Eminence Organic Skincare: The Rose Collection

I have been looking for an Eminence Organic Skincare UK stockist like forever! I was pleased to find one via an article in InStyle magazine. I browsed the site and treated myself to the very gorgeous Rose Collection (£50 plus P&P).  Delivery was quick within a couple of days.

The award winning brand is made using organic and natural ingredients grown in Hungary. Products are free from parabens, SLS, propylene glycol, mineral oil, artificial dyes and perfumes.

The set comes in a handcrafted wooden tube and each product contains a few weeks supply (although I think the serum will last longer) - so great try me size or to take on holiday.  The set consists of trial sizes and one full size - Couperose-C Serum which is worth £33.

The pots are all 1/2 oz (15ml)

Sweet Red Rose Cleanser - a light milk which smells intensely rosey. It is suitable for normal/combination skin and can be used AM and PM.  Place a small amount of cleanser in palm add a little water to emulsify and apply to the skin massaging in circular motions. Remove with a damp warm muslin cloth.  This is gorgeous. It leaves the skin feeling clean yet hydrated.  Love!

Rosehip & Maize Exfoliating Masque - this has a fruity scent and gently exfoliates the skin.  Suitable for all skin types.  Apply as you would a mask, leave to dry for 5-10 minutes and then remove with a warmed muslin cloth, gently scrubbing off the mask as you go.

Sweet Red Rose Treatment Masque - this looks like jam! It has rich red rose scent and is gentle enough to use every day. It is suitable for normal, dry and sensitive skin types.  To use: apply a small amount to your palm and use a few drops of water to emulsify. Leave on 5-10 minutes before rinsing.

Rosehip Whip Moisturizer - this is a light and fruity moisturiser which is suitable for normal/oily and sensitive skin.  Again emulsify a small amount in your hand with a few drops of water and apply to the face and neck.  It soothes and hydrates the skin.

Sweet Red Rose Whip Moisturizer - this is a rich cream which smells deeply of roses. It is great for mature skin types as it rejuvenates and leaves the skin looking radiant and renewed.  This is a best seller which hydrates and softens the skin.

Couperose C Serum - this serum is especially good for sensitive, reactive, oily, dehydrated and dry skin types. It has a base of rosehip oil with lavender and peppermint which gives it a minty herbal scent. It absorbs quickly and leaves the skin hydrated as well as helping to smooth out lines and wrinkles. Can be used AM and PM.

I've been enjoying using the collection and I'll update you as to my thoughts when I finish each product. There's definitely a few more I'd like to try from the range.

Have you tried any Eminence Organic Skincare products?

Trilogy Jua Natural Perfume

Just before my London trip I picked up Trilogy's Jua Natural Perfume at Love Lula. 

A Limited Edition perfume which comes in a roll on bottle and costs £13.50 for 7.5ml making it a great gift/treat.

From each perfume sold Trilogy are donating to the charity So They Can, which educates and empowers African Communities.  The scent uses hand pressed sunflower oil produced by one of So They Can's social business projects.

This 100% natural perfume has a lovely light scent. Using sunflower oil as its base and inspired by Africa's lush natural environment the perfume was developed with New Zealand based perfumer Yves Dombrowsky.

Top Notes: bergamot, rose, freesia

Middle Notes: apricot, frankincense, mint

Base Notes: cedar wood bark, vetyver, vanilla

It is quite a light scent and I do need to apply it often throughout the day but I love the light floral and warming notes on the skin.  

Have you tried this scent?

Love Lula Beauty Box - October

This month's Love Lula beauty box is jam packed!  

Here goes:

bodhi & birch Jasmine Falls Relaxing Bath & Shower Therapy 50ml - as you'll know I'm a huge bodhi & birch fan. See my review of this here.

Yes to Carrots Gentle Cleansing Wipes 10 wipes - I do sometimes use facial wipes (especially after a night out or on holiday). I recently tried the Yes to Blueberries wipes so looking forward to trying these ones out.

Green People Soft Buff Skin Exfoliator (review coming up on this shortly), Gentle Cleanse & Make up Remover (review) and two sachets of Purify & Hydrate Cream Cleanser & Line Eraser Lip & Eye.

Inika Organic Eyeliner in Black Caviar - a glide on and highly pigmented eyeliner with handy sharpner in the lid.

Dr Lipp Original Lip Balm mini - tried this a few times and handy size to pop in your handbag. 

John Masters Organics Rose & Apricot Hair Milk sachet - tried this before and love it.  See my review here.

Did you get this box? What are your thoughts on the contents?

Portland Bee Balm

Brand & Anika, founders of Portland Bee Balm have kept bees for a few years now and are based in Portland, Oregon. Brad's love of beekeeping and the honeybees turned a backyard hobby into a business. Brad also makes the unique wooden display units for the balms.

The balms ($2.99 approx £1.85) are super cute. The labels are designed and made by small local businesses. They are made from non-pulped wood and the ink is soy based  The balms are made with high quality ingredients - beeswax from local hives, organic coconut and olive oils and Oregon Peppermint oil (or unscented).  

The lips feeling soft and nourished with a hint of gloss.  Wear alone or with lipstick.  See the online shop here.

Brand & Anika have some ideas you can follow to help bees thrive:

buy local honey

buy sustainably produced foods & products

plant a garden with lots of flowers

use organic gardening methods

keep your own bees

*PR samples

Petit Vour x Logical Harmony - Beauty & the Box

I was excited to receive my Petit Vour beauty box* which is co-curated this month with Tashina @logicalharmony.

Root Science Skincare Pure Balance Daily Facial Moisturizer for Normal/Combination Skin Types 6ml - this contains cold pressed oils which are stuffed full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. This is the item I'm most excited by in the box.  This serum is "designed to lullaby your skin into a permanent state of bliss" - sounds good to me! It soothes and heals leaving your skin glowing and healthy. Can't wait to try!  Full size retails at $80 (just under £50) for 30ml. 

Ellovi Tinted Lip Butter $5 (£3) - this lip butter contains only 6 ingredients and is tinted with alkanet which is the red root from a Mediterranean flower. Super moisturising and it leaves a pretty and noticeable wash of colour. 

The other two products included in the box I've tried before.  These are:

Yarok Feed Your Ends Leave-in-Conditioner $13.20 (approx £8) - I love this lightweight conditioner.  See it feature in my Summer Saviours here.

Lily Lolo Mineral Eyeshadow Vanilla Shimmer Eye Shadow $12 (approx £7) - again huge fan of these gorgeous eyeshadows and this is a really pretty shade.

The box costs $30 (approx £18) a month for shipping to the UK.  Find out more here.

What do you think of the contents this month?

*PR sample

Bee Good Christmas: Bee Pampered Gift Set

Bee Good are bringing out this cute little "Bee Pampered" Gift Set* for Christmas (will be available to buy this month!)

Costing only £20 it is the perfect gift for aunties, mums, teachers and friends. As well as containing two gorgeous Bee Good products it also contains delicious iced biscuits from Little Bee Bakery.

The box features Honey, Borage & Echium Intensive Hand Repair 50ml* which is one of my favourite intensive hand creams.  See my review here and Vanilla & Honey Lip Balm 10ml* which deeply moisturises the lips leaving them glossy and sweetly scented.  See my review here.

This is one of my favourite Christmas gift boxes so far!

*PR sample

YOU Beauty Discovery Box - Handbag Heroes - October

This month I picked:

Spiezia's Facial Cleanser 10ml (worth approx £5) - this is a much loved cleanser of mine and I always have a full size pot in my stash (this one's going in my travel bag). See my review here.

Crystal Clear Intense Anti-Ageing Serum 30ml (which is worth a whopping £29.99) - a powerful anti-ageing complex which contains high levels of proven actives to help repair and firm skin. Review will follow!

The extras this month:

A bottle of Gold Collagen which is an anti-ageing beauty supplement and a sachet of Cowshed's latest launch - Anti-Ageing Perfecting Night Serum.

Sign up here and pay only £6.95 a month including P&P.

Did you get the box? What did you chose this month?

Brummells of London: Samples

Brummells of London offer a great sample service. You can choose up to five samples (varying costs although none are more than £2) and if you set up an account you can join their Exquisitely Loyal scheme.  

For every pound you spend on samples you will collect £1 worth of points to spend on your next order.  There is also a huge range of full size products available.

Samples I think are a fantastic way to try before you buy.  Here's what I chose:

Czech & Speake Rose Cologne 1ml - this has a true rosey scent. Bourbon rose with geranium, mimosa, ylang ylang and patchouli. Full size now on the wishlist!

Hotel Costes No.1 Bath Flakes 10g - I've wanted to try these like forever! The flakes give a gentle foam and are scented with the Hotel Costes signature scent.

Sachajuan Color Save Shampoo 5ml and Hair Repair 5ml - I've yet to try this brand and am always on the lookout for new hair care.

Penhaligon's Juniper Sling EDT 1.5ml - this scent is inspired by London Dry Gin so I knew I'd have to try it!

What do you think of the samples I chose?  Have you used any of these products before?

Cult Beauty: Purchases & Goody Bag

As I didn't buy anything when I was in London I decided to choose a few things online.  I noticed Cult Beauty were offering one of their amazing goody bags with a £75 spend.

Here's what I bought:

I've been wanting to buy Gorse EDT by Laboratory Perfumes like forever! Ever since I tried a sample via Roullier White's excellent sample service.  This is a huge 100ml bottle and it cost £55.  A review will follow!

I also picked up Lea Journo Hydra Riche Hydrating Shampoo & Conditioner (both 90ml - £10 each) as I've been keen to try these for a while.

If your order is over £40 you can choose two sachets from a selection. I chose a couple by Sunday Riley.

Inside the goody bag (which includes 5 full size products):

Sachajuan Volume Shampoo 100ml

OCC Lip Tar in Anika (full size)

Miracle Skin Transformer Spotlight 3ml

3 Custom Color Eyeliner in Khaki Green (full size)

Mini Wet Brush

Mizon Cotton Shower Sheet Essence Mask (full size)

Julie Hewett Shimmy Face & Body Shimmer in Pinkie (full size)

Stila Lip Glaze in Pink Sugar (full size)

Glamglow Supermud Clearing Treatment 10g

Did you pick up this offer?  If you did let me know what you bought.

London Trip

Last weekend (I can't believe it's been a whole week!) me and hubby had a long weekend in London.  It was primarily for David to watch his favourite team Miami Dolphins play at Wembley but we managed to fit in meeting friends, shopping, eating and drinking and generally spending lots of money!

As we were travelling light I didn't actually buy any beauty products but I sampled lots and now I have got a huge wishlist.  It was great to see and try products I normally can only buy online without testing first. 

We stayed at St James' Court Hotel for two nights. It was lovely and really central.

We ate lunch in the courtyard and David had a delicious spiced fish burger with sweet potato wedges.

I was super excited to meet Nardine (@Miss_Nardine), Sam (HoneyGoLightly) and Grace (all that slap).  Nardine came up to the hotel to meet us and show us the way to Grace Bar where we were meeting the others.

Nardine and me

me, Sam, Grace, Nardine

What a great night we had! So lovely to meet the girls.  Lots of cocktails, fizz, some food and chat.

Next day, we got up quite early to go look at the shops and stopped by - Content Beauty & Wellbeing (I loved it) Whole Foods Market, Miller Harris, Liberty and Fortnum & Mason to name a few.

in whole food market

Halloween goodies in Fortnum & Mason

We ate lunch at Mishkins (25 Catherine St, WC2B 5JS) It's a "kind-of Jewish deli" with cocktails.  I had a spiced negroni (delish) and a half brick lane salt beef sandwich. We shared a side of onion rings.  Would recommend!

We chose some Pierre Herme mararons at Selfridges and my favourites were Jasmine Tea and Passionfruit with chocolate.

We headed back to the hotel and had a Champagne Flight Experience which was three champagnes with matching canapes!  Was a really great experience and delicious.

David had booked dinner at Caxton Grill at St Ermin's Hotel which is a 5 minute walk from where we were staying.  The food was great and we both thoroughly enjoyed our dinner (next time it's definitely the tasting menu!)  My favourite course was the main which was Beef Fillet with garlic, barley and parmesan. 

Sunday saw us head to Wembley Stadium for the American Football. David's team Miami Dolphins were playing Oakland Raiders. There was a great atmosphere with over 83k in attendance and his team won!

Before boarding our flight home on Monday we had lunch at Plane Food, Gordon Ramsay's Restaurant at Terminal 5 at Heathrow.  I ate one of the best Chicken Caesar salads I've ever had and a super spicy Bloody Mary.

David had Cranahan with figs for pudding and it was super yummy. Who'd believe this amazing food is served at the airport!

All in all a great weekend and I can't wait to go back!

bodhi & birch Rosa Rosa Special Edition Skincare Set

bodhi & birch recently launched their skincare range Rosa Rosa.  Ana and Amber both attended the launch (I was so sad I couldn't make it) and you can see their posts about it here and here.  It looked an amazing event.

As I was unable to attend Elijah Choo very kindly sent me the gorgeous Rosa Rosa Special Edition Skincare Set*. I was over-the-moon to receive such an amazing gift! Thanks again so much Elijah!

The range is super, super luxe. I love the chunky glass bottles and the pretty outer box.  This set would make an amazing gift to a loved one or even better to self! Great value too this introductory set saves you £15 buying together rather than each product individually.

Rosa Rosa Clarifying Cleanser 150ml* - wait until you smell this cleanser! It is beautiful and intensely floral. It is enriched with Rosehip Oil, Damask Rose, Orange Blossom and Chamomile which balance, soothe, revive and rejuvenate the skin.  A rich but light cream which you massage over your face and neck, add a little bit of water and it foams slightly before rinsing.  The skin is left feeling nurtured, clean and nourished. Love!

Rosa Rosa Hydrating Toner 100ml* - toning mists are one of my favourite skincare items.  This toner contains floral waters of Damask Rose, Orange Blossom and Chamomile and is light and refreshing on the skin. It soothes, hydrates and refreshes.  Spritz over the face and neck after cleansing or throughout the day.

Rosa Rosa Daily Moisturiser 50ml* - oh WOW this moisturiser is divine! This is a rich cream which again smells simply wonderful.  It contains Rosehip and Meadowfoam oils along with Rose Otto and Neroli to renew and rejuvenate. High in Essential Fatty Acids and Vitamins to boost skin cell regeneration. It softens, smoothes, hydrates and nurtures the skin.  At night-time I like adding a drop or two of Desert Rose Rejuvenating Face Oil*.

The range is simply stunning and I can't choose a favourite as I think the products compliment each other so well.  If you are on the hunt for new skincare I recommend you try this range.  It leaves you feeling pampered and loved as well as your skin looking the best it can be.  Have you tried anything from the Rosa Rosa range?

*gift

Blue Labelle Argan & Sea Buckthorn Face Oil

I was recently sent this amazing facial oil from Blue Labelle to try.

I was sent the trial size of Argan & Sea Buckthorn Face Oil* (10ml - £10) which is part of the biologique range. This little bottle has up to 70 applications making it great value for money and a fantastic try me size.

Pascale Edwards founded Blue Labelle in 2011. She has been making botanical blends since 2006. The blends are 100% natural and organic and are hand blended in small batches with love on the Isle of Wight. You can buy from the online shop.  

This easily absorbed oil smells fab. I'm a huge fan of any beauty product which contains sea buckthorn.  It also contains Argan, Macadamia, Camellia, Rosehip, Safflower, Evening Primrose, Frankincense, Palmarosa, Carrot Seed and Rosemary oils which nourish, balance and rejuvenate the skin.  This is a great anti-ageing face oil as it helps with skin regeneration as well as protecting and hydrating.

To use: roll the bottle in your hands to wake the blend. Dispense 2 pumps into palms and rub together to warm.  Press oil into skin massaging over cheeks, forehead and neck.  Can be use AM/PM alone or under cream.

I've been really enjoying using this oil.  It absorbs easily, smells gorgeous and leaves the skin looking radiant and renewed. 

If you fancy treating yourself Blue Labelle have very kindly offered my readers a very generous 20% off until the end of October with code bbalm20% (if your order is under £15 P&P will be £1.95)

I'm adding Body Oil with Rose & Jasmine, Hand Oil with Rosemary and Petigrain & Tamanu Cleansing Oil to my buy soon list!

Have you tried any Blue Labelle products?

*PR sample

September Books

Here's my September reads:

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The Last Witness by Denzil Meyrick - this is Denzil's second book and I loved it as much as Whisky from Small Glasses.  Many of the characters are the same from the first book.  

James Machie's criminal empire was spreading outwith Glasgow before he was arrested and sent to prison.  He was assassinated in the back of an ambulance not long after being sentenced.  Five years on he's alive and well and set on punishing those who brought him down starting with his old associates who have made new lives for themselves and their families.  DCI Jim Daley and his colleague DS Brian Scott are also in the firing line having being key to his conviction.  The race is on to find Machie before he kills once more...

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The One I was by Eliza Graham - Rosamund Hunter is a nurse to those leaving life.  She returns to Fairfleet, a country house where her grandmother lived to care for Benny Gault who is dying.  He is a former Kindertransport refugee from Nazi Germany.  Both Benny and Eliza are carrying secrets which are connected. A really bittersweet but memorable book. 

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Pop Goes the Weasel - M J Arlidge - Matthew's eagerly awaited second part in the DI Helen Grace series.  I loved it as much as his first book Eeny Meeny. A man's body is found in a derelict house used by prostitutes and drug addicts. His heart has been cut out and delivered to his family.  DI Helen Grace and the team race to find the serial killer preying on men who lead double lives... Fast and action packed - I loved this book.  Cannot wait for the third in the series which is out in February next year.

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My final book this month is Gin Glorious Gin: How Mother's Ruin became the Spirit of London by Olivia Williams - a fascinating and interesting read into the history of gin from Georgian London through to Cocktail Bars in the West End to the present day and the huge amount of brands now available. A brilliant read I just couldn't put it down and the perfect companion to a G&T.

What have you been reading lately?