Over the past couple of weeks, I managed to pick up some great internet deals during my exams, but also braved Westfield Stratford during the Olympics. Without realising it I have come back with a list of products with a bronze, silver and gold theme. Some Olympic treats which don't involve me running the 10,000 metres, swimming in Hyde Park or getting back on a bicycle in any form.
 |
Bronze goes to Alpha H
Silver to Rodial |
Bronze
Confusingly packaged in a fetching bronze package is the Alpha H Liquid Gold. This has been raved about by a couple of my favourite beauty bloggers Ruth from A Model Recommends and Cami from camiloveskiwi. It is a glycolic acid based solution which is gentle enough for my sensitive skin, although I get a small amount of tingling. The idea is it removes the top layer of dead skin cells and leaves you with fresh, soft skin the next morning. I accidently spilled a little bit on the back of my hand last night and I can confirm that the back of my left hand feels smoother than the back of my right. When I start using this fully I'm going to do some before and after pictures, to see not only if this makes a differences to how my skin feels but how it appears.
I got mine on an offer from QVC but the supersize 200 ml bottle is still available for £36.76 plus P&P here. Pricey I know, but I am really treating this as an investment in my skin.
Silver
You may have seen the sneaky £10.00 label on the side of one of my Rodial candles. I couldn't resist these bad boys from the Debenham's sale reduced from £45 to £10 - that's more than a 75% reduction, and they're still available at that price! I actually have three but one has already moved to my new house. All come in a chic silver container, which I can't do justice but the Debenham's website can. I bought all three scents in:
- Lounge - a pale yellow wax, this one is scented with honeycomb and vanilla. Out of the three it's probably my least favourite. I'd recommend for sweet and creamy lovers. Buy Lounge here.
- Rehab - a pale green candle, scented with the aromas of roasted almond and honey milk. This is very nutty, and I think it would smell fantastic in the coming colder months. Buy Rehab here.
- Socialite - this pale pink beauty surprised me in being my favourite of the three.The scent is pink champagne and cassis, this isn't the type of scent I normally go for, in fact I don't even like champagne! I'm usually a vanilla or citrus girl, but this is so well blended and smells, well expensive. If you see this in store I'd recommend having a quick smell. Buy Socialite here.
Looking at the size of these candles which are 210 g in weight I'd expect to get 40-50 hours burn time from these, making them cheaper gram for gram than other mid-priced candles including Yankee Candle and Lily Flame.
All of these scents are also used in Rodial's body range if you want to smell like honeycomb or pink champagne. I'd really like to try Socialite in body butter form. Scrummy!
 |
| Gold to Nuxe, Nuxe and Nuxe! |
Gold
Clearing out my room ahead of my big move I found an old Marks and Spencers gift card I took it along to the M&S in Stratford to my delight I had £25 which I of course had to spend! From left to right I picked up:
- The cult Huile Prodiguese in the 50 ml bottle and costs £17.50. This luxurious gold liquid is made from 98.8% natural ingredients and contains 6 precious oils plus vitamin E. The multi-purpose oil is designed to be used on face, hair and body. It has a very light scent and is non-greasy - I'm really looking forward to using it. Nuxe also does the same oil with little gold bits in for £25 for a 50 ml bottle, I'm sure it would look great with a tan, however I'm not doing a beach holiday this year, so plumped for the original oil.
- The Nuxe My Beuaty Kit cost me a grand 1 English penny at the till, apparently as I was buying two Nuxe items. It contains 15 ml of the Reve de Miel face and body ultra rich cleansing gel, a mini 10 ml Huile Prodigeuse and a 15 ml 24 hour moisturizing body lotion. I'm looking forward to taking a couple of these when I go to Budapest in September.
- The Reve de Miel Ultra-Nourishing Lip Balm - This beeswax based lip balm as been doing the rounds of various beauty blogs, and I only paid £9.50 for a lip balm because I was paying by voucher. I will admit to have giving this a trial run as my before bed lip treatment. It is quite a thick formula but feels light on the lips, my lips felt fairly moisturised when I woke up this morning, although I'm not convinced that this may be better than my Vaseline. We'll see after prolonged use. I also think it smells deliciousy of honey and lemon, which always seems to remind me of a less medicinal version of Lockets!
The whole Nuxe range at Marks and Spencers is available to buy here.
I definitely recommend checking out the Marks and Spencer's beauty halls which are now all systems go at their stores in Bond Street and Westfield Stratford City. I've been to both and they have great selection of products that are hard to get hold of in some stores in the UK including not only Nuxe, Philip Kingsley hair, Diego Della Parma make-up and Comptoir Sud Pacifque perfumes. If nothing else you need to smell those perfumes!
I don't live in London? Don't worry you can buy all the products online.from the M&S website.
There you go, my first haul! I hope you enjoyed it, I would love to hear some more Marks and Spencer's beauty hall recommendations in the comments.
livebathlove,
Laura X
