A Lush Life

I'm a massive hard core Lush fan and have been for a number of years now. The vibrant colours and strong fragrances are everything I love. I admit it can be a bit pricey for a bar of soap when you can nip down the town and purchase a pack of four aloe vera bars for a pound. So I've discovered the way around this for me is to stock up at birthdays and Christmas's. My recent haul was for my birthday and it's given me the opportunity to try some new products and these are the ones I recommend!

SOAPS are probably my favourite Lush products, you get a substantial block and the beautiful smelling bar lasts for a long while. I tried Rock Star and Miranda which both have fruity fragrances to them. My ultimate favourite is 'Miranda' and I really recommend this one. I've used it regularly and the citrus scent is really refreshing, it's one to wake you up on a groggy Monday morning! Rock Star is a popular soap too, it's sweet, cherry smelling with a floral undertone and is equalling pleasing. It's scent has more of a cute teenage girly vibe but has a soothing cleanliness at the same time and I'd be more likely to use it before going out to a party or going to bed.

Miranda £3.40

Rock Star £3.40

Pop In The Bath £2.95

BUBBLE BARS are ideal for relaxing and lounging around in a warm bath tub. I quite like that they can be used over a period of time, instead of crumbling it all in one bath and be done with it. I decided to go with 'Dorothy' and 'Pop In The Bath'; 'Pop In The Bath' was the sweeter of the two but they both possessed strong relaxing smells and I would recommend either if you want to de-stress and relax.

Dorothy £3.25

BATH BOMBS are a great one off treat, the only down side I find to them is they only last for one bath time. However I usually leave the bath shimmering clean and smelling amazingly good, which is a great benefit, of course! Three fresh smelling favourites I'd recommend are 'Sakura', 'Spacegirl' and 'Twilight'.

Twilight £3.25

Sakura £3.25

Space Girl £2.35

I always find the Lush SHOWER GELS useful, they're such a handy size and all smell beautiful. However, if you're looking for a refreshing snap of citrus similar to the Lush Miranda soap, Happy Hippy is a perfect quick fix. I use it all the time when I'm in a rush and need to have a quick but effective wash! It's definitely my favourite shower gel and I highly recommend!

Happy Hippy £3.50

The SHIMMER BARS are a really good summer product. They're multi-purpose and they've worked really well for me for just a simple massage oil as well as smelling pretty amazing. I've also found they're a really good buy for a natural glowing summer look, so if you're going on holiday, to festivals or genuinely off out, this is ideal for quick beauty trick.

Shimmy Shimmy £4.75

If you're the kind of person to like LIP BALMS and you like chocolate this is one for you! I wasn't sure at first as I didn't know whether the colour would suit my lip tone but there wasn't much of a tint to it like some of the other Lush lip balms. It smells exactly like chocolate orange and worked as a perfect moisturiser banishing all dry skin.

Whipstick £5.75

Finally the SOLID SHAMPOO is my must have! I'm not a fan of hair washing but for some reason I've warmed to the solid bar of shampoos that Lush sell. They're really compact with a long, long lifespan, so well worth the money. It's basically a bar of soap for your hair which leaves your locks shiny, nourished and clean. My favourite being the Jumping Juniper bar, I love it!

Jumping Juniper £5.50

You're able to buy any of the products I found in any Lush shop or online at www.lush.co.uk

Please feel free to leave your comments and ideas, email me or follow me on twitter: @MoliquaMole

Molly xx

Colour, Clothes and Visual Merchandising

Now’s the time when everyone’s biting their nails waiting for the Unis to make their decisions. Thinking about the future is a regular and scary thought, which I experience often! When researching into what I wanted to do for the future I was lucky enough to spend a few hours with Tom, a visual merchandiser of River Island menswear.

There are many careers in fashion, however, if you’re creative but not the keenest of sewers a future career as a visual merchandiser could be for you. In a boiling day in July last summer, Oxford Street River Island, I met Tom on the shop floor; smart but casual clothes. It was hard to spot him amongst customers but he just seemed to fit into the image of someone working in fashion (stereotypical I know!). I soon learnt a visual merchandiser’s role involves the presentation of the clothes and shop, down to the colour of the clothes hangers! The job allows him to travel to find inspiration around the world; nipping off to Tokyo, Europe; spending 2 days in New York sneakily taking photos of other shop’s windows for inspiration. With the perks of a mini-cooper company car, this job does sound amazing! However, it’s not all play and no work, oh no! Tom has to get up in the early hours of the morning to arrange the shop in a new layout, take photos of his ideas, then moving everything back before opening times. If you want to succeed in this job you really have to come up with the goods, presenting original and popular ideas.

Inspiration can be found in anything and this is why so much travel is involved in the job, as Tom said one of his ideas, writing on chalk boards, which were transferred to all stores, was discovered when visiting a market shop. It’s about being random and fun to attract customers, like the giant giraffe gracing the front of the shop. By no means should the business side not be overlooked; it is equally about making money. Everything in the shop has been positioned for a reason, for example sale items at the back and expensive items at the front, so customers have to see the expensive clothes, very clever. The mindset and phycology of the customer dictates everything, and store colour schemes and clothes arrangements are changed every week to remain fresh and memorable. You really have to have a talent to pick trends before they appear, as Tom has to work 6 months in advance!

So if you can relate to having these talents then maybe this this job’s for you!  So how did Tom achieve the role as visual merchandiser? He left school at 16, working on the shop floor of River Island and working his way up the ranks; A risky option that paid off in his favour. However, the profile of this job has been raised and there are now degrees catering fashion buying and visual merchandising. I found it really interesting and this would be perfect for budding fashionistas out there.

Molly x

http://www.riverisland.com/