Smell My Hair – Lush American Cream

I've become quite obsessed with nice smelling hair. No one wants bad smelling hair, but I'm really into proper, nice smelling hair. Hair that actually smells yummy, almost like it's perfumed, infused with a really lovely scent. So I went on the hunt for the perfect product to give my hair a long lasting sweet scent that didn't just smell like... hair product. There's only so much herbal essences a girl can take.

 

Enter Lush's American Cream hair conditioner. A friend recommended this to me as the best conditioner ever. She said it made her hair smell amazing for five days! I wanted some of this magical hair conditioner, so when I went to Cardiff on the weekend I popped into the Lush store to smell it in real life and decide whether it was worth the £9 price tag.

One of the shop assistants saw me eyeing up the bottle and came over to talk to me about it. She told me how it's not like most conditioners which feel all soft and slippery when you apply it in the shower. Apparently, that stuff is full of plastic which fills the hair, without really conditioning it. 

The American Cream conditioner, however, is made with fresh ingredients and there are no funny plastic things in there – meaning the conditioner has a very different feel to it when applied to the hair, because instead of filling the hair, it coats each strand, and when you dry your hair you can feel a real difference in the texture and quality. And, as I was to find out, the smell. Safe to say I had no hesitation in buying a bottle.

You can't really tell by a photo how well a conditioner works, but the ends of my hair are quite dry and really need a good quality conditioner to, well, condition them. I've been a bit gross, and made this product stand the test of time. I washed my hair on Saturday morning – it is now Wednesday evening and the smell of this conditioner has only just started to fade. Four days is pretty good going, considering most hair products lose their scent in under a day. 

The smell of this conditioner is so luxurious, although not quite strawberry vanilla milkshake like it claims. It's more like a rich vanilla with something else I can't put my finger on. Still, it's worth going into Lush to have a sniff for yourself, and if you can bear it, part with £8.95 for a 250ml bottle – but I can honestly say this is the best smelling hair product I have ever tried, and so impressed by how long it lasts. I can't stop smelling my hair... and making other people smell it too :) You can find out more about Lush's American Cream conditioner here.

Bloggers Secret Santa

Last week I had a lovely surprise in the post - my gift from my secret santa as part of the Bloggers Secret Santa 2013 (#secretsanta13 - organised by Hannah from Hannah-Bee; check out her travel and adventure filled blog, it's stunning). I made myself wait until December to open my gifts, (Christmas day was so far away I couldn't resist), and I was so happy with everything my secret Santa sent me.

Megan from Megan's Beauty Bubble was my secret Santa and she hit the nail on the head with everything she sent me. She enclosed a note in the parcel revealing her identity and explained that she had decided to send me everything needed for the perfect night in. I was so excited when I opened everything on Sunday (1st December, yay!) and I couldn't wait to thank her and share with the blogging world everything I received. It probably goes without saying that I LOVE cosy nights in. I love to go out too, but in the winter, soft furnishings, chocolate and a film win nine times out of ten.

These Santa slipper socks are the softest things ever, and so cosy and warm on my feet. I love them, and they match my Christmas pyjamas that you can see the bottoms of in the photo above.

I was so pleased to receive a DVD of a film that I had not seen already. I haven't read the book either, and I don't know what the story is in full, but I look forward to watching this when I snuggle up for a cosy night in and seeing what I think of it. 

This gift was by far the most intriguing and original of the lot - I had never seen anything like it, but as it was from Lush I knew I would like it. I'm still trying to get my head round the concept of 'Fun' but from what I have gathered so far is that there are three different coloured cleansing bars which can be used on the body or in your hair, but before you use it you can model it like plasticine. I can see myself having a lot of fun using Fun, hence the name. Plus, all three smell great.

What would a night in be without chocolates? This mini box of Celebrations is perfect to ensure I don't go overboard with indulgence (which is usually quite likely).

Check out this cute mini hottie hand warmer - I love the little hot water bottle like cover. 

Lastly are these two scrumptious Yankee Candles in Snowflake Cookie and Merry Marshmallow. When I opened the parcel a sweet, vanilla like scent wafted over me and I just knew there were scented candles in there somewhere. How happy I was when I opened these two. I have never had scented candles before - I know, shocking - and I had hoped at least one person would gift me one for Christmas this year. I can't wait to burn these in my new bedroom (which is nearly finished and ready for me to move back into).

Megan put so much thought and effort into my gift and I am so touched that she was able to decipher exactly the kinds of things I like just by reading through my blog and my Twitter. A huge thank you is owed to her for sending me such a wonderful Christmas package, and to Hannah for organising the whole thing. I have discovered some fantastic blogs as a result and thoroughly enjoyed taking part (I was Jen's secret santa at English Rose From Manchester and I sent her a notebook and a Joy the Baker cookbook!)

A few other Bloggers Secret Santa posts have been floating around the net recently and I would love to see some more - so if you have taken part in one do comment below or tweet me @hello_flower. I think it's such a lovely idea, even if we do reveal who we are in our parcels ;) Receiving something in the post from someone you have never met or spoken to before is inexplicably wonderful.