Free Beauty Box with Marks and Spencer

So with Mothers Day on the horizon (26th March for the UK followers), Marks and Spencers are giving you a free Beauty Box worth £80 when you spend £30 and with all the amazing brands now stocked in Marks and Spencers, spending £30 is not hard to do.

So the box is called Little Beauty Luxuries (here) and it has nine products in it which are:

Image Credit - Marks and Spencer

• Studio 10 Age Reverse Perfecting Lipliner 1.38g, 
• Neal's Yard Remedies Wild Rose Beauty Balm 15g, 
• Balance Me Radiance Face Oil 10ml, 
• Nature's Ingredients Lemon Verbena OR Aloe Vera Foam Bath 60ml, 
• Aqua Rose Eau de Toilette 25ml, 
• Heyland & Whittle Luxurious Rose Soap 95g, 
• L'Occitane En Provance Shea Butter Intensive Hand Balm OR Shea Hand Cream 10ml, 
• Ren Moroccan Rose Otto Body Wash 50ml, 
• Nails Inc. Gel One Coat Nail Polish Portobello Court 10ml.

So quite a cute little box that contains a really lovely variety of products and to ensure you get the box all you need to do is add it to your bag, spend £30 and then when you check out the box becomes free, pretty much like all M&S Gift With Purchases work. Available now - here!

What do you think to the box?

*this post contains PR samples/AF links unless indicated otherwise

L’Occitane Terre de Lumiere

One thing L'Occitane do very well are fragrances and I have yet to come across one that I haven't loved immediately. The release of Terre De Lumiere, which translates to mean 'Land of Light' is quite simply Summer in a bottle it as been inspired by the light of Provence. The description "capturing the intense sensoriality of a walk through the fields of Provence at the golden hour" quite literally has you imagining that perfect French sunset.

Terre de Lumière is the first Gourmand Aromatic fragrance by L'OCCITANE. In that sense, it means a perfume which consists primarily of synthetic edible (gourmand) which in this case includes ingredients such as honey and almond.  The bottle is an interesting shape and with it comes an interesting description.  The cap is described as being 'aglow with light, as if it had soaked up the smouldering colours of the sky' and the bottle which has this rounded almost unusual shape was designed to express all the power of Provence, simply elegant and iconic, it is said to 'showcase the vibrant golden hues of the land with its unique light'. For me, the bottle fits perfectly in my hand when I come to use it and with a handy flat bottom, it makes it ideal for standing on my bedside table. 

I love this scent. I wasn't expecting too when I saw some of the notes, in fact, I expected to really dislike it, so for me to not only like but love it, even now still shocks me.  With top notes are bergamot, ambrette seed, and pink pepper you get a bold zesty aromatic opening which I just loved immediately. The Bergamot most definitely noticeable for me. Then as the heart note of Lavender Honey comes to life, said to be reminiscent of the fields of Provence, the perfume develops to bring a floral side to the zesty scent. Finally, the base notes of Acacia Flower, Bitter Almond Essence, Tonka Bean and White Musk really add a whole new dimension to this for me. It is soft, warm and incredibly fresh scented, the musk sitting in the background. 

As this is a gourmand scent, less is definitely more.  One spritz on your pulse points is more than enough and this scent once applied lasts for hours and hours.  You apply it in the morning and you can still catch a whiff on your way home some 7 hours later, admittedly not as strong but it is still there.

Available in both a 50ml and 90ml bottle, they are priced at £58 and £78 respectively and they are available right here alongside a Gentle Shower Gel and Beautifying Body Lotion from the same range.

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise

Rimmel Brow Shake Filling Powder

There is definitely a brow thing going on right now with highstreet brands and Rimmel, who have already released some new products which I reviewed here have added some more products to their collection with the Rimmel Brow Shake Filling Powders.

Described as being "Long lasting, ultra soft brow filling powder that doubles up as an eyeliner for an impactful eye look. Line, define and fill for a WOW brow" these powders are available in 4 shades - Light Brown, Medium Brown, Dark Brown and Soft Black and they retail for £5.99 each (though currently on offer in both Boots and Superdrug).

The Rimmel Brow Shake Filling Powder is not quite like any other brow products I have comes across.  Firstly it is packaged within a pot and it features a long conical shaped lid so it is easy to grasp and hold and secondly it is a loose powder, something I have used from a pot rather than a tube. 

When it comes to using, the very first thing you need to do is to shake the entire tube for a few seconds before you would use it and as you shake it, you get a clicking sound. The shaking of the tube allows the loose powder to cling to the sponge applicator, again something I have never used before.  Once it has been shaken there should now be enough product on the sponge applicator, something I expected to really dislike but actually I do like it and find it incredibly easy to use but and yes there are two, because of the way you apply the powder to your brows, you aren't able to create hair like strokes as you might do with your pencil or wax and it did take some getting used too and secondly it is a loose powder so there is some fall out, admittedly not as much as I had expected and tapping the brush before using also helps.

The powder in the tube is not only loose powder but it is also really pigmented giving quite an intense colour which is designed to last all day and night. Once on the brow the colour does not budge or smudge and as the formula is waterproof, so you will need to use makeup remover to remove it.

L-R - Soft Black, Dark Brown, Medium Brown, Light Brown

My brows are pretty rubbish, after years of over plucking, I am not blessed with thick bushy brows, but they are very slowly growing back and I have to work with what I have got. I do use brow products from Benefit so with these four shades I am somewhere between the light and medium brown shades and I hope there will be some more shades added to the range.

Overall I do like the brow powder. It is easy to use, easy to apply, is great for brow filling and it definitely does not budge wants applied, which is pretty impressive and all for just £5.99.

Have you tried these Brow Powders from Rimmel?

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise

Optiat Coffee Scrubs

One of the reasons I absolutely love beauty boxes is because every now and again you come across a product that you just absolutely love and had it not been in that box, you might not have come across it. Optiat, which I chose as my selection from January You Beauty Box (here) is described as being a nature friendly company who transform used Arabica coffee grounds into scented scrubs that make you look and feel fantastic. 

It is no secret that I absolutely adore coffee scrubs and these two are just incredible as is the story behind the brand.

Founder William Brightman explains the concept behind his coffee scrub idea:

"Having received a cafetiere for Christmas, I began making my own coffee. However, I realised that post-brewing, the freshly brewed grounds had to be thrown away. With more than 55 million cups of coffee drunk every day in the UK, this represents a big waste problem. Indeed, it turns out that more than 500,000 tonnes of coffee grounds are sent to landfill every year in the UK alone! I saw an opportunity to change this."

So why do I love coffee scrubs? Well the smell firstly. Coffee is just an incredible scent and I adore it. Secondly the fine grounds act as a natural exfoliator which gently removing the surface layer of dead and dry skin cells. Thirdly, Coffee is the same pH as your skin so using it in this way isn't drying. Fourthly it is high in antioxidents. The antioxidant level in brewed coffee grounds is much higher than those in freshly ground coffee. We all know that antioxidents help to fight free radicals, one of the main causes of the signs of ageing and finally the caffeine in coffee helps stimulate blood flow, it is effective against skin conditions such as acne, eczema, cellulite and stretch marks and works to address those areas in need of renewal and regeneration.

So the two scrubs that I selected for this beauty box were Lemongrass Lifter and Mouthwatering Mandarin. Lemongrass Lifter s described as follows: "Scrub up zesty after getting hot and sweaty. A blend of used Arabica coffee grounds and lemongrass essential oils, this Lemongrass Lifter refreshes you after working up a sweat". If you love the scent of Lemongrass then you will love this. Not only is the scent of freshly brewed coffee just incredible, but mixed with the zesty tang of the lemongrass and in a morning it is the kind of which drags you awake.

The second scrub which is aptly titled "Feel Great" Mouthwatering Mandarin Coffee Scrub - has the following description "Scrub up deliciously for date night. A blend of used Arabica coffee grounds and mandarin essential oils, Mouthwatering Mandarin keeps you feeling fruity all night long". Unlike the Lemongrass Lifter scrub, I actually do prefer to use this one in an evening rather than a morning, possibly because I find orange scented products quite relaxing rather than invigorating. On the skin, again it is a delight to use and the orange scent mixed with coffee is just delightful.

Both of these scrubs are not only suitable for your entire body but they can also be used on your face, something I haven't yet tried. When using you only need to squeeze the tube slightly to have more than enough product and then you simply massage it onto the skin in circular motions to ensure it is being used to its best ability and yes it is a bit messy.

A 220g tube is priced at £9.99 here and as well as these two scents there is also two other options - Potent Peppermint and Vanilla Velvet to try.  So if coffee scrubs are your thing you need to try these and if you have never tried a coffee scrub but are quite intrigued then you need to try these!

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise