Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil

Today, I thought I would share with you one of my holy grail products. I am the biggest skin care junkie and I am always trying out new products, but the Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil is a product I have used for many years and love. I have a combination skin type and sometimes more to the oilier side than being dry, no matter what time of year it is. This is where this product just works magically for me.

With a oily skin type the sebaceous glands are overactive and produce more oil than is actually needed. I know, to many people, the thought of putting an oil on to a oily skin type sounds crazy and you feel like it will make the problem worse. However, applying a oil will trick the skin into thinking it has produced enough oil and will help to balance the skin out. 
With 100% pure plant extracts with no preservatives, The Blue Orchid Treatment Oil contains Lotus oil from the Lotus Water Lilly Flower. It is one of the most expensive essential oils for its proven results to improve skin tone, tighten pores, purify and reduce wrinkles. Rosewood extracts, which is anti-bacterial and can help heal blemishes and fade scarring, Geranium extracts for its toning and balancing effect on the skin and finally Hazelnut oil to soften and soothe, locking in moisture to prevent fine lines. 
This is a really light oil, it doesn't feel heavy or unbearable on the skin and it absorbs in quickly. I use three drops at night after toning and before my night time moisturiser. I rub the oil into my palms to warm the product up and then massage it into my face. The smell reminds me of being at a spa with its herbal fragrance. When you wake up in the morning, there is no oily residue and your skin looks even, bright and has a gorgeous healthy glow.   I have seen a dramatic improvement in my skin using this product, I still get oily but not nearly as much or as fast throughout the day, as I did before. It really helps to balance my skin and helps my skin to feel less congested. Also, a bottle of this lasts me months! I have just repurchased another bottle but the previous one lasted for nearly a year!
Clarins do have a few facial oils, so if you have a dry skin Santal Face Treatment Oil is one that you can try or if like myself,  you have a combination to oily skin type, then the Lotus face Treatment Oil is the one for you. It retails at £32 and I think it is money well spent for the results and for how long the bottle lasts.    If you are looking for the perfect evening treatment to improve your complexion, I can not recommend this product enough.
Have you tried The Clarins Lotus face Treatment Oil?
Samantha x

My Favourite Christmas Beauty Gift Sets

As there is only 35 sleeps till Christmas (eekkkk), I thought I would share with you some of  my favorite beauty sets I have found this Christmas. Not only are there some brilliant bargains out there this year, but there is always some kind of deal to tempt you, like triple points, 3 for 2 or money off. Now is the right time to start shopping for beauty sets whether you want to treat yourself or buy one of them as a gift and I think I have found the perfect beauty ideas for you.

Lancome All Eyes On You £30  This set contains four of Lancome's best selling mascaras. A full size Hypnose mascara in black and three handbag-sizes mascaras, which are Hypnose Drama, Hypnose Doll Eyes and Hypnose Star. My all time favourite mascara is Lancome Hypnose, it is a great volumising mascara. I think this is absolute fantastic value for money. Boots have a great deal when you buy two Lancome items at the moment online, you will receive 750 points. That is £7.50 in points! Bargain!!

Benefit Sweet Spot Box O'Blushes £29.50  Five Blushers, one Bronzer and a Highlighter! Amazing! The blushers are "Dandelion", "Sugar Bomb", "CORAlista", "Bella Bamba" and their newest blusher "Rockateur". The bronzer is their all time best seller Hoola and the highlighter is called Watt's up! Don't you just love the names of their products! First time ever Benefit have brought us this gift! It is my favourite Benefit Christmas set this year and it is exceptional value for money. It is beautifully packaged with good sized blushes. A perfect set for the blush lovers out there!

Mac Keepsakes Red Lip bag £32  When I saw this on the Mac website, I'm not going to lie, I squealed a bit! I wrote on my first wish list here on my blog (can read here) I wanted to try the Mac "Ruby Woo" lipstick, so this set is perfect! It comes with the full size lipstick, the full sized lip gloss "Ruby Woo" and the full size lip liner "Ruby Woo". A "Ruby Woo" overload! All nestled in this beautiful limited edition cream glitter makeup bag, with a pearl beaded trim. It is now pretty much sold out everywhere and the only place I can still find it, is on the Selfridges website. Grab it quick!

Boots Mini Fragrance Set £40  I think this set is such a fantastic idea! Boots have picked their favourite fragrances for women in sample sizes.You then pick which one you like the most and you can redeem the voucher given in the set against the full size product. Great idea if you want to buy a perfume for someone or yourself and can't decide which one to choose.

Lush Treat Your Dears £19.50  A red nose reindeer filled with four festive bath and shower goodies. "Yog Nog" soap, "Snowman" shower jelly, a "Dashing Santa" bath bomb and "Golden Wonder" bath bomb. Lush have picked their most popular festive items and I think this set is just too cute!

O.P.I Mini Christmas Holiday Stars £14.50  Each shade in this mini nail varnish set is Christmas inspired. It would make a perfect little stocking filler and O.P.I nail varnishes always deliver in my eyes.This set includes "Red Fingers & Mistletoe", "What's Your Point-Settia?", "I Carol About You" and "Kiss Me Or Elf". I was lucky enough to receive one of their Christmas sets last year and the colours are always fab!

The Body Shop Coconut Festive Picks £17  I have been using the Coconut Body Butter from The Body Shop for a month now and it really is a feast for the skin. The butter just melts into the skin, leaving it feeling so soft and smooth. So I was excited to see they have a Christmas set with the Coconut range. The festive box contains 250ml shower gel, 50ml body scrub, 50ml body butter, coconut soap and a body polisher. This is a must on my Christmas list.

NARS Lip Pencil Set £32  The sought after satin Lip pencils! I have one in the shade Luxembourg and it is a stunning colour (review here). They provide great wear and an intense colour with a satin finish. I would highly recommend them, this set is a little beauty. Comes with five shades and is packaged within a frosted box. The shades are "Yu", "Torres Del Paine", "Descanso", "Iberico" and "Cruella". I love the variety of colours in this set comprising of a vibrant red and a subtle nude.

Real Techniques Brush Set £29.99  In case you are not familiar, these brushes are part of a line created by well known makeup artist and YouTuber Samantha Chapman. I find theses brushes to be of a real high quality but at an affordable price. The brushes are really soft and made of a synthetic taklon bristle. This set is amazing value for money with six full sized brushes in total and are Sam's very own favourite picks. Included are the Multi-Task Brush for powder, blush and bronzer. The Buffing Brush is ideal for full coverage of powder and mineral foundation. The Crease Brush is designed for contouring. The Setting brush to complete any look with a controlled dusting of powder or highlighter. The Foundation Brush to apply a liquid foundation and the Ultimate Fine liner brush to apply precision liquid or cream eyeliner. A great collection of brushes for someone starting out new with brushes or even a full proof makeup buff. 

So here they are.... my favourite Christmas beauty gifts. I hope you love them as much as I do and I hope this may have helped you with your Christmas shopping. 

Will you be putting any of these on your Christmas list?

Samantha x

Clarins The Essential Mineral Eye Make Up Palette

When I stumbled across this little beauty at my local Clarins Counter, I just had to have it! I'm such a sucker for a great nude eye palette. This Christmas limited edition palette is packaged within a sleek, rich chocolate brown compact, containing a mirror and a double-ended applicator. The palette contains a collection of ten very wearable eye shadows. It has a well balanced collection of colours from warm browns to a very vibrant gold and the pressed mineral formula of these shadows can be used wet or dry. The super silky eye shadows are long lasting and are suitable for sensitive eyes as they are ophthalmologist and dermatologist tested.

The pigmentation lets this palette down a little which is a shame as Clarins is one of my favorite brands. There were three shades when swatched that I felt you really had to work hard with to get the colour on the eye lid when used dry. The first colour being the palest; number 1. However, when used wet the colour was a lot stronger but it is not ideal to use wet if you're using this colour for your natural base.

How amazing is number 6?! The bright, sparkly, vibrant gold. This colour is very pigmented and will look great for a night-time makeup look, especially for those Christmas parties! A tip for when applying this gold to the eye is to press the eye shadow on not rub, otherwise you will end up with gold glitter all over your face. The last two colours 9 and 10 again, when used dry, I felt like you had to work really hard with to get a good build up of colour on your eyes. Although when used wet for contouring and blending in the crease and corners for that smokey eye look, it works perfectly.

 I created a natural smokey eye for a day time look using colours 2, 3 and 8. The look lasted perfect all day. The colours in this palette are gorgeous and I would actually say this palette reminds me of the famous Urban Decay Naked Palettes.

The Clarins Essential Eye Palette is available for £35 but it is a limited edition for Christmas, so I imagine it will sell out quick.

What eye shadow palette have you been using recently? Which colours do you like in this palette?

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you have any questions do leave me a comment in the box below

Samantha x