Bath & Unwind: Beauty Bag with At Home & Tess Daly

As you'll guess the January spending ban is well and truly over! I'm not feeling too guilty as I did recently last 71 days on one.

I was browsing Bath & Unwind for Eye of Horus Goddess Eye Pencil (£15) as I finished my favourite Charcoal one last month. I spotted a fantastic beauty bag offer with At Home & Tess Daly which is stuffed full of goodies (including that eye pencil in my favourite shade).  Costing £29.99 and worth £100 it was too good to miss!

The products are presented in a white Bath & Unwind branded bag and inside is:

Eye of Horus Goddess Pencil - Charcoal (£15)

Nuxe Masque Creme Fraiche de Beaute 50ml (£25)

Elemental Herbology Grapefruit & Mandarin Body Wash 100ml

Bathing Beauty Balaclava Protective Face Salve 15ml (£9)

Arran Aromatics mini Scented Candle 5cl in Jasmine & Philadelphus

Korres Citrus Shower Gel 50ml 

Dr Hauschka Hand Cream 10ml (£3)

Badger Tangerine Breeze Lip Balm (£1.99)

Kneipp Balancing Lavender Herbal Bath 10ml sachet

Guam Britannia Dren sachet (for water retention)

I also got sent a REN Wake Wonderful Night-Time Facial 2ml sachet.

If this sort of beauty bag purchase interests you sign up to the newsletter to be kept informed of offers. See HERE.

Arran Aromatics After the Rain EDT 30ml

I'm a huge fan of the Hand Wash in After the Rain scent so decided to pick up the perfume (30ml - £12.50). You can also buy it in a 100ml size (£27.50). The perfume was inspired by founder Janet's wish to capture "the unique fresh scent of her Arran garden following a rain storm".  It's also one of Arran Aromatics best selling collections and includes - Bath & Shower Gel, Soap, Hand & Body Lotion, Shea Butter Cream, Candle, Room Spray, Reed Diffuser, Shampoo & Conditioner, Hand Wash, Hand Soother, Hand & Nail Cream, Bath Salts and various gift sets.  See more details HERE.

The scent is fresh and sensual and has top notes of Lemon, Lime and Mandarin with heart and base notes of Rose, Musks and Woods.  It's really wearable and quite long lasting for an EDT.

What's your favourite Arran Aromatics product/scent?

Arran Aromatics Giveaway: Love Christmas Candle Cracker

Arran Aromatics was founded in 1989 by Janet and Iain Russell at home. The business quickly grew and they moved to Home Farm, an old dairy farm for Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran.

The Home Fragrance range was launched in 1997. One of my favourite candles is their Perfumer Just Grapefruit Candle.

Arran Aromatics are celebrating an incredible 25 years of gifting and have given one of my readers the chance to win a Love Christmas Candle Cracker which contains 3 x 5cl mini candles which are perfect for burning over the festive period.  They smell simply gorgeous with notes of mandarin, petigrain, cinnamon and dried fruits.

This is a UK giveaway due to the weight of the item.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Weekend Away: North Berwick

I'm just back from two night's away at the Macdonald Marine Hotel in North Berwick with hubby and my mum and dad. We had a really nice stay - had lovely beach walks, hit the boutique shops in North Berwick and ate great food.

North Berwick is a seaside town approximately 25 miles from Edinburgh. We regularly come here for day trips and normally stop for lunch at The Lobster Shack.

Our rooms were way up on the top floor with wonderful sea views (my dad loved watching the golfers on the course between the hotel and the sea).

And in the bathroom nice Arran Aromatics toiletries.

We ate some lovely meals including goats cheese with ratatouille, market fish which that day was plaice and vanilla pannacotta with pineapple and mango. The food was really delicious and the staff friendly and welcoming with the service being excellent.

We also ventured to Gullane and visited Falko for coffee and cake - raspberry gateau for me with a mocha.  Yummy. There is also a Falko in Bruntsfield. See more details here.

I bought some Root candles which smell amazing and have a wooden wick (Westgate Galleries) and outerhebrides soap (Old Smiddy in Gullane).

Here's the beauty products I took with me..

and the make up..

Had a really nice trip and can't wait to go back!  Have you been on a short break recently?

Weekend Away

We were over in Glasgow for a wedding reception on Saturday night and decided to make a weekend of it and stay the Friday night too with my folks.  We had lunch on Friday at  House for an Art Lover Cafe - we go here quite a lot and the food is fantastic as well as great value.  In the shop I bought this cute little spoon rest which was in the sale.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Whole Foods Market Giffnock which was wonderful - we picked up some foodie bits (and I managed to buy a beauty item too!)  The beauty section is packed full of natural brands - so nice to see Antipodes, Pai, Weleda, Intelligent Nutrients and Bach perfumes to name a few - I normally just see these brands online.

My mum had got me up some lovely bits and pieces from offers in the Daily Mail newspaper - thanks mum!

Included is:

A gift set which contains - Pecksniff's Happy Hand & Body Moisturiser 250ml, Pecksniff's Alive Bath & Shower Gel 250ml, Arran Aromatics Lavender & Tea Tree Facial Gel Wash 100ml, bellapierre Volumising Black Mascara 9ml, a Calvin Klein lipstick in Flutter and a mini Nails Inc polish.  

The other two items were separate offers - PH Advantage AM Multi-Complex Moisturizer SPF 20 51ml and Essential Care Organic Hand & Body Lotion 150ml.  I'm really pleased.

Here is my overnight beauty bag - 

When coming home we stopped by Krispy Kreme for a lovely box of assorted donuts nom nom!

What did you get up to at the weekend?

December Empties

Here are my December empties -

Clarins Hand & Nail Treatment Cream 100ml - one of my all time favourite hand creams - I will definitely re-purchase.  I blogged about this hand cream here.


Arran Aromatics Fig Room Spray 30ml - I really like the smell of this - have since bought the full size.


Age Defiance Wipes - always have a pack on the go.  Really good product, no sting and really cheap £1 for two packs at Poundland.


Rahua Sachets - 2 x Volumising Shampoo & 2 x Conditioner from Boudoir Prive - lovely product and enjoyed using but wouldn't pay full price of £27/£28.


Arran Aromatics Rosemary, Sage & Vitamin E Rejuvenating Spa Bath Soak 50ml - a freebie product from PA Exchange event.  Nice but not enough bubbles - wouldn't purchase.


NEOM Tranquility Bath Oil 5ml - lovely product would re-purchase.


Bamford Geranium Bath Oil 30ml - love this, would definitely re-purchase (I've got a full mini bottle from beauty box swaps).


Bamford Geranium, Lavender & Peppermint Bath Salts sachet 30g - lovely, this was gift with purchase would definitely purchase.


Elemis Revitalise Me Shower Gel 100ml - this was a gift with purchase product.  Didn't really like the scent so wouldn't purchase.


Elemis Frangipani Monoi Shower Cream 50ml - another gift with purchase size, loved the scent - would definitely purchase full size.


Clinique Deep Comfort Body Moisture 200ml (this was a pressie last Christmas and just finishing it up now...oops).  Lovely product with thick texture.  Unscented so no clashing with perfume - would definitely purchase.


Melvita Cream Nectar Night Care 15ml - got this from Latest in Beauty Luxury Samples - loved this and would definitely re-purchase.


Alpha-H Balancing Cleanser with Aloe Vera 15ml - this was a free gift with purchase.  Loved this light lotion, will definitely re-purchase.


Korres Wild Rose 24-hr Moisturiser 10ml - from Boudoir Prive - loved this cream (got another in my Best of box).  Would definitely re-purchase.


Pai Rice Plant & Rosemary BioAffinity Toner 50ml (loved this, won in Pai subscriber gift).  Maybe re-purchase but expensive for a toner although I loved it.  I reviewed this product here.


Dr Organic Rose Otto Bath Oil 100ml from Holland & Barrett -  Love this and will definitely re-purchase.  A good dupe for REN Rose Otto Bath Oil - and a third of the price!


Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion 250ml - I always have one of these lotions on the go - just love the scent..and the price!


Vaseline Active Fresh Roll-on Deodorant - my fav deodorant cheap and effective.


Molton Brown Heavenly Gingerlily Bath and Shower Gel 100ml - my favourite MB fragrance will definitely re-purchase at some point.


Elemis Pro-Collagen Lifting Treatment for Neck and Bust 15ml - gift with purchase size, love this - try to pick up in sets or gift with purchase.


Weleda Lavender Relaxing Body Oil 10ml - I have already re-purchased the full size of this - very relaxing.


Dead Sea Spa Magik Silky Smooth Body Lotion 50ml - from Boudoir Prive - lovely lotion and nice to use.  Have another to use from my Best of box.  Would definitely consider purchasing full size.


Lavera Rose Garden Sea Salts 80g sachet - love these sachets and great for weekends away/travel/try me size.


Clarins Daily Energiser Cleansing Gel 75ml - really good cleanser with nice scent. I got this part-used from a friend who didn't like it.  Would possibly purchase though got a load of cleansers to use from all the beauty boxes.


What have you been using this month?

Birthday Weekend

Last weekend we stayed at Knockinaam Lodge near Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway.  The lodge was once home to the Hunter-Blair family - its now a country hotel in 30 acres with its own private beach - though much too cold in December for swimming in the wild Irish sea!  (I took this photo from the beach).

Our room was Churchill, which had an amazing bathroom and huge bed!  The bath was ancient and really deep and was large enough to be able to float without touching the sides! (even hubby who hates baths loved it!)  There was even a step to help you climb in!

Each morning we had a full Scottish breakfast which was yummy (if highly calorific!) complete with toast, muffins, oatcakes, croissants and pots of leaf tea.

Here are the pampering products I took with me:

It was a great weekend away (even though the weather was cold and windy) x

PAX in the City!

I was at PAX in the City last night.  It was at the George Hotel in Edinburgh.

The PA Exchange was a group primarily for PA's and Secretaries but now anyone can join and they now have events in Glasgow too.  You can read more in the link above.

Some of the things I got/bought. Not bought this for ages but with 20% off and goody bag couldn't resist....Dermalogica Body Hydrating Cream 473ml - used this before, absolutely love and lasts and lasts and makes the skin feel amazing and with free goody bag -22ml Skin Prep Scrub and a Just be oil (review to follow on some of these fab products!). 

Popcorn, macaron's (eaten!), stress ball, a dinky wee plastic plant - will put on my desk, pen, pencil, L'Occitane Verbena Shower Gel and Body Lotion (both 30ml), a pink glitzy labelled "PAX in the City" make up bag containing - a sequinned ball keyring, heart tissues, a mirror, and Arran Aromatics 50ml Feel Good Therapies Rosemary, Sage & Vit E Bath Soak. 

Also got loads of money off vouchers including £5 off before 30th November at RBFY.  They stock Becca make up so may go for a makeover. 

Night cost £5 for a glass of pink fizz on arrival and your make up goody bag (plus a cloth bag to take on your way around the stalls). I also got a small glitter tattoo done which lasts three days.  Some of the hotels/venues exhibiting offer free glasses of wine and competitions to enter.  A good nite! x

A cake of soap

Here are my current favourite bars of soap:-

I know bar soap is quite old fashioned now but I've got a healthy addiction!

My current favourite L-R:- Sedbergh, Arran Aromatics, Temple Spa, another Sedbergh soap and Planet Soap.

I came across the brilliant Sedbergh soap last year in the Yorkshire Dales, its a family business based at a sheep and cattle farm in Sedbergh.  The soaps all smell divine and its hard to choose.  The first little bundle is 5 assorted mini soaps - a good try before you buy or present.  My favourites are Lemongrass, Geranium and Sweet Orange.  You can also buy online and your order is delivered next day.

Arran Aromatics Exfoliating Bath Soap 200g - scented with After the Rain.  Nice gritty bits of oatmeal make this a great exfoliating soap.

Temple Spa Keep Calm Bar 50g - with essential oils.  Mr BB and I stayed one night at Northcote for a gourmet break, which was amazing and I'd highly recommend.  The products in the bathroom were Temple Spa.

Planet Soap - Minted Fennel & Nettle Soap 100g - Planet Soap is a small business based in Winchburgh, Scotland.  The soaps are handmade by Jill in her home workshop.  Other favourites include Lavender & Geranium and Lavender.