Minty Christmas

One thing I love about the festive season is the Christmas scents. Being in the midst of summer means our Christmas differs quite vastly from the experiences of those across the pond, we wear summer dresses rather than Christmas sweaters etc. and it doesn't always feel right to indulge in warm and spicy scents as the air con roars. Instead, I like to partake in a bit of peppermint action as I feel like it's a year round winner for me - creamy warmth if it's cold and a fresh tingle if it's hot = perfect!

Presenting to you, my pepperminty Christmas body product favourites!

I have hoarded my Bath & Body Works stash since our honeymoon in late '14 and brought the Twisted Peppermint Body Lotion out for another round this year. The sweet edge of this makes it more like a sweet peppermint lolly than a spicy mint on the skin which is what makes it so wearable in my opinion. I really regret not buying it in candle and body wash form, I think it would have been amazing for that as well. 

Back in October I purchased the Palmolive Peppermint Crush Body Butter Exfoliating Body Wash to squirrel away for use in December and it's something I always sniff when I'm doing the groceries but had put off buying for some reason. It's seriously delicious and lathers up perfectly with a shower sponge - it's very light on the exfoliation however, so would be great for lovers of light, everyday scrubs but may let heavy-scrub-lovers down if they're buying it for that reason.

I'm off to continue smelling like a walking candy cane thanks to these two beauties - hope your December is shaping up to be a great one!
-Emma

Hawaiian Skittle - OPI Lost My Bikini In Molokini & That’s Hula-rious

I was so excited about the new OPI Hawaii collection that I decided to start off my swatch-fest with not one, but two of the shades contained in the mini-pack! I've always loved a purple and green combination but it isn't the easiest to incorporate into a makeup look (though I am tempted to try it out now) so I was excited to put these together for this little skittle mani. Loving the Hawaiian daydreams ;)

Lost My Bikini in Molokini* is a stunning mid-tone violet creme, and I'm happy to note that I don't have anything like it in my nail polish collection. It was a dream to apply, needing only two coats for opaque coverage and even on my unkempt and stubby nails I think it's a good looking polish. It's a purple with a bit of an edge, which is just the way I like my purples most of the time. It's definitely one of the nicer shades from the tropical-inspired release, some of them were actually quite dubious like the frosty yellow Pineapples Have Peelings Too! which you can see over at All Lacquered Up.

That's Hula-rious* is a pale peppermint crème that needed quite a few coats to become opaque - I think it took 4 thin coats before I was content with how the shade looked on my nails and all of the bald patches were eradicated. I think that multiples coats are common with pale shades like this though - it definitely has been in the past for me! I can appreciate a peppermint/mint shade like this, but don't think it's a colour that would be worn frequently on my tips as I tend to favour deep and moody shades, or very bright ones!

 

Overall I'm quite pleased with my OPI Hawaiian adventure thus far - if only wearing the shades would really take me back to the islands *swoon* Next up will probably be the mouth-watering Aloha from Hawaii*, so stay tuned!

 

-Emma

 

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.