November / December Favorites

Ive decided to post November and December together for this favorites post as November is long gone and December is just about over too.

Vitamin E face mist from The Body Shop. Im sure Ive mentioned this pastel pink beauty before, but she needs another mention. Its summer and it’s hot and this is all I want on my face at the moment. Its moisturising, it keeps my skin looking fresh and bright so Im a happy camper.

Cute christmas cards, this one was from a set I got from In Good Company. They come with tiny temporary tattoos as well. So festive.

Pretty jewelry “Catherine” bracelet from Cardies. This is a gift I picked out for my mom on my little brother’s behalf. He’s 3 and only wants to buy diggers and trucks for everyone so I had to intervene here…

Glitter filled baubles from H&M, these seem to be really popular this year, and the more I look, the more I seem to find them. I love glitter and I wish everything was filled with glitter. I’m considering hanging the gold one in my car when I take my tree down this year actually.

The white one has two beautiful feathers inside of it, and makes for a delicate and elegant baubale.

Wrapped gifts, this year I wrapped all my gifts early and I’ve been thanking myself ever since.

“Well done Courtney for getting it together this year, you have no need to go to any crowded shopping centres or inflict any form of stress or anxiety upon yourself. You have all this time to yourself now, good on you.”

I chose all kinds of pretty wrapping papers and then finished my gifts off with cute tags and twine bows.

There you have all my favorites for these past two months. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post

Love Courtney xx

Shiny, Glittery, Sparkly Baubles

Here are some of the christmas tree decorations and baubles Ive picked up this year. Our plastic tree magically grew overnight and we needed a LOT more baubles to fill up the bigger one…

I didn’t go with any set theme or colour, I just picked out what looked nice and they ended up looking quite good all together.

I got 99% of them from stores in Canal Walk shopping centre in Cape Town.

from the top: Wooden snowflakes- @home

table confetti- Cape Arts and Crafts

Pack of 4 snow filled baubles- @home

Gold sequin baubles- Woolworths

Glass moroccan baubles – Woolworths

gold dot plate- Woolworths

Chocolate hanging decorations- Woolworths

Unicorn and Reindeer – Accessorize

Copper Reindeer – Typo

Ceramic Feather – The pause room

Confetti Baubles- Woolworths

Paper stars- Woolworths

Copper bells – Cape Arts and Crafts

Old school bulb lights- Game

Decoupage star- Woolworths

Fairy and Fox – Accessorize

Pearly Unicorn – Typo

I hope you enjoyed this post and that this inspires you for your own Christmas tree decorating…

Love Quartz xx

Snowman shower jelly | Lush Cosmetics

I thought this was just a Christmas version of the Whoosh shower jelly, and that it would be a big blob when I took it out. It’s actually shaped like a little snowman, he just popped right out, and doesn’t lose his shape at all when I used him. This shower jelly has a really sweet smell of Blackcurrant, almost like fruity flavoured candy. I read the pot and it said it could be used for your hair, so I gave that a try too, and I don’t think my hair has ever smelt nicer.

I even discovered loads of shimmer inside this shower jelly, which I love since I am a fan of anything sparkly, shiny or glittery.

All in all this snowman is fun, easy to use, smells amazing and leaves my skin feeling very soft. I only wish this could be an all-year-round shower jelly, because I will miss him when he’s all used up. This will definitely be on the top of my list when the Christmas stock comes back in again.

I hoped you enjoyed this review, Love Quartz xx

Happy Daze Lush gift box |Lush Cosmetics

I received this gift box as a gift for Christmas, I really love how the outside of the lush boxes always reflect what’s on the inside. The paper is bright, cheerful and makes me think of a psychedelic colour festival and that’s exactly what’s inside the box too.

The box contains the following 4 bath ballistics:

Mini Comforter bubble bar

Mini Brightside bubble bar

Fizzbanger bath bomb

Granny Takes a Dip bath bomb

Once again, I will be doing individual blog posts for these, as each beautiful product deserves its own chance to shine.

I hope you enjoyed this post, Love Quartz

Jingle Bells Lush gift box | Lush Cosmetics

This is the second box I purchased from the Lush sale. The first box I got was “Merry and Bright” and you can see that full post in the previous blog post.   Another beautiful box for my room, Ive decided to keep all the goodies inside here, so they don’t crumble and break.   I’m thinking of doing something with the bells… any suggestions?   Here are all the goodies packed out, Sadly my little hedgehog keeps loosing his nose, I dug it out of the bottom of the box when I took him out and now it just keeps falling out. Other than that, this is a gorgeous box and I love everything inside of it.

Mini Comforter (my favourite bubble bar)

Magic wand bubble bar

Drummers Drumming bubble bar

Golden Wonder bath bomb

Luxury Lush Pud

Christmas Hedgehog bubble bar

again, I will be doing separate posts for each of these items at a later stage, just keep looking out for them

Love Quartz xx

Merry and Bright Lush gift box | Lush Cosmetics

I happened to be out shopping on January 1st, and all the Christmas stock in Lush was marked down, drastically!

I decided that the gift boxes were well worth their money, especially now since they had all been marked down, this was one of the boxes I purchased.

 Firstly, this packaging is gorgeous, Ive kept the box in my room because I just don’t have the heart to throw it out, Ill find a use for this gem somewhere. I should have known by the colourful box that it’s contents would be jam-packed with a rainbow of cheerful treats…   Here are all the goodies all packed out:

3 shower gels (they work just as well as bubble bath too) Dirty Springwash, Happy Hippy and The Olive Branch.

2 of their 4-in1 Fun soap, red and green

2 solid soaps, Magnificent and Baked Alaska

Celebrate body lotion

Sparkle Toothy tabs

Snowman shower jelly

Rub Rub Rub shower scrub

and their strawberry shaving cream, D’fluff

Phew! what a list
I will be doing individual reviews on the products inside in the next blog posts to come, I didn’t want to go into great detail here or this post would have become a very long one. Which products would you like to see reviewed first?

Love Quartz

Christmas Day 2014

Here are some of the very few photo’s I took on christmas day this year. We had my gran and her husband down here from Port Elizabeth. Our table was decorated in gold and purple, as purple was the pantone colour of 2014? We also had Lush goodies for everyone at the table, instead of doing christmas crackers this year. We all had a really lovely time sitting out on our patio and enjoying each other’s company, my sister entertained us all by opening the non-alcoholic bubbly, as the cork shot out at her (photo below)

Even my fur baby, Zazzles, got given a christmas gift, consisting of special cat treats and wet food. She usually only gets dry pellets as the wet food can be quite rich, so I give that to her on special occasions only. 

How was your christmas?

Love Quartz xx

12 days of christmas

I don’t know where I got this idea from, but what I’ve done is purchase 12 little presents for my family from around June this year. I included my mom, sister, little brother and step-dad.

For my little brother I purchased things like: toy cars, crayons, stickers, colouring books, pencils, and a blow up boat for the pool. He is 3 this december and he loves to draw. It’s also the middle of our summer now so I thought a little boat for the pool would be enjoyed a lot.

For my mom and sister, I got things like nail polish, body butter, body scrubs, chocolate, shower gel, as well as a set of summer PJ’s. These two are two of the most important women in my life and they deserve to be treated and spoilt a bit.

For my stepdad I got a magazine, books, chocolates, T-shirts and some other bath or shower treats.

I did this instead of an advent calendar this year, it has been really nice to come together each evening as a family and share in these little gifts. This could be done without the gifts but making a specific time to spend with each other each evening has been really nice, especially since this time of the year can get very busy and overwhelming.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this, perhaps you could do something similar for the special people in your life?

Love Quartz

November Favorites |2014

Here are my favourites for the month of November. It’s been a very busy month with the end of school approaching fast, thankfully I am no longer a student, but working behind the scenes has been just as stressful this year. I am glad things are winding down now.  The body shop has a glazed apple range out this year. I don’t know if it’s new, I certainly didn’t see it out last year. It’s a sweet, fruity fragrance that Im really loving at the moment.   keeping with the fruit theme…. my handbag has been a mess of paperwork and books this month and this phone case is actually the only way I can find my phone in amongst the mess of it all.   After a visit to the dermatologist, Ive decided that sunshine is officially not for me. Ive been looking into self tanners as a safer option for my skin. The Caribbean tan range has been wonderful to use. I use the A shade all over my body and arms, and I use the B shade for my legs as it is slightly darker. The can gives me about a month and a half worth of tanning. I top my tan up every week or so.   A wallet designed and made by a friend of mine, Norman. The cards go in between the wood and notes go inside the black rubber band. Its compact enough to carry in your hand or pocket. Im enjoying this a great deal. His website is in the photo below if you would like to contact him for one. 

Christmas! I can finally put up my christmas tree and that makes me incredibly happy.

I bought this tree from a department store, It actually was a display piece and wasn’t for sale. After some begging and pleading they sold it to me, fully decorated and all, we drove it to my gran’s house in the back of her Citi Golf as we were staying with her for christmas. I then had to fly home with the tree under my arm as my carry-on luggage. Nobody was impressed with me. Nevertheless its home and I own a beautiful pastel pink tree. 

That’s my list for the month. I do hope you enjoyed reading this

Have a lovely day xx

October Favorites 2014

Here are the things Ive been loving all through October, enjoy!  “So white” from Lush, Ive actually been using it as a bubble bath. It smells like a million crisp granny smith apples have been squashed into this bottle and I love the scent.   Gerbers. Ive never been able to grow them myself as they are quite fussy little plants, so I pick them up wherever I can, this one is in the most beautiful pastel pink.   Glitter nail polish, it’s festive enough for my christmas spirit to be satisfied, but not too festive that everyone complains about me getting into the christmas spirit too early (as I usually do, christmas starts in mid-October for me)  A JR Tolkien quote that’s up on my wall above my desk.   My bed, a bit of an odd one but I dip-dyed some white bedding and I really love the way it turned out, my bed is also my all time favourite place to be. I do struggle to sleep unless the “conditions” are absolutely perfect and I think Ive got a good thing going here now. I am enjoying the space and really feeling at peace here.  Christmas. I love christmas. I will do a blog post on this soon and why I love christmas so much. This was a beautiful tin I received as a gift a few weeks ago, it’s just so sweet, and there’s a cat on it too!

**I have also been enjoying Spirulina powder and Acai berry powder in my smoothies and food this month, Im definitely feeling healthier and stronger with these two additions to my diet- More on this soon

I hope you have enjoyed reading through this,

Love Quartz xx