beauty products Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

Lush bath bombs and bubble bars

December 29, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

Some time ago, after writing a Halloween Lush Wish List, I went to Lush in Doncaster and purchased a whole bunch of bath bombs and bubble bars. Since then I have managed to review Monster’s Ball, Lava Lamp and Ruby Red Slippers but I have actually used them all! I decided that instead of doing a separate post for each one, I would just post a few pictures (for the two I do have them for), the original description from the Lush website and my opinions one which I liked and would buy again etc.

Of the ones I haven’t reviewed yet, there were; Pumpkin, Autumn Leaf, Never Mind The Ballistics and Northern Lights – all of which were bath bombs. There was then Candy Mountain and Big Bang, which were both bubble bars. Northern Lights I have reviewed previously last year, though it looks slightly different now. I have also reviewed Big Bang previously too. As for Candy Mountain, I’ve been using that for years so there is no reviews on this blog but I love it so much that I buy every year, at least one and its my favourite Lush Product.

Never Mind The Ballistics (bath bomb) – These aren’t ingredients for anybody else except for yourself. Lime and sweet wild orange oils are fresh and peachy on the nose, exciting the senses and shaking up your mood. There’s no time for apathy in the bath, so this anarchic bath bomb fizzes and rolls and spews colour with no holds barred energy. Fair Trade cocoa butter melts alongside fresh bananas to soften both the water and your skin. God save the clean; this deserves a replay.

Never Mind the Ballistics is the only remaining bath bomb that I didn’t take pictures for and so it’s pretty hard to review. I enjoyed the smell and the half pink side made the bath water feel smooth and softening. However the pink side did give a similar effect that the Lava Lamp did, adding a sort of residue to the bath.

Autumn Leaf (bath bomb) – Autumn colours dapple your bath red and yellow, as falling leaves signify the start of winter. From the comfort of a hot bath, watch as the evenings draw in, and the trees don vibrant plumage. The scent of fresh grass evokes the crunch of crisp leaves underfoot as the last remnants of summer are stolen away.

One of my favourite things about Lush bath bombs are definitely the way they react when they touch the water and the colours they turn the bath. Autumn Leaves doesn’t disappoint, displaying many colours related to nature in a very pretty fizz. The smell is good too and the after colour of the bath once the bomb is completely dissolved. I don’t remember it having a specific scent, but whatever it was, was likeable.

Pumpkin (bath bomb) – Bath-o’-lantern. This year, we’re introducing a very traditional looking fizzer to our limited edition range: one look at those geometric features is all it takes to put you in a Halloween-y mood! With a spicy, sweet perfume full of exotic pimento, sweet vanilla and warming cinnamon, our jack-o’-lantern will have you imitating his toothy grin once he hits your bath water.

Pumpkin was a great fun bath bomb, both in design and colour. Though it didn’t do anything dramatic when dropped into the bath, the colour of the water was really dramatic – almost like orange juice. The smell was great too, very reminiscent of Halloween and spicy. Again, another bath bomb that I would be happy to recommend.

Lush Bubble Bar – Ruby Red Slippers

November 15, 2016 by Bel 1 Comment

After a couple of bath bombs, I thought it was time for a bubble bar instead. I hadn’t tried Ruby Red Slippers before and so I picked it up as part of my haul. At a first sniff, I liked it but I wasn’t really sure but when I went to use it, one of the plus points was definitely that it was easy to break up into pieces and use on separate occasions, rather than all at once.

You don’t have to travel to the Emerald City to find your inner Dorothy. Crumble your ruby slipper under running water to add sparkle to your bath time, then immerse yourself in the spicy, floral fragrance of carnation absolute. With tangerine oil’s hypnotic effect and rose absolute’s soothing properties, you’ll be in the bubbly land of Oz in no time. Lie back, click your heels, there’s no place like foam.

Lush had a bubble bar called Dorothy once and I definitely wasn’t a fan but this one is much better. It’s smell is nice, though not as sweet as I usually like them and of course as with all their bubble bars, it makes the bath water soft and your skin smooth. I also love the colour it turns the water so that’s a plus. I’m not sure if Ruby Red Slippers is a seasonal bubble bar or just a new addition but it’s definitely one that I would pick up again in the future.

Lush Bath Bomb – Lava Lamp

November 8, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

Not last week but the week before, I had my first Lush bath in a long time. I’d picked up a bit of a stash (as I mentioned here) and the first lucky dip bath bomb was something called Lava Lamp. Not only did I forget to take a picture of the bath bomb before I threw it into the bath, I also only put pictures and videos on my “Story” on Instagram – so now they’re gone! What a wally.

Pic from Lush website

The first impressions of the bath bomb were great. It was absolutely beautiful in the bath and also incredibly impressive as it did actually remind me of a Lava Lamb. The smell was fantastic and I was already sold on this new bath bomb from Lush.

Having got so excited, posting it all on my Instagram stories, I clearly got myself completely distracted in forgetting to take actual pictures. I did get a few but they were mostly the aftermath – I’ll get to that soon.

Lush describes this bath bomb as:

Just go with the flow and get groovy baby. This time machine of bobbing purple orbs – made with 100% traceable cocoa butter – will create the hypnotic spectacle of a lava lamp in your own bath, taking you back to the swinging sixties. A triple whammy of Sicilian mandarin, tangerine and orange flower give this vibrant bomb a fragrance like fruit pastilles.

The smell, as I mentioned before, was amazing – strong and lasting. The colour was lovely and the effect of the bath bomb was so impressive. My first issue came however, when I looked at my skin in the bath. Everywhere that lay just on the water edge, was covered in a waxy purple layer.

I saw on the Lush website that many people described this as a soft, moisturising, oil layer, but for me it was just waxy. It didn’t really seem to come off, even with shower gel, although the purple did go. My next issue was shaving my legs. This moisturising layer, as it was called, actually caused all the hairs to gunk up my razor and I wasn’t able to rinse or tap them out of it so ended up giving up. I might also add that my skin still seemed to have this wax layer by the time I had my next bath.

Finally and all issues aside (I did like it), I got out of the bath to realise another flaw… my bath was very stained. The pictures don’t really show the extent but this purple wavy reside went all around the bath, where the water level had been.

Did I like the bath bomb? Absolutely, yes.
Would I buy it again?Absolutely not – sorry guys. Too high maintenance for me.

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Lush Bath Bomb – Monsters Ball

October 29, 2016 by Bel 2 Comments

It’s been a long time since I treated myself to some Lush but I have to admit I find it hard not to at this time of year. The Halloween range is currently out, as is the Christmas range but when Megan and I went to Doncaster last week, my priority was definitely to grab the pieces I hadn’t tried and would be disappearing soon (as well as a few favourites). I’ll definitely be heading back for some Christmas ones soon but this little lot (plus one I used before picturing) set me back £35.

Monsters Ball bath bomb, is new this year I think (or at least I haven’t seen it before). It looked cute and smelt great, so I was immediately sold in the shop. When I put the bath bomb in the bath, it wasn’t disappointing either. Again the smell was good and the colours in the bath were beautiful.

Lush describes this bath bomb as a…

…mash-up of lime and neroli oils is a sure fire way to get the party started, and leave you feelin’ Franken-fine all night long.

While the smell is great and it lingers all bath long, the colour for me was the most amazing thing about this bath bomb. I definitely prefer bubble bars generally, but this was a really great pick, especially if you’re treating yourself this Halloween.

After my last bath bomb (lava lamp) which I will review once I have the photos off my iPad, this one was a refreshing change (spoiler, I wasn’t a fan of the other one). Honestly I don’t know if, at £4.25, I would buy it again, but it wasn’t a disappointment and I wouldn’t be unhappy if someone else had bought it for me as a gift.

Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish

May 24, 2014 by Bel 2 Comments

Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that I’ve been dabbling in a bit of beauty recently. Within that, I have been reviewing certain nail polishes. Previously I have done Barry M Gel & Silk and Rimmel 60 Seconds Rita Ora Colours. While I have to admit that I’m very much a beauty novice, to some extent, nail polish is just nail polish. I also admit that I don’t tend to use a basecoat or a topcoat, just the polish itself.

Just recently, I tried some Maybelline Color Show nail polishes. It was actually Lily who picked both but I liked the colours so I tried them out. As I can’t wear nail polish at work, I’m usually restricted to the weekend. This is fine for the most part though as I put it on Friday night or Saturday morning and see how well it lasts for the weekend.

The two colours I have are left – “Urban Turquoise” and right – “Midnight Blue”. I put them both on Friday night, though the pictures I took were actually Saturday morning. The polish itself went on fairly well, I didn’t really have to take it off or touch it up as I was doing it. I loved both colours, each for different reasons and I would happily have worn both again.

The nail polish was fine for the majority of Saturday, chipping only slightly on one fingers. However the biggest travesty occurred when we went swimming on the Sunday. While I appreciate I never tested either the Barry M nail polish or the Rimmel polish by going swimming (and perhaps I will in the future), I had never expected the swimming pool to have such an effect on the polish.

This is my afterwards photo, when we got home that afternoon! Please bear in mind that I don’t claw at the swimming pool sides or anything crazy like that. In fact, I barely do anything in the swimming pool, not really even swim, as I’m looking after both the kids!

I have to say I was really surprised and while I don’t go swimming often, these results would probably put me off Maybelline in the future. I definitely do want to try some other nail polishes while going swimming though, see if its a similar result all round, or if its just certain brands! Finally, my last negative point on this nail polish is that it didn’t come off very clean either. The nail polish I picked off (I know, tut tut) came off better than the nail polish I took off with nail polish remover. Several of my nails were stained blue for a few days after.

Rimmel 60 Seconds Nail Polish – Rita Ora colours

April 22, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

As you know, recently I’ve been trying to gain a better knowledge of beauty products and an easy goto for me right now is nail polish. I guess its probably my most used beauty product too, despite the fact I really don’t use it that much. Of course, the girls are more than happy to participate in this new beauty experiment, meaning I often get conned into buying more nail polish now. Recently we’ve probably bought in the region of 15 bottles!

Anyway, one of our recent purchases, was some Rimmel 60 Seconds Nail Polish – specifically the Rita Ora range. A few weeks ago Lily made me buy one from Wilkos (the orange) and then the next day I ended up picking up two more from Superdrug. I have to admit I was excited to try them.

These colours are; Midnight Rendezvous (purpley blue), Breakfast in Bed (light blue) and Oragasm (orange). Lily’s first pick had been the orange so I decided to try that one out first!

While on the one hand, I find the orange a little bit ghastly, on the other hand I can’t help but think how awesome it looks. It’s bright, its cheery and with a shiny finish I actually really liked it!

Rimmel 60 Seconds itself, seems to be good nail polish. Although I wouldn’t say it was completely dry in 60 seconds (its still tacky), its definitely dryer than many nails polishes can be after that time. I gave my nails two coats, again skipping out on the basecoat and top coat, then got on with my every day.

As much as I loved the Barry M polishes that I last reviewed, I have to admit this Rimmel polish seemed to last better. After two whole days, my polish was still in good condition, with only one minor chip!

So far, I’m really enjoying finding out about what polishes I like. It might only be a baby step into beauty, but its a step I’m enjoying a lot. With my work I can’t have nail polish on, so I feel like holidays will be the only time I experiment. However I guess the odd weekend might see another review!

Have you tried Rimmel 60 Seconds? What do you think?
Do you like the Rita Ora colour collection?

Handbag Staples

April 16, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Hi! I’m Kelly, and I blog over at Northern Roots. It’s a lifestyle blog too so I jumped at the chance to guest post for Bel, even if my inability to use technology meant it was slightly delayed in getting to her…

I thought it would be a nice idea to share the three items I am guaranteed to carry with me at all times. These are tried and tested favourites and will most definitely be repurchased once they’re empty. Seeing as Bel recently told us all that she is beginning to venture into beauty, it seems fitting!

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(1) Soap and Glory Hand Food – I am a little in love with Soap and Glory products and this is no exception. Not only does this smell amazing but it makes my hands delightfully soft! It also comes in a travel-size-bottle so fits into most of my bags.

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(2) Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm – This is one of my favourite lip balms ever. Ever since I moved to Scotland, I have been struggling with chapped lips (definitely not a good look) and this has been my saviour. I was devastated when I managed to lose it for a day or two.

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(3) Hair grips – I have pretty unruly hair and hate it in my face whenever I’m trying to work so always make sure I have an abundance in my bag wherever I am going. Somehow, I never come back with as many grips as I left the house with…

Please do pop over to say hello at Northern Roots or tell me what your handbag staples are!

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Barry M Nail Polish

April 8, 2014 by Bel 3 Comments

Just over a week ago, I decided to treat myself to some nail polish. I have quite a lot already but its all none branded and cheap. In fact the majority of it I bought for when the girls fancied having their nails painted, or for murder mystery costumes.

Anyway I’d been seeing a few adverts for Barry M Silks and I fancied trying them. I also fancied trying the Gellys. As such, when the girls and I headed into town the day before Mother’s Day, I let them each pick a colour – one from the silks and one from the gellys.

The girls decided to have their fingers painted alternatively which in hindsight might have actually been a good idea. However I decided (maybe for photo purposes?) that I would paint each hand in one polish.

My left hand was Sugar Apple, the Gelly Nail Paint.

This was by far my favourite colour of the two, which actually surprised me a little. Its finish was glossy and bright, while applying it felt easy and left a smooth finish. Sadly I’m not an expert at painting my nails, as you can see from how messy it is around my cuticles.

The right hand was Heather, from the Silk Collection.

When I first applied this, I have to admit it seemed a little too matt. It felt quite rough to the touch too. However after a second coat it picked up a little and applying it was still easy and even.

At this stage, I do want to admit that I had no base coat or top coat. These pictures were just two layers of each nail polish. I realise that base coat and top coat are often recommended when painting your nails, but at the same time the nail polish itself should surely stand up to scrutiny too?

Anyway, as I said the colour of the Gelly, though possibly its shiny finish, was definitely my favourite. However I loved the purple silk too. I applied the nail polish on a Saturday evening, then left it on for the whole day on Sunday. That Sunday was Mother’s Day. So I did everything from open my own Mother’s Day gift, to wrapping my mum’s gift. I cooked dinner and I also washed up.

The first to chip was the Gelly nail polish, though I have to admit I caught it with the cellotape. After it had chipped a little, it did seem to chip more easily. That said though, it was the only nail on my whole hand to chip during the whole day. The silk didn’t actually chip at all, though it did seem to dint and get the off mark on it. Overall I was really impressed with both nail polishes though.

Having looked around the Barry M site, I’d also like to try the Aquarium Nail effects and Gelly Hi Shine Lips. I have to admit I should probably also invest in a Nail Correction Pen. I’m sure there are many more Barry M products I will try in the future, but these initial ones have left me feeling very positive about the Barry M range.

Beauty School 101

April 4, 2014 by Bel 6 Comments

Last week I decided that I wanted to learn more about beauty. To some of you this probably sounds a bit ridiculous, but seriously my knowledge is very lacking! Starting out on my beauty education was both exciting and also a little bit daunting. At what age do we learn about make up and beauty tips? I feel like some people are just born with the knowledge… well not me!

I’m 34 years old (almost 35) and I rarely use any beauty products and my make up is very lacking. My hair care routine consists of washing my hair with shampoo about twice a week and conditioning it incredibly rarely when I feel like it needs it. My skin care routine is none existent. I don’t use wipes or moisturise, or anything else for that matter. I occasionally use hand lotion but that’s because my hands are in water for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week – at work. My makeup collection is a mismatch. I’m pretty sure I even have some makeup from when I was a teenager! I go with basic concealer, a touch of foundation powder, eyeshadow, eyeliner (occasionally) and mascara. Even then, I wear makeup once or twice a month at best!

And so I’ve decided to make more of an effort to know about beauty. My eldest daughter is very pleased about this as she’s interested to know too. After deciding to do this beauty phase of my spring clean, I headed to a newsagents last Friday. I picked up two magazines that had beauty sample freebies, as I figured this was a good place to start.

My two choices were Marie Claire and Glamour, two magazines that I don’t recall having read before.

I started with Marie Claire, which I made my way through on Friday evening.

Though the article about Katy Perry was pretty interesting, there wasn’t a lot more that I read from Marie Claire. I flicked through it, sniffed the perfume samples and tried to find some information on make up or beauty products. Unfortunately Marie Claire is very fashion weighted and while I’m trying with beauty, I don’t stand a hope in hell of getting into fashion! I’m sure Marie Claire is great for some people, its not for me sadly! That said, I did love the smell of “Endless Euphoria” by Calvin Klein, which lead to me ordering a few samples online – and I did like the free lip gloss from Neal’s Yard Remedies.

On Saturday morning I read Glamour magazine. This is much more me. From the beginning I liked the idea that the cover girl picture had been influenced by readers. Though from what I understand, its not always that way, it is nice to see interaction with the reader. I then went on to read several interesting articles, not just about beauty but also things like cheaper shopping tips. The H&M voucher is a great save, though sadly I don’t live near to an H&M (yet!). From this magazine I learned I possibly like the smell of Alien by Thierry Mugler, though it was the fading smell rather than the initial one.

I also tried out both the eyeliner and the lip gloss. Sorry its not a great picture but I’m really not one for selfies.

Out of the two, the lip gloss by Neal’s Yard Remedies was definitely my favourite. The eyeliner which was by Model Co. was good, but because I wore it alone (no other make up) I found that it rubbed off on my upper eye section. I don’t know if that would have been different if I’d had some eyeshadow on. Either way though, I liked both products.

Beauty magazines are definitely something that interest me and out of these two, I would buy Glamour again. I like the idea of buying a magazine that comes along with a sample, as its a good way to try out new products. I’m keeping my eye out for different magazines this month though, so I can see which others appeal to me! If you’ve got any recommendations, by all means let me know.

Keep tuned for more beauty updates! I have Barry M nailpolish to review, an Urban Decay pallette to try out and a Frangrance Shop Discovery Box club to sample.

Week 13 – Monday Round-up (better late than never?)

April 3, 2014 by Bel 1 Comment

Wow, what a week! Strangely it was actually quite a calm and relaxed week in lots of ways, but then suddenly at the end of the week it seemed to pick up momentum and just BAM!

After a nice quiet weekend, I started off the Monday strangely tired. Sadly that tiredness seemed to linger all week long really. In fact, I didn’t really recover from it until today (half a week later) which is why this post is so super late! Not only that, but leaving this post so late has meant that I have managed to forget the majority of what happened last week (oops!)

The highlight were:

– Making Mug cakes. After seeing Amy’s post about Mug cakes, I decided I wanted to make one. Much like her I’d seen loads on Pintrest but just never gotten around to making them. On Tuesday Chris and I made one each, then on Wednesday I made a couple more with the kids. We had a lot of fun, especially when Uncle Chris’ mug overflowed with chocolate cake!

– OUAT and OUAT in Wonderland! Last week, my brother and I finally managed to catch up with Once Upon A Time. So this week it was great to actually keep up, watching the next episode on time. We also managed to make a start on Once Upon A Time In Wonderland (which is just average so far) only to find out it will definitely be cancelled at the end of this season (oh well!).

– Thursday we decided we were having our last takeaway (not ever, but at least for a while). This is for two reasons! One, I want to lose weight – you can see my weight loss journey if you follow Twice the Mum and Weight Loss Wednesday. Two, we need to save money as my brother is moving out this month and we won’t have his lodger money any more! **Spoiler Alert** It didn’t last long as we had takeaway again this following week. HOWEVER, that will hopefully be our last.

– My Beauty Education began. On Thursday (after my kebab!) I posted about Spring Cleaning my life and as part of that, I want to adventure into new waters – beauty blogging. My first purchase was an Urban Decay pallette which I had been longing for almost a year. However I knew I would have to wait for it to arrive in the post! On Friday I picked up a couple of magazines after work, both of which had free beauty products with them, and started my first lesson.

Friday night I started on Marie Claire. This had a free lip gloss by Neal’s Yard Remedies with it. Saturday morning I read Glamour. This had a free eyeliner from Model Co. I tried both beauty products, sniffed several perfume samples and learnt what I like about a magazine and what I don’t. There will be a post coming soon about these magazines! I also bought a sample perfume, signed up for Birchbox and joined the Discovery Club at The Fragrance Shop.

– Saturday with the kids. On Saturday, I spent the whole day with the kids and it was lovely. In all honesty it was probably a nicer day than Mother’s Day (the following day) as that turned out to be quite stressful and tiring. Chris was at work on Saturday so the girls and I went for a wander around Marshall’s Yard in Gainsborough. We went into Browns Department store (as I tried to pass on my new beauty education to the kids), Next, M&S Simply Food and Wilko. On top of that I treated the girls to a cupcake from Cup-Cakes and some sweets from Sweet Tradition (both of which will appear in my Hidden Gem feature soon!)

After Marshall’s Yard, we headed to Tesco in order to buy the food for Mother’s Day dinner (since I was cooking for 9). I also completely went back on what I’d said about “that” blogging t-shirt for kids – ending up buying it for both my kids. This is because Megan is actually now a blogger (and if you’re interested you can find her at Little Princess Blogs) and Lily is pretending to be, while I have her blog set to invite only/private. The day was really about making them happy and the t-shirts did so I’m happy to retract what I said before!

Finally we headed into Gainsborough itself, doing a bit more browsing and shopping in places such as Superdrug and Boots. We ended up buying two Barry M nail polishes, both of which I’d wanted to try (Silk and Gelly), but the girls picked the colours. We came home and painted our nails – again, I’ll be reviewing the nail polish in a future post.

The evening continued to be lovely as Nat arrived to re-dip-dye her hair. Since I had decided to try the new Bleach London colours (especially Washed Up Mermaid), I took the opportunity to re-bleach my ends – though I haven’t coloured them yet! This means I currently have blonde ends, though I’m actually quite liking them.

– Mothering Sunday. Firstly I just have to say… who the hell decided to make Mother’s Day the Daylight Savings day too? As most mothers will know, sleep is something that can be very hard to come by at times! Not only that, but on Mother’s Day the kids seem to think its a great idea to wake you nice and early to give you presents and maybe even breakfast in bed. Take an extra hour off that for us and you’re already starting to take away from that whole “treat your mum on Mother’s Day” thing.. you know? Anyway….

The girls woke Chris at about 9am (new time) and they all headed downstairs to make me breakfast. This was nice as it gave me time to come around and actually be awake before I was presented with food.

I was given pain au chocolat, croissant and french toast (some even with cheese!). I also got a cup of tea made in a huge mug. The girls brought up some food to eat with me too, though we soon had to evacuate the bed when Lily managed to croissant crumbs everywhere!

The girls also got me a beautiful card and a stash of Lush. Though I’m grateful the girls’ dad still takes responsibility for Mother’s Day presents, I do wish he would listen to the girls though! They wanted to buy me bath bombs and bubble bars (my favourite) but he insisted on a shower gel (which I don’t particularly like the smell of) and a bar of soap (that smells great, but I don’t use soap… ever). Sadly I’ll be giving them away or even selling them – but the thought was there, nonetheless!

After the lovely wake up, it was time to get up and get on with dinner. I cooked chicken wrapped in bacon, with mash and vegetables (also with cheese sauce or peppercorn sauce). We had ice cream, apple pie and chocolate fudge cake all for dessert and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. My present to my mum was mostly the dinner, but I also bought her some gloves which she’d asked me for and a book I’d seen recommended on Amy’s blog. The book is called Dear Mum and you can find it on Amazon. The basic concept is that you give your mum the book and she fills it in. There is everything from her life growing up, meeting your dad, having you and various other things. Once completed, she gives it back to you and you have a very unique keepsake. If I get time, I will be posting about this book separately as I really do think its lovely.

Once everyone had left, I was exhausted. I fell asleep snuggled up to Chris on the sofa and didn’t wake up for an hour! The rest of the evening was filled with getting the kids to bed and trying to relax. We had an early night and the next week began…

Hopefully I will be on time updating my weekly post this week – fingers crossed! I also hope to post again soon with regard to a lot of the things I’ve mentioned in this post. Hope you had a great week last week and are having a great one this week too!

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