The tale of an evening 'Swap Shop' trip to Lush!

A teeny heads-up (I have never before used this phrase in my life, so god knows why I'm using it now!); I'm definitely not one for writing things in the order in which they occur, so if my chopping and changing between the events/situations/places/times/days etc. I talk about causes some sort of motion sickness then I can only offer my sincerest apologies and a semi-promise that I will endeavour to do things in a more orderly fashion from now on (ok, after this post).

Yesterday evening I attended Lush Nottingham's very first 'Spring Swap Shop' in aid of Emmanuel House, a local charity that offers stability to the homeless and the vulnerable through daily support services, such as the offer of daily meals, a hairdresser's, a computer room and an allotment (for more information, please follow through to their website).

The idea was as follows; drop in 5 items of clothing and receive 5 tokens in return that you could then use to 'purchase' 5 of the items brought in by your fellow swap shoppers. A pretty simple, yet fab-sounding, concept you say?! You'd be right! I dropped my items off during the day, on the way through from my physio 'session' (anyone else HATE phsyio as much as I do?!), then got back there just in time (ok, 10 minutes early, thus I proceeded to hang around outside like some sort of Lush-worker groupee) for the 6pm opening. Outside I met up with Becky, and her friend Alice, and the 3 of us trundled in the front door, ready to pay our £1 entry-fee (bargain!) and collect our tickets. Once inside we were met by Immy (she recognised me from my blog, say whuuut?!) who kindly pointed us in the right direction (I instantly clocked snacks and refreshments, result!) and we made our way down to the tables/rails that had been put up for the evening. Ellie was there, waiting and hanging stuff up ready, and was completely adorable as ever; it was so nice to see and chat to her again after our brief meeting on Saturday (yes, I've yet to post about the meet-up that happened, but don't worry, I will). I then made my way through the rails, slowly, and on multiple occasions throughout the good hour and a half I was there, on the hunt for items, and I can happily say I made it to the magic number, yay! I'm not sure I'll pull them all off but, hey, I've got to at least try!

Lush in all it's swap shop glory
A lovely jewellery stand by Little Teacup Jewellery (offering some really decently priced pieces) and my goodies!

I also popped back up to the top of the store a few times to have a little browse of the stock. After speaking to Meg on Saturday about what had happened at the Lush bloggers meet a few weeks back (I missed it due to my being at home), I was intrigued to learn more about the products in their 'Emotional Brilliance Wheel' (for any of those who don't know what this is, the website will do a better job than I at explaining it, so I suggest popping over there once you're all done here!). Although I didn't have a go at spinning the wheel in the shop, I did manage to grab a hold of (poor!) Immy and ask her to explain the products. It sounds and looks to me like a really interesting concept. They offer eyeshadows, eyeliners and lipsticks, in a really widely-varied range of quite stunning colours/shades, all of which are hidden underneath correspondingly-coloured lids on the wheel. It is spun and, when it stops, you are said to instinctively be drawn to certain colours, of which you are supposed to pick 3 - mine online were Healthy (what I wish for my life), Intuitive (what my subconscious says about me/what I want to be) and Lifted (what I aspire to be). When worn, the owner is then said to embody these 'words'. It really is quite the unique idea! Immy tried out one of the lipsticks on her hand (a rather ravishing red - I think it might have been Ambition CORRECTION!! - Immy just let me know it was Decisive that she used, how I didn't remember that when we spoke about being indecisive after, god only knows!) that, when applied straight from the tube, is an amazingly bright shade, however, it can be mixed with (I didn't ask if it would mix well with other products, but I would imagine you could have a go and see what happens!) their 'Feeing Younger' - I think this is right but please do correct me if I'm wrong! - skin tint to produce a variety of shades, allowing for great versatility of wear. It really is a most intriguing make-up line that is quite unlike anything else I have ever seen; fingers crossed I'll be able to try out something from the range in the future, that way I can offer those who haven't used it some first-hand info!

From the make up I went over to the cleansers (for around the 5th time that evening!) and (again) asked Immy for help, this time in picking one out for me. Although I've got on well with Herbalism, I wanted to have a go at something different, and ended up going for Dark Angels. Now, I am known for enjoying a face scrub, so this one sounded like it'd be right up my alley and I very much looked forward to trying it out (does this make me a very sad person indeed?). I finally got around to doing so this afternoon (yes, I've been thoroughly lazy today, as ever!). The product, despite being of a similar texture, was a lot easier to handle, for me, than Herbalism. When I added water to it in the palm of my hand, it didn't go quite so milky which meant for easier transportation from hands to face. A warning, as with Herbalism it does make quite the mess, and it's a charcoal grey colour so you do need to be careful, but after only one use I think it's safe to say the two of us will get along just fine. It's a little scrubbier than Herbalism and it took a little longer to wash off my face, but it left my skin feeling fresh and looking bright!

As well as the scrub, I managed to come away with two face-mask testers - Mask of Magnaminty and Ayesha. The former has a wide range of glorious-sounding ingredients -  peppermint oil and aduki beans to name but two of them - and is aimed at getting rid of what they call (via Adrian Mole) 'big-boy spots'. Sounds perfect for the skin I'm suffering with right now (unfortunately!). I actually had a go with this one last night, before bed and, although I've not seen a great deal of difference in the look of my skin today, it does feel a lot better than it did (less bumpy) and my goodness was my skin smooth when I washed it off last night. Never has it ever felt that way before, so it was quite the happy surprise!!

Mask of Magnaminity in all its glory - a during and after (and an apology for no make-up!)

The latter is, from what I can tell, intended as a 'pick-me-up' mask; something to get your skin ready for that special night out. It has kiwi, which I'm told is great for the skin, as it is packed with vitamin C, and lots of other jolly old goodies that are aimed at brightening and smoothing the skin. Always worth a thumbs up in my book. I'll hopefully remember to update you on this after I've tried it out!

Anyway, enough of the waffle. All-in-all a very pleasant evening was had. It worked out really well for them (and us, the attendees!) and I look forward to going to future events there. It was nice to get out of the flat for a few hours and to meet up with and chat to lots of different people and I've come away with some new additions to my wardrobe which is definitely a bonus! Oh, I must say that next Friday and Saturday (the 26/27th) is Nottingham's '48 hours of Fashion' event and Lush is involved on both days (you can see the timetable here) - I will do my best to attend as I love the idea of watching them make face masks from scratch; it'll definitely be nice to see the process and to know what exactly goes into them. I didn't go to the event when it was on in October, so it will also give me the chance to again try something new in the city on my doorstep :)