Mandara Spa - Time to Spa

I dream of spending a weekend at a spa being pampered but in the absence of that actually happening, there are some amazing products to be found that can help you have your own little pampering session at home.

Mandara Spa offers some amazing products, some of which you will find in Sainsburys and they are so reasonably priced that you need to get out there right now and snap them all up to give them a try because they not only smell absolutely divine, they are just that - divine.

Mandara Spa Bali Santi Bath & Shower Cream is one of my favourite products from the range. Costing just £7.99 for 300ml it contains an evocative blend of coconut oil, yoghurt and lotus flower milk which not only smells exactly as the description states but within the bath it creates copious amounts of bubbles and it leaves your skin feeling so soft, smooth and moisturised. It is one of those products you put aside for an extra pampering treat.

Mandara Spa Bali Santi Coconut Glow Smoothing Body Polish is a stunning addition to the Bath & Shower Cream. Coconut is another big fragrance here and it uses nourishing coconut oil, exfoliating and smoothing coconut shell, spice and floral fragrance all of which come together and become a creamy scrub which can be as abrasive on the skin as you need it to be, just by adding a little more pressure in places as you massage it onto the skin. This tub 350ml tub costs just £8.00.

The third product within this Bali Santi range that I have absolutely adored using is the Firming Body Lotion which again uses an evocative blend of coconut and sweet almond oils to nourish and moisturise with Alaria Esculenta extract to help encourage skin firmness.  Once out of the bath or shower, massage the lotion, which isn't too thick a texture, into the skin and it almost immediately absorbs on contact with warm skin.  The coolness of the lotion is incredibly refreshing and it smells absolutely divine.  A 150ml tube costs just £5.

The final two products which have made up my home spa pamper package are for my hands and feet.  Whenever I have had a long soak, I do always apply cream to both my hands and feet to ensure they remain moisturised.

The Citrus and Coconut Foot Butter uses Shea butter, nourishing coconut oil, skin softening jojoba oil, hydrating glycerine, fragrant rosemary, lavender and sweet orange which come together to create a really wonderful scent with the sweet orange and Lavender for me being the dominant scent. As a foot butter the cream is really luxurious and thick, so you only need a small amount to massage into the skin. A 75ml tube costs just £4.50.

The Shea and Coconut hand butter uses Moisturising Shea and cocoa butters, smoothing sweet almond oil, nourishing coconut oil and hydrating glycerine to create a luxurious hand cream which is a perfect after bath and shower treat. A scent combination that I absolutely adore, the sweet almond oil is really noticeable and as soon as it comes into contact with your skin, it takes a little massaging before the cream sinks into the skin leaving it soft, smooth and really hydrated. A 75ml tube costs just £4.50.

Palmer's: 175 Years of Extraordinary Skincare + Giveaway

Did you know that the iconic beauty brand and celebrity favourite Palmer’s, is celebrating its 175th Anniversary this year and that Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Range with 100% Pure Cocoa Butter & Vitamin E, is also turning 40 years old? Well you do now and are you surprised to find that it is as popular today as it was in 1975 when it first launched. 

Palmer’s has also achieved over 100 Beauty Awards over the past decade (over 40 of these are for the cult favourite Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion) and now has a global presence in over 110 countries.

Palmer’s is the Original Cocoa Butter Brand for super soft silky skin, I first came across it in my teens when I was given a tub to use by a cousin of mine who said the scent reminded her of Caramac Bars. With its rich and creamy formula carefully blended using the richest, 100% natural Cocoa Butter, high quality cocoa beans and Vitamin E, Palmer’s is a trusted brand with proven heritage in relieving numerous skin conditions including dry skin, stretch marks and scars. Naturally packed with antioxidants, Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula provides 24 Hour Moisture and the creamy emollient, fast absorbing formula will make you feel touchably soft, smooth and special.

In an effort to treat their many loyal fans, Palmer’s are giving away a ‘Palmer’s Feeling Experience’ worth £1,500 as well as 175 bottles of the iconic Cocoa Butter Body Lotion each week. For the chance to win, all you have to do is share your #PalmersFeeling at http://www.palmersfeeling.co.uk and here are some ideas to help get you started:

I also have a lovely Pamper Hamper for one of you lucky readers to win and it has some of my favourite products included:

To win, all you have to do is use the Rafflecopter widget below.  The giveaway is open for one week and a winner will be chosen at random next Monday.  There are some mandatory entries which must be completed in order for your entry not to be disqualified (and I do check).  As always please ensure you are over 16 years of age or have your parents permission to enter because I will need your address.  This is also a UK Only competition- Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy 5th Birthday Birchbox

Birchbox was the first beauty box company to launch in the UK, so it earns it status as being very special. Since then there seems to have been an explosion of other beauty boxes flooding the market, but with Birchbox celebrating their 5th birthday, it has clearly got something right.

For their birthday box, Birchbox have gone back to their roots in the USA with each product coming all the way from the good old USA and it is a great box!

My first item comes from New York and it is from Bliss. A 30ml tube of Foot Patrol is one of those all in one products. It exfoliates, cools and conditions your feet giving them a bit of TLC. Now after the Summer, my feet do need some TLC as I've pretty much lived in my Fitflops. Alpha hydroxy and salicylic acids slough skin while cooling peppermint stimulates tired toes and it does, as a cream, smell absolutely delightful and is instantly refreshing when applied. A top tip is to apply to your feet before going to bed, pop on your moisturising socks and wake up the following morning with incredibly smooth feeling skin.

Next there is a 30ml sample of Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant which hails all the way from Seattle. I am not familiar with the brand, so I am looking forward to giving it try. To use you apply once daily to clean skin using a cotton wool pad, you don't rinse off or remove but instead apply your moisturiser over the top. This product utilises Salicylic Acid to exfoliate, remove impurities, soften and brighten the complexion plus it is also said to reduce redness and build collagen.

Next I have a 30ml sample of John Masters Organics Citrus Neroli Detangler which hails all the way from New York. This conditioner uses Coconut Oil and Wheat amino acids to help detangle, repair and nourish the hair shaft, with neroli and grapefruit soothe those troublesome scalps. When using it, you can either rinse it out after 1-3 minutes or you can also use it as a leave in treatment.

Next up from San Francisco and Benefits POREfessional range which every subscriber will get to sample. ThePOREfessional Licence to Blot (which I reviewed here). For me this is a lifesaver of product. It works as an oil blotting stick which is designed to instantly mattify the skin, giving those of us with a slightly shiny t-zone a long-lasting shine-free complexion. This sample size if perfect for make up bags and for carrying in your handbag.

The fifth product is another that all subscribers will receive and it is Laqa & Co Cheeky Lip Pencil which comes all the way from Brooklyn.  My Lip Pencil came in the shade Humble Brag which is described as being a pretty blush pink shade and it is a multitasking item which can be used on the lips and cheeks. It is easy to apply and is really pigmented, much more so than I was expecting it to be. 

The final item is the Birchbrush. A product which you could say is the Birchbox alternative to the Tangle Teezer. Designed to sit comfortably in my hand, this bright orange brush is brilliant, I already love it and it does a great job of easing knots out of my hair without tugging and causing breakage and it also works really well if you have a hair mask on to brush it through and massage into the scalp, so again another fabulous multitasking tool to have.

I think this is a brilliant box.  It has a nice mixture of products which are all a really good size, perfect for a long weekend away, to pop into your handbag or to sample at home.

What do you think to the Birchbox Birthday Box?

My Three Favourite Benefit Blushers!

Benefit Blushers are amongst my favourite make up products and I find myself using them constantly and then always re-purchasing when I hit pan to the point where there literally nothing left. Of all the products available, there are three which have become staples within my stash.

Rockateur, Marjorette and Dandelion are all products that I disliked to begin with.  All bought on a whim because they looked and sounded great at a Benefit Counter, but getting them home, I decided I didn't like them.  Oddly, I bought them all at different times and now have since repurchased each one.

Dandelion is often described as being a pink perk me up powder and it is indeed quite pink. That said, it is also really subtle when used and is perfect for my pale skinned tones.  If you want a bit more of a colour then you can build it up really easily.  

The reason I disliked it to start with is because I just didn't think it suited my skin at all, at the time of purchasing I did, to be fair, have a bit of a tan, so it was barely visible.  Now, tan faded and I am fully embracing my milk bottle shade, it actually is really rather pretty.

Marjorette is one of the newer products from Benefit and again, I loved when it at the Benefit Counter when I had a make-over with it. Got it home and instantly disliked it and almost gave it to a good friend of mine before having a change of heart and deciding to give it a second chance.  Marjorette differs from other Benefit blushes as this is in a pot rather than a box an I think I prefer it this way because the boxes become a bit bashed about in my make up bag and quite tatty looking, whereas this one looks near perfect.

Marjorette is a cream blush which has a coral-peach shade to it. It applies much easier than I ever anticipated it would do and has quite a creamy consistency which ensures it blends well and you can have it as light or a bold as you wish. For me, I like the barely there look with this and I think the shade does suit me much more than I gave it credit for. One of the best things about this blush, and it wasn't something I noticed until after reading someone elses review, is the smell! Yes, Marjorette has a scent which to me is quite peachy, not overpoweringly peachy, but once you have noticed it, you know it is there.

The final blush of my trio is Rockateur and possibly my favourite of the three here, not too surprisingly considering it is the UK's no.1 selling blush! Made up of two Rose Gold shimmers and the word Rock clearly emblazoned, this blush is just stunning.

Benefit describe their Rockateur offering as a "rockin' rose gold" and for me that is a good enough description. It is quite a cool toned rose gold and again being really pale, I find it works really well on my skin, even if I do happen to get a bit of colour to my cheeks. Easy to use and easy to apply, you can of course choose to have a much bolder shade by building it up, I personally prefer one or two sweeps across my cheekbones and from there I am happy with the shade and slight shimmer.

All three of these blushers are totally different shades yet I really enjoy using them all, obviously not together!  

The swatch above shows each blush - Marjorette, Rockateur and then Dandelion in turn, as you can see against my pale skin, they work really well and don't leave me looking washed out.

Each are priced at £23.50 and for that, I find they are not only great value for money, but they last for ages and ages, well apart from Rockateur because I use it all the time and this is my second or third one since it was launched.

Do you have a favourite blusher?

This post has also appeared on JustJulie