LookFantastic Beauty Box October 2015

The October LookFantastic Beauty Box has just landed and it is another great box.  Not only is it beautifully decorated, there are 7 products within the box which makes it pretty full!

The first item in the box is from Elemis and it is a 20ml tube of Hydra-Balance Day Cream which is suitable for combination skin. Well my skin is combination and this cream is specially formulated to provide continuous hydration and is said to be ideal for normal to combination skin, it's enriched with meadowsweet extract to regulate oil production, whilst hyaluronic acid locks in essential moisture to keep your skin balanced. It is infused with an aromatic blend of petitgrain, neroli and mandarin which work together to soothe and comfort your skin, this regulating cream will leave your skin feeling nourished without making it feel greasy. This has a value of around £17.

The second item is a 30ml tube of Murad AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser. Described as being a gentle cleanser it contains salicylic, lactic and glycolic acids to encourage clarity and brightness by dissolving skin cell build-up; jojoba beads to further polish and re-texturise the skin; sodium PCA and jojoba seed oil to help counteract dryness; and liquorice extract to provide anti-irritant and anti-inflammatory properties to your skin. This product had a value of around £8

The third item from the box is from Percy & Reed and it is the Volumising No Oil, Oil.I assume it is for thin hair, though it doesn't say on the bottle, but it is essentially described as being a lifesaver of a product when it comes to creating lovely locks which are smooth, sleek and shiny whilst also adding volume. It uses violet extracts and pro vitamin B5 acting to strengthen, deeply nourish and moisturise you hair, you can be sure that this non-greasy oil will give you only the best results. Also, with added heat protection properties, your hair will be kept safe from thermal styling. This 30ml bottle has a value of around £7.

The fourth item is a 15ml tube of Nuxe Reve De Miel Hand and Nail Cream. Said to be perfect for dry, chapped hands, the non-greasy formula works to nourish and repair the hands, protecting from premature ageing whilst smoothing and soothing to reveal, soft, supple skin. It uses a blend of honey, oils such as Avocado, Sunflower and Soyabean plus vitamin E to ensure hands are intensely moisturised and nails strengthened. This product has a value of around £4.

Next comes Balance Me Radiance Facial Mask in a 30ml tube.  This is the only product within the box that I have tried and I am a big fan.  The mask can be used can be used as a reviving exfoliating face wash or as a soothing, intensive treatment mask to replenish lost moisture and luminosity. Contains purifying kaolin clay to eliminate impurities and a bespoke fruit acid complex to restore a healthy glow. Enhanced with rosemary, palma rosa, lavender and Roman chamomile oils to help smooth and soothe your skin.  This product has a value of around £7.

The Monu Firming Moisturiser is the penultimate product in the box.  I am a big fan of Monu products and this is one I have never tried.  It is Enriched with marine collagen and Aloe Vera, fine surface lines will appear smooth and skin feels tightened and toned.  It also uses sweetly scented Neroli and Lavender essential oils which give a fantastic scent.  The cream should be used daily for soft, smooth skin. This 25ml tube has a value of £11.

The final item in the box is from Look Good Feel Better, a brand I have never come across until now, but I have the Eye Shading Brush. The brush is described as being a hand-sculpted blending brush designed for contouring and shading. Its flat-headed tip allows you to accurately buffer around the eye area for definition. This is a professional quality brush which has been handmade, it is also cruelty free and is suitable for sensitive skin.  It has a value of around £6.99.

Look Good Feel Better (LGFB) is the only worldwide cancer charity providing practical support for women and teenagers struggling with the visible side effects of their cancer treatment. 12% from all sales of the brush collection (HERE) will be donated to the LGFB charity.

So there you have the October offerings from the Look Fantastic Beauty Box and I happen to think it is fantastic. There is a nice mixture of products and some amazing brands included and the box has a value of over £50 which is amazing value for money when the box itself costs just £15. If you want one of these for yourselves, grab them quick right HERE.

World Sight Day with L'Occitane

Every Year for World Sight Day L’OCCITANE sells a special soap to help raise funds to support the fight against avoidable blindness in developing countries. This year World Sight Day is on 8th October and this is how you can help/

Almost 285 million people around the world are blind or visually impaired, even though 80% of blindness is avoidable! In 2014 L’OCCITANE raised €162.000 to support projects in Burkina Faso and you can read and learn more about that
right here.

Melting Honey Solidarity Soap is made with nourishing shea butter and softening honey from Provence, this soap gently cleanses the skin while enveloping it in the delicious scent of melting honey. As you can imagine, it smells absolutely delightful and is a pleasure to use. A 50g bar will cost just £3 and for each soap purchased, the money raised will enable a patient from a rural area in Burkina Faso to have access to glasses and eye care.
Also within this Limited Edition range there are other products, all of which have matching packaging an really do capture your attention:

Melting Honey Exfoliating Sugars - This melting balm contains sugar crystals and ground walnut shells which work to gently exfoliate the skin and remove dead cells. It is also enriched with shea butter and honey from Provence and after using, it leaves skin feeling silky smooth and delicately scented with tender notes of melting honey.

Melting Honey Soft Shower Gel - If ever there was a shower gel that smells good enough to eat, it is this one.  As with the Exfoliating Sugars, this shower gel is enriched with softening shea extract and honey from Provence.  It is a golden-coloured shower gel that gently cleanses the skin while leaving it feeling supple and comfortable with the delicious scent of melting honey.

Melting Honey Lip Balm - No Limited Edition set from L'Occitane is complete without a lip balm and this one is my favourite yet. Formulated with 5% of nourishing shea butter and softening honey from Provence, this luscious balm leaves lips beautifully soft and scented.

So for £3 you can help L'Occitane and get yourself an amazing scented soap!

Midnight Gelly from Barry M

Barry M is one of those brands I absolutely love, I find them a bit quirky and within their range, there are some amazing products just waiting to be discovered.  

The Midnight Gelly range is a set of four off-black nail polishes which have really captured my attention and they are perfect shades for AW15.  The description is as follows:

"Devilishly dark past the midnight hour. AW15 saw a range of dark moody hues hit the runway, get the look and rock an off-black shade this season".

Now I wear dark shade nail polishes all year round.  I am not the kind of girl who likes pastel shades on my fingers at all.  You'll often find me sporting an off black shade - usually a deep burgundy or my latest favourite being a dark grey shade, so for there, these are quite exciting.

Within the range the four shades are Black Grape, Black Pistachio, Black Currant and Black Cherry and I like each and every one of them.  

Black Grape isn't black and it doesn't remind me of grapes either, but what you do get this is stunning deep blue shade which looks black out of the sunlight or away from my camera flash.  

Black Pistachio again isn't black but what you get is a deep dark moody green shade which as you might have guessed, looks black away from the sunlight and away from my camera flash.  I am not usually a fan of green, but this shade I absolutely love.

Black Currant is everything a good Ribena should be.  Brooding, not quite black but definitely purple and it is an amazing shade which you can clearly see from the swatch above.

Black Cherry is possibly my favourite of the four shades.  If I was to described black cherry as a shade, then this would be it.  It is dark, moody not quite black and definitely not a red but somewhere in between.

So here we have four great shades for AW15 and even better for those, like me, who prefer darker shades of polish on our nails.

What do you think to this collection?

Damaged Hot Oil Treatment by Lush

Do you remember those little Hot Oil hair treatments that you use to put into a mug of boiling water for one minute, snip the end of and then cover barely 1/3 of your hair? Me too... So when I heard Lush had their own version, the chances of me leaving the store without one was pretty slim!

There are a total of three hot oil treatments to try - Kinky which is for those with curly hair, Damaged for those who need a little bit of TLC for their hair and Tangled to tame those tangles.  I opted for Damaged.

Damaged Hot Oil Treatment is packed full of extra virgin olive, shine-enhancing almond and avocado oils to replenish deeply and re-hydrate thirsty locks. It comes packaged on a stirring spoon, made of wood, which is a handy tool to have for this treatment.

To use, you place the treatment in a suitable container and whilst in Lush, they used an empty black pot during a live demonstration, so I use one of my empty black pots too.  Then you need to boil the kettle and once boiled, slowly add a small amount of water to the solid treatment and then gently stir. You do need to add the water slowly so that the product will thicken.  Then after around 5 minutes of gradual stirring, you should have a nice creamy hair treatment and an empty stick!  

You then apply the treatment to dry hair and leave it on for around 20 minutes before shampooing, to allow the ingredients to get to work, hydrating and replenishing your hair.  Once I applied the treatment, I put my Shower Cap over the top to ensure there is no spillage.  Once those 20 minutes are up, you shampoo and condition your hair as you normally would do.

What I love about this treatment is firstly making it, standing there and doing the stirring in a pot is oddly relaxing but it also smells absolutely delightful and it does leave your hair feeling soft and smooth, incredibly hydrated and an absolute pleasure to style.  For £6.50 this is one product I will be purchasing again.

Have you tried any of the Lush Hot Oil Treatments?