​When I first decided to try herbal tea I chose peppermint, this was because I’d herd that there were many health benefits, it was good for your skin and that I’m quite keen on the taste of mint so I thought it would smell and taste nice. I decided to give it a try and brought a box of peppermint tea from the shop. I can’t remember how much it cost but peppermint tea can be fairly cheap therefore it’s very affordable.
After boiling the kettle and adding the water you can instantly smell the cool mint every time you make a cup of this detox drink, it’s really fresh and I also think that because peppermint tea contains menthol it’s good to breathe in as it could help to clear your sinuses. This is great for people suffering from colds or flu to ease the symptoms.

​When it comes to the taste of peppermint tea, I find that it’s very fresh. I usually pour boiling water into the cup with the tea bag and leave it for about ten minutes to cool down. I don’t take the tea bag out because the longer you leave it in, the better the water soaks up all of the goodness from the tea. By the time ten minutes are up the tea is usually warm to hot, but not mouth burning heat. The most suitable word that I can describe the taste of the tea with would be, cooling and also to state the obvious, incredibly minty. It just has an incredibly strong minty taste, I think this is because mint is quite a strong plant. I also make a lot of healthy smoothies and I often put mint in them, I have to limit how much I put in to the blender though as too much can be quite overpowering. If you have a sweet tooth then you can add honey to the mix, this is also good for soothing sore throats and sweetens up the drink a little.
Overall I think that if you like a strong, minty, cooling taste then you are going to love peppermint tea and all of the health benefits that come with it. The other plus side is that you can buy it in most shops, you can definitely get them from all supermarkets and local shops. It’s probably my favorite herbal tea and I would 100% recommend trying it out!

​Good day everyone, today is the start of a new topic of discussion for all you beauty gurus on Liv’s Beauty Spot… Yes, that’s right, were doing an edit on herbal tea.
As you may know herbal tea has many beneficial health effects on your mind and body, some more than others. Different types of herbal tea also have different benefits. One pro that can be applied to all herbal teas is the fact that they are caffeine free. This is one of the main reasons why I have recently grown to become a tea guru, not only can I avoid getting a caffeine crash by replacing my morning coffee with a zesty refreshing tea, I can also avoid oily skin. The reasoning behind this is that caffeine causes heightened levels of stress, this releases extra amounts of hormones such as cortisol, causing an increase in the production of oil, this makes you more prone to acne and spots.

​So, now you know a little bit about herbal tea. There’s so much more to know! I’ve got you covered though because from now on I will be posting weekly updates adding to the Herbal Tea Edit. Each week I will chose a type of tea to focus on and go into detail about how it’s beneficial, it’s history and more interesting facts. Of course I will only be including teas that I have tried so that I can talk from experience.
If you have any suggestions of certain teas that you would like to see featured in the Herbal Tea Edit on Liv’s Beauty Spot, drop a comment or fill in the contact form, I’m very open to my fabulous readers opinions and want to create content that interests you.

Before I used it I decided to do a bit of research as to why it was good for you and how it can be used. Turns out it has loads of purposes and can be very beneficial to your hair and skin.
Firstly were going to look at what coconut oil is and what are it benefits. Coconut oil is simply a type of fat, it is a highly saturated oil and at room temperature it is solid, however when heated up it becomes a liquid. It has many benefits not only for your hair and skin but it can also help with various health conditions, in particular it can be used to help lower LDL cholesterol levels as well as many other health benefits.
Some benefits that coconut oil has on hair and skin are:

• Can help to treat acne. Many people assume that because coconut oil is, well… oily that it is a bad idea for people with already oily and greasy skin to use as they think this can worsen their acne, this however doesn’t appear to be the case as studies have shown that lauric acid (found in coconut oil) has been found to kill the bacteria linked to acne, in fact it has been shown in another study that it can be more effective at clearing acne than benzoyl peroxide (a popular ingredient used to clear acne). It’s anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties also help to clear acne.
• Studies on animals have shown that coconut oil has anti-inflammatory properties. It is not certain that we can translate this onto humans as the research that I found on this was performed on rats, however it does give us an indication.
• Coconut oil has anti-microbial properties, making it great for fighting against infections on the skin, it is has been found effective for killing fungi and bacteria.
• It maintains the hydration of your skin, causing you less prone to develop skin conditions such as eczema and providing a barrier for your face to keep out bacteria.
• Coconut oil has been found to stimulate the growth of hair, it can also prevent hydral fatigue, this basically means keep your hair hydrated. 

• ​So now we know a few of the benefits, but how do we use coconut oil and where can we use it? Here are some ways coconut oil can be used:
• First of all, moisturizer, I cannot stress enough how amazing this stuff is when it comes to keeping my skin hydrated. I just scoop a small amount of it out of the tub, rub it between my fingers to melt it and massage it into my face, since I’ve been doing this not only as my skin cleared up drastically, it feels softer and much more hydrated. I apply coconut oil to my face every morning and night after washing. It also works as a brilliant moisturizer for your body, you can literally cover yourself head to toe in it! A good tip is you can also give yourself a mini facial with coconut oil, just apply it to your face in circular motions and massage into your skin for 5-10 minutes, you will notice the difference I promise!
• Another great use for coconut oil is removing make-up, sometimes I find it difficult to remove all of my makeup after I’ve washed my face, especially when it comes to mascara. If you have this issue too then look no further, all you have to do is take a generous amount of coconut oil, rub it onto the area that you want to remove the makeup and wipe over with  cotton pad, guaranteed you will be able to remove it all.
• Coconut oil is great to put on your lips, I carry around a small pot throughout the day with me because I’m always on the go and whenever I need to top up on my lips I just get a little bit of coconut oil and it helps with hydration.
• Sometimes I put coconut oil on the ends of my hair before going to sleep and wash it out in the morning, I find that my hair looks more shiny and feels softer when I’ve done that, however I don’t do this too frequently as my hair isn’t particularly dry, but this would be great for someone with dry, brittle hair to incorporate into their routine.
• Once of my favorite uses for coconut oil, which I think is brilliant is using it as a highlighter. Sometimes I use coconut oil as a highlighter when I’m going for a more dewy effect and it really does work and look great, the one thing I will say about this thought is that I find that it tends to fade fairly quickly, maybe this is just because the skin has absorbed it, maybe it’s just me, I’m not quite sure but I’d definitely recommend giving it a try.

​

​In conclusion, I'm glad that I bought coconut oil as I have noticed the difference in how bright and healthy my skin looks and I am definitely going to continue to use it. One of the best things about coconut oil as well is that it’s widely available and it’s very affordable, so most people have access to it! Have any of you tried coconut oil before, what do you think of it if so?

RELATED POSTS:
Lauren Conrad: Beauty DIY: I Put Coconut Oil on My Hair Once a Week for a Month and This is What Happened…

Just Peachy: ​My Love for Coconut Oil

Pure Fiji: Natural Beauty DIY: 6 Coconut Oil Face Masks

​Ok, so today is a bit of a different post to my usual, the other day I downloaded the H and M app onto my phone because I liked the concept that you could shop on your phone for items of clothing from high-street brands. So I piled up my basket, made my order and waited for the delivery.

​First thing I’m going to say about the delivery of the item is that I was impressed with the fact that I was e-mailed by Hermes (the delivery company) when my package was going to arrive and that I was able to track my order, however the company did not manage to deliver my parcel that day and I received an e-mail saying that the delivery was attempted, I thought this was strange as I live at college and there is a 24/7 security guard on the main site of the college and the package was meant to be delivered in the daytime anyway so there definitely would have been somebody to receive it. Anyways, I wasn’t particularly bothered by this so I just waited until the next day as I received an e-mail again saying that it would come the day after… No delivery, great! By this point I decided to e-mail H and M costumer services to express my confusion about why the delivery company had been having problems delivering. I received a quick response the next morning apologizing about the situation and they told me that they had contacted the delivery company and it should arrive that day, luckily it did and I was finally ready to see my new goodies!

​The clothing was packaged nicely and each individual item was in it’s own bag/ box. One thing that I didn’t see coming that I probably should have expected was the fact that some of the items did not fit, of course this for me is the main risk when it comes to online shopping because I usually try on clothes when I am shopping on the high-street, however with H & M I found that their sizing was a bit off, personally I think that their sizing is a tad on the large size, I’m a size eight and I found that most of the clothes were a bit big, this isn’t a massive issue as they weren’t humongous but not really up to my expectations. Some of the items were of a good quality however other items were quite flimsy and thin even and these weren’t necessarily the cheaper items either some of the pricier things that I had ordered were quite frankly bad quality items however I do need to remember that H and M is a cheap clothing brand and most of the items I was satisfied with when it came to quality. 

In conclusion I would give my shopping experience online with H & M a 5/10, the delivery was more complicated than it needed to be, there was a faulty item and the sizing wasn't perfect, however the costumer service was good and helped with the situation effectively and some of the clothing was still nice. I think next time I shop at H & M it will be in store.