Lush Product Review – Sultana of Soap

You may have read my previous Lush product review https://livingfully2017.wordpress.com/category/health-and-beauty/ looking at the pros and cons of the Lush ‘Charity Pot’ cream. Following on from that, today I’ll be reviewing the Lush soap bar called ‘Sultana of Soap’.

If you are also interested in a bit of background info about the company Lush, its ethos and stance on things like animal testing (they are against it!), use of natural ingredients, etc, then you can also read my first post in this series, here: https://livingfully2017.wordpress.com/2017/06/16/lush-product-review-happy-skin/

Firstly, here’s how Lush describes this soap on their website: “This luxurious olibanum scented blend of organic jojoba, Fair Trade organic cocoa butter and bergamot oil smells divine and feels even more so. Fresh bergamot and olibanum combine, evoking the joy of freshly laundered sheets and the scent of sweet summer rain, while a sumptuous caress of creamy Fair Trade cocoa butter from small-scale producers in the Dominican Republic leaves skin cool, calm and impossible to resist. To feel silky smooth all over, adorn wet skin in a scoop of this hydrating body conditioner, and rinse away for lasting softness. The generous combination of organic jojoba oil and soft, creamy butters will very carefully hydrate and soothe the skin for when you want extra TLC. What a softy.“

And here’s a few pictures of the soap bar that I bought:

I had tried this product before, so obviously I liked it first time around. The soap as displayed in the shop that I purchased it from had only a few bars being sold in individual slabs like this one, wrapped in this lovely recyclable paper. If you’re familiar with Lush, you may already know that the soap displays generally look something like this:

*Image courtesy of Google Images.

Giant squares or circles of soap (like a soap version of those cheese displays you get!) from which you can request a certain weight / price of soap to be cut. Therefore, prices will vary according to how much soap you request / require, and how accurately the shop assistant can weigh and cut it to size!  120g of the Sultana of Soap is priced at £4.20 (UK Price), and is possibly just slightly smaller than the bar I got.

Now, with regards to the pros and cons of this product, let me start with comparing a particular feature with the previous Lush product that I reviewed – the charity pot. Although I loved the charity pot, one of the main disappointments for me with that product was that it didn’t last very long, and seemed to evaporate from the tub. In contrast, the longevity of the sultana of soap has been one of its best features. I purchased my medium sized bar of the sultana of soap 5 and a half weeks ago, and have been using it every day, and sometimes several times a day. I use it in the shower, to wash my face, and hands, and I use it generously, and yet it is still going strong. Although it is now a lot smaller in size than when I first bought it, I can easily get at least one, if not two more weeks use out of it, using it on a daily basis! So, that is definitely a plus point for me. Even if you do buy a slightly bigger bar, you will be getting your money’s worth as it is quite long lasting.

Some other features of this product are that it lathers very easily and very well, is very soft and soothing to the touch, is very gentle on the skin, and has a light and refreshing scent to it, which comes from the bergamot oil (bergamot is also used in Earl Grey tea, however the scent of the soap is quite gentle and in no way overpowering or too strong).

The product contains dried currants (hence the name, Sultana of Soap!), and dried cranberries which are natural and gentle exfoliators for the skin. As you can see from the photos above of the bar I purchased, the main block of soap was very smooth in appearance, with the dried sultanas and cranberries being on either side of the bar. This means that you will mainly have this natural exfoliator on the outsides, but you can choose to just lather some soap into your hands and use it softly without any exfoliation if you wish, and as the soap gets used up it will become smoother and smoother in texture and appearance.

Depending on your own personal preference and the particular bar you get, you may find a downside to be the pieces of dried currants that fall off. However, if this is an issue for you, you can ask for a ‘middle bit’ of the soap to be cut for you so that you get a smooth bar of soap, and I’m sure the Lush staff will be happy to oblige.

For me, I personally liked the natural and gentle exfoliation, and I didn’t find the ‘falling sultanas’ to be too much of a problem as I kept a small container in the bath / shower, so that I could put them there and save any from going down the drain.

As I mentioned previously, I have very sensitive skin, and I also suffer from eczema, and need to be careful with the products that I use. Lush’s Sultana of Soap, however, has been very gentle and kind to me, I find the scent of the soap relaxing, the lather of the soap quite luxurious and creamy, and I have had absolutely no problems with it aggravating my skin, so much so that I have even used it on my face, which is something I have to be especially careful with in using soaps generally.

So, as for the final verdict, did I find it good value for money, and would I buy it again? Yes, and yes – however, unlike the Charity Pot, I will have to wait a bit longer before needing to replenish this product, as it does last quite a long time, which is a customer’s dream! 🙂 xx

Please see below for a list of ingredients:

List of ingredients

• Water (Aqua)
• Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil
• Glycerine
• Sorbitol
• Perfume
• Dried Apricots
• Dried Currants
• Dried Cranberries
• Olibanum Oil
• Bergamot Oil
• Titanium Dioxide
• Sodium Chloride
• EDTA
• Tetrasodium Etidronate
• Sodium Hydroxide
• *Limonene
• *Linalool
• Lilial

Natural Ingredients

Safe Synthetics

*occurs naturally in essential oils.

 

Why We Need To Stop Saying “I’ll Be Happy When…”

Source: Why We Need To Stop Saying “I’ll Be Happy When…”

Are you Liked?

Social media has changed things. For those of us who are young(ish) adults, we may remember a time before the Internet (yes, younglings….there really was such a time! and no, I’m not old 🙂 ), the transition to when the Internet first came to be, and our first intrepid steps into this new world of knowledge at our fingertips. Yes, sometimes that knowledge would be a bit slow to load up on our computer screens, we had dial up modem connections and we also had a bit more patience. These were the days when our first instincts when presented with a school or university paper to write were still to go to the ‘LIBRARY’ (yes, the kind of library with books made of *actual* paper 😉 ) to do our research, and perhaps venture into the strange and novel ‘World Wide Web’ to supplement our findings.

Put in perspective of the length of human history, it is fair to say that the Internet is actually quite a new creation, and hasn’t actually been around for that long. And yet, nowadays, it seems like babies are weaned on the milk of electronic gadgets and gizmos that are rapidly changing and developing, and many school aged children, even very young children, cannot imagine a world, or their lives, without the Internet, and have never experienced such a world.

So although as adults, those of us who were growing up just as the strange language of this mysterious ‘Web’ began to enter our parlance, or who were already ‘fully fledged adults’ as it were, had passed through those fiery adolescent years of wondering if anyone liked us after all, we are still faced with this nervous desire to know whether we are ‘liked’ every time we connect to the web. Or at least, most of us are.

Social media has changed things. In many parts of the world it is absolutely and irreversibly the norm. We no longer see the Internet primarily as a tool to gain knowledge or to supplement education and learning, but as a multifaceted, ubiquitous, all things to all people, source of input, entertainment, news, gossip, stories, celebrities, fact, ‘fake news’, colours, noise, opinions, ideas, creations, inventions, innovations, trends, popularity contests and the seemingly endless list goes on and on and is daily reinvented.

Perhaps those of us who blog seek a quieter and more reflective online space, that the more fast paced social media tools that we may also use such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram (and there my knowledge of such things ends 😉 ) would grant us.

But nonetheless, even the more reflective world of blogging shares the common feature of the ‘like’ facility.

How many of us log in to our Word Press accounts and immediately look at that little bell at the top right of the screen to see whether it has a little red or orange marker to indicate that someone has ‘liked’ or appreciated our content? You can be honest with yourself here.

It is a fascinating little ‘button’ that often makes me smile when I click on it, mainly because it makes me feel more connected to you. I realise that on the other side of this computer screen are real people, with fascinating stories, unique lives and thoughts, who have taken the time to acknowledge and appreciate mine. That is really something special, I think. And truly, the Internet can be a wonderful place, with some truly special people in it.

However, sometimes I wonder whether there is something about that ‘like button’ that triggers an instinct in ourselves to evaluate who we are, our value, and the value of what we have to say by how many ‘likes’ we receive. If we pour our heart and soul into writing something meaningful to us, and it is not noticeably acknowledged, does this in turn impact our self-esteem, even on a subconscious level?

Don’t get me wrong, I think ‘likes’ are wonderful. I genuinely like ‘likes’, and feel more connected with other people online because of them. However, if we find that our attention is unduly drawn towards whether something we have shared on our blogs has been liked or not, if we feel our heart sink if it hasn’t, and if we feel a glimmer of old feelings from childhood and teenage years when our likeability by our peers seemed to be a direct evaluation of our perceived worth, then perhaps it is time to take a step back.

I know that sinking feeling. And I know it has deeper roots than anything Internet related. As a child I was badly bullied for a few years, and I was worthless. I didn’t just feel worthless, but my existence was consumed by this rejection, the not measuring up, not being liked or being actively disliked, of being undesirable, outcast, rejected, neglected, unworthy, broken, hurting, isolated, ignored, overlooked, despised and alone. My broken heart and wounded mind is still being repaired and undergoing a process of transformation. No child, or adult for that matter, deserves to feel that way. And the more I think about it, the more I realise I feel passionately about encouraging other people, as well as myself, to know that although it is lovely, and a natural human desire, to be appreciated, our worth as individuals, as members of this community, and the worth of what we have to say and to share cannot be diminished by the lack of a ‘like’.

You *are* a star irrespective of whether anyone has pressed that star to like your post. You are unique, incredible and fascinating, with stories that no one but you can tell, and a world within a world of thoughts, imagination, hopes, dreams, fears and love. You can change things in everyday small quiet ways and even that in its own way is revolutionary. You are important because you are you. This is our humanity. And sometimes, as wonderful as the Internet is, the online world can rob us of that assurance. We are faced with numbers, targets, statistics, comparisons, and we are encouraged, especially by advertisers to never feel quite good enough – the next achievement, or makeover or purchase will add value to our damaged, inadequate selves.

And yet, despite our brokenness, our mistakes, our evaluations of self and others, we are infinite. And we are important. And even if we are not ‘liked’, we are created for a reason, and we are LOVED.

 

Daily Prompt ~ ‘Edible’

Daily Prompt ~ Edible

A friend of mine told me that it looks good enough to eat! 🙂

Image taken from adult colouring book: “Images of Hope”.

101 ! A Mini Celebration…

Thank you to everyone who has been following along, you make this journey worthwhile 🙂 I just wanted to share with you a mini celebration of making my 100th post! ❤ to all. x

Vienna

Hi friends!

Now, if you haven’t read my last two blog posts on Budapest, Prague and Vienna, where have you been?! Only joking 🙂 Welcome, and I’m glad you have joined us. Check out my ‘Travel’ tab and you will find the posts there, with an explanation of this little ‘series’ of posts.

So onto today’s instalment! 🙂

Vienna:

Vienna is Austria’s capital city, and is also the country’s largest city. It is located on the east of Austria, along the Danube River.

Vienna has been known as both “The City of Music”, and “The City of Dreams”, due to its cultural legacy of composers and musicians (such as Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Bruckner, Haydn, Mahler and Strauss), but also because of the well known psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud who entered the University of Vienna at the age of 17 (although he was born in the Czech Republic).

https://pixabay.com/en/vienna-violin-statue-1303429/

https://pixabay.com/en/panorama-vienna-austria-city-view-427929/

As mentioned in my previous posts, I’d love to hear of your own experiences of any or all of these places, so do please feel free to share your recommendations or memories in the comments below.

Much love, xx

Prague

Happy Friday, everyone!

Following on from my introductory post on my upcoming travel adventures (https://livingfully2017.wordpress.com/2017/07/13/budapest-prague-vienna-lets-go/), here is my first fact in the series about Prague.

Prague:

Prague is the capital city of the Czech Republic, and is known as ‘The City of a Hundred Spires’, based on the count (103) of the Czech 19th Century mathematician Bernard Bolzano.

Today, it is estimated that Prague is now the city of over 500 spires! I wonder how many you can count in this picture? 🙂

 

Image courtesy of freeimages.co.uk

https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-prague-sunset-beautiful-city-image38348058#res336036

 

Budapest, Prague & Vienna…Let’s Go! :)

I love to travel. I have had the privilege of sampling a taste of a number of different countries including India, USA, Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sicily, the Netherlands, Belgium, Guernsey, and probably other places that have presently slipped my mind. With some of these countries, including Austria, I have only passed through while en route to other places.

However, large parts of the world remain uncharted territory to me including Eastern Europe. So this year, I decided having worked hard, and saved hard, to venture out into this new and exciting and as yet unexplored part of the world for me.

Next month I will be, God-willing, visiting Hungary, The Czech Republic and Austria, and in particular spending time in their capital cities of Budapest, Prague & Vienna.

I have to admit that my knowledge of these countries is at present fairly limited, so I thought it would be a fun thing to do to bring you along on my adventure in preparation for my travels by finding out and sharing an interesting fact about these places each day.

I also realise that many of you are far more proficient ‘globe trotters’ than I am, and that you may have ample experience and knowledge of these countries and capital cities (you may even live in one of these places!), in which case you are more than welcome to be tour guide and share your recommendations, experiences, anecdotes, ‘must see’ places, and places to avoid in the comments below. The more the merrier! 🙂

In the meantime, here is my first discovery:

Budapest:

Budapest is the capital city, and also the most populous city of Hungary, and is also one of the largest cities of the European Union, with a population of over 1.7million people.

Budapest was formed in 1872 or 1873 from the merging of two cities on opposite sides of the River Danube, Buda (the original meaning of which was probably water) and Pest (a Hungarian word meaning furnace, oven or cove – I wonder if this is due to the hot springs?).

Here is a beautiful picture of the Danube river intersecting these two sides of Budapest:

Image courtesy of Stock Free Images (TM).

 

 

 

 

Trains of thought ….

You may have read my previous two posts about my recent travel adventures on the Jacobite Steam Train through northern Scotland. However, this post is about different types of trains: trains of thought.

I did not choose this topic at random, but because I am struggling right now, and I like the freedom of being ‘real’ with you on this platform (pardon the pun 😉 ).

You see, for the past few years I have been receiving treatment for Post Traumatic Stress, Complex Trauma (trauma that is severe and repeated), Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Severe Clinical Depression – what a colourful array of conditions and symptoms! I have been suffering for many, many, many years prior to getting help, however.

Despite my conditions, I function at a high level. I work full time (although my workplace know of my conditions and are supportive to me), I have obtained two first class degrees, I love photography, and other creative outlets, have a strong faith and seek to encourage other people in my friendships. These are all real and genuine parts of me, they are not masks, however, underneath my pleasant and often smiling demeanour is a lot of pain, and emotional and mental distress. In case you are wondering a lot of this stems from bullying about my appearance as a child, racial hate crimes, physical, mental, verbal and emotional ‘bullying’ (abuse) at young and formative stages of my life, as well as various stressful situations in adulthood.

I try hard, but sometimes my brain and body go into ‘meltdown’, and I am harassed by nightmares, chronic pain, flashbacks, distress, confusion, low moods and painful memories and reminders of abusive words hurled at me that I absorbed as being true about myself.

But I have chosen not to be defeated by these things, although recovery is a long road. In my pain and despair, prior to seeking professional help, I would try to ‘fix’ things or figure them out and it would lead me down very unhelpful trains of thought such as obsessively reading about stories of adults who were bullied as children and that sort of thing. It ultimately didn’t pull me out of my pain and trauma.

Since then, I have been focusing on more positive distractions and techniques to ground me in the present…I’m still at a vulnerable stage of my recovery so reprocessing these experiences needs to be built on a more stable foundation of grounding and staying emotionally safe and well. I have been doing pretty well with these – I have been pouring a lot of my time and attention into healthier pursuits such as doing my best at work, exercising, going for walks, eating more healthily, not isolating myself from friends and family but working on my relationships with others, taking time for ‘self care’, pursuing my hobbies of photography, creative writing, arts and crafts, adult colouring, and now blogging !, and building myself up in my faith and in prayer.

However, not all journeys are smooth and straightforward, and this train has run into some trouble and parts of it have broken down and are in need of servicing. I have been feeling more overwhelmed by, I guess a ‘flare up’ of the traumatic symptoms, and at the moment I’m struggling again.

Today I found myself face to face once more with some of these troubling memories and emotions and feelings and physical sensations that brought back a lot of negativity in my perceptions of myself as I was when I experienced these things, and I found myself beginning to follow old trains of thought – I was so close to going online to read about and watch videos about bulling, but I know that that will ultimately be harmful to me.

So I chose a new train of thought, I chose to continue on a more healthy journey, and I came here to blog instead.

But this blog isn’t all about me. It’s about you, about us, and about community and building each other up, being encouragers and supporting each other on our individual and shared journeys.

If you struggle with your mental health, know that you are not alone. Be aware of the train of thought you choose to pursue, and if you are on the wrong train, get off at the nearest station and switch tracks.

How do you do this? Start building up your ability to choose positive thoughts. Perhaps you can focus on a healthy hobby, or write down a list of affirmations and positive statements about yourself. Take your attention away from the thoughts that distress you and instead focus on something beautiful like the clouds moving across the sky, the sound of birdsong, the gentle lapping of waves, the laughter of someone you love, the sweet scent of flowers or perfume, the taste of your favourite food. Build a ‘narrative’ for yourself, filled with positive things. Use your imagination, and keep choosing the Imagination Stations of positivity rather than staying on a train of thought that will only lead you through a long dark tunnel.

What helps you? Do you have anything helpful that you can share that might benefit the rest of us? If so please feel free to comment and discuss. We’re all passengers together in this journey of life, so let’s make sure we help each other choose the right train! 🙂

I shall leave you with an inspiring quote to ponder:

“whatever is true, whatever is honest, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8).

The Greatest Train Journey in The World!….

Now, I don’t know whether that is strictly true, having limited experience of great train journeys, however that’s how it was advertised, and I decided that it might just be the mini travel adventure I needed.

I have travelled on trains in a few countries including India, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and America. All of these journeys have been memorable for me in some way or another whether that be the insights into different cultures, breath-taking scenery, or simply the novelty of travelling in a new country and unfamiliar environments. One particular train journey in India will stay with me throughout my life, as it involved an accident and me coming face to face with death, for the first time.  But that’s too deep to explore in this post.

There is something so nostalgic about steam trains – a piece of the past, and one unknown to me at my age, right here in the present.

So I decided to go for it: “AAAALLLL AAAABOARD!! The Jacobite Steam Train from Fort William to Mallaig, in ‘Bonnie Scotland’.

The tour however, which was by bus, departed from Glasgow (just a few days ago on Friday 7th July 2017), which meant travelling up to and spending an afternoon and an overnight in Oban before setting off for the Fort William departure by train the next morning.

A Whistle Stop in Oban:

Now Oban itself is a lovely harbour town, with interesting walks, Oban Whiskey Distillery https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/oban-distillery-visitors-centre-p418591, McCaig’s Tower https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/mccaigs-tower-p255141 , boats and more boats, and plenty of nice eating places, including those where you can sample some delicious Scottish chips!

From Oban to Fort William to Mallaig:

The next morning I awoke to a beautiful view of the sun on the water, followed by a bus journey from Oban to Fort William where I boarded the Jaobite Steam Train for the first time, and made the journey from Fort William to Mallaig and back again.

It was definitely a memorable adventure, and a great opportunity for a spot of photography. Here are some photos that I took on my trip. I hope you enjoy! 🙂

P.S. I have plenty more photos of my trip – if you would like to see more, whether of Oban, Mallaig (which I haven’t posted here), or the Jacobite Steam Train and the Glenfinnan Viaduct, feel free to let me know and I can create a subsequent Gallery post.