L'Occitane & My Little Box event

L'Occitane is a brand I am absolutely loving the discovery of and there are a few products to share on the blog in coming weeks, but last week I was invited along to the Covent Garden store to a blogger event which was in conjunction with My Little Box, a beauty box which has taken the blogging world my storm and one I was keen to learn more about.

On arrival I was treated to an absolutely amazing and most relaxing hand massage and then was introduced to the My Little Box which is filled with L'Occitane hero products. For those not in the know, My Little Box is a hand-picked and beautifully designed box of fashion, beauty and lifestyle surprises. This box aptly named My Little Provence Box is adorned with a floral pattern and a striking figure of a woman.

Inside the box there are seven items in total. The first item I saw is a card with the saying "In Provence, the sun rises twice a day - once in the morning and once after nap time" by Yvan Audouard, a writer and journalist. There is also a newspaper which opens right out into a huge print after you read all the articles, including what the fabulous Really Ree has inside her vanity bag!

Next is perhaps the best item I have come across in a beauty box. My Little Provence Doll. Not an actual doll but a magnetic one with magnetic clothes, hours of fun to be had with this.

Sunny Things inside Cuff - This I love. I am not the most artistic of people, but being able to make my own bracelet really appeals. The cuff is described as being the ultimate DIY accessory for the summer. Inside this box you have the cuff bracelet and two different coloured cotton threads, I have a navy blue and bright blue and all you need to do is follow the instructions to create it.

Naturally being a beauty box there is a little tote bag which has those four L'Occitane hero products inside and this is what there is:

• Mer & Mistral Shower Gel - The Mer & Mistral Fresh Shower Gel gently cleanses the skin, leaving it freshly perfumed with the aquatic and aromatic scent of the Mer & Mistral fragrance. Skin is left clean and perfumed with an invigorating scent which lingers on the skin all day.
• Roses et Reines hand and nail creme - Enriched with shea butter and vitamin E, the Roses et Reines Hand & Nail Cream helps nourish, soften and protect the hands while helping to strengthen the nails. This is a lovely little handcream, it smells very much of fresh roses and it leaves your hand so soft and moisturised.
• Verbena Body Lotion - Enriched with organic Verbena extract and grape seed oil, this body light lotion gently moisturises, nourishes and softens the skin, leaving it delicately fragranced with a uplifting zesty aroma.  This is a perfect for those mornings when you just need a poke in the ribs to wake you up, a sharp scent which really hits the senses.
• Soap with Verbena Leaves - Crushed verbena leaves gently exfoliate as you wash or shower. All-vegetal, non-detergent cleansing base won't dry skin. Rich and creamy, with a light citrus scent.  I am not the worlds biggest fan of soap, it isn't something I tend to get that excited over, but I do love the scent of this and as L'Occitane state, it doesn't dry out your skin.

The final item is The Amazing eyeshadow crayon (rrp £9) of which mine is a metallic brown shade and it is a shade I actually quite like. Like most eyeshadow crayons, it is easy to use and features a twist bottom so you don't have to sharpen it.

As a L'Occitane fan, I absolutely love this box, it contains products I have never tried and it is a perfect weekend away treat all rolled into one with a bit of fun when it comes to the magnetic doll and cuff bracelet.

You can subscribe to My Little Box** for £14.95 per month which includes P&P - link

The Comforter Shower Gel - Lush

A few weeks ago I went to the grand opening of the new Lush Flagship Store here on Londons Oxford Street which you can read about HERE.  One thing I learnt at that opening is that there are over 200 new products, yes TWO HUNDRED which is absolutely phenomenal and I have already tried and tested some of them!

The first item I could not wait to open is The Comforter Shower Gel!  I am a big fan of the Bubble Bar and would go as far as to say it is my favourite one from the Bubble Bar selection.  So to find the shower gel was a little more than exciting and here it is:

Described as being 'Like a Cuddle in a bottle' this shower gel is just amazing. For those of you who are familiar with the Bubble Bar, it is that scent in this bottle. It uses the exact same ingredients which are:

• Begamot Oil - As a scent it is fresh, sweet, fruity scent has an uplifting, cheerful effect, easing tension, and encouraging sleep. It also has antibacterial properties to, help clear the skin.
• Cassis Absolute - This gives a deep blackcurranty aroma which provides the main scent.
• Cypress Oil - works an antiseptic as well a deodorant and it also helps tone the skin. The fragrance also helps to calm during times of stress.

The texture of this shower gel is quite thick and if you are an avid user of Lush shower gels, it is similar to Snow Fairy, so you only ever need a small amount to create a lot of lather.  The scent is one which lingers, I can still smell it on my skin after being at work for a whole day, though it has obviously faded.

So, if you are a big fan of Lush, this is one new product I would really recommend buying.  It isn't yet on the man Lush site but it is on sale inside the Oxford Street Store.  This bottle costs around £9.50 for this 250g bottle.

bkr

It's not everyday you go to the launch of a brand new product and love it before you have heard anything about it. Well that is exactly what happened when I was introduced to bkr (beaker) a luxe, bubbly glass bottle that jumped out at me in Selfridges. Sitting there on a display stand in a variety of colours from your bright pinks to the neutrals that make you want to pick them up, touch them and make your own display.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to meet and chat to Tal Winter and Kate Cutler, the brains behind the idea who were just so lovely to chat too, answer questions about every aspect of bkr from where the idea came from, to its production and the celebrity following which by the way is huge, we are talking Gisele Bundchen, Blake Lively, Reese Witherspoon, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, January Jones and Jamie Chung to name just a few!

What I loved was the main point, you can spend hundreds, possibly thousands of pounds on creams, lotions and potions to keep your skin in tip top condition but if you are not drinking enough water, then what is the point. Water is something we should all drink more of, I drink around 1.5litres of it per day and should drink more and if something as cute as bkr can encourage me to do that then I am ready to put my hand in my pocket and try it. Essentially that is what bkr is, a cute glass bottle, a very well made one, whose who purpose is to encourage you to drink more water, the more you drink the better you not only feel, but so does your skin, your eyes, your hair and your nails.

For me bkr is such a brilliant idea, it has a non-leak cap which means you can carry it around in your handbag without fear of it leaking and it has this cute little hook that loops over your fingers to help with the grip when you carry it around and who wants to hide such a cute bottle in  handbag anyway.

I did ask Tal and Kate where the inspiration came from for the colours and some of the bottle names and essentially the collections are based on runway trends in New York, London, Paris and Milan and the names are only ever given if they both agree and love it. So the bottle I was very kindly given is called Bambi and if I had to choose a bottle, it would have been this one for two reasons - firstly it is bright neon pink and who doesn't love the colour pink and secondly the black heart right in the middle grabbed my attention and it has an RRP £28.  It is described as follows:

"Inspired by a big fluffly bed at a five-star hotel, his XL hoodie over your tiny bikini, the sharing of a naughty secret at a dimly lit speakeasy, hosting the coziest afterparty. I know you should be going, but how can I send you out in that storm"

It is washable by hand or dishwasher but not suitable for a microwave, but it literally takes just a few minutes to clean, including the outer sleeve which is removable.

There are over 30 different choices when it comes to choosing your own bkr and there is definitely something for everyone and if it encourages me to drink more water than I already do, it gets a huge thumbs up!

Online Shopping!

Online shopping and payment transfers can be fraught with danger, with a host of dodgy websites happy to take your money, or your money and your bank details and not deliver or those pesky spyware programmes that steal data from your computer before some enterprising little so and so hacks into your bank account for every last penny. Having had this happen three times now it is extremely stressful and scary and even though I do still shop online regularly, I do now have steps in place to hopefully prevent further attacks.

Source

One solution for me has to be secure money transfers, something I believe is essential for us bloggers, whether we are buying the latest cosmetics, paying for changes to our blog layouts or doing like I do a lot, buying obsure clothing from even more obscure countries for their other half!

Paypal is a pretty good tool which cuts out most middle-men and I find it incredibly easy to use but there is a whole universe of transfer methods available and I tend to use the app on my iPhone rather a lot.  There are also many from the branch of your own high street bank that allow you to transfer money directly to other bank accounts globally through a simple bank transfer. One such method is SWIFT Funds Transfer available to account holders of most banks. It allows account holders to make international payments in a range of currencies worldwide.

If you regularly make payments abroad and are looking for a better bank transfer service, why not take a look around, there are so many options out there where you may save yourselves a small fortune, especially when it comes to the currency conversion rates and fees being charged by your own bank.

There are also steps you can take to protect yourself online when you do shop and most of them are so simple and straightforward and know your consumer rights too, there are plenty of helpful websites such as this one which have lots of useful information.

SP