Butlin's Fun in the Sun (and Rain!)

I cannot believe it’s been almost a month since my last post. It feels like a have completely abandoned my blog which is awful because it’s only a baby and it really needs some love! The truth is I have been so ridiculously busy the last few weeks with work and home and a mini holiday that I didn’t have a chance to spend some real time on my posts! I have also had the most awful internet connection the last few weeks – thanks sky! – and tried to write a few posts on my iPad so I could use 3g but I just wasn’t happy with how they were coming out and the blogger app for iPad is quite restrictive when it comes to layout. But anyway, here I am notebook at the ready with my blogging life planned out for the next 3 weeks at least and I am ready to give my blog the attention it truly deserves!

After that mammoth intro/apology let me show you how I spent Monday to Friday of this week. Myself, the BF, the Besty and her little man all headed off to Butlins in Bognor Regis after having saved up the tokens from The Sun newspaper back in January. If you haven’t seen the deal before you basically have to buy the paper about 10 times out of about 20 to collect enough tokens to send off and then you can select various locations/dates to get a 3 or 4 night holiday park style stay for £9.50 per person which are then allocated on a first come first served basis. I was adamant we wanted to go to Butlins as I believe this is the first year it was offered on the deal (and they were very discreet about it even this time. It was named in the brochure just as “Bognor Regis” no mention of the Butlins brand) and I thought it would have plenty for all of us to do. Because of this I bought the paper religiously and sent it off the first day possible and luckily we got our first choice of park and our first choice of date. I slightly wish we had been given our second choice of date which was the week before as the weather was so lovely but hey ho!

Price wise, I know the offer is for £9.50 which you could keep to in some parks but in reality we also had to pay a resort fee, entertainment pass and linen and we decided to upgrade to silver accommodation so it actually cost us about £40 each but this still works out about half the normal price. I would then say we each spent at least £100 on food/drink/arcades etc but again this could be much less if we had tried.

The activities available were a good selection, plenty in both the day and evening for various age groups all colour coded in the guide. Generally there would be early evening entertainment suitable for all ages with the later shows being geared towards teens and adults. Most of this was included in the price and there was also the Aqua Water world and Fairground both included. The only problem was that when it was raining anything outside was closed; fairground, adventure golf, go karts, most sports and anything inside was packed. We went swimming when it was raining and to a couple of daytime shows but it seemed everyone was having the same idea so more rainy activities would definitely be a plus – this is England after all!

The Thursday of our trip the weather started looking up, the sun came out and it was actually fairly warm. We jam packed the day with everything we couldn’t do when it was raining to make sure we were getting our money’s worth and even managed a summery beer garden drink which was lovely.

Overall it was really nice to get away for 5 days and be a bit of a big kid. The only criticism I would have is that the accommodation was quite dated and in need of some touch ups. Also our door didn’t close properly so in order to feel safe we had to keep the safety chain on overnight. Considering we had upgraded to silver accommodation I would be interested to see what bronze was like! If I were to go again I would definitely try and spend less money as looking back I can’t even work out what the money went on and it defeats the object of getting such a good deal. I am tempted to go to one of the adult only weekends as I have heard they are really good so who knows I may be posting about one of those next!

This is my first non beauty post so please let me know what you think. Have you ever been to Butlins or on a Sun holiday? 

B x

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Getting ready for summer

So as the weather is brightening up I thought I'd better invest in some essentials to get my body summer ready. I only popped across the road to asda but I managed to get some bargains! Firstly my skin was majorly in need of some exfoliation so I bought a body brush and some exfoliating gloves both by nspa and only about £1.50 each...bargain! The body brush was just as good as any other I have used and will hopefully help to keep the dreaded cellulite at bay. The exfoliating gloves were brilliant. In the past I have found gloves to be a little too harsh and scratchy but these were perfect, just the right amount of exfoliation and dried really quickly after use.
I also bought an exfoliating body wash. I wanted something for regular exfoliation so needed it to be quite gentle rather than a full on scrub. I tend to use the lush sugar scrubs when I was a really good pre holiday de-scale! Now I am one of those annoying people in the shop who smells absolutely everything before I chose which one I want to buy - my boyfriend hates it! But that is why I went for this radox spa radiant shower scrub which literally smells incredible. It really got me in the mood for summer and sunny holidays.
As it is time to stop hiding my feet away in boots and start showing them off in sandals I bought a foot exfoliator also by nspa and around the £1.50 mark which has 4 different part to it, a metal file, a conventional emery board type file, a pumice stone and a nail brush. For the price this is also brilliant, it's got everything you need for an at home pedicure and to get your feet ready for human eyes again!
The Rimmel BB cream in light was a re-purchase. I have read a few bad reviews of this but for me it was the first BB cream I bought and it does everything I want it to. I also find that this is great on its own in the summer when I don't want to wear a full face of makeup and the added bonus of SPF 25 is even more important in the summer.
I bought the Rimmel Apocalips in nude eclipse after reading so many raving reviews about this product and because I was in need of a new nude lip product. I was however disappointed in this product. Despite using my lip scrub and lip balm before using this I found that it really showed up any slightly dry patches on my lips and exaggerated them. It was also a lot thicker than. Was expecting and not really a texture I cared for. I can see how this may not necessarily be the case with all the shades so I will probably still give the other colours a try. Especially as I switched a few of them on my hand and spent ages talking myself out of buying three or four as the bright colours were so fantastic.
Last but not least is the Nivea raspberry rosé lip butter. This is now my new favourite lip balm. The smell is incredible and perfect for summer it was a real raspberry scent and reminded me of raspberry flavour petit filous and took me straight back to my childhood! It is also a really pale pink colour to it which acts almost as a slight nude pinky hue to the lips if used on its own. It is just all round a new favourite for me and at only £1.99 I am sure I will be buying this plenty more times!

There are plenty more bits I am planning on buying before the summer truly kicks in but hopefully this will keep me going for a while. Any thoughts on these products? Or can anyone recommend/comment on the Rimmel Apolocalips?

B x

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April Glossybox

I literally love everything about this months Glossybox. This is only the second box I have received so granted I do not have much to compare it to but I am certainly happy with my subscription so far.
For starters the box itself is gorgeous. I am a sucker for floral prints and this one has to be one of my favourites, the combination of peach and monochrome is such a beautiful effect. Pearl Lowe has outdone herself. Even the little sticker is gorgeous. I can't wait to reuse this box, I just need to decide what for!

Now once I had finished drooling over the beautiful box I was just as impressed with what I found inside:

Crabtree & Evelyn Somerset Hand Therapy
25g sample. Value £3.50
This product smells amazing (as Crabtree & Evelyn products always do) it's a really clean fresh springtime scent which lingers for ages on your hands without being too overpowering.
This is described as a "super moisturising hand treatment rich in macadamia nut oil, Shea butter and antioxidant-rich vitamins C and E". My hands are still suffering a little from all the cold weather we had but after using this for 2 days they are feeling (and smelling) so much better. The Somerset meadow collection is available from April 29th and I will certainly be checking what else the range has to offer when it is released as the smell is so lovely!

NIP+FAB Dry Skin Fix Body Butter in Pistachio
50ml sample. Value £2.49
Now I am not a huge fan of body butters. Most of the time my skin doesn't need such an intense moisturiser and so I find them a little too rich for me, I tend to prefer lotions instead. However the texture of this is much more akin to that of a body lotion rather than a body butter, it isn't half as thick as any body butters I have tried before. I liked this about the product but I was really put off by the scent. I usually really like nutty scented products and the Shea butter range from the body shop is my favourite but this one was really artificial smelling. It wasn't what I was expecting and I thought it smelled more like a combination of marzipan and yogurt, far too sickly for me! Luckily the smell died down a lot once it had been rubbed in but I did not go any further than to try this on the back of my hand. I do not think I will be using this again.

ILLAMASQUA Medium Pencil in Spell
Full size. Value £13.00
The description states that the pencil can be used on the eyes, lips and brows. However the pencil I received is a vibrant red so I can't see myself using this anywhere other than my lips. I definitely won't be using it on my eyebrows! I haven't been able to test this for durability yet but colour wise it is perfect as a lip liner when wearing a classic red shade. The pencil texture is great, not too soft like some lip pencils which make it easy to apply too much. I will certainly continue using this and I am glad I got this shade.

Yves Rocher So Elixir Purple Eau de Parfum
5ml sample. Value £4.40
I LOVE this perfume! It is the perfect summer scent for me and exactly the type of perfume I go for. It is very acurately described as an 'intoxicating and magnetic fragrance' and my boyfriend noticed the new smell too. I have been looking for a new perfume for a while and I am seriously considering buying this in full size as it is only £29 for a 30ml bottle with a free 200ml shower gel and 200ml body lotion when using the code GBOXELIXIR on their website. If you get a chance to smell this then I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

ESSIE Nail Lacquer in Bikini so Teeny
Full size. Value £7.99
I am always a fan of brands which have cool names for their colours rather than boring descriptive ones and I love that the one I got is called bikini so teeny! It is a pastel blue/verging on purple shade with a hint of silver glitter. Although I would not have chosen this shade it will be great to add to my collection of pastels ready for the summer as I don't have anything similar to this yet. It's fantastic that you get a full size of this as essie are a well known brand and this almost covers the cost of the subscription entirely with one product.

All in All was very happy with this box (if you couldn't already tell!) and I am considering buying full size product of two of the samples and should get my money's worth out of use of the others, even if I end up giving away the NIP+FAB body butter. The glossy box subscription costs £10 a month +£2.95 P&P. the value of this months box is over £30 so it is definitely worth the money and you get a really varied and quality set of samples. I am already looking forward to May's box.
What are your thoughts on this months box? Did you get the same products?

B x

Taking the Plunge

OK so here goes...this is my first ever post on my brand new blog. I have been considering starting my own blog for a while and have finally taken the plunge! After spending a week or so doing some research and editing and re-editing the layout etc. I am now happy enough with the design to go live. I have gone for a simple look as I do not want to take away from the content of the blog by having to much going on around the outside.
Why the name? It all stems from the Fergie song "Fergalicious". At my old job this was on the music system and whenever it came on I used to sing along but saying "Bethalicious" instead, and it just sort of stuck. It has always been a bit of a joke nickname, but I think it has a ring to it and to me, its a bit of a home comfort so I went for it!
My reason for starting BethaliciousB is purely that I am obsessed with reading other peoples blogs. What better way to further feed by obsession than to start my own? I can't wait to start getting my own followers (fingers crossed!) and hopefully allow people to enjoy reading this blog as much as I will enjoy writing it.
I will be primarily focusing on beauty and lifestyle as this is where my interests lie, but I am not limiting myself to certain subjects and will generally be writing about whatever flows! I am happy to take any requests for reviews etc. once I have got into the swing of things and if people would like to follow for a follow I am also happy to do this as we all have to start somewhere :-).
I am hoping to post a few times a week, work permitting, as I am a restaurant manager and work crazy shifts This is one of the reasons writing a blog seemed like such a good idea, I have been looking for something to do in my spare time for a while now, but anything which requires a weekly commitment is impossible for me as my shifts are never the same. This way I can fit something I love around my ever changing diary...So look out for posts about lipstick at 3am!
I will keep this short and sweet so that I can really get into the subject matter with my next post. Thanks for reading and I hope you will choose follow me and enjoy what this blog has to offer.

B x