it just really helps to evenly distribute tan on your back, which is notoriously hard to get to when you live alone. It was £8 and is super soft just like the tanning mitt, and really easy to clean too. 

I hope I've helped you out if you were thinking of buying from FFS, but weren't sure what to think. I would definitely recommend everything, but if I had to pick one it would be the tanning drops or the velvet mitt (so smooth).

You can shop the full range of products here: https://www.ffs.co.uk/pages/tan

** They were kindly gifted to me but as usual, all opinions and thoughts are 100% my own. I wouldn't work with a brand if I didn't love their ethos and products. **

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If you wish to contact me, my email is: erindocherty3@gmail.com

Hello again! Today's post is all about the makeup brand e.l.f. It's a brand I dabbled in a bit when I was in America but I haven't really explored it since it's been widely available in the UK. So with that being said, I went onto Superdrug and went a bit wild! I think you'll see from the haul that I am desperate for a night out or just somewhere that I can do nice makeup? It's been so long! Without further ado, let's get into it!

Full disclaimer, I've had these products for quite a while now but haven't got round to editing the photographs until now! So I guess that means I have tried and tested them all! 

I hope you enjoyed this wee haul and first impressions post! I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and posting more. There is some exciting stuff coming!

Hello everyone, welcome back to my little space on the internet! Today we've got an incredibly exciting post, it's an image and info packed review all about FFS, a women's razors subscription brand.

First, a little bit of background on FFS. They are a UK based, female-first, multi award winning brand. They are most well known for their women's eco friendly razor subscription service (more on that later) but they also do deodorants, self tan and shower products. They are certified cruelty free and offer a way to recycle your used razor blades. Their main ethos is that beauty should be effortless, which is something I can definitely get behind! (Especially after Covid!) 

First things first, we need to talk about the packaging... For those of you who don't know, I'm actually a full time Graphic Designer, so packaging is majorly important to me. I often buy products just for the packaging, and you can often find me staring at all the beautiful book covers in Waterstones (Covid permitting of course). So let me tell you, I LOVE this packaging. I think it's so vibrant, fun, modern and honestly it's everything I would want in packaging design. Super impressed and it gets a 10/10 from me. 

So now, onto the subscription service. I received the full rose shave set, which is £33.00*, so I'll be reviewing everything in that. Before we get into that I would like to talk a little bit about the subscription service that they offer. 

The subscription service starts from only £6.95, which includes two blades and a handle. In my opinion, that's a bargain. I would definitely spend more on razors if I was to buy them from the shops. You can also get four blades and a handle from £9.95, which I think is fantastic. I have the rose gold set, but they come in a variety of colours including black, silver and lavender.

One of my favourite things about this product is the ability to engrave your name into the handle. I think it's such a nice, personal touch and it made me smile when I opened it to see my name on it. You can get up to 12 characters engraved on your razor for free if you go for the razor subscription. (£6 otherwise).

Their website is super clean and I love the design. It's also really user friendly so it's really easy to find what you're looking for quickly, which is really important in today's digital world. Nobody needs to be wasting time trying to find out where everything is.

In terms of a subscription, it's really flexible, you can either get a box sent out every month, or every two months. This means that depending on how often you shave, you can get a plan suited for you. Then a box will be sent out to you with 4 blades every month/other month! This is a super convenient way to shop. It means one less thing to worry about on the shopping list, and there will never be a point when you want to get your legs out and you realise too late that you don't have a razor! I think this is a fabulous, effortless way to shop razors, and it may have changed my life. That's not even an exaggeration!

In addition, FFS beauty are doing their bit for the environment by offering a blade recycling scheme for used razor blades. All you need to do is save up 12 blades, pack them up into their original trays and send them back to the address on your order. it really is that simple!

Let's start with the star of the show - The razors. I really love the rose gold/coral colour combination that is going on, it's right up my street. The razor itself feels nice and weighty, I can tell it's high quality. The little engraving surprised me, I think it looks so cute, I'm obsessed. As for how they work, I found it super easy to attach the blade to the handle, and it felt nice to hold. (That sounds weird, but I'm very big on how things 'feel'.) In terms of shaving, it was so smooth. For once I actually came out of the shower without any cuts or razor burns, which is very rare for me! One thing I will say, like most razors, it's definitely better on slightly shorter hairs. There were some hairs on my leg that were.... long (TMI? I know I'm not the only one who is only shaving up to their knees because of Covid). Anyway, I felt like it took a while to get rid of those hairs, but whilst I usually end up with razor burns from consistently going over the area, that didn't happen this time. Woohoo! Success! Overall a big thumbs up from me. 

Can we briefly talk about the accessories that come with the set? I am obsessed with the canvas bag, I think it's beautiful and I can't wait to use it when we can travel again. The shell that can be put over the razor head to protect the blades seems pretty sturdy so I think it will work well when travelling. I was sceptical about the little suction cup that attaches to the shower as nothing ever sticks to my shower (I have like weird laminated water resistant things, not really tiles) but to my shock and surprise it sticks! And as I write this, over a week after sticking it, I can confirm it is still strongly in place! Truly impressed.

Along with all of those products, included in this box is FFS's three step shaving system for a smooth, silky finish. Now, I'm going to be honest, I'm really bad when it comes to shaving. I usually just use my conditioner and a razor and that's me. So this three step process is true luxury to me! I really enjoyed trying these out and really treating myself. While not usually something I'd buy, the products were really nice. They had a faint scent, they were super gentle on my skin (which is great as I have really sensitive skin) and they did the job they were supposed to. I don't have much else to say about those, except I think the exfoliator was my favourite.

If you want to shop FFS razor's and beauty bits, you can do so over on their website. Sorry, this post seemed to go on for ages, but I really wanted to provide you with an in-depth review on this brand in case anybody is thinking of joining, but unsure what to expect. I hope this gives you a better idea!

Now, FFS kindly sent me one of their 'Natural Deodorants' to try, but I'm going to do a separate post all about that once I've properly tested it. So I'll see you soon for that post!

*Please note: I was kindly gifted these products by FFS, but as usual, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. If I don't rate a brand, I won't work with them.